10 Shades of Wannabe Entrepreneurs

The word, “entrepreneur” is being used so loosely nowadays it’s almost lost its meaning.

Over the years as an entrepreneur, I’ve had the opportunity to model entrepreneurs. Some of them have behaviors that produce the results I want, but a lot of them behave in ways that don’t produce results. The latter are wannabe entrepreneurs and may be more fun, but I don’t want to just have fun and be broke. I want results. I want to be a real entrepreneur.

If that describes you as well, this episode is for you. In it, I talk about the 10 shades of wannabe entrepreneurs, and why I highly recommend avoiding any of their behaviors.

#1: The One Night Stand

Have you ever had a one-night stand? No, I’m not talking about THAT kind of one-night stand. I’m talking about one-night-stands in business. Listen in here for my thoughts on entrepreneurship and one-night stands.

#2: The Over Under

The second one I call the over under.

When I was coming up in business, there was a guy I used to watch and think, “This guy talks so good from stage.”

But he was amazing at over promising, and behind closed doors at under delivering. You could never get this guy to deliver. He talked a big game, but never delivered. You know what happened to his credibility? Everyone eventually found out, and his reputation was ruined.

Just so you know, you have a reputation. Your friends, your family and the people you do business with have an opinion about you. And if you over promise and under deliver, you’ll get a bad reputation that is hard to shake.

Now there are times when you should over promise. Listen in here to hear me explain when it makes sense to over promise.

#3: The Lazypreneur

Lazypreneurs typically first had a job where they worked set hours such as 9-5. Then they become an entrepreneur and the first day they come to work early but before you know it they they start coming in at 9:30, then 10:00, then 10:15, then 10:30, then 11:00, then 11:30, then noon, then they leave early: 6:00, 5:00, 4:00, 3:00, and they wonder why their business isn’t working. And then boom, they’re out of business.

They are the ones that end up saying, “You know, this business thing doesn’t work.”

No, no, no, no, no. It’s not that business doesn’t work.

Business is a simple mathematical formula.

X + Y = 10.

You’ve got to find the best combination of X + Y that equals 10.

It can be 9+1, 8+2, 5+5, 6+4, 7+3, 0+10 — it doesn’t matter. There are many ways to get to the number 10.

Capitalism is a formula that works. But it doesn’t favor lazypreneurs.

If you really want to become a successful entrepreneur, you’ve got to realize that you’ll be working long hours for many, many years.

I’m into my 15th year of business. I can simply say that I’ve made it already. I don’t have to put up with a bunch of crap. But I’m an entrepreneur, and an entrepreneur is not just about the money you make, and the cars you drive. No, if you’re a real entrepreneur, you create value that goes beyond the money you make.

So listen. If you’re not a hardworking person, stick to having a job, because lazypreneurs have a very, very difficult time in business.

#4: The Get Rich Quick

Many, many years ago I had a friend that started our phone calls like this: “Pat, I found something, we’re going to become millionaires in three months! I’m telling you! We’re going to become millionaires in three months. We’re going to make $600,000 in the third month.”

After the second or third time he did this, I started getting very, very annoyed.

I finally said, “Do you realize that no one believes you?”

If anybody tells you you can become a millionaire in six months, they’re full of it.

It’s like saying, “Hey, guess what, honey?”

“What’s that?”

“Man, I found a way that we can have sex and have a baby in a week.

It’s awesome!

We’ve got to go out there and have sex and have a baby in a week.”

No, it doesn’t work that way.

It takes nine months.

Listen, in the world of business, it takes work to succeed, and the get-rich-quick types of sales people give the word, “entrepreneur” a bad rap.

If you want to succeed, you have to work. You have to be patient. There’s a requirement for you to constantly improve yourself, and be willing to adapt with the marketplace.

Don’t believe or copy what the get-rich-quick entrepreneurs say and do. They’re probably the shallowest of shallow people and are not true entrepreneurs. I highly recommend avoiding them as much as possible.

#5: The Babypreneur

Are you a babypreneur? Listen in here to find out.

#6: The Know it All

The know-it-all entrepreneur thinks they know it all just because they’ve read a few books. When you recommend a new book, there’s no way they’ll read it. Instead they say things like, “Oh, it’s probably just like other books I’ve already read. I already kind of know what they’re going to talk about.”

Or perhaps they have a business degree, and feel they already learned all they need to know in school.

The other night I had a conversation with my sister and I said, “Look, every day, I want to get better, because I know today there is somebody out there that’s watching every single video that we’re doing, and finding out every single thing that we’re doing with PHP that wants to put us out of business.”

Every. Single. Day.

And as the CEO, I must get better. I must improve. I must read books and feed my mind regularly to figure out how to get better.

Why?

Because I don’t know it all.

I believe that we have the best YouTube channel for entrepreneurship, but as the host, I don’t know it all. Even when I’m 93 years old, I still won’t know it all. Everything I talk about in the videos is from my mistakes in business. I don’t make videos because I’m superior to you.

And yet some people who have done so little think they know it all. If that describes you, bring yourself down a little bit. You don’t know it all. Those who don’t, typically hit a wall because very few people like to be in business with people who know it all.

So don’t replicate know-it-alls. Realize you don’t know it all and keep learning and improving, and you’ll see a lot more growth in yourself.

#7: The Partypreneur

Partypreneurs are a lot of fun. But you need to avoid them. Listen in here to find out why.

#8: The One-Hit Wonder

The one-hit-wonder is the entrepreneur that’s living in the past. In America we call this the Al Bundy Syndrome.

It goes like this, “You know, when I was in high school, at the championship game, I threw how many touchdowns? Four touchdowns.” That’s what Al Bundy says, right?

There are people that brag about how much money they made in real estate back in 1999, or in 03, or in 1992.

Guess what? No one cares. In the world of business, what matters is today. Now if you’ve had two or three major victories, and you’re not a one-hit wonder, you’re totally fine. But if you’re a one-hit wonder, I call you Vanilla Ice or Macarena.

In the world of entrepreneurship, you don’t want to be a one-hit wonder because it means you got lucky, and you lose credibility. But if you do it over, and over, and over, and over again, then people recognize you as an expert.

#9: The Stingypreneur

The stingypreneur doesn’t want to invest into anything. They say things like, “No, no, I don’t need an assistant yet. No, no, no, I don’t need to get this office. No, no, no, we don’t need. . . no, no, no. . .”

If you’re way too stingy, growth slows down.

Now let me tell you, being stingy and being frugal are completely different things. When you’re frugal, you negotiate. But even then, when you recognize that something will help you grow your company, there’s no need to be stingy.

You might say you don’t want to hire an assistant because you don’t want to spend $1500 per month, so you instead pay only $800 a month and you lose them. But you need an assistant, because if you don’t get the assistant you end up doing $10 an hour work and your business won’t grow.

If you wonder why you’ve never had an explosion in your business, it’s because you keep doing $10 an hour jobs.

Stingypreneurs are not true entrepreneurs. They’re independent contractors, but not entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs invest in their business. They get a support team around them. They keep expanding their staff and their supporting cast. And eventually they get to a place where they’re doing the main things that matter when it comes to growing their business.

#10: The I Get Around Entrepreneur

The “I-get-around” entrepreneur is the guy that wants to join everything and sell everything. They may start in real estate, and then switch to selling solar panels because they’ve heard solar panels are hot.

Or maybe they’ll decide to move to Colorado because they’ve heard that in Colorado you can sell brownies with stuff in them that make people smile, and you can make a lot of money selling brownies that make people smile.

They go from one thing to the next. They get around so much, and you know the reputation of someone that gets around. In the world of business, people don’t think too highly of people that get around.

Next time you meet an entrepreneur, keep this video and article in mind and ask yourself if the person is a real entrepreneur. Better yet, ask yourself if you’re a real entrepreneur. Look at the areas where you need to improve. Get feedback from people that know you well, and make adjustments if necessary.

My Favorite Pillow is Back

Many of you kept saying, “Pat, where is that pillow!?” Well, Mario and the guys were on a 35-day RV tour and they did some crazy, crazy stuff. But they’re back now, and the pillow is back in the videos. And if you haven’t already subscribed to my YouTube channel, be sure to click on the button below to subscribe.

And if you know other entrepreneurs that could benefit from this video, share it with them, and if you’ve got any questions or comments, comment on the bottom as well.
 

 

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