How Entrepreneurial Wealth is Achieved
by Case Lane
Getting rich is part of the entrepreneurial story. Successful entrepreneurs start out focused on the product or service they will bring to the marketplace, but when their idea takes off, they become even more defined for having achieved wealth.
To learn how the wealth emerges, the biographies and autobiographies of successful entrepreneurs form a blueprint for an aspiring entrepreneur to understand the process.
But many people do not take the time to read the books, and remain curious about how an entrepreneur was able to become wealthy.
Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay
We have a natural curiosity about how people became wealthy. There are many wealthy people who are not entrepreneurs and never were in their whole family line. You can get rich by winning the lottery or inheriting. You might even just buy an expensive piece of art for a bargain price at a flea market. Multiple roads to wealth exist.
But people primarily equate entrepreneurship with getting rich and living the life. People tend to forget about the work part, and only focus on the money and the life of leisure money can buy.
But if you dig deeper into the lives of entrepreneurs, the millionaires and billionaires who highlight all the stories, you might discover a reality about achieving wealth that people seem to be forgetting.
If you investigate a little further, you may realize, the secret to accumulating wealth is, as it has been for millennia: doing the work.
Part of the entrepreneur story is about money, the books and articles are written about the people who get rich. But for the wealth generated by entrepreneurs, the story is simple: Wealth is achieved through work – continuous, dedicated, unwavering work.
Build the Business Over Everything Else
On the road to wealth, you cannot have your cake and eat it too – meaning no birthday parties. When the most successful entrepreneurs tell their stories, they have nothing to say about going to parties, hanging out with friends, gossiping, surfing the Internet, playing video games, or binge-watching videos.
They talk about focusing day and night on their business idea, and bringing it into reality.
The willingness to be singular focused on business separates the wealth creators. You have to be obsessed with your business idea.
For some people, dropping all leisure pursuits sounds frightening, especially if you have already begun a regular life full of birthday parties. The most successful entrepreneurs never seem to have succumbed to the repetitive socializing routine, at least not once they were working on their business.
Change Your Life Routine
But for aspiring entrepreneurs who already have a ‘regular life’ full of social obligations and friendships, switching gears is a daily challenge.
If no one you know is doing what you are doing, and you want to focus on business 24/7, you have to make a choice.
The next time you receive an invitation for a general social function – not a wedding or funeral – but a theme party or drinks or dinner with friends – you have to decide what’s more important to you. Having yet another drink in yet another bar, or bringing your business idea into the global marketplace.
You are already someone who thinks differently from your circle. You are interested in delivering value into the world by helping people solve a problem using the product or service you create. Not everyone thinks like this. Most people do not think about big world problems at all – but you do.
And because you do – you have an opportunity to transform your life by bringing your business into the market. But you have to do the work. No one is going to know about your great idea if you do not develop it. No one is going to see or hear about it if you don’t market and promote it. The entire story is in your hands, and therefore it’s your responsibility.
Wealth is achieved by making the commitment to fulfill a need and then doing it. Once people become consumers, you can manage the market, and the reward that comes from helping them. But they know nothing about you until you’ve done the work to make yourself relevant to them.
The wealth that’s waiting for you is dependent on the effort you put in to obtain it. The question you have to ask yourself is – are you willing to do it?
Summary for How Entrepreneurial Wealth is Achieved
As a rising entrepreneur, you are curious about how wealth is achieved. You see many entrepreneurs who are rich, and you know their products or services, but how did they become the people who delivered those ideas to the market.
- They did the work. It’s that simple and that difficult.
- If you already have a regular life, and have not been tinkering in your garage since you were 10, you have to make an adjustment, which other people may not understand. You have to begin turning down social invitations, stop idle conversations and focus on your business
- Change your day, change how you behave and start operating like an entrepreneur by working on your business in every spare moment
- Change the conversation to business. If people in your life are not interested, you have to make a choice. You are not trying to convince other people that you can be an entrepreneur. You are trying to bring your great product or service to the people who need it.
- Make a commitment to yourself that you will work to success, just like every big-name entrepreneur has done in the past
How to Wake Up Ready
by Case Lane
When you set out to take control of your life, by starting your own business, there are two things you are trying to do at the same time – transform your life to the routine you really want, and start a business.
These ambitious plans and activities should not be taken lightly. To accomplish this major rewiring of your attitudes and your actions, you need to wake up ready to go. Each morning has to be about jumping at the chance to put yourself exactly where you want to be.
But at the same time you’re facing your reality – going to a job you might not like, family demands, financial issues. You need to psyche yourself up for the amazing plan you have to get to lifestyle freedom.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
Set Your Reason for Getting Up
First and foremost, you want to control your own life – your working life. You want to be your own boss, do work that you really value, and bring your ideas forward into the global marketplace.
To do that, you want to start your own business. You want to become an entrepreneur, be that person who takes the risks, but reaps the reward of doing something unique.
Given that goal, you need your energy, perseverance and courage to make the changes you need to make to be where you want to be. You need to wake up ready.
Value Yourself
You must believe in your personal value, and your contribution to the world because when you do – you wake up with a smile on your face, ready to roll.
When you value yourself, each day is about achieving more, challenging yourself and embracing opportunity. Your ability to be ready is tied to your own vision of why it’s important for you to be ready.
You have something to offer. An idea for a product or service that the global marketplace wants or needs. And you are willing to take the risk to bring this product forward so that you can help people solve a problem.
Give yourself all these great reasons to wake up in the morning? To jump up and get on with the job. You have a clear purpose. But just as important, you know you are the person who can fulfill that purpose.
Picture Your Entrepreneurial Life
Have a clear idea in your mind of exactly the life you are trying to achieve. Not just in a general sense of a product or service you know you want to deliver. But the entire picture. What does your perfect life dream look like?
Make sure you know your own vision. If you wake up thinking about your plans, you can give yourself the spark to get to work immediately on making the dream a reality. Fall asleep with your goals too. And wake up ready to implement.
Someone once said ‘it doesn’t matter where a girl comes from, as long as she knows where she’s going.’ That’s a great phrase.
Have a Morning Phrase
Give yourself a morning phrase – a summary of your intention. Pick a line like the one above and repeat it. Make sure it’s a phrase that gives you confidence to get things done.
Establish a Morning Routine
Create a consistent morning routine. Hal Elrod’s best-selling book ‘The Miracle Morning‘ is a great place to start. Hal took six commonly known self-reflection activities – reading, mediating, visualization, affirmations, exercise and writing – and developed a process for you to do all six each day with intention. The key to getting the activities done is to get up earlier, and make the routine the first thing you do each day.
TMMers (that’s the community built around the book) recognize that the early start to specifically focus on having a great day – sets up a great day. Not all advice fits every lifestyle, and the six practices can easily be modified or adapted to suit a particular lifestyle.
But the basic concept remains the same. But the key is to give yourself something to do immediately when you wake up.
You may even prefer different activities like – sing a song, cook, check the stock market figures – any consistently done morning activity gives you a reason to get up and start your day.
Know Your Daily Goals
Know the key activities you want to accomplish each day to advance your business. These goals can be set and reset as often as needed, and can be tactical activity in support of larger annual or monthly goals.
You want to give yourself designated activities to do every day. Daily goals include activities you want to be doing consistently.
Also keep a goal to review all goals on a regular basis so you are adjusting to the changing reality of your situation.
Summary for How to Wake Up Ready
You are working on transitioning to the life you really want by becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business. To wake up ready every day…
- Start by valuing yourself. When you wake up knowing that you are a valuable person with a contribution that must be made, you can instantly put a smile on your face and a spring in your step
- Have a clear idea of the life you are trying to achieve. Go to bed thinking of the world you are building for yourself and others, and wake up each morning with that vision ready to set you up for the day
- Give yourself a morning phrase – what can you tell yourself each morning to keep yourself on track
- Have a morning routine. When you wake up and you instantly have something to do, you prompt yourself to act immediately
- Set and review your goals. If you have daily goals already set, you can look at them the night before, and be ready the next day to execute on exactly what you need to do
Disclosure: Links to books and physical products are affiliate links to Amazon.com. I earn for eligible purchases. There is no additional cost to you.
The Thing About Money
by Case Lane
One of the number one reasons aspiring entrepreneurs say they cannot start a business is because they don’t have enough money.
This thing about money is a top three excuse for not getting started. Yet 10 times out of 10, the aspiring entrepreneur who makes that statement does not know how much it would cost to bring their business idea to the global marketplace.
And 10 times out of 10 the wantrepreneur does not know how much money is actually available to them, if they were actively looking for it.
Instead, people with business ideas in their head are taking themselves out of the game before it has even started. And by putting money ahead of action, aspiring entrepreneurs are losing the life dream of running their own business.
To avoid this trip, entrepreneurs need to change their attitude about identifying startup money.
Eliminate the mental restraints
In societies that do not talk about money, many people have mental restraints around the subject. The most basic one being: don’t talk about money.
There are many reasons why people do not talk about money, but this article will purposefully ignore that history to focus on the topic.
Money is a thing of value. We use it to exchange for other things of value we want or need. It is important to our lives, it makes things run smoother, and we could always use a bit more.
Talk About Money
To start changing the rules, be willing to talk about money. And to talk about it in specifics.
As an aspiring entrepreneur with a business idea, you want to be able to state exactly how much money you will need to start your business. Not ramp-up, grow for global markets, or hire staff – but just to start.
You have decided to participate in the global economy as an entrepreneur because you have a business idea in your head, and you believe you can add value to the global marketplace. You may be a little uncertain about what being an entrepreneur means so you’ve read books and articles, and watched videos and documentaries about successful entrepreneurs.
You’ve begun to develop a mental picture of what you will need to do to join those people on the road to success.
You are ready to launch your business. What do you need to do first?
This is the point when you begin to calculate – literally – what you will need to start your business.
Start with Resources You Can See
Some of you will say – zero beyond the value of your own time.
Some businesses, specifically online businesses, can be started with no money and use free resources.
Or you may have a service to offer that you promote through social media. Sometimes you can start your business with nothing and that’s how you get going.
Others may be thinking about a brick&mortar business, like a storefront, that requires a lot more upfront capital. But how much more? You still have to figure it out.
You have to know how much money you will actually need.
The thing about money is that it’s ubiquitous, it’s always around. And the best way to get your hands on it is to make sure you are prepared when the time comes to build the business.
Of course money is important, and we all want more than we could spend in a lifetime so that we can live as comfortably as possible, and do whatever we want to do. And of course having a pile of money that lets you start any business you can dream of would be fabulous because you could experiment and play around and see what works for you.
But if that’s not an option for you, there is still no reason to believe you will not have the resources to start your business when you’re ready to start. Because you can start with the resources you have around you. But you don’t know what those resources are until you do your research, and understand the actual cost of starting your business.
If you just keep saying you don’t have the money and therefore you cannot start a business, you’ll get nowhere.
Focus on getting the business started. Learn about the resources you need to make your idea happen. Stay committed to bringing your business idea to fruition.
Successful entrepreneurs know how to pull resources together when needed, and how to utilize resources to their advantage. And you can do the same thing.
Avoid all Excuses
Negative money thinking is an excuse not to get started, which could be hiding your real fear about taking a risk and putting yourself out there as an entrepreneur, when you could always do the 9-to-5 like so many others.
Hiding behind the money excuse as a way to stop you from getting started only limits your life. If you are dreaming about lifestyle freedom, the ability to control your own schedule, and run your professional life as you see fit – then you want to get your business going. You think like an entrepreneur and want to put into reality the expectations you have for your own life.
This includes managing your concerns about money and any fears you may have.
Think Value
The thing about money is that it’s a product to be valued. But you manage and control it to your advantage. You set the parameters for what you need. Many successful entrepreneurs have spent their last dollar, leveraged every asset they owned, and dipped into the pockets of families and friends to make their business a reality.
You may end up doing the same thing. But you won’t know until you have begun to put together the pieces of the business that you want, in the way you want to run it.
Your actual goal – lifestyle freedom – is the most important part of your process, not money. Because as long as you keep in mind why you are pursuing your business opportunity, you will be able to sustain a vision for yourself that will take you exactly where you want to go.
Summary for how to think about money when you are getting started:
- Focus on getting your business started
- Know how much money you need to get started with your business.
- Start at zero and see how far you can go with planning and action before needing a single dollar
- Utilize the resources you have around you, especially free options
- Remember your goal is lifestyle freedom and dream you have for the life you really want
Offline U: The Education You Get from Not Going to College for Business
by Case Lane
Aspiring entrepreneurs have heard they do not need to go to college to obtain the information they need to run a business. There are other ways to obtain an education. But the ‘other ways’ are not always clearly defined.
The value of post-secondary education has always been in its formality. Not only do you do through a prescribed set of courses that result in a diploma, but also the diploma is recognized because other people understand the process, and the value of the paper.
But given the cost, time and demands of a formal college education, many are opting to move forward with a business and you do not want to use formal education to help you. Aspiring entrepreneurs want to learn in the real world, doing real business activities.
How do you succeed without the college formula?
Neither business school nor college is necessary to become an entrepreneur. Many successful entrepreneurs did not go to college, and few (as a percentage of all entrepreneurs) come out of the B-schools.
But both business school and college are also considered outstanding opportunities. College is still the ticket to higher wages, professional careers and advancing in life.
The challenge is to determine which path fits for each individual situation.
Go ‘Offline’
An aspiring entrepreneur can obtain an education, learn the facts and concepts necessary for business outside of the formal college campus. A self-disciplined person can pursue an ‘offline ‘course of study that will help achieve the success they’ve been looking for.
And self-discipline can be imposed if the person has some idea about what to do to achieve similar results to the formal college student.
This approach is Offline U because many courses of study are presented online, and are still formal methods of learning.
Offline U means turning away from all structured education to learn through direct action, observation and doing.
Image by Sebastian Šoška from Pixabay
You get the information you need from available sources, usually for free. Following this path, you have to remember the information is not going to be presented in any particular order or context like in business school. You are not going to be able to segregate the marketing information from the finance information. You are going to require your own system for doing that.
So to start, you decide how you are going to organize the information you receive.
If you already have a business idea, the ‘offline’ course of study can be even more productive because questions and information gathering can take place within the context of turning your idea into a business. The research becomes directly practical.
If you don’t have a business idea, you can use one that already exists to practice how to frame your ‘offline’ studies around a specific product or service.
Once the organizational infrastructure has been set-up for your offline education, you can implement the following practices to give yourself an Offline education that advances your business opportunities:
Read books and articles about successful entrepreneurs
The information you need about how entrepreneurs built their businesses is readily available in thousands of magazine articles and hundreds of books. The blueprints are spelled out in black and white.
If Sir Richard Branson were your best friend, you would read all his books to have the answers about how he built his business, not ask him to explain the story (or else he would know you had never read his books).
Reading the entrepreneur’s story allows you to understand the background how the enterprise was built.
Reading entrepreneurs’ stories also reveals one obvious and timeless fact – the most successful entrepreneurs did the work. They worked night and day on their business enterprise, and reaped the reward. It’s as simple, and as difficult, as that.
Interview someone who is doing what you want to do
If you know anyone near you who is a successful entrepreneur, ask for an interview. For the cost of coffee or a lunch, you may get information that is never taught in school.
To get the interview, honestly make the request from the perspective of a niche demographic that is either unique or aligned with the person’s causes or ideas. Even if you are a working professional, if you belong to any type of club or organization find a connection with the person you want to interview.
You can also interview on behalf of the organization perhaps as a profile for their newsletter. But make sure the request is legitimate.
Research the information other people are saying
Today you can find a lot of material about entrepreneurs and businesses, including interviews, documentaries and profiles that reveal more about how the business is run than you may have calculated.
Do a search for these resources, both positive and negative. Give yourself time each day to spend an extra hour or two with stories that give you ideas. Take notes, and then go back and review your notes, and put them in the context of your own business idea.
Meet like-minded people
Take a look at the meet-ups for entrepreneurs in your city or events that involve entrepreneurs. If you’re shy, approach different people with the same prepared set of questions. For example, ask:
‘I’m curious, how’d you get started as an entrepreneur?’
‘What do you wish you knew from the beginning?’
‘What do you think was the one key to growing your business?’
People love to talk about themselves, especially if they have a willing, eager audience. While stroking an ego, you can give yourself an entrepreneurship 101 lesson.
Go to work for an entrepreneur or organization you admire
If you want work that is meaningful, but are not quite ready with your own business, you can check the job openings at companies you admire, or with organizations you are interested in exploring.
One caution, going to work for any company may not be as glamorous as you could hope, and you may never meet the founding entrepreneur. In fact, the experience may even be a turn-off. But you will learn.
All experience – work, education, going to the store – could teach you something you did not already know which could help you in your business.
If there is a business run by someone you admire, and you think they could use someone like you, there’s no harm in applying, and earning money instead of spending it to get the information you believe you can use in your own business.
Attend conferences
Conferences will cost you some money, but the events are rapid-fire learning experiences. Pick the conference that focuses on your business idea or industry, and use the opportunity to not only learn about the industry, but also to meet other people working in the same field.
You might even find the connections that will feed back into interviews, meetings or employment opportunities that lead you exactly where you want to go.
In summary, to get an ‘offline’ business education outside of formal college or B-school:
- Read books and articles about successful entrepreneurs, and learn how businesses are built
- Interview someone who is doing what you want to do, and ask them about getting started and growing a business
- Research the information other people have about successful entrepreneurs including through interviews, analysis, documentaries and articles, that present both positive and negative views.
- Meet like-minded people at your local meet-ups or entrepreneurial events
- Go to work for an entrepreneur or organization you admire
- Attend conferences
Disclosure: links to books and physical products are Amazon affiliate links. I earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
Be a Contributor
by Case Lane
Lead, follow or get out of the way – phrase attributed most often to General George S. Patton and others
Some people have great ideas for how to get things done; some people want to work for, or with people with great ideas; and some people are indifferent one way or another. They are prepared to consume the good ideas when they are made available, but they have little interest in participating in the rise or fall of changes and risks.
And then there are people – too many people – who are not interested in any ideas. These are people who have something negative to say, or pushback against ideas, and generate essentially zero progress for the evolution of humankind. Those people are the obstructionists.
Identify the Obstructionist
Obstructionists try to convince rising entrepreneurs not to start their business, or tell ambitious self-starters they will never be successful, or are convinced the life they are in is the only life they – or anyone else they know – will ever have.
Obstructionists are standing in the way of those who want to move the world forward. And quite often obstructionist thinking is standing in the way of aspiring entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs who also operate as obstructionists diminish their own chances for success while negatively affecting others.
Plan to Be a Leader
The fundamental idea of an entrepreneur is to take a good idea and put it where people can make use of it.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
But often the road to make that happen is full of obstacles. Some physical, some verbal, some administrative. Obstacles that are erected and maintained by people who do not want you to go where you’re going.
The first time an entrepreneur decides to verbalize a business idea is often fraught with peril. The entrepreneur likely had an epiphany perhaps after seeing something in a store or experiencing a frustration in the marketplace. The idea is based in a genuine recognition of a gap in the marketplace, and a consumer need.
But often when the idea is communicated, in non-entrepreneurial worlds where the majority live, the response is negative.
Those closest to a rising entrepreneur – family, friends, neighbors, teachers, religious leaders -are often the last to support the idea. They fear the risk of beginning a new venture with no guarantees.
They may also be embarrassed to have that one person in the – family, neighborhood, community – who will not do what everyone else says is the right thing to do.
Some aspiring entrepreneurs will get past the negative thoughts and start a business anyway. Others will never be able to move forward.
Unfortunately negative programming leads people to believe that the others are right. If no one you know has ever done what you are proposing to do, you must have the courage to face the unknown. And few hold to that courage.
Where leaders rise
In the entrepreneurial world, leaders are the people who take their business idea and turn it into a viable business regardless of the obstructionists. Courageous entrepreneurs face obstacles, overcome negativity, struggle to find the time and the money, and patiently refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer while making their business a reality in the global marketplace.
The example set by these entrepreneurs has set the stage for many other who eventually follow.
Where followers begin
Followers watch and learn from leaders. In fact, many leaders are also followers, incrementally adding to their knowledge by emulating what other leaders do.
Followers are excited to be around leaders. They have an opportunity to contribute by supporting the leader in achieving a vision that they support.
When an aspiring entrepreneur gets started as a follower, they put themselves directly on the path of leaders. With digital resources that facilitate the ability to follow a leader through articles, videos and on social media, an aspiring entrepreneur can pick a leader they admire, or a company to learn more about, and read, watch, listen and support the leader’s activities.
Followers even go to work for the leader or their company for the experience of learning from a proven success. These learning experiences help the original follower become a leader.
And obstructionists disrupt
What about getting out of the way?
Leaders and followers need obstructionists to get out of the way. Those that try to diminish the work of innovative thinkers, entrepreneurs and investors are limiting their own world.
Obstructionists tend to be those who are trying to slow down the world to suit their purposes. Instead of contributing ideas and inventions to build a better world, obstructionists are trying to hang on to the status quo, to protect themselves, and fading power.
Rising entrepreneurs have to find a way to get beyond the obstructionists and keep pursuing business goals. But sometimes the obstructor is in an individual’s own head.
Overcoming obstructionists, includes surpassing a personal tendency towards limited thinking and negative programming to become the businessperson you really want to be.
It also means overcoming the human need to better than the next person by criticizing other people’s work, plans or dreams while sitting on your own unfulfilled intentions.
There’s no reason to obstruct yourself or others. There is plenty of room for everyone who wants to create a business that adds value to the global marketplace. You can be a contributor who makes a difference in the lives of others by bringing a product or service into the market.
Be a contributor
Entrepreneurs are contributors. Leaders within their own world, followers of other leaders who provide constant daily fuel for the global economy, and hope and opportunity for employees and customers.
As you work on developing your business, keep in mind that you want to stay connected to contributors. Trying to stop others from achieving their stated goals will not make you successful. Neither will negative feedback, comments or bad-mouthing.
Focus on what you are doing, not what others are doing. Stay on top of your plans and dreams, not the activities of others that have no effect on you.
Top-flight global entrepreneurs do not spend their whole day criticizing others? Not if they want to be successful.
They work on continuing to deliver value. They focus on personal development, and meeting and surpassing their business goals. If you turn your own mind on to such pursuits, you will reap the benefit in the rising success of your business.
Contribute to your own life
Contributing also applies to how you run your life. Eliminating obstructionist behavior in business can transform to improving your personal relationships, and the opportunities of your own life.
Focus on positive, individual effort and goals. Focus on what you are doing and how you can make your world better through your entrepreneurial business ideas.
To Be a Contributor:
- People are asked to lead, follow, or get out of the way
- Unfortunately many people choose not to move, they are obstructionists who refuse to do anything but get in the way
- Obstructionists try to prevent you and others from achieving goals by providing negative feedback, or physical or mental barriers to success
- Sometimes that obstructionist is you.
- Perhaps you have been negatively programmed by other obstructionists, or perhaps you like looking for excuses
- To push back against obstructionism, you must be a contributor
- Global entrepreneurs are contributors
- You provide value by bringing a product or service into the global marketplace
- And you reject obstructionism and its many barriers, in favor of having the life you have always wanted running your own business as an entrepreneur
