I have so much admiration for this week’s guest on SUCCESS Line. I talk to Rudolph, an African-born immigrant who moved to the U.S. six years ago with almost no network. He has since been able to get a great job as a medical research professional and become an important member of his community. Now, he has started a business in the hopes of using his experience to help other African-born immigrants find their way in America
As we so often say at Brand Builder’s Group, you are most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were, which is exactly what Rudolph is doing. However, he is finding himself spread thin on time and money as he invests in this exciting new project while still working a full-time job. He came on the show to ask, “How do you manage it all?”
Being an entrepreneur is hard work, and the path to success can often seem muddied and vague when you first start out. So how does one persevere through those tough, early days? Read on for my top three tips.
1. Do 100 reps before you check your stats.
I spoke 304 times for free before I ever got paid. Now, I make a living from my speaking engagements. If I had evaluated my success after only speaking five, 10 or even 50 times, I would have thrown in the towel.
Everything new is a slow start. You need to do (at least) 100 reps before you check your stats. Publish 100 podcast episodes before you look at your downloads. Make 100 YouTube videos before you look at subscribers. Don’t worry about losing weight, just go to the gym 100 times.
You need to give yourself time to find your footing when you’re first starting out. It’s not about results, it’s about habits. It’s not about numbers, it’s about perseverance. It’s not about how many fans you have, it’s about the infrastructure you’re building that will carry you forward in your career. Habits, perseverance and infrastructure—these are the things that are important and the things you should focus on as a fledgling entrepreneur.
2. The best business is a customer-financed business.
The safest, best way to guarantee growth is through a customer-financed business. It’s not investors, debt or even your own savings. If you want to write your own check for your own life and destiny, you cannot depend on someone else to show up and give you money.
What does a customer-financed business mean?
It means you sell. You get out there and talk to as many people as you can about what you’re up to. If you believe in what you’re doing and have created a product or service that provides real value to people’s lives, you need to be bold and tell everyone you know about it.
That is what it takes to be an entrepreneur. It is the price of admission to even get on the field. In order to be successful, you must be willing to tell people and to generate a sale. You need the customers, and you need their money to grow your business. Every single problem in business today can be solved by somebody making more sales. You want to invest and hire someone, but you can’t afford it? No problem—make a sale.
Write your own future. Be in charge of your own destiny. There are no shortcuts. The only way to succeed is by the hard, disciplined work of reaching out, finding good people you can help and making sales.
3. Don’t focus on making the right choice. Focus on making a good choice.
Don’t focus so much on making the right choice. Focus on making a good choice and then making it right.
The universe is not set up like a maze where there is only one way you can find the right path to be successful. It is more like a corn field—you can barrel your way through by simply moving forward. You just need to decide which direction you are going in and then start running.
The path to success is not dainty. You don’t achieve by sitting back and asking for everyone’s opinion and doing market research to find the perfect next step. The path to success is bold. You need to make the decision before you even start that you’re going to be successful and then put your head down and go all in.
It all starts with a decision in your own mind about what you believe is possible for your life. Pick a path, make it a good one and keep coming back.
The SUCCESS Line is no longer releasing new episodes on the SUCCESS Podcast Network, but you can still listen to the full conversation below.
