3 Very Important Things To Do When Starting Your Own Business

Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash

On January 10 I start my third ever LinkedIn Sprint.

It’s a cohort-based writing program that’s changed my entire working life.

The feedback we’ve received has been pretty bonkers so far..

The sprint is a challenge to write every day for 30 days on LinkedIn complete with 5 hours of lessons, group calls, templates, and more.

If you want to join, the next cohort starts on January 10, and the doors close January 7th at 5 PM EST. We have 70+ people inside so far.

In the meantime I wanted to talk about all the ways this sprint changed my freaking life, and how the principles can help you as a budding solopreneur or blogger making their way online.

1. Work Is Better With People

In August I sent out an email asking my list if they wanted to take part in a FREE 30-day writing challenge with me.

Immediately we had 120 applications.

There’s no way I could’ve done a sprint with 120 people and given them the attention they needed, so I decided to do my first sprint with 40 people.

And guess what?

This initial group of people became such great friends of mine.

Because of them, I have never in my solopreneur life felt so great at work. We have inside jokes, laugh a ton, support one another, and can really feel the camaraderie.

When you create programs online there’s a lot of pressure to make money.

But I think the fact that this was free made it better. The first sprinters could feel that I actually cared about them, and we created something truly special together.

The lesson for course creators is two fold..

1. Start your program for free to test whether it’s a good idea. At the very least you’ll start a wonderful community and get to know a bunch of awesome people.
2. Work is better with a community. I missed that about working at a traditional job. Your coworkers! It’s fun to see each other every day. Look, you can create articles and sit in your room all day hustling, but you won’t feel much purpose until you start doing things with a community.

2. Give It Your All And Be Proud Of What You Created

I remember my first summer job mowing lawns in high school.

My team and I mowed 20 lawns per day, and it was always so much fun to look at a freshly buffed lawn and marvel at our handiwork.

We did good.

When you do good work, don’t cut corners, and follow through on your word, it can fill you with a lot of pride.

Sure, the work is difficult, but if you can hold up your end of the bargain, the pride you feel at the end is worth it.

There’s so many days that I burn out during my sprints, but it seems that every day there’s also another person who tells me they’re enjoying the program and getting so much out of it.

It helps me move forward and the pride I feel is almost like a second wind I get to use in the dog days of the sprint.

3. Constantly Look For Ways To Improve

I have a bullet journal and write down every idea I have for improving my sprints inside of it.

Every single one.

Every idea a sprinter gives me for a better sprint.

Every question I think needs a lesson to explain.

I write it all down and give myself time between sprints to create lessons, try things, improve, and discard ideas that didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to.

What’s resulted is an exponential increase in the value of the sprint as I’ve gotten more repetitions, shed the bad ideas, and focused on the good ones.

It’s so much fun to improve something.

Imagine being in a forest with dozens of paths stretching out in different directions. When you make a mistake, you get to put a big roll of red tape around the entrance to one of those paths. It led to a bear cave or something.

When you find something that works, you keep the path open. It led to a beautiful waterfall, I guess.

Eventually you’ll end up with a bunch of great paths and little to no bad ones.

It’s the same thing with everything in life — relationships, sports, skills, etc.

The more we fail, the more we get better. Don’t be afraid of the failures — welcome them!

Three Things I Learned From Making This New Program

There’s three reasons why this program has made me so happy..

1. I get to be part of a loving community.
2. I feel proud of what I’ve made (and will continue to make).
3. I love the challenge of tinkering with things and finding ways to improve them.

I write this for any entrepreneur or solopreneur out there who wants to create something of their own. Incorporate as many of these components into your product and you’ll be in for a delightful, yet challenging, ride.

Don’t worry! It’s the ride of your life.

Hey, if you want to come join our wonderful community of writers for our January LinkedIn Sprint, you can sign up right here.

Doors close at 5 PM EST on January 7th, and we start sprinting on January 10th.

It’s a great way to leverage an incredible platform for writers, get to know a bunch of awesome people, and develop a writing habit.

Here’s what’s included:

• Community Slack Channel with direct access to me 24/7
• 5 Office Hour Sessions (each 2–3 hours long)
• 15 LinkedIn Post Templates
• Access To Recordings From Past Sprints
• LinkedIn Sprint Lessons (5+ hours of content)
• 30 Pieces Of LinkedIn Content

If you’re unsure of whether you want to join, send me an email (tom@findingtom.com) with any questions you have.

I’d be happy to talk to you.