This post is one part of a 7 part bootstrapping guide from Amy and Alex. This is part 2 of 7. Want to get the rest of them? Get the guide here!
So let’s get to part 1 – are you ready to kick ass?
I kicked off 2014 with an essay about having a “Fuck This!” moment. In that essay, I asked a pointed question:
What do you want to have accomplished by this time in 2015?
That essay was a a 3,000+ word education bomb I dropped on ya, a lot of philosophy and reflection and stories and examples. And believe me, all those things are important. But they’re important only because they help you act.
It’s acting that delivers results. So, let’s talk action:
You’ve had your “Fuck This!” Moment (FTM). You’re ready to make big things happen over the next year.
That means you should focus on making small things happen in the next 90 days.
Why? Because year-length goals are too big, too long, too distant:
First, it seems like you’ve got plenty of time. Which leads to 335 days of “I got this!” followed by 30 days of self-loathing. Second, if you want to make $15k by this time next year, that doesn’t really tell you a damn thing about how to make your first $50 three months from now.
But 90 days… that’s on the horizon. That’s soon. But not too soon. It’s just enough time to research, write, make, and even ship a Tiny Product.
A 90-day mini-goal makes it very clear that…
You can’t afford to take unnecessary risks, or waste time and effort. That’s how you end up right back where you started. F that! You can’t wait to deliver value, you can’t wait to make a sale. The longer you wait, the more your motivation suffers. F that! You can’t waste weeks or months (or years!) working on something in isolation, without eager customers clamoring for you to “Shut up and take my money!” F that! With 3 months on the clock, every little thing you do must be effective at bringing you closer to your goal. That’s the kind of constraint that creates success.
So what CAN you do in 3 months?
You can:
Find an audience who values & pays for solutions Figure out what they really need… that you can make for them Create way to reach them, persuade them Outline, produce, and ship a Tiny Product to kill their pains And that, my FTM friend, is exactly what you’re going to read about over the next few emails. (Surprise, it also happens to be the very foundation of our 30×500 workshop. :)
Now that you’re on board with a 90 Day Sprint… what’s next? Keep your inbox peeled for the next email in this series that Alex and I have prepped for you:
“Why an idea is a terrible thing to base a business on”
It’ll hit your inbox tomorrow!
– Amy