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When I was starting my first business ten years ago, my partner and I held a board meeting and set out targets for the year ahead and the ten years ahead. We decided that in our first year we wanted to acquire ten properties, and that in ten years we wanted a portfolio valued at £10 million.
They were nice round numbers with an element of symmetry ("10 in 10"), they were big goals, and they were goals that terrified and energized in equal measure. We didn't obsess too much about the "how", but armed with the "what", we started on our way, steeped in the faith that we'd get started with what we had and figure things out - and learn and adjust and plan and tweak - along the way. And exactly ten years later, our portfolio value is £9.81 million. (Yes, for the accountants among you, I know this is a bit "short" of £10m, but I used conservative values, so I say close enough!) And the reason I am sharing this with you is because I want you to know that whatever your biggest, scariest goal is, you can achieve it too. Of course you can. But you have to get started, and there are a few simple things I learned on my road to ten million that can help you too: 1) Go slow to grow fast - Remember that Year 1 target we had of buying 10x properties. Wellllll... our grand total at the end of that year was closer to - wait for it... - two. Yes two. But instead of throwing in the towel and wallowing in despair, we kept going. Because we acknowledged that... 2) ...Success takes its own time - And all deadlines are basically arbitrary. For the sake of our egos we like to achieve in "impressive" soundbites ("10 properties in one year!"), but reality has no stake in conforming to our timelines. Things take time. And sometimes they take their own time. 3) Persist and learn... and stop watching the clock - Because things take their own time, and because sometimes the "how" can seem a bit out of reach, it's important to persist and learn along the way. Too many people give up inches (or months or days or a few short years) from achieving what they want to achieve. And there were many, many, MANY times I wanted to quit and give up and throw my hands up in defeat. But after some time-bound wallowing, I dusted myself off, learned, got smarter, asked for help, and kept going. And I reminded myself that we should - as one of my favorite quotes puts it perfectly - "Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it takes to achieve it. The time will pass anyway." 4) BE SPECIFIC - When we set that intention to have a portfolio valued at £10 million in ten years, we weren't specific enough. Because we didn't factor in things like interest rates, and lending, and mortgages. So while our property portfolio is worth £10 million now, OUR portion of that value - our equity - is not £10 million. If we could go back to 2012, I would have tweaked our goal to be "A property portfolio with a NET equity value of £10 million." It sounds a bit pedantic, but when you set a goal, you have to make sure it is the goal you want. That it is specific. No detail is too small. Because you WILL get what you want. So make sure it's exactly what you want, and nothing slips through the cracks. My friends, we all overestimate how much we can achieve in one year, and underestimate how much we can achieve in five years or ten years. And ten years after setting myself what felt like a genuinely impossible goal, I accomplished it. And if I can, you can. So get started. Because the time will pass anyway.
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I was standing in front of my closet the other day packing for a work trip when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a hideously ugly dress that made me smile and then laugh hysterically.
The dress in question is extra-wide A-line with poofy white sleeves, life-sized faces of strangers covering the front and back, and has two large slits near the neck for a harness. Oh, and it's made of made of neoprene. Now before you question my sanity - or lifestyle choices - for owning a dress that comes with a harness, let me hasten to explain that it was the dress I wore for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. The ugliness of that dress makes it all the more endearing, because from so much ugly came so much beauty: I became friends with three amazing creatives who were fellow volunteers, and am still close friends with them now. And I got to be a part of a once-in-a-lifetime event in an up-close-and-personal way. I mean when else was I going to be in a world-class sports stadium rubbing elbows with world-class athletes? Being a volunteer for the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies was one of the best adventures of my life. And I spent that summer eating horrible boxed lunches (cheese sandwiches, Pringles, and Nature Valley bars EVERY DAY for two months) instead of doing the "smart" thing for my career, which would have been to get an internship with a top-tier consulting firm (I was an MBA student at the time). But I didn't choose "smart" that summer, I consciously chose adventure. Because one of the guiding principles I try to live my life by is to always say yes to adventure. My friends, life gets shorter each day, and as high-achievers with big ambitions, we can get so consumed with achieving and doing and growing and learning and accolade-collecting that sometimes we forget about fun. Sometimes we forget that we need work AND play (even when work already feels like play). And sometimes we forget that adventure can come around every day if we are open to seeing it. I'm not advocating hedonism or the mindless pursuit of new-ness or throwing responsibility to the wind. What I am encouraging is that we at least consider saying yes the next time adventure comes by our door. It might come in the guise of a new business venture. Or a book idea. Or a trip to Nashville. Or a walk around that museum we pass everyday. Or confessing to someone how we truly feel about them (good or bad!). Or having a conversation with a total stranger who strikes us as interesting. Going on an adventure isn't about bungee jumping and sky diving; it's about finding the thrilling aspects of the things we encounter every day and letting ourselves be thrilled by them. It's about (at least sometimes) choosing joy over ROI. About saying yes sometimes when we might otherwise have said no. And for me, it's also about living the type of life that will take me on all the physical, emotional, and mental highs and lows I can cram into my brief time on this amazing planet. So, as you look to the week ahead, and the weekend, and next month, and next year, what adventure will you say yes to? What adventure will you allow into your life that will stretch you, grow you, nurture you, or simply make you smile, then laugh, when you look in your closet of life? I'd love to hear all about it. When I was 12, I was desperate to be a supermodel. I remember reading in Seventeen Magazine that Nikki Taylor had been discovered while she was waiting at an airport, so for years after that, every time I flew, I would get breathless with desperation for some talent scout to pluck me from the traveling masses and plaster my face on billboards and magazines. (Thankfully - and no disrespect to supermodels - my older sister reminded me that I have a powerful brain and should do something more meaningful with my life. Phew!)
But that idea that I had to "be discovered" stuck with me. I wasted a good few years of my life, even as an adult, waiting to be chosen, wishing for recognition, waiting for nominations, and wishing for accolades. And I wasted even more of my life feeling deflated when they never came. What an idiot. Because what I realized with time and experience, is that the world doesn't work that way. We are led to believe that if we are good at something or have something to offer or create something worth sharing, that others will magically find out about it and find out about us. "If you build it, they will come" and all that. But that's utter nonsense. A lot of the time, the people on things like Forbes' lists get on those lists because they apply to be on them. A lot of the time, the companies that win awards are the ones that put themselves forward for the awards. A lot of the time, the speakers who deliver key notes at conferences are the ones who pitch themselves as speakers. They're not discovered. They do the work and give themselves a chance, instead of relying on chance. If I had really wanted to be a supermodel all those decades ago, I should have gotten a headshot, gone to auditions, threw my hat in the ring and done the work - and kept doing it and kept auditioning - instead of being passive-depressive about it. Because as wonderful as we all may be and as much as we all may do, no one else is keeping track. No one is tallying all the amazing things we accomplish. No one is talking about our many wonderful ways of giving back. And they (almost) never will. For example, over the past few years, I have volunteered 800 (yes, 800) hours of my time to my alma mater through free mentoring, coaching, and workshops. Is anyone chasing after me with a medal for my service? Is anyone nominating me for some sort of recognition? No, and no. But, if there is ever an opportunity to nominate myself, will I do so? Yes. And, of course. Does that make me a self-promoting jackass? No. Because I did the work. I volunteered the hours. I didn't do it so I could get recognition, but if the opportunity to be recognized arises, then I'm going to recognize myself for how much I contributed and put myself forward. That's what we all need to do. If you did the work, apply for the award. If you meet the requirements, put yourself forward. If you lived the experience, pitch for the story. If you have the product, ask people to buy it. There is nothing holy about obscurity. There is nothing holy about anonymity. And there is nothing unholy about not staying obscure or anonymous. Put yourself forward. Put yourself out there. Put yourself in the race. It doesn't mean you will always get what you want. But trying sure as hell beats waiting for someone else to discover what is wonderful about you or your business when you already know it is there. I don't know about you, but the first 3 months of this year were insane. On my side, I did 8 public speaking events, 12 workshops/webinars, wrote 15 articles, hosted 16 podcast interviews, gave 3 podcast interviews, mentored 7 founders, did one-on-one coaching for 3 different people in 3 different time zones, wrote 3.75 chapters for my book, got an agent for my book (!), all while juggling another business, a toddler, and a 4 month old baby. *Deep exhale....*
So, at the end of March, I did the best thing I could do for myself and decided to take the month of April off. I didn't unplug 100% but I did the bare minimum to keep things ticking along and gave myself a break. I read all eight Bridgerton novels, saw my family in New York, took the pressure off to do, do do, and do, and am still on a slow burn until next week. BUT, I know I can't - or won't - last like this. I am a do-er, an action-taker, a creator, and a mover, so I need to do, act, create, and move. But after almost a month off, getting back into gear is SOOOOOO hard. We all face this how-do-I-get-going-again conundrum at some time or another at least once a year. Usually it happens after a career break, parental leave, summer holidays, Christmas, a sabbatical, or just a long weekend, and we find it hard to muster the energy to get going again. So what do I do to get back into execution mode? Well, I start slow. After my "April off", I am warming up my doing muscles by writing a little each day and hosting just one workshop next week. And I make plans, based on what is most important. I have sat down to map out what the first few weeks of May will look like so I get all of my submissions in to publishers and my mastermind gets up and running with a bang. I've even planned to go out for a long, leisurely breakfast cooked by someone else on the day my baby daughter starts at day care. And I ask for help. This means my VA, my husband, and a few other select people I can trust to lend a hand. Asking for help is hard because it means letting go, but I would rather let go than be resentful of all I have to do (for me, those are the only options). The things I've asked for help with are as small as asking my husband to organize play dates instead of the family "admin" always falling on me, to ordering ready meals so I don't always get stuck in the kitchen. That's it: start small (to build up the momentum again), make a plan (so I don't flail around feeling overwhelmed and stare blankly at my computer each day), and ask for help (so I don't loose steam before I have any to loose). These small things have helped me time after time, and if you're in need of a mojo injection, I know they will help you too. I have been having lots of tough-love conversations recently with my coaching clients around their plans for their businesses and their goals for this year, and I wanted to share some of that energy with you.
Now, 2020 was a mo-fo of a year, there is no escaping that. Many of us faced challenges or hurdles like we've never faced before. Many of our businesses had to be totally overhauled or revamped. Many of our lives were rocked by lockdown. And many of us are still reeling from the uncertainties of the world around us. BUT. Many of us also flourished in 2020. We made massive progress. We launched new businesses. We pivoted and persevered and helped others along the way. We made stuff happen day in, day out. And that's why sometimes we need to shake ourselves and remember how easy it is for us to do hard things. And that if we really want to build the life and success we want then we can either make excuses or we can make things happen. This is always true. Even before COVID, there have been challenges and shocks. Even before COVID we have faced uncertainty and upheaval. Even before COVID our personal lives have been overhauled by change. After my first daughter was born I ran a business full-time and held investor meetings or important phone calls while breastfeeding. After a health complication, I went for daily hour-plus walks because I needed time away from the gym to recouperate but didn't want to give up on my body. After a major financial shock, I mercilessly eliminated costs in my personal and business life and got hustling to make more money and get more clients. I bring up these very personal examples because each of them represent a choice: self-respect over self-sacrifice, self-care over self-pity, self-preservation over self-destruction. And I say this not because I am super-human or perfect in any way, but because I am very normal. I am just like you. You have done the same. You have persevered when you wanted to give up. You have fought when you wanted to let go. You have found a way forward when it would have been easier to float backward. You made the same types of proactive and productive choices in different parts of your life at different times of your life. You did that. And I'm here to remind you of your own power because it's so easy to think others are better, more resilient, harder working, or luckier than we are. But we know that's not true. We are ALL doers. So, remember my dear Entreprenoras, as you look to the year ahead, as you look to grow past the year that's gone, YOU can do hard things. You have done hard things. And YOU are either already the type of woman who makes things happen, or you already have it in you to be her more often. When I had our second child back in October, I was reminded again of the beautiful, but chaotic, chaos that comes with those early weeks and months. Life is broken up into unpredictable blocks of time between naps and nappies, appointments and ointments, and sleep deprived delirium that results in half-completed work on your laptop and half-finished meals on your worktop.
As someone who likes tidiness and order and control, I find the early days the hardest because all of a sudden, I can’t be productive or “perfect” at anything. It is like a massive right hook to my pride followed by an uppercut to my sanity. It feels terrible. Now, of course unpredictability and over-full days are not the exclusive domain of parents. At some point, all high-performers and mega-achievers and go-getters (like you!) find themselves oversubscribed and overwhelmed. And when that happens, some of the best advice we can live by is this: to set ourselves only ONE goal for each day. Because you see, when we are stressed and overwhelmed and have more tasks than time, it can become soul-destroying to think about how little we are getting done and how much we are not accomplishing. But if we take some of the pressure off (even just temporarily), and if we focus on getting just ONE super-high-value thing done each day, that can be enough to keep us going. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. In those early post-partem days, my “one thing” would sometimes be as small as making one phone call. Or writing one important email. Or going to one gym class. Just one small thing that reminded me that I wasn’t a failure and that micro-steps forward still count. And that approach to my days made ALL the difference in the world. It gave me my sense of accomplishment back. It helped me let go of any simmering resentment I felt. It allowed me to enjoy my time with my newborn and stop stressing (mostly) about everything else. One is a small, but mighty number. And enough “1s” can sustain our momentum just long enough to make sure that we never totally lose it when big changes come our way. We can’t always get the kind of time we want. But, focusing on just ONE thing allows us to get by, push on, and make sure that major life events or major pressures on our time don’t obliterate everything that came before, or everything that comes after. That is the power of one. These past few months have been intense. From COVID and lockdown to protests and social restrictions to restructuring and pivoting our businesses, it's been full-on, non-stop, mental and emotional overdrive.
Some good, even great, things have come out of the "Surreal Spring" (as I've started calling it), but it's been a constant practice in energy and headspace management like never before. And one of the biggest lessons I learned again during this time is how important it is to saturate our minds with carefully-curated information. I'm not talking about living in a bubble, or an echo chamber, or searching out information that confirms what we already know. I'm talking about surrounding ourselves with ideas, people, conversations, podcasts, books, or any other inputs that elevate, stimulate, and inform our minds instead of deflating, subduing, or deforming them. As any computer programmer or nutritionist will tell you, garbage in = garbage out. And when times are tough, turbulent, or turned upside down, as they are right now, we can't afford to give garbage a look in. So as you work through the challenges ahead, as you grapple with big and small changes in your life and in your business, remember to saturate your mind with whatever it is that will take you and the world around you higher. Last week I shared my personal experiences of and reflections on race, justice, and inclusion and the broader social conversation around these topics. And all of these discussions got me thinking about a fundamental reality: that power and influence default to wealthy, white, men, and everyone else has to ask for or fight for permission to access the same.
If you are poor, or a woman, or non-white - or any combination of the three - even after being "given" these rights, you still don't get to freely enjoy them. There is still a yawning gap between the legality and the reality. Between the equality we are told we have and the inequality we experience. We face this every day as women and as founders in glaring and subtle ways: there is a vicious gender pay gap, women-founded startups get a paltry 2% of VC funding even though data shows our businesses perform better, women entrepreneurs are seen as exceptions while male templates define what a "real" founder looks and acts like. And we are still too often asking men for permission. We are still too often trying to justify our seat at the Boardroom table (if we ever get there). We are still too often financially reliant on partners due to a range of factors (pay gaps, parental leave policies that penalize us, all of the unpaid work we do...). We are still too often kept small by media representations that under-report our successes or relegate them to "women's" sections (almost every business magazine has a "Women" section, but not a "Man" section... Why? Perhaps another example of men being the default...). But, my dear Entreprenoras, this isn't the way it has to be. We shouldn't need to ask for permission, we shouldn't need to play in the sidelines, and we shouldn't need to conform to any template other than our own. Each of us can and should demand more, expect more, and get more at home and in the wider world. The time for asking is over. One of the reasons I started this community was to make sure we all get what we deserve, achieve what we set out to achieve, and become financially abundant and independent in ways that allow us to force change where necessary or BE the change we can. Our success is about more than just us. Our success is about showing the world different templates of what is possible and what a role model looks like. So whatever your success looks like, whatever your dreams look like, whatever your goals look like, we are here to make sure you get there. Use our resources, get in touch, apply to join our Boardroom, get your voice heard by pitching your story for our podcast, or simply connect with each other at one of our events. Ladies, we are in this together. No more asking for permission. Just succeeding, demanding, and achieving. Together. "We're going to do TEN deals this year!..."
Man, did that feel good -- if a bit terrifying -- to say out loud. There I was, back in 2014, talking to a far more seasoned investor at his gorgeous offices and I was hoping he'd be impressed, give me a high-five, and slap me on the back for being such a go-getter. We were just getting started in earnest, but we wanted to go big (or go home -- as the Vegas-inclined amongst you may be thinking). My partner and I had big targets, big goals, big dreams, big everything. I wanted to do something impressive. "Wow, ten deals in one year!" I could already hear my future admirers saying. "You're amaaaaaaazing." But that's not what I got from this investor. What he said, instead, deflated me to the core... Now, I didn't feel quite that down, but it was a hard truth-bomb to swallow at the time when this kindly and unindulgent-of-my-over-enthusiasm investor told me all those years ago in that steady, knowing voice of his: "That's nice. But sometimes it's better to grow slow so you can grow fast." Grow slow, to grow fast... Grow slow to grow fast?... Grow slow to... No, no, no. And NO! What was this guy talking about? Was he crazy? Did he listen to our plan? Did he realize how committed we were? Did he know who he was talking to? Who the hell did he think he was, telling us to grow slow? I'd show him! [Spoiler alert: I didn't.] Because guess how many deals we ended up doing in 2014? A grand total of 1.5 (which kept us plenty busy, by the way). And it was only with hindsight at the end of that year that I appreciated the wisdom of his words (he's a fellow Patel, so maybe that's where he gets his smarts from!). And I find myself coming back to those words again and again and again because you can never hear -- or read -- good advice enough: grow slow, to grow fast. I get it. I've clearly been there too. When we have an idea or are just getting started on something, it's sexy and exciting to make bold statements (make the world's information searchable, make Mars habitable, eliminate polio...). It inspires us to shoot beyond the stars. It attracts people to our vision. It may even get us written about in newspapers and magazines. But what bold statements don't do is come true on their own. And so many beginners can get so desperate to rush to the top that they forget about the grunt work required to create the foundation at the bottom. They sacrifice long-term growth for short-term success. They build wings of wax to fly to the sun. But the bottom is where it all begins. The foundation is literally and figuratively what the business is built on, so should be the one thing we don't try to rush, don't try to skip over, and don't try to do too quickly. Or as my dad always says: "Don't try to build an inverse pyramid." It's not easy. Many of us (or at least some of us) want to be able to brag -- even if just to ourselves -- about how much we have accomplished in a small period of time. Many of us (or at least some of us) want to impress our peers with how much we have achieved so soon after getting started. Many of us (or at least some of us) want to stretch ourselves far out of our comfort zones to build our businesses. But many of us (or at least some of us) can also become so desperate to get there that we become hasty. And the difference between speed and haste is all the difference in the world. Can you do ten deals in one year? Of course. And I know many investors who did twice that number in less time. But you know what else? Many of those same investors then spent the next FEW YEARS cleaning up the mess, offloading bad investments, going bankrupt, or trying to keep life-threatening, stress-induced illnesses at bay. That could have been us. But instead, 2014 was a slow and foundational year. And the solid foundation we laid that year then allowed us to scale and grow much faster over the next four years. THAT's what growing slow to grow fast means. Forgetting about our pride, the imaginary headlines, the smug dinner party conversations we could have been having, and just getting used to the tedium and time it takes to build a solid business. And who really cares if takes 5 months, 5 years, or 5 decades for us to get to where we want to go? As long as we are making progress, the timescale shouldn't matter. We have to remember that our deadlines and targets are so often arbitrary. And we have to remember to be extra vigilant so that we don't get to the top arbitrarily, too. The thing we have to remember most of all is that standing on top of an inverse pyramid is not really a success. Not really a success at all. I don't know about you, but there are days when I really struggle. It'll be approaching 4-o'clock and I'll be wondering where the time has gone and what I have to show for close to a day's work (and then panic at the thought that I only have a few hours left to "catch up" before my daughter gets back from nursery).
There are times when I feel so swamped and buried in the "stuff" that I am terrified that I'm not actually moving my business forward in any meaningful way, and wonder if I am doing enough. And it's during these moments of (mini) crises that I go back to my data. See, a while ago (5 years to be exact), I got sick of wondering and wanted to know. I remembered a fantastic New York Times article (I highly, highly recommend reading it) that talked about the data-driven life. So I started to track my stats. I set myself daily, weekly, and quarterly targets and then tracked how I was using my time against those targets (in the early days, I used Excel, now I use Toggl and can't recommend it enough). And doing so changed everything. It gave me a concrete and objective picture of where my time was actually being invested. I could look back at a day, a week, a year, and see exact percentages and numbers of minutes being invested in business development, marketing, speaking, admin, etc. And I could use those stats to hold myself accountable against the targets I had set. Simple and powerful. And most importantly: objective. Because, the thing is, we are often the worst at assessing ourselves. And we often get it wrong when we are guesstimating or appraising off the top of our heads. We suffer from recency bias. And availability bias. And self-preservation bias. We judge our performance based on what has just happened, what we can recall (and we forget a LOT), and we tell ourselves stories to make ourselves feel better ("I have been working soooooo hard and soooooo much!"). But the reality is often different to what we imagine. When I started objectively measuring what I was doing each day, what I learned surprised me. It still does. In some instances, I was way ahead of my game (earlier this year I was having a really bad week so wanted to see where I was going off track... and you know what? I wasn't off track at all. I had hit 50% of my targets for the YEAR by May!) And in other cases, I was doing far less than I thought (when I was starting my first business, I was making shockingly fewer calls to partners and clients than I thought I was. No wonder things weren't moving as quickly as I wanted). The data changes everything: practically, emotionally, and energetically. When we are ahead, wouldn't it be great to know that? We can breathe a little easier, we can stop stressing (a bit) about how much always needs to be done, and we can maybe even celebrate our successes or pat ourselves on the back (crazy, I know!). And when we are behind, isn't the data morale boosting in a counterintuitive way too? If we aren't seeing progress, isn't it better to use the data to tell us whether that's because we're not investing enough time on the important things or if it's because we're spending too much time on "low value" things? Isn't it better to know if the flaw is with the process or with the execution? The data gives you answers. The data helps uncover solutions. And the data makes it easier to know, instead of guess. Business and success and growth don't happen by guesswork. And that's the beauty of the data-driven life: you swap the confusion of wondering with the power of knowing. And knowing is half the battle.* (*Any of you GI Joe fans will have caught the reference... who knew an 80s cartoon could be so profound?) "Well, you know what they say? You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with..."
That was a really successful friend-preneur of mine during one of our regular chats when I was first starting my business. I immediately did an inventory, and I didn't like what I found. I had left a highly-intellectual and analytical career with brilliant colleagues, finished two years of business school where I was surrounded by driven and focused friends, and was now working for myself, by myself. I was isolated and on my own for most of each day. And when I was around other people, the five I saw the most were my fiancee, my mother-in-law, and some lovely but uninspiring friends who didn't work. I was the average of that?? My fiancee aside, it wasn't exactly a group that was going to march me towards success... One of the biggest downfalls of becoming an entrepreneur that not enough people talk about is this: when you are bootstrapping a business, working from home, and building your vision from scratch, you have to make an effort to find the communities that you took for granted when you were working for someone else. You have to look for people who will support, push, and challenge you. You have to seek out relationships that will help you and your business grow. But where are you supposed to find them? And how? For a long time, I had no idea. I was mildly depressed for large parts of those first few years and I felt deeply isolated. (It didn't help that I was living in the 'burbs at the time, where the only things within walking distance were a large supermarket and a movie theater... not exactly buzzy co-working spaces where I'd meet other entrepreneurs!) After almost two years (TWO YEARS!) of doing things on my own and being professionally lonely, I teamed up with two of my favorite and most successful friend-preneurs to do something as life-changing and morale-boosting as starting a WhatsApp group (it doesn't have to be complicated for it to work). And our little threesome was exactly what I needed -- and still is -- to keep me and my business growing and improving. The advice we share with each other has saved me hundreds of thousands of pounds, and the support we give each other has saved me almost as many hours of frustration, confusion, and feeling stuck. (We are a small but mighty group of can-do'ers!) But, my friends, not all WhatsApp groups or business groups or entrepreneur groups are created equal. We have to choose wisely. We have to look for, or create, environments that will help us do and be more than we could do or be on our own. We have to go where the standards are high. It's that thing about averages again... If we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with -- and science and research has proven this to be true again and again -- then wouldn't it be great to be a part of a group where we are surrounded by high-performers who are committed to excellence, learning, improving, and sharing? Wouldn't it be great if we sought out communities where we were the "dumbest" person in the room so we could push ourselves harder than we knew we could push? Wouldn't it be exhilirating to be surrounded by people who get what we are trying to do and will help us do it better, faster, and more successfully than we could have on our own? The communities, the people, the ideas that contribute to your average don't have to be physical. They can be made up of the authors you read, the podcasters you listen to, the thought leaders you follow, the online forums you join. In some ways, a total stranger in Australia has had as big and positive an impact on my business as anyone in my physical network. But the in-person communities matter too. Of course they do. There is nothing as powerful as the energy created when people with focus, discipline, and commitment come together to learn, share, and grow. Together. And it's invaluable having an actual human to meet up with or go to events with or share local contacts with. In fact, it makes all the difference in the world. And that's why I have invested so much of my time creating and curating a powerful business community, and that's why I actively seek out other strong business communities (if you're in property, by far the best I have found is Property Entrepreneur). We are lucky to live in an era with endless on-line and off-line options. But with great access comes great overwhelm. There are so many groups out there, and the only way I have found the ones that fit me and my business best is by word-of-mouth recommendations from people I trust and a bit of trial and error. So if you're looking for a community, if you're looking for successful friend-preneurs-to-be, if you're looking for people and places to inspire and lift you, ask around. Do some Googling. Attend an event. Get out there and talk to people. But above all, choose carefully. Go where the standards are high. Go where the expectations are massive. Go where you will rub elbows with people who don't make you feel desperate for a shower after you have rubbed elbows with them. It's the law of averages, after all, and you don't want your "five" bringing your average down. "Rup, we're talking about your career and life here. Don't waste this opportunity..."
This was back in 2013 and my sister and brother were staging what I can only call an intervention. I was a newly-minted MBA and they were worried (terrified) for me that by starting my own business I was carelessly tossing my life, my career, and my MBA into the rubbish heap. "Get a big name on your resume," they were imploring me, "and THEN you can do your own thing." Their one-way conversation lasted a few hours, and despite the delicious cocktails we were drinking at the dive bar on 3rd Avenue in New York, my mouth tasted like bile and regret. What if they were right, my mind wondered even though my mouth kept insisting "I'm an adult, I know what I'm doing." What if I failed? What if my business didn't take off? What if I was throwing away the chance to work somewhere "impressive"? What if McKinsey (or Bain or BCG or the dozens of other consulting firms MBAs are supposed to want to work at) never bestowed their vaunted credentials onto my CV? What if I was being as reckless as they thought? Everything my siblings said made sense, so why couldn't I just do what they said and be sensible? Why couldn't I just go out there and get a real job? I have a theory (actually, I have a LOT of theories, but for the purposes of this article, I'll stick to one), and it goes something like this: the people who know us or love us are often the ones who make it hardest for us to do something different or to make a big change. So often, they keep us in a time warp where the way they once "knew" us is who we have to stay, and sometimes wanting us to stay that way is more for their benefit than for ours. Sometimes they just want us to keep playing a certain role so it doesn't upset the equilibrium established over years of knowing each other or so it doesn't challenge their own safety and comfort. And sometimes, the people who "know" and love us just want us to do things a certain way because they are trying to protect us. They are worried we might fail or get upset or ruin ourselves financially, and their advice is meant to shield us from all of those things. But you know what? No one can do that for us. No one can keep disappointment at bay for us. No one can read what's in our heart of hearts the way we can. And no one can tell us what is risky or what is not because we all have different definitions of risk. We have to listen to our intuition, to our gut, to our own ideas of what we want and who we are, because sometimes, maybe a lot of times, the people in our lives have their own agenda and we can't let them live our lives for us. Did I ignore my siblings and tell them to shove it? Of course not. I listened to them (and tortured myself about whether they were right), and then I forged my own way. I covered my downside, I had a Plan B (and Plan C), and then I put my all into making a success of my business because I had no choice. I worked hard (before I learned how to work smart) and I got there. I replaced my post-MBA income in about 18 months and put everyone's worries - including my own - to bed, once and for all. But it was really, really, really, really effing hard. Especially in the beginning when my own doubts and insecurities kept creeping in, it made every phone call with my family that much harder. I couldn't bear to talk to them for fear that one of them would tell me to just "keep an eye open" for jobs or work with a headhunter or do my business as a side hobby while working for someone else. All of their concern and anxieties only amplified my own and it took every ounce of strength I could muster to nod and mmm-hmm and then tune them out. Because the thing I learned is that the people who "know" us and love us aren't always right. And if we listen to them too readily, they can keep us from being who we are or who we want to be or who we know we can be. We can take their concerns on board, sure, but that doesn't mean we have to let them stop us from actualizing our vision for our lives. We can do things our way. Protect ourselves our way. Address all of their concerns our way. And sometimes, just tune them out. Not everyone is worth listening to, no matter how much they love us. Not everyone is qualified to have an opinion, no matter how long they've been in our lives (I don't ask my hair dresser for tax advice even though I've known her twice as long as my accountant...). Sometimes we have to beware of the people who "know" us and love us because sometimes they can be the biggest roadblocks to our success, and a lot of the times they simply don't know what they're talking about. There are no easy solutions, but some of the best antidotes to the nay-saying and doubts that can be foisted on us from people who "know" and love us are to join a community where what we are trying to do/build/grow/achieve is the norm and to be very selective about who we take advice from (ie, is the person telling us that being an entrepreneur is a bad idea an entrepreneur themselves?) Making a big change, accomplishing a big goal, starting a business and then growing it to be as successful as it can be is too important and too personal to let other people decide or derail for us. Sometimes we just have to beware of those who "know" and love us and then forge on towards our success anyway. "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse... Idiots!" -Henry Ford
Now I took some liberties with this quote. I am pretty sure Henry Ford didn't call his potential customers idiots (but I'm guessing he was probably thinking it). I love this quote. I love the fact that it says in eighteen words what I'm about to spend a few hundred elaborating on. I love that Henry Ford, inventor and industrial revolutionary, was like "Hey, you know what customers? Forget you! I'm building something great here, and what you think you want is irrelevant. So get back in your slow-a$$ carriages and scram!" How ballsy, how totally against the grain of our nice-nice society, how incredibly brave to say to a customer you're NOT always right. A few weeks ago, I wrote to about the importance of saying no and how it is not just an important part of your life and business but an essential one. And you know what else? It is really, really, really hard. Sometimes even harder than that! I am a self-proclaimed people pleaser, so it sometimes pains me physically to say no or to not oblige or to ignore a request. Especially when the person asking is a customer or client. My instinct is to always say yes and make it work however I can. Even if the request is silly or extravagant or will derail me from my plans. Saying yes feels sooooooo good. But you know what else feels good? Saying no and being focused. Our customers can sometimes be our worst enemies. They will ask and ask and ask and the trouble is, sometimes what they want is something you can't or shouldn't give (kind of like having kids... you have to be the one to have the filter for both of you!). And sometimes even when you DO give your customer what they want, they change their mind and decide they don't want it anymore and then you've wasted all that time and effort and money for nothing. How frustrating! Just a few short weeks ago, on the heels of an over-subscribed event I had just run, I polled potential clients to see if they'd like me to do the event again. I got almost two dozen thumbs-ups so got busy putting a deposit down on the venue, executing the marketing campaign, setting up the ticket site, ordering more workbooks, clearing my weekend, and after all that, guess what? Guess how many customers bought what they asked for once I had it ready for them? If you're good at spotting patterns, then you'll know the answer is: not a lot. And in this case, exactly zero. "But I did what you asked!" I wanted to scream at the registration page. "Where did you all go?" I wanted to shout into the wind. It took me a while to refocus after this mini-blow, but when I did, I realised that my customers had done me a big favor. They RE-taught me that I don't always have to listen and I don't always have to oblige. My customers aren't always right. And neither are yours. We can only offer what we can offer. And sometimes a customer doesn't know what they want until you show it to them (like the Model T). And sometimes what they want is not part of YOUR plan for your business, so you have to just ignore it. I'm not saying we should ignore all customer feedback or pretend like all requests are irrelevant. What I AM saying is that we should work hard to make our service or product as good as possible, hold ourselves to really high standards in how we deliver them, commit to always improving, listen to feedback and requests, and then filter the feedback and requests. Some ideas might be worth considering, others might not. A request is not an order. Feedback is not a command. Take on board what your customers say and then use your best judgement to filter and decide what is worth implementing and what is worth forgetting about. Your relationship with your customer is exactly that: a relationship. And like in all relationships, one side isn't always right or more important. Your relationship is a conversation, an exchange, and sometimes you will have to agree to disagree. If Henry Ford hadn't disagreed, how far behind would automotive technology and car culture be now? If you don't sometimes disagree, how far behind will you be in growing your business according to your vision? You don't always have to listen to your customer. And sometimes when they ask for a horse, you have to focus on building your Model T instead. I am the first to admit that in this era of information overload, it can be a good idea to limit how much information we consume. It can even feel like a small act of protest against the tidal wave of data hitting us day after day. And who doesn't like being a rebel?
But if you are going to rebel, be a rebel WITH a cause. That means being selective about the information you let in, and choosing to consume only the information that will help you and your business grow, NOT ignoring everything. Some of what you need to know and learn will be engaging and enlightening (like these articles!), and some of it will be tedious and boring. That's just the way it is. But if you want to build a business and thrive, you have to be a smart consumer of information and a committed life-long learner about your industry. Again, that's just the way it is. So, how can you keep learning? Here are some easy tips:
So what are you going to learn? What magazine or podcast will you subscribe to? What action will you take to make sure you never stop learning? "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself..." Ahhh, the Perfectionist's Creed. I love these words because I can predict with almost 100%-accuracy how many business owners and entrepreneurs and high-achievers have them playing in a loop in their heads pretty much all day long. (I know I would need to call on some high-order math if I wanted to count the number of times I've said or thought that.) No one can close a sale as effectively as I can. No one can negotiate with a supplier as well as I can. No one can write a job listing as brilliantly as I can. And you know what else? No one can order printer paper as well as I can. No one can make coffee as well as I can. No one can tidy up my desk as well as I can. And no one can take out the rubbish as well as I can, either! Isn't it amazing that I can do so many varied tasks better than any other of the 8-billion-plus humans who live on this planet or the few hundred thousand who live in my immediate vicinity or the tens of thousands who specialise in each one of these discreet tasks? Gosh, I really must be amazing! Right?  Now hopefully you see what I'm doing here. Hopefully you've had a little chuckle while reading the preceding lines not just because of how ridiculous they are when you see them written down but because you potentially recognize some of that silliness in your own way of thinking.
I get it. We love to be in control. We love to get things done. We love having things done our way. And we are really, really, really good at some things, maybe even a lot of things. But perfect at all things? Is that even possible? The more I think about it, the more I hear it from my clients, and the more I try to train myself out of it, the more I see self-proclaimed perfectionism as something quite different: laziness and anxiety in disguise. Let me explain. First of all, I think we can agree that doing anything "perfectly" is basically impossible because "perfect" is subjective. What I think is perfect, others might think sucks, and what they think is perfect, I might find seriously flawed. Perfect is a standard that we define and our definition will inevitably be different to someone else's. Secondly, perfectionism is often used as an excuse for not doing something - "Oh, that website, will never be as perfect as I want it to be, so I may as well not build it"; "My business will never be as big as I want it to be, so I'm not going to start it"; "This marketing campaign will never capture everything I want to convey, so why bother planning it" - OR perfectionism is used as an excuse to keep doing everything yourself because you can't be bothered to TRY to delegate to someone else or TRY to find someone who might, just might, be able to do it at least as well as (or maybe even better... gasp!), as you can or TRY to have a difficult conversation with a colleague or a partner about how they can contribute more or improve. Perfectionism maintains the status quo - you either don't do something or you keep doing everything - and the status quo is, well, lazy. And perfectionism keeps you from addressing your (often baseless) anxieties. "It has to be perfect or people will never buy it"; "No one will execute my vision as perfectly as I can"; "If I don't do it, it won't ever get done"; etc, etc, etc. Do you see how these perfectionist anxieties can hold you and your business back? Do you think Richard Branson comes up with new business verticals AND does the marketing plan AND does the pricing AND chooses the words for each ad AND makes the coffee? No! Do you think Sara Blakely turned Spanx into a billion-dollar business by sewing each item herself AND building her website AND shipping her products AND ordering the paper clips for the office? Hell no! So why do we? Why do we think we can grow a business AND do everything else? Why do we hold ourselves back by deluding ourselves that we are the exception to every rule of success (delegate, leverage, focus on what you're good at, test and iterate...)? Are we really perfectionists? Or are we being lazy? Are we really perfectionists? Or are we just anxious? Done is better than perfect. Trying is better than worrying. An imperfect business is better than one that stays in your head. Get something out there and improve, iterate, and - dare I say it! - perfect it later. Be honest about what your "perfectionism" is costing you and your business, and then try, at least try, to hide behind the Perfectionist's Creed a little less often. I have a confession to make: I am a people pleaser. I always have been. I was that kid in school who always got gold stars and straight-As. I was that annoying smarty-pants who would jump up and down in my chair with my hand thrust into the air to answer any question. I loved being the "teacher's pet" (and I was really good at it!), and that chronic-pleaser-syndrome has never gone away. (I think women suffer from people-pleasing more than men do, as we are socially and culturally encouraged to be accommodating and obliging - and sometimes called horrible names when we aren't -- but that's a topic for another day!).
Years ago when I was starting a business of my own, it felt like I never had enough hours in a day for myself, my health, my business, or my loved ones but somehow I still kept saying yes to requests and asks from other people, often total strangers. What was going on? I can't pinpoint exactly when it was, but I remember there finally coming a time when I read somewhere (I think it was Heather McGregor who writes the Mrs Moneypenny column in the FT) that it wasn't just okay to say no, it was essential. And that if something didn't directly support my personal or professional goals, then I should say no to it. It was like an epiphany. I suddenly felt the burden of my savior-syndrome start to lift. Of course I couldn't help everyone. No one can. We all have real constraints on our time and energy and need to be careful about how we invest that time and energy. The big and small things we say yes and no to have a very measurable impact on our lives and our success. Subtraction is often more important than addition. Saying no wasn't easy at first (and I still struggle with it now sometimes). Saying no to people who asked for help made me feel like a jerk. But as one of my favorite business writers Denise Duffield-Thomas says, we can give how, and however often, makes sense for us AND our businesses and create boundaries around that giving. I love that. Saying no isn't being mean or selfish, it's being realistic about the limits to how much I can and should give, and defining my "no's" and my giving clearly. So I've built generous giving into my business model: I do lots of free articles, You Tube videos, podcasts, webinars, and speaking engagements so I can help lots of people at the same time, and I do a set number of pro-bono hours to help a few budding entrepreneurs each year. And then, the rest of my time is devoted to private clients and our Members who I can help in a very targeted and tailored way. After years of giving indiscriminately, I designed boundaries into my business. I had to think hard about how I could say no but still help as many people as possible (there's that chronic-helper-syndrome again!) and help in a way that felt sustainable and generous instead of leaving me feeling vulnerable and exploited. But it took time, and thought, and some uncomfortable conversations for me to get (a little more) comfortable saying no, and now I am having a far greater impact on a far greater number of people. So in reality, saying no has allowed me to help more people and be more focused. Win-win. So what can you say no to? What boundaries can you establish so you can say no to some things and yes to others? What amount of no-saying is right for you AND your business? Warren Buffet didn't become hugely successful by investing in every business brought to him. He says no as a rule, and sparingly uses his yes's. (A great illustration of this is his "20-Punchcard Rule"... you can decide what your 20 punches will be in your business, in your personal life, in your health, etc, and say no to everything else.) Now I can't promise that by saying no you'll become the next Warren Buffet, but I CAN guarantee that when you get better at setting boundaries and saying no, you and your business will become more focused and disciplined, and focus and discipline are two of the key ingredients of success. So the next time you feel yourself tempted to say yes to something, take a minute and ask yourself if you should just say no instead. Back when I was building my first business, I was terrified of coming across as “green”. Yes, I was learning all I could. Yes, I was meeting with founders a few steps ahead of me and downloading as much of their experience and wisdom as possible. Yes, I was well-informed (and working hard to become more so), but I was also, well, “green.”
I knew I couldn’t control how people perceived me, or how seriously they took me, so I started by taking myself seriously first. What that meant in practice is that I prepared before each meeting. I did lots of due diligence about market trends and competition and customer needs before ever investing money in anything. I dressed professionally. I showed up on time. I asked good questions. I did everything I could to convey I was serious about building something new and serious about my (as-yet-non-existent) business. And before long, I found that others took me seriously too. All of my preparation, and learning, and research, and professionalism started to pay off. I didn’t trivialise what I was doing because none of it was, or is, trivial. I see so many new or early-stage founders laugh off their budding ventures as “hobbies” or hedge their goals or get nervous about telling others they are starting a business. But if you don’t believe in it, or if you think it’s laughable, or just a hobby, won’t everyone else? If you fail to take yourself and your business seriously, won’t everyone else? When you are serious about what you are building and serious and thoughtful about how you build it, the dream or target or vision becomes that much more credible. Serious isn’t dark and glum; serious just conveys “I mean business”… because you literally do. So don’t brush off what you are building. Don’t pretend like you don’t care so any potential failures will hurt less. Don’t treat your business like a hobby unless you want it to stay one. Talk the talk, walk the walk, and take yourself and your business seriously. “Sorry, I can’t do tomorrow. I'm having my AGM.”
When I was starting my first business, any time I would say something like that to a friend or family member, I’d get a raised eyebrow. “Really?” they’d ask incredulously. I could see them wondering if I was trying to make my business sound more important than it was. “Really,” I’d respond matter-of-factly. “I do one every year.” Now it doesn’t matter if you call it an AGM, or a Board Meeting, or a Strategy Day, or a Brainstorming Session, the point here is that there can be no substitute for setting aside at least a few days each year to plan, think about, and course-correct your business. Especially in the beginning. The foundations you put in place now will be what you carry with you – or waste time fixing! – forever. From the very beginning I have done an AGM in January where I review the previous year, note key lessons learned, consider how to avoid repeating any mistakes, and plot my targets and strategy for the year ahead. Then, every quarter, I do a Quarterly Review where I review the previous three months, measure progress against my targets, and make any course corrections needed to get back on track. I also take time to reflect on why things are, or are not, going as planned and analyse whether it’s my targets or my tactics that need adjusting. I book my AGM and quarterly reviews into the calendar in advance, allocate a FULL day to each, and commit to being distraction-free (that means NO email or phone checking until scheduled breaks). I also leave my office so I don’t get sucked into anything literally or figuratively lying on my desks. I choose nice venues with decent food and drink options so I have no excuse to break the flow of the session. I make an agenda, take notes, and that’s it. Just like in any other business. None of this is complicated, but as happens so often, essential things like review meetings are really easy to do and really easy not to do… especially when you’re your own boss. But the truth is, if you really want to be “bossing it” then you have to do some boss-like things and call a meeting! (And no excuses if you’re a one-wo/man band. You should still allocate a few days a year to high-level business planning, target-setting, lesson-learning, and year-reviewing on your own.) It's important to treat your business as a business from the beginning. So put these meetings into your annual calendar (and then actually holding the meetings!), and you will be amazed at how much more focus and growth you and your business experience. You just have to start, so why not start now? "I have no idea what am I doing..."
That is one of the refrains I hear from so many new Entreprenoras when we first start working together. They are usually high-achieving professionals with backgrounds in law, finance, consulting, medicine, media, and IT, so it always surprises me when they express feelings of confusion or inadequacy when it comes to their new business. Now of course start-up life is new to them, so some of the anxiety is about the new-ness. But I always reassure them that starting a business is like working in any other business: It requires due diligence and financial analysis, operates under supply and demand dynamics, can be SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analyzed, is dictated by cash flow, and requires a good product-market fit. I could go on. Whatever business you're in, certain fundamentals hold true. It might feel terrifying or scary because it's new to you to be starting from scratch, but it's not rocket science (and if you are a rocket scientist, you probably have lots of transferrable skills you can bring to your new business too!)... So do an inventory of the skills you already have and USE them. Leverage the personal experiences and professional expertise that you can already bring to your business. And don't over-worry about the things you don't know how to do yet. (You can learn... that's why you're here!) If you were once a banker, your financial due diligence skills will be invaluable when you assess potential deals. If you were once in sales, those skills will be perfect in marketing and selling your new product or services. If you come from a non-profit background, you can use your grant-writing expertise to craft compelling Angel investor pitches. If you're a lawyer by training, you can kill it when it comes to reviewing business contracts. If you worked in IT, you can use your project management skills to manage your new product development. And on and on and on... You get the idea. You already have a lot of valuable skills that you can use in your new business, whether you start it as a side-hustle or jump into it full-time. So stop worrying about why you can't start, and start thinking about how you can use the skills you have to get started. Plug information gaps (being a part of this community will help!), get smart about your industry and trends, go to events, speak to people who are doing what you want to do, and then use the skills you already have to make a success of it. It won't be easy, but you have got this. "When am I gonna get time to do everything?" You may remember from one my saying before that there were days (and days) in the beginning when I felt like a headless chicken. It wasn't just the running around physically, it was also the frantic "running around" mentally that was exhausting. I felt like my head was always swarming with things and ideas and STUFF that needed to get done: people I needed to follow up with, emails that needed sending, calls that needed making. The work seemed endless, and I felt like I was jumping from fire to fire trying to get stuff done, but could never keep up.  There were times when I wished I could fly above it all and magically will the stuff to do itself or go away, but somehow that never happened. I was living in a near-constant state of feeling like I wasn't accomplishing anything. How demoralizing is that? And that's when I remembered my entrepreneurial friend and decided to copy her. A few weeks earlier, I had sent her an email and got an auto-response that told me she only checks her email twice a day so she would be getting back to me during her next email checking slot within 24 hours. It was a mini Eureka! moment. What she was doing was batching: grouping like activity into a specific slot, and only doing that activity then. Batching is a HUGE time and energy saver, and I use it in all aspects of my life. Let's stick with the email example. Instead of checking my email throughout the day and getting distracted all day long, I generally only check and respond to email during two pre-determined slots. This ensures that I am still able to respond on the same day if needed and that I can catch anything important before the close of the working day. If anyone needs to reach me for something urgent, they know they can call. Before I started batching, I was constantly spending a few minutes here and a few minutes there jumping from task to task. I was reacting to my day and to other people's demands on my time instead of taking control of my day and creating a structure that works for me (another friend had once described email as someone else's to-do list for you!) . And batching clears head space. Because I have certain allocated slots for like activities, I can stop wondering or worrying about when something will get done. I know that X activity gets done during Y time, so if it's not Y now, then X ain't happening! Batching also forces us to be disciplined. If it's not Y time, then X doesn't get a look in. I use batching for pretty much anything that can be grouped together: I pay my invoices on the 15th and the 30th of the month. I create my You Tube and blog content on Mondays and Fridays. I do my coaching calls on Thursdays and Fridays. I do laundry on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I do grocery shopping on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (You get the idea.) Batching takes the guesswork out of your days and clears head space because you know when things will get done and don't have to waste time planning it in or reminding yourself. Batching imposes a useful but flexible structure in your life that will save you time, money, energy, and stress. Just try it and see for yourself how much easier it is to keep on top of things when you're not doing a little bit of everything all day long. That is the beauty of batching. "If I have to check one more voicemail, I'll scream!" I am not a phone person. I love talking to people, but my phone stresses me out. I don't pick up if I don't recognize the number. I hate the back and forth of leaving messages and waiting for people to call back. I much prefer the check-when-I-want-to-ness of email and the cut-to-the-chase-iness of texting. But once you've got your own business, people call you. And you need to pick up! You need to be available to your clients/customers/partners/suppliers/investors. You need to know if there is an emergency. You need to be contactable when people want to contact you. You need to be all-available all the time. Or do you?...  Because the thing is, you don't necessarily need to be available all the time, someone does. And that someone doesn't always have to be you. Enter the Gatekeeper (or my heroes and sheroes, as I call them). Gatekeepers can be many things, but for our purposes, they are the ones who do the screening and the filtering and the responding for you. They are the ones who get the calls, who take the messages, who arrange for things to get done so you don't have to. Now, most leaders and business owners get gatekeepers in the form of a PA, VA, or admin support. One of the gatekeepers I started using to save my sanity was a call answering service. Anyone who calls the office number gets routed to the answering service, and they then take down the important information and email it to me so I can then address whatever the call was about in my own time. This means I don't have to be on-call all the time, and makes it much easier and less stressful to manage the day to day running of a business. There's no point in building a business to gain your freedom only to be shackled by that business! So please start using these tips! The sooner you do, the sooner you will see the benefits in time saved, sanity gained, and money not thrown away. It is worth it. And you are worth it. When I was starting out, I was convinced I was the only person doing what I was doing. No one had my targets. No one had my ideas. No one had my vision for where I was going. And I was committed to figuring things out on my own...  But a simple search on google or browse through Facebook or flick through the news revealed that thousands of other people were just starting businesses, and thousands more had done so in the past. Who knew!?
This small realization was a huge (if obvious) relief, and thankfully, it came quickly. It meant that instead of trying to come up with a better wheel, I could follow tried and proven steps that other people had tested before me. So I started talking to and asking questions of anybody and everybody I met who had started a business. It didn't mean I blindly accepted everything they said - things change and people don't always keep up to date - but it did mean that I could tap into their experience for lessons I could apply to my own. And it was amazing how generous people were with their time and expertise. I may have gotten lucky with the people I encountered, but I am a firm believer that you get what you put out into the world. If you are willing to share and be open then other people will be the same. Sure, I couldn't offer expertise back then, but I could offer a testimonial or a connection with someone in my network, or simply offer the satisfaction that comes from helping someone. (I know from my own experience that it feels good to help other people, and most human beings want to be helpful if given the chance.) Now, I totally understand that finding and meeting people might not be something you can fit into your schedule (or want to do!), but you can download expertise and experience in other ways. There are tons of books, magazines, podcasts, forums and Facebook groups. You can sign up for e-courses, do online networking, book a call with a mentor or coach. You can learn a lot without leaving the house (but I would recommend at some point getting out into the real world!). You can tap into the knowledge that is out there before you try to come up with a better wheel. Your sanity and your business will thank you if you do. |
Business Mentor
Virgin Startup |
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Entrepreneur in Residence
London Business School |
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