An Objective Failure to Produce Results
It was about four months ago that I was on a Zoom chat with a community I'm a part of, an excellent community that challenges you into a better human. On that call I had explained how over the past 3 years I've been learning web development and have been telling myself that every year would be my last at the current place of work. I was challenged to set a date in which I would turn in my 2 week notice.
To make a long story short I didn't take the actionable steps required to start producing the financial results necessary to make the exit. About a week ago I was shook up by how that date is approaching so quickly. What did I do wrong? Why have I been focusing my energy in the wrong places? These were the questions going on in my head.
So I emailed my friend (I call him "my coach") and founder of the chat and was honest about the fact that I had not made any progress towards reaching a financial metric to enable my exit. The email resulted in a very sobering video chat about the reality of where I was and what needs to happen, I left the call shook, challenged, and motivated more than before.
A thought that came to mind was a response from Morpheus in The Matrix when he tells Neo "There's a difference between, knowing the path and walking the path" after Neo tells Morpheus he didn't think he was "The One."
At first I had laid out some really good ideas that I thought would produce financial results but in the end they didn't. The reality is I never started "walking out the path" I didn't put people in place to hold me accountable to see financial milestones accomplished. Here's what I'm doing:
#1 Recruitment - I am setting up a personal board of directors consisting of at least five of the closest people to me who align with my goals and will be able to expect a copy of monthly and quarterly financial results.
#2 Financial Plan - A 6 month financial plan is set in order of what the specific revenue must be in order to be successful. This has been broken down to the dollar per day that must be generated to reach those goals.
#3 Building in the Open - Everyone is going to witness the progress and my work , my existence on social platforms is going to demonstrate the journey, the grind, and the sweat blood and tears to make this work.
I'm taking the next few weeks to plan and even get a head start on 2021's success, as an Indie Hacker I'm journaling this starting point of where there is no looking back. To practice documenting the process I summarize some of this in a 7 minute video as my second vlog this week.
