Freedom, Wealth and Success – What a Wonderful Combination

It may be that one of the reasons you started or are thinking of starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur is because you want flexibility. It may be that you want more time with family or another part-time career, or you want to work hours to accommodate children’s commitments or even commute times. My reason was to be able to operate on my damaged pelvis, hip and spine. You may also have some unique reason why you want, and in some cases need, the flexibility to work on your own.

Then, of course, there is the question of money, and yes, it is a big factor for most of us when we make the decision to work our own business instead of doing it all for someone else. I also hear my members say that they want to make a difference, and I can really support that fact because it’s wonderful to have the knowledge and impart it to others and enrich lives, so again, it’s a key factor. However, the most important reason seems to shine above the rest is to have FREEDOM.

Now I guess flexibility could also count as Freedom, and certainly money buys freedom in a way and being able to be creative and help others is a form of freedom (you may have heard the phrase ‘free to express myself’.

I’m talking about the masses when I mean ‘us’ and ‘us’ and I do understand that there will be a percentage, a very small percentage that doesn’t fit into the ways of thinking and working, but for now, this is for the majority of we

Work life may have been the 9-5, although the 9-5 is usually 7-7 when you factor in prep, travel, and setup time. That’s a lot of time outside of 24 hours each and every day. Time is such a precious commodity and it is the only one that can never be replaced. That’s why we want to use it wisely and get the most out of every minute and hour of the day. I don’t mean we have to work hard every hour, I want you to think about the work you do and see if you are doing unnecessary things or duplicating efforts with little or no return.

Time dedicated to oneself is essential, and most people say ‘I don’t have time’ or the classic ‘I’ll try to make time’. I have an amazing little fact to announce here, no one, no matter how smart, talented, or experienced, no one, can make time. You have everything there is.

This is why when I hear that some entrepreneurs are working full steam ahead all day, every day and even nights and weekends, it worries me. Why is there so much for one person to do? Is everything productive? The reason I’m qualified to ask these questions is because I was there, I did the 14 hour days with little reward, I was doing the whole thing myself. I usually worked alone on all aspects of the business and ran erratic, tired and became very ineffective. Of course I couldn’t see that, because ‘I’m too busy’ and that was my motto. It was my grandson who triggered it when he said ‘you never have time to do things now like you did when you were working’. Wow, how powerful was that.

I suddenly looked at what he was doing, and I bet you’re thinking similar things now. Where is the glorious freedom you wanted?

Contractors workers

We entrepreneurs are the hardest working people on the planet and we may not be the most effective with the use of our skills and time. It might be that you work 40, 50 or even 60 hours and you probably fit in with all the other things we want to do like kids events, family commitments, housekeeping, etc. You may also get too tired to enjoy some important events. It does not have to be this way.

If your business can’t survive without you working all the hours that are sent to you, then I would ask myself if you have the right business model, and I’d be pretty sure, on investigation, you don’t have the right model. I agree that initially when you are setting up to start your new company, there are a lot of things to implement and a lot to do, and if the structure is right, then there are processes that can be put in place and there is also automation. , all of which will make life and work balanced.

Now is a good time to take a work-life inventory. If you continue to do what you’ve always done, guess what, you’ll get more than what you’re getting now, and that may not be what you set out to do.

Because most people, including myself, go into business with knowledge and skills related to that business, it doesn’t always follow that a plan was created. Now I know that most people get nervous when I talk about plans, because they usually associate it with a document of 17 or more pages called a ‘Business Plan’. This is essential work, but there is something even more important. What is your goal? What do you want for yourself, your life, your family and your future? This is my type of planning. What do I want and how will I achieve it? I also check and update regularly because ‘life is what happens when you’re busy making plans’. Things change, events take place, and curveballs swing from the sides.

Of course, you could just drift aimlessly and hope that there will be more business and income coming in and that you will eventually have more free time. I seriously doubt it, but I hope you’ll correct me if you’ve experienced that. I have been training entrepreneurs for many years and until now I have not seen anyone who has come to a life of wealth, success, happiness and freedom by accident. (although it can happen to Lottery winners).

Do not despair! You can certainly build a fantastic business and have all the freedom, creativity, wealth and success you dream of. But that requires planning, structuring, and doing things differently. You have so much knowledge and skill at your fingertips or in your head that you just need to apply it in a well-defined business model. Now the best jewel, IT’S EASY TO DO.

While structuring and putting processes in place to grow or expand your business is not a mammoth task, there are pitfalls, pitfalls, and dead ends that should be avoided at all costs. You may have even experienced many to date. And if you haven’t, I can almost guarantee you will if you hurry up and try to do it all yourself. It can be frustrating and very expensive when you fall for one of these dreaded events. Trust me, if I had known early on what I know NOW about growing a business and establishing valuable structure and how to market myself and my business, I would have shortened my learning curve by about 70% and that’s a true reflection. I don’t even want to think about the lost time, money and tears of frustration.

The I CAN DO EVERYTHING syndrome – because I can’t afford help.

That is a myth and a very expensive one. If you answer the phone, go to the bank and post office, solve customer service problems, do the accounts, and make the coffee, when are you doing what you do best and doing what makes the money? To people who say ‘I can’t afford help’, I can only say: ‘You can’t afford NOT to have any help, however small. Every chunk of time you free up by not doing menial tasks will grow your business by x%.

You may never have valued your time, so now is a good opportunity for you to do so. How much would you consider your time worth? What is your hourly rate in terms of value? And PLEASE don’t underestimate yourself at this junction. How you value yourself is what you portray to everyone else. If you think you’re worth a low value, say 25 (£ or $) per hour, you shouldn’t even think about owning your own business. So start being realistic, what is your worth 150, 200, 250 (£ or $) per hour? That makes you a very expensive coffee pot and errand boy.

I can imagine what you are thinking or saying to yourself right now. It makes me smile because I’ve been in that place and my coach said something similar to me many years ago. I was very defensive and argued that I couldn’t pay anyone to do these jobs. He was soon proven wrong, very wrong.

I wrote a list of all the tasks I did every day for a week. And yes, it was additional work that I didn’t really have time to do. But boy, was it valuable work, in fact, it was priceless. Add up all the time I was ‘running around doing menial, repetitive, administrative tasks’ and it was terrifying. In fact, I found that if I didn’t do all of those things, I could write a book every month based on how much time I could recover. Or you could do more meaningful marketing work or create more products to sell. I might even allow time for a massage and hair salon, both of which are essential ‘me time’ activities. And if you don’t have ‘me time’ now, you certainly will if you stay with me because the difference it makes to mind, body and soul is amazing. I believe that aside from marketing your business or products, having quality time is one of the most important uses of time. It helps you do more with less because you’re working at peak performance.

I can remember the days when I could spend 7,8 or 9 hours trying to get information on a web page and get the right borders and subscription box in the right place and upload it to the web. I hated it and it left me exhausted and irritated. I did it because I thought; I can’t afford anyone to do it for me. How wrong I was with that negative thought. Once I learned all the tasks I didn’t like or wasn’t good at or were simply out of my league, I outsourced them, freeing up valuable time to do more of what I’m skilled at, more of what brings in big income and more than makes me feel satisfied at the end of the day. I subcontracted. Don’t worry about that fear right now; I’m going to walk you through all of this in very easy to make pieces.

At the beginning of this paragraph I put the syndrome I CAN DO IT ALL BY MYSELF. Are you thinking that way now, can you see that it is not a good business (or life) model and that you cannot sustain it and run a successful business?

I wish you wealth, success and a lot of freedom to enjoy the life you deserve.

Beautiful