Is it really worth it?

Are all the late nights, early mornings and endlessly working on your weekends really all worth it in the end? Wouldn’t it just be easier to get a job or is there something else that motivates entrepreneur to exceptional levels?

In this episode of "The Complete Entrepreneur" on ClubHouse I unpack whether it's really worth all of the pain being an entrepreneur.

 

 

Join me in Clubhouse for the Complete Entrepreneur
Date: Thurs, 5pm Easter Standard Time
Upcoming Complete Entrepreneur Topics

Are all the late nights, early mornings and endlessly working on your weekends really all worth it in the end? Wouldn’t it just be easier to get a job or is there something else that motivates entrepreneur to exceptional levels?

In this episode of "The Complete Entrepreneur" on ClubHouse I unpack whether it's really worth all of the pain being an entrepreneur.

 

 

Join me in Clubhouse for the Complete Entrepreneur
Date: Thurs, 5pm Easter Standard Time
Upcoming Complete Entrepreneur Topics

---

Complete Entrepreneur - Is it really worth it?

[00:00:00]

[00:00:07] Overall I'd rather make a dollar on my own than make $5 working for somebody else.

[00:00:14] Yeah. I'm with you on that. Like I said, I've been an entrepreneur all my life and I like that whole thing where you eat what you kill, you eat what you kill. The thing that really frustrated me. I remember my, I had my father one time. He, he offered me a job and it was a great job and a great package that they need to work alongside of him and all that extra stuff.

[00:00:35] And, uh, although that's fantastic. That's really good. But dad, I can't take it. He said, why is that? So you need to understand you didn't pay me a shell. And I'm going to get paid the same amount, whether I work hard or I slack off, I only get paid the same amount. And I said that you don't understand how much of it or nothing.

[00:00:56] That is, to me, that's just like the opposite to the way I think. And I just can't do it. That there's something about me being an entrepreneur, which I just can't do that. And, uh, and no bonus scheme is going to encourage me either. There's something about having capital value for me that just motivates me forward, drives me forward and so forth.

[00:01:22] But you know, that's the good side, but here's another story from my own life. Um, this is many years ago. Uh, my wife would go out to buy the groceries and, uh, she would call me. From the, from the checkout at the, at the store and she say, Hey, uh, I'm here. This is how much the groceries are. Do we have the money to be able to buy them for the family's food this week?

[00:01:52] And I'd have to quickly tick the bank account. And I go, ah, you're going to put like some things back and, or no, all is good. That's the other side of being an entrepreneur and the cost of that is phenomenal. And the stresses that can bring on a relationship is phenomenal. And, uh, yeah, thank goodness. That was like decades and decades ago.

[00:02:17] So I'm very happy to say goodbye to those times, but you know what? It's not all like dreams and unicorns and fluffy white clouds that they've been an entrepreneur and it's some tough decisions have to be made. And sometimes there's tough decisions saying to a loved one. You can't buy the groceries that.

[00:02:35] Yeah, we're going to have to work at something else. And I'll never forget when we went along and survived on, um, uh, my whiteboard, a big chunk of mincemeat. And we had mentioned me like every single night for dinner, because that was the cheapest thing that you could buy at the time. That's when the rubber hits the road for being an entrepreneur.

[00:02:53] Does your dream still drive you through those sort of times? Michael? You know what? My biggest fear, you know what my biggest fear was when I first started the business. Yeah. It was embarrassment. Everybody said, don't do it. You should become a lawyer. You should do this. You should do that. I was so nervous of failure because of the embarrassment factor.

[00:03:18] Because let's think about when you graduate from college, you're like, yeah, if you fail, you know, you lose money. It's not the end of the world. You don't have a lot to lose. You got nothing. Anyway, I remember that line from Titanic. I got nothing to lose. I got nothing anyway. So, you know, It's true. Uh, you know, it's, but it's the embarrassment factor and that's a component for startups, or if you're thinking of doing a startup, is it really doesn't matter what people think and, you know, that's something that shouldn't be about.

[00:03:50] Yeah, it shouldn't be a fact that the column, but it is a factor let's face it, it is a factor for many people. Uh, I'll never forget another time when this was around the same time as that for the story I just related where, um, I had my three kids in the back of a bright yellow Mazda, one to one, and my wife was there and we would drive around this, this, this car and people like daresay friends, w quotation, max would ridicule the me saying, ah, you're driving your naughty car.

[00:04:24] If you don't remember naughty from long time ago, it looked like that. And people would just, um, they'd look at you externally. And they judge you. And they, they don't realize that the harm, those words can do, even, like I said, even loved ones or whatever. And the humiliation of that from going from, I went from being worth $30 million.

[00:04:48] One day, literally to minus half a million dollars the next day. And it was a tough, tough time for me and Collin. I understand what you're saying there, and I really love what you're saying, um, and everything, but it's really tough, sir. Ravina look welcome to the stage at the complete entrepreneur. It's great to have you here.

[00:05:11] So how do you, is it really worth it? Like how do you wrestle with this whole issue? Ravina I was actually hoping to find the answer here because, um, uh, I'm, I'm a first time entrepreneur and it's been, uh, I don't think I've ever known so many highs and lows. Um, so I mean, you you're, you know, you're feeling really excited about.

[00:05:35] At, when you wake up in the morning and then something happens by lunch and then you're feeling all the way down, then it's something takes you right back up. And it's just like, it's an insane, like within a day, it's not even a years journey. So, um, especially through the pandemic, when you, when you've kind of seen everybody, you know, focusing on mental health and being like, you should take a break and it's like, but I can't.

[00:05:57] Cause I got to keep going. Um, and I don't get to clock out. Like I think Michael mentioned. Um, so I was actually, uh, wondering at what point you felt like this was, you know, w what, what, what sort of sign are you looking for that, oh, what keeps you going actually is what I was hoping to find in this room.

[00:06:20] Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah. I actually had this conversation with a, with a person this week. Uh, they, they asked me that exact question, what motivates me and what keeps me going through those tough. And I said to them, it's the future. I have a very, very clear vision, a very clear picture of the future and at what gets me going through those tough times.

[00:06:45] Yeah. And, and progressive me forward. But the thing is though, for an entrepreneur, the reality of the present can sometimes get us out of alignment with where we're going on their future. It'd be like with a telescope, you can just a telescope looking at the stars or something like that. You can just knock it out of a line a little bit.

[00:07:04] And suddenly you're seeing something completely different and you've got to be constantly. I find for myself, I've got to be constantly looking at my vision at where am I headed? Cause that's the picture, that's the dream. And it quite often, it's not a vision of a, um, of how much money or anything like that.

[00:07:25] It's a vision of what do I want to create? It's a creative process. Yeah. I love the way. Ravina you talk about this rollercoaster? My God wake up in the morning, like noon. It's like, oh my gosh, we're doing so well. And then by three o'clock, oh, we lost a big customer and it happens day in, day out, week after week.

[00:07:49] And, uh, you know, it can, it, especially if you're your family watching the rollercoaster. I mean, I've tried to, I've done my best to try to shield them from the rollercoaster, but it is a roller coaster. Right. And I think when people look at you from the outside, it's a bit like, are you sure this is what you want to do?

[00:08:09] And then it's not just the ups and downs, but it's also every day having to defend what your, your vision is to a different person every day, because people are watching you. And, um, I don't know. If you are, if I know that having a co-founder now would probably be very helpful and I'm a solo founder, so I don't even have that sounding board, um, where you, cause you have to keep it together all the time.

[00:08:32] So it's it's up top and which is why I thought maybe this room would be helpful with that. Yeah. Well that's exactly, Ravina what we're here for is to explore this and to pull it apart, because let me tell you, it actually is really tough at times, like 90% of startups fail 90%. So for those of you in the audience here, and you're thinking, I'm like, oh, I really want to go into a startup.

[00:08:59] Just think about the cost here, but then think about what is your. What is your vision? Because let me tell you, that's where it gets really, really interesting is that it's that, that, um, creative tension between those two things is your vision where you are presently and where you want to go. And like Steve jobs said, it's the vision that motivates him.

[00:09:23] It's not a pay packet. It's not a great sum of money. It's not, it's not anything else. It's the vision that motivates him. And that's the thing that, and that does it for me. Michelle are going to say something that, yeah, I mean, for me, Ravina like I'm involved three companies, one of them, I completely run on my own.

[00:09:45] And that's the one that gets like the less amount of tension. And I feel your pain, like. Yeah, I, yeah, I'm like constantly worried. So for me, it's just like, I feel like, you know, I actually took on investor money and I feel a strong sense of obligation to do the best I can to get it to a certain level.

[00:10:11] But on the same hand, I'm constantly, um, I'm fortunate and I really suggest that you find some people just doesn't need to be many, one or two people that you really trust that you can talk to about business. Obviously, you know, we have, you know, boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever, but I mean, somebody you can really talk to that has good business sense to, you know, give you ideas as well as be really honest with you for me, you know, I'd constantly.

[00:10:47] Okay. All right. Is this idea that I have? Is it valid? Right. Like, don't just keep going on if it's, if it really is not something that's validated in the marketplace. So there really isn't an option to become profitable. Um, so, you know, from, like I said, for me, I'm constantly challenging myself. Okay. Why are you doing this?

[00:11:12] Is this still a good idea? Like your time is valuable. Your investors have like trust in you. You have an obligation to them. I have an obligation to my family. They're involved in it too. They also don't want me to fell, but for me, I have a lot of pride around. I don't want to like fail. Right. I don't want to disappoint everybody.

[00:11:33] Like that is the worst thing ever for me. I don't even care. Like if I like invested my money in that, I lost it for me. It's more about like, I won't let everybody else down. Who's believing in me, but I it's. It's a balanced. And I strongly encourage you to get one to two people, maybe three, if you're really lucky that really understand business, that will just give you pure unselfish, you know, advice and help you validate the idea, whether it's worth you continuing.

[00:12:08] So for me, I'm coming back to your question, Michael, is it worth it? You know, I'm later in my career, I'm a little bit older. Um, for me I would feel completely unfulfilled as a person. If I wasn't trying to do my own thing, I'm a very independent person which actually, you know, has its pros and its cons. It kept me in the corporate world probably longer than I should have been.

[00:12:37] Um, but I would say to you and encourage you to just value yourself so much that you really seek out somebody and value yourself so much, that you're always testing that idea. And that's my advice. Yeah, Michelle. Great advice. Fabulous advice. We're just going to come to admin a second, but just before we do, and I'm Michelle, I've got a good challenge here on some things here.

[00:13:02] Or did you ask, did some, some, um, uh, maybe deeper questions. You've talked about some great advice and that's fabulous and some of the things you do, but what is it that drives you to be an entrepreneur? You know, that everything is against you. You know, you can go along, be incredibly successful, say in the corporate field and everything like that, again, in your payback.

[00:13:22] Well, but why didn't you choose to be an entrepreneur and run three businesses. One that gets, uh, uh, you're a hundred percent in, but gets the least amount of your time. Like, what is it that keeps you motivated through those highs and lows versus the merry-go-round of, um, of corporate life is such, what is it that the.

[00:13:43] Yeah, I think when you said highs, like I'm addicted to the highs and I want to be successful, not only for myself, but you know, Colin can tell you, right? Cause I work with him on his companies is I'm really invested in people that work really hard with me being successful as well as myself. So it's about, I'm very much about not just myself, but I want to work with people that I love working with.

[00:14:11] And I want us all to be like wildly successful and more than anything happy and having fun and making money, obviously. Yeah. I I'm really interested in to hear you say the order of that you want to work with people, great people. You want to be able to have some fun and everything, but it was almost like an after Saul was making the.

[00:14:34] That was like a sustainability issue. You've gotta be sustainable. Uh, and to be able to enjoy working with great people, everything like that, you have to make money as well. Is that the, yeah, I mean, when I was younger, obviously it was a little bit different, but yeah. I mean, I do want to feel like I'm rewarded for my time and that is a monetary thing, as well as some folks that I work with and I really do feel like that I can contribute to their lifestyle.

[00:15:03] And the fact of the matter is, you know, a big portion of that is about money. So yeah, it's, I don't know how to say it, but yeah, I obviously, when I say do a test, this is still worth it to me. The test is like, is it a commercially viable business? Because I personally believe if you know, I ha which I do and I'm fair.

[00:15:28] Have a group of very, very loyal people around me. It's, they're looking to me to have a viable financial business because they need to meet certain milestones themselves. So that's what I mean by that. Thank you for clarifying. Yeah, no, not a problem. Yeah. It's, it's an interesting thing because many entrepreneurs, right.

[00:15:48] Is that the way they handle the ups and downs is they actually look at the financial performance as more of a scorecard and that's, in some ways it motivates them. It's not just getting more each quarter or something like that. And setting quarterly goals and annual goals and all that sort of thing.

[00:16:06] It's the scorecard of, of motivating them and they use it like that. Um, and it's a really interesting thing. And so you, you, you speak to a lot of entrepreneurs and you ask them, so what were your numbers, um, this past week? And they'll be able to taste. Wide cause it's so front and center to the core of the motivation and it's not the dollars, it's the score, which is important for them, which I find really fascinating.

[00:16:33] But anyway, let's just move on right now. Adam, look, thanks for much for being here. And by the way, just before we, uh, have Adam share, if you're still in the audience, you think my God, this is an interesting conversation. I got some questions. Like, I mean, I'm getting one of the down spots of the rollercoaster and I need to work at like, how do I get through it?

[00:16:50] And things like that. Stick your hand up. We'd love to hear from you. It'd be great to hear from you, but in the meantime, Adam, um, love to hear from you on the stage. Welcome to the complete entrepreneur. Yeah. Thank you for having me on stage. What a wonderful journey this is. I want to say that I was, um, caught up in my Workday and hopped on here just at the right time, after a nice little promoter with, um, day.

[00:17:18] And I say tumultuous by becoming an entrepreneur from my standpoint, and being okay with the fact that those downsides are going to come and the upsides are going to come. So your highs and your lows, like you're talking about today was a manageable, extremely manageable, low. And there was something said to the effect of how do you manage and what is it?

[00:17:41] What is it? What, what is what's in it for you to be an entrepreneur? So for me today, when I realized that it just everything isn't, it seemed like overwhelming. It seemed bad. It seemed, this was the first time today to hear a group of mindset come together and explain. Everything. So concisely. And I just literally had the best laugh of my life when you can laugh in the face of your own adversary.

[00:18:10] And because it's a self, uh, self perpetrated adversary, like you're the low that you've reached in that certain circumstance, whether it was a financial or what, whatever it was, your own PR, you put yourself in that situation. So for me to overcome any doubt, any limiting beliefs, the set, and other as an entrepreneur, and just realize that no matter how low it gets, if you can find it in you to laugh in the face of what you've put in your own words, And overcome it and it just, maybe you're overcoming it by pennies or maybe you've overcome it because everything's relative.

[00:18:45] I had, I had one, one, uh, one of the best guys I've ever worked for. Um, and I I've worked for women that are equally as powerful as well. That's not what I'm saying. He said to me that it's all relative, Adam, it doesn't matter if you, if you're working with $10, 10,000 or 10 million, he's like, I've got bills, just like you've got, and I've got to make it flow just like you have to.

[00:19:06] So it's that for me, when you're in the face of the challenge, how do you handle the challenge is, and that's what it is. And then if you can rise above it and just laugh and be like, yes, I nailed it. I got it that time, baby. Let's go get. That's what it is for me. And I would just suggest anyone who has that, that missing feeling inside of them.

[00:19:28] And they walk in, they're looking for more. That's what it is for me. That's that feeling of that, that sense of accomplishment, accomplishment, where it's not managing it, it's controlling your life and putting yourself in a situation, a situation that was, I wouldn't say the demise, it I'm losing it a little bit, but do you see what I'm saying?

[00:19:52] And that's, that's what it is for me is that, that conquering feeling. And then if you can find people that want to do that with you, that's the best feeling in the world. Thank you for the mic. My name is Adam happy. Zachary Weiss. I relinquished the Mike, um, Adam, Adam, Adam. Wow. That was like a breath of fresh air.

[00:20:08] It was great. It was great in the face of adversity to go along and just lie. When you have a downtime, just a lot. It's like what a, what a great, great answer to, um, like I'm thinking of some of, some of the times in my entrepreneurial life where I literally be delirious with laughter I think, oh my gosh, can it possibly get any worse?

[00:20:35] And there's no other option, but just sit back and laugh at it. So if you were sitting in the audience right now and you're going through a tough time, I want you to do something for me and we've never done this before. If you're going through a tough time, I'd like you to go along and, uh, and click on the little hand button just for now, uh, to raise your hand, you're not going to be invited to the stage.

[00:20:58] And I, depending if you're going through a tough time, just click on that hand button and the next thing I want us to do,

[00:21:09] I'm sorry. The next thing I want us to do is to lie. It's just a laugh that they diversity. I just let it out of your system and just go do what Adam said. I just click on that little hand button there. Uh, like I said, we'd never done it. Okay. Once you've clicked on up then, uh, we'll. We'll just let it go from there.

[00:21:28] Um, and you can unclick that spine that's okay. But so Colin, have you been locked in the face of adversity? Yeah. Look, I like what Adam said there about, you know, you're, you're dealing with a failure and, you know, laughing at it or just celebrating the fact that you survive that or you survive that challenge.

[00:21:53] You know, we don't do that enough as entrepreneurs, you know, and I know I don't do that enough. I've been, I've been told that, you know, I'm always stressed, always worried, always, you know, thinking I gotta make it better and better. Yeah. I might've gotten. We don't celebrate our successes. We don't celebrate.

[00:22:12] I've never heard of this one before we don't celebrate. We survived a challenge. Isn't that amazing? I agree with you. I agree with, sorry. I interrupted there, but yeah, we need to celebrate our survivals. We survived these past week. We need to go along and celebrate that. So, so continue on, sorry. That's the first time I've ever heard that ever.

[00:22:35] And I just came up with it, like, just like that. And I just think that's pretty cool. Yeah. Thank you for that. It's a, I came up with it on the spot. Cause when you got, when everyone, ladies and gentlemen, we're talking here and I just kindly came to the rest and I've just laughed. I just literally had the best laugh of I've had in weeks because you all know the stress.

[00:22:55] You all know you're putting your all into this, that, that this bubble, blah, blah, blah. All of it. Just give yourself some credit.

[00:23:05] Just laugh at it, man. And it really just happened for me. So thank you. I appreciate everyone here. My name is Adam happy. Zachary Wise, that I'm so happy. Oh, Adam, it's great. That you're so happy because you know that the whole concept of I survived is phenomenal. It really is phenomenal as entrepreneurs, because let me tell you, I know, but you guys are like, but I sometimes feel like you get whiplash.

[00:23:31] Like you're dealing with one problem and you whip around, you got to deal with another problem. And people have said to me, Michael, what's your job? What do you actually do? I said, I'm the chief problem solver. And I need to go to the chiropractor all the time because I suffer from. Yeah, but anyway, thanks very much for that.

[00:23:49] That was a real jam, but Dana Jayna, it's great to have you on the complete entrepreneur. Love to hear about your thoughts on this topic. Hi. Yeah. Um, you know, this is such a great conversation and I think it's something that's not spoken enough about in the entrepreneurial world, because, you know, current online marketing is like, oh, become this rockstar entrepreneur or coach or e-commerce, you know, make a lot of money online and do it all so easily.

[00:24:16] But I think for any business owner, I've always worked for small businesses I do now. Um, and I've seen this in almost every business that I worked in and I've seen my bosses go through this. Um, and you know, I'm kind of experiencing it for myself right now, but for me, I do ask the question a lot. Like I'm always inspired to have my own business.

[00:24:41] I'm launching my. Second online business. And I think it's my fourth or fifth business overall. Um, and haven't found one that really works yet, but it's kind of just like, is it worth it? And is it good enough to want to be a part-time entrepreneur to always want to have a job because being an is easier and to have a business that makes good money on the side.

[00:25:06] Is it doable? Is that somehow cheating myself or not enough of the commitment? Because I don't know if I have the wherewithal to weather, the storms, uh, that entrepreneurs go through. Um, and so these are just kind of thoughts. Like, is this something I really want to do? Why am I always so inspired to have a business?

[00:25:27] Why am I so passionate about business? Um, and, and, and. I don't want to deal with the ups and downs that every business owner has. And it's, it's just something that I struggle with within myself. And I really appreciate this conversation being like the topic. Yeah. That's a topic I must've met with. One of the things we look at and the complete entrepreneur is not just the business side of being an entrepreneur, but the life side of being an entrepreneur, there's a lot of stresses and stuff like that.

[00:25:59] As you're talking about Dan. So Dan, to ask you the question, what is it that keeps you fascinated about business? What is it mostly it's wildly fun for me, and I love helping and teaching people about business. Um, and so that's what it is. I love that it's a form of creativity, I think is what it is for me.

[00:26:22] It allows me to express myself. In the world in a different way, and to also make money at the same time, I'm super optimistic about that and that it can business can change the world for the better. Um, and that's, you know, my background's in accounting, so in a very concrete, economic based way, um, you know, it, it can do a lot of good in the world and it can also inspire and shape shift the world in the ways that we want to see in a very concrete manner.

[00:26:56] Um, and I just get so excited about it. I love talking about it. Um, I exhaust my friends and family about it, um, and I've just always kind of, I was always that kid that had that entrepreneurial spirit, whether it was going door to door, selling tickets for whatever, or lemonade stands or clubs. Selling things.

[00:27:19] Um, I don't know. It's just, it's kind of within me, both my parents are entrepreneurs. Um, and yet I've always been told it's easier to be an employee and that's been my experience. You know, the money's better, the stress is less. Um, but it doesn't allow you that creativity of like personal expression. Well, what a great answer.

[00:27:40] Great answer. I was talking to a guide this week and he said to me, before it didn't exist and now it does exist. And he said, that's my answer. The fact that I get paid as an entrepreneur to be able to do something like that is just magical. Uh, but I, he was in it for the creativity is what you're talking about there.

[00:28:01] Well, fabulous. What a great time we're having today on the complete entrepreneur. So Allie, Allie, I'd love to hear from you, your thoughts on this on, is it really worth it? All this struggle really worth it, Allie. So great to hear from you. Welcome to this. Thank you so much for having me. Um, I've been in a lot of an entrepreneur entrepreneurial rooms, but I'm not sure if I've been in this one yet.

[00:28:24] So thank you for having me on the stage. Um, the last few speakers, especially Dana really resonated with me, um, especially the way Dana was ex uh, explaining how, since she was a child, she was always trying to, you know, have some sort of business and whatnot. Um, I've now I have the privilege of having a dad who had worked for other companies and then decided to go out on his own and start his own business, or, well, he actually bought a business from somebody else, but he bought, he had his own business and the most important thing that he ever taught me is that don't think that just because you're the boss, because you own the company that you don't have a boss.

[00:29:11] Because your boss is then the client and that's the toughest boss of all, because they have to be kept. They have to be kept happy so that everybody keeps getting paid. And so you can succeed. So I think that's actually what a lot of people miss when they go out into the concept of entrepreneurship is that you get to be your own boss.

[00:29:35] Well, that's not really so true when you think about it, you know, from the way my dad put it to me and it's always helped me in thinking that way, um, and having my own businesses. Um, so is it worth it? I mean, I find that the two businesses I have are totally worth it because I found a way to do something better for P for other people that follow with my passions and allow me to make money.

[00:30:09] My challenge comes in. Is in the way that, um, I'm full-time disability. I have many, um, co-occurring chronic pain conditions and such that prevent me from being able to keep a full-time or part-time job on a specific schedule. So, um, the two jobs that I have, or the two businesses I own have allowed me to, um, basically carve out my own schedule and work when.

[00:30:43] When my body allows me to, um, you know, one is a poker events business. It's the first one to ever specialize, you know, out of the casino event companies in just poker services. And the other is an eBay business where I sell rare items at the best prices that have been discontinued. So I feel like, you know, these are things that I like that are my passions, and I've brought them to other people in a way that hadn't been done before.

[00:31:12] Um, so I think it is worth it. It's just extraordinarily challenging if the management of time and trying to prioritize it. Yeah. The extraordinary, extraordinary, challenging that is, as you're saying, but calling you've got something to share about w what Allie does that talked about? I'm sorry. Was I off mute?

[00:31:36] Okay. Um, I. I think we all go through a lot of these types of situations and we need to give ourselves a little bit of room as entrepreneurs, as startups. Okay. And I do a lot of speaking at universities and, um, this month I'm doing another one at NSU. And the topic that I'm talking about to these startups is they have the idea they're launching the startup.

[00:32:05] Now it's an incubator program at, at NSU is you need to give yourself a little bit of room and I'm not just talking about room financial room. I'm talking about emotional room. And I'm talking about that reputational issue we talked about earlier, Michael. And I actually think that, so what I've talked about is this concept called stage gates.

[00:32:27] And you know what I'm talking about. If you've ever played a racing. Uh, car racing game, you know, those car racing games that, um, where you're driving for two minutes and then you hit the stage gate and it gives you an extended time to get an extra 60 seconds. So I encourage a lot of startups to think about setting up stage gates for each level of their company and try to envision their company at each stage gate.

[00:32:57] So that, so for instance, there was one company I'm doing right now where I set a stage gate of 50%. Um, it's a new company. Okay. But we're going to lose that. The revenue has to, um, be 50% of the total costs to operate the company for that year. And I set that date as December 31st, 2022. Okay. That's a stage gate.

[00:33:24] I'd set. So now I'm giving myself the flexibility, emotional, financial, et cetera, to say, okay, this is what I'm going to lose. Is. Now, if I don't hit that stage gate, that I either need to pivot dramatically, or I need to close and move on to the next concept. And I think when you start to set those sort of goals in your mind, and you, you you've clearly said, okay, I'm willing to put everything into this, into this venture, but at the same time, here's the limits by which I can operate.

[00:33:56] And if you do that, you now have the emotional flexibility to fail and succeed between now and your stage gate. Yeah, I think it's a great concept having their stage gates Colin. But can I ask a question maybe? And, uh, is that as you get towards escape gate, cause I remember playing those racing games and um, and as you got towards the stage gate, you've got the foot flat, the floor, you're trying to race the car as fast as you possibly can because you almost are gonna get there almost going to get there.

[00:34:30] And, but sometimes you don't and the game is over, but you've only missed it by a second. So what do you do then? Colin? Do you shut the door, shut the thing down or you reset or like, what is it you didn't do because you've missed your stage gate. Look, I mean, obviously everything in life is mental goals and you set these goals and you miss it by a dollar.

[00:34:53] Of course, you know, that's, I'm not suggesting you shut down your company or pivot, but I am suggesting that something went wrong with your business. And I am suggesting that a pivot I'm going to, I'm going to be devil's advocate here. Like you missed it by a dollar. Okay. That's fine. Okay. We can, we can forget a dollar, but where's the point?

[00:35:11] Where's the cutoff point? Is it, is it $10,000? Is it a half, a million dollars? Like, where's that point where you missed your stage gate, which you say, yeah, no more. What is that point? It's are these stage gates just fixed all entities we've created it constructed or are they for real, as entrepreneurs depressed?

[00:35:30] How help us manage stress or we, or are we increasing our stress levels and things like that to really get to that stage gate? Absolutely the real. And I've used them for compensation, for CEOs, for companies as well. You know, once you hit this certain stage gate, then you get X. Once we break, even you get X.

[00:35:50] Once we make a million dollars, you get X. Once you paid off all the loans for the company, you get. Um, they can actually, you can use stage gates for multiple purposes, but what I'm talking about here today is giving yourself that emotional room to be able to operate and then reevaluate. If you fail to hit your stage gate, that's what I'm talking about.

[00:36:15] Yeah. But do do entrepreneurs, do they deserve to have emotional room when they're trying to work out? If they can put food on the table, they still deserve to have that Micheal. We're all human. Come on stress. I know. You're just trying to, you're trying to push it like that. I like that, but that's all the stress that we go through and we don't give ourselves emotional room.

[00:36:36] We don't do that. What we do is we stress the #*$# out every single night at three in the morning about what's going on that day. And that's damaging that. We need to give her call it. I completely agree with you. I I'm working. I work right now about 12 to 13 hours a day. I'm typically up at five 30 in the morning.

[00:36:58] Uh, I like getting up early in the morning because by getting up in the morning, I can work in the us time zone and I clicked the U S time zone. And then I, uh, I'll have a bit of a longer break at lunch, but, uh, I'm working in the European time zone as well. So I've worked 12 to 13 hours a day and it's not fun at times at time, he just going to say, you know what?

[00:37:21] I got a successful business. Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Why, why am I, is it really worth it? Or do I go along and sell or I go on and take the foot off the accelerator. But what happens if I tip before after the accelerator and I miss my stage gate cause you're right, Collin, I've got stage gates.

[00:37:39] That I apply. And though they help motivate me to everything, but what happens if I take that foot off the accelerator, I missed them. And then there's the internal humiliation for me of, I miss my Stage-Gate, what do I do then? That's an interesting challenge, but maybe we can flip across the guy guy. Do you have stage gates there?

[00:38:00] Like, what is it about this that isn't really all worth it for entrepreneurs. Um, and, uh, is it worth it for them? So I'd love to hear from you guys, Michael, you know what I want to kind of piggyback on Collin and share what Michael Gerber said in that email and the E-Myth revisited. You know, most entrepreneurs go on business as, as technicians of some sort, whatever.

[00:38:25] However, they are a technician and they go in and then. They have no idea of the tomatoes waters that they have to, to navigate. And that if I could speak to my younger self and, and anybody here that starting in entrepreneurship or wanting to do that, we are, whether we're an entrepreneur or employee, we wonder if we're enough at some level in something.

[00:38:48] And as an entrepreneur is much like having short-run it's I mean, you have no, there's no rule book. There's no plan. That's really written to parent or to be an entrepreneur. And it's, there's, there's a lot of alligators in the water. What am I saying? What I'm saying is, as we struggle, if you're enough, I'd recommend.

[00:39:09] If I told my younger self, I would tell my younger self guide journal journal, um, first off, right? The business. No as much as you can. And then journal the journey every day, journal something. I accomplished this, I did this because for me, like, I'm sure if you stated, and many others have stated, um, you'll have a thousand things that you need to get done.

[00:39:33] You'll come, which is probably more than, you know, most people and you beat yourself down because you didn't get the other things done. So to journal, to collect data, look at track. Wow. I have succeeded there. Cause there's so many things that you have to do as an entrepreneur, you know, to be an employee.

[00:39:51] If I could put it simply, if I could just really put it simply you're doing what you're told, right? It's how you to drive a car. You did it and you drive the car, but to be an entrepreneur, there's no. You have to pave the road, didn't drive the car a little bit, paved some more road and get in and drive the car.

[00:40:08] You have all the arrows in your back. There's tons of things that you have to wear any level of it falls. You're done. So, you know, as we struggle with, are we enough? And that's some of what I heard Colin talking about. Are we enough Drontal and collect data so you can see, wow, I did get that done. Even though I didn't get the other things done.

[00:40:29] There's so many things I wanted to share, but that's just start with that one. Well, that was great guy. Like, I love your analogy of the road. Uh, I'm getting that car and driving down the road, you know, it only got to go on, pay the road. You've got to put the gas stations in as well. And by the way, if you didn't put the gas station at the right point of time, you're going to run a gas and you're stuffed.

[00:40:51] Yeah. The policies and procedures, you know, all the guard rails and everything, all the rules of engagement, the whole nine, you have to do it. Yeah. And not only that you've got to then service the car every now and then it gets you to where you're going to have someone else comes up to you and saying, oh, it's okay.

[00:41:07] I've looked at all the car to the car for, you know, it's your job. And, you know, there's something that is really, really spoken about. Um, we know entrepreneurship is that your alone in the car, most of the time you're alone, you can't go along and say, well, the boss can deal with this. Or someone else can deal with this.

[00:41:29] The other department can deal with this or whatever your alone driving in the car. And you've got to work at the problems of how to actually get the car from point a to point B. And this is an interesting thing, guy. I want him to understand what's it like being alone in the. Great. So, you know, if we had to talk about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, let's put it in five tiers, you have to do whatever level of production you have to do to maintain your organization, your enterprise, right?

[00:42:00] You have to move in human resources and all the things that are relates with each of those were production and human resources, hiring and firing and pain. You have to move in accounting and finance. You have to move in marketing. You have to move in sales to be an entrepreneur, especially in a startup.

[00:42:15] Well, all of those functions have many sub functions under one. And I would say all of those are glass balls. Meaning if you drop any level of that, Right. Like, did you drop, you know, the main components in human resources and don't pay your people, it's over. If you don't produce enough, it's over, what am I saying with an employee?

[00:42:36] Many times they may have glass balls, but most of the time they have rubber balls. Meaning if they draw up, somebody else could actually pick up the slack or do what's needed. We have so many glass balls. And who do we talk to about that? You know, if you're, unless you're an entrepreneur, if we say that you don't even have a clue on what we're saying, right?

[00:42:55] So it's, it's a lonely road in many ways, but that's the one that came top of it. Top of mind, you know, as soon as you ask that question. Yeah. One of the things I love about this room, I must admit, is hearing from people like yourself, guy, where you're talking about, like, it's, it's, it's the journey side of entrepreneurship where you talk about, yeah, we got glass bowls and you know, you can't, you can't learn full.

[00:43:17] If you don't pay your employees, guess what? They're not going to be there to know. And you've got to get that cash through the door. And even though you've done the work, you know what you got to invoice the work and you got to pray like anything to the person actually is going to pay you for the, for the work, because you got to take that money and you've got to go along, pay other people or pay suppliers.

[00:43:34] All those things are just compounding on you. Absolutely. Yep. And that's it, Michael, what I mean, you could have, you could have a county tight marketing type sales type production type, most of your human resources type. But like you say it, if you don't pay the people that you need to pay, let's say you pay them, right.

[00:43:53] Let's say you have wonderful employees, but you have one employee where their attitude is. Uh Fower and it's, it's, you know, I call it refrigerator management. When you have a rotten attitude or, or dysfunction friction in your organization, that's making everything else go sour. Right? So, you know, there again, glass balls, you can have many glass balls in the air, juggling them beautifully, but if one drops that's a concern.

[00:44:20] So, and that's a lonely lonely road. And who do you talk to about that outside of an entrepreneurial coach? Somebody that can completely relate in that, I would say that's rare. Yeah. And I think it's one of the things we try to make a difference in this room. The complete entrepreneur is talking about these issues because they're real, you're not even just driving a car quite often.

[00:44:40] You're driving like a semi-trailer or something like that. And you're on a long-haul drive. You're going across the country around the world and it's, um, it, it's just tough. It's tough doing that. And so Michelle, you're listening to the guy here, you're running three businesses, you're doing all these things.

[00:44:58] You've got human resources and all extra staff. I'm going to ask you a specific question, Michelle, how do you manage being lonely when you're the one driving some of these things and you know, it's a long whole journey and you're getting tired of the wheel and you're saying, oh man, am I going to be able to make it to the next gas stop?

[00:45:19] So what do you do. Well, I don't feel lonely. I just feel like maybe fatigued. So for me, I just, like I said, I just really like lean on my trusted advisors, my partners, whatever it is, like I'm very communicated in that helps me. Um, I feel like we, yeah, we create a culture. That's very open where people can discuss.

[00:45:50] That's how I enter. That would be the death of me is that if I couldn't talk and couldn't like work through ideas and emotions with, um, my fellow workers and investors, whatever it is. Yeah, I think it's so important to be able to talk and things like that. So I'm going to ask you another question. I know you're a moderator human shell.

[00:46:13] Um, but do you find that even in some of the rooms and in clubhouse where we're trying to deal with issues, I'll pick on the complete entrepreneur and hearing like guy and Dana and Allie and Adam and people like that in, even in this session, does that really help you reflect on your own journey? Yeah, it does.

[00:46:36] I mean, I love hearing from other people and their experiences what's working for them. It actually, it inspires me and I run on inspiration. So, you know, it's not that I'm looking for like an exact answer. Like I'm feeling really like desperate. I, you know, for me, I want to hear what works for other people so that I can put that in my mind and it gives me a constellation.

[00:47:02] It really does. Yeah. Uh, I must admit like another way of viewing an entre. Entrepreneurship, I find is like, you're in a desert. And, uh, what you need is that droplet of water on your tongue. Cause you're dying of thirst at times. And I actually find this room here is a bit like that. It's like the droplet of water and it really does energize me and really gets me going to games.

[00:47:27] I'm hearing other people's experiences. And I hunger for that as an entrepreneur, quite often, we get told so many times why you can't do something and, and you don't know how to express yourself, your friends who've got jobs and what it means to be an entrepreneur. And then I come to a room like this and it's like, man, I'm with I'm with I'm with.

[00:47:56] I'm with people. You're actually understand what's going on. I'm with people here, understand that we're on a rollercoaster and it actually, although the host of the show, let me tell you, it makes such a difference to me. And I want to think each and every person here that you shared, um, today, because it really has made a big difference to me, how you call it?

[00:48:16] Like, how do you find that? Like, is it rude like this hearing other people as it make a difference to you? Well, I know Michael, you say this is your favorite room, you know, room per week. And I host the serial entrepreneur hour every Friday at two o'clock, but I have to say, I enjoy this room the most. And if you've listened to the prior shows, we do have them recorded on up.club.

[00:48:40] Uh, I'm the anti complete entrepreneur. And if there's anyone who needs to be in this room, it's me. Cause I need to, I need to learn how to balance my life and I have. Years ago, like five years ago, I had intervention with my EO group. They're a group of entrepreneurs who we meet once a month. And, uh, they said con you know, you're, you're, you're just going too far in one direction.

[00:49:01] I want to say a guy is, uh, I met him like a week or two ago and another session. And he gave me an idea for the Siri launch per hour, um, an idea for a topic. So tomorrow two o'clock Eastern, we're doing from idea to startup. We had a very successful session last week, where people came on and talked about how they get ideas, moved to startups.

[00:49:25] And then if you are stuck somewhere, what we could do the panel could do to help, but, um, Gaia, hopefully you're still available, but next Friday, we're talking about getting the entrepreneur out of the way so that, um, they can scale their company. You, do you remember when we had that conversation guide? I know we've been texting back.

[00:49:49] Yes, I do. And I will be there with bells on I'll be there tomorrow and Friday and next Friday as well. I look forward to it. That's awesome. Like the power of this community, that in the giving and everything, and with all the people on stage, uh, we are recording these sessions. These sessions are going to be moving into podcasts.

[00:50:07] We are This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We're even talking about doing a 24 hour radio station now. Um, so there's a lot of really cool things happening, Michael. I know, I sort of like ending it before I should have ended it the session, but, um, uh, we're entrepreneurs. Great. That's great. Yeah. It's um, I think that when we look at, say, start up like club as an entrepreneurial activity, it's going through the stages.

[00:50:32] It's going through the highs and lows. Um, let me, let me tell you, it really is. And, um, even being one of the hosts on one of the shows, you know, each week, it there's. Um, and there's a journey and it's exciting and it's exhilarating. It can be like pretty tough at times. Like, uh, my cell, I was, I was getting, I got up really early anyway, but like jumping on and sort of, uh, trying to be, uh, all upbeat and everything like that at 7:00 AM in the morning, my time here in Melbourne Australia, which was pretty toxic too in the winter time.

[00:51:08] Yeah. And, um, but you know what, that's what it means to be an entrepreneur. So is it worth it? I like, I've been doing this, like I say, close on 40 years and I can categorically say it's been worth it. Um, there's great. Um, seeing the movie parenthood, if you haven't seen the movie parenthood, it's an older movie, but there's a great scene where this is trying to give advice to, I think it's one of the grandkids.

[00:51:36] Isn't one of the, as you said, some people like the merry-go-round of life. I like the roller coaster. And I think that summarizes many people in this room, the fact that we liked the rollercoaster or being an entrepreneur is worth it. Yes. Next week, we're going to be taking a look at how to say no, but how to say no to your loved ones, how to say no to your loved ones as an entrepreneur those times, when you feel like there's an obligation on you, like, how do you actually say, no, I can't do that.

[00:52:15] Or I've got to go ahead and, um, deal with this, this, this issue at w uh, in the business, like, how do you actually deal with those sort of issues? And I think it's going to be a really big topic that many people in this room right now. And we say, yeah, I need to hear that. And, um, so that's what we're going to be exploring on the complete entrepreneur next week at 5:00 PM Eastern time on Thursday.

[00:52:38] And it's going to be fabulous. I can just say. Very very much for all of you in the audience who have participated, um, uh, by listening and listening to the discussion, particularly, I want to say thank you for those people, put up their hand and came to the stage, um, and really shared their thoughts of what it means to be an entrepreneur and my fellow moderators.

[00:53:00] It's always great having you guys here and just want to say thank you very much. I'm not sure where the Colin or Michelle do you want to go along and say any last words or we can just close the room at, and I'm really want to see everyone here next week on the complete entrepreneur. Michael, can I say one thing that, um, before just very short, um, something that was really powerful when she said that, you know, this rum inspires her, I love what y'all do and, and how you really make a difference.

[00:53:29] Um, and either entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. Uh, but, and one of the things, I mean, it's so much power here I would add recommend, and that I think everybody's should write this down as well. Don't just be inspired by this because if you take in this information, this knowledge, and you're just inspired, you're going to get fat off the knowledge, put it in action.

[00:53:51] Find a way tomorrow, Monday to put it in action. Don't just put it in action by saying, I'm going to do it and write it down, put it on your calendar earlier. I said, you know, to collect data points, a part of those data points is scheduling to get it done. So any pro that you took from this, put it on your calendar to schedule it so you can have that level of success going forward.

[00:54:14] So we don't get fat. We become lean action oriented. Um, What great advice. And I must admit, I've seen some people they've even said to me, I'm putting the complete entrepreneur on my calendar every week. And that's going to be a snapshot of being with like family who really understands what it means, and they've added it to the calendar and those people are actually moving their businesses forward.

[00:54:39] I'm not saying, uh, because the complete is fabulous or anything like that, which I think it is, but it's because they're doing, if they're changing their mindset, like what you said, that guy they're saying, I'm going to have some action times and on a tape that, and I'm going to apply it to my situation.

[00:54:57] Great thought. And I think it's been fabulous this session. And I look forward to seeing everyone here next week at 5:00 PM Eastern time on Thursday on the complete entrepreneur, have a safe week take care, but.