use every day. You do, however, need to be willing to understand what these services can do to support your business, and to use them. Your competitors, in any arena, certainly will.

DEVELOP A BIAS TOWARD ACTION, STARTING WITH SMALL STEPS

A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step.

—Lao-tzu

We are all familiar with people who are unsatisfied with their jobs and yearn to go out on their own. Many of them talk about starting a business—sometimes endlessly, without ever taking action. They see starting a business as an overwhelming, all-or-nothing task.

In contrast, go-it-alone entrepreneurs take the first steps, however small, to establish their business initiatives. Though it’s a cliché that everything begins with a small first step, it’s particularly true here. These entrepreneurs have figured out how to begin inventing their own business without completely abandoning their jobs or risking everything in one roll of the dice. This first step then leads to another and another, so that by the time these people have created a new business, they’ve often created a new life for themselves. This deliberate, incremental approach makes success much more likely.

In The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty, Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen, and Les Hewitt, describe the benefits of this approach to getting started:

"Many people live their lives in ready-steady mode, instead of ready steady Go! You must go. Kickstart yourself into focused action. Just take the first step. Gradually you will build momentum. Like the proverbial snowball rolling downhill, you won’t be able to stop after you make that early push. Remember, the big rewards in life only materialize when you start doing."

<--previous page

next page-->

Search the complete text of Go It Alone!