by: AskPat 554 Episode Transcript
Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 554 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today, as always I'm here to help you to by answering your online business questions five days a week.
All right, here's today's question from Carl.
Carl: Hi, Pat. It's Carl here. I'm a twenty-one-year-old student from the U.K., and I've already kind of decided I really want to go my own way and start my own business online. Which is kind of different to a lot of my colleagues and friends at university, who are all going down the corporate route. But I've been doing a lot of work and thinking about what I really want, and I've decided that is not for me at all.
So I've started my journey very recently, and my question to you really, is this: As someone who is just starting out, what is the single most important step that I can take forward into embarking on this journey towards my future dream of making passive income online through my own businesses? I've been kind of feeling really overwhelmed recently. I've consumed a lot of content, books, podcasts, and watching a lot of videos, but I'm really kind of struggling to make those first steps forward—actionable steps towards obtaining this goal. So, for example, should I be trying to develop a network of people? Because I feel quite isolated in it—I mean, all my friends, as I said, are going down the corporate route. Should I focus on trying to create a network of people who I can work with, and help me push forward? Or do I just get started? Really push hard to get something of mine out there, and then this network of people kind of comes along the way? So, I really appreciate it if you can get back to me on this question. I've really want to take these steps, first steps towards my online business income, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks very much.
Pat Flynn: Hey, Carl. What's up, man? Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship, where often we don't know what the next steps are. Often times, I go through my own journey when I start new projects and I feel the exact same way. I do feel isolated every once in a while, not just because of the fact that I'm working at my home office and I can't see anybody around me. I do have connections and a large network, but sometimes when I'm starting something new and I'm trying all this stuff that I've never tried before, it's hard for me to go out there and find people who can relate to it, because it's just different all the time. And so even at this level, Carl, I feel the same way. So, don't feel like you're alone, even though I know you feel like you're alone. The network, that's important, but that will come. And as you select the niches that you're going to get to into, and the audience that you're going to serve, and the business that you want to get into, it'll be a lot easier for you to pinpoint who it is you should be speaking to or where you can go, where you're going to find people who you can speak to and relate to, and I completely understand. All the people around you, they're doing stuff that's different, and they might not be an alignment, and they might not even be encouraging to you or want to encourage you. And a lot of times, that's just self-defense for them, because they're doing stuff and they don't want to feel like they're doing the wrong thing, so they're just going to put other people down sometimes. So, I don't know if that's happening necessarily for you, Carl; maybe just your friends and colleagues are into other things.
But in that case, you're going to have to know that there are other people out there who will want to connect with you, and it's going to be a little bit difficult to find those people in the beginning. But if you just keep your eyes open, you'll see. And if you put yourself out there, it'll happen. And that's really what this is all about. You ask a difficult question, like, “What's the number one thing?” And I think this is a struggle that I think a lot of people have, not just with entrepreneurship, but just life in general. We all want that one thing that is going to change everything, like, “What's the one magic secret sauce to making this all work?” And it doesn't always happen like that. It's a mixture of a lot of things that need to happen, but by far, the most important thing, and I know this from experience, is that you have to believe. You have to believe. And I know that's kind of a wishy-washy, woo-woo kind of answer, but it's true.
And there's a Henry Ford quote that I want to mention that has changed my life, because once I heard this quote, it was like, “Yes, this is absolutely right.” Because so many times in my life, I hadn't believed in myself because of that, I didn't get the results I wanted. But it was only when I finally realized that I could do it, not necessarily know how, but that I would do whatever it took to make it happen, that it was going to happen. And so this quote from Henry Ford, for those of you who know me, you've probably heard this several times in past, but that is, “Whether you think you can, or you can't, you're right.”
So Carl, first of all, I'm encouraged that you're going down this route, despite your colleagues going down another route. That's the first sign that at the young age of 21, it's funny that I'm saying the young age of 21, because I still remember when I was 21, and the fact that I said that I still remember when I was 21, makes me feel even older; I'm only 33. But still, if I was doing this at the age of 21? Awesome, that's so cool. You're way ahead of a lot of people, and many of people who are even listening to this show, so that's cool that you're making that decision now. I didn't know that that was going to happen, and that I wanted to go down that path until I was laid off, so, you being cautious about where you want to be, that's very encouraging. You already have that part of it, which a lot of people don't even realize until it's too late sometimes.
But, to answer your question, single most important step to take is to really, internally believe that this is something you can do. Yes, you're not going to know all the steps right up front, and no, you're not going to have any connection yet. But, in order for those things to happen, you have to believe. You just have to know, you have to commit. And that's the other part of it, committing. So, believing, and just committing. And committing means doing it in a matter of way. Doing it that even when you're down in the dumps, and you just don't know if it's not going to work, you just keep going. Committing to this, and thinking really about your plans for the future, I think that's another important part of this, if we want to get a little bit more technical here.
Carl, thinking about—okay, you talked about some of these goals that you have, but they're very general. What are some of the more specific goals that you have? There's an exercise in my book called, Will It Fly? that I recommend you do. If you want to check out the book, WillItFlyBook.com is where you you would go, and this exercise helps you determine and define where it is you want to go, so that you can build that business that you want to build. You can get into the kind of business that works for you and your strengths, and you don't just go into something that is the first opportunity because it's the first opportunity. A lot of times people do that, and they end up regretting that because they don't think ahead, they're anxious to become entrepreneurs, and because of that they might select a business or go down a route that isn't right for them.
So, man, there's so many good things on this topic I could just talk for hours about this, but of course I have talked for hours about this on AskPat here and also on the Smart Passive podcast. So, get that education, do read those books that are inspiring, do listen to those podcasts, do read those blog posts, watch those videos.
But Carl, more than anything, you've got to take action. That means, you execute. You take that information that you learned, and actually do. And sometimes it's going to work and you're going to get some results. Those results might come right away. Likely, they're going to come later on, and sometimes you take action and you execute, and it doesn't work. And that's okay too, because as long as you learn from the process, you can always continue moving forward. Even if you fail, you're still moving forward, as long as you don't give up. And that's the biggest thing, because you're not going to do that, because you've committed, like I said earlier, and you know that this is a route you want to go down. You know the direction you're going to take. And even though you fail sometimes, you make these mistakes. Every entrepreneur goes through those mistakes, Carl.
The beginning is the hardest part, but if you think of an object that is just at rest, which is where you're at if you don't start yet, the objects at rest tends to stay at rest. But once it's in motion, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This is just physics. Then you get rolling, and things start to take off. So, the hardest thing to do is get started, but just get started, even if you fail. As long as you know that direction, of course, you just course-correct, right? That's the cool thing about having that direction and those goals, that kind of knowing generally where you want to go. Because if you don't, then how do you know how to get back on course if you fail?
So, anyway, I could go on and on and on about this. But Carl, hopefully this gives you some inspiration, hope it helps you. I hope it helps you understand what these important things are. As you could tell, it's all mindset, and that's really what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur: You have to have the right mindset to succeed. And I want to wish you all the best of luck, Carl. So, hopefully this gives you that boost of inspiration and motivation, but obviously helps you want to take action, and do that too.
So Carl, best of luck. We're going to send you an AskPat T-shirt for having your question featured here on this show. For those of you listening, if you have a question that you'd like potentially featured to be on this show, just head on over to AskPat.com. You can ask right there on that page.
And as always, I like to end with a quote, and today's quote comes from Confucius. And he says, “To see what is right, and not do it, is a lack of courage.” Love that, especially for beginning entrepreneurs, because when you start a business, you're building a business not for you, but to serve somebody else. And if you have something in your brain, if you can build a product, if you can serve others and know it will help them, and know that's the right thing to do, and if you don't do it, man, you're just not being brave. And you have to be brave to become an entrepreneur. But you can learn to be brave too by just getting started and take those baby steps, one thing at a time.
All right, that's enough of that. Carl, thank you so much for the question. All of you listening, I appreciate you. Head on over to iTunes and leave a review for AskPat. I'd very much appreciate that, and have an amazing weekend. I'll see you next week. Bye.