Myself and Kelly Spartonos just put the bow on our second round of the LAUNCH program. Since it’s inception in 2017 we have worked with more than a dozen entrepreneurs to guide them through taking their idea and launching it into a reality.
We have watched our LAUNCH participants create their own online platforms, programs, apparel companies, blogs and more including a podcast, a makeup artistry business and more!
Over the course of the two programs I learned two very important lessons that face every entrepreneur who wants to take an idea and turn it into a reality.
The first is how difficult it is to move from the known to the unknown. The known is what we have around us. It is the place we are unsatisfied with. It is all we know but it is not all we want. What we want is the area of the unknown. But what makes the unknown terrifying is that we don’t know what we don’t know. We don’t know what steps to take to get to the unknown. What the unknown will look like. Where to go once we are in the unknown? How we will be able to handle the unknown? What happens during this is we become paralyzed. Some respond by not doing anything at all. Others just end up focusing only on the known thus preventing them from taking the time or energy to pursue the unknown. This is a mistake I made for years in my career. Instead of taking the risk to pursue bigger level clients, I continued to waste time pursuing work below my means. Taking the step into the unknown is the most empowering thing an entrepreneur can do.
The second is that oftentimes it is even more difficult to take that step into the unknown alone. This is why it helps to have someone there to keep you accountable. When I did my first (and only) fitness competition, I might not have gone through with it had I not publicly posted that I was going to do it on social media – thus engaging an entire audience of people to keep me accountable and on track.
In the LAUNCH program, the members of the program keep one another accountable. They push each other. They motivate each other. It is much easier to walk into a dark room when you have a team of people standing right next to you.
Kelly and myself are retooling the LAUNCH program to make it even more beneficial and helpful to help you take your idea and make it into something that is tangible and real. But you are not required to join LAUNCH to ship your idea out the door. Be willing to step into the unknown and if you get scared, find others to help keep you accountable.
James Patrick
IG @jpatrickphoto
jamespatrick.com
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