Thank you so much for this article. I escaped a year ago and have been building my coaching practice ever since. The toughest part of this process has been living with what happens in my head, much more so than any lack of business knowledge. It is the most rewarding learning experience though and you capture it so well.

Thanks for the reminder and inspiration,

Phil
.-= Phil Bolton´s last blog ..Find your Focus in 2010 – Feel the Fear and Do it anyway =-.

The mental aspect sure is interesting, isn’t it? I particularly liked your How to Succeed by Building Your Body of Evidence piece. Any kind of preparation an aspiring entrepreneur does will help them to evaluate the risks and rewards of the opportunity. However, as important as it is to find the supporters, I would advise not to completely turn a blind eye to the naysayers either. You can find statistics to support just about anything! My anecdotal experience suggests that there are at least as many entrepreneurs or solopreneurs who ignore pretty major issues regarding their new business endeavors as those who feel trepidation about starting a new project. The key is to look at both the pros and the cons, understand the implications behind them and then ultimately decide if the potential rewards (qualitative and financial) justify the risks you are taking, given your own personal circumstances.

Carol Roth

Probably the only distinguishing element I have seen between those that “make it” and those who “fail” (I realize everyone defines these differently) is the ability to take a big licking and keep on ticking. The people who don’t take failure personally, who learn voraciously and look for the positive in challenging situations are often those who have the most fun and success in business.

But I could be wrong — and am often.

-Pam

Thanks,

-Pam

-Pam

-Pam

I wish you the best of luck with your plans, and would be happy to answer your questions.

All the best,

-Pam

In particular, we employees all sell “labor.” Though it wasn’t articulated for me this way, “Go to college and get a good job” is a life strategy based upon raising the market value of my labor. It has been a big shift to realize that selling ONLY labor is a dead-end game, even if the labor I sell goes at a high price.

This dynamic plays out in the professional who hangs up a shingle and sells “services” at $150 per hour and ends up with an overwhelmed lifestyle and no profits. It also plays out in any number of businesses my students and clients have had that monetize only “me doing X.” You hear evidence of this imprecise thinking when people say that “doctors make X in 15 minutes” without understanding that the doctor isn’t being paid just for time, or even expertise; she is also being for the power to write the prescription, which is ultimately scalable and not bound by time.

As long as “my business” is “something I do,” I’m in a financial trap. I’m also in an emotional trap as a result because “what I do” is tied up in “who I am” moment to moment in a very different way that “what I cause” would be. So, I end up adopting unnecessary constraints and ruling out certain obvious solutions.