Sometimes, you feel the need to pursue your dreams, to quit your job, and – at least, try – to start your own business… So you decide to give it a try. You always wanted to be your own boss – and the time has come! At first, you’re super pumped about it, you buy a book about starting a business, and you may even enroll in a course. Join their community, get that cute little planner which is going to help you accomplish e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, and then… You start giving priority to other – also important – things in your life. You get a new job, your kids are at home for holidays, or your no-long-no-see family comes to visit. So what happens to your almost-business? To your dreams? “Well… It wasn’t going to work anyways” – You say to yourself.
But you know what? That’s just a big excuse, and you know it. That’s the same excuse we use when we want to eat that big piece of pizza – “Well, the diet I’m on isn’t working anyways.” Of course not! You’re swallowing a big fat piece of pizza! How is the diet going to work? And how are you going to achieve your dreams if you stop pursuing them? If you REALLY want to change, you have to consider it one of your 3 biggest priorities. In your life. Not in your achieving-dreams-category. Apart from Disney, your dreams don’t usually come true with a little bit of magic. Sad, but unfortunately, true.
But why am I telling you all this? You already know it, don’t you? How often have you decided to start? How often have you talked about it? How often have you even chosen the perfect name for your business? So you know that there’s a moment when you stop struggling. You stop dedicating your business-with-the-perfect-name the time that it needs to be born. And that’s the moment when it all ends. When routine appears again, you get back to your old habits and to your couch to watch some TV. Way easier than sitting in front of the PC while everybody else is having fun, right?
Look, I get you. Starting something on your own by yourself is just hard. And the motivation you feel at the beginning quickly becomes a frustration. I understand 100% what goes through your mind. But that’s exactly the reason why I know that they’re all excuses.
What is your excuse not to pursue your dreams?
♥ Is it that you have no time? Does working at the office let you exhausted? Or you may not have a job, you’re a stay-at-home mom and you can’t find a single minute for yourself, let alone for becoming an entrepreneur!
♥ Is it that you have no money to invest? Maybe you don’t even have an office job – You’re a barista and starting your business sounds like going to Saturn on holiday.
♥ Is it that you have no connections? Everyone knows that you need good connections to start a successful business, right?
Well… I’m going to give you a bit of tough love here: They all sound like excuses to me!
♥ Time is my excuse/reason #1, so don’t tell me any fairy tales about time. I most likely won’t believe you 😉 So you watch no Netflix? You don’t go shopping? You don’t go out at all? You don’t read any magazines…? That’s also time, my friend. Why not invest it in your online business for a little while? You’d be surprised!
♥ Money is a tough one, I know. But online businesses don’t need that much of an initial investment, actually. If your goal is to sell physical products and do need to invest in a warehouse and distribution costs – apart from the product creation -, you may need to think of a strategy to start making money with before going over to the next step.
♥ Connections are something you can do at any time! Visit meetup events near you, attend networking events, meet real people and talk about your new business – That’s how connections are made 😉
And what’s the REAL reason for you not to pursue your dreams?
I bet your real reason not to pursue your dreams falls under one of these categories:
♥ You’re scared as hell! You don’t know how to start. Where to start. What to do! And on top of it, nobody seems to understand why you want to dedicate your free time to building up a business. Check out this post about why starting something new seems so hard.
♥ You have a little bit of an organization issue. You do want to find the time, but days go by without you even noticing. And instead of taking all the necessary steps to learn how to plan and organize yourself, you blame it on time.
♥ You don’t really want to start a business. Look, that’s OK!! The sooner you realize it, the better! It’s fine if you don’t want to go through such hard work. It’s totally normal if you don’t want to sacrifice your free time or your financial security. I get you! Everybody does! But just be honest with yourself – You’re the best asset that you have, so don’t lie to yourself, OK? 😉
So how can you overcome your fears or your planning issues – and pursue your dreams?
- Write down what you want to achieve, when you want to achieve it, and why you want to achieve it.
- If you need to feel you’re not alone, join a local meetup – even a Facebook group for solopreneurs would do! But don’t spend too much time there. Once you get the motivation you need, take action!
- Check out the Work for You Planner! It will help you plan the steps you need to take to start freelancing. Consider it your passport to self-employment!
Sometimes, we have to get honest with ourselves. We need someone to give us some tough love to realize things aren’t going to work if we don’t change. Dreaming is beautiful, but what about you stop dreaming for a bit – and start doing?
Alicia
Are you born to freelance?
