For those of you who attended my presentation at the TiE Rockies Breakfast for Business on November 2, 2012, thanks for your support!
For those unable to attend, here is one of the myths we busted.
Every business owner is on a journey through the liminal dimensions leading toward liberation from the tyrants of time and money.
When I spoke to a group of Certified Financial Advisors (or CFA’s, investment analysts of stocks, bonds and derivatives), about the “personal side” of retirement planning, I made the audacious statement that it’s possible to for them to begin retiring today. How? I began with the end in mind. If the end is being able to focus on our deepest passion rather than the “busywork” of business, we can proceed as follows:
Step 1: Each day we can monitor what we love in our day and what we find to be a drain. We can choose to have gratitude for the life-giving parts of that day.
Step 2: Each day we can then choose to do more of what we love and less of the other.
Step 3: Passing through this liminal dimension day after day, day upon day, is, then, the beginning of retirement!
My goal is that, after reading this today, you will walk away choosing to take some small “baby step” (à la Bill Murray, What About Bob?) toward identifying and choosing to pass through the liminal dimension of transforming your own thought patterns and actions.
Let’s deconstruct a myth!
Exchange time for money.
Corporation: As an employee, we are wage earners who are, at best, bound by “golden handcuffs.” For me, stock options definitely made a company “owner,” but became “golden handcuffs,” binding me into thinking the Hewlett-Packard Way would translate into lifetime employment.
Entrepreneur: As a business owner, we have freedom! However, that freedom comes at the price of fighting bigger time/money Goliaths.
Imagine as a business owner that you have a window of opportunity due to market and regulatory conditions. You can make a killing (if you don’t kill yourself or your employees) by overworking this narrow window.
The price? You cannot invest time in hiring and training new employees to handle this opportunity.
The result? You make a lot of money in the short run but lose out on creating the business that will make you that much money in the future. You remain addicted to the treadmill and choose to be on 24/7.
Liminal Way: You can also choose to forego short-term excessive profits to build a sustainable business that will eventually get you off that treadmill and create time for you.
You may be asking, “How can I spot the wage earner mindset?”
A few signs of this affliction are:
- Treating the owners’ wages as a variable expense.
- Performing the $15/hour task in your business to “save money.”
- Chasing the short-term revenue/profit opportunities du jour at the expense of your strategic plan.
- Asking, “What strategic plan?”
Let me know what other myths you think we should address.
Toolkit:
When do you unconsciously view yourself as a wage earner? Use the following tool to get you out of the “employee” mindset:
Step 1: Each day monitor what you love to do in your day and what you find that drains you. Take time to express gratitude for the life-giving parts of your day to a friend or loved one.
Step 2: Each subsequent day, choose to do more of what you love and less of the rest.
Step 3: Passing through this liminal dimension day after day, day upon day is the beginning of “retirement!”
