Well I’m another year older and it occurs to me if I’d been born in the middle ages I’d most likely have died of old age already. Here I am, still a kid at heart, dreaming of things I want to do and finding excuses as to why I haven’t done them yet. Why do we put our ambitions on hold? Are we so happy in our digitally delivered world we no longer have to venture into the unknown and therefore miss out on some of the wonder of life? Are we just to darn tied up in our own safety?
I’d like to believe fortune favors the bold but in recent experience I’d have to question that. I’m desperately wanting to take that courageous leap and succeed in life and business. It’s just so bloody hard starting from virtually nothing.
My business is now 15 months old and by all accounts going really well. Yet I’m crippled by need for planning, safe options, risk minimization and working equity. Do I risk 20 years of training and take that bold plunge or do I take the safe road again and remain tied to a trickling income?
I need to break the vicious circle of need-money-to-make-money and get creative! I’ve been dreaming up guerilla marketing campaigns since I was at high school yet I’ve never put one into action for myself. I’ve developed hundreds of business plans, brands and concepts yet when it comes to my own I’m hog-tied by an inexcusable apprehension. I think I’m so preoccupied with thinking creatively for others that I’m not using my best ideas and settling for the affordable, the practical and the short-term achievable.
I guess my next short-coming is my uncontrollable desire to help people even when its not in my best interests. I’ve been developing products for people, programming, designing and marketing on several pro-bono projects that are still yet to see the light of day. My time is just getting stretched to a point where there’s not enough hours in the day. My home life and my health are suffering and that’s unacceptable.
Last week I had the opportunity to meet Tom Potter, the founder of Eagle Boys Pizza and Crusty Devil Bakery. He graciously agreed to take a look at my own marketing materials and offer his comments. In the tiny 30 seconds I spoke with him he summed up my situation like this (in his typical style) “You just need to move where the bloody market can afford to pay you what you’re worth”. He’s absolutely right. I’ve been trying to convince myself that in today’s online world it doesn’t really matter where you are. Telecommuting can take you to the world. But in the cold light of day what it comes down to is it’s the people in the surrounding 3km that are most likely to do business with you. People have immediate needs. They seek the solution to their most pressing and current problem. They want a solution now and they don’t want to waste a lot of time looking for it. This is why people will buy a $50 item form the shop they’re in rather than spending $2 on fuel and getting it for $20 elsewhere. Which is fine, when you’re in a market where people can afford $50. I fear in my present location, where my the market primarily consists of retirees and the younger generation, $2 is their more likely spend. We live in the s*&#-shop town of Crazy this and Supa-cheap that.
How do I get my company and my family to a place that sees value in the work I do? I could spend a fortune on advertising, I could do sales trips. Really, when it comes down to it, I think I’m stuck. And that means…
I think its me that needs to change.
I need to un-stick. Get creative, and take lessons from some of these battle-scars.
I need to follow my own mantra.
I need to make Sense of myself.
