After I left the corporate world and chose to test myself in the uncertain world of entrepreneurship, I decided to target one of the most attractive market segments of today: corporate ladies. Surprisingly, I was unable to get any significant business there. I dropped this smart choice and followed the advice of my quiet voice, the voice of my intuition and passion. Since, my business has flourished!
How did that happen?
The first step was very simple: I was reasonable! YES! Being reasonable got me into tremendous trouble. I put on my MBA hat and asked myself: what is my experience, who are my connections, what does the market need? You see, I never asked myself: what do I like? What do I want my legacy to be? How do I want to be remembered? What makes me tremendously angry/passionate/happy? What kind of lifestyle do I want to have? Being reasonable is the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my entrepreneurial life! If your strategy is not directly linked to your passion, you are doomed to mediocrity and boredom.
What woke me up? Well, I had the worst picture that you can have in a business: customers who didn’t pay on time, corporations bullying me, working on projects I didn’t like and also didn’t generate any business advantage, money, or prestige. I was working so hard, I was getting so tired and I was not generating any significant cash. Yet, according to the experts, I was doing everything right: social media, newsletter, public speaking, networking, blog, SEO, etc. Of course, my thought was: I should work harder (does that sound familiar?) Gosh! Now I know: ‘More’ is never a solution to ‘too much’.
That poor performance didn’t wake me up. The poor performance however did lead me to something wonderful: I asked for help. When I did, I realized that my connection with my passion was non-existent in my life or in my business. The statement of my ‘unreasonable’ mission (to heal the fear of the builders of the upcoming heart centered economy) came to me in dreams. Did I act upon this? NO! I didn’t because again I wanted to be reasonable! You see, at that time, I wrote a book for women, I had all my marketing geared to women, I had loads of business cards with the copy for women… I had made a lot of investments: how could I let go of all my investments and venture into something so unreasonable, a dream?
I didn’t move into action until death touched my heart. Someone very close to me passed away. When I felt that the difference between life and death is defined in just one second, I couldn’t continue lying to myself. I couldn’t continue focusing on survival. I felt the urgency to start BEING, to start living NOW, to start building my legacy NOW. Live is finite. I could die any time. I knew that I needed to act immediately. Magic happened: as soon as I committed, before I took any action, perfect customers started to show up. Out of the blue my business got blessed with the presence of the people who I am meant to serve.
Was it all magic? Of course not, I had to roll up my sleeves and take a lot of action: change the copy of my website and business card, lovingly fire my less than perfect customers, outsource, automate and surely keep investing in myself. And guess what… all that action was effortless and inspired – what a difference from the early action season.
So, in a nutshell: Be unreasonable!
* Switch off your reasonable fear, your reasonable view of scarcity, your reasonable vision of competition, your reasonable business rules, your reasonable experience….
* Switch on your passion! Remember you are invincible and unique. Remember you are building a brand new Economy with more human and humane rules. Remember you are the future. The future is NOW. Start NOW!
Passion sells! Show your true colors!
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