You want a “successful creative online business” whatever that means…
Big, creative projects that you love working on.
Amazing clients that bring you energy and joy every day.
A fat PayPal wallet.
And the time freedom to take a nap on a Wednesday afternoon and a week-long vacation with the familia to Cancun.
But you’re noooottt quite there yet.
You still haven’t launched your first program.
You’re still not booked out.
You’re avoiding running those webinars, mini ecourses, and whatever other list building idea you had.
You just aren’t getting that sh!t done. And you got a lotta excuses why.
“There’s never enough time.”
“I just don’t know how.”
“Technology is just a pain in the a$$.”
“There’s too much to do; I don’t know where to start!”
Or, my personal favorite, “It takes years to make a proper start. I won’t see results for ages.”
These myths (and whatever else ones you got to throw at me once I bust these) are stopping you.
It’s not that you can never get anything done. It’s not that you don’t have enough time. And it’s definitely not that you don’t know how (I’ll explain why in a minute).
It’s that believing these myths is stopping you.
From being amazing.
From launching that course and filling that PayPal wallet.
From taking that nap.
And from getting sh!t done.
You’re going to kick a$$ this year, girl… as soon as you kick these beliefs to the curb.
Allow me to explain…
- “There’s never enough time.”
Then explain to me, lady, why so many people before and beside you have been able to accomplish so much? It’s a common misconception that either
a) you have more to do than other people, or
b) there’s not enough time to get done all that needs doing in your life.
If you find you don’t have enough time for everything on your list, it’s time to start taking some stuff OFF that list. Steven Pressfield argues that the truly great creative people practice saying, “No” a lot. No to extra commitments, no to jobs outside their zone of genius, no to guest starring opportunities they don’t really want, no to client work that drags them down. And Mastin Kipp says that when we say no to something that’s not working for us, we create a vacuum for even greater stuff to come it.
So, not enough time? Maybe there’s just too much on your list. Time to start saying no. What really deserves some real estate on your to-do list? (Hint: allllll of the guest posting opportunities in the world are not necessary for growing your business.)
- “I just don’t know how”
What you’re really telling me with this one is that you’ve never been able to do it before. So you don’t know where to start. Or, perhaps more accurately, you’re worried you’ll get the start wrong, you’re scared you wont’ be able to do it, you don’t want to embarrass yourself, or any other number of excuses that are a lot more accurate than not knowing how. Most of us don’t know how. We’re just going to figure it out.
In the “traditional” school/career world, we’re used to following a simple step-by-step process. We are trained not to be creative with our lives or careers or anything. You were probably put into school at age 4, followed the typical K through 12 curriculum, just checked the boxes on each assignment, graduated, applied to college, graduated, got a job, blah blah blah. At no point did you step OUT OF BOUNDS in a big way and just feel your way forward, publicly mess up, get creative, adventurous, brave.
So as soon as we step away from that path and start a BUSINESS, like OF OUR OWN, our first response is often “I don’t know how…”
Because there’s no handy roadmap in front of us.
But the truth is that you never knew how. Before you were just following someone else’s roadmap, and were pretty easily guaranteed some kind of success.
But ultimately, there’s no single way to achieve any goal, and quite frankly, each person is going to get to the same goal differently (the same way each celebrity you hear from has a different “discovered” story), and only you will be able to figure out your journey for you.
So stop worrying about being right or wrong, and just figure out how to get where you want to go.
- “Technology never works,” or, the more obnoxiously (to my mind) phrased, “Technology is just a pain in the a$$.”
Technology, my dear, can do literally anything… with a little creativity.
It’s not that technology never works. IT’s just that you probably haven’t given yourself enough time. Or you’re scared. Or you think you don’t know enough. Or all three.
If technology isn’t your first language, just give yourself more time to do it! The same way you wouldn’t expect yourself to rattle off fluent Italian if you’re just learning, don’t expect everything to go smoothly and efficiently as you learn and feel your way through technology.
A bigger tip, though. Break down what you need or want to get done with your technology BEFORE you sit down to it. Instead of limiting yourself by what you think you’re capable of in technology, figure out what creative vision you have first, and then go figure out HOW to do it (using technology) later.
Example. You want to create a totally rocking movie trailer for your next launch. So you sit down and try to “learn” iMovie. You get frustrated along the way, not to mention how FREAKING LONG it’s taking you to do this stuff, and you come out with a really messy, sub-par video because a) you got frustrated and it took too freaking long, and b) you just aren’t good at this stuff. Oh, and c) technology just sucks.
Better tactic. Figure out what you want your gorgeous trailer video to look like. And go figure out how to make it just like that. GIving yourself literally weeks to do it.
- “There’s too much to do, and I don’t know where to start.”
Build a website, optimize it, SEO it, write all your blog posts, edit all your blog posts, make graphics, post this and that, engage on social media, whatever the hell else you’ve put on your task list that you just have to do. And that’s just regular, recurring tasks. Doesn’t include all those creative projects you’ve got – start a podcast, write a book, make a film, tame sharks.
There’s a lot to do, and it’s overwhelming concept to try to start. But not knowing where to start most often comes from not actually having a good idea of what needs doing.
When you don’t know all the tasks you want to get done – as in, you’ve avoided writing them all down and actually acknowledging them all – you cannot figure out where to start or focus your energies.
When you keep second guessing your to do list (also comes in the form of changing it!), you do not have a clear idea of your goal, and you certainly don’t trust yourself to figure out how to get there.
Not knowing where to start is another way of saying, “I’m scared to start. Because if I start, then I might fail and not get anything done.”
And if you never start, then you’ll never get anything done.
Little blessing though. There’s no right place to start.
- “It takes years to make a proper start. I won’t see any results for ages.”
This myth/belief is often buried deep, and we usually use it as an excuse for not starting, rather than fully realizing it’s there and saying it out loud.
But it’s not true. Simply not true.
A) You don’t have to have an overnight success.
But B) You might.
And that’s okay. Both are okay.
Because while traditional rules of business definitely still apply and have their bearing on the changing world of entrepreneurship and online creatives, they don’t necessarily rule what you do. And even if they did, you can definitely see little changes every day, every week, every month.
Remember when you sold your first program?
Or when you had your first invoice paid?
Or posted your first Facebook Live?
Those were all big deals at the time.
You might not make a million dollars for ages, but you will definitely make a “proper start.” Once you start (and continue) to get sh!t done.
There’s no magic pill to start being productive and getting stuff done. There’s no perfect strategy that I can hand you that will solve all your problems.
Or perhaps, I should say, there is, but it only works if you practice it.
So instead of buying into all the excuses you hear yourself running up all the time, take a deep breath, notice those excuses, beliefs, and sabotages for what they are (your brain being a jerk and trying to stop you!), and keep going.