A vast majority of us who venture into online business have one real goal in mind…
In the beginning, you may think that your desire is simply for extra money, or maybe its because you just don’t want to worry about money. Perhaps your goal is to be filthy rich. But is money really what you are after?
When you think about it, money is really just a tool. The more you have, the more that you can accomplish. It gives you to power to do what you want when you want.
It gives you the ability to travel, to purchase things that make your life more comfortable. It can allow you to spend more quality time with your family. It gives you the power to tell your boss to stick it where the sun don’t shine… It is liberating. And the list goes on.
Many realize (often too late) that their true core desire is freedom. Having this goal defined in the beginning will allow you to create systems in your business that will keep you out of the trenches, so that your business can grow faster while freeing you up to enjoy the finer things in life.
A prosperous business can ultimately give you freedom if you structure it that way. Your business can be your ticket to freedom, or it can be your master and jailer.
Way back in the day when I was living out of my car in Virginia Beach, I was able to wander around and walk the beaches, as if I was truly free. There was just one catch… this wasn’t the way that I wanted to live out my life.
Without money, my options were really limited. On the one hand, I loved the freedom of not answering to anyone or anything, but on the other hand, I was imprisoned by my circumstances. Scarcity was my mindset, and as a direct result, scarcity then became my reality.
Our business can become a prison too if freedom was our core desire, and we didn’t have this goal defined from the start. When you get started, really drill down and get in touch with your core desire, so that you can shift into the right direction from the beginning.
Are you working 16 plus hours a day trying to scrape a living out of your business? If so, you’re probably using the wrong systems (unless you enjoy working 16 + hours a day).
Don’t be a hero. You can duplicate the things that make you money in your business by outsourcing it to other people. Would you spend $500 in a month to have someone make you $2000 or more?. Would you then spend $5000 to make $20,000 or more?
Of course! Getting rid of the “no one can do it better than me” mindset, and stepping away is one of the best ways to really multiply your business.
The most you can work yourself is about 60 to 80 hours a week with a guaranteed burnout in the end. By outsourcing, you can get hundreds or thousands of hours accomplished in the same amount of time!
…Just a little something for you to ponder.
Yes Jack, ball and chain.
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Your good friend Ray.
Jack, words of wisdom as always. I have found odesk dot com to be a useful outsourcing site. You have to pick and choose from a large range of contractors but with some careful research and a few failures, I have been able to find a good writer who will consistently produce well written 800+ word articles for $5. I also found a graphics artist who knows a lot more about Photoshop than I ever want to know and for $20 I got a series of images, including the original PS files, delivered to my inbox. It would have taken me days to do it myself. I see you’re into handbags now!?! Is that drop-shipping or have you rented a warehouse?
Nice insight. I agree to most of what you said. Especially on the idea that the more money you have the more that you can do and the more you can implement things on your business, that is the practical truth. Nice post and more power.
Thanks all for the comments. 🙂
@Geoff – Great points Geoff, it rarely makes sense to trudge through the menial stuff when we as business owners should be concentrating on higher level aspects. Scaling up & automation is the only way to really grow in a big way. BTW – mostly dropshipping… less headaches, automation is king ya know. 😛
@Ray! good to hear from you. Glad to see that you’re still kickin’. 🙂
@John – the nice thing about the snowball effect is that it’s pretty much automatic when you have solid procedures in place for your people to follow.
-Jack
I always say that a business plan is just that – a business plan. Nothing earth shattering there. What I have learned though over the last few years is that you need a lifestyle plan that trumps the business plan.
It is all very well to have a plan to build a business but if it means losing your life (time with friends and family, that sort of thing) then you have to consider if it is worth it.
Having a lifestyle plan that wraps your business plan up into a package that includes time for the important things in life is a better approach. That is what I am now working on after a few years of running with the plain old business plan.
well said Michael. 🙂
Freedom and quality of life is what most people going into business really want. It’s amazing how many just don’t realize it and make it their ultimate goal through their business.
-Jack