- If you look at this whole generation,
I think we have a lot of wannabe entrepreneurs,
not true entrepreneurs.
Oh, they think just this is what it takes,
that this is what they're doing,
they think this is what it takes.
But it turns out actually it takes this.
- What was the piece of advice
that you've been given in life,
that you didn't want to hear
at the time it was given to you,
but it proved to be true over time?
- Oh, there's one piece,
immediately it comes to mind.
My second mentor, Dan Peña,
he asked me the question,
"you know Dan, what do you think is the number one quality
"of a successful entrepreneur?"
And I said, "Well,
talent,
capital,
"great idea."
Like I gave him a bunch of stuff.
But he said, "No"
oh you need a team.
He said, "No".
You need to be, you know
you need to be smart, you know.
No.
You need to have a, you know
fulfill a need in the marketplace.
No.
Those are all important qualities
but that's not the number one quality.
So what's the money quality.
He said the number one quality of a successful entrepreneur
that's the advice that I didn't wanna hear
but it's very, very true.
Is the ability to endure pain for long period of time.
Meaning having a high tolerance of pain.
I was like what?
I didn't get it back then.
I was like, I don't understand.
Now I'm like, yes.
- I hear that.
Wow, that's great.
- Its so true.
Not talent, none of that.
It's can you endure pain for long period?
And I don't mean physical pain.
I mean, emotional pain, meaning that
would you push forward when the world is against you?
When your family don't even support you?
- When I get you down you know what you gotta go?
- I don't know what am gotta do.
- Just keep swimming, just keep swimming
just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.
- When your friends don't understand you.
When no one backs you up.
when no one understands why you're doing
what you're doing, right.
When you have those sleepless nights, right.
When you couldn't sleep.
When you couldn't meet payroll.
When you have, you know bet everything on the line,
everything you've got, right?
Not knowing what's going to work or not
That's all just endurance like this high tolerance of pain.
I think that's the, that's why it's so difficult.
- Yeah, no, I mean, that's spot on.
And those are the realities of entrepreneurship
that aren't always talked about.
So you sharing that is really meaningful because you know
people that are tuned in, you know,
they need to continuously hear things of that nature to
understand what entrepreneurs endure.
You know, we, we see the glories of it yet
the realities are so hidden.
So that's spot on.
- You know what here's what worries me the most.
You see nowadays, you think about anyone.
Everyone is an entrepreneur.
- Everyone.
- Everyone's an entrepreneur.
Everyone's is a CEO.
Everyone is, it's an entrepreneur.
Like the Instagram I'm a founder,
I'm an entrepreneur, right?
Everybody's like that.
And the problem is because of social media
good and bad that people see, Oh yeah, entrepreneur.
I could do.
They think, they have a certain image
of what it is right.
- Is the future of their lives, get in now.
- My name is Nicky Koskoff.
- Chester Ming, and I'm a senior vice president
- That it's in the lifestyle.
It's in this, it's the hustle.
Is it whatever it is, right?
But this is, this is this something I'd never talk about
on any show I'm going to talk about right now.
You think we have more entrepreneurs than ever, right?
But, I take it.
We actually, as a society
we're less entrepreneurial than ever.
Why is that?
Because entrepreneur, by definition
it's you trying to find your own path.
You defy conventional wisdom
you solve problems for people, right?
Endure long pain for long period of time.
You look at this whole generation.
I think we have a lot of want, want to be entrepreneurs
not true entrepreneurs, because we can see
just the way they approach entrepreneurship.
You ask, even most young people, unfortunately.
Right? Oh man, I want to be an influencer.
I want to travel.
I want to do this shit, I wanna do
like all this stuff.
Yeah. You don't hear
you don't hear like, what's the plan, right?
What was the, what's the strategy here?
Right? You don't, you only hear any of that
and they just want, I wanna, I want wanna
I'm going to build a personal brand for what?
- Yeah
- For what?
Right. So your model, what's the business model.
What problems, what's the product.
I don't know.
I'm going to, I'm going to do this thing.
And then, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm going to do this.
And in six months I'm going to be retired.
I'm going to do, I'm going to be a millionaire in two years.
And, and all this stuff
you have that mentality, chance of you getting this
is like slim to none.
- Yeah.
- So that's the problem.
And they see this and it becomes this whole,
you know,
they, retweet this person stuff.
They watch this person stuff.
They watch that person stuff.
And I get, sometimes those messages too.
Hey Dan, I want to be like you,
when I grow, I want to be like you.
And I said, do you really want to be like me?
Let me show you what it takes to be like me.
- Yeah
- And they're like,
Oh then maybe I don't want to be like you.
- We're not like,
when I show people like, even high level entrepreneurs
because I consult with some of them, I show them what I do.
They're like,
right.
- Back away
- Like, like, shit man.
Like, no wonder you're who you are.
Right. Look at, look at what you do.
- Yeah.
- I haven't had that many.
I actually, I haven't had one.
Actually I have never had one.
I show them what I do, like what it takes.
And they say, Oh yeah, I could do that.
No, everyone is like, Oh,
even like huge companies, you have big companies like,
I can't do that.
Right.
- So, it's different
if you wouldn't actually know what it takes
people, this the thing, no one would say, Oh
I want to be Tiger Woods.
I want to be Michael Jordan,
because most people are smart enough to know
that they don't have what it takes to be that.
Right.
But entrepreneurship on the other hand
somehow they have this unrealistic fantasy.
I don't know where they came from.
Oh yeah, I could do that.
Could you,
would you,
Oh yeah, it's this.
I don't know where this overconfidence comes from.
So I think that's a problem.
- I agree.
- It's a big problem.
- I agree with you.
- What Damon does,
what took him to build his company?
What, what took him to build his brand?
I'm laying like, there's no, listen, I don't
I don't know Damon personally, but there's no way.
There's no way.
No hesitation.
There's no doubt in my mind
he worked his ass off.
- Oh, for sure.
For sure.
Endless nights, endless, endless nights.
- And he's already successful.
- Yeah.
- Right.
And people say, Oh, I want to be like that.
I don't know.
- They don't see
- Like, I don't know.
I don't know if they know, they know what it actually takes.
- Yeah.
- They think they do, but like,
Oh, they think just this is what it takes,
that this is what they're doing,
they think this is what it takes
but it turns out it actually takes this.
- Yup.
- Right.
But then when they find out they already quit.