Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Impossible Podcast. Today's podcast is just a little bit different. Instead of having an interview today, I have a blog post that I wrote the other day that I'm just going to read because it's been one of the things that's kind of been bouncing around in my head lately about becoming a professional. And in it, I share a little bit about what's going on in my mindset, how I kind of shifted my approach to my business and my life the last year and a half or two years, but actually a lot the last six months.
It's called Going Pro, and it's a blog post on impossiblehq.com, so you can go check it out. I'll put it in the show notes. And instead of a normal interview schedule today, I'm just going to be reading this blog post. So let me know if you guys like this format.
I may do some more in the future. We'll be back on our normal podcast schedule next week with another interview coming up. But today's podcast is called Going Pro. For a long time, I was playing business, or rather, I was playing life.
I wasn't taking it seriously. I was being an amateur. I mean, I'm serious. You can look at my face and see that, but I wasn't approaching my work or my life seriously.
I struggled when I started to get out of a crappy job, escaped the Midwest winters, and then I got to California and life was relatively good. Mission accomplished. Meanwhile, I was always wary of becoming a Thailand entrepreneur, the type of digital nomad who travels to Thailand to baseline their costs and figure out how to make $1,000 a month and live like a baller in Thailand. That was a promise when I was getting out of my job, but the problem was with a lot of these guys.
They never figured out how to make anything more than $1,000 a month. They balled up in Thailand because it was so cheap, but $1,000 a month is still $1,000 a month, and that doesn't get you much outside of Southeast Asia. And I never wanted to be that guy, but thankfully, between Impossible, Ultimate Paleo Guide, and Impossible Axe, I didn't have to be. I was able to live a bi-closal lifestyle between California and New York, bouncing around wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
I went on a ton of adventures and even raised a bunch of money for charity. But then I got a wake-up call. I got sued. I started to realize how much stuff was working okay, but not optimal.
I realized that I wasn't taking my accountant seriously because taxes were boring. I realized that I almost lost my business because I didn't think lawyers were important. I realized that my team-building skills left a lot, and I mean a lot, to be desired. The past few years have been a wake-up call for me, for me to turn pro, to focus seriously on what I'm trying to do with Impossible and in my businesses, in my life, and what I'm trying to do.
For a long time, I thought it was cool to be the carefree entrepreneur. Live anywhere. Do anything. Anytime.
No rules, systems, obligations. Just the obligation to make enough money to have a good time doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. This led to a lot of bad habits. Don't worry about team calls.
If you miss them, you miss them. Don't worry about showing up late. Who's going to fire you? Don't worry about documenting and organizing stuff.
That's part of the fun of entrepreneurship, right? Winging it. But over time, man, it wore on me. I wonder why your team's not engaged.
Maybe it's because you're not engaging with them. I wonder why people don't trust your plans. Maybe it's because you're not showing up. Maybe you wonder why you're doing the same thing over and over and over again.
Maybe you should have documented it. I wonder why you're stalling out on your fitness goals. Maybe it's consistency. And that's the paradox of professionalism.
You've got to know the rules before you break them. But if you break them, you better know them really, really freaking well. And the truth is, I avoided professionalism for a long time because it reeked of the shirt and Thai culture that I tried really, really hard to escape when I was at my desk job in Milwaukee. I thought that sticking to the rules or any boundaries of any sort, even at least, was too constraining.
And so I ran amok in freedom. Too much freedom, even. But that's a whole other story for another blog post. The thing that I missed was this.
Professionalism isn't about looking a certain way. It's about being a certain way. You know what's cooler than eating whatever you want whenever you want without judgment? Looking and performing to your potential and beyond.
You know what's cooler than vaguely knowing your KPIs and thinking your business is doing okay? Actually knowing your KPIs and killing them and knowing it for sure. You know what's cooler than feeling like you're on the treadmill over and over and over again, doing the same tasks again and again, building rock-solid systems and teams to make sure they're executed to the same standard every single time. You know what's cooler than hoping your trademarks are protected?
Actually protecting them, locking them down, and becoming bulletproof. You know what's cooler than making a mixed bag of jokes about not knowing what your taxes were the past few years? Getting that crap locked down, getting out in front of it, and actually doing projections for the future years. You know what's cooler than being the carefree entrepreneur?
Being a pro. Because pros don't show up only when they want to. They don't show up only when they feel like it. They don't show up only when it's convenient.
They show up because it's their job. And they do it well every time. Finances, trademarks, organization, documentation, processes, teams, systems. They all sound contrarian to what you're trying to do as an entrepreneur.
They lock you in. They force you to show up, do things a certain way. And they're all constraining things. But when you're forced to show up, that's when the paradox kicks in.
The more you show up, the tighter you're locked in. The more ability you have to improvise when and where you want. The more professional you are, the more freedom you gain. I think Jocko would say, discipline equals freedom.
So that's the job. That's the gig. You picked it. Now be a pro at it.
Show up and do the damn thing. Because if it's worth doing, it's worth doing seriously. You're not helping anyone by slacking on that front. Being an amateur isn't cool.
It's not cute. And it's not funny. It's just amateurish. And the worst part is, being an amateur in one thing will start to seep into everything else.
If it happens in your work, it'll happen in your life. It'll happen in your body. And it'll happen in your relationships. Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
So if you're going to do something, go ahead and be a pro at it. All right, guys. That is today's show. A little bit different than normal.
But if you guys enjoyed the show, go ahead on over to iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts. And leave a rating and review. It helps us reach more people. Help inspire more people to push their limits and do something impossible.
Until then, keep pushing on us and do something impossible.