It’s ok to be in Amateur-Ville. Everyone starts there. It’s not a bad place. Most of your friends and even your family members are in amateur-ville. A heck of a lot of people will never leave. In fact, this is mainly because most people don’t realize that they are in amateur-ville.

Read through the following list of symptoms to see if you’re in amateur ville:

ONE:

Your actions show that you put your current job over your business. (Having a side job whether it’s full or part-time isn’t enough to put you in amateur-ville. What’s important is that you view your side job as a tool to help you to get to where you want).

 

TWO:

You’ve got a plan B. If you’re really starting a business around your passions that you plan to grow slowly and organically, you don’t need a plan B! (Note: Pros often have a plan B for if things don’t workout within their business, but they don’t have a plan B for if their business itself doesn’t work out because in a Pro’s mind, it’s definitely going to work out!)

 

THREE:

You’re trying to have everything you want all at once. This is a HUGE TENDENCY in amateur-ville. (And I must confess, I still do this from time to time). Are you trying to move out of your parents house, start a business, travel the world, and go vegan all at once? STOP! You have to decide that this business is priority numero uno. It’s the thing that will help you achieve all of the other things. You can’t do them all at once. If you try, you’ll spread yourself too thin and give yourself an ulcer. It’s a form of self-sabotage! Focus on the business and the rest will come!

 

FOUR: 

You have at least 17 hectillion ideas, but you haven’t actually made any money on your own yet.

 

FIVE:

You constantly break promises to yourself.  (Ahem…didn’t you schedule “go to the gym” on your Google Calendar for sometime today?)

 

SIX:

You find plenty of work (web design, blog writing, twittering) to occupy you during the day, but if I told you to ONLY SPEND TIME ON MONEY-MAKING TASKS you wouldn’t know what to do.

 

SEVEN:

Every time you hang out with your amateur-ville friends (who are great people!), you get pulled back into a mediocrity mindset. (This is especially dangerous if your friends like to gossip, tease, make fun of people, cut famous people down, etc…)

 

EIGHT:

You’re a perfectionist.

NINE: 

You’re waiting for all of the details to fall into place.

 

TEN:

You’re waiting to feel ready before you get started.

Again, EVERYONE STARTS OUT IN AMATEUR-VILLE. You have to make a choice to become a Pro.

Here are some tools that can help you high tail it outta town:

ARTICLES:

PEP TALK FOR PERFECTIONISTS

ARE YOU AVOIDING MAKING MONEY?

And if you’re seriously FED FUCKING UP with squatting in Amateur-ville and you want to catch the next high speed train to Professional Planet (yep, I’m being that cheesy), I put all of my best thinking on this subject into my book “From Amateur to Professional”.

Spread the word and help others get outta Amateur-ville, too!