Even girl bosses can have their Balls to the Walls, and usually do! The term came from aviation and is used to describe an extreme or intense situation. In many airplanes, the throttles (or power levers) are sticks with ball shaped ends. When a pilot wants full power, the throttle is pushed towards the front wall of the cockpit. So… “Balls to the Walls” means “full power”.
Nothing beats being an entrepreneur! Fueled with enthusiasm and amazing ideas, those first weeks and months when you decide to go for it are spent at full throttle, fueled by some dream of an overnight success story, because our products and services are completely awesome!
In our rush to get our business launched we spent hours late into the night setting up the framework, domain names, web sites, and producing products for prospective clients. We are launching a new business with a single mindedness that makes it practically noble to ignore housework, yardwork, shopping, laundry, and a slew of other daily life-tasks.
Look At This Mess!!
Just as in a new relationship, reality eventually sets in – probably sooner for entrepreneurs still working a full-time day job and bosses with multiple family obligations.
You can ignore the stats after you first go “live” convinced the public just needs to discover you before your offering will be on fire! Then after Tweeting your heart out, adding more blog posts, or whatever you do for marketing ……. crickets.
It is awful to realize that you really did build a better mousetrap, but the world has not beaten a path to your door… or your website!
Worse, you lift your red-rimmed eyes from the cruel statistical reports and look around your home at all the chores that have piled up in the meantime.
A Moment of Reckoning
You are discouraged and disillusioned, with a hefty dose of overwhelm thrown in. I know, I have been there (and go back to visit that place occasionally.)
“To be or not to be, that is the question”. Or, “What would Shrek and Fiona do?” if your frame of reference is a little more contemporary. It is a time of reckoning… with yourself.
Your first inclination may be to chuck the whole entrepreneur thing. It would be easier to hide in your swamp or tower and obsess about everything that went wrong.
It is also easy to blame your circumstances, your family or the universe to justify quitting.
Don’t give up. You are still the main character and there are lots of chapters left in your story!
Your business, like “true love”, is closer than you think. Just like any hero, you have to go through a few adventures before you can learn what your true love actually looks like.
And like any hero, you will need to make some sacrifices.
Changing Focus
What about your dreams, your vision of your business? Your dream are great, that’s what got you started as an entrepreneur. But to keep going, you have to let go of a static image of your successful business. Be prepared to refine and re-define what success looks like to you.
This does not mean flying by the seat of your pants without a business plan that includes measurable goals, and a written calendar of progressive steps to get you there. It means giving up the notion that anyone is really an overnight success.
Make your business goals reasonable and your steps manageable. Track your progress, and celebrate the positive trends. Do you have fifty new followers? Is that twice what you had last month? You want a daydream? There’s one for you! If you double your stats each month, where will you be in a year?
What are you learning as you go? You may find that your first business vision was too small! Plan big for the future but keep your present planning steps small enough to be executed well.
Gathering the Clan
Every hero has helpers along the way and every hero stops along the way to lend a helping hand. By the climax of the story, everyone has played a part in the hero’s big success.
You will need to sacrifice the idea that you can do this all alone.
Joining a community of like-minded people will give you tools, tips, and encouragement. You will have a place to bounce ideas, get feedback and learn how others have dealt with problems you are having.
Tip: Identify your weaknesses and find experts in those areas for coaching.
Did your first launch flop? Do you need help with branding, marketing or video production? There are established experts that offer free webinars, cheat sheets and paid courses in these and other key areas critical to online entrepreneurs. The added bonus is that the best experts have community forums that you can join!
Be the Boss
Back to the annoying reality that there are only so many hours in a day. Even while building a business, we are still faced with cooking, cleaning, laundry and other domestic details.
Remember that sleep and exercise can be skimped on for only so long before your overall performance suffers.
You must allow adequate time for sleep and exercise. It helped me get more sleep when I calendared an audible alert on my phone to remind me to Go To Bed!! I start to get sleepy when I hear it and it marks a shift in my evening activities. Pavlovian, but it works.
Think about your business or domestic tasks that can be delegated or skipped all together. You are the boss, so you get to decide: delegate or don’t do it. Delegate business tasks, domestic tasks or a combination that works just right for you.
You can hire a maid service to clean every other week. You can hire a teenager to mow the lawn and pull weeds.
Do you really need to change your house and yard decorations? Can you say no to making 47 dozen cookies for the school fund raiser?
Alternately, you may find it helpful to hire a Virtual Assistant to help with some business related tasks to free you up for content creation and personal care.
Bottom Line
Have you been going full throttle? Balls to the Walls and feeling overwhelmed?
The bottom line is, every hero gets smacked down at least once before they triumph. They keep going, build community and adjust their strategy until finally, they find what they were looking for. Success!!
You are the hero of your business story! Has your vision changed? Are you building community? How’s that delegating thing going for you?
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