Project: Staying Grounded When You’re on The Top

The top. What does it look like to you? Is it a picturesque lifestyle that can be described in one sentence? One word? Does the top signify smooth sailing, carefree spending and minions (not of the Universal Pictures variety, of course)? Does the top look closer than ever to you?

Does the top signify success to you? Here're six tips on how to stay grounded and be yourself as you reach for the top this new year…

•    Remember the people who helped get you there – It’s never a one-man show. There are people who believed in you, pushed you, pulled you…did whatever you required of them so you could be the best version of King/Queen of your hill.

•    Constantly work towards another goal – While Journey may have beseeched us to never stop believing, it’s important to never stop achieving. At one point or another, we set up a goal for ourselves. Once achieving that, it’s integral not to stop there. Success is a journey. It’s not just an object or milestone. It’s progression. It’s different for everyone, but it doesn’t stay if we don’t keep moving.

•    Create community togetherness – Find a second passion. Pursue something that feeds your heart while feeding the community and wellbeing of others. If you see a need, resolve it. Too big for you to fix? Collaborate with others who can help and you’ll plant roots deep enough that when you get to the top you have a lot of strength to pull from.

•    Make room for others at the top – The things you do today, right now, heavily impact everyone around you. It’s not just engineers and inventors who influence the next generation’s trends; it’s the entrepreneurs and risk-takers. The risks you take, others will take after you. Ensure you are making not just bold decisions but decisions that will encourage the next generation to seek a path that has purpose.

•    Live [and love] the everyday – Don’t get caught up in the big picture so much that you miss out in the little details that matter most to living. Whether it’s breakfast, family vacations, movie nights, sports kick-off traditions, missing out on the downtime and watching others grow alongside you devalues the momentous rise of your own, making it much less significant.

•    Reevaluate your top – Plans change. You can recalculate, reroute and make U-turns if you must, so long as they align with the above statements and fulfill your vision and heart. Give yourself a gut check every few years to ensure you are doing what you need to do to stay on the journey of success and find your way to your own version of the top. The top isn’t higher than everybody else. The top is beating your self-doubts and reaching many milestones.

Here’s to a happy and safe climb!  

-The Green Couch

Project: Be Unpredictable

Sometimes you have to use multiple platforms and methods. Sometimes you have to hire to fill every C-Level position. Sometimes you have to be mainstream. Sometimes you end up losing a bit of spark from your original plan.

Worse case scenario, there are moments when people know what you are going to do before you do. That’s because sometimes being an entrepreneur turns into being cost effective. It turns more profitable than you could have imagined. 

But as risk-takers there comes a time you have to be unpredictable. You have to take several steps back to the drawing board rather than turn to the Board.

Yeah, you’re thinking, everybody has already done it before; you just have to figure out a way to do it differently, even if that differently means to speak it in your voice.

No one thinks the way you do; use it to your advantage.

So how can you be unpredictable? (Isn’t reading about that and planning for that predictable?)

Be Open to Timeframes – A company that is set in stone and has a rigid five-year plan will miss too many opportunities. Time, technology and we as humans are changing so rapidly we can’t plan too far in advance. Leave room for adaptability and you’ll leave room for unpredictability.

Be Open to Advice – Whether it’s good, bad, left field, right field, from the old or really young, it doesn’t mean you have to take it, but any advice will help guide you to who you really are and who you want to be. And once you intake advice you act – unpredictably – on which you feel is wisest.

Be Open to Failure – Although it looks right in your mind and on the drawing board, success doesn’t always transfer to real life or happen overnight. Out of failure comes resilience, the need to be innovative and the room to be unpredictable.

-The Green Couch

Project: The Gig is Up

For some, “gig” is a word that alludes to a secretive endeavor. Think reconnaissance. Under the books. Hide and seek.

Others, it’s a music feature.

But for those who are trying to make their ends meet, who are trying to get their books out of the red and into the black, their gig means a side job. Their weekend job. Their start up.

So when the day comes when they are told the gig is up, it’s a good day.

Because this time when they’re told the gig is up, it doesn’t mean they’re found out, it means they’ve been found. Both by someone else – an audience, and by themselves.

They’ve been spotted as a recognizable and reputable brand. They are wanted. They have something; they are solving something. They are the someone they know they are supposed to be. They are utilizing the skillset they were intended to, in an atmosphere that is most conducive to society.

No more a pet project, side job, an income loss; it’s now your primary source of income, but more importantly it’s your source of happiness.

It’s freedom.

The gig is up, so now what? What’s a girl or guy to do?

• If you haven’t already explored who you are and why it matters, you start here, because though it may be a one-man show, every one needs a side-kick. This interactive workbook is the almost pocket-sized strategist all newfound, or renewing entrepreneurs need:

Getbrandstarter.com

• If you need business inspiration you can begin by browsing The Project Blog: Written with risk-takers in mind – those who may have many light bulbs burning or those who have yet to shine – The Project Blog is a resource for budding entrepreneurs. Through educating and empowering words, we hope that our posts will inspire you to write your story too. Enjoy the journey and join in on The Green Couch mission to speak, follow and fulfill your dreams. #SpillYourGutsy

thegreencouchproject.blogspot.com

• If you need to bounce your ideas off of someone else’s, there is a reason it’s called a brand new idea - their ideas should inspire you to brand yours…They sign pinky promises, spill their gutsy and share how they continue to speak follow and fulfill business dreams. Sitting on The Couch, they take us along for the journey and reflect on their initial risk-taking moment, re-discovering their love, passion and vision - and then fall in love all over again. Remembering the thrill of the risk, the highs, the lows and the rewards, they refocus and find themselves walking away with renewed purpose.

thegreencouchproject.com/stories.php

• If you have an amazing story, if you have had ups and downs and more downs, then you tell someone, and you can tell it on The Green Couch. It’s time to spill your gutsy. To get it out and tell the world that as a risk-taker you’re just like them, they’re just like you. What made you want to be an entrepreneur? Venture out on your own? Build a brand? What makes you a risk-taker? What makes you get up in the morning? Stay up all night?

The next generation of dreamers depends on us following ours today. No matter how old we get, no matter how long we’re in the business, an entrepreneur never stops growing. What if you could reach the masses just by sitting on a couch? You can. Others have. Now it’s your turn.

thegreencouchproject.com/contact.php

-The Green Couch

Want to be featured in The Green Couch Project Newsletter? 

Email momina@thegreencouchproject… Get ready to #spillyourgutsy and snap a selfie!

Project: Dr. Seuss’ Advice on Risks and Rewards

Between his made-up words, make-believe worlds and tongue twisters – and even his fictitious doctoral title and multiple pseudonyms – we associate him as a child’s leader. He is our loveable, well known Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss’ brilliance was destined for children’s literature, but his wisdom encompasses entrepreneurs and all those willing to take a risk. Whether you are diving off the literal or figurative diving board, the climb is the lesser frightening task. It is the first bounce that takes the most might.

Maybe you will have to keep your eyes shut, maybe you will have to summon all your strength. However, when it comes time to ask why you are doing what you are about to do – why or whether you should jump, Seuss has some sage advice:

• “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” – Dr. Seuss

That is what always prompts the journey. Right?

• “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” – Dr. Seuss

Your dreams are not supposed to align with others’. That’s why they are YOURS.

• “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.” – Dr. Seuss

Your idea may be the next BIG idea. Pursue it and its purpose. The world needs more thinkers who are doers.

• “Oh, the things you can find if you don't stay behind!” – Dr. Seuss

If life is a risk, do you have what it is to be a taker? Do not let fear keep you from checking out of your comfort zone.

• “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.” – Dr. Seuss

Creativity: Breathe it. Live it. Embrace it. Love it.

• “It is better to know how to learn than to know.” – Dr. Seuss

Be humble and happy to learn from those around you. Satisfaction guaranteed to a wiser you.

• “You have to be odd to be number one” – Dr. Seuss

Touché! Be bold, bigger than life and go with your gutsy.

What is odd about you? How will you be the world to one person? How will you wake up your brain cells? How will you Seuss up your lifestyle?

-The Green Couch