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3 Haupt Funnel

Es gibt 3 Hauptkategorien an Sales Funnels, die wir in der Agentur für unsere Kunden immer wieder entwickeln.

LEAD SALES FUNNEL

Der Lead Sales Funnel ist für alle, die über Gespräche verkaufen, Klienten gewinnen, oft für eine Service-Dienstleistung oder Direktverkauf höherpreisiger Angebote. Ziel des Funnels ist potentielle Käufer als vorqualifizierte und vorinformierte Leads zu generieren. Diese Personen kommen auf Sie zu und wollen mit Ihnen über Ihr Angebot sprechen (Also das Gegenteil von Kaltakquise. Freuen Sie sich auf angenehme Erstgespräche!)

ECOMMERCE SALES FUNNEL

Der eCommerce Sales Funnel generiert Besucher für Ihren Shop, die kaufen wollen. D.h. also wenn Sie Produkte online per eCommerce Shop verkaufen. Mittels umfangreicher Remarketing Kampagnen erhöhen wir den Gewinn zusätzlich für Ihren Shop massiv und langfristig.

AUTO SALES FUNNEL

Der Auto Sales Funnel kommt ins Spiel, wenn Sie automatisiert Angebote online verkaufen wollen wie Online-Kurse, Training, Seminare, Bücher o.ä. Also immer, wenn Sie über eine Landing Page, Webinare, Videos oder Emails direkt verkaufen wollen, ohne je persönlich einzugreifen.

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The post Selfie-Video: Wie ich meine Infoprodukte launche appeared first on Myrko Thum.

Hier die Fakten:

Infoprodukt: Bright Line Eating Bootcamp
Tagline: “Happy, Thin and Free”
Zielmarkt: Abnehmen (Weight Loss in US-englisch)
Produktpreis: $997 (Bestellseite)
Umsatz: $336.000 (in 2 Launches)
Gesamter Zeitraum: 6 Monate
Email Liste: von 0 auf ca. 12.000 Subscriber

Susan Peirce Thompson launchte Ihr neues Produkt namens “Thin, Happy and Free” (Optinseite) komplett neu.Susan startete – wie die meisten – mit einer ganz kleinen und bescheidenen Emailliste von 300 Personen, viele von denen sicherlich Bekannte und Verwandte. In nur 6 Monaten war sie in der Lage $336.000 in 2 Launches zu generieren.

Update: in ihrem nächsten Launch erreichte Susan über 100.000 neue Subscriber und 2.200 neue Kunden (hier ihr Video dazu).

Analyse Infoprodukt & Produkt Launch:

Warum hat dieses Produkt so gut funktioniert?

D.h. was können Sie daraus lernen und für sich nutzen – abseits von der Inspiration, dass es Neueinsteiger gibt die relativ schnell (6 Monate) einen beträchtlichen Erfolg mit Infoprodukten/Onlinekursen feiern?

Was macht diesen Launch erfolgreich?

1. Gutes Infoprodukt mit aufrichtigen Inhalten, die anders sind

Die Inhalte bei Susan stimmen einfach. Das, was Sie in Ihren kostenlosen Launch-Videos präsentiert, wirkt (gerade in der vorbelasteten Abnehmen-Nische) authentisch, fundiert und aufrichtig.

Sie liefert einen relativ neuen Ansatz, um abzunehmen und – ganz wichtig – ein klar abgegrenztes Endergebis.

Dieser Ansatz steht im Kontrast zu dem, was die meisten in diesem extrem umworbenen Markt gewohnt sind.

2. Eine “hungrige” Zielgruppe

Der Abnehmen-Markt ist ein lukrativer Markt, da Menschen die abnehmen wollen, ein hohes Problembewusstsein haben und bereit sind, etwas dafür zu tun Ihr Ziel zu erreichen, schlank und energetisch zu sein.

Das hat sie schön in Ihrem Produktnamen zusammengefasst.

3. Gute Experten-Positionierung

Ihre eigene Positionierung als Ph.D. Experte fügt sich nahtlos in dieses Bild ein.

Plus: Sie hat eine eigene, authentische Geschichte die Sie glaubhaft vorträgt, mit der sich Ihr Tribe identifizieren kann (ganz wichtig).

4. Gewinnung eines starken Joint Venture Partners

Trotz alledem, hätte Sie diese Zahlen nie allein erreicht. Ein ganz wichtiger Teil, gerade zu Beginn dieses Infopreneur-Geschäfts, ist da networken und das gewinnen von passenden Joint-Venture Partnern mit Reichweite in der Zielgruppe.

Das ist ihr offensichtlich gut gelungen: sie hat einen entscheidenden JV Partner gewinnen können, der Ihren Produkt-Launch auf Provisionsbasis unterstütze.

5. Saubere Umsetzung des Produkt Launches

Susan verfolgt die Produkt Launch Formel genau und fokussiert sich auf den Ausbau Ihrer Email-Liste…

…und – noch wichtiger – auf die Beziehung zu Ihrer Email Liste, indem Sie großartige Inhalte vor ab kostenlose liefert. Das baut Vertrauen in Ihrer Emailliste und macht gute Verkaufszahlen möglich.

Ihr eigenes Infoprodukt?

Wenn Sie jetzt Gefallen daran gefunden haben, Ihr eigenes Infoprodukt zu erstellen und zu launchen, dann melden Sie sich auf meiner Email-Liste an (zum Beispiel hier), um das nötigen Handwerk zu lernen.

The post Infoprodukt Fall-Studie: Onlinekurs von 0 auf $336.000 in 6 Monaten analysiert appeared first on Myrko Thum.

I summarised the reasons behind why this works so well — especially right now — in this Top-5 list for you:

1. Scale Up Your Business Online

Information products are an incredible way to scale up your existing business. Especially if you’re a knowledge worker and already have a service-based business where you help other people 1on1 with your expertise and experience.

If you’re a coach, consultant, teacher, author or seminar-leader you definitely have to look into information products to grow your business. If you’re a blogger or have any other kind of platform with an audience, info products are the best way to monetise your content right now.

I call all of us knowledge workers “Infopreneurs”, that means we are entrepreneurs who sell valuable information to help others.

Basically you can create your info product once and then sell it over and over again to an ever-growing audience of customers. It’s an awesome way to scale your business!

2. Start A New Online Business

You could even start a completely new business around your information product. Make your info product your core offer and the core solution and build your business around that solution.

This works especially great because bigger info products sell at a premium price. Depending on your niche, audience and product $297 up to $1,997 are totally normal price points.

Later you can add more info products or blend in other high-ticket services such as coaching or mastermind groups.

3. Huge Leverage Of Your Time

There is probably no better way to stop trading hours for money than to sell your own profitable info product.

You can automate this whole process (I have this in place right now) and even sell products while you sleep. Sounds weird, but this is possible with todays technology and the potential reach you have over the internet.

And if you choose to, you don’t have to stop doing 1on1 work. As said above, if you combine both approaches they can actually profit from each other. For instance having a great info product out there in your marketplace will increase your expert positioning (same as a published book does, but even more) and attract more high paying clients.

4. True Location Independence

You can run an information product based business from wherever you like, as long as you’re online.

This is the best way to create a real lifestyle business, if that’s your goal.

If not, this infopreneur business works like any other business too. If you choose to, you can grow a team and work locally as well.

5. Do What You Love & Get Paid For It

Probably the best benefit of having your own profitable info product is that you actually get paid for something that you love.

If you combine your passion with a profitable target market you can bring these two together and create a profitable and enjoyable business…

What’s Next?

If you’re interested in learning more, then go ahead and join my email list and get some serious info product training from me right away …for free:

The post The TOP 5 Benefits Of Selling What You Already Know In An Information Product appeared first on Myrko Thum.

And if you’re helping others with your knowledge and experience, I sincerely believe that information products are THE BEST WAY to start and scale a profitable online business. Period.

You can leverage your time, especially if you’re doing mainly 1on1 service oriented work now, and you can use this unlimited power of the internet to find a lot of new customers from all over the world, if you know how.

And btw. when I say information product – or shorter: info product – I mainly mean an online video-course in a private membership site, focused on solving one single problem and helping to get one single outcome. (There are others, like eBooks, Audios, but this is the most profitable type.)

So I started with my first personal development info product called “The System” in 2013 as my first real big training-program (maybe some of you still remember this launch). It was already good and showed the potential, but I knew that I could improve on this.

I relaunched it in 2014 as Personal Breakthrough Academy and was able to multiply my sales-revenue by the factor 12!

And since then I was able to understand this business even better. Naturally I did a lot of mistakes in the beginning. They’re the kind of newbie mistake people make when starting out.

So if you’re interested in creating and selling your own highly profitable information products, here is a way to shorten your learning curve significantly by avoiding these Top 10 mistakes:

1. Waiting Too Long To Get Started

This sounds weird but not getting started is the biggest time-waster when it comes to creating a profitable online business around your expertise. Especially with information products, you can get stuck in thinking about it.

Or, even when you’ve started creating your product, you can get stuck in perfectionism and structure or create “better” or more content …which often is totally unnecessary, people usually don’t want more content, it overwhelms them.

Sometimes you just have to stop thinking and start doing.

2. Not Being Passionate About It

Since creating high-ticket info products is a pretty big undertaking, which can pay off big if done right, you want to make sure that it’s about a topic you care about.

If you’re passionate about building a successful business online and growing your revenue, that also helps.

3. Not Creating What People Want

This is critical. It must be understood in order to succeed with information products.

Creating an info product is not primarily about what you want to create (this is only half of the success-formula). It’s primarily about what people want. It’s what your potential customer is already actively looking for.

That means you want to take a look at your target market and see if there is a desire and actual need for you product.

And you see this by a) competition and b) active requests, like search volume on your main keyword on Google.

4. Not Knowing Your Ideal Costumer

So that means when you want to create a powerful solution for your customers, you need to really understand that person. You need to understand the pain and the desire in order to create a truly irresistible product.

So talk to your potential customer, survey them and build a profile of your ideal client, up to the point where you give this person a name.

5. Not Selecting The Right Customer For You

You need to select THE RIGHT customer for your solution.

For instance B2C (think: weight loss) is broader but less pricy than B2B (think: business growth).

6. Not Being Specific

Specific sells. Unspecific and broad does not sell (very well).

You want to create a specific solution to a specific problem.

You want to craft a specific message and then (very important) work on it and polish it so it gets really magnetic for this customer.

7. No Step-By-Step System

The success (and attractiveness) of your info product depends on if your potential customer can see her/himself getting the result you’re promising.

And after the sale (which is most important to create repeat customers and build a real business), it only depends on if your customer is able to create this result.

So the best and easiest to understand way is to create your product as a step-by-step system, your customer can walk through and advance one small baby-step at a time.

8. Not Using Video

Video is the best format to teach and also to sell. It also has the highest perceived value of all media-formats.

So use video in your products and in your marketing materials!

If you’ve never stood in front of the camera, then a) start out (it’s soo much fun and you learn a lot about yourself) and b) you can use a lot of video-types without you in front of a camera, for instance using powerpoint/keynote or onscreen presentations, which both are VERY easy to do.

9. Doing It All Alone

No one can succeed all alone. I accelerated my online business the most when I started learning from others and connected with the right partners.

Not only does this give you the necessary knowledge and breakthrough insights you need, it also helps you to keep your motivation up – or get you through tough times when you probably would quit if you’d do it all alone.

So start learning and surrounding yourself with the right people, who’ll support you on your way.

10. Not Doing A Launch

When you’re info product is done, the worst thing you could possibly do is to “put it out there” and hope that someone will buy.

You need to take control of this process and plan a proper product launch.

The post TOP 10 Mistakes in Creating & Selling Information Products appeared first on Myrko Thum.

That question was something I used to ask myself evening after evening, hopelessly glancing over my to-do list for the day.

“Is there something wrong with me?! Am I just not good enough at what I do for a living?!”

Such thoughts are not particularly fun, believe me, but we all tend to have them every once in a while.

Besides, really, what is it about to-do lists that makes them so difficult to complete?! And I mean truly complete – to have every single item crossed off.

Perhaps there’s a problem with the to-do list as a concept, and not with us when we fail to complete a bunch of tasks.

So when the day is done, and there’s still stuff left on the list, can we just pat ourselves on the back and say, “Hey, champ, it’s not your fault. You gave it your best!”?

Well, yes and no.

On one hand, a to-do list is not the most complicated tool out there (nor is it the most effective), but it still requires some skill if we want to be able to use it in a decent way.

To some extent, a to-do list is like a bicycle. Yes, it can take you places, but you do need to learn how to ride it first or else it’s going to hurt. And at the same time, it’s not the most efficient means of transportation.

Therefore, how to improve the standard to-do list to make it more of a valuable asset, and at the same time, how to learn some handy to-do list skills that will help us achieve our goals?

This has been my challenge for a long time. I’ve tried solving it in various ways. Apps, online tools, new methods, hacks, work and time management methodologies. I’ve experimented with both simple and complex approaches to try and make things better.

So without further ado, here’s what I found – the hacks that have proven to be the most effective over the long haul.

1. Use paper to-do lists

Yes, paper. Not an app called Paper. Real paper – the stuff made out of trees.

So okay, why would you want to participate in the destruction of the rainforest instead of just admitting that it’s the 21st century and moving all of your productivity stuff to some nice app?

Quite simply, paper is tangible. You can touch it. You can see it sitting there on your desk. You can’t just click some “x” button and wish it away.

Additionally, paper is limited. You can’t hold a hundred tasks on a single sheet. As a result, paper saves you from over-scheduling your tasks.

And lastly, apps tend to hide the progress you’ve made as soon as you mark a task done. It vanishes somewhere, never to be seen again, lost in the archives.

This brings me neatly to the second method…

2. Record your progress along the way

Using paper to-do lists does solve this to some extent – you have to physically scratch things off your list, but they stay there anyway and are perfectly visible.

But we can take the concept of recording our progress a bit further.

This may sound strange after the things I’ve already said here, but for tracking my progress I do use an app. Mine is called Toggl. With it, I can input a task name/title, press the small record button, and then it does the time tracking job for me. After I’m done with a task, I only have to click on stop.

(Note. The actual app itself isn’t important here. There’s a number of these time tracking things available, so feel free to use whichever makes the most sense to you.)

But what’s the point of all this, right?

This is actually a depression-prevention mechanism. Here’s what I mean. The problem with to-do lists is that they don’t represent the size of a given task.

For example – and that’s a rather bad-practice example, but it illustrates the point – if you have a list like this:

• write a book,
• make a cup of tea,
• water the plant on your desk,
• make another cup of tea,
• change the ink cartridge in the printer.

Then if you somehow manage to handle the first task – writing a whole book – you still have four other tasks that haven’t been done. So even though you did complete a massive and important task, the list itself makes you kk like crap.

So here’s how depression-prevention works and why you should invest in it. Whenever you’re looking at your list and feeling bad for whatever reason, check out your progress for the day in Toggl. The second you see that you’ve actually been working hard on an important task for a longer while, you will feel a lot better.

However, there’s one important element here…

3. Work on the one crucial task first

The more time passes during the day, the bigger the chance we’ll get sidetracked, start putting out fires, get lost in our inboxes, and in general, do other tasks that aren’t necessarily the ones we’ve planned for.

So the simple solution here is to always handle the most important stuff first, no matter how time consuming it might be.

More than that, each day you should only have one crucial task on your to-do list. Please bear with me and think of it this way. If you could only complete one task throughout the whole day, what would it be? Make this your must-do task and make sure to take care of it first.

4. Don’t throw away your completed lists, aka create a “done” list

This particular trick has been key for me. Whenever I call it a day, I take the list and put it in a binder. As simple as this.

The brilliant thing about it is that the lists add up over time and turn into a great morale building tool. Here’s mine:

Just looking at it makes me all fired up and wanting to do even more stuff.

5. Don’t do things the old way when there’s a new way

Here’s some homework for you. Try browsing through the different types of tasks you’re handling on a daily basis and look around for a piece of software or app that could help you do each of them better.

The thing is, once we’re in the trenches working away, it’s really easy to not notice all the new developments out there – new tools that have been released to make our work easier.

Just to give you a short story. My mom is a computer science veteran. She’s been learning about PCs for year, back when I was still only learning about Legos. However, at some point, she just stopped looking for new tools and other technological solutions that could make her job easier.

I, for a fact, know that a tool like Dropbox would make her day much simpler (due to the number of different computers she uses), but she still refuses to give it a chance because she’s convinced that the setup she’s used for years is just okay. That setup being flash pen-drives and moving data from one computer to another by hand.

But let me give you some actionable examples.

When I first started promoting my content and reaching out to other bloggers, I did all of my research through Google. I would go out and start looking for blogs in my niche and similar niches, then I would try assessing their impact and reach, attempt to find some contact details, learn about their social media presence, and finally reach out with a message.

But now I do things through Inkybee (BuzzStream is a good alternative too). Without much supervision, Inkybee goes out and finds new blogs worth reaching out to for me. It also gives me info on the contact data, social media profiles, popular posts, and anything else I could use to make a good first impression.

Another thing, client proposals. If you’re doing anything on a freelance basis, pitching new clients is one of the core activities you have to take care of in your business. Now – you can do everything by hand, for instance in a tool like MS Word and Gmail. But these days there are alternatives like Bidsketch that will take care of everything from design, to structure, to sending the proposal out, to even tracking if the client viewed it. (Also, Bidsketch delivers some great resources that will help you take your proposal game to the next level.)

What I’m trying to say here is to never stop looking for new developments. Just because what we’re using today seems to be working just fine, doesn’t mean that it’s the best possible solution available.

6. Bring the fire back in the relationship – make to-do lists fun

This depends on your individual tasks, but in general, handling your to-dos is not an awful lot of fun. I mean, sure, you probably love what you’re doing, but no matter what, you will always be more excited about eating a big cone of ice-cream than about handling a task from your to-do list.

So why not try something entirely different, right? I’ve been experimenting with various concepts for list-keeping, and my latest invention is the daily task cards. Basically, it’s an adaptation of an old-school tool used in restaurants called the check rail.

Here’s what it looks like:

So the trick here is simple, and it’s to use cards to hold your important tasks for the day. If you can get your hands on a check rail then that’s even better, but a standard desk will do its job too. Try it out, it’s fun, I promise.

Conclusion

For many people, to-do lists are just a necessary evil – something they need to deal with, although they don’t particularly enjoy it. But this doesn’t have to be the case. With just a little effort, we can really turn our to-do lists into valuable tools that will empower us to get our work done and motivate us when we’re not feeling very productive.

I really encourage you to give those six methods a go. Even if not all of them, I’m absolutely positive that at least a couple will stay with you for the long term.

What’s your current way of handling a to-do list? Do you have any tricks of your own you’d like to share?

The post 6 Simple To-Do List Hacks to Help You Get Through the Day appeared first on Myrko Thum.

Instead of having to juggle our diary each day with team meetings, appraisals or updates, we get to decide who we speak to, when, and why.

This is without doubt one of the single biggest factors pushing entrepreneurs in to self-employment; the luxury of managing our own time, without having to accommodate office politics, the inane chatter of team meetings, or the hassle of reporting to someone.

So why is it, when many people first move in to running their own business, one of the first issues that hits is a sense of isolation?

Surely, when we’ve longed for the majority of our working lives to escape the office noise and corporate bustle, the last thing we should miss is that very noise?

The problem is, working for yourself can be a lonely business.

Instead of having to attend a series of meetings that have been popped in to your diary at the whim of other people, you’re suddenly faced with day after day of silence and isolation. While in the first few days this isolation can give you the space you need to focus on setting up key aspects of your business venture, after a week or so, that silence can start to grate on you.

If you have a spouse or partner who comes back from an office role full of the gossip of what has happened that day, or you are used to answering the phone or lots of e-mails throughout the day, suddenly being cut off from the hectic schedule of a busy office can be a huge culture shock.

The good news is, there are a number of ways of managing this sense of isolation, to make sure that your business brings you interactions and meetings, discussions and support, but this time on your own agenda at times that really work best for you. Here are the top ways to make sure working for yourself doesn’t leave you feeling disenfranchised and isolated…

1. Get a Mentor

When you are working for yourself sometimes you need someone else to bounce ideas off and talk to about new strategies for the business. The best person to do this is a mentor; someone you respect in the same field of business as you, who is willing to give up some of their time each day or week to talk things through.

Look at your business contacts and pick out someone you get on with, respect and admire and ask them if they would be prepared to be there for you in an advisory capacity. Link up on Skype, and you have someone on hand every day to discuss things with when you need it.

RELATED: Myrko Thum’s Personal Breakthrough Academy  

2. Join Business Networks

Regardless of your field of industry, there’s a network out there for you. Join breakfast clubs, business networking groups or forums and go along to meet like-minded people who share the same goals and aspirations.

Not only will you forge some great business contacts, networking also gives you a regular schedule and routine to take you out of the house and in to positive meetings with people who could be customers in future.

3. Reach Out To Like-Minded People

Having contacts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Skype will help you to develop an ongoing group of like-minded business entrepreneurs who will be there for you day after day.

Forge new contacts, join groups, invite people on to Skype chat and take time to nurture these relationships. Before too long your e-mail inbox and chat screen will be inundated with messages, making you wonder how you ever felt isolated in the first place.

Choose partnerships with people who share similar values, aspirations and ideals and develop relationships by sharing best practice, discussing issues and offering to support others when they need it. 

4. Hire Office Space

If you really can’t cope with the quiet of working from home, it may be worth investing in some office space. These days, you can get space which is shared with other firms and sole traders, giving a sense of community and camaraderie to the environment. Having your own space also makes it easier to hold meetings, invite clients to see you and gives you a sense of routine by ‘going to work’ each day.

No matter how isolating working for yourself can seem at first, it really doesn’t take long to gain new colleagues who share your interests and business goals. After just a few weeks of taking positive steps, you’ll be back to the bustle of a full day of networking and won’t miss the 9-5 grind at all.

How do you beat your self-employment isolation?

Write about your experience in the comments below!

photo credit: SpaceShoe [Learning to live with the crisis] via photopin cc

The post How to Beat the Self-Employed Isolation appeared first on Myrko Thum.

You Don’t Get Any Business.

It’s a crushing feeling, to pour your heart and soul into something you believe in for so long, only to have it fall flat at what should be your moment of greatest accomplishment. Especially with a lifestyle business, where your main goal is to make just enough money, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’ll be able to meet your needs pretty easily. Opening to little fanfare can be a rude wakeup call.

Before you completely freak out, take a step back and realize:

You’re not a failure. What you are is new.

I know, because I’ve been there. In fact, I’m there now.

For the last three years I’ve worked as a freelance copywriter. When I had my second child, I realized I wasn’t happy helping other people achieve their dreams when I could use my writing and creativity to further my own.

So I started my own business, Positively Dreaming Illustration and Design. Just like you, I spent months crafting my portfolio and perfecting my positioning. Launching my site and shouting …

“I’m open!” was an amazing feeling.

For about three seconds.

Then that feeling immediately gave way to doubt, fear, intimidation and a particularly insidious form of self-scorn that led me to wonder why the hell I ever thought I could do this. See, despite having been the captain of my own ship for several years, I’m still totally capable of believing myself a failure.

Honestly, I think we can all blame Field of Dreams. It poisoned us with the overly simplistic myth that …

“If you build it, they will come.”

Okay, fine, so this little gem isn’t total hogwash.

But it’s only half the story.

You’ve got to build “it” in order for anyone to hear about you or want to work with you, sure. They need to see examples of your fine work and hear from the fine people with whom you’ve worked. You’ve got to have a front, a public face, be it electronic or brick-and-mortar. The folks I refer to as your Perfect People depend on you to make yourself look credible enough that they’d want to work with you.

Once you built “it”, you’ve got to find them.

If you read the self-employment literature — and hopefully you’ve at least attempted this before flinging wide your front door — you’ll see that the biggest issue solopreneurs have is getting clients. A steady influx of people paying you for your products, services or ideas is the only way your dream will become reality.

Unfortunately, many of us forget about this part in the first blush of getting an idea, working to make it happen and opening up shop. When we’re then brutally reminded of it all at once, it’s easy to fall prey to the accompanying but little-acknowledged illusion that …

“If you build it and they don’t come right away you’re probably screwed.”

Again, not true.

For the vast majority of us that go into business, the beginning isn’t so much a launch as a hop. Often when we begin, we aren’t experts, and it feels hard and scary to pose as experts when we’re still learning.

But you have to. The only way to get better is to do what Seth Godin calls practicing in public. Putting yourself out there before you’re really good as a way of getting good. Of course, Yoda put it a bit more simply: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

All right, you’re saying, so Kevin Costner was wrong.

What now?

Grab those bootstraps, friends.

Chances are you’re going to have to work really hard for a few months, more likely a few years. You’ll have to toot your own horn in ways that might make you uncomfortable. You might hate social media, but have to use it anyway for marketing and networking purposes.

Perhaps you, like many creative types I work with, would prefer not to leave the house. Well, too bad. You’ve got to get out there and start meeting the masses, for among them hide your Perfect People.

Even if these common hang-ups don’t bother you, you still have to keep the books. Pay your taxes. Find a work/life balance at a time when finding even a work/work balance seems impossible. The thing is, starting a new business is hard, and getting started is significantly less than half the battle.

So that’s the bad news. The myth isn’t true.

You’ll have to work your tail off to turn this fable into a reality.

But the rest of the story is much cheerier. People don’t usually fail because they gave something their all and it still doesn’t work. This happens, but far more importantly, people usually fail because they allow themselves to be caught off guard. By a myth, by a cold truth. By rosy dreams that become thorny days.

To that I say: So, what? Who cares? You can do it anyway.

Sure, the best plan is to never fall prey to this myth in the first place. But it’s pretty pervasive, so if you have, don’t beat yourself up. Just refuse to play ball. (The baseball metaphors are now over, I promise.) Instead, just take a few deep breaths, clear your head, and tell yourself:

I built it. They’ll come.
But now I’ve got to work for it.

And start working.

Don’t quit the day job too soon. Make sure you’ve got enough income to cover your transition, or else you’ll be spending your last quarters buying Hamm’s and hating yourself as you apply to new jobs working for the man. Be smart, and keep at it. Eventually you’ll hit it out of the park.

Whoops, I said I wasn’t going to do that, didn’t I?

The post The Biggest Myth of Starting Your Lifestyle Business (& How to Steer Clear of It) appeared first on Myrko Thum.

But those were still just the breakthroughs of one person.

What I wanted is to see if there’s a pattern of defining moments and learnings people made in their lifetime, that had the power to take them to the next level.

If we understand which breakthroughs have the biggest impact to create a successful life, maybe we can accelerate reaching them.

So I thought: Why not ask people I know are the most successful people in their field about their breakthroughs in life?

So I did a little case-study and talked to people who are thought leaders in their field. May it be personal development, online marketing or even relationship experts.

Here are 4 of the results to asking:

What was your critical personal breakthrough on your path to where you are today?

1. “Everything is Learnable”

Brian Tracy, who had also a decisive impact on my life, is extraordinarily successful in personal and business development for decades now. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars. He is the top selling author of over 45 books and has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs.

He told me:

“Myrko,

It was when I learned that all business, personal and success skills are learnable through hard work and diligent application, over and over.

Good luck!
Brian”

Learning is the key to changing yourself. You can basically learn everything you want. And you can also relearn and change what you don’t want (for instance bad habits, limiting beliefs).

The message is this: Dream about what you want to become, believe that it’s possible… and then just learn the skills that will get you there.

2. “Start Now, Even If You Don’t Know”

Chris Brogan, who successfully blends business strategy with powerful personal development, is a sought-after keynote speaker who has addressed crowds of thousands and has consulted with companies like Disney, Microsoft, Coke, Google. He is the New York Times Bestselling author of seven books.

He said to me:

“Hello Myrko,

I worked. I simply accepted that I didn’t know what I was doing, but just started in somewhere and built from there.

If you’re not afraid of not knowing, you can accomplish a lot more than other people.

That plus being helpful are the only formula I’ve ever needed.

–Chris”

Too many are afraid of feeling incompetent and exploring the unknown. But what do you really have to lose?

The key for you is to get started and take one baby step forward. You’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish by diving into what you don’t know (yet) and consistently going small steps forward.

3. “Seize Your Opportunities”

Neil Strauss, is a multiple best selling author of books as writes also for Rolling Stone and The New York Times. He is famously known as the pick-up artist ‘Style’. After going undercover in a secret society of pickup artists, he finally started leaving the house, then wrote a book about it called [amazon text=The Game&asin=0060554738] that became a New York Times bestseller.

Neil said:

“Myrko,

my biggest breakthrough came when I realized that I should just say “yes” to all opportunities.

It has made all the difference.”

It’s not so often that real opportunities present themselves, but if they do, you got to seize them.

When you’re facing a crossroads in your life, say “Yes!” and choose walking down the path that lets you grow the most.

4. “I Am Responsible”

Steve Pavlina, is one of the first and most recognized personal development bloggers, who has written the powerful book [amazon text=Personal Development for Smart People&asin=B001FA0TJG].

His response:

“Hi Myrko…

I realized, finally, that I was the one who put myself in that cell — that no one else had done it to me. Not the security guard who caught me. Not the officer who arrested me. Not society at large. I wasn’t even a victim of my own bad habits. I did it to myself.

And that sense of responsibility finally came crashing down on me. No one was coming to save me. If anything in my life was going to change, the impetus for that change would have to come from me.”

You’re the creator of your world. But to use this power you have to claim it.

By accepting full responsibility for yourself, you’ll be empowered and take control of your life.

What’s Your Breakthrough?

These were the 4 most critical breakthrough moments successful people experienced in their lifetime.

1. I Am Responsible
2. Everything Is Learnable
3. Seize Your Opportunities
4. Start Now, Even If You Don’t Know

So I’m very curious. What about your defining moments?

Please share what shaped you in the comments.

Or,

let me know about your current goals. Where would you like to break through to?

The post 4 Breakthroughs of Highly Successful People (Q&A with Brian Tracy, Chris Brogan, Neil Strauss, Steve Pavlina) appeared first on Myrko Thum.

It’s because we want to improve ourselves. We want to be the best we can be and live fully, right?

But that’s not the real reason.

Why would you want to improve yourself if there wouldn’t be a greater promise connected to it?

The real reason is because we all want to get somewhere. We want to reach an outcome.

We want to experience a great state or feeling, by growing inside and reaching our highest goals.

Those goals may be to be financially free, having a great relationship, a great business or job, or a strong mind and body. In short: We want to live an abundant lifestyle, the best life we can create.

The Outcome of Your Personal Development: Your Personal Breakthrough

So what is the end-result you have in mind when you engage in personal development? What is the outcome I can help you to achieve with my work?

I thought about that question for a long time now, especially because I want to focus on creating real results for you here.

Those can be internal or external results. In fact, any great external outcome is preceded by an internal one.

It’s in fact a universal law:

As within, so without.

The outcome of your personal development is to reach your personal breakthrough, which is when you become the person who is naturally able to reach your desired goals.

And your personal development is defining your unique path to get there. And your breakthrough will happen naturally when you hit a threshold.

And when we’re walking down this “breakthrough path” we will meet several challenges and experience several breakthrough moments that take us forward.

It’s like opening a door and having the opportunity to stepping through it into a new and better reality.

Or if you don’t accept that challenge (yet), to close that door and maybe open it later again. That’s why we have to face problems again and again until we break through and solve them once and for all, mostly inside of ourselves.

3 Short Stories About The Breakthrough Moments In My Life

I personally experienced several breakthrough moments on my path (so far). These were those moments where I opened an inner door by breaking through to a bigger reality.

The following 3 breakthrough insights were also incredible emotional moments for me. They shaped my life and defined who I am today.

1. “I’m In Charge Here.”

Coming from a labor family in Eastern Germany, I was crying tears of joy as the wall came down and Germany reunited.

Still a teenager and full of hopes and dreams I started my studies and a new life. Finally I was leaving this old world of lack and limitation behind me.

Little did I know of the journey ahead of me…

It was a hot July afternoon when while playing a tennis match I suddenly felt weird and lost my sight and the ability to speak. The words where still coming to my mind, but I wasn’t able to articulate them anymore.

I was in panic! Is this the end already? (Read the full story here.)

While I recovered partly, this weird incident scared the hell out of me.

I was eager to get an explanation and help from my doctors, my parents and society in general — someone surely would help a 19 year old in that kind of trouble, right?

But they didn’t. And I was lost.

It took me several years to fully recover. And it would have taken forever, if I hadn’t had the following breakthrough moment:

Standing at a crossroads in my life to either giving up and die or finding hope and a way out again, I stumbled upon a quote in The 7 Habits by the legendary Stephen Covey which read:

“It’s not what happens to us, but our response to it.”

That quote hit me like a ton of bricks.

The second I read it, I woke up to the fact that was beginning to dawn on me already: Nobody else but me is fully responsible to create the life I want.

Look closely at the word responsibility. There are really two words:

Response – Ability.

You are able to choose your response. That’s where you have control.

What an empowering shift in thinking. So I chose my response. And took control of my own inner power to change my life. And I did it. That was the big “Aha!” moment, my first breakthrough that started everything.

You’ve got to be your own hero in your world. You have to take control of your life and accept this responsibility with all you’ve got. And then use this power proactively to build a remarkable life. The life you always dreamed of.

You can do this. Take control of your life now.

2. “I Can Learn and Become Anything I Want.”

At the age of 25 I made a big decision in my life.

Right after my studies of computer science and psychology I moved to a new city to do one thing:

To follow my passion. And as I know today, also my purpose.

It took a lot of courage.

I could have stayed on that well-worn path and looked for a job in the corporate world. But my heart was telling me something else.

There was a new opportunity in front of me and I knew it was the right thing to do. So I listened to my intuition, packed my stuff and jumped right into the next phase in my life.

I co-founded a company. It was a fun and exciting, but also extremely tough time.

Everything was new.

My past studies were almost of no use for the new challenges. I had to learn management, marketing and how to lead a company. Almost every aspect of my personality had to grow to meet the demands we set on ourselves.

It was one of those crossroads again.

Either I was going to go down right there or find a way to become the person who is able to meet those challenges and live up to my own vision for my life.

I was forced to grow.

That was the moment where I dived into personal development and learned the inner personal skills to avoid going down. And it worked out for me.

It was one of the most intense times of my working life. The market-situation didn’t allow the company  to grow and become a big success.

But I got something better. I was able to grow myself.

I realized that I can learn, grow and change myself to anything I want. That was a breakthrough moment and it lead to the critical groundwork and the foundation of the life I can call my own today.

Don’t settle for a life that is not making you happy. Don’t give up if you have to face tough times.

Whatever you need, you can learn it. You can change yourself and what we call “reality”. Nothing is set in stone. And reality is nothing but a concept in our heads.

You can learn and change everything, especially your own programming, which is determining how you see yourself and the world you’re in.

You can also acquire the necessary skills that get you want you want. You’re the king and creator of your world. Realize and use this power today.

3. “Finding What I Love Is The Only Way”

2009 I left my company.

I was basically jobless. Again, a crossroads in my life.

I was facing being broke and giving up my dreams or finding a way to reboot my professional life within the next 3 or so months.

All that scared the hell out of me. But it also gave me a “kick in the butt” and drove me to take lots of focused action.

That was July 2009. I had 5k Euros in savings—that was it—and I had my mind…with the experience of running a 50-people company for over 9 years.

And I had something called the Internet, that I knew pretty well. It was another breakthrough moment when I realized that I have this huge platform at my fingertips, all I really needed to do was to find the people who wanted what I had to offer.

So I took that 5k, made a plan and invested it. In a training, and in advertising. By the end of the year, I multiplied my 5k times 20.

But it wasn’t quite the thing I wanted. I was still selling other peoples products for a commission. It was lucrative, but I was getting empty inside. Despite the way I was selling it, I had no passion for the particular products.

It became clear that I had to develop my own products, my own business again. Something that I deeply cared about and I loved to do.

So in 2012 I had another breakthrough moment and I decided to start creating my own training courses.

It was a decision that felt just right. Because I had found what I loved.

You have to keep going until you’ve found what you love. You know it in your gut, once you’ve arrived. So keep looking.

Your Breakthrough Moments?

So, if you reflect back…

What were your breakthrough moments in life so far? What were key turning points, where you broke through inner or outer barriers and changed your life for the better?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post The 3 Breakthrough Moments Of My Lifetime appeared first on Myrko Thum.

This is where you can send me your questions and every Thursday I will pick one that I think is interesting for most people and answer it.

I already got hundreds from you (from those of you who signed up on my newsletter and typed in their question afterwards).

So here is the first one, and its an interesting one:

How Can I Stick to My Goals?

“I create goals in my mind every night. And every day I try to live them but I end up doing the exact opposite of what I want to do, and I don’t understand why. How can I stick to the personal goals I set for myself?”

“I end up doing the exact opposite of what I want to do…”

Interesting.

First of all, make sure that these goals are actually goals you really, REALLY want. Something with high long-term value. Only those are real goals.

Everything else is just something that would be nice to have today (and may be forgotten tomorrow).

Make it a few but important goals. If you have 20 goals, you basically have no goal. Because you just can’t keep your focus on that many goals.

You can find those goals by going through a proper goal-setting exercise.

If those are real goals you have, and you still have a hard time moving towards them…

I can tell you exactly why this happens.

One word: Fear.

You most likely fear the consequences of what happens when you reach your goals.

The fear of failure goes:

“What happens if I fail? What happens when my big dream won’t come true? What if I just don’t have what it takes? How disappointed and worthless will I feel?”

And the other side, the fear of success goes:

“What happens if I succeed? How will my life change? Am I really ready for that? What new challenges will come to me? Do I really want all that?”

The problem with fear is that it’s coming from the unconscious “reptilian” brain. And that might be in conflict with our conscious goal-setting.

The moment you get aware of your fear, you have a chance to overcome it.

Another word: Beliefs.

If you set goals that are in contrast to your beliefs and your values, you will get inner resistance.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set those goals.

On the contrary.

After all, compelling goals have the power to pull you towards a better life. That’s the power of goals: they work best if you really want to make a change.

Run a Check on Your Beliefs

What you can do is to get awareness about your beliefs.

For instance complete the following sentences:

“I want to reach my goal, but _________.”
“I haven’t reached my goal, because _________.”

Fill in the blanks and you will find some interesting limiting beliefs.

This is pretty powerful stuff. So do it!

And then you can even change your beliefs, so that they don’t limit you, but support you in your goal achievement. What a concept!

The third word: Habits.

When you set new goals that pull you out of your comfort zone and need you to form new habits, or give up old habits, you will feel resistance.

That’s something we call habit gravity.

The moment you start to form a new habit, your old habits that are in contrast to your new habits will pull you back down.

For instance when your goal is to start running every morning, you might do it the first 2 days. Then your old habit of sleeping longer will show his ugly face and resist the creation of your new habit.

So you have to escape this habit gravity. And that’s done by…

The last word: Focus.

You can radically improve your goal achievement if you learn how to focus your mind on your goals.

If you’ve set a powerful goal, a goal that is representing what you deeply desire inside, then your mental focus is your tool to make this goal your reality.

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” ~ Stephen Covey [Tweet this!]

People think focus means to decide what to focus on. But in reality, this is not the main thing.

The main thing is to say no to all the things you could do, but which would distract you from your goal. To stay focus you need to learn to say no.

So learn stay focused on your goals and you’ve gone the next step.

The post How to Stick to Your Goals and Actually Reach Them appeared first on Myrko Thum.

Like the life you have worked so hard to create is not actually what you thought it was? You’ve worked really hard to achieve that place called success but now you are there it all feels rather empty and meaningless?

You’re not alone.

There has never been so many people in the world who have so much and yet it means so little.

I shall never forget the moment 25 years ago when I drove my brand new car (dream number one) up above the idyllic village where I lived (dream number two) and looked down on my thatched cottage with the rose over the door (dream number three) and thought about all the stuff I had (dream number four) and the amazing three holidays I took a year (dream number five) and realised just how empty it was (nightmare!).

I was furious!

I had worked so hard for so many years acquiring the life that I had been told would make me happy (get this, get that, do this, do that, and you’ll have made it) and I was miserable.

So many people I have worked with over the years tell a similar tale. However this moment of desperation was actually a great moment because it was in that specific moment that my life changed for the better. And this is true of anyone waking up and realising that there must be another way. There must be another way to be happy, feel like life has a meaning, contribute to the world.

And there is.

And, because I have been there done that and got the t-shirt I want to let you know about 4 mistakes that you can avoid to make your journey easier.

1. You don’t have to dump all the stuff

For some reason when people have this ah-ha moment that they can live life differently many people think that they have to get rid of all the stuff. They make the mistake of thinking that it is the ‘stuffs’ fault they are miserable.

Now the stuff I am talking about it all the material things we collect along the way. There might be big stuff like houses and cars and small stuff like gadgets and the next best updated whatsit.

The truth is it is actually ok to have this stuff in your life as long as you don’t tie in your self-esteem to it.

If you think that owning all this stuff is who you are then think again. You are far more than the external things you currently give value to.

Close your eyes for a moment and breath. Simply breath and notice your breath. Do this ten times.

In those few breaths your focus was not on anything external – it was on the inner you, the unchanging part of you. The part of you that existed before you were born and will exist after you die. This part of you needs no stuff to feel good – and neither do you.

However the cool thing is that once you understand this – practise this, reconnect with your heart and soul – then if you still want the stuff you can have it. When you no longer need it to feel good in your life then it has no hold on you and you can play with whatever you want.

2. Thinking that you have to change everything

You don’t.

I have worked over the years with many people who have come to me thinking they need to change their job to be happy. Over 50% of them never change their job.

Same with people who feel they need to change their relationship or lifestyle – or all three.

In truth the only change you can make that will make any difference is to change how you relate to yourself. [Tweet this!]

I have lived in the south of Spain for 13 years and seen many people moving down here in the hope that to come to a warm climate away from all the problems back home will make them happy. And for the first 6 months they are. Problem is that when they moved to the sun they brought themselves and all their problems with them.

Making a huge outer life change without a corresponding inner change will change nothing. [Tweet this!]

You need to understand what makes you tick, what makes your heart sing, what your true passions are – and learn to live by them.

For some of you it may be a whole life change, for others your outer life might not change at all but for both the inner connection is the key.

3. Getting stuck in the doing

Our western culture is very goal driven, we have to ‘do’ lots to achieve what we want. That has probably got you to where you stand today and the ability to ‘do’ is important. However it is not the be all and end all of life.

As you move through your life change you also need to learn to be. [Tweet this!]

A state of ‘being’ comes about when you are present to whatever is happening. Rather than letting your mind go crazy and plan the next three weeks you need to simply notice what is happening right here, right now.

My biggest tip would be this – learn to meditate, learn mindfulness. Meditation, contrary to popular opinion, is not about stopping thinking. You cannot stop thinking – to think about stopping thinking is thinking.

Rather it is about being watchful of your thoughts. It is about watching your thoughts but not getting caught up in them. The more your practise – and you can start with just 10 mins a day, the more you will move out of the energy of doing and into the energy of being.

The goal here is to do with the energy of being. [Tweet this!]

Contemplate that for a while.

4. Caring what others think

And lastly – when you start making changes in your life some people are going to think you’ve lost it.

They are going to point out the mistake you are making and try to get you to stop. They will be challenged by your new direction and do all in their power to get you to put the brakes on.

Learn this and learn it quickly – stop caring about what others think!

You cannot make heartfelt decisions based on what others think. [Tweet this!]

And, learn who you can share this journey with.

Find your cheer leaders – these are maybe two or three people on your life who will stand on the sidelines with the pompoms and cheer you on no matter what they think. They will support you if you flag and remind you why you wanted this in the first place. They are 100% on your side.

As for the others do not let them stop you, it is your life and you are a unique being with a unique life journey ahead of you. You had your wake-up moment, some part of you deep inside knows that this is the right way forward, it knows that all the outer stuff is no who you are, and if you learn to listen it will guide you through this whole amazing life changing journey.

You can change your mind and by definition change your life. [Tweet this!]

The post The 4 Biggest Mistakes People Make Changing Their Life appeared first on Myrko Thum.

In early 2013 I decided that I’m not going to waste my life as a walking dead banker. I’ve had enough.

I knew from day one that I don’t fit the banking environment. But it took me some time until I was ready to cut the crap.

I needed to figure out first how to get a business running while working in my 9 to 5 job.

Here’s what I’ve learnt!

Start Out Today

When I started my first “business” in 2012, I did everything wrong. I founded a corporation with a co-founder before we had a single paying customer. I programmed a fancy website before we had validated our idea. And when my partner chickened out, I didn’t have the balls to do it alone.

It was painful, but I learnt an invaluable lesson for my second business: You don’t need to found a corporation. You don’t need a fancy website. And for sure you don’t need a logo or business cards.

Start out and add value to someone’s life. That’s it. Work around all the unnecessary crap.

• You want to be an artist? Create remarkable art and offer it on eBay.
• You want to be a published author? Write a kick-ass book and self-publish it on Amazon.
• You want to be a consultant? Reach out to people and offer free consulting.
• You want to be a lifestyle entrepreneur? Start a legit blog and create a digital product.

You don’t need any fancy stuff. You can start creating value today. You might be a bloody nobody in your industry. But nobody can stop you from producing value and finding customer. Be ballsy and get your name out there!

Failure is Part of the Game

Are you scared that you might produce failures? You don’t need to be scared! Failures are part of the game.

I fail every other day with things that are new for me. Every entrepreneur I know fails at least once in a while with new tasks.

It’s aggressive trial and error. Or better: aggressive trial and optimization.

You make failures. You learn from it. You do it better the next time.

Accept that you will produce failure after failure as a beginner. It’s better to produce these failures while 9-5 is covering your ass.

Nothing bad can happen to you. You don’t believe me? Think about the worst case. What is the worst that can happen if you stay away from unnecessary crap and focus on adding value?

Let me help you: nobody wants your shit and you need to step up your game until it’s good enough.

Walk the Walk Before You Talk

While developing my exit plan, I made a huge mistake. I talked with everybody about my desire to leave banking. As a reward I received discouragement and doubts.

Talking about your plans is a dangerous play. Neither your colleagues, nor your friends will understand your plans.

Keep the door closed for negative and discouraging feedback. Walk the walk before you talk.

Start creating value today. Find your first customer. Earn some money. And then you can talk about your achievements.

If you can’t execute your plan without external advice, talk with an expert. An expert is a person who has already walked the walk; a person who is busy living the life of your dreams.

Prevent Breaking Along The Line

Leaving 9-5 behind will kick you in the face at least once in a while. It will be tough and stressful. It’s your duty to protect yourself from going bananas.

A daily morning routine will keep you healthy and vital. It won’t take you longer than 60 minutes. The benefits will be overpaying.

Take A Cold Shower: Taking cold showers will wake you up and blow your brain fog away. No matter how long you train cold showers, it will never become a pleasure. Doing it anyway will boost your discipline and willpower. It´s the perfect start into a new day.

Meditate for 20 minutes: Mediation is the single best tool to control your thoughts and emotions. It will train your brain to be present in the moment. It will calm your mind. And it will make you unreactive to whatever happens during the day.

Vegetable Shake: Shit in, shit out. Your diet has a major impact on your mental and physical well-being. A vegetable smoothie is an easy way to cover essential nutrients. Use different dark green vegetables, and some fruits for a better taste. I use Brussels sprouts, broccoli and some mango.

Read for 20 minutes: Read books from people who have already walked the walk in your industry. You will learn invaluable knowledge. You will gain the right mindset. And you’ll realize that your plans are not out of this world.

Stretching / Body weight exercises: Do some stretching and body weight exercises to end your routine. It will set a great rhythm for the day. And it will energize your body.

While working 9-5, I was performing this routine first thing in the morning before I went to work. It was a brilliant start to a new day. Today my daily routine includes about 15 activities.

Don’t Waste Valuable Time

Be aware: The following advice will not qualify you as employee of the year. But if you’re planning to quit anyway…

Use every free minute during your workday to research your industry. Reach out to people in your industry (use the web portal of your email provider, not your company account). Write and edit documents in Google docs. Be creative and do what it takes.

You don’t need to feel bad about it. As long as you still produce results, nobody gets hurt. All of your colleagues are wasting time surfing and reading the news. You’re just using your free time differently.

If you have the opportunity to work from your home office: go for it. Finish your daily tasks asap. Produce decent results to fly under the radar. Work the rest of the day on your own plans.

The Right Time to Quit

I quit before I had earned a single dime from my second business. I never cared about failing or taking risks. But that’s me.

You have three options:

1. Quit tomorrow

You’ll figure shit out. Your mind will produce. You will do what it takes to survive.

2. Quit after you’ve earned your first $

Start producing value, find your first customer, sell something, quit and scale. If you can find one customer, you can find ten. If you can find ten customers…

3. Quit after you can live from it

Produce value, find your first customer, sell something, scale it to a decent income and quit. It’s the slow but safe path.

It’s up to you!

You are the only one who knows how much pressure and risk you can take.

Summary

Working 9-5 is a tremendous opportunity for you. Use 9-5 to make your exit happen. Start creating value today, get your name out there, find your first customer, make failures and learn from it. The day when you’re ready to quit will come soon.

The post How to Quit Your 9 to 5 Job to Start Your Lifestyle Business appeared first on Myrko Thum.

For instance, my top 10 highest business values are:

1. Purpose
2. Integrity
3. Success
4. Helping/Inspire Change
5. Passion
6. Creativity
7. Focus
8. Clarity/Simplicity
9. Openness
10. Cooperation

So to do work that expresses these personal values is very important for me. Likewise it will be for you, so make sure you really know your personal values in the first place.

After all, your personal values are a defining part of your identity. At a core level they express what matters most to you—what you value most.

On the other hand you’ll notice it immediately when your work-environment is out of sync with your personal values. Have you ever felt this irritating mismatch when working for a certain company or client?

I certainly did.

That was the reason why I was switching what I did in the last 4 years over to what I do now. The values of the whole industry just felt wrong to me. So over time, I got frustrated more and more. On the surface it looked good. Money was good. And I was my own boss. But my emotions went south the longer I did it.

So in 2012 I made a couragous switch and decided to make my passion my business. Such a move needs a certain kind of risk-taking, but if you trust yourself and your inner voice that tells you what’s right for you, I believe not following that voice is the much higher risk. So by building up a new passion-business, I was able to totally align what I do with my personal values and what brings me the greatest job-satisfaction.

How to Express Your Core Values in Your Work?

If you are—like me—your own boss, this is the ideal situation. Because then you are free to inspire your business with your values. Of course you don’t want to get overboard with it by going against what your market and eventually your customer values. But if you’re doing it smoothly, you can match both.

If you’re working in a big company or a similar institution, you still have options. You can infuse your personal values into your own working environment, while still stay in alignment with the corporate values.

So in that case check the corporate values or simply ask. It can be very enlightening if you compare those with your personal values. If you find a good match, you probably find confirmation of what you already felt when working for this company. If you find a lot of mismatches, meaning the company values are something that you don’t value, then this shows you what you probably also already felt inside.

Aligning Your Work and Your Values

For me personally, this week I took the opportunity to change how this website looks like quite dramatically. If you are visiting me frequently you probably have noticed.

The value-based redesign of the site incorporates the following values:

1. Focus / Clarity / Simplicity

I tried to remove as much distraction as possible and focused the site on the core of why you are visiting it as well as my personal goals. I made each post the star of the page (after all that’s why you’re coming here), removed the sidebar (which isn’t showing on the growing number of mobile visitors anyway) and cleared everything up as much as it makes sense.

There is basically one call to action left and that is (as of this writing) me asking you to stay connected by joining my email list.

2. Helping / Inspire Change / Openness

Keeping your focus on the most important thing, the current topic of the post, should make providing inspiration to positive transformation and giving helpful advice more effective.

3. Success / Cooperation / Integrity

This year I also finally decided exactly what kind of services and products I want to create. So part of that is to offer only what I think is the best service I can provide on a larger level.

I don’t do advertising because that is a distraction for you and me and just ineffective to make a living from your passion. I do and offer my own stuff. If I would recommend other peoples work, I will make sure I keep integrity and I can stand behind those 100%.

Also I base my business and my business-relationships on integrity which means honesty, synergy and exchanging real value.

4. Purpose / Passion

Which brings me to my number one business value: purpose. Purpose is asking and answering why. Why are you doing what you do?

If you have found a strong enough reason for your existence and the vision and goals that flow from that reason, you are on the right track.

You will basically get an unlimited stream of energy, tap into your passion and feel this great feeling of fulfillment with what you do.

My purpose is to successfully help and inspire other people to transform with my personal strengths and creativity while growing myself and enjoying the process.

Maybe I can inspire you to define your purpose and then align it with what you do.

Conclusion: How to Do it?

So to infuse your work with what you value most,

1. Find out your own value hierarchy by creating your top 10 values here.
2. Think about how you can express your highest values in what you do.
3. Start making one change at your work to let your own values shine through.

This will increase your work-satisfaction and your fulfillment-level.

So, what are your personal values that you want to see come through in your work? Please let your thoughts flow freely in the comments below.

The post How to Let Your Personal Values Shine through in What You Do appeared first on Myrko Thum.