Month: February 2019

It always amazes me, looking back on my career as an entrepreneur, that I did my worst work when I was at the top of my game. That’s right; I also preformed my best when I was at my lowest. I used to think that I was just lazy when I was comfortable and my needs were being met, but the day came that I realized that this was the source of power and success.

If business was booming and resources were in abundance, I lost all desire to achieve. For the longest time I thought that only under desperation could I find creativity and motivation. If you took away all my money and locked me inside of a cockroach-infested, apartment, with nothing more than a cell phone, computer, Internet access, and 27 cans of beef stew without a can opener, you would be absolutely amazed at what I can get done. I would figure out how to open the cans of food with my cell phone, and within 8 days, deposits would start appearing in my PayPal account. I always figured this was simply my survival mechanism kicking in. As it turned out, I was neither lazy nor motivated by primitive survival instincts. It is actually a personality trait that few have and even fewer understand… including most of the people who have it.

This isn’t about being able to get stuff done when times are tough. I will spare you that speech, because lots of people have written about that one already. What I am talking about is where a person gets their motivation from. Is it generated from internally or externally? That is the million dollar question. A true entrepreneur is motivated from internal validation.

A normal person is motivated by externally. Most people without resources have nothing to draw validation from and they cannot get excited enough to accomplish starting a business. They cannot find the motivation to figure out how to build something out of nothing. Give that person a large office, nice business cards, and an important title and they tend to get to work and behave in a way that matches all that external validation. The biggest problem occurs when that external validation is given to them, rather than earned by them. They then boss people around without actually knowing what they are talking about. Under that poor guidance, the business will fall apart. This is why an average person fails at starting a business. They either can’t find the motivation to start from scratch or, if they get lucky and have some resources fall into their lap, they never learn how to build resources, which is what entrepreneurship is all about. The most common thing I see when non-entrepreneurs try to start companies is that money gets squandered to buy stuff that gives them external validation. These are the people who go bankrupt paying for huge office space that they do not need. The only thing they succeed at is building nothing out of something as they exhaust their resources without building mechanisms for profit. The funniest thing to me is that as the business fails, all of their external validation starts to disappear and with it their power at the very time they need it most. Their need for external validation guarantees their failure.

Then there exists a rare breed, the entrepreneur. This is the kind of person who truly can build something out of nothing. The entrepreneur gets his motivation from internal validation. It makes no difference to his self value if he is running things from a one-room apartment or the top floor of a skyscraper. He will be called arrogant and egotistical because he sees his value only inside of himself; he considers his circumstances and assets irrelevant. He believes that he has the power to create money out of nothing and his motivation for success is showing that belief to be true. For him, it’s not what he has; it is what he can do, and once that is done, he can have anything.

Now that you understand that how a true entrepreneur is motivated, I will explain what people see as laziness, loss of interest, and lack of motivation once their businesses get going. The entrepreneur gets excited about being able to do what more than 99% of the people on this planet cannot do, create something out of nothing. True entrepreneurs lose interest when the process turns into building something out of something because they see that as a goal anyone could accomplish, so it doesn’t feed their ego in the same way. They are excited by being able to do what others cannot. The true entrepreneur is a fire starter. After things get going, they pass operations off to the management they put in place and leave to start yet another business. And the best part is that they start that new business with nothing. They understand the power in doing this and know that the man who needs “no thing” has “no thing” holding him back. He gets his validation internally. That internal validation gets satisfaction from being able to create things out of “no thing” – that is the magic! That is the real entrepreneur at work.

Consider for a moment that the game of life is won not by getting more, but by being more. Focus on being more and you will see that making silly amounts of money and dating ridiculously attractive women comes easy. Click on the web link below for my free eBook Domination Basics and start learning how right now.

Like all things in life, there are tested concepts and those that, well, may be a bit misunderstood.

We start learning this from childhood where we very quickly are taught that what Mom and Dad say is usually something you can count on but what you’re told by friends, is not always something you can take to the bank.

The same goes for cliches. Everyday we face tons of cliches covering a wide range of topics. Cliches by their very nature usually have some degree of truth contained within their day to day usage. However, cliches can kill you when you are starting a new business or trying to take your existing business to the next level. Let me explain:

Cliche #1: Success Is Just Around the Corner – Now on face value that is most likely true. The problem when starting a new business is that most people just never turn the corner. They stop just short and never see the value on the other side. This is typically due to the fact that the cliche doesn’t really tell you how many corners you need to turn before you find the all evasive “success”. I can tell you from experience that it is rarely just one corner…if that was true everyone would be a millionaire or better. The old story about Edison tried thousands of times before he finally got the light bulb correct. If he stopped short on the 999th corner, well we would all be in the dark.

Cliche #2: Overnight Success – We all know someone who was an ‘overnight success’. All of a sudden they’re flowing in dough. Well, there is no such thing as an overnight success unless maybe you just won the lottery and even there, typically it’s never on the first ticket. If you relax and just ponder what is going on, wondering how others became overnight successes, it is certain you will never have the opportunity to be one. The only answer to overnight success is hard work and long ‘overnights’.

Cliche #3: Once in a Lifetime Opportunity – In each of our lives there are many ‘once in a lifetime opportunities’. The only problem is that we never see them. We’re so busy with day to day activity that we let these opportunities pass by constantly. How often have you said to yourself, “If I’d only done…..”. Well, now is the time to do it!

Cliche #4: Look Before You Leap – Now this is a real killer. One of the differences between the truly successful and the not so successful is that the truly successful look a lot less often and for much less time. They review quickly, make decisions and take action. Failure is taken as only a form of education and not personally. If they fail, they just move on to the next event.

Cliche #5: Time Waits for No Man – Well, this is really true but, unfortunately, all too often is overlooked. We tend not to realize that time is finite. There is just so much of it. Sitting back and waiting for success to come to you is as foolish as spending a week in Vegas counting on going home with more in your pocket than you came with.

Cliche #6 – Success is a Journey and not a Destination – Well, this can truly be a killer. One of the most important things any new business owner can do is set goals. Now,each time you reach your goal, you have been successful. Not admitting that and giving yourself a ‘high five’ can be a real downer. You need to cherish success at all times. Kids do it in school, we do it as parents but we don’t allow ourselves to do that as business men and women. Now, once that goal is achieved, set a new one!

Cliche #7: Money Can’t Buy You Happiness – But it sure can make the sadness a lot more tolerable! Of course, money is not everything but one of our goals as business people is to cash in. One of the parameters we go by is financial. To deny that is not very realistic. When evaluating a new business, we need to be sure that there is a strong possibility of success.

Cliche #8: Opportunity is Knocking – Well, this one is great if you’re listening but how often do we turn a ‘deaf ear’ to opportunity. We use just about every excuse possible to avoid a challenge, to stop taking action for fear of failure etc. Opportunity knocks, but unfortunately for some, not loudly enough.

Now I could go on and list several others but the truth of the matter is you’ve got to ‘take the bull by the horns’, ‘grab the golden ring’ and most, importantly, in doing so take action. Nothing can possibly happen without action. If you’re sitting on the fence waiting for success to come to you, you’ll get nothing but splinters!