Why Haven't You Started?

[superb]

[QUOTE="DennisDuty,
Yeah I hear you. I personally think that the business should be #1 priority, because you can eventually automate it which frees up your time for creative pursuits.
[/QUOTE]

I've thought this... which brings us to the root of the problem, delayed gratification. I've been on this forum a little more than a year and not made any progress creating a business, I never knew how messed up my thinking was. I've had (and still) a lot of personal development to do...

Not an excuse for not starting, I've had several 'starts', but defeated my self by my own immaturity in certain areas of my life.

 

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[bboyu]

A

I cant move forward until i have thought about all the possibilities of things, ive read so many books one simple idea, tmfl etc etc - been trying to write down this to a T for like a year now after i got my mindset right on how to find an idea?then i switched to how to research markets research/products to resell? Still dont know how to do it as im always looking for more peoples opinions to see whether ive missed out on a piece of the puzzle on how to find products/ideas to sell...not trusting myself but other people more as i find them more successful so value what they say. Dont know how im going to move forward but want to do this more than nething...

any advice for me guys? I feel i myself am holding myself back due to much info and knowledge ive gained, in a habit of jus reading and asking, until i can write universal and timless ways to find and do things, itl take too long bfore i accomplish anything

 

[DennisD]

I've thought this... which brings us to the root of the problem, delayed gratification. I've been on this forum a little more than a year and not made any progress creating a business, I never knew how messed up my thinking was. I've had (and still) a lot of personal development to do...

I've been doing a TON of research on motivation. I've slowly become obsessed with it.

Why we don't act on things we KNOW are good for us. Why fat people keep eating junk, why poor people keep wasting their money, why smokers smoke...

Contrary to what I thought it's not just about laziness. There are a number of different factors that all seem to be contributing to us not taking action. To us NOT getting what we want out of life. Yes general laziness is huge, but what CAUSES the laziness and how do we address it?

Uncertainty is the big killer for 90% of us.

When my leg is itchy, I scratch that shiz. Know why? I'm 99% certain scratching will immediately solve the problem. When I'm hot I open a window. When I'm cold I close it. These are actions that get me guaranteed certain results and I don't procrastinate in doing them. They're worth the effort and I have immediate causal proof.

What about Caloric restrictions? Long-term exercise regimens? Starting a business? Building good long-term habits?

These things don't see immediate results, and we're uncertain if they'll even work. We know they SHOULD work but it's just hard to believe they'll work for US. We've been LIED to our whole lives either by salesmen tricking us into buying rip-off products, or by the zeitgeist telling us what success looks like

If you haven't successfully competed an action before, you're not 100% sure it'll work. Once you get below 80% certainty the motivation for completing such tasks is lost. Why put forth the effort if it "probably won't work anyway?"

I wish I had a cure. I'd like to get my current project to a point where my time is freed up enough to pursue some sort of solution for uncertainty.

 

[DennisD]

I cant move forward until i have thought about all the possibilities of things, ive read so many books one simple idea, tmfl etc etc - been trying to write down this to a T for like a year now after i got my mindset right on how to find an idea?then i switched to how to research markets research/products to resell? Still dont know how to do it as im always looking for more peoples opinions to see whether ive missed out on a piece of the puzzle on how to find products/ideas to sell...not trusting myself but other people more as i find them more successful so value what they say. Dont know how im going to move forward but want to do this more than nething...

A
any advice for me guys? I feel i myself am holding myself back due to much info and knowledge ive gained, in a habit of jus reading and asking, until i can write universal and timless ways to find and do things, itl take too long bfore i accomplish anything

Advice? Sure. You have a misconception about what business is.
The best advice for you right now is:

1. Learn how to play Jazz
2. Learn how to Sail
3. Learn how to Cook

It sounds cheeky but it's legit advice.

1. Jazz has no predefined rules or structure. It's freeflowing and you go where it takes you. Each time is different. Your current approach to business is like learning how to play a song note for note.
2. Sailing is similar. Right now, you think that business works like a train. There's a start, an end, and a single best predetermined path to get there. You're operating on rails. You need to ditch the rails and learn how to ride the waves, adapting to change and plotting your course based on weather and prevailing winds.
3. Cooking is different than what you're doing. You're looking to bake. You want to figure out a list of measured ingredients to something that tastes good. In reality you need to learn how to taste test as you move forward.

You're looking for a guaranteed system to success. The 'guaranteed system to success' is getting a job and going slowlane.. you already know how that way works. You've probably have already tried it.

Business is more like Jazz, or Sailing, or Cooking. You figure it out as you move forward and you can only learn it by doing it. You're reading cookbooks and engineering manuals and cookbooks which don't prepare you for an everchanging environment. You SHOULD start doing something imperfect and learning how to adapt ont he fly.

Make sense?

 

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[poro78]

How to build tolerance for imperfection?

 

[wade1mil]

How to build tolerance for imperfection?

Detach your expectations from the outcome.

 

[DennisD]

Detach your expectations from the outcome.

This is brilliant.

Perfection is the measure of an outcome.
By doing things without expecting perfect results (or any results at all) you lose obsession of perfect practices.

 

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[TripWest]

The thing that has gotten in the way for me in the past is that I have a tough time finding other people's needs that I believe can be automated.

 

[superb]

Uncertainty is the big killer for 90% of us...

...I wish I had a cure. I'd like to get my current project to a point where my time is freed up enough to pursue some sort of solution for uncertainty.

And herein lies opportunity: Everyone's uncertainty provides opportunity for those who are certain, or who are not afraid to move forward, even though they are uncertain. Maybe we are trying to take an engineer's approach to starting a business, when we should be taking the scientists approach.

Engineer's apply known information to solve problems. Works great as long as you have a specific problem and know which information to apply to it. A scientist performs experiments to test hypothesis. Based on what they do know, they take an educated guess and then test it to see if its correct. Each experiment is a step closer to certainty.

Another part of this problem that I see in myself and other here is having realistic expectations about how long the process takes of creating a fastlane business - we want it to happen really fast, so we don't want to waste any time on things that aren't certain. If we could accept that the process will take time, hard work, includes set backs - I think uncertainty would be less of an issue.

 

[DennisD]

And herein lies opportunity: Everyone's uncertainty provides opportunity for those who are certain, or who are not afraid to move forward, even though they are uncertain. Maybe we are trying to take an engineer's approach to starting a business, when we should be taking the scientists approach.

Engineer's apply known information to solve problems. Works great as long as you have a specific problem and know which information to apply to it. A scientist performs experiments to test hypothesis. Based on what they do know, they take an educated guess and then test it to see if its correct. Each experiment is a step closer to certainty.

Another part of this problem that I see in myself and other here is having realistic expectations about how long the process takes of creating a fastlane business - we want it to happen really fast, so we don't want to waste any time on things that aren't certain. If we could accept that the process will take time, hard work, includes set backs - I think uncertainty would be less of an issue.

I love the concept about scientists vs engineers. Go od stuff.

I actually think that the timeframe to start a profitable business is a lot smaller than anybody realizes once you hit your stride an make leaps everyday.

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

 

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[BlokeInProgress]

I exited the corporate life and still got some employee mindset inside of me (after 10yrs of being an employee I got use to thinking that way). I was waiting for instructions, waiting to get directions and looking for someone to show me what path I should take and took me almost 5 months of no progress.

Then I realized...if I continue to think this way, I'm still living someone else's dream. I do believe that I have overcame that barrier with a lot of help from this forum and other supportive groups.

 

[Tlcalis]

don't know which idea I should work on what kind of idea, what I should do etc
. I don't know how I'm going to achieve this
I don't have a realistic attitude on how to go about it

I think I got the willpower

I wanna sacrfice 80 + hour work weeks etc to achieve my goal just don't how to get started because there's so many ways to make money...

 

[BlokeInProgress]

don't know which idea I should work on what kind of idea, what I should do etc

A legendary member once said to another legendary member "you have too much idea, pick one and see it through the end."

In the book TMF you can try using WADM and WCCA to have additional insight on each idea.

 

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[EN_VY]

I'm working on my own business, although it can generate good income, I don't see it as my fast lane goal... Just gathering information, from different subjects until I can fully execute a fastlane plan.(maybe that's just an excuse)..

 

[The Grind]

Ive been wanting to start an info business for over a year, I think about it everyday.

Haven't started because I can't figure out what to sell, what product to make. People say there's opportunities everywhere, I just don't see the. All the email marketers I follow are selling stuff on how to start an info business, dating or health. Makes me think I'm supposed to make "just another dating product" and try to sell it.

 

[DennisD]

I can't figure out what to sell, what product to make.

I myself profited from a book about video production, a book about minecraft, a book about 'hacking' craigslist to find freelance gigs. I know a guy who's making a few grand a month passively because he wrote a guide about collectible compasses.

What are you good at?
You can make money off of ANYTHING if you're consistent about content creation.

 

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[The Grind]

I myself profited from a book about video production, a book about minecraft, a book about 'hacking' craigslist to find freelance gigs. I know a guy who's making a few grand a month passively because he wrote a guide about collectible compasses.

What are you good at?
You can make money off of ANYTHING if you're consistent about content creation.

Did you go the media buying route? Make landing page with eBook, buy traffic to landing page?

 

[1milclub]

I myself profited from a book about video production, a book about

Hi Dennis,

Did you do nay research before writing those books if the market exist or it was your interest that made you write them?

 

[1milclub]

But if I manage to get over these obstacles, nothing will stop me

Then think about what are the obstacles - think Objectively. In your sentence you have the ticket to the successland. Write down the obstacles you think are having. Then search and find other (known/successful) people who also had similar problems. How did they do it? Before you jump on "oh yes, but..." chain of arguments (with yourself), make sure they were also human, they had the same 24 hrs. in a day and nobody was super human.

I feel like I should go for motivational coaching/speaker career

All the best,

 

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[DennisD]

Did you go the media buying route? Make landing page with eBook, buy traffic to landing page?

Not once.

I wrote it, put it on a website, and hustled twitter/fb/linkedin direct messages to people. In one case I built my own high ranking website, and in another I partnered with an already high ranking website.

Nothing I've ever worked on ever required capital of any kind, just manhours.

Hi Dennis,

Did you do nay research before writing those books if the market exist or it was your interest that made you write them?

QUOTE]

I took what I knew and liked (video, minecraft, craigslist, search) and I then looked for needs within those niches (video conversions, how to host a server, how to write cold emails to craigslist leads)


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[Basilius]

Fantastic thread!

I'd like to share what were my issues and how I overcame them. Hopefully you can apply the same.

Procrastination - I knew what I wanted to accomplish, I knew what was needed, but still I wasn't doing it. When I was fed with my procrastination, I started noticing what's triggering my procrastination; what's my ritual for feeling like procrastinating. Quickly I realized that feeling overwhelmed and not seeing the end goal that would pull me towards itself was the trigger.

I felt overwhelmed every time I thought that the task in front of me was too big => chunking it down into smaller steps did a magic for me. It's insanely addictive to cross something from my to do list, so breaking bigger tasks into many smaller ones makes me feel good twice - 1) I actually follow through and 2) I get the reinforcing feeling when I finish something, which makes me more motivated to do even more.

Lack of motivation comes from my detachment of my end goals. It's completely different to just write an article on some topic and write a spectacular article in order to help people increase the quality of their lives and actually move myself toward my goal. I've always felt that I had a strong will, but from past I know that the will gets weaker and eventually I quit on doing whatever I was doing. I was trying to push myself to my goals. Didn't work. Instead I reversed the movement and now I'm being pulled towards my goals (provided they follow the SMART technique and actually are important to me). By being pulled I don't use my will power.

What's my technique? Visualization! Right before I start working on my business, I lie down in my bed, put headphones on, play a music that supports me (Two steps from hell works like magic) and then I visualize a journey to my end, I feel my emotions when it's completed, I physically smile and fully enjoy the moment of victory, joy, confidence, satisfaction. It takes about 10 minutes (the length of the song) and when I get up I feel like a Hulk

Perfectionism - I wasn't aware of it until my coach pointed it out. It was hard to believe it at first, but the more I watch myself and my actions, the more it was true to me. I consider myself very logical person (I work in corporate IT company) and tend to think things through, so that I can make great decisions and minimize negative impact. Also I want to systematize things, so that in the future I can scale without any big hurdles. And guess what... this is a recipe for disaster, massive procrastination and feeling that it can't be done.

The coach used a superb analogy that helped me to visualize what I was trying to do, but wasn't aware of it until that moment. He said: if your current you wanted to grow for example a cherry tree, what would you do? You'd think about where to plant it on your garden, so that it doesn't grow to your neighbor's garden, other tree or your house, right? Then you'd research what's the best ground for it. Then you'd realize that it takes some time/energy to grow it. But the weather can be super dry or super wet. Some year you can deal with infection and the tree might die. Well, if you look at it this way, maybe it's not worth doing it at all.

What should I do instead? Just think about the most critical things and deal with the rest as it comes (IF IT COMES AT ALL). Make sure the current location is a good fit for the tree, figure out a specific place where to plant it and then just go for it, learn as time passes and most importantly ENJOY THE PROCESS.

If developers were actually waiting to make their applications perfect, would they even release them? No! It's never perfect, right? That's why they use the term MVP to allow themselves to release their applications with the basic functions for which they were created.

It took me some time to change my thinking, but it was definitely worth it. I actually put a quote on my wall to be confront with it on a daily basis - "Seek progress, not perfection".

No business idea, lack of information, information overload - yeah, been there... subscribed to MANY people which would often say the opposite than the others, overloaded me with information on a daily basis (with headlines like YOU NEED TO BE DOING THIS, OTHERWISE YOU'RE HURTING YOUR BUSINESS etc.), promoting gazillion other products, offering trillions of THEONLYSUPERBANDDEFINITIVE GUIDE PDFs etc. For many years I thought this was the right way - soak up as many information as I could, but what was the end result really? I had a pretty good idea about many things - social marketing, video marketing, ppc, seo, ppv, product launch, facebook ads, article marketing, ... but none of that I really applied, which meant that I haven't moved anywhere. I was just reading, jumping from one tactic to another one. From one pdf to another pdf. None of this pushed me closer to my goals.

After a few looong years I realized this was not the way. So I unsubscribed from almost all email lists. I wanted to have only 1-2 people that I trusted and was willing to follow their advice. I bought a course and am following it to the T. No distractions, only relevant information that are in line with the system presented in the course.

It's mind blowing that by one decision you can resolve 3 problems instantly - having an idea, having a guidance and having the right amount of information at the right time (critical!).

Feeling productive vs. being productive - reorganizing folder structure of my project might feel productive, but actually it isn't. Researching best colors on a webpage to increase user engagement might feel productive, but actually it isn't. I've had MANY of these to make me feel productive. When I looked back though I knew these things didn't take me closer to my goals.

A simple question and honest answers helped me overcome that. Every time I was doing something business related, I'd ask this question "Is this going to help me get closer to my goal(s)?" If yes, great, continue. If not, stop and pick a activity that will. Simple and effective as hell.


If anyone struggles with anything above, feel free to let me know (here or via PM), I'd be happy to share in depth what I've learn in overcoming them and help you out (but you need to be willing to change, otherwise it's waste of our time).

 

[JSW]

Great thread as Basilius said above and also great post from you mate, really like that quote about progress not perfection and also the question to yourself at the end, on productivity.

I've not posted yet but as you say Dennis, I have noticed a select few seem to gain more from shooting people with questions/queries down rather than trying to help, so good shout starting a thread essentially banning that haha.

I can't be sure how many people on this forum have read TMF , I know I personally came across the facebook page, followed by an article and finally bought the book (on the basis that the article was so on point) but I think to be honest most reasons for not starting are probably addressed in the book.

Personally I find the "too many ideas" one quite an issue. Not that I've had millions but as someone said before, I don't want to go with idea X and 3 years later think that in hindsight, idea Y would have been better. I suppose you'll never know if you don't get started but I'd like to have a small selection of ideas before deciding which has the most potential and getting the ball rolling.

With regards to procrastination I must admit Netflix and the PS4 are killers although I'd like to think that once I have a relatively clear vision it would be much less of an issue, I'm generally quite good with other commitments i.e the gym and am 100% sold on the fastlane over the slowlane (common sense right?)

The third reason (again it shouldn't really stop me once my vision is clear) is that I'm still only 23 and in sales. Being that sales is going to be important in the future, I'd ideally like to get good enough at that to satisfy me before fully committing to a business idea. As I say, there's no reason I can't get started with it now as well.

What I notice is that I'm just listing reasons and answering them myself, which can only be a good thing, I know what I need to do and not do so it's just 100% about taking action and getting started.

 

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[P789]

oh me? can't afford to move out from my place