This is Bill.
Every morning, he wakes up to the sound of a piercing alarm,
dreading the day ahead at a job he despises.
He feels trapped, undervalued,
and like he's not making any progress in life.
Bill comes to the conclusion
that the only way out his situation
is to start a business and become his own boss,
so he quits his job and goes for it.
Now I'm sure you want this story to have a happy ending.
However, life doesn't really work like that.
As a multi-millionaire businessman,
I've seen hundreds of people who quit their jobs
and start their own businesses,
and only a small percentage of them
end up being successful.
That's because, and I'm not gonna sugarcoat it,
most people don't have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
Before you think I'm trying to crush your dreams,
I'm not, I'm just saying it how it is.
So before you think about starting any kind of business,
make sure you take the following five steps.
Step one, kill your delusion.
You've been fed the lie
that becoming a successful entrepreneur
is all about coming up with the perfect idea.
They want you to believe
that the only thing that stands in your way
is that light bulb moment,
and once you have it, everything will go perfectly.
That's because selling this delusion is highly profitable.
I mean, I'm sure you've seen the headlines,
like, "How I Built a Million-Dollar Business in 30 Days,"
or, "How I Fired My Boss and Started My Own Business."
These stories might be true
but they're very out of the ordinary
and they don't take into account all the previous failures
that that person had to go through
to get to where they are today.
Media outlets and social media gurus
make things sound easy
so they can capitalize off your delusion.
But guess what, you're being lied to.
In order to become successful in business,
you need to burst this bubble of lies.
Otherwise, it will be burst for you,
and trust me, this is way more damaging.
For me, this harsh reality check happened very early on.
I shared my business plans with a friend
and he stole all my ideas
and set up a business for himself.
Fortunately, I didn't have many options,
like a fancy degree to fall back on,
so I had no choice but to adapt
and come up with a new strategy.
I suppose that's the difference
between wanting it to work and needing it to.
When you're left with no other options,
you're much more likely to come out on top.
I see way too many people giving up
when they hit that first big challenge
as they can't understand why it's not working out perfectly
like they were led to believe.
But I've got some news for you.
Successful people aren't business gods
who get it right every time.
Most entrepreneurs are winging it.
They've never got all of the answers.
I mean, the majority of businesses
on "Shark Tan" and "Dragons' Den"
they fail and they've got billionaires backing them.
Your biggest heroes
have probably faced more struggles than most,
but that's the reason you're inspired by them.
After every setback,
they pulled themselves together
and came back bigger and better than before.
So kill your delusion, expect failure,
and accept that success doesn't come easy.
Step two, replace your friends.
In my early 20s,
I spent every waking hour building my first business.
I was so obsessed that I didn't even notice
how lonely I was deep down.
A recent national survey by Cigna
actually showed that almost half of Americans
report feeling lonely,
and I suspect this is much higher for entrepreneurs.
I worked so hard for so long
and when I finally came up for air
I realized I'd lost almost all my friends
and the friends that I still had
could no longer relate to my mindset,
lifestyle or struggles.
If you're anything like me,
then you're bound to experience something similar,
and the more successful you get,
the more the disconnect will grow.
For some time, I felt lost and alone,
thinking that I was the problem.
But then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Outgrowing old friends is a painful yet inevitable part
of the growth process.
If your friends aren't prepared to grow with you,
then you shouldn't be wasting your valuable time with them.
Now it's the time to seek out new people
who are willing to level up alongside you.
That's why it can be a great idea to have a co-founder,
as they're in the trenches with you
and you're able to motivate each other
when you're feeling down.
Just be careful when you're selecting your co-founder
because this is the person you're gonna be spending
a significant amount of time with,
even more than your family,
so it's very important that you know
how this person reacts through tough times.
It's also a good idea to join communities
full of other entrepreneurs.
I run one of the biggest free Discord servers
called "Strike It Big"
and you're very welcome to join.
There's about 30,000 entrepreneurs in there
discussing all things business and making money.
I'll leave a link in the description below,
it's completely free.
So, replace your friends, find like-minded people,
and never look back.
Step three, rethink money.
My friend Daniel Priestley used to struggle
with closing high-value deals in his job as a salesman.
The truth is he felt uncomfortable
asking for large sums of money
because he placed too much value on it himself.
Potential customers could sense his awkwardness
when discussing money,
which would often lead to him losing a deal
at the final hurdle.
That's when his mentor had to step in.
He told him to carry $1,000 in cash in his pocket
wherever he went.
At first he thought this was crazy,
but he followed the advice
and scraped together all of the money he had at the time.
Because he was carrying it around every day,
it quickly started to feel insignificant
and little more than pocket change.
It completely adjusted his attitude towards money
and helped him become a multi-millionaire in his early 20s.
If you currently work a day job,
you probably have this issue as well
without even knowing it.
But if you want to be successful in business,
then you have to believe
that there is so much money out there waiting to be grabbed,
and most importantly,
not be afraid to spend it.
As a business owner,
I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars
this month alone without hesitation
because I know that investing in my business,
whether in staff, stock, or technology,
will have a positive effect in the long term.
So you need to stop thinking of money
as a valuable asset that's hard to get
and start viewing it as a tool to build wealth.
Step four, maximize efficiency.
Did you know that 72% of all small business owners
struggle with feeling overwhelmed?
It's no wonder they feel this way
given the constant pressure to meet daily targets,
make decisions about the future of the business,
and generate revenue,
all while trying to maintain some kind of social life.
You just have so many plates to spin as an entrepreneur,
that's why when someone says to me,
"You're the boss, you can take the day off,"
it really (beep) me off.
When you work a normal job,
you only have to focus on the day ahead.
After work, you can go home and relax.
However, for a business owner,
it's very hard to ever switch off.
You know that you're solely responsible
for making sure the money keeps flowing,
that's why I hate it when people put down normal jobs.
Not everyone wants the stress
that comes with running a business,
and that is completely fine.
However, for those of you like me
that have a burning desire to do business,
there is a way to maximize efficiency
and keep things running smoothly.
The biggest thing that's helped me manage
my stress levels over the years
is putting in place great systems and processes.
This is because from my experience
the most stress comes from when your business
is reliant on people.
It's easy to get caught up in the thrill
of starting a new business,
but have you ever thought about what happens
when your business grows
and one of your key employees suddenly leaves?
That's where having systems and processes in place comes in.
Think of it like a big manual to your business
that anyone can follow,
even if they're not familiar with your specific company.
It's important to start thinking about this early on
because as your business grows
it will become harder and harder
to keep track of everything.
This also has the added benefit
of making the business far more attractive
to potential buyers in the future
as they know that they have a full guide
of how to operate that business
and get a return on their investment.
So, think ahead, maximize efficiency,
and get your systems and processes in place
before it's too late.
Step five, become a wolf.
If you wanna become successful,
then you need to build some kind of team.
If you think you can do it all alone,
then you're solely mistaken.
You need a pack.
Now I want you to imagine
you have an extremely successful business
but you're running it all by yourself.
You're making great money but it's coming at the cost
of your relationships and experiences,
so you decide it's time to hire your first employee.
I know this might seem
like a million miles away at the moment,
but stick with me.
Just imagine all the little tasks
you could take off your plate
and give to someone else to take care of.
Just the thought of that seems pretty exciting,
but at the same time
it comes with a lot of challenges and potential mistakes.
I remember hiring my first employee
to serve customers in my shop.
It was such a relief to have someone there to help me.
If I asked you to describe exactly what kind of employee
you would want in the future,
then you'd probably outline someone
that is very similar to yourself,
but this is completely wrong way of looking at it.
The truth is you're never gonna find someone
exactly like you,
because if they were,
then they'd be running a competing business.
The key is to hire people
who are better than you in different areas.
This way they don't just do what you would do,
they actually level up your business by doing it better.
So pick the members of your wolf pack strategically
and share your success with them along the way.
Look, starting a business is not for everyone,
but quitting my job and starting a business
was the best thing I ever did.
So as long as you're confident
and you can handle the challenges ahead of you,
then my advice would be go for it.
If you wanna know what I would do
if I started again from scratch,
I'm gonna leave this video right up here.
But don't click on it just yet,
make sure to subscribe if you wanna grow your wealth, okay?
I'll see you over there.