Some days I feel an urge to dig holes for a living

and I never knew why until I sat and thought about it the other day. What I concluded might shed some light on WHY we constantly search for new projects and hop from idea to idea.

Sometimes while driving, either after seeing a client or coming back from the shopping center, or whatever, I'll experience an undirected, unfocused BURST of action-enthusiasm for several minutes. Enthusiasm that would have me shoot off and dig a hole for money if someone should happen to call me and ask me to come dig a hole.

It's an odd feeling/urge of wanting to do something, ANYTHING. And there's no pattern to when the feeling hits. It just strikes totally out of the blue. Sometimes it will hit me real late at night. Or while I'm in the shower. Or while I'm working on a project.

I have never really given the feeling/urge any thought. But when it happened to me again on Friday morning I decided to try and figure out WHY such an odd 'wave' should roll over me.

I believe I've figured out WHY it happens. And the answer also reveals WHY we often jump around from project to project, from idea to idea.

An entrepreneur is a problem solver. It's the nature of the beast.

And prehaps the biggest problem that an entrepreneur needs to overcome is money... or to be a little more specific... the lack of it. And how to get their business going - or expanded - with minimal funds.

It's often hard solving that particular problem without experience. And so I created The Art of Leverage to help. To help remove 'limiting thoughts' and to enable you to see the way forward. And I am grateful to all of you who have given me such positive, unsolicited praise of my humble Work. I Thank You!

One thing has nagged me about business, though. And many of you know I've talked about something I call "The Entrepreneur-O-Matic." An idea of mine that would enable ANYONE - regardless of experience, education or financial backing - to start a successful business.

I believe The Art of Leverage is a step in that direction. And by studying (going over it many many times and doing worksheets) you will begin to see opportunities all around you.

Something is, or has been, missing though. And often that something is called ACTION. Taking ACTION on the ideas and FOLLOWING THROUGH until completion.

WHY?

Why do we take a project to a certain stage and then drop it and move on to something else?

Jim Straw says we seek knowledge but all we get when we invest in a product is information. And it doesn't turn in to knowledge until we ACT on the information and APPLY IT.

I agree with him. We do seek one thing and get another. But WHY don't we ACT?

Fear of success/failure/rejection?

Maybe.

But what if it is something more? Something barely perceptible but there if you look hard enough. Something that is NOT FEAR of success or failure or rejection. Something that has been ingrained into us since birth.

Throughout our lives we try lots of things - sports, hobbies, skills, etc. And we don't let 'fear of failure' stop us - even if we know we won't be any good at it.

So why should it suddenly stop us when it comes to business?

I don't think it does. I think it's that hidden element.

The answer is contained in what I wrote at the beginning of this post "I'll experience an undirected, unfocused BURST of action-enthusiasm... that would have me shoot off and dig a hole for money if...

someone should happen to call me and ask me to come dig a hole."

Think about it...

No customer generation. No quotes being given. No sales talk. Just servicing a customer who calls you all on their own.

Ask any tradesman who does repeated sub-contract work for the same contractor. Ask them if they prefer doing the sub-contract work (which usually means the contractor calls them and gives them the new 'job') or getting and dealing with potential customers all the time to find the few real customers.

Ask any lawnmowning guy if he prefers servicing regulars who are on a schedule - he just turns up and does the work - or if he prefers going to see potential customers to give quotes.

From birth we pretty well have everything handed to us on a silver platter. Sure we may have to bug mom and dad to get some things. But we learn that this works and how to 'play it up.'

At school we are spoon-fed everything. Even assignments are given specific topics from specific sources.

We then get a job and are told what to do and left alone to do it.

Then, as Michael Gerber says, we have en entrepreneurial seizure.

But after years of 'doing what we are told' we find the new road ahead hard. We must now generate the customers who will tell us what to do (what they want to buy, etc). But we don't like that bit. We just want customers to come to us out of the blue. And because that's often not possible we then look for shortcuts. An easier way to generate customers without actually having to deal with them.

We often hear 'do what you love and the money will follow' and 'figure out a way to make money from your hobby.' And people try this and it doesn't work.

WHY?

Because when it's a hobby it's their choice. They control it. But as soon as customers come into the picture, then it stops being about what you want and more about what they - the customers - want.

The photographer who loves landscapes suddenly finds themself taking photos on commission. Photographing things they have no interest in because it's what the customer wants. Their creativity - the very thing they enjoyed about their hobby - is gone. And it becomes annoying - like a passenger telling you how to drive.

The person suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure wants customers handed to them on a silver platter. The hobbiest wants customers to buy what they have already created and to also have those customers handed to them on a silver platter.

Door-to-door sales got you down? What if the leads to pre-qualified people are provided to you? Not so bad then, is it? You might even do it, wouldn't you? (you would probably prefer them to have already made up their mind to buy from You and your visit is just to fill out the order form)

The difference? The pre-qualified lead is already half sold AND handed to you on a silver platter.

Cold calling on the phone. Same thing. But returning a call to someone who has left a message enquiring about your widget is different. And even better if the person who left the message just wants what you're offering without the baggage of quotes, questions, etc.

The next time you take a project to a certain level and just drop it, STOP and ask yourself WHY.

Do you really fear failure or success or rejection? Or is it really that generating customers and dealing with a lot of potential customers to find the few real customers seems like a hassle?

Michael Ross.

P.S. If there was some thing or some way that customers could be handed to you on a silver platter, so you wouldn't have to deal with potential customers and only serve those who have already made the decision to buy from you, would you go for it?