Progress Minded People
Someone asked me the other day why I started my own business even though I had a perfectly good career in another field. I told him that my business allows me to make progress and my career does not. So I thought it might be a good idea to explain how this concept works. (in my mind anyway)
There are two different types of people out there when it comes to employment, there are people who work for themselves (entrepreneurs) and there are people who work for someone else. (Employees)
Employees
So let’s start with the Employee minded person and you will see what I mean. An employee works for someone and is quite happy doing so. Whether the position is white collar or blue collar they start at some entry level position and begin to work their way up the corporate ladder. At some point, if they can keep the same job, they will eventually go as far as they can go. This could even be as radical as the president of the company, but it is still the top of the chain. (See graphic) What happens is, that particular peak never again progresses any further. This generally is fine for most people since they made their goal and now they can enjoy the benefits of enjoying their life and their accomplishments. If you are in this category, I applaud you and congratulate you wholeheartedly, well done.
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur’s brains are wired a bit different than employees. It is not necessarily better, just different. If you look at the graph you can see that the progress goes up, levels off for a bit and then goes up again. Entrepreneurs need to be fed and are never really satisfied with their current status. In this particular example there is no peak; the sky is the limit for someone in this position. One of the reasons is that entrepreneurs are not content with making a goal and then staying there. They simply set another goal and strive to achieve that goal again. It can be bigger or more challenging, but it keeps their brains engaged and active. There is always a better mousetrap. These types of people like to control their own progress. They like to push to make things happen and are generally unhappy when they are not making much progress. Working for yourself is more personal since you own it.
So which are you?
I have heard some people say they are a mixture of both. This could be partly true if you have a career and then start out to build your own business while enjoying the stability of a steady paycheck. These people eventually quit their jobs and cross the line into a full line business man or woman.
Progressing
So how do you keep moving up the highway of learning? I have found several useful tools that I use every week.
- Add new products. If you are in the ecommerce field, you will find that you will always want to be adding more products. This not only fattens up your website, but it keeps your creative juices flowing to give something to your customers that your competitors do not.
- Brainstorm Coming up with new ideas, researching new marketing techniques or learning new skills always challenges your creativity and keeps you moving forward. The thing I love about brainstorming with what I call the “morph” principle. That is when you are working on an idea; it generally turns into something else that you were not thinking about. This is where the really good money making ideas come from.
- Outsource Outsourcing frees you up to do stuff that helps you make progress. Making progress makes you more successful. You would be amazed at what things you do that sap your time and keep you from being progressing.
- Network This is very similar to outsourcing because it can give you ideas and help you become affiliated with people you might not have come into contact with. I have met more people that I would never thought about talking to through networking. There is always someone out there that knows more than you.
- Plan Planning forces progress. I do weekly planning as well as monthly planning.
- Learn Learning a new technique or staying on top of the latest trends keeps you moving forward. Social media is a great example of this since it really is the hottest trend on the Internet today. There is not just one site that defines social media but hundreds of new sites. They all have advantages and disadvantages and can all help your business. This in itself keeps your brain engaged and working on a high level.
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