Outsourcing and business in general takes focus and drive.  Are you enough of a Tiger to do it?

You have to be focused to build a team of experts doing work functions for you, to direct and drive them to achieve your company vision for you.

What I mean is this…

I was listening to The Eye Of The Tiger (of Rocky III fame, by the band Survivor).  It came on the radio and I instantly had 3 concurrent and completely different trains of thought going through my head…

1. This song is sooo cheesy.  It gets played as a hoo-hah hype-up, build the atmosphere song at events like Internet Marketing seminars and self growth events.  Unfortunately because of this it has become synonymous with over-hype of ‘you can do anything’ B.S. events and training and euphoric spirit-lifting sessions.
2. The lyrics are awesome.  About passion and working damn hard to achieve something great, come what may.
3. We have to play this in our band (The Undecided).  On the cheese-ometer, its passed cheese, passed lame and into just plain awesome.

Because I thought it would be a laugh to play it in the band, I looked up the lyrics and the guitar music for it.  Over a beer, my Bass player and I quickly worked out how to play it.  Simple enough.

But it was the lyrics that hit me.

One line that threw me a bit was this…

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory

My first thought was “what is the problem of swapping passion with glory?”   Then I realized the punctuation could have been clearer…

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your “passion-for-glory”

ie you swap your drive for excellence with something more mediocre, more humdrum and everyday average.

Not good.  It is something that has been speaking to me from numerous different corners and inputs in my personal life and business life this year.  Be personal, be excellent.  Don’t hide.

You see, up until 2012, I’ve made a cracking living and life for myself working from home and from my local office, full time on the internet.  And I was anonymous.  Hidden.  I could take weeks off and it didn’t matter a hoot. The business carried on without me, mostly because I had automated the business and because I built a team of experts around me, my outsource team, that ran the business for me.

Now this is all still in place, and that business continues to make great money and pay my mortgage every month. But what has changed recently is the ‘hidden’ part.  Now, I’m slightly going off on a tangent here about being hidden and anonymous but will all come back to the central point…

You see, the point is, you’ve got to be adding value, adding meaning, fighting for excellence.

What I had set up, in my other business where I was hidden, was a money making machine that had an in-built ceiling on its income.  I deliberately set it up such that it made money with the minimum effort from me.  Not a bad structure in and of itself, but it has a ceiling – not just in its income but in its output, its value-add, its performance.

Now, that particular business has been good to me, so I’m not going to knock it entirely.  I know I did many things right, to get to a recurring income worth quarter of a million a year.  Thank you. Thank you business.  I really appreciate it.

And now things have moved on.  Moved up, hopefully.  Its more personal now.

Here’s the truth…

That company was in the insurance industry.  And I was NOT passionate about it.  I’m still not.  Maybe for some people, they might be able to get fired up and passionate about insurance.  Not me.  It is a risk-spreader, to mitigate the damage, in the event of a bad situation.  Handy to have.  But truthfully?  Not something I leap out of bed in the morning and say

“WOO HOO – lets go do some insurance stuff!”

Not going to happen.

By contrast, I AM crazy-passionate about outsourcing and especially the Philippines (the Philippines is not the the be-all-and-end-all place for outsourcing, but it is certainly the best option).

I love, love, love my Filipino team and how they run my insurance company for me (plus a couple of other sideline businesses we tinkered with, which I am soon to get rid of, for better focus).

I love how Filipino people can focus and have a great work ethic of great service.  I love how they can do repetitive tasks that I don’t personally want to do or have the time to do.  I love that they help me grow my business, and have repeatedly for hundreds of other business owners.

So my ‘passion for glory’ is not going to be anonymous.

And that was my ‘epiphany’ when I read the lyrics of Eye of The Tiger.

Previously, I wasn’t fighting to create something amazing, something bigger than me, a higher purpose.  I did it because it made money.  My insurance company wasn’t bigger than me.  It was and is what Timothy Ferris in “The 4 Hour Work Week” calls a “Muse” – a passionless, effortless means to make functional money (ie enough to pay the bills).

Nothing wrong with the concept – except your not passionate about it.

Now, I’ll fully admit, in this sense, being passionate is a luxury, an extra. If you’ve just got to pay the bills, keep food on the table for the wife and kids etc – you’ll do it any which way you have to.  Being passionate isn’t necessarily part of the requirements.

But to achieve higher, greater things, to build something  bigger than you, and to build something worth a lot of money, beyond just a few grand a month, requires massive focus and dedication and drive.  To do that without being passionate about it is just sadistic.

It is a BOLD decision to decide that you’re not going to accept just putting food on the table. It takes guts to shoot for a higher goal.

You’re working to create something amazing.  Something great.  Something that really adds value to your clients’ and customers’ lives.  Something that really helps them with some aspect of their life.  Something they’d tell their friends or family about.

So are YOU passionate?

HOW passionate?

Lets look at that full Tiger verse…

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

When you started your business, did you have higher dreams?  Or were you just looking to make some extra money?  Either is fine.  Its all relative to where you are.

If you’re honest with yourself, would you say you have lost your grip on your dreams of the past?

The next verse…

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry
They stack the odds
Still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

Personally, for me, I think the hardest part there, that speaks to me, is “stayin hungry”.

Its easy to settle for easy, once you’re making some good money.  Its easy to satisfy yourself that you’re earning enough to get by on, so you ease back a bit.  If I’m honest with my self, in the past, I know I have. Nothing wrong with that – it meant I had time to spend with my 4 kids, being as best a father and husband as I could.

I’m not about to trade that either.

So you’ve got to fight to stay hungry for greatness.

And build the best life for yourself as you choose.

Now I’m going off on one a bit here, so I’m going to end this just to say…

Yes, its a cheesy song.  Yes, its a great song. Yes, I’m going to make sure we play this in our band – the crowds are going to love the ‘woo-hoo’ factor.

And Yes, the lyrics are awesome. Let them sink into you.  Here they are in full…

Risin’ up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance
Now I’m back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

[Chorus]
It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Risin’ up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the
Eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry
They stack the odds
Still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

[Chorus]

Risin’ up straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance
Now I’m not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

[Chorus]

The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger

So there you have it.  Are YOU a Tiger?  Don’t trade your drive to succeed. Keep hungry for greatness.  I wish you the very best success.

Let me know your thoughts and views.  And feel free to share.

What do YOU think of this? Comment now below…