Archives for November 2016

“What are the top 5 habits of entrepreneurs?”

I get asked that question a lot by the media and podcasters, so I thought I’d share my top 5 list with you. Here it is:

1. Self-Education – Daily self-education is the foundation for every entrepreneur. Specifically, acquiring knowledge in whatever industry your business falls into. Learn everything the leaders in your industry know. This requires not only reading every day, but also attending seminars listening to podcasts, and jumping on webinars.
2. Take Action – Stop over thinking and take action. What you don’t know, you’ll learn from the mistakes you make. You cannot possibly know everything you need to know, so take a leap of faith and learn as you go.
3. Find Apostles – Every successful entrepreneur finds apostles for their cause. These are individuals who believe in you and your dream. Set a goal of finding just one apostle because 1 + 1 = 3. As you become more successful, others will jump on board. The more apostles you surround yourself with the easier it becomes to pull the cart.
4. Don’t Follow the Herd – Successful entrepreneurs are leaders. They separate themselves from the herds of others and create their own herd. In the beginning they are all alone. But eventually, as they figure out what to do and what not to do, others take notice and become customers or clients. Millionaires have hundreds of members in their herd, deca-millionaires, thousands and billionaires have millions.
5. Build Valuable Relationships with Other Successful People – Successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with other leaders who are experts in their industry. They exchange information, share trade secrets and help mentor each other.

In all of the self-made millionaires and billionaires I’ve studied over the past twelve years, there are some universal truths that are evident within each success story. These twenty Universal Truths of Success were the common denominators of every successful individual I studied:

1. All success requires passion
2. All success requires unrelenting persistence
3. All success requires luck. Persistence creates luck
4. All success requires taking risks
5. All success requires action
6. All success requires hard work
7. All success requires a team of apostles who believe in you and your dream
8. All success requires continuous daily self-education
9. All success requires a leap of faith
10. All success requires patience
11. All success requires good daily habits
12. All success requires an optimistic, positive mental outlook
13. All success requires the development of processes that work
14. All success requires adding value to the lives of others
15. All success requires creating a herd of followers
16. All success requires stepping outside your comfort zone
17. All success requires laser-like focus
18. All success requires developing unique skills and the acquisition of knowledge specific to your industry
19. All success requires the ability to pivot around obstacles, pitfalls, mistakes and failures
20. All success requires the ability to survive until you thrive

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs

Nick Woodman is the CEO and founder of GoPro Cameras. A surfer, Woodman had pursued several business ventures that had failed. Then he started GoPro and at age 36 became a billionaire. What made GoPro succeed, where his other ventures failed?

Passion. Woodman’s previous ventures were unrelated to his passion – surfing. The idea for GoPro came about while Woodman was surfing. He thought it would be awesome if could film his surfing exploits from the perspective of the surfer.

When you tap into your passion, everything changes. Passion gives birth to persistence. Persistence is actually passion in action. It is the grit that helps you overcome all of the pitfalls, hurdles and obstacles you encounter along the way. But persistence is dependent upon passion. Passion must come first in order to unleash persistence.

Over twenty thousand years ago the last ice age blanketed most of the northern hemisphere. Rather then perish, humans somehow found ways to adapt and survive the arctic conditions.

Human beings are hard-wired for overcoming obstacles. We seem to have this innate ability to adapt and thrive. Our very existence is clear evidence of our unique ability to pivot, in order to survive. This is why it is so important to continuously push the envelope of our comfort zone. Only by challenging ourselves are we able to dig deep and find the greatness that is inherent in each one of us.

When we push ourselves into new areas it creates discomfort. But inside this discomfort zone is where true growth occurs. Taking on responsibilities that seem to exceed our current skills and knowledge forces us to develop new skills and gain new knowledge. Hence, we grow as individuals. The skills and knowledge we acquire during this growth period change us forever. We become more. We become better. And the more we push ourselves into this discomfort zone, the more we grow and improve.

In order to become wealthy, you must push yourself into new areas. You must embrace discomfort in order to grow into the person you need to be in order to succeed.

We all have dictators who control our lives. Dictators are those bad actors in your life who prevent you from living the life of your dreams. They hold you back. Do you know who or what your dictators are?

• A bad boss or supervisor
• Controlling family members
• Controlling friends
• Email
• TV
• Internet sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.
• Cell phone and cell phone apps such as Snapchat or Instagram
• Addictions such as gambling, alcohol, drugs, Internet porn, News, etc.
• Negative emotions such as anger, resentment, hate and envy
• Negative, limiting beliefs

Understanding who or what is dictating the course of your life is the first step in changing your life. You must become aware of the people, habits, thinking and emotions that are influencing your life. Awareness opens your eyes and allows you to truly see for the first time those factors which are responsible for the life you have.

Make a list of all of your Dictators. Then, one by one, start eliminating them from your life.