Stop yourself before you start your own business!!

As I am on the journey of developing my own media agency, I’m getting into the habit of learning, not only more about media development skills and techniques, but also business elements like how to scale, market, and grow an audience along with the importance of having the right mindset and passion for your business.

You see... everyone and their mommas want to get rich quick, lay back on a sunny beach, and fly on private jets. Everyone wants passive income and everyone wants to float above a self-sustained massively successful business that provides little problems and big revenue.

The only problem with that desire is its completely not true.

Yes I know you’ve seen the dudes in their garages on youtube ads, I know you follow certain influencers and business gurus. I know you’ve seen the interviews with certain business celebrities and investors. You’ve seen all of this, not because they genuinely want you to get rich just like them, nope... You’ve seen all of those ads, posts, and interview excerpts because paid advertisement and generated leads mixed in with a bit of pattern recognition algorithms put those pieces of content in front of you, you were marked as their target audience to make money off of.

Their main objective is to grow their own business profit by selling their programs, their apps, by ebooks, or simply put: they get sponsored just to show up and say some fluff in order to have their gained traffic. We’ve all been lured to want and desire a 1% life and we’ve been groomed to believe the 1% life is all Bahamas, top brand clothes, and fancy homes; and of course, it’s only an arm’s reach away if you buy the ebook, program, training course, guidebook or investment opportunity.

We have to stop this bullshit-pursuit for things that don’t exist in the real world.

The only way to get into the 1% life is if you become the absolute best, the authority expert of the particular thing you are wanting to sell or provide. Even then, it's still not a guarantee. Not to mention once you have that 1% life, the immense amount of work, discipline, talent, and innovation that it takes to maintain that life. Endless hours working at your particular thing. Never burning out, never growing tired, literally being able to “go all day.”

That’s the answer, isn’t it…

You have to be able to go all day in that thing you want to sell or provide. No slacking. No dragging your feet. You have to enjoy it. Be obsessed with it. You have to be able to not breathe without doing that thing, whatever it is.

The reason I want you to stop and consider what it is that you’re actually after, before you begin your own business, is because you might be pursuing the right something but for the wrong reasons.

It’s not about the money you can get out of it

If it’s money that you are after…one of the best ways to not get that money is by doing things you hate or find little joy in. We’re talking about sustained, long-term business approach and building empires. It doesn’t matter how much money you think you will make out of it, don’t start your business just because what you’re really after is the money.

There are plenty of jobs out there that will give you the money you seek without the responsibility of carrying an entire business on your shoulders with all that added risks and responsibilities. Jobs that will provide you with paid time-off, benefits, less head-aches, and more room for you to use that money in things that actually bring you joy. Managing your own business will have you using many of your "free days" and time off the clock still grinding away at the logistics and work details that need to be resolved.

It’s not about the status of being a business owner

Of course everyone wants to be the all-star player, the captain of the team. It comes with the pristine repretaur of the world seeing you as some type of successful person and a leader. Not denying that status and reputation isn’t great; it’s fucking awesome!

But if you want the title of all-star team captain, then the team’s success rate and performance ultimately falls on you, in business. You’re the captain. This is your team.

Now what? You wanted this title to do what exactly? To blame your team members for your sorry lack of wins? To blame the system? The weather? The lack of fabric softener in your jerseys?

You have to be the one to know when to motivate your team and when to push your team. You have to create the strategies, read the field, make the calls, develop and execute the plans. You have to carry the team forward, the team doesn’t carry you.

Do you still want to hold on to that title and status of captain? Well then, it falls on you to fix those issues and provide results. You don’t get to collect a passive check-deposit into your bank account while sleeping on a beach.

It's ultimately about your addiction, your passion. Go after that...

The all-star often spends countless hours training on the field, continually pushing themselves, obeying their self-discipline and following their natural passion for the game. The all-star basketball player doesn’t hate basketball, they simply can’t breath without the ball in their hand and a well played match to earn a solid victory. Do you think a real all-star player, someone who genuinely loves the game and loves to win by merit, would be happy becoming “champions” by somehow magically winning every match on some supernatural auto-pilot mode? No. That would remove them from what they love to do. If it's genuine.

The all-star spends countless hours because they’re in love with the game, they're addicted to the process of becoming better at what they love to do. They want to earn that win on their own merit and efforts, not by avoiding the game.

If they didn’t like the sport, they would find reasons to skip practice or a workout. They would bitch and complain that they aren't the best team in their league. Excuses, complaints, exhaustion, and constant uphill battles would push them to an uncontent life.

This is why it is so important to stop and really consider what is it that you’re after as you get ready to start your own business. If you’re the one to start that business, it should be because you’re genuinely addicted and passionate about that particular thing. Just like famous fitness influencers and body builders hold their title, not because they want to be a fitness influencer, but because they love the daily process of reps, pushes, protein, tracking macros, and everything else they do. They love that shit.

If you don’t love it, you’re gonna be drowned out into exhaustion and your competition is going to step over you because they’re more passionate about it than you.