This past year, I’ve done nothing but help other people get their companies started.

This year alone I’ve worked with:

• A fraud detection company
• A company that’s making HTML 5 performant
• A solar company
• A stealth startup that’s got an app that my wife will NOT stop using
• A duo that provides orchestral accompaniment for bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Third Eye Blind
• And a bunch more.

Now though, it’s time to get my own company off the ground.

I recently incorporated a new company that will soon be my full-time and exclusive gig.

(If you’re on my email list you’ll hear more details about this new venture soon. If you are not on my email list, get on it here.)

Here’s the funny thing:

When it’s someone else’s company, it feels easy and natural to spring into action. But now that it’s my company, I start to think, “Where the heck do I start?”.

Can you relate?

When you’re in the role of advisor or consultant, everything is so clear. But when it’s your life and your business, things get confusing. – Click to Tweet

Fortunately for me, I’ve partnered up with a cofounder who is great at pulling us both into the next (and most important) action.

Fortunately for you, my cofounder and I have worked through a framework that can be applied by anyone at the very beginning stages of starting a business (or any major project).

One of my proudest moments in business was selling a company to Zynga.

Not because of the money or because it sounds cool.

It’s one of my proudest moments because it was a time when I was relentless about finishing a project of supreme importance to me and my company.

The truth is the whole process was NOT glamorous at all.

I was the COO of the company and so my job was to juggle interactions with Zynga’s corporate development team, the 30+ employees in my company, our board, and our legal team.

I had to make sure that meetings were scheduled, files were exchanged, people were interviewed, lawyers were briefed, and (for the most part) everyone remained happy.

Not that sexy. But if you want to get a deal done, it’s got to happen.

The process was draining to say the least.

The deal dragged on about three times longer than we had anticipated.

On the day the deal was scheduled to finally close, a snowstorm hit the east coast.

We got word that the the State House in Delaware (which had to approve the merger) was planning on closing early due to “inclement weather”.

Hell no. Not on my watch.

Ever wonder why we face adversity?

Life seems to be going along just fine, and then out of the blue something happens to knock the wind out of you. You’re left feeling like you’ve been punched in the gut.

• You’re sure you’re going to get that promotion, but then you get looked over.

• You’re sure that you’re just about to get your business off the ground, and then an unexpected expense sets you back.

• You’re flying high after a recent achievement and then out of nowhere a jerk decides to make an offhanded criticism or puts you down in front of others.

I often wonder why this happens. And truth be told, I haven’t completely sorted out why.

I have observed a few things about adversity though, that give it redeeming value in my eyes:

Sometimes, I think I mistakenly got the “mom gene”.

Left to my own devices, I tend to worry, worry, and then worry some more.

I worry about myself, my life, my friends, my family and that’s just the beginning.

For a mother of a family, I get how worry is a useful (even necessary) instinct. But I am a 30-Something dude with no kids, who spends most of his time in the business world!

I am supposed to be out on the prowl, not in the den worrying.

There are indeed some unexpected upsides to a “motherly nature” that one can use in the workplace, but excessive worry is NOT one of them.

Here’s why…

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So you want to change an area of your life but don’t know where to start. Your pattern looks like this:

• Come up with a lofty goal.
• Try like hell to acheive that goal – for a few weeks.
• Burn out and give up before you see results. Here’s an idea:

Before making another resolution to yourself, resolve to first develop a system that works. – Click to Tweet

Read on to learn a system that works, and to get a free download that you can use to make the system work for you.

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