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The Hidden Dangers of Entrepreneurial Freedom: Mastering Systems, Structure, and Accountability
The Illusion of Effortless Success
It's easy to get swept up in the glamorous images often portrayed in online spaces that make entrepreneurship seem effortless. Images of $50,000 months and overnight success stories dominate social media. However, the reality is far different and often far more challenging.
Many entrepreneurs start their journey to escape the rigidity of a 9-to-5 job, yearning for the freedom to set their schedules and pursue their passions. But without structure and accountability, this freedom can become a significant obstacle rather than an asset.
The Role of Systems and Structure
Entrepreneurs often wear multiple hats, from marketing strategist to customer service representative. Juggling these duties without a structured approach can lead to burnout and stalled business growth.
Why Systems Matter:
Efficiency:
Systems streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up time for strategic planning and creative thinking.
Consistency:
They ensure that high standards are maintained, irrespective of who's performing the task.
Scalability:
With robust systems, scaling your business becomes more manageable as you can replicate successful processes.
Creating effective systems requires understanding your business at a granular level, including what’s working and what needs improvement. Leverage data to track performance metrics and continually adjust your systems to optimize efficiency and output.
Holding Yourself Radically Accountable
Accountability is a cornerstone of successful entrepreneurship, but it's also one of the most challenging aspects to master. Without a boss looking over your shoulder, the temptation to procrastinate often wins out.
Steps to Radical Accountability:
Self-awareness:
Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Understand why you avoid certain tasks and find ways to mitigate these behaviors.
Set Clear Objectives:
Break your broader goals into smaller, actionable tasks with set deadlines.
Regular Check-ins:
Implement a routine for checking in on your progress. A "CEO day" once a month can be an effective strategy.
On your CEO day, evaluate where you are versus where you want to be. This is your opportunity to reflect, recalibrate, and make intentional changes for the upcoming month.
Leveraging Data for Continuous Improvement
Data is an invaluable tool for entrepreneurs. It tells you what’s working, what’s not, and where opportunities for growth lie. Too often, entrepreneurs jump from one strategy to another without giving any single approach enough time to show results.
Effective Data Utilization:
Track KPIs:
Identify key performance indicators relevant to your business and monitor them consistently.
Regular Analysis:
Set aside time regularly, perhaps during your CEO day, to analyze this data and draw actionable insights.
Adjust and Experiment:
Based on your analysis, tweak your strategies and test new approaches to see what yields the best results.
Overcoming Procrastination and Distraction
Procrastination and distractions are the silent killers of business growth. They often stem from a lack of clarity and structure. Knowing what stage of life you are in and structuring your work accordingly helps mitigate these issues.
Strategies to Combat Procrastination:
Time Blocking:
Schedule specific times for different tasks and stick to these blocks as if they were non-negotiable meetings.
Minimize Distractions:
Identify your biggest distractions and create an environment that minimizes these.
Accountability Partners:
Finding a mentor or accountability partner can provide the external pressure some need to stay on track.
The Importance of Consistency
Consistency is crucial for long-term success. Entrepreneurs frequently get bored doing the same tasks, but it's this consistency that builds a strong business foundation.
Consistency Tips:
Daily Routine:
Develop a daily routine that incorporates critical business activities.
Review and Reflect:
Regularly pause to review what’s working and why. Lean into successful strategies, and don’t be afraid to cut out what isn’t beneficial.
Patient Perseverance:
Understand that success rarely happens overnight. Commit to your strategies for at least 90 days to allow them to prove their worth.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurial freedom comes with its set of challenges, but by implementing robust systems and holding yourself radically accountable, you can turn this freedom into a powerful engine of growth. Embrace these principles to cultivate a business that not only survives but thrives, allowing you to create the impact you desire.
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Transcript for Episode 369. The Surprising Downside of Flexibility in Business
Amy [00:00:03]:
Why did you start your business? If you are like most entrepreneurs, freedom and flexibility most likely fall somewhere on that list of reasons. The allure of being able to have time, freedom, location, freedom, work from anywhere, build a business on your terms, not have to worry about answering to someone, building a legacy. But these things, freedom and flexibility, can be a double edged sword. They can actually be very detrimental to your growth as an entrepreneur and be holding you back without structure, without accountability. Most of us came from some sort of a 9 to 5 job at some point before we became entrepreneurs. You show up, you do the work, you get paid. So we wanted this freedom. We craved this flexibility of our schedules to run our own businesses, to live a life on our terms.
Amy [00:01:18]:
But the reality is, as an entrepreneur, at the end of the day, who is holding you to a standard? Because I don't know about you, but I've yet to find a job that you hold where you don't show up and you don't do the work and yet you still get paid. I still haven't stumbled across one, but if you have, be sure to let me know. It's not the reality yet. In the online space, we're constantly inundated and flooded with these images of building a business should be effortless and easy. And as an entrepreneur, you should be getting $50,000 cash, months in your sleep without having to lift a finger. It's time for a reality check. That's not reality. That is not reality.
Amy [00:02:12]:
There is context behind it that is missing from those messages that we're inundated with. So how can we leverage freedom and flexibility to work for us? How can we really get into this lifestyle that we crave so much that we quit a business and went all in. We quit a job. I'm sorry. And went all in. To build this business to have the freedom and flexibility to not have to work 24 7. Because that's something else that happens is you start this business because you want the freedom and flexibility, yet you're working 247 and growing a business. Yes, it takes work, but it also requires a strategic approach.
Amy [00:03:04]:
And this is where systems and structure are so important. Because systems and structure are what gives you freedom. It's leveraging the data to see what is working and what is not working. It's not all the flashy tactics in the online space. It's leveraging your data at hand to see what is working for you, what is resonating and really holding yourself radically accountable. And that's hard. Radical accountability is very, very challenging. As an Entrepreneur, because you're busy doing all of the things, but this is a commitment to yourself, to hold yourself responsible, because now there's no one you're answering to except for yourself.
Amy [00:03:49]:
So it's really easy to let ourselves off the hook, to make those excuses and hold ourselves back. But when we're radically accountable for our progress or lack thereof, our actions that we're doing throughout the day, that ends up dictating our results, good or bad. If they're good results, we can double down on what's actually working. And if they're not the results that we desire, this is our opportunity again to get curious, to figure out, how can I make this work? It takes a ton of discipline and intentional focus to be an entrepreneur, because it's easy to say, you know what? I just don't feel like doing that. I don't feel like writing that email today. I'll just do it tomorrow. You know, I'm just. I'm in my head today.
Amy [00:04:44]:
I don't want to show up. I'll just do it tomorrow. Well, you keep doing that over and over and over, and then you're surprised that your business isn't growing. This happens all the time. But what is key to this is the awareness that you're doing these things. Because once you have that awareness now, you can start to take action. Now you can identify, okay, what are the underlying themes? Why am I not holding myself accountable? And you can structure your time then to avoid those distractions and leverage that time that you do have available to build and grow this business. We're all at different stages of life right now, and knowing what stage of life you are at is crucial to helping you leverage the time that you do have.
Amy [00:05:40]:
You know, we expect these businesses to just grow on their own, but it does take work. But it takes more than work. It takes intentional work, focus, and discipline. It's like if you joined a gym, right? You join a gym and you're like, okay, I'm going to get in shape. You buy that gym membership, but you never actually go. You never actually put in the work. You don't put in the reps. Or maybe you do go, but you just kind of walk around, talk to people.
Amy [00:06:16]:
You know, you don't actually put in the work and challenge yourself. You have to put in the work to get the results. You have to be willing to start, even if it's just starting light, like at the gym. You know, you don't go in there and start bench pressing your body weight. No, you start easy with what you can do to challenge yourself, and then you get stronger and you learn from that and you progress your weight so that you continue to challenge yourself. It's the same thing when you're the CEO of your business. You have to continually assess, where am I at? And then challenge yourself to grow so that you can hit those growth targets. And one of my favorite ways to do this is by blocking out time on my schedule every single month for my CEO day.
Amy [00:07:13]:
I always do it the first Friday of the month. And this is my day where I really hold myself accountable. This is my review, my check in with myself, because I don't have a boss above me. I am the CEO of the business. So I need to take this time and get honest with myself as to am I where I want to be? And if not, why not? And how can I, how can I take steps to improve? Because without this awareness, without taking this time, we're like driving all over the place without a gps, right? We say we want to get from point A to point B, but we don't actually have a plan to get there. And I know this feels counterintuitive because it's like, but I started my business so that I could have the flexibility, so that I could work when I wanted. But if you're not holding yourself accountable, you're just going to end up lost because you don't actually have that clear vision as to, am I still on track? Am I taking a detour? Am I barreling down the highway at 90 miles an hour in the wrong direction? This is an opportunity for you to get honest with yourself, to say, you know what? Where are those distractions present? Why am I procrastinating? Because I'll tell you what, it's easy. It's easy to get sucked into that consumptivitis culture.
Amy [00:08:53]:
Our brains love to be busy. So a lot of times we think that consuming is the same thing as doing something. Oh, I'll just take this course. Course. Because I need more knowledge. Well, let's apply the knowledge that you already have. That course that you just took is completely worthless unless you're actually implementing those strategies. Because all of the strategies out there work.
Amy [00:09:20]:
They do, but you have to implement, you have to put in the work. And this doesn't mean, oh, just try it once. No, give it a good 90 days, if not 6 months to consistently implement what you have learned. We're living in a, I like to call it a microwave society, where we want things now. We want that food right now, hot, steaming. But that's not how it works. It requires doing the basics, doing the things over and over and over, even when you don't feel like it, and then pausing and reflecting back, reflecting back as to what's working, what's not working. How can I, it always goes back to how can I, how can I do less of this thing that's not working? And how can I continue to lean into what is working? Consistency is the key.
Amy [00:10:32]:
And this is where most entrepreneurs, we get bored, right? It gets boring saying the same thing, doing the same thing day in and day out, but really taking the time to pause, to pause and hold yourself accountable to be the manager of your business, to step out of that role of CEO for a moment and assess yourself as an employee. How would I rate me, how would I approach me? You know, step out of that role and into the role of employee and assess, assess yourself. It's such an eye opening exercise to do and it's really awkward feeling, I'm not going to lie, it's so awkward feeling the first few times you do it. I literally have a sheet written out for myself as to, okay, how is my performance in these key areas? Because that allows me then to make those adjustments to see where those opportunities for improvement exist. We are building businesses. These are not just fun little side hustles. Yes, it's cool, yes, it can be so fun. But those systems and structure, that's what gives you the freedom.
Amy [00:12:04]:
Because the systems and structure, they allow you to uncover this beautiful world of data, of data that is telling you what's working and what's not. You don't need more strategies, you don't need more courses, you don't need more training. You need to take the time to hold yourself radically accountable because that is what is going to create the freedom and flexibility that you craved when you started your business. I am here cheering for you and until next time, cheers to making the money you want so you can create the impact you desire.
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