You are living the dream! You’ve successfully left the rat race and now doing what you want to do. You’re living your life on your terms, not someone else’s. You’ve worked hard to get to that point. You set a goal and you’ve accomplished it.

Congratulations! You are in minority because most people give up along the way. They use excuses as to why they are not where they want to be. They do things that keeps them in the rat race. They think it’s an overnight process and when the going gets rough they go back to their old life of dreaming instead of doing. If I got a dollar from every person that says they want to do something different with their life but then give me an excuse as to why they haven’t yet, I’d be depositing truckloads of dollar bills to the bank.

As you know, it comes down to self-discipline, being clear on where you are going, creating a plan and then doing the work.

It’s also a continual process. Those that are doing what they love to do are constantly investing in themselves as they know it’s about learning from those ahead. They also know it’s about sharing their knowledge with those that are working on getting to where they are.

It’s a continual circle of learning from those ahead of you.

Today, thanks to the internet anyone can have a virtual mentor. That someone that inspires you, that gives you hope and equip you with information. But nothing beats one-on-one mentoring.

That’s why I’m a huge proponent of that when you get to this step you should bring a mentee in under your wing just like someone (hopefully) brought you under their wing.

Coaching and mentoring are two different things. I think it was Bill Gates who said: “Everyone should have a coach!” And yes, I agree with that. I would not be where I am today without a coach and knowing that every successful person invest in coaching you should too. But I’d like to add to his statement that everyone should have a mentor as well.

I’m an optimist and believe that every person, with the right support, can make their dream a reality. I think that with coaching, mentoring and being held accountable every person can get there.

At some point a person needs to invest in themselves beyond what can be found for free and when you get to a certain level you understand the value of someone’s time. That said, when you are starting out you may be hesitant to invest in yourself because you never have and therefore never experienced the return on investment of doing so. Plus, for some it simply comes down to having to choose between putting food on the table or investing in themselves.

Which is why I’m starting a community called the Dream Now Project. A volunteer based community of “mentors” and “mentee’s” – a place to give back and a place to connect. If you’re either looking for a mentor or want to be one, you can join HERE. Note: I’m building the project slowly as my time to devote to this is extremely limited but my vision is for it to be a vibrant place of people helping each other move forward and get that head start through free mentoring.

Remember to give back and pay it forward to those that could use that one person believing in them. After all, we don’t get to the top alone. 

 

To read all the posts in this series on how to leave the rat race click HERE.

In our ‘How to Leave The Rat Race’ series you have now left your day job and are working for yourself. Congratulations! This is an exciting time. You no longer have a boss telling you what to do. You’re the boss! You can do whatever you want. Or can you?

Yes, you can. However, you are now responsible for everything. You decide what needs to be done and what doesn’t. You are no longer an employee being told what to do. You are the CEO and in charge of all things happening.

In the beginning you are usually all the departments too. You are head of marketing, sales, IT, accountant, web developer, event organizer and all the other departments.

Now, continuing to be so throughout the time of your business will make you hate life. You cannot continue, and should not continue, to be all the departments. Leaving a job just to work even harder, even if it is something you love to do, isn’t the idea of building a business.

The idea is to build a business you can remove yourself from as soon as you can by hiring people that can do all the things you are not good at so that you can focus on working on the business and not in it. Hence the name ‘freedom business.’ If you’re not good at all strategy you need to hire someone that is. If you’re not good at social media, marketing and so forth, all that needs to be outsourced.

But until you can do that most of that will fall on you. It’s a period that I call the “messy middle”. It’s the time in your business when your revenue doesn’t support paying a lot of people to help you.

Which only means one thing: you have to do it yourself the best you can.

In order for you to make money you need customers, clients and buyers, right? You need people spending money or you will go out of business fast.

Which means you need to promote yourself and what you have to offer. And that can feel really awkward. Promoting other people’s products? Not a problem. My own? Nah, never been my favorite thing. Even if you know you rock at what you are doing, and that whatever product, service or experience you are providing helps people live better lives.

Being the Marketing Director, Social Media Ninja, PR, Email Marketing and Sales can be a challenge but unless you step into those roles no one will find you, no matter how awesome you are and how awesome your product or service is. Especially in today’s crazy, busy online world.

What to do?

Prepare the best you can for this step. Connect with others that are good at the things you are not and learn from them. Take courses. Read books. Learn how to promote yourself and your business without being spammy. Try to barter services if you need to. Ask if you can hire them just an hour a week to help you strategy. Don’t take any money out of the business for a while (hence why you need a big savings account) so that you can contract out those services as soon as you can. Hire a virtual assistant. Get an intern.

Create a team of advisers. Get a mentor. Join more groups where you can network. Let others know you are in business. Get a coach in areas you need help with.

And as soon as you can create an organizational chart outlining all the different positions you need in order to run your business successfully. Then decide upon which position to fill first as soon as you’re able to. That way you can hire someone else to promote what you have to offer when time is right.

A great book to read on how to “promote yourself” without constantly asking is Gary Vaynerchuck’s Jab, Jab, Right Hook (affiliate link). An excellent book on how to tell your story in a noisy world. Gary is one of the leading experts in advertising and social media and definitely knows his stuff. Plus his YouTube video show is super informative.

 

What “departments” would you hire someone to help you with first? What are the things you don’t like doing? Share in the comment section below.

Building a business takes time but even if you’re ways away from quitting your job you need to start creating an exit plan.

Why? Because otherwise you don’t have a goal to work towards. Your exit plan should involve a date when you will give notice to your job, a set revenue and profit amount you need to bring in through your business and a set dollar amount that you will have as a runway allowing you to focus on the business and not stress about your personal finances.

Vague doesn’t work here. Some day or soon doesn’t work here either. You need to have dates and numbers to work with that you can measure.

For example: you know you need to bring in 3,000 dollars a month to live on. A lot of people do the mistake of thinking that’s it. They forget they need to pay self employment taxes, health insurance, and more. You need to add at least 25-30% to cover that. Most also forget that there are expenses related to the business and that revenue isn’t the same as profit.

If you’re business isn’t bringing in that kind of revenue yet and you don’t want to wait until it does to quit your job you need to build up what is called a runway. Money that will keep extending the runway and fill the gap between the money you can draw from the business and the money you need to live on so that you can take off before the runway runs out or you crash. I advise people to have at least one year of expenses set aside, preferably two.

Now before you do that I suggest getting with a few business savvy people (who run successful businesses…not your uncle who reads the Money magazine) and go over your game plan with them. Do you have a viable business that you can grow within a set amount of time to the level of revenue you need? If not, then you need to either adjust or take a gamble.

Why is it so important to figure out how much revenue you need to bring in each month? Because that will help you pick an exit date. Based on your current financial situation when will you have that money in savings? What is the revenue growth? Will you be able to quickly find a new job if you need to if you run out of money before your business hits that level?

One of the major reasons why businesses fail is because they run out of money. Among a few other things. A great book to read to understand why so many small businesses fail is the E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber (affiliate link).

I know this step can feel overwhelming but in order to leave your day job you need to have set goals and as much concrete data to work with so you can set an exit date. The “I’m so tired of my day job so I’m just going to quit and hope it works out” isn’t the way to go unless you have something already in place like a business you can grow and a runway you can live on.

Also when you decide on an exit date something very powerful happens within you. Your mindset changes. You are working towards something.

Once you get to that point make sure you do not burn any bridges. When you leave your day job leave on good terms. Ask if you can stay on as a consultant. A lot of companies today are already looking to make their employees into 1099’s so it won’t hurt to ask. It is estimated that by year 2020 that 40-50% of current corporate positions will be asked to switch to 1099’s and become freelancers (Intuit 2020 report).

So go and take a look at your finances, the business you are building and then pick a date for when you are going to quit your job.

If you need help with this step on how to create your exit plan sign up for one of my Butt Kicker sessions or contact me for an individually designed package. I’d be happy to review where you are and help you set more concrete goals.

 

What struggles are you facing in terms of setting a date? Or if you have set a date are you on track? Share in the comments below.

As you’re working hard on your dream life people will come out of the woodwork telling you it’s risky, you’re not talented enough, you won’t make it and all kind of ‘negative nancy’ things. There is only one thing you can do: stay as far away from them as possible.

We want all our friends and family to support what we do but sadly many of them won’t. It’s not that they don’t love us or want us to be happy, it’s just that they don’t understand why you would want to leave something safe and comfortable. All they hear is that 8 out of 10 businesses fail and automatically think you’re going to be one.

They also don’t understand why you would want to work really hard on something that doesn’t have a guarantee. Why give up a “secure” paycheck with benefits?

Another common reason is that they are jealous of you taking charge of your destiny. They’re happy to stay in the status quo and will do everything they can to keep you there.

I know you can’t always avoid the ‘negative nancies’, especially if it’s family, but what you can do is to avoid any mention about what you’re doing. Talk about the weather, the latest game, news or other. When they ask how things are going just say ‘good.’ You can try to explain what you’re doing and hope to get support until the moon turns blue but you’re wasting your energy.

Spend your energy on seeking out like minded people instead. You’ll find them in various entrepreneurial and business groups on MeetUp, local business networks and even online. Get to know successful business owners and learn from them. Join a mastermind group. Listen to podcasts and read books. Surround yourself with information and people that can help you. Learn from those that are ahead of you. Get a mentor. Hire a coach.

Whatever you do…don’t try to convince the ‘negative nancies’ that life outside the box is more fun. They are too scared to see you succeed because when you do they will have to look at their own boring lives and maybe first then will they realize life is too short to live someone else’s dream.

Believe in yourself. Don’t let ‘negative nancies’ steal your chance of living your dream.

 

How do you deal with ‘negative nancies’ in your life? Share in the comments below.

Besides getting your finances in order this step in leaving the rat race is crucial. Why? Because this is what separates the ones that succeed from the ones that don’t.

Replacing your current income with a new one doing what you want to do is not going to just happen on it’s own. Unless you actually take the time to work on your ‘passion turned business’ not much will change.

Now, I know it’s hard. While you are still building and having that “secure” paycheck it’s easy to keep pushing it to ‘later’ ‘tomorrow’ ‘next week’ instead of actually getting it done. But if you want something different you have to do one thing.

You have to take the time to work on making that change.

Don’t think you have the time? What you don’t have time for is regretting not living your life doing what matters. Remember, you have the same amount of time as everyone else.

We all get 168 hours in a week. Even uber successful people that seems like they have more hours than we do. The difference between those that get things done and the ones that don’t is how they handle their time.

People that get things done use their time wisely. They are very intentional and only work on things that matter. They schedule their time. They say no a lot and they stay focused on where they are going.

How can you find more time?

1. Create a schedule. Just like you budget where your money is going you need to schedule your time and decide how to use it. By knowing ahead of time what you will do you don’t have to think about it. You eliminate that bandwidth of “hmm…what should I work on?” and get right on task.

2. Be realistic with how much you can accomplish in a week. A good schedule should only be about 50-70% filled with to-do’s. Leave room for play, rest and life to happen or you will always feel as if you’re running behind on what you set out to accomplish. Remember, building your dream life is a process, not an overnight thing.

3. Turn off the TV. On average Americans watch 5 hours of TV a day!!! That is insane. I can’t tell you how often I get the “I don’t have time” when I suggest a great book to someone. Is watching TV really more important than pursuing your dream?

4. Limit your time checking email, social media, mindlessly surfing the internet and time with co-worker’s or friends that seems to hog your time. Batch activities into specific times and only do those tasks during assigned times.

5. Only work on tasks that will help you get to the next step. Let’s say you want to start a blog but decide to learn about podcasting because you think you may want to start one at some point. You are now focusing on steps ahead of where you are when you should spend time getting your blog up and running.

6. Utilize time when you are doing other things like commuting. Use that time to listen to informative podcasts and books on audio. You can even record audio into an app that turns audio into text. Lots of authors have created their books that way.

Last but not least, remember to set a date for your exit plan. That way you have an end goal to work towards and can break down your various goals to meet that ultimate goal: quitting your job!

 

Those are some tips I personally use to be intentional about my time and get stuff done. What are some of your favorite tips? Share in the comments below so that we can learn together.