Entrepreneurial Mind Set of Pro Bloggers -2014

Most small business owners I know are like me. They love what they do. I bet you do too. That’s one of the main reasons many of us chose to go out on our own. We also like the flexibility, the opportunity to be creative, and the possibility of shaping our own future.

Entrepreneurial Mind Set of Pro Bloggers -2014

Business owners fall into two categories—self-employed and entrepreneur. The self employed are those who have a talent or skill and they know there are people willing to pay them for their time, product or service. So they employ themselves rather than work for someone else. They get business cards, stationary, possibly an office. They begin marketing their services and after a while they have some customers. After a while, they find themselves working too many hours, constantly trying to fill the pipeline with new prospects, and sometimes wondering if they’ve bought themselves a glorified j-o-b. They can’t take too much time off because without them there is no business or income. Even franchisees, who have the support of a proven system, can find themselves in this category. Certainly many home based businesses, consultants, coaches, infopreneurs and service professionals end up on this treadmill. We’re talking about talented professionals—people who, like you, work hard and deserve success! Unfortunately, a majority of business owners fall into this category.

The entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are the business owners who seem to grow their businesses effortlessly, and maintain steady growth. You talk to them and although they work hard, they’re off for a three day weekend at the beach or a European vacation. They do charity work and participate in activities with their kids. What do they know that the self employed do not?

They have gained the Entrepreneurial Mind Set. An entrepreneur is a great strategist and a master at getting others excited about helping them grow their business. They know they need to develop multiple profit centers in their business, not just one or two, so they’re constantly looking for creative opportunities to do so. And some of those profit centers need to be passive income that is not dependent on their time. In other words they’re not always selling time for money. In addition, the entrepreneur knows how to make the most of ever opportunity to bring in new prospects, convert them to paying clients, and get them to buy repeatedly. That means carefully planning, strategizing, measuring results against expectations and re-adjusting. It means taking calculated risks and learning from the ideas that fail—and there are always ideas that fail.

Developing the Entrepreneurial mindset is one of the best self growth programs in the world. Who you are, what you think, your personal habits and beliefs absolutely determine the results you get and challenging yourself to overcome and change what’s not working is CRUCIAL.

Some of the attitudes, habits and beliefs I often see that sabotage amazing people from reaching their potential are:

Money fears that prevent you from investing in your business, that hold you back from charging what you’re worth because you’re afraid people won’t pay it, among others

Procrastination and lack of focus – this can cause you to work hard but produce poor results

No planning — this random approach will have you shooting darts at a dartboard blindfolded and hoping to hit the target

Low self confidence- this will affect everything you do in your business and how others perceive you. It will also make it difficult for you to ask for the sale

Bright shiny object syndrome- going after what seems like the newest, hottest idea or strategy but never sticking with one and following it through to the end

Lack of action — being a perfectionist, or someone who fears what people think can prevent you from taking regular, fast action in your business, which is the ONLY way to succeed.

Begin to seriously address these issues with the help of a coach or mentor and it’s like breaking through a wall and seeing the light on the other side. Small business growth usually explodes. People who are willing to get outside their comfort zone and stand in their own truth to work on these issues (and everyone needs to do this) are the ones who achieve a Big Vision for their business and life.

If you find yourself thinking you don’t have the time to work on your mindset and to get rid of the habits and beliefs that aren’t working, try thinking about where you’ll be a year or two from now if you don’t. I can tell you where you’ll be—self-employed.

Become obsessed with the potential of your business. Become totally excited about being a leader. Become determined to think like an entrepreneur.

The Mindset Of The Entrepreneur: The Hard Truth About Getting Started

I want to talk to you about the mindset of the entrepreneur. You know, it took a friend of mine 14 years to convince me to do what I’m doing right now. I kept putting it off. You know why? Because I didn’t believe in myself.
Believe In Somebody’s Belief In You, Until Your Own Belief Kicks In

I don’t have a college education, and I felt that even though my friend believed in me, I didn’t believe in myself, and I felt inferior to people with college educations. But he kept saying to me, “Les, you can do more than be a disc jockey”.

At the time, I was a radio personality in Columbus, Ohio, and he would always continue to come back to me again and again to hound me about it. In fact, I just asked him a few weeks ago, I said, “Tell me, what made you stay in my ear?” and he said, “I just felt it was my duty”.

You know, sometimes in life, you have to believe in somebody’s belief in you, until your own belief kicks in. Now, I don’t know you, and I can’t even see you. But here’s what I know about you: that you have something special – you have greatness within you. I can say that to you based on my own experience.

You might sell a product, or service, you might have some skill or knowledge that people need right now. I don’t know what you do, but here’s what I do know: you don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.

I wish that somebody told me that just having the courage to get started would make it possible to earn more, to touch people’s lives, and to do things I didn’t even realize I could do. One of the things you have to do is just decide, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to make this happen.”

You’re Seated Out There Because Of The Thoughts You Have Rejected For Yourself

I remember once going to an event. There, they had a variety of motivational speakers, but one of the guys that opened for Zig Ziglar really stuck out, in a bad way. He was quiet, he had low energy, he had no personality – he was plain ol’ boring. The audience was as quiet as a graveyard between funerals! I remember going to sleep during his speech until the audience woke me up with polite applause. I said out loud, “Man, he was boring!”

I didn’t know at that time that I was seated next to his brother-in-law, who responded to me, “You ought to be that boring and make the kind of money he makes!”

I said, “Well, how much money does he make?”

He said, “$5,000!”

I looked at my watch and said, “$5,000? I KNOW I can do that!”

Has that ever happened to you? May be you saw somebody do something, and you said, “Hey, if they can do it, I can do it!”

From that time to this time, I’ll never forget something that speaker said from the platform. He said, “I know I don’t have personality, and passion, and energy. I know that I’m boring. But the reason I’m standing up here, and you’re seated out there, is because I represent the thoughts you have rejected for yourself.”

You Argue For Your Limitations, You Get To Keep Them

WHOA. When he said that, it hit me dead between the eyes, because I remember saying to myself, “I can’t do that, I don’t have a college education… I can’t do that, Mike, I’ve never worked for AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, McDonalds Corporation, IBM, Xerox… I can’t compete with those guys… I don’t have the resources, I don’t have a full-page brochure.”

I had all of these excuses. I remember a time after that when while I was talking to him on the phone, the line went dead. I called him back and said, “Hey Mike, we lost signal.”

He said, “We didn’t lose the signal. I hung up!”

I said, “Well why would you do that?

He said, “You argue for your limitations, so you get to keep ‘em. You better hope I win this conversation!”

I said, “OK, talk to me, talk to me!”

And I tell you, I’m so glad that he did that. Since then I’ve traveled around the world and gone from earning $50 an hour to $25,000 an hour, all because I got started. I went from just speaking locally to speaking around the world, and getting paid over $125,000 in an hour for it! I had no idea.

You’ve Got To Get Busy And Work Your Plan

There are things you’re going to be able to do that eye has not seen, ear has not heard. There are things you have in you that you don’t even know, but until you get out of your comfort zone, you will never discover it.

You have greatness within you. But in order to manifest your greatness, you’ve got to put yourself in a perpetual state of discomfort. Yes, you’ve got to challenge yourself. You’ve got to raise the bar on yourself. You’ve got to get busy and work your plan.

Even if you’ve got a job right now, you’ve got to work yourself out of it. You’ve got to have an exit date where you say, “Hey, it’s time for me to do ‘me’… to pursue my dream, to work my plan… to implement the things that I want for myself, for my family, for my kids.”

What Is The Why Behind Your Dream?

What do you want for yourself? In my case, I wanted to take care of my mother. I’m adopted, and I surely feel like Abraham Lincoln who said, “All that I am and all that I ever hope to be, I owe to my mother.” She adopted 6 kids, and with me that made 7. She was a domestic worker on Miami beach. One day, I said, “Mama…”

She said, “What is it Leslie?”

I said, “One day, when I become grown, I’m gonna buy you a big beautiful home.” And I bought my mother her first home, it was 10,000 square feet with a 12-foot deep Olympic sized swimming pool, on a golf course! I would never have been able to do that had I not started on my dream.

YOU Have Something Special, And The World Is Waiting For You To Show Up And Share It

At the end of the day, you’re watching this for a reason. You have something of value. This is your time. So as you begin to look at yourself, your goals, and your dreams, decide that you’re going to focus on your strength. Decide that you’re going to master your skill. Say to yourself, “I got this, this is my space!”

When you find something that is your passion, that turns you on, when you do that to the best of your ability, you’re on the right track. They say that success is doing something you love so well that you get paid for it. That’s what I do as a speaker. I love to talk, so I find people that want to pay me to talk to ‘em!

Get out of your fear and just become bold. I believe, “Leap and grow your wings on the way down.” You might say, “Well, I don’t know what to do.” Well, just get started, and if you’re going in the wrong direction, just turn around and you’ll be going in the right direction!” Just get busy doing what you’re supposed to do. You’ll be surprised at the breakthrough. You’ll be surprised at how things begin to come together for you.

I want to leave this with you: YOU have something special, and the world is waiting. There are customers that are waiting – for your services, for your product, for your ideas, for your skills, for your expertise. It’s time for YOU to show up and share it – for them, for your dream, and for your business.

The Mindset Of The Entrepreneur: Wowing Them With Your Story

As an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to tell your story. Everytime I speak, I have to tell my story. Why is it important? Because people do business with people they know, like, and trust. So when you tell your story, people get a chance to do all those things with you.
I was talking to a friend of mine today who’s going to give a presentation in Jamaica. I said, “Tell me your story.”

She said, “Well, I was an assistant principal for 25 years.”

I said, “And what do you do now?”

She said, “Well, I’m retired and I’m refired.”

I said, “Well, what do you mean by that?”

And she explained, “Well, I retired from being an assistant principal, but to me, retirement means fading away. So now, I’m an author and a speaker. I teach people how to put together travel packages. I’m a travel agent, and I help people add more adventure to their lives.” She then went on to talk about her education…

Your Story: Who You Are, What You Have, And Why Anyone Should Care

I said, “Well, first of all, here’s what I want you to know. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to be talking to people in order to attract customers. Let me give you some points about that, so that they’ll want to do business with you…

You want to start off by telling them who you are, and why you do what you do. Why is this important? Well, when people hear you speak, and when you’re presenting yourself, they’re asking 3 questions:

1.) Who are you?
2.) What do you have?
3.) Why should I care?

If I were you, I’d open up with this:

‘Hello, how many of you have goals you want to achieve? Raise your hands. Very good. Let me share something with you. One of the things I want you to do right now is think about your goals…

I used to be an assistant principal for over 20 years, and I decided that after retiring, I was not going to just fade away. I wanted to do something else, so I put together travel groups for people to travel around the world in order to live their dreams.

Now, I’m an author and a speaker, and this is something that I enjoy doing. This is something that turns me on.

What turns you on? Because what I want to do is show you how you can begin to see the world on your terms from a perspective that will add more zest to your life. Hellen Keller said, ‘Life is either a daring adventure, or it’s boring.’ So, my husband and I are looking for people who want to have a daring life, who want to live an adventure.’”

Change The Conversation By Being Both Strategic & Experiential With Your Story

See, you have to make it exciting for people and give them an experience. As entrepreneurs, we’ve got to be strategic with our story, and we’ve also got to be experiential. Being strategic has 3 parts: to distract, to dispute, and to inspire.

People already have a mindset about what it is they want. When you tell your story about your product, your skills, or your business, you’re disrupting the story that’s already in their head. You might even be catching them while they’re shopping with somebody else. You want to interrupt that story with your own story, so that they don’t look any place else and realize that you’re the one they need. Through your presentation, you can dismantle what they already believe, and create a thirst in them for you and what you do.

There’s an old saying: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” However, through telling your story, strategically and experientially, you’ll begin not only to expand the possibilities in their mind about what you can provide, but you’ll also create a thirst for what it is that you provide, so that they’ll want to do business with you.

Tell Your Story With Confidence, And Speak With A Level Of Competence

I’ll never forget, I was considering this guy to be my CPA, and at the door when he greeted me, he shook my hand, and then turned and walked down the hall in such a way as if to say, “I’m excited about how we’re going to take your business to the next level.” He had already closed me, and we hadn’t even pulled out the contract yet! But there was this spirit and mindset of, “I got you, buddy! You’re up in my space right now – and I own it. ”

So when you tell your story, you want to tell it with confidence. And when you speak, you want to have a level of competence. You want to know your story, the story of your competition, and the story of the marketplace. When someone is considering your service, they want to know who you are, and they want to know that you can handle their problem. When you do that, they’ll leave there knowing they’re in the right place. They’ll leave there ready to write a new chapter in their lives, with you as their strategic partner, because they’ll believe that you’re going to take their business to the next level.

Study And Know Your Customers Extremely Well If You Want to Stand Out

Your story is important. One of the things I love most about dealing with technology and Kajabi, is that what it took me years to do in getting my story out there, you can do in a fraction of that time. Now, getting started, taking your game to the next level, being unstoppable and relentless, looking for ways in which you can win, how you can snatch victories from the jaws of defeat, being the kind of person that’s always pushing the envelope on yourself, that’s the name of the game today.

In this era, what the late Peter Drucker calls the era of the 3 C’s (accelerated change, overwhelming complexity, and tremendous competition), you’ve got to run just to stand still! If you’re serious about winning, you’re going to look for ways in which you can study and know your customers extremely well, and begin to look at how you can provide the kind of service that makes you stand out in their minds.

Don’t Intend To Please Or Satisfy Your Customers – Make It Your Mission To Amaze Them

I’m reminded of a woman who became a dominant voice in her industry. She was asked, “What is it that you can point to that’s allowed you to become successful?”

And she said, “It’s not our intention to please our customer, or to satisfy our customers – our intention is to AMAZE them.” See, if you want to amaze your customers with your story, you’ve got to bring your expertise, your knowledge, and your follow-through to the quality of service that you provide. Then, your customers will continue to respond to you with their dollars.

There was a study done to find out what “customer service” meant to the average person. The conclusion? It came down to reliability – can we count on you? Will you keep your word? Will you operate with integrity? Will you honor your word as yourself?

So what’s your story? When people ask, “Who are you, what do you have, and why should I care?” What will you say? And, what will cause them to say, “I want to do business with you… I’ve been looking for you… you are the answer to my problem.” Think about it.

You have greatness within you. That’s MY story, and I’m sticking to it.

The Mindset Of The Entrepreneur: What It Takes To Win In Your Business

When I started out in business, I had to find a way that would make me stand out. What is it that will make you stand out in your competition?

In my case, I noticed that most speakers had memorized scripts. So I read 2-3 books a week, and trained myself to speak extemporaneously.

The other thing I did was train myself to custom design my presentation, rather than just going in and doing an information dump. I trained myself to ask the customer questions, to find out what their needs were, and then cater my presentation to their needs.
Look at yourself. What is it that’s different about you, how will you make yourself stand out? Henry David Thoreau said, “Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there’s no path, and leave a trail.” Find out what about your service, your skills, your knowledge, and your products can be delivered in a special way.

Give Your People Red Carpet Treatment

I was in Cincinnati, Ohio, going to give a presentation. There was a gentleman who picked me up in a limousine. When I came outside (and I’ve never had this happen to me before), he went and got my luggage from baggage claim, and as we were walking toward the limousine, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he pulls and rolls out a long carpet in front of me. I said, “Whoa!”

He said, “I want to give you red carpet treatment. Every time you come back to Cincinnati, I want you to know my name.”

I said, “You got me, you got me!”

When we pulled up to the destination, he got out and rolled out the red carpet again. I will never forget that! It’s been over 16 years now, but every time I come back to Cincinnati, I ask for Jonathan White. I want to know if he’s available!

So what is it that’s unique about you?

Do What Others Won’t Do In Order To Have The Things Others Won’t Have

Whenever I give a presentation, I find out the 5 things my client wants their audience to walk away with. I’ll talk to the people promoting the event as well as the people in the audience. Then I’ll marry that. Now why do I do that? Because in order to be successful in business today (and people are voting with their dollars), you’ve got to be willing to do the things that others won’t do, in order to have the things tomorrow that others won’t have.

See, it’s much easier to come in and just regurgitate some information. But if information could change people, everybody would be skinny, rich, and happy! So my goal is to create an experience for people. When you touch their minds, and you touch their hearts, they will remember you.

People have an emotional memory, so what can you provide for your customers that will keep you in their minds? How about your followup? Just because they said no today doesn’t mean they’re going to say no tomorrow. You’ve got to follow up again and again. You can say, “Look here, I was just thinking about you. We were talking the other day, and you mentioned something. I found this article, and thought it would be of some value for you.”

Always Give Before You Ask

I think it’s important to give before you ask. I remember when I wanted to become a disc jockey. I did volunteer work for local disc jockeys. When they came out to the parking lot, their cars would be waxed and cleaned, and they’d say “Who did this?”

I’d say, “I did that, sir.”

They’d ask, “How much you gonna charge, young man?”

And I’d say, “Oh nothing sir, I just wanted to help out.”

Here’s what I was doing: building relationships, giving before I asked, and creating value. I knew I had to get my foot in the door. I wanted them to know I was serious.

Don’t Look For Someone To Give You A Job – Create One For Yourself

I have a friend who calls himself “The Billionaire P.A.”. What he does is, he sells t-shirts on a corner in Los Angeles. And he sells over 5,000 t-shirts a year like that. When I bought a t-shirt from him, he reached in a bag and pulled out a camera. For everyone who buys a t-shirt from him, he records them and sends them the video to follow up.

This is a guy who was an ex-felon. He was turned down for over 125 jobs. He couldn’t find one because of his history. So he went to college and got degrees in both marketing and business. He said, “I won’t look for jobs, I’ll create them.”

One day, he decided to create t-shirts with special slogans on them (ex., “God’s on my team, who’s on yours?”) Now, though he used to be homeless and sleeping in his car, he has his own home. Now, he has staff. Now, he’s going to be in a commercial that will be at the Superbowl. He looks for ways in which he can serve his customers, way to stay out in front, and ways to make it happen no matter what.

Create An Unforgettable Experience By Raising The Standard Of What You Deliver

Now, think about you. You have more than The Billionaire P.A. had. You have more resources. You have a technology team in Kajabi that can provide anything you need to tell your story more effectively and get it around the globe, and it’s available to you right now.

Think about your goals. Think about your dreams. What can you do to create the kind of experience for your customer that will have them passing the word on about you, that will cause them to think about you when they have a related problem that needs fixing?

When you think about today’s marketplace, it’s more challenging than ever before. But anything’s possible. It’s possible that you can live your dream. It’s possible that you can carve out a strategy that will allow you to become the dominant voice in your industry.

And it’s necessary that you go after a higher standard. It’s necessary that you incorporate technology to your story, and that you use your imagination to look for ways to take your business to the next level. You must create an unforgettable experience for your customers with your unique signature.

Do What Is Hard And Your Life Will Be Easy

It’s been said that the people who make it in this life look around for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they create them. It’s up to you. You’ve got to take responsibility for what it is that you want.

And it’s hard. Easy is not an option. It’s easy to quit. It’s easy to come up with excuses. It’s easy to become frustrated. And it’s easy to throw in the towel on yourself.

I had a mentor who once said, “If you do what is easy, your life will be hard. But if you do what is hard, your life will be easy.” It’s hard not to give yourself a pass. It’s hard when you’ve been rejected again and again to come back. It’s hard when you run out of money and ideas, and people disappoint you, to pick yourself up and say, “I’m going to make it happen, in spite of _____.”

But you’ve got to find out what will make it worth it for you. Nietzsche said, “If you know the why for living, you can endure almost any how.” You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your family. You owe it to the people who believe in you to make it happen.

I’ll see you at the top, or from the top. ;-D