11. Focus on three hours a day of productive time.
Don’t be distracted but make your priority the most important focus of a specific period in your day
Instead of scrolling on social media, get really focussed on your business without distraction.
Turn off your notifications and find a quiet place, If you need music, put it on repeat.
Make this a habit each day and do it without fail.
Over time, this will build your business.
Block three hours out each day. It’s enough. The compound effect will build your reputation.
“Replace distractions with focus.”
12. Don’t do more unless you can do less.
Have you noticed how amazing humans are at adding complexity to their lives? And their businesses too?
Have this simple rule: if I add something to my business, I have to drop something.
Remember, you are here to do great things, not many things.
“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life.” — Yvon Chouinard.
13. Be frugal and be free.
One way to add stress to your life and your business is to build costs into your business that means you have to do work that pays the bills instead of building a reputation.
Paying the bills is generally done because you have to, not because you want to.
If you were frugal in the first place, you could turn down that work.
You can then be free to concentrate on work that builds reputation.
14. Don’t be the butterfly.
The butterfly flits from one flower to another.
This is the opportunistic approach, not a strategic one.
How you stand out is by a relentless focus on the main thing. Keeping the main thing the main thing is the focus.
Ignore the latest whims or opportunities and stick to the plan.
“Stay in your lane.” — Stella Hieatt.
15. Rest more to achieve more.
Most people who run a small business are putting in all the hours. They are working harder and longer, but with little to show for it.
Counterintuitively, if you learn to rest, you would be more successful.
Most entrepreneurs are too tired to do their best work, which means they do shallow work, which means they have to keep working.
Pivot:
Work in sprints.
Simply working harder and longer is subject to the law of diminishing returns.
The real wisdom is not to work longer than anyone else, but to achieve what you set out to do in less time.
It feels counter-intuitive, but if you want to do more, learn that you work best in sprints, followed by rests. And, have a cut-off point each day. Come in fresh each day, not tired.
“Flowers don’t bloom all year for a reason.”
16. It can get lonely at times.
When it’s just you, you do everything.
You do sales, customer service, design, accounts and even putting the bins out. Everything.
The org chart has your name on it. And only yours.
You are C.E.O. – Chief Everything Officer.
That means each day will fly by. Whoosh.
But somehow, you need to build some time to build a community of fellow ‘It’s Just Me’s.
A quote to guide you:
“Don’t compare your first chapter with someone else’s chapter 11.”
Build a community of First Chapter’s.
It’s good to talk. To share. To spur each other on. Sometimes it’s a pat on the back that you need. Sometimes it’s a dig in the ribs. This small community, once you have learned to trust each other, will provide both. Find your First Chapter’s and keep this community small. 7-12 is a good number.
Have a catch up once a month on Zoom. You will be amazed at how important this becomes to you. And to them.
Role Model Chapter 11’s.
Pick out a handful of people who are already living the life you want. Follow everything they do. Read their books, their blogs, attend their events.
They will share with you their secrets to their success but be sure to take notes.
17. Understand the difference between marketing and selling.
When you chase demand, you are a slave to what people want. And people are fickle. Fashions come and go.
“Most entrepreneurs don’t market enough and try to sell too much.” — Rich Schefren.
Pivot:
Become a demand creator. Do something people need, even if they don’t know it just yet. Create less but create something with more meaning.
You didn’t tell me you needed this blog. But I sensed it was needed and wanted to help.
So, I wrote it. I listened to my instincts.
I am not selling anything here. But I am marketing how I think.
“When you teach, you learn twice.”
18. Why do people buy from you?
You have to know the answer to this. And you won’t have anything to worry about. But most people have not figured it out. Clarity will get what you want and lack of clarity will keep you really busy.
Some good questions to ask are.
1. What unresolved conflict do your potential clients have. (Some goal they have not yet achieved etc.?)
2. Why is that important to them? (Understand their desire.)
3. And why are you the best person to resolve that conflict? (Social proof)
“It is in beliefs that purchases get made.”
“Purchases are connected to your desires through beliefs.” —Rich Schefren.
19. Oh yes, that sound like you.
To write like you talk is a skill. Learn it.
The more you can sound like you, the less you sound like anyone else.
Writing creates connections. Let them hear you. The real you. Warts and all. Be the most you. Emotion is a powerful thing to evoke. That is what you must do.
Bare your soul. Tell your struggle. Tell your pain. Tell your lows. A corporation finds it hard to show its soul as it rarely has one.
Be vulnerable. Be honest. But most of all, be you. Your community is here because you made them feel something.
Your voice, your words, your beliefs, they made another human being feel something.
That keyboard in front of you is a connection device.
All you need to do is to rearrange those 26 letters in the right order.
“What is most personal is most general. Often, what you are most reluctant to share is most powerful.”
20. Wake up, then wake yourself up.
Get yourself ready to go each morning.
You want to arrive at your desk ready to do your best work. And that won’t happen unless you put yourself into a peak state.
A morning routine is the best way I know how to do that.
That could consist of multiple ways to wake you up, get you ready, get you really ready.
That can be a form of exercise, meditation, or a cold shower, for the brave.
It depends on what works for you. But don’t pick easy as that won’t help you get fired up in the right way.
“If you want to have a great day, have a great morning.
21. Enjoy the ride.
There will be good days and bad days. But they are all your days.
Remember, you chose this path. You don’t have to do this. You get to do to this.
When you get to look back, you will laugh about the tough days. They will be as important as the good days.
Some days need you to do more learning than others.
That’s the deal.
“There is no happy destination without a happy journey.”
22. Purpose matters.
Most ‘company of one’s’ don’t know why they are in business, and it shows.
It shows in their performance. It shows in how much their customers care about them, and it shows in the quality of people they can attract to come work for them.
‘A reason to exist’, your ikigai, which now goes by the name of purpose and it provides one of our human needs – fulfilment. It is not just a bit of marketing. Purpose gives meaning to what we do each day. It multiplies our energy.
The energy required to get to build our company is directly proportional to how much it matters to you.
Only commit to things that matter.
That way, you will protect your energy for what matters most.
“Once upon a time, you were the first of your generation. Ignore everything else that went on before you.”
23. Be you.
Everyone is trying to be perfect. Everyone is trying to be something they aren’t.
We have reached peak perfect. Phew.
When everyone is doing the same thing, it no longer stands out.
It does the opposite and simply blends in. Perfection becomes the status quo. And then being your imperfect self stands out because no one is prepared to show their faults.
The other good news is you know how to be you. You can’t fake it. You know your strengths. You know your weaknesses. You’ve got this.
You have the monopoly on being you.
“I don’t teach you to be more like me; I teach you to be like you.”
