Category / entrepreneurship

by Nathan Coumbe

Resources for you

Today I felt like sharing some of the magnificent people and resources that have helped me along my journey to this point in life. I may turn this into its own page at some point as I am sure the list will grow.

Dave Ramsey – what can I say? He really hit me over the head with how stupid I had been for close to a decade. If you want to know how to handle your money and get on the path to becoming wealthy, his book The Total Money Makeover is a must-read. Dave also first planted in my mind the idea that I should find something meaningful in my life to do for work which led me to the person that I will now offer up as my next recommendation.

Dan Miller – writer, speaker, coach, entrepreneur, mentor, Dan is one of the kindest and most giving individuals I’ve ever known (and we’ve never even met in person). He truly inspired me to look inward to find work that is meaningful, purposeful, and profitable. 48 Days to the Work You Love is his masterpiece; it will completely change the way you view work and will put you on the path to doing what you love for a living. He also has the 48 Days Eagles community, an incredible group of people who are supporting each other in stepping out on their own as entrepreneurs. His book recommendations and his idea of investing 3% of my income back into myself led me to discover some of the most powerful learning I have ever experienced as taught by…

Seth Godin – quite possibly one of the most influential people I’ve ever encountered, Seth is a serial entrepreneur (as are Dan and Dave), a master of marketing, storytelling, business, leadership, and one of the greatest teachers from whom I have ever had the privilege to learn. His blog is brilliant, to say the least, and his many books and courses will change your life. That is not an exaggeration. His podcast is one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, and enjoyable I have ever heard. I have never failed to learn something when I hear Seth speak. As an aside, he is also the reason I decided to get out of my own way and start writing and publishing my ideas.

I hope these resources will benefit you in some way. I will attempt to update them as I have more time and as I continue to put together my “best of…” lists.

by Nathan Coumbe

Start something.

A number of weeks ago, my wife and I went out to play some pick-up soccer with folks in our community; it didn’t quite go as planned. After a flurry of text messages, it turned out that a flat soccer ball and someone’s annoying brother had wrecked our hopes of playing soccer that evening (yes, there is more than one obvious solution to this problem, but that’s not the point of this story).

We refused to let those issues stop us, and we had an idea (and luckily, a frisbee). We decided to teach the folks who were originally going to play soccer with us how to play Ultimate Frisbee. One hot, sweaty, muddy, grass-covered hour later, our group collapsed on the ground, exhausted and exhilarated. Not only did they all have a blast, they all wanted to know when the next game was happening. Since then, we’ve been playing 2-3 times a week, we have created a subscription calendar that anyone can get to see when the next game is, and our interest and attendance in the group has been steadily growing.

So why I am telling you this story? It’s really quite simple:

Start something.

Do something. Write something. Play something. Call someone and see if they are interested. Send them a text message. Put up a flyer.

Start something.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

– Walt Disney

We all have ideas that could start something – it may not be a new career or financially lucrative, but it could start a community league, or a charity, or a movement (and it could also be a new career AND financially lucrative).

Just so you know – it might not work.

WHO CARES?

If you never try to do it, then it definitely won’t work.

Do you play guitar? See if you can go teach someone else the basics. Do you draw or paint or sculpt? See if there is someone you know that might want to try a new hobby. Are you an awesome chess player? Find a friend that always wanted to learn or start a group that meets each week to play a tournament.

Start something. It might not work; it might be a bad idea. Do it anyway. And then do it again tomorrow. It might not work.

But what if it does?

by Nathan Coumbe

Replace One Word and Solve a Problem

I have been working on my self-talk a lot recently, and a technique that I have found that really helps me get out of my own way is swapping out the word “but” for the word “and”. This idea came to me after reading a short, but very impactful, blog post by Scott Miller of FranklinCovey entitled “I Can’t Do That”.

How is “but” sabotaging us?

To illustrate the point of how this process can work, let me give you an example with which I am currently wrestling. I studied classical and jazz percussion in college, something that I absolutely loved and found great fulfillment in pursuing. Then I made some stupid decisions and am now currently without a drum set or anything other than a snare drum and some sticks. I would love to start another side hustle using my musical skills and abilities, but I have talked my way out of it many times without even trying. My normal thinking would be “I would love to start a business using my musical skills to teach and play the drums, BUT I don’t have an instrument other than a snare drum.” Well, there you have it – nothing can be done now. I’m stuck. There is no possible way for me to do anything with the skills or resources at my disposal.

Perhaps you already see how this works, but I will walk through it all the same. If I just change the word “but” to the word “and”, something magical happens. “I would love to start a business using my musical skills to teach and play the drums, AND I don’t have an instrument.” Now it is just a problem to solve rather than a brick wall preventing me from making any progress. I could easily follow it up with “so…[insert solution to problem]”, and I have just gotten out of my own way and on the path to a side-hustle. (As an aside, I am positioning myself as an expert snare drummer with a focus on musicality and technique that can be applied to the drum set as well as other percussion instruments.)

Implementation

There are plenty of others ways you can implement this:

  • I want to lose weight, but I don’t have much time.
  • I want to start my own business, but I don’t have any startup capital.
  • I want to get a job in web development, but I don’t know about JavaScript.

You know the drill now – we use “and” now.

  • I want to lose wait, AND I don’t have much time, so I should find a physical activity that I enjoy that doesn’t take up much of my time.
  • I want to start my own business, AND I don’t have any startup capital, so I should find a business idea that costs little or nothing to start making a profit.
  • I want to get a job in web development, AND I don’t know about JavaScript, so I should sign up for an online course or read a book about the subject.

What about you?

Are there things you want to do, AND the word “but” is getting in your way? See what I did there? It’s now just a problem for you to solve! The next time you start talking yourself out of doing something, try this little technique and see if you come up with a possible solution to your problem. You’d be surprised how easy it is.