It's hard to believe this is the last of the posts and episodes for the 31 Day Courier MBA series. I really hope this has been helpful for you.
I had scheduled this to be about personal and professional development. You know, as I look back on what has been posted, this whole series in some ways has been about that very topic. The idea has been to develop and master your business attitude. I really hope that this series has helped you do just that. Your feedback on if and how this has helped you would be incredible.
I think what I want to do is conclude with my wishes for you, as a person, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur and a professional. Maybe this should have been part of the introduction, but I think it can be a good summary as well.
I hope this has helped you understand who you are
My wish is that this helped you see yourself as more than just a delivery person. I hope it helped you elevate your view of who you are.
You are a business owner. It doesn't matter if that was accidental. One of my goals is to take away some of the mystique around that aspect of what we do. Another is to help you see yourself as someone very capable, someone who has this.
I really hope you see yourself as a professional. I hope this has helped you be proud of who you are.
If I've done this series well, you should be a bit better equipped to make good business decisions
Much of what I wanted to accomplish is to help you see the different aspects of running a business, and to see that it's not a stretch to call ourselves business owners. I wanted to help you go beyond just delivering and responding, but to help you become more proactive. I wanted to help you set goals and measure how you are doing, find ways to improve and to grow. This was designed to give you some ideas, some concepts and some background to help you think like a business owner, to grow in confidence and look at what you are doing through the lens of good business decisions.
I want this series to have helped you see your worth, and to demand nothing less than what you are worth.
We talked a lot about this question: Is it enough? I encouraged you to set a price that is enough to take care of your employee, who just happens to be you. You have a right to expect and to demand you be compensated in a way that is worthy of who you are, and that is adequate for a person running their own business.
There may be a point where you come to a conclusion that the business model just might not have enough upside. That's okay. You now know your worth. Be willing to expect what you are worth and to go for it.
Maybe this helped see your gig economy work as a gateway drug into entrepreneurism.
If you are like me, you love the freedom that comes with what we do. I love setting my schedule. I love the challenge of improving and growing. There is a thrill to pushing against the ceiling of what we can earn. There's an awesome feeling when it comes to taking control of what we do in an environment where the gig companies like to control us. It's a bit of a rush to be the boss, you know?
I've said this a number of times: There is a ceiling to doing what we do. We are trading our time for money. There are those really good days and really good deliveries, but that's the thing – those good deliveries ARE The ceiling.
I really hope that you get to the point where that ceiling just isn't high enough. I want you to get to the point where you see your potential and start thinking of your passions and start thinking of the things where you can really take off and really shine. If the freedom, the being your own boss, the taking control of your life and your career are sparking anything in you, then start dreaming big. Look for what you can do.
This little gig economy thing is a springboard for you. Bounce on it. And fly.
Let this series spur you on to growth!
If I've helped even one person see potential in themself, it was worth all the time I put into this. My wife thought I was nuts, deciding to put out a post and podcast episode every day for this series. I did it through a family vacation and through driving full time, and it was a bit of a crazy grind to get it done every day. But if it's helped one person, it was more than worth it.
This is the part where we get into the personal development. Let this be an encouragement to do awesome things.
I think we have a bit of a self esteem problem in our industry. We approach it all from a deficit mentality. We say we are JUST a delivery person. It feels like this isn't a real profession, it's not a real business.
It IS. You ARE a PRO. I really hope you see that. I really hope you start seeing that there really is more of a sense of running a business than you ever thought. More than anything, I hope you start seeing more potential in yourself. You are more than ‘just' anything. Get that ‘just' out of your vocabulary when you talk about yourself!
I encourage you to go to two episodes:
I've referred to these a lot in the series, but if you haven't listened to them or read through them, go first to episode 3, which is all about understanding your why. I wrote about how a business has a mission statement. If you haven't done this, please, go do this: Dig deep into why you are doing this. More than that, dig deep into who you are. Dig into what really really really matters to you.
When you've done that, now go to episode 7, where it's about getting an exit plan. Start dreaming. Start thinking about your why and start thinking about how you can really put that into action.
Folks, I think that operating a delivery business in the gig economy is a profession to be proud of. It can be far greater than we might have expected.
But even more, I believe that it can be just the beginning. Start planning. Start dreaming. Prepare yourself for fantastic things. Use your time in the car to develop and grow. Use the opportunity to listen to podcasts or audio books. Grow and develop.
