The tag line of this podcast is making responsible and successful businesses in the reptile community. Today I wanted to talk about what success means. The most common definition is financial, but it is much more than that. Welcome to an informal Thursday meditation episode. That means we do more shooting the breezing and talking concepts and ideas. And today I felt like I wanted to talk about the word success. I suppose if it is sitting in the tag line we ought to talk about what we mean by it!

Usually when we think of an entrepreneurial venture we think of something that makes money. The definition of success that is most common is a business that produces enough profit to pay the bills and a couple of beach house investment properties. And, if money was your focus, that would definitely be a good candidate for success. But there are other measures of success of which some I have planned for and some I have achieved against my will. I am sure I could stoke up a fire, hand out some beers and white claws, and we could come up with a long list of ways to measure success. For today I think I will settle on talking about Financial success, Personal growth, and personal mission.

The first one we will talk about here is the financial success. Although I do not consider financial success the only valid form of success for an entrepreneurial venture, it is the one we will talk about the most on this podcast. Mainly because it is the most difficult and it is what keeps experienced people deeply invested in the healthy growth of the community.

The community has a bit of an unhealthy view of money. “They are doing it just for the money” is meant as a slur against someone that has, in someway, offended someone else. This probably should be reserved only for people that treat reptiles as commodities and do not provide for their proper husbandry. By definition, a business must make money. And it must make enough to cover all business expenses and, at least, some of the personal expenses of the owner. That is the bare minimum to be considered a side business. Otherwise, it is a hobby that happens to bring in some money to offset its losses. So we need to embrace that profit is the life blood of a business. It is not greedy to exchange your services and expertise for money. Every major people center has a currency by which the mortgage is paid. Everyone needs to make money to pay for their lives. You must spend whatever time you need on the activity that will earn money to pay for the house you live in and the food you eat. And if you have a valuable skill or create a valuable product for the reptile industry then it needs to be sold at a fair price. And I mean a fair price to you. So many people calculate product sales cost by the materials used and totally short change themselves on time invested. Or utilities. Or insurance costs.  Etc..

Especially in the reptile industry there is this undercurrent feeling that we should all be doing this because we love it. This is perpetuated mostly by people who don’t want to pay that fair price. But until you can pay your mortgage off in good will points, money it must be. If this venture is going to need to breakeven to survive then charge what it costs to manufacture the product and maintain the business shell which collects the money, ships the product, and provides customer service. And make sure profit is in there as well. Otherwise, you will not be around long enough to be useful to the community.

Since making profit is the challenge point, we will usually focus on that here.

But, there are other forms of success and if these are your goals then they are just as worthy as profit. Here are some examples

Personal growth – We humans have this drive to learn and get better at what we love. Some people will create content streams which may or may not have a financial component to them. A blog, website, YouTube channel, or podcast are contemporary forms of personal growth. The more you teach the better you get at your chosen art. The Chameleon Academy Podcast has been a passion project of mine for about six years now. Through that podcast I have been able to talk to keepers, breeders, scientists, and veterinarians around the world and have honed my chameleon husbandry art to the cutting edge. I continue to explore and push chameleon husbandry closer to the naturalistic state. And there is almost no financial component to it. I do sell T-Shirts and my caging company benefits from my visibility, but the podcast is almost totally a financial loss. But would I consider it a failure? Absolutely not. It is one of my greatest successes. I have been involved with chameleons for forty years now and the last six have been the greatest as far as personal and community growth. I have pushed my understanding of the most complicated subjects to the point where I can now teach them.

And this is the benefit of a content stream. You constantly have to push yourself and produce. You have to be in tune with the community you serve. It is a huge conduit for personal growth – even if your audience is small. As long as you keep going and using it as a vehicle to push yourself it is amazing what you can do.

That said, it doesn’t hurt to monetize your content stream to help pay the hosting fees and equipment costs, and all the other things that it takes to keep it running. In the podcasting world we have a term called podfade. That is where podcasts start strong, then run out of steam, and then just disappear. This can happen after a couple of months or a couple of years. It all depends on the personal life. In my podcasting career, I can tell you that some seasons have more than 52 episodes and some have half that. What is going on? Well, it depends on what is going on with the part of my life that is making the money that puts a roof over my head. So, even though my primary goal with the podcast is personal growth, monetizing it through sponsorships, or selling T-Shirts, would put it as a financial priority and financial priorities are further down on the cutting block when figuring what can fit in a days’ 24 hours. So, although my measure of success for the Chameleon Academy Podcast is not financial, I am aware of reality and, yes, you can now go to the website and purchase T-Shirts. Believe me, when we are going over finances and I have a line item as to how the podcast contributes to the household, the way we view the time I spend with the podcast changes. Just something to think about. And, yes, I will be discussing monetization for content streams. I have a special place in my heart for podcasters, YouTubers, and bloggers. And I would consider part of my success with this podcast I am doing right now, is to help you monetize your content stream so it is a financial line item instead of a hobby-that-sucks-up-money line item.

To be fair, let’s take a look at the other side. Adding a financial component to the hobby could easily make it no longer enjoyable. And if your hobby is 100% for relaxation then there is a vaild argument to not even consider adding a financial component. But consider that when push comes to shove and there are more things taking your time than you have time, something has to go. If your reptile hobby brings in profit, then it is providing towards that roof over your head and there is a much greater chance that it will survive the cut when you have to reduce what you are doing in your life. And it will be providing value to your bottom line and so you are more likely to keep going even when social media is disgusting you and you wonder if you really need this stress. So, even if the financial component is not your main measure of success, consider whether you should add a financial component to at least help with the expense, but, better yet, pay for itself, or even better, add profit to the household income.

And why do I keep harping on the monetization and not just let it be? Well, one foundation motivation for this podcast is to build a solid foundation to our reptile community. Yes, I do want you to be personally successful not matter what that means, but I also am trying to help with the process so the growth in the reptile community is filled with us from within. So just know that a major motivation is to build the community and I’d rather our dollars go to people within our community. And the more of you that provide what we need the more dollars stay in the community and that is a good thing.

Personal Mission – Another measure of success is Personal Mission. Breeding projects take front and center for this one. Breeding projects are easy to monetize, but difficult to profit from – at least at this point in time. As imports dry up and breeders start charging what it costs to breed reptiles including the time, utilities, and everything else things will get better. But at this point, relatively few people can make breeding reptiles profitable and even fewer do it as a full time job. I’ll definitely regularly cover this topic here, of course. In fact, next Monday I will be interviewing Josh Dovenbarger of Phantom Dragons about how he build a full time business breeding bearded dragons. Breeding reptiles is a tricky business. It is one of those fields where anyone can get into it, but only a few are able to do it full time. Most use breeding reptiles as a side job. It is kind of like acting. But there is a strong sense of mission behind a number of breeding projects. Success is often in the repeated breeding of the animal and keeping it represented in captivity. Goodness knows, with imports drying up, dedicated breeders are needed for species whose street value is nowhere near enough to cover expenses. So, personal mission will remain a strong measure of success in our community.

Life Learning –

Those are my promised three, but I think I need to add a fourth. Which is probably just as, if not more, important than the others. Life Learning.  There can be success in failure. This is hardly the type of success that is in an original goal. But with every failure you come away with experience. Starting a business takes a lot of moving parts to fit in just right. And there are external forces that you may have little control over. But these failures and setbacks teach valuable lessons. When do you cut bait? Meaning how do you judge when it is time to close down the business attempt? And what did you learn about surviving as long as you have – at least what did you learn about avoiding this in the future? Each venture you attempt, whether success or failure, adds to your knowledge and wisdom about how the world works. I have a number of what I would call failed business attempts in my past. Some people see a failure as a sign they should stop. Some people see failure as a sign that you have learned what not to do and will be able to do better next time. I have both people in my life. Unfortunately, there are many more people who will tell you to stop for a wide range of reasons that have nothing to do with what is best for you.

In the entrepreneur space we have something called a pivot where you change course when what you are doing isn’t working. To a non-entrepreneur it appears as if you are quitting or you are distracted and not able to stick with one thing. But, most of the time, the entrepreneur has the entire playing field in their head. And there just isn’t worth it to explain the whole plot, subplots, and world building of this movie to someone who waltzes in 45 minutes into the show and starts saying what they would do. The point is that, regardless of what the voices around you say, if something isn’t working then pivot. Do not stubbornly go down with the ship just to prove something to someone. Accept that what you tried wasn’t giving you the results you wanted and if you have determined that the chances are slim that you will be able to turn it around then change course. Pivot. And this is not failure. This is evolution in real time. This is the dance. Pivoting may be a disappointment  because of what didn’t work. But it also can be exciting for better opportunities to build something. It is normal to be both. And let it be both. That is part of the process we all go through. The bottom line is you don’t even get the opportunity to pivot if you stay safe in the bleachers.

In the end, success is much more a mindset. It is a way of looking at life.

In this podcast, a prime focus will be on monetizing your efforts. I want to expose you to multiple options for you to at least break even. If you are starting a business let’s make it healthy. If you are starting a content stream then you need to build up your brand, but let’s soon find a way that people who benefit can show their support. If you are a breeder we’ll work on streamlining expenses, increasing quality, and promoting exposure. So, is it all about money? Goodness no. If it was then the reptile world is probably not the best use of your time. I should go back to developing personal head mounted theaters and you should learn Javascript coding or something. No, we are here because we love reptiles. Making money within the reptile community helps, but we are fully aware that, at least in the beginning, much of our paycheck will be satisfaction, happiness, and other forms of payment that are not accepted as mortgage payments. But it is an investment in your quality of life.

So, let’s acknowledge that money is not everything and that our business in the reptile world has a healthy component of passion involved. But within the walls of this podcast let’s also acknowledge the reality of the world we live in and how it works. A monetized content stream and a profitable business will stick around long term. For us to be strong as a community we need long term businesses and trusted digital mentors that can form the foundation. So, I don’t want to waste more time than necessary explaining why it is okay, and actually good, for you to make money and profit as part of your activities here. Success for me and this podcast is for you all to stick around, continue to grow in your experience, and be there for the next generation.   Money, good or bad, is a necessary part of life and let’s be realistic regarding its importance in what we dedicate our time to.

Now, let’s put this “success” word of ours in context. Everything has a lifecycle. A business bursts onto the scene and is the biggest thing. It has a good run and then for some reason, whether mismanagement, or simply the changing of the times, is no longer a viable business. I had a friend who was part of a cassette replication business. This is where they created copies of cassette tapes. Cassettes used to be the way music was sold. So his business of replicating cassette tapes for the music industry was running 24 hours a day. But when CDs came on the scene things changed. It was a well managed business, but the infrastructure to work with Compat Discs is totally different. It is a total refresh of the business. The company went on for a number of years based on overseas business which took time to switch over, but it was soon time to close the doors. Was it a failure? Of course not. It had its purpose and then it had its time to say goodbye. Every product has a lifecycle. Some longer than others. You can say that it is a success if it returns more money than was invested into it. And that is an entirely valid measuring stick for a business investment.

But money is not always the best measurement of success. Did that product that you never recouped the initial investment give you contacts that lead you to your next job?

All things we create have a lifecycle. All have a flash of excitement and somewhere along the way it is time for the story to come to an end. It is time to dot the last period and move on to the next chapter. Sometimes it seems that it never really got off the ground and it shouldn’t have been started. But trying your idea and finding out it is not the right thing or it is not the right time or you just didn’t have a critical component is a necessary part of the discovery process. With entrepreneurial ventures you are creating something new and, by definition, there is no roadmap that lets you know the way to go. You do not know. You can’t know. It is a continual process of trying and testing. And what ever happens, that is not failure. It is life in motion. So, don’t let the words success or failure loom over your head. Structure your business, venture, project, whatever you want to call it- so it has the best chance of fulfilling the goals you have set out for it. I am not minimizing the consequences of being wrong about it. Heck, I am still paying off the collapse of a business 20 years ago. And if I don’t make enough to pay the bank each month my house is on the line. So, you will not find me handing out daisy tiaras for everyone to wear at the entrepreneur afternoon teatime.

Okay, if you are starting a YouTube channel the consequences of it not taking off are not that high. If you invest in 3000 Iguana mittens to test the market you may have some risk, but maybe not the house. But there comes a point in any of these ventures where a decision point is reached. Your YouTube channel is getting some decent ad money coming in. And you are pretty sure that if you quit your job and dedicated full time to it that it could support you – probably. I mean, most likely. I mean…maybe? And those iguana mittens just flew off the shelf. To supply the demand you may have to either quit your job or bring on an employee. Both are huge moves. And the difference between disaster with you being left with a second mortgage to pay out and unbridled riches with you being used as an example in MBA courses as a genius may come down to dumb luck of current events which you have no control over.

There is no way to know the right answer. The global pandemic boosted businesses that may have been on the verge of closing their doors and they ruined businesses that were trucking along nicely. We are all under dumb luck, good and bad. So, are you going to try it? Only you can decide the right answer. I have nixed more ideas than I have run with.

Let’s not be sanguine about this. If you have the entrepreneurial spirit I want to encourage and facilitate you trying it out and finding success in the way that you define it. But I am careful with encouraging people to be entrepreneurs. There is real world risk involved with real world consequences.  I feel free to speak without asterisks and caveats on this podcast because people who would rather live a risk adverse life probably won’t be listening to me.

Success has many different forms. Be clear with yourself what success means to you. Success can be financial, personal growth, security, satisfaction….what ever it is, this show is dedicated to helping you achieve it.

Through my time in this community I have had financial success, one pretty major financial crash and burn, personal growth, an incredible life save, frustrating disappointment, and a deep satisfaction from accomplishment. It really has been a roller coaster ride. So, am I a success? A failure? I think the only way to think you are a 100% success is to stop at a peak and then spend the rest of your years reminiscing about the glory days. But that doesn’t seem like success to me. I think success is running the race, taking the highs and the lows, and living a life that wouldn’t take much adaptation to make for an interesting hallmark movie. It doesn’t have to be a blockbuster. But I’ll settle for the audience to feel the passion, hide a tear or two, let their heart be warmed a bit, and leave the theater thinking life isn’t so bad. I think that works for me.

So, what is success for you? It doesn’t have to be any one thing and it could be many. And, you know, it can change as time goes by. My one thing to leave you with is don’t let other people tell you what success should be. And don’t define your success by what you think other people might think. Decide for yourself with no obligation to share with anyone else.  Do you own thing, add something new to our community, and clear a trail where there wasn’t one before. Who knows what you’ll find at the end of that trail. If it is a sheer drop cliff, don’t worry. Pivot and we’ll name the cliff after you. I’d call that a win.

Thanks for joining me here today. It is good to parse out how we view things. I’d like to know what you think. Thursday’s are open for conversation. What does this mean for you? Do you have any good pivot stories? And crash and burns stories that you can laugh about now? Let me know. I’ll be sharing mine so you may as well let me know I am not alone! Email me, comment on the website blog, jog over to the Instagram account. Whatever suits you best.

Well, my friends, let’s raise our triple espressos in a toast to the dance. May we pivot, trail blaze, and build what hasn’t yet been built until the music stops.