Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone

in #psychology6 years ago

My husband helps me run my business, mostly by keeping my books and filing taxes. A few days ago, we had a mini business conversation about my non-profit, LinkYourLife, and potential hitches of running it on a crypto platform. There are the usual concerns: keeping my freelance work and my non-profit separate. And there are the more complicated tracking and tax concerns related to cryptocurrency and decentralization. How do I accept donations? Can Steemians who delegate to @linkyourlife receive a tax write off? How will it be calculated? There is much to consider.

What was hard about this conversation was coming to understand what I need to learn in order to make LinkYourLife work via Discord and Steemit. With that in mind, I did something I never do. I signed up the series of classes on running a non-profit at my local library.

I recognize that I need the help. There is only so much I can rely on Nathan for, and only so much I should ask him. Our conversation began as a way for me to determine if I was asking him too much. He has a full-time job, and we have three children, two of whom have different needs. Then there are our own needs, tending our love, and keeping up our home. Life is busy and complicated. It is essential that my projects do not bleed over into Nathan's personal time. But he's such a brain who can easily find the answer to just about any question, it's hard not to rely on him.

He told me, "There's a lot you're going to have to learn on your own."

He's right. What's more, he knows I can. I'm intelligent. I don't like to state it so flat out but I do appreciate that as true. When I want to learn something, I learn it. The key here is that I've been afraid to learn what I need to for running this non-profit. It's scary to launch new projects, even slowly. But the truth is I have a fantastic team behind LinkYourLife. I just need to figure out how to implement roles. Just as I did with my Daisy troop leadership.

I am putting together a plan for myself. So far I have built up the community that will drive LinkYourLife both on and off Steemit. I have drafted the model on which I would like to fundraise. I have a list of potential fundraisers to follow up on. I have my team. And I have my non-profit tax ID.

Numbers are not a friend to me. I can't read a spreadsheet to save my life. I can't read a non-digital clock. I switch numbers and letters all the time. Knowing this about me, imagine me trying to understand cryptocurrency when I can't understand time zones. It's amusing, right? And way outside my comfort zone to pursue. My brain is not wired for this type of learning. Example: the only classes I ever failed were Advanced Macroeconomics and Pre-Calculus. I repeated both in high school, raising my grades to Bs.

Well, now it's time to learn. I understand the basics, but I need to build quite a lot. I'll need help. I'll ask for it. I'll get there.

I'm a person who very much loves to be cozy at home. Now I have to cross a threshold, moving beyond comfort into necessity.

In what ways are you challenging yourself?

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Thanks for sharing with us.keep it up.hope this post is liked to all.keep going.go ahead.thank you

An article worth publishing on the widest

I really appreciate this sentiment.

I'll be cheering you on, @shawnamawna. It all sounds very complicated but you'll ace it, step-by-step, especially as you already have a great support team in place.

I'm challenging myself by starting a weekly build your Steemit business accountability challenge this Sunday. It's for newbs like myself or others who haven't been posting regularly and want to.

Have NO clue if anyone will be interested, much less join in. But doing it anyway...while shaking in my boots! ;)

That sounds like a great idea. I think so many people can use coaching here. I wish you great success.

Moving out from your comfort zone is not an easy thing to do but doing that
stretches you making you realize that you have certain abilities which you
didn't know about. And this reinvent you making you fully matured in the
Principles of life. @shawnamawna.

I'm glad I've been pushing myself. Learning is a wonderful choice always.

I've been involved with a few non-profits, and I can tell you a couple things that leaders of such organizations often fail to learn:

  1. A non-profit may not be in the business of profit, but it is still a business. So you need to understand how business works to make yours work.
  2. Nobody is good at everything required to run a business. So you need different people who are good at different things. If you try to do it all yourself, you will fail in at least one area.
  3. In relation to that last point, you need to recognize your people's strengths and put them in places that play to those strengths and away from places that don't. You, for instance, are not good with numbers and spreadsheets and things. I would not put you in a position to deal with that. I would put you in a position to write, coach, etc.

Good luck, Shawna! After your courses, if there are pieces that are still unclear I have a pretty large network of experts that can help too :).

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