3 Crucial Lessons For Success
Words of wisdom from an entrepreneur in the trenches, making IT happen
There are some conversations that you have, that just NEED to be shared. And the gentleman I just spoke to, ALL entrepreneurs should pay attention to… Whether you are seasoned or “in the trenches” and just starting out.
Before we go further, I’ll provide some backstory on how this conversation came to be:
I was mindlessly scrolling on IG and an ad popped up for his podcast. It spoke to me in a couple of ways, as any good ad should do, but after clicking on the profile, I was sold with any content that he wanted to provide.
You know those times that you’re reading or watching something and it feels like they are literally speaking DIRECTLY to you, well this was one of those times.
Kudos to him for this. I’ve been around the block a bit in content creation and the social media game and I can see through a lot of the empty pitches or the creators that haven’t done all their homework. In this case, he KNEW his avatar and it was me.
At that time I made mental note to reach out and talk to him. Maybe even become a guest on his podcast at one point…. I could only wish..
Mental note made (check!)
But alas, I fell into the age ol’ feeling of imposter syndrome.
“He doesn’t want to talk with me”
“I haven’t made it far enough”
“I’m nobody”
“I haven’t done enough important things”
…. and the list goes on.
So, I made a note in my phone to reach out ANOTHER time. You know, when I’ve “made it”.
Weeks and months went by.
I was consuming his content and following him on IG from time to time.
Another mindless scroll and I come across a completely unrelated dude posting about a podcast episode that he had just released that was on something I might want to listen to.
Driving to work I turn it on and just as I thought, it was a great episode.
The guest was a rock star entrepreneur who has two little girls (like me), talks about his work and business with the same fire that I feel inside and has done some amazing things that I strive to do one day.
I had to look him up and connect.
I do some searching and shortly thereafter realize that the guest speaker on the podcast was none other than the guy I had been wanting to reach out to this whole time!! The same dude!
If that wasn’t my sign that I needed to connect with this guy, then I don’t know what was.
Right then and there I messaged him on IG and summarized this story that I just told you.
LIFE HACK:
I didn’t want anything from him, nor did I want to pitch him anything. It’s important to connect for the sole purpose of connecting. No one is self made. We get through life through a series of connections and our ability to seize opportunities that present themselves. Part of that is to put value out in the world without ANY expectation of it returning. It always does, but as Albert Einstein famously said:
“strive not to be of success, but rather to be of value.”
To my surprise, this busy, rock star businessman messaged me back and wanted to connect as well.
Labor Day morning, we made it happen. I had completely spaced that it was Labor Day and both girls would be home from school, so he was about to enter into my “crazy” during the zoom call. Disney Plus can only keep their attention for so long.
The call itself was short, but incredibly impactful for me. I believe that anyone at a similar stage as an entrepreneur would benefit from these points as well. So here you go:
Takeaway 1
“Embrace failure.”
Failure is part of the game. It’s a requirement to get us from point A to B to C and so on. Without failure,
we don’t learn
we don’t pivot
we don’t grow.
But there is so much fear of that word that most of us spend more energy running from it and trying to avoid it than actually leaning into it and embracing it as a standard part of the journey.
Takeaway 2
“What you are trying to do IS possible. And you’re closer to success than you think.”
It’s really easy to be so deep in the trees that you can’t see the forest.
The feeling of having so many ideas and goals can be overwhelming. But it’s all part of the process.
Those feelings actually mean that you are practically there.
You have the ideas, you have the motivation, you’re in the grind working hard, you just need to ORGANIZE your actions.
Take whatever idea/s you have and project them out to the goal that you want to achieve.
Do you want $100k annual revenue?
Do you want to transition from your 9–5 to your business venture?
Do you want to retire in 3 years?
Whatever it might be, work it backwards.
Start at that end result then work back every 3 months on what things you can do to be at those milestones.
This is the hard part. It takes the effort to actually pin point those items and milestones that you will work towards in the future.
It will take some deep thought. You don’t 100% know if what you write down is the perfect action item either.
But just merely writing something down and TAKING ACTION is more than most will ever do.
Takeaway 3
“Life is not meant to be lived mediocre from pay check to pay check. And once you have seen behind the curtain and refuse to accept that reality, your future will FOREVER be changed.”
The awakening comes to people at different times and in different ways.
Most never have the awakening.
Some catch a glimpse of it passing by and wonder what it is and then shrug it off.
Others SEE it, know what it is and make the conscious effort to look away.
But the few that are gifted with full on view, like a spotlight to the face, can NEVER unsee it.
Even if they want to unsee it, they can’t.
The sight of if keeps them awake at night and wakes them up yearning for more in the morning.
They go about their day pretending to get by in everyday life while in their mind they are lost in the trance of what they witnessed.
The awakening is a gift.
It’s a blessing.
But it’s not for the faint of heart.
When you have had an awakening, you REFUSE to settle for mediocre.
You can’t fathom being average and “normal”. You feel like you are a ticking time bomb for greatness but have no idea when or how it’s going to explode.
Once you have felt it, you can’t un-feel it.
Nor do you want to.
The question is then, what do you do about it…?
And the only acceptable answer is SOMETHING! You do SOMETHING!
ANYTHING!
It could be wrong, it could be right, it could be up or it could be down.
It doesn’t matter.
Just. Do. Something.
Action begets action and the more you lean into whatever you choose to do, the easier it will become and the further down the path you will find yourself. Closer and closer to where you want to be.
Needless to say, I was blown away by this conversation. So much so that I believed all should hear these points.
But who is this source of wisdom?
This article is not meant as a plug. I’m not getting any kind of kickback from my new found friend. I just believe that good people on a mission, providing valuable content and grinding hard to build their empire should be recognized.
More often, we praise those that make it through and get to the other side. Not all that often do we really highlight those that are still really grinding it out. Those are the dark horse entrepreneurs that really deserve the praise.
Young Han is one of them.
He’s been in the game for over 2 decades with experience in more facets of business than many of us even know exist. He’s started companies, scaled start ups and worked to improve operations of all sizes and stages of a business. He currently hosts a killer podcast called The Girl Dad Show and owns several companies as he continues to build up his empire and change the trajectory for his family.
He’s living proof that the dream you chase IS possible.