Jon Acuff's Blog, page 31

Have you ever been fired? I have.

The first time, my boss told me I’d never be a writer.

The second time, my boss told me I’d never be able to build a business.

The writer comment hurt at the time. It took me years to work through that one. The second time I got fired though I was already in fuel mode and just used that to get even more motivated.

Both times though, the experts were wrong.

That’s the funny thing about “experts” like bosses.

They’re in a position of power, but here’s something you need to remember, they don’t have power over the future.

They’re bosses, not fortune tellers. They don’t know what tomorrow holds. They don’t know who you’re going to be or how you’re going to grow.

The problem though is that if you’re not careful, their words will shape your future.

A negative word is actually a fence. It’s a boundary put on what you’re capable of and if you let it stay there, guess what?

You won’t write a book.

You won’t build a business.

You won’t move to California.

You won’t run a marathon.

You won’t lose weight.

You won’t do any of those things because you’ll let a word from the past define your future.

Proving the experts wrong is fun. I recommend you do it at least once a day.
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I was reminded of this yesterday when the Celtics beat the Sixers 4-1 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

When 21 experts, people who have dedicated their entire lives to the study of basketball, were asked who would win, 18 out of 21 picked the Celtics. Almost 90% of the experts picked the Sixers to beat the Celtics.

They weren’t just a little wrong, they were incredibly wrong.

The Celtics didn’t just win, they almost swept.

The only thing bigger than the dreams you’ll have is the doubts you’ll receive.

That’s alright.

The experts don’t control the future.

If you’re ready to prove them wrong, read this today.

The post I got fired twice. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

It’s not.

It’s May 8.

That’s a pretty stupid day to start a new goal.

Nobody starts anything new on May 8. Even worse, it’s a Tuesday. What good can come of starting something on the day that has absolutely no vibe?

Monday is a starter day. Wednesday is hump day. Thursday is pre-Friday. Friday I’m in love. Saturday is the best and Sunday is when you cry if you hate your job.

Tuesday is just … Tuesday.

It’s the vanilla of days.

So then why do I think you should start something new today?

Because January 1 is just a day.

We tend to give it power. We think it’s special, as if the day itself holds some significance. Surely, if we are going to accomplish something, it will be that day.

By May, we’ve forgotten all about that thing that felt so fresh and new in January.

But what if you had the power to decide today was January 1? What if you realized the date is just arbitrary after all? What if the specific words didn’t matter so much as the actions you take?

Yesterday, I decided it was January 1. I made a fresh list of goals and committed to working on them for one solid month. I’m calling it #WickedAwesomeMonth because I am a dork like that.

What are my goals?

In the next 30 days, I’m going to:

1. Ride my bike 300 miles.

2. Read 8 books

3. Write 100,000 words

4. Encourage 100 different people

5. A bunch of secret goals I can’t tell you.

Does that sound silly? Of course it is. Who does new goals in May?

Turns out, I do. I’ve already ridden 31 miles in the last 36 hours. I’ve encouraged 5 people and written 1,000 words. So far, so good.

I’ll be posting progress on my Instagram account. You should follow it right here.

I’ll be using principles the PhD from Finish taught me. (You should read that book.)

I’ll be using the dopest calendar ever made to track them.

January 1 is a great date, but you know what? So is May 8.

I dare you to write down a new goal today. You’ve got so much year left. Don’t wait until next January to try something new.

Today is January 1.

Here’s to a #WickedAwesomeMonth.

Jon

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Why?

The short answer is, “Because I’m an entrepreneur.”

The long answer is because I’m going on an 8-day guided ski trip to the Austrian Alps.

That last sentence is bonkers to me.

Here’s the ski map of the 10 interconnected mountains I’ll be skiing.

Here’s the view from the hotel.

Insane.

That alone would be an amazing adventure, but then on Saturday I’m flying to Santorini, a small Greek island, to meet my wife.

I have a speaking engagement in Athens, Greece so we decided to add a few days before and after the event.

Here’s the place we’re staying. Not the village, the balcony of the place Jenny rented.

When I left for Austria, Jenny said “Make sure you drop your skis off in Munich. See you in Santorini!”

That’s maybe the most James Bond thing someone has ever said to me.

So how am I able to do this?

Because when you build a business, you also build a life.

If you want to go skiing in Europe or sell a thousand candles to support your favorite non-profit, Thistle Farms, or take a month off in the summer, you can do that.

We tend to over focus on the grind.

We listen to loudmouth gurus who tell us to work 90 hours a week.

We believe that being an entrepreneur means always going hard.

Sometimes it does mean that, but more than that, it means designing the kind of life you want.

This year, mine includes skiing the Alps. Next year? Who knows.

What shape do you want your life to have?

Is being home when your kid gets off the bus each afternoon the goal?

Is getting your voice heard as you sell your book the goal?

Is traveling with your spouse the goal?

I don’t know what the goal is, but I know that you’ll get a whole lot closer to it if you take the 90 Days of Business Hustle Course.

It’s helped hundreds of entrepreneurs just like you build smart, healthy businesses.

Today is the LAST DAY for registration, and then it’s closed for the rest of 2018. There’s also a 30-day money back guarantee.

Either you love it or I refund you the money.

No risk. Lots of possible reward.

I don’t know if you’ll build your own company or just have an amazing side hustle.

But I do know this. It’s time for you and me to go find your Alps.

Sign up here.

Jon

The post The reason I’m in Austria today and Greece on Saturday. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Five years ago, I started my business.

After 15 years of working in corporate America, I turned my side hustle into my full-time gig.

It hasn’t been easy, but it was without a doubt the best career decision I’ve ever made.

Over the years, I’ve learned a few things. Here are some of the most important:

1. The client who pays the least will demand the most.

If a client fights you during the price negotiation, they are probably going to fight you during the entire project. The initial negotiation is more than just a price decision, it’s an audition. It’s your chance to see who the client is and how they do things. If they’re a jerk upfront, don’t make the mistake of thinking the stress of the actual project will make them act better. It’s like assuming that marriage will fix a bad boyfriend. The other problem is that often, the cheap client has stretched their budget to get up to your level. It’s like saving up for a year to book a first class flight. The guy who always pays for that level won’t be as demanding. The person who can barely afford it will get frustrated if the snacks don’t show up on time. They will have crazy high expectations because in their mind they paid crazy high prices. I’m not opposed to doing discounted work with clients I know and love. I do that fairly regularly, but I will rarely expect a reduced rate to go well with a brand new client.

2. You have to reinvent your business every 6-12 months.

The secret to having a profitable business is actually pretty simple. You must have higher revenue than your expenses and you must have 7 faucets of revenue going at any given time. Why so many? Because that way when 3 get shut off outside of your control, you’ve still got 4 moving along. Public speaking is one of my 7 and it’s amazing, but if a client cancels an event, I don’t have any control over that. I better have something else going that month. On an even larger level, you have to be willing to constantly reinvent what you’re doing or you will get left behind. Just when you get comfortable, a new technology will hit the scene and completely shift what you are doing. You don’t need to change who you are or what your brand is all about or your mission. But if you get stuck, your company won’t last very long.

3. Your spouse probably doesn’t want to be your coworker.

My wife quit working with me two years into my business. I like to say she got fired but quitting is a lot closer to the truth. She essentially said, “I want to be your wife, not your coworker.” Essentially, the business was dominating every interaction we had. We were either working or talking about working. Every date night started off well but ended with a budget or marketing discussion. Can couples work together? Of course. I have friends in Denver who run a multi-million dollar company, but they’re rare. If you’re married, be very, very careful about working together.

4. It’s lonely running a business.

I love companies. I’m not one of these entrepreneurs who slams big businesses or corporate America. I think there are many benefits to working at someone else’s company. One of them is that you have casual community. When you work in an office, there are people to go to lunch with every day. When you work in an office, there are people to talk to over coffee. When you work in an office, there are coworkers who care about you. Do you know what you don’t have when you start your own business? Any of those things. If you’re not careful, you’ll get real lonely, real fast. When you run a business, you have to go out of your way to build community.

5. The sexy things are fun but not as productive as the boring things.

Snapchat is more fun than email. Twitter is more fun than writing a thank you note. Instagram is more fun than a follow up phone call. But over the last five years I’ve learned that the sexy things tend to be high on fun but low on value. Is social media important? It is, but if you had $100 to invest in your business I would beg you to put it into email marketing. All of those little, dumb things you might not like doing are actually the key to growing your business. Don’t get distracted by the shiny.

6. There’s a ton of money and opportunity out there.

People will often tell me, “I missed my opportunity with the Internet or social media.” Or they’ll say, “There are already too many entrepreneurs, photographers, authors, etc.” We tend to buy into the thought of “once in a lifetime moments” and assume that we’ve lost our shot at them. That’s just not true. I think there is more opportunity than there has ever been. There’s more money floating around, too. It might not be easy to get it. It might take time and hustle, but it’s there. I don’t care if there are 100 million entrepreneurs out there, there’s still a shot for you.

7. People will make you better.

Don’t buy the lie of the “solopreneur.” No one is a solopreneur. Everyone needs someone. My business runs because I work with Ashley and Bryan. My courses work because I work with Alejandro and Savvy. My public speaking gigs work because I work with Premiere Speaker’s Bureau. My book deals work because I work with Curtis and Mike. My books work because I work with Margot and Bria. That doesn’t mean I have a huge team. None of those people are my full-time employee. They’re experts I work with so that I can produce expert work. Do your best to surround yourself with the people who will make your business smarter, faster and more efficient.

8. You will have more bosses.

I love when people say, “I want to be an entrepreneur so I don’t have to answer to a boss!” That is adorable. The reality is that when you become an entrepreneur, you end up having more bosses than before. When I worked at Bose, I had one boss. Her name was Suzanne. Now that I run my own company, I have a dozen bosses. I work for Reggie Joiner, Portfolio books, brightpeak, Kristen Ivy, and every speaking client I have. Are they technically my boss? Maybe not, but I do report to them. I do fulfill their project requests. I do my best to make sure they have everything they need. When someone says they don’t want a boss, what they are saying is, “I don’t want to answer to anyone.” You might not end up with a boss, but if you build a company you will 100% answer to a lot of people.

9. You won’t take vacation unless you’re deliberate.

I always laugh when people say, “I want to run my own company because then I can take as many days off as I want!” Hilarious. The truth is that unless you’re hyper deliberate about vacation, you won’t take it. Part of the reason is that unless you figure out how to keep the business moving without you, the loss of revenue will always inspire you to be working. It’s taking me five years to learn this but I’m getting better. I tend to take at least 6 weeks off every year.

You should never end a list at 9 points, but the 10th point was fake. It was just me trying to fill out a list.

I’ve got a few more ideas about building a successful business so, for the first time in a year, I’m opening up registration for my 90 Days of Business Hustle Course.

I promise I’ll help you do two things:

1. Find something you love doing so much that you’d do it for free.

2. Get so good at it that people pay you a lot of money to do it.

That’s it.

Whether you’ve had a business for 10 years or just an idea for 10 minutes, that’s what I’m going to help you do.

Registration closes in 4 days (Monday night, 3/12/18) and I won’t open this class again in 2018. This is your chance.

You in?

The post 9 things 5 years of running my own business taught me. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

I have a brand new podcast! It’s called “Creative Slide.”

It launches today.

The first guest is Brian Koppelman, co-creator of the show “Billions” and co-writer of the movie “Rounders.”

Listen right here and make sure you subscribe in iTunes or on your podcast app of choice!

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Creative Slide is live! Make sure you’re subscribed to the feed in iTunes or your podcast player to never miss an episode.

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Since 2011, I’ve written five books.

How?

The short answer is that I started valuing my most important resource, time.

It’s the only resource I can never earn more of, but for the first 35 years of my life, I didn’t put a huge priority on it. A variety of things helped me change my focus about how I spend my time, but there’s been one piece of paper that has kept me on track these last seven years.

In 2011, I discovered a guy named Jesse Phillips. He was designing a new calendar that would give you a gorgeously laid out look at the entire year ahead. It was massive and easy to use. So, I bought it and started plotting out my adventures.

Suddenly, the “surprises” that used to knock me off course weren’t that surprising anymore because I could see them a month away. Suddenly, I had a better sense of what to say no to and what to say yes to because I could tangibly see how much time certain things would cost me. Suddenly, by planning things like vacations and dates with my wife they actually happened.

I’ve personally used these calendars for seven years. I mount them on foam board and keep them as a record of each year. Here is my collection.

Eventually, I decided I loved the calendars so much that I partnered with Jesse to make my own.

The best part is that right now, you can get it for 25% off.

Most people don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. They make January resolutions and have given up by now.

Not you. You’ve got 93% of the year left.

Don’t miss it.

It’s time to make the most of time.

Get a calendar today.

The post The nearly magical piece of paper I bought in 2011. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

A few months ago, a 100-year old, multi-billion dollar company asked me a question. Here’s what they said:

“We want to change the world, do you want to help?”

At first, it seemed too good to be true. The older I get the more I learn that people often say crazy, exciting things but then never follow up on them. I’ve learned to be cautiously optimistic when it comes to new opportunities.

They told me that for 100 years they’ve been helping people with their money, but wanted to go beyond that. They wanted to specifically help young couples make the most of their marriages by helping them navigate the messy conversations around money.

Money is a funny thing. It’s one of the greatest things that divides a couple but it’s also one of the greatest things that unites a couple. It’s one of the leading causes of divorce but it’s also one of the leading causes of fun. (The Waffle House Christmas Eve thing Jenny and I did this year was certainly fun.)

They dared me to dream up a year’s worth of amazing projects I would like to do.

So, I did. I went a little bit crazy with the ideas. I went big. And then I presented it to them.

I flew to their headquarters in Minneapolis and you know what they said?

“Let’s do it.”

Not only did they say that, they said, “We think it can be even bigger.”

Over the last three months, every time I’ve come up with a wild idea, that’s been their response, “Let’s make it bigger.”

The company’s name is brightpeak and they’re a part of Thrivent Financial.

This year, we’re doing live events together around the country. We’re creating video challenges. We’re coaching couples. We’re doing about a million things.

It starts today.

I’m launching a brand new idea stream about money, and you can sign up to get it delivered right to you.

Twice a month, I’ll share an idea about money and relationships and where they intersect. I’m going to call it “The Money List” to fit in with all the other lists I have going right now with fresh ideas. (Writer’s List, Speaker’s List, etc.)

I certainly don’t know it all, but I have picked up a few tricks over the last 17 years of marriage.

To make sure you don’t miss a single idea, sign up here.

I think 2018 is going to be wild.

I hope you’ll join me for the ride.

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Last week, I saw an ad for a luxury travel company. The tag line for the vacations they offer is, “Come back new.” The promise is that if you go on one of their trips, you’ll come back new.

Although I think that’s a bit of an overpromise, there’s only one word they got wrong.

The tag line should have said, “Come back you,” because ultimately that’s what we all want.

That’s why we do diets and write books and start businesses. We believe we are capable of more. We believe that there is more to us than meets the eye. We believe that life or bad decisions have covered up a piece of us that is vital. Even if parents and friends and bosses don’t believe in us, that small voice that says “What if?” persists.

New Year’s Resolutions are often our attempt to uncover what has lain dormant and hidden for far too long. It’s our attempt to dream and do, which is perfect because there’s something you need to know.

We don’t need you to be new, we need you to be you. The world is currently short one you.

For the next 48 hours or so registration for my 90-Day Finish Course is open. A PhD named Mike Peasley helped me create a challenge that gives you all the tools you need to complete the goals you care about the most.

It’s not for everyone. It’s for a percent of a percent of a percent of the people reading this.

But if it’s for you, if you’re curious about what it looks like to actually finish, if you’ve got even the smallest glimmer of a goal, I dare you to try it.

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I’ve got a free challenge starting on Monday, December 4th.

The concept is simple.

18 days.

1 action each day.

10 minutes a day.

3 hours of total progress when all is said and done.

That’s it. Small steps to ensure a big year.

Use the challenge to write a book, lose a pound, expand a business or learn the dance from Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation video. That was my friend’s goal one year.

You’ve got about 96 hours to sign up. (It closes Sunday at midnight.)

It’s free, it’s fun, it’s gonna remind you that we are a part of a Rhythm Nation.

You in?

Sign up today.

Jon

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