Everyone wants to be their own boss, set their own hours, and make a hefty income each month. For those currently working a 9-5 job on a set schedule it sounds really appealing to dream about being on a beach watching the waves come in while sipping on an exotic drink and adding up dollars on their smartphone. The dreams get even wilder when looking at Entrepreneurs and seeing them travel on a monthly basis and able to come and go as they please. But how is it possible to “break through” the mold? Those that are just getting started in their career may find themselves working long hours, paying back large student loans, and giving everything to their new job. Those already in their career may find themselves already juggling between their 9-5 job, family, kids, and other aspects of life. When is there time to learn how to break off on your own?
Since we started IMGrind.com two years ago I’ve had the opportunity to meet Entrepreneurs from all around the world. It’s always interesting to me to ask them how they got involved in working online and when they made the decision to quit their day job. Some people refer to me as “lucky” because I never did have to go out and have a “traditional 9-5.” Since I got started in the late 90s I was still in junior high school and by the time I was in high school was making a “full time living” working online. I went to college as an optional decision but spent the majority of my time taking night classes and working all day. When I graduated in 2007 I was thrilled I no longer had any distractions and could focus 24/7/365 on my businesses. Ruck’s story has always interested me because he’s been working full time since he was 16 years old but online for the last six years. He probably gets annoyed with the amount of times I ask him, “when did you realize you were making enough money to leave your other jobs?” “How intimidating was it?” “What did your family think?”
Ruck’s answer is much the same as other Entrepreneurs I’ve met. “I worked my ass off Gray… There was little time for sleep and as soon as I got home from my other job, I would spend some time with my family, and then boot up the computer where I would stay on almost right until I had to be back at my other job.” To me, this shows a ton of dedication and passion. As I said above, everyone wants to set their own hours and “fire” their boss but how many people want to boot up a computer at the end of a long work day and get to work while everyone else is sleeping? This makes being an Entrepreneur not as appealing; it’s not in the dream. Yesterday, I started crossfit. For those of you not familiar, it’s basically a very intense workout focused on getting your body in amazing shape. It’s not easy though. It takes a shitload of dedication because as I’m typing this I’m a bit scared about how I’m going to be able to get around today. But if I quit I’m never going to get back into shape. That’s not me; I will go back today, work through this soreness, and continue to give it 110% until I achieve the results I desire. The “coach” was talking to some of the new attendees yesterday and talked a lot about commitment. Once you commit you have to stick with it.
On Sunday’s I see a common trend working with IMGrind, Revived Media, and iMobiTrax. People I don’t hear from all week start hitting me up in the forum, on Skype, and via email asking some of the most basic questions. They stay online for the most part of the day and as soon as I reply they’re back with more. Some of them will even say “this is the day that I do this! Today is the day that I quit sitting on the fence and take action.” The results are almost always the same. They have all this motivation, work hard for the entire day, but then Monday comes and it’s back to their traditional job and normal life. The campaigns or websites they setup the day before are soon forgotten and their time spent online is nonexistent until the next Sunday. Friends, this is what I call “the Sunday Entrepreneur.” Over the last two years I have yet to see one of these achieve a lot of success. One or two may make some money but they never stick around for a long time because they’re only devoting [maybe] one day a week to becoming their own boss.
It’s fun being 28 years old, getting to travel a lot, and being able to set my own hours and come and go as I please. There is one thing though that a lot of people can’t see on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media websites. The majority of my time is spent behind a computer. To achieve the results I have over the years has required a ton of dedication and commitment which would never had been possible had I not given 110% and never given up when I failed. I still continue to fail with projects everyday but I learn from them and come out stronger. Rather than going out with my friends on the weekends I’ve sat at home many of them while I finished up a large project. While others take off holidays I’m working straight through them to get an advantage over my competition. My weekends are also no different. I may take some time off to go enjoy an hour or two at the lake or break off for a BBQ, etc. but being my “own boss” there isn’t a day I can’t go without doing some work. It’s just not possible.
If you’re reading this and are wondering why you’re not yet successful with your own business take a quick moment to reflect back on the amount of time you spend working. Have you committed? Are you making sacrifices? Rather than watching that ballgame on Friday evening are you sitting on your computer giving it your all to succeed? That’s what it takes and it can be especially challenging if you’re already working a 9-5 job daily, have a wife/husband, and kids. The playing field is even. Everyone only has 24 hours in a day but it’s how you manage those hours and the commitment you bring. It’s tough to give up a couple hours of sleep or to miss the big game with your friends. But much like crossfit the results are well worth the sacrifices made. Don’t be a Sunday Entrepreneur; your day would probably be best playing golf or going finishing if you’re only going to devote one day to try and “break through the mold.” Give it your all and the results will amaze you!
Ryan Gray is the founder and CEO of NameHero, one of the fastest growing independent web hosts in the United States. Ryan has been working online since 1998 and has over two-decades experience in Internet Entrepreneurship.
Totally agree with you on your point about motivation and giving your all
However your been a tad unfair on the 9-5 ers that put there all into their career but want to own their own successful business. You had the opportunity and drive to get your business going before you had a family and by extension financial responsibility.
I know this well because I,m one of them,I work my ass off all week and then make a little extra at the weekend.
For me the real opportunity to make it online comes from timing,in my case when i will get an insrance policy maturing in dec this year
I will then have 50k to build my business, but a lot of others won’t have that opportunity. So I,m using my Sundays to test small campaigns and study, for this I have to thank you for your free guides
Ryan,
I think one of the biggest things that holds people back is that they don’t understand the HARD CORE science behind 1) permanent change and 2) forming new habits and 3) fear.
A recent CNN study said that over 50% of what we do on a daily basis is PURE HABIT. Consider this – there are 27 million businesses in the usa alone. There’s a population of 300 million. Translation? Online 1 in 10 people have the HABITS of an entrepreneur (what you talked about earlier). The fact is that it takes a permanent change to go from being an employee to an entrepreneur.
-the people you hang around – HAS TO CHANGE
-your mindset – HAS TO CHANGE
-your daily activities – HAVE TO CHANGE
For alot of people where they live, or where they shop or where they shop HAS TO CHANGE. We human beings are so susceptible to subtle influences.
The point I’m getting is that alot of people talk about the “doing” part of people but very few people realize that a good 80% of your success as an entrepreneur is a different mindset, 20% is mechanics. After all, how “smart” do you have to be? It’s not rocket science. Look at this blog alone – if aperson took action on everything you guys listed FOR FREE they’d be rich. So we can’t blame lack of information/knowledge.
On a deep, fundamental, we all have things we KNOW HOW TO DO, but that’s not the issue. The issue is the MINDGAME necessary to actually do them. Every single person (self included) who say wants to get inshape knows all you have to do is eat less and exercise more. But why is weight loss a billion dollar industry?
Quite frankly, I know alot of people are looking for a magical, wizard like blog post to pop on IMGrind one day that will make them start acting.
There’s a part of the brain called the amygdala, that gets very upset when we change things. So when a person who has been an employee for years starts acting different (keep in mind the stat I mentioned…if you become an entrepreneur/business owner 90% of the people around you will be on a different page). When we start talking about different things, doing different things, thinking different thoughts in a world filled with people who have an employee-mindset the amydala produces chemicals we typically recognize as “fear” (procrastination is a cousin of fear). The brain knows how to product “procrastination” or some call it “creative block” so we won’t change.
When became aware of this fact, it was a turning point in my life. Everyone talks about “just get out there and do it!” . But it’s kind of like depression. Back in the day people thought people who were “depressed” were just mentally weak. Now we know depression is caused by chemicals in the brain. The same thing goes for procastination.
The cure is to break any task up into steps SO SMALL that we almost “sneak” pass the amygdala. Small, consistent steps cause the brain not to be afraid of the sudden changes we make. Dr. Robert Maurer talks about this. A lady had like 100 lbs to lose. What he told her to do is just stand on the treadmill everyday for a few minutes.
What? Stand on a treadmill? What he was doing was rewiring the habits in her brain – so she got comfortable moving. Within a few weeks, she went from standing on the treadmill, to walking a few steps – to RUNNING 5 miles in a year. Yep. Only it’s not like most people who try to start off running – it stuck.
I applied the SAME logic to marketing. For a good 5 years, I had “planned” to improve my list building efforts using one well known traffic source. I originally opened an account in 2004. Following the advice above instead of doing the “new year’s resolution” method. I just committed to two things: 1) to take small daily actions that wouldn’t “scare my amygdala” 2)to be consistent. I didn’t commit to 2 hours a day of work. I committed to 10 mins. All I had to do was my 10 mins. The startly thing i 80% of the time I would do 30 mins, 1hr,etc a day of work. But during those periods that would normally have me procrastinated, because I only had to do 10 minutes, everyday I moved forward.
If people find themselves procrastinating, I recommend breaking the step down to something that’s SO SMALL they can’t fail. Laughably small. Let’s say you are building an add campaign. Just commit to 10 minutes a day (preferably at the same time). If a person BUILT THE HABIT of working 10 minutes a day on their campaigns, fast forward a year or 6 months down the line and that 10 minutes a day would blossom to 2 hours a day, 3 hours a day, etc.
Once again, the “kaizen”/small step way, takes into account how the brain is hard wired to reject any form of sudden change. It takes CONSISTENCY and REPETITION to build a new habit and a new mindset. And get an accountability buddy. Reach out tosomeone on the forum.
Anyway, I just wanted to comment because the “small step” way is a technique – A POWERFUL DOABLE TECHNIQUE – for long lasting change that handles the biggest problem of all: fear and habits.
Few people talk about it. I just wanted to leave this comment in the hope that someone who might be stuck investigates this life-altering strategy for success. You can take any area of your life. If you consistently move forward for just a few steps a day- there’s no way in hell next year from now,will look like today does. The trick is to fine a step that is SO SMALL that you will be guaranteed to succeed. Small successes give you confidence. If you do 1 min, 5 min or 10 mins a day of a regular income producing activity, you build confidence, all of a sudden you’ll hear yourself saying “wow I can stick to stuff” vs. “why do I always give up after a while?”. That 1 min, 5 min or 10 min will blossom into hours of work. This is far better than just jumping into doing something that is a radical change. Some resources on this method of PERMANENT CHANGE:
1. The Kaizen Way by Dr. Robert Maurer (one of the world’s leading experts on this)
2. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (built a $50 million company by age 28)
3. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsson (mentor to a gazillion famous business people)
4. Ryan Lesveques, Kaizen Mind Trick (Neuromarketer, #1 Clickbank Email Marketing Software developer)
http://www.rocketmemory.com/articles/kaizen-mind-trick/
5. Charles Duhigg, “Habits”
6. Nir Eyal (founded online ad agency, several successful exits)
http://www.nirandfar.com/2012/01/your-new-years-resolution-is-bound-to.html
I really hopes this helps someone. It was a little over 10 months ago when I learned this technique and my life has been improved by it.
One last thing:
There is also a “science” to motivation. Motivation on biological level comes in WAVES – it’s temporary. Habits on the other hand are actual, physical things. There’s a part of the brain called the basic ganglia that is responsible for automatic actions.
Want proof?
Every found yourself up, out of bed, and you are already making coffee? Yet you can’t even remember how that happened?
Ever found yourself temporarily day dreaming and you are driving (a complex activity) for a good 10 minutes and you missed your stop.
The thing is we can all make an activity “automatic”. Tying your shoe is automatic. Driving is automatic. Well writing an autoresponder email or setting up an ad campaign is a PHYSICAL activity that can be made a habit. The project I mentioned earlier,it’s to the point where I can do it for a good 30 minutes – I’ll look up and I will be daydreaming and the work is done. Because it’s become a habit. When we repeat an activity enough times, it’s passed to the part of the brain that automatically implements all habits like tying your shoes, driving, making coffee -anything you’ve done the same way over and over again.
If you talk to extremely succesful folks (and I bet you can attest to this, Ryan),time and time again you hear people say “this stuff is like second nature (habit)” to me.
When we make something a habit, procrastination and fear goes away because the brain starts executing the action automatically – like a robot.
Like I said, this is not woo woo stuff this is based on modern brain science.