I want you to think about this stat.
Ready?
60% of Fortune 500 companies in 1970 are no longer in business today.
Let me say it one more time.
60% of Fortune 500 companies from 1970 are no longer around.
I'm not saying they're different name -- they're no longer around.
So you may ask the question, "How's that even possible?"
The 500 biggest companies are no longer around only 46 years later?
Yes, they're no longer around.
So why is that?
Why are they no longer around?
Well, look.
Just like a great country that at one point was powerful -- Greece or Iran, just like
great countries like this [snap] can lose their empire is the same way that Circuit
City, Blockbuster or Borders can lose an empire like this [snap].
Why?
They get casual, they have too many victories, they win one battle after another battle after
another battle and they lose it.
So it is very, very important that for you and I as an entrepreneur - this shirt says,
"I am an entrepreneur" -- by the way, this shirt gets more conversations started than
I can tell you.
If you want to know how to get the shirt, I'll tell you about it at the end as well.
So just like I'm an entrepreneur, for us, as entrepreneurs you follow this content because
you're an entrepreneur - it is very important to be strategic on the way that you build
your business and if you think your business that's generating you a quarter million dollars
a year, a half a million a year, a million a year, cannot be gone, but a Fortune 500
did in 1970, you need to be rethinking your strategy on your business.
So I chose 12 mottos.
Here are 12 mottos that I have from the military -- not just U.S. Army, but military from all
over the world.
And I was in the Army before myself, in the 101st Airborne Division and I got recruited
to go become an 18 Delta -- an 18 Delta is special forces in the U.S. Army and there
was a unit call the fifth group at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky that was recruiting me because I
spoke five languages at the time and they wanted to send me to DLI, which in Monterrey,
California.
And I was going to go to all these other things and go ship to.
. . I got all the orders and at the last minute I chose not to be a special forces.
But I know so many people that admire military folks.
I've got 12 mottos that I think every entrepreneur can learn a lot from.
And let me start off with the first one.
This is my favorite one because this is the one that I heard all the time when I was in
the Army.
This is what the motto was.
You ready?
Here's what it says: Stay Alert, Stay Alive.
Let me say it one more time.
Stay Alert, Stay Alive.
Earlier I told you about 60% of Fortune 500 companies from 1970 are no longer around -- it's
because they did not stay alert.
They did not stay alive.
Blockbuster didn't think Netflix was real.
Borders didn't think Amazon was real.
Circuit City didn't think Best Buy was real.
They did not.
They thought there was no way anyone's going to shop anywhere else but Circuit City.
There's no way Blockbuster -- that was everywhere.
Great branding.
Great logo.
Great everything.
There's no way anybody can put Blockbuster out of business.
There's no way Borders is going to be put out of business.
But it happened.
Why?
They did not stay alert.
They did not stay alive.
You've gotta know about what's going on in the marketplace.
You've gotta know what's going on with your home office staff, with your sales force,
with your assistant, with your clients, with your partners, with your vendors, with legal,
with every single thing, you've got to know because you've got to stay alert.
If you're not, you will be dead in the water in the world of business.
Second motto, and this is from the Marines, first battalion, at Camp Pendleton CA, right
outside of San Diego.
This is what they say.
It's very simple.
Whatever it takes.
Grant Cardone calls it what?
Whatever it Takes Nation - there's a reason for that.
But it says, "Whatever it takes."
As an entrepreneur, you've got to know that it's whatever it takes.
If you've got to stay at the office till two in the morning, it's whatever it takes.
If you've got to come to the office and work hard for two, three, four, five years to make
your business work, whatever it takes.
If it takes you spending an entire weekend to learn a product and learn your competitors
and you're working 24/7 on the clock - whatever it takes.
If it takes you time to read these ten books and learn and go record your presentation
at night and drink coffee and watch yourself in a video recording on the computer to see
how you're selling and what you're sounding like - whatever it takes.
If it takes you driving seven hours, 12 hours to go get a client that may end up paying
you a $5,000 commission but it may introduce you to these 20 other clients - whatever it
takes.
If it takes you taking a flight to go and do something to maintain your license; it
doesn't matter.
It's whatever it takes, as long as it's legal.
It's whatever it takes.
And a lot of times I see entrepreneurs who don't make it.
It's because they don't subscribe to the mentality of whatever it takes.
Number three motto and this was for the U.S. Navy Seal training - This is their motto Are
you ready?
The only easy day was yesterday.
What do they mean, the only easy day was yesterday?
Here's what they mean.
If you think training was hard yesterday, it's going to be harder today.
And you may say that oh my God, yesterday the training was so hard.
If you thought that was hard, today is going to be even harder.
As an entrepreneur, if you are not improving yourself, if you're not getting better, the
problems of the past, you already learned how to solve.
But you've got to learn how to solve the problems of today.
And it's going to be harder than the problems in the past.
If you don't make progress, and know how to handle the problems of today, you're reverting
back to the problems of yesterday.
So you've got to constantly be getting better.
It's a message of constantly having to improve.
Constantly figuring out ways to be edgy.
Constantly figuring out ways to get better.
If you do that, you stand a chance.
If you don't, you're reverting back to your old habits.
Number four- this is by the USS Ronald Reagan commission in 2003.
It was a nuclear powered super carrier, home ported in Coronado, California -- obviously
the giver, Ronald Reagan, the president, had this saying, when he had this battle with
the Soviet Union.
This was the statement: Peace through Strength.
Peace through Strength.
What does this mean?
Look, we don't want to fight, because if we fight, we're going to beat you.
If you want to fight, we'll fight.
But we'd rather be peaceful and not have to fight.
What do you want to do?
Okay?
Negotiations, going against competitors, going against anybody else -- if you want to fight,
we're okay to fight.
But we'd rather be peaceful about this.
Which do you prefer?
Okay?
Peace through Strength.
Now in order to have the peace you want, you have to be strong.
So you as an entrepreneur need to increase your strength so you can have peace.
That's what you need to be doing when it comes to communicating with anybody that you have
as a competitor that you're dealing with.
Here's another one.
This is a famous one, from Leonidas if you've seen the movie 300 you know that one scene
where Leonidas is standing with the spear and the Persian Army is about to attack and
the line that he says in English, but there's a way you say it in Greek, he goes and he's
ready for them to attack him and in English he says, "Come and take them."
Come and take them.
By the way, this same military unit that Leonidas started back
in the day got disbanded in 2013, I believe.
He says, "Come and take them.
Come and take our land from us.
Come and take what you've got.
That's the spirit of an entrepreneur, that's competitive and protective and a lot of pride
and duty and honor for what they've put into their land, they're going to say, "Hey competitor,
come and take our clients!
Come and show us what you've got.
You want to go up against us?
Come and take them.
We're gonna fight.
We may not be as big as you, but come and take them.
It's an underdog going against a massive company, hence, 60% of Fortune 500 companies from 1970
are no longer around, because somebody like Leonidas said, "Come and take them."
Now an example like this obviously we know what's going on with the military there in
today's time, but back in the day?
There was a general that knew how to lead his people and went against his enemies and
did a great job.
Number six, this is from Royal Gurkha rifles, U.K.
These are soldiers that were recruited from Nepal and they were known as the bravest of
the brave.
Here's their saying.
Better to die, than to be a coward.
What does that mean?
I'm an entrepreneur.
Better to die than to be a coward.
What are you afraid of?
Better to die and go face your fears, than to be a coward.
Better to go on that sales appointment and if the other person says no to you that to
be a coward.
Better to go out there and make that phone call that you're afraid of making than to
be a coward.
This doesn't necessarily mean going to war.
Are you afraid of that phone call?
If you're afraid of that phone call, what makes you think you're going to be able to
run a big business.
Pick up the phone and make some calls.
Don't be afraid.
If you're going to be afraid, it's better to die than to be a coward.
It's better to be rejected than not to make that phone call.
It's better to be rejected than not make that proposal to your client.
It's better to be rejected than going and taking the easy way out.
That's what they mean on the U.K. military motto.
Here's another one, from Canada.
This one is the joint task force to elite special forces -- pretty much their Navy Seals
team.
Theirs's is, Facta non Verba -- it means Deeds, not Words.
So if you're going to tell your client you're going to do something, do it.
If you're going to tell yourself you're going to do something, do it.
If you're going to tell your team you're going to do something, do it.
If you're going to tell the world you're going to do something, do it.
Don't just talk about it.
Go and do it.
Show the results.
That's the Canadian motto that they have.
Here's one from U.K., Royal Navy.
This was their navy on what they said.
Let me see if I can pronounce this right.
Everybody from the U.K., you can hold me accountable.
I think this is Latin so it says Si vis pacem, para bellum - and what this means in Latin
is if you wish for peace, prepare for war.
If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
What the heck does this have to do with entrepreneurs?
EVERYTHING.
If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
It's slightly different than the earlier one that said peace through strength.
It explains it in a different way.
If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
You want to be peaceful?
Yes.
Be prepared for an attorney to put you out of business.
Be prepared for a company to sue you and put you out of business.
But be prepared for war in order to have the peace.
Save your money so you don't have to worry about if they sue you and you go out of business
because you don't have the money.
Put your money aside in case something happens, an emergency, crisis, bad market, bad economy,
bad all this -- if you have the money in place, because you're prepared for war, so you're
not being put out of business.
I can't tell you how many smaller entrepreneurs are put out of business because every penny
they made, they don't have their taxes properly, "Oh, Pat, it's not a big deal.
I'll get to it two years from now.
I'm behind for two, three years."
Boom.
Big mistake.
You're not prepared for war.
Oh, you know I'll pay these expenses and these credit card issues later on.
BOOM.
You address something and they need a high credit score, you don't, they're not going
to do business with you.
Oh, you know I'm not worried about these creditors.
Pay your taxes, pay your creditors, keep your finances in place, keep a lot of savings in
place, be liquid, be ready, be all that stuff because you're ready for war.
And by doing so, you will wish for peace.
Number nine, this is a German one.
This is from Kampfschwimmer, the German version of the U.S. Navy Seals and obviously no one
knows how bit their operation is, like most of them.
And theirs was Lerne leiden ohne zu klagen - I lived in Germany for a couple of years
- Lerne leiden ohne zu klagen and this one means, "Learn to suffer without Complaining."
You know, sometimes I sit down and am having a conversation, and there's one guy I'm doing
business with -- Matt and Sheena Sapaula, and I told them this the other day.
I said, "It's like you never hear complaints from them.
They're so optimistic.
And so this doesn't mean that things don't happen to their lives.
But you don't hear complaints from them.
They're so positive.
Right?
They're not complaining.
They have so many things that they're dealing with in their personal lives but you don't
hear them complaining about it.
Then you have somebody you talk to and say, "How are you?"
Oh man, I've been sick for a week.
How are you?
Oh, you have no idea what I've been dealing with.
How are you?
Oh my gosh, you know, my car broke down.
Oh, how are you?
Everything is something happened to them.
Honestly, all the entrepreneurs out there -- no one really cares.
And I'm dead serious with you.
No one really cares.
So just don't complain about it.
Find ways to fix it.
There is a little bit of strong verbiage there to learn to suffer without complaining, but
at the end of the day, you've got to learn to understand that as an entrepreneur, you
are not the only person that's going through not having money, I'm late on this, I have
to pay my rent, I haven't made sales -- you are not the only person.
But those who make it, they double time more than you, they improve more than you.
They work harder than you, for them to make it.
And if you're one that's already making it, then good for you.
You're the example for everybody else.
But there's a reason why a few make make it.
Number ten.
This is from First Infantry Division -- No Mission too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great,
Duty First.
Well, listen.
As a business owner, you're going to face a lot of different things.
And you're gonna have to slay a dragon many different times as an entrepreneur.
Many different times.
But I tell you, none of them are that big that you won't know how to handle them.
None of them are that big that can't handle.
For the most part, Things that put people out of business generally have to do with
a lot of lack of being prepared for them.
If you don't prepare for it and something happens [slam] you could be put out of business.
But that has to do with a lack of preparation.
For the most part, a lot of things in business are very possible and obviously, a disastrous
economy that takes place, that's a different story, but for the most part, a lot of things
are possible if the missions in place, and a lot of things will be very difficult, but
nothing that you cannot handle.
And it's got to be mission driven.
You've got to make sacrifices.
Duty first.
Your people come first.
Duty first.
It cannot be you first.
Duty.
Your duty to your people, your duty to your clients, your duty to your investors.
Your duty to your business owners.
That comes first as an entrepreneur.
Number 11 -- I'm getting to my favorite one.
And this is from Israeli Engineering Corps.
You ready?
Israeli Engineering Corps -- here we go.
"The hard we shall do today, the impossible we shall do tomorrow."
The hard we shall do today, the impossible we shall do tomorrow."
What does it mean?
The more you and I focus as an entrepreneur on doing the difficult things today and again
difficult things tomorrow and you keep doing the difficult things, difficult things, difficult
things, and you stack doing hard things over and over and over and over again, a year,
two years, three years, five years from now, you're going to do something that everybody's
going to say, "Man, that was the impossible.
He or she did the impossible."
No, doing the impossible is a culmination of doing 10,000 hard things.
That's really what it is.
So if you want to do the impossible, be willing to do 1,000 hard things on a day-to-day basis.
All of a sudden you'll have something happen and everybody calls you a hero, but you've
got to be willing to day to day do the hard things.
And the last one here.
We were in Chicago and we were having a stogie, we were having a cigar with my friend Matt
Sapaula -- I mentioned him earlier.
He's a Marine, and -- how many tours did he go on?
Two or three?
He went on two tours himself as a Marine and we're sitting and we're having dinner and
all of a sudden, I see him giving a toast and he says these lines, and I had to go research
who said this, so this is a line quote that's used by Marines often, but it was said by
a guy named Walter Winchell who was a news commentator, and here's what he said.
It was a beautiful setting.
He stood up, he grabbed the glass, and he had everybody else stand up and hold a glass
and he says, "Never above you, never below you, always beside you, oorah."
And you see this, if you go online and you search those quotes, you'll see it all over
the place.
And it says freedom isn't free.
Never above you, never below you, always beside you oorah.
That's a very good quote for you to realize that as an entrepreneur, as you're building
a business, it's all about the team.
It is all about the team.
And if you can have your team's back -- you're going to challenge them -- if you have your
team's back -- if you're always with them, if you realize it's really all about them,
and if you realize it's not about you being a jerk, and being above everybody, and it's
all about your show, selfish, selfish, selfish, then you have a team.
And there's a reason why Marines teach about unity.
Marines teach about you working together as a team, and it's not only about the stuff
you get here, it's about what the other soldiers that run with you will one day say about you
when you're no longer around or they're no longer in business with you.
Because that's what really matters at the end of the day.
Anyways, so those are some of the mottos that I like for the military that I wanted to share
with you.
For some of you guys that are still asking about this shirt, I'm telling you, this is
a conversation starter -- I am an entrepreneur.
It's got the Valuetainment logo here and for some of you that want to get it, you can go
on the -- the store is ValuetainmentStore.com go to ValuetainmentStore.com -- we'll put
the link in the description, but even if you go on the top and click on Valuetainmentstore.com
there's a lot of different shirts.
This is a shirt that we just came out with in the store, Valuetainmentstore.com and you
can get this shirt, "I Am an Entrepreneur" -- they have them in different colors, different
sizes, great quality, great workout shirt, and put them on, go out there in the mall,
go out there and work out.
People are going to ask you questions about you also being an entrepreneur because entrepreneurs
like to talk to one another as entrepreneurs.
Paul, throw me my pillow.
My gosh, we've got to get you to work out, your left arm is weak.
Okay, so Paul is back, Mario is back from the tour.
These guys are back.
They were living in an RV for 35 days but they are back now and our goal is still to
get to 100,000 subs by August 31 and we need your help.
So I need you to click on the subscribe button wherever this is at on different sites -- click
on the subscribe button to subscribe to our channel Valuetainment.
We believe pound for pound we can go against anybody with our content on YouTube for entrepreneurship
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If you have any questions about what I talked about today, or any of the mottos, please
comment on the bottom.
Thanks for watching.
Take care, bye bye.