By David Cross
The harvest started late this year due to an abnormally wet spring…even for Oregon. But now we’re enjoying the fruits of our labors. The best potatoes you’ve ever tasted (5 varieties)…luscious, juicy tomatoes…crisp salad leaves, vibrantly colored Swiss Chard…zucchini, cabbage, cucumbers and even fresh Garbanzo beans – a successful experiment this year.
And in a few weeks my “living Halloween” display in our front garden will be bursting with plump, ripe squash and pumpkins! Yummy!
Organic gardening seems so easy when you’re busy enjoying the harvest, and many of my friends are inspired to start their own organic vegetable garden.
Ironically these are the same friends who were inspired to start gardening this time last year but they have yet to start their own vegetable gardens, in spite of offers of help and suggestions to get started.
Enjoying the fruits of gardening is inspiring and rewarding but the groundwork you have to do to get there can seem off-putting. Instant and immediate results would be wonderful but that’s not how nature works. You have to put in the hard work from your side. You need to learn from others who have successfully done it, and work in harmony with the natural flow of things and enjoy the results of those labors.
What You Miss By Not Starting Out
Gardening, like marketing, is a year-round undertaking. And by not starting out with the groundwork you definitely skip the hard work and the seemingly fruitless tasks like clearing weeds, digging and planting but you also miss the results.
Does this sound familiar?
I’ve met scores of people over the years who considered starting their own business, become inspired while hearing of other peoples’ successes, dreamt of what it would be like, then put off breaking ground because it seemed a fruitless task.
Call it procrastination. Call it waiting for the spirit to move you. I call it entrepreneurial hedonism – when one expects almost-immediate results. Either way, this is a sure-fire way to never experience any real results because not starting the process means never achieving success.
No fail, no gain
If you want to succeed and enjoy the results it’s time to pick up the entrepreneurial shovel, starting immediately. Break through the inertia and the “putting-it-off” thinking. If you’ve been awaiting the right feeling, take this as the sign that it’s time to make a start.
Today!
But how?
If you are truly committed to making a start, exactly where do you start? Easy! In gardening…in business…in any new venture the trick is to start small but start now. Pick something that you can begin today, for example:
* Take a small section of garden…even a large flowerpot or bucket…and plant some seeds that you know will grow easily and quickly. Lettuce, or some herbs like Basil. Seeing results quickly will give you the confidence that “You Can Do It!
* Start building your list of prospects by offering valuable, free useful information like a special report or a 15-minute phone consultation. Remember that you may be just starting your online business but you’ve already had 5, 10, 15 even 25 years experience in your chosen field. If you’ve been decorating cakes for 23 years and your father was a pastry chef, then you’re an expert, not a beginner.
* Look for a small-win to start with. If you’re learning to dance, find an instructor who can get you to perfect some simple moves in short time. Nothing inspires success like success.
* Get the right instructor…someone who has done it before. See if there are local classes or a group of people starting out together. Even if there are no formal instructors, asking questions of other experts in the same field or of people who’ve done a similar thing in a different field can help set you on your way. For example if you want to start a website about scuba diving vacations and one of your friends has started a successful website about learning flower arranging, there are probably some elements of that success that you can learn from and apply to your own business.
* Decide that you’re going to do this, come what may. And every day, do a little more. Success is a habit. Put it on your calendar every day…and twice a day on weekends! Work on your new venture for 10-15 minutes every day. This is better than trying to find 2-3 hours one day a week and feeling overwhelmed.
* If you can’t get started, piggyback on someone else’s expertise. For example when I wanted to start organic gardening, I truly knew nothing about it but bought some organic plant starters and tended those for the first year. Doing that, with a “kick-start” inspired me to do more myself the next year.
* It’s better to start with the 50% you have and get rolling than wait for 100% down the road. Once you make a start, it’s easier to keep things moving (physics 101 holds true for business or any venture, too!). And every successful entrepreneur knows that ideas only truly take shape once they’re started.
* Don’t let any setbacks dissuade you, put you off or derail you (this goes for naysayers around you, too). Stay on track. You’re going to stick with this and achieve your dream. Pick yourself up and continue on the road.
Growing
As you start to see results – the first little sprouts appearing – while you continue to tend to the first growth, continue building on your initial success by repeating what you just did. You can then start trying new areas as your first successes start to bear fruit. For example in your garden you may wish to start a new crop in a new area. Or build a greenhouse. Or plant sunflowers, garlic or potatoes.
Or in business you may decide to try a new marketing channel such as paid advertising on search engines or start a website or build an email list.
By starting small (but starting now) you reduce your risk and as you start to generate results, this allows you to build on those early results by again starting small in new areas. You build confidence and use your early results to build upon.
Three years ago I knew only one thing about organic gardening…that I wanted to get started! Now although I have a lot to learn, I’m well on my way to growing enough vegetables for my family’s needs and having fun doing it.
All I needed to do was to get started!
***
David Cross is an Internet business consultant who specializes in monetizing content and marketing to customers at the most opportune time using his unique Niche Timing process.
Over the last 24 years David’s worked in 23 countries and lived in 6 of them. He possesses unparalleled experience in direct marketing on the Internet combined with an in-depth technical understanding of how to get things done quickly and effectively.
He has a proven track record for generating results and creative thinking and excels at testing new ways of marketing online.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear MaryEllen,
Thanks for yet another uplifting email ‘Are You an Entrepreneurial Hedonist?’ I look forward to receiving your emails each week. When I was reading your email I felt like I was reading about myself, yes I spend a lot of hours just procrastinating lots of things to do, this week I’m overwhelmed with sorting out my children’s uniforms buying new pair of shoes and sport kits etc ready for next week. After reading your email I decided to put a plan down and I like your idea of starting with small things so after writing this email I have a couple small things I would like to do this evening before I go to bed and will carry on this is something I have to do and I have to do this NOW
Sorry for the overused word “inspiring” but the organic gardening analogy to building a business is just that. I particularly took note of the devoting 15 minutes per day instead of trying to find 2 – 3 hours. I am forever beating myself up because I can’t find those hours in a block of time. Small bites might be the answer! Thanks again.