The frustrating curse of perfectionism and fear of failure entraps so many people to pursue the dreams they hold so dear to them.
The truth is, when you start a sentence in your head with, “I’ll start WHEN…”, the ‘when’ never happens.
No stars will align perfectly enough or the most ideal time will ever come for you in the opportune time to change your life and do something different.
You have to make the time, and make your dreams as important as everything else you prioritize in your life.
Imperfect action is where you’ll get the clarity and confidence you need to go after the life and business of your dreams.
I want to share some real stories today. Real stories of real people that started where you are, and have since created a very different version of their lives.
No, they didn’t have an ‘out of this world’ strategy or did anything overly extraordinary to quit their jobs and start a business they love.
Here are 3 big moves they made to create their momentum and achieve the goals they planned.
Start small and trust the flow of curiosity
When a spark of inspiration enters our brain and hearts, do you find yourself getting SUPER excited initially…and then followed by a wave of doubt?
At times, it can be feel overwhelming when you’re too focused on the BIG end goal. Things can feel daunting if your attention is on a ‘far away’ destination, which can feel impossible to achieve from the place you’re currently in.
Craft smaller do-able mini goals, benchmark, or milestones, to be able to track your progress and feel the traction sooner. This helps you to feel a bigger sense of accomplishment without waiting ONLY until a big goal happens.
Danny from DannyBunny.co is a great example of this. After attending my retreat in Bali and working on his business goals all year with me and the Screw The Cubicle community last year, he started with the simplest way to coach overachieving professionals to create more ease, joy, alignment, and healthier version of success into their lives.
He started a private FB group inviting people in his network, created valuable live streams to share his story and experience, hosted in-person meetups, and genuinely gave the people who inquired about his work powerful conversations, as often as he could – no fancy ads or strategy here.
In a matter of a few months, someone he coached previously recommended him to a big organization they worked for, and a new opportunity emerged – facilitating team development days. Now he adds this to his work portfolio because of the amazing referrals he gets to work with even more organizations.
Starting with one simple focus and being consistent, led Danny to even bigger opportunities.
What’s the ONE thing you could laser focus on doing TODAY, that can make a big difference in reaching your goals?
Join Danny at the Academy of Cubicle Crashers, where he’ll be teaching in our Expert Interview week – all about finding your ‘ikigai’ and purpose in your work
Eliminate ‘shiny’ and focus on doing good work
Here’s a message I want to really hit home for you today.
Stop focusing on looking good, and start being good instead.
I know it’s tempting to want to show off a beautiful brand or have a snazzy website to finally say, “Omg my business is totally REAL now!”
In my many years of helping people launch their small business and make an income from their gifts, their success has NEVER been about how great their brand or websites looked.
It was ALWAYS about how good they were at the work they did, how connected they are to genuinely building great relationships, and creating value that others loved coming back for.
For some of you, it may be building your visibility to attract an audience by giving away your work and sharing your expertise often to invite people to experience your work even before they buy.
For others, it may be using an amount of time to utilize towards experimenting and testing your work with real human case studies before you officially ‘launch’. Before you can feel confident about charging for your work, you must feel good about the process of how you work with your customers and truly understand the transformation you are providing for them.
Ella from Green and Ginger is a great example of this. She joined the Screw The Cubicle community and worked with me to start her side hustle offering digital marketing services to purpose-driven entrepreneurs while working a full time job.
Instead of starting with a beautiful website, she focused on finding clients through upwork.com, reaching out to old colleagues, and pitching herself to coaches to beta test her services.
Being able to have a handful of case studies helped Ella to identify the areas of digital marketing she enjoyed the most, understand the problems most commonly experienced by her clients, create a process of how she worked with clients, and most importantly, saw which clients were her ideal ones and which ones were not.
Within a couple of months of focusing on DOING good work without waiting for a website or established brand, Ella has now expedited her quitting day – right in time for when she gets married this year!
How can you showcase your good work today with the opportunities you have available to you? Who can you invite to start helping right NOW?
Create YOUR side hustle launch plan at the Academy of Cubicle Crashers, where we’ll help you find your business idea niche and help you start a business you can love.
Create your opportunities and stop waiting for it to show up at your doorstep
Your version of freedom and success isn’t something that just smacks you on the forehead one sunny day when you’re walking to work.
It requires you to pay attention to seeing those open doors when they arise, and leverage particular opportunities that may exist around you already.
It may take a combination of things to create your ‘escape’ from your cubicle – and it’s time to get creative.
A great example of this is Sophia from SophiaDarkoui.com. Sophia was working for a big multinational firm in London, stuck in a career she no longer feel aligned with. Plus to be honest, she wanted to fulfill her dream of being location-independent and move her life to Portugal (those long train commutes in London to work each day can make one go slightly ‘cuckoo’ on certain days!).
She joined the Screw The Cubicle community to get support and mentorship with me to find her niche, and create a side hustle coaching women to become better leaders in their life and work. This was the business she was hoping to replace her income as soon as possible.
12 months after starting her career transition, creating her business idea, working with beta clients while still full-time employed, and finally marketing her business publicly, Sophia saw an opportunity to leave her job without needing to pressure herself in making the exact income she was making in her business.
She started talking to old corporate clients and being vocal about her plans. She made it an effort to track down old colleagues to tell them she’s available for freelance work as a consultant in learning and development (her cubicle career).
After discussing her plans with the community at Screw The Cubicle, Sophia finally handed in her notice, took on a contract position as a freelancer, adjusted her high costs of living by moving back with family temporarily, and created plans to live in Portugal with her fiancée to enjoy a lower cost of living.
This now allowed her to take the pressure off relying on her new coaching business to fund her entire life, but combining freelance work to give her the income faster.
How can you invite more simple opportunities with the contacts and network you’ve already built? Are there alternative options for a ‘bridge job’ or freelance work that can help you create income while you build your business?
Get the strategies to leave your job quicker than doing it alone at the Academy of Cubicle Crashers, where we’ll help you create a plan of transition that works for you.
There isn’t one way to create the life and work of your dreams. You have different strengths to leverage, an approach that makes it simpler for you to create a plan of action, and motivations that will drive you differently from other people.
However, the most important work you have to do right now is this.
You have to start.
Make the conscious effort to create your freedom, and stop waiting for it to simply happen.
Honour your dreams this year to go forth towards a life you’ve always wanted and feel more purposeful in the way you make a living.
I’m currently offering complimentary strategic calls to individuals who are serious about reinventing their life and work.
Click on the ‘Apply’ button at the Academy of Cubicle Crasher’s info page, and to learn more about how our community program supports and guides you to accomplishing your goals.
The Academy starts on February 19th, and it’s going to change your life.
