The One Big Thing You Can’t Ignore

In everyone’s lives and businesses there is “The Problem”. It’s the one big thing we can’t ignore, yet somehow we manage to put it off to the side every day and dance around the issue.

It might be a conflict at home. Perhaps it’s an underlying problem with a project at work that no one wants to bring up.

The problem with The Problem, of course, is that eventually it gets bigger and worse than it is right now, leading to even bigger headaches in the future than it would have if you’d have tackled it now.

Today, I’ll urge you to attack that problem head on with a simple strategy.

For Chris Lopez, author of the kettlebell workouts program, today’s guest author, his problem was a lack of time. With five kids and a burgeoning fitness business, he didn’t have much time – or energy – to devote to building an international website business.

However, he knew that while the in-person fitness business was a well-paying “job”, only the success of the website business could bring him the ultimate lifestyle and financial independence he desired for his family. As a result, Chris discovered ways to find more time in his day to not only build his website business, but also to do so without compromising the relationships he has with his wife and children.

I’m very proud of what Chris has accomplished, and you’ll learn a lot from his strategies.

To your success,

Craig Ballantyne
Editor
Early to Rise

The One Big Thing You Can’t Ignore

By Craig Ballantyne

One of the things I love about being involved with international website businesses is the wide variety of opportunity that comes my way. Simply by having a transferrable skills, such as understanding how to market and sell on the Internet, allows me to take my expertise from the online fitness industry into almost every other niche market.

Recently, while spending the weekend in my hometown of Stratford, I met up with a few of my friends who are taking advantage of the trickle-down Bieber economy.

If you don’t have a pre-teen daughter, than you might not know that Justin Bieber, the world famous popstar who has sold tens of millions of albums, hails from the same little town in Canada as I do, Stratford, Ontario. A cottage-industry of Bieber-related products and services have sprung up, including walking tours of the city.

But my friends have something different going on. They are working on a Bieber-related merchandise business with a business partner who has inside connections to Justin Bieber. However, during the consultation I had with them, I felt like they were avoiding the one big obstacle to success. The proverbial elephant-in-the-room.

The truth about their merchandising business was that it lived-and-died with Justin Bieber actually wearing the merchandise. All the other issues we discussed, such as shipping costs, the choice of website shopping cart, and the fact that the intended audience still needed mom or dad to make the purchase, were all irrelevant if the one big obstacle wasn’t addressed.

That of course, was “Can you get Justin Bieber to wear the merchandise?”

If you can, then you’re in business. If you can’t, you may as well not even bother.

For all businesses, there is the one, big, ugly elephant in the room that needs to be removed in order for the business to run smoothly and successfully. If left to linger, the one big obstacle can cause massive frustrations, and eventually, failure.

This is often true in our personal relationships as well. How many divorces are caused each year by couples failing to address the one big obstacle in their marriage? How many father-son relationships are strained to the brink of collapse simply because neither party is willing to address the one big obstacle.

You can try and dance around the issue, but time only makes the problem worse.

The best solution is simply to attack the obstacle head-on, immediately, without further delay. After all, you’ll need to deal with this eventually, and every minute longer you wait it simply gets worse.

In his articles on copywriting, Dan Kennedy teaches writers to bring the one big objection to the forefront as soon as possible. To lay it out there, and disprove it as a reason for not buying. Your clients aren’t stupid. If you know it’s a big obstacle, they know it is too. So why not have an honest, open conversation about it, and make your best case for why it’s not a big obstacle at all? That’s the best approach.

In your business, I recommend you take the approach favored by Early to Rise publisher, Matt Smith. One of his mantras is, “Lean into it.”

When there’s a big obstacle in your way, the best advice is to take action, lean into it, and do whatever it takes to move it.

For me, I start every day by leaning into my one big obstacle. My obstacle, having been prioritized the night before during my daily planning, gets my full attention first thing in the morning, at about 5:05am after my 7 second commute from my bed to my desk.

This is the time of day when I am at my most creative. There is no clutter in my mind from email or the daily news. It’s simply me and the solutions that my subconscious mind created while I was sleeping. And believe me, your subconscious mind will in fact solve your problems while you sleep. It’s up to you to give it a voice in the morning.

Identify and prioritize The Problem. Get up first thing tomorrow and lean into it. Stop dancing around it and tackle it head-on.

You can do it,

Craig Ballantyne
Editor
Early to Rise

Don’t hold anything back. “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy

How to Get More Done When You Have More Kids

By Chris Lopez

It’s hard for most folks to believe, but I’m only 31 years old and I have 5 kids. Being a husband and a dad of 5, downtime has become synonymous with family time.

Last week for example, I went to a birthday party with 4 kids in tow while my wife was with our second oldest daughter at a soccer game. At every party, I get asked by every other adult, “How do you do it? How do you manage a family of 7, run your businesses, stay in shape and look like you’re having fun doing it?”

It’s true, finding time for true balance in work and in life is a challenge for any entrepreneur or busy Early to Rise reader. Do I have it all figured out? No, of course not, but I am able to manage certain aspects of my life to make sure that my business steadily grows each year and that I maintain and grow the relationship that I have with my wife and kids.

If you’re struggling to find that balance, then maybe you can get something out of these tips that I can offer you as an Entrepreneurial-Business-Owning-Coach-Husband-and-Father-of-Five-Who-Home-Schools-His-Kids-And-Stays-In-Great-Shape-All-While-Still-Having-Time-To-Have-A-Once-Per-Week-Date-Night-With-His-Wife (how’s that for a “title”?).

1) Manage Daily Transitions with Routines

There are 2 major transitions in my daily life. The first is the transition from sleeping to working and writing, and the second is the transition from work-mode to family-mode.

My morning ritual after my alarm goes off at 4:57am is to head downstairs to turn off the alarm, fill a tea kettle, drink 2 glasses of fresh water and go through a brief bodyweight exercise routine to increase blood flow. After the exercises, I brew my favorite jasmine green tea, turn on my computer and spend the next two hours writing and completing one or two of my “Most Important Tasks” (MITs).

When it’s time for my day to wrap up, I summarize my day in my notebook, write down the 3 MITs that need to be accomplished the next day and then listen to a meditation program for 30 minutes.

These rituals that I perform on a daily basis sub-consciously tell my mind what “mode” to be in and has been an incredible way for me to focus on what’s important.

2) Work in Bursts and then Rewarding Yourself

I find that I get so much more done when I’m focused on one task rather than multi-tasking. If I see a task on my list through to its completion, it’s less likely to linger in my mind as something that “I have to get back to”.

For motivation, it’s often that I’ll give myself a small reward if I see something through to completion.

3) Stop When It’s Time to Stop

If you’re an entrepreneur, then there isn’t a time of day when you’re not thinking about your business. The downfall to that is that you may sometimes miss out on the finer moments of life because you may be physically “there”, but you’re just not present.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone else who runs their own business but is also devoted to their family.

Countless times I see people at the dinner table who refuse to put down their Blackberry or insist on answering the phone. Unless you’re looking for a one-way trip to the doghouse, then you need to put the phone down and listen to and engage with your spouse while they talk about their day.

In order for me to make sure that my family has my undivided attention, not only have I established the transition routine above in Strategy #1, but I will also limit any type of access to me from the outside world.

Email notifications are turned off, the phone is not answered and more often than not, we unplug the modem and the Internet is off completely. If I do end up coming up with a brilliant idea while I’m in family-mode (which happens a lot), I pull out my pocket notebook and jot the idea down and then let it go knowing that I’ve got it in my pocket when I need to get to it.  

4) You MUST Exercise

Maybe I’m a little biased because I work in the fitness industry, but if there was one strategy that has allowed me to really have enough energy for and to be purposefully engaged in both my business and my personal life, it’s exercise.

It’s a myth that it requires two hours of time per day to exercise and stay lean and healthy. In fact, these days my workouts last no longer than 30 minutes using a combination of kettlebell and bodyweight exercises in my living room or backyard.

Looking the part is a critical element of my fitness business, but I’m starting to realize that it’s a critical element of me being a good father as well.

Exercise allows me to only have enough energy not only to keep up with my kids at the end of the day, but it sets an example to my kids to make their health a priority in their lives.

My habits in the gym – of hard work, perseverance and determination – are carried over into my business and family life and are habits that I hope to pass on to my four daughters and son through example.

All in all, my double-life as a business owner and entrepreneur and as a father/husband isn’t all that different than yours. We both need to find the right strategies to ensure that we are successful and find balance in every aspect of our lives.

The important thing to remember is that self-discipline is the key to forming good habits and strategies to ensure success in business and in life.

Adopting one or all of the strategies above, slowly, in a step-by-step manner has worked wonders for me and has made enjoy myself in my business dealings and has allowed me to forge a strong relationship with my loved ones.

In my life, I feel that I CAN have it all. Thanks to the strategies above,

I’m making my dream a reality.

[Ed. Note: Chris Lopez is a happily married father of 5 in Toronto where he runs his fitness training business and international website business. Chris is the author of a new at-home fat burning workout that will help you build muscle and burn fat at the same time without fancy equipment.]

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