Misfit Nation! Welcome to the Misfit Entrepreneur 2019 year in review where each year I attempt to boil down all of the incredible, useful information, strategies, and tips that our guests have given on the show into less than one hour for you…with a few surprises thrown in. Now, it’s impossible for me to go over every single best piece of advice and that it why I urge you to take some time and go through the Misfit Archives to see which episodes resonate most with you, but in doing this episode, my goal is to spur ideas – to give you a lightning strike that propels you down a path of action to better improve yourself, your life, and your business or career in 2020!

That’s why I do this show – to not only provide a treasure trove of some of the best information to succeed in life and business for my daughter, Hannah, for when she grows up, but to give you a place where you know you can come each and every week to get inspired and find real, tried and tested tips, secrets, and strategies to succeed in all areas of life, and to share different perspectives from some of the highest performing entrepreneurs in the world with you. I truly believe that one great episode can change someone’s life and that’s what we set out to do each and every week.

But, before I begin I want to tell you something. I want to say “Thank YOU.” Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support of the show and thank you for sharing our message. Without you and the amazing feedback members of this audience give me every week, it would not be half of what it is. Because of you, in just a couple short years, this show has reached hundreds of thousands of people in over 130 countries. I am truly humbled and in awe at what we’ve done together and I am excited about having an even bigger impact with your help in 2020. So, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you, thank you, thank you!

​This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Scott Lynn. I always love Misfit Entrepreneurs who figure out ways to bring markets or solutions that were previously only available to a select group or reserved for the ultra-rich, to the masses. Scott has done just that. He is the founder and CEO of Masterworks. Masterworks makes it possible for everyone to invest in blue-chip artwork. Access to these types of art investments, like Andy Warhol or Monet paintings that go for millions, have been limited to those with the means to purchase these masterpieces—often historical treasures—and remove them from public display when they enter their private collections. Masterworks is opening the doors to top-tier, blue-chip art investments to everyone. It’s the first company to allow investors to by shares of ownership in these great works of art, for as little as $20.

This isn’t Scott’s first venture – in fact, for years he’s built businesses in the internet and online advertising space, but he has always been an art aficionado and an internationally -recognized collector. I’m excited to discuss his experience as well as how to create new, blue ocean markets.

www.Masterworks.io

Scott started his first company in high school and as he says, “with a little skill and a lot of luck,” they built the most popular game on the internet in the late 90’s. They created the “punch the monkey” advertisements which drove people to the game. The game was called Tree Loot and was one of the first examples of interactive websites where people had a chance to win money. They figured out for every $1 they spent in advertising, they made $2, so they just poured it on and by the time Scott graduated high school, they had almost 70 employees and ultimately built the company to a few hundred employees within a year after.

It was trial by fire for a kid starting a business and Scott had to grow up fast. It went great until March of 2000. Then the dot com bubble happened and even then, Scott thought it would not affect them, but the crash exposed an issue with internet advertisers. The issue was that all of the advertisers we buying ads with each other and spending the money from the dot com companies. When that dried up, it was like a domino effect in that these companies couldn’t afford to buy ads and one by one the internet advertisers funds dried up and since they were buying from each other, it basically collapsed. In a 2 weeks period, 60% of Scott advertisers cancelled. They didn’t sell the business, but pivoted to a new business that was direct marketing focused and not so much gaming. It was horrible to go through, but it taught Scott some very hard lessons in a fast way.

From there, Scott went into online advertising and Fintech building companies and now has started Masterworks. What were some of the lessons you learned from going through the Dot Com crash?

• You must be ahead of change and move faster. Most companies don’t move fast enough because they don’t see the problem for as bad as it is.
• Concentration risk. Be careful to make sure you are diversified in that you don’t rely on one sole source for your business to survive.

What do you feel is the most important ingredient for an entrepreneur to succeed in today’s world?

• Execution – People, Structure, Process is important, but Strategy is much more important.
• Focus on the right thing, a good, sizeable market with a need.
• Make sure your business or product is well-differentiated and has a good competitive advantage.
• Find ways to make your business or product “lock in” with customers. It has to be sticky.

Is there a framework that you use when you build a company or a set of principles that you use when you go into an endeavor?

• A core process is Michael Porter’s 5 Forces process. It helps you to understand how to differentiate a business to increase the likelihood of success in any given market.
• You want to be in markets with products that are well differentiated that make your life as easy as possible to gain market share and take margin. It’s hard to do this without a serious strategy process to think through these things.
• So, strategy is key to success.

Can you share the 5 Forces and give us a quick overview?

• The idea is to reduce the threats in 5 different categories
  • Suppliers
  • Customers
  • Substitute products
  • New Entrants
  • Competition/Existing Rivalry
• The key is to figure how to differentiate to reduce your risk in each of those categories.

Talk to us about finding a Blue Ocean or White Space. What is the secret to finding them?

• It’s iterating and testing to find the right market/product combinations that has really great market fit.
• The initial product/market fit is not usually the winning combination. It take multiple iterations and changes to find it.
• When you find that great combination and do it in the context of Porter’s 5 categories, you can create white space.

Tell us about Masterworks and how you applied the 5 forces to make it a great market fit…

• Scott has been involved in collecting art for some time.
• It’s 1.7 trillion asset value market. It is a large and meaningful asset classes.
• It’s also one of the oldest asset classes and has existed for centuries.
• But, it has a huge barrier to entry because of cost.
• Until Masterworks, there was not way to really invest in art unless you got a group together to buy a piece or were independently wealthy enough.
• Masterworks was created to give investors the ability to invest in and own a piece of an artwork for as little as $20/share.
• Masterworks treats a painting like a company going public and puts it into a corporation and sell shares in it. They make a management fee similar to a fund for doing it.
• The 5 Forces applied to Masterworks:
  • Currently not Competition/Existing Rivalry right now
  • There are threats of new entrants from the art industry or finance world
  • The power of customer is really limited because Masterworks is the only one that can do it today. The investments are 3-7 years, so there is a lot of stickiness.
  • There really are no substitute products. In fact, Masterworks paintings are more of a substitute for traditional investments.
  • Power of suppliers is low. Art galleries and auctions sell the paintings and the prices are pretty set.

At the 30 min mark, Scott talks about the current state of online advertising and where entrepreneur should focus…

• In the year 2000, the conversation was different. It was about the internet with all these places where ads could be placed and used. It was very dispersed.
• Now in 2019, we are in place where a couple of companies control the internet so most advertising is done through platforms.
• The problem is simpler, but more expensive since there are only a few players.
• Facebook, Google, and Direct Media buying with sites that are focused on your vertical of product or service is where to be.
• The jury is out on influencers.
• There is a lot of hype, but not a lot of results.
• Most of the value is coming in Google Search, then Facebook and some of the display networks.
• Google and Facebook are different. If you have a product that has pre-existing intent – people searching for it, then Google makes the most sense. If you don’t have pre-existing intent, then social media to create awareness and drive curiosity makes more sense.

Are there any trends that you see that people should be watching for the future?

• Focus on the platforms.
• What are they doing?
• What are they changing?
• The details are important and keeping up with the details on the platforms are very important.
• You need to be very hands on with your marketing.

What would you tell a new entrepreneur starting today?

• The skillset of marketing with platforms is important (Facebook and Google)
• Hiring, coaching, and firing
• Product – CEO’s should not be hands off – they need to be learning from customers and involved in product.
• Great entrepreneurs have deep domain knowledge in their market and are hands on.

Tell us more about creating and building your business as a high-schooler…

• Scott was working as a web-designer to pay for the person he hired to engineer the game.
• They iterated the game to a point where they knew they had something.
• But they didn’t have any money to go out and buy advertising.
• Scott found our he could apply for advertising credits with some of the new networks that were starting up. He did and got $500k worth of credits!
• He made almost $1 million dollars from spending it and used to profits to keep funding it.

Best Quote: Execution – People, Structure, Process is important, but Strategy is much more important.

Scott's Misfit 3:

1. Do what you love. There is high correlation to being successful and happy if you do what you love.
2. Make sure you are spending time on the right things. Put as much focus on strategy as you do execution.
3. We’re not good at predicting the future. And so knowing you really can’t predict the future, how would you run your life differently today? Answer that as best as you can and live it.

In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting 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 have learned which 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, Recently, we had a conversation where you shared with me that sometimes at school you find yourself alone. Sometimes friends will go play with other friends or do activities with them and you will not always be invited. And of course, many times you are the one invited and other friends are not.

​ I could tell it bothered you, as it does most kids, but you were doing your best not to let it show. First, let me say that this is common, not just among kids, but adults as well, so this will happen throughout your life. Sometimes you will be included, sometimes you won’t, and sometimes you will never know why.

This can cause people to question themselves. The little voice inside their head starts asking things like “Why don’t they like me?” or “Did I do something wrong?” or the worst one, “Is there something wrong with me?” People, kids and adults, will tie themselves in knots and agonize over these questions and have extensive internal dialog. They will let it eat at them and cause them to question way more about themselves than they should – when in reality, usually, there is nothing wrong and there is no issue. It’s just people being people.

But, here’s the real lesson and the thing I want you to understand. It’s ok to be alone. In fact, one of the best things we can learn to do is learn to love ourselves and learn how to enjoy being alone. I know it doesn’t seem right that being alone is a good thing, but it is. I’m not talking about all the time, but science and studies have show that periods of solitude are very healthy for us and help us to be stronger people.

For example, as I said above, one of the best things we can do is learn to love ourselves. What does that mean? Well, one of the reasons that people have trouble being alone is the fear of what they will find or have to face about themselves and who they are, when they are left with just themselves. Deep down, they may not like who they are or know there are things they need to deal with and being alone will force them to confront them. Good. Confront them. Hannah, one of the greatest things you will ever do is learn to love yourself for who you are. God does. In fact, he created you in his image. I have always been amazed at how this goes lost on people. When you can look at yourself and say I love me for who I am and I believe in myself and my abilities, it changes everything. You no longer have to get self-worth validated by outside sources. You no longer have to be part of a group or groups for your identity – because you know who you are, and you have a love for who you are. Talk about the greatest gift of personal power – it’s learning to be comfortable with just yourself. The strength is in you, the individual, not the collective.

On top of that, periods of solitude have many other benefits. Solitude has been proven to help us be more productive because there are no outside influences pulling at you and your time. It helps with your creativeness. The best ideas I have come up with are when I am alone, typically on a long run. In fact, it takes about 5 miles of running before my mind calms down and clears away all of the thoughts running through it, so it’s just me, the road, and the soft sound of each step. It is in these moments that I find myself most creative and develop my best ideas. In fact, the idea for this podcast came to me during one of those times.

Spending time alone also helps to give your perspective and better understanding. When you are with a group or a circle of friends, you are more susceptible to group think where everyone goes along with the same idea, premise, etc. But, when you are alone, you can truly think through things, better understand them, develop your own thoughts that you choose, and be true to yourself.

I can go on about other benefits, but I think you understand the lesson I am sharing. The ability to be comfortable being alone is powerful. It is an asset to living a great life.

Hannah, I know how tough it is and how it feels a young age to be “left out” or not included in certain things. But, I want you to see these times for what they are for you. They are a gift. A gift to get know yourself better. A gift to develop your talents. A gift to understand and empathize for others who are not strong enough to be alone. And most importantly, a gift to learn to love yourself.

My hope is that you embrace solitude and the gifts it brings, and make the most of it in your life. Your light will shine even brighter in the world for having done so. ​

I love you, ​

Daddy

Best Quote:  It’s OK to be alone and have periods of solitude. In fact, one of the best things we can learn to do is learn to love ourselves and learn how to enjoy being alone.

Misfit 3:

1. It’s OK to be alone.
2. Science and studies have shown that periods of solitude are healthy for us and even increase productivity, creativity, and our confidence.
3. Embrace being alone as the gift it is in your development as an individual on your journey in life.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Chad Peterson. Chad has been a serial entrepreneur going back to when he was a kid. He is the founder of Peterson Acquisitions, a business broker that helps people buy and sell businesses through the U.S. and abroad and his been ranked the #1 business broker in the country.

Chad is also the author of multiple best-sellers including From Blue to White: Quit Your J.O.B., A Working Man's Guide to Self-Employment and Swinging Doors.

Chad has done deals of all sizes upwards of $550 million and has a created a unique process that can help any business owner prepare and maximize the value of their business, as well as help them in their next great adventure. I’m excited to have him on today to discuss what he’s learned along his Misfit Entrepreneur journey and the principles he can teach you about buying and selling a business.

www.PetersonAcquisitions.com

https://petersonacquisitions.com/get-the-book/

As Chad says, he got where he is at by sure determination, will, tenacity, and fire in his belly. He went out and did it. But he had his hard times. He was raised in a tumultuous household – no silver spoon. He realized at an early age that “if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”

He started as young kid knocking on doors and did everything from yard work to walking dogs, odd jobs and more. Anything he could do to succeed, he did it. Chad says, that “those customers taught him more about life than the school system or even his parents. Business raised Chad. He’s had multiple successes and multiple failures.

In your book, Blue to White, you open it up by saying that when someone asks you what you do, you tell them, “I live for a living.” Explain that.

• Too many people get wrapped up in what they do or their title.
• They wear the mask too much.
• But, we are not that, we are many things.
• Chad makes the most out of his life and doesn’t rest on his laurels.
• Chad’s favorite saying, Live Deliberately”
• His life is not an accident. It’s thought out. He knows his end goal and his intentionality.

What was it that you learned about life from your customers when you were a kid?

• You have to tell someone what you are going to do and you have to follow through with it.
• The importance of laser focus.
• How to conduct business and give good service.
• How to bill and collect money.
• How to market yourself and your business.
• And much more!

At the 11:30 mark, Chad talks about his biggest failure in business with his mortgage business and what he took away from it…

• He got crushed in 2008.
• He could have sold the company in 2007 for $10 million.
• Up to 2008, the company was doing incredible. It had 120 employees, multiple locations, and was doing almost a million per month.
• Then 2008 happened and almost overnight it was all gone. Chad was at the epicenter of the subprime meltdown.
• He had just expanded and signed new mult-year leases and was basically broke.
• He didn’t file for bankruptcy though. He lost everything, but ultimately got through it and shut things down without having to do that. It took him 5 years.
• The lesson learned, “When you’re doing well, it’s the time to sell.” Never wait until you’re not doing well and the ship is sinking to sell. Go out on top.
• That is when his Peterson Acquisitions was born.

“Where there is no passion, there is no profit.”

At the 16:38 mark, Chad shares how he does, what he does with clients…

• First, Chad helps business owners understand what their business is really worth today. As part of that process, tax returns have to be recast to come up with “seller’s discretionary earnings.”
• Seller’s discretionary earnings are really cashflow and that is the real value of a business.
  • This is adding everything that the business down for them back in – Meals, Travel, etc. Any owner benefit.
• Once they get the number, they take that and look at the industry to see what the multiple is.
• Manufacturing can get up to 4x. Service businesses can go as low as 2x. Online businesses can go higher.
• Additionally, he helps them evaluate where they are psychologically to see if they are ready to move on to their next adventure.

How do you do the 2nd part, the discussion around whether someone is psychologically ready to sell their business?

• The hardest thing to do is to tell people and show them the truth.
• A lot of brokers need a paycheck – Chad does not at this point.
• Chad wants to do good business for good people.
• The key is getting to where the owner is at right now – what is their passion?
• If it is not a 10 on a scale of 1-10, then it is time to get out. Remember, where there is not passion, there is no profit.
• People become very emotionally involved in their business or investments.
• Everybody is replaceable. Sometimes that is the owner.

What are things people should be thinking about or doing ahead of time or as they are growing their business to be prepared to sell it?

• You must have the mindset that your business can and one day will be sold.
• Make sure you are keeping in contact with a qualified broker and keep up with valuations.
• Business owners think about selling their business for 1000-2000 hours before they make the decision to even sell.
• People do this without keeping up at least annually on the valuation of the business and what is worth. You can’t make a decision if you don’t know what your business is worth.

What are the elements of a great deal? How does someone know that deal that is put together is a good one for them for their business?

• A good deal starts with a good seller and a good buyer.
• Chad’s job is not to sell people on the idea of selling their company, it’s to sell the company.
• You must be serious about selling as an owner.
• Business owners need to learn the real value and understand it. Many times, it’s not what they think.
• What a business takes from someone emotionally affects what they thing is the price, but the buyer doesn’t have that baggage and there is not a value for that.
• The bank or loan company for the transaction also must get behind it. That is a reality that impacts the price.
• If the seller understands the value, the buyer understands, and the bank can get behind it – and all parties are good with it, then things are good to proceed.
• The business must also have good strong 3M’s – Market, Message, and Management.

Tell us more about the 3 M’s…

• They are the 3 areas that are most important to focus on in the business.
• Marketing, Messaging, Management
• Is marketing being maximized and done right for the business?
• Is the messaging for the business consistent and easy to understand?
• Does the business have good management - systems that work well without the owner? ​

What is one thing that you think every entrepreneur should know?

• You must be truly aligned with what you want to do before you get started.
• There is a million ways to make a million dollars, but only a certain few are a fit for you.
• Your business must be aligned with your passion for it.
• Passion defeats education.
• Passion breeds desire….desire drives success.
• You have to have a healthy obsession.

Best Quote: Where there is no passion, there is no profit.

Chad's Misfit 3:

1. If you are going to do something, go all the way. In order to go all the way, you need to be prepared to go further than what you think “all they way” is.
2. Personal responsibility. If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.
3. Don’t let yourself have “rocking chair regret” or let the music die inside you. Accomplish your dreams and goals

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Antoine Martel. Antoine is the 23-year-old who started investing in college and went from $20,000 in the bank to retiring his parents in less than two years. He did it through creating turnkey opportunities in real estate. In fact, in just a few short years, Antoine’s company, Martel Turnkey has amassed a portfolio of over 100 properties and has sold over $10 million dollars’ worth of cash flowing real estate. He’s also the author of the popular real estate investing book, A Millennials Guide to Real Estate Investing.

The biggest reason I wanted to have Antoine on the show was not so much about how to invest in Turnkey real estate, although we’ll touch on that today, but because he is a great example that with a little ingenuity and looking at things a little differently, you can create a great business, at any age. I’m excited for him to share his wisdom and everything he’s learned to this point in his entrepreneur journey.

www.MartelTurnkey.com

Instagram @martelantoine ​

Antoine is now 24. He’s been an entrepreneur his whole life, finding ways to make money in high school – even importing things from China to sell. He started investing in real estate in college. He and his family went to an investing seminar where they taught them how to analyze and manage real estate. He immersed himself into the teachings and did a lot of the work to get everything off the ground because his parents had full time jobs.

They started trying to flip houses in California, but couldn’t make things work for the cash they had. So, Antoine started researching how to buy property in less expensive markets out of state as well as networking to meet and learn from people doing it. He moved all his college courses to night classes so he could spend his days focused on building the business.

He found a lot of people investing out of state and buying single family properties either through turn-key or creating their own teams on the ground. And or course, the prices for the homes were much less.

Through research, Antoine found Memphis, TN to be a good market and started there. He built a team, had his parents invest, and the deal went according to plan. He then graduated and took 6 months to focus on making it a real business.

Now, Antoine had the full day to focus, including the evening and by December of that year, they had 10 homes in Memphis.

They then begin to have people reach out to them asking them how they are doing it and wanting to be able to do it. That is what got Antoine into doing Turn-keys and then selling them to their contacts. They now do over 100 homes a year, 8-10 per month using the model and selling to investors all over the world.

What’s the biggest myth about investing in real estate that you want to put to rest?

• Turn-Key has gotten a bad rap. A big player in the industry got a huge lawsuit because they were doing things illegal. But there is a lot of great companies out there.
• Like anything, you have to do your homework, but you can find great, solid partners.

At the 12 min mark, Antoine goes through his process of how he finds and invests in a property…

• Antoine purchases a house with his money.
• They then rehab and fix it up with their teams.
• Then they market it professionally.
• They get everything set with a tenant.
• They have vetted property management companies they then use to manage it.
• Once everything is set, they put it on the market to investors. It is fully bundled, ready, and cash flowing for the buyer.
• Antoine’s company also helps the buyer with financing and introductions to the property management firms, etc.

What are the criteria that you look for in a property?

• 3-bedroom, 1 bath 900-1200 sq ft.
• Can accommodate a couple, or small family.
• Focus on specific neighborhoods in markets – specific zip codes.
  • They do this because they do B and C class properties.
  • These properties are not in a downtown core or high wealth areas
  • Focus on blue/white collar areas that average $40-50k per year.
  • Within a 15-20 min drive to downtown.

Why is it better to invest for cashflow?

• Cashflow provides you income every month vs. the up and down roller coaster of flipping.
• To buy an apartment building or turn-key property is much easier and better over the long run.
• You also get the tax advantages of depreciation and the ability to do 1030 exchanges when investing for cashflow and holding over time.

At the 21 min mark, Antoine talks about buying property out of state…

• It all comes down to your team.
• You should take it slow and do your homework.
• Start with one property.
• You will have to manage your new team early on to make sure they stay on budget and do what they commit to.
• Once they’ve proven it, then it easier to scale.

Talk to us about how you market your business...

• Content heavy
• Blogs and articles on things like Bigger Pockets, LinkedIn, etc.
• Blasts each week to their list from networking and growing from their website.
• An Instagram video post every day. Podcasts.
• Just starting webinars
• Never stop networking with all that you can

What are the demographics of your market?

• 25-45
• Steady job
• Have $20-50k in savings to invest
• Married, potentially kids

What are some of the keys that you have found to consistently succeed at a high level?

• Taking action.
• Don’t be a full time seminar goer who never does anything with what you learn in the seminar.
• Antoine when to 1 seminar and took action and stuck with it. The results speak for themselves.
• Never stop getting better at what you do. You can always improve.

What advice would you give millennial entrepreneurs?

• Don’t make excuses for yourself.
• People will respect you for taking action at a younger age
• Don’t worry about what people think – concentrate on knowing your craft and being great at what you do. It will show through.
• Your youth is an advantage.

What’s been your biggest failure in your business and what did you learn?

• Getting too confident.
• Don’t get too confident and think that you can go outside your process or system that you have proven to work.

At the 38 min mark, Antoine shares some trends he sees coming in real estate…

• The market is going to take a hit. The economy will have a downturn.
• There are a lot of people flipping luxury homes and not leaving much margin or room for error. If the market correct, just 10%, they’ll be underwater.
• The Airbnb model is going to suffer. A lot of people are now making their income solely off of Airbnb and when the market corrects and people are spending less to travel or traveling less, this is going to hurt them and that income is going to be hit.
• The value of the Airbnb property will suffer as well.
• Be prepared always for a downturn

Best Quote: Don’t be a full time seminar goer who never does anything with what you learn in the seminar. Learn and then take action on what you learn.

Antoine's Misfit 3:

1. Take action! Learn test, learn test, and don’t be afraid to pivot.
2. Look at your resources (time, money, knowledge) and make sure they are aligned with where things are at in the market cycle today. What can you start off with today? Match your resources to where they fit best in a market.
3. Systematize EVERYTHING! Every week, make it a goal to systematize something in your business.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Frank Ieraci. Frank started out owning a successful marketing business, but after a few years, realized that there was a great niche in helping clients grow their business through maximizing the power of LinkedIn. He did very well and grew an even larger business, but after some time, realized, that even though the results he was delivering for clients were excellent, the business couldn’t scale unless he found a way to automate his manual processes.

He figured it out and created one of the top LinkedIn marketing software solutions out there today, ClickedIn. ClickedIn is used by everyone from small one person businesses to large enterprise organizations, even groups like entrepreneur magazine.

With Frank’s background and experience, it was only fitting that I ask him on the show to discuss what he’s learned on his entrepreneur journey and his secrets on how use LinkedIn to help maximize the growth of your business.

www.ClickedIn.io

Through year end 2019, ClickedIn is offering a 14-day free trial of their software for $1. You can sign up right from the website.

Frank has been in marketing for over a decade. He started out in the SEO, AdWords, and social media space, but quickly saw how saturated the market had become. About 7 years ago, he sold off that side of his company and decided to focus solely on helping people grow their business through LinkedIn. During that time, he built a personal network with over 7.2 million connections.

Frank started out as a consultant helping clients get leads through a unique, but manual process. He guaranteed the service and had a lot of success. A few years ago, he had his “light bulb” go off and had an idea to build a software that mirrored what he did manually to help even more people around their world grow their business and that’s when ClickedIn was born.

Why LinkedIn?

• It was an untapped market
• LinkedIn is a B2B platform so you can target much better
• You can get a better 1 on 1 interaction on LinkedIn which makes the conversation much easier.
• It allows you to get that direct relationship.

Did anything surprise you about LinkedIn as you started to work with it and build ClickedIn?

• The quality of the conversations you are able to have – they are so much better than other platforms.
• You can do it without ad spend.
• You can book and get meetings with potential prospects much easier.

At the 9 min mark, Frank talks about ClickedIn and some of the nuances of LinkedIn and how it works…

• ClickedIn allows you to target your exact best match or prospect.
• It then communicates with a new connection for you based on messaging you create, but is smart and has an AI component that recognizes positive and negative responses.
• LinkedIn has specific rules for all users.
• LinkedIn wants to see a healthy ratio of connections sent out to acceptance.
• LinkedIn caps a user at 110 connections per day.
• LinkedIn also monitors page views to make sure you are not spamming inside the platform.
• LinkedIn allows you to export only a certain amount of your connections and to get all the data, you need to have a paid account.

A lot of social media marketing and automation services have been shut down, how have you avoided that with ClickedIn?

• The companies getting shut down are Chrome extensions and the social media platforms can see you are using them just from the URL in the chrome extension when you login.
• ClickedIn is a fully web-based platform, no extensions. When it connects, it looks the same as you do sitting at your desk. The software also follows all of the LinkedIn rules and terms and conditions.

How can someone maximize the reach of their LinkedIn profile?

• Think of LinkedIn as your digital resume.
• Have a professional photo. LinkedIn is not Facebook or Instagram, people are looking for business opportunities, so you need to look professional and like the executive that you are.
• A professional photo and banner have proven to help increase conversion rates.
• In your title section, put at least 3 key words of what you or your business is about. These help you rankings in search on LinkedIn.

At the 17 min mark, Frank talks about how he uses ClickedIn almost exclusively to grow his business and the best practices he’s learned about messaging and connecting with people in LinkedIn…

• First, know your audience. Know exactly who it is that you want to target.
• Social media is not about the number of connections you have – it’s about the quality of connections you have.
• Make quality your focus and then be very genuine in your messaging. Be yourself and who you truly are.
• When messaging, don’t go in for the sale on your first message.
• You do need to understand that people will want to know, “Who are you and what can you do for me,” but start out by engaging and giving before you ask for anything.
• Try to make things more conversational and temper your aggressiveness.

What are some of the most important things you’ve learned in building a software business?

• One word “PATIENCE!”
• You must have patience in building software because you are constantly improving things and adding new capabilities – and you have to deal with things not always working.
• You are constantly in a mode of testing, fixing, releasing, etc.

Besides patience, what you have you learned about yourself through your journey?

• You must learn to develop a ‘never quit attitude.”
• To get comfortable with the unknown
• Thrive in the face of challenge.
• It is so gratifying and rewarding to see what you’ve created help people.

At some point, you reached a breaking point, a time when you were on the brink of quitting. How did you overcome it?

• A lot of curse words
• It comes back to the whole reason why you started. The why.
• Nothing great ever comes easy and the bigger the obstacles you can overcome, the bigger your business can be.
• There are always a hundred reasons why you can give up and many times only one to keep you going. Always be looking for the one to remind yourself why you started your business and keep you moving forward.

Your best one piece of advice for a new entrepreneur starting out?

• Stay aggressive
• Stay focused
• A lot more are rooting for you to fail than succeed – tune it out.
• Refuse to quit – don’t give yourself another option.

Any trends across marketing or social media you see coming?

• Stay in tune with the guidelines and terms on the platforms because they are changing.
• Stay true to you through any change.
• Focus on the right approach and the conversation.
• Always make sure you are refining and be diligent about connecting with your target audience.

Best Quote:  Social media is not about the number of connections you have - it's about the quality of connections you have.

Frank's Misfit 3:

1. Refuse to be in the position you are in now.
2. Never quit or give in.
3. Stay aggressive and be patient.  Never be satisfied.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Kris Ward. Kris is an entrepreneur and founder of Shadowblast, a leading marketing agency in Canada. She is the author of the best-selling book and philosophy - Win the Hour, Win the Day. The systems Kris has developed and teaches help entrepreneurs not only better grow and run their businesses, but flourish in their personal life as well.

These systems were proven and put to the test when Kris went through a very tragic time in her life. You see, Kris is a widow. Her business was thriving and she had a wonderful life with the love of her life until her husband, John, passed away from cancer. The diagnosis came out of nowhere and was grim. Kris was determined to make the time they had left together the best she could. So she put work aside and immersed herself into John and making their last moments together the best she could. It was during this time, that her systems around Winning the Hour and Winning the Day were put to the test.

As Kris says, “My team did an excellent job following what we had put into place and I am forever grateful for them. They followed our best practices and the business ran smoothly without any issues.” Clients didn’t even know she was absent. It’s these principles that I am excited for Kris to share with you in this episode to teach you how to go from overwhelmed and overworked to thriving on your terms in life and business.

www.WintheHourWintheDay.com

Podcast: NOW Your Business

Kris was in business for over 4 years in her marketing agency when she found herself being overworked and had to find a way to make things easier. Her husband, John was her biggest fan and supporter, but she felt like she was letting him down with the time she was spending away.

She had always pushed back in “time management” because she was highly productive and did a lot more in a day than most people did. But she made the decision to really study how she could do even more with less and started to put some strategies in place. As Kris says, “It’s strategy vs. systems.”

And she did it. She went from working around the clock to working about 6-7 hours a day. It was just a couple years later that John was diagnosed with cancer. Just the doctor’s visits, chemo, etc. alone was time consuming, not to mention the emotional toil it took. Kris made the decision not to waste their time. They traveled and did a bunch of things together to make the most of their time and because of the strategies and systems of Win the Hour, Win the Day, she was able to work only 2-3 hours per week – for 2 years. And her business still thrived.

Her clients were shocked when they found out. They didn’t even know she was out and began to ask questions about how she was able to do it.

So Kris started helping people find “time empowerment.” She got rid of 80% of their “to do list” and 100% of their guilt.

“So many of us think that grinding it out is part of the entrepreneur journey when it’s not. Your passion and your work should support your life, not consume it.”

What’s the most important lesson you learned about life from your husband and going through what you went through together?

• The definition of what a problem is has changed completely. You find out what matters and what a real problem is takes on a new meaning.
• Ask the question, “Is that REALLY a problem?”

What mind shift must happen to take back control of your time?

• Any powerful change comes from a mind shift.
• It doesn’t happen from just finding some secret or strategy.
• Many of us have never been taught to respect or understand the foundations of time.
• We don’t look at our “Time Bank Account” and fundamentally, we are building everything we do on a flawed structure.
• Seeing the issue is the problem for most.

What is the issue people don’t see? Where do they falter?

• People don’t really understand or see their calendar as their “Time Bank Account”
• You don’t put things in you do every day, you put the external things.
• You hit the day thinking you have 8 hours to do everything in with your external appts., but you are not taking into account everything else you need to do – which may show, you only have 4 hours to do everything in.
• The one thing you cannot buy more of or change is time.
• We use a calendar as a reactive thing, but don’t use it as a GPS to navigate our business or our day – which is the foundation of the problem.

At the 14 min mark, Kris gives a great example of how we fight for our limitations instead of removing them…

Tell us about Win the Hour, Win the Day, and the Freedom Formula

• Focus. Studies are showing even more about the impact of not focusing or multi-tasking. It is almost the equivalent of being on drugs when it comes to impairing your productivity.
• You cannot shine a flashlight on two things at the same time. You must get serious about how and where you focus.
• To get better - Start with your creative work first in your day. Your first hour of work is incredibly important.
• Break things down and work backwards of what needs to be done to reach your outcome or goal.

At the 20 min mark, Kris shares the truth about “to do” lists…

• Get rid of 80% of your “to do” list by getting ridding of your bad habits. A to do list is really a list of rotating emergencies for most people.
• The biggest mistake people make is thinking a “to do” list is a plan or strategy when it is not. It cannot be truly measured.

What is the right way to plan to be productive?

• You have to work backwards to plan right. We do it in our personal lives all the time, but not in business very much.
• This is how you can create real plans and then systems around them to make a business go so that it can work on its own.
• Next, having a calendar that you know how much time you have for what you want to do makes you effective.
• You can then measure your progress by the steps from working backward and scheduling the tasks needed to reach to outcome or goal in your calendar with the time really have available.

At the 26-minute mark, Kris shares her thoughts on times of day we are more productive…

• Studies show we are more productive in the morning after sleeping. The science bares it out.
• No matter what you think, your brain is more tired later in the day.
• Do your creative work, first. You will see a major difference.
• Do more mundane, autopilot type tasks later in the day.

What is the #1 thing people can do starting right now to make the biggest difference in their productivity?

• Respect and really use your calendar as the tool that it is and can be for you.
• Put what you do in day in it and see what time you have left.
• Don’t fill it up and make busy work.
• Just be realistic about where you time goes and not as a diary for what happened yesterday.
• Put the things you do each day week in and out in your calendar at the times you typically do them. Standing meetings, specific tasks you have to do each week and so on. You’ll be amazed at what time you actually have left for real work.

Top tips on how to market a product or service?

• Be careful of having disjointed messaging. It needs to be consistent – the same message.
• Be careful not the change your persona or represent yourself differently for different audiences in social media. You don’t have to do that. Be how you are. Remember the “social” in social media.
• The idea of social media is to get to know, like, and trust people. If you are different online than you are in person, it will catch up with you.
• Be careful not to “present” – talk to people instead of presenting to them.
• Don’t over think it. Be you.

At the 41 minute mark, Kris talks about how to better automate your business and have it run for you.

• It doesn’t require the time and money that everyone thinks it does.
• Outsource obviously
• It is not just about strategies and systems, but keeping them as simple and easy to follow as possible to get the outcome desired.
• You do need a team around you to do it. But you can outsource a lot of it if you are willing and a little creative about it.
• Ask, “How do I do this once and make it duplicatable so it can be passed on and done by someone else?”

What is something you think every entrepreneur should know?

• Business should be fun.
• You should not have to sacrifice your life for your dreams.
• You don’t have to “pay the dues” in the traditional sense.
• Your goal should be create the systems to replace and reduce your hours not increase them.

Best Quote: So many of us think that grinding it out is part of the entrepreneur journey when it’s not. Your passion and your work should support your life, not consume it.

Kris's Misfit 3:

1. Lighten up and have fun, no matter what you do – business should be fun.
2. Don’t’ get caught up in the “busyness” and lose sight of the passion you set out to put into the world for what you are doing,
3. You are business athlete and you need to take care of the machine – your body. It’s the most important machine there is. Eat well, exercise, sleep right, etc.

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting 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 have learned which 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, Today I want to talk to you about happiness and joy. What it is, why it’s important, and most importantly how to find it and keep it in your life.

First, what is happiness? It’s a peculiar question isn’t it? Everyone talks about finding happiness or being happy, but no one ever stops to define what it is for themselves. And make no mistake, happiness means something different to everyone.

The dictionary defines happiness as “the quality or state of being happy and good fortune, pleasure, contentment, and joy.” I love the last one – joy. To me “joy” is a different type of state. When you have true joy, you almost feel like you are surrounded by goodness. Maybe that is where the old phrase “feeling like you are on cloud 9 comes from.” At any rate, you must define what happiness or joy is for yourself. My joy comes in multiple forms. It comes in the love of our family for each other. It comes in the incredible blessings in all areas of our lives from God. It even comes at mile 18 of a marathon. The way I keep my feeling of joy is to remind myself of it every day through gratitude and taking the time to be grateful for this amazing life and chance we have to make our impact on this world.

But, I can tell you this. After many years of studying the mind, how it works, our conditioning, and how we become who we are, I can say this for certain - I cannot make you a happy person.

It's simply not possible for someone else to make you a happy person. Oh, someone might be able to make you happy for a short time or in a moment, but true happiness, lasting joy must be found within.

It is up to you to decide whether you are happy or not. Every day I get up and do that by reminding myself of how blessed I am and to show gratitude for it.

There are several things that affect our ability to be and remain happy. And I just showed with my example of my daily gratitude routine above, they are all within our control. Everything from our mindset, to how we react to the things that happen to us, to what we tell ourselves is all in our control.

Let's start with what we tell ourselves. What we say to ourselves and about ourselves both internally and externally has a profound impact on us. Literally, what we think about ourselves becomes our reality. ​

Consider this. The person you talk to more than any other in your life and throughout your whole life is yourself. What are you saying?

If you believe you are not worthy of things in life like success or not worthy of being happy or say things like "I'm not good enough..." or "I’m terrible" or "Nothing ever goes right for me..." guess what is going to happen in your life. Exactly that. This happens because our beliefs are what manifest in our lives. If you believe in your mind that "Nothing ever goes right for me," then your mind will make sure things do not go right and look for everything that happens or can happen to back that up. Always remember that what you tell yourself becomes reality. And you have control of what you believe and tell yourself. It is your choice. So, if you want to be happier or find lasting joy, start by believing and speaking truth to power in your life to yourself.

The next thing we have control over is the way we react to the events that happen in our lives. No matter what happens, we have the ability to control how we react to it and choose to perceive it the way we want. The trick is stopping ourselves from just reacting and making the choice. When something does not go your way or goes against you, you can choose to allow it to make you unhappy and ruin aspects of your life, or you can choose not to let it do so. You can even choose to perceive it as a great opportunity to better yourself, learn, and grow. It is up to you, but how you deal with the challenges that come your way affects your happiness, and you have the power to choose how you respond to them.

Lastly, my personal belief is that the things that happen to us actually happen FOR us. Everything we go through gives us an opportunity to grow as an individual and become a better version of ourselves. Even the things that seem and feel absolutely terrible when we go through them help us to become stronger, give us an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and our capacity to endure, and bring about meaningful changes, if we look for them. Tragedies give us this opportunity as well. It is how we respond to tragedy that defines how we move on from it. Make no mistake, the hardest thing to do is find happiness and gratitude in the darkest of times, but it is there if you want to find it.

Regret is a terrible thing and waste of your focus, thought, and emotions. Everything that has had to happen to get you where you are right now had to happen exactly as it did. Everything that happened in our lives up until we held you in our arms in that moment in China had to happen exactly as it did or we may not be a family.

In fact, the chances of you, or any of us, even being alive at this moment in time are so infinitely small; it is almost impossible to even fathom the number. And for you to have life at this moment in time, means that trillions of people that could have been, are not. Instead, you are here in their place. Cherish it. Make the most of it. Let go of regret and embrace the incredible opportunity you have to choose to be happy, to fill your life with joy - and then make it so.

Hannah, and anyone listening, it comes down to this. You have a choice every day to be happy and find joy or deny it in your life. My hope is that you choose to find the happiness and joy that exists all around you every day - the world will be brighter for you having done so. ​

I love you, ​

Daddy 

Best Quote: You have a choice every day to be happy and find joy or deny it in your life. My hope is that you choose to find the happiness and joy that exists all around you every day - the world will be brighter for you having done so.

Misfit 3:

1. Define what happiness and joy mean to you and for you
2. The person you talk to more than any other in your life and throughout your whole life is yourself. Are you saying the right things?
3. You have a choice every day to be happy and find joy or deny it in your life. Choose wisely.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Adam Robinson. Adam is a serial entrepreneur who has started and bootstrapped multiple companies to 7-figures, most notably, Robly and his latest venture, Get Emails. But, he didn’t start out down the entrepreneur path. He was a trader and investment banker for almost a decade before he made the leap to entrepreneur.

In 2017, he made a major change at Robly, where the company changed from everyone coming into the Manhattan office ever day to becoming a fully remote organization – and Adam decided to go on the road working remotely while traveling the world. ​

I am really excited to explore what this change was like and what he learned in addition to his insight on entrepreneurship and how to bootstrap a multi-million dollar company in today’s episode.

www.GetEmails.com

Get 10% off by using the offer code Misfit when you sign up! ​

www.Robly.com

When Adam graduated from college, a friend of his convinced him to go up to New York and get into the trading and investing markets. He managed to get a job at Lehman Brothers. He showed up in New York and was sharing an apart with a few other guys. These guys happened to working on building a business by the name of Vimeo. Adam watched this group of guys begin to flourish and see them really enjoy the fruits of entrepreneurship.

While this was going, Adam was doing great at Lehman. He was trading credit default swaps which were the instruments at the center of the 2008 financial crisis. Even though he was doing well, he felt that he had a calling to pursue and build his own business.

He managed to save a decent amount of money and in 2011, he left the investment/trading business to start his own business. He invested in several businesses and lost his money. As he says, “The overconfidence of being a Wall Streeter is a real thing.” He didn’t know how to build a team, operating an organization, etc.

Fortunately, one of the things he invested in got some legs and eventually became Robly.

At the 7:30 mark, Adam talks about how Robly came about and some of the biggest lessons he’s learned on his entrepreneurial journey?

• Robly came about in a what Adam calls the “luckiest way”
• Adam made a YouTube video, and the CEO of a failed company, that Adam and his brother were trying to essentially copy and do a better job with, found it and invited him to come meet with him.
• The CEO showed Adam everything that his company had done wrong and how it could be done right.
• The CEO essentially gave them the structure of the machine and also showed them some insight and a niche of how to get customers.
• The big lesson is that “Unless you are very confident that you have an unfair advantage when you are starting, or if you think that if it works out 10% as well as you think is possible that it’s still a great business, keep going.”
• The key to success was developing one of the first “remarketing” features in the space.

Successes and Failures?

• The main strategy of working the list they had and staying very true to the niche of servicing customers that measured success by “open rate.”
• It was the success and failure at the same time of Robly to date.
• Adam had 30+ people dialing every day to sell them.
• The list ran out faster than Adam thought and trying new lists to market to, outside of the main channel, were not working near as well, so margins began to shrink.
• The big lesson/failure here was that while things were going well with the main channel, they should have been developing an offering for several other channels/customer types.
• Because of this, Adam was forced to let go of about 25 of his staff and decided that it would better to make the company a remote work company.
• Going remote worked out tremendously for the company and the team.

Tell us about Get Emails…

• It is a technology that allows customers to identify up to 35% of the anonymous traffic on their website and get their information to be able to market to.
• It works because the people identified have opted in and are Can-Spam compliant with lists that can be shared, so they can be given to a business to market to and see who is on their site that may not being captured.
• This is only legal in the U.S. currently because of the U.S. Can-Spam laws.
• The only rule is you must have an opt Out link in what you send out to these leads.
• It is the ultimate niche business.

Talk to us about the results you realized from going fully remote as a company?

• It would have been hard to do with 35 cold-callers.
• When they scaled down, it made more sense.
• The effect on the employees when it was done, was night and day. The productivity went up tremendously simply by taking out the daily commute into an office in New York.
• They eased into it, first going 2 days remote, then 3, and then ultimately full remote was the right way to do it.
• Having a good operations manager/leader in place will make it easier for you.
• The employees are happier, turnover
• The cost is potentially some missing creativity/idea generation that you get when you have a bunch of people in the same office all day, but it is minimal – and the overall benefits outweigh it.

What is your best advice on how to be effective as a remote CEO?

• You must do everything possible to stay connect to people.
• You must make sure and even over-invest in ways manage and measure accountability.
• Manage things on a week by week basis with the employees. Have them articulate what they will do over the next week and then when you meet the next week, have them report on it.
• Track deliverables clearly and concisely

What is most important when hiring a remote workforce?

• The ability self-manage is the single most important skill to have.
• You need to figure out how to identify the self-management quality when interviewing
• Having solid remote work experience on a resume is one thing to look for.
• Interview for examples of times in their life that really required self-management

Was there anything that you learned as an investment banker that helped you on your entrepreneurial journey?

• [Laughs] Almost nothing
• Adam was shocked when he went out to start a business and sell real products to clients. It was a rude awakening, as nothing he had done really prepared him.
• His experience would be beneficial in raising capital is needed.
• Adam learned through self-education ​

What is something you think every entrepreneur should know?

Start with an unfair advantage. Find that hack or niche or thing that gives you a real clear advantage.

You must have cushion for the mistakes you will make.

Best Quote: A sign that you are on the right track in business is that it will feel so much easier from the beginning vs. trying to force something through. If you haven’t felt that feeling, you need to dig deeper and find a bigger edge or differentiator.

Adam's Misfit 3:

1. It’s all about the team. Not just in your professional life, but personal life. Find the best people to put around you in all aspects of life.
2. The brand is far more important today than it has been ever, especially if you are in software.
3. A sign that you are on the right track in business is that it will feel so much easier from the beginning vs. trying to force something through. If you haven’t felt that feeling, you need to dig deeper and find a bigger edge or differentiator.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Oleg Loughheed. Oleg has an incredible story. He was born into poverty in Russia. He lived with an alcoholic mother, slept with bed bugs, and was lucky to get a good meal when he could – even if that menat he had to steal it. He never met his father. At 12 years old, he left his birth mother behind not knowing he would never see her again and entered an orphanage to be adopted so he could have a better life.

He was adopted by a family in the U.S. This changed his life and gave him all the opportunity he could ever asked for. And Oleg is not wasting it. He is the founder of Overcoming Odds – a non-profit dedicated to helping people share their stories and experiences of resilience and overcoming insurmountable odds to teach others how they can do the same.

As an international adoptive father, I can not only relate to Oleg’s story of where he came from and the situation he was in, but I also have a special appreciation of what it took to overcome it. And it’s this unique perspective that I want him to share with you in this episode. ​

https://www.overcomingodds.today/

Oleg’s story begins in a small town in Russia. He was born into a broken home. At 3 years old, Oleg’s mother became an alcoholic. And at 3 years old, Oleg was reliant on her and in her state, she could not really be there for him. His sister started to become his caretaker but was not prepared for it. He was a “rock in the middle of two islands.”

His sister was reluctant to look after him and resented her mother for it. Oleg says he is grateful because everything he went through makes up who he is today. The strength, courage, and who has become is all due to these experiences. At 9 years, HE DECIDED to relinquish his parents’ rights and become an orphan. He decided that the orphanage could provide better for him than his current situation. Some of this was true, but there was also physical and mental abuse that came with it.

At the 9 min mark, we discuss the amazing decision Oleg was able to make at 9 years old to separate from his family. He shares how he had to mature much faster as he was tested at a very young age at the highest levels to have to grow up. Whether it was fighting hunger, finding a way to survive, watching his mother’s abuse and her being abused from those around her, he had to essentially live on his own and take care of himself. He learned early on to be a problem solver and part of his issue was he wanted to solve problems for his mother but could not.

At 12 years old, he was adopted and brought the U.S. He was put into 6th grade. He could not speak English and new very little about this area of the world. He had to figure everything out. He had challenges with keeping up, making friends, even communicating. The only way he could communicate was by kicking the soccer ball back and forth on the playground and this is how he began to make friends. It took him about 2-3 years to get up to speed.

At the 16:30 mark, Oleg talks about how he found his drive in the times he had gone out searching for his birth mother and what he encountered.

What are the biggest lessons you’ve taken away from your journey that have helped your success?

• Never say you can’t do something in life.
• Language really matters. What you tell yourself is who you become.
• Never sell yourself short.

What was the hardest thing you had to overcome in your journey?

• Some of the closest people to us can be the biggest critics and the ones that can stop you from living your story.
• Stepping outside of this was the biggest challenge.
• The way to get through it is to understand that you have a bigger purpose and you must fulfill that purpose.
• Patience is critical as it takes time – not only to go through it, but to work it through internally.
• Results, many times, come years down the road.

Tell us about RDNA. What is it?

Resilience

• Resilience is developed over time
• Resilience comes from your self-confidence in your own abilities and decision making.
• Before confidence comes perspective. How you perceive things impacts your confidence.

Discovery

• Self-discovery
• What makes you unique? Who are you? Who is helping you? Who is not?

Network

• Who is part of your network?
• Who should you be surrounding yourself with?
• What are the qualities they should have?

Authenticity

• You must be who you are today.
• Don’t wear a mask.
• Be true to yourself and know yourself.

At the 37 min mark, Oleg talks about discovering one’s purpose…

• The challenge is defining your purpose and then refining your purpose over time.
• Ask “Why me?” Look at your journey and ask why you had to go through what you have gone through in your life. Why me? What are you supposed to learn from this?
• Ask how this has shaped your trajectory and who you need to be grateful to for their help along the way.
• Be careful not to overcomplicate things. The answer is usually right in front of you and simpler that think….
• It comes down to, “If not you, then who else? “Who else is meant to go through to understand life from the particular view that you can?
• Our purpose is always already within us. We have the experience and events that happen in our lives. Its about being able to define those experiences and events on how we choose to view them and use them to help us and serve others.
• Building something before you know who you are and what you stand for, can lead you down a dangerous road.

What is developing an entrepreneur mindset a necessity?

• Most of us are entrepreneurs at heart.
• A lot of the things we do in today’s day and age are about surviving, thriving, and connecting which is at the core of entrepreneurship.
• Entrepreneurship is solving problems, and this is a built-in ability for us. ​

What is the best advice you would give an entrepreneur starting out today?

• Really commit to understanding who you are. Keep asking “Who am? “Am I doing this for the right reasons?” “Am I connecting with the right people?”
• You are the best ideal customer to solve a problem for and start a business around. You should build something that’s of value to you. Don’t build for someone else.
• Build for yourself and it will attract others along the way.
• When you build for you, it will be to solve a problem for you and not just about making money immediately which is a bad reason to build a business on.

Oleg’s acronym for authentic…

• Accepting your past. Ask, “Who do I have to forgive in my past to move forward in your story?”
• Understanding you are unique. What makes you unique, what makes you, you?
• Tell your story. Your story has impact and hearing yourself is critical as your story becomes who you are to the world.
• Encourage others. Encourage others to share their story.
• Never say you can’t. Never say you can’t do something in your life.
• Tell you story to more people!
• Influencing others. Show them where really are and let them see what is really going on. Help them see that they are not alone.
• Connecting with others. Don’t be afraid to build your community and bring in those that can challenge you.

Best Quote: Your past doesn’t have to define your present or your future. Your past is a foundation to learn from and give your lessons and takeaways. It is a reference point for how far you’ve come in life.

Oleg's Misfit 3:

• Ask “Why me?” Why did you go through what you went through and how did you overcome it? What did you learn?
• Language truly does matter. What words to do you use with yourself? Are you encouraging yourself and others to live out their story or not? Perspective.
• Is this happening TO you or is it happening FOR you. The perspective you choose to take in life will have a dramatic impact on your life.