Category: Debate

5 Reasons To Take The Leap of Faith And Give Entrepreneurship A Chance

In this post, I discuss 5 reasons to take the leap of faith and give entrepreneurship a chance. After startups have been highlighted everywhere in the last few years, there is no better time to consider becoming an entrepreneur than today.

Startups and entrepreneurship is what is ‘in’ right now. Everywhere you go, you’ll hear something about startups. You turn on the television and you see shows such as Shark Tank constantly promoting entrepreneurship.

If you are an individual who has considered entrepreneurship, but never pursued it for whatever reason…..this article is perfect for you. In this article, I’ll share 5 reasons to take the leap of faith and give entrepreneurship a chance:

1. Experience Something New 

Forget about success or failure, the journey of entrepreneurship is great enough because it will give you the opportunity to experience something new. In the first 6 months of entrepreneurship, I had learned more during that time than at any point in time of my life.

By taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship, you are exposing yourself to a whole new world. You get to negotiate business deals, make sales, tap into your creativity, network and pick up so many other skills that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. If you’re looking to change your life and experience new things, this is the best idea for you.

2. Freedom

If you’re tired of being a yes man and working for someone else, that’s a good enough reason to become an entrepreneur. There is no greater feeling and satisfaction in the world than working for yourself. If you want to work your own hours at your own location, there is no career path that provides freedom like entrepreneurship.

For those seeking freedom and a greater purpose in their lives, entrepreneurship is the way to go. You may not get freedom immediately if you want to be successful since you have to work long hours without much pay, but the payoff in the long run can be incredible.

3. Build Your Legacy 

At some point, everyone realizes that they were put on this planet for a bigger purpose. Whether it’s to change the world, change a culture or whatever it is, entrepreneurship allows you to truly build your legacy for the long run. My passion for being an entrepreneur has to do with my desire to leave a legacy that outlives me.

You’ll never know how far you can build your legacy without giving it a chance. Becoming an entrepreneur puts you in the driver seat to control your life and how people remember you. By creating products, services or ideas that can change the world forever, entrepreneurship is a great way to build a solid legacy.

4. Financial Independence 

Whether we like to admit it or not, money is extremely important in this world. It’s what runs a lot of the world at the end of the day. By becoming an entrepreneur, you can put yourself in a position to be financially independent for the rest of your life.

If you’re able to build your business and grow it to a sustainable level, you can earn a lot of money without having to put in a lot of hours. The beginning is always the hardest, but when everything has been set up…..you can really create an exceptional operation. If you’re seeking financial independence, entrepreneurship is a great path for it.

5. Meet New People 

When I became an entrepreneur, I entered a world where I didn’t know a single person. From networking, reaching out to others and meeting others at various venues, I ended up building a massive network of other entrepreneurs. In the last 5 years, some of these individuals have become my closest friends and I hold powerful relationships with them.

If anything, entrepreneurship will open you up to a whole new world of unique people. If all else fails, you at least have the opportunity to meet new people. From these connections, you have no idea what can come in the future.

Conclusion 

In this article, I shared 5 reasons to take the leap of faith and give entrepreneurship a chance. What are some reasons why you decided to become an entrepreneur?

5 Strategies For Having Highly Productive Days

Productivity is the key to success for highly successful individuals. Having the right amount of it can completely change your work and personal life. In this article, I share 5 strategies for having highly productive days.

Productivity is one of the most important skills to have when trying to be extremely successful. It’s rather simple, you have to figure out the best way to apply your skills, efforts and talents as it relates to time.

Early on in my entrepreneurial career, I was terrible with being productive. I was working 14-16 hour days and I realized that I still needed more time to get more stuff done. I quickly realized that it was a lack of productivity on my part that was causing this disparity in my life.

Since then, I’ve not only reduced the amount of hours I work on a daily basis but I am getting far more done than I ever have. I was able to accomplish this by taking a step back and finding a way to be far more productive. In this article, I share 5 strategies for having highly productive days:

1. Plan Your Day The Night Before 

One of the quickest ways I increased my productivity was by being a little more organized. I did this by planning my days out the night before. I would set out a list of goals I had for the next day, what I had to get done and create a mini schedule the night before.

That single change made me extremely effective because I had a plan of action going into each day. Instead of trying to figure out the next thing to do the day of, I had a concrete schedule that allowed my day to fall into place. This saved me probably an hour, if not more on a daily basis.

2. Prioritize 

The next most important thing for having a highly productive day is to prioritize your daily tasks from most important to least important. What are things that you MUST get done before the end of the day? What are things that you can get done later on in the day or aren’t crucial to the success of your day?

By prioritizing your days, you again have the ability to visualize what is important. Not only that, but entrepreneurs especially have a lot going on in their lives. It’s very easy to get distracted so prioritizing your tasks is a great way to stay focused while avoiding any outside distractions.

3. Exercise Daily 

It seems crazy since you have to spend time exercising, but it makes a massive difference. When I began exercising, it not only created some balance in my life but it made me a lot more productive. That short 1 hour break I would take to go lift some weights or play some basketball made a massive impact on my work.

I was fresher and more focused from the break that I took in between my work. I was able to think more clearly and by getting my adrenaline pumped up, I was actually more motivated with my work. By adding an hour of exercise into my life, not only was it better for my health but it was increasing my productivity as well.

4. Learn To Say No 

No is the most powerful word that you can use especially as you get busy. You have a vision and a goal for what you want to achieve in life. Anything that doesn’t align or somehow help you to your goals in life, you need to say no to that outside noise. Early on, I thought saying NO was some kind of taboo and I would say yes to everything.

As a result of that, my productivity was extremely poor. Once I learned to say NO to others and to things people asked me, all of a sudden I was far more productive. You need to be extremely disciplined with your goals, vision and plans so that you can stay focused on the path that you have created for yourself.

5. Don’t Multitask 

If there is anything I can tell anyone not to do, it’s to not multitask. I was the biggest multitasker out there when I started out as an entrepreneur. I wanted to get everything done at once and I tried juggling multiple things every single day. Not only was my brain hurting, but I was getting less done than I should have been.

Focus on one thing at a time. Even if you have a ton of things going on at one time, take a break and focus on the most important one. From there, focus on the second-most important task and so forth. Do not multitask ever, spend your time focusing on one thing and your levels of productivity will shoot up.

Conclusion 

In this article, I shared 5 strategies for having highly productive days. What are some strategies that have helped you have some really productive days?

5 Things All Serial Entrepreneurs Should Know Before Jumping In Too Deep

In this post, I share 5 things all serial entrepreneurs should know before jumping in too deep. Serial entrepreneurship has become extremely popularized in the last few years, but not everyone is aware of what it takes to successfully manage and maintain multiple business opportunities.

I became a serial entrepreneur a few short years after I began my entrepreneurial journey. I quickly realized that being a serial entrepreneur wasn’t easy at all and that I had signed up for a lot more than I knew. It takes a lot of dedication and commitment to successfully thrive as a serial entrepreneur in this world.

If you are a serial entrepreneur or are someone considering taking on multiple projects at once, I highly recommend you read this post. In this post, I share 5 things all serial entrepreneurs should know before jumping in to deep:

1. Stay Focused

Many people make the argument that as a serial entrepreneur, you can never be focused. Ignore those individuals because it’s possible to stay focused, but it’s also very easy to lose sight of things. With more businesses than ever being opened up, people will often times ask you to join them or for your help.

You have to learn to say no and stay focused on the projects that you can dedicate the proper time commitment to. If you can’t even stay focused on the multiple projects that you take on, then you’re going to be in for a nightmare.

2. Invest In A Strong Team 

When you have a lot of commitments and projects, it’s KEY that you put a strong team around you to support you. I quickly learned that it’s impossible for me to micro manage every element of my businesses and I had to put a solid team around me.

Understand your weaknesses and put people to compensate for the things you aren’t good at. After that, focus on your strengths and your main role in each of your projects/businesses and you’ll have a much better shot at balancing everything. Don’t work harder, just work smarter.

3. Expect Failure 

Throughout my short entrepreneurial career, I’ve failed quite a few times. Can you imagine how many times people who have been in entrepreneurship for 20-30 years have failed? You must expect failure especially when you’re a serial entrepreneurs. Good entrepreneurs know when to give up and when not to give up based on the results they see.

It’s okay to expect failure in one of your projects especially if you’re tackling so many different things. Be prepared to deal with failure in a proper manner and don’t get too obsessed with reviving a project that might have no future.

4. Approach Everything Methodically

Everybody has their own idea of what it takes to build a successful business. There is no right or wrong way of doing things, it’s just a matter of what works for you. I personally am a very strong believer in the lean startup method and I try to apply that to almost every type of business that I build.

Whatever your method is, just make sure you apply a form of it to all your projects and businesses. Being a serial entrepreneur, it might be easy to try taking short cuts but it’s a terrible idea. There is no shortcuts for success, so stay focused and approach everything methodically.

5. Have Patience 

Most serial entrepreneurs jump into multiple things because they’re impatient and they’re extremely hungry for success. That’s how I was starting off as I didn’t want to wait and trust in the process. Instead, I thought it was smart for me to not have all my eggs in one basket and to see what works.

I quickly did learn however that you need patience. The road and journey to success is never easy. You’re going to deal with tons of obstacles and overcoming challenges takes time. You need to exercise extreme patience so you can succeed.

Conclusion 

In this post, I shared 5 things all serial entrepreneurs should know before jumping in too deep. What are some things you learned as a serial entrepreneur?

8 Qualities All Great Leaders Share

In this post, I discuss and share 8 qualities all great leaders share. Leadership is something that takes a lifetime to master and great leaders can create a positive impact on just about anything.

Before you can be a great leader, you must understand what leadership truly means. It’s a person who leads a group of individuals for a common vision, goal or purpose. Great leaders are present in many different industries, niches and places.

In this post, I’ll share with you 8 qualities all great leaders share:

1. Selflessness 

Whether you’re leading a team, business or a project….the leader has to be one of the most selfless individuals. Selfish people don’t thrive as leaders because their needs come before the needs of everyone else. You need to prioritize the goal or vision that everyone is there for while allowing your own needs to take a backseat.

2. Focus 

Life is filled with distractions and many of your partners, team members and classmates may have a tough time focusing. People will get distracted, but your responsibility as a leader requires you to get everyone to focus and re-focus when necessary. You don’t have to lead with an iron fist, but you must have a great balance of kindness and forcefulness to ensure things get done.

3. Confidence 

Great leaders are confident individuals who believe in their own abilities allowing them to lead another group. If you lack confidence, it’s hard to get other people to listen to you. People gravitate towards leaders and they follow leaders having a strong desire to be under their wings. If others respect you, they will allow you to lead them.

4. Open Mindedness

Nobody loves a leader who is strung on his/her ways and refuses to listen to new options. Great leaders encourage their team members to speak their mind and help them find better ways to succeed. A great leader is not one who has the right course of action every time, but rather one who is willing to do whatever it takes to figure out the best plan.

5. Communication 

As a leader, your main role is to communicate and to bring everyone together on the same page. The best leaders are able to do this with ease while poor leaders struggle to do this. If everyone is on the same page and you have a drama-free environment, you’ll be in a great spot to succeed. However, when communication is poor….things begin to crumble quickly.

6. Accountability

As a leader, you are no different than anyone else on the team. Nobody is better than anyone else, it’s an even playing field and these are the best environments to create as a leader. If you make a mistake, you need to own up to it with complete transparency. Leaders need to follow by example. You can say all the right things, but your actions must replicate those words.

7. Decisiveness 

Great leaders are always decisive even when they aren’t sure. It’s always great to get opinions from other people and to keep an open mind, but at some point you have to step up as the leader and make a decision when nobody else can. As a leader, you don’t always have to be right. You just have to be willing to be a decision maker and live with the results.

8. Passionate 

If you aren’t passionate about your job or project that you’re working on, you cannot expect your teammates to do the same. Your passion and enthusiasm has to resonate to everyone else. I always see poor leaders upset when their team members aren’t enthusiastic when they are only there to be there. Great leaders are filled with passion on the projects that they work on.

Conclusion 

In this post, I shared 8 qualities all great leaders share. What are some other qualities great leaders seem to share from your experience?

5 Poker Skills That Translate To The Business World

In this article, I share 5 poker skills that translate to the business world. The world of poker and entrepreneurship is very similar and this article highlights quite a bit of things that cross over.

One of my favorite hobbies is to actually play poker during my downtime for fun. The great thing about playing poker is that I am constantly meeting amazing entrepreneurs and business owners. It seems like poker is a very popular choice amongst those in the business world.

The reality behind it is that poker and business has a lot of similarities. The two worlds have a lot of things in common and lots of life lessons and skills actually transfer between the two.

In this article, I share 5 poker skills that translate to the business world:

1. Money Management 

Whether you get an investor or get some revenue yourself, you need to have great money management to be successful with a business. The quickest way to go broke in poker no matter how good you are is poor money management. Risk too much of your money at one time and things can go wrong causing you to lose everything that you have in poker.

When it comes to business, you need to manage your money really well. Nail it and then scale it. Don’t scale too fast because things will end up getting messy. As a business owner, you have to manage your money well and make smart decisions just like you would in the poker world.

2. Reading People 

The best poker players know when to call an opposing player because they’re bluffing and fold when they feel as if they are beat. This is known as poker psychology or being able to read your opponents on the table. Business is very similar because you have to read other people.

Whether it’s employees, potential customers or investors, it’s crucial that you’re able to read other people in the business world. Understanding certain situations is extremely pivotal because it allows you to access everyone involved and make the best choice based on your read on everyone.

3. Patience 

Poker is a game of patience. Impatient people don’t do well in the long run because you cannot play every single hand that you get. Most good players actually fold over 80% of their hands while only calling about 20% of hands. Business and entrepreneurship is the same thing.

You’re not always going to be successful in the world of entrepreneurship. You need extreme patience when trying to build the next big company. If you fail, you need to be patient, review the situation and bounce back.

4. Risk Management 

In poker, you have to manage your risk. Is it smart to put all your chips into play with a mediocre hand that may or may not win? Probably not. You want to get all your chips in when you have the best hand in the game, but you’ll probably be a lot more careful when you don’t have such a good hand.

Business and entrepreneurship is the same thing. You must be able to manage risk when it comes to spending money on marketing, making big decisions and rolling out features to your customers. You must reflect and understand the type of risk that is involved before making any decisions.

5. Always Sell 

As a poker player, you’re constantly selling. Every bet, every reaction and every move you make is a sales pitch to the rest of the players on the table. You’re trying to get opponents to believe that you have a strong hand when you’re bluffing and that you have a weak hand when you want them to call.

In business and entrepreneurship, you need to always be selling. In poker, by selling others you’re getting paid. In business, it’s the same thing. If you don’t sell, you won’t get paid. As a result of that, you should always be hustling and trying your best to sell yourself and services to others.

Conclusion 

In this article, I share 5 poker skills that translate to the business world. What are some poker skills that you think are important for business owners to know about?

How To Transform Your Failure Into Massive Success

In this post, I talk about how to transform your failure into massive success. Failure is tough to deal with, but if you have the right mindset….you can change your fortunes quickly.

Failure is a topic that is often debated and many motivational speakers charge thousands of dollars to show people how to overcome failure. Personally, I experienced a ton of failure when I started my entrepreneurial journey.

When I experienced this failure, I really had two choices. I could give up and let failure define me OR I could get back up stronger, better, faster and wiser. It’s clear that I made the second choice, but it wasn’t always that easy.

In this post, I’ll share with you how to transform your failure into massive success:

Build Extra Motivation 

If it’s not challenging enough, it’s probably not as enjoyable when you do get it. Think about the girl that you have to chase for months and plays really hard to get, when you get her….you feel like a million bucks.

By failing, you realize just how hard a certain goal is to attain. That will provide you with additional motivation to work harder and to focus more if you really want to be successful with it. Failure is something that is sure to challenge you and that will provide you with the extra motivation you need to bounce back.

Reaffirm Your Beliefs

When I failed, it was a great moment for me to sit back and reflect on myself. Failure allowed me to grow as a person and to be critical of myself at all times. When you fail, you need to sit down and reflect on yourself as a person so you can improve yourself.

Think about your beliefs, your work ethic and who you are as a person. What are things you think are hampering your chances of success? What are things you can improve? This foundation gives you a variety of different things to work on over time.

Build A Support System 

When I failed, I quickly realized that I had to vent and share my thoughts and feelings with friends and family. One of the best ways to deal with failure and also bounce back from it is to share your thoughts with those that you are close with.

Not only is it nice to clear your mind and say your thoughts out loud, but it’s always good to hear what opinions others can offer in your situation. It made me a lot stronger and it was good to see how much faith my friends and family had in me. Seeing how much belief they had in me made me want to work even harder to prove their thoughts right.

Understanding Failure 

The best way I was allow to turn my failures into massive success was to change my thought process on the idea of failure. Failure isn’t something that defines you. Everybody fails all the time, it’s only if you quit/give up that you allow failure to define you.

If you bounce back, then failure becomes an event. It’s something that happened at a time and a place, but it doesn’t define you or your business. In business and entrepreneurship, you only have to be right once. You can fail hundreds of times, but as long as you are right once….you can be massively successful.

Conclusion 

Failure is something that everyone has to deal with at some point in their life. While it can be devastating to fail, as long as you change your mindset…..you can turn failures into massive success.

5 Steps You Must Take To Successfully Quit Your Job To Start Your Own Company

In this article, I share 5 steps you must take to successfully quit your job to start your own business. I highly do NOT recommend anyone to quit their job without following some of these guidelines.

 

Over 75% of the emails I receive on a daily basis are from disgruntled employees who want to leave their job to start their own company. I can’t blame these individuals because I was frustrated and in that same position myself 7 years ago.

 

However, it’s not always the easiest decision to make. You need to have a strong plan of action along with the ability to take on some risk when making the leap from employee to entrepreneur.

 

In this article, I’ll share 5 steps you must take to successfully quit your job to start your own company:

 

1. Be clear with your financial & lifestyle goals. 

 

Often times, people underestimate what it means to be a business owner. You need to ask yourself from the beginning, what do you want your life as an entrepreneur to be like and how much time are you willing to spend?

 

Have a good reason WHY you want to quit your job. Do you want to have more self-fulfillment? Do you want freedom or financial abundance? Tap into the deeper parts of your mind and understand why exactly you want to take this entrepreneurial route.

 

In addition to this, you need to ask yourself how much money you want to make and how much money you NEED to make to cover all your expenses. Ask yourself how much cash you need to invest in your business and how much savings you need to continue paying your expenses while you work on your new business.

 

2. Decide on what type of business you want to start. 

 

What type of business do you want to start? What type of business is ideal for you? Often times, people want to start a business because they heard someone who made a ton of money in that industry. However, that doesn’t mean that industry fits your skill set and education the best.

 

Find a business that you have knowledge in and something that you’re truly passionate about. Ask yourself important questions such as if you’re going to sell a service, digital product or physical product and how your sales process will go.

 

3. Figure out how you like to work. 

 

In elementary school, you often heard your teachers say that everybody learns differently. Some people are visual learners, others learn well with audio and some even need to break everything down on paper to learn things the fastest.

 

Work is very similar. Everybody has their own style of work and you need to identify what fits your style the best. Do you like working in systems? Do you like working with other people, can you trust others to bring on a partner?

 

4. Find your customers, identify a problem and determine how you plan on obtaining sales. 

 

Many people email me saying they want to make the leap to starting their own business, but they haven’t spent any time thinking about any of these issues. First and foremost, you need to come up with an idea/problem and the solution you plan to deliver.

 

After that, you need to identify who your customers are going to be and where you’re going to find/obtain these customers. If you don’t have a planned strategy of how you’re going to find your customers and market your products/services, you’re going to be in for a lot of trouble. These are all things that you can plan and prepare before quitting your job.

 

5. Create your product/services and set up your infrastructure. 

 

Finally, before you can quit your job to start your own business….you need to have a plan of action on how you’re going to create your product or services. If you’re making a mobile application or website and aren’t a developer yourself, you’re going to have to enlist the help of a technical person to build your product out.

 

Not only do you have to build your product out, but you also need to set up a business entity, figure out where you’re going to work and set up some kind of routine to follow. If you don’t have the following steps taken care of, I HIGHLY recommend that you continue working your job until you figure all of these things out.

 

Conclusion 

 

In this article, I shared 5 steps you must take to successfully quit your job to start your own company. What are some things that you did before quitting your job to build your own business?

 

8 Secrets of Super-Productive Entrepreneurs

In this article, I share 8 secrets of super-productive entrepreneurs. Being productive doesn’t happen overnight, but with the proper mindset….you can eventually get to a point where you are satisfied with your level of productivity.

 

Everybody in the world has the same 24 hours every single day. What each person does with their 24 hours in a day varies greatly. Professional athletes spend that 24 hours resting, rehabbing, recovering and further practicing to continue fine tuning their craft.

 

An entrepreneur? Well, they spend their 24 hours doing something much different. Entrepreneurs work on their businesses and do whatever it takes to propel themselves for greater success. The big difference between some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world and others is how they spend their 24 hours each day.

 

That comes down to how productive and efficient entrepreneurs are each day. In this post, I’ll share 8 secrets of super-productive entrepreneurs:

 

1. They Are Organized.

 

You don’t necessarily have to be an extremely organized person, but you need to have someone in your life that will organize things for you. If you have everything you need in an organized manner, you’re automatically going to be productive. Think back to how many times you had to find something really important, couldn’t find it and how much time you spent trying to find it. It may only happen once every now and then, but over a course of 5 years….you can lose a LOT of time due to poor organization.

 

2. They Have Work/Life Balance.

 

If you work 20 hours for the next 5 years every single day, you’ll eventually burn out. It’s an admirable thought, but that’s now how you become a super successful entrepreneur. You have to balance your work with your life. You have to spend time with friends, family members and significant others. You need to create balance in your life and every single day. If your mind is fresh, your performance will be far superior.

 

3. They’re Hungry For Success.

 

If you’re an entrepreneur, you should be motivated to build the greatest company or product possible. If you’re already hungry for success, you’re already a step ahead of someone who is unmotivated. Super-productive entrepreneurs don’t need to motivate themselves every morning. They wake up with a great deal of passion and enthusiasm to succeed.

 

4. They Have Healthy Habits.

 

Entrepreneurs are so busy that they often overlook their health. I’ve done that during many portions of my life and my body has felt the tolls of my neglect. Health trumps everything else long-term and you need to take care of yourself before you take care of your business. Take time out of your day to exercise, meditate and eat healthy. Just by doing these things, you’ll mentally and physically feel better and be able to perform far more efficiently throughout the day.

 

5. They Work Smarter Not Harder.

 

I often talk to entrepreneurs who are dissatisfied with their results and they always jump to the idea that they need to work harder. More hours and more focus seems to be the answer to their problems. However, I quickly learned that it’s not about how hard you work but rather how smart you work. If you have a lot of things to do, learn to delegate and give tasks to employees and partners. As much as you want to do everything in your business, it’s SMARTER to do what you’re good at and letting others handle the less important things.

 

6. They Develop Routines. 

 

Ever since I’ve created a consistent routine that I follow almost every single day, I have gotten so much more productive. Building routines are crucial because they create habits and you can get comfortable with a balanced schedule that you can follow each day. Here’s what my routine/schedule looks like. I wake up in the morning, I check my emails and take care of the most important tasks. From there, I grab some food and I continue taking care of meetings and handling tasks. Around the middle of the day, I give my mind a break by going to the gym for an hour or so and I come back and start working again. This continues until the early evening where I finally shut off. I end up hanging out with friends, pursuing hobbies and doing things not related to work. Finally, I may do a little bit of work on my smartphone before going to bed.

 

7. They Are Willing To Say No. 

 

When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I could NOT say NO. I thought I would be considered an asshole and I felt like I had to cater to everything that I would be asked. The greatest word I added to my vocabulary consistently was the word “NO”. You have to prioritize your tasks and value your time. If someone thinks you’re an asshole for it, so be it but you’ll be much happier and much more productive as a result of it. If it’s not something you can take on, just say NO.

 

8. They Constantly Improve.

 

You aren’t going to wake up one morning and automatically be one of the most productive  entrepreneurs in the world. Life and everything in life requires constant improvement. As long as you make a conscious effort to improve your efficiency, you’ll eventually make small improvements along the way and get to a point where you’re extremely satisfied with where you are at.

 

Conclusion 

 

In this article, I shared 8 secrets of super-productive entrepreneurs. What are some secrets you would share with others on how to be super-productive?

 

5 Life Lessons I Learned From Working Minimum Wage Jobs In High School

In this post, I share 5 life lessons I learned from working minimum wage jobs in high school. While I hated the idea of working a job at 15, I can look back today and say that it was one of the best experiences I have ever gone through because of all the valuable lessons I learned.

 

At the age of 15, my parents gave me a pretty tough ultimatum. Go get a job and earn some money after school if you want to get the latest video games and hang out with your friends. They were going to provide me with shelter, food and the bare minimums of course….but they weren’t going to pay for my luxuries.

 

At the time, I couldn’t stand my parents for putting me in this horrible situation. I was 15 years old, none of my friends had to work. Why did I have to get a job? I was working maybe 15 hours a week earning $300-$400 a month.

 

Looking back now, I’m so glad that my parents did what they did. The hardships and struggle I faced during those years gave me a sense of gratefulness that many others don’t understand still later in their lives. I would do the same thing with my children and I absolutely recommend you to do the same thing with your kids.

 

In this post, I share 5 life lessons I learned from working minimum wage jobs in high school:

 

1. Life Is Pretty Damn Tough 

 

As a child, you take everything in life for granted. Making money? Oh that’s my parents job and it’s extremely easy. Paying bills? Oh, that’s easy too. It was only after I took a job and learned how all this stuff works that I realized that life is extremely tough.

 

Making money isn’t easy. You can make it easy with the right mindset and set of skills, but it’s definitely not something anyone can just wake up one morning and do. Even getting employed by someone didn’t mean that my job was easy. I had to do work I didn’t want to do and show up when I didn’t want to show up. Getting a job this early gave me a solid perspective on life and I really understood just how tough things are.

 

2. Do What You Love 

 

I was extremely fortunate to truly understand what career happiness meant at a very young age. Many of my friends only realized this after graduating from college and taking a job. I learned at an early age that if I focused on work that I didn’t enjoy, I would be miserable and I wouldn’t be successful at it.

 

From an early age, I had mentally decided that I would only do work that I loved. If it didn’t excite me and I couldn’t get obsessed with it, I wouldn’t pursue it. Learning this lesson from working various jobs that I was disinterested in contributed to me doing the work that I do today.

 

3. Comfort And Change Don’t Go Together 

 

If you want change in your life, you’re not going to be comfortable. I quickly learned that by working these minimum wage jobs in high school. The change I needed was a salary and money to do the things I enjoyed. However, doing these things didn’t make me comfortable at all. I was very uncomfortable and unhappy with the circumstances.

 

If you want to change something in your life, you have to be willing to give up comfort. If you really want something bad enough, you are willing to do so while you’re uncomfortable. Just remember, change and comfort won’t go together and you have to choose one or the other to attain what you want in life.

 

4. Always Have A Bigger Picture 

 

Even when I was working each of these minimum jobs, I always wanted something more. I wanted more pay, more freedom and to do something more meaningful. I quickly learned at high school that you can never be satisfied with where you’re at, you always need to have a bigger picture.

 

Many people find their careers in an endless loop because they don’t have a bigger picture. To get the most out of life, I knew from an early age that I had to always demand more and have plans for something more.

 

5. Always Learn 

 

Even though I didn’t enjoy most of the minima wage jobs I took, I always made sure that I learned as much as I could. I asked my bosses and managers as many questions as I could and I was always focused on learning every single day. That mindset and mentality has NOT changed today.

 

If you continue educating yourself, you’ll get yourself better opportunities down the line. Working as a project manager for a web development company gave me the education I needed to launch my own multimedia agency a few years later. By keeping my eyes open and learning from people smarter than me, I was able to launch my own entrepreneurial career using what I had learned during my time working.

 

Conclusion 

 

In this post, I shared 5 life lessons I learned from working minimum wage jobs in high school. What are some life lessons that you learned from some of your first jobs?

 

10 Things To Know Before Dating An Entrepreneur

In this article, I share 10 things to know before dating an entrepreneur. Many people get into a relationship with an entrepreneur and understand just how tough it is. This article gives you an idea of what to expect before getting into a relationship with an entrepreneur.

 

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, because entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. It’s something that takes over your entire life and it ends up being your number one priority in most cases. When you enter a romantic relationship, many partners have a tough time accepting the fact that they won’t always be the most important thing.

 

Many of my entrepreneurial friends often times tell me how tough it is to date an entrepreneur. The difficulty with dating an entrepreneur is that most people don’t truly understand what the life of an entrepreneur consists of.

 

I’ve been in a relationship with a lovely woman for almost 7 years now and she’s been with me even before I began my entrepreneurial journey. There were many times were things were extremely tough given my lifestyle, but to this day we have made it work.

 

In this post, I’ll share 10 things to know before dating an entrepreneur:

 

1. Their Mind Is Always Wandering 

 

Entrepreneurs constantly look for opportunities and think about different things. It’s something that they just cannot control regardless of where they are. It’s nearly impossible for me to ever shut my brain down and I’m always thinking of various things. It doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy being with my partner, it’s just that my mind is hyperactive and it constantly considers different things.

 

2. They Don’t Do Well With Ultimatums 

 

More likely than not, entrepreneurs choose the path that they have chosen because someone at some point gave them an ultimatum they weren’t willing to accept. If you’re someone who has to have it your way, it’ll be very tough getting into a relationship with an entrepreneur. If you give them an ultimatum, it’s fairly easy for entrepreneurs to choose their freedom over you.

 

3. They Have Strong Opinions 

 

Entrepreneurs have strong opinions about almost everything. For the most part, entrepreneurs are extremely passionate individuals that care about a lot of different things. If you’re about to engage into a discussion or debate, be ready for things to get intense because entrepreneurs are always willing to let their opinions be heard loud and clear.

 

4. They Get Bored Easily 

 

Entrepreneurs are always growing, learning and changing. They want a partner who also thinks and feels the same way. Entrepreneurs want their partners to challenge them, grow, change and to want new things in life so that they are never bored.

 

5. They Hate Lazy People 

 

Because entrepreneurs are so busy themselves, they hate people who are lazy. They are constantly looking for people who want more out of their lives and they want to learn about new things from their partners. If you’re lazy, your entrepreneurial partner will see right through it and eventually get frustrated.

 

6. They Operate On Their Own Schedule

 

Entrepreneurs never really work a 9 to 5. As a result of that, if you’re looking forward to catch your favorite television show with your significant other at 7 PM, you might have to think again. Being with an entrepreneur requires you to often times operate at a very weird schedule. Be ready for some midnight dates.

 

7. They Need Their Own Space

 

Entrepreneurs are free spirits who love their solitude and space. As an entrepreneur, I love being with my significant partner and spending time with her, but at the same time I love having my space at times. Having space allows me to pursue my own hobbies, passions and adventures in life. If you’re extremely clingy, entrepreneurs might not make the best partners for you.

 

8. Their Moods Change All The Time

 

It can be frustrating for someone dating an entrepreneur. They get to see their significant partner on a limited basis and even when they see them, they aren’t always happy or ecstatic. It’s not your fault, it’s just what entrepreneurs go through on a regular basis. Sometimes they’re on top of the world and at other times they feel terrible, it’s the roller coaster ride that comes with the entrepreneurial journey.

 

9. They Think & Care About You More Than You Know 

 

As an entrepreneur, it’s often tough to show the ones you love how much you really love them. As a result, it might have you questioning whether or not your partner cares for you and loves you. However, you should know that they do care about you and think about you way more often than you can imagine. They just have to make sacrifices in the short-term to live their dream.

 

10. They May Miss Big Events/Moments In Your Life

 

The common theme in this article has been the lack of time that an entrepreneur has. You need to understand that sometimes a big meeting or a pitch to investors may end up landing on the same day as a big event in your life. You have to be willing to accept that sometimes an entrepreneur has to do what they have to do.

 

Conclusion 

 

In this article, I shared 10 things to know before dating an entrepreneur. Share some of your own experiences when dating entrepreneurs below.