This guest post by Ben Lumley is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

There are 3 keys to achievement: Common Sense, Hard work and Stick-with-it-ness – Thomas Edision

I wanted to look at something that a lot of the readers of virtualbusinesslifestyle.com will be very familiar with, Chris’s goal of becoming a Virtual CEO by the end of 2010. What I would like to do though, instead of looking at the mechanics of how he is reaching this mother of all goals, is identify 3 keys to Chris’s current and future success.

You see I believe in a simple theory; that success (in anything) is 20% mechanics and 80% psychology.

Chris’s success in becoming a fully fledged Virtual CEO will be down to the way he approaches the challenge as apposed to what he does. Anyone can learn the mechanics of the Virtual Business Lifestyle. You can learn about creating passive income, outsourcing your work and becoming mobile, but in order to truly make it all work for you and create the lifestyle you want, you MUST approach it in a different way.

I could ramble on for ages about all of the keys to achievement that you could incorporate into your life but I won’t. If you’re interested, feel free to drop over to my blog to learn more about them. (Shameless plug over). In all seriousness though, Chris is regularly utilising 3 important keys to achievement that I’d like to share with you today.

1. Common Sense

To make a successful transition between in-office CEO and Virtual CEO, Chris is using common sense. From years in the outsourcing business he understands the process, what works and what doesn’t, and is using that knowledge to help him to make the move as smooth as possible.

Chris is also using his common sense by realising that this whole process of becoming a Virtual CEO will take time and so he isn’t jumping into this in a week.

You have this same ability to use your common sense to live the Virtual Business Lifestyle. All it means is using your head and making sure you think your goal through before you jump in.

2. Hard work

Hard work is crucial to success,  I think we can all agree on that can’t we? But many people thing that hard work equals long hours and that’s not the case (at least for the majority.) So while you might have to pull the occasional all-nighter to finish off that ebook or product for a passive income stream, the kind of hard work I’m talking about is a bit different.

Chris, as our example goes, isn’t just working hard to make sure that he can fully remove himself from the business at the end of year. He’s travelling all over the show, trying to find that all-important operations manager and he’s putting in the effort to complete projects like virtualstafffinder.com and his ebooks.

Chris is also working hard on making the time for his family and his mini-vacations. He’s working hard on disciplining himself to work from home on Fridays. He’s working hard to ensure he has all the systems in place for the big change in 2011.

You can apply the same principle of hard work to your virtual business. You’re completely able to work in this hard work fashion. It’s not about slaving away for 20 hours a day but instead, taking the approach of working hard in productive ways to get your virtual business singing and dancing.

3. Stick-with-it-ness

Finally, the last key that Chris uses to his advantage is what the great Thomas Edison called “Stick-with-it-ness”. It’s a simple concept really when you think about it but the majority of people don’t live by it.

For example, when Chris was looking for his ops manager, he stuck with it even though he was travelling all over the place to make it happen. Even when the search looked in vain, Chris stuck with it and kept going. A year is, for some, a long time to work away on their dream of change but the success in the end comes for this ability to just hang in there long enough.

So if you’re creating your ebook that is going to be your first passive income stream and it’s taking a bit longer than planned, stick in there and see it through. It’s easy to give up and cast it into the “I tried but couldn’t do it” pile but that won’t bring you the virtual lifestyle success. To get that lifestyle you want, you need to “stick-with-it” until the end don’t you? Stick with that blog until you start to see the numbers rise. Stick with the idea of outsourcing even if you’ve been burnt a few times. Stick with creating those passive income streams even if it seems to be taking longer than planned. And stick with your goal of living that virtual business lifestyle – it’s closer than you think.

The 3 keys

So yes, I could go on for ages about all the hundreds of keys to achievement that could help you reach virtual CEO success but I won’t. Because really, using your common sense, working hard and sticking with it is a great place to start and WILL make a massive difference to you living your virtual business lifestyle.

Ben Lumley is a Personal Achievement Coach who works with people who want to be successful create the future they dreams. Got a big goal you’re wanting to achieve? Come and find out how I can help.