The Two Year Conundrum - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was exhausted and overworked at my job. There was a colleague who would roll their eyes at me during meetings. This same person would walk by me in the hall and pretend like she didn’t see me. Now, I should mention that she behaved like this […]
Date: 2021-03-22T09:00:00+00:00

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# The Two Year Conundrum

posted on 22 March, 2021

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I remember it just like it was yesterday. I was exhausted and overworked at my job. There was a colleague who would roll their eyes at me during meetings. This same person would walk by me in the hall and pretend like she didn’t see me. Now, I should mention that she behaved like this in varying degrees with everyone in the office, but I got the worst treatment. For 5 freaking years. The thing was I loved my job and the people that I worked with but things began to pile up. And I started to think about quitting my job. Because it was time. Interestingly enough the people that I worked with typically worked at the organization their entire professional careers. We worked with International Students learning English as a Second Language and it was a very mission driven focused work. To this day I believe that the most important connections and conversations happen with people who are different from me. However, some things were getting to me. The crappy colleague, the commute, the lateral only promotions and the increased work load without a substantial increase in pay. Maybe it was time to quit? But, I talked myself out of that decision and spent the next two years becoming increasingly more frustrated and unhappy. Then one day, I decided it was time. I gave my notice, bought a ticket to Hawaii with my ultimate destination being Australia and I leaped. In this episode, I’m going to talk about what I’ve termed “The two year” conundrum which is the the average period of time that it takes many people to stop second guessing themselves in a major professional decision. Which could be working for yourself, creating a new product, writing a book or creating that first course. During that two year period I was making the decision to work for myself. Did “The Two Year Conundrum” help me or hurt me?

*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

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## Show Notes

- The key issues in dealing with a Two Year Conundrum are the following:
  - Fear-What will happen if I try?
  - Perfection-It always gets in the way of getting stuff done
  - Lack of direction-Where do I start first?

- For me, I had decided to start working online but I wasn’t really clear about how I would make money. So, during those two years prior to quitting something happened. I accidentally started attracting online work. In the beginning I started writing $15 a piece posts for other businesses. And, I was excited about those projects because I understood that if I could attract one project that I could find more.

- I focused on doing a great job at my job. In fact, those skills that I had developed in my professional role would be what would make my business successful. Here are the skills that I used daily at my job.
  - How to sell-Selling the program that I worked at to potential future students.
  - Managing client satisfaction-Once they arrived how could my role maintain student happiness and foster success?
  - Event planning-I planed thousands of events by the time I left
  - Administrative tasks such as customer management-I was working for government entities and foreign governments daily.
  - Computer skills-There was so much to keep track of
  - Social media management-There is now a dedicated professional hired onto this role. But, at the time I did a lot of that work.
  - Communication skills-I had to communicate with hundreds of people, in multiple countries with various levels of English. That’s not easy.
  - Project Management…and the list goes on

- Avoided perfection and focused on done-In my most recent role as a part-time community manager I had to speak with potential clients in the podcasting space. What was really interesting to me was when I asked them how long they’ve thought about creating a show they would say almost two years. But, it wasn’t just them. I noticed this with blogging, product creation, video content, etc.

- Fear goes hand and hand with perfection. It has dawned on me that when we focus on creating the perfect product or experience that there is something else going on.
  - Fear of having people dislike what you’re doing.
  - Feedback (good or bad)
  - Fear of people liking what you’re doing
  - Then what?

- Why the Two Year Conundrum is so important. If you think about something for two years maybe, just maybe it’s worth trying regardless of the result.

- It’s a vetting process. But, here are some things to watch out for (that I’ve heard from other people)
  - When I asked people the following question after they confirmed at least of 2 years of waiting to do the thing this is what they would say.
    - I’m still researching the tech
    - I’m not sure what my focus will be
    - I’m overwhelmed by….
      - The number of podcast episodes…
      - Vlogs, etc.
      - Tech
    - There’s all of other people doing it too
    - No one else I know is doing what I’m doing
    - What if I’m not good enough?
    - How do I market this? Basically, how can I get this in front of people?
- Here are my answers
  - You can find answers to your beginning stage tech questions via Youtube University, Google or hire someone.
  - By taking action you will figure out what your audience wants from you and what you enjoy.
  - If you’re overwhelmed by the amount of content that you should create in the beginning keep it simple.
  - Simplify your expectations. Most people have this crazy idea that they need huge numbers to experience what feels like success. Oftentimes just completing the action is the initial success and then you build on it.
  - Join groups of like-minded people pursuing similar or adjacent interests. There are so many free communities on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, at the Library, Meetup Groups addressing your interest
  - 10,000 hours of time to be considered an expert. Here’s some things to consider:
    - Beyonce has been singing and performing since she was 9
    - Rafa Nadal has been playing tennis since he was around 9
    - Serena Williams has been playing tennis since was around 9
    - Jeff Bezos created Amazon when he was 30 years old.
    - Oprah Winfrey began working in journalism when she was in her early 20’s
    - Amy Porterfield from Online Marketing Made Easy has been working online for around 11 years
    - Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income has been working online for at least 10 years
    - I have been online in some capacity for about 8 years and started working as an entrepreneur, having a business of sorts in 2017 it’s now 2021 and I’m just now starting to see some traction financially.
  - You can’t market something that hasn’t even been created.

- If you’re struggling with the “Two Year Conundrum” I really hope that this episode has given you the kick the butt to get started. I’m currently in the process of onboarding people into The Brand Building Lab, my new group coaching program geared to get mission driven online entrepreneurs focused and across the finish line with their online projects. Schedule a 20 free coaching call to see if we would be a good fit.

- Don’t forget to grab the “Do It Ugly” toolkit today

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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