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.
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?
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…
At the 16 min mark, Sharon talks about what it means if you use a nickname.
How does understanding your name affect your success and your life? And what can someone do?
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.
What about naming a business? Can Neimology play a role?
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?
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:
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.
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?
Define what significance means to you and for others…
At the 25 min mark, Aaron talks about “Gratitude Day…”
What are your best principles and thoughts on how to succeed in business?
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?
How does someone start a Mastermind group and find the right candidates?
At the 49 min mark, Aaron shares some final pieces of wisdom…
Best Quote: “Can’t couldn’t do it and could did it all...”
Aaron's Misfit 3:
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
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.
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?
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?
Can you talk about the mental side of succeeding as an entrepreneur?
At the 20 min mark, we have a discussion about the ways people look at wealth.
At the 32 min Mark, Jeff and Jason talk about the systems they have created that help grow and sustain their business.
What does it really take to be a successful trader? What is most important for people to know?
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?
#1 Quality traders should develop?
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
Jason
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.
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?
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?
“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?
At the 15 min mark, Tamara tells us about her book, Balance is B.S.
What are some of the myths that hold us back?
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.
Can you give us your top piece of advice from the other areas of the book?
What are the principles and strategies that you use to build companies?
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:
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
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?
Talk to us about the power of suffering…How has that been an ally in helping you succeed?
Talk to us about routines and how important they are to keeping you on top of your game….
Explain your thoughts on “State, Story, and Strategy…”
Anything else we should know?
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:
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:
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
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?
Tell us about franchising….
What are some of key element that are part of a vision?
WTF has become a huge best-seller. Can you share some of your favorite and most important lessons from the book?
Why are people so afraid to fail?
What is the most important thing you’ve learned about life in going through your journey?
What other habits have you put into your life that you have found are very helpful to success?
What is the best advice you can give to an entrepreneur just starting out?
What does O2E stand for?
Best Quote: “To be a leader you have to followers. Otherwise, you are not a leader, you are a loner...”
Misfit 3:
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:
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.
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?
What are the 4 hats that every entrepreneur must wear?
“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?
7 Essential Steps to Creating a Great, Growing Company
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.”
“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?
Tell us about Radical U…
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:
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.
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?
Is there a framework that you use or steps you coach people on to find the abundance of their life?
How do you coach people to push through and take the action needed to truly find abundance?
What was the hardest or darkest moment on your path to success? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from it?
At the 20 min mark, Niajae talks about her business that she sold…
What have you learned about business and life after selling the business, going remote, etc.?
At the 30 min mark, Niajae and I talk about a real problem – how to truly help those in the inner cities
Talk to us about victimology…
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: