Rory Vaden Does Things the Hard Way

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

Rory Vaden, co-founder of Southwestern Consulting, self-discipline strategist and New York Times Bestselling Author of Take the Stairs, doesn’t have a dramatic back story to sell his books and methods. His “Take the Stairs” message sells itself to companies such as those of Dave Ramsey and Zig Ziglar.

According to Rory Vaden, co-founder of Southwestern Consulting, self-discipline strategist and New York Times Bestselling Author of Take the Stairs, “Success is only rented, and the rent is due every day.”

Vaden is also an accomplished motivational speaker, having been a two-time world champion finalist for Toastmasters International. Home Business Magazine recently spoke with him.

Home Business Magazine (HBM): How does procrastination affect the home business entrepreneur?

Rory Vaden (RV): Creative avoidance is the type of procrastination that affects home business entrepreneurs the most. It is unconsciously filling our day with trivial, unimportant work. We’re busy being busy. Distraction is a dangerously deceptive saboteur of our goals, because we are not present to how much time we lose. We’re distracted by things like being in meetings or on conference calls, or we get on Facebook related to business and the updates of friends captivate our attention and an hour goes by before we wake up. There is always an incredible amount of things vying for our attention at home. I’m not saying you should never do the laundry, or pay attention to the kids, but for most of us, we’re not present to how much time we spend on those. Anything that wastes your time is a waste of money.

HBM: Why do home business entrepreneurs procrastinate?

RV: Fear is a big reason. Ultra achievers don’t have an attitude for overcoming fear. They just do it anyway, because they’re okay with being afraid. Instead of putting energy into reducing fear, they confront it with action.

Another reason is because of entitlement, this disgusting disease that destroys our ability to reach our dreams. The reason we don’t get what we want isn’t because we don’t have the ability or time. We aren’t willing to do the things we need to do when we don’t feel like doing them. There’s an impact of that entitlement on their business. The attitude is you learn to fall in love with the daily grind.

The third reason and biggest reason is self-criticism or perfectionism — waiting for the perfect time, the perfect amount of money, and perfect resources because they care so much about not failing and letting others down. But with each moment that passes and we don’t take action, the chance that we never will decreases exponentially.

HBM: What can home business entrepreneurs do to get better motivated?

RV: The most self-disciplined people in the world aren’t born with it, but at one point they start to think differently about self discipline. Easy, short-term choices lead to different long-term consequences. Difficult short-term choices lead to easy long-term consequences. What we thought was the easy way led to a much more difficult life. I think that motivation is sort of like a unicorn that people chance like a magic pill that will make them suddenly want to work hard. It’s not out there.

The amount of our endurance is directly proportionate to the clarity of our vision, so the practical application is we need to spend time to develop clarity of vision. What do you want your life to look like five, ten or fifteen years from now? Oftentimes, it’s not so much a lack of discipline but a lack of vision.

HBM: Would buying a franchise business help an entrepreneur stay motivated since there’s usually some coaching involved?

RV: The franchise model is great, because most people who are entrepreneurial want flexibility and time to do what they love. A lot home business entrepreneurs struggle because they have to do everything.

HBM: Once a home business owner has achieved a measure of success with a franchise, how can he build on— instead of rest on — that success?

RV: One of the most popular concepts in Take the Stairs is the Rent Axiom: Success is never owned. Success is only rented, and the rent is due every day. It gives the long-term perspective to make good business decisions. Do things you don’t want to do because it is the shortest, most guaranteed path to success: what you want in your life. It’s not about getting a certain amount of money or a certain type of house, but what you want your life to look like. A lot of “successful” people are tragedies, because what they’ve accomplished aren’t the things they wanted. Intentionally create the question “how” instead of accidentally relenting to the question of “should.” If I’m not intentionally choosing a good attitude, I’m almost always unintentionally choosing a negative one. HBM

Vaden and his wife, AJ, live in Nashville, Tenn.

Deborah Jeanne Sergeant writes from her home in Clyde, N.Y. for a variety of trade and consumer publications. She also writes web copy and marketing materials. Visit her online at www.skilledquill.net.  V19-3 Add: 7/12 HP: