Entrepreneurial wanderlust is at an all-time high. The term wanderlust means to have lust or strong desire for traveling. Now many entrepreneurs want to travel, but the term entrepreneurial wanderlust isn't focusing on those nomadic online business owners. Nope, it is for all of us who can't complete a business project.
One of the main reasons people join masterminds like the Youpreneur Academy is that they are in need of accountability to get further towards their business goals. Being a solo business owner often means that no-one is telling you when deadlines are due. Or that it's time to wrap up a project. Also, we have a habit of finding out the next, best trend in marketing, sales, or products that we abandon our current plan (if we have one) to try out the new shiny object.
If you are honest with yourself, you at multiple times in your entrepreneur journey have faced entrepreneurial wanderlust. It's so common that it has many different names, but no matter what you call it, it is a plague amongst the online business world, and we all need to do our part in stopping it.
Stop congratulating your peers on their failures to complete
There is no shortage of entrepreneurs in the world spouting in online forums or on blog posts that they have the shiny-object syndrome, that they are chasing rabbit holes, or they just can't commit to one idea or project until completion. We need to stop congratulating people for acknowledging this aspect of business because it's as common as breathing.
Instead, we as a community need to step up and hold each other accountable. It's not enough to say “I have entrepreneurial wanderlust, oh well.” No – you MUST create one plan to end it.
We all have a responsibility to call out people who are jumping from one thing to another – because the adage that a straight path is the quickest way from point A and B is still valid. When you're zigzagging from one idea to the next, you can never get anywhere but lost.
Stop congratulating the try – there are no real rewards for participation when the outcome needs completion.
How to create a focused goal plan
How do you create a focused goal plan? The first step you need is to be brutally honest with yourself. What one thing in your business must be done for your business to survive in the next year? That is your focus goal, and it is the one real goal to rule them all. Nothing compares to this goal, for if this goal is accomplished the heavens will rain down. Okay, that might be a bit dramatic, but I challenge you to consider having one focus goal in your business and personal life so all of your efforts go towards that goal.
For myself, my focus goal in 2019 is growing my own online paid community to 250 members paying monthly. The reasons I identified this as the one project I need to focus on solely are the revenue from this amount of members will allow me to pay my family's entire household budget. By doing this, my husband can use his income as a public school teacher to pay off his student loans. Two hundred fifty paid members is a wonderful focus goal because I can get there with my current team of myself and my virtual assistant, and it is a number that won't be too easy or difficult to achieve.
By identifying this as the one goal to rule them all in 2019, I am saying that I am abandoning my entrepreneurial wanderlust. All activities and capital investments of my money and time will be focused on growing my paid community. I will not be hosting a big event or having private masterminds or coaching unless they are already members of my paid community. I won't be attending any conferences or masterminds unless they are to get members or to educate me on my community. All of my free content will be created to get people to join my community, and I'm investing 60% of my time in building programs and content for my paid community members.
If it's not the community, I'm not doing it. I have to release any fear of missing out (FOMO) on some of my favorite conferences because it's more critical for me to grow and accomplish my focus goal. This one step, when done, kills wanderlust.
Kill your darlings
Sometimes you have kill your darlings.
This is a phrase used in writing circles all the time and is credited to Stephen King. You have to be willing to drop those tasks, projects, products, and clients that are darlings that aren't getting you to your next step. This is the secret for completing a project before moving on to the next big thing.
A darling in business often looks like something you need, so you start an Instagram channel, a podcast, or a Youtube show without thinking about how it fits with your one focused goal. This leaping from thing to thing is a clear case of wanderlust, and if you are honest, you have probably done it a time or two.
Sometimes you have kill your darlings. A darling in business often looks like something you need, so you start an Instagram channel, a podcast, or a Youtube show without thinking about how it fits with your business goals. #Youpreneur Click To TweetThe willingness to give up and kill your darlings, those things that look so awesome and you want to do, is a breakthrough for successful entrepreneurs who want to make drastic growth in their business. For example, in my own business, I desire to have a Youtube channel, but I'm holding off on launching because my free content calendar isn't streamlined enough. Adding a Youtube channel feels like entrepreneurial wanderlust if I try it during the first quarter. So, I have a plan to add it in the second quarter of 2019. Right now I am putting my attention back into blogging, promoting my podcast, and a better email campaign to get people to a webinar to sell my community.
Darlings can include things like hobbies that don't serve you (no you really can't binge Netflix while working, trust me I've tried), relationships that are holding you back, or conferences that are fun but won't get you to the next step.
Now abandoning and killing your darlings doesn't mean you can't focus on what many consider vanity metrics. It's okay to want to increase social media awareness or email lists so long as you also have a plan for engaging those followers in buying a product or services from you.
Parking lot of big entrepreneur dreams
One of the best ways that you can overcome entrepreneurial wanderlust is to create a parking lot for your best new shiny ideas. It's okay to hear something on a podcast and think, “that would be amazing.” However, it's not okay to jump in without considering how it could help or hinder your focus goal. Instead, consider creating a parking lot folder where you can collect your business ideas. I have one as part of my Chrome bookmarks, and any time I come across something I think would be cool to try but doesn't fit right now I add to the folder — every quarter I have a parking lot day where I go through and look at what's collected. If I can use the idea it goes into action, if not I consider if it is worth to keep or not. After two quarters if I don't use it, I delete the item.
Carrying around a notebook is another good idea. I get a big school-sized college-ruled notebook every quarter, and EVERYTHING goes into it. If I attend a conference, listen to a podcast, or are jotting ideas down it all goes into the notebook. Once the quarter is over, I spend a few hours going through the notebook. I file anything I need to by scanning the documents.
Entrepreneurial wanderlust is real, but it doesn't have to be a reality in your life. You can choose between focusing on one thing at a time until it is done.
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
