After more than a decade working in design and software and founding multiple businesses and products, Codelation Founder Josh Christy understands one thing, above all else: The world of entrepreneurship is lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.
That’s why he started a blog—to not only help fellow CEOs and owners step around some of the holes he’s fallen into but, perhaps more importantly, to help them discover (or rediscover) their “why.”
The “why,” he believes, is what will keep you grounded during those highest of highs and what will pull you out of those lowest lows.
Christy will be publishing new posts numerous times a month on his own website, and each month in Fargo INC!, we’ll be sharing one or two of them with our readers. If the material is something you’re connecting with and wanting more of, don’t be afraid to visit joshchrsity.com/blog to subscribe and get them sent directly to your email.
Find the Why
We all have an idea of what we want to be when we grow up. You find that perfect intersection of something that you love and are just good enough at, and you start to get excited. The excitement is overwhelming, but slowly you start to think:
Am I really good enough?
Should I do this?
Why me?
At this tipping point, we either dig in and go for it, or we chalk it up to another silly idea. What usually separates those two is someone standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you, encouraging, and helping guide you through life, family, and business.
There are so many distractions, so many things that feel like they are priority No. 1, and when everything is a priority, nothing is.
Whether you are just starting out or your company has been around for a while and looking to take things to the next level, I’ve been there. For the last eight years, I’ve been running a digital consultancy and custom software shop. We’ve had some great success, as well as some pretty low points. We’ve started a few products, and some worked and some failed.
In all this time, I’ve come to believe that you need a plan and someone to help encourage you when you hit those low points—to help you find the “why”. Having a plan doesn’t guarantee success, however, if you don’t have a North Star that you are going after, how do you know when you’ve won? If you are anything like me, you’ll lose interest and give up, even with a strong why.
That drive is why I started this blog, to help those who are in the process of starting or working on building something. Hopefully, I can be someone to help drive you forward and ask questions of when you aren’t sure.
Enough Planning, Start Doing
This post is as much for me as it is for anyone else. I’m working on getting going on some video content and I found myself recently flipping through after-effect files on VideoHive. I’ve been telling my friends and clients who are working on starting something that planning is great, but stop at some point and start doing and get yourself out of planning paralysis. I was giving the advice but not listening to it myself. Now, granted, it was just 30 minutes or so, but I’ve been putting off doing for some reason.
I think it is the fear that if I really put myself out there and it doesn’t work, it might be a failure. I’m not sure. If we are in search of perfection, we’ll never know if it has any value to anyone. I need this myself as much as some of you out there.
So for all you planners out there, stop. Just stop. Get out there. You need to test something, fall down, get up and learn. Just start doing. Now I’m not saying blindly rush out into the middle of the street because you’ll get hit by a car. But at some point, we need to stop pondering and reading and listening and get out and do. Yes, I feel the irony of that statement as I am writing this article.
You don’t need to a/b test that button.
Your business card isn’t ready. So what?
You don’t have the perfect lighting setup for your video. Who cares?
Do you feel like you’ve been working for a while and aren’t getting anywhere? Get a plan for first thing tomorrow morning to get out and take action. Need a new client? Get five lined up to call tomorrow. If you spend all your effort planning on the right way to script your sales call and realize that you can’t even get anyone on the phone, what’s the point? Try something, test, learn, iterate, improve.
If you aren’t quite there yet and are still trying to figure things out, put a date on the calendar as your action date. Planning is great. Just don’t get paralyzed by it. Your future self will thank you. I know mine will.
Now get out there and do and let me know how I can help you get there!
To get Josh’s new blog posts sent directly to your email or to read past posts, visit:
joshchristy.com/blog
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