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8 Steps For Attracting The Life You Want

The life you want will happen only if you take the necessary steps to attract it. Surrounding yourself with positivity will only make your life better. In this post, I shared with you 8 steps for attracting the life you want.

Throughout our lives, we are all in search for that something or someone. We want the best friends, best career paths and best partner in our lives. Some spend years while others spend a lifetime searching for this without a guarantee that they will ever find completely happiness.

At the end of the day, this is the search for a happy life. However, it’s a lot easier to say than it is to achieve as most of you know by now. Whether you realize it or not, you can attract the life you want with the right mindset, approach and steps. Regardless of personal circumstances, economic climates or power, we all have the ability to create the life we want.

Here are 8 steps for attracting the life you want:

1. Take inventory of your life

Notice what’s working, what needs adjusting and what absolutely needs to go. Look at the way you’ve been living and doing your life. We can’t change anything if we aren’t aware of what needs changing. You have to reflect on your current life and be highly critical before you can make a change for the better.

2. Take No Less than 100% Responsibility for Your Life

A big myth that many people believe is that they deserve a good life. Unfortunately, that’s a poor sense of entitlement if you believe that.  Successful people take full responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images they visualize and the actions they take. They don’t waste their time and energy blaming others and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.

3. Learning New Things

When you’re learning new things, your mind is constantly growing. The people, places and things that used to resonate with you may no longer be as appealing or attractive. Once you have grown and experienced a different way of living, you cannot go back to the person you used to be and as a result, you will start attracting new people, places and things. Constantly be willing to grow and expand your mind.

4. Being Mindful

Being mindful of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs allows you to feel less negative, more present, less reactive and far more responsive to life and its challenges. Mindfulness also helps you to determine whether it’s your thoughts, feelings or beliefs that are negatively distorted. If you’re mindful of everything around you, you’ll be far more proactive in achieving the perfect life for yourself.

5. Release All Your Negative Energy

It’s hard to attract the right things into your life when you’re consumed by negative energy and negative thoughts. The vibrational frequency of our energy will pull the equivalent towards us. Like attracts like. If you’re constantly living in a state of negativity, you’ll end up attracting more of that into your life. You have to release all of the negativity from your life initially and then you need to start attracting positive vibes.

6. Purge Jealousies 

Jealousy of another person’s worldly possessions means that you are occupying your mind with an illusion. Just because someone is driving an expensive car does not mean they necessarily have the money or that they are wealthy. Jealousy is a liar, projecting a false narrative that is almost never grounded in the truth. Let go of your jealousies and make room for true happiness. Embrace the simple things and fill yourself with peace.

7. Patch The Energy Leaks & Find Balance

Notice where or with whom you are spending too much time, money or energy and feeling drained. Where can you create more structure and establish better boundaries? Patch the leaking energy and find balance in your life. This is a big key in life!

8. Gratitude

Gratitude helps us feel good, which increases our good vibes and motivates us toward further self-improvement and positive change. Gratitude allows us to celebrate the present while it magnifies positive emotions. Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Gratitude is the key to living a good life because it makes you appreciate the value of everything that you have in life rather than complaining all that your life is missing.

Conclusion

The life you want will happen only if you take the necessary steps to attract it. Surrounding yourself with positivity will only make your life better. In this post, I shared with you 8 steps for attracting the life you want.

8 Important Lessons About Success I’ve Learned From Highly Successful Mentors Over The years

Great mentors offer some of the most valuable words on the planet. A single breakthrough, idea or connection can be worth millions of dollars. In this post, I shared with you 8 important lessons about success I’ve learned from highly successful mentors over the years.

Mentors are some of the most helpful resources you can have as an entrepreneur because they’ve been there and done a lot more than you. However, a large number of entrepreneurs start their careers without one. In an age where instant gratification is glorified, it’s unsurprising that many entrepreneurs and young founders do not seek out a mentor as hard as they try to find a co-founder.

I’ve had the good fortune to develop and maintain relationships with super success individuals  that have helped me along my journey.  Here are 8 important lessons about success I’ve learned from highly successful mentors over the years.

1. Build Something That Actually Solves A Problem

If you want to build a valuable and sustainable business, approach your venture with a problem-solution framework. The most successful companies in the world emerge from genuine needs and consequently create real opportunities and value. “Innovation” is just the process of solving a problem with a creative solution that’s never been thought of or executed before.

2. Be Prepared To Make Sacrifices

The minute you decide to launch a new business, you decide to do nothing else. Build your business for the next year or two. Every minute of every eighteen-hour day should be dedicated to this endeavor. Your business success will come at the expense of family time, friend time, vacations and any other hobbies or activities you once enjoyed. This business has to be your entire life, or it will die.

3. Know Your Why

Starting with defining the “why” will help your business because you’ll have a reason for pursuing this opportunity. Often times, business owners begin by focusing on our products, services or even a chunk of money they want to earn. However, exploring the question of “why” is extremely important. This defines what makes your products and services unique and this also gives you the competitive edge and value-added proposition.

4. Act With Integrity

Always be honest and act with integrity. No matter what happens on the battlefield of business, if you’re honest and authentic, you can never lose. You may lose the sale or miss out on the client, but honesty goes a long way in the business world. Don’t make promises that you can’t deliver on. I always recommend on under promising and over delivering!

5. Build A Great Team & You’ll Typically End Up With A Great Product Or Service

Most entrepreneurs think startups are all about the idea. They’re not. Initially, most ideas are way off base and don’t have product-to-market fit. Investors look at the team as much as the product. If you have a team that knows how to solve problems and persevere, you can brainstorm, iterate and prototype until you arrive at the right idea. The right team has the right blend of attitude, intelligence, perseverance, passion and domain expertise. Investors know it when they see it.

6. Fail Fast

Your first attempt to develop something that has the right product-to-market fit probably won’t work. The sooner you understand what’s not working, the sooner you’ll arrive at a working solution. Therefore, the key is to iterate quickly and ship frequently. Building something that provides value to its respective market will require multiple attempts and failures.

7. Breakdowns Are Opportunities For Breakthroughs

These words provide the motivation that every small business owner needs to hear on a daily basis. It is a reminder that a wise man falls seven times and will rise again. On the eighth time, he or she will arise triumphant with new insight and foresight. The challenge is rising again and reflecting on the lessons learned from past tumbles.

8. Don’t Be Afraid To Push The Boundaries

The most successful companies in the world create a legacy by breaking the rules and not following common beliefs or thinking. When you think unconventionally, true innovation and disruption can occur. You may call it a “paradigm shift” or some sort of “transformation”, but these are the boundaries you have to push. Take the “road less traveled” if you really want to upend an existing business model or traditional industry.

Conclusion

Great mentors offer some of the most valuable words on the planet. A single breakthrough, idea or connection can be worth millions of dollars. In this post, I shared with you 8 important lessons about success I’ve learned from highly successful mentors over the years.

8 Principles Aspiring Entrepreneurs Must Follow For Accelerating Their Success

In this post, I shared with you the 8 principles aspiring entrepreneurs must follow for accelerating their success. Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of work, a ton of vision and a great amount of perseverance. No one is too old to learn new things as an entrepreneur.

Aspiring entrepreneurs who rely only on traditional learning vehicles (teachers, classrooms, and risk-free practices) have a lower chances of succeeding with their startups. With the resources available outside of traditional platforms, you can not only increase your chances of success but also speed up the entire process.

The startup lifestyle is known to be stressful and challenging, but it’s also meant to be satisfying and fulfilling. As an entrepreneur who is in control of their own destiny, the sky is really the limit with what you can achieve. However, every entrepreneur needs to understand some important principles to put themselves on the right path.

Here are 8 principles aspiring entrepreneurs must follow for accelerating their success:

1. Focus On Strengths Rather Than Fixing Weaknesses

As an entrepreneur, you have to really hone in on your strengths and weaknesses. Instead of trying to fix your weaknesses and struggling through that process, solely focus on your strengths. You can always find other solutions for your weaknesses such as partner, employees and even the use of technology.

2. Intelligence & Passion Are Not Enough

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. I’m sure you’ve heard this quote over and over again throughout the years. The reason why it’s spoken about so often is because of how true it is. You can be the smartest and most passionate person in the world, but that’s not enough to help you find success if you don’t work your ass off for it.

3. Learning Means Understanding, Far Beyond Memorization

Great entrepreneurs strive to understand the depth of a customer need, rather than just the ability to recite a long list of features. Technologies are not solutions, but understanding a technology in the context of a customer need will result in more competitive and long-lasting solutions. Forget about traditional schooling which requires you to memorize things for tests. In the real world, you’re going to truly need to understand to succeed.

4. Create Some Short-Term Milestones On The Path To Your Dreams

Dreams alone won’t make you happy or successful, so start early in defining and executing against a set of milestones to celebrate progress along the way. Satisfaction is not a one-time event at the end of your career; it’s a series of good feelings driven by results along the way. Don’t go for home plate all at once, break it up into smaller pieces that are easier to take in.

5. Business Success is Significantly More Difficult to Achieve than Academic Success

In school, a student’s success is measured by things like GPA or test scores. These are helpful measures, but not necessarily a sign of business aptitude. In business, the end result is rarely spelled out ahead of time. You may know the journey but not the destination and if you are accustomed to knowing the destination, you can quickly find yourself lost. In most academic situations, you get some points just for showing up. However, the business world is not so kind. It’s your day to day actions and the results that are derived from those actions that determine your success.

6. Relationships Are A Test Of Your Learning Readiness 

Building a new business today is all about building relationships with your customers and your team. As an entrepreneur with a new startup, you are the brand and customers today expect a relationship. In addition to that, you always need relationships with advisors, investors, influencers and peers.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice

Professional athletes can easily spend 3–5 hours or more each day practicing their craft. Their reward comes in the form of a 48 to 60 minute game a couple of times a week. The same principle must be applied to your business goals. If you’ve got client meetings, practice your pitch and your approach to selling them several times. Get feedback from others and put yourself in the best position when the real meeting comes around.

8. Deliver More Than Expected

Successful entrepreneurs are always delivering more than customers expect. This is a great way to get noticed especially as a new company in your industry. Not only that, but this is one of the best ways to build a loyal following. Go the extra mile because it’s always worth it in the end.

Conclusion

Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of work, a ton of vision and a great amount of perseverance. No one is too old to learn new things as an entrepreneur. In this post, I shared with you the 8 principles aspiring entrepreneurs must follow for accelerating their success.

8 Smart Money Moves To Make In Your 20’s

Being smart with money in your 20’s will help you to be financially established when you reach your 30’s. Taking these critical steps can help you to be financially stable and free in the future. In this post, I shared with you 8 smart money moves to make in your 20’s.

Young people are freaked out about finances and planning for the future. Honestly, they have a pretty good reason to be nervous because a lot of people have no clue what they’re doing. Worst of all, this type of thing isn’t properly taught with formal education so many young people are left on their own.

You may not think of your 20’s as a time to get serious about finances. After all, your 20’s are spent figuring out your career and finding a place to settle at. But believe it or not, your twenties are actually the perfect time to establish smart money-related practices.

Here are 8 smart money moves to make in your 20’s:

1. Spend Less Than You Make

Making a habit of living on less than you make will help you reach your financial goals much quicker and easier. If you get used to this early, it will get you in the habit of saving more and spending less, allowing you to save for big purchases — such as a house or car — and put more money towards your retirement.

Spending less than you make will also help you avoid credit card debt. Using credit cards to build your credit can help prepare you for when it’s time to make one of those big purchases, but you have to make sure you’re doing it the right way.

2. Save Up Your Money

A young adult starting out with a job that does more than just cover their living expenses is in the ideal position to develop a solid savings habit. The sooner you start saving, the longer you can take advantage of compound interest.

Money saved in your 20’s and 30’s add up to more by the time you retire than saving the same amount in your 40’s and 50’s. Start by saving a small amount from each pay check for long-term financial goals and increase how much you save as your income increases over time.

3. Create A Budget

Budgeting is one of the easiest ways to keep track of your spending and it can also ensure that you’re not going overboard in any particular category. If you really want to get your finances on the right track, map out a budget and review it every few months to make sure it’s something you can actually stick to. If not, you may need to look at cutting some expenses to avoid debt or cripple your savings efforts.

Nowadays, there are tons of tools that can help you budget even easier. Tools like Mint are specifically created to show people where they spend their money on a monthly basis. You can use that information to create budgets for yourself and make smarter financial decisions.

4. Learn How To Set Goals

Goals are critical to financial success and learning how to set smart goals in life is one of the smartest money moves you can make in your 20s. Craft a comprehensive financial goal, which can act as a guide on how your finances will be for the foreseeable future.

5. Pay Off Your Debts

Education debts, including student loans, credit cards and personal loans can become harder to pay off as time goes by. While you may plan to make larger payments once your income increases, the longer you’re out of school, the more important other opportunities and commitments tend to become.

The money that’s needed to be paid back can possibly hold you back from goals and pursuits, so deal with your debts in your twenties and start your thirties ready to invest in your future. Be extremely conservative when you’re in debt and make it your primary goal to get even.

6. Save For A Home

Though not everyone aims to own a home, if that’s a goal of yours, it’s critical to start saving as early as possible. However, real estate has a lot of long term value and it’s something that everyone should consider at some point.

Most houses are built around 30 year old loans. If you can manage to buy a house in your 20’s, that’s ideal but you want to try to save up and at least buy a house in your early 30’s. By doing this and engaging with a 30 year old loan, you’re setting yourself up to pay off your house completely by the time you also retire.

7. Understand Your Health Insurance

It’s extremely important to understand at least some basics about your health insurance options in order to make sure you’re choosing the best plan that fits your needs. Not only that, but you need to make sure your money is also being spent wisely.

Your health is the most important thing in life. Not only should you have health insurance, but you should have a plan that supports you. In the event of a medical emergency, you don’t want to be in over your head with expenses so always think of the best case and worst case scenarios when choosing your health insurance plan.

8. Decide On Graduate School

Going back to school can be a worthwhile move for many people, but it’s one that does come with a cost. The sooner you come to a decision about graduate school, the better equipped you’ll be to make other financial choices.

If you decide to go back to graduate school, your entire savings plans may change. However, if you’re satisfied with where you’re at….you can focus on things such as buying a home right away. When it comes to graduate school, you should always weigh the opportunity cost before making a decision.

Conclusion

Being smart with money in your 20’s will help you to be financially established when you reach your 30’s. Taking these critical steps can help you to be financially stable and free in the future. In this post, I shared with you 8 smart money moves to make in your 20’s.

How To Share Your Startup Vision With Investors

In this post, I share with you a guide on how to share your startup vision with investors. Raising funding is a lot tougher than most think, but with the right approach it can be achieved successfully.

Startups frequently prepare a “pitch deck” to present their company to a prospective angel investor or venture capital firm. The pitch deck typically consists of a slide presentation and is intended to showcase the company’s products, technology and team to the investors.

As a startup, you have to bring a fresh perspective to get your business noticed. However, it will take more than a good idea to convince a potential investor to cut you a large check.

To capture the attention of people who can accelerate your business and ultimately open their wallets, you must master your investor pitch. As an entrepreneur who has gone through the process of pitching to investors and even getting offered money, I’ve learned quite a bit of what it takes to get noticed.

In this post, I share my guide on how to share your startup vision with investors:

1. Build Relationships Prior To The Money Ask 

The best funding relationships are ones that grow organically. Get to know potential investors before you ever need capital. Go to networking events, introduce yourself and do homework on them long before you’re in the process of raising money.

Every investor is different in terms of what types of companies they like to invest in, what stage these businesses must be in and their threshold for risk. Get them invested in your mission and vision first and then you can show your progress over time. Having a relationship with an investor long before you ask money is a great way to get your foot in the door. You have more power to negotiate terms and investors will be a little bit more lenient with you.

2. Identify The Right Audience 

Each investor has different likes and dislikes, so you need to identify the right audience. You should research potential investors before you talk with them so that your company fits the right stage. Some investors are looking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in late stage companies. On the same token, some investors are looking to throw $25-$100k on companies just starting out.

If you approach an investor, you must know what industries they are actively investing in and what stage companies they are interested in. If you don’t know those two things and you pitch to an investor, things will likely go downhill very rapidly.

3. Develop Proof of Concept With A Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Before you begin securing capital for your startup, you must first determine if your company is ready for outside capital. Most experienced venture capital investors in the investing world will want to see that your business has made significant progress bootstrapping. Investors want to see something working on a smaller level and they want their cash to help scale/grow the business exponentially.

Most investors will want to see some kind of minimum viable product built with some sort of traction. If you don’t have any traction or a MVP to show, you are not ready to pitch to investors. Develop a proof of concept before approaching an investor.

4. Determine How Much Capital Is Necessary

Investors want to know how intelligent you are and how strong the founders of a company are. They will ask you how much money you’re seeking as soon as you walk into the room. You need to have a reasonable ask with a really good answer of what that money will be put towards. “I need $100,000 which will be used towards growing our development team, investing in servers and using it for marketing to early adopters to grow our company. We believe that a $100,000 investment is enough to keep us running at a high rate for 12 months.”

That would be a great answer to give an investor because it covers the how much and why that much question immediately. Do your homework, figure out what things will cost and use your proof of concept to help you determine how much capital is necessary.

5. Explain Who Your Audience Is And How You Will Reach Them

Marketing matters. If you cannot describe who will buy your product and how you plan to reach that audience, then you have not done sufficient research. Investors too often see founders come into their offices saying that with their capital, they can find the right target market.

Nope, that’s not good enough. You need to be educated long before you come into the investors room. They aren’t looking to go on a discovery tour with you to figure out your business. The expectation is that you know your business and you just lack funding to take it to the next level.

6. Know Your Numbers And Return On Investment

Investors want to know that you have a clear business model and understand the finances of your businesses. Creating a financial structure is crucial but being able to articulate it is even more important. Investors need to know how your business will make money, in what timeframe and what the return on their money is before considering an investment.

As a startup founder, you have to be diverse in your skills that you know a little bit of everything. The finances of your business in the present and future are going to be just as important. Know your internal finances better than anyone and be prepared to answer the tough questions regarding it when you step into the room with investors.

8. Show That You Are Invested In Your Business

Investors like to see that you have invested cash and not just time in your business. That shows them that you have just as much to lose as them if things don’t end up going well. Investors want to see that you are fully committed to your business.

While it may make personal and financial sense to keep your day job and work on your business part-time, investors want to see that you are dedicating all the time necessary to make your business a success. As an investor, they want to make sure that their money is in good hands. They want someone who will dedicate everything they have to make their business successful.

Conclusion

Potential investors are easy to find but it’s not easy to convince them to listen and share your vision especially if you are just starting up a business and have no value in your name yet. But with the right methods in delivering your vision, these potential investors can become your business partners. In this post, I shared with you a guide on how to share your startup vision with investors.

7 Ways For Business Owners To Recharge After Burning Out

In this post, I share with you 7 ways for business owners to recharge after burning out. Unfortunately, burnout is a common experience that few people know how to appropriately address.

In a fast-paced, performance-driven society, working long hours and enduring perpetual stress is inevitable. However, if you constantly stay on the move without finding time to rest and reflect, you face burnout. At this stage, you will feel depleted physically, mentally and emotionally. You are running on an empty tank of gas.

When you’re in the zone at work and trying to juggle many things at once, it’s easy to experience burnout. Whether you’re an employee or a business owner, it’s almost inevitable for you to burnout at some point.

Here are 7 ways for business owners to recharge after burning out:

1. Find Support

Be honest with friends, family and work colleagues about your struggles. Don’t be ashamed of feeling weak or incapable. You’ll likely find that others have dealt with the same problems in the past and they can help you out. Try to delegate as many things as possible, even if the person you’re delegating to may not do them the way you envision.

2. Take A Break

You may not need or want to completely leave your current work, but you definitely need a break. If at all possible, find a way to arrange a short vacation. Take a leave of absence if you can. If absolutely nothing else, try to arrange for a day or two away from the office. One way or another, get off the hamster wheel so you have time to really think about your priorities and goals.

As you take this break, fill your time with things you love. Spend time with your partner, your friends and your family members. Eat good food and grab a brew. Visit new places and use your time to check things off your bucket list. The goal here is to bring the good back into your life. The more you encourage it, the less burned out you’ll feel and the more insight you’ll discover into changing your current situation to permanently prevent burnout.

3. Focus On Diet & Exercise

Working too many hours or working too hard at the same tasks without variety for years at a time takes a toll on your health. As you navigate your burnout, make time to eat nutritious, good food and get your body moving. You’ll feel much better as you make yourself a priority again. You’ll recover your energy, get sick less often and be able to think more clearly about the future.

4. Get Outside Yourself And Help Others

Take some time and energy to do something for another person or group you care about. Burnout can be like tunnel vision, where your world has narrowed and only involves you, your work and your emotional struggles. To overcome burnout, expand your vision and reach out to others who need your help.

5. Be Patient

Undoing burnout can take a long time and it may often some pretty drastic changes. Even if you’re feeling good short-term, chances are you may not be ready to jump back into things. Be prepared to end up in an entirely different place to where you are now, whether it’s a different role, a different department or even a different career.

6. Focus On The Basics

Even the simplest of tasks become monumental efforts when you’re burned out. Try to focus on eating proper meals regularly, hydrating enough and getting as much sleep as you possibly can. Get out of the house every day, get some exercise and enjoy time with your friends and loved ones. Make time for what makes you happy!

7. Expand Your Network

The company you keep can be tremendously helpful for your business, but you will also want to meet new people outside of your existing relationships when you’re tired of work. Newly-made connections expose you to different perspectives, present fresh opportunities and spur different conversations. In general, it’s often helpful to have some friends that don’t have any connections with you in the working world.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, burnout is a common experience that few people know how to appropriately address. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and recharging from burnout can take a while. In this post, I shared with you 7 ways for business owners to recharge after burning out.

6 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The Notorious Conor McGregor

Even though Conor is one of the most popular faces of the fighting game, he can provide you with numerous lessons in the entrepreneurial world. In this post, I share with you 6 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from “The Notorious” Conor McGregor.

To UFC fans, Conor McGregor is a recognizable name synonymous with his fighting success. To the surprise of many, just a few years ago he was on welfare in Ireland. He has made a jump to the top faster than almost anyone in the fighting world.

Conor McGregor has fought several times over the past 12 months, including headlining two of the three best-selling UFC fights ever on pay-per-view. He recently had a boxing fight against Floyd Mayweather. He currently is worth many millions of dollars. However, besides being an amazing fighter, he has many savvy characteristics and habits that other entrepreneurs can learn from.

Here are 6 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from “The Notorious” Conor McGregor:

1. Become Obsessed

Conor attributes much of his success to hard work. His confidence comes from his performance and he believes he is so much better than everyone else because he outworks them. He says it best when he says, “They don’t work harder than me and they don’t want it like I want it.”

He has gone further in saying: “I feel that to be at the pinnacle of any game, you’ve got to be a little gone to it. You’re not all there. You’re almost insane to your craft. I pay attention to nothing else.” Start getting obsessed with whatever your big goals are and chase them until the very end.

2. You Need To Have An Image

McGregor has a badass image, complete with the tattoos and the attitude. While many professional fighters have a similar image, McGregor takes it to the extreme and maintains this image across all of his brands. He posts pictures that portray the badass lifestyle and it is well received by his followers.

Part of his success is that he doesn’t drift far away from his established image. Why? Because it’s authentic. He isn’t pretending to be someone or something that he’s not. He is a badass professional fighter and his image portrays that. Not only that, but he’s cocky and extremely loud, which is portrayed in almost everything that he does. His brand is clearly well-known and within your own business, you need to create an authentic image and stick to it.

Here are some tips to really come up with an image that works for your business:

– Make sure your image explains what you do without words. Social media is becoming the most powerful branding tool that any business can put to use. It’s the place people turn to now, even more than websites. Everyone is connected on social media so they are going to search out a business that they are potentially interested in on social media first.

– Stay consistent. Once your image is defined you need to stick with that theme. If you start straying away from that image, it will end up confusing your audience and they will question the reason for following you. Attract them with your image and then keep them engaged with consistency.

– Focus only on your core audience. A brand will NEVER attract everyone, so don’t worry about the segment of people that aren’t going to connect with your image. Focus on strengthening your image to attract your core audience, because those are the ones that are going to end up converting into sales and cash. You will never appeal to everyone.

3. Expand Your Network 

Working in a different vertical within his industry is giving him the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a new group of professionals. McGregor knows the more people he works with, the easier it will be to attract opportunities in the present and the future. He was a cage fighter who with the proper networking was able to land one of boxing’s biggest fights, which was a sport he never competed in.

Don’t ever pass up an opportunity to network. It often time takes one right person to change you or your business forever. Constantly work on expanding your network, meeting new people and developing new relationships. This is one of the biggest tips to fast track your success in the entrepreneurial world.

4. You Need To Have The Right Team Behind You 

McGregor knows that he would be nothing without his team. His brand that he’s building is successful because of his work, but without his trainers, coaches and management, he wouldn’t be where he is today.

The same applies to any business. Your team is everything, and every single person fills an important role that contributes to the overall success of the organization. When building your business, give every single team member the same respect and value their contributions equally.

Even though McGregor is the one training hard and putting in the physical work and taking the beatings in the ring, he knows it isn’t a one man show, even though he technically is the entire brand. There are numerous people behind the scenes that don’t always get the credit, but are crucial to the success that Conor finds in the ring.

5. Be Confident

During fights, it isn’t abnormal for McGregor to taunt his opponent. Even before his fights, Conor is constantly exuding confidence. He mentally believes that he beats his opponents long before they enter the ring with a war of words. He has even created a famous character known as “Mystic Mac” that goes on to predict when fights against his opponents will end.

Believe you are the best at what you do; you make the best product, you offer the best service and you have the best team around. Don’t be afraid to showcase your confidence to your customers and/or peers. There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, but it’s never a bad idea to believe in yourself.

6. Stay Humble

Though many would laugh at the idea of the Irish man’s humility, McGregor indulges in a kind of doublethink of being both the champion and the underdog: “I am #1 at my craft, but I show up every day as a white belt — as a Day 1 beginner.” Not only that, but when Conor has faced obstacles and losses, he has been humbled and shown honor towards his opponents.

In business, even if you have reached the top, you need to stay humble and grounded. Being humble is what your customers will always want from you. No matter how big your organization is, be willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy your customers.

Conclusion

McGregor knows that his window of opportunity as a fighter is very limited. Injuries and age are hard to avoid, so he is taking matters into his own hands to make sure that he maximizes his opportunity while he can. His thinking may come from a fighting background, but he can provide many lessons for entrepreneurs. In this post, I shared with you 6 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from “The Notorious” Conor McGregor.

8 Ways People Will Hold You Back If You Allow Them

There will be people who will share your joy when you attain success while there will also be people who will try to bring you down at every opportunity. In this post, I shared with you 8 ways people will hold you back if you allow them.

Think about the people you regularly encounter throughout your professional life. There’s probably a wide spectrum of individuals with some who have gone out their way to help you, and others who may have helped a bit when it wasn’t too much trouble. Then, there may have also been a few people who seemed to actively be working to hold you back.

It is shocking and hurtful when your boss, teammates or even friends try to hold you back and limit what you can achieve. You will have true friends and fake friends at work and in other parts of life. Not only that, but you’ll also have some frenemies who pretend to be your friend but don’t have the best in mind for you. It’s hurtful and discouraging to run into these types of individuals, but you can also learn a lot from this.

Here are 8 ways people will hold you back if you allow them:

1. They Tell You To Keep Waiting And Waiting For The Right Time

You cannot wait for the perfect time because it will never come. If you think this moment feels like the wrong time, think again. It’s most likely uncertainty messing with your mind. When people want to limit your growth, they’ll constantly tell you to wait for a better time. Over the years, I have learned there is no better time to start than now. If anyone tells you otherwise, you have to disobey their advice and do what is best for yourself.

2. They Make You Doubt Yourself

Don’t allow someone else’s doubts about you to turn into your own beliefs. If you find yourself doubting yourself because of what other people said, remember that their words do not define you. It is your own actions and your own beliefs about yourself that guide the way.  Whatever you believe about yourself is what you will manifest in your own actions.

3. They Will Tell You To Close Your Mind To New Ideas And Perspectives

Even as you grow older and wiser with age, you must remind yourself that an understanding is never absolutely final. What’s currently right could easily be wrong later. Thus, the most destructive illusion is a settled point of view. It is vital to remember that success in life does not depend on always being right. To make real progress, you must let go of the assumption that you already have all the answers and know everything. You can listen to others, learn from them and successfully work with them even though you may not agree with every opinion they have. When people respectfully agree to disagree, everyone benefits from the diversity of perspective.

4. They Are Constantly Criticizing Your Ideas

Some people almost can’t help responding to any new idea with negativity. These people can be referred to as haters and there are many of them. People often times feel threatened when someone constantly has big ideas, just ask some of the most successful innovators in the world. As a visionary yourself, always be open to criticism but don’t let one individuals words be the reason why you stop pursuing a new idea.

5. They Will Minimize Your Contributions

People often times begin to minimize the contributions of others because they want to be in the spotlight. As humans, it is almost natural for us to get feelings of jealousy when someone else receives recognition around us. However, many people will try to minimize your contributions publicly or privately. When you accomplish something great, embrace it and celebrate it without allowing the opinions of others to impact the way you feel.

6. They Try To Reduce Your Importance 

When someone puts you down or tries to take away from your importance, it will hurt you. It’s unfortunate, but a natural feeling. When people do this, it’s crucial that you react in a positive manner. Treat the other person with kindness and respect regardless of their actions. Understand that someone cannot reduce who you are as a person with their words so simply ignore them.

7. They Discount Your Strengths

The best way to combat someone who tries to undermine your strengths is simply to know yourself. When you have a clear sense of your own strengths and weaknesses, you’re well situated to ignore the uninformed opinions of others. Results are more important than action and actions speak louder than words. With this in mind, let your work do the talking.

8. They Will Make You Expect Things To Be Easy

Easy goals don’t exist. A goal is a point of achievement that requires effort and sacrifice. There are no esteemed ventures worth participating in that don’t require some level of effort and struggle. When people want you to fail, they will paint a false picture to give you false expectations. At the end of the day, you need to be realistic and value the opinions of multiple people before jumping into something.

Conclusion

There will be people who will share your joy when you attain success while there will also be people who will try to bring you down at every opportunity. In this post, I shared with you 8 ways people will hold you back if you allow them.

12 Secrets Of The Most Productive People

If you want to boost your productivity, it’s not always about working longer. It often times involves working smarter. In this post, I shared with you 12 secrets of the most productive people.

Some people are incredibly effective and efficient. They get lots of work done without making mistakes and often times leave others in awe. To be fair, everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Whether you’re Beyonce or Kobe Bryant, they have the same amount of time as everyone else.

The truth is that you can massively increase your own productivity by understanding and using the secrets that highly productive people know. In the United States of America, people work an average of 45 hours a week and consider 16 of those hours unproductive. That amounts to more than just bathroom and coffee breaks. When you consider the opportunity cost of 35 percent of work time being unproductive, employers and employees need to take notice.

After having the opportunity to study the habits of super productive people, I’ve learned a lot about mastering productivity as an entrepreneur. Here are 12 secrets of the most productive people:

1. They Plan Their Day

Life is demanding. There is a steady stream of emails, texts, calls and ads that are screaming for your attention. If you are not able to focus on a set task, you’ll spend all day doing things that are not productive towards your goals.

To be uber-productive, you need to be vigilant about planning your day. Either the night before or first thing in the morning, make a short list of key tasks that you have to accomplish and map out when you plan to complete them. Without a specific plan, you have no way of knowing if you moved the ball forward or not.

2. Understanding “Peak” Times Of Day

Productive people have a good sense of their daily rhythm, which requires them to know when they perform the best. They recognize that not all hours are created equal and they maximize their ‘peak hours’ for the toughest tasks of the day.

Do you know when your ‘peak hours’ are? If you don’t, try doing the same thing each day at different times for a week. Figure out when you feel the most comfortable and most efficient with certain tasks. Understand yourself and work your daily schedule around your own strengths.

3. They Follow The 80/20 Rule

Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases, 80% of outcomes come from only 20% of activities. Super productive people know which activities drive the greatest results and they focus on those while ignoring the rest. You have to figure out what the most crucial items are to your goals and focus on them!

4. They Delegate Almost Everything

Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” Instead, they ask, “Who can get this task get done?” They take the “I” out of things as much as possible creating more time in their lives. Productive people don’t have control issues and they are not micro-managers. They can let go and put other competent people in charge of things when needed.

5. Focusing On One Task At A Time

Productive people understand that multitasking is a nightmare. They don’t try to juggle five things at the same time. They focus on one task, the most important one at that time. Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap of trying to work while you’ve got Facebook and Twitter open.

I know when I first started out, I’d check my inbox every few minutes, reply to text messages, watch television in the background and browse through my social media feeds. By trying to multitask, I started losing focus each time I had to switch between things. Pick one task to work on and see it through to completion. Then, pick the next task.

6. They Say No

If you can’t do something, say NO. Becoming a yes man is one of the most dangerous things that you can do. Productive people know how to draw boundaries and say no if there’s too much on their plate. Research shows that the harder time you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout and even depression.

Stop using phrases like “I’m not sure” or “I don’t think I can.” No is a powerful two-letter word, and if you want to be more productive, you need to get comfortable using it. Embrace the word NO and don’t feel bad using it because it’s best for you.

7. Eating Healthy Food, Especially At Lunch

Productive people know that they need to carefully manage their physical energy throughout the day. This honestly means fueling their bodies with good, nutritious food. What does your usual lunch look like? If you scoff down fast food at your desk, you’ll get a quick energy boost from all the simple carbs. However, you will also crash just as hard shortly after.

If you go out to a restaurant and eat a three-course meal, you’ll struggle to stay awake later in the day. Aim for a moderate-sized lunch and focus on foods that give you sustained energy (like whole grains and protein). Try fruit, nuts or seeds as mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

8. They Touch Things Only Once

How many times have you opened a piece of regular mail up and put it away to deal with it later? How often do you read an email and mark it unread so that you can deal with it later? If it takes less than five or ten minutes to deal with whatever it is, you should deal with it and get it out of your life right then and there. It reduces stress since it won’t be in the back of your mind and you’ll be far more efficient.

9. Exercising Regularly

Productive people make time to exercise. That might be one of the biggest surprises you may find about the super successful. Many busy people like to use the excuse that they don’t have enough time in the day to exercise.

I am going to the gym or working out 6 times a week. I quickly realized that making time for exercising was beneficial in multiple ways. Not only was I doing good for my body, but I realized that I was more efficient from the break I would take by going to the gym for an hour. I would come back to work with a fresh mind and find myself being far more productive.

10. They Lead With The Pain

Uber-productive people don’t push off the daunting tasks on their to-do list until the end of the day. If they procrastinated everything, these projects would never get tackled.

Do the least appealing and most dreaded item on your list first because that’s when you have the most energy. After you conquer the task, you’ll not only feel relieved but motivated to tackle another. Otherwise, you’ll spend the day with that task hanging ominously over your head.

11. Investing Time To Save Time

Productive people know that the smart choice is to spend a little bit of time right now in order to save lots of time in the future. If you start breaking down your schedule and you begin to focus on things that will save you time in the long haul, you’ll find yourself being far more productive.

12. Energy Is Everything

You can’t create more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy throughout the day. This in return will increase your attention, focus, decision making and overall productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in the pursuit of more success. Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery and breaks as a way to clear their minds.

Conclusion

If you want to boost your productivity, it’s not always about working longer. It often times involves working smarter. In this post, I shared with you 12 secrets of the most productive people.

8 Timeless Pieces of Advice For College Entrepreneurs

Being a college entrepreneur can be frustrating and very time consuming. However, following timeless advice from successful entrepreneurs can make a difference. In this post, I shared with you 8 timeless pieces of advice for college entrepreneurs.

Many of the world’s future entrepreneurs are currently sitting in a dorm room studying. Today’s millennial college kids are more into innovation and generating ideas for a business. A lot of them have good ideas, but no money for a startup. However, a lack of funding isn’t always the biggest issue.

For college entrepreneurs, it is hard to manage time between studying and running a business. Being that I ran a successful business while passing my college classes, I have a few tips on how to balance the two. Here are 8 timeless pieces of advice for college entrepreneurs:

1. Think It Over Before Responding To Anything Significant

We live in a world where we’re expected to be “on” and responsive at all times with email, text messages and tweets. You’re probably wondering why anyone should take a moment to think it over before replying to someone.

As an entrepreneur, you’ll need to make significant decisions every single day. Whether it’s setting up a call for a potential partnership or doing an interview for a major publication, you’re expected to respond to numerous opportunities. Instead of making hasty decisions, think for a short period of time about it. If it’s really significant, you may even want to sleep on it. Think things through first and remember that nothing needs to be answered to immediately. Taking your time to think of things before answering will help you greatly especially when you’re young.

2. Every Single Relationship You Make Will Be Unique

Believe it or not, no two relationships that you make in the world of business will ever really be the same. It took me quite a while to learn this and often the differences between individuals frustrated me. Whether it’s your partners, employees, customers or vendors, you’ll quickly learn that every relationship will be different in its own way.

The sooner you begin to learn this, the easier it will be for you to manage numerous people. Cherish the relationships you make and treat them all differently. You will learn over time how valuable some of these relationships are and how far they can take you.

3. Lead From Within, Not From Out Front

This has long been one of my most favorite pieces of advice on how to control a business without being controlling. There’s a reason why startups are initially referred to as babies. You spend all of your time with them and can’t imagine allowing anyone else to take over.

Eventually, all babies grow up. When they do grow up, there are more responsibilities added to the mix. If you try to continue doing everything by yourself, you’ll eventually burn out. Whenever the time comes for you to hire your first employee, think strategically and take the process seriously. Surround yourself with a strong team that empowers your business and that you trust to keep everything running smoothly even if you aren’t around.

4. Keep Your Cool

Professionalism and class are much harder to come by these days than you may imagine. When you receive some hate emails that gets you fuming, don’t respond immediately. Take a second to calm down, look at something else and come back to it. The email you write immediately after reading it and the one you write an hour later are very different. Listen, breathe, step outside and come back with a positive, solution-oriented response.

The world of business is very different from the college world. In college, when two people get upset they are almost encouraged by their peers to either verbally roast one another or even worse, fight one another. In business, neither is a good idea. How you carry yourself is extremely important because it’s a direct representation of your business. Maintain a level of professionalism at all times and don’t ever lose your cool!

5. Confront Issues And Obstacles With Integrity And Honesty

Whenever an issue arises in our personal or professional lives, we tend to justify it with white lies. Eventually, these lies build a formidable facade, a wall that seemingly guards us against confronting the issue at hand.

In business, we don’t have time to play games. This isn’t high school or some drama series, we need to handle business and move forward. If there are ever issues or obstacles getting in the way of your business, handle it with honesty and integrity. If you are at fault, be accountable and apologetic to set a strong example for others.

6. Be Positive

Running a business is full of ups and downs and learning how to weather the storms that come your way will be crucial for you to be successful in the long haul. Keep working hard and maintaining a positive in everything you approach. Your attitude as the leader will be contagious amongst everyone else.

As an entrepreneur, it’s really easy to put your head down. It isn’t easy running your own business, but staying positive is crucial. Be an optimist and find a way to locate the positives in every single situation. By doing this, your belief system will be rock solid and people will follow your lead.

7. Spend And Invest Your Time With The Right People 

Life ebbs and flows; friendships come and go. Some people are blessed with friendships that may last a lifetime while others end up having more fallouts. The most important thing is to stay away from nurturing detrimental friendships and avoiding bad friendships from forming.

Your net worth is truly your network. Who do you spend the most time with? Are they successful, doing big things and motivating you? I quickly learned in college that I was surrounded by tons of toxic people. I had to remove those people from my life, build a stronger support system around me and I quickly saw myself reaching new levels of success I hadn’t seen before.

8. Invest, Invest, Invest

If you are starting a business in college, you are one of the few lucky ones. You are taking initiative at a young age and you have the potential to set yourself up for the rest of your life. However, to do so you have to make smart decisions right from the beginning.

The younger you are, the more risks you can take. You should obviously weigh the risks and rewards, but you can be ballsier with your money. Instead of focusing on saving a ton of money, find ways to invest. Find ways to make your money work for you so that you can grow a small chunk of cash into a big amount.

Conclusion

Being a college entrepreneur can be frustrating and very time consuming. However, following timeless advice from successful entrepreneurs can make a difference. In this post, I shared with you 8 timeless pieces of advice for college entrepreneurs.