How I’ve Built My Business, Part II

This post is Part 2 of a two part series. Click Here to go back and read How I've Built My Business, Part 1.

Want to listen? There's an audio version below

I Learned From My Mistakes

Most of the people I talk to who've stalled in their growth have done so because they've become paralyzed by fear. They'll say things like, “Oh, that's easy, I can do that in no time…” and then they never do it, because they're afraid to make mistakes.

I hate making mistakes. I hate looking stupid after putting myself out there. And, I hate failing to achieve my goals.

However, people who succeed fail more than most people try. During their attempts, they make lots of mistakes, and they learn.

We learn MORE from our mistakes than we learn from our successes. When things go well, we don't always pause to examine and understand why. But when things go bad, we analyze everything to death.

I've bought the wrong things. In 2014, I spent an entire month on a project that would never make any money. I've sent duplicate emails to new subscribers, unsubscribed 308 people by mistake… and the list of mistakes goes on and on. But I learned MORE from each of those mistakes than I did when I bought the right things or sent out emails the right way.

I Invested in Myself

Over the past 5.5 years, I've invested more than $10,000 on learning. I've gone to conferences, I've purchased books, I've bought new equipment for blogging and podcasting, and I've even enrolled in a few courses.

An investment in yourself is never a waste of money. And, like with the stock market, it's better to invest in yourself early, because you'll never know what you'll need to overcome the next set of challenges.

If you're in the early stages of your online business journey, you should enroll in 8 Weeks to Exit!

I Stayed Curious & Learned New Things

I really enjoy learning. One time I pulled up Wikipedia and just read through the featured article of the day so I could learn something new.

This tactic really helped me out when I was at Dell, selling to clients over the phone. Because I spent time learning new things, and I approached life with a sense of curiosity, I always had something I could talk about.

Whether it's NASCAR or NASA, always have a curiosity about life. At least a little bit. You won't regret it.

I Got Better Over Time

Part of becoming EXTREMELY successful in any area of life is knowing what you're good at and what you're NOT good at. Then, as time goes on, successful people focus their efforts on improving on their strengths and rely on someone else to do the rest.

For example, Shaquille O'Neal was terrible at shooting free throws and taking long shots, so they stuck him right under the basket.

Over the past few years, I've tried lots of things and failed at lots of things. Now I try to stick to my areas of strength and get better at those things. If I want to get better at email marketing, I read books about email marketing. If I want to learn how to design better landing pages, I study the landing pages of people who are experts in that area.

If you want to be successful, you've got to constantly be getting better and improving on your strengths. Don't focus on your weaknesses; hire someone to help you with them.

I Asked For the Business

It's pretty rare that someone comes to me and asks to work with me. Almost every client that I've coached or had in a mastermind group is someone who've reached out to and said,

“Hey, I've got this program I think would help you. You should check it out.”

And then, after a few days passed, I asked them to enroll, buy, or sign up.

One of the most powerful pieces of advice I could give you is to ask for what you want out of life. Nobody is going to just come along and give you what you want. To achieve every new level of success in my business, I've had to ask.

I Made New Friends

I've never had tons of friends. Throughout my entire life, I've preferred to keep a close group of friends over having lots of acquaintances.

I remember my first conference for online entrepreneurs, New Media Expo, in 2014. It was such an amazing experience to see people who were like me, people who wanted to start online businesses and leave their crummy jobs behind.

It was around that time, and by attending other similar conferences, that I began to change my sphere of social influence. If you want to change your life, you have to change your friends.

And for everyone who says,

“But I LIKE my friends now!”

Don't worry; there are great people where you're going. I talk to a lot of people who are hesitant to leave their old friends behind, and that's ok, but your current friends aren't likely to help you get where you're going.

You don't have to give up on people, but if you want to achieve your goals and live the life of your dreams, you'll have to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. We are the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time, so choose wisely!

If you're looking for entrepreneur-minded friends, why not join one of my mastermind groups?

Summary

I absolutely loved writing this post and reminiscing about the last several years and how I've built my business. Sometimes we need to look back in order to see how far we've come. But here's the bottom line, you've got to change who you are to become who you want to be. There's no way around it.

Question: If you have a business, how have you built it? If you don't, why not enroll in 8 Weeks to Exit or give 1×1 coaching a try?