MAKING IT ON

YOUR OWN
Surviving and Thriving
on the Ups and Downs
of Being Your Own Boss
SARAH EDWARDS and PAUL EDWARDS

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 Making It On Your Own - Page 1

MAIN IDEA

Almost everyone who leaves the security of a regular paycheck behind them to go into business for themselves struggles with the
psychological challenges of being their own boss, rather than answering to someone else.
Yet, if these challenges can be mastered, self-employment actually offers the most profitable, enjoyable and secure employment
opportunities available. The key to realizing these benefits lies in the approach taken -- combined with the development of those
personal traits which will underpin business success -- such as confidence, motivation, self-discipline and self-assurance.
Develop the right attitudes and skills and self-employment can be liberating and highly rewarding. Not only can you survive, you
will thrive and prosper. Fail to work on these skills, however, and being in business for yourself may become a minefield.
Fortunately, every person who chooses self-employment holds the power to create the future in their own hands. They can literally
achieve whatever quality of life they’re seeking. It just requires them to make the proper adjustment to their mental mindset, and
to successfully manage their own business careers.

Part 1 -- Developing a Profit-Based Mental Outlook Instead of Focusing on How Much You’re Being Paid . . . . . . . . . Page 2
Making the mental transition between working for someone else and working towards building your own
business is often a daunting challenge. The focus shifts dramatically from a paycheck mentality to a profit
centered way of thinking.
The key to making this transition doesn’t lie in strong capital reserves or even an impressive resume.
Instead, the key lies in the way you think about yourself and your work.

Part 2-- Getting Organized So You Do Everything That Needs to Be Done to Achieve Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4
When you’re an employee, you have a job. When you’re in business for yourself, you have three jobs:
1. Generating new business.
2. Doing the business.
3. Running the business.
Managing and balancing these three distinct roles is one of the key challenges of being in business for
yourself. There’s always more to do than you ever have time for, but smart propreneurs develop ways to
make their business run by itself as far as possible. That way, they become free to concentrate on those
areas they personally enjoy most about the business.

Part 3 -- How To Effectively Manage Yourself To Become The Type of Boss You Always Wanted To Have . . . . . . . . Page 6
The highest achievers in the world of sport always have managers and coaches to help draw out their
best performances. Not many people have this same support system in their professional careers --
therefore, you have to become self managed -- you have to learn the techniques required to draw the
best possible performance out of yourself.
If you can learn how to manage the emotional roller coaster that is your own business career, you’ll do
fine.

Part 4 -- How To Enjoy Your Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8

It’s easy to set an arbitrary threshold as the point at which you will classify yourself and your business as
a success -- a certain amount of sales, a bank balance that exceeds a nice round figure, and so on.
Smart business people, however, realize the journey can be just as rewarding as the ultimate destination.
They make sure they enjoy the process by which they’re moving forward just as much as they derive
satisfaction from where they are, and where they are heading in the future.

Part 1
Developing a Profit-Based Mental Outlook
Instead of Focusing on How Much You’re Being Paid
Main Idea
Making the mental transition between working for someone else
and working towards building your own business is often a
daunting challenge. The focus shifts dramatically from a
paycheck mentality to a profit centered way of thinking.
The key to making this transition doesn’t lie in strong capital
reserves or even an impressive resume. Instead, the key lies in
the way you think about yourself and your work.
Supporting Ideas
The traditional education system is not geared towards teaching
people how to be in business for themselves. In fact, the
education system is really working towards the goal of producing
good employees -- people who will show up on schedule, take
breaks when scheduled and do whatever they’re told to do.
That’s the payroll mentality -- do what’s expected and you might
even get a raise.
In the world of self employment, however, having good work
habits is irrelevant. In fact, there are no rules except one -- do
whatever it takes to make a profit. That demands an entirely
different way of thinking and acting where even the most well
intentioned advice others give you -- like thinking positively and
working hard -- can be counter productive.
Historically, people working for themselves have been described
as entrepreneurs. In today’s business environment, however,
entrepreneurs have been superseded by propreneurs. What’s
the difference between the two?
Entrepreneurs create commercial endeavors that require
considerable initiative and risk.
Propreneurs work for a purpose beyond just building a
business -- they create a livelihood for themselves that
enables them to do what they most enjoy doing. They enjoy
doing the work of the business rather than building a
commercial enterprise.
For an entrepreneur, the nature of the business is secondary to
the success that can be achieved (measured in the terms of their
own choice). For a propreneur, the nature of the business is the
main motivation, and the need to be in business simply provides
the opportunity to excel in a career they love.
That is, entrepreneurs want to work on building a business.
propreneurs want to work in a business they love. The difference
becomes more clear cut once the business grows --
entrepreneurs will be closely involved with managing the growth
while a propreneur will prefer to bring in someone to manage the
business details leaving them free to do what they most enjoy
doing.
Most self employment material tends to focus on how to get more
involved in the nitty-gritty details of business and is geared more
towards entrepreneurs rather than propreneurs. Yet it is actually
the ranks of the propreneurs that are today growing much faster,
and that trend will continue well into the future as significant
changes take place in the broader business community.
The 12 keys of succeeding as a propreneur are:
1. Realizing the odds now favor working for yourself.
Just 20-years ago, the prospect of working for yourself was
considered very risky. Today, more people feel comfortable
Making It On Your Own - Page 2
taking their economic futures into their own hands than in
relying on their company to provide a job for them. And that
trend will continue to accelerate into the future.
In fact, most experts believe up to 50% of the working
population of the future will be self employed. The entry
barriers to self employment are continuing to fall as the
practical effects of the information age combine with the
falling price of new technology.
2. Acknowledging that job security is merely an illusion.
Historically, people with a job felt more secure than people
working for themselves. Against a background of huge job
layoffs and corporate restructurings, however, propreneurs
realize security is just an illusion -- and that the ultimate
security actually comes by being on your own rather than
worrying about what the company does.
Propreneurs find the ultimate security is the knowledge they
can make it on their own and thrive on the direct link between
what they do and what they earn.
3. Shifting from waiting for a break to making your own breaks.
As an employee, your success can be largely influenced by
your boss and numerous others. As a propreneur, you have
no one else to blame when things are slow. That scares some
people, and motivates others to call on untapped resources
within.
A propreneur responds to temporary setbacks by rolling up
their sleeves and coming up with new ideas and new
initiatives. They persevere and keep doing the basics until
they create the breaks they’re after.
4. Changing from following rules to tracking results.
A propreneur realizes there is no "right" way and "wrong" way
to build their own business. They look at the process as an
experiment in which whatever works should be expanded
and whatever doesn’t work should be discontinued.
Instead of fearing ambiguity, propreneurs enjoy it for what it
is -- the freedom to do whatever it takes to succeed. That
requires focusing on the outcome rather than on following
any arbitrary set of rules.
5. Shifting from mastery of skills to marketing.
Salaried employees are concerned with doing a good job.
propreneurs look for innovative and original ways to let
people know what they have to offer. Employees talk about
their personal resumes. propreneurs talk about the benefits
of what they do -- from the perspective of the potential
customer.
The marketing mindset means to shift your focus from how
you do things to what you can do for others.
6. Making mistakes stepping stones rather than end points.
People on a paycheck dread mistakes. Propreneurs look at
them simply as the price of learning, and as some negative
feedback which suggest a change in direction. Many highly
successful people, in reflecting on their business careers,
identify mistakes as their ultimate turning point towards
long-term success.
That doesn’t mean propreneurs aren’t smart though -- they
try and make their mistakes away from the public gaze and
in situations where they won’t do terminal damage.
Propreneurs aren’t crazy, however, and they do work hard
at avoiding repeating their mistakes.

7. Propreneurs keep their options open at all times.
Successful propreneurs realize things change, often for
reasons beyond their control. Therefore, they work hard at
generating far more business than they can handle --
because only a small number of those projects will ever come
to fruition.
Propreneurs know to say yes to every possibility that comes
along -- and that nothing means much until they actually get
the money in their hand or a contractual agreement is
executed.
8. Propreneurs focus on breakthroughs, not boundaries.
Employees worry about their job descriptions. propreneurs
focus on developing new products and services -- as well as
new ways to explain those benefits to potential customers.
In other words, propreneurs are proactive in expanding their
business possibilities. Employees are not unless it helps their
career.
9. Propreneurs look at money as a multiplier -- they
spend-to-earn.
An employee has a long mental list of things they will buy
when they get enough money. Propreneurs realize being in
business means sometimes you have to spend money to
project the image you need, and they focus more on how to
source the money they need. They’re prepared to support
their business financially in the short term so their business
will support them over the long-term.
In essence, the propreneur has a spend-to-earn outlook. An
employee, by contrast, earns-to-spend.
10. Propreneurs focus on charisma, not on position.
Employees worry about the corporate pecking order.
Propreneurs don’t rely on other people for their own sense
of worth -- they generate it internally by believing in
themselves and the worth of their talents.
Good propreneurs have identified the character and
personality traits of the type of person they want to be, and
have already started acting that way themselves. Before they
even realize it, very soon they become the type of person
everyone respects.
11. Propreneurs look at success as a joint venture.
They’re prepared to work in with anyone else who is heading
in the same direction. Propreneurs don’t feel the same need
for recognition employees feel. Nor do they feel threatened
by the input of other people.
In actuality, the most successful propreneurs work hard at
generating business for their associates and contacts
because they realize these people will reciprocate in kind if
they’re worth being associated with long-term.
12. Propreneurs are their own coaches, colleagues and
cheerleaders.
Employees thrive on a little attention from the boss -- it shows
they’re doing the right thing and solidifying their future
employment prospects. Propreneurs take responsibility for
keeping themselves self-motivated and on their toes --
figuratively and mentally.
That requires the self confidence and maturity to keep your
morale and energy levels high -- by whatever means best
suits your own personality blend.
Making It On Your Own - Page 3
Key Thoughts
‘‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it.’’
-- Alan Kay
‘‘Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is
not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.’’
-- William Jennings Bryan
‘‘Customers are your only source of funding.’’
-- Tim Mullen, Catalog Publisher
‘‘The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.’’
-- Thomas Watson, Founder, IBM
‘‘Victory always starts in the head. It’s a state of mind. It then
spreads with such radiance and such affirmations that destiny
can do nothing but obey.’’
-- Douchan Gersi
‘‘Throw your money in the direction you want to go and the rest
will follow.’’
-- David Beaird, Film Director
‘‘There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. Only crew.’’
-- Buckminster Fuller
‘‘I don’t like work -- no one does -- but I like what is in work -- the
chance to find yourself.’’
-- Joseph Conrad
‘‘Can success change the human mechanism so completely
between one dawn and another? Can it make one feel taller,
more alive, handsomer, uncommonly gifted and indomitably
secure with the certainty that this is the way life will always be?
It can and it does!’’
-- Moss Hart
‘‘We were wild with joy because tomorrow we would leave the
known world behind. What a wonderful feeling...to be able to
decide your own life and destiny, obeying without limitations your
own mysterious calls, and dreams and passions.’’
-- Douchan Gersi
‘‘Once you’ve made the mental shifts from paycheck mentality
to profit mentality, you’ll find that making it on your own is no
longer an illusive glimmer to long for or struggle through. It’s a
reality to enjoy now -- for you and millions of others. You can
breathe easy. From this perspective, you can see where you’re
going. You’re ready to take charge with confidence and move
forward step-by-step in the direction you want to go.’’
-- Sarah and Paul Edwards
‘‘In short, propreneuring involves leaving behind both the payroll
mentality and the classical approach to doing business. It means
operating with a new approach. While most good employees
have learned to operate effectively within a system of rules, most
entrepreneurial profiles suggest that successful entrepreneurs
traditionally have a propensity to operate outside the rules -- to
be mavericks. Today’s new entrepreneurs, the propreneurs,
don’t meet that maverick profile. They usually did their best in
school and have been good employees. Many get as near to the
top as they can before hitting a plateau. They go out on their own
to achieve more. Today’s propreneurs are highly achievement
oriented and strive for excellence in their work.’’
-- Sarah and Paul Edwards

Part 2
Getting Organized So You Do Everything That
Needs to Be Done to Achieve Success
Main Idea
When you’re an employee, you have a job. When you’re in
business for yourself, you have three jobs:
1. Generating new business.
2. Doing the business.
3. Running the business.
Managing and balancing these three distinct roles is one of the
key challenges of being in business for yourself. There’s always
more to do than you ever have time for, but smart propreneurs
develop ways to make their business run by itself as far as
possible. That way, they become free to concentrate on those
areas they personally enjoy most about the business.
Supporting Ideas
The nine principles of getting a business to run itself are:
1. Have a commitment to getting organized.
Many business people settle for time consuming processes
without giving them a second thought. Stay alert for
opportunities to streamline processes, streamline things and
increase efficiency.
2. Use new technology as it becomes available.
Embrace technology as a way to do more with less. At the
very least, you’ll probably need:
1. A personal computer.
2. A laser printer.
3. An inexpensive copy machine.
4. Two telephone lines -- one voice, one for fax and data
5. An answering machine or voicemail capability
6. A fax machine.
7. A computer modem.
8. An electronic organizer of some sort.
Equipped with that, you’ll be on an equal footing with people
of far greater resources.
3. Don’t try and do everything yourself.
Look for jobs that can be handles by a part-time worker, a
full-time employee or an outside contractor. Use these
people on an as-needed basis if appropriate.
4. Use OPE -- other people’s energy.
Look for joint venture opportunities. Build a network of people
who are reaching the same target market you are. Become
familiar with the gatekeepers -- people who can unlock
opportunities for you.
5. Use experts wherever and whenever appropriate.
Seek out the key information that can make your business
life easier and more organized. Ideally, you want to build up
a network of specialists in their fields who can provide you
with expertise in areas you may be weak in.
6. Identify the little things that can have a big impact on results
-- and do them well.
In most businesses, one or two factors have an inordinate
influence on the quality of the results achieved. Identify those
factors for your business and work at doing them well -- even
at the expense of everything else. It will pay off in the long
run.
Making It On Your Own - Page 4
7. Find innovative ways to work smarter, not harder.
Quite often, little things that can be easily handled pile up
until they become major issues. The smart approach is to set
up systems to handle these matters as they occur.
8. Set up routines to take care of recurring matters.
Look at everything you need to do repetitively. Ask: How can
this be automated? Then put in place whatever is required.
It will take some time in the set-up phase, but the long-term
return in time saved can be highly impressive.
9. Piggyback activities together.
For everything you do, try and fit in as many other activities
as you possibly can at the same time. You may be pleasantly
surprised by how much can be achieved simultaneously --
freeing up your time and energies for other aspects of the
business.
As a generalization, marketing tends to be the most time
consuming activity for the majority of businesses. The two
approaches to marketing are:
1. Go out and generate business.
2. Get business to come to you.
Of the two approaches, the second will obviously be better. To
achieve that, try critical mass marketing -- the strategy of
positioning your business so that people will think of your
business whenever something you offer is needed.
The four steps of building critical marketing mass are:
1. Identify your unique advantage.
Research your competitors. Talk to past customers. What,
specifically, do you provide that nobody else does. Clarify
exactly what it is that makes your product or service
distinctive.
2. Find a suitable platform that shows your unique advantage
to best effect.
This will depend on what your unique advantage is. Find the
best possible venue or environment in which your unique
advantage really comes to the fore and makes itself shine.
That’s where your marketing should concentrate initially. Go
with your strengths.
3. Give away samples of your product or service.
This is the most widely used marketing technique in the
business world. It’s also the most direct way to build critical
mass in marketing. Find ways to get as many people as
possible sampling your product or service. If it’s as good as
you think, they come clamoring back for more.
4. Showcase what you offer in as many different media as
possible.
The more avenues you utilize the better. Having started with
your strongest choice, now cover the entire field. Look for
opportunities to give speeches or public demonstrations.
Utilize trade shows and print media. Look for broadcast
media coverage.
A concentrated effort, sustained over time, can create that critical
marketing mass you’re after. Shift your focus from surviving from
project to project, and instead build a business. Once you have
that momentum created by critical mass marketing, the results
achieved by each individual component of your marketing
program will be amplified.

What else can you do to increase your personal efficiency, and
thus create more time to do whatever you most enjoy doing? Try
these ideas:
1. 80/20 your life.
Identify the 20-percent of your business activities that
currently produce 80-percent of your results, and focus on
ways to expand just those critical activities. That alone has
the potential to quadruple your results.
2. Work on purpose.
Specify what your purpose is in being in business for
yourself, and do precisely that. To clarify things, answer
these questions:
1. What would you be doing if you were a multi-millionaire?
2. What is the objective of what you’re currently doing?
3. Why should you do that rather than someone else?
Identifying what you can uniquely do gives an increased
sense of self-worth. It also frees you to set goals and priorities
and reach decisions on strategies with greater ease. You can
focus on high value-added activities at the expense of all
those marginal-value distractions.
By the way, you should put up posters and reminders in your
work space to help keep you focused on the business area
you’ve identified. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much
additional focus just this simple step will provide.
3. Clear out the clutter and the backlog.
Work hard at ridding your life of all the clutter that sometimes
gets thrown in. Don’t let the most important items be left at
the expense of the least important. prioritize.
Some ways to cut out clutter:
1. Make an everything list -- of all the information you need.
2. Get rid of anything that isn’t on your everything list.
3. Set up a time and place for everything on the list.
4. Use a personal organizer of your choice.
5. Set aside a regular planning time each day.
6. Establish an activity center for key tasks.
4. Schedule for results.
Allocate time to the essential activities that are aligned with
your personal objectives.
5. Set goals.
To turn your goals into reality:
1. Be specific.
2. Write your goals down.
3. Keep your goals in plain sight.
4. Review your goals daily.
5. Every day, ask: What did I do today towards my goals?
6. Make goals in all the key areas of your life.
6. Bring your goals into the present moment.
The measure of personal effectiveness is how rapidly you
can turn goals into realities. To accelerate this process:
1. Develop a To-Do List, with priorities.
2. Stick to the priorities you’ve specified.
3. Focus efforts on where you’ll be most effective.
7. Don’t forget to allocate time to your personal life.
Since you are a valuable asset to the ongoing success of
your business, make certain you allocate sufficient time to
recharge your batteries and to take care of those personal
items of importance. In addition to providing some spice to
your life, it will also help you maintain a healthy perspective,
and keep your priorities in order.
Making It On Your Own - Page 5
Key Thoughts
‘‘We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it
sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own
opportunities, but its own talents.’’
-- Eric Hoffer
‘‘The happy person is one who sees all things as possibilities.’’
-- Leo Buscaglia
‘‘Nothing can resist a human will that stakes its heart upon a
purpose.’’
-- Benjamin Disraeli
‘‘It’s easier to win than to worry. The mind is like a calculator; it
has to be cleared of all previous problems before you can solve
a problem with it. Worry jams up the mechanism. We can’t solve
our problems unless we clear our minds.’’
-- Earl Nightingale
‘‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up
someplace else.’’
-- Yogi Berra
‘‘Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit
there.’’
-- Will Rogers
‘‘I regard myself as one of the happiest men on earth because
I’ve been doing what I like all my life.’’
-- Ashley Montagu
‘‘Technology is the great equalizer. It gives the small the power
of the large.’’
-- Paul and Sarah Edwards
‘‘The last thing I get to do is sing.’’
-- Lou Rawls, professional entertainer
‘‘When you are inspired by some great purpose, some
extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: your
mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in
every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and
wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become
alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far
than you ever dreamed yourself to be.’’
-- Patanjali, founder of Yoga
‘‘To have the time of your life. Isn’t that what we all want ... to feel
like we own the time that constitutes our lives? In many ways,
your time is your life. What you do with your time is what you do
with your life. In this sense, being on your own is the greatest gift
you can give yourself. The moment you step into the world of
self employment you own your time. What you do with every
minute of that day is up to you. Of course, strictly speaking that’s
always true. But having a job is like putting a long-term mortgage
on your time and thereby your life. Our research shows that
freedom is the number one reason people decide to go out on
their own and is what they enjoy most about being their own
boss.’’
-- Sarah and Paul Edwards

Part 3
How To Effectively Manage Yourself To Become
The Type of Boss You Always Wanted To Have
Main Idea
The highest achievers in the world of sport always have
managers and coaches to help draw out their best
performances. Not many people have this same support system
in their professional careers -- therefore, you have to become
self managed -- you have to learn the techniques required to
draw the best possible performance out of yourself.
If you can learn how to manage the emotional roller coaster that
is your own business career, you’ll do fine.
Supporting Ideas
Good managers are expert motivators and coaches.
To keep yourself motivated about doing what needs to be done:
1. Take the time to analyze exactly what motivates you.
Do you respond well to prizes as a reward for reaching goals?
Does the satisfaction of a job well done inspire you? Does
the amount of money earned light up your eyes? There’s no
right or wrong answer -- just something that matches your
personality like a glove and provides exceptional motivation.
What is it?
2. Identify what you need to hear, and how that message needs
to be delivered so that you’ll listen.
Some people respond well to a pep talk -- others to a chewing
out. Again, there’s no right or wrong answer. You just have
to be sufficiently self aware to know what kind of pep talk
suits your personality, and the best format that message can
be delivered in -- from your perspective.
3. Determine what you can do (on an ongoing basis) to ensure
you are performing at the best of your capacities.
Similarly, some people respond to regular rev-up sessions
and pep talks, while others utilize solitude to mentally
prepare for the battles ahead and stay focused. Look at what
works for you, and how you can create that specific
environment again and again.
Once you gather this information, you then have the key to how
to go about getting into peak condition -- and how to keep
yourself there day in and day out. This is where you want to be.
Peak performers condition themselves to do the following:
1. They remain relaxed under pressure -- you can never tell
what deadlines they’re facing by their external appearance,
behavior or demeanor.
2. They get energized, they stay energized and everything they
do is done against a backdrop of high energy.
3. They concentrate and focus exclusively on their desired
outcome.
4. They’re optimistic -- they anticipate a positive outcome in
everything undertaken -- and don’t get discouraged by
temporary setbacks.
5. They are fully present in the moment. They’re not distracted,
or thinking about peripheral issues. They are aware of all the
sensory information being provided, and responding to it.
If you aspire to become a peak performer, you need to develop
a similar type of regime, and ways to maintain that regime over
the longer-term.
Making It On Your Own - Page 6
Good managers help smooth out the emotional highs and lows.
To maintain poise and balance in turbulent times:
1. Take the time to stop and analyze your feelings, rather than
just responding in the first way that comes to mind (a
knee-jerk reaction).
2. Identify the tempo of the emotion you’re feeling. Is it
slow-paced (lethargic, boredom, contentment) or fast-paced
(anxiety, excitement, anger).
To feel more energized, think of a fast-paced emotion.
Conversely, to calm yourself, ponder some slow-paced
emotions. In this way, you take control of your own emotional
throttle.
3. Consider whether the emotion you’re feeling is passive
(hopelessness, apathy, self-pity) or active (friendliness,
ambition, curiosity).
Again, change the level of involvement to suit the
circumstances. To become more involved in something,
cultivate active emotions. To distance yourself, think about
the passive emotions.
4. Next think about the level of intensity of the emotions you’re
feeling. Some emotions are very intense (grief, joy) while
others are much less intense (disappointment, satisfaction).
To take control of your emotional mood, make adjustments
along the intensity scale. You can actively increase or
decrease the intensity level of the emotions you feel to match
the requirements of the situation you’re facing.
5. You can also use a timeline approach to emotions. Some
emotions are anchored to the past (regret, nostalgia), others
to the present (curiosity, boredom) while others are most
definitely future-oriented (anxiety, ambition).
Again, this can be used advantageously to control your
emotional state, simply by changing your attention to a
different time span.
6. Many emotions arise when comparisons are made -- how
things are panning out in reality by comparison with how you
expected things would be -- your ideal.
To offset this tendency, taking a positive approach -- instead
of focusing on what hasn’t panned out, think about all the
partial successes you have had along the way. Next, ponder
how those partial successes can be built on and expanded
further. Before long, you’ll start to see things quite differently.
7. Differentiate between what is possible, what is necessary
and what is desirable. You’ll soon find that you feel differently
about events when you make this distinction -- and often the
situation won’t be as bleak as it first appeared.
In fact, just adjusting your thinking from, "I can’t afford that"
to "How could I secure the funding to do that?" will open up
your mind to a host new possibilities -- and positive emotions.
8. Evaluate where your focus is. If you’re feeling overwhelmed,
you may simply need to break the large project down into
manageable portions. Conversely, feelings of irritability may
be offset by changing your focus away from the details and
onto the larger perspective. From that view point, what
seemed like major issues are really nothing to get too worked
up about.
A large part of managing yourself has to do with riding the
emotional roller coaster. Fortunately, these techniques are
within the capacity of most people.

Good managers are optimistic, even when the current situation
looks bleak. To maintain a positive outlook, you have to
overcome four main challenges:
1. The world may not take you very seriously.
Actually, how people react to you will be a mirror image of
how you feel about yourself. Do you take your career
seriously enough to do a professional job? If so, you won’t
have any problems with anyone else.
You can also sue your job title, your past experiences, your
credentials or your personal charisma to reinforce the
professional image you project.
2. You may be under capitalized coming in.
The only reasons for being low on cash are:
1. You don’t have enough business.
2. You’re not collecting all the money you’re due.
3. You aren’t charging enough.
Analyze why you’re low on cash and make the necessary
corrections. Five quick ways to generate new business:
1. Get on the phone and start talking to prospective buyers.
2. Develop a special offer people just can’t refuse.
3. Offer an absolutely amazing pricing incentive.
4. Subcontract to others, offering to do their overload work.
5. Volunteer some product or service to a good cause.
3. You might sometimes feel like throwing in the towel.
Try and specify why you may be feeling dissatisfied. Is it:
1. Because you need a break?
2. Because you don’t like what you have to do to succeed?
3. Because it’s not what you expected it to be like?
4. Because it’s time to move on to something new?
5. Because you don’t feel like your succeeding?
Once you identify the cause, you have some idea on how to
remedy those feelings. Most often, success has its own
schedule, and you’ve just got to stay in the game long enough
for everything to work out okay in the end.
The two factors that will determine your rate of success are:
1. How receptive the market is to what you offer.
2. The resources you can utilize when you first start out.
Sit down and look at how far you’ve come. Draw some
satisfaction from that. even if you aren’t where you ultimately
want to be, getting the results you crave may be closer than
you realize.
4. You may have no idea what to do.
In that situation:
1. Don’t panic. Everyone reaches this point at some stage.
2. Assume something effective can be done to get moving.
3. Follow your gut instincts.
4. Focus on your desired outcome, not on present problems.
5. Generate multiple possibilities for ways to move forward.
6. Talk it out with someone you respect.
7. Think about something else. Let you subconscious work.
8. If all else fails, act. Try something. See how it pans out.
Good managers find ways to make their proteges stay at the top
mentally. You need to do the same thing in your business career.
Act as your own coach, your own mentor. Capitalize of your
strengths, and find innovative ways to offset your weaknesses.
That way, no matter what happens, you’ll keep moving forward.
Every day is an opportunity to be more, to achieve more and to
develop more than ever before.
Making It On Your Own - Page 7
Key Thoughts
‘‘Once you get to the pros, coaching is not about telling people
what to do; it’s about managing personalities.’’
-- Norman Van Lier, former player, Chicago Bulls
‘‘Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our
mind, our duty is to furnish it well.’’
-- Peter Ustinov
‘‘I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability;
it was my natural ability.’’
-- Bruce Jenner, Olympic decathlon champion
‘‘If you are relaxing and thinking about your coming race, you are
going to perform with just about 100-percent efficiency.’’
-- Mark Spitz, Olympic swimming champion
‘‘Each time you exercise, you come back stronger. Before long,
you flat out get tough, both mentally and physically.’’
-- Rafer Johnson, Olympic decathlon champion
‘‘Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who
dared to believe that something inside them was superior to
circumstance.’’
-- Bruce Barton
‘‘At the very instant you think, "I’m happy", a chemical messenger
translates your emotions, which have no solid existence
whatever in the material world, into a bit of matter so perfectly
attuned to your desire that literally every cell in your body learns
of your happiness and joins in.’’
-- Dr. Deepak Chopra
‘‘Man was born to be rich or inevitably to grow rich through the
use of his faculties.’’
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
‘‘If you continue toward your goal, it will happen but not
necessarily on your time schedule.’’
-- Ken Blanchard
‘‘If you knew you couldn’t fail, your spirit would always be looking
for success -- and would find it.’’
-- Arnold and Barry Fox
‘‘Money is a vehicle to take you to your desires. It’s an extension
of your personality. So-called money problems are not problems
at all, but results that are dissatisfying. If you get results that don’t
satisfy you, it is because you are doing something to achieve
those results. Many people want to solve their money problems
without changing what they were doing to achieve those results.
You have to change what you are doing if you want to change
the results you’re getting.’’
-- Jerry Gillies, author
‘‘Errors are stepping stones to new ideas.’’
-- Roger von Oech
‘‘If you’re not failing occasionally, then you’re not reaching out as
far as you can.’’
-- Nolan Bushnell, founder, Atari

Part 4
How To Enjoy Your Success
Main Idea
It’s easy to set an arbitrary threshold as the point at which you
will classify yourself and your business as a success -- a certain
amount of sales, a bank balance that exceeds a nice round
figure, and so on.
Smart business people, however, realize the journey can be just
as rewarding as the ultimate destination. They make sure they
enjoy the process by which they’re moving forward just as much
as they derive satisfaction from where they are, and where they
are heading in the future.
Supporting Ideas
Success in being in business on your own generally involves five
distinct stages:
1. Exploration
The deciding of what you want to achieve with your life can
sometimes seem frustrating. Some people feel strongly
about what path their careers should take, others are more
ambivalent. This stage takes time and patience, since
frequently a false start or two will be made before the
long-term direction becomes clear.
2. Preparation
Taking the time to prepare increases your chance of
long-term success. The actual preparation required may take
any of numerous forms -- learning what you need to know,
accumulating capital, securing initial business contracts or
setting up contacts with other professionals whose services
you will require. The trick in this step lies in doing whatever
it takes, not in getting through it as quickly as possible.
3. Start-Up
Generally an exhilarating step, tempered with a little fear of
the unknown. Once you get started, however, you
immediately take matters into your own hands -- and
differentiate yourself from everyone else who is afraid to live
out their dreams. You are placing yourself in a position where
the unlimited potential of your future can be realized.
4. Survival and Growth
Usually the most challenging, this stage involves staying
committed when unexpected events occur, and when the
business grows more slowly than hoped. This is usually an
eye opener for most people in business -- you come face to
face with all the issues and challenges that you weren’t even
aware would crop up.
Surviving this step usually requires a person to focus on what
is working rather than what is not. In other words, instead of
following the natural tendency to get a little downcast over
what hasn’t panned out, keep in mind what is working. More
often than not, the partial successes will actually outweigh
the partial failures on your own personal balance sheet.
5. Hitting the Target
When you attain your dreams, don’t forget to celebrate your
accomplishments. Enjoy it. You may be surprised to find the
reality of success is different from what you had visualized.
Then move on. Dream new dreams. Find new mountains to
scale. Remember, success isn’t just a destination -- it’s part
of the process as well.
Making It On Your Own - Page 8
Now that you’ve achieved success, how should you handle it?
Some ideas:
1. Keep a healthy perspective. Successful people tend to
attract more of everything -- business opportunities, friends,
bills and phone calls. Don’t let your life get littered. Take on
only those clients, customers, projects or associations you
enjoy -- and send the balance elsewhere. Work hard at
keeping your life simple.
2. Don’t worry about everything being taken away again
tomorrow. Each day brings a new set of events and
circumstances. Have confidence you’ll handle whatever
crops up in the future. It’s amazing how much you can
achieve with the momentum of past successes behind you.
3. Don’t worry about whether you’re worthy of your successes.
Feel grateful for the degree of success you’ve realized --
which is a direct reflection of the added-value you’ve
provided for your clients and customers.
4. Acknowledge what you’ve achieved, the sacrifices you made
and the price you paid. Feel good about how far you’ve come.
Nobody can take that away from you.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Success demands that we go beyond what seems possible and
become more than we thought we could be.’’
-- Sarah and Paul Edwards
‘‘When things don’t work out, you can go home and tell your
spouse you’ve failed and you’re going out of business, or you
can go home and tell your spouse you’re starting a new
business.’’
-- James Sirkin, Management Consultant
‘‘The best part is knowing that I’m totally the master of my own
fate.’’
-- Chellie Campbell
‘‘We’ve found that once you begin to enjoy the sense of mastery
success brings, you want to succeed all the more. You begin to
have a sense of the magic you can make. It’s the magic of life.
It’s the intoxicating force that has driven the creative powers of
humankind throughout the ages. We all crave it, and as your own
boss you’re free to pursue it throughout your lifetime.’’
-- Sarah and Paul Edwards
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