For a number of years now, I’ve been saying that I’d “kind of like” to be able to do my home business full-time (as in it provides a significant portion of our income) after I retire from the military. But if you asked me to name a specific reason, the best I could usually come up with is that I’d like to avoid the stress of looking for another job.
Woops … I’ve had a negative “why”.
As you can probably guess, although having a continuously profitable home business for over 10 years now could certainly be considered successful in relative terms; if I had to retire from the Air Force tomorrow, I wouldn’t yet have enough of a regular income to avoid a job search.
Clearly I need a stronger motivation to build my home business income. I retire from the military at the end of 2013, so I’ve only got two years to figure this out.
Last Friday, the girl’s school had a military dad’s lunch, in honor of Veteran’s day. I got to go eat lunch with both Jasmine and Jaiden … which was a lot of fun. We laughed, and smiled, and just generally had a pretty happy lunch hour. As I was walking home, and reflecting on what a good time I’d had, something hit me …
When I retire from the military, Jaiden will only be in Kindergarten, and Joey will just be starting pre-school. They’re going to have a lot of years of school ahead of them … which will mean a lot of lunches, and field trips.
I think I just found my WHY.
Starting in January of 2014, I WILL be at EVERY one of these parents lunches. And I WILL volunteer to accompany my girls on EVERY field trip. And I will be there for EVERY soccer game, or gymnastics meet, or just to play in the yard. In short, my goal is to be a Stay at Home Dad … with an income that allows me to enjoy it!
This is a much more clear cut goal … I can close my eyes, and easily picture it.
But …
Just so I don’t fall into the trap of trying to justify the minimum amount I can do to somehow just “get by” while still nominally achieving this goal, I want to add in something with a financial cost.
Turns out this is relatively easy to come up with too. You see, we just bought a new house, and it turns out that the back yard is pretty big. Big enough, in fact, that there’s more than enough room for a pool.
So, the second part of my goal is …
By the summer of 2014, we will have an in-ground pool in our back yard. Due to the hard ground here in central Texas, I’ve been told that this could easily represent a $40-$50K investment. No matter, I can see myself floating in that pool, not caring in the least that it’s 105 degrees. 
Ok, that all sounds well and good. But what am I going to do to make these goals come to fruition?
I could smile and think positive thoughts.
Actually, I intend to do a whole lot of that.
But, I also need some sort of measurable action, that I can track over time.
So here’s what I’m going to do …
Between now and December of 2013, I will get 1000 No’s
Huh? What the heck does 1000 No’s mean?
Simple. I will invite people to look at my home business plan. I’ll ask them to partner with me. And I will do this enough times that at least 1000 people tell me “No, thank you”
Here’s the cool part though …
Along the way to getting those 1000 no’s, a certain percentage of people are going to say Yes!
And the even cooler part, I have no excuse to be scared of inviting people to look, and asking them to partner with me … since my purpose is simply to get an answer … doesn’t even matter what they say.
If it’s a Yes, I have a new partner.
And if it’s a No, I can count it towards my 1000.
It’s pure win/win.
.. and it’s a bright, shining path towards my getting to enjoy a whole lot of lunches with my girls. 
Update (29 April 2012): I recently took a change of direction in my home business endeavors. I joined a new company, and I’m starting over from scratch. I still think my goals above are 100% acheiveable though. And in fact, I expect that getting 1000s “no’s” is now going to be even harder (but in a good way). You see, pretty much everybody could benefit from what I now have to offer (whether they’ve admitted it to themseveles yet or not). Plus for my active duty military friends, becoming a coach, and doing this as a business is pretty much a “no brainer”
Keep havin FuN!
Great post. When I first started doing internet marketing I would go into Best Buy and look at all the TVs that were on display, providing myself a “Carrot” if you will to stay motivated and stay on track. It worked!
Twitter: hospitalera
November 30, 2011 at 4:12 am | Permalink
I agree that having positive goals help a lot to keep you focused. Additionally I would also suggest a bit of a mind set change from ‘stay at home dad that earns money with a home business’ to ‘Home business owner that stays at home with kids’. Like Vic used to say, you have to treat it as a business to succeed! SY
Hospitalera recently posted..The Real Reason Google Fights Web Spam
Todd, I like this post. if I could get 1000 “NO’s” my business would be launched and successful. I understand the logic of numbers game. My problem is the emotional “rejection” I get and this fuels the “procrastination” problem.
Any suggestions……. except JUST DO IT!
Thanks
Hi Michael,
I can totally empathize with how the fear or rejection can lead to procrastination … have most definitely “been there, done that”.
Here’s how I would suggest getting around it …
Change your mindset about the “real” purpose of your presentations.
I’m not sure exactly what type of business you have, but in my own I’m looking to grow in two ways: by finding new customers, and by finding new business partners. The “1000 no’s” is about the business partners.
Here’s the thing, I actually Don’t want to partner with every single person I talk to. For some people, my business won’t be a good fit for them. And sometimes they won’t be a good fit with me, or vice-versa, me with them.
Therefore, it’s not really too much of a stretch to say that every presentation can have a “positive” outcome … I either find a new partner, or I determine that the fit wasn’t right.
The only real “failure” is if I never make the presentation, and thus never actually get an outcome one way or another.
Hope this helps.