Jul
22
Eating Elephants For Fun And Profit
This post was written by IttyBiz columnist Johnny B. Truant.
I was just listening to Chris Garrett talk to Sonia Simone on a seminar about overcoming analysis paralysis, and Chris was talking about the difficulty of eating an entire elephant, and he’s got this Liverpool accent, so it was totally charming and amusing to my American ears, and I was even able to forget that he was talking about butchering elephants. That’s how intriguing it was.
By “trying to eat a whole elephant,” I’m of course talking about “trying to figure out the enormity of the tasks surrounding how the hell I’m going to start or advance my business.” This applies even for non-pachyderm-related lines of work.
I’ve been chatting with a lot of folks lately, and it seems like everyone is perplexed by the elephant on the table in front of them when they sit down at the table of internet commerce. Frankly, they’re stymied by just how damn huge it is. I mean, forget the salad. Forget the appetizer. Forget the rolls. Just bring a bib and some Wet Ones, because this task will take everything we have.
I want to talk about how you can actually eat that elephant. It’s really obvious, and it’s the kind of simpleton advice you’ll want to hit me with a pie for offering.
But first, let’s survey the scene.
I’m going to make a crazy guess here and say that a large percentage of you out there in IttyBiz Land have yet to start your IttyBiz, or have maybe started it but then kind of stalled.
(Maybe Naomi knows the stats on this, but my guess is that she doesn’t. My further guess is that she won’t even read this post before running it; I’m going to test this theory by adding a few semicolons because she hates semicolons and would take them out if she read it; she has one tattooed on her back; it was a mistake.) (Naomi’s note: FYI? Totally noticed.)
If you’re one of those supposed many who want to start your biz but haven’t, what’s the reason? Because there’s too much to know, too much to understand. There’s this huge business elephant in front of you (maybe in a suit… it is a business elephant, after all) and you know you’ll never get through it all — so there doesn’t seem to be any point to starting.
And dude… I get it. I’ve been there. Not in my current business iteration (I was scared shitless and was working like mad when Johnny B. Truant, Inc. launched in order to outrun the reaper, so I didn’t have time for analysis paralysis) but I’ve suffered elephant-related stalling many times elsewhere in my life. It’s happened with things I’m doing now, too. I mean, I avoided doing audio and video the correct way because there was too much to it. Too many moving parts. It was too big of a monster, and I didn’t have the time to tackle it. And hell, I didn’t have a fucking clue where to start anyway, and so I just kind of did nothing. I went without A/V when I could, and had to rely on others to do it for me when it was required.
So if you’re stuck, I understand — but you can’t let overwhelm stop you from moving on in whatever way you’re able. Which is where we return to Chris and his elephant.
As I was listening to Chris taawking about aiting the whooole ellie-fant, I realized how I’ve gotten through that in the past. And the solution — as is often the case in situations of discovering the profound — is not at all groundbreaking. It’s so incredibly obvious that you want to hit yourself in the face with a pie for not seeing it earlier and acting accordingly.
How do you eat an elephant? All together, class: ONE BITE AT A TIME.
Which means that you’ll start in one area and ignore the rest until that one area is kind of handled. You don’t have to know how you’ll finish the trunk while you’re working on the ass. Just worry about the ass for now. Remember that always in business, folks: Just worry about the ass.
You aren’t going to know how the moving parts of your business will eventually work together when you start out.
You aren’t going to know which logo colors are the right ones.
You aren’t going to know whether you should create this product or the other.
You aren’t going to know which topic area is the right one, or what your writing voice should sound like.
You aren’t going to understand how to keep your books, how to track sales, how to work the membership software, or what the hell a PayPal mass payment is. (Naomi’s note: Not that Johnny would know anything about that.)
You are NOT GOING TO KNOW this stuff.
You’re have to just start eating that elephant without knowing how you’ll ever finish it. Without having any idea which parts you should attack next.
You’re going to try one thing, and you’re going to totally fuck it up. You’ll (for instance) not understand that PayPal mass payment thing and will pay your affiliates the normal PayPal way, and they’ll be charged a fee on their commissions, and they’ll be pissed at you, and you’ll be embarrassed.
So you’ll learn, and you’ll do it right the next time.
You’re going to realize only at the end of the year that there was a simple thing you could have done to track your income and expenses over the course of a zillion tiny online transactions. You’ll realize that although you could have done that one thing, you didn’t… and that now, your taxes will now take you two full weeks to complete.
But you’ll learn, and you’ll do it right the next time.
Or you’ll hire help to get you over your rough spots. And that means you’ll spend money (or not — sometimes the best things in life really are free), but you’ll become more efficient bit by bit. And you’ll learn what works, one bite at a time.
It’s amazing how many people get hung up on this. I see it all the time with clients, and every once in a while I see it in myself. But the answer is always the same: If there’s something you should be doing that you’re not doing because it seems too big and too complicated (and like you’ll never figure it out before you start), you’re right.
You’ll never figure it out before you start. So stop trying.
Just do the damn thing. Start eating the elephant one bite at a time. Make your mistakes. Always look to adjust little aspects of what you do as you go. Always look for ways to learn and improve.
You don’t have to get it right. You only have to always be doing it better.
And now if you’ll excuse me, all this talk of elephants has made me really hungry.
P.S: I can help you with the first part of that elephant. I’m doing a free WordPress blog setup promotion right now that ends on Friday, so you can cross “figure out how to set up blog” off of your elephant list.
——
Johnny B. Truant blogs at JohnnyBTruant.com and is one of the two guys behind The Charlie and Johnny Jam Sessions. (Naomi’s note: Betcha can’t guess who the other guy is.)
Glad you liked the audio.
Trying to resist reacting to the obvious trolling.
… NNnnnng …
Liverpool!? Really? Dude, my accent is Yorshire (OK, I failed)
OK, must dash, there is a besuited elephant trying to get my attention …
Ah, I’ve failed. I remember in person, I told you you sounded like Ringo Starr, and you said John Lennon would be more flattering, and then I asked where that particular accent was from, and you said Liverpool… meaning that the Beatles were from Liverpool. I guess I never put two and two together that you weren’t.
I wonder if this happens with non-Americans debating our accents and if the borders are as fine. “Johnny has a Cleveland accent.” “No, you dumbass… it’s a Columbus accent!”
Well, I continue to enjoy the good-natured baiting. :)
No worries, I will give you English lessons at Blogworld or wherever we meet next. Hoping to have a Canadian accent soon anyway ;)
FWIW, I can only really differentiate between the USA accents that are far apart (east vs west, deep south, texas, valley girl, etc) :)
Your accent is mostly valley girl with a bit of redneck, right? ;) ;) ;)
Close. Brooklyn + Minnesota (think “Fargo”) mixed with Ebonics.
“Fuhgeddaboudit, don’tchaknow.”
This is a cool post Johnny – I love how you’re keeping the advice fresh, but the lesson is the exact same one that most folks have been hearing (and not listening too) for years!
One bite at a time… and hotsauce makes it go down easier ;)
That’s a goood reminder, Johnny
I usually wait for the moment where I perfectly know what to do, which of course never happens.
This line is among my favorites:
Fail…forward…fast !
I always keep that in mind when I want to play it safe instead of just running with what I have got and fixing it as I go.
Johnny, you need to write a book. ’nuff said.
Focusing on the ass is probably one of the best pieces of small business wisdom that I have heard in ages.
Everywhere you look, people are trying to multi-task themselves to death, when in reality, it’s the ones that operate like the turtle (not the hare) and keep plodding along a one task at a time, that win.
However, when one eats an ellie-font it does help to start with a big-ass fork so that you make the fewest start-up mistakes as possible and that is where you start with great advice from kick-ass blogs like Ittybiz and Johnny B.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
When I get stuck in that rut of trying to eat the whole thing, I chant to myself.. JFDI.. JFDI So easy to get caught up in the details of things that we forget to Just Freakin’ Do It.
Great post.
Well said, Johnny. I have a distinct problem of not being able to see the trees for the forest sometimes.
I have a note on my board that says in big colourful letters, “If you’re stuck, break it down”. I’ve also been experimenting with doing it first in a half-arsed way & then organising my ducks later (see duck post: http://kirstyhall.co.uk/blog/2010/06/ignore-your-ducks/). That’s mostly working too.
I’ve learnt after years of making art that eventually you just have to start because you can have the best ideas in the world but they don’t actually exist until you make them. Business scares the ever-living crap out of me but I’ve decided that I have to make it fun or an artform or a diabolical plot to take over the world or something because if I think in straight business terms, I want to hide under my desk and cry.
so, erm, what the simple thing i could have done to track my income and expenses over the course of a zillion tiny online transactions?
Pretty much what Drew said below… but then also give your wife Robin who has a bookkeeping background all of your passwords for various accounts and have her enter things into Quickbooks throughout the course of the year.
You know, simple.
ha! yes. i’ll do that next time. ;)
You could try some elephant stew. And check the comments for some great additional tips.
PS for Maya: I’ve got a PayPal account that I use only for online business stuff. Receive payments from products sold, make payments for hosting and other expenses.
thanks! i’m like 99% there on that one, but the occasional other, more fun thing goes through that account.
Joshua’s so right, a book called “Just Worry About the Ass” would be pretty great.
Sorry Johnny, but “taawking about aiting the whooole ellie-fant” sounds more Aussie than Liverpool…or even Yorkshire, for that matter.
Great post, otherwise. And +1 for a book, too.
You think? I’ve heard Chris talk and there’s no way he sounds like an Aussie. He’s a pommy through and through, not an ocker Aussie bloke….
No…I just meant the way Johnny spelled his ‘Brit-speak’ words sounded Aussie when I read them. Not referring to the way Chris sounds.
Gotcha, I thought you meant how Chris sounded. :-)
There’s also a lot to be said for being The Little Train That Could. Or in bicycling terms, One Telephone Pole At A Time. Thanks Johnny!
Johhny–this post was fortuitous and hilarious. I was experiencing a bit of overwhelm today b/c the internet commerce thing sometimes feels like a jungle full of elephant’s asses…
Speaking of which, love the advice to start with the ass. (my blog refers to “half-ass therapy” quite often, so I appreciate the reference, and I’ll just pretend for one moment that you knew that when writing this…kidding, of course!).
I’m going to affix a white Post-It of a huge elephant ass with “You only have to always be doing it better” on my computer.
Thanks for the delicious tips!
I wrote a post yesterday about how you need to have an interesting post title to entice your readers, the post title you picked here is possibly the best I’ve seen this year!
“Just do the damn thing. Start eating the elephant one bite at a time. Make your mistakes. Always look to adjust little aspects of what you do as you go. Always look for ways to learn and improve.”
This would pretty much sum up my life…thanks
I think?!
Ok enough pussy footing around, thanks for pointing out I am being the mouse that the elephant is standing on right now and not even noticing.
From now on in I’m going to BE the elephant
Start one step at a time people
Johnny,
Love the post. I needed to hear this right now. “You don’t have to get it right. You only have to always be doing it better.” Very helpful. Sometimes seeing this in black and white helps me put it into action. Keep it up!
Very good topic discussed…
Very interesting lines are providers…
This article helped me a lot..
Try to discuss more helping topics…
Great post Johnny! You’re soooo right. All it takes is a commitment to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and pretty soon you’re miles down the road.
I know one of my friends would just run up and bite the elephant on the arse in a really big way.
At the end of the day, I’m a fan of chunking things up, writing my way forward, and turning mountains into molehills. It creates a snowball effect and the momentum gets contagious. I think metaphors are really key too, because sometimes it’s like chipping away at the stone, but other times it’s like blasting through a brickwall.
Just get in there and start doing it….that’s the best way to overcome the fear of the enormity of the task. It’s like going to the gym – the hardest part is getting there, but once you’re into it, you realise it’s not so bad.
I guess this mantra applies to everything in life.
Thanks for sharing Johnny.
Great post — and great analogy. Brian Tracy calls it “eating the frog” but he’s referring more to the daily tasks that we avoid starting. Eating the elephant is something bigger.
So does that mean I should start each day with a bite of elephant and a small frog, perhaps?