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The Right Tools & Mindset For Success

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Three Hard Truths About Self Employment

The reality of life is more helpful than the perceptions we carry. The reality of self employment is far different than your perception of it. These three truths aren’t meant to discourage you. Expectations are important. Realistic expectations are vital.

The truth brings freedom, even when the truth hurts.

Here are three realities of self employment, and specifically of being a solopreneur.

1. You Create Your Own Momentum

There’s no one telling you when to start. There’s no one telling you that you have to finish.

It sounds like freedom if you’re tired of unrealistic expectations but the lack of designated start and finish lines creates inefficiency.

Deadlines help us move forward. Deadlines create urgency. They are imperative to finishing. When you’re self employed it’s up to you, the start and the finish.

2. You’re Lonely By Default

If you want community you’ll need to go find it. Chatty workplace aren’t always inefficient. Talking shop keeps us sharp. Community gives us a sense of belonging. That doesn’t happen in your home office or at the coffee shop while you wear your headphones.

Community is constructed and nothing is built well without intention, so build community.

3. It’s Difficult By Design

Self employment is difficult for the same reason marriage, weight lifting, childbirth, paying your taxes on time, and eating lots of veggies are difficult. Things that are worth it are difficult. There is no gain without work, not if what you’re working for is worth something.

A great marriage is work, it’s worth it. Paying your taxes on time takes discipline, is worth it. Self employment isn’t always difficult but when it’s not difficult it’s because you’ve already worked hard to get to where you are.

Romance + Reality

Romance is vital in relationships and if you’re courting the idea of self employment then you deserve to be realistic. Romance puts you close to an idea, hard work helps your idea reach its potential.

Self employment has tremendous benefits. Taking a job is virtually impossible for me to consider. The reality of self employment is still very different than the perception. Proceed, but proceed with realistic expectations.

This may not have been much fun to read but it’s the truth. The truth brings freedom, even when the truth hurts.

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There is no glory in your work

Me...working

Most of our work is done when no one is looking.

You have to be able to work with no applause if you want applause someday.

You must love what you do otherwise you’ll quit.

No one is paying attention right now, except you.

The world needs what you’re making and you need it too. That’s why God gave you the idea.

(I wrote this for myself but I thought you might relate.)

Can  you relate?

 

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If you want something different you need to do something different

Things you can aspire to do:
– Run a marathon (even a half marathon would count)
– Read the Bible in a year
– Quit your job and start your own business
– Drink your coffee black
 

Perhaps the last choice doesn’t carry the weight the others carry but today my choice to make my life different was to drink my coffee black. I want my life to be different so I’m looking for anything I can do differently. I like cream and sugar in my coffee but leaving them out means I think about change every time I raise the cup to my lips. Change will be on my mind 30 times in the next 45 minutes. That’s worth the $1.90 I paid.
 
I used to smoke
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Three sales tools – motives, feelings, thoughts

Photo by Mariano Arriaga at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/elbrus5

“We don’t, for the most part, work with the invisible space of souls and thoughts and motives and feelings. They’re so abstract and immeasurable.”

– Jennie Allen, Anything

Businesses that have raving fans understand human emotion. How else does a company like Apple charge up to 3X as much for a machine with the same “specs” as a Windows based machine? How can Apple not have focus groups but still get customers to focus so much on their products even before their launched? How does an author make money by giving away his book? How do churches, ministries and non-profits in general get people to give them money?
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What the heck is self-motivation?

We all have our reasons for going to work

These are two of the reasons I go to work.  Samuel is on the left, Caroline is on the right. They’re two of the things in my life that motivate me.  I think it’s dangerous to try to “motivate yourself” because frankly motivating yourself for yourself is like a cat chasing it’s tail, it’s not a good thing if you get what you’re after.

How to quit quickly

Owning your own business, building your own brand and growing as a person can fill up every moment of your waking (and a few sleeping) hours.  Don’t get caught in the line of thinking that tells you that you have to “self-motivate”.  You’ll quit quickly and often if that’s where you’re looking for motivation.  You’ll quit because if you’re digging within yourself for motivation then it’s likely you are running low on resources.  That’s a bad idea. Try asking a guy panhandling for change for your $20.  You’re asking the wrong guy.  When you seek motivation from within you’re unlikely to find it.

The world, your world, your kids, yourself

Making the world (planet Earth) better is part of my motivation.  Inside of that big world is my world, that’s the connections I have through the internet that have turned into friendships as well as where I live geographically. Providing for my family and making the name “Traub” a good one is the next layer of my motivation.  My last source of motivation is myself.  I have pride.  I don’t want to suck. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I don’t want to lose. I want people to like me, to read my content and to listen to my shows.

Where do you get your motivation?  How’s that working for ya?