The last few weeks have been chaotic here in the office, and with things in life. In addition to working hard here, Erin and I are both about to face our last finals week of our undergraduate education. All of us are getting ready for the holidays, and I will be leaving town on Friday to be with my family in Washington. On top of all of this, I just got engaged and am now in the throes of stressful wedding planning. Now, typically I deal well with a busy life, I even enjoy it. But I am also a stress case. I get sick at least every couple of months from wearing myself out with worry and concern. Last Thursday the stresses of recent weeks seemed to be evident on mine and Erin’s face. As he often does, Rich took us to the white board and decided to teach us an important concept.
He said that for everyone there is an area of concern, and an area of influence. In our area of concern are things we cannot control, like the weather, or traffic, or others’ actions. People typically spend 80% of their time in this area of concern, a place we can do nothing about. What we need to do is focus on our area of influence, and not just right in the middle of it, but right on the perimeter. As we utilize our influence in this way, it will actually grow. Rich emphasized this point more on Friday when he asked me to take on a task that is somewhat outside my comfort zone, pushing me to use my area of influence further than I normally do. He again explained to me that if I push through these sometimes awkward tasks, they’ll eventually become natural, and my area of influence has grown.
This has been extremely helpful in my life the last few days. As I studied for finals this weekend, I started to do the normal overreacting thing I do. I began to think about when my finals were scheduled, wondering if I would have time to study in between. I learned that one of my take-home finals is due sooner than I thought. And I began to stress out about whether my flight home would be delayed, and I couldn’t shake images of sleeping on the airport floor for days. But as I thought about Rich’s wonderful lesson to me, I decided to stop wasting my time in this area of concern. All my energy has been focused on doing what I can do to prepare for finals, and today on getting caught up in the office before I leave for home. By leaving behind that area concern, I have been more productive than I ever would be in my area of influence. Learning to love our limits can actually help us to expand them.

I’m not usually one to be tricked by sales callers. Rich does frequently tell me that I’m too nice to them, but I really just try to be polite so I don’t feel guilty later. It doesn’t seem to me that they probably enjoy calling people all day to just get hung up on. And for school once I had to do phone surveys for a research class by calling randomly selected numbers on a list. It was the most horrible experience of my life and people were so incredibly rude to me. Since that day I have tried to be as nice as I can because I know how it feels. But my nice days are over.
About a month and a half ago when I was considerably newer at this job, a woman called from the yellow pages asking if we wanted to renew a listing for a company that is no longer located here and that we are no longer affiliated with. I communicated this to her clearly but kindly, and indicated that we had no interest in continuing a listing because it is no longer at this address. She said to me, “Okay, can I just have your name to verify who I spoke with today?” So I gave her my name (stupid!) and thought I was done with it. Then yesterday, much to my surprise, we received an invoice in the mail from this company for $450. Even if I did want our company listed in the yellow pages I would not pay $450 to do it! Well, luckily Erin was here to tell me that the same people did the same thing to her and sent the same bill when she started working here. She had to call and cancel and demand to not pay. So that is my task at hand. Calling repeatedly until someone finally talks to me and I can tell them what I told them the first time. But this time, I’ll put aside my sympathies and manners and make sure that they hear what I am saying. I have certainly learned a valuable lesson about the value of being firm and standing my ground. I’m sure that will come up again soon, and this time I’ll be ready. I never knew that being too nice really can have a price.

Being so new in a fairly new company has made for a fun experience of finding a place to settle in. The environment here in the office though is completely conducive to such settling. Things are incredibly uplifting, and as Erin so perfectly put it when I asked her on my first day if she liked working here, “I have never been so respected in any job before”. I find out every day how true that statement is. I’m certain Erin or someone has written about the white board method before, but I will just add my newcomer opinion. Every couple of days we all stand in front of the big white board just down the hall and write a list of our goals. We categorize by A, B, and C according to priority, per instructions in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (an incredible book.) I feel like this is where a lot of the respect that Erin was referring to is shown. We can put any little thing we need to do up there, and it never feels like anyone’s tasks are more important than anyone else’s. And nothing beats that satisfaction of crossing something off your list. Yesterday Rich was at the board and almost crossed something off my list but stopped short and said to me, “Oh, I’ll let you do that, I know how good it feels to cross things off your own list”. Thank you, Rich. Nothing could be more true.

Each day here, Erin and I uncover new evidence supporting the theory that we are actually twins separated at birth. The newest discovery was made on Thursday when we both admitted to our lifelong dream of going on a hot air balloon ride. Immediately we went to Ron and suggested it (almost without believing it could even be considered) as the next reward for reaching some big office goals. Within the hour we were all at the board listing goals that we thought worthy of such a lofty reward (sorry, I couldn’t help myself with that pun opportunity.) So lo and behold, we are now working our way toward a hot air balloon ride in Park City.

The prospect of going on a balloon ride and actually checking something off my life To-Do list is more exciting than could be described. I came into work early this morning with my head just bursting with all of the things I need to get done–and more excited than ever to do them all. The level of motivation that the goals and rewards system creates in me is unlike anything I have ever felt. And the willingness of everyone in the office to work together to help everyone achieve their goals is a big part of that. There has not been a day yet that I have left feeling like I did not accomplish something, because here we treat every little thing we cross off that white board as one more step toward our goal. And with that hot air balloon ride at the end of the rainbow, I know Erin and I will be crossing things off as fast as we can. If only everyone in the world recognized the value of focusing so much on the positive. I bet we’d all be a lot more willing to put in our best all the time, in all aspects of life.

Which brings me to the last and most important lesson I’ve learned thus far working here…Rich and Ron really do know what they’re talking about. It is such a huge opportunity to work in an environment like the one they have created here, and I hope with the publishing of their book that there will be more offices like ours. Looks like balloons are not just for kids.

A little while ago I wrote an entry about rewarding yourself. I explained our goal/ reward system here in the office, and laid out our main goals for the summer. I was excited to get some good feedback! I think it’s time to do a little checking and find out if we adhered to our own philosophy, and how it helped us out along the way.

My main responsibility is editing the book and making sure we’re making progress. Accordingly, a first stepping stone or interim goal was to have 5 chapters of the book done and the book proposal outlined and ready to fill in. We wanted to take each chapter (which, at the time, were what Rich and Ron call “mud”) and make sure the ideas were innovative, coherent, and that we were keeping our promises with regard to telling real stories, applicable to real entrepreneurs. The reward for completing that goal was lunch, on the office. The BIG goal for the entire summer was to finish 10 chapters of the book, along with the book proposal, before August 1st. When we made that goal I was to receive a BIG reward: plane tickets home for my wedding celebrations in Massachusetts on August 10th. (John and I are getting married out west, but going home to celebrate with family and friends out east, too!) Other Goals/rewards included: Getting all the office work caught up, for which I received a weekend with Rich’s Z3. Also, Ron finishing the initial white paper project of the summer, after which Rich and Ron went golfing.

The Criteria for the reward system were as follows:

1) Don’t forget to reward yourself! If you set a reward and don’t follow though, you’ll lose trust in yourself and motivation to get things done. 2) Chose something that motivates and inspires you, and vary the rewards so that you always have something to be excited about.

The big announcement today is that YES, we got it all done! 10 Chapters, ready to be added to the first official draft our the book! Along the way we reached the interim goal, and enjoy a nice lunch at Zupas. I have to admit, at that point I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with the amount of work left ahead. It was a nice time to take a break and appreciate how far we had already come, regroup, and plan specifically how we planned on accomplishing the rest of our goal. For this final push, it was really nice to have a final goal AND a reward to shoot for. I’ve been getting all caught up in wedding preparations and could have easily been very distracted. Instead, I knew what I was shooting for. We had a clear goal outlined and an exciting (very exciting) reward planned. As a result, I was able to push through and do what I had to do to get it done. I can’t wait to fly out to Massachusetts- I can’t believe that we’re already three months down the road with this project! Time to enjoy the reward, and then gear up for another big push.

In Bootstrap Business Rich and Ron discuss abundance mentality. An entrepreneur with abundance mentality is able to recognize the myriad of business opportunities and waves available, trust in partners and collaborators, and not sweat the small stuff. This can be difficult in bootstrapping. It’s intimidating to bring other people in and trust them with your million dollar idea. Also, with a limited amount of backing, it’s scary to take the risks necessary to build your business. Giving into the pressure of limited funding and the fear of getting your idea scooted out from underneath you can lead to the opposite of abundance mentality, scarcity mentality.

I recognized this struggle in my personal life this past week as I was taking a look at my finances. I’m getting married soon and quite often, a lot of my paycheck is marked for something before I even get it. Whether it be working on the house, expenses involved with the wedding, bills, food, gas, etc. I’m also a student (on summer/marriage break at the moment) and there are all the school-related expenses to deal with as well. What’s the point of this personal financial summary? So, payday comes, I pay the bills and peak around the corner at all the possible expenses I’ll have over the next few weeks. Although I’m at a pleasant spot in the month, I freak myself out a little bit thinking about all the things we need or want or don’t have or could happen. I try not to spend any extra money, often times simply confounding the panic by adding deprivation to it. The truth is, I’m quite able to go to a movie once in awhile, get a new sweater when needed, and still eat well and drive my car as necessary. What scarcity mentality does is scare you (or me) into holding onto what you’ve got so tightly, that you don’t even enjoy it.

This can be a stressful mindset in life, but it’s incredibly dangerous in entrepreneurship. Scarcity mentality means that you’re not going to share, collaborate, take risks, take the next step, or enjoy the process. If that’s the case, save yourself the hassle and just get a job that doesn’t put you through that kind of pain. But there is a way out! There are warning signs and actions that can be taken to take you out of that scarcity mindset and bring you back to abundance mentality.

Take some advice from the upcoming book:
As you maneuver your way through business ventures, you may fluctuate between abundance and scarcity mentalities. You need to learn the warning signs, and be able to take applicable action to ensure your happiness, sanity, and success.

Warning Signs

• You are paranoid that partners, outsourced workers, or the UPS guy might steal your great idea.
• Instead of surveying the situation and reacting accordingly, you find yourself sticking to an original plan, regardless of how things have changed.
• You are reluctant to expand, add new people, or make choices that will require you to branch out of your comfort zone.
• You buy antacids at Costco or Sam’s Club in bulk.
• In the back of your mind, you feel like any success you’re experiencing could end at any moment, and you need to get ready.

Combat Scarcity Mentality

• Be realistic about the workload: know that any output first requires input, and don’t panic when things take some time to get up and running.
• Don’t be a scrooge.Spring for the office lunch or buy some Girl Scout Cookies when your partner’s daughter comes around collecting orders.It’s good for the soul, and reminds you that things are not as tight as they may appear.
• Don’t worry about idea-snatchers. Chances are, you are the moving force behind your idea. Without your passion, it wouldn’t be the same. Make sure you do what you can to protect your intellectual property, and then move forward.
• Don’t be afraid to flex or bend in response to new opportunities or setbacks. Remember, a small business’ agility is its trump card: corporations don’t have the luxury of flexibility.
• And finally, the one sure remedy we know: Give. Philanthropy is the surest way to release yourself from unnecessary panic and start to feel part of the world again. We don’t know why this works, but it does. If you begin to look for opportunities to give something back, we promise that karma will turn around and pat you on the back. Maybe it’s just the universe’s way of making sure the good guys win one once in awhile, but giving is a surefire cure for your scarcity mentality.