I mentioned in my last blog post I've been traveling across the country to the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon.
Well, the event is over and it was pretty wild.
I met a lot of great people in person and had the opportunity to listen to some great speakers.
Don't worry if you missed it though - I took a lot of notes and plan on compiling them into an eBook. Keep your eyes open for the finished product in a few weeks.
Because of the limited time I've had to sit down and write, I wanted to change things up today:
I decided to record a video.
The Topic: Starting
Over the last couple weeks I've gotten dozens of emails (and even a couple phone calls) asking me for advice on starting.
Some people are in the brainstorming phase and aren't sure what to do next now that they have an idea...while others have formed the idea into words on paper, but don't know how to move forward.
While I've answered most everyone's questions individually, I wanted to take this time to elaborate on a specific framework anyone can use to get themselves from starting (the first stage of instigating) to finishing (the second stage of instigating) and, eventually, to shipping (the third and final stage of instigating).
[leadplayer_vid id="51E074F0C8001"]
Here's what I'll share with you in this 5 minute video:
1. What is starting and how does it work
2. The three elements of starting
3. A framework for identifying what it is you want to accomplish and how to scientifically approach the problem to figure out a solution
4. A quote from "Boondock Saints" because why not 🙂
5. Why the lean startup methodology is so powerful for solopreneurs and bootstrappers
If you liked the video, please do 2 things:
1) Share it with someone you know
2) Leave a comment and let me know what you think
If people like what they see here, I'll plan on doing more videos in the future. If you're not so keen on the video, well, I suppose I'll stick to writing and podcasting so you can avoid my ugly mug in the future 😉
If you're new to the website, join the Resistance and get a free copy of my book 'The Art of Instigating' where I explain the philosophy of starting, finishing, and shipping projects.
Join by subscribing below:
And if you haven't had a chance yet, pick up my eGuide and workbook: The Gunslinger's Guide to Starting and The Gunslinger's Workbook, where I'll walk you through the stages of instigating and help you start, finish and ship your project in 30 days or less.
In fact, I must be.
Right now, as I write this blog post, I'm sitting outside a Starbucks in Boise, Idaho...
I'm thousands of miles away from most of my friends and family...
And I'm Homeless and unemployed.
That's right - no job, no predictable income, no home...
And I have no intention of trying to get any of those things back.
Crazy?
Maybe not as crazy as you'd think.
Let me explain...
You might be thinking that being homeless and unemployed is terrible.
After all, that's the scenario presented to us - no job, no home; it means you've lost everything, right? Pretty soon, you're running amok inside a fast food joint demanding breakfast for lunch, even after they stopped serving breakfast...
For some reason, I feel like that's Hollywood's (embellished) take on it. The reality is often much less dramatic.
And in my case, it's actually a little boring.
You see, I didn't lose everything. I made a conscious decision to give up certain things that weren't important to me. To simplify and streamline my life in a way that's congruent with what I want to do and who I want to be. To get rid of excess. To trim the fat, so to speak.
I didn't lose everything.
I have exactly what I need.
And now I have the opportunity to build whatever life I want.
It's a choice most wouldn't be willing to make.
But what good are talents if we keep them buried?
About 6 months ago I put my 2 weeks notice into my employer.
Two weeks ago I sold my car and most of my belongings.
Last week I packed up what remained and shipped it to the West Coast for storage.
This past weekend, I signed out of my unit for the last time and started driving across the country with my fiancee (we get married next month).
I have no conventional job prospects lined up. No massive savings account or trust fund to rely on while I 'get back on my feet.' No escape route if things go south.
I've burned the boat - there's no going back.
No more job. No more house. No more semi-monthly paycheck. No more job title. No more certainty...
In exchange, I get the opportunity to fail.
And that's all I've ever wanted.
Why does the opportunity to fail matter so much?
Because without the possibility of failure, there is no possibility of real success.
And real success is the only thing that matters.
Success means triumph. It means achieving what we set out to achieve. It means growing, expanding and advancing as an individual (and helping others do the same).
But if there's nothing challenging us, no roadblocks on our way to the top, no obstacles along the path, then success is hollow.
I'm sure just about any adult reading this could be the best 1st grade soccer player in the world. But what does that even mean? More importantly, why would it even matter?
The answer, of course, is that it really wouldn't mean anything (and it most certainly wouldn't matter)....
And so we need the prospect of real failure if we want the prospect of real success.
If we want to do something that matters - contrary to the classic expression - failure must be an option.
There's a very simple litmus test to determine if what you're going after has the possibility of real success (and thus real failure).
Does it scare you?
If yes, you're probably doing something that could fail.
Fear is a guidepost.
It let's us know we're headed in the right direction; it means we're doing something outside our comfort zone; it means we're challenging the conventional, safe and certain approach.
If you're fearless, you're probably playing 1st graders in soccer.
And that should be a signal for you to move in a different direction
So here I am in Boise, Idaho, enjoying an iced Americano and thinking about what's next.
Right now, we're on our way to the World Domination Summit 2013 (#wds2013) in Portland, Oregon. We started in Nashville, TN and after several days of cross country travel, we're almost here.
If you're not familiar, WDS is essentially a massive, 3-day conference on entrepreneurship, creativity and creating impact. Obviously, I'm a fan and supporter.
If you're there, shoot me an email and let's connect.
After the conference, my fiancee and I will be traveling up to Seattle to get married. Then we're taking a year long trip around the world. For about 12 months we'll be traveling the southern hemisphere (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Peru, etc.).
While this sounds like a year long honeymoon / vacation, it's really not. We're traveling for a year but we'll both be working. We're just not working conventional 9-5 jobs that keep us tied down in a particular geographic location.
Instead, through conscious and calculated decisions (which I mentioned in the beginning of this article), we've created a lifestyle that is sustainable from anywhere in the world.
Believe it or not, this is possible.
Not only is it possible, I think it's necessary for any person hoping to survive in today's economy (a topic for another time).
So how can I sustain myself from anywhere in the world?
Through a number of projects:
Well, I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m going full steam ahead with my publishing company: Insurgent Publishing.
Insurgent Publishing is a boutique, creative publishing platform. That’s a clever way of me saying it’s a very small operation right now that focuses on bringing a specific type of content to a specific group of people, via non-standard methods (beyond simply publishing on Amazon, for example).
So what kind of content are we publishing and who is it for?
Well, if you’re a reader of my blog, you’re already savvy with the style of content I want to publish. Insurgent Publishing focuses on unconventional non-fiction. Like its namesake, it’s all about bringing insurgent ideas (i.e. the types of ideas that don’t fit the one-size-fits-all mainstream status-quo) to the attention of readers.
Some of my favorite books of all time include The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, Poke the Box by Seth Godin and Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. I love these books. I read them several times a year. I’ve probably read each over a dozen times.
But there’s a problem – there aren’t enough mind-blowing books like this in the world.
What makes them unique is their brevity and power; they’re urgent, critical, and they demand action after you read them.
And they don’t fit a specific, conventional mold.
My goal is to find powerful authors (unknowns and well-knowns), creatively collaborate with them in order to break, build and design disruptive ideas, and publish them in beautiful ways for the happy few who want to read them.
Conceptually, I like to think of it like TED talks in book form (and with more depth).
It’s a company that won’t produce content for everyone. But I’m hoping it produces the right content for the right people.
The website isn’t complete yet. It’s taken me about 6 times longer than I expected (which, ironically, I DID expect). I’m hoping to have it up and running this August.
If you enter your email on the home page of the under-construction Insurgent Publishing website right now, you’ll get lifetime discounts on everything we ever publish…(everything - forever).
My way of saying thank you for taking a chance.
*NOTE: if you're a writer, designer or artist and would like to collaborate on a project and get your work published, shoot me an email (tom @ tommorkes.com)
I’m also in the exploration, research and note taking phase of my next book.
I’m hoping to take the same easy to read, urgent style from my book “The Art of Instigating” (get it free by joining the Resistance) and apply it to the topic of “Courage” – what it is, how it works, and how we can cultivate, learn and teach it.
In the book Decisive, by Chip and Dan Heath, we’re given a framework for how decisions work, and how, ultimately, to make better decisions in life. It’s a fascinating and useful book as it helps the reader gain clarity before making a decision. I highly recommend it for those curious about the brain, psychology, and/or marketing – or for people who simply want to make better choices in life.
But it left me wondering: what about the choices in life that are already crystal clear, but the right choice leads you down a path of uncertainty, pain or even death? Or the wrong choice leads you down a path of safety, security or fortune?
How do we make those choices?
While not the entirety of the subject, I consider this an important microcosm of courage as a whole – the ability to make the right choices in life, even if it means sacrificing our comfort, happiness or even our lives.
I hope this gives you a little insight into my thoughts on (one aspect of) the matter.
Would love to hear what you think – and what you’d like me to explore in the book: courage in business, perhaps?
Or possibly courage in writing, art or entrepreneurship? Anything goes – just email me – I’d love to start a conversation.
My podcast In the Trenches may be put on hiatus once I start my international travel.
That’s not to say it’s dead – it would just have to be put on pause. I’m hoping that’s a worst case scenario and the places I travel will allow me the internet access I need to upload and create this type of content. I’m also hoping traveling will expose me to even more awesome people around the world doing great things so I can interview them for the show.
So I’m not sure what will happen with In the Trenches…but if you want it to continue, you should write a review and rate the podcast on iTunes.
The only way this podcast or blog spreads is through word of mouth. Thanks to all those who have spread the word already – and thanks in advance to those who help spread the word in the future.
So, again, please leave a review on iTunes if you want In the Trenches to continue!
I also have a few other (super secret) projects I’m working on with several different people in various fields.
I was just brought on as a project manager for a small, potentially disruptive, startup. Excited to see just how quickly this company can grow and dominate its niche. I hope to share more details after we launch.
I’m in the works with a partner to develop a new online sales platform (apologies for the purposefully vague description). It has the potential to be huge, and I have no doubt we’ll be able to develop it into a successful platform – but it’s going to take some hustle. We’ll be bootstrapping the project using the lean startup approach (i.e. iterative testing until we find a product/market fit). Again, as soon as we have a working product you’ll be the first to hear about it.
I’m also expanding my business consulting services. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a bootstrapper or a solopreneur looking to make sales (or start making MORE sales), or an author who wants to make money from his or her writing, you should definitely connect with me.
This is limited and I can’t accept everyone.
So shoot me an email and we’ll see if it’s a good fit for both of us (a caveat: I only work with hustlers who are totally committed – fence sitters need not apply).
Along with all this, I’ll continue to write for the Resistance.
Expect the same great writing as always sent directly to your inbox (plus behind the scenes stuff exclusive for subscribers).
While difficult to keep up the pace of multiple quality articles a week, I intend to do it for as long as I’m capable.
And I'll continue to create free and pay what you want content.
If you enjoy my work and want to contribute, the best way is to grab my pay what you want products and treat me to a cup of coffee or something.
Here are a few of my products you might enjoy:
The Gunslinger's Guide to Starting and The Gunslinger's Workbook - Start, finish and ship your project in 30 days or less
Putting on Your Brain Goggles - become more creative instantly
2 Days With Seth Godin - I went to a 2 day seminar/conference w/ Seth Godin. Here's everything we talked about (consider this material gold for entrepreneurs and writers)
Thank you so much for contributing to my creative work.
Well, that’s it for today.
Hope it was enjoyable to read a bit more about me and what I’m up too. More personal than I usually get (and, thus, slightly uncomfortable for me to write), but I hope you enjoyed it.
Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.
And of course...
This is Tom Morkes. If you’re reading this, you ARE the Resistance.
What do you do when presented with an uncertain path?
Do you stick to what’s comfortable, to what’s safe?
If there’s something on the line (and there always is), this would seem the prudent choice.
After all, with uncertainty comes risk, and risk means danger - the reasonable choice would be to stick to what you know.
But what if sticking to the seemingly safest option – the certain path – isn’t so safe?
Sometimes (most times), committing to comfortable, staying on the tried and true path, and purposefully avoiding risks is the most dangerous thing we can do…
You’ve probably heard the parable of the talents, but I think it’s worth revisiting.
It all starts with an estate owner and 3 trusted servants....
One day, the owner of a large estate sets out abroad, leaving his property and gold in the care of three servants.
The owner divides up his gold (aka talents) - 5 talents to the first servant, 2 talents to the second, and 1 talent to the third – each in proportion to his ability. When the man leaves, the first two servants put their talents to work, trading, bartering and gaining more talents. The third servant, uncertain and frightened of losing the talent he was given, hides his in the ground.
Months later, the man returns home. When he goes to settle his accounts, he finds the first two servants doubled their talents, from 5 to 10 and from 2 to 4.
The man is pleased and gives these servants a share of his wealth: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.”
But when the man goes to settle the account of the third servant, he is met with defensive excuses: “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground.”
The third servant brings the estate owner one talent – the original talent he had been given when the estate owner left for his travels.
The owner of the estate gets honey-badger pissed. He calls the servant wicked and lazy and tells him how he could have at least made interest on the money by putting it into a bank. He doesn’t stop there – he takes the third servant’s single talent and gives it to the servant with ten talents. In a final finishing move, he throws the worthless servant outside into the darkness, banishing him from his estate.
And that’s the paraphrased parable in a nutshell (Matthew 25:14-30 for the actual text).
Pretty serious, right?
The clear take-away from this parable is that we should use our talents.
That’s a no brainer.
We’re each given talents in life (in the aptitude/gift way) – our job is to put them to work. Most would agree.
Yet it’s surprising to me how most people seem to grasp this, at least conceptually, but completely miss the other more subtle (and possibly, more important) lesson:
The talent the third servant gave to the master upon his return is not the same talent he buried months earlier.
This isn't due to something mystical or magical – the talent didn’t transform or shape shift or disappear – it simply became what it must become, buried in the ground all those months…
This is a lesson successful investors learn early in their careers that the rest of us could take a cue from in our own lives.
One of the most powerful ways to buy or sell investments is through the use of option contracts.
When we use options, whether in the stock market or in real estate (or in some other marketplace entirely), what we’re doing is purchasing the right to buy (or sell) something at a specific price on or before a certain date.
The beauty of option contracts is that they allow us to buy or sell, but they don’t obligate us to.
Want to know how people make a killing in the stock market or in real estate? They learn to use options.
Options are powerful because they give us leverage and flexibility.
But like with every financial instrument on this planet, even options have a weakness: Time.
You see, every stock option has a time limit. Once it hits that time limit, it expires.
If I don’t execute the trade or sell the contract itself before the agreed upon date, I could lose everything.
Simply put: as time goes by, an option contract loses value.
This is referred to as Time Decay.
And Time Decay affects everything in this world – including those talents buried in the ground.
Putting our talents to work is scary.
It means we can lose even the little bit we start with. It means we can crash and burn. It means we can fail.
The natural inclination to mitigate this risk is to protect our talents. To shield them from uncertainty. To bury them.
And while burying your talents outwardly protects them from theft or loss, there’s a catch; the talents are worth much less now than they were when we started.
This is time decay and it affects natural aptitude (our gifts/talents/aptitude) as much as money.
When we don’t use our talents, they waste away.
It’s as simple as that.
Are you a gifted singer? Refrain from singing for 40 years and you might still be talented, but that talent is worth much less. Why? Because you have less time now to develop it into something worthwhile. Not to mention those 40 years you spent NOT singing could have been spent creating high-impact albums, the kind of stuff that inspires us to be bolder, braver, and live better.
Because you waited, the world is short 40 years of life changing music.
That’s a shame.
Are you a gifted writer? Get a real job, work for 30 years, and then, when you’ve saved enough money for retirement, then start writing. Are you still a gifted writer? Sure, you might be, but your talent is worth much less, because you don’t have as much time to write all the great books you could have written had you started 30 years ago.
This world is short possibly dozens of books now because you waited to write.
Are you gifted at anything (even in the smallest, most marginal way right now)? Sports, marketing, military strategy, project management, design, leadership? Wait until retirement before you dig into your hobby and, sure, you might still have talent…well, you get the point...
We are each given talents.
You and I know this.
What we don’t recognize is that each one of these talents is an option contract – it has a time limit. It suffers from time decay.
Every day you wait to start, your talent loses value.
And months and years from now, that talent, if you bury it in the ground – if you wait to use it - will become a shriveled, bedraggled, weaker version of its once former glory – a mere shadow of its former self (its true self).
But if you put it to use, if you have the courage to take the uncertain path, to step into the unknown with boldness and purpose…
Well you already know what is possible, don’t you?
Don’t wait for tomorrow.
Execute your talent option today (instigate before it's too late).
Back in college, my boxing coach would remind us every day of the most important thing we needed to do as fighters.
It didn’t matter if it was heavy bag practice, sparring, or between rounds at an actual match, he would say over and over again:
Let your hands go.
The instructions were simple enough – throw more punches.
I didn’t really think much about it because I always threw as many punches as I could. I’d punch until I was exhausted.
That’s what letting my hands go was all about, right?
During my fourth year of boxing it finally clicked.
I was in a sparring match. 3rd and final round. 45 seconds on the clock. I got my opponent in a corner. I took a broad stance and started throwing. But something was different.
I was in control of my breathing and my strikes landed exactly where I wanted them to land.
I was in control of the rhythm and pace of the fight and threw combination after combination.
I was in control of the speed and strength of my blows - my opponent couldn’t do anything but cover up.
The bell rang. The sparring match ended.
For 45 seconds, I pressed the offensive without once worrying about my defensive posture. For 45 seconds, I controlled the fight and my opponent. For 45 seconds, I let my hands go.
It took me 4 years to let my hands go.
4 years, not because I didn’t understand, but because I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready because I was too nervous to loosen up and fight calmly; I wasn’t ready because I was too scared to truly press the offense; I wasn’t ready because I focused on avoiding counter punches instead of how I could inflict damage.
But most of all, I wasn’t ready because I hadn’t reached the level of mastery I needed to take heed of his advice.
It took me 4 years to finally appreciate the advice given to me years before, but, just as importantly, it took me 4 years to actually execute the advice properly.
I tried in the past to let my hands go – throw as many punches as I could to take control of the fight, but it just didn’t work the way it was supposed to.
That’s the funny thing about mastery – it takes years to figure out the subtlety of the simplest things.
That day I learned something important: when you really let your hands go, there’s nothing your opponent can do.
If he tries to counter, he’ll leave himself exposed to your flurry of strikes. If he tries to pivot, you can adjust your own position and keep pressing. If he slips out of the corner, you can back off and get ready to let your hands go again.
They say the best defense is a good offense – that’s what letting your hands go is all about.
And you need to do the same with your creative project.
Let your hands go.
Write more.
Write every day. Write without inhibition, without worrying what others will think, without concern for the crowd’s reaction. Just write. And when you write, let others read.
Don’t wait to get chosen by a big publishing house. Let your hands go – publish yourself.
Let your hands go.
Create a product to sell – and start selling it!
If the first 100 don’t buy, try the next 100. If no one buys, try a different angle, a different pitch, a different unique selling proposition. Keep testing and experimenting. Entrepreneurship by its nature is uncertain. It’s a path fraught with danger, pitfalls, and possible death (of your product).
People will wonder why you don’t just get a respectable job with a predictable income, like a warehouse supervisor at the robot factory. Let your hands go – take your own path.
Let your hands go.
Start SOMETHING.
There are too many broken things in the world that need fixing. Falling in line, clocking in and clocking out, doing what you’re told – life’s too short and you’re too clever to waste your days this way. Do what matters to you. Don’t worry about the group you just left on the sideline, their job is to cheer (and jeer) accordingly.
Your job is to do the work. Let your hands go - start today.
It might be presumptuous of me to say, but it’s becoming more and more clear to me the type of readers who read and subscribe to my blog; you guys are the instigators of the world. You’re the map drawers, the path choosers and the disrupters of the world.
I’ve already highlighted a few of you – this barely scratches the surface of the hundreds of people who I’ve had the opportunity to correspond with directly, and the thousands of others who are doing amazing things but haven’t reached out to me (yet, I hope).
My point is this: you’re not alone in this fight.
While everyone’s struggles are unique and every path is different, we all share the commonality of the creative war itself. We’re all in the trenches together - it’s just that the trenches spread for thousands of miles and there’s a lot of dead space.
Don’t lose heart.
Keep blazing trails, keep doing the hard, creative work, and keep disrupting the standards set by the average majority.
It’s not easy, but it’s important.
And remember, when things get tough...
Let your hands go and be the disrupter this world needs.
Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com
Want more great stuff sent directly to your inbox? Join the Resistance.
Creative work is hard as hell.
If you’re a writer, entrepreneur, or anyone else challenging and pushing boundaries (read: instigator), you know what I’m talking about.
In fact, creative work is probably the hardest work there is – something only those bold enough to create can appreciate.
But what makes creative work so hard?
Doing creative work means we can fail at any point.
All the hard work we do this week, this month or this year could end up being for nothing. No reward. No payout. No bonus.
In the beginning, most bootstrappers work 80 hour weeks and make sweat shop wages. To make matters worse, the majority of startups fail. And for the aspiring writer? The landscape is even bleaker...
Creative work requires us to be on point every hour of every day.
If we’re not doing our best work, if we’re not going as hard as we can, if we’re not constantly pushing the boundaries, then we’re at risk of being overshadowed by someone who’s willing to hustle harder. The fear is this: any moment we fail to capitalize on is a moment that could have been our tipping point – the thing that allows us to break out of obscurity.
Worse yet, the only thing more exhausting than putting our mind, body and soul into a project, day after day, is the anxiety we experience from the thought of wasting time or losing ground...
For most of us, creating something from scratch requires long periods of time devoted to working in solitude.
This requires a great deal of self-imposed isolation – something that inevitably becomes lonely over a period of time. This isolation is made even more painful when the few times we do interact with other people they don’t “get” what we’re doing.
The only thing lonelier than working in isolation is working beside people who don’t get what you’re doing.
Face it, if you do creative work, at some point the uncertainty, exhaustion and loneliness will make you want to quit.
I can’t tell you how many times a week (a day?) I want to throw in the towel and walk away.
This is the inner creative war we each have to fight if we want to do great work.
It’s at times like this, when things get darkest, you need to remember what's important.
The rest of the world probably won’t get why you do what you do.
But you didn't do it for them, did you?
Do the work. Do YOUR work. And do it for the happy few who want what you create.
Serve those people.
Ignore everyone else.
They're not worth a second of your time anyway.
Creative work is hard...
But here's the thing: life is hard.
Any course of action you choose in life will be hard - hard because you chose to enter the trenches, fight the creative fight, and do work that matters, or hard because you chose to avoid the trenches, insolate yourself from challenging, impactful work, and accept what life throws at you.
I'm sorry, but there's no happy medium, no painless compromise.
These are the only two options.
So what will you choose?
Call me a ruffian, but I'll choose the former.
I hope you do the same.
New to the blog? Join the Resistance and join me and an army of creative ruffians (artists, entrepreneurs and all around instigators) doing important work. Never fight along - join the Resistance.
In my previous post, I wrote about great work.
Great work is impactful work – the kind that resonates with a person (or a million people) for years to follow.
The sole criteria for determining great work is impact, and that’s specifically and uniquely determined by the person or people experiencing the work.
If you impact just one person, you’ve created great work.
So how do we impact just one person?
In my article on bootstrapping a business, my #2 tip was this: know your why.
But this isn’t a tip just for bootstrappers, it’s for everyone in life who wants to make an impact.
Why do you do what you do?
Why do you create?
Why do you sweat, bleed and suffer everyday over your work?
These are the questions we, the audience, the readers, the experiencers of your work care about. We don’t care what your product or service does until we know why you’re doing it.
“People don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it.” [Simon Sinek]
Think about it: no one wants to be swindled.
As the consumer, the first thought we have when we encounter another person is if he or she is the real deal, if what they’re offering is legitimate and authentic.
The only way to assuage our fears is by telling us your why.
When we know your why, we’re on board.
If your why is nonexistent or superficial or doesn’t resonate with us, we move on to the next project.
And in a noisy world full of projects, moving onto something other than what’s being offered is very, very easy.
This next step is simple:
Once you know your why, live your why.
If you create art to make people happy, make your happy art every day.
If you take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, take care of them every day.
If you build products that change people’s lives, build life changing products every day.
You might be thinking this is so simple it’s not even worth mentioning.
But living your why cuts both ways...
When you live your why, you can’t cut corners anymore:
You can’t cut ingredients to increase margins.
You can’t cut out the personal interaction to scale your company.
You can’t cut effort to take on more projects at one time.
In the movie Watchmen, the upstanding, idealistic Rorschach is offered a chance to save himself but compromise his integrity in the process.
Rorschach’s response:
“Never compromise. Not even in the fact of Armageddon.” [Watchmen]
Maybe we're not superheroes and life's not a movie, but the principle applies:
If you want to do great work, if you want to make an impact, then you need to know and live your why.
And that means never compromising – not even in the face of Armageddon.
Simple…not easy.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of blogs are started, thousands of books are published, and hundreds of businesses are created.
The majority don't last.
So what separates those that last from those that fail?
The ones that succeed - do they do something different?
Is there a common pattern, strategy or framework that successful projects use? And if so, can we model it and use it in our own projects?
These are the questions I've been asking myself recently as I dive headlong into my new publishing startup. The essential question is this:
How can I avoid the pitfalls of unsuccessful startups and tap into the magic of the successful ones?
What I've compiled here are the fundamental dos and don'ts for bootstrapping a business from scratch.
All of these lessons I learned from the masters of the trade (Michael Masterson, Eric Ries, Seth Godin, Chris Anderson, and Nassim Taleb among others) and applied in my own projects.
What you see here is the distilled wisdom of dozens of heavyweights in the business world, as well as the knowledge I've learned from hundreds of books, courses and personal interactions, whittled down into a no-fluff, practical resource you can apply to your own project.
Most of this advice applies to bootstrappers and creative entrepreneurs - but it also applies to the artist, designer and leader.
The lessons included here are universal and impact all of us who build things from the ground up with our bare hands.
So if that applies to you, definitely bookmark this page for future reading.
Good luck, and enjoy:
What not to do with your business is important: the majority of failures are a result of putting time and energy into the wrong things, and if we know what these things are, we can purposefully avoid them.
The 2 biggest don’ts of creating success in business and life are just that – things you should definitely, at all costs, avoid:
Re-routing is spending all your time building a solution…to the wrong problem.
This is one of the most common mistakes beginner-level entrepreneurs make. But it’s not just a beginner-level mistake – plenty of pro’s make the same mistake when they branch out into a new sector, industry, or genre.
Anytime we try something for the first time, we're liable to miss the mark.
That's why it's essential we constantly reevaluate our position, direction and goals (more on that below).
The Lesson: know what problem you’re fixing and why.
John Carter was an epic failure in the box office.
Even when things weren't looking good on set or in test groups, the producers continued to pump cash into the project. By the time they shipped, they needed to make close to $400 million to make money on the project.
With every dollar they pumped into the project, the more unlikely their chance of success.
The Lesson: don’t pump money, time and resources into a project that isn’t working. A sinking ship is a sinking ship - better to cut losses and find a new way to be successful than drown in pride.
It's essential you avoid the two pitfalls above.
Simply put, if you spend your time re-routing or get sucked into the John Carter Mistake, there's literally no way your startup will make it.
But let's say you can and do avoid these two major pitfalls...then what?
What CAN you do to actively improve your chances of success.*
*Note: success is relative and subjective. In this case, I’m defining success as creating something people want to (and will) pay money for without your business going under (i.e. making profit so you can grow your business).
The following is a list of the 9 best ways you can increase your chances of success, both in business and in life:
Just because things are the way they are doesn't mean they should be that way.
No matter what industry of business, genre of art, or category of book, there is always a way to improve the existing paradigm.
There are better systems, better solutions, and better products waiting to be created. The question is: are you willing to create them?
"Never accept the status quo – there is always a better way." - tweet this
Ask yourself:
Is there a way this product or this service can be made better?
Why is this the way it is? Can it be improved?
Where is their a problem and how can I fix it? What are the pain points of others? How do I help them?
Is there something missing that I can fill?
This philosophy (and it is just that - a philosophy for living life) of challenging everything includes challenging your own assumptions and beliefs.
Be relentless.
Constantly test your assumptions and, if need be, change your beliefs - they might just be holding you back.
Why are you doing what you’re doing?
Why do you want to create this piece of art?
Why do you want to build this business?
Knowing why you do what you do is ESSENTIAL. At the end of the day, your why is what determines your success because it directly feeds your solution (your what) and your execution (your how).
Why, how, what - this is what Simon Sinek describes as the "Golden Circle" - check out his short, powerful video below on starting with why.
"People don't buy what you do - they buy why you do it." Simon Sinek
If you aren't sure of your why, but you’re building something anyway, you’re probably rerouting.
Know your why - and then start with why.
No project should start without a hypothesis.
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries explains businesses through the lens of a scientific experiment – in other words: testable, measurable, and reproducible.
Ries’ startup philosophy revolves around creating a hypothesis for your product or service – if we do X, then Y will happen.
“the goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build – the thing customers want and will pay for – as quickly as possible.” The Lean Startup
For example: if I add an email subscription box to the end of every blog post, I will increase my subscription rate by 7%.
Or, if I decrease the price of my product by 5%, gross revenue will increase by 10%.
The point isn't to know if it will work – the point is to have an idea, create a hypothesis for the idea, and then test it.
If it fails, tweak it and try again (email subscription boxes at the top of the blog post, or in the sidebar, or add a popup box to your site, etc.).
Constantly test. Constantly measure. Constantly learn.
And always adapt and grow.
When we hypothesize, we create a question that can be tested and proven right or wrong.
If the solution doesn’t work for a particular product or service, tweak the hypothesis and try again. This is changing tactics – the small scale engagements we make with customers or inside our business (i.e. changes to how we write our sales copy; changes to visual presentation, etc).
Changes in tactics don’t change the fundamental problem you’re trying to solve – changes in tactics simply mean a shift in how we approach the problem.
However, at some point, we might find that nothing is working for our original hypothesis. At this point, it’s time to change strategy - or, in Lean Startup terms, pivot.
"Life is too short to build something nobody wants." - Ash Maurya
Below is a video by Ash Maurya, author of Lean Running, who explains how to create products efficiently and effectively, why most startups fail, and how you can avoid making the same mistake:
If you found the video useful, make sure to check out Maurya's amazing, free lean canvas tool here. It will help you map out an effective, simple business plan.
If you have a hard time filling it out, it probably means you're missing a key piece of the puzzle for your own business. This will help you avoid creating a product that no one wants.
Pivoting means changing your business or business model.
This could mean changing from a "freemium" model (free content to bring people in; sell them paid premium content later on) to a premium, upfront monthly subscription model; from a company that produces and sells information products, to a company that builds software solutions.
Pivoting is sometimes drastic.
It can be scary and it’s never easy (it challenges our pride because it means admitting our original ideas were wrong).
But if you know your why, pivoting becomes a lot more bearable.
The Black Swan is a term coined by Nassim Taleb in his groundbreaking book of the same name, which focuses on probability, randomness and human rationality.
A Black Swan refers to an event that is unpredictable, but has massive impact in our lives.
The internet, for example, was a positive Black Swan event; now we are a few keystrokes away from almost anybody in the world, increasing connection and freedom throughout the world (this change was unpredictable and completely changed the economic landscape of the 90's and beyond).
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were a negative Black Swan event - the ramifications of which we still experience every time we have to take our shoes off at the airport.
So while we can’t predict when or what form a Black Swan will take, we can focus on exposing our business and our life to positive Black Swan events (and, likewise, protect against negative Black Swans). A few ways to do this:
Here's a lesson on Black Swans from the movie Grinders with Matt Damon. It's 30 seconds long - it sums up why playing it safe isn't the way to live life. Sometimes, you have to take a chance:
Taleb recently published a new book called Anti-Fragility - which explains in more depth all the things that gain from disorder. A must read for all aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make a dramatic impact (and limit their downside exposure).
In the movie The Patriot, Mel Gibson’s character teaches his son how to shoot.
His advice – aim small, miss small.
Once you know your "why" you should focus on the most specific problem you can fix (every product or service fixes a problem).
The smaller, as in, more particular and precise the problem, the better your chances of hitting your mark (because you know exactly what you’re aiming for).
Shooting from the hip (i.e. seeing what will stick) is usually not the best solution to anything.
Be Specific.
Be precise.
Focused on one problem and one problem only to start – and be relentless about defining that problem and your solution.
You do not need a website, a team of coders, or a dozen virtual assistants to get your business off the ground.
You do not need angel investors, the Shark Tank or Donald Trump to pick you.
There is a way to test and validate every product before going full scale, and guess what? You can usually do this by yourself.
Your job is to figure out how to test your solution in the smallest way possible.
Below is a video by Neville Medhora, a guy who does a crazy amount of business testing (from drop shipping companies and one and one consultation services, to eCourses and digital products).
If this doesn't open your mind to what's possible, I don't know what will (warning: some swearing is involved):
Before you start your LLC, lock down the manufacturing and distribution facilities, and enlist a team of salespeople, maybe it would be more effective for you to create the first product and hustle it by yourself.
Can you sell it on Craigslist?
Can you sell it on Ebay or Etsy?
Can you set up a stand outside an event and sell it to real people?
The point is this: you must test and VALIDATE before you start scaling.
Sorry, but if it doesn't work on a small scale, it won’t work on a massive scale (Facebook started out on a single campus, McDonalds on one street corner, and Apple with one product).
Don’t work in it.
Working in your business is essential, but only in the beginning.
It’s necessary to work inside your business at the start; you need to know how it works so you can develop and refine your processes and systems. But once you have the systems in place, and a profitable product or service, start hiring others to do your job.
Your goal should be to create a profitable, organized and systematized business so you can scale.
You really shouldn't be hiring people until you're profitable (there are exceptions to the rule - I'm addressing solopreneurs/bootstrappers in particular here).
Working on your business and not in it is a concept heavily analyzed in The E-Myth Revisited, which explains the success of any startup requires the ability to create systems and processes in order to make your business turnkey.
Here's a video all about creating systems for your business from the author himself:
Creating a business is the only way to attain actual freedom through your creative work. As long as you're an employee or self-employed (i.e. a freelancer), you're at the beck and call of others.
Freelancing requires you to be on the clock (it might be fun, but you're still tied down).
If you want to create something that improves your quality of life, that increases your flexibility and freedom, be an entrepreneur - focus on creating a business, one that can grow and scale, even if you’re not there.
This means working on your business and not in it.
Yes, you might have to forget the project you’re working on, or change your tactics, or even pivot your strategy - but don’t quit on creating.
Never stop doing what you love because it doesn't work on the first try – it rarely if ever will.
"If I fail more than you do, I win." - Seth Godin
Self-determination and freedom are not easily won - it’s a struggle and you will take some hits.
That’s why so many quit or never try to begin with.
But not you.
Have faith, act courageously and keep fighting.
Is to constantly push your own abilities; to learn and grow and improve; to seek out challenges and test yourself.
You don't have to create your empire this weekend - and, in fact, you couldn't even if you wanted to.
But if you start today, in the smallest way possible (just one word on a piece of paper; just one call to a prospect; just one sketch of your design), you begin the process of creating something brilliant.
And in this singular act, no matter how small, you begin building your empire.
So I guess the underlying moral of the story is this:
Never stop creating. Start today.
If you like what you've read and need help starting, finishing and shipping your project, here are a few ways I can help:
1 - Join the Resistance by subscribing to our newsletter here (it's free)
2 - Check out a book I wrote called 2 Days With Seth Godin (PDF version) or on Amazon Kindle that can help you get your book, business, or blog unstuck.
3 - Check out the Cache where I have books, courses, and more - many that are "Pay What You Want" (your contributions help me continue to write, produce, and publish)
There’s something about that moment – the moment we finally write our ideas on paper – that’s both invigorating and scary.
We move from day-dreaming to actualizing and everything seems at once entirely possible and wholly reachable.
The goals we set not only excite us by their grandeur, but by the thought of actually reaching them.
The moment you write your ideas on paper and form coherent objectives (clear, precise goals), a shift occurs. This shift brings about two important realizations:
The question is: what will you create?
When starting a new project, you deal with a lot of obstacles.
The web design you outsourced might not function how you wanted, or the first shipment of products come in completely the wrong color or size, or your plans for a successful launch don’t pan out the way you hoped they would…
All of these are difficult to deal with.
They hurt, they're painful, and they disappoint us.
But they won’t break you.
Negative self-talk propaganda, on the other hand, just might.
Negative self-talk propaganda will use these events to make you question yourself, your project, and your resolve. Negative self-talk propaganda will try to break you were you are weakest: from the inside.
The following are 8 fears we all experience on the road to creating something worthwhile...
We’re all scared of not living up to our own expectations; we’re even more terrified by not living up to the expectations of others.
So, we rationalize: If we don’t start, we can’t fail.
The simple solution is to not begin your project and to avoid doing the difficult, creative work of building a business, brand or organization…of course, if that’s your choice, nothing happens.
The possibility of failure is a good thing – it means you’re doing something that matters, something original, something rebellious to the robot factory.
If you’re scared it might not work, good – you’re on the right track.
Worse than the idea of not succeeding is the idea of friends and strangers belittling us for what we’re trying; that because we don’t live up to expectations, we embarrass those with whom we associate (and bring shame on ourselves).
Shame is the greatest weapon of the Enemy and will break you faster than anything else.
Shame is entirely fabricated in our minds. It has no power but what we give it, no legitimacy but what we allow it.
Keep doing the work.
Let’s be honest – anyone trying something new feels like a phony. If you don’t, you’re probably doing something you already know how to do, which means you’re not creating anything new.
Feeling like a phony is a good thing; when you have these thoughts, recognize them as the compass they are – pointing you in the right direction (toward something new).
Keep going.
Creating something from scratch is painful.
It’s never easy.
Sure, there will be moments when we’re in flow and things just click – and, often, the process of creating is a lot of fun – but those are the highlights.
The pain begins when the flow ends and you’re left without inspiration or motivation, and no guarantee it will work. That’s when commitment comes in – if you’re committed, you understand this is part of the process, and you keep creating, no matter how hard it becomes.
Before you start, commit – and recommit every day to doing the important work.
This ties into the threat of shame – every person wants some form of validation and the idea of being hated unanimously terrifies us.
Of course, no one is hated unanimously; there will always be someone who loves what you do and appreciates how you do it.
The fear of being hated is entirely irrational; laugh at it when you start your work today.
Let’s face it, being ignored is more likely what will happen with your project. There are too many choices, too many options, and a limited amount of time for people to make these choices. You’re stuff, whatever it is, competes with the noise of the world.
Attention and trust takes time. So if your stuff is good, stay gritty. If it’s not good, make it great…and then get gritty.
Note: being ignored is one of the greatest assets of the “newbie.”
If you start with peoples trust and attention, you’ll be compelled to keep that trust and attention. Usually, this involves doing whatever created the trust and attention in the first place.
The result? Sameness.
But the “newbie” – he has no fear of doing what’s worked, because nothings worked yet. The “newbie” is really another name for the underdog - the insurgent. The actions of the underdog challenge the status quo; the actions of the insurgent create revolutions.
Don’t worry about being ignored – it’s more likely you'll create a revolution (if your stuff is good enough).
Creating involves some level of introversion. If what we’re doing is brilliant and personal, we need to wrestle with ideas internally. And dealing with things alone is no joke.
It’s difficult to fight a battle by yourself.
Don’t cut yourself off from external help. Don’t let the lonely abyss of creation overwhelm you. The solution is usually just a friendly talk away, or knowing others are in the trenches with you, willing to help you through your difficult times.
Talking out a problem with someone you trust is one of the surest ways to get unstuck. Use this technique freely; use it often.
And after all the pain you’ve gone through, “they” might reject you.
If you expect your next project to be the breakthrough moment – the thing that changes everything so you no longer have to face rejection - I have bad news: this never happens.
The most popular, famous, successful businesses still face rejection. Sure, once you’ve hit a tipping point of fans and support, rejection is less likely because the majority will always mimic the majority (a self-perpetuating cycle), but even great brands, bands, and people fade away if all they do is perpetuate the current cycle.
Continue to challenge everything; continue to create new things; continue to be rejected for your unique work – it means you’re doing something right (and the few who understand your work – the important people – will continue to support you).
---
When you know these 8 fears are just part of the price you pay for attempting something new, different and bold, you can overcome them.
Now that we know what we’re in for, you have two choices:
There’s no reason to start in the first place if you have no intention of finishing (and shipping). And if you don’t think you can deal with the fears above, better to be realistic in the beginning instead of wasting months (years) of time.
Anyone can do it.
Few people choose to.
And that’s entirely on you.
Never fight alone:
[yks-mailchimp-list id="0ccbfb589b"]
I've been busy recently...
Very busy.
January came and went with the initiation of several big projects - stuff I didn't think I would finish by February...
But, somehow, I'm on track to ship (subscribe to my blog to get insider sneak peaks and first releases of awesome content, products and projects before everyone else).
Here are a few things I did that helped me focus my effort so I could create some great stuff I really think will help you on your own journey:
No matter what happens, the projects I'm working on WILL ship.
Maybe that means I don't leave the computer the weekend before they ship, but so be it.
As long as you set a ship date - and understand that shipping isn't an option - your project will ship.
Perfect is what you strive for. But good enough is what you NEED.
It's important to identify what makes your project perfect, but perfect rarely happens. If you don't know what good enough looks like, you will spend time spinning wheels trying to reach the unattainable.
On the other hand, if you identify good enough beforehand, and the project is good enough, you can still ship on time. And shipping is what matters.
Thrashing is all about tearing apart your idea to find the holes, the missing pieces, and the weaknesses of your project.
Thrashing is brutal.
When we sit down to really understand what and why we're doing something, or how to put our project together, it means we inspect every part of who WE are. If there's not clear solution to a part of your project, it's easy to feel terrible.
Don't.
Thrashing is essential. If you don't thrash, you'll never find your voice, manifest your vision, or ship your final product.
Thrashing occurs throughout the project, but when you spend serious time and effort thrashing in the beginning, you'll produce a better product and run into less trouble along the way.
(here is a great article by Jonathan Fields on Thrashing)
Chunking is taking the thrashed version of your idea and creating individual ship dates for each component/piece/part.
I like to chunk down pieces of the project into 1-3 hour intervals. This means every piece of the puzzle I can accomplish within a 3 hour time-frame.
This allows me to realistically set a ship date that know I can reach it.
I rarely know how long something will take. But I've learned something through my experiences: a 30 minute blog post WILL take 3 hours.
That eBook you think you can write in a 7 days WILL take 1 - 2 months.
The manuscript you're working on, the one you think will take a few months...give yourself a year.
My rule of thumb: When in doubt, multiply by 6.
That's right: actually shipping is essential to shipping your project successfully.
But how many people actually ship?
Everything here is focused on shipping, because shipping matters (see item #2). Even if iteration 1.0 doesn't turn out the way you want it to, it's out there, and you can refine and re-release later.
The goal, of course, is to thrash and chunk in such a way that you create a stellar product and ship something incredible the first round.
But if you have to ship something less than what you planned, ship anyway (you'll learn more than you would otherwise, I promise).
Get free updates, exclusive content, and first looks at AWESOME projects coming down the pipeline: Join the Resistance.
