Tell me if this sounds familiar:
Your work life is OK but there's just something in it that's...
Missing? Incomplete? Unfulfilling?
Yes, that's it: unfulfilling.
Like there's something you really ought to be doing in your life, but aren't.
A way you can truly contribute to the world. To live your best life.
To feel fulfilled!
And to be able to do that not just in the evenings and on weekends, but full-time!
I'm willing to bet that if you're reading this, there's something out there that would do a far better job of giving you personal fulfillment and the income you need than the work you're doing right now...
But, like me, I bet that every time you try to think about it, you get stuck trying to figure out all the details, like:
I totally get it. I struggled with these exact same questions when I started. In fact, I ended up starting exactly the WRONG kind of business...TWICE, before I actually got it right.
As it turns out, lots of people make these same mistakes. Perhaps you're one of them...
And of those 2%, a full 80% of THEM will fail within 5 years!
That means that less than ½ of 1% of everyone who wants to start a business will actually start one that will be successful enough to last 5 years!
Copycatting is where you find a business model, strategy, or approach that's working for someone else and simply copy what they're doing. “Hey, if it's working for them, then maybe it will work for me.”
The trouble is that everyone else is doing the same thing! Now is such a great time to build a business that lots of people are becoming entrepreneurs and are copycatting the best business models.
So if you're building a copycat business, chances are you'll either be lost in the noise of over a billion websites or you'll be successful for a time, then lost as more and more people jump on the “copycat” approach you've chosen.
And, even worse, when you copy what someone else is doing, you can only copy the parts you can see. The odds are high you'll miss the “secret sauce” they have that's not visible to the naked eye -- the strategy that's the biggest ingredient of their success -- which means that copycatted businesses are rarely as financially lucrative as the one they copied.
This happened with Amazon businesses. Perhaps you saw a course called The Amazing Selling Machine that taught tens of thousands of people to build businesses selling products on Amazon.com like kitchen utensils and other everyday things that people might need. But as hundreds of people started to work with Chinese manufacturers to sell the same silicone baking mats, the market got too crowded and most of these copycats went out of business.
That's the challenge of a copycat business. While these ideas may start out profitable, the market quickly gets overrun, people start competing on price, and it's a rapid race to the bottom where nobody makes money.
Now you can still succeed on Amazon, but not by copying the same kinds of marketing and products that everybody else is making…
But the biggest reason I don't recommend starting a copycat business is because that it's virtually impossible for a copycatted business to feel fulfilling to you over the long-term, (will you really feel fulfilled knowing you're the king of selling silicone baking mats?) so it's likely you'll wind up running a business that will leave you broke and miserable at the same time!
This is what happens when you start a “business in a box,” a franchise, a license or a certification. In other words, it's a one-size-fits-all business that the promoters claim are pretty much guaranteed to work as long as you can paint by numbers.
Now these kind of businesses often do work, whether you're creating a web design business or a local marketing Agency or opening up a McDonald's or Starbucks… The challenge is that for most people, unless your only motivation for going into business is financial reward, there's not a lot of personal fulfillment in building a business in a box.
Plus, there are some pretty big downsides to building this kind of business:
When they hand you the keys, they also hand you the rulebook -- the complete step-by-step of how to run your business. It contains all the rules and regulations, the look and feel, the voice, the attitude and the culture. In a cookie cutter business -- it's against the rules to be yourself (and they'll take away your business if you do!), which is NOT OK with me. How about you?
Now, I believe that you were born for a reason. You have the gifts, expertise and experiences for a reason... And you are uniquely designed to build a particular kind of business that no one else can build, like you can.
If you're like me, you want your business to stand for something more. For something bigger, grander or more important. You want to impact people and change the world, and it's impossible to do that when you're playing from someone else's rulebook.
And that's why, to me, running a successful Cookie Cutter business would actually be worse than being broke running my own business.
Before Start With You, Elizabeth Haines had invested in quite a few life and business coaching programs… and she felt like she didn't get anywhere.
She was retired and choosing to start a business out of love, not obligation. She wanted to do something personal that aligned with her core value of fun, but she felt that all the other programs either overlooked or just completely ignored her.
They were cookie-cutter approaches for how to do your business, she had to follow this, this and this step.
She felt like she wasn't the starting point, so even if she were to become successful following their approach, she would just burn out. Her business wouldn't have been sustainable because it wouldn't have aligned with who she was. With her passions, her gifts, and her core values.
When she discovered Start With You, her immediate reaction (in her words) was...
“Duh! That's what I've been waiting for. That's the missing piece!
Start With You really gave me the foundation for creating my business. It provided a compass to guide me in what direction to go and what directions to completely eliminate.
I now have a yardstick for evaluating what I do. Either something inspires me or it expires me. And I'm much more grounded and confident about making decisions.”
While other people (and other courses) may try to tell you what your path should be… that's NOT the right way to do it!
Nobody else can tell you what your ideal business should be. They may be able to help, but you're the only person in the world who can make that decision.
So many people start businesses and find that, after a while, even if they're actually making money, they're still miserable. They wish they had done something different.
And I don't want that for you.
Instead, I want to help you discover what I call your “True North BusinessTM.”
Because there's only one kind of business that will be successful no matter what: a True North Business.
Imagine a compass. Inside the compass is something called a “compass rose” that marks the 4 cardinal directions of North, South, East and West. And a needle that always points north.
You're like this compass -- at all times, you remain calibrated to point to your True North, even if you're not aware of it. You can rely on your True North to guide you, show you the right path to take, even as you evolve, and even as the world changes around you.
And generally speaking, it's made up by the sum of your collected experience, your interests and your unique gifts or superpowers.
A “True North Business” is the only kind of business that will both allow you to stand out from the noise of the most crowded market the world and the internet has ever seen… and experience the long-term fulfillment of building not just “A business you CAN build,” but “THE business you're HERE TO BUILD…”
But too many people ignore their True North compass when it comes time to choose their business, and they end up heading East, West, or even, South.
And, because your “True North Business” is founded on your internal truth, not guesses, fashions or whims, it's easier to stay on track as others get distracted by attractive opportunities that pull them off course.
As long as you understand this, and follow your “True North”, you'll arrive at your destination, whatever that looks like for you.
The beautiful part is that while everyone's “True North” Business is different, the path to finding it is the same -- you need to Start With You.
Jane is a mother of 6 who had lost who she was as a woman and became disconnected from her sexual nature as she tried to be “super mom.”
In the process, she almost lost her relationship with her husband and realized that 98% of couples have sexual problems. And she decided she could help.
Start With You gave her a deep understanding of herself and what she wanted to share and express. Rather than creating a business that was like everybody else's, she started “being more Jane.” And that attracted clients who really wanted to work with her.
In just the first month after the course ended, she lead a live event, spoke in another city for a group of her right fit audience, was interviewed for a popular podcast and began creating a digital product. And at the end of that month, she's gone from zero to 8 clients.
Just one year later, people pay her the same amount she used to earn in a month in her previous job as a nurse, for a single DAY of her time!
More importantly, she loves her work so much it doesn't feel like work. She's built a business that's personal to her and aligned with the things she really cares about, so it's a joy for her to work on her business.
Everyone's True North Business is different: that perfect intersection of what the world needs, what you're good at, what you love, and what you can profit from.
Once you find your True North, you'll know exactly what path to take and what to do next, and you'll be able to block out distractions and naysayers, moving from fear into confidence and action.
So if you're still at your day job…
Struggling to start a business…
Discouraged by your efforts so far…
Or you've had a business for a while but feel like there's something missing…
Finding your True North Business will show you the right path and get you taking steps down it.
Because there's so much pressure to get it right, taking the first step towards change is often the hardest part of the whole process.
I always say, it doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to get it going!
Let me help you create a solid foundation of a firm knowledge of your True North. Once you have that you can confidently take action and start building your business, knowing that you're not wasting time, because every action you take is guided by your True North.
I want you to take the first steps in your business and confidently enjoy the ride.
And remember... You already have the answers inside of you right now.
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WATCH ERIK'S STORY
Erik Pounders used to work in the government science sector. He had his dream job… Then he started to got bored with it. Really bored.
What he had envisioned his job to be like, wasn't what it actually was. Plus he was at the whim of governmental changes, so funding would come in, then leave.
So he decided that he wanted to have more control over his finances and his life, and also make a bigger impact in the world…
So he sought to figure out, “Of my gifts, what am I most suited for? Who can I help? And how can I share that with the world?”
It seems like a simple question, but it's not. Erik spent over a year in what he calls “search mode,” without finding an answer. After awhile he began to feel hopeless and resorted to casting the widest net possible in the hopes that something would stick. Anything.
But nothing did… until he joined Start With You and discovered something that really resonated with him that wasn't even on his radar before: Working with men who want to be in long-term relationships, but haven't been able to find the right woman.
Once he started doing the exercises and going through the process, it became so clear that he knew it was exactly the right thing.
He felt a sense of “graduation or this huge weight taken off my shoulders once I actually knew what I should be focusing my energy and effort into.”
“Having the compass point in a direction that I can follow was just an epiphany. It really was. It was a feeling of having a concrete focus on what I should be doing instead of being pushed in so many different ways.
“And, by having that, it allowed me to really change my focus and my effort on a daily basis from one of search to one of execution.
“I felt that it was an incredible moment in my life because I knew that it wasn't going to be easy moving forward. I knew that there was going to be work to do. And I'm more than happy to do that. And I enjoy that process.... I just needed to know what to do.
It was a gift of clarity. And now the impact that I'm providing for my clients is really profound. Besides food, shelter, air, and water, what's more important in life than relationships?”
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to turn your desire to start a business into a viable idea that expresses your unique gifts, talents, and personality; leverages your experience and background; and makes a real difference.
Just think - just six weeks from right now, you'll know your own True North Business: one that will be both personally fulfilling and profitable.
And, you'll have a specific plan for moving forward with clarity and confidence, so you can put aside your fears and doubts, knowing you're on the right path and have the tools to make it happen!
