With anything you invest time in, getting started is perhaps one of the hardest notions. Waiting for the ‘right time’ and not just going for it might not be the best way as you could keep putting it off forever. Sure there’s a sensible time to do everything, and everyone has different ways of working, and time management, but you need to work out the best routine for you, and your family and go with it.
People spend hours, months and years mulling over ideas. This happens across the business world and also in individuals personal lives too. Switching jobs for example is one of the most mulled over decisions I’ve ever come across – ‘I’ve got a busy month so I’ll do my CV next month.’ Individuals who moan about their job but always put off the decision for another month. Sound familiar? You may be one of those people.
Change doesn’t occur without getting started. You may harbor an ambition to start a business but you’re not sure when you will work on it. Hours won’t just appear; you have to make time and begin somewhere.
If you’ve ever read a startup blog or a blog from a tech company then you may have read about MVP. It’s a start up buzz word but this translates into something we all should take into account.
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is: “[the] version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort” — Eric Ries.
Your first move to drive change will never be perfect. That first draft of the CV at 8pm in the evening after a full days work might not have every Silicon Valley start up queuing up for your details. That first blog post or piece of code may be a little shitty. This is totally ok.
Everyone starts somewhere; you just need to go for it. You may want to make the transition into full time freelancing. Unfortunately overnight you are unlikely to have enough clients to feed your entire family. But that is also OK as long as you have started the process.
Waiting for that right time is the first step into never getting started. Never actually getting started will mean a life of regret and missed opportunities.
I started this site following the MVP model. I created the website and a number of pages in around 10 hours. It’s far from the finished article and any web designer will probably rip it apart however I was able to launch instantly. Fast forward 6 months and it has picked up some strong search rankings and has driven on average around 2 enquiries a week.
These enquiries wouldn’t have happened without just putting something out.
I now have something to build on; something to grow. An urge and desire to make it into something great!
Whatever you are wanting to achieve won’t happen if you don’t take action. Start small. Dedicate 10 minutes a day to something. Just make sure you do something….anything.
The key to any level of success is application.