We hear it over and over again that “diets don’t work.” And yet the diet and weight loss industry is a BILLION dollar industry. Everyone is always looking for the magic pill, the next BIG trend, from celery juice to the OMAD diet. Everyone wants the shortcut to success. This no longer applies to just the weight loss industry. It is sweeping the entrepreneurial landscape, leaving behind a wake of anxiety, despair, and burnout.
With the online teaching industry working its way to becoming a $352 billion dollar industry by 2025, internet gurus are promising the “magic success pill” to the new-to-the-scene doe-eyed entrepreneur. Promises of beating the Instagram algorithm, having a $20k launch on your first go round, and how to create endless leads with no effort! It’s flashy. It’s sexy. It’s provocative. And we are buying it. There are a number of incredibly helpful courses and coaches available and it is a promising industry with wonderful tools! But beware consumer, do your research. If they are promising overnight success or a quick fix, press the pause button. That is the “success diet pill.”
With the pressure to purchase the next hottest method or approach the social media landscape with the “one proven method” and the constant barrage of “hustle more” and “do more”, many budding entrepreneurs are feeling more overwhelmed and terrified of failure or not having the perfect launch. There is simply no such thing as having a perfect “first go.” There is no magic pill for success. We have to stop subscribing “hustle” as the “cure all.” It only leads to burnout.
It is all too commonplace for a newer entrepreneur to burn the midnight oil, rise and grind, hustle, and work themselves into sheer exhaustion in order to attain the results they see others reaching. The “diet” approach to business, is when we take aggressive and unsustainable actions in order to get results in a condensed period of time. The results may come, but at what cost? Burnout, fatigue, poor customer care? And like with most diets, if we get there with celery juice we still don’t have the habits in place to keep the weight off afterwards. You can’t live on celery juice alone! And you certainly can’t succeed on “hustle” alone either.
Choose small consistent actions that will yield results over time. Build foundational habits that can be sustained in the long term. With the children’s fable about the tortoise and the hare, take the route of the tortoise. The hare went out with speed but didn’t take into account the distance. He hit burn out and needed a nap. And while he was recovering from his overexertion, he was outpaced by the tortoise. The tortoise created a sustainable pace. He set out for DISTANCE and inevitable beat the hare!
Ignore the entrepreneurial hares selling you their secrets. Sit down with the tortoise and learn his ways. Stop crash dieting with your business. Choose sustainable habits you can keep over a long period of time. Adapt. Take water breaks. Get to the finish line. Don’t buy the celery juice craze!
This is why so many starting entrepreneurs go out there with the crash diet approach and come back thinking, “I’m just not cut out for this.” That’s not the case! Find what works for you. Just like with running, everyone’s pace is different. Find your long distance pace. And stick with it.
-Kristen Boss
www.kristenboss.com
