Everyone said we would fail.
What's been so interesting about my entrepreneurial journey is that nearly everyone has an opinion on what I should and shouldn't do - even if they have no experience whatsoever in the subject matter. I mean, I get it, you're probably saying "duh" Jon, everyone's got an opinion - toilet paper, blah blah blah. Though when you're first starting out, you really want to collect data from those around you and then look for positive comments that support your view of the world, to build your confidence and your vision.
Thus, when making big leaps and bounds from job to job or job to entrepreneur, our natural tendency is to ask others their opinions, to gain perspectives and then decide for ourselves. And, we often do so blindly - both due to excitement and fear.
But, are we asking the right people the right questions? How do we know if it's the right person to ask the right question to?
It didn't really click for me until after I read The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason in which the main character Arkad states: "Advice is one thing that is freely given way, but watch that you only take what is worth having. Our acts an be no wiser than our thoughts."
Take what is worth having. It's not common that a single person is successful at everything. Thus, we can ask the successful business person about business. Ask the successful parent about parenting. Ask the successful health guru about health. And, this does not mean you have to take advice on business, parenting, and health all from the same person. We each have our own individual strengths. Take advice from the other person's identified strength, who has validity on the topic, and leave the rest with a grain of salt.
Another way to think of it is: ask your questions to the Man in the Arena, not the critics in the stands. When my wife Brittany quit her job to get into real estate, her boss flat out told her she would fail. That she was making a mistake, and that she would never get a job like this again. The door was closed. Don't come crawling back looking for a job. And, Brittany was devastated - only for a minute. Brittany decided she didn't want to listen to the critic, and instead she took the feedback as a challenge to prove her prior boss wrong. It fueled her fire. I think it still fuels her deep down.
And, when we opened our own brokerage, we got slammed by the realtor and brokerage community. Leaders and agents alike made up stories about us, they tried to shame our thought process, distort the math equations, and the gossip mill started creating false narratives that we were already failing - when in reality we were doing the exact opposite. We were and are flourishing with the right, talented people. Some agents can see through the smoke faster than others. And, frankly, our critics actually helped us create a stark contrast between fear based, shiny object, scarcity value propositions and our value proposition that’s grounded in reality, math, and facts.
Our critics actually helped us create a stark contrast between fear based, shiny object, scarcity value propositions and our value proposition that’s grounded in reality, math, and facts.
I am grateful for those voices in the stands, because they helped us more clearly identify our core values of transparency, extreme ownership, and genuine authentic relationships. They proved that what we were doing - creating a conversation about profit, service, and living a big life (lifestyle) - is more important than ever to the community. It fueled us. The old way of doing things is over. We all know it's time for a new era -- and this is just the beginning.
Overall, in my experience, we (including myself on rare occasion) are irresponsible with the truth, because it may confront our pre-determined beliefs or challenge the status quo. Most people don't like confrontation or disruption, so it is easier to live without the truth. So when truth shows up, many ignore it, run from it, or attack it. In our case, most attacked it. And, at a certain point it’s hard to attack or ignore incredible results due to a change in environment and model. The smoke clears.
So, despite the attacks on truths - success begets success. Why? Because it's a decision. People who are successful decide to be so - they cut out all other possibilities. Failure is not an option. These dreamers get to work on their mission and goal no matter what. And part of that journey is getting advice from the right people, aligning yourself with the right tribe, and asking the questions to the men and women in the arena.
My point is this: the voices you choose to listen to matter more than anything. One voice can change your life. So it better be the right one. Check the validity, intent, and authenticity behind the voices first before accepting them as your truth. You are the author of your own story.
