Month: February 2020

Sometimes, I hear a business owner describe themselves as “self-employed.”

And sometimes they are right, but sometimes they are wrong.

Self-employed is typically seen as an interchangeable synonym for “business owner,” but I always take it to mean something different.

If you’re self-employed, you are – as the name suggests – employed by yourself. Like an employee, you are paid when you work. And like an employee, you’re not paid when you don’t.

If you work for yourself, and you are only generating revenue when you’re out there working, you don’t have a business. You’re self-employed.

If you can’t sell your company when you decide to stop doing it, because it’s predicated entirely on you, you’re self-employed.

If you own a business, or you’re a majority shareholder of a corporation, these things don’t apply. If I get sick and can’t work for one, two, three, six, or twelve months, the business (and I) will keep earning money. It will continue going, hopefully indefinitely (some might argue even better), without me there.

If I ever choose to retire, I can sell my business. Because it can operate without me, it has value to someone who might want to buy it. I’m not “self-employed.” I’m a business owner.

Now, while there are some clear advantages to owning a self-sustaining business versus being self-employed, that doesn’t mean that the latter is necessarily a bad thing.

If you make a conscious, thoughtful choice and decide that you love the hands-on art of creating custom carpentry, and you want to build each piece yourself, or you love teaching each student to float with your own hands, or you enjoy installing every pool fence yourself, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some people don’t want a business; they just want a job they love without having a boss. They’re not planning to sell their business to fund their retirement; they put money into an IRA each month. If you decide this makes you the happiest, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going this route.

The PROBLEM is that a lot of people want to own a business, but INADVERTANTLY have become self-employed. They didn’t make a conscious decision. They didn’t make any decision, so life just happened to them.

THIS is what you want to avoid. Decide what you want your life to look like, and then build toward that intentionally. Every business starts off with self-employed owners. It’s up to you to decide if you want to keep it that way.

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What’s the one thing you have always wanted to do / thought you should do?

Why aren’t you doing it?

Why isn’t right now the right time to start?

You probably have a perfectly reasonable, totally logical, irrefutable reason.

A really excellent reason.

You’re going through a divorce.

You were just diagnosed with cancer.

You’re broke.

You were just laid off.

You just got a promotion.

You have 16 children.

They all have cerebral palsy.

Your mom just died.

Your mom is sick.

You just had surgery.

Someone was supposed to help you.

You’re in a wheelchair.

You need to lose weight first.

You need more practice.

You’re finishing college.

You’re pregnant.

You’re getting married.

You’re too old.

You’re too young.

AND SO ON.

Those are completely legitimate, rational reasons, and when you give them, or one of a million others, no one is going to argue with you. How could they? I know I wouldn’t.

But I wouldn’t argue with you because you’re right. I wouldn’t argue with you because if you are giving one of those completely legitimate, logical reasons, the REAL reason is that you don’t really want to do it bad enough.

Because it’s never, EVER the right time to start. There is always going to be shit going on. There’s always going to be a great reason why doing it today is a terrible idea.

But when you truly want it badly enough, none of that matters. You look at all those logical reasons not to start and say, “I’m doing it away.”

Your friends/parents/colleagues will say, “Um… is that a good idea right now, with this going on?”

And you’ll respond, “Sure isn’t,” and move forward anyway. You’ll push aside all those very real reasons and create your own reality. You’ll figure it the fuck out.

Because right now is always the worst time to start, but it’s the only time you have.

The worst and best time to do that thing you want is this very second.

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“Thank you for all that you do! Your work is amazing and saving so many lives.”

“You are an inspiration to everyone, but especially to those that are unsure of what their paths can be.”

I’ve been hearing how amazing I am more than normal the past few weeks. We’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in arguably my favorite thing Life Saver does, donate Life Saver Pool Fences, several times, and this weekend was our annual Life Saver Dealer Conference, where Life Savers from around the country fly to South Florida to learn how to do a better job of saving lives, hear about new developments, and so on. It’s also a time to hand out awards and celebrate successes. Long story long, between the donations, the blog, some consulting, and the conference, I’ve had heaps of praise thrown my way, from being told I’m inspirational to being told I’m the reason for a family’s new financial success to being told I’m literally saving lives.

And part of me feels awful, because while I am tremendously appreciative, and even happier about the positive outcomes, I know I’m not responding to these kind words like I “should”. I’m not overcome with emotion. I’m not overwhelmed. Because the truth is, while I am seriously grateful, and while I do use them as a barometer to know I’m on the right track, they mostly kind of bounce off of me. I don’t internalize them or attach these praises to my identity, my drive, or my self-esteem. And though I do have a very healthy ego, it isn’t constructed by these (incredibly kind) compliments and support.

Because I can’t. The moment the external praise becomes my fuel, my identity, my goal, or my validation, the moment I believe the hype, things change. First, my motivation changes. The reasons for what I do shift to things outside myself, things outside my control, in other people. If I let other people’s approval be what keeps me going, I’ll start changing to get more of that approval. And second, if I open myself to internalize and really believe the praise, then I also have to take in and be dragged down by the hate and negativity. The reason I don’t care about dumb comments on Instagram and negative opinions is because I’m also immune to the good stuff.

Now, with something like this blog, I am paying attention to what resonates most with people so I can provide the most value, just like I monitor ad campaigns to see which are providing the best ROI. There’s a fine line there, but it’s an important distinction.

 Thank you, truly, if you’ve ever said anything kind to me. I really do appreciate it. But if you find yourself hesitating in posting a video or doing something bold because you’re worried about negative feedback, think about how you absorb/feed on compliments. If your motivation comes from inside you, the external won’t matter – good or bad.

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My goal in 2015 was to make as many mistakes as possible.

MORE mistakes, not less.

In business, preferably.

Why?

Because the only people who NEVER make mistakes are the people who don’t accomplish anything. It’s impossible to have any kind of serious success without making lots of mistakes, without trying new and uncertain ideas. And by making mistakes my GOAL, I gave myself permission to do stuff that might totally fail, to shake the flawed misconception that I need to have a perfect score, that every endeavor must succeed.

 The key is to make manageable, survivable mistakes. You don’t want to bet the farm on a risky venture. I like the idea of firing bullets, then cannonballs. If you’re trying to sink an enemy ship at sea, and you only have so much ammunition and gun powder, you are better off risking a bit of gun powder and a small bullet on the first shot, which you aren’t sure will hit. You can miss a few of these with only minor consequences. But eventually, a bullet hits. You’re onto something. You’re lined up correctly. You fire another bullet the exact same way. It hits again. A third one, just to be sure – success again. NOW you launch the cannonball. Now go all in. Make mistakes, but risk small, so you can double-down on the things that work.

Since making that goal to make more mistakes in 2015, Life Saver has done some unique stuff. Interesting accessories, bold product upgrades, crazy marketing ideas, unconventional hiring, and more. We’ve definitely succeeded in making lots of mistakes. But our yearly sales have also TRIPLED since then, and continue to climb.

Only losers don’t make mistakes. Give yourself permission to fail in order to succeed at a higher level.

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