Before you stone me, hear me out.
I know the headline was controversial…call it a cheesy marketing trick if you will, but I had an epiphany at 4am in the middle of holding a very sick and congested little boy in my arms {this is Julie by the way}. It’s really important, and so I had to get you to open this email so you can read it.
I have a client right now, you may have heard me speak of them before…Healthy Habits Happy Moms. One of the mantras in their tribe is #allorsomething.
It’s a kickback from the all or nothing mentality that the dieting industry SAYS it doesn’t do…when it most certainly does.
And men, I can’t speak for you as much as I can for the ladies when I say…
Yoyo dieting and the “all or nothing” mentality…is.a.thing. A real, bonafide, monstrous and torturous thing.
Let me ask you…if you are starting a new diet, do you like to either….
- Start on a Monday
- Start at breakfast the next day you “vow” to begin
- Start on the 1st of the month
- Start on the 1st of the year
Yeah? Me too.
Because if we read in SELF magazine at 4pm on a Tuesday about some new way to eat kale that makes us lose 234,454,343 lbs in 2 days, our instinct is to WAIT until the next day, next week, or next month…and we justify this with…we’re going to do it right damnit.
- Clean out the cupboards.
- Buy the ingredients.
- Prepare ourselves for the all or nothing mentality that diets tempt us with.
The fact is, 99.9999% of us will never keep or stick to this diet, even though we think that starting fresh and right and new and with our ducks all in a row will somehow make us more successful than if we’d read the magazine at 4pm and tried the new idea at dinner.
For the record, I HATE diets, and think the best way to be successful at them? Is to NEVER do them again. But I digress…
It’s the same with business.
A couple things I see over and over in dieting and in business…
People wanting to start fresh and new and right
There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to start your business the right way, but once in a while, it’s just a veiled form of procrastination or perfectionism. The truth is, this does not ensure you will be MORE successful than someone who doesn’t start all fresh and new and right {whatever THAT actually is mind you}.
Case in point…our Facebook group. I see people asking questions about insurance and contracts and business entities and while that’s all fine and good and perfectly necessary at some point in your business journey, for most people starting out, it’s not necessary. And 50% of you will never get started because you’re waiting to get all these specific ducks in a row and it makes me sad because I made $70k last year with no insurance, no LLC, and very pathetic contracts. And for the four years prior that, I made $25k with not even a business checking account {don’t imitate me, but the point is…just start!}
Gurus {and inflated egos} will like to give you well-meaning advice because…
A. They want to look smart
B. They want to overcomplicate things so you feel like you need their help
C. They just are know-it-alls that forget the path THEY took to get to where they are
D. They are super detail oriented and have a hard time weeding out the “must-do’s” from the “should-do-at-some-point”
#allorsomething
What are you going to do today to further your business? Something small perhaps, but that’s okay. Just something today. Not tomorrow, not Monday {although haha, it is Monday today!} Bonus points if that something you do includes putting yourself out there before you feel ready.
People waiting for a specific time
You’re going to start your business______________ {insert the right date}. Like the diet mentality, you theorize that starting at a certain point in history will make you more likely to succeed than if you just simply…start.
Successful business owners just fucking start.
People with lasting healthy habits realize that it’s the small changes over LONG periods of time that matter, not the cleanses and the detoxes and the blah deee blah blah blah.
There is no RIGHT time to start a business. You’ll have kids or school or work or whatever. I moonlighted my business pregnant with my fourth child in the middle of a divorce and a move and immigrating Alex to America. My timing was flawless clearly.
People looking for the magic fix
The new method. The right way. The magic bullet.
One of my favorite dudes online right now… {insert slight sarcasm}… is a guy selling a Facebook Ads course.
He’s making a zillion dollars selling a Facebook Ads course. And he.does.know.what.hes.talking.about.
But the problem is that a few of the people taking his course don’t see that the money he’s raking in is not from doing ads for others. Or…they don’t realize how much experience he earned in the trenches doing ads for others before he got those results over and over and over. Or…they don’t realize that the reason he was so successful is because he’s a great salesman and that his charisma was part of his success formula. Or…they don’t realize that his past and desire for more than where he was at the time, produced a grit and persistence that kept him going. Or…they don’t see how much he invested first before he got the results he did.
On and on it goes.
This guy did not earn $300k from doing Facebook Ads for others. But his marketing is full of flashy numbers, and even though he isn’t making claims that his course will do that, people get funny around money. Their ears dull and their eyes glaze over and it’s hard to think or hear anything other than…I want money, and I want it now.
People see his course, the zillion dollar screenshots, and the myriads of people jumping in, and so they jump too.
Here’s a profound statement. Diets don’t work. Neither do business diets.
If you expect a course or program to manifest mad money for you, it’s going to be a big fat disappointment. There’s grit and time and experience and patience and practice. All these ingredients PLUS the right training make a business successful.
So I have good news and bad news.
The headline read: If you love diets, you might fail at business…and yes, it was sorta cheeky.
What does work:
- Permanent small incremental changes towards your goal
What does NOT work:
- Extreme and dramatic changes based off of some prescribed formula that doesn’t take human nature into account
So if you are prone to falling prey to every new dieting gimmick out there, you’re likely prone to the same thing in business.
But…you can quit both!!! Yahoo!
So as I wrap up this mammoth post, please don’t turn your new #allorsomething response to this message…into a diet! 😉
Here are a few things you can do today to get yourself out there….
- Make sure your Facebook Business page is complete and hook it up to your profile.
- Find five people with problems in Facebook groups, and fix them.
- Learn one skill JUST ENOUGH to get out there and market it. Our recommendation for The Digital Gangsta members is to try the ConvertKit course or the Facebook Ads. Both can be completed in a day and then you can start looking for work.
- Make a list of all the questions, concerns, issues you have about your business and place them in a worry notebook. Write them down, and maybe 1x a week, you have permission to go in, pick one, and actively worry about it a little. Otherwise, nope. Keep going.
Repeat to yourself…
#allorsomething
xx Julie + Madelaine