Texas Conference for Women - Nov. 17, 2011

I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of speaking engagements this year (most recently at the Texas Conference for Women where I got to tell Martha Beck how obsessed I am with her work), but I always feel like I could do a better job of including all of you. These events don’t always capture video, and even when they do it may not be available for months.

I LOVE workshops and live interaction, so I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve got two great online events lined up for December! Read on for more details…

Inbox Freedom: 2-Part Webinar Series (hosted in conjunction with People On the Go)

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. As many of you know from my 12 Mini Confessions post, email and I have a love/hate relationship. I absolutely love interacting with friends and readers, and email is a major part of my job and how much of my work gets done.

However, I hate the feeling of constantly being behind; of sinking deeper and deeper into email quicksand for every day that I spend away from the computer. I am a slave the little “ding” notification on my phone, and yet I don’t turn it off. I check email when I wake up in the morning, all day long, and until I go to sleep at night.

There has got to be a better way. 

This webinar series is my way of helping us find it. Email isn’t going anywhere, and for the most part, our work benefits greatly from the convenience, speed and reach it can allow — if used properly.

Email is a skill just like any other, and this webinar series will help you take your email habits from ad hoc to intentional and focused. I’ve taken a deep, introspective look at what gets in my way and have done extensive research on tips and tools from others so that I can share the very best of the best practices with you.

The Inbox Freedom series is an interactive workshop composed of two 60-minute sessions:

• Session 1 – The Bigger Picture: Addressing how/when email fits — assessing your overall email “health,” understanding the three A’s that typically plague us when it comes to answering email: attitude, avoidance, and (lack of) awareness; an overview of The Results Curve, strategies for how to keep email from consuming every waking minute of your day (and most important work), and an exercise to help you outline your broader priorities.
• Session 2 – Email as a task: once you have email in it’s proper place of your day-to-day workflow, we’ll examine the anatomy of the email task, how to recognize and prioritize emails based on what is actually urgent/important, and share online resources to help you process more effectively.

You will leave this series with:

• A handle on how email fits in to your broader workflow and priorities
• Strategies for reducing email overwhelm and dealing with “big frogs” that you tend to avoid
• An abundance of helpful resources and tactics to help you process email more efficiently and effectively
• The ability to focus on what really matters to you

Day/Time: Session 1: Thursday, Dec. 1 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET; Session 2: Thursday, Dec. 8 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET
Cost: $29 for an individual; companies: special discount of $99 for teams of 10 who sign-up
Enroll: Sign-up here

Jonathan Mead is someone I’ve looked up to for as long as I’ve been blogging, and I’m thrilled to be co-hosting a webinar with him about his incredible work, which is helping people find what they were born to do and then…drumroll please…actually get paid for it!

Here’s a description of the webinar from Jonathan:

Your offer is everything.

When you get this right, everything lines up. Opportunities materialize, people are interested, and they’re hungry for more.

Get it wrong, however, and all your effort, all your hard work amounts to… little or nothing.

Personally, I can’t stand seeing this happen. So I’m on a mission to help people get this right from the beginning, so the seed you plant grows into something beautiful.

On this webinar you’ll discover…

• The one thing you can do to immediately transform your chances of success right now
• Reveal the truth about the “unfortunate lie” that is holding most people back from succeeding (most people don’t even know they’re spreading this)
• How you can finally make this “getting paid to be who you are” thing a reality, now (and what a simple shift you can make has to do with it)
• Why the seed you plant from the beginning is everything: if it’s infertile, nothing grows; if it’s strong and hardy, it can withstand anything

I look forward to (hopefully) hanging out with you at one of these events!

***

P.S. Thanks to Alexis Grant, I am quoted in the U.S. News and World Report magazine this month…the paper one! I snatched up five copies at the airport, and couldn’t resist sharing a few snapshots with all of you. Read the full article here.

Intro from Jenny: One thing that has always been important to me is sharing a variety of career perspectives on this blog beyond my own personal choices. Not everyone wants to work nights and weekends on a side hustle or quit their job to become self-employed — nor should they feel the pressure to!

That’s what I love about Alexis Grant, today’s guest poster. Alexis advocates taking a career break to travel, which can sometimes feel as nerve-wracking to ask for as giving your two-weeks notice (perhaps moreso because you have more at stake if you don’t plan on leaving).

Alexis interviewed me for two US News & World Report articles when my book came out (Treat Your Career Like a Smart Phone and Can I afford to take a sabbatical?) and we’ve kept in close touch since. I’m thrilled to share her work here at LAC today for any of you contemplating how to take a travel break without completely uprooting your career.

How to Take a Career Break to Travel (by Alexis Grant)

Alexis Grant in Madagascar

When I left my job to backpack through Africa, friends and colleagues often said to me, “I wish I could take a trip like that.”

Yet they didn’t follow that phrase with when they planned to go or where they would visit. Instead, they almost always followed it with a sentence that started with “But.”

• BUT I can’t leave my job.
• BUT I don’t have the money.
• BUT I have a mortgage.

The truth is, we all have our own BUT. It wouldn’t be a BIG, HAIRY, SCARY GOAL, as Jenny calls it, if it didn’t include at least one. Without the BUT, it simply wouldn’t be a dream.

My BUT was my job. I was working as a reporter at one of the country’s largest newspapers, the Houston Chronicle. I got to write stories about flesh-eating bacteria and rodeo cowboys and Death Row. It was the job I’d wanted all through graduate school, and I knew other journalists my age who were stuck covering board meetings for the town weekly would take my place in a second. How could I leave that behind?

I made the jump because I feared my desire to travel might not last forever, that riding in a crowded bush taxi would lose its appeal as I got older. I worried that if I didn’t follow my travel whims in my twenties, I might never do it.

So after three years in the workforce, I headed to Africa, where I traveled through seven countries in six months – and then got a new job when I got back. I socked the hell out of my BUT. And yet, I totally get it when a wannabe traveler feels trapped by seemingly unbeatable obstacles.

That’s why I wrote How to Take a Career Break to Travel. Because no matter how many BUTs you have, it’s possible to overcome all of those obstacles if you really want to make travel a priority.

In fact, this applies to more than taking a career break. It applies to any dream: landing a new job, publishing a book, taking any part of your life to the next level.

So when you find that three-letter word stopping you in your tracks, ask yourself: How can you work around that BUT? Or how can you face that challenge head-on?

In my new guide, I break down several major BUTs that keep wannabe travelers from seeing the world.

Chances are, even if your dream isn’t backpacking through Africa or museum-hopping in Europe or buying an around-the-world plane ticket, these BUTs have still forced their way into the picture. In some way, they’re probably infringing upon your Big Dream.

BUT: Career
Common obstacle: But if I leave my job, I won’t be able to find one when I get back!
How to work around it: Use your trip to enhance your resume. Rather than bumming through Latin America, give yourself an objective, like learning Spanish or volunteering with a non-profit or growing an awesome travel blog. If you gain skills during your travels, you’ll be a more marketable, more desirable worker when you return home, one employers would be foolish not to hire.

BUT: Money
Common obstacle: A career break is so expensive!
How to work around it: If you travel frugally, it will probably cost less to live on the road than it does at home. But since you won’t have a full-time paycheck coming in, you’ll have to save money to make this work. This is probably more doable than you think. Rather than minimizing your expenses to squeeze out savings, focus on maximizing income through your Side Hustle.

BUT: Housing
Common obstacle: But I have a mortgage!
How to work around it: Rather than thinking of this as a dream-stopper, approach it as a challenge, and think outside the box. Could you sell your house without taking a big loss? Don’t get sucked into the old-school rule that you have to own a home if you’re an adult. Plenty of us rent housing instead to give ourselves the flexibility we crave. If you can’t sell, could you rent out the property during your career break? Becoming a landlord can be a hassle, but it can also bring in some nice cash.

These BUTs aren’t actually as powerful as they look. They may feel intimidating, but once you check them out up close, you’ll see they’re not nearly scary and hairy as they appear from afar. Here’s my trick for wading through the scary and hairy: divide and conquer. Break those BUTs down into manageable bits, and tackle them one by one.

This tactic can work even if your BUT is something entirely different than a career break. If what you want seems totally undoable, how can you chip away at that goal, little by little? How can you get it within your reach?

My favorite tool for getting goals within my reach is one you might use already: the to-do list. 

You probably have to-do lists for your apartment (do laundry, fix the television, throw out the expired milk). And maybe for your job search, if you’re looking for a new job, or for your wedding, if you’re preparing to get hitched. We create to-do lists (and litter our desks with Post-Its) because they help us get that big thing accomplished.

So why not have a to-do list for your Big, Hairy, Scary Goal?

Get it all down on paper (or Evernote or Google Docs or whatever note-taking tool you prefer):

• What tasks stand between you and this goal?
• Can you break down those tasks even further, creating a to-do list of totally doable mini-tasks? (Hint: the Google spreadsheets Jenny’s mastered work super well for this.)

Rather than writing off those BUTs as impossible to overcome, break them down – divide and conquer – and be creative about answering the “how.” Before you know it, your Big, Hairy, Scary Goal will be more achievable than you thought.

What BUT gets in the way of your Big Dream – and how can you conquer it?

***

Alexis Grant is a journalist, social media strategist and author of the eguide, How to Take a Career Break to Travel. She is writing a travel memoir about backpacking solo through Africa and serves as managing editor of BrazenCareerist. If you liked this post, sign-up for her newsletter, which will help you take that Big Leap you’ve been waiting on. Follow Alexis on Twitter @AlexisGrant.

One of the struggles I hear most often from new readers is that they have a gnawing feeling of bordom when they think about their future. Many are a few years into their career and know it’s time for a change, but have no clue where to start. They feel directionless, foggy and tentative. The age-old “follow your passions” advice is not helpful for those who don’t even know what their passions are.

Enter today’s guest post from Therese Schwenkler;Therese writes for the young & confused at TheUnlost.com, proving that good advice doesn’t have to be boring or uncool. Her mission: to bring more & better direction to today’s mainstream. Find out why she’s getting naked for 3,737 people or Take Therese’s hilarious happiness quiz here. Therese tweets at @tschwenkler. 

You want to find your life’s calling— the work that you’re deeply, madly, insanely passionate about. 

You’re sick of staring out the window and watching the clock. You’re sick of that listless feeling in your soul and that dragging feeling in your step. You just can’t get the thought out of your head that there’s got to be more than this.

But there’s one big, fat problem standing in your way: you haven’t a clue what your passion might be.

A few years ago I was faced with the very same problem.  I made a ton of mistakes before I finally realized that there’s a better way to figure things out— a method that, for some odd reason, isn’t talked about a whole lot.

Almost every passionate person I’ve met has used this method, whether knowingly or unknowingly, with great success in discovering their life’s path. It’s in fact quite simple: rather than trying to jump straight to the endpoint, these people allow their passions to organically evolve.

In other words, they don’t try to decide upfront what it is that they should end up doing. Instead, they kindle many small fires, allowing those that spark their interest to naturally progress until they evolve into full-fledged, passionate pursuits.

Let me show you what I mean by this and why it can be so effective. In three simple steps, I’ll break this method down for you and show you exactly how to do it. I’ll also weave in examples from my own story—i.e., how I went from being an unfocused and passionless college student to finding a pursuit that I’m desperately, madly, passionately in love with (and strangely enough, my pursuit does not involve stalking Brad Pitt).

How to Allow Your Passion to Organically Evolve — by Therese Schwenkler

1. Try lots and lots and lots of stuff. Sometimes finding your passion is like shopping for jeans: you’ve got to try on a lot of pairs before you find the right ones. Why? Because no matter how much you window shop, you often can’t (& won’t) know beforehand which pair will actually fit your sexy a**. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

Jeans aside, this is exactly why you’re likely to fail if you try to choose a pursuit upfront without having prior exposure— for example, by declaring “I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be a graphic designer” without truly having been exposed to these pursuits. Again, you can’t always know beforehand whether or not something will interest you.

On the flip side, there are certain things that you might normally have disregarded from the get-go, but that you might actually end up enjoying if you gave them a chance.

So here’s my advice: unless you’re absolutely positive that you’ll hate something, throw out all your preconceived notions and just try it. It won’t kill you at all; in fact, exploration is an essential piece of the organic method.

For example, you could do any of the following:

• Attend local events in the community or on college campuses
• Keep an eye out for people in your social networks or in your community who are doing cool things, then ask to meet up with them and talk about their experiences
• Talk to your friends, acquaintances, or professors (or ex professors) about their pursuits and ask if they know of any interesting projects or events that you might want to participate in
• Take a class, attend a workshop, or read books and blogs to learn more
• Ask to shadow someone at their job or pursuit
• Anything else you can possibly think of

2. Implement the “spark test.” Each time you try something new, ask yourself if it sparked your interest in any way. If your answer is no, then you can cross it off your list. But if the answer is yes, then…

3. Follow up. This is perhaps the most important step in this method and it’s where 99% of people fall short— in fact, I ignored this step for years at my own peril. I had found several things that passed the “spark test” such as writing, marketing and psychology, but I never followed up with any action, and as a result my newfound interests led me absolutely nowhere. If you pay attention to just one thing today, let it be this: discovering an interest will do you absolutely NO good unless you follow up.

This simply means is that once something sparks your interest, you should actively pursue (or create) opportunities that will expand upon these interests. This could include any of the following:

• Offer to contribute to a related organization in some way. Can you help organize an event or add something to a project or (fill in the blank) here?
• If you encounter an interesting company or an interesting individual, offer to work for free, allowing the potential for paid work down the road
• Start your own project or team up with someone to create a new endeavor
• Anything else you can possibly think of

In my own case, I began following up on my sparked interests in several ways:

• I started my blog, The Unlost, which spins timeless wisdom and advice in a way that appeals to young people.
• I volunteered to write a weekly column for the Boise State University newspaper and I began contributing guest posts to sites like Jenny’s.
• I’m scared sh*tless of public speaking, but I’m submitting a talk for a local event and could end up speaking in front of 500+ people next month.

Each of these pursuits builds upon one or several of my sparks, and I can’t even pretend to know where they’ll end up leading me.

Therein lies the beauty of the organic method: the more that you follow up on even the smallest of sparks, the more they begin to grow into promising new opportunities— opportunities that you couldn’t have possibly dreamt of or conceived from the get-go.

So go on, start kindling some fires and watch as your spark grows into an insanely intriguing, wildly passionate, absolutely unstoppable pursuit.

Got questions? Comments? A story of your own? Lemme know in the comments— I wanna hear it all.

***

Discover Your Career Calling Retreat in Bali with Adrian Klaphaak

Speaking of finding your passion and career calling, my great friend and very first coach, Adrian Klaphaak (the awesome guy quoted on the cover of my book!) is hosting a Discover Your Career Calling Retreat in Bali in December. Adrian is my go-to guy for career coaching; in fact, when new clients reach out to me specifically for career guidance, I often end up referring them to him if my slots are full.

This opportunity won’t be for everyone, but I couldn’t resist passing it along in the event that it’s right for some of you — Bali is at the top of my travel life list — I’d be there in a heartbeat if I could!

More about the Bali retreat (in Adrian’s words):

This is a transformational retreat for people that want to make a career change into an entirely new career and/or rejuvenate their existing career with meaning and purpose. If your work is feeling stagnant and you know it’s time for a change, this retreat will help you find your calling and re-inspire your career.

Our career coaching process blends your quest for meaning with the practical need to get results and build a successful career. This retreat will guide you through a process of discovering your gifts, passions, values, and purpose and how to translate the uniqueness of who you are into a concrete direction in your career.

In addition to guiding you through our career coaching exercises, activities and assessments, we will draw on the fresh perspective and soulfulness of Bali by incorporating cultural activities, walks through the rice fields, and little adventures throughout the week.

Logistics: The retreat will be held in the beautiful town of Ubud on the Island of Bali, Indonesia from Sunday December 11th – Friday December 16th 2011.

Early Registration Discount: Register by October 21st and receive a BIG discount. Space is limited. More information is available at http://www.APathThatFits.com/Bali.

Can you believe summer is almost over? I’m shocked at how fast time is flying. It seems like just yesterday that I was hosting a Creative Day of New Years Genius and making big plans for the year, uncertain about where my book and sabbatical would take me.

I had no idea that just nine months later I’d be packing up my things to move to New York, self-employed, pinching pennies and researching everything from how to get health insurance to how on earth to sign and send in forms without so much as a scanner or a printer (though I’ve since discovered a super handy tablet app that does this!)

Earlier this week I posted the first 10 of 20 lessons I’ve learned during the first two months of solopreneurship. I’m sure there are hundreds more coming my way — and that each of the things I have shared will become even more real and important over time. You can also read more at the Side Hustle & Flow Series interview I contributed to Pam Slim’s Escape from Cubicle Nation earlier this week. 

20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part Two)

11. No matter what business you’re in, you’ve got two priorities: learn about sales and marketing. Michael talks about this is his upcoming book — for most of us, sales and marketing are not things we learn in school, and yet they are vital skills for making a living as a solopreneur. I’ve been giving myself sales, copywriting and marketing boot camp with the help of brilliant friends like Andy, Jonathan, Michael, and Calise.
12. Plan ahead for building months (as opposed to doing months). I’m “in the red” this month on expenses to income, but it’s largely because I’ve been working like a madwoman building out the Make Sh*t Happen course. I’m placing a big bet that people will sign-up; if it works, I’ll be relatively stable income-wise in Q4; however, looking back, I should have planned ahead more in July so that I didn’t have such a drop in income. If you know you’ve got a building month coming up, ask yourself if it’s okay to dip into savings, or whether you need to split your time between building and immediate sales-generating activity.
13. Stay grounded in your long-term vision. I could be doing a much better job of this. I have a vision for where I want my business to be six months from now, but the next thing I’d like to do is plan how I want the JBE operation (aka my life) to look a year from now. It will make all of the micro-decisions between now and then much clearer (while still leaving plenty of room for adjustments and surprises along the way).
14. “What gets measured gets managed.” This is a saying I learned from one of my favorite managers at Google. I had a really helpful call with Michael Bungay Stanier (of Do More Great Work) when I was starting out, and he told me about the monthly metrics he tracks. This will be no surprise, but I’ve set-up a tracking spreadsheet where I can see data for ~20 statistics related to my business (coaching clients, speaking gigs, monthly traffic, book sales, subscribers, etc) and the percent change month-over-month. Michael makes a great point that once you’re tracking, the real challenge is to figure out which numbers are actually useful/important; not every metric matters.
15. (The right) conferences are major business boosters. I’ve attended five conferences this year (SXSW, BiSC, WDS, BBNYC, 20SB Summit), and at each one I’ve met new people, reconnected with existing friends, and learned a mind-blowing amount of helpful best practices from others doing similar work. If you can scrounge up the money, I think this is one of the best investments you can make.
16. However, beware the many costs of travel. Trips — even ones I’m getting partially reimbursed for — can be shockingly expensive! Beyond flight and hotel, common expenses include cab fares, meals out, airport purchases, Internet on the plane (I fly Virgin everywhere), touristy activities, drinks with friends and shopping for clothes to wear at these events. I need to keep a really close eye on this in the future.
17. Peer support is key. It might be your first launch, but you are not the first to launch. I’m excited and super nervous about launching MSH. For example: I’ve never written a sales page or set-up a payment system. No matter what you’re doing, talk with others who have gone before you on your big goals. Big thanks to Sean and Molly who have shared their tremendously helpful lessons-learned from their launches.
18. Peer support and bootstrapping is great, but know when to hire professional help. Once you’ve reached a limit of what you can do on your own, it makes sense to hire professionals who can help in areas you are deficient (without going overboard); for example: a VA, an accountant, and web designer. I could have designed my website myself (I have the technical skills) but with nowhere NEAR the polish that Nina did.
19. Be creative with how you structure your time. Focus. Maximize your best energy windows. When do you do your best work? Structure your days and weeks as best you can to optimize those windows, and know what activities recharge you when you hit energy dips. For me that’s getting out of the house and going to yoga in the afternoons, then I can work again when I get back.
20. Monthly recurring expenses can add up VERY quickly. I had NO idea how quickly my monthly business-related recurring expenses would add up. Here’s a short sampling that DOESN’T include one-off software purchases (also very pricey): COBRA health insurance ($500), cell phone ($80), Dreamhost ($30), VaultPress Blog Backup ($15), AWeber Email ($19). Total: ~$700 — and that’s before adding in gym, yoga, rent, travel, food, etc. YIKES!

Bonus: #21. Despite the challenges (and the many more sure to follow), working on JBE full-time is still the most incredible, freeing feeling in the world. I haven’t looked back for one second. I feel like ME again. Or rather, like I finally have access to the best version of myself that I always knew was hibernating underneath the stress and uncertainty. I feel ALIVE.

I’m writing today from a place of deep gratitude. I was one of two keynote speakers at the first annual 20 Something Blogger Summit this past weekend in Chicago — three incredible days of ideas, connections and reunions with friends new and old. Despite my nerves about living up to keynote status (this was my first), the speech went off without a hitch.

I have the audience to thank; it was without question the best group I’ve ever spoken to; their energy, compassion, attention, humor, and presence lifted me up and made my job easy. By the time I sat down, I had 200+ @replies on Twitter, and though I didn’t get a chance to respond to each one, I’d like the attendees to know how deeply moved *I* was. Thank you so much. Big thanks are also in order to Derek and A Squared Group for putting on a killer event, and for believing in me.

Below is a two-minute video snippet from my speech (thank you Stephanie Florence for capturing this!), in which I talk about the importance of community and the impact Michael Ellsberg had on my decision to leave Google after only knowing him for one week. I’ll be sure to post the full keynote video as soon as it’s available!

Welcome Escape from Cubicle Nation Readers!

I’m excited to be featured today in the Side Hustle & Flow series on Pamela Slim’s – my friend, mentor and Internet Auntie’s — blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation.

For several years now, Pam (and her work) has been a guiding light for me. I showed up at her first Escape workshop in 2009 after devouring her book, debating whether to stay or leave Google. I sat in the back and didn’t say much. I was beyond scared and confused.

I kept reading her blog and the side hustle series, watching her in admiration as a model for how I’d like to run my business, wondering when I’d have the guts to go out on my own and tell my story like her other courageous readers had.

Two years later, I’m proud to report that it’s my turn to hopefully show others that one day they too can make the leap if that’s what their heart is telling them to do. If you’re new here, get caught up with I’m a Free Agent: From Six Figures to Suitcase and Free Agent Part Two: Big Decisions + Very Real Fears. 

20 Lessons Learned in 2 Months of Solopreneurship (Part One)

The last two months of solopreneurship have been some of the happiest of my life. I’m in love with my newfound freedom! But they haven’t been easy, and I’ve had to make adjustments every single day as I learn what works and what doesn’t for my life and business.

I may share more detailed numbers later, but for now: I broke even on income to expenses in July, then in August the lion’s share of my projected income (mostly coaching and speaking) got cancelled or postponed. It’s been tough, but I’m okay with that; I consider this a building month as I get ready to launch Make Sh*t Happen, my new course, in a few short weeks.

I feel a little silly writing this post because more seasoned entrepreneurs may be reading it thinking, “Oh just you wait!” or “What does she know?” but nevertheless, this is a snapshot of where I am in my learning two months in.

1. Fears are so much smaller on the other side. Prior to my decision to leave, my fears rang in my ears so loud I could barely hear myself think. It was as if my inner critic stood on a soapboax shouting through a megaphone, commanding me not to shake up the status quo. Now that I’m on the other side, my mind is quiet again. Despite losing almost all of my projected income for the month of August, I am not afraid. I am motivated to act. As Joan Baez said, “Action is the antidote to despair.”
2. Readjustment takes time and energy. Going from the structured, fast pace of a 9-to-5 job to total wild-wild-west freedom is an adjustment. I grossly underestimated how much mental and physical energy making such a MASSIVE transition would take. I felt very tired for the first few weeks as my body finally got a chance to rest after working so hard on my day job and side hustles for so many years.
3. The old adages ring true: get comfortable being uncomfortable, and the only certainty is uncertainty. This has been my biggest mental shift since striking out on my own. Going from a steady (very healthy) paycheck to….total uncertainty…has been a major adjustment. As a solopreneur, especially in the beginning, you’ve got to get comfortable not knowing exactly where every dollar will come from. Work comes in, work gets canceled. You sell things and it works; you sell things and they flop. Developing semi-passive income streams takes time, and there’s nothing passive about the process. One night I went to bed with a knot in my stomach about how I’d pay my credit card bills. The next day, in one hour, I had sold $5K of business. The next week, it was gone. You’ve got to get comfortable (or as close to comfortable as you can) riding that wave without freaking out.
4. On that note, NEVER count (or spend!) your chickens before they’ve hatched. It’s ridiculously easy to do, and it is definitely not fun to dig out of. Desperation isn’t attractive when dating or selling.
5. Routine is king. For the first month my productivity on any given day was a total crapshoot. On some days I would wake up rearing to go, and on others you couldn’t pay me to pry myself off the couch. Because I was lacking routine, I was at the whims of what side of bed I’d wake up on. As Jonathan Fields shared at WDS, some of the most successful creatives have very structured lives, even if their actual creative time is very free-flowing. This predictability allows them to manage the rest of their lives with greater ease, thereby focusing their best energy on their creative work.
6. Health and fitness is queen. I just finished a 21-day cleanse with no caffeine, alcohol, dairy, wheat, refined sugar, or red meat. I knew I’d physically feel better by the end of it (light years!!!) but I had NO idea how significantly it would impact my business. I am infinitely more creative, happy, and productive every day. I’ve gotten more done in the last three weeks than in the last two months! I’ve finally re-prioritized exercise too — I run every morning for 20 minutes before doing anything else, and I try to go to yoga 4 times per week. Centering my day around exercise — putting it at the very top of my priority list — is THE BEST thing I have done for my business since leaving Google.
7. Your community are your new co-workers. Just because you leave your job doesn’t mean you have to work isolated on an island. As I talked about in my speech and the video above, you have so much more support than you realize. LEAN IN to your community, let them lean into you; you have so many people rooting for you, especially those of you who have built thriving communities on Twitter, Facebook and your blog.
8. Run your business otherwise it will run you. Tackle 1-2 big frogs each day before you do anything else (h/t Brian Tracy). You’ll feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, and you won’t resent reactive things that come up later in the day because you’ve already made major progress. After my mandatory morning frog (the 20-minute run), I try to accomplish 1-2 things that will significantly move things forward, whether it’s a blog post, drafting a sales page, creating a newsletter auto-responder, or building the MSH course. Only later do I start responding to emails or taking calls. I also only take meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which allows me to eat many frogs on every other day of the week.
9. However, sometimes you need to start with quick wins. When I’m tired or particularly behind, opening my my inbox to answer email can feel like going in for a root canal. During moments like that, if I try to go after a big frog, I’ll get overwhelmed and not do anything at all. So I start with quick wins — emails I can answer in two minutes or less; tasks I can complete in 30 seconds. That gets me moving, and there’s a good chance I’ll dive back into the bigger stuff once I get going.
10. Building “entrepreneurial resilience” is like building a muscle; it takes practice. This is something my good friend (and high school & college classmate!) Alex Budak and I have discussed at length. Alex is an awesome guy who recently left his corporate gig to launch Start Some Good, which facilitates kickstarter-style funding for social entrepreneurs.
    In Alex’swords:

    “Especially as a first-time entrepreneur, the roller coaster that is starting one’s own business is intense.  The highs feel incredibly high, and the lows feel incredibly low. Simply recognizing that this is normal and to be expected was a huge step for me as I sought to strengthen my own entrepreneurial resilience.

    The second, and equally crucial step for me was surrounding myself with fellow entrepreneurs.  It’s amazing how easy it is, when isolated, to think that you’re the only person going through these ups and downs, but as soon as you share your struggles with others, you realize just how similar many of the issues are.  Just like you’d prefer to sit next to someone on a real roller-coaster, having friends alongside you to ride the entrepreneurial roller coaster makes a huge difference.  Oh, and as my friend Jenny told me, ‘It helps to just breathe, sometimes’ too.”

Stay tuned for the next 10 lessons later this week! In the meantime, what did I miss?

Have you experienced any of the lessons above,
either on your side hustle or full-time work?

THANK YOU for the outpouring of love and support last week. You helped me see without a doubt that I am making the right decision and that I won’t be alone on the road ahead.

I am so incredibly blessed to have such a supportive community. Each of you continue to blow me away with your kindness, intelligence and support!

A quick note on the survey:

So far almost 200 of you (!!!) have filled it out. Thank you! I’ll wrap-up the results in an upcoming post, but it’s not too late to share your thoughts!

I heard from a small handful of you that the posts have gotten too personal and “meta” and that you’d like to see more practical tips. Those will return soon, I promise! Between the book launch and quitting Google, life has taken center-stage, and it’s important to me that I let all of you in to “backstage” experience. However, I NEVER intend for this blog to be all about ME ME ME, so know that I am fully committed (now more than ever) to delivering the best possible content for all of you.

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A little backstory on the month leading up to my Big Decision

At SXSW in March, I was walking down Sixth Street with Andy Drish at 2am eating Philly Cheesesteaks, and he asked if I was going back to Google after my sabbatical. I hesitatingly said yes. He looked me in the eyes and said, “JB — you’re better than that.” I started crying…telling him I was too overwhelmed with my book launch to even THINK about leaving…and to be honest, I was too afraid to even entertain the thought. Looking back, I’m so thankful Andy had the guts to plant that very important seed, even though my response wasn’t a very receptive one at the time.

Fast-forward to May 15. I was chatting with my (now) very good friend Michael Ellsberg, author of a soon-to-be-released game-changing book called The Education of Millionaires, and he asked me, “How will you feel if one year from now you haven’t made any changes to your life?” My eyes welled up with tears (common theme, I know).

I could not imagine one year out, still in limbo, still hesitating. When I told Michael my fears of leaving Google and becoming self-employed, he looked at me and said, “You can do this. I — we (your network) — WILL NOT LET YOU FAIL.”

At that point, I had only known him for one week. And yet, Michael’s conviction, his genuine belief in me, and his encouragement felt like oxygen to my semi-suffocated, paralysis-by-analysis dream. It was on that day that I *knew* what I needed to do — I just needed to find the courage (and the financial footing) to do it. The decision-making roller-coaster continued as I spent the next month working through it all.

How I got my heart, gut, brain (and bank account) to play nice

Last week’s post focused mainly on the “what” and the “why” of my big decision — today I’m going to (do my best) to explain HOW I reached my decision — particularly after the conversations with Michael and Andy where I felt the need to reconcile my practical reality with my “I’m so inspired!” reality.

Bottom line: very deep down, my gut knew all along. But being the THINKER that I am, I had some work to do to rally the committee in my brain (particularly my hard-driving “show me the numbers so you don’t end up in a van by the river” CFO) so that I could actually muster the courage to leave my cushy job and go out on my own.

• Identify who is on the committee in your brain – this might be too woo woo for you, but many of us have a committee of voices contributing to any big decision (this is also often referred to as Parts Psychology). In my case, the big discussion was between my Creative Director (the one concerned with me doing my best work) and my CFO (the one concerned with making financially sound decisions). Neither voice is right or wrong – they represent various concerns we have about different aspects of a decision. In the end, you — the CEO — has the final say, but you might feel better to ask each of your “committee members” what they need in order to feel comfortable moving forward. To appease my CFO, I set an income goal for the month of June as a challenge to prove that I could do this without going broke. I’m happy to report that I reached my goal, but one week after I gave my two-weeks notice.

• How far will your savings stretch? You don’t have to have a saving account to make a big career decision (especially if you line up the next thing before you leave), but it certainly does help. It’s a fine line between saying, “If I wasn’t working full time, I could…” and meaning it, versus just using that as an excuse. In my case I did everything I could to maintain my sanity, my side hustle and my full-time job to avoid that “if/then” limiting belief. Once both became too much to handle, I looked to my savings account to provide my runway. I have about six months of savings, and I was finally willing to spend every single dime to take the risk of making it on my own. I took solace in knowing that even if I didn’t lift a finger I could live for six months; so I felt a lot better once I realized how hard I was willing to work in that time, and that I could definitely find creative ways to make money.

• Rank “Worst Case Scenario” action steps – Let’s say you take a great leap, and you fail. What then? I worked through the worst case scenario, particularly on the financial side. I made a list of back-up plans and ranked them. If I am not succeeding on my own (ie making enough to pay my bills) within six months, I will do the following (in order): use my cash savings, sell my car, sell my stocks, GET A JOB, then sell my condo. You can see that I would look for employment again before it came to selling (or defaulting on) my house. What does your worst case scenario look like, and what would a course of action look like?

• Expect the unexpected. Accept that you will hit a dip. Accept that you are choosing a certain level of chaos and uncertainty. These were all HUGE for me. If you can’t already tell, I’m a planner (haha, hello Captain Obvious) — I like to have things mapped out, and for a while that really worked for me. Before I started college, I mapped out every single class I needed to take in a fancy four-year spreadsheet. Jumping into self-employment means ACCEPTING chaos and accepting uncertainty. I also KNOW that I will hit many dips where I feel like a failure and want to quit, or maybe even regret my decision. But I know that I will work through them, and that they are par for the course when taking great leaps.

• Realize that you can’t plan everything before making the decision. When it comes to big decisions, you will not always have all of the information you need. Sometimes you have to take the first two steps so that you can see the next two. While I did some income modeling, I do not have an accurate view of exactly how I will consistently make money for the next 12 months (though I have many ideas), and that is slightly terrifying. But this is what I signed up for, and it’s the challenge that I asked for to continue learning and growing in my life. I knew that at some point I needed to leap in order to give myself the real motivation to figure it out. I also specifically chose not to look for contract work with someone else as a safety net — I would have just stayed with Google part-time if that’s what I wanted; instead, I had to really challenge myself to devote my FULL time and attention to my own business, not someone else’s out of fear that I wouldn’t be successful on my own.

• Avoid fear-based decisions. This one is a biggie. Imagine sticking your arms out like an airplane — on your left fingertips is fear-based decision-making, and on your right is “soul-stirring,” intuition and excitement-based decision-making. Where do you tend to fall on this spectrum? Choose one of your proudest decisions — was it based fear or avoidance of pain, or was it about moving toward something thrilling? This requires discipline, but try to catch yourself when you are making choices based on fear, and instead ask, “What do I want to run toward?”

• Engage your network. Your network is much bigger than you even realize. There are many people in this world who will send you love and support — even if it comes from unexpected places. Especially from unexpected places! It’s amazing to me that someone like Michael could play such a transformative role in my life after only a week of knowing him, but it proved the true power of connecting with individuals who see the best in you and the kindness of “strangers” who are willing to offer their guidance and support. Don’t feel like you have to make a decision (or face the consequences of a choice) in isolation — remember that there are many people who have gone before you, and many who will be there to catch you if you fall.

• Ask the big questions. What will you regret more? What choice honors your biggest dreams? If not now, when? What are you waiting for? What if you are MORE successful than you can even imagine? What would people you most respect advise you to do? In my case, all answers pointed to taking the leap. Particularly because I’m in the personal development field, I felt it was critically important to walk my own talk — otherwise I’d feel like a fraud.

Despite working through everything above, I am still facing some very real fears. Right now they tend cross my brain like clouds passing — I watch the dark ones carefully and try to address the practical side of the concerns without giving them too much attention (for fear that focusing on them will cause them to create a torrential downpour of despair).

My remaining Very Real Fears:

• Do I deserve all this freedom? Is the other shoe going to drop?
• How do I balance working hard versus getting rest, knowing that I want more than anything to make this work?
• What if I get bored or burned-out doing my own work?
• What if something terrible happens and I am unable to work?
• What if I have some crazy medical emergency that sends me spiraling into mountains of debt (even with health coverage)?
• Will I still be able to save money for emergencies and retirement?
• Will I be able to get back into a routine that works? Will I learn to say no more so that I don’t keep getting overwhelmed?
• Will I be able to prioritize and balance “revenue-generating” activities with everything else?

You can see that most of these are hypotheticals or things that I will figure out as I go — so I just remind myself to “cross that bridge when I get there,” confident that I will be able to figure it out.

As for the “What if I end up living in a van down by the river” concern? I smile every time I think of Marc Luber’s encouraging words: “If you actually do end up in a van down by the river, you’re someone who will for sure find a way to teach swimming lessons, start a fishing business or give kayak tours.” And that goes for you too, I’m sure

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The Greatest “Out in the Wild” LAC Book Picture Yet!

This picture is just too great for words!!! Katie (of KatieBlogs.com) takes Hootie on the road…and gives him some reading material so he doesn’t get bored:

CLASSIC. Katie's Hooters Owl wises up on Life After College.