A few years ago, I decided to go free and become an individual entrepreneur, chose the niche of online education and opened my own school. This idea had been brewing for a long time, but it was scary to leave a successful publishing career: at that time I was the head of a portfolio in a publishing house.
I didnāt understand what niche to choose to develop my business, I didnāt know how or where to start. I raised four children alone and wanted to be sure that I would have enough to buy them food and pay for school.
Over time, it became clear that most of my fears were far-fetched, and all the barriers were not practical, but psychological in nature. In this article I will tell you how to overcome them.
1. Stress due to uncertainty
In a corporate career, life is subject to strict regulations: work from 9:00 to 18:00, salary SMS twice a month. There is an understanding of the rules of the game and the principles of career growth.
Structurality and consistency are important to me. Plans for the month, week and day, schedules, to-do lists, clear regulations – all these external restrictions that often frighten creative people, on the contrary, give me a feeling of comfort and calm.
And in working for yourself, uncertainty awaited you in every sense: no one sets a schedule, there is no external system of punishments and rewards, there are no guarantees that you will receive money twice a month, there are no ready-made solutions.
And the promises that were sold in the courses āHow to make a million in a monthā, of course, turned out to be untrue.
A friend of mine went freelance, which lasted for a month. She had worked in an office all her life and was now crying since the very morning, drinking valerian. She missed her colleagues nearby, whom she could right now pull on the shoulder and ask a question. A month later, she returned to her workplace and regained her healthy complexion.
Solution: create your own rules
The main rule is to create certainty in the zone that is under your control. Yes, I didnāt know how many orders I would have in the next month. I didnāt know where to get clients because I was just making my way in the online business.
But at the same time I could determine what time I would get up, how many steps I would walk a day, when I would rest, and when I would work. I gave up the idea of āāsleeping until lunch and lying in bed as much as I wanted. I got up early in the morning and went for a run – this set the pace and rhythm for the rest of the day. Then I turned on airplane mode on my phone and sat down at my laptop to work.
A clear daily routine and weekly schedule gave me a feeling of stability and confidence that I was slowly but persistently moving towards my goals. Internal restrictions did not irritate me, but gave me a feeling of calm and security. I still adhere to this principle: when there is chaos outside, create your own rules and inexorably follow them.
2. Lack of self-confidence and impostor syndrome
At work, my boss could praise me. In free swimming, I had to take on this role. At times it seemed that nothing would work out, that I was simply not born to be an entrepreneur. I read with alarm the statistics that only 5% of people have this, while the rest do not. And I was sure that I was not part of this 5%.
Now that I have a well-known online school for selling content with millions in turnover, products with a serious reputation and a dedicated team, I look back and smile.
Solution: Build Inner Support Through the Stories You Tell Yourself
How to support yourself when there is no external support, when the leader will no longer praise you, and there is no army of fans yet and it is not known whether there will be one? The secret is what story we tell ourselves.
I started reading biographies of entrepreneurs, pioneers, and explorers to find models for how people act in the face of uncertainty. And in Edisonās history I read a principle that still helps me.
When he made unsuccessful experiments over and over again trying to invent the light bulb, he said to himself: āI did not fail. I just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.”
I decided that I would make these words my motto and from now on I would be careful about the story I told myself.
After all, I can say: āMarin, you are a loser without a salary, prospects for career growth and a future.ā Or I can: āIām a budding entrepreneur. Yes, itās difficult for me now, but other people have gone through this path before me. They managed it, so I can handle it too.ā
I may suffer from the fact that I am again barely making ends meet, but I can remember the stories of many startups when people worked in the red in the first year. And tell yourself that financial difficulties are normal, itās part of the journey and itās temporary. You just need to know that this is a level of the game that needs to be completed.
3. Lack of support
I launched my online school with a partner and didnāt even think about the team then. The partner quickly withdrew and devoted himself to his family. And I was left alone.
Simultaneously with the launch of the school, I moved to Gelendzhik, a resort town that dies out in the off-season. You walk down the street to the store and you wonāt see a single living soul.
At first I tried to persevere, read books to develop myself, watched courses and videos, but over time I began to feel the lack of support and communication so acutely that I fell ill.
Solution: donāt find support in the old context – look for a new one
Once in an interview I heard the phrase that we are moving at the speed of the flow. If the cars ahead are traveling at a speed of 20 km/h, you will not be able to accelerate to 90 km/h. At that moment, I was working with a partner who refused to invest in advertising, training, devoted more time to his family rather than business development, and this caused endless disputes.
Having heard this metaphor, I realized that my partnerās speed was simply 20 km/h, and if I didnāt enter another stream, I would be left behind. I need an autobahn where I can reach 130 km/h.
So I moved to Sochi. Here I met old friends from online business and found new ones. No, I didnāt complain to anyone, I didnāt look for a vest in which I could cry, I didnāt ask for advice.
I just watched those moving at a speed of 90 km/h and eagerly absorbed their experience.
Many examples of successful, ambitious people showed day after day that I, too, could build a successful online business, and new ideas came on their own. That year, my income increased several times, although I moved to Sochi penniless. I assembled a strong team and continued to grow.
I decided that it was time to get on the autobahn, increase the speed to 130 km/h, and moved to Moscow. Over the course of a year in this city, I launched several new projects, and my paycheck grew 15 times.
4. Lack of ready-made solutions
When I decided that I would open my own online school, I was sure that I needed to take a couple of courses on this topic and read a dozen books. And then I will know exactly what to do, wonāt make obvious mistakes and will bring my project to profit in the first month. How wrong I was then!
For example, in one course, which cost a lot, the assignment was to conduct extensive research on the target audience. But I had no experience, no time, no money. Most of the solutions that the authors gave did not suit me for one of these reasons, but I did not give up. After all, they are experienced, smart, they know exactly what to do.
Solution: Build Your Growth Model Using Tests and Hypotheses
For a whole year I persistently searched for ready-made solutions. But after yet another waste of money, she finally agreed to admit that it simply didnāt exist. I stopped looking for ready-made algorithms and started creating my own.
I replaced the large-scale customer needs research with five interviews. Then I analyzed the data received, wrote down my mistakes and moved on. 10 interviews were enough for me to launch the first stream of the course, which turned out to be successful. 100% of my students got the result.
It was a victory, but there were also defeats.
There is always only one way out – to prepare for testing hypotheses and experiments.
And if something didnāt work out for me, I was left without money or suffered losses, then I didnāt get discouraged, but simply told myself: āThis hypothesis didnāt work.ā
I no longer looked for what they would tell me, but listened to my logic and intuition. And she was ready to try 10,000 ways that wouldnāt work in order to find the one that would give results.
5. No Warranties
I often see from my clients that they are held back by the lack of guarantees. They don’t even allow themselves to try because they are only ready to act if they are guaranteed success. But no one will give such guarantees.
Solution: Be Your Own Guarantor
At the start of my online career, I was constantly looking for guarantees. And instead of quickly testing a new idea, she endlessly wrote business plans and calculated risks.
One day I was flipping through my calendar and discovered that I had been toying with the idea of āācreating an online course for six months, but had never done anything. I lost a whole six months, went to various trainings and took consultations, instead of finally taking it and doing it, because I was actually afraid of failure.
Then I locked myself in the kitchen, prepared the course program in a week, wrote two posts and collected the first stream.
And now I donāt look for guarantees, but simply trust my intuition, quickly make a decision, act, and then analyze what can be improved. The logic of āfirst experience – then reflectionā gave me multiple growth. Whereas the principle āfirst endless thoughts and the search for the ideal solution – then experienceā kept me in place for a couple of years.
Remind yourself often that no one can guarantee success. But if you act, then every attempt, even unsuccessful ones, will bring you closer to success.
6. Absence of a boss
I’ve had a boss most of my life. He will praise and scold, and tell you what needs to be done, and give a bonus, and set boundaries and limits.
Sometimes I agreed with him, but over time I began to argue internally more and more often. I felt like I could make a wiser decision. But arguing with your boss in your head and actually taking responsibility are two different things.
And then I told myself: āIf you are so smart, go and become your own boss.ā
Solution: Be your own corporation
Even when I worked for hire and then as a freelancer, I chose for myself the principle āIām not a cog, Iām a corporation,ā which I read in a book. And this means that I donāt wait for the weather by the sea, but form my strategy. And I myself am responsible for the implementation.
For example, my plans for this year were to increase the scale of my activities. I didnāt wait for it to happen, but instead developed a plan and began actively participating in conferences, publishing in the media, and sketching out the structure of my book. At the same time, I manage an online school, develop new products, conduct trainings and offline events.
This is a large amount of tasks, but I am not looking for excuses – I stick to the plan. This means Iāll get up at 6 am to write an article. Iāll find Wi-Fi at the airport to broadcast before departure, and the next day after arrival Iāll conduct a master class and five consultations. Because I remember well why I do this.
This is my project and I am responsible to myself for my results. This means Iām not looking for excuses, but for opportunities.
What else is worth considering š§