My guess is that freedom, or if you prefer, autonomy is one of the things you value the most, correct?
It’s one of the main reasons I’m an entrepreneur. You?
I took a four-year hiatus from being my own boss when I took the job working with the former GKIC, the company founded by marketing legend Dan Kennedy.
I had a pretty good deal. I worked out of my home in Atlanta and not at the corporate headquarters in Chicago, I made more money than all of the CEOs – much to their chagrin, (more on that in tomorrow’s email) and, for the most part, got to do what I love – speak, teach, entertain, and sell.
But, I didn’t have total autonomy. I couldn’t make all of the decisions. Often, I would have to go along with decisions made by corporate folk who didn’t know squat about direct response marketing. I knew that some of these decisions were wrong and would further the downward spiral the company was on. I fought hard, but in the end, I didn’t own the company.
I couldn’t take it any longer, quit, and went back out on my own.
Even though I was starting my business again from scratch, I needed the freedom that comes with being your own boss.
The irony is that many people become a prisoner inside of their business that’s supposed to give them freedom. I need to be mindful of that trap. Whenever I start doing things only because they will make money, I lose a little bit of the freedom I crave.
Now, after I left GKIC and had zero income, I did a lot of stuff I didn’t want to do to get my business rolling. But today, I am refining and whittling away things I don’t enjoy doing so I can move closer to the ideal vision I have for my business and my life,
How about you? When is the last time you took some time alone to define precisely what you want your business to look like, and how you want your business to make you feel?
Maybe it’s time to block off time on your calendar to do some of this profound work. It’s hard to spend time on your vision when there seems to be more important work you need to do.
But there will always be, as the late Stephen Covey said, urgent and important things (Quadrant 1) that need to get done. However, by spending time in “Quadrant 2,” not urgent but important, you will reduce the number of Quadrant 2 activities, and by doing so, increase your freedom.
I’m blocking off time on my calendar. Might I suggest you do the same?
Make it a great day.
Dave “Freedom & Autonomy” Dee
P.S. Having a reliable, predictable system for filling your calendar with highly qualified prospects and then turning those prospects into clients is fundamental to having a business that will give you freedom. On Thursday at noon ET, I am doing live webinar where I’ll be going over a specific system that does precisely those two things. If you haven’t registered yet and would like to attend, go here: