How long are you going to wait?
Let me ask you, How long are you going to wait?
I announced the phenomenal Agile Project Management and Scrum Blueprint program in the last two posts, and many of you have contacted me to express your interest. And you should be!
Whether you join this program or not is pretty much irrelevant to me, and my life won’t really change, but for you (who follow it), it absolutely will and can.
Here’s why…
Why don’t you have an idea yet, or why aren’t you implementing your idea, or why is your idea ‘stuck’ and just not launching you into your new Scrum career?
We talked about some ‘blockages’ in the last email that might be hindering you on that path, but here’s something even more important.
The reality is that we will on average follow the ‘path of least resistance,’ and reskilling or starting a business is, in 99% of cases, the ‘path of most resistance’… because you’re heading straight for the unknown, the new, the stressful, and the risky.
Therefore, seeking a new job or launching a new career is neither natural nor ‘reflexive’. (Especially when you already have a certain level of security in life.)
It’s natural and reflexive to seek security, protection, peace, familiarity, and freedom from stress and risk. But that comes at a cost…
The problem is that people are looking for these things (security and peace) at the wrong address.’ You’re knocking on the wrong door or praying in the wrong church.
The only real and rational security is within you and the knowledge you possess. Everything else is a risk and depends on other people, often beyond your control.
Even though it might not be obvious at first glance.
But here’s how it is…
When you work in a mega-company-corporation-firm… you can realistically get fired at any time. Today. Tomorrow. And it’s not necessarily your fault. Maybe the economy will crash. Maybe a new wave of corona hits?
Maybe a large multinational company wants to cut costs and you fly out as collateral damage, not guilty or responsible.
Your head flies off like Tanaka in Kill Bill.
Brutal.
But that’s how it is.
It might never happen or hit you out of nowhere when you least expect it.
The question is just whether you’ll be prepared or not.
The worst thing is to wait. And wait. And wait to build that security and freedom for yourself because you’re under the impression you already have it.
And for something of your own, then you wait for some ideal moment, some ideal… ‘perfect’ idea, for everything to be just right.
But realistically, the moment for all the pieces to fall into place and for all the conditions to be perfectly easy will never come.
Just the opposite…
A huge number of opportunities are born in moments of desperation. When people have no other option but to succeed in starting something of their own.
When nobody will hire you. When you don’t have a plan B (to distract you from plan A). When you have no alternative options. When you’re cornered and have nowhere to go but forward…
Many people only then get going, start learning the in-demand skills, and launch their businesses.
Out of necessity. Out of desperation.
Their brains are then in ‘turbo mode’ forced to think at 200 miles per hour. Time is ticking. The pressure is mounting.
Are you going to wait until it’s urgent and everything is burning, or are you going to prepare yourself and start early so that the transition is easier for you?
The legend says that when Hernán Cortés was conquering Mexico, and his weary soldiers didn’t want to fight, he burned 10 out of 11 ships they had to motivate his soldiers. No turning back, no escape. And that’s how they defeated the Aztecs.
It’s the same with work. When the path of least resistance suddenly becomes the path of most resistance yesterday. It becomes HARDER for you not to start a new career or launch your own business, but to launch it.
You realistically have 2 options!
One must be under enormous stress and start finding a completely new career tomorrow. And the other is to start the process of building your skills now, while it’s (not yet) necessary for you.
But most people will end up ‘paying 10x more for medicine than prevention.’ And that’s another little lesson. People generally don’t like to buy prevention.
They only buy it when it hurts and when things are tough, and then the risk and stress are higher, and it’s usually much more expensive. Because the ground is burning beneath your feet.
Turn around. Look around, we all work for ourselves all the time. Even when you work in a company, you’re actually working for yourself. And when you have your own business, you’re working ‘for yourself’ by working for your clients.
The difference is in the ‘asset’ you build when you work for yourself. You’re creating something bigger than yourself. You’re creating something that can be independent of you and that can continue to earn for you even when you’re not directly working on it at that moment.
All the risk is yours, but all the results and benefits are yours as well.
On top of that, nobody can ‘fire you’ because when you have Scrum skills, all you need to do is demonstrate them, and on the other hand, money comes out whenever someone buys one of your services. You’re building a (digital) ‘asset’ that can have its own value independent of you.
So, as far as risk goes, it’s a much bigger risk (and less security) to be employed and dependent on one company and one job (client) than on hundreds or thousands of clients and a system through which you constantly attract new people.
Let’s see about freedom. You don’t have to answer to anyone. You have meetings when you want, and if at all (and you can also reschedule, postpone, or cancel them).
You work, but again, when you want and from wherever you want. Deadlines are mostly just the ones you define yourself.
This doesn’t mean you don’t do anything, but you have far more control over the schedule and conditions that suit you. You’re not there because of the job; the job is there because of you, tailored to you.
It takes some time. Some sacrifice. Learning. Testing the new and unknown. But it’s not the end of the world.
The only question is when you’re going to start… when things start burning and become urgent, or much before that?
The best time was probably 10 years ago. The next best time is now.
What makes me happiest is that I had the ‘luck’ to start working for myself on time, and that’s because I had no other option. Back then, as a kid, nobody even wanted to hire me except to wash dishes. And now, for years I’ve been in a situation where I work for myself, and I make more than I could ever earn by myself.
What else is stopping you from starting to build your new Scrum career… the ‘unknown and new’?
Here’s the thing. People don’t understand “where to start and where to go, in what order.” You need a clear plan, a system. How to get from A, where you are now, to B, where you want to be… a proud owner of your new role.
When you boil it down to the simplest factors (and that’s what you want to do, to ‘break down’ the elephant into smaller bites and eat it that way) … it comes down to just 2 things: Audience and Product. That’s all.
- Audience — someone who will pay for your services. Who?
- Product/Service — something they will buy. What?
Who will buy from you? And What will they buy from you (from you)?
Ideally, in that exact order of priority.
And then we have two more intermediate steps that accelerate and amplify the effect of the first two: Offer and Sales.
Offer is HOW you’ll ‘package’ the product so it’s irresistible and super attractive.
Sales are how you’ll convince as much of the audience as possible to buy right now.
These are the 4 elements in this Agile Project Management and Scrum Blueprint
Skills, Certification, CV, and Job.
This is how you reach a mass of employers. And I teach you all of this in detail, step by step.
The Agile Project Management and Scrum Blueprint can turn that dream into reality.
Scrum is a powerful framework used by top companies worldwide to deliver projects efficiently and effectively.
Here’s why Scrum is a game-changer for your career:
- Increased Value Delivery: Focus on delivering the most impactful features first, ensuring your work directly benefits the project and the customer.
- Enhanced Adaptability: Respond quickly to changing needs and priorities. Scrum allows for continuous adjustments throughout the project lifecycle.
- Improved Team Collaboration: Foster a more collaborative and self-organizing work environment, leading to increased team morale and productivity.
- Early Risk Detection: Identify and address potential problems early on, minimizing costly mistakes and delays.
- Faster Time to Market: Get your product or service to market faster with Scrum’s iterative development approach.
- and much more…
Why ‘P90’?
Because you really don’t need more than 90 days to launch your new Scrum career and land your first Scrum job. That’s the hardest part at the beginning. Once you have your first job, you’ll also be able to choose.
And all of this can be much easier than it might seem to you right now. When you have a clear path and plan, it might be a bit new, but it won’t be unfamiliar.
No mistake. If you follow and apply it, it’s impossible for it not to work for you.
And that’s exactly the 1% where launching a new career is no longer the ‘path of most resistance’ but the path of least resistance compared to waiting for the perfect moment.
You don’t need a perfect moment, but a clear path from A to B. Then it’s both (psychologically and physically) easier and less risky for you to launch a business than to not launch it and wait forever or until things get tough.
And especially when you do it ahead of time… BEFORE someone ‘burns all the ships’ and before life corners you. Because out of those 300 soldiers of Cortes, it’s questionable how many survived.
If you’re interested and you’re tired of waiting, reply with “SCRUM” and I’ll get in touch with you. Price? ‘It’s a steal at this price!’ compared to the fact that it can change your whole life.
Thanks, and let’s talk about your concerns… So…
How long are you going to wait?
dejan(@)whatisscrum.org
Dejan Majkic
