by JimRaffel on November 22, 2011
For the last two years, I’ve found myself in almost constant launch mode. There have been lots of finish lines to cross. As I look back on it, that’s the easy part and it’s done with sheer determination and motivation. Then the hard part comes: Ramping up the launch into a money-making venture. That part takes consistent, repeated habits.
3-2-1… Launch
There’s a deadline or, at the very least, a line in the sand that has to be crossed in order for you to be able to say “I’m done.” Maybe you are building something completely new or redesigning and relaunching an existing project or service. In either case, there is a plan and a deadline to complete the plan. You can manage the project and check off the completed items. It’s like making a movie. When you’re done, you’re done … Or are you? The dirty little secret is that you are not done. In fact, you are just beginning.
The Ramp-Up
I’m struggling with the ramp-up on two different projects right now. A successful ramp-up is about following road maps to success that have worked in the past. It’s about getting the message out with marketing campaigns and making those followup sales calls. It’s about the consistent execution of tasks that will lead to success. Let’s just call them habits. You need to get up in the morning and make sure the marketing engine is running full steam ahead and has the fuel necessary to keep running.
Going back to my movie-making analogy, why do you think it is that some companies are great at making movies and others at distributing them? It’s because making a movie is a project and marketing movies in an ongoing business model. Sure this month we are marketing one move and next month another, but the steps are the same. You need to both promote and distribute the movie. It does not just happen.
The Differences
Yes, it takes discipline and habits to get a project launched or across the finish line. It also takes motivation to get up each day and market your ass off as well. Motivation is more at home in the world of launches and winning football games. Discipline and habits keep you going through the long and painful football season. The key to success is having both and understanding the differences.
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by JimRaffel on September 19, 2011
Not too long ago, a friend made the comment that people don’t really change, do they? At the time, I agreed with my friend but that conversation gnawed at me and now I feel differently. Like many, I spent a great deal of my life struggling with money management. I’ve improved that significantly over the last few years. Let me explain.
It’s all about habits
Habits, be they good or bad, determine how you live your life. I used to have some bad habits with money that left me in a situation where I never seemed to have enough. It was seldom an issue of not making enough money. I’m not too bad at that part. It was more a matter of spending money I knew was coming in before I had it in my hands. Then when the money did come in, instead of paying off the credit card I’d used, I’d find some other use for the money. That’s a bad habit to have with money.
About three years ago, I just stopped spending money until I had it. For the first 30 days, it was a struggle and took conscious thought. But then it got easier. While I continued to carry one credit card for business travel needs, all other spending moved to one of two debit cards. One card was for business incidentals and the other was for personal spending. The thing about a debit card is the money has to be there or you can’t spend it. So the habit change was simple. I took the credit cards out of my wallet and never carried them.
Positive habit changes have a payoff
I chose the example of turning my financial life around because the payoff is so easy to see. We went from living with very little safety cushion financially to having some extra money each month. We’re only three years into this makeover and the difference is night and day. When it came time to buy a new car, neither the down payment or the monthly payment was a problem.
I look at what our family does with essentially the same income we had three years ago and am amazed how much better of a lifestyle we live. We even ended 2010 very roughly income-wise but weathered that storm with money we’d managed to put away in 2009 and early 2010. The simple change of deciding not to carry or use credit cards allowed this to happen.
I changed you can too
I don’t tell this story to brag about where I am financially. I’m actually a little embarrassed it took me this long to figure out some of these financial basics. The point is I did and it started with a small change in a habit that then turned into a new habit. I just don’t spend what I don’t have anymore – ever. If that’s not change, I don’t know what is.
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