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I just lately had the chance to interview John Lee Dumas, entrepreneur and host of the wildly profitable podcast Entrepreneurs on Hearth. In simply 20 minutes, he shared some unbelievable insights which are helpful for any entrepreneur. Listed here are eight issues I discovered from him in that interview.
1. Highlight others, not your self
In an article for the Denver Put up, licensed therapist Neil Rosenthal factors out that usually when somebody tells us a narrative, “individuals reply by matching or topping” it. Dumas interviews individuals day-after-day for his podcast, and his purpose is to focus on their ideas and tales, not his personal.
As entrepreneurs, we might need to give attention to ourselves — our concepts, our success, our subsequent transfer. However a extra invaluable apply could be to give attention to others. How is our product or business serving to others? How can we construct up our groups? How can we serve our companions or prospects?
Specializing in others as an alternative of ourselves helps us create higher work environments and higher buyer experiences.
2. Success isn’t the identical as significance
Dumas is extraordinarily profitable because the host of an award-winning and worthwhile podcast. Nonetheless, he factors out that a couple of years in the past, he realized he might need monetary success, however he wanted extra. He wanted objective and significance to his work and since then, he’s labored to seek out it.
Goal is essential to our lives as entrepreneurs. If we chase the cash and that’s it, we’ll discover ourselves struggling when our enterprise has ups and downs or throughout a disaster. However discovering significance in our work retains us targeted on what all of it means on a deeper stage.
3. Each grasp was a catastrophe
Dumas began his podcast with zero expertise in interviewing individuals or podcasting normally. Since then, he’s interviewed over 2,000 entrepreneurs and says the primary time he felt good about his expertise was across the four-hundredth interview.
Anybody who’s good at one thing was once horrible at it, or at the very least, an novice. The saying that it takes 10,000 hours to get good at one thing is right, and getting slightly higher day-after-day is essential. We might not know all the things about our trade or about enterprise, however we are able to’t let that discourage us. As an alternative, we have to put within the hours, and belief that consistency will win out.
Associated: Why Deliberate Practice Matters for Entrepreneurs
4. The 4-hour workweek is misconstrued
The 4-hour workweek is a dream popularized by Tim Ferris in his ebook of the identical identify, and lots of younger enterprise house owners as we speak aspire for it. They outsource their work or spend money on a enterprise that “can run itself,” unaware that it certainly takes work to get a profitable enterprise going and stabilized.
Dumas believes the 4-hour workweek is misunderstood. The aim is definitely to implement programs and processes to show 40 hours of labor into 4, after which use the additional time on rising your enterprise or doing different invaluable issues. If we alter our mentality from laziness to effectivity and eventual freedom, we are able to discover actual success within the 4-hour workweek.
5. Don’t get burned out
Dumas used to report a number of weeks of interviews back-to-back on the identical day. The subsequent day, he was exhausted, and he’d give himself a day to recharge and do nothing.
We work laborious as entrepreneurs, as we should always, however taking delight within the burnout is misguided. All of us want downtime to relaxation and construct up our vitality once more, with no disgrace within the thought that we’re doing “nothing.” Give your self permission to relaxation as an alternative of getting burned out.
Associated: Understanding Entrepreneurial Burnout (And How To Deal With It)
6. Don’t be scared to depart a protected job and be taught
Dumas labored in commercial real estate for a few years — a “protected” job. He was scared to depart it and pursue one thing he really beloved and cared about, however ultimately, he did it. Now, business actual property is in tatters, and he’s seven years right into a profitable enterprise.
Entrepreneurship is an act of bravery. Most of us needed to take dangers, go away one thing protected, and make investments our lives and cash into one thing that would fail. Not solely do we have to take the leap, however we have to be unafraid to be taught as effectively. Attain out to a mentor, begin a course or be a part of a mastermind group.
7. Encompass your self with superb individuals
There’s a saying that you’re the common of the 5 individuals you encompass your self with. Dumas says when he began to be taught from mentors and joined his mastermind group, the individuals round him have been additionally formidable, additionally studying and likewise scared. His mindset modified and he grew a lot quicker as a result of he was round individuals with targets and drive.
Who we spend our time with at work and outdoors of it is going to have an effect on our development. We are going to develop quicker and higher if we be a part of communities targeted on laborious work and studying, if we rent staff who share our values and mission and if we select pals who help us.
8. Your actions have a ripple impact
Dumas ended our interview by revealing that he’s dedicated to making a constructive ripple impact with all the things he does. Any motion we take as an entrepreneur and individual has an impact (constructive or detrimental). If we give attention to making a constructive impression, we are going to see the constructive results on not simply these round us, however even farther — their households, our communities, our prospects and past.
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