Microbusiness Mentor

David Troy tells us how entrepreneurship really works, and I am especially pleased at how he strips down the phenomenal successes of mega celebrity entrepreneurs (Gates, Branson, Buffet) into the reality and the hype!

This also explains a few paradoxes that I have observed in my own entrepreneurship path, for example:

I take risks – yet I see myself as risk-averse.

OK, quitting a $100,000+ job without a solid Plan B is taking a risk. This was what I did in 2004, when I could not sit back and watch the industry I worked in (pharmaceuticals) conduct itself in questionable business practices.

Not having a completely written out business plan is a big risk. Not having customers already lined up (well… I wasn’t sure WHEN I would be quitting, or even IF I would be quitting, to be fair) – that is a big risk.

Yet I had taken a calculated risk, by saving up enough money where if I made absolutely nothing for 365 days, our financial position would not be dramatically affected. We’d be delayed a bit – we were saving up to buy a house and this was during the astronomically priced housing bubble years – but our lifestyle would not be affected much.

I dislike the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds – yet I love the freedom to design my own future.

I can’t say that I have gotten used to the revenue flux, especially when I drive a lot of the changes in this flux, by restructuring my business model and testing entry to markets, etc.

Not to mention my stubbornness to expect to generate a 6-figure revenue by working no more than 10-20 hours a week so I do not miss out on my son’s newborn – now toddler – years. I made a 6-figure business by working 40+ hours a week – but can I do it in half – less than half – that amount of work time?

Yes, I face uncertainty as an entrepreneur, but I am also responsible for deliberately creating “controlled adversity” for myself.

Maybe it’s because I keep thinking that I can be like a microorganism (I was a microbiology undergraduate major in college) – if I push my limits and plunk myself into a hostile environment – I might just pick up a few plasmids (skills, adaptations) that allow me to grow where and when others cannot.

I learn from the best – yet I am the person who makes it happen with my personal best.

I have worked with many business coaches and have enough “data points” to know this:

If you want to make incredible things happen – you’d better learn from the best – people who have skills or insights that you need to make incredible things happen with your talents…. But this is not enough!

I know so many people who boast about investing a ton of money in their own education and professional development, like that says something about their results. It does say something about their commitment to learning and improving themselves – and this is all.

(Then I begin to wonder if they are using learning as a procrastination device against actually doing.)

Your results is what speaks for your ability to make incredible things happen using the tools, skills, insights you’ve gained.

I have had 4 different coaches using diverse coaching approaches who have worked with me and told me that the results I have demonstrated ranked in the upper 1-5% of their clients’ results.

I thought maybe I was “just lucky” after the 1st or 2nd time. But now I think it’s less mystical than that – I simply DO things with what I had learned.

If these coaches’ clients all DO things at the level that I had done, they may very well experience just as much – maybe even more – results and success as I had experienced.

What entrepreneurship “paradoxes” have you seen along your journey?

As much as buzz may generate hype around “secrets” of high performance, I have found that best practices that help you gain visibility as “The Person to Watch” is more about discipline in action than the divulging of any secret.

Ask yourself how much you:

Track Timelines and Deadlines.

I know that you may work with projects that are lengthy and have long vesting cycles, but this doesn’t mean that timelines don’t exist or that deadlines may constantly shift downstream. Some professionals brand themselves with a promise to respond to phone calls and emails within 24 hours. If this is too demanding for those of you who travel a lot or have personal priorities that aren’t conducive to a tight turnaround time. You can adjust your personal response time accordingly, but do hold yourself accountable to a turnaround time.

When I used to work in the pharmaceutical industry and had a 10-state territory within the western United States, I used to make an effort to respond to calls and emails within 36 hours. Now that I’m raising a child and have less control of time and schedules, I have to develop realistic expectations of what deadlines or timelines I may adhere to.

Focus on Fruitful Interactions.

Too often we seek out those we feel comfortable with, rather than those who may challenge us and take our skills and personal development to the next level…. that means we have to be willing tofeel a little uncomfortable at least at the beginning. This goes for clients, customers, coaches, and any collaborative or co-creative relationships we cultivate in our lives. Getting used to being uncomfortable is a mental muscle that we can train. The more often we practice building bridges with those who may at first brush us off or communicate in a way that we’re not immediately used to, the better we become at crossing that barrier. This also makes us a more valuable, marketable collaborator in the big scheme of our professional journey. Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page claimed to intensely dislike each other at first – but they didn’t let their discomfort around each other blind them to the fact that their intellectual jousting could lead them to co-create a game-changer – like Google, Inc.

Ask More Questions.

Those of us who are in the business of being experts can get trapped into the dangerous mindset of thinking that we know everything, or must act like we know everything. The know-it-all is an exhausting act, and often unpersuasive. The funny thing is that the more questions we ask and the better we become at listening, the more people think we know and the smarter people think we are.

I’ve found that the main requirement to asking more questions is to have an opening in my awareness that there is a lot that I don’t know, and that I will not fully grasp another person’s view unless I ask him or her. One of the benefits of assuming a position of “wonder” and asking more questions is that I can put my performance-ego on the backseat, relax, and enjoy learning about what the other person thinks.

Now more than ever, companies want high performers working for them, and clients want high performers working with them. Framing or re-framing our mindset around time, growth-based relationships, and listening requires consistency in action (discipline). You may find that delivering high performance may be as philosophically simple as “chop wood, bring water”.

Image by John Hughes (Germany)

Here’s one of the biggest shifts that I’ve experienced as a “stay at home” parent-entrepreneur: I’ve trashed to-do lists and schedules.

Have you ever tried to “schedule” stuff while taking care of a highly energetic constantly active toddler boy?

I have, and after falling flat on my face a few times, I realized that “time” is absolute, just like “schedules” are absolutes, while everything I’m doing right now is “relative.

So I gave up bothering.

I’ve got enough to deal with, running after a toddler that eats danger for lunch (I mean this figuratively, but I’m sure there are literal cases of this occurring that I don’t know about… where my boy picks something off from the ground and eats it.)

I’m a member of a mastermind group, and each day I make up a “top 6″ list. I decided to put a new spin on this, this week, because of a couple of problems entirely of my own making:

The first problem is, I had been making this a “top 6 TO-DO list” instead of the priorities list that it’s meant to be. As a result, I often don’t finish doing all 6 things. If you’re a parent of a young one, you’ll know that on some days, we’re lucky to finish doing ONE thing and get through the day with our sanity intact!

The second problem is, if I make this a priority, I literally would have a “top 2″, not a “top 6″. The top 2?

#1 – Taking care of Jaden

(and the daily needs accompanying his care, from feeding to napping to playing to singing to splashing water from the sink to comforting him when he falls down to giving him attention when he wants attention.)

#2 – Taking care of myself so I can do #1

(that usually includes eating the meals, taking the vitamins, getting enough sleep and exercise, and having some way of neutralizing the massive doses of anxiety or mini-heart attacks from witnessing a toddler eating danger for lunch.)

Technically, then, every single day, I’d be submitting the same “top 6″, and it would look like this:

1. Taking care of Jaden
2. Taking care of myself
3. See #1
4. See #2
5. See #3
6. See #4

Kind of boring, when you look at it.

This week, after reading David Bernard Stevens’ book on personal leadership, I decided to do one of the exercises he suggested in his book: I began tracking what I’m ACTUALLY doing on a daily basis, and whether the actions align with my perceived priorities.

I only started this yesterday, and I already realize 3 important things:

Realization #1 – I’m on target with priority #1 (childcare), not so much on priority #2 (self care)

Realization #2 – I spend whatever little time I’ve got left administrating one of my businesses, and haven’t been able to “hard-schedule” tasks for a venture I’m in the process of building.

Realization #3 – Because of Realization #2, I am learning that I should give up trying to schedule things – it gives me stress that I don’t need, and it does not let me practice something magical that I’m onto.

This “something magical” is:

CREATE THE SPACE, HOLD THE SPACE, SAY YES TO ALL OPENING DOORS IN THE SPACE!

I learned this magical mechanism in 2008 when I took a business sabbatical and managed to somehow sow the seeds to a myriad of new business ideas, including the creation of 9 Pillars of Leadership!

So now, here’s what I’m going to do:

1. Identify the difference spaces I want to create, or have created and want to sustain.

3. Say yes to doors that open in each of the spaces that resonate with me.

Seriously… this stuff really works, and I have no idea how it works, which bugs me a lot because I was trained as a scientist and I was supposed to find out how stuff works, but as long as it works and I know how to get it to work, I’ll coexist with my ignorance of its mechanism.

By doing this, things have already happened (i.e. doors opening in the spaces I’m holding) that will get me farther along my goals than the different things I’ve scheduled before! For example:

- I’m scheduled for another Cornell University podcast

- I may be creating an “expert webinar series” for one of my businesses

(all this, within 1 week’s time!)

It’s amazing the kind of things that happen when I give up control and give energy to “holding the space”.

And at the rate that I’m going, I’ll achieve my aim of “6 figure income ‘stay at home’ parent” for 2009 – something I want to achieve, so that I can help other like-minded people do the same.

Fulfilling my desire to be present for my son while generating a 6 figure income – now that’s magic.

Image by Mark Barner.

My friend Luís Cochofel shared a video by a company called Grasshopper that offers entrepreneurs specialized phone service. Grasshopper is definitely very creative in the way it reaches its audience – by sharing a vision of entrepreneurship, both figurative and literal via its video.

Personally I’d change the last line – “It still is” (whether “everything was within your reach”) to -

IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN WITHIN YOUR REACH.

so what became different?

YOUR THINKING.

How you learned to think about :
who you are,
what you can do,
where you fit in the world, and
why you deserve to succeed.

I was one of those people who used to never want to leave “employee status”.

Why would anyone leave a great salary, paid vacations, company car, bonuses, and the ability to go to places like Hawaii on business?

But now I wouldn’t dream of working for anyone, because entrepreneurship is in my blood – and because THINKING is part of my DNA.

As crazy as it sounds, I’m having a great time creating selective environmental pressure (read: controlled adversity) for myself, because I’m forcing myself to innovate. It’s fun.

Jane Chin

Jane’s note: I originally published in September 2008 on another website. I made some updates in April 2009 so it can be relevant to my readers here.

I’ve decided to share my story here based on Kwai Yu’s call for members within his Leadership Foundation Cafe to share their personal stories of “doing” in leadership. This “Liberation Story” illustrates two major crossroads in life where I had to make a leadership-level decision and execute on the decision. The stakes are greater each time.

I never saw myself as an entrepreneur (or Leader in the truest sense, for that matter). At one point in my career, I said that I could never imagine NOT working for someone else.

I liked the steady paychecks, especially from a six-figure job with annual bonuses. I liked the paid vacation days and ability to call in sick when I got sick. I was field-based and operated out of a home office, which meant I had tremendous autonomy over my schedule. I had a cool sounding job title (Medical Science Liaison or MSL). Travel was part of my job and I would pay my my husband’s plane ticket so he could travel with me to places like Hawaii and New York. He could explore places like Hawaii during the day when I was in medical meetings and we’d have some personal time in the evenings. If the meetings ended on a Friday, we’d stay over the weekend and return to Los Angeles Sunday evening. In many ways, I already had the “dream job”, and in fact, CNN Money ranked the medical science liaison career #1 in healthcare in 2007.

I Quit My Six Figure Job With No Business Idea or Backup Plan

I can imagine people thinking I was nuts when I quit this six-figure job in January of 2004. I had no “back-up plan”. I didn’t even have a “business idea”.

I only knew that I was troubled by the way the pharmaceutical industry used – and sometimes abused – these field medical functions in a way that may ultimately put patients at risk.

I only knew that I could no longer sleep at night because I was not sure if what I was doing on the job was ethical or even legal.

I only knew that many of my colleagues warned me against speaking out and becoming labeled as a troublemaker, thereby jeopardizing my future promotions.

I only knew that my efforts to change company policy from within the company had failed.

I decided that if I wanted to commit career suicide, it should be for a cause that was consuming me.

I wanted to increase awareness of what the medical science liaison role is, and the potential uses and abuses of this function. This way, opportunistic executives could no longer hide behind an open secret.

My decision to quit my job was not a trivial one. My husband Cass and I had been living in a small apartment; we were saving up to buy our first home. By quitting, I had effectively reduced our total household income by more than half. My husband’s unfaltering support for, and belief in my mission is a significant factor in my success as an entrepreneur. He knew the risks we were taking, including the reality that I didn’t have a business plan. I couldn’t even tell him what exactly my business “model” would be, because I didn’t know either. I only knew what I wanted to accomplish and that my goals were aligned with the values and beliefs I held about my former profession.

The Birth of My Business

I created my company to be a platform where dialog can begin. Simple as that. I wrote articles. I spoke at industry conferences.

Being able to take total ownership of my thoughts and express my ideas allowed me to catalyze discussions at the industry level that I could only dream of as an employee.

What amazed me was that my passion for this mission to open a can of worms had many supporters, including my peers and pharmaceutical executives who genuinely cared about the profession. When you are genuinely passionate about a cause, people notice. Many industry executives and professionals who believed in me showed up to give me business and new ideas.

Things Started Taking Off

In less than two years, I was earning more than the six-figure salary that I was so afraid to lose. We found the house we loved and were able to buy our first house even though this was during the height of the California real estate boom. We’re less than 10 minutes drive from the beaches and the Pacific Ocean. We had plenty of room now to consider starting a family. Cass is only 4 miles from work so he can have a quality of life as well, instead of spending 3 hours every day in L.A. traffic. Within 5 years of creating my business, I had established a solid reputation in the pharmaceutical industry as an advocate for field-medical professionals. I opted to accept one or two significant projects per year so that I may spend the rest of my time speaking, educating, writing, and thinking.

It Wasn’t Easy and Worry Free

You may be reading this and thinking, “How Awesome! She put action behind passion and became successful!”

Well, hold on a second.

I want to tell you about the countless moments when I wondered if I had lost my grip on reality.

Or the many times when I wondered if I should go look for another job. Or the tremendous pressure I had put on myself to be an advocate when no one was calling for me to be one. Don’t even get me started on self-confidence. If I plotted my self-confidence on a graph, it would look like a roller coaster ride, oscillating between highs and lows on a daily basis.

What kept me going? What got me through doubt and fear?

I can identify 3 assets:

(1) the intensity I felt for my mission,

(2) Cass’s confidence in me even when I was not always confident in myself, and

(3) perseverance to see through my mission to make a specific difference in the pharmaceutical industry. If I did not have any one of these 3 assets, I’d have probably given up a few months into my new role as an “accidental entrepreneur”.

This was why in 2007, I felt I had accomplished my original mission, I began to feel restless.

I had a gut feeling that I needed to move in a new direction, where I may connect with an audience outside of a narrow niche, so that I may use what I had learned to help more people. I also became a new mom: our son Jaden was born in December 2007.

I Began 2008 With A Decision and a Crazy Idea

I began 2008 with a decision and a crazy idea. We had waited 9 years to have a baby, because I was too busy building my career, and later, my business. Now that we’re finally parents, I wanted to fully participate in my baby’s first year of life.

Being an entrepreneur was supposed to give me options, not limit me.

I decided to exercise my option!

I cut back 90% of my business activities to be a stay at home mom for Jaden’s first year of life. I wanted to be there for his first smile, his first crawl, and his first words. One late evening, when Jaden was 2 months old and feeding every two hours, I suddenly realized how little time I had left to myself.

366 Day Doing Only Things I Love to Do

I may have been deliriously exhausted or divinely inspired (or both) because I had a crazy idea to spend 366 days – one full year – “doing only things that I loved to do”. Since I no longer had the luxury of time while taking care of a newborn baby, I was going to spend what little I had to do what I love to do. From January 2008 to January 2009, this is what I committed to doing.

Obviously, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never been this physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted, and at the same time, spiritually engaged. This was a living meditation on so many levels.

For one, I experienced what it feels like to be at total service to another human being without regard for reciprocation, where service was my reward.

When newborn babies aren’t feeding, they’re usually sleeping; their main interactions are to let you know they’re hungry or sleepy. I discovered I had been embedding my “external roles” into my identity, and when my decision changed my roles overnight, I felt as if I lost grip of the person I used to be.

Finally, I was surprised at how difficult it was to “do what I love to do”, because I had long perfected the art of self deprivation.

My Ulterior Motive

I had an ulterior motive for getting into this crazy idea: I had my fill of self improvement books and programs where I’m encouraged to do what I love, because success would follow. I wanted to know if I can replicate my success, but in a different field, and while adventuring along the path by doing what I enjoy the most: expressing myself through writing, and sharing my experiences and insight to help someone who is going through what I had gone through.

My decision to change course is not a trivial one, and now more is at stake. We now have a huge mortgage and a baby. By changing course, I had effectively reduced our household income by more than two-thirds.

Like the first time, I don’t have a “business idea”. Like the first time, Cass listened to why I believed this path was important for me to explore, and again, he supported my decision.

What Makes life Life

We focus way too much on Where we’re going and How we look while getting there,

When the Secret to Life is

Knowing how to steer, Who we travel with, and What we’ll do

When We Arrive.

What Makes leaders Leaders

Is Leadership easier Discussed than Done? Of course it is. That’s why leadership is mostly common sense but less common on the “doing / execution” scale.

Nobody said leading would be easy.

Most of us don’t realize how lonely “leading” actually is.

The true responsibility of a leader is a lot less glamorous than all the stuff we read about leadership.

But once we follow our initial act of courage to THINK like a leader, with additional acts of courage to BEHAVE like a leader… the reward is a sweet nectar that fills my soul.

Images by Lynne Lancaster