SA: We talked earlier about limiting beliefs, what's one of the most important sustaining beliefs for entrepreneurial success?
MS: Let me indirectly respond to that. I think that for the most part, most entrepreneurs that we have worked with are living within a dichotomy, thinking that they have got to go it alone, and thinking that the true definition of entrepreneurship is being on your own in business.
And the reality is, you don't have to be. You could be on your own, but not alone. And that's what OneCoach and “Business Mastery” has set up. It allows entrepreneurs to have that free spirit, but guide them through the path. So I think that the single biggest trait in an entrepreneur has its limits, their success, and if they overcame it, would propel it, would be if they understand that they don't have to go it alone.
SA: Let's clarify that. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have to build a company with employees.
MS: Absolutely not. The whole idea behind entrepreneurs, small business owners, the self-employed professionals, the online marketers, that whole genre of small business owners can be exactly what they are. They just need to develop the right mind-set for success by understanding that for the most part, as I was, as John was, as most entrepreneurs were, in our own way.
And once we stepped just slightly outside of our own way to allow the natural flow of things to occur, as an example, by learning from others, having a mentor, having a business coach, and having someone to guide them through the process, the single biggest thing that we look for in the clients that we work with are the ones that put up their hands and said, I would like help to get from where I am to where I want to be. I recognize I don't have to go it alone. I can work with people to lessen the risk, to expedite the upside and others to move faster from where are to where we want to be, hitting them with more certainty, with more confidence.
That's for me the biggest thing that both stops and could allow an entrepreneur the ability to change the circumstances.
SA: And you guys talk a lot about entrepreneurial passion and the importance of passion. I think it's almost a given these days that passion is a key trait for successful entrepreneurs. But is it possible to build a successful business on a concept or industry that's not your passion?
JA: I personally think that you can. If you want to follow the correct process for growing a company, you could do that without passion. And so growing a business can be very methodical, very structured and organized. I think that the stress that that would come with and the reasons that you get out of bed would be different. And so, for me, passion is the juice, the essence of what gets you out of bed, when you don't feel like going to work that day, what gets you coming back when s***'s hitting the fan and you can then transcend the mechanics of building the business for the money to the passion that you have that transcends you.
MS: I agree. I think that you can build it. It's not the easy way to go about doing it and I don't think it's sustainable. I think that ultimately you will succumb to the passional lift, leading with no passion. You will succumb to the business. You will just give up and you will move on. I have seen lots of entrepreneurs, who are not passionate about it and they just don't have that enthusiasm.
Each business that I have ever gone into, the passion that I have had is like working on a cure for cancer. And I managed to develop the mind-set around that, so that my enthusiasm and passion, like John said, is what gets me out of the home at 5:00 in the morning and has me come back at 9:00 at night.
Subsequently I have learned to live with a little bit more balance in my life between work and home, but the passion, for the most part, needs to be there if you want to accelerate your growth or sustain it for a long period of time.
In fact, there was a recent study done where 5,000 successful entrepreneurs were interviewed, and the number one common trait or belief that they had, or behavior that they had, was passion. They were passionate about what they did.
And so, for people who aren't passionate, I would strongly suggest you reconsider what you are doing and look to something that you are in love with, because you will put in a much greater effort. You will be more likely to not give up too short of the mark. I think that's the key.
JA: There is one other element here, and that's, when people are doing things they are not passionate about, the reason they are doing that's because they don't have a belief that they can follow their passion and make enough money to achieve their goals and dreams.
And so, they are settling for less, not because they want to, because they don't have the belief or the understanding or knowledge that they can do whatever they choose and when they do it well enough, they can make enough money to sustain them. Again, it goes back to their belief drives their behavior.
MS: I think it has also got to do with the fact they focus sometimes on the wrong thing. A lot of people in business are focused on the money. They spend most of their time about money and it's difficult to become passionate about money, because it's emotionless; instead of focusing on what's passionate, in the benefit that their service or product provides to their end user.
That doesn't apply to 100% of businesses, but it's 95%+. Most businesses provide a positive outcome, and if you focus on that positive outcome, then you really embrace the theory behind that what you are providing is benefiting someone's life or business, and then you can start to develop the passion within that.
I've seen people that are responsible for putting a little plastic piece on the end of a shoe lace, be passionate about it, because of the outcome that it provides to people in the process of tying their shoe, so, something as little as it. If you develop that right mindset for success, you can become passionate just about anything.
John Assaraf and Murray Smith Interview, Part 5: Changing the World and Law of Attraction