TEST: The Manifesto – RockStar Entrepreneur

THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS For Those of Us Who Believe in Doing Less For More…

I am sure you immediately jumped to this just to hear my story. The story about a boy who grew up to sling digital crack rock online to support his family and to buy lots of cool crap.

Maybe you want to see pictures of badass cars, blingy jewelry, and screenshots of the latest earnings? I know – this is what I always look for when I am seeking sage advice and knowledge.

Unfortunately, I have bad news. I regret to inform you that I am going to bypass the “douchebaggery” altogether. There is good news; however, which is that you probably don’t care about what I can brag about. Instead, I hope that it would be useful for me to share how you can actually be a little bit lazy and still get much more wealthy. The way I have for the past 6 years. Let’s talk about what it is to be a “Rockstar Entrepreneur.”

What is a Rockstar Entrepreneur? First, it is my full belief that entrepreneurs are the ones who make the world go round. They are the innovators who bring solutions to problems. They are the ones who put others to work. And they are, in their own right, Rockstars. The evolution of entrepreneurship to where we are today is an interesting one. One that goes back to mainstream influences over time.

To better understand, let’s look to a brief (and recent history). First came Think and Grow Rich (Hill), which illustrated how successful entrepreneurs looked at the world differently. This led to a generation of entrepreneurs who embraced abundant thinking. Then came the era of Zig Ziglar who taught us that if we are not successful, it is our own fault. This led to a revolution of entrepreneurship of non-victims who own their fate. Then we were blessed with E-Myth (Gerber), which spawned the “process-oriented” entrepreneur. Flash forward all the way up to The Four Hour Work Week(Ferris), which showed us how we can be better at leveraging our time and we have evolved to a new age of entrepreneurial thought.

Where does the evolution of entrepreneurial thought bring us? Simple. With the advent of online connectivity and the ease of access to information, resources, and transactions – we are currently living in an era where we can, in fact, stop allowing our business to own us. We are in the middle of a very special movement. A revolution that allows us to NOT have to hate what we do, but to do what we love.

The sad truth is, there are lots of folks who feel completely trapped. They either work in a job they dislike or have to miss out on time with their family, kids, or friends. These people sacrifice more and more everyday. It can be the dreaded commute that’s enough to drive one crazy. Perhaps the thought that strangers are raising your kids could be enough to leave one feeling uncomfortable in the life they lead. Or, maybe you just hate the loud obnoxious dude in the cubicle next to you who wants to talk about all the chicks he wants to nail. And don’t get me started on that crazy chick in the break room who is always whining and moaning about some crazy drama…

All of these things above are mentioned without judgment. No one wants to feel like they have no control of the life they are living. No six-year-old ever says “I want to be miserable and powerless when I grow up.” And I realize I am preaching to the choir when I say this.

Do you know what my number one fear in life is? 

It is a fear of not having the time to spend with my family. I have nightmares about not being able to be a part of my kids’ lives. It scares the living hell out of me to think about sitting in traffic two hours every day to go to a place that I don’t like to be a cog in a wheel. I panic when the idea enters my head. It isn’t because I don’t value hard work. It is not because I lack respect for those who do it. It is simply because I have lived a different way. I have managed to construct my life the way I want it. It is no accident that I get up with my kids every morning. It isn’t some stroke of luck that I get to spend several hours with my wife every evening after reading books to my boys and tucking them in their beds. It is, in fact, by design that I am home all weekend and am around for my family. It is even by design that I get to travel and enjoy the things I love with the people I love.

Is it easy to run a business? Isn’t an internet marketing business easy? No and hell no. There is no such thing as EASY. Truth is, it is all hard. But you must pick your poison. I’d love to tell you that building a multimillion dollar business is as simple as click a couple buttons and go about your day. It would be awesome to tell you that the life I am so proud to live is always easy. And here you are wishing I just showed you those pictures of flashy cars and bling bling…

The fact is, being an entrepreneur is hard. For me, it isn’t because it requires work. No way. I don’t consider what I do as work – not even for a minute. Nope. The hard part is getting up when taking one in the chin. Have you ever been excited about some genius idea you had that popped in your mind in the shower one day? This brilliant idea that would change the world and put you in the ranks of the elite. And have you told this idea to your closest confidant who immediately told you every which reason you would fail? Have you ever been that Debbie Downer who told someone else their dream sucked? Come on, we have all seen it – from either end. And this, my friend, is the hard part of the world of innovation.

The sheer will of ignoring the negative noise and silencing the doubt requires more strength than most are willing to burden. It takes serious confidence to do what we do. When failure becomes a fear that controls us, we surrender to the idea of “this is good enough.” And I call BULLSHIT! I want you to change this thinking (if you are trapped by it) and understand that the ONLY failure is that which allows you to accept “good enough.” Acceptance of mediocrity is failure. Aiming for what you want is NEVER failure.

There are only two outcomes to going for the win:

1. Aim, Fire, Hit.
2. Aim, Fire, Miss, Aim Again, Repeat.

This is US vs. Them…

The choices are simple. You can let others dictate to you what you want, how you live, how you spend your time, and how you countdown to the end of your life. Or, you can choose to join the movement of Rockstar Entrepreneurs.

Traditional thought would dictate that money is a motivator for being a business owner. Not the case for this new breed. Money is great. Money is awesome. But money is simply lubrication for the true prize that Rockstar Entrepreneurs are aiming for. Have you guessed it yet?

The prize is TIME. Time is EVERYTHING. Money is money. Money is easy. Money isn’t even real. Money is some idea of a value printed on special paper. If I burn through $20,000 – that would suck, but I can always make it back. Again, it is just some paper that was printed. No problem. My time; however, is NOT retrievable. When my oldest son, Ted graduates high school – that’s it. I can’t get the years back. There is no such time machine I am aware of that will allow me to regain those years that I would read him a story every night and be around to create memories for him. There is absolutely zero chance my youngest boy, Axel will learn to ride a bike twice. And I will be damned if I am not there.

Money is a means of lubrication to that time.

Here are The 3 Crucial Pillars to mastering the art of working less and making more:

1) Leverage. 

This word certainly does get thrown around a lot. What is leverage to you? What does it mean in terms of gaining further freedom to gain “time wealth?” To put it in simple terms, I want you to envision your business and what it is you offer, how you sell it, how you service it, and how you get paid. Most would look at as follows: you’d have an offer you created (could be as simple as a service) and you’d sell it by doing the typical prospecting activities (networking, cold calling, etc). And you’d deliver it by doing the work promised and that is how you get paid.

Do you see the Flaw? This is still a job. This is not much different than punching a time clock. Owning a business like this may make you an entrepreneur, but owning a job certainly does not make you any better off. A Rockstar Entrepreneur LEVERAGES their time. What if, instead of having a service that you offered to a client, you manipulated your skill set into delivering the result to which your “client” wants to achieve?

There was a time when I ran a marketing consulting business. In this business, I would take on clients who would pay me for website design, search engine optimization, and similar services. I actually made a lot of money. I also had a lot of bosses. I recall, at one point, having close to 100 of them. They called me all hours, weekends, holidays, and any time they pleased. I had a high paying job that I owned, but zero time! That was until I changed it.

How did I change this? Simple. Once I realized that the result my clients wanted was in the form of getting more leads for their respective organizations, it became very clear. I reduced my client load down to just ONE. You heard me right. Just one client! Me. If all my prospective clients really want at the end of the day is leads, I know how to do that. I have been doing that for them and know exactly how to do this. Why the hell am I doing it for them? As my only client, I can get the results and sell those. In other words, now I own assets – not work for customers. My assets produce leads. This can be a website that is optimized for dentists in Houston. Well, I now have an asset that I own and control that produces a result that generates income. It is mine and I am no longer at the employ of a client. Now I am holding the key. I am the landlord. I am free.

This is leverage. It can be applied to just about any situation in business. And it is the crucial piece to creating the lifestyle you want to create.

Instead of looking at your business as a function of what you offer, look at your business as an investment portfolio. You are now creating assets that you own and control that are capable of generating cash flow. This simple shift in thinking is huge. How can you turn your business into a set of cash producing assets versus a singular offering that requires you to trade your time for money. Stop trading time and start leveraging it.

2) Awareness

Leverage is only going to take one so far. Awareness is likened to enlightenment in the eyes of a Rockstar Entrepreneur. Let me ask you, what business is Apple in? I also want you to think about another huge company, Amazon. What business is Amazon in? Did you guess that Apple was in the Computer and “Smart Gadget” business? Did you guess that Amazon was in the e-commerce business? If you did, you aren’t entirely right. In fact, you are pretty much dead wrong…

Both Apple and Amazon are in the content distribution business. Simple as that. Sure, Apple releases some cool gizmos and fancy computers. Did you know that their HUGE revenue generator is iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store? Sure you did, but now that it is more obvious, think about all those doodads they make. Those are vehicles of distribution. An iPhone is NOT a smart phone. It is the ultimate content consumption machine. Built to make it super simple for you to buy songs, books, apps, you name it.

An Amazon Kindle or Amazon Fire Tablet is the exact same thing. It is a gadget that makes it really easy for you to use the e-commerce engine of Amazon and to consume the content, which is the point of it all.

Now that we have an awareness. Can you be honest about what business you are truly in? Identifying this makes the whole leverage part much easier. If you understand, from an esoteric level – where your business fits in the universe it serves, innovation becomes automatic. Without it, no amount of leverage can ever save you from being obsolete.

3) Destination

Finally, this is a hard one for entrepreneurs. That is to know your destination. Why is it so damn hard? Because, if you are like me, you have “ADHD” or as I prefer to call it: “ADHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD!” Where was I? I just saw a squirrel…

Imagine someone blindfolds you and flies you on an airplane to a random place and takes your blindfold off in front of a car. Then this weird person tells you to drive the car. Your first question may be “where?” Good question. Now let’s say they tell you to drive to Miami, Florida. Cool. Now you might want to know: “Where am I right now?”

This is all very logical. You probably wouldn’t take a trip without having an idea of your destination. And you certainly would be lost, and unable to read any map, without knowing where you are. Why do we, as entrepreneurs, ignore this?

Have you ever just felt like everyday might as well be the first day of your business? Has it ever felt like that movie Groundhog Day? You are just doing a bunch of shit to get paid. By setting your destination and measuring that from your current location, it becomes easy to beat the distracting noise that exists in the entrepreneurial mind.

In business, whether it is online, offline, outer space, or whatever, you will always do that which is set as the destination. In other words, it is your ship to steer. Take control and enjoy the ride!

The Path of The Rockstar Entrepreneur.

There is so much to gain and life is too short not to live it your way. Go live it. Build your business and Grow your business in a way that supports the life you want and the time you want. It really is a matter of choice. If the path takes you toward that of a Rockstar Entrepreneur, awesome! In fact, join us. We have a whole free and supportive community of like-minded innovators who are changing the world. Come hang with us, read the blog, and listen to the podcast. Here, you have arrived in the right place with your fellow Rockstar Entrepreneurs.

Rock On!