Why I had to tell someone to “Shut The Hell Up!" today and why I guarantee you will have to too.

Today I had to tell someone to “Shut The Hell Up!” I guarantee you will have to do the same in your first few weeks of business too.   And if you are like me, possibly every week after.

That someone was me.  My inner critic. And man can she be a biatch!

Some of you know I was doing an interview today with someone I really look up too. I’m not sure why I’m not telling you his name yet. I think I still can’t believe it so maybe I’m waiting til it’s up live just to be sure it’s real.

Anyways, what a moment to savour and celebrate. I should be feeling great right? But oh nooooo.

Instead of ‘throwing my hands up in the air and waving em’ like I just don’t care’ or at least being quietly pleased with myself, the first thing I said was “Wwe can do it again if you like?” 

Wanting to do a “better” job is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact wanting to do your best is a beautiful thing.  It just depends on how you approach it.

It’s one thing to aim for perfection, it’s another to beat yourself up when you don’t quite get there or you miss the mark altogether.

Personally I think high standards are necessary to succeed in business.  Tweaking, refining, giving it your all to create excellent products and services makes the world a better place. Being ar$e hole to YOURSELF doesn’t.

So if you find yourself being too hard on yourself… go ahead and tell yourself to SHUT THE HELL UP. (hmmm there was a lotta yourself’s in that sentence)

But seriously please do.  The world needs you baby (and me too) in all our perfect imperfections. 

It’s highly likely we are our toughest critics anyway.  So we may as well ditch the ‘bitch’ and get on with doing our thing, in peace, ‘with our hands up in the air’ as much as possible.  

Extra Big Love Today

Anthea (aka the just do it girl)  xx

You can't eat love. So you have to be smart!

You know the saying do what you love and the rest will follow?  I disagree. To a point.

I even said something similar on my first fb post but I’d like to clarify.

You see doing what you love alone is not enough. You have to do what you love AND be smart about it.

I started my new biz ‘Iquitmyjob’ out of love. Unadulterated pure love. To inspire others to do more of what they love.

The thing is though, you can’t eat love.  If I had been relying on this love to feed me (literally) this last week, I’d be mighty hungry by now.

So it’s time to combine love with strategy. It’s time to get my smarty pants on and think about the best way to generate some regular cash.  And not just any old cash. My favourite kinda cash – the passive stuff!

I didn’t hear about passive income till I was in my first year of business so hopefully this is a little heads up for anyone else who hasn’t yet.

Passive income is like magic.  Except it’s very real.  It’s the kinda income that comes in while you are sipping cocktails by the pool in Bali, or playing with your kids, or even while you are sleeping.

Who doesn’t want that?

So the trick with this new business is to find a way or multiple ways (cause there will be) to do this.

If you hadn’t noticed already I love to write. So whatever ideas I choose will have me writing lots, rather than coaching or presenting.

That’s not to say I won't do those things initially to build up and clarify my offerings.  I won’t do them long term though because I wouldn’t be in my happy place! And that would defeat the purpose of starting my own business.

Make sure you pick and choose what makes you happy. Where you shine. Where the hours fly by without you even noticing. Then find a way to develop products or services around this and…. ultimately if you want complete freedom, find a way to systematise the bejuses out of what you do – so if you like, you don’t have to do it at all!  It happens with out you. See magic.

I have some thought bubbles (aka baby ideas) rising up at the moment. I’ll be sure to share them with you soon.

In the meantime, got any thought bubbles yourself about how you might make some passive stuff??  Leave a comment below to help get all our creative juices flowing.

Big Love

Anthea (aka the just do it girl) xx

How to start a business for $112.15 in 7 days

Ok peeps. The big reveal. Insert strip tease music…

At the end of week one, what exactly have I got to show for my efforts, beside a giant warm fuzzy feeling.

Well for a start, this morning I chatted with a seriously huge internet legend (think over 150,000 followers!) I’ll be recording a podcast with him on Thursday. As well as being an all round nice guy, my new hero is also crazy passionate about helping people live their dreams.

Ridiculous right? I know, I could pinch myself.

This time last week I would never have imagined that opportunity presenting itself. That’s the whole point. That’s why I want you to take action.

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

I also didn’t imagine that within minutes (yes minutes!) of launching ‘Iquitmyjob’ I would be asked to be an expert panel member of WorkLifeBliss’ Career Transformation Program.

And I didn’t imagine the thrill of actually connecting with beautiful real life souls on the cusp of stepping into their bliss. I already knew I loved to chat business (I could do that all day) but the magic and vulnerability of talking with people when their dreams are so raw and new is amazing. To play a part in helping get them over the line is an honor!

These are huge things to me. I feel incredibly grateful. Even if I hadn’t been so fortunate to have these experiences just getting started alone was a massive high. I haven’t been able to sleep I am so filled with ideas. None of which would have been sparked without going public.

So here’s the nitty gritty of the actions I took. There is still sooooooo much more to do. Nothing is polished or finished. It is a total work in progress but that gives me freedom. Freedom to get it wrong, to experiment and to be kind to myself along the way. I’m just learning as I go and that totally takes the pressure off.

So here’s what I did. Exactly.

The actions: (in between renovating our RealChai factory)

1. Had the big idea: I’m showing, not telling, people anything is possible!
2. Created facebook page
3. Told my mum and bschool about it
4. Created a blog in blogger (still lusting after wordpress)
5. Got a logo made on fiverr
6. Added a Free giveaway (one I’d prepared months ago) to my blog and facebook (using mailchimp)
7. Obsessively checked facebook one million times for likes and comments
8. Wrote and published a blog every day except for the weekend (you gotta have balance, even in the start up phase)
9. Started experimenting with completely untargeted facebook adds (ie everyone in Australia).
10. Found someone I’d like to build my ‘real’ blog
11. Shared my idea with my friends.
12. Drafted my first iquitmyjob newsletter (to be sent tomorrow on Wednesday – hump day, I thought that’d be appropriate for my audience)
13. Brainstormed about 999 pages of ideas (ok 16 to be exact)

The stats: From zero to….

• 424 fb likes
• 42 people downloaded my Fear Busting Checklist
• Blog views 216 (not sure how many of them were me yet!)
• Two comments. You betchya I personally replied ☺ And I’ll forever remember you Liv and Sage!
• Blog Signs Ups? Actually I have no idea – I think maybe zero. I haven’t figured out the whole subscribe to blog thing yet. Yes better get right on that.

Dollars Spent

• $5 on logo design
• $25 Fear Busting Checklist Design.
• $30 Domain Names
• $52.55 Facebook Ads

Time Spent

• • About 30hrs (at least 10 of which was probably checking Facebook likes! Daggy but true! Hey it's not every day you launch a biz - it's ok to savour it, that's what I told myself.)

Dollars Made

• Zero! 

What Next - Week 2

1. First up. This baby needs to make some money. I’ll be looking at how I can seriously monetize this experiment. It’s not a business if I don’t. It’s a hobby.
2. Research, research, research – find out what my audience (ie you!) want.
3. Hone up on facebook skills. Signed up for Amy Portefield's class on Thursday - she's a facebook guru.
4. Continue writing everyday.

Tomorrow I’ll be writing about the Money Experiment – turning what you love to do into cash! Can’t wait to share my ideas.

Thanks so much for your support this week. Couldn’t of done it without you. Hope it’s getting you fired up too.

Big Love

Anthea (aka the just do it girl) xxoo

PS if you wanna help please let me know in the comments below what’s holding you back from starting your dream biz… LOVE to, want to, need to hear your thoughts ☺

What I learnt in just 1 week of starting my business

This time last week I had an idea. 7 days later I have a business.

I use the term ‘business’ loosely as I'm yet to make a cent but I am well on my way.

So far it’s cost me exactly $65.31 to get started. $65.31 to start living my dream. That sh*t is ridiculous.

Last time I started my now 6 figure business it cost me $120, so I know it doesn’t have to be expensive to get started.

I can’t believe how much I’ve learnt in just one week. I’ll share exactly what I’ve done this week and the stats tomorrow. But first up, the most important part… the insights.

Lesson #1 It's more than a numbers game. You have to provide MASSIVE value.

Statistics don’t equal success. If we end up with 100,000 people or hell even a million in the Iquitmyjob community it actually means nothing if they aren’t engaged and I’m not helping to solve their problems. I have to work out:
a) who (exactly) I am doing this for
b) what is their burning problem so I can provide a solution like no other.

*I learnt this because not many people are commenting yet. My guess is that’s because I haven’t nailed what people are looking for yet. I’ll know when I have when people really start to engage. It could also be the technology - still figuring that out too.

Lesson #2 What you want to do needs to wake you up in the middle of the night.

This week I have been working like a madman. Literally waking up in the middle of the night and being compelled to start writing. Wes, my partner has been feeling left out as I’ve found myself obsessively creating in every spare second. I have never felt like this before.

I LOVED starting my first business, RealChai. But even that was nothing like this. I am possessed. Or you could say I have found my calling (sounds much more romantic) and I am so so happy. I KNOW with every fibre of my being this is what I am supposed to be doing. So I KNOW it will work.

Lesson #3. Just because it’s your calling doesn’t mean you’ll ALWAYS feel good about.
Even though I’m over the moon, ‘pinch me’ happy about this, I’ve already had a taste of self doubt, embarrassment and anxiety. Discovering my calling doesn’t mean that all of a sudden I’ll never have a negative feeling again, (damit!) BUT you can design a business that keeps you in your happy place MOST of the time.

In my first biz, I was often and still am, out of my comfort zone. That is great for growing and stretching but it’s not ideal to be always out of your comfort zone. Just ask my nervous system. RealChai is good fit for me but it’s not perfect. ‘Iquitmyjob’ IS perfect. I can feel myself thriving already and that my friends is the basis for your ideal business. Gay Hendricks calls this your Zone of Genius. To discover your zone of genius defintiley check out his book The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level

Stay tuned tomorrow and I'll give you the low down on exactly how I got up n running in one week and the amazing things that have happened already.

Big Love
Anthea xx

The most important thing you need to start your own business. Have you got enough of it?

So you want to quit your job huh?! I hear ya sister. I wanted to quit my job for years, but in hindsight for all the wrong reasons.

I wanted to quit because I hated my job. I’ve always loved the people I worked with but the organisations themselves drove me crazy. I worked for the public service and boy was I a square peg in a round hole.

I hated the way decisions were made. I hated the way millions of dollars were wasted on projects that blind freddy could see weren’t going to work, and I hated how slowly things moved. I felt like what I was dong didn’t matter and to be honest I’m pretty sure it didn’t. Let’s face it the public service didn’t exactly shut down when I left.

On the face of it these sound like pretty good reasons to leave right?

But if hating your job is what’s motivating you to start your own business think again.

You need the opposite of hate. You need love, a whole lotta love. Actually to succeed in business you need lots of things, determination, resilience, creativity and some hustle. But most importantly you need to be motivated by love.

I’m not gonna sugar coat it, being in business its the best and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Maybe like raising kids? And without being head over heels in love with my business there’s no way I could have stuck at it.

So it’s probably lucky I didn’t try and start my own business until I discovered something I really truly loved. For me this happened in the most unlikely of places. In a tiny little teahouse on the edge of the Czech Forrest, I had my first sip of chai. That was it. I was hooked. LOVE at first sip.

Upon returning home from my overseas holiday I had to go back to my job that I hated. Every day at 3pm I’d make chai for everyone in the office. It was the only part of my day that I loved and I started to wonder how I could make this my job. It wasn’t obvious at first. It’s an obscure passion but I have found a way. It’s the love of chai and brightening people’s day that has kept me going through the ups and downs of life in the business lane.

If you’re thinking of a business idea and you don’t love the pants of it, then hang tight. Wait till you are totally gaga before taking the plunge. Chances are if you don’t LOVE it to begin with your won't wanna go the distance so you’re better off waiting for the ONE.

Big Love

Anthea (aka the chai girl)

The 3 best things about NOT quitting your job.

Five years ago when I quit my “secure”, high paying, cushy, public service job – it wasn’t an easy decision.

But in the end I had no choice. I was dying inside. I actually thought I had some kinda weird 2 day a week mystery illness. Turns out my body was fine but my soul was capitulating!

I’d negotiated a part time gig so I could focus on building my business. Every week when it came time to go into the office I’d wake up feeling sick.

“What’s wrong with me?” I asked my partner Wes. Wes is an acupuncturist so I was expecting some kinda helpful medical insight. “Hmm lets see?” He took my pulse. “Ahh you hate your job” he enlightened me.

Talk about obvious but I hadn’t joined the dots. Every other day when I was working on my business, RealChai (not called that at the time cause back then it didn’t have a name) I would bounce out of bed, raring to go. Only to be savagely struck down, by a reoccurring bout of ‘Mondayitis’ whenever I was due at the office.

I’d just signed another 12 month contract and 2 weeks into it I renigged. That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was selling my soul and no amount of money was worth it.

My business was up and running (and had been for 8 months) but I was still shit scared. It wasn’t making anywhere near my salary but it was paying the bills. And for me that was enough.

I remember someone telling me “just go for it, when you really commit your business will take off, because it has too!” They were right. As soon as I cut off that life-line I really pulled my finger out. I was able to give it 100% of my energy and the momentum soared.

BUT…. personally, I don’t actually recommend doing this straight up. Even though I nearly died from Mondayitis, starting my business part time was a actually a blessing. Here’s why…

3 reasons to keep your day job (initially)

1. All your eggs aren’t in one basket There is almost zero risk. If it failed I still had my job to fall back on while I regrouped. I was able to be bold and experiment. I tested the market, tweaked my branding, built my website knowing that if I got it ‘wrong’ it didn’t matter. I learnt heaps during this phase.

2. You have money. With money rolling in from your job you can finance the start up of your new biz. I was able to buy whatever I needed for my business without batting an eyelid.

The concept of ‘cash flow problems’ was not in my vocab, until I quit. When you are stressed about how to pay yourself, your bills, and your staff your energy and creativity energy can nosedive. Your dream business can quickly feel like a nightmare when survival becomes an issue. Tis best to avoid such challenges early on if possible. New businesses can be money hungry little suckers, with more expenses than profit in the early days. If you have another source of income it totally takes the pressure off.

2. You can test it out first. I got see out if it was really right for me before I fully committed. You can dip your toe in and check the water before you dive. Turns out, for me, it was. 150%. But if it wasn’t, I’d have been no worse off for trying.

Of course there comes a tipping point. Eventually I found it was all getting a bit much trying to juggle my job and grow my business. I’d reached a point where to get any bigger I’d needed to have more time for the biz.

Because I’d been able to take my business for a test drive I was a lot more confident about the likelihood of it‘s success. It wasn’t just an idea in my head. I had real sales data to base my decision to quit on.

I’d never ever advocate staying in a job you hate just for the money. But if you have a goal in mind in can be worth it (as long as there’s an end in sight). In my case rather than going out and searching for a job I liked more (in the meantime) I decided to focus all my energy on getting my business going. The moment it was starting to make a semi decent amount of cashola I was outta there.

Of course there are people who dive right in and never look back but for me the gentle transition was the way to go. If you are interested in learning more about turning ‘pro’ and really going for it check out Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art.

Let me know in the comments below what approach sounds more up your ally. Or if you’ve already started your own biz how did you go about the transition?

Big Love

Anthea (aka the just do it girl!)

Day 1 - big idea. Day 2 - launch on fb. Day 3 - create blog. Day 4 - who knows?

Ahhhhhhhhh! Head Explosion. Holy Sh*t. My first ever blog. About quitting your job. And doing what you love.

Did I say head explosion already?!? This is so freaking cool.

To fill you in…

On Monday I decided I would launch a new business, to help give people the confidence to take the plunge and do what they love too!

The big idea?

To SHOW people, in real time how to do it. Rather than tell. So I’m sharing with the world my steps. Every day. The ups and downs. So far, (it’s only day 3), so there are only ups.

Massive, massive ups!

The feeling of leaping into the unkown and breathing life into my idea is intoxicating. Receiving instant support and feedback that I’ve already inspired others is mind blowing. I’ve been too excited to even eat today!

Just so you know I am a huge procrastinator. I have launched a business before (one that is now very successful and very satisfying). I procrastinated for 5 years before launching my baby RealChai.

Not this time.

This time round I had the idea on Monday. By Tuesday I’d launched it, publicly. Not just to my mum.

I launched with no logo. No design (except for a nicely designed check list I’d made earlier… before I had my full idea). I still don’t even have a facebook banner. Because I am trying to demonstrate that none of that matters. That the most important thing is taking action.

Within minutes of launching I was asked to do an interview and join an expert panel for a ‘Career Transformational Program’ at WorkLifeBliss. Within under 12 hrs the fabulous blogging coach, Jane Copeland and others had endorsed my Free downloadable Fear Busting Checklist and told me they were going to refer people to it (real live actual people! can you believe it?!?). Two gorgeous souls posted on my facebook page that I had given them just the push they needed this morning. And that’s all in less than 24hrs.

This time yesterday I could never have envisioned that happening. Although arguably I should have had some kinda idea that the way forward would be through people sharing my content, I didn’t. It was only when it happened that I realised that can be my direction. I was too busy getting it out there to figure out what would happen next.

So here is my first post. Originally I was planning to get this up in wordpress. Haha. Waaaaay too complicated for me. In the spirit of making sh*t happen – FAST – I am using blogger. It’s fine. You are here reading my post aren’t you? That’s the main thing.

I don’t know much about blogging really. But I do know Wordpress seems to be the platform of choice so I will be hiring a profesh and getting a ‘proper’ site soon but in the meantime I’m in love with this one… cause it’s up and its real.

Thanks for reading beautiful people.

If I can figure out how to turn comments on… please leave one below. What’s something you can do today in the next 12 hrs to get you closer to living your dream???

Big love and adventure!

Anthea (aka the chai girl) or maybe I should have a new name (aka the ‘just do it’ girl)?

PS *WARNING! Don’t run out and quit your job today. That’s not the action I want you to take. PLEASE don’t… yet. More on when (and if) you should quit in my very next post.