Project: Aha! Moment

The end of the year is here and like those that have put holiday shopping off are freaking out, those that have put off their dreams are freaking out as well. Just two weeks until the new year, a few short days, and so many people are saying they haven’t achieved anything. It’s the final countdown and:

They’ve not lost any weight.
They’ve not yet graduated.
They’ve not scored the pot of gold.
They’ve not landed the perfect relationship.
They’ve not made partner.
They’ve surely not acquired the diamond.
They’ve not __________.

What have you not? I’m sure you can fill in the blank above with your own not.

But the aha! moment has no time restrictions. It has no respect for locations.

It comes when and where it pleases. In the middle of your dreams, during the shower. It hits you subtly; it hits you like a grand piano from the skyscraper above in a Looney tunes cartoon. Your feet affixed to the ground, your eyes transfixed to the behemoth coming closer and closer until suddenly what was just a thought, something you were flirting with in the back of your mind becomes a very real decision.

We’ve all failed this year. We all have had an idea. We’ve all had an idea we wanted to pursue, but other problems arose, and we’ve persuaded ourselves these were more prevalent.

Sometimes that decision is taken away from you. Because now you are stuck under a grand piano, under your grand idea.

Maybe 2014 has been a series of delays but writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry reminds us A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH. Without his plans, his success would not have been discovered.

Our Decembers are not our last chance to fulfill the end of quarter potential. They should, like every other day, be viewed as a first chance. Every day we can reevaluate our goal and put into effect a plan. So no matter what didn’t happen the three-hundred some days behind us, we have still have December 16th, and we still have an Ah ha! moment that needs to be implemented.

This December 16th reinvent the definition of your 2014. Forget about all the “Nots” that took place and start planning for a “Nothing Held Back Attitude.”

Give it all you got. Because you’ve got a lot to gain.

Project: Three E's To Simplify Your Entrepreneur Journey

Anyone who told you it would be easy did not try to simplify. Sometimes making it easier is the hardest thing. When you are too close to the painting it is hard to tell what it is supposed to be, so you need to take ten, twenty - sometimes even thirty steps - back before you can differentiate the smile and the dimple of Mona Lisa. All those brush strokes resemble the details of your life right now. You have 100 tasks going on, and that is just before noon. If only there were a system, some abracadabra Dr. Seuss system that could aid you.

However, it is just you and your team. Or is it? Take another ten steps back and guess what? Those brush strokes blend and voila! A masterpiece. It looks simple, right? It is orchestrated perfectly, and it flows naturally. Every color has it place.

You can only see it because you took a step back.

Moreover, it is time you did the same at work. It is time to simplify things at work. Here are a few ways you can begin so you can see and differentiate the dimple and smile of your Mona Lisa, whatever she may be:

 1) The Einstein:

“If you cannot explain it to a six-year-old, you do not understand it.”

We sarcastically use his name, “Thanks, Einstein,” when someone plays Captain Obvious, but one of the most intelligent men understood the power of a child’s mind and the simplicity of words.

You can tell just from his infamous crazy hair and projected tongue; he never let his ah ha's! stop him from his haha's!

Never sacrifice joy and passion for the pursuit of a successful career.

2) The Etiquette:

There was a time that you only bit into enough food that you could chew with three bites before you could swallow. That way if someone should ask you a question you could easily answer them, without appearing rude or appearing, well, you know stupid.

Apply that today. Break it down. Bullet points. Numbers. Power point. Whatever you have to, don’t be afraid to repeat yourself and highlight so others can digest.

3) The Engagement:

It has been remarked that there are four rings to marriage.

The Promise Ring, The Engagement Ring, The Wedding Ring and The Suffering. When it comes to business, you need to simplify things to ensure that you only ever have three rings. With yourself, your employees and clients. No matter whom you deal with, start with a promise, engage them and marry them. Just make sure they never suffer or regret you. The only way to ensure that is keeping things simple. Just like with any relationship, don’t complicate things. Communicate, and things should be a-oh-kay.

The way we keep it simple here is this: everything about us, is all about you. It is just that easy. Pen, pencil, keyboard; whatever method, your gutsy matters and this is your time, your place and your space. Ready. Set. Spill.

-The Green Couch

Project: Chutes and Ladders On the Road to Success

Growing up many friends, family and children played a gamed called chutes and ladders. You may be familiar with it if not let me surmise the goal: The one to reach the top of the ladder first wins. In other words, the object of the game is to win.

As with most games reliant upon dice, this game of chance depends upon which number you roll. If your pawn lands on a square with a ladder – up you go with a higher success rate of winning. Land on a square with a chute? It is bye-bye baby.

As an entrepreneur, we battle daily trying to decipher the difference between it is all in the wrist (a roll of the dice) and balance that with one of our favored words – it is all in the risk. (Another game – another time.)

However, more importantly, we have to align our priorities and follow the procedure to climb that ladder. We are not talking about the corporate ladder; we are talking about the ladder of success.  The way you spell success we leave to you, however while success is subjective it is always an elevation of where we are, to where we are going.

So here’s the steps we need to follow to free ourselves from the chute and follow the ladder.

Who cares the number you roll. Shoot for the innumerable stars – that is a risk we like talking about:

-Believe in Your Idea

-Dream About It

-Set a Goal: 

A goal is a dream with a deadline. – Napolean Hill

-Be Disciplined: 

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. – Jim Rohn

-Track Your Achievements & Take Time to Celebrate

As always believe in your dream, believe in it and always have a goal in mind. Because if you are reaching for the stars, there are many rings to your ladders and equal many amounts of chutes. Are you up to playing the game?

It is your turn! Ready, set, roll.

-The Green Couch

Project: An Experienced Entrepreneur

Many insurance companies say it takes two years to become an experienced driver.

It has also said that it takes at least two years to determine whether your start-up will maintain stable, encounter traction and have measurable growth. So what is your projection for becoming an experienced entrepreneur? How are you going to go from I want, to I will, to I did?

If you have a dream and you are a risk taker, welcome to the club of entrepreneurs. Here’s a club secret –the first 12 months are most crucial. We do not want to be back seat drivers, but we’d love to share some pointers to get you from point A to point Z.

#1 Believe In Yourself

We are going to be blunt. It is all in or it is nothing. Jump into the frying pan. That does not mean that you gamble all your finances into this new venture. It means that you have to believe that your dream is worth pursuing, that it will have a positive impact and that people can benefit from it. If you do not believe it, then who will?

#2 Moonlight Your Dream

Do not quit your day job, and do not turn your day job into a resource to pursue your dream. When it comes time to pull back from your current occupation, you will know. You will have this burning sensation in your stomach to the heart region. Do not pop any Tums: it is not indigestion. It is just a solid dose of gutsy, only satisfied by risk.

#3 Name That Baby

Name that brainchild of yours and begin nurturing it. At some point you are going to have to quit calling it “my idea,” “my dream” or “my baby.” Now you can confidently start referring to it by its rightful, legal name. Start by registering the company name.

#4 Research And Read About It

You have heart, now let us put some head in it. No matter how original your dream is, the market is saturated with companies that offer products and services that will always compete with your ideology. Focus on how your services and products will stand out, build on that platform and keep crunching numbers and jotting notes!

#5 Keep Your Ears Open

Jump. Fly. Figure it out on the way down. Yes, to all three. But you also have to let others help you out and hold you up for maximum wingspan. You see, there is always, always someone who knows something that you do not. We want to help you; we want to offer you advice, but can only do so because we are in constant contact with people who give us the same amount of insights. Established entrepreneurs will be happy to guide you towards your maximum potential, but sometimes we just have to reach out, invite them to lunch and embrace their leadership skills. Who does not like good food while absorbing food for thought?

But at the end of the day when it gets dark, you plan on pulling an all-nighter, you have to believe in yourself. You can read books or blogs, like ours, about being an entrepreneur, but the truth is you will only learn when you get out there and do it. The earlier you make your mistakes, the quicker you can get on to building a great company.

During those two years of driving, you will face adverse weather conditions. You will learn how to make left turns confidently. You will learn that you do need to respect the oil light, the gaslight and the engine light. You will learn how to read the signs of other drivers; whether they are experienced or not. And it often comes at the risk of your own inexperience and mistakes.

So it is with a new company as well: with a person who has a dream and builds a company on that idea. Passion will fuel your way on the road to success, but experience will steer you along the way. If you are told, “Good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgment,” you have been told the truth.

-The Green Couch