Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" Many years ago, I introduced a new format that alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

Lessons for Hannah are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah, I want to talk to you about commitment. The definition of commitment states that it is the “state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.” What does that mean? Commitment is a word thrown around a lot and you will hear it all throughout your life. I don’t think people take the word and what it means seriously enough.

People say all the time that they are committed to things but give up on them. People commit to doing things for themselves or others, but don’t follow through. To me, commitment is something truly special. To commit to something means that you will do whatever it takes to fulfill the commitment and not give up until it is complete. To commit means that you have taken the time to think through what you are committing to and are choosing to move forward knowing and being prepared for what may happen on the journey. You are deciding that you are willing to go through all the challenges, hard times, and setbacks that could happen on your path to fulfilling the commitment. You also get to enjoy the good times of the journey as well.

A great of example of commitment is marriage. And marriage is one of those commitments that, sadly, many people break.

Marriage is incredible. To find the one person you are meant to be with and commit to them for the rest of your life is a serious and exciting experience. But too many people enter it without taking the time to understand what the commitment of marriage really means. I fact, Jesus spoke a lot about marriage, but I think he really understood what commitment meant in marriage when he said, “The two will become one. So, they are no longer two but one. Let no man divide what God has put together.”

Let no man divide what God has put together. If you believe like I do that things happen as they are supposed to, guided by a divine hand, then when you find the one you will marry and commit to, God has put you together. And because God has put you together, you should not divide it.

Now, that does not mean that there aren’t legitimate reasons for a divorce, but there certainly should not be superficial ones.

Marriage like entrepreneurship requires a true commitment and playing the long game. No matter how good a marriage is, it will have tough times. There will be times where each spouse is not happy with the other. That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other; it just means that they are having a challenge with each other at that time. Marriage is compromise, it’s give and take, it’s tough love, it’s standing true. It is the willingness to love someone when sometimes you don’t feel like you want to. It is the willingness to go through the hard times together and be there for each other.

Your mother and I will be celebrating 15 years of marriage this year. I am very excited about it. The average marriage length is sadly about 8 years which means your mother and I will be almost double that. But, it hasn’t been perfect. We are not perfect. There are times where I know I get on mom’s nerves and drive her nuts and of course, she has her moments as well. We will have arguments from time to time but seem to always find ways to work through them together. There are times where it is tough, but I know I can always count on mom to be there for me, and she knows that I will always be there for her. No matter what happens, we are committed. As we said in our vows – til death do us part.

Hannah, what I want you to take away from this is that commitment is something that is a serious choice in our lives and when we commit to something, we must see it through. And if we are not willing to do that, then we should not commit in the first place. I hope that you take this lesson to heart and use it to make better decisions for yourself in life committing to the right things. It is lesson I wish I understood earlier on in life.

I love you,

Daddy

Best Quote: To commit means that you have taken the time to think through what you are committing to and are choosing to move forward knowing and being prepared for what may happen on the journey.

Misfit 3:

1. Commitment is a word thrown around a lot and you will hear it all throughout your life. I don’t think people take the word and what it means seriously enough.​
2. To commit to something means that you will do whatever it takes to fulfill the commitment and not give up until it is complete. ​
3. Commitment to something is a serious choice that we must see through. if we are not willing to do that, then we should not commit in the first place. ​

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is John Mitchell. John is the founder of Think It Be It. John is an entrepreneur that went from averaging low 6-figures in business for 20 years to creating a $25 million per year business in just a few years. When I heard this story, naturally my question was, what changed? How did he increase his income 25 times in such a short time?

John did it by radically following the principles of the timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich. He discovered the Science of Success and put it to work. And he developed a system so that anyone can apply it. Today, his 12 Minute A Day methodology is recognized as the Top Application in the World of the Top Book in the World on success.

I brought him on the show to share exactly what he figured out and teaches others, so you can put to work in your life.

www.ThinkitBeit.com/ME (Free video and guide of John's Deep Thinking Process)

John started out as a CPA and at 30 decided that wasn’t the career he wanted, so over the next 20 years, he got into multiple different businesses. When he reached 50, he was not at the levels he aspired to be. He wanted to have enough money not to have to work and have the woman of his dreams and he was falling short on both. He did OK – making 6-figures a year, but he knew he needed to start making over million per year to reach his goals. He realized he had to change his 20-year history. So, he decided to find the top book in the world on success and apply it word for word to his life. That book was Think and Grow Rich.

He got it and read it cover to cover finding that there was a problem. The book said there was a secret for success, but it only gives you half of the secret and the reader has to figure the other half. It kind of bummed John out as he wasn’t sure where to go next. So, he decided to immerse himself further and during a 2-month period, he figured it out and a 12 minute a day process to apply it. He put it into effect in his business at the time and the income doubled and 4-years later he was netting $5 million.

He was operating at a higher level. He was more focused and more in control.

He sold his company and semi-retired but wanted to teach what he had learned to the world and that is what he has been doing. Even the University of Texas brought him on to teach it.

What did you figure out about Think and Grow Rich? What is the secret?

• The part the book gives you is that everything begins with a thought.
• John realized that the full secret is that “what you envision in detail on a daily basis is shows up in your life.”
• When you establish immense clarity of exactly the person you want to be, exactly what you want to accomplish, and precisely how you can achieve your clearly defined goals and then feed it to yourself in 12 minutes a day, you will succeed.
• After about 21 days of doing this, it starts influencing your unconscious daily actions and enhances them.
• This begins to create the life you want.

Thoughts on conditioning and how it impacts us – and how it can be changed?

• Think and Grow Rich is based on the fact that 95% of your daily actions are unconscious.
• We are all innately wired for survival and if 95% of our daily actions are unconscious, you are innately wired to be fear-based and negative.
• That is the opposite of who you need to be to be pro-active and successful.
• You have to override that programming.
• “The success of anyone’s life comes down to the cumulative effect of their daily actions.”
• You must then influence your daily actions. You do that by proactively influencing the subconscious mind.

How do people influence their subconscious mind?

• The way the human mind works is that the conscious mind sets the intention and is influenced by logic, but your daily actioned are influenced by the subconscious mind and only influenced by repetition.
• As an example – losing weight. The conscious mind sets the intention to lose weight. But that doesn’t make it happen. The subconscious is in control and is influenced only by repetition, so it the change in behavior reputation that helps someone lose weight.

Take us through the 12 Minute Methodology you’ve developed…

• First, you must create immense intention clarity about your life.
• You define exactly the person you want to be.
• You define exactly what you want to accomplish.
• You define exactly how you will achieve your clearly defined goals.
• You will live your life quarter by quarter and have your goals set in each area by quarter.
• Once you create your clarity, you feed it to yourself every day.
• Initially, the subconscious mind will reject it, but around the 21st day of doing it, the subconscious will begin to accept it and start to be reconditioned.

12 minutes?

• Reading your template, you’ve created and visualizing it.

If someone implements this, what are the pitfalls they need to look out for, so they don’t fall back into the trap of the subconscious?

• People must be driven. If you are not driven, this process will not work. D
• arren Hardy gave Joh advice telling him that most people will not spend 12 minutes a day on this process. He must be selective and only work with driven people who will commit to it.
• People that are driven will do it.

Is it just a fact that people just do not have the desire and drive to better themselves or can they develop themselves to have it?

• At the 23 min mark, John tells more of his story and about his mother dying while he was going through finding himself.
• Go through the experience made him think about his life and whether he was living it at his true potential. He wasn’t and that spurred him.
• He was confusing working hard with working smart or being competent as an entrepreneur.
• It is very hard to change your drive and desire. It takes something dramatic.
• But the driven know who they are.

At the 27 min mark, John and I have a great conversation on beliefs and how it relates to drive. We also discuss more on the subconscious and awareness.

Talk to us about the deep-thinking you advocate…

• Set aside time to just think 2x per week.
• Pick which days per week you will do it.
• Pick your favorite place in your home or in nature.
• Each session should last 30 mins.
• Get a pad of paper (thinking tablet)
• Step 1: For the first 10 mins, let whatever come to you come, and write it down.
• Step 2: Figure out a question you will ask yourself and then write it down and answer it.
• Step 3: Write the 2-3 takeaways and 2-3 action steps you will do over the next week.

Go to www.ThinkitBeit.com/ME there is a video and guide on the process for you.

Is there anything else from your study of Think and Grow Rich that we should know?

• It works on everyone. It is based on pure science.
• But it is not for everyone.
• The hard work is creating the clarity.

Best Quote: The success of anyone’s life comes down to the cumulative effect of their daily actions.

Johns' Misfit 3:

1. Don’t have an average life. If everyone else doing something, you should look at doing the opposite.
2. Most things don’t matter. There are a few things you truly need to do great to give you the best outcome. Focus on those.
3. Most people do not appreciate how precious life is. Take the time to appreciate it and if you are not happy, grab ahold and play the game at a higher level.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Donnie Boivin. Donnie is a Marine Corp veteran, award winning professional sales trainer, and owner of Success Champions and Success Champions Podcast. After leaving the Marine Corp and working in sales and business for almost 20 years, at the age of 40, Donnie realized he was not living his dream.

So, he set out to create it. Donnie is author of best-selling book, How to Be a Success Champion, Business Strategy for Badasses. ​

What I love most about Donnie is his no BS, direct style. The guy gets results. So, I’ve asked him on the share his best on how you can do the same in your life and business.

Text “Success” to: 817-318-6030 (Donnie will send a bunch of great stuff to you)

After the Marine Corps, Donnie spent 20 years in straight commission sales. His last career was as on one of the top sales trainers in the country for the Sandler Sales Institute. He was all set to buy the business from his boss when his boss told him something that would change his life. His boss, out of love, said “Thank God, you are my retirement plan.” It was in that moment that he realized he was building something for someone else and was their retirement plan. 15 days later, he launched his company and went out on his own.

Nowadays he runs 6 companies, 2 of the top podcasts in the world, and has written 4 Best-Selling books, plus he owns a working farm.

What is a success champion?

• Someone who is chasing their own success.
• At the 5 min mark, Donnie relates this to the movie Troy. Achilles is the champion.
• A success champion is chasing life so they can find their own business freedom.

What is a badass in business?

• Someone who knowingly gets up every day knowing they are going to get punched in the face by life but does it anyway.
• Most people think business is fairly straightforward and easy.
• They are not prepared for the amount of work and dedication it truly takes.
• The badass is excited to get to work knowing things are going to be a wreck and they will have to sort through it, plus do all the other things in their life like taking care of the family.
• They enjoy the struggle.

At the 10:30 mark, Donnie and I have a great conversation about the DCP formula.

• Donnie ads that you have to know what you need to be disciplined about. You need to be focused and stay in your lane and delegate out what is not your lane.

What are the strategies you’ve used to create and build your businesses?

• Writing down everything you have to do in the business. Everything.
• Then ask yourself, “Would Steve Jobs do this task?” If not, as a CEO of a company, you need to decide what it is you should be doing.
• And you may not be able to afford to outsource everything, but you and trade services for things you would like. You have to get things off your plate.
• Everything is a system, a process. Donnie created a formula to create processes: ADD. Action. Document. Delegate. For every task in a business, you have to take action on it, document it as you go through it and then delegate it to someone else and let them further define it and make it better putting it to work.
• This creates a duplicatable system.

“Every lesson you learn in business is going to be applied again somewhere down the road…”

What are the best strategies that you advocate for gaining clients in today’s world?

• People need to understand that the old school tactics that were taught many great names don’t work anymore.
• There is no more “closing.”
• Instead, your personal brand has become something much bigger and stronger.
• Sales is now just a conversation that has an outcome.
• People are not used to getting an outcome. They don’t like closing, but they love “closure.”
• If people focus on how to get closure than on closing, they will be more successful.
• Every conversation with a prospect needs to have some sort of end.
• Most people leave their conversations open-ended.
• Use sales as a conversation and get to closure.

At the 24 min mark, Donnie shares some examples.

• You have to let people know what the actions are that you want them to take and then be detached from the outcome.

Thoughts around story?

• How we tell our stories and show up in the world that gets people talking about you.
• Cold sales are tougher and tougher.
• Everything is community and if you don’t have one or the ability to build one, then you can’t be as successful as you could be in this world.
• If you can’t tell the right stories, you cannot build the community of people you need to.

What are the elements of a great story?

• The Hero’s Journey. If you have not read Joseph Campbell’s philosophy, it is recommended.
• It’s Frodo from Lord of the Rings and going from a nobody, adventure to hero.
• What are the moments of time you went through that were really impactful that you can use to teach others?
• It’s also being vulnerable in telling the stories and showing that you’ve been through it before.

LinkedIn for growing your business?

• LinkedIn is becoming a business social app.
• It’s not just a place for putting your resume.
• It’s now one of the best places to engage and develop a business.
• LinkedIn has just come out launching their own audio/video style of Clubhouse
• DCP the heck out of LinkedIn.

There are a lot of people out there working in a job, but know they are destined for something greater as an entrepreneur. What is your best advice for them on how to make the transition?

• Screw up fast and screw up hard. As an employee, you are taught not to do this, but as a business owner, if things are not breaking, then you are not going big enough and doing enough.
• Turn off everything you thought of an employee and start thinking like a CEO.
• People get hung up in creation.
• They are not being out front growing their business.
• Your business will never be built by doing just operational stuff.  Build a network and leverage the heck out of it.
• You have to mentally become what you want before you can get it. If you hand someone a million dollars that didn’t earn it, they most likely will lose it because they have not developed themselves to keep and manage a million dollars.
• Quit thinking in “how” and start thinking in “who” – who can get this done for me?
• Quit thinking in “how” to get where you want to go and start thinking in “systems,” – what systems do we need in place that can duplicate and grow to get you there?
• Most of the time you need to take action and quit planning. ​

What lessons from owning a farm have helped you most as an entrepreneur?

• Regiment is everything.
• If you don’t have regiments and routines, you will fail.
• Your day should be regiments including the fun things you do.

Best Quote: Every lesson you learn in business is going to be applied again somewhere down the road…

Donnie's Misfit 3:

1. Be you. Everyone else is taken. You do not need to be someone else to be successful.
2. Go BIG. The Level you are going at right now is not big enough.
3. Get rid of your excuses. Running your own company, you will meet yourself along the way because you will run out of excuses. Take ownership.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Dave Menz. Dave is known as the “Laundromat Millionaire.” He grew up in poverty and had to overcome tremendous challenge to find success. And he did it by doing something obvious, but unique – upping the game in an industry that was resting on its laurels, the laundromat space.

He started by doing what I have come to call “chicken entrepreneurship,” building a business on the side while working a job. And now he’s a millionaire multiple times over and the author of the forthcoming book, Laundromat Millionaire – the Grit to Elevate and Industry.

Dave has a true rags to riches story that I cannot wait for him to share with you.

www.LaundromatMillionaire.com

Dave grew up poor in Flint, Michigan. He lived in a rough neighborhood but had good parents. They didn’t have much money, but they had a good family. He learned that no one was going to hand him anything, but that he could make it happen for himself if he pursued it. He always had an entrepreneur streak in him, but as he grew up, he “took the bait” of corporate America and had the stereotypical middle-class lifestyle.

It was in is late 20’s that he realized that it really wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. He had kind of sold out on his dream of being an entrepreneur. So, over the next 5 years he and his family lived well below their means and saved to buy a business. They didn’t know what it was, but they needed seed money.

Over those 5 years, he and his wife worked really hard at their plan and looked at every business he could find, but none of them checked all the boxes until he came across a laundromat a few miles from his house.

He didn’t see any red flags in his diligence, but he saw tremendous opportunity and he seized it. The laundromat was “a complete dump and losing money” when they bought it. After going to work, nowadays Dave owns 5 laundromats and the real estate with them and has built a multi-million-dollar business. They even had a laundry pickup and delivery service.

Now Dave’s personal mission is to elevate the industry.

Why did you choose the laundromat business over all the others you looked at?

• A lot of the negative conceptions about laundromats as opportunities.
• Dave believes the laundromat business is the best small business in America.
• Laundromats are a simple cash business with no accounts receivable, no inventory, simple book-keeping, and minimal employees to manage.
• It is also a simple business to run that is steady.
• It is also a vital community resource that is recession resistant.
• It is a business about people who need a good service and that is the opportunity – where many owners just maintain a laundromat, it can be and do so much more.
• It can almost be boring because it is consistent, but not “sexy.”

At the 10 min, Dave talks about being an entrepreneur in the general sense and the gift that it is. Dave would find that he was proud to be an entrepreneur and own a business, but when told people what kind it was, he could see the look on their face. He also talks about the laundromat business in general.

What did you learn and do to differentiate your business?

• Most people that run laundromats treat it as a side hustle that they don’t have to do much with. That sets the bar low.
• Dave treated it as a true business who cared for its customers. The bar was already set low for wowing people. For example, having a very clean and well-kept store. Having an attendant available to help people.
• Dave created standards such as high customer service, having attendants, and creating a better value proposition.
• It didn’t happen overnight and he continued to work for almost 5 years at his job while putting every extra hour and extra dime into building and making the business better.

Dave’s philosophy: As a human being, he wants to be a better version of himself each day. A better husband, a better dad, and a better business owner.

You found your business on Craig’s List. Was that luck or is there still opportunity to find businesses to buy there?

• There is still opportunity there.
• It’s an overlooked place
• At the 21 min mark, Dave talks about the love being an entrepreneur and running a good business, no matter what the product is.
• You can go onto Craig’s List under the “Businesses for Sale” area and find many different ones there.
• There are “diamond in the roughs” to be found.

You talk a lot about “Grit.” Define grit how you see it.

• The willingness to do anything that is legal and ethical.
• It is never quitting. It is not what you do, it is who you are.
• It is a mentality.
• There are lot of people out there that want to be an entrepreneur but aren’t willing to do the things necessary. They just want the fun.
  • They don’t have the risk tolerance
  • They aren’t willing to delay gratification
  • They don’t understand everything that goes into it.

At the 29 min mark, Dave talks about how he was grinding and pushing so hard, that he woke up one day and started getting ready for work and his wife looked at him and said, “What are doing? It is Christmas Day.”

“To get things in life that most people in life don’t ever achieve, you have to be willing to do things that other people are not willing to do.”

What advice do you have for those looking to build their business while working a job?

• Sacrifice. You will have to sacrifice to make it.
• You will have to delay gratification and think long term.
• None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow, so we must make the most of it.
• Make sure you are living your authentic self.
• At some point, you will reach a point where you entrepreneur income equals you job income and that is freeing and empowering.
• For Dave, his job came first as his primary source of income, and he did whatever he had to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.
• Dave stayed longer than he had because he could do both well and it helped him to have extra cash to pay debt and other things.
• “When you start, you need your job. In the middle, you want your job. And in the end, you are done with your job.” How you make decisions in life is reflective of needs and wants and where your priorities are in life. Dave got to a point where he did not have to do overtime, etc. ​

At the 38 min mark, Dave and I talk about self-education and the important of that journey in helping you as an entrepreneur. Don’t every stop pushing the envelop when it comes to your self-development.

Best Quote: To get things in life that most people in life don’t ever achieve, you have to be willing to do things that other people are not willing to do.

Dave's Misfit 3:

1. Be your authentic self. The beauty of business ownership is that you get to decide what your business looks like and what it doesn’t.
2. Be passionate about something. Live a fulfilled life. Do not be here to “exist.”
3. Serve others. Look for opportunities to make a difference. Always do what is right.

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