Don’t tell your goals as an entrepreneur because depending on who you are speaking to, it maybe the quickest way to kill your venture before it’s even born. Dealing with people in your inner circle is often overlooked, although it can have essential consequences!
Hello, I’m your host Kaycinho, I’m a digital alchemist, and this episode is episode n°5 of a module dedicated to the preparation phase of starting your business. So if you haven’t seen the first 4 episodes, I invite you to check this playlist.
And by the way, this module is the first module of a course taking you from the burning desire to become your own boss to actually launching your business. So if you want access to the full course (videos will be added until the course is complete) by clicking here.
Don’t tell your goals as an entrepreneur
I’ve already briefly touched on this topic in episode 2 of the module dedicated to the “Decision phase” of this course AND I could sum it up like this :
“If you find positive, wise and / or experienced people around you, then choose one or two and seek advice, otherwise keep your project to yourself until at least some later stages in the process”.
Now why would I say that when current trends says you should go public from day one and tell the world everything you want to do.
Now don’t get me wrong, I understand why this approach came in the first place :
1 – it forces you to act. You’ve told the world and now the world is watching.
2 – Now that the World is watching, it forces you to up your game, and deliver upon your promise.
3 – It builds up storytelling as well as a community.
In case you didn’t, you now have a story to tell about how you got started and why people should follow you.
So, you might ask, what’s wrong with this approach then?
Well, let me put it like this :
1. Don’t tell your goals: it adds a layer of unnecessary pressure
It multiplies pressure from day one. When you’re on your way to launch a business, and especially when you transition from the corporate world, many will feel a lot of pressure and fear before they even get started.
Now when you let everybody know about your plans before you’ve even figured out when, where and how to do it, what you’re doing is adding another layer of pressure on top of what you already have.
2. Don’t tell your goals: it lowers your chances of ever starting
It lowers your chances of ever starting. I’ve mentioned this previously, but fear is a very strong feeling, and if you look around you, many people live by fear :
- fear to leave their job
- fear to leave someone they don’t love
- fear to pursue their dreams
- fear to change careers
- fear to move abroad
- and so on…
And most the time what we really fear is change. That’s the human being.
Now the issue is that when you announce to human beings that you’re about to change an essential part in your lifestyle (transitioning from employee to freelance or business owner for example). It automatically triggers strong emotions of fear of change within the people that fear leaving their job to start their own business.
When you give them the information you are about to quit your job and start your own business, they unconsciously put themselves in your shoes, and will react accordingly.
If they are entrepreneurs and love that kind of lifestyle, they will likely be excited by your move. But in my experience, that’s kind of rare. If they are like the majority of the population, they will be scared by your move and will start telling you things like:
- “Are you sure?”
- “Be realistic, keep a regular job”
- “You can’t quit your job, especially in those times”
And so on…
Don’t tell your goals: the voices of people close to you will matter
When people in your inner circle say things like that, if those people matter to you, even if you don’t pay too much attention at first, you will slowly experience a decrease in your motivation, and with time, your motivation will be completely killed.
I remember this friend which I like and tried to work with on a few occasions. We had complimentary skills so it made sense that we’d build something together.
But anytime I’d come up with ideas, he would start projecting his own fears to the point where I even wondered why I had ever considered those ideas in the first place.
Then later, I’d find out other people in other parts of the world had had similar ideas, had implemented them, and were doing quite well.
That’s when I realized that although he was great as a friend, businesswise though he was toxic for me. And I noticed the same thing with a few other friends. And even worst than that, I noticed that sometimes I was doing the same when someone came with a business idea!
So I took a couple of important decisions that day:
First, I took the decision to be careful not to break other people’s business dreams and only give advice when I was asked to, and when it was a subject I had experience with.
And second, I took the decision to stop talking about my business plans to “business-toxic” people and guess what? I got started and even got some breakthroughs, though small but still delicious victories to me.
So, am I telling you to quit your job as soon as you can without telling anyone?
Nope. I repeat: Nope.
What I’m advising you to do, is to take your time and find one or two persons that you trust business wise, wisdom wise and experience wise.
Don’t tell your goals to just anyone but find a mentor instead
If you can find yourself a mentor with such characteristics, then you will get all the benefits of the “tell it to the world” approach, with the added benefit of getting advice from someone who actually knows what he or she is talking about.
And, at the same time, you won’t feel unnecessary pressure when getting started.
So where do you find such a mentor you might ask? Look around you, we all know someone that is somehow successful. Ask. Just ask. If the worst comes to the worst, they’ll say no.
But usually successful people like to share words of wisdom to those that show they are committed to succeed.
So just keep looking around and ask. Who knows? You might get lucky.
But even without a mentor, there is a ton of high quality content out there that you can get for free and that can put you on the right track.
Or if you have the budget you can always get a professional to help you assess your project’s chances of success and the steps to take in that perspective.
Don’t tell your goals unless you know you’ll get constructive criticism
Now I spoke earlier about toxic business people but there is a difference between killing someone’s motivation out of fear on one hand, and assessing the objective chances of success on the other hand.
And the latter is what a mentor, or a professional will help you with
So, I hope that this video helped you measure the importance of selecting who you share your business plans with.
Now I’d be interested to know if any of you have experienced similar struggles when sharing your business plans with your family or friends , so just let me know in the comments.
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So I hope to see you around here or on the Youtube channel, and in the next episode we’ll discuss about the wonderful world of outsourcing.
In the meantime, don’t forget to invest in your success!