Ready to ‘Make Your Move’? Three Surprising Tips for Getting Started

You have an idea for a business don’t you? It might be small. It might be huuugggeeee! It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re here, today. What matters is that you start, somewhere. What matters is that you make your move, soon.

Every big venture starts off as a small idea. DARETOGROW was a small idea that started in a small way. In the beginning there was no web site, no online course, no book. I actually used the phrase ‘DARETOGROW’ as a marketing message for a networking event I was running. I asked attendees “Do you dare to grow your business?”.

Over time, as my intentions became clearer, I took the name and turned it into a brand, a platform and a movement: #DARETOGROW and Change Your Life. It grew into my way of expressing my life’s purpose. It grew into a method other people could follow to build their dream lives. It grew into a business! Say whaaat?!

When I look back at how I got it this far I always take a moment to thank myself for giving it a go: for getting started. I had no idea what I was doing or what it would became. And it changed a lot over time. I knew I wanted to share stories and empower people to change their lives and I knew I wanted to be happy and show others how to find happiness too. Let’s just say the business model evolved over time.

I made my move back in 2015. I sold my recruitment company and began downsizing my marketing agency. My intention was to free up my time to focus on what I loved. Now I don’t want to give you the impression I had lots of money here, or that it was easy. Pah! Think – the opposite.

The obstacle is the way

At the time, I had to personally take on £70k worth of business loans to exit Digitia (the marketing agency), I was crushed by depression and I was living a life I hated. I’d gained weight. I’d had to move back home with parents. I felt like a total failure! I wanted to run away…from my life, from myself. But that wasn’t an option. My only option was finding a way through!

It was a long road back home to happiness – getting out of depression; getting out of debt; building a new life and speaking my truth – and this is what makes DARETOGROW so special. Those challenges gave me the opportunity to learn, to grow, to find a way. This journey has been crucial to the success of DARETOGROW. Who’d have known that the obstacle would in fact become the way!

So don’t worry right now if you don’t know where you’re going or how you’ll get there. Don’t worry if you have depression or you’re in debt (or both!). Don’t worry if you seem to be surrounded by obstacles – including a complete lack of time. What seems to be stopping you is actually the resistance you need in order to grow. The obstacle is the way.

Take my debt for example. I was careless with money. By the time I was 23 I was earning £48k basic and more in bonuses and perks. By the time I was 28 I was running two six figure businesses and money was flowing in. What’s weird though is that I couldn’t hold on to any of it! In fact I had a tendency to spend more than I was making…always! I thought of my expenses as investments in the businesses I was building. I thought ‘one more contract’, ‘one more cheque’ and everything would balance. It never did. Every time I made more I spent more. I hired more people, got bigger offices, upgrading the office equipment. Money slipped through my fingers.

When I wanted to exit Digitia, the loans I’d taken to grow (think ‘investment’ mentality) quickly became personal debts I had to repay. But now I didn’t have the same income streams I’d once had. Nor did I have a team to deliver large contracts. It was just me and Alice. I had to learn to cut my costs, live within my means, service contracts more effectively and find new ways to earn money without trading my time. That £70k was the price of that education.

The challenges in your life are never more than you can handle. They’re actually directly proportionate to what you need to learn. So ask yourself, if you have a persistent and reoccurring theme in your life: ‘what is the lesson you need to learn’. And…how might that obstacle provide you with the route out?

I began using my obstacles as content for my blogs, my book, my courses. I shared my journey and told people what I’d learnt and what I was trying to change my life. That story became DARETOGROW and here we are.

Progress not perfection

Alice has just started Marie Forlio’s online course – B School. From what she’s told me about it, it sounds amazing. One of the key messages she shared with me from the course is Marie’s idea of ‘progress not perfection’. This is the idea of moving forward with what you have, the best you can, in the here and now rather than getting hung up on perfection.

We all do it from time to time: we can’t move on because we want something to be perfect. The trouble is that this is an impossible expectation. There are just too many moving parts in business. Yes things can always be better but people don’t need perfection, they need the best version you can share right now.

I think back to my early days with DARETOGROW and the messages I received from people who read my early blogs and attended my first few events. My stories changed their lives. Forever. They gave people the inspiration to find a way out of depression. They gave people the push they needed to leave jobs…and partners sometimes. They showed people what was possible in their lives. If I hadn’t have started in my hap hazard way I would never have built my online community. I would never have built this platform. I would never have learnt how to make a living doing what I love.

The point is that perfection will cost you your dreams. So how do you know if you’re hanging on to perfection? Simple: if you’re not embarrassed by what you’ve put out there, you’ve waited too long!

Cringe, right? Even the thought of it. I know! I post blogs all the time that I know could be better…If I spent another week on them. I share videos that I know could be better…if I engaged a video editor. Pfft. To heck with that. I’ve got things to be getting on with! The truth is your good is good enough. People want you! Your ideas, your stories, your messages, your insights, your advice. They don’t want the perfect blog or story or web site.

In the beginning it’s important to just get moving. You can make things better as you go. First do what’s necessary then do what’s possible. Before you know it you’ll be doing the impossible!

Just start. Today. We’re waiting for you. Just as you are. Right now.

Learn from the best in the world

Okay, so you’re embracing your obstacles and you’ve made your move. Your attitude has shifted and you’re on your way. Now what?

Make it worth it!

This is somewhat controversial because the very nature of ‘growth’ is rewarding. We all want and crave growth – it’s the key to our survival as humans. And we should be happy with that, right? I mean shouldn’t ‘doing what we love’ be rewarding enough. Of course! But who says we can’t make a living doing it? Who says we can’t find financial freedom by being of service to the world.

I strongly believe that we all have a unique purpose and I want to build a world in which everyone gets to make a living doing what they love – living out this purpose. This is as opposed to getting a job to make money so we can enjoy our hobby in our spare time. No to that! Let’s do it all the time!

Key to this part of the journey is learning from others. We can’t all be experts in web design, marketing, sales, business etc all at once and right from the start. So what if you could learn marketing from the best in the world? What if you could learn how to write a best seller from the best in the world? What if you could learn how to build an online course from the best in the world? Wouldn’t you? I would. I did!

These masters are out there and they’re not in big corporates. They’re not in the education sector. They’re online, rocking it with the rest of us. They’re living it right now. Trialling and testing new ideas first hand and sharing their insights with us.

Take Jon Pemberthy for example. This man has spent hundreds of thousands on Facebook ads in the last 12 months. Do I want to know what he learnt? Yes I do!!

Then consider Melyssa Griffin (thanks Sophie for the recommendation!). Melyssa brings in $100,000 each month from her online course. Can she teach me a thing or two about connected with new people online? Yes, I think so!!

Then there’s Tony Fricken Robbins (I’m such a huge fan of Tony Fricken Robbins that I’m incapable of saying his name without adding ‘Fricken’. This man really does rock my world!). Tony is the best in the world at getting into a peak state. Do I want to know how to do that? Er yes please!

I’m proud to be in the arena with these people. With Jon, with Melyssa, with Tony Fricken Robbins…with you. What can you be the best in the world at? You might not know right now but you will soon. As you delve into your purpose and spend more and more time living from a place of passion you’ll see glimmers of it. When you find it, you’ll know.

In the meantime, figure out what you need to know in order to make a living from your passions and don’t be shy about making it happen: making it worth it. For example, in the last 24 months I’ve changed every single aspect of my life and found a way to make a living from my passions. And I share a lot of how I did it online for free. In fact a lot of the people I’ve mentioned have free versions of their content to get you started. Don’t take it all on yourself: find people who’ve done what you want to do and learn from them.

Make a living doing what you love and you’ll be happier, you’ll live longer and you’ll be able to impact more and more people…and animals in my case!

This year, I’ll be giving 10% of my profits from IX7 and DARETOGROW to the charity PETA. I hope I make a lot of money for them. I can’t wait to hand over that cheque, especially knowing it came from doing what I love. From being happy. From helping other people. From changing the world. That just seems like the jackpot to me.

Make your move today

The journey from where you are to where you want to be is a long one. It’s a tough one. I don’t want to lie. I think that our ‘social media – style’ expectations of how life should be can actually stop us from making our move in the first place. We think we’ll never make it, or that person is already doing it or you’re too far away from your goals. Well, yeah! Anyone who creates anything, anyone who changes their life, anyone who ‘makes’ it starts right where you are now: right at the beginning without a clue. And each time we grow a little we find more we need to learn, try, face, do. That’s okay.

In fact, this is why my movement is called DARETOGROW and change your life. In order to accomplish anything we must dare. In order to change we must grow. In order to make a living doing what we love we must make our move.

And so I challenge you to make your move today. Make that decision. Buy that domain. Write down your ideas…whatever the first step is for you take it today. We’re all waiting for you. Exactly as you are right now.

DARETOGROW and Make Your Move!

The ‘Make Your Move‘ Course

For the last two months, I’ve been rebuilding my online course from the ground up. It’s everything I know about uncovering your purpose, setting a compelling vision for your life and making a living from your passions. It was originally called ‘The Six Week Kickstart’ but I’ve recently renamed it as ‘Make Your Move’. It’s what it’s all about: making your move in the world.

It opens for admission in June and launches in July. I am BEYOND!! excited to share it with you. To be notified when it ‘goes live’ sign up below and I’ll send you all the details.

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