Task Force Entrepreneur
Task Force Entrepreneur (TFE) is a podcast for entrepreneurs interested in the service industry. It began as a way to document the creation of a new service-oriented business, and aims to provide a no-fluff narrative on all things entrepreneur!
Task Force Entrepreneur
Stop lying to yourself and start making money
Most entrepreneurs I know have lied to themselves at some point. This episode is all about breaking down those lies, and motivating you to take that idea and move forward. I'll discuss the three most common lies: Lack of time, Lack of money, Lack of ideas. Show originally aired on August 7, 2023.
Hey everybody, mike here, and welcome to Task Force Entrepreneur. The podcast I started went from being a tech engineer to starting a house cleaning business. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope you enjoy the show. What's up everybody Mike here? Welcome back to Task Force Entrepreneur, the show about entrepreneurship and about my own journey through it. So I'm happy to have you here today.
Speaker 1:I want to talk about something that it's probably going to be a little what's the word I'm looking for. It's going to be a little difficult for some of you to hear this, and I think you need to hear it. We're going to talk about how you can stop lying to yourself about entrepreneurship, and I want to explain what I mean by lying. In one of my previous shows I think it was my first or second show ever of TFE I said you know, the reason I want to start a business is because I was just destined to be an entrepreneur. In other words, I said, you know, it just made sense. I was always meant to do that, whatever right, that was just a lie, you know. As soon as I stopped recording that show, I realized I'm like no, that's not true. The reason I'm starting a business is because I want money, because of the freedom it will give me, and I also am deeply, deeply driven by the ability to use money to make a positive impact in the world. That's why I love entrepreneurship. That's why I'm starting a business. So that was my own lie to myself and you know, I want you guys to kind of look at yourselves right.
Speaker 1:What are you lying about when it comes to entrepreneurship? If you really look deep, are you saying I'm not ready to start that business because I haven't found the right idea? Maybe you're saying you know, I just don't have the money to start the business right now, but, who knows, a couple of years from now I will. Maybe you know, hey, I'm so busy, I have a family, I have obligations, I just don't have time. Or maybe you're just waiting for permission. You're just waiting for people to acknowledge that your idea is great and that you should do it.
Speaker 1:But let me let me be completely honest with you guys, and this is something I've learned the hard way Nobody will ever be as excited about your ideas or your business as you are. Stop trying to find that validation. It's not coming, and if it does, it's not real. They're telling you that because they like you and care about you and want to see you excited about something and they want to be supportive, but they don't really feel it the way you want them to. So you have to develop this ability to be kind of self-sufficient. And entrepreneurship is a lonely endeavor it really is, even if you have a partner it's just not the same.
Speaker 1:But anyway, let's kind of back up. So if you're telling yourself I just don't have the idea, I'm waiting for the right idea which I feel like is probably one of the biggest lies that entrepreneurs say and I don't think it's intentional you believe it, you believe you're waiting for that brilliant idea, you're waiting to spot the problem in the world that needs to be solved. But the truth is, if you're an entrepreneur and you're just wired that way and you just really have a passion for it, then it's not about the idea. You're waiting for this $50 million a year idea, but there's a $2 million a year idea right in front of you. I mean, let's run this scenario right. Let's say you were waiting for you know and actually I have a good friend that falls into this category he's always waiting for that, like you know, youtube business idea. I think it's got to be massive or it's nothing at all. And I've known him for gosh probably almost 20 years and he's always looking for those massive technology ideas and that sort of thing. And he's a brilliant guy, very brilliant, very smart, very capable. But he's been waiting for years for that right idea and it's never come along and he's never gotten in at bat because he's always waiting right. He's always kind of sitting on the bench just waiting to be called into the game.
Speaker 1:But the truth is, if your goal is a successful business, you don't need a grand slam, you don't need a home run. You need a base hit. You need something that will build your skillset, your confidence, your knowledge, your network and something that will be profitable. But maybe not $100 million a year, but I would venture to say that a barely modest income of and I say modest can compare to $100 million a year business. If you made $150,000 profit that you paid yourself from your business, that's still to some degree life changing, because now you can at least do that job with your own company, you are self-employed and you are stable. That can serve as a springboard to other things.
Speaker 1:So it's not about waiting for the brilliant idea. You just need to grab something that you are good enough at or that you can learn, that you can build a team around, that you know there's a demand for, and then you need to go do it. That's really all it comes down to. You're not waiting for ideas, you're waiting for the stars to align, and it'll never happen. Now to those of you waiting for the money right, I'm waiting for the funds. I don't have the money. I'm just barely making it paycheck to paycheck. I feel for you and I think you have probably the most real excuse, right, but it is still an excuse, because there's been many, many companies that started on shoestring budgets. If you wanted to start a painting company, you could literally buy a couple of brushes and a ladder and some drop cloths and you could probably go get a couple jobs that way, and as you began to get more jobs and more profit, you could reinvest them into better equipment. You know, vehicles or whatever, right, you could grow it from almost nothing.
Speaker 1:Just as an example on this one, I started my last business providing IT training, essentially videos, training people how to use software. I started that with a. I think it's a. I bought it for $25, it's a microphone. I bought it for $25 on eBay because a new one was $50 or $60. So that $25 microphone brought me a lot of money and I didn't change it out actually for years, like I actually had that one long before that even really that business idea, but still the investment is the same. It was $25. So don't think about in this scenario, about how you can start and have everything be perfect and built for scale and all of this. Think about how you can just start, do the very bare minimum required just to get up and operational, and at that point I'll figure out how to scale and reinvest profits and all of that right, and the money will come.
Speaker 1:Next, for those that say you know, I just don't have time. I've got obligations. I feel for you, I have a family and I have done all of my kind of entrepreneurial endeavors while having a family. In fact, I've done more with a family than I have without. I'll save it to those people. It's all about time management and I'm guilty of this one.
Speaker 1:I've used this as an excuse at times and it's not about you know. A lot of times it's you do have the time but you're prioritizing it poorly. I mean, I would venture to say, you know, it's just the truth, right? If you were to go check how much time you used your phone, right, or your iPad, or your laptop on social media last week, what if you didn't use it for social media at all outside of business, right? Or what if you limited yourself to, you know, 20 minutes, you know, every few days, that is time you could definitely get back right. And the same goes, by the way, if you were, you know, using I don't know, watching Netflix, for you know, binge watching a new show right, for six hours a day. That is time that you do have.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying it's easy, it's hard to give up that time. Right, we enjoy that time. We don't want to stress, we want to relax and all of that, but there is time. We just have to be creative about it. We have to be honest with ourselves and you know, I don't know, what that means for you. Maybe it's waking up earlier, maybe it's staying up later, maybe it's watching less TV, maybe it's using your lunch break to work on your business.
Speaker 1:And you know all of these, all of these things that we lie to ourselves about to prevent us from success. We, we believe them. Obviously right, but the truth is it all comes down to one thing, which is execution is always the most important part of being an entrepreneur. It, honestly, the idea I feel like, is second to execution. Right, you could pick.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you gave me the option of a you know hot dog.
Speaker 1:Stand right with a little cart and you cart it around to special events and sold hot dogs at you know $5 a pop or something, right?
Speaker 1:If you gave me the idea of that. But you said, hey, I'm going to go do it right now, I'm starting it today and I'm going to be out there, versus someone saying I'm going to build the world's next great tool for human resources departments and I'm going to hire a contractor and I'm going to find the right partner sometime in the next few weeks or month, and then we're going to do some legal agreements. Which one do you think will actually become profitable ever? That's not to say the software couldn't, but you're looking at you know, potentially years, right, depending on investments and all that, and it might not even ever get there, right, because most people lack the follow through to actually take that talk and turn it into action. Hey, if you found this episode interesting, or even liked it just a little bit, do me a favor and leave me a review being a brand new podcast reviews or everything, so it would mean a lot if you could do that. That said, have a great day.
