The Path Doesn't Become Clear Until AFTER We've Started the Journey

The responsible and logical thing to do when starting something new is to get full clarity on what you want and how to get there and map it all out before you take the first step.

Now, if you’re taking a pilgrimage to IKEA one state over, that process is going to work out just fine.

However, if you’re an entrepreneur or wannabe entrepreneur trying to figure out how to build a business from an idea you have or something you love to do, then it’s not going to work that way.

Why? Because you’re treading new ground and you don’t have all the facts or even know what all of the variables are. You don’t know what you don’t know. EVEN if you’ve spent thousands of dollars on a sure-fire system that someone else has proven worked for them.

Just because it worked for them, that doesn’t mean it will work for you – in fact, it rarely does. And yes, I’ve bought programs like that. They have been helpful with specific strategies and tactics, but there’s still a lot you have to figure out on your own if you’re going to be successful in your own way.

You have to pick a path and start down it, but you’ll never know if it’s the right path until you’re on it and your perspective changes.

Have you ever tried walking through the woods in the thick of summer without a path? Or tried to cross a small river by stepping on the rocks that looked like they made a clear path?

Not until you’ve gotten halfway across the water do you realize that the next step is actually quite a bit more treacherous than what it looked like from shore. And, when you look at all of the rocks in the river from your new perspective, you can see a better, easier path if you go back and start again. Or once you’re in the thick of the foliage, you see a clear path that wasn’t visible before you stepped inside.

The famous scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade… “Only in the leap from the lion’s head will he prove his worth.”

Of course, this is intended to be a test of faith. But it’s also an exercise in perspective. From the point of view of the lion’s head, it appeared that you would be stepping off a cliff. HOWEVER, if you were looking from a different perspective, you’d see that there was a land bridge that blended into the scene before you that made the path ahead seem impossible when it clearly wasn't.

So, you can have faith and step off the ledge, or you could try to look at things from a different perspective, or heck, just feel a little way in to see if you have solid footing. Why did Indiana Jones feel he had to start with such a big leap and not just put his toe over the edge to see if it was air? In which case, he would have felt the bridge and not needed faith to take a step forward.

It definitely would not have made for such a climatic moment. While good for movies, not so good for our entrepreneurial paths!

I know, it sucks! No one loves not having the answers or investing your time and energy on something that might not be the right thing. But here’s the key, if this new initiative is truly new to you, then the clarity you have is only a hypothesis until you start DOING.

Until you start doing, you won’t know if you actually enjoy doing the work you think that you’ll enjoy. Let me tell you from experience, just because you can do it, that doesn’t mean you’ll like to do it – over and over and over. I’ve spent a good amount of time in my entrepreneurial career realizing what I don’t want to do and it has been very valuable in building my business my way.

You also have no way to know if people want what you have to offer and if it’s something that they’re willing to pay for – let alone pay what you want them to pay.

The entrepreneurial path is one of constant calibration until you can consistently produce predictable results in a business you enjoy. ?Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be parts of your business that you don’t enjoy doing. But the goal is that you’ll get to a point where you can outsource or hire someone to do those things while you stay focused on doing only that which you can do and love to do.

But you can only figure that out ON THE PATH and not before you’ve started it.

Are you struggling to be CRYSTAL CLEAR with anything in your business? In June I have 3 1-hour clarity sessions available for ONLY $111. That’s a savings of $222 off the normal price of $333. Grab one by emailing me at [email protected] with $111 Clarity Session in the subject line.