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 Namibian Desert, Aug 2019 When Nduno was a child, every time an aircraft flew over her village in a rural part of Namibia, Africa she ran out of the house calling to it and begging for it to land. She would plead for the aircrew to throw sweets or to do something exciting. She was so mesmerised by these flying machines that these early experiences began to feed a dream and an ambition. Nduno wanted to become a military pilot and eventually Nambia's first astronaut.
Bad luck showed up, not only because Namibia of course is not known for space exploration, but the roles that are made available to young women tend be nursing or teaching careers and certainly not military pilots. But as every year of her childhood went by, the dream of becoming not just a pilot but an astronaut grew ever stronger. Nduno was inspired by her mother who was the driving force in her life, nurturing her to become the best she could be. Good luck showed up. Reaching for the stars and landing on the moon was not a cliche for Nduno because she had the belief that anything was possible. She worked hard at her studies, became a high achiever and edged closer and closer to her dream. But then, bad luck showed up. Someone she trusted deeply and admired in her family took her confidence. It showed up in the form of her uncle - and - probably without him knowing, he destroyed her confidence because he told her: "You can't do this. Who are you to be a soldier? You are not strong enough. Look at the size of you!" He lifted her arms and dropped them." You are not strong enough to be a soldier and be an pilot." The words cut deep. She was so wounded by his words that she cried like any of us would, hearing from someone we love and trust that we are 'not enough' to pursue our dreams. But now she had a decision to make. Would she allow his comments to define the rest of her life? Should she give up on her unrealistic dreams and become a nurse or a teacher as per society's blueprint? Last summer in Windhoek, Namibia at the 13th Namibian Women Summit, I met Nduno, now in her twenties and a young, intelligent and incredibly engaging military pilot, flying helicopters for the Namibian Air Force and travelling to schools across the country to inspire other young women. Her Uncle's comments lit a fire inside her to prove him wrong. Without this fire she would've struggled to muster the resilience to withstand the physical, emotional and social barriers she had to overcome throughout her army training, her pilot training and through to collecting her wings - not least as the only female in her regiment. When bad luck shows up it appears very much as it seems, but perhaps is masquerading as good luck after all. There's a lot of bad luck at the moment, but perhaps a little of it may just seem that way. Good times are coming. Hang in there.
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First this: I have no ulterior motive. It matters not to me nor the PopUp Business School if you are successful with your business or not. There is no quota to fill, no target to hit and no incentive to get you into business. All that matters to me is I do my absolute best to help you to create and live your best life, because that's what we are here to do.
You've probably already discovered that entrepreneurship and starting small businesses is not a linear process. I can't remember meeting anyone who went from zero business experience to successful idea launched, making money quickly and with maximum enjoyment and satisfaction in one move! If you have, then congratulations, incredible effort and I’m really pissed off because it’s taken YEARS to create this monster. Secondly I have no answers for you; you're the only person who really knows. I do have a a few important questions and one or two clues to help you decide you next move. My best advice is to answer the questions and write your answers down magic happens when you write things down) Thirdly I am not a natural entrepreneur; my feeling is they are unicorns. Which is a pain because that means each of us has within us the capability to become one. If you’re thinking of quitting then it’s probably because you’re not enjoying the experience, either because you're overwhelmed with too much work (put up your prices and outsource the bits you don't enjoy) or you’re not making enough money (if it's the latter read on). 1. You've become disconnected from your reason why So if you’re thinking of quitting, I’d probably go back to the reason why you wanted to try out this business stuff in the first place. Here are mine:
Has anything changed for you from your reason why. If the answer is yes, cool. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate how you pay the bills. But if things are STILL true then will quitting really help you get closer to you what you want. Maybe by fully committing will actually get you closer, faster. Entrepreneurship doesn't solve any problems - it just means you swap the problems of working for someone else with the problem of where the next buck is coming from. Or the problem of having an annoying boss with the problem of the buck stopping with you. Which problems would you rather live with? 2. You’ve not fully committed Have you FULLY committed and taken responsibility to make this business happen? This has regularly been my problem. Unfinished projects that in themselves are great ideas that have really been half-arsed attempt will accompany me to the grave. Here are a three of those juicy questions I promised:
3. You’re not looking after yourself Sometimes we're just plain exhausted and (from personal experience I don't tend to stop until I drop). Then from my pile of exhaustion on the sofa I feel like I can't do this any more. What do you need to do to look after yourself? 4. You’re not investing in your learning and development Starting and growing a business doesn't really solve any problems it just presents different ones (that sometimes feel tougher than the ones you originally had). How to defeat this you have three main things: 1. Learn new things 2. Learn new things 3. Learn new things 5. You've stopped having fun This is a tricky one. It's closely linked to point three but something I only realised recently was that I had a tendency to spend too much time in discomfort. Whenever there is growth there is stress but you can’t operate in uncertainty 24/7 without losing your marbles. Stop worrying. Be grateful for what you have got rather than anxious about what you haven't. And look how far you've come and how much you've learned. 6. You haven't got the right to say it’s not working? If you’ve happened across a business idea that works 100% first time, it plays out exactly how you planned it AND you LOVE every second of it then know this: I’ll be very happy for you and extremely pissed off in equal measure. It's taken me years of failing, learning, adjusting, regurgitating, failing some more and dealing with unexpected opportunities and problems daily before even getting close to the results I want. These are the questions I would ask you: Have you focused on one idea? Have you niched down properly? Have you taken huge proactive action to promote your business? Have you taken a critical look at HOW you've executed, learned and adjusted? Have you taken the trouble to learn more? If the answer is no, you don't have the right to say it's not working yet. I didn't sell sweets to my friends, I didn't print t-shirts and I didn't sell tickets to club nights. I started learning at 30. And if I can learn it, so can you. But you don't need to make the same mistake I made - you can make new ones.
I scrapped the piano. It took me over two hours to undo the bolts and screws and remove the different sections piece by piece (eventually resorting to a crowbar) and I later learned there are over TWELVE THOUSAND parts to a piano.
The piano is so complex. There must be very few people on this planet who understand not only the component parts but also how to create masterpieces. Of course no one is born with the skill to master EVERY aspect of the piano; it takes hours of practice. But how do we know the habits we practice are the right things? To master the piano and accelerate to the very top of masterpiece creation it would be necessary to invest maximum focus, energy, time and money into:
You're only as good as the questions you ask.
This was Steve Jobs famous question: "'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' If the Answer is 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." Back in the early days of coaching I was too ready to give people the answers they were looking for. Now I spend more time crafting and searching for the right question. If I ask the right question, the answer is more beautiful and more perfect than than best of the answers I could've come up with. Why? Because if you ask the right questions you get to the truth. Sometimes we don't know our own truths. That's one of the reasons why coaching can be so powerful. The questions I ask my people are usually the things that trigger BREAKTHROUGH thinking. I wanted to share some of them with you. Don't just read them. Answer them.
SP :) PS To get the good stuff sent to your email click here Jim Rohn, the Godfather of personal development famously said:
"You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with." When I'm working with people, I take it further. Take a look at your five closest: Are you satisfied that you will never amount to anything more than their collective knowledge and thoughts? This is why; you don't know what you don't know. To close the gap between where we are right now and where we want to be includes at least one blind spot. This will rapidly reveal itself when you bring someone into your circle who has already had success. It's not so much what people know, it's how they think. If you want to change the way you make money you have to change the way you think. Who do you need in your circle and how are you going to make it happen. Remember the success of anything is built on trust. What could you do which will build instant trust? SP :) Now I run a successful business but I spent ten years in the 'wilderness.' I functioned, I did things but I was massively under-achieving. Here are some of the things that were holding me back:
I beat all of them and I'm proud of that. I've learned the strategies that work and the ones that don't (and why). I've created a series of strategies processes that remove the blockers to creating the life you dream of, whether it's money, power, a successful business, dream job, happiness or something else. And it doesn't take ten years - in fact for some people it takes only ten minutes. Here is one of my healing strategies - TIME. Take responsibility: You may not be responsible for the things that happened but you're definitely responsible for dealing with them Identify the root cause(s): Are you mimicking behaviour of one of your parents? Are you distracting yourself from some upsetting events in your life? Make it your priority: Your health and wellbeing should be your number one priority. In order to unleash the best version of yourself, you need to become the best version of yourself. No half measures. All in. Educate yourself from the leading gurus: Based on what you believe to be the root cause, who are the leading gurus on the subject? There is so much content online that could help. The time is now SP :) PS To get the good stuff sent to your email click here Here is the sentence I say to people almost every day.
"If you want to change the way you live, you have to change the way you think." If you're feeling stuck it's because your current programming isn't working for you and when I say programming I mean thinking. To get UNSTUCK try these questions: Stage 1: your current position What do you spend most of your time thinking about? Is it positive or negative thoughts? Is it things inside or outside your control? What are you currently focused on? Who are you spending your time with? Is this time investment helping you? Stage 2: achieving your desired position What thinking will help you get Unstuck? What can you control? What do you NEED to focus on? Who do you NEED to spend time with? The time is now. SP :) PS To get the good stuff sent to your email click here When I was stuck I realised I'd forgotten some simple principles. Imagine what it would be like if you woke up and it was too late. Imagine if you were too old, or too unhealthy or TOO ZOMBIFIED to do the things and live the life you'd always dreamed of.
WAKE UP. Here is my train of thought after I woke up.
If you forget these things. If you allow your past, your anxiety or your thoughts cloud these things then you will sleepwalk to mediocrity. How do I know? Because that's what I did. And then I woke up. There's much more; this is just for starters. The time is now. SP :) PS To get the good stuff sent to your email click here |
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AuthorCEO & Co-founder of the PopUp Business School. Archives
May 2021
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