Why success is like a shed

tony shepherd shed coaching

My shed success analogy…

When you first come to build a business there’s a lot of different advice bandied around…

‘Find something you’re passionate about’

‘Look for a market that is already selling well’

‘You must find your burning desire’

Personally I think building a business is like building a SHED.

You have a corner of a garden with nothing in it.

You really fancy a shed in that gap because it would make life easier, would be an accomplishment and something to be proud of. It would also be an asset should you ever come to sell your house and the chances are your neighbours without a shed would admire it greatly.

So first off you have to make plans and decisions.

You either have to build the shed yourself, paying for raw materials to keep costs down OR you invest in expert help to build it, or even perhaps pay a lot of money for a ready-made shed delivered ready to go.

Here’s the REAL analogy bit…

Whichever route you decide to take you are going to hit problems:

Maybe your budget isn’t sufficient and you have to find a way to raise the shed price.

Maybe when the wood arrives you discover you have the wrong tools for the job and have to change either the shed plan OR the tools. Maybe both.

Maybe when you buy the ready-made option you find that it’s poorly made, and the help and advice you were promised to build it isn’t any good either.

Your job is twofold:

1. You have to find a way around your shed problems, NONE of which are going to be exactly identical to anyone else’s. They’re unique to you and you need to find unique solutions

2. Most importantly you have to continue to WANT the shed. You have to make sure you don’t hit a point where you say ‘Oh bugger this, I’m leaving that corner of the garden empty and go for a few pints’

Like most things in life, you’ll hit problems. Building a business, building a shed, tiling the bathroom, buying a car…it’s all the same as building a business.

You have to get past the problems and find a way to do it.

You have to keep on WANTING it, and you have to give yourself a kick every time you feel like giving up.

Build a shed 🙂



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2 responses to “Why success is like a shed

  1. Bart

    Great analogy! It occurs to me that one can substitute the word BarBQ, Desk, Patio set, or anything else that needs assembly!

    Here’s an extension of the analogy…because a “shed” is both expensive AND would be difficult to return to the store, we feel we MUST power through and find a way to make it work; and we eventually succeed! When we purchase an online “how to” product, it’s usually for less than the cost of dinner for 2 at a diner and so we feel we can “give up” more easily and /or return the product (because it didn’t get up and build your business for you while you played video games) Jeesh.

    We fail to see the larger loss here. By giving up we lose thousands of dollars of income because we didn’t make it work.

    Thanks for indulging me…I have to go shed shopping now….

  2. Hi Tony,
    There’s one big difference where the “Shed Build” seems to score over the IM Business,
    you’d find it difficult to overlook the materials bought for the Shed Build, they’ll make a big pile even if stored “round the back” !
    Woe is me, I love the smell of wood – but I haven’t even got room for a shed here………… however, there’s lots of room for an IM business, only my hard drives are full of “Build Materials” that I’ve forgotten I bought.
    Thanks for this post – I’m starting a list to put on my wall with a nice pic of your shed at the top and below it all the wonderful unused material and tools etc that I have with which I CAN build my IM Business – the analogy sits well with me, and that imagined wood-smell gives me encouragement.
    Cheers
    John

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