Do you ever feel ready to just start, but once you sit down to do the work, you find yourself so overwhelmed by all the different moving pieces that you just give up?
Understanding what’s at stake
After having failed miserably with my first entrepreneurial venture, Kate’s Copy, I know how powerful having a clear path ahead of you can be.
When I took my first entrepreneurial leap, I was really scared.
Not just a little scared, but REALLY scared.
I was comfortable in my corporate job: I was earning a steady paycheck, I had a team of people around me to help, and I knew that I had good health insurance and other benefits – I was set.
Taking my entrepreneurial leap meant giving all of that up.
What’s at stake
But the truth is, what was at stake for me if I didn’t take that leap was much bigger than any paycheck or the benefits my corporate job could provide.
What was at stake was my freedom. My ability to grow. My life.
Have you ever stopped to think about what‘s at stake for you?
If you haven’t, it can be quite powerful. In fact, when I realized what was at stake for me is the exact moment I realized I needed to get out of the Corporate World.
It was in that moment that I believed there was something better out there waiting for me, and also, that I was only person who was capable of getting it for myself.
All the moving pieces
My first official day as an entrepreneur was… interesting.
I quickly realized that the to-do list I was used to receiving from my boss each morning was now up to me to create.
I also quickly realized that in order to create a successful business, I would have to find a way to put a lot of moving pieces together in a meaningful way – that I would need to build some sort of platform in order to support future growth.
I knew all these things needed to happen – writing out my to-do list, creating a plan, bringing together a lot of moving pieces, building a platform – but what I didn’t know is how to actually implement them.
I didn’t know what each individual action step actually looked like, or what order to put them in, which caused a lot of frustration, overwhelm and eventually, a lack of motivation.
How do you know what’s a priority?
How do you focus in on this, when that needs your attention, too?
Skipping ahead
And so I decided to skip over all the stuff that didn’t really make much sense to me, thinking that once I could just get a few clients in the door, everything would fall into place.
I was trying to grow my business before I had even created it.
A lesson learned
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned since taking my entrepreneurial leap is that you cannot underestimate the power of patience.
But I’ve also learned – and I know – that patience is hard to come by.
Not being able to stop and create a logical plan for myself – me thinking that I could just skip over the core building blocks of my business, like identifying my passion and uncovering my zone of genius, defining my avatar and discovering my niche – cost me my business.
If I could have exercised patience, I could have learned how to do these things the right way.
So, what is at stake?
I know firsthand that starting and growing a business is tough, and that it can get frustrating real fast if you don’t have the right tools and support in place.
That’s why it’s so important for you to understand what’s at stake, because what’s at stake will help you keep going when that frustration creeps in.
What’s at stake will remind you that even when your patience is running really low, you’ve got to keep on moving towards that path.
You’ve got to find a way to get back on that path and make it work.
How to find out
How do you find out what’s really at stake for you?
It starts with asking yourself this:
What will I be giving up if my business doesn’t work?
Take out a piece of paper and start writing everything down that will happen in your life if your business doesn’t work.
It can be anything – don’t think about it, just write.
- You’ll have to go get a job
- You won’t get to spend as much time with your family
- You’ll have to work on the weekends
- You won’t ever be at home
- Your commute is going to be long
- You won’t feel fulfilled on a daily basis
- You won’t be building your own dreams
Keep writing, and when you think you don’t have anything else to write, write some more.
The purpose of this exercise is to really try and understand intimately what’s at stake for you if you’re not able to create and grow the business and the life that you really want. Things like:
- Your freedom
- Your passions
- Your drive
- Your motivation
- Your happiness
- Your relationships
- Your health
…are just a few examples.
Make yourself a promise
There are no wrong answers here. Once you’ve given yourself the opportunity to figure out what‘s at stake for you, make yourself a promise.
Promise yourself that when you’re feeling frustrated, and when that lack of motivation and drive creeps in throughout the process of creating and growing your own business, that you’ll exercise patience and make a solid effort to get back on that path.
Make that promise to yourself because what‘s at stake for you if you don’t get back on that path is much bigger than the fear or the frustrations you’re feeling.
It didn’t happen overnight, but once I got to a point where I was able to make this promise to myself and intimately understand what was at stake if I didn’t get back up and try again after my first business failed, my life changed.
I joined the EntrepreneurOnFire team, and I started:
- Doing work that I was passionate about every single day, and that was helping others do the same;
- Growing both personally and professionally by challenging myself;
- Living a life of freedom, where I was in charge of my time;
- Spending more time with my family;
- Gaining more confidence and clarity about what‘s most important to me; and
- So much more
If you’re ready to declare what’s at stake and use that to help you create and grow a business you’ll love, then John and I would love for you to join us on The Fire Path: Where your passion and our guidance unite!
