There is a concept which I am sure you are all familiar with and it is that the concept of inaction. What is this inaction that you speak of? Inactions meaning is bang on in relation to business starting/growth, inaction is defined as a lack of action where some is expected or appropriate. It is a passive approach where you do not intervene. Everyone seems to want this magical ‘passive’ income but mostly they are remaining too passive to even begin.
I see a lot of inaction from what I call the perfection pursuit, be it with your website, with your branding or with your training style many health business owners are nervous about getting it moving and starting, because they feel like it must be perfect. I have seen it all before and been privy to many conversations of people who have huge plans, they will change the ‘game’ with their new thing but yet when I check back in on these people in say a year (if left unchecked) they have not really furthered their venture they are at times still completing a detailed SWOT analysis or at times researching the best image to put on their web banner.
If you want to do any of these things below, adopting a just start philosophy will be your path to success:
- Want to write a book?
- Open a gym?
- Create a new company?
- Quit your job?
- Launch a website?
- Rebrand?
- Do video on social? Etc..
What is actually the thing that is stopping you? Honestly, just think for a moment. Is it “how busy you are with your job..”, is it the fact that my “business partner let me down…” or is it something else, something much more internal?
Here’s the mantra that I created many moons ago which I still live by today and for anyone who has attended The Fitness Business Forum seminars will know what we mean. The mantra is simple and it goes like this’ What you allow, is what you should expect and you expect you do deserve”.
Simply put, ALLOW – EXPECT – DESERVE.
Logical right? I get that for some people this is quite dramatic and forward. I understand if this is a bit challenging but also I think it is reasonable, it does however, require you to fully acknowledge and own everything. When the proverbial hits the fan, you’re up and when the sun is shining you’re up too!
Let’s just take a moment to let the mantra sink in…
“What you allow, is what you should expect and what you expect, is what you do deserve.”
That can come in two waves; firstly a positive allowance, ie. allowing yourself to only check your email at dedicated time slots during the day which will ensure that you can expect to get back to people on time and not spend all day staring at emails blankly (I see you!). From this you should expect to clear your mails and clear your mind whilst ensuring your business progresses. Now think of a negative allowance like say allowing your team members to come to work late, well surely you should expect to set a precedent (if no repercussions) and thus as such you deserve to have a business which has multiple timing issues. The allowances in our lives can be tiny or massive but both matter.
Think about the non starter versus the just starter and the difference between the two. The non starter may allow themselves to not start by blaming their schedule, their family or a multitude of other reasons. They should, of course, expect to not really change what they are doing drastically and as such they deserve to continue to do the job that they don’t like. The just starter on the other hand, allows themselves to work hard in the evening and get some of their dream built, they expect to slowly start to get an income and as such deserve to be able to quit their job in a matter of time and do what they enjoy. Of course we understand this conceptually when we frame it in terms of other people but when we look at our lives it all changes. Easy for you mate, I can’t do that, I have ‘this issue’ or ‘that issue’, we all have issues. Some of us find ways to make the rest of our lives work around the issues or we go through them. Either way, no matter where you are at, you can just start.
I am here today to tell you that it cannot start perfect, it should not start perfect nor would you want it to and here’s why:
- If you want to aim for the perfect start you will spend the majority of your time researching colour palettes, the meaning of fonts and more and this although it may aesthetically add some value to your future or potential clients it may not add ANY.
- If you were to start perfect, well then you would be at a position from where you could not improve. And I would suggest that you should almost always be improving rather than perfection search for improvement in the business setting.
I call this timeframe in your business the ‘Just start phase’. You can go all in and actually embrace the ‘just start phase’ or you can forever sit on the bench, talking about the potential, waiting for an ‘investor’ (this is a great one because then if you can’t get the money you can blame someone else!) or simply wanting to begin but not getting the courage to do so. I implore you today, to just start. Do something, do a bit and begin your journey into your new passion. I wish someone had told me this years ago and it is cool because now I get to see people who want something, I get to help them commence and see the early wins. With the right energy, guidance and idea you can really make it work, rarely do the right colours and fonts matter as much as you think they do.
So if you have an idea, a plan, a concept or a personal project that you’ve wanted to do, it excites you and you want to be involved in it, well what is actually holding you back? Is it the fact that you can’t choose between Calibri and Arial (Both great by the way!) or is it more likely the fact that you say you want it but are nervous of the ramifications if you try and fail? If you have a business idea, have a passion project or have a business improvement plan that you want to launch but don’t know how? Simply connect with us today and we can help assess the viability and provide you with some clarity. Just click on any of the contact us buttons or email us here.
I’ve seen the changes in others when they accept this full responsibility and it can be magical. As I said you are responsible for it all, so it it fails yup, that’s on you and if it succeeds, you guessed it, you again (or your team if you have one…)
I urge you again to dial into this project and make it happen.
“Don’t rely on anyone else, except yourself and at least that way when it is a success, you know why.”
Do however seek support from people in the know and do open yourself up to learning but overall…
Just start.
In the last few years, I have been able to help support many people along their just start journeys, from quitting their jobs, to opening gyms to launching websites and businesses and more. The feeling that they get when they reach their small goal is heart warming and you too can feel that if you commit to start. Committing to inaction will cause negative emotions and often times can force someone to become bitter, trust me I’ve seen that heaps too.
Enjoy the journey and one last time, just start.