Webadventure Day 37: Where Your Heart Is…

“When you are not that interested in what you are doing you stop paying attention to the details.”

- Al Pacino

For the past year or so, I’ve been slipping. Or I should say, I’ve been letting things slip.

Among the many entrepreneurial endeavors I’ve jumped into, one – Direct Sales Classroom – has been a constant, stabilizing force in my life for the past 4 years. What began completely by accident has grown into a significant chunk of my annual revenues (and profits, which is the number that really matters in business). Plus, I enjoy working with direct sellers. I know their pain intimately, having been in direct sales myself for nearly two decades. I speak their language, I get what they’re up against, and I’m fairly confident at helping them grow their business and still be able to have a life.

That “division” of my company has grown steadily in the past four years, and I eventually came to need help managing it. Some of you may know “my Bonnie”, as I often refer to her. She helped me handle a lot of the back end, behind-the-scenes stuff that kept DSC running like a well-oiled machine. Bonnie allowed me to free up my time to focus on IPA (Income Producing Activities & Important Personal Activities). It’s something I preach, and finally a division of my company was “big enough” to warrant the additional support.

But something happened along the way in the last two years with my Bonnie helping me grow the business:

I got “distracted” – not in a bad way, mind you. I got distracted from the nitty-gritty daily “grunt work” of running my business.

And I liked it – a LOT.

I also got to focus more on what really excites me: helping action-oriented entrepreneurs grow a successful business AND have a life. In the process, I launched two different websites, thinking they would be “THE” thing  that would finally put my work into focus again. The Renaissance Mom was my attempt to hone in on a mom-preneur niche that ended disasterously with two failed attempts to bring a live event to market. To say I learned a few lessons is the understatement of the century, me thinks. I finally dissolved that division this year – and had to let my Bonnie go in the process. Before that happened, though, I launched this site, Business Action Hero, at the beginning of 2011 – quietly at first, and thrilled at watching all kinds of action-oriented entrepreneurs climb out of the woodwork to connect in this new sandbox.

And slowly, my attention shifted almost completely, to this new online arena. I kept creating products and programs for DSC, but BAH was where my heart was. I wasn’t “mailing it in” yet at DSC, but I was getting close.

I’ve already made mention of my weekend in Minnesota, and how it opened my eyes to more of who I really want to be  am. Well, the return drive (all 12 hours of it), gave me even more clarity and insight into the next steps of my journey. But I was too scared to move forward.

Then, Godly enough, one of my brilliant clients, @LesMcKeown, offers up this post, explaining how bootstrapping is great, but also creates a hidden trap for people that want to grow beyond being a solopreneur.

“And it’s at this point that all sorts of subliminal stuff kicks in, testing the solopreneur’s commitment to building their business. Do I really want to do this? Is this worth it? Is there a financially viable future if I make this commitment?”

- Les McKeown 

Les offers a few questions to stir the pot on making the decision to grow or stay put. In asking myself those questions, I garnered even more epiphanies:

• I’ve never really wanted to work on my own, but found that there were fewer obstacles if I just did things my own way.
• Most of my “success” happened because I knew I could help people in a way that wasn’t already covered. Now, there’s all kinds of direct sales coaches and trainers, and my heart’s not in it anymore, even though I love the people.
• I’ve always known (from the time I was three years old), that I was born to stand out – and contribute something to the world that is bigger than myself. 15 years ago, I decided to play it safe instead, since I was pregnant and all. Now, I realize that was a mistake the best choice I could make at the time. And it’s time to get back to the task at hand of impacting the world in a more significant way.

My heart is fully vested in reaching people with maximum impact. I recognize now that I can’t do that as a direct sales coach and trainer – or even as a coach to entrepreneurs. It’s a start in the right direction, but the reason I’ve felt so pigeonhole is because it is a pigeon hole.

Which means, eventually, I will have to say goodbye. That excites me and scares me all that the same time. It’s like leaving that job you’ve loved for years to take a better offer somewhere else in the world. I love what I do – and what I’ve done. I just love this new direction so much more.

And the “bump” Les describes really freaks me out. But now that I know it exists, I can make a plan for it. I can take my time and get ready for it. And I just might find a way to smooth it out – I’m always up for a good challenge, you know.

More than a third of the way into this launch, and I’m only now getting started on the foundational stuff like websites, etc. But I’m fairly confident I’ve picked the right “location” and the right “soil” on which to lay this foundation. Keep watching, because like a skyscraper, it will go up a lot faster than you might expect in the next 50+ days.

Matthew 6: 21 says, “For where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” It implies our heart is where our money is. But it also implies that what we focus on becomes more abundant in our life (and biz). What about you? Where is your heart (in your work and your life)? Where is your focus? What are you doing to feed your heart and nourish yourself, your clients, and your world?