If you hate your job and have been toying with the idea of starting your own company because you want to live your life on your own terms (liberated, fearless, expressing yourself, doing what you love). The following suggestions could be all of the inspiration you need to take your first steps towards personal liberation.
Here are some thoughts and questions to support the exploration of what your transition from employee to entrepreneur might look like.
The Writing is on the Wall
How do you know when it’s time to make the leap from dancing in a cage for a paycheck to living your life on your terms? Obvious signs:
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Are you feeling under-challenged and under-rewarded?
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Are you using up all of your sick time, regardless of whether you’re actually sick?
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Do you dread going into the office every day?
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Is there a lack of room for creativity in your current position?
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Are you tired of reporting to a boss who seems clueless, disinterested, or out-of-touch?
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Have you hit your company’s proverbial “glass ceiling”?
If you answered yes to more than two of these questions, you may be ready to move on.
Self-Discovery
Learning to rely on your personal strengths while being mindful of your resources is a valuable lesson for any entrepreneur.
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What is your current skill set?
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Which areas need attention or further education?
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What will it take to get your financial life in order before you make the leap?
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Can you pinpoint the time in your life when you were happiest? What did that look like?
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What do your friends and family members think are your core talents and strengths? How do their opinions differ from your own? Are they seeing something you’re not?
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How can you take your true talent and monetize it?
Your individual strengths and interests become your gauge for defining and designing your new life. You get to choose what you do with your time and energy. You’ve got to discover what you love.
Letting Go of Fear
Fear is the biggest saboteur of your auspicious goal to reinvent yourself. In order to move past the stage of your initial “I’ll do it!” you will probably need to face at least one major fear.
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When you think about striking out in pursuit of your passion, what do the critical voices in your head say about it?
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Are your fears grounded in reality, or is your inner critic conjuring them to keep you “safe?”
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What is holding you back from creating your life as you wish it to be?
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What is the worst case scenario for moving forward on your new path?
In my opinion, fear is highly overrated. You CAN do the things you think you can’t do. So take a deep breath, create a meaningful plan, and ask for help with implementation.
Graceful Transitions
You have made the choice to change your life, and you’ve faced off with (or at least identified and growled at) the gremlins of your fears. Now, it’s time to begin your transition. The first stage of any significant transition begins with suffering and skin-crawling discomfort. The second stage of transition involves deep introspection. The third stage of transition is filled with positive energy and includes research and exploration in the outer world. The fourth stage of transition is a blast. When you reach the creative renewal phase, your vision has become clear, and you’re ready at last to create life on your terms.
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What stage of transition are you experiencing right now?
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How long have you been in this stage?
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What do you need to do right now to honor the stage you are experiencing?
When you gain a better understanding of the cycles of metamorphic change, you will begin to experience life on your own terms.
Unconventional Wisdom
Conventional wisdom tells us that in order to succeed you have to get a good job, work your ass off, climb the corporate ladder rung by rung, and start living when you retire.
I’ll tell you right now: that’s ridiculous.
The old axioms about work and job security no longer apply in our brave new world. Unconventional wisdom rules the day. Unconventional wisdom teaches us to get clear about what we want right now, at this stage of the game, and make it happen quickly.
It has been my observation that healthy personal development, as well as success in business, absolutely depends on aligning your business goals with your lifestyle choices and core values.
Whether or not your entrepreneurial vision includes employees, it can be really helpful to create a core values statement. Not only will it serve as a reminder of why you’re doing what you do, it can help you find customers whose values are aligned with your ideals. Many people I know would rather spend more to buy organic food grown by local farmers, or get a cup of coffee from a place where the employees are happy and personable. But if those vendors didn’t advertise their core values (fair trade, organic, employee-centric, etc.) many of their customers would never have found them.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos published the following statement on the Zappos web site:
“As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the Zappos core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:”
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Deliver WOW Through Service
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Embrace and Drive Change
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Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
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Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
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Pursue Growth and Learning
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Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
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Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
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Do More With Less
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Be Passionate and Determined
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Be Humble
What’s not to love about a company that supports a little weirdness! Seems to me that Tony is on to something here.
At this moment, everything is up for review and change. You owe it to yourself to embrace the opportunities of a brave new world which values integrity, collaboration, and core values.
By Shann Vander Leek, Author of Life on Your Terms: The Support You Need to Follow Your Passion From Inspirational Entrepreneurs(True Balance Press)
The cool thing about the project is that she interviewed more than 40 successful entrepreneurs including me, to reveal the tremendous power of the entrepreneurial perspective. With commentary and insights by the author – an inspirational leader who, after eighteen years of working in the broadcast television industry, reinvented herself as the founder of True Balance Life Coaching – Life on Your Terms is a valuable resource for any aspiring entrepreneur and reminds us that we define success and personal freedom for ourselves. Shann has generously offered an extension on her special pre-sale promotion to the TPE community. For a limited time you can claim an autographed copy of Life on Your Terms and get some kick ass bonuses. To say thanks for ordering your copy, you will immediately receive Shann's special report, Navigating the 4 Stages of Transition as well as an MP3 recording of her Navigating the 4 Stages of Transition Teleclass.
