The Dirty Little Secret of Being an Entrepreneur
On today’s episode of Just the Tips, Dean and I chat about his talk, “The Ultimate Funnel,” and whether he’d be better off staring silently at the audience for 24 of his 27 minutes on stage, or if he should do his actual presentation. All joking aside, the talk should be dynamite, and it provides a great launchpad for our episode today, talking about what gets us up in the morning to do what we do. How do we locate the passion for our business and for our customers? If you’ve ever felt like you’re in a rut, only working for the money and not for that something else, this is the episode for you.
How to rekindle your passion for your business
While many small business owners are often focused on getting the perfect funnel, the one thing that will put their sales through the roof, Dean talks about the need for multiple funnels. You need a funnel to get to your ideal customer, and then you need a funnel to get them to your product (and for that, you need to make the perfect offer). In talking about this, Dean opens up a bit about how 18 months ago the worst thing that could happen to him as a business owner happened—worse than making a bad investment, making a bad hire, you name it. He lost his passion for what he was doing. How did that impact him, and how did he get it back? Listen to this week’s Just the Tips to find out.
Even success demands changing gears
It can be so hard to change gears when you’re successful. Dean talks about a picture of himself from a couple years ago, curled up on the couch, looking so unhappy, and about how that was taken at a time when he was more financially successful than he’d ever been. And it’s so hard to stop and say, “This isn’t what I want. It’s only bringing me money, not happiness.” And then from there rebuild. As Dean says, it’s a very strange feeling to be in a place where from the outside it looks like you have everything, but on the inside you feel like you have nothing. I asked him how long it took him to climb out of that hole, and he gave a surprising answer on this week’s episode of Just the Tips.
There are unique people, but common problems
One of the things Dean talks about in today’s episode of Just the Tips is the feeling of embarrassment, or isolation, when you’re feeling unhappy with what you’re doing, or you’ve lost the passion. As he says, he felt he couldn’t tell other people because he thought they would think he’s crazy. But once he opened up to a couple of mentors, they immediately recognized what he was going through, and were able to help him identify the issue and chart a new path. As I told him, there are no unique problems, just unique people. So you can find someone who’s been through what you’re going through, and that person will become invaluable to you on your journey.
Become okay with the absolute worst possible outcome
The title of this week’s Just the Tips episode references a “dirty little secret” entrepreneurs harbor: A feeling of vulnerability, and then the dread that arises when that vulnerability manifests itself. But as Dean says on this week’s episode, it was a friend of his who said, “Become okay with the absolute worst possible outcome.” Understand what could happen, factor that into your work and your life, and that sense of dread will begin to dissipate. This week’s episode is a lot more introspective than a lot of the business podcasts you’ll hear out there, but I think it’s an important one for people who may be reluctant to talk about the sorts of things Dean went through. If you’re an entrepreneur struggling with this sort of issue, sincerely, reach out. If we can help you, we will.
Outline of This Episode
- [1:32] Should Dean intentionally choke
- [3:33] Dean loses the passion
- [12:07] The fear factor
- [16:20] Failure to move the posts
- [25:00] The need to share your story
- [30:05] Become okay with the absolute worst possible outcome
- [41:16] Why James turned down a dream job
Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Digital Business Entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DigitalBusinessEntrepreneurs/
