Ravens_Shadow
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
LEGACY MEMBER
MEMBER
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So I am not going to introduce myself, because what I have done (business wise) is irrelevant in the face of what is actually important to providing value to YOU.
I have been a mentee under someone from the forum for over a year now, and I have worked with some amazing people from and off the forum as well. I will note that I am 21, but that is irrelevant as well.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned, in no particular order.
Fears:
Don’t let your fears control your life. I sold everything I owned and moved across the country to learn from someone I didn’t know. It was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken and it has since allowed me to travel around the world and go to places I never thought I’d see. If I decided to not face my fears, I would still be working in a factory. Your fears have total control over your life if you allow them to. The thing is, if you make the leap, the net will appear.
Sometimes people allow themselves to suffer until its actually easier to face your fears than it is to deal with the suffering. That’s the point that I reached and I would advise everyone to tell your fears to F*ck off and to go get your shit done, because as soon as you do, you will realize just how easy it all is.
So what, fears control your life now? What does it matter if you fail? Failure is an opportunity to learn. I embrace failure, I love failure. It lets me know EXACTLY what not to do next time around. I have lost out on some pretty amazing deals because of failure, but when the next deal came around, I was able to swiftly close it due to knowledge I could’ve only gotten from failing. Don’t be such a chicken shit. Most people in their 40’s/50’s are still afraid of what might happen, but they just take the leap anyway.
Learn what your fears are, write them down, break them down, and move past them. Release your shackles.
Education:
I dropped out of college twice. College isn’t for everyone and I am not here to debate what college can or cannot do for you. I just know that I have learned more in the past year than I ever could have in a classroom.
I take knowledge given to me by others and immediately try to apply it to my life. I personally have excelled faster than many others ever will due to my thought process. With my thought process I can quickly connect the dots in the past with new knowledge given to me. I try to understand WHY things happen and WHY some things work and WHY some things don’t.
Education never stops, always better yourself. You can learn anything you want from the internet (youtube, google, etc). I have learned an immeasurable amount from asking the right questions. Asking questions is the greatest way to get a free education. Learn to ask the right questions, don’t waste peoples time with dumb questions like; “How much money do you make?” “What is your business?” “What is a zen mindset?” “How do I start a business?” “How do I start a business without money?” “How do I learn x?”.
Well I don’t know, why don’t you start off by asking google or the right people? There are countless forums, posts, articles, blogs etc about starting a business. The real secret is that you have to just do it, just make the leap, start something and then go to the NEXT STEP. A before Z. Always ask “what’s next”. And eventually you’ll succeed.
Obstacles = False Barriers:
There are no obstacles, only the ones you create in your head. Any “obstacles” that you have are just manifestations due to your fears. Sure, there are hiccups in life and business, but you can overcome any of it with work. If you say it CAN’T be done, you are correct. YOU can’t do it.
If you say it CAN be done, then dammit, you CAN do it.
The biggest challenge you face is yourself.
Find out what ya suck at early on:
Find out what you suck at early on and stay out of what you suck at. I cannot stress this enough. Don’t waste your time as it is your most valuable asset. I personally suck at sales and marketing so I hire people to do it for me. Forget becoming well rounded, who wants to use a dull knife? Focus only on what you are good at and outsource what you suck at. Become the sharpest knife possible in select areas that you can dominate. Knowing what you suck at is extremely important.
By knowing what I suck at, and knowing what I’m good at, I have VALUE. I know exactly what I can provide to people in deals. Knowing this allows me to describe what I can offer to people, and in turn people ask me “What can I do for you, how can I help you?”.
Your mindset is the most powerful tool you have. Sharpen the shit out of it, because if you dont, you will be a victim of living your life on "default". And we all know where living in default leads. Exactly where you don’t want to be.
Learn the skills of a leader, and go find leaders to be around. Begin aquiring as many leader oriented skills as possible, It’s not being cocky that makes you money. It some very serious skills. Find and hone those.
How many people are asking you what can they do for you? Have you been able to provide enough value to where the tables have turned to be in your favor?
Don’t start a business to “Prove your worth to someone”. Do it for yourself.
Dont give a flying F*ck about what others think of you, because they honestly don’t really care if you suck, or if you're doing well. So learn to do what you do, for you, and your own reasons. Anything that has to do with "showing someone whose best" is utter bullshit. It’s a very shallow, and short lived victory. It’s worth about zero time spent on it.
Give a bigger shit about other people than you do yourself, and you will find that your life will have a richness to it regardless of your bank account.
Don't let greed take you over. Be generous to everyone in your deals and more deals than you can ever handle will come to your door step. Because i’m so generous in sharing the profits of my deals, I have more than I can handle. It’s nice to have so many that you have to tell people no.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT! The amount of money you have does NOT define who you are or what your worth is!
Speed:
You will get older, and wiser in spite of yourself. Don't be in too much of a hurry, because trying to get there to fast, means you're just on a race to get to the end... and that is death. Seriously dead. Why are you in such a hurry anyway? To prove something to someone? We already talked about that.
With that said, going fast in your business is necessary, but sometimes you seriously need to slow down for a while so you can look at your business from a 30,000/ft view. This will help you strategically plan the direction you want to take your business. From there, you can go back to going as fast as you can go to get there, in a tactical manner. It's always about WHATS NEXT, not 5 miles up the road.
An important question you need to ask if you are looking to have lots of money:
What will you do once you get it? Will you just call it quits and retire on a beach? Will you go to help others achieve the same? Will you play video games all day? Will you raise a family? What will YOU do with your free time? Once money comes easily, what then? Do you try to aquire more?
The point is, once you get to the “end” of your journey, you need to know what you’re going to do after you’ve reached your main goals. This is a seriously important question you need to know before you reach that destination.
Persistence:
Persistence will out pace bad luck, and no amount of bad luck will outweigh persistence. Always be persistent. Never give up due to fears or insecurities.
Your Vehicle:
Find out who YOU are. Find out what YOUR voice is. Find YOUR SELF. From that, everything else will happen, and it’ll become so much easier. Focus on YOU for a while.
Every few weeks or so, I do a “Re-cap” on the weekends. I spend 1-3 hours to myself, and write down everything I've learned on a white board. I write down things that challenged me, things I’d like to change about myself, things I’ve learned about myself. I write it down in front of me so i can physically see my thoughts in the physical realm. Doing this helps me get my bearings straight and helps me to apply new ideals and methods to my mindset and thought processes. It helps me be an ever evolving person. I constantly strive to be the best me possible, and you should do the same.
Relationships: THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION: (For the unmarried only)
Dont be in a rush to get married or settle down. Settling down, is the first step to adding in more fear, and with that you take less chances and less risk. Either that, or let her/him know you are a high risk taker, and she/he has to be comfortable with that or hit the road early, cause it will only freak her/him out more as time goes on.
Granted, it is often touted (Work 16 hour days on the weekends and week days, and forget relationships etc). Eh, not my style. I work on weekends often, but after about 5-6pm. I’m done for the day, by that time i’m just unproductive, so I go spend time with people via dates, hanging out, going on road trips etc. If someone comes along that I fancy, I’ll court them and possibly become (exclusive), but i’m in no hurry to completely settle down. Get out of your head and go have fun. Life isn’t completely about business. Build your relationships. You never know when you can use that contact later in life.
For morons:
"There is also a side note i will throw out there. Some assholes use the phrase "F*ck bitches, get money" or "disregard females, acquire currency". Don't be one of those immature assholes please, the world has enough of them. It's a completely childish way to look at your adult endeavors."
For the guys:
If you haven't "figured out" women yet, its because your not enough of a man yet. Work on that. Being a good man in this world is unfortunately a rare thing. Don't let yourself become one of those Douche Bags.
The point is, go out there and meet people, build relationships, and let things take the course they may. Just don't rush anything.
Networking:
This is one of the most important things you can do in your physical realm. Going out and meeting people has expanded my knowledge of the world ten fold. I have contacts to people in countries i never thought possible all through networking. Grow you black book and keep track of who is who. I use an app called CJournal to tag my contacts and make a note of everyone. Keep all of your business cards you receive as well. Back what ever you can up into the cloud as often as possible. You never know when you will lose your wallet/purse and be stuck without thousands of acquired cards.
When you are out networking, start off by asking people how you can help them. If you provide enough value to them, they will certainly return the favor. I've found that most of business deals with networking with the right people.
Balance:
Find balance in your life. Work really hard when its time to work. However, you seriously need to know when it's time to play. I dedicate my nights on saturday to go out and have fun. Occasionally Friday night i'll go out and have a few drinks and do what most people do. Work isn't everything, and since you are running a serious venture, you need time to unwind and relax.
Do not neglect this, as doing so will destroy you. After 8pm on week nights, and 6pm on weekends, my days are done. I'm not in a hurry, the deals aren't going to run away. If i KNOW that i need to work, I will! But you've gotta find balance. In the first days of our startup, we worked 16-18 hour days for a few months straight. But it NEEDED to be done. Take some time off. Go have fun.
Closing Remarks:
Just show up. Show up every day and you'll know what you have to do. Just showing up is 90% of what it takes to do business. Every day that you show up, you'll be that much closer to success. Showing up gets you the contacts you need.
There are over a million ways to make a million dollars and it's seriously easy, you just have to do the right thing, which is more of a formula than you think. Ask the right questions, provide value, do whats next, and be persistent.
Life is what happens while you are planning it. Be open to failure, I am only successful because I have f*cked up. Embrace it!
Start by asking better questions, then applying what you learn from the answers the wiser give you.
Hope it helps.
Thanks to @Vigilante @PeteLife and @MJ DeMarco
Vig seriously kicked my a$$ a few years ago. I'm forever grateful.
I have been a mentee under someone from the forum for over a year now, and I have worked with some amazing people from and off the forum as well. I will note that I am 21, but that is irrelevant as well.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned, in no particular order.
Fears:
Don’t let your fears control your life. I sold everything I owned and moved across the country to learn from someone I didn’t know. It was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken and it has since allowed me to travel around the world and go to places I never thought I’d see. If I decided to not face my fears, I would still be working in a factory. Your fears have total control over your life if you allow them to. The thing is, if you make the leap, the net will appear.
Sometimes people allow themselves to suffer until its actually easier to face your fears than it is to deal with the suffering. That’s the point that I reached and I would advise everyone to tell your fears to F*ck off and to go get your shit done, because as soon as you do, you will realize just how easy it all is.
So what, fears control your life now? What does it matter if you fail? Failure is an opportunity to learn. I embrace failure, I love failure. It lets me know EXACTLY what not to do next time around. I have lost out on some pretty amazing deals because of failure, but when the next deal came around, I was able to swiftly close it due to knowledge I could’ve only gotten from failing. Don’t be such a chicken shit. Most people in their 40’s/50’s are still afraid of what might happen, but they just take the leap anyway.
Learn what your fears are, write them down, break them down, and move past them. Release your shackles.
Education:
I dropped out of college twice. College isn’t for everyone and I am not here to debate what college can or cannot do for you. I just know that I have learned more in the past year than I ever could have in a classroom.
I take knowledge given to me by others and immediately try to apply it to my life. I personally have excelled faster than many others ever will due to my thought process. With my thought process I can quickly connect the dots in the past with new knowledge given to me. I try to understand WHY things happen and WHY some things work and WHY some things don’t.
Education never stops, always better yourself. You can learn anything you want from the internet (youtube, google, etc). I have learned an immeasurable amount from asking the right questions. Asking questions is the greatest way to get a free education. Learn to ask the right questions, don’t waste peoples time with dumb questions like; “How much money do you make?” “What is your business?” “What is a zen mindset?” “How do I start a business?” “How do I start a business without money?” “How do I learn x?”.
Well I don’t know, why don’t you start off by asking google or the right people? There are countless forums, posts, articles, blogs etc about starting a business. The real secret is that you have to just do it, just make the leap, start something and then go to the NEXT STEP. A before Z. Always ask “what’s next”. And eventually you’ll succeed.
Obstacles = False Barriers:
There are no obstacles, only the ones you create in your head. Any “obstacles” that you have are just manifestations due to your fears. Sure, there are hiccups in life and business, but you can overcome any of it with work. If you say it CAN’T be done, you are correct. YOU can’t do it.
If you say it CAN be done, then dammit, you CAN do it.
The biggest challenge you face is yourself.
Find out what ya suck at early on:
Find out what you suck at early on and stay out of what you suck at. I cannot stress this enough. Don’t waste your time as it is your most valuable asset. I personally suck at sales and marketing so I hire people to do it for me. Forget becoming well rounded, who wants to use a dull knife? Focus only on what you are good at and outsource what you suck at. Become the sharpest knife possible in select areas that you can dominate. Knowing what you suck at is extremely important.
By knowing what I suck at, and knowing what I’m good at, I have VALUE. I know exactly what I can provide to people in deals. Knowing this allows me to describe what I can offer to people, and in turn people ask me “What can I do for you, how can I help you?”.
Your mindset is the most powerful tool you have. Sharpen the shit out of it, because if you dont, you will be a victim of living your life on "default". And we all know where living in default leads. Exactly where you don’t want to be.
Learn the skills of a leader, and go find leaders to be around. Begin aquiring as many leader oriented skills as possible, It’s not being cocky that makes you money. It some very serious skills. Find and hone those.
How many people are asking you what can they do for you? Have you been able to provide enough value to where the tables have turned to be in your favor?
Don’t start a business to “Prove your worth to someone”. Do it for yourself.
Dont give a flying F*ck about what others think of you, because they honestly don’t really care if you suck, or if you're doing well. So learn to do what you do, for you, and your own reasons. Anything that has to do with "showing someone whose best" is utter bullshit. It’s a very shallow, and short lived victory. It’s worth about zero time spent on it.
Give a bigger shit about other people than you do yourself, and you will find that your life will have a richness to it regardless of your bank account.
Don't let greed take you over. Be generous to everyone in your deals and more deals than you can ever handle will come to your door step. Because i’m so generous in sharing the profits of my deals, I have more than I can handle. It’s nice to have so many that you have to tell people no.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT! The amount of money you have does NOT define who you are or what your worth is!
Speed:
You will get older, and wiser in spite of yourself. Don't be in too much of a hurry, because trying to get there to fast, means you're just on a race to get to the end... and that is death. Seriously dead. Why are you in such a hurry anyway? To prove something to someone? We already talked about that.
With that said, going fast in your business is necessary, but sometimes you seriously need to slow down for a while so you can look at your business from a 30,000/ft view. This will help you strategically plan the direction you want to take your business. From there, you can go back to going as fast as you can go to get there, in a tactical manner. It's always about WHATS NEXT, not 5 miles up the road.
An important question you need to ask if you are looking to have lots of money:
What will you do once you get it? Will you just call it quits and retire on a beach? Will you go to help others achieve the same? Will you play video games all day? Will you raise a family? What will YOU do with your free time? Once money comes easily, what then? Do you try to aquire more?
The point is, once you get to the “end” of your journey, you need to know what you’re going to do after you’ve reached your main goals. This is a seriously important question you need to know before you reach that destination.
Persistence:
Persistence will out pace bad luck, and no amount of bad luck will outweigh persistence. Always be persistent. Never give up due to fears or insecurities.
Your Vehicle:
Find out who YOU are. Find out what YOUR voice is. Find YOUR SELF. From that, everything else will happen, and it’ll become so much easier. Focus on YOU for a while.
Every few weeks or so, I do a “Re-cap” on the weekends. I spend 1-3 hours to myself, and write down everything I've learned on a white board. I write down things that challenged me, things I’d like to change about myself, things I’ve learned about myself. I write it down in front of me so i can physically see my thoughts in the physical realm. Doing this helps me get my bearings straight and helps me to apply new ideals and methods to my mindset and thought processes. It helps me be an ever evolving person. I constantly strive to be the best me possible, and you should do the same.
Relationships: THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION: (For the unmarried only)
Dont be in a rush to get married or settle down. Settling down, is the first step to adding in more fear, and with that you take less chances and less risk. Either that, or let her/him know you are a high risk taker, and she/he has to be comfortable with that or hit the road early, cause it will only freak her/him out more as time goes on.
Granted, it is often touted (Work 16 hour days on the weekends and week days, and forget relationships etc). Eh, not my style. I work on weekends often, but after about 5-6pm. I’m done for the day, by that time i’m just unproductive, so I go spend time with people via dates, hanging out, going on road trips etc. If someone comes along that I fancy, I’ll court them and possibly become (exclusive), but i’m in no hurry to completely settle down. Get out of your head and go have fun. Life isn’t completely about business. Build your relationships. You never know when you can use that contact later in life.
For morons:
"There is also a side note i will throw out there. Some assholes use the phrase "F*ck bitches, get money" or "disregard females, acquire currency". Don't be one of those immature assholes please, the world has enough of them. It's a completely childish way to look at your adult endeavors."
For the guys:
If you haven't "figured out" women yet, its because your not enough of a man yet. Work on that. Being a good man in this world is unfortunately a rare thing. Don't let yourself become one of those Douche Bags.
The point is, go out there and meet people, build relationships, and let things take the course they may. Just don't rush anything.
Networking:
This is one of the most important things you can do in your physical realm. Going out and meeting people has expanded my knowledge of the world ten fold. I have contacts to people in countries i never thought possible all through networking. Grow you black book and keep track of who is who. I use an app called CJournal to tag my contacts and make a note of everyone. Keep all of your business cards you receive as well. Back what ever you can up into the cloud as often as possible. You never know when you will lose your wallet/purse and be stuck without thousands of acquired cards.
When you are out networking, start off by asking people how you can help them. If you provide enough value to them, they will certainly return the favor. I've found that most of business deals with networking with the right people.
Balance:
Find balance in your life. Work really hard when its time to work. However, you seriously need to know when it's time to play. I dedicate my nights on saturday to go out and have fun. Occasionally Friday night i'll go out and have a few drinks and do what most people do. Work isn't everything, and since you are running a serious venture, you need time to unwind and relax.
Do not neglect this, as doing so will destroy you. After 8pm on week nights, and 6pm on weekends, my days are done. I'm not in a hurry, the deals aren't going to run away. If i KNOW that i need to work, I will! But you've gotta find balance. In the first days of our startup, we worked 16-18 hour days for a few months straight. But it NEEDED to be done. Take some time off. Go have fun.
Closing Remarks:
Just show up. Show up every day and you'll know what you have to do. Just showing up is 90% of what it takes to do business. Every day that you show up, you'll be that much closer to success. Showing up gets you the contacts you need.
There are over a million ways to make a million dollars and it's seriously easy, you just have to do the right thing, which is more of a formula than you think. Ask the right questions, provide value, do whats next, and be persistent.
Life is what happens while you are planning it. Be open to failure, I am only successful because I have f*cked up. Embrace it!
Start by asking better questions, then applying what you learn from the answers the wiser give you.
Hope it helps.
Thanks to @Vigilante @PeteLife and @MJ DeMarco
Vig seriously kicked my a$$ a few years ago. I'm forever grateful.
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