 |
Creating Your Day Job
The advice, "don't quit your day job" is a common refrain, this week I share ideas about creating the life you want to live. The photos this week are from our most recent training camp. I'd like to get a few more sign ups for our St George Ironman Weekend in November. If you know an athlete that might benefit then please have them contact me. Three days of training, including hotel/breakfast/dinner for $475. That price includes hotel/meals. A bit of advice on making-it-happen. Know what you want, specifically. First... Which camp? With whom? Be specific. Second... Observe the people that are living the life you (think you) want to lead. What have they done over the last TEN years and are you will to make the changes required in your own life to replicate their long term work. Understand the long term habits of successful people. The second point is one that Marilyn made at the camp. She was asked what the difference was between success and failure in athletes - I'll paraphrase - Successful people are the ones that are willing to change their approach to achieve their goals. Greg Bennett made a similar point - When I realized that I was competing against athletes with superior genetics, I realized that I had to be willing to do the work that others find too hard. These themes return to me in all areas of my life. Now you might think that the secret is a willingness to completely disrupt your life and choose a spartan path. Most of us can not handle radical change over the long term. Nutrition is the best example that I have for the power of making habits of what others choose not to do. Your goal might be an athletic body - the path is incrementally removing the habits that prevent the shift. Your goal might be to be paid to train - your path might be:
I hear many athletes say, I would love to have a job where I train with people. There are a lot of ways to do that. The goats to the right were on the side of the highest paved road in America -- that's the way I like to train with folks! I don't hear many athletes say, I would be willing to greatly reduce my material lifestyle and spend ten years creating a life where I train with people. Put more clearly, the market will quickly see through goals that lack authenticity. To get paid to train with people, clients have to experience that you like training with them! Sounds a bit obvious but it is why there are only a few elites that I can hire to work at camps. I can struggle with... I would be willing to change the way I "do" to have a job where I do what I want. The reason for my struggle is a focus on the doing, rather than the lifestyle. I get caught in the moment and lose my vision for the ultimate goal. Life is VERY much like racing an Ironman - we need to execute in the present while remembering the ultimate goal that we are seeking to achieve. If your goal involves escaping from work then it could be difficult to achieve -- in other words, if your goal is a desire to be paid for not-work. I think you might have a tough time with it. That said, there are examples of people that make enough money from their work to have a lot of not-work time. The Four Hour Work Week guy comes to mind... but is he real? does he have authenticity? Even if he's real, my goal is personal freedom and the capacity to choose my work. I have never wanted to escape work. People that escape work tend to sound like snake oil salesmen. Pyramid marketing businesses lack authenticity (to me) and (I suspect) create networks that lack stickiness.
Above I talked about the "how" of success. This section will be on the "why" of both work and business. It's personal but might offer you ideas. I like to train and explore. We have a young daughter at home. It's psychologically more acceptable (to everyone) if I do the bulk of my training/exploring when working. Now that might be irrational, but it represents the way things are. Ultimately, we are emotional, rather than rational creatures. It is important that I maintain balance in my key relationships and none is more key than with Monica. I ask myself, what compromises are required today to create a strong marriage tomorrow? Writing that down makes me smile because it is the truth. There are two places where I most enjoy seeing 70-year old men -- riding the slopes of the Tourmalet and holding hands with their wives. It is a balancing act to keep both options open. What about strategic considerations for Endurance Corner? When I launched, my buddy Vinu, asked me what I was going to do when I was swamped with clients? At the time I said that I could raise my prices. It's what I did when I launched my coaching business in 2000. Keep increasing prices to outsiders to limit demand. This strategy didn't leave me personally satisfied. It is financially convenient to be paid $500 per month for coaching but it severely limits who you can work with. Comes back to specific goals: Have people pay me a lot of money for coaching so I can have the time to do what I want when I am not working with my clients... OR Have a life where I lead a team of fellow-crazies with advice, adventure travel and triathlon camps... To be sustainable Endurance Corner's business strategy needs to serve the interests its members and the business needs to be consistent with the life that I want to lead. We've proven demand for the concept so, I believe, the next step is creating stickiness and building loyalty. Here's the plan for that. Pause - we're going to pause the team size. We're big enough. I have been busy this past week with catching up after the Boulder Camp. Missing last week's blog was a warning sign. When I miss an article, it means that I didn't have a spare four hours in my week. This blog is ESSENTIAL for me, personally and financially. Financially? Absolutely. You never would have heard of me if I didn't spend ten years writing about my journey... and if you don't hear about me then we will never get a chance to meet! Be wary of growth just because you can. More than pausing, I am willing to let the team shrink. I have no idea what our renewal rate will be. For our concept to be valid, we need to retain clients. For Year Two, that needs to be our focus. Building the tools so the true-believers stay with us. Pricing - I spent more on beer as a university student (in the 80s) than we charge for coaching! So I don't see a reason to drop prices. Same thing with the camps -- Boulder was pretty impressive: Greg & Laura Bennett, Joe Friel, Dave Scott, Bobby McGee, the Macca Twins, JD, AC, Monica, me.... I called favors to make that happen but I have a year to repay everyone! When I have left associations in the past it has been because they didn't deliver value relative to the cost of membership. So... I am thinking about how to lower the cost of membership for our best members; considering what a "best member" really is; and thinking about ways we can deliver more value to the group. Being web based, the effective use of technology is an important consideration. Still working on that -- Facebook has overwhelmed me but I seem to have settled into Twitter. Back next week!
|
|
|
|
|
Coming back to clarity - know what you want.
The original idea that I had for this piece was, Strategic Considerations for Work and Business. I missed my article last week so I'm going to keep on rolling!