Do you look around and wonder “why not me” or rather “when is it going to be my time?”
Are you toiling away at a desk job that you hate, all the while fixated on this version of who you want to be and where you want to go?
I just spent 2 days and approximately 11 years building my personal brand. From the sleepless nights working at my day job in my office with my then partner, plotting how we were going to be awesome consultants to the sleepless nights working out of a basement by my lonesome, plotting how I am going to help others build their awesome brands.
Over the past 11 years, the aches and pains from the various ‘preneurs are the same.
- How do I get clients now because I need to turn a profit, like yesterday.
- WordPress is driving me insane because it’s not easy.
- How do I get more likes on social media?
- To gain some objective perspective, stop and read those statements. What do you think of as you read them?
- Does this sound like you?
- Does this sound like someone you’d want to work with?
- Answering these questions in my branded snarky voice, I would say:
- How do you expect to learn everything in a few hours?
- Give me one good reason to like you because liking you on social media is all about YOU and right now I’m all about ME.
Do I believe you’re worth it, like on the L’Oreal level? Totally! But let’s be realistic and honest.
Have you put in your dues?
I’m going to sound like “that person” because this is the reality for anyone’s brand & business.
Have you really done the work?
Let’s look at exercise. When you work out, if you really do it then you have something to show for it. No one works out for 45 minutes a day, everyday for 3 months and still sees the same image in the mirror. Not unless you’re eating fast food everyday, scarfing down Snickers in between meals and barely building up a sweat when you do show up at the gym.
When you put in the work, you’ll see the results. It’s really THAT simple.
Now if you’re touting around that you’re “working hard” and not seeing the results, let’s look at your “working hard” claim. In fact, I am going to call you out on it. Ever play the card game “Bull$hit?” That’s me on the side screaming out that you don’t really have 3 Queens because you probably don’t.
If you’re not putting in the work then you’re not going to see results. You can’t take an Instagram photo from the gym if you’re only on the treadmill for 10 minutes, walking at a snail’s pace and calling that “hard work.”
Your heart rate isn’t where it needs to be. You’re not even working up a sweat. You might have a lukewarm forehead, at most. HARDLY a workout. Same thing applies for building your brand.
How does this show up for you?
- Are you working a PT/FT job and then complaining that you’re too tired to work on your projects when you get home?
- Do you barely put in 3 hours per week to your side hustle?
- Are you looking for every free resource because you don’t want to spend money on building your brand?
- Do you focus on the sale more so than the relationship?
- Do you stop altogether when something gets too difficult?
These are examples that you may not be putting in the effort needed to see the results you want for your brand & business.
There are so many people who are freaking MISERABLE at their jobs, yet do nothing to change it. Yet here you are, super lucky at this moment, because you’re in a state of mind where you even think that making a career from doing what you love is possible. Not everyone gets to do that.
Forget the color orange because AMBITION IS THE NEW BLACK.
There’s an opportunity for just about any kind of weird or quirky habit, passion or hobby.
If you want to build a business providing life coaching services for service dogs I would say GO FOR IT and target shelters since they have a surplus of abandoned dogs in need of reinvention. (You’re Welcome!) *wink wink*
Failure is only an option when you allow it to be. Failure is a choice not an outcome.
If you don’t reach a goal or attain some milestone then simply scream “PLOT TWIST” and keep it moving. Use the experience as a free hands-on job training for pivoting your business on the go.
OK great! So where does someone signup for this?
Before you can enjoy that sweet utopia of success, you have to put in the work. You have to put in the hours.
Before you say, “but what about so and so…” keep in mind there are exceptions to the rule but remember they are NOT the rule. There are some stories where entrepreneurs turn a profit in a week or they bank 7 figures in 6 months.
Be on the lookout because there are plenty of success stories that don’t show the behind-the-scenes.
- There are success stories that don’t show you the unhealthy cleanses, plastic surgery and fad diets used to get that slim figure in 2 weeks.
- They don’t tell you about the $10,000 spent to launch that 6 figure program.
- They don’t tell you about how their overnight success took 10 years to happen.
Getting to AWESOME the first time is a challenge. Where you are, right now, is part of your story, so leverage your narrative to your advantage.
Malcolm Gladwell theorized that it takes 10,000 hours to master any given skill. This can be water polo or web design – whatever you want to position yourself as an expert in.
So the next time you throw your arms up in the air about “struggling” with your brand, project or business, after a year of giving it 25% of your time, energy and money – ask yourself one simple question:
How much “work” are you really giving it?