Brief Overview

In this episode I’m a little fired up because I’m tired of people (maybe you?) holding yourself back from experiencing success. And it’s an easy fix. I share more in this episode.

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Big Ideas

Be Prepared For Challenges [02:24]

If you want to succeed long-term, you will face all kinds of challenges. One of my friends Barry says it best, “New level. New devil,” meaning every new level of success brings a whole new set of challenges that you didn’t anticipate beforehand.

Throughout my career, I realized the challenges that used to get me hang up years ago are laughable today. In the same manner, the challenges you’re experiencing now are going to be laughable five years from now, because they are preparing you for the bigger challenges that you’re going to face when your business grows. There’s a myth that the more success you experience, the less challenges you face, but it’s completely untrue. You will always experience challenges, you’ll just be better prepared to handle them.

Choose the Right Mindset [03:41]

Too often, you’re getting in your own way when it comes to succeeding either in your business, with your marketing or in life in general. The things you are telling yourself are being programmed into your subconscious mind, and whether you realize it or not, your subconscious is either working for you or against you.

I experienced this myself back in the day, when I used to have guilt around making money. My parents are two blue-collar workers and the way we were programmed to succeed in life was to work harder. They both worked two full-time jobs and never had time to enjoy life, yet they still were amazing parents who have always been there for us.

I was brought up with a mindset that to succeed, I must work hard. Only later I realized that working hard doesn’t mean more success because nobody works harder than my parents and yet they’re not the most financially successful people. The thing that people who are working less but are making more have in common is that they are all entrepreneurs, and that’s what sent me on my path.

The True Power of Money [06:43]

In my mid-20s I was doing well and my business was growing, but when I got to the $400,000 mark, I’d started feeling guilty and thinking that I don’t need to be earning this much money.  I would stop calling the clients back or stop following through on projects and marketing campaigns. It was my subconscious that held me from earning more because it was the messaging I had told myself.

That guilt was forever lifted from me when my wife and I were in Kenya looking to build the first school for our non-profit, Village Impact. I was talking to the chairman of this community, and I asked how much does it cost to fund the full-time salary of a teacher. He told me it’s about $100 a month, and I instantly thought of the WishList Member site licenses we were selling for $97. The more licenses I could sell, the more I could allocate to the causes I’m passionate about. That’s when I realized the more money I make, the more impact I can have. It was so freeing and liberating because money finally became something that was very honourable and that I absolutely wanted because I could use it to do good for others.

What’s Stopping You From Achieving Success? [09:38]

If you’re not making the kind of success that you want, there is something happening deep beneath the surface with the messaging that you’re telling yourself and you’re likely getting in your own way. And until you fix that, nothing is going to help because your subconscious will always keep you from making those huge leaps. Is your subconscious working for you or against you? At the end of the day, when we want to make progress, it boils down to only two things – time and money. What do you have more of right now?

Embrace Your Journey [10:57]

Earlier in my career I had more time so I had to roll up my sleeves and figure things out. I didn’t have the money to hire somebody to do it, so it took a million times longer than it should have, but it was necessary to move forward.

Understand what do you have more of right now and embrace this stage of your journey. If you are in the earlier stages of growing your business, you need to invest more of your time. It’s okay that it’s going to take you longer to learn and figure things out. And if you’ve been at this for a while and you’ve got money and resources, embrace that too because money will enable you to hire people who can take care of certain parts of the business so that you can focus on a few things you do really well. And the more you can get into that zone, the faster the progress you’re going to make.

Make the Most of What’s Available To You [12:51]

Forget all this nonsense of comparing yourself to other people, because everybody else’s situation is completely different. There are people with less experience, less resources, less contacts who are experiencing more success and it’s because they have gotten out of their own way. The key thing here is that you have to keep moving forward.

That may mean that instead of trying to sell to thousands or hundreds of customers , just focus on one right now. Recently, I gave advice to another non-profit organization who was looking to expand in helping other non-profits. They were trying to think through a very complex strategy, and I told them they should focus on helping just one non-profit first. When you help that one person, you get a great story, and a great story is a foundation of great marketing. At the end, it all comes down to one action. What is that action for you right now? Is it organizing a Facebook live? Is it making a difficult phone call? Make the most of what you have available to you right now.

Keep Moving Forward [15:57]

It’s never been easier to build a business because the tools and the resources available to us right now are in huge abundance, and I want you to see the value of that. I want you to experience the momentum because it creates confidence that is going to enable you to overcome any challenge that you may face.

We can’t sit still and hope that solutions are going to land in our lap. It may take longer to grow or you may have to hire people to help you, but that’s what will help you make the kind of progress you want. No matter what level of success you get to, we all need to make sure that we’ve got our head on straight and that we’re always moving forward. Don’t let any little problem or challenge deter you from the good that you are bringing to this world, just keep moving forward.

Memorable Quotes

”When you help that one person, you get a great story, and a great story is the foundation for great marketing.” – Stu McLaren

“There’s a myth that the more success you experience, the less challenges you face, but it’s completely untrue. You will always experience challenges, you’ll just be better prepared to handle them.” – Stu McLaren

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