Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV,
the place to be to create a business and life you love, and this is Q&A Tuesday.
Today's question comes from Leslie and she writes:
"Hi, Marie.
I'm so relieved that you shared with us that your journey to success has not been an overnight
sensation.
Here's my question: when you see a story from someone saying they've completely transformed
their business and are making a six figure income in only a few short months.
Is this the modern version of a snake oil salesman?
Or can a new business really have this fast of an upturn?
I'm curious to know if there's a specific tipping point that can take a business from
"meh" to "yay."
Leslie, this is an awesome question.
I've seen a lot of those instant success stories and I can completely understand your skepticism.
We live in a completely overhyped culture where people want a better body, better relationship,
more money in three easy steps, and they want it yesterday.
Want the truth?
Most people have completely lost touch with what it really takes to be successful.
If you want to be wealthy, influential and world class in your field, strap yourself
in and get ready to work harder and longer than you've ever worked before.
Being successful is not easy and it does not happen fast.
You have to earn it.
Here's the thing: most of what it takes to get successful is painstaking, it's tedious
and the day-to-day is boring, but no one ever tells you that, so let's get to it; three
real truths about overnight success.
Truth #1 -- overnight success is the extreme rare exception, not the rule.
So yes, while it is possible for someone to achieve fast results, and there are legit
people that do it, for the vast majority of us, lasting success takes a lot of time and
a lot of hard work.
You got to remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint, and especially in the beginning,
there's no accolades, no fanfare, hardly any money, not a lot of recognition, often for
years.
Take a look at actor Jeremy Renner who I happen to love.
He seemingly came out of nowhere because he's all over the place right now, but if you do
a little bit of research, you'll see that many have called him an overnight success
20 years in the making.
Yes, sometimes there are breakthrough moments that propel someone into the public eye, but
those usually come after years of laying a foundation.
You've got to remember this, even if you have a breakthrough moment or some kind of highlight,
often times you have to work even harder to keep it all going.
Truth #2 -- You're likely not getting the whole story.
Whenever you see a little blurb on a website, or even an article in a magazine about someone's
rise to fast success, you got to understand that you're probably not hearing the whole
story.
Sometimes that's by design; either the person or the media wants to position a story in
a certain way, and other times, it's just because they don't have enough space to tell
the whole story.
Let's take your example of hearing about someone who went from zero to six figures very fast;
what you may not know is that she had a lot of experience in her field prior to starting
her business, like 10,000 hours worth of experience, and maybe she already came with a killer network
under her belt, or maybe she's a really seasoned marketer and she decided to pivot into this
new business.
What you may not be hearing about is all the hard knocks she went through or all the killer
habits she developed before this new venture.
No matter what the reason, you've got to remember, whether it's short little blurbs or media
pieces, chances are you're not hearing the whole story.
Truth #3 -- Explosive growth can be a recipe for disaster.
You got to be careful what you wish for here because if you're not prepared, overnight
success can take your company down fast.
Think about it; an enormous influx of customers can blow up your website, it can totally stress
out your team and it can turn into a customer service nightmare.
You can actually destroy your brand if you're not prepared for overnight success.
That kind of fast massive growth requires a strong team, a really solid foundation and
an ability to scale, and those things take time and experience to develop.
When it comes to overnight success, here's the bottom line, and yes, it's a tweetable:
"If you want to be an overnight success, you need to be an everyday hustler."
Slow and steady wins the race.
The only true path to success is making the right choices daily again and again and again
and again.
That was my A to your Q, Leslie; hope it helps.
Now I would love to hear from you.
What's your experience with overnight success?
Have you been one or do you know anyone who is?
Tell me your story.
As always the best discussions happen after the episode over a MarieForleo.com, so go
there and leave a comment now.
Did you like this video?
If so, subscribe and share it with your friends.
If you want even more great resources to create a business and life that you love, plus some
personal insights from me that I only talk about in e-mail, get your buns over to MarieForleo.com
and sign up for e-mail updates.
Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special
gift that only you have.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time on MarieTV.