I’ve personally invested over $100k in my own business education (not including my MBA) and I’ve leveraged that investment into well over a half-million dollars in the last few years.
I’ve said before that I will make my million – in my time and on my terms. And because I’m sensing this strong undercurrent of desperation in many business owners about making 6 or 7 figures, I wanted to invite you to take a different tact:
Ask yourself, what’s the least income you can make right now and still live a happy life?
Not ‘I want to make a million dollars by the time I’m 40’ and you’re 39 now and the most you’ve ever made is $50k. Not ‘I want to make 6 figures by the end of 2011’ and your current monthly revenue is $2k.
So, what’s the least you can make that will take you to that very next step in your vision – not the BIG vision – but just the next bump up?
What’s the least amount of money you can bring in that will give your current lifestyle the boost that will make you smile, that will make you feel and know you’re moving forward, and that will continue to motivate you onward?
You see, I’ve been asking myself the same question lately. And the reason is because I’ve been starting to feel really stressed in my business and frankly I’m not having as much fun as I used to in it either.
And because of a few other things that are attributing to this feeling of heaviness that are outside my business, I’ve been feeling a need to shift things. Just small shifts for now, while allowing the bigger shifts to more fully form without pushing them into fruition until next year.
So here’s my answer to this question and how you can figure it out for your own business too:
Step 1: Get cash clear
Get crystal clear on how much money you really need to live the lifestyle that you’re happy with, not the one you’re striving for (I guarantee when you give up this grip, money will flow more abundantly to you).
This may mean having a conversation with a spouse or partner. Do it. Especially if you are in a financial partnership with someone else, you’re likely not the only one feeling the push and the pressure for more. Do yourselves both a favor and figure out what’s the minimum level for you. You may be able to give up or put aside one or more of your current income streams so you can have more of the time freedom you crave, knowing you still have enough to enjoy your life.
Step 2: Be sure all your eggs aren’t in one basket
If you’re relying on high-end pricing and programs to carry your business, you may be setting yourself up for a financial fall. Your clients and customers are being more and more discriminating about where they’re spending their money – and that’s not going to change anytime in the near future, not while our economic outlook is still bleak.
Be sure to have different ways in which you can serve your market, not just one-on-one. Offer lower priced programs and products to help more people as well as to diversify your cash flow.
Step 3: Build your business around your life
This is a mindset shift for many people. But if you’re in business for yourself, isn’t it so you can design the life you want to live? Not so you can work more, but so you can work less, and still enjoy a great life with the income to support it?
In order to do that, you have to schedule your life first, then your business-building activities around that. This is how I’ve been able to take off almost 3 months every summer for the last 6 years. My business doesn’t suffer; in fact, it grows because of my commitment to this principle.
Figure out how to make the money you want for the next level of your business (again, not the BIG vision, just the next bump up) in the time that is left after you’ve planned the life you want to live first. Then ask for the support or hire the team you need to help you make this happen.
When you put your life first, the time towards what makes you happy, the focus on just the next bump while you tend to LIVING, all the ‘more’ you want (which we all want, by the way – we are all here to grow and to be, do, and have more) will come. This I know for sure.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this – please leave your comments below.
Wow, what you wrote about here is EXACTLY why I created my money map to freedom. It began as a tool I needed for myself. In 2009, I found myself trapped by my 7 figure biz. I had built a highly successful business on someone else’s terms. I was not experiencing the freedom I really wanted, though I did have plenty of $$ coming in. And I had no model/map for building a biz to support the lifestyle I really wanted. So I create it for myself. First, I got more clear than I had ever been about what I really wanted my life to look like on four different levels. I’m going to be teaching that process soon, so optin on my site so you get notified if you are interested. Then, I looked at what it would cost me to have that life, not just in $$, but time and energy as well. Then I looked at the real resources avail to me. I plugged all of that into a tool I created and determined my money map number, which was the least I could charge for each hour of my rev generating time. From there I rebuilt my biz model in a way that let me have the life I really wanted. It flipped the whole paradigm from have to to want to. Let me know if you would love for me to share more about this process with you. Blessings on your journey to more awareness.
Alexis
I really like that you wrote about this here. It is very real, and not what everyone else keeps making us try to think. I have learned to have 2 sets of goals for myself. The big goal that is always there that I am striving towards, and the smaller goal that is more attainable. I like having that big dream, something special to strive for, but like yourself, I find that big dream to be too much pressure to think about all at once, especially while caring for my children. I create my smaller goals and know that they are steps of accomplishment along my journey. When I create a goal that is slightly out of my reach and then manage to accomplish it, I feel so great. My confidence soars and then I know that I have what it takes to create another almost unreachable goal.
Alicia, Thank you for sharing.
This is brilliant Alicia! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I have been spending way too much energy on the BIG vision as opposed to being present in the here and now. As I read this I could feel my energy relaxing around money. Wow!
I so appreciate not only this message but the timing of it too. Recently I’ve been pressuring myself to get connected to a bigger vision, to aim higher, reach farther. Instead of being exciting and expansive, I find this just increases the pressure, tightens me up and makes everything way less fun.
Generally, I’ve always worked best by having my heart set in the right direction and taking the next step. And then the next. And the next. Thank you for reminding me that that approach is a-okay.
Alicia, you are one of the few people I follow – because you’re a mum (like me), and you know the realities of not being able to give all your energy to your business, because you want to give good energy to your family. I, too, build my business around my family life, taking school holidays off (I work with clients every week during term-time – I find this works really well for clients, too, as it gives them concentrated momentum towards their goals).
Tim Ferris has a good ‘lifestyle calculator’ on his site, at: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/lifestyle-costing/ – it’s so true that time is our most precious resource, and if the money’s rolling in but we’re not enjoying it, what’s the point? (Let’s create money AND time!) Living a wonderful life really doesn’t have to cost a lot, financially.
I also love your idea of having our big, over-arching goal (the big dream that keeps us excited), and smaller, more-immediate, stepping-stone goals that we love to achieve and that also keep us excited.
Thank you for this brilliant article, Alicia, and for having the courage to step forward, with your values at the forefront. You’re an inspiration!
Alicia,
LOVE it. Life is all about success on your terms. Determining what you really want and the lifestyle that best serves you will always help you get VERY clear on finances and realistic goals.
Write on!~
Lisa
Excellent article that needed right now. I will follow you now as you seem very genuine and caring to share your information to help others succeed, especially those of us who work on our own, I feel i need information which is short but specific to my needs. I thank you and all sucess to you.
This article is very concise & inspiring. It seems that my goal is pretty modest…$50K income annually. I currently live (although I live with incredible amounts of stress) in 1/2 that. It is great to have goals, but you flounder without a feasible plan to actually get that cash flow. This article is aimed at the moderately successful entrepreneurs out there; but sort of a hopeful wish to those who depend on another’s payroll {sigh}.