What are you working for?

Company
Apr 2014

Sometimes, when we work day in and day out, we get caught up in the cycles of getting new projects, completing daily tasks, collecting money, dealing with issues, and managing administrative issues or procedural inefficiencies. Somewhere in between finishing one task and beginning another, we look up and wonder, “What am I doing this for? Am I fulfilled doing this? Is this fulfilling my purpose and passion?”

We work best in our businesses when there is a deep-rooted desire, passion, purpose, or motivation behind the work. Glide’s founder and owner Travis McAshan once said “Purpose may point you in the right direction, but it’s passion that propels you.” This stuck with me as I began my own 2 start-up businesses.

There are several ways you can apply this little nugget of wisdom to your own business. One option would be to create a business that provides income allowing you to make your own money and have a bit of flexibility. Even if you aren’t particularly passionate about the business idea itself, you know it will help you live a bit more how you want.

Solve a problem.
Serve you customers or clients better than anyone else in your industry.
Create a business that allows you to have more financial freedom.
Create a business that does not require capital or an investment (such as a home-based or online business)

Another option would be to create a business that directly impacts and improves your clients’ or customers’ quality of life AND your own personal quality of life.

Create an eco-friendly business.
Become a coach- life, fitness, spiritual, etc.
Create a locationally-independent business.

Personally, I have done both, and I prefer the latter because purpose AND passion propels me!

If you are wondering which direction to go next, why you should choose one idea over another or take a step in one direction versus another, one of the best ways to make a decision is to start at the end and work backwards. Look into your future- 6 months, 12 months or even 5 years out, envision what you want your personal and professional life to look like, and then brainstorm, either eliminating some ideas that won’t work for you, or further exploring ideas that might be just perfect!

“Committing your goals to paper increases the likelihood of your achieving them by one-thousand percent!” –Brian Tracy

Personally, I knew I wanted to be locationally-independent, free to travel abroad with my kids as I pleased, and fulfilled in my daily business.

So what do I do?

I ran across an exercise in Tim Ferriss’ book, 4 Hour Workweek, that made my travel dream less scary, and more tangible, as I worked out a specific time line (he calls it a dream line, a more accurate term), and a target monthly income. By setting quantifiable goals this way, I was able to create a business around it, and began to make my biggest dream my reality.

Create 2 time lines on 2 pieces of paper- 6 months and 12 months- and list 5 things in each of these categories:

· Things you dream of having
· Things you dream of being
· Things you dream of doing

If you are having a hard time coming up with what you want or how you want to live, imagine have $100 million in your bank account. You are smarter and richer than you ever imagined. Now what would you do? Where would you like to visit? What is on your bucket list? What do you want to learn or try? How do you want to conduct your business on a daily basis? What type of flexibility would you like to have? How do you want to interact with clients? Customers? Your family? Your community?

Now take your list of things in your “being” category and turn them into “doing” goals, so that they are actions. For example, if you wrote “being a world traveler,” now write “buy an around-the-world ticket” as your action goal to accompany it. Now choose 3 or 4 of the items from your 6-month dream line that are most exciting or most important to you, and put a star next to them. Repeat for your 12-month dream line.

Look at the items you starred, and determine the cost to make these a reality. We will break it down into monthly cash flow so that your huge, expensive, way-out-in-the-future dream or lifestyle actually seems more feasible than you previously made up in your mind.

An example: I’m a huge travel advocate! A ticket around the world is averaging right now to $3500 per person. Total cost for food, accommodation, and other transportation for 4 months will be $7,000. (You can conduct research and make this a MUCH cheaper trip. Personally, we can live on less than $1500 a month for a family of 4.) But let’s just say you stay in some fancy hotels or splurge on some amazing food while you are away because, WHY NOT?! To travel the world for 6 months you need $10,500. You want to be able to leave for your trip in 2 years. You have 24 months to save this money, which equates to saving $437.50 a month. This may seem like a large amount until you realize that just a little over $100 a week will afford you the dream of your lifetime.

You now have a purpose and passion tied to your business and your daily tasks. How will you choose to bring in that income? How can you generate enough to sustain you now, during your trip, and afterwards? This is where you get to be creative!

Now what?

Ok, now you may wonder what you do next? You have bills, expenses, a family. Continuing with the above example, how on earth will you save $437.50 a month?

Here is what I did.

I drove a car I paid cash for so that I did not have a car payment or have to pay for full coverage insurance. I washed and vacuumed it myself instead of taking it to a fancy car wash. Ok, I took it to a fancy car wash once because the kids crushed snacks all over the backseat area! I eliminated processed foods and snacks from our diet and instead paid for a local farm to bring us fresh fruits and veggies each week. This actually cut our grocery bill in half! We did not have any kind of paid subscription or monthly membership service fees, but if you have cable, there’s a hundred dollars you could save right there. Netflix is cheaper! I lowered my driving/gas costs by scheduling meetings and appointments close to each other. Plus, one year, I got a nice tax return.

Creating your dream lines may take some time. I wrote and re-wrote mine for about a week before I was happy with them. The beauty is that there are no rules. No life-and-death deadlines. Tie your business with your life. Combine your purpose and your passions. Create something unique that works for you and your desired lifestyle, and enjoy!

If you have done this or have questions, I would love to hear from you in the comments below!

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