- Dan, sometimes I lose motivation
in my business, is it just me?
- No, it doesn't just happen to you.
It happens to a lot of us.
In fact, a lot of people had it worse, including myself.
In the first three years, if it is smooth sailing for you,
it is okay, it's good, congratulations.
However, good times make bad entrepreneurs.
- Prestige. Worldwide, wide, wide, wide...
- These uncertain times, it shapes us who we are.
It makes us better.
It forces us to be better.
When everything is going smoothly,
you're kind of just coasting.
You're not thinking about innovation.
You're not thinking about bettering yourself.
You're not thinking about reinventing your business model
and when bad things happen in your business, competition,
or you lose one of your key clients,
it's trying to give you a gift.
And I know it doesn't look like a gift.
It just looks like a big fucking problem when this happens.
But it's not.
So a very good question to ask yourself is this,
what is this trying to teach me?
Instead of asking yourself, playing victim,
why does this happen to me?
Why is this happening?
- They ask you how you are and you just have to say
that you're fine when you're not really fine
but you just can't get into it
because they would never understand.
- No. What can I learn from this?
What is this trying to teach me?
What are some of the areas I need to work on?
When you look at it from a different perspective.
So you lose that one key client. Oh, it sucks.
Damn. What's that trying to teach me?
Maybe my business model, I'm overly relying on
just one big client.
Maybe I should have a more diversified client base.
Instead of having one client that represents
80% of my business, maybe I should have 10 clients,
10% each, or 20 clients, 5% each.
I need to expand.
I've had so many times this happens.
When you have competition, it's trying to teach you
how could I add more value to my customers
so they will stay loyal to me and not go to my competitors.
What do I need to do to improve my efficiency
so I am competitive when it comes to pricing.
It's trying to teach us something.
You see, marketplace is always
trying to teach you something,
but the way the marketplace teaches you is kicking your ass.
It basically slap on the face and saying,
"hey, watch out, pay attention to this. This is not working.
Hey, this guy is trying to grab market share from you.
What are you going to do to be a good entrepreneur?"
I want to leave you with a final thought.
A quote that I love.
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."
Until next time, I'll see my Bentley.