Info

Dave Lukas, The Misfit Entrepreneur_Breakthrough Entrepreneurship

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the breakthrough entrepreneurship strategies and actionable advice to accelerate your success! The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncover each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now. Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
2024
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: 2019

The weekly podcast with serial entrepreneur, Dave M. Lukas, devoted to giving you incredibly useful and unique insight from the world's top entrepreneurs with a focus on their non-traditional methods for achieving success, their Misfit side. Misfit was created to give YOU the best, actionable advice to accelerate your success!

The show's open format and Misfit 3 concept, combined with Dave's intuitive and engaging interview style quickly uncovers each guest's key tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can start using in their lives right now.

Learn more about the show at www.misfitentrepreneur.com and become a member of Misfit Nation by signing up for the Misfit Minute, the FREE weekly email with specific resources from the week's "Misfit 3," and actionable tips and items from the world of Misfit Entrepreneurs. It is delivered every Friday to your inbox!

Aug 7, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Sharon Lynn Wyeth. Sharon and I have crossed paths multiple times over the last few years and we just never connected to have her on Misfit. You see Sharon is pretty remarkable. She’s an internationally recognized Neimology expert. Neimology is the science that discovers personality secrets hidden in the placement of the letters within names. Each letter in a name holds a key to unlock one’s true essence. A person’s name contains information about that individual’s gifts and challenges. Neimology® Science can even reveal the first and last impression people remember about us.

Sharon has been everywhere from TV, Radio to speaking at the President of the United States Yearly Conference including the 50 state governor’s and she’s tested and proven her theories in over 70 countries.

She is also the best-selling author of the book Know the Name, know the Person and is hired by companies all over the world to help them in their hiring practices and other needs such as helping lawyers choose juries. What’s in a name? Much more than you think and I have seen Sharon in action. It’s amazing. And I’m excited for her to share this skill with you in this episode.

www.knowthename.com

www.bestnamemeanings.com

Special Offer – For any Misfit listener, just mentioned Dave or Misfit when you sign up for a half hour session with Sharon and you will get a free copy of Know the Name, Know How to Connect on the how to use the 6 vowels.

Everything started for Sharon in her 7th year of teaching school. She was doing a seating chart and noticed that she was starting to pattern how the children’s name fit their personalities. She decided to investigate it further and begin to study names looking for commonalities.

Because of all the students she had had and the network she had built, she had a large bank of names to analyze. She began to commit things to memory and test her theories with people she met or knew to look for the combinations.

How does Neimology work?

  • The first name is the essence of who the person is.
  • The middle name is where the person goes when they are under stress or pressure.
  • The last name is the environmental influence (nature and nurture)
  • The first letter of the first name is the first impression that we give somebody.
  • The last letter of the first name is the lasting impression we give.
  • The first vowel in the first name is our style of communication, learning, and how we like to present ourselves.
  • The rest of the letters are the subtleties.
  • There are different patterns as well.

At the 8:30 mark, Sharon talks about the patterns and combinations of letters and what they mean.

At the 13 min mark, Sharon takes us through some examples with names…

  • Michael: Generally is some who is is good at manifesting, all about family, they can do things the hard way because they have a CH in their name, they have a good balance between their mind and emotions, they have a good sense of who they are, and they want to be include and include other people. They are naturals leaders and better off working for themselves. They challenge themselves.
  • At the 14:30 mark, Sharon explains how she knows that about Michael.
  • Vowels show us our emotions and how we feel.
  • Consonants show us our attitude and how we think.

At the 16 min mark, Sharon talks about what it means if you use a nickname.

  • The birthname is your contract for this lifetime and what you came to learn.
  • When you go by any nickname, you are saying that you are changing how you are going to go about learning those lessons.

How does understanding your name affect your success and your life? And what can someone do?

  • Yes!
  • If you know where your challenges are and how to get the answers of your name, you can make a huge difference in your life.
  • Each letter has a challenge side and a gift side. You can choose which side you want to be on.
  • Sharon uses an example of the ST letter combination at the 18 min mark to explain.

At the 21 min mark, Sharon talks about how important the first vowel in the first name is and the power it had. Specifically, she talks about it in the context of entrepreneurship and business.

  • Just learning the vowels can have a huge impact.
  • The first vowel in the first name gives you your communication style, your operational style, your love language, your learning style, and much more.
  • An A person wants to buy if it is a good deal. Stay on topic and show why things are a good deal to them.
  • An E person requires a bond with them to sell to them. Start by bonding and showing you care.
  • An I person has to do about family. You want to show how you can integrate their family and benefit them.
  • An O person wants to be the boss. You want to make them feel as thought they are in charge.
  • A U person wants everything to be fun. Tell jokes, have fun, and keep them entertained.

What about naming a business? Can Neimology play a role?

  • Yes, it can. Answer these questions
  • Just from hearing the name, what do you want your client to know or feel?
  • What kind of clientele do you want?
  • Once you have those, then you need to make sure that the letters are in the right places to work subconsciously.

At the 32-minute mark, Sharon takes a business name and tells us what it means…

What can you tell us about how to use the name to hire better?

  • The letters S, J, and W mean constant learning is important. They just go about it differently.
    • J’s are natural brilliant. They just know things.
    • S’s are school smart. They want a teacher and to learn the foundation before going on their own.
    • W’s learn through experience. They try different ways to do things better and constantly improve.
  • The qualities of the job need to align with the qualities in the name.

At the 41 min mark, Sharon shares how do we use Neimology to better serve our clients?

 

Best Quote: "You cannot love yourself without thoroughly knowing yourself."

 

Misfit 3:

  1. We all come from the creator and our creator does not make mistakes. Everyone of use has value and no one is inferior. We are all here for a reason and there are no mistakes.
  2. What you think and believe about yourself is what others will think and believe about you.
  3. You cannot love yourself without thoroughly knowing yourself.
Jul 31, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Aaron Walker. Aaron is an almost 40-year entrepreneur veteran. He started his first business at 18 and sold it by his mid-20’s to a Fortune 500. He went on to start over a dozen other businesses and started Masterminding 20 years ago with people like Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller and others.

This led him to start the Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind group – one of the most renowned and successful groups of its kind. Aaron is also the author or the best-seller “View from the Top – Living a Life of Significance.”

Aaron has seen it all, done it all, and has succeeded through grit and determination. But what also has made him so successful and one of the biggest reasons I wanted him to come on the show and to share his wisdom with you, is his straight forward authenticity. Aaron teaches in way to easy to understand, learn, and implement. And it’s the lessons he’s learned in building businesses and Masterminds that I've asked him to give you in this episode.

www.ViewFromtheTop.com

Aaron has lived in Nashville his whole life and has built all his businesses from there. He grew up poor in an 800 sq. ft. house with 4 kids. His dad was a general contractor, but not a great business man. Aaron started working at 13 and fell in love with business and decided that he was going to be an entrepreneur. He put in extra studies and night school and graduated at the beginning of his junior year.

He met some people with money to invest and opened his first store. He got married 2 weeks out of High School and he and his wife went on to build several success companies – selling the first one at 27 years old to a F500 company. That gave him the ability to do some other things and set him up financially. He then went back and bought the company he worked for at 13 and grew it by better managing it and better selling the services.

He was 40 years old, working 3 days a week. He had it made. One morning he was driving to the office and a pedestrian stepped out in front of Aaron’s truck and was killed. His life came to a halt. Aaron wasn’t at fault, but when you are responsible for the death of someone, it changed everything.

It devastated Aaron. He couldn’t handle the stress and the knowledge that, even though it wasn’t his fault and he was not arrested or anything, a man died by his truck. It ate him. Over the next few years, he sold the business, took 5 years off, moved to a different area, sought counseling, and really changed most of his life.

One day, his wife came in and told him he had to get going and do something. Aaron had gained almost 50 pounds. So, he did. He started a construction company, built it to great success and sold it at 50, retiring.

At that point, Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller suggested that he coach. He started helping other entrepreneurs and doing Mastermind groups and is now launching his 15th Mastermind in 8 different countries.

What do you think is the reason God/the universe, etc. put you in the situation with killing the pedestrian? What was your biggest takeaway after years of thinking about it?

  • At the time of it happening, you don’t see anything that can come up. You just think your life it over.
  • It was a total blindside that disrupted his entire life for years.
  • The truth is that we are all just one second away from being blindsided in some way.
  • Our life can change in a Nano-second. Here’s what he learned. His legacy would have been – Poor kid form Nashville, makes enough money to retire by the time he is 27 and nobody really cares.
  • Aaron realized that he had no significance. His life was not impacting the lives of others.
  • He asked God for another chance and promised the act outward instead of inward. To that point, it had been mostly inward.
  • Now, he hopes to be remembered by people as “my life was different after having known Aaron.”
  • He thought about it and said that to himself you can do both – you can both success and significance.

Define what significance means to you and for others…

  • Each person must identify what success means.
  • For Aaron, it the ability choose his schedule and how he runs his life and being financially independent. Money is a great thing if it is not your master.
    • Having a clear conscious is critical.
    • We can be content, but not complacent. Don’t ever be complacent but seek contentment in what you do.
    • You also must have meaning and purpose.
    • Lastly, Aaron wants to leave a legacy of wisdom.
  • Significance is a different thing.
  • To Aaron, significance is meeting the needs of others. Focusing on them and being present with them, truly listening.
  • It means taking the time, even when you are busy, to sacrifice and help others.

At the 25 min mark, Aaron talks about “Gratitude Day…”

What are your best principles and thoughts on how to succeed in business?

  • People must get over their sense of fear.
  • The 18/30/60 rule. When you’re 18, you think everybody’s talking about you. When you’re 30, you find out it’s not true. When you’re 60, you don’t care.
  • Read the book The Big Leap and learn how to push through those “upper limit challenges.”
  • You also must have a written plan for how you are going to reach your goal and what you are going to do. Then all you have to do is execute.
  • Focus on the task and not the goal.
  • Establish 3 goals every 4 weeks.
  • Be consistent. It takes a certain length of time to reach critical mass in anything you are doing. Delay gratification.

There is real truth in the statement that you are the sum of the 5 people you spend time with. The wrong people are an anchor around your success – get rid of them. Get people around you that encourage you, hold you accountable, point out your blind spots, give you the truth, and support you and help you.

Great minds talk about ideas, small minds talk about people!

What are some of the key components of a successful Mastermind Group?

  • You must have a genuine group
  • You must have a set of shared core values It must be consistent (weekly, monthly, etc.)
  • It needs to be all encompassing. 60% professional, 30% personal, 10% spiritual is how Aaron’s groups breakdown.

How does someone start a Mastermind group and find the right candidates?

  • You must first decide on your core values and make sure you group is built on them.
  • Nowadays, virtual groups are easier and allow for more transparency.
  • You must determine what it is you want to accomplish with the group and be clear on it.
  • One word of caution for “in person” groups. Go slow and give info over time to see if they can be trusted. Don’t give everything out right away.
  • Decide on the type of group you want to have. Men or Women focused, gender neutral, etc.
  • You can buy the Mastermind Blueprint book from Aaron.

At the 49 min mark, Aaron shares some final pieces of wisdom…

  • When Aaron was growing up, his mom would tell them not to use the word “can’t.”
  • She would say “Can’t couldn’t do it and could did it all.”
  • Build a mindset of “you can.”
  • Find ways to do things. Fear missing an opportunity more than you do failure.
  • Failure is in NOT trying – NOT in being unsuccessful because you tried.

 

Best Quote: “Can’t couldn’t do it and could did it all...”

 

Aaron's Misfit 3:

  1. Show empathy and be empathetic to those around you.
  2. Be transparent to a fault – with a few.
  3. Authenticity is the thing people are starving for the most – be authentic.
Jul 24, 2019

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, I want to share with you a perspective and way of thinking that is not very popular or prominent in today’s world – but it is a secret of the most successful and for living a great life.

We live in an instant society. Most of everything we want, or need is at our fingertips with the push of a button. So, as you can imagine, when something takes time or is not instantly available it can be frustrating. Believe it not, there was a time not long ago where we went to the video store to rent a movie to watch for the evening. That idea seems so foreign and like it was so long ago – but 10 years ago we were doing it. Now almost all those companies are out of business and we have every movie we could ever want on our smart phone and we have changed as a people and society. With all this at our finger tips, we get angry if it doesn’t download fast enough! As I’ve often said, “We stop the microwave with 3 seconds left – we can’t even wait 3 seconds anymore…”

This “instantness” has conditioned us to have little patience and to not practice the secret I want to share with you. The secret? The ability to play the long game and practice long term thinking. Almost every successful Misfit Entrepreneur that I have interviewed on this show, at some point, during the episode, talks about how they had to wait for their success. How they had to play the long game. How they had to keep going when everyone else wanted them to stop or was stopping. How they didn’t know if they would ever reach their goal, but they knew that if they kept at it, eventually they would find some form of success.

It can take a long time for the big opportunity or big break to happen. Recently, I was reminded of this when one of my smaller side businesses, one that I have been active in for over a decade, finally got the opportunity we had been waiting for. We have a good product and have had some small success with a loyal set of users, but what we were missing was the right marketing partner to really take it to mass levels. And because it is a side business, I am only able to put a certain level of effort into it vs. the level of full-time focus I have on our much larger businesses. There has been enough time to make sure the product was excellent and to do a great job with it, but I was always looking for the right partner or partners to help it realize it’s potential. For over 10 years, I stayed with it, yes because I enjoy it, but also because I knew the potential, and in the last few months, through a simple coincidence, I was introduced to the partner I had been looking for. They immediately saw the value and now we are embarking on realizing the product’s true potential and value. Overnight, this could become a 7-figure business and by partnering, I am able to put about the same amount of effort in that I have been doing, which also very exciting. It is always magic to find leverage between great partners.

Now, I can tell you – most people won’t stick with something for over 10 years, being patient, and looking for the right alignment to come together, but I learned this lesson early in Grasp Technologies. When we started the company, both uncle Erik and I promised each other that we would focus on long term thinking and ride it out as we knew that if we did, we could make things a success. And we, along with our incredible team, over the years, did. I have a feeling this other business will now prove that out as well.

This is the power of term thinking and long term patience. You can accomplish just about anything if you take this view. And that doesn’t mean that things won’t happen fast either. I might have waited 10 years to find the partner, but within 6 weeks, we were going to market together. So, some things will happen quickly, but maintaining that steady pace long term is the underpinning that reaps benefits. As they say, it’s more about the journey than the destination.

There is strategy in that you have to be in the right market or at least understand the changing trends and keep up with them – a thing the video store businesses did not do. In fact, I would argue that the largest video store chain, Blockbuster, did not follow the rule of long-term thinking. Instead, they were very short-sighted on profits today instead of setting themselves up to own the future. In fact, the story goes that Blockbuster could have acquired Netflix for $50 million before it really got going. Now they are out of business and Netflix is worth billions. Wow, that may go down as one of the biggest business blunders of all time.

It is not just business, but life as well. “Great things come to those who wait,” has been a phrase echoed through time. I don’t necessarily agree with that. If I could rephrase it, I would say “Great things come to those who are patient, take consistent action, and not lose sight of their end goal.” But, the truly great things in life take time. It took me years to find your mother. And in turn, it took us years to find you. You and mommy are the greatest things in my life to date, and every moment that it took to bring us together, not matter how long, was worth it. So, understand that it’s worth it to wait and take action toward your goal in life too. The principle and secret is universal and has been echoed since the beginning of time.

Hannah, learn and put the power of long-term thinking to work for you and you will see the benefits throughout your life.

I love you,

Daddy

Jul 17, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneurs are Jeff Bishop and Jason Bond. Jeff and Jason are the co-founders of the trading and investing education powerhouse, Raging Bull. Jeff and Jason started out in completely opposite directions. Jason went from school teacher and being $250,000 in debt to becoming a self-made millionaire trader and Jeff failed building 4 business, even trying his hand at being an online poker player, and became a multi-millionaire at age 35.

Together, Jeff and Jason have taken Raging Bull from idea to an over $50 million a year business teaching people how to invest and create financial freedom worldwide.

I’m really excited about this episode, as a lot of you know that I have my own trading and investing strategy that I teach and I’ve wanted to bring on some of the most successful traders in the world to open your eyes to the possibilities that exist for you – as well as have you learn from two guys in the trenches every day of not only trading, but building a massive business.

www.RagingBull.com

Jeff and Jason started in totally different paths. Jeff started in Texas and Jason was in New York. About 15 years ago, after failing in a few businesses, Jeff got started in internet marketing. He always thought that working online would be his path to success. He was writing online articles on financial websites and built a few financial related businesses when he came across Jason. Jason was a teacher that hard started a small trading education business and reached out to him to collaborate.

Jason was a school teacher working on his 2nd master’s degree to be a principal. His wife was a teacher as well. He was 7 years in when it really hit home that with the $250k in debt that they had and the minimal raises they were getting, that it wasn’t going to cut it. He started dabbling in stocks and quickly lost some money, so he started searching for someone to teach him how to trade. That is how he found Jeff. He had seen him as a professional trader online.

Jeff and Jason made a deal that if Jeff taught him how to be a professional trader, then Jason would use his skills as a teacher to teach others how to do so.

It took 3-4 years to get things off the ground together, but then turned into something big.

Jason, you went from being a school teacher deep in debt to building this $50 million+ business with Jeff in 3-4 years, what have you both learned about building a successful business that is critical for entrepreneurs to know?

  • It is a lot of hard work, but it is a commitment to do it every day more than when you got started.
  • You need to be in the right space for your skillset.
  • If you are looking to focus on a business, there are 3-4 areas where you can really make great money:
    • First, any area where you can benefit someone’s kids and help them
    • Second, health and vitality.
    • Third, Finance and how to make more/protect their money.
    • Fourth, nowadays, for many, pets are like kids.
  • Jeff and Jason found a niche in small cap stocks and built a brand around it.
  • They were able to resonate with thousands of investors in this niche and that is what built the business. You don’t need millions to buy your product – you need to provide a great solution to a hungry niche and serve them well.
  • Communication is very important. Being able to simplify complex things, make then easy to understand, and teach in a an easy way so people can learn about your product or service is extremely important. The way you communicate has a big impact on your success.

At the 12 min mark, Jeff talks about how the internet changed the game and allowed them to really carve out the niche.

What is your best advice for entrepreneurs starting out today?

  • You will have times where you will be very successful and times where you will not.
  • Your first business will most likely not be the homerun.
  • You must be open in life to have the failures and set yourself up to be able to handle them.
  • For example, if you are going to take on a business, work to keep your personal debt low so you can weather any storms you go through getting off the ground.
  • When you are in failure, you do need to know it is ok, but pressing on is the tough part. Your resolve will be a big part of your success. 
  • “You only have to get rich once. You can fail a lot of times, but if you get rich one time that is all you need.” - as long as you stay smart and respect it.
  • You will eventually find the one thing that works because opportunities are abundant in this world.

Can you talk about the mental side of succeeding as an entrepreneur?

  • Jason talks about how important education and preparing yourself is. He and his wife used Dave Ramsey’s course on how to get out of debt.
  • Going through this to get to a point to where he could quit his teaching job taught him a lot of things.
  • Self-education is critical, but so is looking for people to mentor you and model yourself after.
  • Jason talks about how Jeff was good for showing him how to live a cash lifestyle and staying out of debt.
  • Disciplining yourself and delaying gratification is one of the hardest things to do, but it is something you must do.

At the 20 min mark, we have a discussion about the ways people look at wealth.

  • Talk about how you’ve built your community of clients…
  • You have to go above and beyond to stand out.
  • You can fool someone once, but that is it.
  • If you are going to do it right, you have to prove yourself so you clients continue to buy from you.
  • That means you have to deliver on your promises and in your products.
  • You have to give great value
  • Showing clients what they were doing in real time with their own money resonated well with clients. They put their money where their mouth was.
  • Look at it from the perspective that you want to earn people’s business for the rest of their lives. Put the client first.

At the 32 min Mark, Jeff and Jason talk about the systems they have created that help grow and sustain their business.

  • You have to create a great culture. At RB, almost every employee has some aspect of their pay tied to sales.
  • To get good lead flow, you have to be aggressive and invest in marketing.
  • Online marketing is something you have to be doing and figure out. Even if it is starting with $50-$100.
  • No matter how good your product is, the odds are extremely low that you will get great growth just by word of mouth.
  • One way to market is to go where the bigger competitors aren’t. Don’t go head to head in all the markets. Find a way to stand out or use a different medium
    • For example, YouTube has been great for RB because it is not leveraged by the competition, so they have gotten some great return on investment.
  • No matter what, these companies like Google, etc. will make their money – so don’t think you can “beat” them. Use them as the tools that they are.
  • Facebook has not been as good for them. Other channels have worked better for them.
  • Biggest lesson – Bet on yourself and put your chips on the table investing in your business. The reinvestment of profits back in is critical. Delay gratification.

What does it really take to be a successful trader? What is most important for people to know?

  • The smoke and mirrors confuses people.
  • The next best thing is always going to be there and we all want to buy into the latest and greatest, when the more important thing is to find something that is good and learn and stick with it. Jumping from strategy to strategy is not the way to succeed.
  • You have to put in the work.
  • The quick and easy way doesn’t exist – there are lot of people that will “sell” you that, but in reality, you have to learn, do the work, and focus.
  • Stock trading is like consistently working out. You have to be disciplined.
  • You cannot become successful just by copying someone else – but you can by learning from them and taking what works best for you and making it your own.
  • A good trader is like a great artist. The really good ones standout.

At the 54 min mark, Jason and Jeff explain the world of penny stocks and how it works as well as insight into trading options…

Biggest trading mistake and the lessons learned from it?

  • Jeff – going too big and gambling too big on stocks or options. Being so sure and even doubling down on something that went against you.
  • Stocks can always go lower or higher than you ever think.
  • Jason – Position sizing. Making sure not to put too much on one trade. Risk tolerance is important.

#1 Quality traders should develop?

  • Jason – Discipline
  • Jeff – Knowing your risk tolerance and listening to it.

 

Best Quote: You cannot become successful just by copying someone else- but you can by learning from them and taking what works best for you and making it your own.

 

Jeff and Jason's Misfit 3:

Jeff

  1. Success is just a thing in life – it’s not THE thing.
  2. The relationships you build are way more valuable than any money you can make.
  3.  Success is also important and is a measuring stick in life, so we should strive to compete and win.

Jason

  1. Bet on yourself.
  2. Believe in yourself and your potential.
  3. Give yourself permission to get rich.
Jul 10, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur Tamara Loehr. She is a serial entrepreneur and creative powerhouse. She is the owner of Mitara Impressa, one of the most renowned digital advertising agencies in Australia. She is a real estate investor, singer/songwriter, who went by the name Claire and was featured throughout Australia and the world. She retired from music at 30. After retiring, she met her husband and began a family and then started her first business in the wellness space growing the business to over $10 million in less than 2 years with no capital investment.

She went on to go through the Entrepreneur Masters Program at MIT and then with the help of her mentors went to her next level investing and leading global businesses. She invested in Gutsii and vegan haircare brand, Hot Tresses, and oversaw the companies growing into hundreds of stores in 6 weeks of their launch date.

She then started Dollar Beauty Tribe. And most recently has released a new book called Balance is B.S. which empowers female breadwinners to play a bigger game in business. Throughout her life, Tamara has basically done the opposite of what everyone thought or expected her to do and it has led to amazing success and incredible impact and I squeeze every bit of wisdom and business advice I can from her in this episode.

www.Loehrblend.com

Tamara leads with passion and likes to evolve constantly. From the passion comes the business. Whenever she chooses something – it needs to serve her and have an impact. She thinks every 5-10 years you should re-invent yourself, not changes your values, but re-invent and evolve yourself.

As she says, “In her 20’s she wanted all the “stuff” and the big office,” and nowadays she wants nothing to do with that.

You grew up in the outback in AU…How did you get to become an entrepreneur?

  • Tamara is very creative and has always been an artist.
  • To Tamara, an entrepreneur must be creative to solve problems. She grew up in the arts, music, painting, etc.

She got a fine arts degree in university. She is a painter by trade. At the same time, she was writing music and that got her into the business. She began to travel. She then went into marketing and started her first business helping companies grow. She wouldn’t just give them a brand, but figure out the why, how to disrupt, etc.

She was very good, and someone told her she should do it for her own products which lead her to some of the businesses she still has today. Over the years, she has really figured out who she is in that she is a creative who doesn’t want to deal with the heavy details. She likes to be in early stage start up and build them to a point, hand them off to be run, and then go to the next one.

Out of everything you have seen and done, what is the one key ingredient entrepreneurs need to succeed?

  • They must stick to their values – even when it ruffles feathers.
  • Having values means that you need to show up as yourself.
  • They don’t conform.
  • It is tough because you may not fit in with what the world says you should be, but in that is where you genius is. Embrace it.

“The last thing most people work on is themselves, where it should be the opposite. You must operate at the top of your game. And when you have the energy and you show up and you are clear on your vision – that’s where the magic happens. That’s when magic happens to Misfits!”

To help you in working on yourself, Tamara asks you to think about and define out your values, beliefs, and “non-negotiables.” What are those for you?

  • Knowing these will help to keep you in alignment

At the 15 min mark, Tamara tells us about her book, Balance is B.S.

  • The book started as part of a legacy project as part of the Birthing of Giants Program.
  • Tamara is passionate about helping more females get into entrepreneurship and business.
  • Tamara noticed as she climbed the ladder and grown businesses to $1 million, then $10 million, $50 million and so on, she found less and less women.
  • When she asked women as to why they have not pushed to higher levels, one of the typical responses is that they did not want to sacrifice their family, etc.
    • This gave Tamara pause as she has built massive companies without sacrificing her family and time with her boys – it’s one of her core values.
  • She asked more questions and dug deeper. She found that the bigger the business one built, the more actual freedom and flexibility that they have vs. a small business.
  • The book helps people learn and understand themselves and then shows them the possibility of how they can play a bigger game and stay to true to their values.
  • The other reason for the book is to make a bigger impact and foster entrepreneurship around the world.
  • The best thing an entrepreneur can do is grow a very large, profitable business – and from that give and share with the world.

What are some of the myths that hold us back?

  • It all stems from social norms and “what we are supposed to be.”
  • We must create what we are for ourselves based on what is important and what our core values are.
  • We need to say “no” instead of showing up and trying to please everyone and be a certain way because that is what we are supposed to be.
  • It is ok to be selfish with your core values.
  • Once you realize this and understand it, you can then empower others to do the same.
  • You can “blend” your work and personal life and do it the way you want. Blend instead of balance.
  • Put it all together and set the boundaries – then go.

Talk to us more about blending instead of balancing…

You must create a space where you can blend is very important

Making sure you communicate and people understand your values and what is important, so they know how to help you blend.

  • Give yourself and give others the permission to blend. Lead by example.
  • You must extend the same things that you give yourself to those you lead.
  • And there is some stuff that you have to do, no matter what – you may not like it, but you have to do it. Schedule it and get it done.
  • Just figure out how to blend it in.
  • Every time you are torn between two things, ask “How do I bring these 2 things together and blend them?” And don’t apologize for it.
  • Get creative and be open about things – don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Can you give us your top piece of advice from the other areas of the book?

  • Self is all about how you serve yourself and how to establish your values, boundaries, and expectations. Everything starts in yourself and flows from there.
  • You will need to learn to renegotiate some things.
  • Personal is about how you want to journey in life and how you want to show up to live the life you have always wanted to.
  • Business is about choice and re-inventing your life in the way that makes sense. You re-invent your life, but not the tools you learn along the way. You take the tools and utilize them to help you create the life and work to serve you. Really knowing what serves you is important.

What are the principles and strategies that you use to build companies?

  • Tamara uses the same strategy for every business she starts or comes into.
  • They bring their values to every business they work with.
  • First, they look at the “why” of the business.
  • Then they look at every aspect of the business and ask “How can we do it better?”
  • They look at who the business is serving and the impact it can have in the world and ask, “How do we get there as quickly as possible?”
  • But, you must be careful to no overcomplicate things.
  • Tamara prefers to go deep and narrow and do one thing extremely well and take market share in that area. To increase revenue, you should be hyper focused on the best area to gain it.
  • Then after you have gone deep and narrow, gained market share, increased the revenue, etc., you can go wider.
  • The next part is to be relentless and not let yourself get distracted from the mission.
  • At the same time, you should do the opposite of what the industry expects
  • You must be the best in class in what you do. Don’t compromise. ​

At the 50 min mark, Tamara talks about how and why she built Dollar Beauty Tribe.

 

Best Quote: “The last thing most people work on is themselves, where it should be the opposite. You must operate at the top of your game. And when you have the energy and you show up and you are clear on your vision – that’s where the magic happens. That’s when magic happens to Misfits”

 

Tamara's Misfit 3:

  1. Family is core. You are not a success in business if you fail at home.
  2. Regularly detox. The mind, the body, and your environment. Cleanse your mind, yourself of bad habits, and make sure to clear your environment of negative influences.
  3. Do the opposite. Own being a 1 percenter. You are different and need to own it.
Jul 3, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Moe Abbas. Moe is the founder of GenM, a sponsor of the show and an absolutely amazing company that pairs students looking for internship credits to graduate with the companies looking for them to intern. At nineteen years old, he founded his first two companies. Since then he has founded or co-founded over a dozen startups which over the last 10 years have employed thousands, in industries ranging from real estate, construction, web development, marketing and mobile applications.

At 26 years old, Moe won the NKBA 30 under 30 award and was the youngest recipient ever of the OBJ 40 Under 40 Award. He also won the Immigrant Entrepreneur award from the City of Ottawa and is the youngest ever Board Director for both the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Ontario.

He is also the Co-Founder of the Canadian General Contractors Group of companies. In 5 years, he led the group from a basement office into Canada’s leading residential design build company with 20 million in sales and design centers across the country. Needless to say, Moe has seen and done it all and there is a lot we can learn from him.

@RealMoeAbbas on Instagram ​

www.GenM.co/misfit

Moe immigrated to Canada from Lebanon with his family as war refugees. They were very poor and he grew up in subsidized housing. There were 5 children and his dad worked and was gone much of the time. Moe was a very curios child and liked to explore. This was fostered by his mother.

When he got into his teens, he wasn’t happy with where he was. He was overweight, poor, and got to a point of rock bottom. He decided to do something about it. He started with what he could control – his body. He started going to the gym every day, changed his diet, and became very fit. This transformed him, not just physically, but mentally as well, and showed him how he could create the world he wanted for himself.

At 18, he hustled his way into fixing phone lines in the Palm Beach area. Doing this job opened his eyes to real wealth as he worked at mansions with yachts, etc. He was surprised that what a lot of the older, wealthy valued most was their youth and health. It taught him that money is just a tool and altered a perspective.

He went back to Canada with a new ambition to create wealth and the life he wanted through entrepreneurship. He began to self-educate and immerse himself into studying business and entrepreneurship. He started some landscaping companies, sold them, and found his way into construction – even though he knew nothing about it. He lost his money on his first job and didn’t even get paid.

Moe pushed through it, learned from it, and ended up doing a million dollars in sales in the next year, basically running his business out of Starbucks.

Your mother was a big influence in your life, what is the #1 lesson that you took away from her?

  • Give. Moe’s mom owned nothing. She never bought new clothes for herself. She instead gave of herself to others.
  • She would volunteer to wash the bodies of the dead to help prepare them for burial.
  • She would bring people off the street to live with the 7 family members in their tiny apartment to help them.
  • She gave everything for Moe and his brothers and sisters, including her life. She ended up getting MS and lost her ability to move.
  • You can always GIVE. You can always make a difference.

Talk to us about the power of suffering…How has that been an ally in helping you succeed?

  • Suffering is something that you have to go through to be successful.
  • You will lose. You will lose deals, you will lose money, you will lose relationships, you will lose in a lot of ways.
  • People quit because “it gets too hard,” the pain becomes not worth it because a person’s personal “pain threshold” has been reached.
  • Imagine being able to increase your “pain threshold” indefinitely
  • There is really no limit to the amount of suffering that you can endure
    • To illustrate this, Moe uses an example of Monk’s seeking enlightenment sitting on a concrete floor for 12 hours a day for years on end.
    • They suffer for an extreme amount of time, eat one meal per day, stay in silence, no air conditioning, etc.
  • As you build your pain tolerance, you increase you ability to suffer through the bigger challenges and this allows you to grow and attain new heights. It allows you to level up.
  • You should focus on “controlled suffering,” which is suffering that you understand and know that if you go through it will get you to a bigger and better result.

Talk to us about routines and how important they are to keeping you on top of your game….

  • How you do anything is how you do everything
  • Good habits are critical to success
  • Most of the habits we build are done unconsciously – that can be good and bad.
  • If you can “consciously” design habits over the long term, there is no better return on investment!
  • You can design and build almost anything in your life, but designing the habits that lead to that outcome.
  • At the 24 min mark, Moe talks about his personal morning habit:
  • Sauna for 30 mins every morning. Big health benefits have been proven for sauna.
    • Stretching/Yoga while in sauna to make use of that time.
    • Boxed breathing (https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing#tips-for-beginners)

Explain your thoughts on “State, Story, and Strategy…”

  • The most important thing is your state.
  • The story is whatever identity you have for yourself. The story you tell yourself becomes your identity, so be very careful what you tell yourself.
    • Moe shares the story he tells himself
  • You will become the environment your surround yourself with
  • Write your story down and read it each week
  • Back to state – your state of mind sets the tone for your success every day
  • Make your emotions such as anger your tools to use. Don’t let them control you. You must learn to control them and use them to your advantage – channel the emotion to make a difference for you.
  • Your body is a vessel, a tool for your mind and your will to manifest. ​

Anything else we should know?

  • Competition is very important!
  • We should compete a lot more often than we do.
  • We don’t because we are afraid of what happens if we don’t win. Who cares. Compete!
  • When you lose in competition, what do you really lose? Nothing, really…
  • Competition is a learning cycle that allows you to get better and grow.
  • And you could also win….
  • You don’t know if you are winning until you are tested.
  • It also healthy to compete against yourself. Every day is a chance for you to be better than yesterday.

 

Best Quote: “As you build your pain tolerance, you increase your ability to suffer through the bigger challenges and this allows you to grow and attain new heights. It allows you to level up.”

 

Moe's Misfit 3:

  1. Go first. For some reason, we don’t like to go first on things. Go first. You lose nothing. Put your pride aside and lead.
  2. Good artists copy. Great artists steal. You do not have to re-invite the wheel. Take the things that work from others and use them in your life.
  3. You are the sum of the 5 closest people you surround yourself with. Choose wisely.
Jun 26, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur Brian Scudamore. Brian is the founder of O2E Brands, the banner company for 1800-Got-Junk, WOW One Day Painting, You Move Me, and O2E. O2E Brands offers franchise business ownership opportunities in the home services industry. The company currently has over 250 franchise owners throughout North America and Australia.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Brian’s companies as they have been featured everywhere from CNBC, FOX, Entrepreneur, Fortune, Forbes, INC, and in addition to that, they’ve won numerous awards including:

  • CEO of the Year
  • Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers
  • E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year
  • Startup Canada Entrepreneur of the Year
  • Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Culture
  • And many others ​

This year Brian published his first book, a best-seller called WTF, Willing to Fail: How Failure Can Be Your Biggest Key to Success. It’s the principles of this book and what Brian’s learned about building successful businesses that I’m excited to explore in this episode.

@BrianScudamore on Instagram

www.O2Ebrands.com

Get WTF on Amazon

Everything started with Brian trying to pay for college because all his friends were going, and he wanted to be able to do the same. He had to talk his way into college and try to find a way to pay for it. Brian’s parents couldn’t afford to send him. He was in a McDonald’s parking lot where he saw a beat up old pickup truck filled with junk that said “hauling” on it. He had $1000 in the bank and put $700 into a beat-up truck, called it the Rubbish Boys, and within a week, had a business going.

He had vision for something bigger and started knocking on doors, drove down streets and offered to haul things for people, and that business model became 1-800-Got-Junk. And 3 years into college, it had grown so much and was learning more about business running one, he left and went full go at it.

At the 6 min mark, Brian explains how after 22 years into building 1800-Got-Junk, they had sold out in North America and Australia, so he decided to start another home service business, WOW One Day Painting – which is now doing over $30 million.

Can you share the system or set of principles that you consistently use to build these businesses?

  • The # thing is the ability to see things differently. To see a beat-up truck in a McDonald’s and see a larger vision.
  • Seeing what others do not see is the key.
  • Taking a risk, doing something that has never been done before has to happen at some point.

Tell us about franchising….

  • It took 8 years to get to $1 million in revenue in 1800
  • That time helped Brian to figure out the proven recipe/model that can replicated to scale.
  • If you have a business that you want to franchise, you should have at least 5 years under your belt to show that the recipe works and is repeatable, proven, etc.
  • You must know your business intimately inside and out to franchise properly. It is a different world that a partnership. You can’t afford to get it wrong.
  • Leadership is critical to succeeding in any business, especially franchising. What does it mean to you to be a leader?
  • To be a leader you have to followers. Otherwise, you are not a leader, you are a loner.
  • You have to people following your vision, passion, and path that you are taking them down.
  • It starts with vision. The painted picture. A clear vision of what the future will look like.
    • Take out a sheet of paper and fill it up with everything you want and believe is possible.
    • Put it in writing and share it with others.
  • Leadership is having a clear compelling picture of the future – not necessarily how to get there, but a good idea of what the future looks like.
  • Everything begins with and follows a vision. To truly lead, you must develop your vision and share it with infectious passion.
  • If you want an example of a painted picture, Brian is happy the share theirs. You can get it by messaging him @BrianScudamore on social.

What are some of key element that are part of a vision?

  • It’s the vivid picture you see in your own brain.
  • You must take it from your head to a clear, concise, understandable, written form.
  • It’s not so much what’s in it, but who it connects with and getting them to be a part of it.
  • The power is in the ability to see something and be able to articulate what you see, people start paying attention in making decisions into what is important in the daily role in their business.
  • A good vision will separate those that are with you and not onboard very clearly and that is good, as you want the ones who are on board to be a part of it with you.

WTF has become a huge best-seller. Can you share some of your favorite and most important lessons from the book?

  • You must work with the right people for you and your business.
  • A company or brand is only as strong as the people you empower.
  • You can do tremendous damage to your company just by having one wrong person on your team. Brian had to let go of a leader who was running the business, an ex-Starbucks president, that just wasn’t a fit and it almost sunk to business. They had to re-build and Brian had to get over his bad decisions.
  • Going through the experience taught Brian to be grateful because it led him to the President he has in charge of things today and the brand is doing the best it ever has.
  • Be grateful for your missteps, but realize you have to keep going after them to see the benefits of going through them down the road.

Why are people so afraid to fail?

  • No one likes to get hurt, physically, or emotionally, or the stress of not succeeding
  • Being a leader requires courage and stepping up and owning it.
  • You must know going in that you are going to fail and have missteps and not be afraid to admit them, but have the courage to overcome them, learn from them, and keep going, etc.
  • People aren’t afraid to be vulnerable and that keeps them from truly growing. Be open, be vulnerable, wear your failure and share it with others. It is how you grow.
  • What makes things incredible and creates success that everyone wants to be a part of is the ability to keep going despite setbacks and push through – to be relentless in pursuit of the vision.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned about life in going through your journey?

  • Gratitude – being grateful for everything you go through, the good, the bad, etc. because it will lead you on the path to success and fulfillment in your life.
  • Brian tells the story of how he went through the Starbucks exec situation and how it caused him to look closely at himself and ultimately do what needed to be done to find the right person.
  • Every failure is a chance for gratitude. It is a chance to look at a situation that is seemingly bad and find the one or more things in it that can be a gift – sometimes in disguise.

What other habits have you put into your life that you have found are very helpful to success?

  • Brian starts his day by putting down in a note on his phone his #1 thing to be intentional about. The one thing to keep in his mind.
  • Brian ends his day with gratitude. When he lays down in bed, he thinks of at least 5 things he’s grateful for.
  • “It’s like magic…”

What is the best advice you can give to an entrepreneur just starting out?

  • Many don’t have a clear direction. You need to have a vision and painted picture for those that will come along with you to follow.
  • New entrepreneurs can get scared writing down the vision because they start thinking about how they’ll get there. Don’t think about the how or the possibility of things, just get the vision out of you. Just dream.
  • When you are done and read it – if it gives you chills, you are on the right track.
  • You won’t get it right the first run-through…and that is OK.
  • Entrepreneurs need to think what the future looks like, put it in writing, and don’t worry about how they’ll get there.
  • Find the direction…. ​

What does O2E stand for?

  • Ordinary to Exceptional
  • The name states the purpose and what drives the business

 

Best Quote:  “To be a leader you have to followers. Otherwise, you are not a leader, you are a loner...”

 

Misfit 3:

  1. Have a vision, a painted picture, of what your future looks like.
  2. Find your daily keystone habit, the #1 thing that if you do every day, you will get closer toward your vision and painted picture.
  3. There is a massive difference between building a living and building a life. Be driven to build a life. Drive your passion forward and share you purpose with others.
Jun 19, 2019

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, This is a very special episode, not just in that is the 150th episode of the Misfit Entrepreneur, but because today’s lesson may be the most important one I ever give you. In this episode, I want to talk to you about love – what it means to me, to you in your life, to the world, and the power that it has.

When most people hear the word “love,” they think of romantic love, which is an amazing form of love, one that I cherish with your mother. But that is a small part of what it means to truly love holistically.

And the thing that I have found over the years is that you have to learn to love in a larger way. The capability is born with us, but we have to learn how to bring it out.

What do I mean? When I speak of love. I mean it in all forms. Loving holistically means loving every aspect of life. It means loving your fellow man, regardless of how flawed they are. It means, loving yourself, no matter how flawed you are. It means creating a loving relationship with God in a way only you can. And, it also means acting with love in all these areas.

Let me give you an example. The other day, you came home from school and were sad and had tears in your eyes as you told your mother and I that you got laughed at by a bunch of kids at school. You said, you weren’t paying attention walking through your class and hit a chair and tripped and fell…and most of the kids laughed at you. You were upset about them laughing, but I think you were even more upset that out of all the kids, only one of them asked if you were OK.

At a time like this, it is hard to “love” your fellow man. It is hard to set aside your feelings of embarrassment, sadness, maybe even anger (at them and yourself for falling), but the best thing you can do is love them. Love them all. Love them for who they are and understand that they, like you, are just another person with their own issues, fears, insecurities, embarrassing times, and challenges. And always remember that, no one can make you feel bad without you letting them. But, also remember, instead of feeling bad, use love to make the situation better.

As I mentioned, it also important to love yourself. I don’t mean that you become self-obsessed or arrogant. I mean learn to love your strengths and your weaknesses. Learn to love your talents. Learn to appreciate yourself and love the gifts you have. And most importantly, love the miracle that you are and the fact that you have the amazing gift of life. Remember, the chances of you being alive are infinitely small. For you, me, or any of us to be here today means that billions, maybe trillions that might have been – are not. Develop a healthy love for yourself and all that you are.

Most importantly, strive to develop a loving relationship with God. God loves you unconditionally. God created you and God’s love runs deeper than any earthly imagination of it that we have in this world. But, we need to hold up our end of the bargain and learn to love back. To me, while this should be the easiest form of love, I think it is the hardest. God is all around us, in everything and everywhere, but most don’t see it that way. They think of God as a single being, like a person and thus when we cannot see God physically and have to go on faith, it is not as tangible to us. Learning to love something on faith and faith alone is tough. You have to become strong inside and bring out the most powerful form of love there is. And furthermore, you have to do it all that time. It is a lot harder than it sounds. But, you must make it a mission in your life to develop your loving relationship with your maker.

It took me a long time to begin to understand what it means to fully love and I still probably haven’t scratched the surface of what it means, but I understand more today than yesterday. I now understand what Jesus meant when he told us to “Love our enemies” and why. I understand what John Lennon was saying when he said, “Love is the answer.” It is much deeper than we all realize.

The last thing I want you to know is that it is not enough to love and love unconditionally, you must show it in your actions as well. This is the hardest part of it all. Acting in accordance with love. It is one thing to love and tell yourself internally, but another to show it and live it. It is very hard to stand up in front of your classmates that are laughing at you after you fall down, and tell them, “I forgive you. I love you.” But, you must. You must unleash the power of the love you have inside you and share it with the world.

Hannah, It’s the greatest power of them all.

I love you, Daddy

 

Best Quote: “You must unleash the power of the love you have inside you and share it with the world."

 

Misfit 3:

  1. Love is learned throughout life.
  2. Loving holistically means loving every aspect of life. Loving your fellow man, yourself, the world around you, and most importantly, God.
  3. It is not enough to love on the inside, we must show it in our actions.
Jun 12, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur needs no introduction as he has probably influenced all of us in some way in our lives at this point. I’m excited to welcome Michael Gerber. For those that maybe know the name, but not so much about him, Michael is the author of The E-Myth, the e-Myth Revisited which have been awarded New York Times best-seller status each year for over two consecutive decades. Michael and his ideas are featured everywhere from INC, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and just about every other top business outlet.

He is also the founder of Michael E. Gerber Companies which do everything from things like his Radical U Entrepreneurship school to Masterminds and Prodigy Business Books, the publisher of now 19 e-myth entrepreneurial development books.

Michael’s brand has touched the lives of over 5 million readers and small business owners transforming how they do business. Needless to say, over 45 years Michael has pretty much seen it all, done it, and probably invented a lot of what you are using in your business today, so I’m very excited to have him on and share his wisdom.

www.MichaelEGerber.com

www.ProdigyBusinessBooks.com

www.RadicalU.com

Freebook.MichaelEGerber.com

Michael didn’t start his entrepreneurial career until he was 40 years old. He didn’t ever plan on being an entrepreneur, nor had much interest in business. The only reason he became involved was because his brother-in law roped him to speaking to one of his clients of his advertising firm. The client was having trouble converting leads to sales for their high-tech business.

Michael didn’t have a clue what to talk to the client about but went anyway. The client was confused as to what they were talking because Michael didn’t know anything about their business. They both had no idea how to proceed but did.

It was that meeting that shaped the rest of Michael’s life and the lives of millions because by the time they were done talking, Michael was able to help the client understand that they needed a system to sell their solutions. Michael had learned that many years earlier when he sold encyclopedias for a stint. Michael succeed because he followed a system and the big “aha” for him with the client was that the systems were key and what were needed for the business, any business to succeed.

The client then asked Michael if he could create a system and Michael said, “Yes,” and hired Michael on the spot. That was the beginning of everything and birth of the ideas that became the E-Myth.

For those that have never read the E-Myth or E-Myth books, can you give the central tenants of the books and why they are so important?

  • The E-Myth is the entrepreneurial myth that describes why most small businesses don’t work and never will.
  • Small businesses are products of people doing everything from HVAC to Chiropractors that are working in someone else’s company that get the great idea that they can do it on their own.
  • They go to work in their business, building a business that depends on them. They are chief, cook, and bottle washer. They essentially create another job for themselves.
  • What they didn’t learn is the “business of business.”
  • As they get more successful at “doing it, doing it, doing it,” they suddenly become aware of all the things they don’t know.
    • They don’t know the money of business
    • They don’t know the management of business
    • They don’t know the leadership of business
    • They don’t know the people of business
    • And on and on….
  • What they really don’t understand is the system of business. Lead generation, lead conversion, client fulfillment, finances, management reality, etc. The total integrated system structure that exists in highly successful businesses.
  • As a small business owner, you must transform yourself from a technician doing a job in your business to a true entrepreneur.

What are the 4 hats that every entrepreneur must wear?

  • They are the 4 definitive personalities within an entrepreneur
  • An entrepreneur is really 4 people:
    • Dreamer – Dreamers have a DREAM
    • Thinker – Thinkers have a VISION
    • Storyteller – Storytellers have a PURPOSE
    • Leader – Leaders have a MISSION
  • These are the most critical things a business must have to survive. If they don’t, it is an accident waiting to happen – the lack of these are why 90% of all businesses fail.

“It’s not the money, it’s the meaning that truly satisfies…”

What is your advice to bridge the gap of those that have a dream and mission, but fail in really executing to make it come to fruition?

  • Let’s challenge this theory. It is the opposite. Most people don’t get the Dreamer, thinker, Storyteller, and Leader side of things and fail to appreciate how these are the absolute foundation of everything.
  • They are more critical than execution because until they are truly internalized, almost like a religion or foundational belief system for the entrepreneur, they can’t survive execution.
  • If you don’t have a profound belief in what you are doing, it won’t last and it will fail.

7 Essential Steps to Creating a Great, Growing Company

  1. Primary aim
  2. Strategic objective
  3. Organizational strategy
  4. Management System
  5. People development system
  6. Marketing system
  7. Systems of systems

People always rush by their “primary aim.” They focus on the money, making money, and miss the most critical aspect and underpinning of what it take to truly make the money – the anchored, aim that pushes them through to get to the dream.

At the 25 min mark, Michael goes more in depth on what it means to have a “dream.”

  • In the discovery of your dream, you will understand that it is to transform the state of something worldwide.
  • Your dream is and should be much bigger than you realize.

“It’s never a people problem, it’s always a systems problem.”

Of all the you have created, done, and been part of, what is the most important business less you’ve learned along the way? Life Lesson?

  • That is the big question
  • Michael doesn’t read business books
  • The most important book Michael has read and tells others to read is “I Am That” and at the 37 min mark, he explains why….
  • If you are passionate about the questions asked here, you will seek to find the true answer to “I am….”
  • The most profound thing for Michael has been to watch the ordinary person, who is consumed by life (doing it, doing it, doing it), with no dream, vision, purpose, or mission except to maybe make more money, etc. change their life with simple knowledge that Michael has shared.
  • We are born in God’s image which means we are born to create and pursue and do the right things.
  • Your dream, purpose, mission, and vision give you the “right thing.”

Tell us about Radical U…

  • Radical was created transform the state of small business world-wide by transforming the state of entrepreneurship world-wide in order to transform the state of economic development worldwide.
  • Radical is the system to do this. It is the only entrepreneur development school on the planet that someone can go to online and complete the 8-fold path.
  • It designed to take anyone and walk them step by step to build a successful business from scratch.

You can get the 8-fold path for free at Freebook.MichaelEGerber.com

 

Best Quote: “It’s never a people problem, it’s always a systems problem”

 

Michael's Misfit 3:

  1. It is not about us. Every single one of us are here to create a world fit for God. It is about your impact for them.
  2. It is never personal, it is about the system. Become a systems thinker and a systems creator.
  3. We must commit our everything and our all to the process of transformation in life, business, and all areas.
Jun 5, 2019

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Niajae Wallace. Niajae has an amazing story that I don’t want to spoil for you. But, let’s just say she started out with nothing and by age 19 had started her first business and the success grew from there.

She had so much success that she was able to free herself to work when and how she wanted and now travels the world teaching people what it truly means to live an abundant life.

This is going to be an interesting and possibly controversial episode, because we are not only going to talk about how to create your own abundant life, but we are going to discuss some major topics on what truly holds people back, especially in inner city and underprivileged areas. Niajae and I both have strong feelings about how to best help these areas and they are built on principles tested throughout time. I knew when we connected on this level and were able to discuss these topics, I had to have her on the show and share her wisdom with you.

www.Niajae.com

The Abundance Hack Podcast

Niajae was born in the Bronx to a single mom. Her dad didn’t know if she was his. As she says, she has the typical inner city single mom story where people expect her to have the stereotype of “daddy issues” and multiple kids by different fathers, government assistance, etc. But that is not the case. Niajae looked at her life and said, “This will not be my story…”

She buckled down and found a different mindset than those around her. She spent more time in the library while others were running the streets. She also found a mentor at SCORE which led to her starting her first business at 19. She learned a lot and 5 years later opened another business which she grew and was able to sell. This allowed her to transition to be fully remote and travel the world working where, when, and how she wants.

She now focuses on teaching people how to shift out of the mindset of not falling victim to their circumstances and their upbringing. She helps them re-write and live their story.

What does it mean to live and abundant life?

  • Finding your purpose and living it.
  • Finding that fulfilling feeling by serving and helping others with your purpose.

Is there a framework that you use or steps you coach people on to find the abundance of their life?

  • First, you must become self-aware.
  • You must get a good idea of what you want.
  • You must also have a good idea of what you feel are your limiting beliefs, your blocks and the pain/trauma you have suppressed.
  • To find out what you truly want, ask yourself “What do I truly want..” 3 times.
    • The first time will be what you feel you want…what society has led you to believe.
    • The second time you will dig a little deeper and question if what your first response was is true or if it is different. This is where you may find some limiting beliefs and question if you can have what you want.
    • The third time is to remove all barriers and pretend you have a magic wand and could have anything you want – no limitations. That is what you truly want.
  • Next you must then isolate and remove the limiting beliefs, your blocks.
  • There is no upper limit.
  • Things can go great and continue to be great in your life as long as you get out of the way and allow it to happen.

How do you coach people to push through and take the action needed to truly find abundance?

  • It is amazing how most people know what they need to do, but won’t do the work required.
  • The reality is that people have to ditch the excuses.
  • We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Some people spend that time within 24 hours binge-watching Netflix while others spend that time building an empire. Which would you rather be?
  • People may not like perspective, but they need to hear it. There is no excuse if you truly want to make a change.
  • It ultimately comes down to how bad they want it. If you want it bad enough, you will get it.

What was the hardest or darkest moment on your path to success? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?

  • Niajae had to battle through a lot of limiting beliefs (blocks).
  • No one in her family had ever had a business.
  • The hardest thing was not having any support. She had to shift her mindset because she always felt alone. Her family and friends did not think like her.
  • The more you shift your mindset for success, the less you have in common with those around you that do not.
  • It took going to groups, seminars, and entrepreneur focused events to find new friends and surround herself with those that are operating on the same levels.
  • One of the hardest things to get over is being OK with outshining those around you.
  • Many times, we dull our own “shine” for the people that we love and it stunts our growth. Beware of this trap.
  • Her first business did not last very long, but she took what she learned and re-opened a few years later and made it a big success.
  • You must also learn how to outsource and delegate. Trying to do everything herself is what sunk her first venture.

At the 20 min mark, Niajae talks about her business that she sold…

  • Big Lesson Learned: There is a huge difference between owning a business and owning a job.

What have you learned about business and life after selling the business, going remote, etc.?

  • Chasing financial freedom is kind of a dead-end road.
  • It’s not the money, it’s the experience that it will give you that matters most.
  • Fulfillment doesn’t come from the material – it comes from tapping into your purpose at the highest level.

At the 30 min mark, Niajae and I talk about a real problem – how to truly help those in the inner cities

  • Throwing money at the problem is a “band-aid.” It doesn’t heal anything.
  • What is needed is good role models and mentors.
  • Spend money on getting quality teachers instead of a rec center.
  • The conditioning of thought is the other big area that must be looked at – at home and in the community. People are taught that they cannot succeed when that is not true. This can only change when the influences of that thought are taught there is another way and they can change.
  • For example, Niajae’s mom used to tell her that her “head was in the clouds” and that what she wanted wasn’t realistic. For most people, if told something like that enough, they give up on their dream(s).
  • Struggle is a mindset and it is pervasive. But, it does not have to be.

Talk to us about victimology…

  • We have it so good.
  • Playing the victim is making excuses.
  • We must take responsibility for our lives and not let ourselves be a victim to our circumstances.
  • 20% of life is what happens to us, 80% is how we react to it. You control 100% the way you react.
  • We repeat the same patterns over and over until we learn from them and finally break them.
  • If you are someone who has really had a traumatic experience – please ask for and seek help to get through the trauma and pain. You can overcome it, but don’t go it alone.
  • Never be embarrassed with who you are and your story.

At the 46 min mark, Niajae talks about “upper limit problems” and for the first time how her relationship with her mom, and now her dad have been affected by her confronting things and choosing to succeed with no limits. This is a very powerful segment for anyone.

 

Best Quote: “We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Some people spend that time within 24 hours binge-watching Netflix while others spend that time building an empire. Which would you rather be?”

 

Niajae's Misfit 3:

  1. Believe in yourself. Life will tell you that you can’t. Believe in and love yourself. Have unwavering faith.
  2. Choose to be happy. Don’t just exist. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Happiness, regardless of circumstance is a choice.
  3. Self-care is a must. You cannot pour from an empty cup, so you must take care of yourself first. The only way you will do your best is if you feel your best.
« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next »