I was reading a book last night that used the term “book smart moron.” It reminded me of a slur my Dad used to use… calling someone an “educated idiot.” =) It was a term reserved for someone who was very smart, but lacked COMMON sense or work ethic or OTHERWISE lacked the ability to get stuff done.
Judge if you like…
Education was NOT “the end all be all” in my house.
But I learned…
That KNOWING something,
WAS NOT
the SAME
As DOING something.
A valuable lesson indeed.
Worth more than 100 college degrees.
But somewhere along my way in business, I turned into one of these book smart morons. I’d decided I’d work my way into being a business coach. (I couldn’t just “be” a business coach, of course, because back then business coaches had to fly private jets, live in mansions in Malibu, and drive cars I’d never heard of. So, I reasoned that ONE DAY I’d be a business coach.)
While I was working to be successful enough to coach people on business, I was asked all the time about marketing and sales and how I was thriving as a self-bosser. HOW was I doing it? Working from home? With three kids under the age of 5? Without a back up plan or safety net? HOW did I replace my income so quickly?
And I’d EXCITEDLY and CONFIDENTLY rattle off advice from books I’d read. Giving BOOK knowledge instead of telling people what I was ACTUALLY doing,
day to day
in my make shift home office,
often while nursing SOMEONE,
and knee deep in the stress of being a young wife and mother.
WHY????
Why and HOW could I have fallen into a habit of being a book smart moron? Why didn’t I just tell people what I was doing in business?
Because I felt like EVERYTHING I was doing,
DAILY,
was so elementary…
WAY too simple to actually “teach.”
After all,
by this time,
I’d heard that business was supposed to be SO hard.
I’d heard that it took most businesses YEARS to produce a profit. I’d heard so much about the difficulty of being in business for yourself, I literally thought I must not even have a business.
I was just “making money from home.”
Whatever I WAS doing must not be “real” business…
because while it wasn’t EASY,
it WAS
simple.
Deceptively simple.
So simple, I’d actually be embarrassed to say it.
Example: A professional organizer and I were eating lunch. She says to me, “I’d like to monetize my website. But I don’t know how.”
My response,
“Well, you COULD sell something on your site.”
lol..
Yes… that’s an option.
SELL something.
Make someone an offer.
Put up a link to buy.
I’m not EXACTLY sure when I started trusting and OWNING my own experience. But eventually I did. Eventually, I would bet on ME and not on some book.
It’s true my #business advice isn’t slick or complicated.
But
IT WORKS.
It worked in 1999,
and it works today.
If you are ready to create a simple business that allows you to live and EARN on your own terms, WITHOUT COMPROMISE, let me know. I want to hear about your business and invite you to join Women Who WOW.
