How good a fit are you for an IF Community?

You’ve been a business owner for a while, and you have built something that looks like it has legs. Figuring out whether the IF experience is for you is a very important step; something you shouldn’t step into lightly. It’s not for everyone. And the process starts with assessing what you can (and want to) do with your IF.

1. How often is the best idea you have not your own?

Some of the best advances come from what we call “thinking together”. Not really brainstorming or collaborating, more the spark of the moment when people focus and their insights and understanding bring light.

In the IF community, this may happen a lot. You will have to be okay with making room for others to play in your mental sandbox.

2. How often do you wish you were actually working on plans for your business?

One of the crosses you may bear is always being too busy. It’s almost as burdensome as the knowing-doing gap. You know you should get to it, but there is always a reason to look to tomorrow.

As a part of the IF community, you will have to actually want to make plans and do more than talk about them.

3. How often do you think about the amount of fun you’re having?

Busy pays the bills. We get that. Laughter, though, pays the tolls. We are not interested in meeting your inner child… we just want to have some good times.

If you are not having fun, we can’t manufacture it. We can only let fun happen.

4. How often do you find yourself reacting to what is happening and not making things happen yourself?

Some things are beyond your control and have to be handled. You do, however, have influence on many other things. You need to be able to recognize the difference and change what needs to be changed.

Shifting to a place where we can be proactive, generate new ideas and effect change is a must for all of us in our IF community. You really have to want to do this. Really. We can’t stress this enough.

5. How often do you find yourself thinking repeatedly about the same problems in your business?

They are like your shadow… they never leave. You get accustomed to seeing them and you think briefly about putting together a different fix. Yet, you live with them a while longer. Trouble is, unlike your shadow they are starting to get in your way.

In the IF community, you will be encouraged to actively work to change this habit.

6. How often do you wish you could bounce ideas off other people who get what you are trying to do?

This give-and-take is what the IF community is building. Being an entrepreneur is great, except for the island you sometimes find yourself stranded upon. Your path brings you together with a group of people who will support you, share with you and challenge you.

To really be a part of the IF community, you will have to be one of these people, too.

7. How often do you feel you are learning something that will be helpful?

You learn things all the time. Most of the time, it’s stuff that interests you. Sometimes, this stuff is even useful. And that’s the funny thing about learning. It’s the most important element of our success, yet many times we don’t do much with it.

In the IF community, this is going to change. You will feel an expectation to do something with what you learn.

8. How often do you tell other people about your IF?

Your IF is yours alone to shape. If you’re like us, your IF could be standing out of the light and just beyond reach. We look to see it more clearly and don’t talk about it often enough with others. When we do, our words are always trying to fill in the gaps. This makes getting to that IF all the harder.

In the IF community, you will definitely need to work on bringing your IF to life. You will need to tell your IF story easily and often. You will have to actually finish the story.

Bonus Question: How badly do you want your IF?

The only good answer is pretty badly.