There is no way to sugarcoat how I am feeling at the moment. Since 2003 I have been a solopreneur, taking care of every part of my business from graphic design, marketing, customer service, sales and so on. As 2015 comes to a close and I look back on the past 12 years, it is true that I have had several BIG wins as well as several painful losses.
Yes, with every painful loss there is learning and with every big win there is added clarity to my life purpose. The truth is, I am now at a place were I can openly admit that I am tired, frustrated and a bit angry with myself and the state of my business. On the outside looking in, everything has a nice glaze of greatness and I often hear “Adam, you are so successful, way to go”. With this often comes an energy of, Adam’s got everything under control. He doesn’t need any my help. But the truth is, I do need help. You see, I can’t do it alone. After 12 years as a solopreneur, I am tired of going it alone.
I am in the midst of finally recognizing I have a pattern (in business and I am sure there are many in other areas of my life as well) where I self sabotage my results based on the constant chase, chase, chase of something other than what I do have and it’s a painful pursuit.
Yes, I am mindful enough to know how blessed I am to have had the successes I have had, but I am also very aware that I lack some critical business skills to scale my company on my own.
For the first time since starting Power of Food in 2003, I find myself at a crossroads. I look around my office filled with my many vision boards, client testimonials, copies of my book, my affirmation lists, family photo’s and a library of business/nutrition books and I cringe a bit. Why cringe you might ask? Because the thought of going it alone for another year terrifies me and that has never been the case before.
Coming to terms with ones own abilities, knowing you have given it 110%, is a very humbling experience. I have given my company everything I’ve got over the past 12 years and it is still not where I want it to be. This I can honestly say is not from a lack of effort and therefore can only mean one thing…I lack some crucial skills key to scaling a business. I am okay with this, because I am no longer stuck in the solopreneur mindset of getting everything done on my own. That is so over!
I am ready to start providing for my family financially. I am ready to start receiving help from others. I am ready to be open to others suggestions and ideas.
Have I been focused over the past 12 years? I am not sure, but I know this, my ability to be financially successful and ‘help 100 million people unleash their energy and live life on their terms’ (my mission statement) relies on me picking just one area of my business to put all my attention, energy and focus towards in order to make the biggest impact possible. Gone are the days of being a entrepreneurial hound dog where I sniff yet another new idea and then chase it for a few weeks or months only to find it didn’t work out as planned.
That is why from today forward you will be seeing more and more content from me specific to supporting people who are working a 9-5 daily grind, where stress is chronic and energy is hard to come by. You see, in the past, I always did well when it came to supporting people in a corporate setting, as this is my own background and led to my once unhealthy state. With the rise of depression, anxiety and other forms of mental illness due to chronic stress, I know I bring a personal touch to helping my corporate clients implement and deliver a powerful wellness program to support their people manage their stress and live with more energy.
This excites me, because for the first time in 12 years it clearly puts my focus in one area of my business and it is an area where I am having a huge impact. I am committed to staying here for a very long time and building the best possible corporate employee wellness company possible so employers can support employees through the daily grind. Because the reality is, it is a grind and without the right tools in place to manage the grind, life can come to a halt.
If you are like I once was, you have been telling yourself for far too long that everything is ‘okay’ and I’ll do something about how I feel tomorrow.
So here I am, tired, frustrated and a bit angry with my lack of focus over my 12 years as a solopreneur, but that’s okay, because it is exactly where I need to be to step into the next level of my abundance and help 100 million people unleash their energy and live life on their terms!
LESSON:
If you are not willing to get disturbed with your current state, learn from it and grow, you are slowly decaying away, until one day the mind and body start to shut down and it’s all over.
ACTION STEP:
Look at all the results in your life right now. Are you comfortable with the way things are? Your health, career, finances, relationships, is everything just okay? If you said YES to being comfortable, it’s time to get DISTURBED!
Pick one area of your life to get disturbed about and set some fresh and vibrant goals for 2016 to get into a growth mindset.
EXAMPLE FROM THE HART:
I am disturbed with being an unfocused 12 year solopreneur. I recognize I need to put all my attention, energy and focus towards one area of my business and acquire the skills or seek out those with the skills to help cover my business blind spots.
Growth Goal #1: Find a Mentor
Since I don’t know all my blind spots, I will seek out a mentor in the corporate wellness industry who has had success scaling his/her business. I will achieve this before the last week in January, 2016 (If you know of someone who fits this profile, please feel free to do an email intro using adam@poweroffood.com – THANKS!)
Growth Goal #2: Join a Mastermind Group
I will join an industry specific mastermind group online or in person to collaborate with other entrepreneurs looking to support our mutual business objectives. I will source this group out and join it before the last week of January, 2016.
Growth Goal #3: Educate Myself
I am committed to reading 1 book a month for the first 3 months of 2016 to help fill my knowledge gaps on delivering the best possible service to my corporate clients. I am willing to do this for all of 2016, but it is critical to not create a sense of overwhelm in the growth goals as this will lead to feelings of frustration and guilt if not achieved.
Keeping your growth goals small and easy to achieve is critical when first starting this process. The more you use growth goals in this way, the more you will gain results momentum. Results momentum is when you truly know how it feels, on a daily basis, to achieve something that heightens your daily energy to where taking action is easy to do. The smaller the action, the easier it is to achieve. As you grow your growth goal muscles, you can go bigger and bigger knowing it’s going to get done.
Next step, you need to create an accountability measure. Why? Because it has to hurt a little bit if you don’t follow through. Otherwise, it is too easy to give up, especially when you are not yet strong with your results momentum muscles.
Accountability Measure:
If at the end of March, 2016 I have not followed through on each of my 3 growth goals, I will gift each of you reading this post a personally signed copy of my book The Power of Food (value $25, plus shipping $12). You can see how that will be a powerful motivator. Financially, it does not make sense for me to not follow through on all of my growth goals.
I would like you to email me at adam@poweroffood.com on March 31, 2016 to ask how it went. Mark this date in your calendar right now to remember, because I want you to hold me accountable. Cool?
Now it’s your turn
What are you willing to get disturbed about in your life right now? What area in your life are you willing to STOP being comfortable with? Being comfortable is the perfect escape from needing to do anything about something you truly know needs to change. It’s time to shake things up. Go through the same process I just outline above right now. Don’t hesitate, do it right now and then share it in the comments below if you want me or the Power of Food community to be your accountability measure. I am happy to support you 110%!
Thank you for reading this. You are AWESOME, you are POWERFUL, you are BRILLIANT and you are LIGHT…
I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR YOU!
ps: Do you have or know of a company looking to support their employees with some meaningful stress management solutions? Take a look here to learn more.
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