Keep Going!

Today we are looking at the long term of how you are going to continue forward motion long after this challenge. There is a hard stretch between the conception of a new business and actually having it made. During that time, you may or may not have quit working for the man, but now you will need to develop some self-bossing skills, as well as implementing some backup structure and accountability.

"The truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. Those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern them. -Socrates."

You Da Man!

You either have already or are in process of transitioning from working for the man, to being the man. This is really simple. You already know how to do it. It is not however, easy.

If you've ever held down a real job before, you have these essential skills.

1. You show up every day. In a job, that is what you do. It might be only to keep from getting fired, but you do it.

2. You show up no matter what. You work sick when there's nobody else or you can't afford the time off. You work when it's sunny outside, when your fav tv marathon is on, when your friends are all getting together for coffee and invited you.

3. You stay there all day. You fulfill your responsibilities. You might slack, but you manage to do a good enough job and provide enough value to the company that they keep you. You don't go home until it's time to punch out.

4. You accept payment for your efforts. In fact, you fully expect it and the more the better.

5. You don't take it on as your identity. You might take pride in your work but you don't let it define who you are. You're able to gracefully accept praise or criticism. You shift gears quickly from work to the rest of your life.

Now in contrast, the entrepreneur who doesn't self-boss doesn't show up everyday. He certainly doesn't show up everyday no matter what. (Please note I'm not saying you can't have time off. You have already read that I'm in favor of taking generous amounts off. I'm saying be structured and have a plan to do it.) He comes and goes as he feels and as the wind blows.

He over-identifies with what he's doing and therefore may not be able to put a price on it or accept any criticism for it. As a result, he may not ever be willing to put it out there in public, or he does it in very "safe" ways which translates to no publicity.

A bit of proverbs for you. (Just in case you thought you might be in danger of working your butt off and not seeing a return for it.)

22:29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. Mean here can be translated as unimportant.

12:24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (This to me is a mind-set issue. Are you going to take shortcuts? Or are you going to be diligent and do things right?)

10:4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

13:4 A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

6:6-11 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

This is what is in front of you for awhile. Mastering self-mastery. But this isn't the goal. The goal is to have a business that sustains without you as a grunt worker. This is when you truly are "da man."

Having Some Backup. 

Different personalities need different types of support structures, and this is a key to success that most people neglect. Without a plan in place, it's easy to get sidetracked and derailed.

Inspiration is a great motivator, but when the going gets tough, and you've turned negative, you need a back up to keep you going.

Depending on who you are, what your weaknesses are, what your preferences are you'll need some of the following: role models, mentors, coaches, accountability partners, mastermind groups, goal tracking sheets, reminders, scheduled review and planning times, etc.

When you have reinforcements in place, you'll be more strategic, inspired, focused, and better able to break through resistance.

We've talked about goal setting and time management, how ya coming with this? My favorite reminder tools are todoist and the calendar on my phone. If you set something up months in advance, you are gonna need a tool that gets it in front of your face again at the right time.

Another thing you can do is set up time at the end of your day to schedule and prioritize tomorrow's actions on your to do list. I used to have reminder go off on my phone at 7pm to do that. Having a recurring reminder that makes a noise or in some other way gets your attention, is a great way to start a new habit. You need to set it for about a month and after that you should be good.

I'm going to throw more ideas for success structure out there, and you do not need to do all of it, or even half of it. You need to do what makes sense for you. Generally you should focus on getting one thing implemented at a time. You might make a short list of success structures that you think would be beneficial and start with one. Put a reminder in to add the next one in a month, and so forth, while dropping what doesn't work well for you.

For this exercise, you'll need your goals top of mind as you choose your structure.

You will need structure for goal setting, planning and scheduling. This means scheduling time to review your goals, vision and developing new plans of action. Your plan of course needs to allow for some Holy Spirit intervention and fly by the seat of your pants time. You might need to experiment a bit to get this to work for you.

You will also need a structure for getting new strategy. This might be best suited working with peers, a coach or mentor, or you can work alone by brainstorming, mind mapping and God is awesome in this dept as well. You might want to schedule this on a monthly basis, perhaps using part of a day?

You need a system for tracking and measuring. I'm all over this stuff. I love metrics, analytics, you may not. Tracking provides clear feedback on what works and what doesn't. Decide on one or two things you care about and develop an easy system for tracking. Ask me if you need ideas.

You need accountability. Almost all of us perform better in relationships than we do solo. With an accountability partner, you set clear objectives and actions and then report back to them at a predetermined date whether you took action or not. If yes, party time, if no, brainstorm about how to do better, or reprioritize and recommit to taking action.

You need reminders. You need a system to set up and deploy them when you need them. Todoist, phone calendar, Google calendar, sticky notes or a personal assistant all work.

You need people. This can take the form of coaches, consultants, assistants, employees, partners, mentors, or mastermind groups.

The full length Supernatural Business class will fulfill a lot of this for you, but if that isn't doable for you right now, we at least want to send you off with a viable plan for success. If you would like the support of Alice and I, as well as a class that meets over Zoom, and 22 more modules to help you get your business on a good foundation, check out our full length class.

Essential Homework:
The best structure comes from a balance of social (meaning others help you) and solo (you don't need anyone else to get it done.) Choose at least one social support and one solo support to implement. Tell us below how you are going to be diligent. Feel free to invent your own system and give us all new ideas.