Ideas To Action — Growing Pains Of An Entrepreneur

Most people I talk to these days tell me about their incredible, unique and totally do able dreams.
The sad truth, however; is that for most people, these dreams stay a fantasy.
I run a Facebook ads agency. That’s what I would tell myself every morning in the mirror while I was getting ready to go to my minimum wage job.
This went on for almost an entire year, and if you asked my why I wasn’t executing back then I would probably tell you something like “well, I’m preparing to do this thing so I’m ready when I start rolling.” and then of course I’d follow it up with some proverb like “You know Abe Lincoln said, ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I’ll spend the first five sharpening my axe.” just to reinforce my reluctance to action.
The reality was actually quite simple — I wasn’t executing because I wasn’t executing.
I was afraid of the “bogey man” so to speak. The unknown that massive action will inevitably bring no matter how long and thoroughly you prepare.
The longer I waited, the more the fear grew. It became a vicious cycle and finally led me abandon the idea.
Fortunately, I am the kind of person who is highly introspective and I know the value of having a meaning and a purpose in life.
The more things I tried as jobs or hobbies over the course of that year (there were many) the more I began to realize what I really had a passion for — This whole digital marketing thing. The strategy, the tools, the lifestyle, the adrenaline of constantly refreshing the statistics page while running a campaign.
So I tried it again. I had zero confidence because I was sure the cycle would repeat again.
But by some stroke of luck I came across a book.
The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone
This book is all about taking massive action and saying F*** the rest. (basically)
In that book there was a chapter that changed my life.
to summarize, He wrote about how when you’re afraid of something you should do it right away. Reduce the time between the initial realization that something needed to be done and the actual act of doing it.
So I fully committed (another concept he writes about in detail).
I was done planning and over thinking. I knew I needed clients, because I needed money, and I needed freedom from my job.
So I cold called 100+ local business owners with nothing but the bare bones of a script. I went from call to call so fast I didn't even have time to register what had just occurred on the last phone call.
I crashed and burned in those first few calls in such a horrific fashion that if I tried to put it on paper right now you wouldn't even believe me.
But then I got an appointment scheduled to present my service over the computer. Then another, and another.
When I had exhausted my list, and I finally took a moment to think about what had occurred — I had gotten 6 appointments…
In less than 8 hours, I had done what had escaped me for almost an entire year!
This is an example of the power of massive action and execution.
I titled this post “ideas to action — growing pains of an entrepreneur” somewhat ironically.
For me, no matter how crazy my schedule gets and how busy I am nothing will ever be as painful as that year of inaction, because I know I am constantly growing.
So bring on the growing “pains”.
Now, stop reading this article for fucks sake and go turn an idea into reality with massive amounts of unabashed, relentless, raw action.
Cheers,
-Rick