The most important thing to consider before leaping into a new job, investment, company or any business venture, is YOU.
What’s your relationship to money? What are your financial philosophies? What did your parents teach you, what did you learn or not learn along the way?
We all have theories about money – it’s so wise to do an inventory of your own.
I had the pleasure of working with Anthony Rudolf, founder of Journee – a community and skillshare space for restaurant professionals – just as he was preparing to make a huge leap in his career from Director of Operations at Thomas Keller Restaurant Group to first-time entrepreneur at the helm of his own company.
Read on to discover the craziest theories he had to flip to be successful (and happy) in his risky endeavor.
Anthony writes:
I had some bad theories about money.
I saved for years building up a cash account that would take me through 16 months of expenses. I was so proud of it! My plan was to quit my job, focus full-time on Journee, and rely on the savings until I could pay myself.
I discovered three bad theories hidden here and with the help of my coach, changed my plan.
First bad theory: starting a business would only take 16 months! I’m 24 months into the process and only recently started to take income from Journee. Oops, too late to fix that, but luckily I corrected the other bad theory before it was too late.
Second bad theory, I thought I would feel fine not earning an income for more than a year. But, it turns out there are intangible psychological effects of receiving a paycheck that I didn’t realize or understand. Upon the discovery of the importance of maintaining an income I decided to continue freelance consulting work in my field. Not only did I keep my savings, but I made connections that helped my business and I never lost the momentum of earning.
The third bad theory I discovered was in regards to “who should be in control of spending”. Let me explain: I am a dreamer, a storyteller and I begin with the end in mind and sometimes stay there. From my coach, I learned to identify all the voices that made up my inner dialogue when it came to decision-making, budgeting, and planning. I quickly identified the ones I needed to balance out: my inner “Marketing Officer” and my inner “Chief Financial Officer”. I was formerly focused on marketing, with little regard to the end cost of each decision. Once I prioritized my inner “CFO”, I was able to worry much less about where the money was going and whether it would be affective.
Fast-forward 2 years, and now Journee is due to launch in Union Square late this summer! In retrospect I can see how much coaching helped me avoid so many of my own traps. From zealous overspending to unrealistic budgeting, I was laying shaky groundwork for my biggest dream yet, and could easily have gone down the road of mounting debt, strained relationships and dire straits.
I ask myself, what would I have done in month 14 or 15 when cash was winding down to zero and I was another 9-10 months from being able to pay myself? How would that have affected my marriage, and my self worth, and my company? I definitely would have made some poor choices to survive.
What coaching really did was save me from desperation. I know now that addressing these bad theories has enabled me to build Journee into a successful venture, through a process I am proud of.
There’s a certain sense of urgency people exhibit when they have a great idea, that makes them desperate to achieve it and willing to overlook important facts about the reality of the road ahead. But going for your dreams requires more than just a leap of faith – it takes an honest investigation of your values, theories and the dream itself.
We teach an incredible 2-day workshop to help you do exactly that. Come to our Design Your Life Weekend and experience the method that has helped thousands of individuals, couples, companies, students, and families get clear on their dreams and action plans.
Love,
Lauren