#Bizamo update 1: goals, progress (or lack thereof), and self-compassion
Hello and welcome to the first “official” update for The #Bizamo Project.
In my last post (which was also my first, ever) I shared what I’ve been up to these last few months and what circumstances led me to launching this little startup experiment.
I wasn’t exactly sure what the outcome would be (I had close family members tell me that posting such an honest article would be a huge mistake that I’d regret), but, at least so far, the results have been mostly positive.
In addition to the “likes” and “claps” of support, I received around 15 direct messages — from old colleagues/friends (some dating back to high school) and some complete strangers — offering support, constructive feedback, or simply expressing that they’ve experienced similar feelings. The most comforting thing in the world is to know you’re not alone. So, thank you!
Overall Goals of the Project
When I first reached out to Elijah (the guy behind 4weekstolaunch.com) to learn more about his experience, I hadn’t yet read the post where he said he didn’t recommend doing it (ha). I was disappointed to later read this, but held out hope that the experience and “success” of the project was subjective and relative to his individual goals.
He confirmed this 100%. If my goal was to make as much money as quickly as possible, this was definitely NOT the best solution. There are plenty of other ways to make fast money. But if I wanted to learn, explore, and grow WHILE trying to build a business that gets me excited, he was confident that I’d have a positive experience.
So, YES, I want one of the businesses to succeed, but I also have some “big picture” goals that are equally as important.
- Stop procrastinating and take action
Ultimately, I want to challenge the fears and thought patterns that lead me to procrastinate (things like fear of failure, fear of what other people think, fear of “choosing the wrong thing” or “doing the wrong thing”, and perfectionism) and force ACTION to become the new default behavior; I believe the brief, 4-week time frame and public accountability will help with this
2. Learn more about myself
My interests have a always spanned a variety of industries and my skillset a variety of traditional functions. As you might imagine, for someone with a fear of choosing the wrong thing, deciding what to focus on has been a constant struggle. I always envied the people who knew they were going to be doctors from an early age and knew exactly what they needed to do to get there (though now I know there are even doctors who question their paths, and do so with a hefty chunk of debt).
During this project, I want to explore and hopefully narrow down which of my skills I enjoy utilizing the most, which business models are most suited for me personally, and which of my interests I most enjoy sharing with the world in a business capacity.
3. Become better at starting companies
I’ve already had one go at the rodeo, and yet I still feel like I don’t know much when it comes to starting a business (though my therapist would encourage me to give myself more credit). Regardless of the reality, I still find the whole thing pretty intimidating, and I want to get more confident so that I have an easier time starting in the future.
I also want to expand my typical ways of thinking and, with feedback, hopefully reshape ideas, business models, and processes in ways that I hadn’t thought of previously.
4. Practice authenticity and hopefully help someone
Up until now, I haven’t had much interest in “creating content” for my “personal brand” online, because what could I possibly have to share that anyone would find valuable? But the more I talked to fellow entrepreneurs and hustlers and learned that we share many of the same fears and hangups, the more I felt compelled to share this experiment publicly and to be as authentic as possible while doing so. My hope is that my experiences and learnings can help someone else trying to start a business, or just trying to overcome fears and challenges in life.
5. Be open to possibilities
I tend to be pretty “planned” and shy away from leaving things up to chance. With this project, I hope to embrace the uncertainty and give myself the opportunity to be surprised. Perhaps I generate a new idea I hadn’t thought of yet, or maybe meet a new friend or future co-founder. I’m attempting to follow the path of the unknown and trust that it will all unfold as it’s meant to.
So, there’s my “why” and the goals that I hope will guide me throughout the experiment.
Progress report
Failure already?
I spent the majority of my non-client work hours last week trying to write this blog post. In addition to the goals of the project, I felt that I also needed to share the framework I’d follow each month, an overview of the types of businesses I was interested in, and an analysis of my skill set.
The plan was to post the next “set up” article on Friday (accomplishing all of the above) and kick off business idea #1 this past Monday, February 5th (the first Monday in the first full week of the month). This was my vision of the perfect next blog post and the perfect next steps forward.
As I continued to work on the post throughout the week, it got longer and longer, and being ready-for-publishing by Friday felt increasingly daunting. With Monday looming, I told myself I’d have the weekend to finish it, but when Saturday rolled around, all I wanted to do was relax from a long week and watch TV. Guilt-ridden, I gave myself the time and vowed to get the post done on Sunday.
Then life happened.
I woke up Sunday with a full-on cold. Maybe I’m just a baby when it comes to being sick, but colds hit me hard and pretty much knock me on my ass. With headaches, body aches, sore throat and the whole nine yards….doing work on this project (or anything) was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.
So now, not only did I feel like crap physically, but mentally I wasn’t in much better shape. I didn’t get done what I said I was going to get done, my experiment wasn’t launching when I said it was going to, and basically I’m a total failure and loser.
Enter self-compassion
I’ll spare you the details of the past few days where the self-criticism brigade arrived in full-force and just skip to the part when I decided to give myself a break (aka right now).
Remember goal #1? I know I have these fears, thoughts, and habits that get in my way (it’s pretty much the whole inspiration behind the experiment), so is it any surprise they showed up so early on to challenge me?
And, being sick sucks. So does stressing yourself out about a self-imposed deadline that really doesn’t matter all that much.
So, I’m chalking this week up to my first bump in the road and learning experience. When tasks start to feel overwhelming, I’ll need to figure out how to break them into smaller chunks and take baby steps to move forward, even if things don’t look exactly how I thought they would or how I originally wanted them to.
I’ll need to prioritize action over writing, and figure out a way to share the information quickly and effectively.
Lastly, I can’t be so rigid with the “rules”. I’m not doing myself any favors by beating myself up for falling behind. Even though the idea of starting “week 1” on actual “week 2” of the month makes me want to cringe, the world will keep spinning. It’s not that big of a deal.
So, we’ll try this whole thing again on Monday with Biz idea #1 (which will be around Chicago activities/things to do) and see how it goes!