In this post I want to share my eBook with you, to share my story and to help you to leave your comfort zone. The book is called The Entrepreneurial Lifestyle and it provides methods to conquer recurring challenges.

Let me tell you, why I believe that this book is helpful for you and why it took me more than a year to really take action.

In April 2012 I founded my first company called Denksport IT. Together with a friend of mine, I planned to provide services for web design and network maintenance to our local enterprises.

We both where employees at the time, so we had to manage our enterprise in our spare time.

I had to learn really quick, that being an entrepreneur requires a lot of endurance, will to succeed, and creativity when it comes to solving problems.

Finding customers, setting up the right products and services, finding ways to finance my plans, and marketing the brand became my daily routines.

For more than a year I was running my own business while being employee, and my mindset played a huge role in this game.

The Mindset

Your mindset is crucial when you want to become successful as entrepreneur.

It took me some time to start believing in my abilities. I had to get comfortable with the situation, that I could make my living without being employed and having the apparent security of monthly paychecks.

I bet you’ve already heard, that you need to be passionate about what you’re doing to become successful. The point is, that your passion makes you overcome failures.

Failure is the sweat of success. And I am soaking wet. – MJ de Marco

You have to understand that you will fail. But you don’t have to worry about it, because failing is natural.

It only means, that you did something wrong for the first time. You always can do it better and learn from your failures.

And it’s failures that make you human and likable for your potential customers. Like Pat Flynn said, people like to do business with people. When you meet somebody who never failed, you don’t trust him. That’s why failures are a good thing to learn from.

Though it sounds easy, this change in mindset took me a long time.

The mindset is preventing a lot of entrepreneurs from reaching their goals. It comes up with numerous excuses why you aren’t able to do this or that, just to keep you in your comfort zone.

I believe, that especially entrepreneurs can’t stay in their comfort zones when they want to become successful.

That’s why I cut down my hours as employee one year after founding my company and started engaging in internet business.

Do you know this situations, when you know that you need to change something in your life? Exactly that happened to me. One day everything had fallen into place. I suddenly knew that I didn’t want to be a full-time employee but rather start creating the lifestyle business I’ve been dreaming of for more than a year.

I switched the whole business model of my company from web design to internet business (the network maintenance part is done by my friend, who’s happy with his situation).

Since then, I’ve met a lot of really great people, learnt a lot about marketing, creating information products, and I even have published a book!

Your Comfort Zone

For me, this is a very uncomfortable subject. But it’s essential to start and to take action.

Entrepreneurs need to constantly learn new things, meet new people all the time, take action in fields they don’t now, and act outside of their comfort zones.

It is human, that our mind tries to get us back into our routines, since we know our environment and can estimate the reactions of the people surrounding us.

To force us back into our comfort zone, our mind comes up with fears and doubts. Let me give you some examples of the fears I had, when I started my company:

• I won’t earn enough money to pay my bills.
• People won’t listen to me, because I’m no expert.
• I can’t start because I don’t know how.
• Others are already doing what I want.
• I will fail and won’t get a new job.
• My girlfriend will leave me, due to the huge amount of work.

Does that sound familiar to you?

In the beginning I was letting my fears limit my actions. I didn’t take action, because I thought that I would loose my job, since my own company competed with my employers company.

I was scared not to earn enough money to pay my bills and thought, that I depend on my job.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein

Over time, I developed methods to overcome those fears.

It took me about a year to put all of them into action, but now I know, that they actually work.

Otherwise I would still be full-time employee and you wouldn’t read this.

Extending Your Comfort Zone

Successful entrepreneurs simply take action. They know their goals and start working hard to accomplish them.

To have success, you need to act out of your comfort zone. You need to start something new, where you don’t know how everybody will react.

After you’ve done this two or three times, you will start getting comfortable – you start to extend your comfort zone.

The day I took action and told my boss that I’m going to work only 20 hours per week instead of 40 felt like a start in a new life.

Since then I’m much more relaxed, I blog about things I love, learn awesome stuff, meet great people, and build up an internet business that supports my desired lifestyle.

Though I was really nervous in the conversation with my boss, I felt that I was doing the right thing.

This was the result of putting my developed methods into action. My mindset will no longer be a limiting factor, but the driving force for my passion.

My eBook

The Entrepreneurial Lifestyle will tell you my story in much more detail.

I’m describing the decision I made while founding my company. It shows, why you must align your actions with your goals and how to do that.

Since I had no experience with running a business, some of my decisions lead to serious trouble. But I managed to overcome those and to build a business that will support my lifestyle as it grows.

It explains my methods to tweak your mindset and to finally start acting out of your comfort zone.

To enhance the value for you, I interviewed other entrepreneurs to include their experience. They explain, how and why they started engaging in internet business, what tricks they use when they face roadblocks, and how they keep a positive mind in difficult situations. Some of them are:

• Neil Patel – Founder of Quicksprout, CrazyEgg, and KISSmetrics
• Jeremy Frandsen – Co-Founder of Internet Business Mastery
• Spencer Haws – Host of NichePursuits and creator of Long Tail Pro

I also interviewed some less popular but successful entrepreneurs. You’ll see, that success isn’t tied to big names and that you can make it as well.

I want this eBook to be a source of inspiration and motivation. I priced this book at $9.99, because I want it to be affordable for everyone! I don’t want to make a lot of money with it, but to share my story and to inspire people.

Disclaimer: Somehow I need to finance the creation of this book, this is why you’ll find some affiliate links in it. Don’t worry, they get out of the way and won’t distract you from the content. I want to ask you, that you DON’T use them, if you feel that the product won’t help you. But I’ll be thankful if you support me on my way.

Please leave a comment if you have any question, I’d be glad to hear from you.

To your success,

Jan