The fourth and final part in the series on finding abundance in every corner of your business:

Creativity is an ethereal thing. Though business magazines laud it, and CEO’s magnify its glory, it will not be contained. We all want more of it, but whenever we have it, we cannot seem to keep it in the box, even if we sit on the lid. Even as we believe we have achieved the perfect recipe to attract it and keep it, it vaporizes like a spirit into the dark night. Grasp it by force, and it will elude you.

If I could only order it from Amazon, with that two-hour delivery thing. I would have it delivered just when I needed it most. (“I’ll take an extra large case. And please, set me up with a Dash Button.”) Upon receipt, I would carefully inspect the contents. No, I lied. That is not how it would go. I would watch for the truck, and as soon as the driver put his big toe onto my driveway, I would yank the box from his hands, and wildly thrash open the box like a kid at Christmas to peer inside. What would I see? What exactly is it? Bear with me. With my intellect, you may not be able to understand this highly scientific definition:

Creativity is the ability to look at a bunch of existing stuff and imagine new stuff. It is not in the box. It is in me. I have to find it within my own soul. Creativity remixes, refines, reworks, reforms, and reconnects old dots to create new pictures.

So what are the souls of highly creativity people like? Creative people go boldly where no man has gone before. They travel fearlessly to alien places for opportunities to explore new mental landscapes. They have the right stuff.  But what is this right stuff? Must you be artistic? Brave? Highly educated? Do they have a large financial reserve? No, no, no, and no. The answer may surprise you.

Highly creative people are thankful people.Their hearts are filled with gratitude. Here is how Gratitude opens the door to Creativity:

Gratitude gets you outside your own head. Grateful people are not self-absorbed. They pay attention to others and find inspiration in other people. When their creative commodity is running low, they move into an environment of makers and creative people. Creativity begets creativity. It fuels and inspires their work.

Gratitude makes you more observant. Grateful people retain their sense of wonder. Have you ever had a day when you got to work and somehow did not remember getting there? Routine can and digress into boredom–unless we work to retain a spirit of wonder. Unless we shake things up, we can lose our sense of awe and wonder. Do yourself a favor. Break your routine today. Take a different route to work tomorrow. No one can be creative when they are bored. Gratitude causes you to look at things as if for the first time. The little things are the big things. The simple things that we often overlook are the profound things.

Gratitude gives you a sense of well-being. One of the biggest barriers to creativity is a lack of confidence and fear of taking risks. Creativity requires energy. No one can be creative if you are in a state of worry. When we are just surviving the business jungle day by day, we will have little reserve left for artistic endeavors, or to expand our intellect. We will not be able to play. Play is a catalyst of creativity. Gratitude helps us to lighten up and to celebrate the serendipity right under our noses. Grateful people are focused on what they have, rather than what they do not have. Because of this, they do not miss opportunity. Because they are focused on the positive, their ability to see and connect new dots is enhanced. Gratitude also helps you sleep better. A rested brain is a creative brain. 

Gratitude is the key element in the primordial soup from which all good ideas emerge. By focusing on all that is true, and good, and beautiful, we can expand our own horizons.

Want to unlock the door to an abundance of creativity in your life? This Holiday Season, try some common gratitude. It is available to anyone: rich, poor, educated, brave, or not. It is medicine for your head, your heart, your soul, and the eternal kid inside.

We take this opportunity to wish everyone a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday Season, filled with awe and childlike wonder. We are thankful for every person who reads our blog.

When we count our blessings this year, we will be counting you.

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This is the fourth and final part of the Unlocking Abundance series. If you liked this article, you may enjoy Parts 1, 2, and 3 here:

Part 1: Unlocking Abundance

Part 2: The Most Underrated, Unexploited, & Unexplored Advantage in Small Business

Part 3: How to Fuel Your Entrepreneurial Fire

Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer. 

Youth, enthusiasm, and a little bit of knowledge are powerful narcotics. Without the energy of youth very little would get accomplished in this world. This high-level kind of motivation is never a bad thing–not even if it is the self-interested kind. But when it comes to sustaining a small business, self-interested kind of motivation is of less value. Such energy will get a business launched, but it will never sustain. 

Many new enterprises begin with youthful exuberance. Entrepreneurs are anxious to be in charge of the whole show and have it their way. They talk of a desire to make the customer happy. But the customer’s happiness does not necessarily come first.

Motivation in business is a balancing act for sure. No one will sustain business for long if they hate the work, even if people beg them to do it. But even if you love love love what you are doing, and even after you have shelled out your life savings for your startup investment, no one has to love love love your product. Just because you build it does not mean they have to come. There has to be a good reason for them to come. And that is where self-interest can back-fire.

Plain and simple, you will never sustain business if the customer does not come first. The best customer service happens when we stop long enough to figure out–not what we want–but what the customer wants. Which would mean you have to stop thinking about your own plans for a minute and start thinking about someone elses plans. Which would mean you would have to start thinking about how fortunate you are if someone, anyone, walks through your door in the first place. It is called gratitude. Yes, Gratitude is the best foundation for sustained business.  

Which is why I have a bone to pick with some of the motivational programs out there. I remember going to a few conferences and paying good money for some of this less-than-stellar advice. I have been in rooms packed full of entrepreneurs and managers and leaders when all of a sudden the trainer’s voice gets all sing-songy. He instructs us to close our eyes and imagine ourselves on a beach, lying on a comfortable chaise lounge. We have our favorite beverage with the little twirly umbrella in our hands. We are to imagine the waves lapping at our feet and feel the imaginary sand under our toes. It is a good imaginary life. I have no problem with goal setting. It is good to know what success looks like and feels like and even smells like. Visualization has been an important technique for a very long time. You have to be able to imagine where you want to go before you can get there. So I am not against using imagination, except where it is self-focused. A self-focused technique causes you to imagine that your business is all about you and what you want. Believe me, it is not.

Without a vision to make life better for someone else, you will see each customer as only a means to an end, and as fuel for your personal economic engine. You will forget that they, like yourself, have dreams and plans to sit on a beach as well. You will forget that it is your job to design the perfect product for them–not to make your world convenient for you. Without customer focus, you will discount those who do not automatically recognize your product’s high value and worth, rather than accept responsibility for the perception. If the product’s value is not obvious, you have not done your job, either to a) make it all it claims to be, or b) to make the value obvious. Without customer focus, you will forget that your customers have something to give to you besides their money. They have things to teach you. They will teach you how to conduct a better business. If you listen to them, they will help you improve your product. They can even become your friends–if you will only stop to see them as something more than big data.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, making your business all about me is one of the quickest ways to find yourself disillusioned with business. Your employees will be disillusioned as well. They will figure out all too quickly that production is the only measure stick of their worth. Employees who feel appreciated as persons will work harder for you. Customer service will come naturally to them because they will desire to understand the mission. 

Gratitude will improve all your business relationships. Making your business all about others is the only path to fulfillment in business. Rich and lasting satisfaction comes from creating relationships, from building an idea that is bigger than yourself, and from creating a vision that will outlast you. If people come first, and a valuable product second, profit will follow naturally as a result.  If the order is reversed, even if you profit financially, you will not truly have profited at all. True Profit begins with love and ends in gratitude.

It seems counter-intuitive. Want to make sure your own fire never goes out? Throw logs on someone elses fire. This Thanksgiving, calculate your bottom line by the number of solid relationships you have built over the lifetime of your business. Find the true mission of your business in serving others with Gratitude.

 “The man who gives much will have much, and he who helps others will be helped himself.” Proverbs 16:25

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Unlocking Abundance- Part II

It would be strange for an entrepreneur to start the small business journey with anything less than Great Expectations. The entrepreneur-to-be salivates upon the very mention of their escape from the land of cubicles. When they leave the daily soap opera behind, they are giddy with excitement. They have just received a golden ticket to create the life they have always wanted.

The excitement, however, is dubious. Some entrepreneurs experience an increased sense of purpose and satisfaction in their business as time goes on, while others go on to find increased frustration. How do these great expectations fizzle? Do those who are satisfied in business have something that the others do not? I believe the answer is yes.

I’d like to tell you about the most underrated, most unexploited, and most unexplored competitive edge in small business. Perhaps in life itself. You most likely have some of this commodity. But chances are you have yet to understand its magical power to transform common into uncommon, routine into extraordinary, and the prosaic into poetry.

What is the magical potion? It is Gratitude.

Here are just five ways Gratitude can increase happiness in our business:

Gratitude enables us to enjoy what we already have. Small business owners spend much time waiting for things to happen so they can do other things. Remember to enjoy what you have right where you are. Happiness does not increase with accumulation. It comes from our ability to enjoy what we have. A bowl of oatmeal tastes better to a hungry man than a steak to a man who has a steak every day. Common things become a commodity. Every economic guru knows that if something becomes a commodity, the value goes down.  Scarcity causes value–and enjoyment–to increase. 

Gratitude transforms obstacles into opportunities. Those great expectations. They get us every time. Our disappointments come not from our circumstances, but from our very expectations themselves. Few businesses do business in the end in the same way they planned from the beginning. Detours are part of the journey. Detours may just take us down the path of destiny. Gratitude keeps us open to opportunity. True entrepreneurs do not wait around for good things to happen. Gratitude creates opportunity for business because it acknowledges the materials and unique circumstances at hand. It helps us connect the dots.

Gratitude helps us to use what we have to become all we can be. New entrepreneurs enjoy the freedom from restrictions of the corporate world. But that is only one side of the coin. Freedom does not end there. Our freedom is incomplete without knowing what our freedom is for. Gratitude does not focus on all the skills and talents we do not possess, but with those we already have. Gratitude will help us use these skills to find our highest calling: that sweet spot where our gifts and talents are best suited to meet the specific needs of those clients we most desire to serve.

Gratitude helps us focus on others. Our first mistake in creating our own business is associating happiness with having everything our own way. Satisfaction comes from being other-centered. The work of organizational psychologist Adam Grant has found that those who experience deep levels of satisfaction in their work perceive their work as service–not in serving their own ends, but the desires of others. Entrepreneurs who value their customers will spend time getting to know them so that they will learn how to serve them better. Greater satisfaction results when business is not “all about me”.

Gratitude helps us to live happier. It is common to think that “if I just had a little bit more, I would be happier”. In truth, the more we can live without the happier we will be. Examine your list of necessities for life and see how many you can nix. If you have to have a latte to start the day, and something happens and you do not get your latte, your day begins with a bomb. You have given the latte the power to rule your day. Grateful people require very little to be happy because their happiness does not come from things. Grateful people are flexible, and make the most of what they have, and do not have.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward

Imagine losing everything you have today, and then all of a sudden–miraculously–getting it back. Imagine you just lost your eyesight from an accidental blast, and a week later, the doctor takes off the bandages and you can still see. How do you feel? Gratitude does not wait for the loss of blessings to be aware of blessings. It acknowledges them daily. Imagine how rich you might feel if you did.

How many blessings have you counted today?

Can you think of more ways that Gratitude helps us to become better business persons? Share them with us in the comments below!

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

My first job was the 10th grade. I told my employer I was 16. Close enough. I signed up to serve tables 6 through 15 at the local diner in exchange for a weekly paycheck plus tips. I had little work ethic, despite the fact that my Father had modeled a 70-hour work week in his own business since I was too young to remember.

The waitressing gig proved to be the worst job I would ever have. It would be some years later before I understood that the entire fiasco was entirely my responsibility. I alone had the power to make it better. I alone had the power to make someone’s day a bit brighter–if only with a simple smile and a cup of java. I was interested in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Specifically my own. Little else mattered.

It was my first experience with blatant capitalism–or “the great exchange“. As far as equal exchange in this job however, at minimum wage, I was overpaid. I provided more problems for my employer than help. Nor did I pay for the education I received. (Dealing with Hungry People is a valuable course that, to my knowledge, is unavailable at any institution of higher learning. I learned plenty. My techniques were less than kosher. Let’s just say I failed.)

Fortunately, I have matured in my attitudes about employment. I have learned that the world does not revolve around me and my needs. Whew. But it got me to thinking. Most people feel underpaid. We have choices where a truly inequitable wage situation exists. (And they do exist. But as the saying goes, “If you do not like where you are, then change it. You are not a tree.”) But rarely do we conclude that in order to be paid more, we need to deliver more.

As much as I’d like to think I have paid my own way through life, in all reality I have always received far more than I have supplied. We all come into the world  vulnerable and needy. I will forever be in debt, whether to parents or educators or employers and mostly to God Himself. At every point where I have been needy and insufficient, He has always sent someone to supply my lack. (Moms were His best idea!) When we realize we have always received more than we have given back, it is humbling. Gratitude results.   

Entrepreneurs also come into the world as needy creatures. We need more everything–more sales, more confidence, more equipment, and more skills to implement our dreams. We need courage most of all to face things beyond our control. Mentors step in to nurture and to coach. We work hard, and we often feel underpaid for the services rendered. Yet, we are paid according to the value we deliver. The entire situation is entirely our responsibility.

Dr. Henry Cloud asserts that a mere 10% of our happiness is due to circumstances. Another 50% comes from our personal constitution. And the astounding part–a full 40% of our own happiness is completely within our control. Imagine that! Most of us know that if any variable in our business could be improved by 40%, we would be happy campers. 

It is easy to demand more from life than we demand from ourselves. If we focus on the negative, we may miss the resources we may have at our disposal. Instead of blaming our circumstances, gratitude helps us to discover abundance. Abundance is not found in all things perfect. Abundance is found in gratitude–in working with what you have and enjoying what you already possess.

Gratitude is not just some naive positive-thinking exercise to save for Sunday morning reflection. There is a rare quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to be discovered in the very word. Here at etc! graphics, we would deem it essential to true success.

Join us all of November as we discuss Gratitude as a valid and necessary strategy to unlock the door to abundance to your business.

“All the days of the afflicted are bad, but one with a grateful heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15

Stay tuned for Part II of Unlocking Abundance, next week!  

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Final- Part IV- The Scariest Monster of them All

The following scenario frequently happens in our line of work, especially when we engage in conversations about Branding. At least for a while, the conversation is congenial and lively around the boardroom table. Part of the process of Branding includes several exercises designed to unearth the gold in the various activities of the company, and to find the work that is most important. We discuss all things demographic, psychographic, and geographic. We group their customers together and find the main problems and needs of each group. Then we work hard on the Golden Triangle–that sweet spot where: a) the company’s gifts are best suited to solve, b) the specific problem of the customer, c) and solve them in a way not easily duplicated by the competitor. Easy? Not on your life. Our goal through these exercises is to compile information that will yield an identity design that will serve the company and express its vision and mission for years to come. 

But with the exercises completed, the moment of truth arrives. They have to choose. Choose what? They have to choose the ideal customer–that group that will become the focus of all marketing efforts.

This is where Branding can get scary. Even harrowing. It can get so frightening that seasoned executives can become angry with one another. Disagreements will erupt where they have never experienced disagreements before. It happens and it is good. It is good because it clarifies. The discussions are all a part of the process of Branding. Branding is deciding, and deciding is scary.

Everyone in the room wants this ideal customer. But they are afraid to commit. They are afraid they may choose the wrong group. (They can change the focus later if they want to do so.) They are afraid that if they focus on that one group they will alienate all the others. (False Expectations Appearing Real–or F.E.A.R.). They are afraid that it will be hard to find enough of this kind of person. (In fact, it is easier to find them when you have identified them so clearly.) Often, they will stall. They will double-back and cast doubt on their mission. They get all wishy-washy and decide to water down the message to capture more market share. “You know, our product can be used by just about everyone. I know Market A is the one we most want. But we sell to market B and C as well. We just don’t want to scare anyone away.”

What was once Brand is now Bland. They choose not to choose.

It is the fear of Branding that threatens the very existence of your business. This fear is more perilous to the life of your business than any external pressure.

The fear of Branding is the scariest monster of them all. Here are three reasons why not choosing your target should make you very very afraid: 

1. Not deciding is to decide.

In not clarifying your target market, you have decided to water down your message. You have weakened your marketing magnet. In trying to reach everyone? Your message will reach no one. Your magnet will be spread so thin it will lose its strength, and will not be able to pick up anything of real weight. You will never hold the big customer and will be resigned to the little ones. Narrowing your focus makes your magnet stronger and more focused. Your messages will sound like personal conversations, instead of the ever-present blah blah blah marketing message. 

2. No one ever created a strong brand by trying to appeal to everyone.

No one wants a product that is designed for everyone. When was the last time you bought a one-size-fits-all T-shirt? It seems so counter-intuitive to make your customer base smaller instead of larger. But realistically, your product cannot help everyone–even if you sell milk. Knowing your customer–your specific customer–is the only way to find them, connect with them, and help them.

3. By watering down your message, you will never be top of mind.

Let’s imagine you are choosing medicine for that bad headache that feels like you just fell out of bed on your right eye. You pick up a bottle from Company A. It reads ‘cold medicine’, and you quickly put it back to search for another choice. You wonder what else is available. You pick up the bottle from Company B. The label states very specifically that it “works quickly to relieve pain that feels like you just fell out of bed on your right eye.” We do not even have to imagine what you would do. And if the product proves to cure that stabbing pain behind your right eye, you will gain confidence in this particular brand. They will be top of mind when you have other ailments. Every brand wants to be top of mind. Remember, if you are astounding at one thing, people will assume you are astounding at other things as well. All you need to do is focus on astounding them all the time.

The main reason for small business demise is failure to Brand.

Calm your fears, and choose your target market. Prepare your marketing strategies for that group.  Sell more by appealing to fewer people.The more you understand your customer, the more you can connect, and the more your messages will resonate. Narrowing your focus expands your market because it improves your aim. Your marketing will take less effort, less money, and less time. It will be ten times more effective.

Effective marketing and advertising will never be scary. Banish the monsters from your kingdom by improving your Brand. 

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Did you enjoy this series? If so, will you let us know in the comments below?

The winter of 1932 was one of the darkest in US history. How I wish I were talking about record amounts of heavy snowfall, but you know that I am not. It was the Great Depression that was falling over the hearts and minds and spirits of the American people, paralyzing them with fear. Food lines were longer than every before. Angry mobs were forming. Politicians could not cooperate long enough to find any answers. Even President Herbert Hoover himself expressed a deep sense of hopelessness; so much so that by the end of his term, he was close to despair. “We are at the end of our rope. There is nothing more we can do”.

Who in their right mind would run for the highest office at such a time? One would think them mad. But the man that stepped up to encourage a very weary nation was a man that had already suffered and overcame his own worst personal tragedy. Eleven years prior, while out sailing during a family holiday, he suddenly became exceedingly cold with severe pain radiating down his legs and back. After examination by his doctor, his pain grew much worse, leaving him completely incapacitated. His symptoms proved to be poliomyelitis. Franklin Delano Roosevelt would never again regain control of his legs.

Many believed this disease would prove the death knell to his vibrant political career. It did not. A decade later, President-Elect FDR would take his seat in the Oval Office. He was undaunted–even energized. His inaugural address delivered some of the most powerful words in the history of our nation. You have heard them over and over, but perhaps you have never known the context:

“First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

FDR knew he needed to rally the whole country into action in order to overcome the obstacles. He knew there were few things worse than the condition of paralyzing fear.

The same is true for small business. We may be a little boat in a big big sea. We have our pains, and we may have much against us. But the thing to fear is, indeed, a paralyzing fear that retreats from battle.

Here are just five things that we should fear more than the waves:

Fear inaction

Entrepreneurs get tired and for good reason. We are constantly on guard, knowing the waves can swamp our boat at any moment. We often feel a need to catch our breath, and we must find ways to recharge. It is necessary to find rest. But paralysis from fear or simply coasting downhill, is akin to going backward. Never stop pedaling. It allows your competitor to catch up. And renders us unprepared for opportunity.

Fear succeeding without knowing why

Success is a lousy teacher. Many overnight successes take place because the timing is right, the funding was perfect, and the stars aligned in their favor. The entrepreneur does not know what they did right, and so cannot make it happen again. The first few months are their best, and the business is more like a shooting star. Overnight success can be an accident. If you are successful right out of the gate, the best thing you can do for yourself is to find out what went right.

Fear paper cuts

If you are not failing, you are not engaging in life, you are not growing, and your goals are too small. If your worst hazard is paper cuts, find some loftier goals, extend your reach, and learn to leap the chasm from where you are to where you need to go.  

Fear your own self-talk

Susan had just bombed another interview. She decided to go to dinner with her good friend. To her surprise, her friend offered no comfort. “Of course you didn’t get the job,” she said. “You’re overweight, that outfit is unbecoming on you, and when was the last time you took a class to upgrade your skills? Who are you trying to kid? You are a joke.” Susan would have ditched any friend that spoke to her in that way, and yet she constantly talked to herself that way. The friend was Susan herself. Think about the way you talk to yourself. How would you talk to your best friend if she were in your situation? Be as much of a friend to yourself as you are to others.  Our assessment of ourselves is most likely at some variance from reality. That is why we need to fear. . . 

Fear having no mentors

No entrepreneur succeeds alone. In the multitude of counselors, there is wisdom. You are in the frame. It is very difficult to gain the perspective without someone outside your business providing you with objective feedback.

Beyond these five things, there are many others. In Part I we have already discussed that not being afraid at all is worse than having some fear. And if you have no Vision for your business, as discussed in Part II, you should be very afraid indeed.  

Yes, you can swamp your boat faster with your own two hands than by any of our perceived or actual panic-inducing circumstances. If you feel paralyzed with fear and need some encouragement just now, I prescribe FDR’s entire speech. He found many reasons for continued hope, found many things for which to be grateful, and he refused retreat, despite the dire circumstances. It may provide just the courage you need.

Then stay tuned for the last installment in this series, when we discover the biggest monster of them all.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing, and the better connection from your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

And if you are enjoying this series, will you let us know in the comments below?

Part II- It’s Alive!

Many entrepreneurs have an uneasy relationship with fear. No matter how mature we believe we are, that uneasy feeling is still the same emotion we felt at age three–the feeling that something is lurking under the bed. It is ready to grab us. We just know it. When we were small, we listened intently while our Dad explained over and over that there were no monsters under the bed. He explained to us in simple terms how our thinking was completely irrational. Those explanations were a poor monster repellent. We knew the monsters were still there. It was the day we grew impatient, got up, and verified for ourselves that there was nothing under the bed, that we left irrationality behind.

On the path to entrepreneurial greatness, fear is a given. Fear is normal and healthy, and should not be avoided. (See last weeks post!) We should not fear fear. What we should fear is staying under the covers.

Come on out. Let me tell you a story about the scariest kind of monster that hides under your bed:

Once upon a time there was a lady named Jane. Jane was weary of cubicle land. She had a boss from the black lagoon. It was all Jane could do to keep herself in her swivel chair from 9-5 each day. One day Jane had an idea. She would escape! She had long entertained the idea of starting her own business and decided to make a run for it! She gave her notice and decided–due to her sense of urgency–that she would create her business plan on the fly. The good news is that friends and family stepped up to supply her first sales. The bad news is that within a few months, those same friends wearied of the sense of obligation. Sales slumped. But good news! Jane took a sales course, and pulled out of the slump! She hired help. The bad news was she never wanted to work in HR, and found the whole employer thing difficult. But rehiring was even worse because she had to do double the work when the first help did not pan out. But the good news is her new assistant brought in new sales. Jane hired more people to fill the orders while she went out to get even more sales. But the bad news is Jane began to experience high levels of stress. She was becoming the very boss from the black lagoon that she had tried to escape. A little while later, a competitor moved into town with a hot new product and took more than half her sales. She rebounded by taking out some ads in the local paper. But she felt she had no choice: she began to take on sales that were outside her forte in order to make payroll. It was either that or lay off her best help. Unfortunately, people liked her work, and she started getting more of the work that she did not like to do. The sad ending to Jane’s story is that her new business was not her happily ever after after all. She had created and fed her own monster. And now, all she could think about was how to escape.

 Jane’s entrepreneurial path looked like Exhibit A:

Now let me tell you another story.

John started business with a decided goal. He knew his mission in life. He knew his strengths. He knew what kinds of things tripped his curiosity, and he continually sought them out to learn more. John never sat still, and was always seeking the next opportunity. And he found it. Or rather, it found him. And John was ready for it. But when someone asked John to sell out and come to work for them instead, John said no. Even though he would make a lot more money, he knew that it was better to stay focused on his vision. His vision had greater potential.  John knew that if you do not follow your heart and your vision, you will never get the bigger picture.

Johns path to success looks more like Success in Exhibit B . 

Our job is not to collect dots. We are to connect the dots. Do you think creating a Vision Statement is only a rhetorical exercise? Exhibit A and B should clearly illustrate why it is not. The thing entrepreneurs should fear the most is not having a point, a purpose, or a trajectory to your work. The business with a purpose will eventually find the big picture, even if they take three steps forward and two back.

The scariest type of monster of all is to fall short of your true calling, your true purpose, and your true destiny. Get out from under the covers. The day that you are brave enough to look under the bed, your monsters will flee, and you will find your sweet spot.

And you will prove yourself very very brave indeed.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing, and the better connection from your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Do one thing every day that scares you. Eleanor Roosevelt

Part I- You have nothing to fear but having no fear.

Fear. The very word strikes fear in our hearts. But by the end of October, we will voluntarily buy a ticket to some Halloween thriller. As a general rule, humans try to avoid any situation where they will have to feel their fear. Because entrepreneurs draw every asset from their bank of courage, and take huge risks just to start a business, fear often trails close behind. Fear can cause us to cower like little children in the dark.

Fear is unavoidable. Psychologists call this response “lizard brain”. The lizard part of our brain handles the fight or flight mechanism–that primal instinct that creates an involuntary response. We humans do not like it because it is something we cannot control. And we love to be in control.

Thousands of articles exist to help you overcome fear–so many that it seems unnecessary to say more. Instead, we will discuss something this month that is worse than being afraid. What could possibly be worse than fear you ask? You may not have thought about it before.

Worse than being afraid is having no fear at all.

Fear is a rational response to many situations. Fear is a signal to perform some sort of preemptive action, usually somewhere in the realm of self-preservation. Without fear, we would have no adrenaline to act in times of real peril. The very survival of our species would be in question. Fear then is a good and helpful motivator. Yet at other times, it is paralyzing. And all the time, it just feels bad.

The real problem with fear is not that it exists, but rather its tendency to show up when we least want it. We find ourselves without the tools to deal with it. And at those times, the more we try to get rid of it, the more it multiplies like rabbits. We need to not get rid of it, but work with it. Because when we learn to recognize it, harness it, and work through it, fear can yield some very powerful results. So go ahead. Be afraid.

Imagine for a moment what having no fear might mean:

Having no fear may indicate you are not growing. It may mean you think you know everything. Confidence is good. Overconfidence is not. Because every small business has problems, overconfidence means you are engaging in a battle that you do not yet know you are fighting. If you had seen this battle coming, you would have prepared–but you were not looking for it.

Having no fear may mean that you are not learning. A gap always exists between where we are and where we need to be. And much business failure comes from the gap. If we avoid leaping the gap, we will never become. Angst is always associated with the leap. Continual learning in small business is essential. We do not know what we do not know.  But if you do not fear the gap, you will not be motivated to overcome it.

Having no fear may mean you are quite comfortable in your comfort-zone. Staying where you are is sure-fire demise in business. Your fear could provide the fuel to push beyond where you think you can go. For example, if you would rather die than give a presentation, fear may motivate you to sign up for a speech class–especially if your job depends on that presentation. In practicing for it, (because you are so afraid you will screw it up), you may discover new abilities that you never knew you possessed.

All entrepreneurs should own a T-shirt that reads “Some Fear”. Fear is a good and healthy and rational response to a good many situations. Join us all this month when we learn to listen for things that go bump in the night, and then turn that bump into the sound of progress.

Do not fear to feel your fear. Feel it. Then put it to work for you.

Join us next week for Part II: Be Afraid. (Then Make It Work For You.)

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing, and the better connection from your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

You can read more articles like this, by visiting Thincblog here.

Part V- When All is Said and Done

“Oh teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to Wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

If you have heard it said once, you have heard it one thousand times. At the end of life, no one ever wishes they had spent more time at the office. On that day, everyone wants to cram more life in life.

A life filled with meaning does not happen by default. If we want to have more life in life, we must define living. Then we must live our definition, day by day, moment by moment. We cannot cram for it, or reclaim it later. Time is now. Time is the stuff of life. Time is all we have.

Sure every entrepreneur sacrifices periods of time to achieve a goal. But if your business is consuming all your moments like a ravenous wolf, do not be fooled. Success is living a whole life, or it is nothing at all. Do not allow your business to suck the marrow from your bones.

Your business is on a trajectory. Project it out another five years. If things stay the just as they are today, where will you be? We work hard to create a vision that clarifies the final goals of our enterprise.

Have you ever created a vision statement for your life?

What does success look like to you? Forget about what your Mom thinks it should be. Forget about the standard definitions of business gurus blabbing about sales projections. What does it mean to you? Wealth is not money. Health is not limited to the human frame. Happiness is not having everything you want. It goes much deeper than all that. Having everything means nothing if you have no time to enjoy it.

All entrepreneurs, especially successful ones, have a tendency to get sucked into the same black hole of work, work, and more work. It is hard to climb back out. Your life is more than work.

Here are some ways to reverse the vortex and put more life back in your life: 

Don’t become numb to the stress levels. Stress and small business go together. Not all stress is bad, and some is indeed good. If you cannot make payroll, the stress is valid. Stress can also mean you are stretching and growing and becoming. But when the Geiger-counter of life is constantly going off, indicating toxic levels of stress every day of the week? That means your schedule is not aligned with your values. Time to stop and re-calibrate. When your schedule reflects your values, your Geiger-counter shuts up.

Don’t get in the habit of working so hard that you forget to ask if you should be doing the work at all. Entrepreneurs are ready and willing to work hard. Robert Terson’s blog recently featured The Story of an Ant. The author watches an ant struggle to get a large feather across the paving, maneuvering over the cracks and obstacles only to find out that his prize did not fit down the hole of the anthill. He had spent much time and effort, only to abandon the prize. We can be like that ant–forgetting to make sure our efforts are worth doing in the first place. 

Don’t become a prisoner of habit. Some entrepreneurs get so entrenched swabbing the deck that they miss the port. It is so easy for an entrepreneur just to work, and work, and miss opportunities to grow and expand their life. Sure, you have a lot invested. Sure, you might make a mistake. You also might miss your true calling. Try something new. You will never keep your creative streak by missing out on life, and ideas will not wait around for you. Shake up your schedule, get off your boat, and go looking for them.

Don’t get so focused on problem-solving that you miss the solution.  Never forget that problems can overshadow the goal. Say for example your car breaks down. If you are focused on the problem, you focus on getting it fixed. If you focus instead on the goal–of getting to that important meeting–you might call a cab or a friend instead, and keep your appointment. Keep your eyes on the goal and you will always find another way. Focus on the problems, and you will miss the solution standing right in front of you.

Don’t take your life for granted. Create a vision statement for life. Work backward from the end of your life, just as you do when setting a business goal. Imagine you could trade places for a moment with a person who has just learned that they have six months left to live. Not a pleasant thought, I know. And yet, I almost envy that person, if only for a brief moment. Why? Because I have always struggled with getting my ducks in a row. My ducks are always running around in circles. It is hard to discern which duck should come first when they all seem equally important. People who have just learned they have a terminal illness have immediate clarity about their own ducks. A life sentence is the fastest way to know what is truly important in life. Immediately the cream of life rises to the top, and all else sinks to the bottom. People who know their time is limited do not waste time. Now, imagine if we could gain that kind of insight without having a terminal illness. What are the important things in your life? If they are not part of your life now, they may never be. Because guess what? We all have a limited amount of time on earth.

When all is said and done, what do you want people to be able to say about your life? If we want to live a life that matters, we have to define what matters.

Don’t get to the end of your life and find out that you allowed your business to keep you from fully living it.

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This is the fifth and final part of The Secret Lives of Entrepreneurs Series. Did you like it? You can read the rest here:

Part I- And Then You Take Yourself to Work

Part II- The Care and Feeding of the Entrepreneur

Part III- Working Well With Others

Part IV- Taking the Bull by the Horns

Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about the way you manage your business?  Because your graphics will always reflect your internal management. The clearer your vision, the more lucid your marketing, and the better your visual graphics. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

Part IV- Taking the Bull by the Horns

We are never quite prepared for all it takes to manage a small business, even if we think we are ready. Most entrepreneurs start with good measure of confidence anyway, and this is good. We will need it later. Starting a small business is like the time when the neighbor kid talked you into climbing to the top of that huge tree in your back yard. Getting up there was fine. It was the getting down part that was the problem. We did not stop to think it through prior to starting the ascent.

But if you are good at what you do, if you do what you say you will do, and if you are a reasonably congenial person, you will have plenty of work to do. If you are great at what you do, great at delivering the goods, and your customers end up becoming your friends? Your business machine may not be able to keep up with demand. Believe me, that is the best problem you can have as far as problems go. But few of us imagine a day when we are pressed beyond our ability. It is when you are looking at a to-do list so long that you will never die that many of us become workaholics. Willing, yes. Others turn to better management practices and delegation. Time management is one of those practices–an entrepreneurial skill that is more basic than basic. It is essential for success.

In the early years of our business, we were cranking at full speed. I was arm wrestling each day into submission. We hired the right people and had a team with real synergy. It was exciting and scary to see three months of work on the schedule. In my industry, that is a ton of work. There was not enough of me to go around. I had just signed up for my third time management class, thinking this one was surely the magic bullet. I was furiously taking notes as the professor told us the only reason we experience chaos is because we do not take each day by the horns. I was determined to face that bull. 

That was when Todd, our right-hand man, did not show up for work. It was not like him to do that, and he did not even call. Later, we tried calling him. No one seemed to know where he was. No one had seen him since the day before. Shortly after, we found out Todd had rolled his car down a deep embankment during the night. He had broken nearly every bone in his face, broken his back along with several other bones, and had lain in the ditch all night unattended because he was out of sight. Fortunately, someone saw him that next morning and he was rushed to the hospital. By the time he got there, his situation was perilous. Doctors were unsure he would make it. I am thankful to say he did. He recovered beyond what anyone could have imagined. Though he no longer works for us, today he is a productive and talented artist and has been featured on several TV shows for his skill.

No one prepares for things like this. We had difficulty fulfilling orders while Todd was lying in a hospital bed. We sobbed. We were grieving and preoccupied while Todd was fighting for his life.

Here are some lessons we learned during this difficult course in The School of Hard Knocks. Truly they are lessons that we will never forget:

Have you ever questioned whether you had more time than money? Or more money than time? Let me settle it for you right now. You have more money than time, even if you have very little money. Time is the most valuable asset you will ever have. No other asset can come close. You can get more money. You cannot get more time.

Next, no matter how much I try to do, nor how efficient I get, I cannot live 48 hours in 24. Frankly, do we want to live our lives double speed? Are we not here on earth to experience each day to the fullest? Life is like a gym bag. It is small. You cannot fit everything in it. You have to carefully decide what goes into the bag, and consciously choose what you will leave out. You cannot fit more in just because you want to. You must choose. 

Lastly, the words from my  time management professor were ringing in my ears. Grabbing the chaos by the horns? Seriously, after Todd’s accident, I saw this as a joke. I faced the professor’s bull but this time recognized it as bull. We are not in charge. We are not super human. We cannot always grab the day by the horns. Not all of life can be controlled. The serenity prayer is in order:

  “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.”

Please do not misunderstand my message. Self-discipline and time management are extremely important. But rather than filling your day to the brim, make sure you are filling your day with the right stuff. This is your life. Do not allow your business to rob it from you. Make sure you are living each day and fully present in it. When we realize all of our days are limited, all that is truly important becomes crystal clear.

Join us next week for the final installment of The Secret Life of Entrepreneurs.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about the way you manage your business?  Because your graphics will always reflect your internal management. The clearer your vision, the more lucid your marketing, and the better your visual graphics. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.

You can read the first three articles in this series right here at Thincblog.