I was on some entrepreneurial forums this morning reading over some concerns that people have as they maintain a full-time “job” while startin’ up a startup on the side. Most of them spoke to sleep (or lack thereof), commitment and effort they are able to give their day job, and enough focus and energy for their venture.

As I was perusing the comments and wondering what my experience offered by way of an answer I overheard Rich telling Shanna a story about his kids. Rich has always encouraged his children to become business minded. As a response to their Dad’s success with websites Rich’s sons started 2tieatie.com with the intent to learn how to generate a profitable website. The profits will go to a couple of places, mainly their college funds and their family’s humanitarian effort in Nepal. As they reviewed their traffic this weekend they were a bit disappointed by the results. When Rich asked them what to do his eleven year old said,

“Let’s growl at it!”

Well, in Christiansen language “growling at it” means buckling down, gritting your teeth, and MAKING something happen. And that’s what they did. They had a meeting to discuss strategy. Rich’s sons came up with things that Rich would never had thought of, include chain emails and youtube and every other internet related option at a teenagers disposal. The traffic has more than doubled.

So many people are right on the cusp of starting their own business or finally being free from their corporate ties- but how do you make sure that your plans come to fruition? Well- growl at it! There are solutions! One post I read said that a man moved closer to work, saving him about 3 hours every day. Now that might not seem like a lot to you- but when you work a 9-5 and then go home to your venture to find a full inbox- 3 extra hours is looking pretty good.

Look at the resources available to you- maybe it really is as simple as going viral on the internet. Maybe you need to schedule a lunch with a solid contact. Maybe you just need to put in a little more time. There are more opportunities waiting for you than you realize. You just need to hunker down and give it a good growl.

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.