How To Not Quit On Your Business After You Start

I want you to imagine yourself working on a business and not seeing results for months. How long do you think you'd last if you've never started a business before and you yet know what is possible? If I told you that it is possible to make $1,000,000 in your first 24 months by investing only $1,000 you'd maybe believe me. If I showed you how to do it, and I got you there, you'd know for sure. Do you think that you'd last longer the next time you'd open up a business? I bet you would because you now know what is possible and that experience would give you an extra push. However, although it would take you longer to give up, most people would quit regardless of the previous experience if they saw no progress when working on that new business. 

So, what is the point of that example? 

The point is that it doesn't matter how much money you have or how much experience you have; you will eventually quit if no progress can be seen.

Now imagine as a beginner, you made your first sale in the first week or the first month. You'd be excited, and you'd be motivated to keep going. Next month, you acquired a few more customers, and the month after that your family noticed and supported you by merely showing you that they are impressed. A few more weeks or months go by, you are now doing $5,000 a month in revenue, and your friends start to notice. They are impressed, and you feel better, more confident, and more motivated to keep going. Eventually, you make it to that $1,000,000 and you do it in 24 months. How'd you do it? You did it by seeing the progress which kept you going.

Focus on progress

To see the progress, you need to focus on small goals. You can set your goal to build a million-dollar company, but you need to focus on smaller targets first. Those smaller targets, once executed, will lead to progress and you can't skip smaller targets and go right after your big goal. In NBA terms it's like skipping the regular season and going straight to the playoffs. It doesn't work like that, and if you prepare the wrong strategy, you will fail miserably. In most cases, you will waste months, you will lose motivation, and you will quit.

How to execute your smaller targets?

First, set good targets that will get you excited. For a beginner getting $1,000 in recurring revenue is a pretty big deal so I'd start with that. Then I'd prepare my strategy and attempt to tackle my first target. If you get stuck for weeks, get help because it's important to see progress. Then once you get to your primary goal, set the next one. Your next target may be more accessible, and you may achieve it on your own. The same may happen to the following 3-4 goals you set. If you get stuck for weeks or months on objective 5, for example, get help again and keep focusing on progress.

You'll never want to be stuck on something for too long when you're starting. Not seeing progress for someone who's beginning is one of the worst things that can happen because it leads to most people quitting.