Getting Off the Hamster Wheel. Is Moving To Planet Brillonia In Order?

Getting Off the Hamster Wheel. Is Moving To Planet Brillonia In Order?

Getting off the hamster wheel is not easy. Being in business is not for the faint of heart. It may seem like a great idea to open a business and escape working for someone else. “I’m done with that,” often is the thought. I can relate! Been there, done that – and still doing it! And I’m loving it. It is not always easy. There are two nagging questions:

  1. How can you gain the leverage you seek?
  2. How can you avoid burning out, yet, ensure that what you have learned and built continues beyond your own involvement?

A Story

Here’s a story from Planet Brillonia that sheds light on these two questions. (To remind you, Brillonia‘s civilization has systems in place to leverage and protect the expertise and wisdom (aka brilliance) of its citizens.)

Paul was a cosmetic surgeon. Before coming to Brillonia, he worked in someone else’s practice on Earth for a few years. Then, still on Earth, he decided to open his own medical practice. He was exceptional at performing a particular procedure. He gained quite a reputation for his expertise. He also cracked the code on how to grow his practice into a lucrative, single-surgeon business. He kept his overhead low and knew how to sell what he was offering.

Wow! That was a huge accomplishment!

It’s All On Me

There were employees to manage and bills to pay. There was an expensive inventory of supplies to control. Some of them were perishable. Getting a bigger space, bringing more practitioners on board, and adding costly specialty surgery equipment, seemed to be the logical next move to bring his business to the next level.

However, this decision massively increased his overhead costs. The other practitioners provided additional services to the patients. They did not contribute to the marketing efforts or running of the business.

After a few years, it hit him: 

My practice utterly depends on me. I’m wearing almost all the hats. The CEO hat. The famous surgeon hat. The hat of the person who runs our practice’s operations. The finance person’s hat. How could I ever get off the ‘hamster wheel’?”

Of course, he had employees working with him but ultimately, it was still his business and his responsibility to direct it all.

He decided to hire a Director of Operations to oversee all the operations, all the nuts and bolts. There was a lack of systems and oversight. And it might not have been the right hire to start with. Either way, it didn’t go well.

Paul had so much brilliance to share. Yet, he was getting tired of wearing so many hats. He was exhausted from the business being so dependent on him. How could he make money from his expertise without having to be the surgeon and having to manage his practice every day?

Paul’s Plan: Train Others and Get Paid for It

Paul came up with a plan. Other cosmetic surgeons wanted to learn from him. They were willing to pay him good money for it. That was great news!

  1. Paul began to travel to other cosmetic surgeons’ offices and show them the ins and outs of the procedure for which he had become so well-known.
  2. He built a PowerPoint deck that became part of his training.
  3. He also recorded all of his trainings. During these training, he shared many insights that were not part of his PowerPoint.
  4. He also wrote some Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)s.

Even though the idea to train others and get paid for it was great, it continued to burn him out. He still had to hold down the fort at this home practice. The practice had too much debt to sell at this time. Paul grew concerned. How could he ever get “free”?

An Amazing Opportunity: Looking for Experts Who Want Leverage!

One day, Paul read an article about Planet Brillonia. The article said the planet was far away but they had advanced spaceships to go there faster than had ever been possible. Life on Brillonia was described as earthlike but with many additional perks.

The article said they were looking for experts who wanted to leverage their expertise in an extraordinary manner.

  • The experts had to be willing to participate in a Brilliance Mining program.
  • The result would be to have their expertise captured in a system that makes the business far less dependent on the expert.
  • It would be much easier to train others with this system.
  • The leverage and resulting ROI would be amazing!

Paul couldn’t believe it. This was exactly what he had been looking for. He immediately applied.

The Interview

Shortly, after turning in his application to be considered as an expert resident on Planet Brillonia, he was invited for an interview. It went well. This was the first time he met “Doc” who was Planet Brillonia’s expert “Brilliance Extractor”. At first, Paul had no idea what that meant. He was about to find out.

During the interview, Doc realized that Paul was sitting on a goldmine. All those training videos Paul had recorded were filled with his unique expertise. The SOPs were not complete, and some were outdated – yet, they were a great starting point. Paul had already accomplished so much of what Doc does with her Brilliance Extraction system.

That said, the job was not done. The videos and SOPs were powerful ingredients for a highly effective training system. Paul and Doc hedged a plan:

  • The brilliance caputured in the videos had to extracted and organized. That meant
    • Transcribe those videos.
    • Pull out the main points of each video.
    • Make it into step-by-step lessons that other cosmetic surgeons could digest one bite at a time.
  • It was about chunking down the content and making it digestible – without Paul having to be there to answer questions. The content had to stand on its own.

Paul wanted to start his training company as soon as possible. Yet, he had many questions:

  • What would it cost?
  • How long would it take?
  • What would it look like?
  • What would be the payoff?
  • When would he move to Planet Brillonia?

Doc recommended to Paul to participate in her 3-month discovery project. It involved Doc’s online course about the Brilliance Mining system. The course was also facilitated. Paul was fortunate to work with Doc herself as a facilitator and advising strategist. The outcome would be the start of this training system, Doc told him.

The Result of The Discovery Program

With Doc’s guidance, Paul outlined his training program. Doc calls this outline a “chest of drawers.” There was a drawer labeled “introduction.” Others were labeled “Patient pre-surgery education”, “Surgery prep”, “Surgery”, “What to do when the unexpected happens”, “Post-surgery care” and so on.

During the discovery period, Paul became clear on his ROI opportunity. He could sell his expertise as a series of courses delivered via his own academy. Clients could buy individual courses. Or they could opt to buy a more comprehensive membership giving them access to all the courses. They could also buy Paul’s time (as long as he chose to offer that option).

Paul’s Decision: I’m Going For It!

It became clear: Indeed this is a goldmine. It is the way for Paul to wear his favorite hat. A sharer of his brilliance. A teacher, trainer, coach. A speaker. Perhaps an author as well. He will leverage his material, make money, have fun and make it immortal as well.

Paul said, “Once I saw that vision, my decision was easy. I’m going for it!” He packed his bags, boarded one of Brillonia’s spaceships, and flew to Planet Brillonia. There he has happily executed his vision, and he’s lived happily ever after.

Stephie Althouse

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