I think making a living sucks. I respect anyone who does what it takes to make due – it takes integrity. But it still sucks. Because making a living suggest just getting by. It suggests doing what needs to be done. At heart, it suggests that tomorrow will be the same as today, and I can’t imagine anything more soul-deadening than that, because the very point of having your own business is exactly that you want to have a tomorrow that’s different from today.
That’s pretty much where I found myself about two years ago, which seemed a really odd thing, because by the books, every year kept looking better and better. In fact, things were going even better than I expected. But I had acquired so much baggage that I found myself sacrificing too much time for the money, and the more baggage I had, the harder it was to say no to anything. When you think about the title of this post, isn’t a funny thing that baggage is basically the same thing as drag? They’re all forces that pull back forward motion.
Here are 5 things I learned in the process:
1. Advertising sucks
It’s the biggest money drain you can imagine, and the returns are awful. What’s worse, it’s like Rogaine. I never used Rogaine (yeah, my hairline is receding and has been for about 15 years), because I heard it could either restore hair or slow down loss, but if you stopped, all the hair would go away. That being the case, you’d never know if it was really working, so you’d basically be stuck using it forever with the fear that letting go of it would mean losing all the hair you have. That’s how ads are. If you don’t track them carefully (and let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to measure their impact in any precise way), you start to think you need them to survive, when, for all you know, it could be amounting to nothing. There is only one ad I run at the moment, and even that I’m thinking of discontinuing. However, just by cutting out my advertising, I saved myself $10,000 each year with no loss in bookings. What a relief.
2. Long term goals are great, but long term projects are painful
If something is going to take 6 months or a year to do, you better break it down, because there’s nothing as daunting as a list of to-do items a mile long. It’s crushing, and it’s hard to move on it, because you feel like you’re getting nowhere. Focus on what you can do in a week. Break it into small chunks.
3. Short term improvements are awesome
I love things that can implemented in a couple or few weeks, because you can try so many of them, discard what fails, and refine what works. It’s a great way to learn about your business, it’s fun, it keeps motivation high, and you really get to find out what things work.
4. You don’t need to do as much as you think
In New York City, if you’re reasonably good and you do it right, you can hit between $4,000 – $6,000 without the need to maintain it through advertising, heavy overhead, or networking. It’s not rockstar status, it’s not overnight, and it’s not without some work, but we’re talking about numbers that require a minimum of marketing labor and expense. I know this is true from personal experience. Imagine what happens when you add some marketing effort and networking to that. Now you’re really cookin’.
5. There’s more to copying than copying
You can copy your way to the upper middle, but you can’t copy your way to the top. Still, copying is its own skill. Some people are better at it than others. And you have to be copying the right things. Copy the wrong things, and you’re just shit out of luck. If you do it really well, it’s called finding inspiration. So even when copying, you need to be thoughtful about it. Everyone starts out doing it, but the question is whether you break free at one point and make it your own.
I’m sure there’s more for me to write about on this rainy Saturday, but, hey, it’s a weekend, and I’ve got kids. I’m going to go spend some time with them. More to come later.
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