the first question is what is the specific goal that you want to achieve?
And that sort of gets the cogs turning then.
You have to, sometimes you have to have a bit of a think,
like what do we want to achieve for 2025?
Because the worst thing we can do is just go with the flow
and get pushed along by the river and just see what happens.
Because when we have that approach,
in our business and our marketing and our work life and our self-employment life,
we can easily slip into victim mode.
If we have this mindset,
if our mindset is I can't control anything out there,
I'm just going to have to see what happens.
And when things go shit, we go, oh, the trade's gone to shit.
You know, clusters aren't valued anymore.
You know, the trade's not what it was.
And then we start getting into this like negative mindset.
But by having a goal setting mindset,
where we're actually trying to push and aim towards something,
that's snaps us out of that victim, you know, that horrible victim mindset.
None of us want to be in that place.
And look, we all fall off the horse.
You know, I've had months where I feel like that.
I can't be done with any of this.
But it doesn't last long because I've got my goals written.
You know, I've got,
I've put myself in a position where I've got the accountability there and I have to keep moving.
So having responsibility isn't a bad thing.
To have responsibility in your life isn't a bad thing.
And we need it as self-employed people.
And if you're brand new to self-employment, you'll be able to relate with this.
Changing from being an employee where somebody else is always responsible and you're just following orders.
So then moving to a self-employed mindset can be a smack around the face.
When you're a young lad and you first go self-employed,
it can really wobble you because somebody else has always been responsible in your working life up until now.
They've always been accountable and answerable.
All you have to do is turn up all your tools and do the day's graft and go home.
And then to suddenly switch over and take on 100% of responsibility for absolutely everything in the business.
If you don't have that leadership mindset and that driven goal-seeking mindset,
you know, and a clear image of where you're going,
then the likelihood is you'll probably throw the towel in.
And think, fuck this, self-employment's too hard.
It's too difficult.
It's too stressful.
Often you'll see that, you know, on Child Talk Community.
It's just too stressful.
It's too uncertain.
The feast and famine nature and all this.
That's what crushes people.
The mindset.
It's not so much the actual business side of it or the practical on the tool side of it.
Usually it's the mindset's not right.
And you'll hear lads saying, oh, I don't get along with customers.
You know, can't be done dealing with customers all the time.
What they're really saying is their communication skills might need work.
Like their people skills, they might need to be worked on.
They might need to be looked at.
But sometimes it's easier to say, oh, it's not me.
I'm fine.
It's the customer.
You know, the customers are dickheads all.
And sometimes they're going to be dickheads.
But what I'm saying is if we don't actually look at where we're strong and where we're weak in our businesses and our self-employment life,
if we just blame the other person every single time and say, oh, no, it's the customer's fault, then how are we ever going to improve and grow?
We're not.
We're just going to be stuck and we'll give up and go back work for someone else again.
So sometimes we have to have that difficult conversation in the mirror and be real about what are my strengths and what are my weaknesses?
You know, I might be great at marketing, but maybe my customer skills and communication isn't great.
Maybe I'm fantastic on the tools and I can get the finish 100%.
But maybe I'm turning up late and turning up like two hours behind and, you know, I'm not honouring my agreements.
I'm not honouring the start date.
So it's difficult, but we've got to sometimes have a look at where can I improve?
Where can I improve?
And by setting goals for yourself and putting that demand on yourself, you're sort of forcing yourself to become a different person.
Yes, it's uncomfortable at first, especially when you first go self-employed.
It's really uncomfortable because the uncertainty is everywhere.
You don't know how much work is going to come in and where from.
You don't know how much you're going to earn.
You know, you don't know how much tax you're going to have to pay.
Everything's uncertain and all over the shop.
So if we don't have that strong, certain confidence that things are going to work out, we will give up.
Someone told me recently one out of three self-employed lads end up throwing a towel in and going back on the books for somebody else because they just, they get so overwhelmed in the first year or two years.
And I think, you know, when I say in my videos, most lads that go into self-employment are going in blind.
And this is exactly what I'm talking about because just being good on the tools, it's not going to be enough.
We've got to get good and strong in all these other areas, which again, while this coaching group's here for you guys, it's why it's here.
So try to encourage you to put some systems in, look at your sales and your marketing, look at your training and your skills and maybe think, you know what, I want to go and do that.
And then having the confidence to go and do that.
Like Dan, Dan's not been on the trial long either.
He was a chef for the first chunk of his career.
And then he changed lanes.
I think if you're still on the chat, Dan, let us know how old you were.
He was in his thirties.
But he made that transition and, you know, change lanes, become a spread.
Despite having negative feedback from, you know, his work colleagues at the time and friends.
He still did it.
He still decided to do it.
And now, you know, specializing and creating content and everything else.
And that takes balls and courage to do that because things are very, very uncertain.
Very uncertain when you go self-employed.
So I think by us setting goals, it gives us something to aim at, doesn't it?
It gives us something to strive towards.
So what are your goals, guys?
What are your goals for 2025?
Even if it's just one goal that you've got in mind that you want to achieve.
What is that goal?
Let us know in the chat as well and we can hash it out.
Let us know in the chat as well.
Let us know in the chat as well.
Let us know in the chat as well.
Let us know in the chat as well.
Let us know in the chat as well.
Let us know in the chat as well.