Are you a Go-getter, or a Star-gazer?

When it comes to entrepreneurship, the fantasy definitely trumps the reality. Coming up with a brilliant idea, becoming an “overnight” success, and earning millions is the fantasy. These are events that ignore the process, which is a bit more messy…


But, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, if success were easy, then everyone would be hugely successful entrepreneurs.
So, what separates those that make it from those that never will? Why does one “just do it” while the other never even starts, or quits at the first sign of trouble?
Well, one thing we’ve noticed over the years is that our most successful vending operators have unshakeable belief in themselves. But that’s not to say they never experience doubt! The life of an entrepreneur is full of doubts and fear. However, the difference between the Go-getters and Star-gazers is the ability to push through the fear to make life work the way they want.
Fortunately, this isn’t some unique gift you must be born with. Pushing through fear and doubt is part of being human. Anyone who has ever accomplished anything had to push through varying amounts of fear. But there are a few key things that make it a heck of a lot easier for the Go-getter:
The Go-getter thinks short-term
When most people think about starting a business, they envision 50-page business plans, licensing, complicated contracts, stages of growth over the next 5 years, expansion plans over the next 10 years, and yada yada.
Trying to process and worry about this much information is overwhelming!
The result is that budding entrepreneurs find themselves caught in “analysis paralysis.” They try to consider everything when they should be focusing on one thing.
No matter how thorough your business plan, there’s a good chance things won’t go according to plan, so you’re much better off focusing on what you can do in the immediate future. Constantly ask yourself what’s the smallest next step you can take to move forward. Breaking up tasks into actionable steps is the best way to take action.
And taking action is the best cure for analysis paralysis.
When you take action, the answers to your worries become obvious as you encounter them. But in the early stages, you don’t know what you don’t know. By taking action you put yourself in a position to learn and take the appropriate actions as needed. As the saying goes, the best way to succeed in business is to be in business.
The Go-getter is far from perfect
Perfectionism is the enemy of progress. The ally of progress is the MVP.
This concept of developing and releasing concepts that provide real benefits addressing immediate needs is what’s known as a “minimum viable product” (MVP). The MVP allows you to quickly test a concept and use customer feedback to improve the product. It minimizes risk while giving customers what they actually want. It’s a win-win concept that’s often overlooked by newbie entrepreneurs who are convinced that things must be perfect. You can spend months building the perfect plan, but you’ll never know if it works until you hit the ground running with it.
In our world, this doesn’t mean that you should buy a few vending machines and figure it out as you go. What it does mean is that your very first vending machine in its very first location is going to teach you a lot about the business, and it’s vitally important to get it placed in a location as soon as you can. Our business startup training program fills in a large number of the experience gaps you have right now, and it prevents you from making a large number of the mistakes that you’d otherwise experience on your own. (Shameless promotion: our business startup plan is the reason we’ve won four consecutive Business Opportunity of the Year awards from our industry peers!)
But at best, /healthy-vending-news/naturals2go-healthy-vending-awarded-2015-business-opportunity-of-the-year-for-unique-home-based-business-opportunityperfection slows you to a snail’s pace. And at worst, it becomes an excuse not to take action.
Find your MVP, and get it out there.
The Go-getter loves/hates failure
Go-getters are not afraid of failing. Every failure is a valuable lesson–a tutorial on what not to do. With enough failures, literally anybody can be a success. However, Go-getters hate to fail themselves.
This is more of a mental state of being than my previous two points, but it is perhaps the most important.
Entrepreneurs who make things happen would rather die than never try. They would rather give up everything than not make a 100% effort. For the average person, giving up on promises to themselves is easy (just look at all the failed New Year’s resolutions). But for the Go-getter, breaking a promise to oneself is hard, perhaps unbearable.
This mental state might seem like a special gift, but it really comes down to how badly you want it. People who break their promise to get fit for the New Year probably didn’t want it badly enough to begin with. But if one day they find themselves in the hospital from a heart attack, you’ll likely see a dramatic change in their motivation level.
It’s similar for most Go-getters. Something in their life molds their immense willpower. Whether it’s a personal philosophy nurtured by their surroundings, or an intense dislike of the 9-5 rat race, the Go-getter can see no other way than being a Go-getter.
So, how badly do you want it?
Be honest with yourself.
You may say you hate your job, but secretly love its security and the lack of effort it requires. You may say you want to be an entrepreneur, but find every reason not to actually take action. And that’s perfectly fine. Not everyone needs to be a Go-getter.
But for those of you who do, there’s no time better to start than today. Contact us today to see how we make starting a successful business easy as can be.