Apr
17
Get Off Your Ass
If you haven’t been paying attention, I’ll get you up to speed. If you have been paying attention, you can skim through the next couple paragraphs.
I created something called the IttyBiz 1000 with the goal of getting 1000 people to quit their jobs this year. I also created the IttyBiz SpeakEasy, a membership program for people who want to take their ittybiz to the next level.
Since the IttyBiz 1000 is a sexy name and a sexy concept, it’s getting some press. Press begets emails from strangers.
Since the SpeakEasy includes daily emails telling people what to do with their ittybiz that very day (cozily named the Get Off Your Ass emails), that’s getting some action, too.
So, yeah. Lots of email at IttyBiz HQ lately. In the words of Jack, aged two and a half, “Holy Banoli.”
And I’m noticing a disturbing trend. If you’ve been skimming, this is where you should start paying attention again.
People are overwhelmed.
Overwhelm is not a new concept, but I’m getting a lot more email about it lately than I normally do.
In my case specifically, people are overwhelmed because they can’t get to every single SpeakEasy audio or they are in the process of doing other things for their ittybiz so they can’t get to the Get Off Your Ass email stuff.
Here’s a bit of secret advice from the compiled entrepreneurial wisdom of me, my mom, my dad, both my grandfathers, both of their fathers, and a few hundred clients. It’s not just for SpeakEasy people, it’s for everybody.
Here’s the secret:
It doesn’t matter what you do. Just get off your ass and do it.
Yes, it helps if what you do involves meeting people and becoming friends with them. It helps if during the process you start to recognize the difference between people who have the fire and the people who sit on their ass and complain about how gosh darn hard it is. Yes, it helps if you have the time to create real relationships that extend beyond Twitter.
If you’re in the SpeakEasy and you’re overwhelmed by the GOYA emails, delete them and do something else. If you’re reading someone’s blog and they give you a list of things to do and they freak you out, don’t do them.
But for Christ’s sake, do something.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book, The Outliers, he talks about a Chinese proverb that was often shared in the rice fields.
“No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.”
Nobody is asking you to rise before dawn. I certainly don’t do it and I couldn’t ethically expect it of you.
But imagine if you changed “rise before dawn” to “email someone new”. Or “get in touch with an old client”. Or, hell, “write a guest post”.
Imagine if you decided, 360 days of the year, to take THREE FUCKING MINUTES and send an email making contact with a new person. And imagine that 2 out of 3 of the people you email are completely useless.
What would you get?
120 people who would announce your book launch. 120 people who would tell their friends about your charity. 120 people who could ask their contacts if they need any of your web design work.
120 hard core supporters. Three minutes a day.
Join the SpeakEasy and get my suggestions. Or don’t. It doesn’t matter. Just get off your ass and see what happens.
Naomi, thanks for this. I needed the kick in the pants this morning. I don’t know about emailing people, but I will be more actively networking online and off.
It definitely is overwhelming. Especially for someone like me who likes to have a plan. A blueprint. Step by step instructions. Instead, I find myself figuring out the next step as I go. That is mighty uncomfortable. What keeps me going is that it’s working. :-)
I’ll go work on that 120 raving fans now….
It is all about taking those small steps each day. Sometimes it can be outrageously hard but the resistance is only worked through if you keep doing.
You’ve got a malformed URL on the Join the SpeakEasy link. hthttp://… ?
As someone who isn’t getting all the Get Off Your Ass emails done, but IS getting SOME of them done, I can testify getting SOME of them done, or even just getting SOMETHING done is freaking fantastic.
The key, IMHO, is building momentum. A rolling stone gathers no moss, or whatever saying you like that basically echoes Nike’s slogan, “Just Do It.”
I’ve been working on doing tasks in bulk. Not my nature, since I tend to see some shiny thing and traipse off after it, but it’s my intent. And I’m not perfect at it, but I’m doing something and I’m getting better at it.
I’ve also been working on Julie Morgenstern’s idea from “Organizing from the Inside Out” that Havi shared here. Where she talks about making a habit of always taking one thing with you when you leave the room.
The emailing-new-people thing may not be what I do next, but it’s a great idea like so many others. But I’ll so SOMETHING and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Truer words never spoken.
Now quit reading comments and get of your ass :-)
(stumbled)
I LOVED Outliers. It had an impact into my entire mindset. Anytime frustration bucks its head now, I think, “hey, I’m just putting in my 10,000 hours.” Einstein was right, the laws of compound interest are the strongest in the universe and they don’t apply to only money.
If you want to change what you got, you’ve got to change what you’re doing. Sometimes though, we don’t know what we need to change, so instead we just throw our hands up and keep doing what we’re doing. This helps identify that change. I’m actually going to try this and see what happens, and hopefully we’ll be able to report it back to the Speakeasy. Thanks Naomi!
This is why I love you. :)
Thanks for this, Naomi. I’m not getting the GOYA emails either but was feeling a bit overwhelmed. That’s ok, though – it’s because I’m leaving my job at the end of May.
I’m not deleting any of the emails I can’t get to. I’m putting them in a safe place so any day I have a few spare hours, I’ll pull one of them out an put it into action.
So it’s only Ittybiz 999 now.. who else is coming with me!?
Some things you say make no sense: Although you say it’s only three minutes a day, it will eventually start to become more than three minutes a day when you have 120 emails to respond to.
The premise behind your article does make sense though. Get off your ass and do work. ;)
@Naomi: It’s always intriguing to me how people sometimes need a simpler perspective to get off their asses. Three minutes a day sounds easy as cake so after reading this we all are going to get things done probably in much the same way as before but with a different (more motivated) mindset.
Now, here’s the $1.000.000 question: Why does our brain always need these kinds of cheats? Very annoying! Next question: How can we overcome these limitations on a deeper (or higher?) level?
@Dan: Positive reaction that stems from your action is one of the key-strategies of motivation: If you get emails back from people who are interested in what you are saying it WILL give you more than enough incentive to answer them.
Now that’s actually an excellent point Sven. Once you get the ball rolling it will start getting easier. You just think that bloggers need to actually interact with their readers and once they start, they’ll never go back. Got you. Appreciate reply to my comment so quickly. :)
@ Dan — I think Sven did a great job of saying what I meant to say for me, but I do have one additional point.
Most people consider emailing a total stranger with the intent to make an eventual business or networking connection to be something work related. And a little bit yucky. And scary. And sort of pointless. I mean, if you have to do it for a whole year then you may as well start Monday instead of today, right?
But when I get an email from Writer Dad, it’s not a boring work thing. It’s a delight to see him in my inbox. It doesn’t feel like work or scariness anymore, so it gets counted in the “fun parts of my day” time and not the “fuck, I can’t believe I have to email this person who’s never heard of me in their life” time.
Over the course of a year, keeping connected with those you like and admire can become very much like a part time job. But I figure, if I put in four hours creating and selling great stuff and four hours connecting with great people and three minutes emailing someone new, well, that’s a whole lot better workday than working for corporate.
Thanks for asking. I’m sure a lot of people had that question as well, so I appreciate you speaking up.
Thanks for clearing that up, it’s greatly appreciated. Because of this article and the one Skellie did recently, I took the incentive and starting getting to know some people who have commented on my blog once or twice. I think it could really help out in the long run, upping subscription rates and stats, but also help me make real connections with other people on the web. Thanks again Naomi!
I’m in the process of transitioning from a full time job, to freelance, to running my own full fledged small design/development agency. Hopefully before the year is over I can be one of the 1,000!
Naomi,
As a writer, and someone who’s always around writers, this is something that a lot of people just don’t get (yet). I write every day. Of course, this makes Dave the Blogger less productive, but, you know, priorities.
I am absolutely, jaw-droppingly amazed when I see another writer speak, and somebody asks them if they really write every day.
Uh, hello?
Garbagemen collect garbage nearly every day. Doctors doctor things nearly every day. Cooks cook.
If you want to be a writer, you have to write. If you want to be a blogger, you have to blog. If you want to be a marketing guru, then damn it, market something. Whatever it is, work toward it, even in baby steps, and eventually you’ll get there.