Why Typical Business Advice Doesn’t Work

One thing I know to be true from my experiences advising and coaching people making the shift from employee  to entrepreneur is that our entrepreneurial journey is different.

So I was delighted to read this Forbes article by executive coach Dr. Steven Berglas. His article was so spot-on that I had to get in touch with him and share my observations. We had a lovely email exchange and I expect we will cross paths in California someday. Here’s what he had to say:

“There is a swelling class of first-time entrepreneurs, and they need help…This new class–call them newpreneurs–are born of circumstance rather than ability, vision or just something to prove, and they tend to launch new ventures in a different way. That doesn’t mean they won’t succeed–it just means they need a different kind of guidance.”

Yes, Dr. Steve, they do!

Because we’re different. And the things we experience in our journey from employee to entrepreneur have nothing to do with the length of time you’ve been in business. I’ve noticed the same trends and patterns in entrepreneurs with ten years of self-employment or more, as the “newly hatched” entrepreneur.

This time last year, I launched the Entrepreneurs Unplugged Telesummit which featured interviews with small business mentors like Michael Gerber, Melanie Benson Strick, Kelly O’Neil and so many more who shared their experience and advice on leaving the corporate world.  At the beginning of that series we reviewed the most common mistakes made by corporate fugitives. One year and several more discussions later, these trends remain the same.

Here’s a recap of the most common mistakes:

Thinking that being good at what you do is the basis for a business. Some people quit, and some people turn to self employment for other reasons but many new or aspiring entrepreneurs think that their professional experience will translate to a thriving business. This is  the first big mistake alluded to by the world’s most recognizable small business guru, Michael Gerber in his classic book The E-Myth.  Second to that, being passionate and determined is a good start that will fuel you when you’re tempted to give up, but the bottom line is that you still need a foundation of marketing and commerce and a market that is looking for what you have to offer and will pay you enough for it.

Thinking you can do it all by yourself. Many of us go into business thinking we never want to have employees or have to manage anyone again. We plan on flying completely solo.  This is completely understandable – since years of bureaucracy and the ugly side of office politics is something we hope we never need to endure again. This might work for a while, but not for long – the reality of having to market yourself, do the work, fix the computer, do the bookkeeping and collecting the money… all comes into play. You quickly plateau in your income and energy. Entrepreneurs who achieve personal and financial freedom, don’t do it alone.

Thinking you can keep yourself on track. If you’re used to a structure and the workings of an organization it’s hard to cope with sudden freedom from routine and procedures. Beyond the ability to stay focused and disciplined, successful entrepreneurs build support systems around themselves to keep them accountable and on task.

Thinking you need to get people’s approval. There is a huge culture shock when you go from corporate life out on your own especially if you are working from home, by yourself. Suddenly that 20 or 30 year career as an expert can feel woefully inadequate when you’re responsible for selling yourself and running your business. There’s no one to tell you your idea is fabulous or completely sucks. There’s no one certifying you as an expert and telling you that you’re able to charge a certain amount. There is no one to approve your work before it goes to the client, and your name is on everything!  Many entrepreneurs allow this to limit their growth and feel the need to work their way up, not surprising really, when you look at our years of education and employment conditioning. However this leads to lack of boundaries with clients, and lower fees thanyou deserve, if you do not claim your expert status for yourself.

Not continuing to learn. When you’re an employee you can get by knowing just what is expected of you, or what you need to perform your job really well. The learning you need for your career is completely focused on your profession. Also, your company often pays for it. You just have to show up! In business you need to be a continuous learner – about your area of expertise, about aspects of business, about yourself. It’s very easy to get caught up working “in” your business instead of “on” your business. This is why many small business owners often fall into the isolation trap and just continue to do the same things year after year, never breaking out of their routines to learn something new. This leads to severely stunted and often under-earning businesses.

Not knowing what you really want. When you’ve spent years in a career and you now want to run your own business, it’s most common to create one around your career profession. Many new business owners slide into this without really taking the time to consider what they really want from their life, and how to design their business to get it. Often they realize later, that the business they built is not the one they really want. Wouldn’t it be easier to build a foundation based on a life plan, and  adjust it as you grow?

Waiting until it’s perfect. Corporate fugitives tend to suffer from this affliction more than any other type of business owner. They are less willing to take risks and fail, and often spend more time thinking about and crafting their perfect plan, than  getting started in the business of business. If this sounds like you, don’t wait until it’s perfect – waiting wastes time, and even makes you more fearful as your second thoughts nag at you. Spread your wings and fly – no one is there to push you forward, but you.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

What Michael Gerber told me about leaving a corporate job

As surreal as it feels at times I am in the middle of a six-week telesummit of my own creation and am having fabulous, inspiring conversations with very successful “corporate fugitives” as part of the Entrepreneurs Unplugged Telesummit I am producing with my friend Marcia Hoeck.

Our friendship, and this joint venture, developed quickly – which is fitting, as they say the “universe likes speed.”

So – what began as a casual conversation when we met in November, grew to an idea in mid December, which led to lining up speakers for an event we launched the first week of February.

Last week, I had the great honour of interviewing Michael Gerber, the world’s foremost small business guru. This one fascinating man has worked directly providing advice to hundreds of thousands of business owners over the past 35 years. I asked him if he noticed if people who left the corporate world to start a business face unique challenges. Here’s a bit of what he said:

 …their expectations are so completely inconsistent with what it’s truly going to require for them to do this thing on their own. They have resources that they’ve grown to expect that simply don’t exist when you go out on your own. So understand when you go out on your own in the cruel, cruel world, you suddenly come face to face with a completely different reality than the reality you experienced in your corporate world, in your corporate cubicle, in your corporate office, in your corporate environment where there was finance, where there was HR, where there was this, where there were budgets, and on and on and on and on and where there’s a political reality that shaped the kind of decisions that you made. 

Once you go out on your own, all of that’s gone. Every bit of it is gone. None of it is true. None of it exists and all of it has got to come from you. So when they leave the job, the corporate environment, that strange world that is so unlike this world, they are suddenly a stranger waking up in a strange world. And they have no idea how to do what they’re actually called to do…and you suddenly have to learn a whole new set of skills, capabilities but more important, you have to begin to come to a relationship with yourself in a completely new way.

He said so much more than that… which left me speechless at times! The truth of it is, we are ill equipped by academic and corporate backgrounds, to deal with the sheer and awesome power of what being a true entrepreneur is.

The fact is, we don’t allow ourselves the permission or capacity to truly explore and dream. And what’s more, most of us simply create a job of our own making, when what we secretly desire is SO much bigger.

So I leave with a quote from a very special person who is inspiring me to look at things from an entirely new perspective:

Sometimes the amount of my personal power scares me and I dim my light so I don’t scare others around me…but I think it’s time for those people to put on their sunglasses! – Kelly O’Neil UpLevel Strategies

Taking leaps

Many entrepreneurs (and aspiring entrepreneurs) think they have to know exactly what they’re doing, and how to do it, before they start. They also tend to think and dream on a much smaller scale, in part due to that reason.

In 2008 I made it a point to uplevel my thinking — and the results of that have taken me to places I didn’t even know existed.

I have met amazing people, been approached to partner in incredible opportunities, and while doing so, increase my income. In November I attended an online marketing conference – billed to be a life altering event. This lived up to the hype, and more! A tiny seed of an idea quickly grew, and before Christmas, I started a new membership community, the Corporate Fugitive Network — a “safe haven” for corporate fugitives and those who want to say goodbye to their corporate jobs.

Shortly after that,  Marcia Hoeck and I got together on putting on a telesummit series built around the Corporate Fugitive theme. Next thing you know, we were getting fabulous speakers like Michael Gerber of the E-Myth fame, Pamela Slim from Escape from Cubicle Nation, Michael Port of Book Yourself Solid — and more!

So what did I learn from 2008:

Baby steps won’t get you far – commit yourself 100% and then hold on for the ride.

Open yourself up to new experiences and people outside of your comfort zone – if we didn’t ask Michael Gerber to participate in Corporate Entrepreneurs Unplugged because we thought he would be “too big” to consider it, we would have missed out on the opportunity to interview him.

Be willing to fail, but do it fast – there are no guarantees that your business idea or new product will be a hit. For that reason, why take months and months to perfect it? Get it out there, give it your best shot, and either reap the rewards if it’s successful, or move on quickly if it isn’t. Often our biggest growth comes from our “negative” experiences. I spent months on my first ebook and teleseminar, and only got lukewarm response. But I learned some important lessons – like listening to your market before you develop a product or service, as well as more efficient ways to get projects like that done.

Compensate for your weaknesses – take a hard look at yourself and figure out what you’re simply not good at. ALSO look at what you may be very good at, but spend too much time at. This is delegation begging to happen. Find a virtual assistant, get a part-time employee, or pay a student or a friend who could do the work with direction from you. For example, I spend too much time writing and marketing – and I have realized that just because this is my professional expertise, does not mean that I have to do it for my own business marketing. So the next time I rewrite my website, I will be getting professional help.

Make yourself accountable – At least in the online entrepreneur community where I like to spend a lot of time, coaching and mastermind groups are the norm. When I started my business, I had no idea what this was or how to get either. Since then, I have hired a coach to help me with certain areas of my mindset and business. And I participate in a weekly mastermind session with other entrepreneurs where we each share our wins, challenges, goals for the week, and ask for support from the other members.  I look forward to these meetings and we get up at ungodly hours to talk to each other, because we all live in different time zones. You can also join mastermind groups offered through group coaching programs or form one of your own. (if you want to start one, participate in forums like the one on the Corporate Fugitive Network or several on Facebook and other social media sites).