Entrepreneur Motivation: From Tiny Storage Shed to Global Enterprise
Today, we are discussing Entrepreneur Motivation. I want to share with you my own inspirational story. But first let me give you an interesting fact: no portion of the bible takes place in Europe. Any storied event would have taken place proximal to the nile river, which is found on the continent of Africa… this reminds me of today’s topic: entrepreneur motivation. If you are considering entrepreneurship, or maybe you have already started a business, there may be struggles: and you’re wondering if you’ve made the right decision, the story I’m about to tell is for you. <<>> You are now tuned in to Leonard Innovation, where achieving the impossible happens often. My name is Justin Leonard. The other day, on a website called Quora, someone asked the following question: How do I start a new business with no experience? And the top answer was from a person that appears to provide legal services. There were five points of advice given, which included the following: do your research, pick the right location, prepare a kick-ass business plan, hire the right people, and don’t forget the legalities… First, this sounds like advice for an aspiring business owner with one hundred K in the bank. Pick the right location? A commercial lease in the right location will probably start at 4K these days? A business plan? For what? Nothing ever goes according to the plan anyway. Don’t forget the legalities? Alright, well, the reality is… this is all good advice. But it wouldn’t be the first bit of advice I gave to a person starting a new business with no experience. When starting out, don’t spend too much time trying to establish the perfect business. Instead, just start. Why do I say to just start? There are two main reasons. I touched on the first reason in my free entrepreneur course, where I pointed out that statistically, most businesses will fail within the first few years anyway: usually the first three. And that statistic is generally true, regardless of background. So, even an ivy league school graduate has a high probability of failure. Another reason: About a year ago, the first lesson I ever taught, on video, was why you should never launch a perfect product. If you spend too much time waiting for the perfect time to launch, you can become overwhelmed. There might be fear of failure, doubt… and these thoughts are not necessarily unusual, but sometimes, things can happen beyond one’s control. And it may not be your fault. The reason I never feared business failure was because, as an entrepreneur, I felt I could always leverage the experience of losing a business into another business... I recently stumbled upon a quote by senior Hector Quintanilla. He says, “Winners developed resilience and determination through overcoming obstacles and using their failures as opportunities to learn and grow.” And he simplifies this line by saying, “A winner is just a loser who kept going.” <<>> Now, some of the experts and people who have been entrepreneurs for a while might differ in their recommendations for how to start a business with no experience. That’s because they come from different backgrounds or they are entering the world of business with maybe a larger capital base. As I said, it’s all good advice but can be overwhelming because everybody is coming with a different angle. But what I discovered was… You don’t have to know the answers to everything in the initial stages. And in my view, many aspects of running a business are common sense. You will figure it out as you go. But the most important thing you can do is just start. And it’s okay to start off really small. That’s what I did… By now, you have a basic understanding of how I got started as an entrepreneur: won a significant bodybuilding competition. That led to a book on abs that was highly successful. I also made money from affiliate programs. After 7 years of college, I became a fitness professional, and I noticed that there weren’t many retailers who sold the specialized equipment used by strength coaches and personal trainers. That’s where I saw opportunity. <<>> Check this out: when I first started, I ran the business from an eight by ten storage shed. Well, technically, I started off in my condo. So even before the storage shed, I had everything at home sitting on the floor near my dining room table. But after the eight by ten storage unit, I then expanded to a twenty by ten storage unit. The business continued to grow. I then moved into a fifteen hundred square foot commercial space. And in less than two years, I expanded to four thousand square feet. And later, eight thousand square feet. But if we go back and look at the initial footage, I showed you where I was operating out of an eight by ten storage unit. It only took about three or four years to get to the point where I was occupying as much as 12,000 square feet. Now, there was some luck involved. And most successful business will have this in common. But I went from operating out of a tiny eight by ten storage shed to selling products to some of the world’s largest organizations. In fact, if you’ve seen them on TV, they are probably my customers… All I did was start. Everybody has a shot. But you have to just start. Remember, things don’t have to be perfect. Initially, this was a rough, unpolished business where I didn’t have all the answers. There was no formal business plan. But over time, I was able to figure things out. And when I experienced setbacks, I would just keep going. And more than 20 years later, I still own the same business… If you enjoyed this presentation, be sure to check out the entrepreneur motivation playlist. A link will be included in the description. And for more high value content, leonard innovation dot com is the place for free entrepreneur resources like the 90-day online launch guide, free online courses, and more. To learn how to start or grow your business, visit leonard innovation dot com today. And you can now find the audio version of leonard innovation streaming on podcast services like pandora, AMAZON music, audible, google, apple, and spotify. And if you found this information helpful, please share it with a friend. Thanks again for tuning in.