Entrepreneurial Emotions or It Seemed Like a Great Idea at the Time
It's your first business or the next Great Idea in your ongoing business, online or offline, it doesn't matter. The roller coaster ride is a theme and variations on the same experiences. First the exhilaration -- THIS idea, or THIS business is THE one. It'll put you on the map with lots of money in your bank account. It can't fail. It's just too good. Have you said this? More than once? I have, and several times during my life, with numerous businesses and varying levels of success.
Then comes implementing the idea. The rubber meets the road. One great entrepreneurial joy is having a terrific idea in the shower, and implementing it by noon. The pieces of The Great Idea flow over you like warm water in the shower, feeling just as wonderful, inviting you to stay in that delicious place forever.
WHAT'S NEXT
This is the first place that makes or breaks you -- moving forward from idea to implementation, identifying elements necessary from start to finish. Nothing stops you, until you start thinking about what is involved. Or you stay in process, and never reach the goal. You might enjoy process more than results, or be fearful about reaching results you envision. What stops you and what moves you forward? Depending on self-confidence, the support you have, the homework you do, those steps are easy, or not. Notice no mention of resources. Many great ideas develop on sheer grit and determination, with little else going for the person. It's more than positive outlook, too. It's how you view yourself, how clearly you picture the end result, who you include in your process, and overall attitude about getting from Point A to Point Z.
Once you've identified the details, look at each task honestly. Ask yourself:
? Which tasks do I love?
? What do I know nothing about and am willing to learn?
? Which things make me want to run away faster than I thought possible?
? Who can do what I don't want to do or feel incapable of doing?
? When can I offload tasks to someone better suited to do them?
Considering these questions increases your success and enjoyment of the process, taking you to happier emotions. You spread happiness to others by giving them tasks they do well, including them in your process, and leaving you happier because of this. There are always challenges. At least you tipped the scales in your favor. Re-evaluate task assignments throughout your journey since things are forever changing.
During my dozen years in the tips booklets business, thousands of author clients worldwide have written tips booklets on some topic that interests them. Their booklet is based on expertise, experiences, or passion they want to share. Some have a wealth of information, confidence, ability, resources, and encouragement. Others are missing some or all of those characteristics, yet find the idea appealing. Some love writing and others detest it. Each has a Great Idea to get out into the world. Booklets are done in days or weeks, or stretched over months and years. Emotions play a part in the process, outcome, and overall results.
My booklet journey started with eight years' of experiences in one business, and a checkbook slim on financial resources. In the early 1990's, few were online, fax machines were more common than computers, and hard drives were not in every computer sold. Dream-killers surrounded me, doing whatever possible, both subtly and blatantly, to belittle creating a booklet as a new income source and a way to market my business. Necessity motivated me, forcing me beyond deficits of knowledge and money, and certainly beyond other people's opinions.
THE GLOW IN REAL TIME
Selling almost a million copies of that booklet without spending a penny on advertising gave me real-life business tools and first-hand understanding to assist others in their business development. The exhilaration I felt the day that first box of booklets arrived -- I, too, had arrived, along with that box of booklets. Seeing my name on the cover made it seem like I was A Somebody at a challenging time in my business. It was an oasis coming out of the desert. The next step was to convert that feeling and those booklets into cash. Ego wouldn't pay the bills. Then came validation accompanying the first check. I hear this repeatedly from my booklet author clients. That blends into the Bigger Picture ? of making more sales, creating new products, developing more markets and opportunities, being sure this first experience wasn't a fluke or a flash in the pan, that there was staying power.
You may be like authors and business owners I know. You may minimize your expertise, product, or service. Many examples support forging ahead and writing your booklet or developing your product or promoting your services anyway. The hoola hoop, Pet Rock, Rubik's' Cube, and Chia Pet each show how these product inventors probably had the last laugh, all the way to the bank, in spite of dream-killers in their lives. You may have no encouragement from family and friends. Ignore those voices. Follow your heart, like those product inventors did. Your Great Idea is yours. Do with it as you choose. Your writing, marketing, product development, or other business skills may be lacking. Find ways to take one step at a time, experience one success at a time, do things you don't know and want to learn. Resources range from volunteer mentors to high priced consultants, to courses, books, CD's, tapes, and publications like this one you are reading.
WHO OWNS THE POWER
It is and always will be up to you to decide how much power to give your emotions. Your vulnerability, strength, and clarity change, rendering you more in charge in one moment, and more overwhelmed in another. The ups and downs are there and always will be. It is part of being an entrepreneur, part of being alive. Whether you are a new or veteran business owner, emotions present themselves throughout your journey.
When emotions take over and stifle or cripple forward motion, take a step back, assess things, make decisions for yourself based on what is best for you, and then do it. That sounds simple, doesn't it? As simple as that is, it is not always easy. Notice your feelings. Pull them apart to look at from different angles. Leave time and space whenever possible to allow intensity to diffuse, to analyze the situation and consider realistic solutions. Chat with trusted colleagues or family members who are helpful sounding boards. Is an error in manufacturing or publication something crucial to your product's effectiveness, or is it so minor no one will notice besides you? Does it warrant being enraged, or is it a disappointment easily corrected in the next production run? Pick your battles. Pick the emotional outlay accompanying them.
Sometimes an ideal solution is a minor modification rather than total abandonment. A small tweak often makes a huge difference. Other situations require changing course completely. Emotional choices without pragmatic and practical foundations can be costly in time, money, and emotions. Do as much homework up front and along the way, so changes are small course corrections instead of jumping overboard from a sinking ship.
THE ILLUSIVE BALANCE
As silence and sound are each vital in creating the beauty of music, emotional highs and lows as an entrepreneur are necessary in providing the rich, rewarding fabric of life. The range of emotions keeps you fresh, alive, interested, and interesting. Emotions are always there. Your choice will be what to do with them and your ideas. Remember how you felt ? it was a Great Idea, and still can be.
Paulette Ensign (c) 2004
Paulette Ensign has personally sold over a million copies in four languages of a tips booklet called "110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life," without spending a penny on advertising. Her clients have matched and surpassed her results, worldwide. Paulette learned her business by doing it. She received entrepreneurial genes from her grandfathers and has never taken a formal business course in her life. Her San Diego, California-based company, Tips Products International, offers a range of products and services to support your success regardless of your budget of time or money. Phone 858-481-0890 or visit http://www.tipsbooklets.com
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