Do these and set yourself up for entrepreneurial success
Dreaming of quitting your 9–5 and getting the freedom to travel and work on your own terms?
Maybe you even declared around January 1, “THIS will finally be the year that I’ll quit my job!”
Now that we’re months into 2017, how are you feeling about that prospect?
Are you still inspired by the possibilities of this year, or doubting that your dreams of finally escaping that 9–5 could ACTUALLY come true this year?
Wherever you are at this moment, here are five things you must know before quitting your 9–5.
These are things I WISH I’d known, things I teach my high-achieving clients as they build their businesses, keys that will make a HUGE difference for you. Even better, they’re things you can start working on right this minute, today, without having to wait to quit your job first!
1. Get over the fear of failure.
Most people let this fear and its partner-in-crime, the fear of what people will think, control their ENTIRE lives. The most common regret at the end of peoples’ lives, according to a lifelong hospice nurse Bronnie Ware?
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
Don’t let that be you! How do we conquer this super-common fear? It’s simple, but not easy: by TRYING THINGS.
Choose something small, like a new workout program, creating a new habit that you do every day for a week, reaching out to someone and asking for their advice or insight on how they succeeded in building the life they wanted, or checking one thing off your to-do list that you’ve been putting off. Try it, and experience the energy that comes from completing it. Build that trust in yourself that you CAN accomplish things, and when the big stuff comes, you’ll be more confident and ready to give them a go.
2. Support & accountability are KEY ― get them now.
Why, oh why, do we stop investing in ourselves and our dreams after school?
It’s perfectly acceptable to borrow huge sums of money to get a formal education, but the minute we graduate, most of us start telling ourselves we don’t need to invest in ourselves anymore and that if we’re smart, we should to be able to figure it out for free. This is backwards! The most successful entrepreneurs are always learning, always investing in themselves to continually improve.
The most successful athletes are coached their ENTIRE CAREERS. Find an expert you connect with and get some support and accountability. After a decade of running my own businesses, I’m telling you: it will be the best money you ever spent on yourself AND your business.
3. Invest in business development continually.
After investing in yourself with someone who can support you along your journey toward building your business, you must next invest back into your business to continually generate new business.
Even before you quit your job, getting to know people who could become future clients is KEY! In the beginning, this may be an investment of time; it doesn’t have to be money. But always be bringing new potential business in, so that the money keeps flowing! P.S. If you’re an introvert like me, this is totally possible and doesn’t have to be torture!
4. There is plenty of business for everyone!
A lot of times, I hear “Well, I have this great idea, but the market is already saturated.” I call BS, and here’s why.
There are 2 billion people online, and they’re more targetable and reachable than ever. You only need the TINIEST fraction of those people to become your clients in order for you to make more money than you’ve ever dreamed of.
And YOU ARE UNIQUE.
Your story, your experiences, your personality, all of these things combine to mean that the way you run your business and who will want to buy your services or products is not the same as “all the other people out there already doing it.” Thank them for going before you and proving that there ARE people in the world willing to pay money for what you dream of doing, and get after it!!
5. Hire out your weaknesses ASAP.
That stuff you’re not good at? Those things you HATE and keep putting off? Find someone else to do them AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!
This gem comes from Sara Blakely, the youngest self-made female billionaire ever. “As soon as you can afford to, hire your weaknesses,” she shared in Business Insider.
I spent way too long doing everything by myself in the name of frugality. What that meant is that the things I’m best at, that I could make money doing most easily, were muddled by all the other business things (accounting, legal, taxes, technical work) that needed to be done, but took me 5 times as long as it would have taken an expert to do.
It cost me time I could have been spending on what I’m AMAZING at doing (helping high-achieving women uncover their unique gifts and create a business around them!), and it cost me money because I had to stop doing what I was good at to do these other things. Don’t fall into that trap!
It will save you so much time, frustration, energy, and money in the end if you start the practice of treating yourself as an expert in your field and using other experts in theirs.
There you have it! Which one speaks most to you? Let me know in the comments!
Christine McAlister is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, speaker, and expert on turning tragedy into business and life triumph. Her company, Life With Passion, helps high-achieving, motivated women rediscover their unique gifts and create freedom-based businesses.
Ready for paying clients? Grab Christine’s free workbook, Top 5 Things To Do To Get Your First Or Next Client, and connect with her in her private Facebook community, Life With Passion Society.
Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com on February 20, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com