That also comes down to something that I see is a big mistake with beginning entrepreneurs
and new entrepreneurs and something that I did as well.
So I was watching a video this morning and it was a major light bulb moment for me.
And I had to share it with you because I feel like we all have those days.
And I'm kind of having one of those days right now, where you're like, "This is hard."
Being an entrepreneur is hard.
That's not news I'm sure to you.
And being a business owner is hard and keep in mind that I've had my business now for
well, this business I've had for five years and I've been an entrepreneur for 10 and I've
always made businesses, even when I was a little kid, I feel like it's just kind of
in my DNA.
And so I was having one of those mornings and tell me if you ever feel this way, where
you're just sort of having a mini pity party.
And you're like, "This is really hard work.
I feel a little bit stuck.
I feel like maybe I'm not cut out for this."
These moments come and go and you always make it work, et cetera.
But in those moments, it can be a little frustrating.
You kind of want to bang your head against the wall.
And right at that moment, I saw this clip come up and it was Will Smith.
And he was talking about the lead character in Aladdin, who was talking about the fact
that he hasn't gotten any auditions since he did the movie Aladdin, the live action
version, which was super successful and Will Smith said, "Yeah, it's hard by design."
Acting is hard by design.
Entrepreneurship is hard by design.
Being an athlete is hard by design, trying to be elite at anything is hard by design.
I know that sounds really simple.
And we're often told things like, "If it was easy, everybody would do it, et cetera."
But for some reason when it was put that way, I was like, "Yeah, that's right, because this
isn't for everybody."
And there is a lot of struggle and hard work and perseverance that has to come with anything
where you're trying to reach the top.
So it made me think about a lot of things that I wish I knew when I started my business,
this business particularly five years ago, that I have learned so much and repeatedly
over the last five years, particularly from people who are far beyond where I'm at.
I have built this multimillion dollar business.
We've done amazing, growing this thing, and scaling this thing.
And we have clients all over the world, thousands of people who have enrolled in our programs
and amazing client success stories, all the good things and I'm so, so grateful.
But you can still be grateful and still have those moments where you're like, "Yeah, this
is hard."
And so I wanted to share a few of those lessons and a few of the things that I've learned
from my mentors that changed the game for me, and I think will be really helpful for
you.
So give this a like if you're excited to dive into those, hit the subscribe button and the
bell to be notified every single time I post a new video and let's get right into it.
So the biggest thing that I see, especially with new entrepreneurs, and I remember feeling
this too, and it's human nature, is that you just are so focused on money in the beginning.
And that's really your driving force.
You're like, "I just want to get to $5,000 a month, $10,000 a month, a $100,000 a month,"
et cetera, and you're driven by those revenue goals.
And that will sustain you to a certain point.
But once you hit those revenue goals and you can tell me if you've experienced this, you're
still kind of sitting there being like, "What's next?"
And what I have learned from the people who are way more successful than me, they are
always more driven.
And the reason they've been able to sustain their businesses for decades is because they
are more driven by the impact that they're creating and getting results for the people
that are working with our companies.
And that also comes down to something that I see is a big mistake with beginning entrepreneurs
and new entrepreneurs and something that I did as well, which is you're so focused on
perfecting, whatever it is that you want to get into market.
And Reid Hoffman, I think is his name, he's one of the co founders of LinkedIn and one
of his most famous quotes, and I might butcher it right now, but is, "If you're not embarrassed
by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."
And it's so true.
So we take this approach now in my business, five years later, because we've learned a
lot, we take the prototype approach, meaning that we just want to get the basic structure
of our offers into the hands of our clients, with everything that they need, nothing they
don't need.
It doesn't need to be pretty, and we want to get them results ASAP.
Then from there, you can build on it and you can create a more comprehensive, beautiful
looking version of your program.
But when you get hung up on the aesthetics being perfect, which is so much to do with
your own ego and so much to do with weirdly protecting yourself.
I remember when I was first building my very first course, which doesn't exist anymore.
I was building my very first course, and I was so worried about it being perfect because
it was weirdly kind of trying to protect myself from being seen and getting my product into
the hands of real people, because once you get into the hands of real people, you have
to deal with feedback.
And so I looked at it as a negative in the beginning, and now what I've learned from
people again, who are way more successful than me, is that it's a positive thing.
The best thing you can do is get your product into the hands of real people.
And sometimes that means getting it into the hands of real people for a minimal charge,
just so you can get testers and users and feedback, because until you get your product
or service into the real world and get that real world feedback, you have no idea what
works.
And I'm sure some of you have can relate to this, or maybe you've gone through it.
And I did too.
You work so hard on something, and then you put into market and it's crickets and nobody
wants it.
And that is an awful, awful feeling, but a great lesson as well, because it shows you
that you don't really know what people want, people know what people want.
So you have to get real people to use your products and services in order to figure out
how to get really good results.
So I think the big things and the big takeaways is that, it is hard work, it's it takes so
much patience and perseverance and sometimes I look back at my journey, and I'm like, "That
happened in two seconds."
And then other times, "This feels like it's been 20 years," and it just ebbs and flows,
and that's going to be the case, no matter how long you're in this game, and no matter
what it is that you're working towards.
Sometimes it's going to be in total flow and feel easy and all that stuff.
And then you're going to have other days where you're like, "Oh again," even if you're a
grateful person, even if you're a spiritual person, even if you've got a locked in morning
routine, I'm sorry, everybody has these moments.
And so I think it's really, really important to come back to that quote of, "It is hard
by design," and you are in it, so be grateful to be in it and doing the work.
And the only way that you can lose is by quitting.
The only way that you're not going to achieve your goals is by quitting.
If you just keep taking the action, keep doing the things, keep getting your product out
there, keep getting clients in the door, keep getting real world feedback, keep listening
to people and what they really, really want.
And what's working, what's not, and taking your ego out of it, so you can actually make
a real impact because that's what's going to sustain your business longterm and also
fulfill you.
I can tell you, that no matter what revenue mark I've been at, I still feel the same and
I'm still way more driven.
And what wakes me up in the morning and gets me out of bed in the morning is not dollar
signs.
It's actually making a difference and seeing my clients get their wins and their results.
And I know that I'm not alone in that.
I know that the biggest self made millionaires in the world, if you listen to them enough
and you listen to them closely enough, they all will talk about impact first, before they're
talking about income and the income is a positive byproduct of making a really good impact.
So I just wanted to share this with you kind of like off the cuff, because it was top of
mind for me.
And I would love to know what your takeaway is, or just start the conversation with me
in the comments of where you're at in your business.
And if you like this, I have more videos that I think you'll really like on this sort of
similar topic that you can check out right here.
Give this video a like if you liked it, subscribe for more videos and hit the bell to be notified.
And I'll see you in the next one.
Thanks so much for watching.