SFR 179: Trials After Making The Jump...

What's going on, everyone? It's Steve Larsen, and today I'm gonna share with you guys how I was able to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur boss.

 

I spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.

 

The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best Internet sales funnels.

 

My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.

 

What's up, guys?

 

Hey, so as I started getting ready to make the jump, I wanna talk to you guys real quick about something that was really, it was hard for me. It was challenging for me. It was my biggest fear.

 

One of my buddies I'm talking to, well before I left, but I told him I think I need to leave my nine to five. (You can apply this to yourself regardless of what you do, right?)

 

I was like, "Okay, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I gotta think about, I gotta think about how I'm gonna handle this." And he goes, "What is your biggest fear?  Is your biggest fear that you're not gonna make enough money? What is the fear?"

 

And I said, "No, actually, my fear is not about the revenue.  I've been a part of a lot of these funnel things now and launched enough kind of on the side while I've been here. I think I've got that part." (Not to say that I'm amazing, you know. Anyway, you get what I'm saying.)

 

"The part that is freaking me out the most, the part that's freaking me out the most is that I'm gonna be sitting by myself alone looking at a wall with no one to crack the whip. You know what I mean? I'm gonna be sitting there by myself in an isolated room."

 

In ClickFunnels environment, there's energy. There are people running around over the place. There's "Hey, let's do this" and "Let's do that."

 

So even if there was a day when I felt kinda tired, I don't know if I wanna do this right now. I still had other people and other processes and things and place to pull me along and to hold me accountable.

 

And I said the thing that was freaking me out the most when I left was that I'm not gonna have that.  

 

I was talking to my wife about this. It was the biggest fear I have; do I have the discipline to continue to show up every day like I'm going to war?  Do I have the discipline to show up day in and day out to show up and act like, "Okay, today, the goal is to make a sale." You know what I mean?

 

Do I have the discipline to just do revenue-generating activities and not get distracted by things that are easier? Instead of like going in and trying to make the sale, "What's more comfy for me?" You know what I mean? You guys know what I'm talking about?

 

So  I just wanna share with you guys how I'm able to go in and stay structured, personally, day in and day out.

 

Now I'm not perfect like this, and I don't want you to think that I am. I'm not.

 

I really only listen to like two or three people. I listen to Russell Brunson's stuff. I learned marketing from him. I learned business structures from Alex Charfen. And I listen more about closing and what to do with cash when you have it from a lot of Grant Cardone stuff. And those are kinda my three. That's about all I listen to.

 

Sometimes, I listen to some Pat Flynn. Pat Flynn on Smart Passive Income. His podcast, that was one of the first shows I ever listened to that started teaching me about this world.

 

Anyway, so there's a few people I listen to, but really, it's just them -which gurus did they learn from, which books did they study, which courses did they go to to learn how to be where they are, right?

 

When I'm done diving through all their stuff, I just go the next level deeper with them. And that's kinda how I make sure I put the blinders on and not get distracted with my education. So it's been kinda cool.

 

So this was a serious fear of mine though, right? When I leave, how will I maintain discipline? Will I? And it's funny now that I'm thinking about it, but that was eight months ago, nine months ago, and that's kind of a weird thing to be afraid of, but not really...

 

And funny enough, one of the things I would teach at the funnel event, (the Funnel Hackathon Event -  FHAT) was this very thing.

 

Funny enough the thing that people was asking about after a while, after like the first day and a half, I've had another day and a half with them, pretty much every question turned into, "How do you keep your energy so high, Stephen? How do you stay checked in so often, Stephen? How do you... "

 

And I was like, "Why are you guys asking me this?" I didn't say that. But I was thinking it was like, "Why does everybody ask me that question?" It almost frustrated me.

 

I was like, "Well you just freakin' do it? You don't overcomplicate it - you just do it."

 

But it's funny because like as I started leaving, I put my foot in my mouth because I realized, "Oh my gosh, I have the same fears." As I started leaving nine to five, I was like, "Holy crap! How am I gonna do that? How am I gonna stay motivated?"

 

So I just want to teach you guys just a few things that I do to keep myself checked in, day in and day out. Again, I'm not always perfect at it. No, but I'm like 99% on certain aspects of it. Other parts, I'm like 50%. Other parts, I'm not so good at - and I'll get better.

 

There's a guy; I can't remember who it was... He was getting a Ph.D., and what he chose to study was Will. He choose to study willpower. In fact, I think I have his books somewhere over there. Anyway, I'm gonna keep going here though. Let me tell you the lesson.

 

Here's the lesson, what I learned from it:

 

He went in to study and do a Ph.D. dissertation on willpower, and what causes humans to have such high will, right? And he ended up getting like depressed about his studies by the time his study was over because he found out that basically, willpower doesn't work.

 

In fact, I think that's the name of the book, Willpower Doesn't Work.

 

He found out that willpower is a terrible thing to put your faith into. Willpower is a terrible thing for you to bank your success on. And I thought how interesting is that? He said the thing that does work though is environment.

 

Think about this, okay? Walk with me for a second on this...

 

If I go ahead and I start saying things like, "Man, I need to be better," 'cause a lot of guys say that to me when they hear my episodes. "Oh man, I need to be better. I need to be so much better. I need to be doing this. I should be doing that. I need to stop doing those things. I need to stop doing that."

 

The first step is recognition of what you need to change personally in order to become what you're supposed to be. So you gotta recognize it, right?

 

"Oh man, I'm gonna do this. Oh, look at that. I don't like this part about me. Or I do like this part. I'm gonna go change that. Or if I just did this differently my business would boom."

 

The problem is that you were literally basing all those decisions on your own willpower.

 

It's one of the major reasons why on January 1st, we all come out of the gate with this massive New Year's resolution goals-  "I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna change the world. I'm gonna be over here, and I'm gonna do that."

 

And by week two, we can't even name what the goal was anymore. You know what I mean?

 

He said, so rather than focused on will, rather than focused on willpower, you need to focus on environment. And with that in mind, that's one of the ways I've been able to keep such high intense pressure, right?

 

Pressure makes diamonds baby. I don't want to take pressure off me. I want good pressure, right? There's bad pressure too. I don't want bad pressure. I want good pressure. I want the pressure that creates diamonds.

 

I want the pressure that creates me into a better person. I want the kind of pressure that forces out the bad parts of my character. I want that kinda pressure in my business, in my personal life. That's good pressure. But if I just use willpower on it, eventually, it's gonna get really uncomfortable for me.

 

I'm the source of the willpower. It's not sustainable. What's sustainable is environment. Willpower, you gotta get rid of that crap after a while. It's a good kickstart, but it's habits and environment that'll help you win.

 

And that's what the guys was saying in his study. It has everything to do with environment.

 

And so there is a specific place, physically, that I need to be in when it's time to work out.

 

There's a specific place, physically, that I need to be in when I'm gonna sleep.

 

It's the reason why I don't do study, and I don't do work in bed, right?

 

I know lots of you guys would just roll over and grab the laptop and start right there. I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to isolate.

 

There are certain environments where certain things happen that they should not happen in other places. It's part of the way that I've been able to structure this stuff. Environment plays a huge role.

 

When I walk into my office door right there, I can't explain it, I don't know what it is, but I'm on. I'm ready. And it's because of training myself that way; this is my environment to produce. This is my environment to go to war. This is my environment to be a killer, right? It's my environment. I've trained myself that way.

 

I don't sleep in here, I eat in here a lot (if I remember to). But I make sure that there is a specific environment for the core activities of my life.

 

Down right below, I'm in the second floor of our house right now, literally right below me is my gym - in the third car garage of our gym. The third car spot bay is a home gym that I built.

 

It's so funny like how well this has worked. When I walk out there, and I put my feet on that mat -I got that thick hard gym mat, and I got a full weight set. All the dumbbells, the bench press, it's a full setup. Got a squat rack, all of it.

 

I got that dummy Poverty. You guys have seen him. I brought him on here a couple of times and different places.

 

Willpower is no longer what I'm betting on in order to work out. I've already done 80% of the work which is just to show up and do what that environment is conducive of. Work out, right?

 

A lot of guys have asked me like, "Stephen, how do you come up with your podcast ideas?" I set up this screen, I got two lights right here and I got this camera on this tripod. And sometimes, it's when I'm sitting down with this setup ready, and I'm standing in front of the camera and I pace.

 

I will pace back and forth, and I was kinda going like this, "Okay, what it is that the community needs? What is it that they've been asking? What's something that I can share and be valuable?" I'm kinda going back and forth...

 

I don't wait to set this stuff up. I don't wait to have all of my ideas in place to set up my equipment. I just set up my equipment. And now, I'm in the environment and the flow starts. Does that make sense? This is one of the biggest things I could tell you.

 

If your spouse is like, "Hey, why don't you come work on the couch while there's a movie going?" Very few people can sit there and actually be productive, I mean truly - without watching the movie. Very few. It's because that's not the environment it was meant for.

 

Now, when all we have is a couch, and I didn't have a specific office, (technically, this is a bedroom - it's a big one though), there was literally the same seat or two in our couch that I would sit. It's the same seat. And it was a certain time.

 

It was about 5:30 in the morning, I'd get up. And if I wasn't gonna bike in and be in the office at 6 AM, I sat right there 'til about 8:30 and I just work on my own funnels. That was my environment.

 

Here's another one. Something I said I'd do, I tried desperately hard, I'm still not amazing at this. Like last night, my flight came in at like 2 AM. It's ridiculous by the time I get to sleep...

 

Anyway, I was flying like crazy over the weekend. So I'm so tired my voice is kinda shot, so I'm so sorry.

 

But anyway, I don't set my phone as the major alarm clock anymore as much as I can. In hotels, sometimes I can't help this. But I set my phone, if it's the alarm clock, I set it across the room. Because willpower, when I'm tired, does not work. The alarm goes off, and I wouldn't even think about it...

 

There have been times where I've snoozed like four times before I've consciously remembered, "Oh my gosh, I set my alarm for this time because I had to get this thing done." You know what I mean?

 

I don't wanna bank on willpower. I'm gonna bank on environment. And so I set that clock across the room.

 

Now I have a specific $7 alarm clock that's really freaking annoying. You know, beep-beep-beep. Like I hate that thing. Oh my gosh. But I set it up across the room, sometimes in another room to get up and start moving, get that blood pumping.

 

Sometimes, I just stand there, like, "Why am I awake again? Oh yeah, 'cause I gotta do this, this, this." Does that make sense?

 

Environment. Huge, huge, huge, massive accelerant right there.

 

If you can start to control the environment and the things that you do in those environments, massive, massive, accelerant.

 

Sometimes, one of the issues that I found is that people will try to relax in the same environment that they work in. That's very hard for me to do. 'Cause when I'm here, I'm going to war. That's what my mentality of it. I'm here to conquer. I'm here to dominate. I'm here to get filthy freaking rich and then give it all away when I die to charities. You know what I mean?

 

Like that's it. That's what I'm doing. Solving legitimate massive problems, right? Provide a huge incredible value. Get rich, and solve huge humanitarian issues. That's my goal guys. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. That's why I'm doing all these stuff. I really want that, okay?

 

But I can't be in a relaxing environment in the same environment where I am trying to do that. Where I'm pacing around - and I've got Vitamin C caffeine running through my veins - I've got dubstep step music going through my headphones, and I'm in front of my whiteboard trying to solve something. That's hard for the human brain to do. So I just separate environments.

 

That's one of the major answers to the question, "Stephen, how do stay so productive?" It's because I dedicated certain spots to do certain things and not do certain things. You understand? Massive help. Massive help.

 

I cannot do all of my relaxing things in the same place I'm doing my work, intense things.

 

I'm not going to eat my meals on the gym mat where I work out. You know what I mean? Like, no, that's crazy. Well, like, shoot, there are certain places we eat meals. Kitchen table, right? The countertop, whatever. And that's usually where it happens. We do that with the way we eat, we do that with the way we sleep, do that with the way you work. Do that with the way that you take care of yourself, your self-care.

 

Anyway, so that's one of the first answers, I would say. You guys start controlling your environment.

 

If you feel like, "I've been doing this stuff so long with no traction." It's probably 'cause of your habits. It's probably where you're trying to be successful and control your environment, 'cause willpower doesn't work. It's all about environment. That's the first thing I would say.

 

The second thing I would say is that I am not very good at time. I'm just not. I'm not good with time. And so one of the tricks that I noticed...

 

I was doing some trial runs to see if I could handle having a lot of discipline at home. I remember a Christmas time right before I left ClickFunnels. It was either Christmas or Thanksgiving, right before I left my nine to five...

 

I was like, "Let's do a trial run." Do I have the discipline to produce for like nine straight hours? I'm not gonna take a freaking lunch break - that's stupid. I could eat while I work. So I'm gonna get up and let's just act like a normal nine to five, or eight to five. Really, it's nine to six. That's about how long, but nine to six. And no breaks.

 

I don't really get up. I get up to go to the bathroom, get water, food, but I eat it all right back here and I just stay at it.

 

I don't know how you guys take lunch breaks. Somebody gets you to, let's go to lunch. Like, no "No, I'm not gonna go to lunch." Anyway, side rant right there. But I'm not gonna go to lunch.

 

Anyway, it's funny how many people ask, "Let me buy lunch." Like what if you bought it through Uber Eats and sent it to my house? I'm cool with that. Anyway, I'm not gonna go to lunch with you. Why would I waste two hours? Not that it's a waste, but it is for me. You know what I'm saying?

 

Like, in that environment, I'm in the zone. You know what I mean? When 9 AM hits, I'm ready to rock - hopefully, earlier than that. But anyway, so the first thing: environment - 'cause environment is the thing that does work.

 

The second thing though is while I was doing that trial run on, I think it's during the Thanksgiving break, so I didn't have work anyways. But I was like, "Let me do it here and see if it actually works out." Here's what's interesting about that...

 

Because I did not have, I didn't need to be in the chair, I didn't need to be behind the computer, the work always has to be behind the computer, but whatever the work is because I didn't have a certain time, there's nobody else I was accountable to...

 

The first two days, I was really good at coming in at like 9 AM. I was really good at coming in. Then it was like 9:15. And then like 9:20, and then 9:30, and then 9:40, right?

 

And then I would end the day as disciplined either.

 

When I was at ClickFunnels, I'd work about until six, have dinner with the family then I come back, stop at 10, so I can get up early. I'll stop at 11, I'll stop at 12. No, let's just push to 2. You know what I mean?

 

Like the schedule thing, I suck at time management. I do, and I'll admit it. I'm not ashamed at that. But a business can't run like that...

 

So this is one of the tricks that I've used a lot. I have used many times. I actually used to use this in college. I hated doing early morning classes, but I noticed that when I started my classes at about 10 o'clock in the morning, I would do almost nothing from the time I got up to the time my class happens at 10 o'clock. And it was like that for a whole semester.

 

I was like, "Huh, what if I chose to do 7:45 AM classes every morning? Let's see what happens. Let's check it out."

 

It was a little more painful sometimes, especially when I was like little late on an assignment, or not late but like pushing up to the edge, which is pretty much every assignment.

 

So I would get up at seven and just haul. Just push, just go super fast to campus. Go flying into class. But I noticed that when class was over at 8:45, I would make fantastic use of the time since I was already up. I was already awake. I was already doing stuff.

 

But on the days when I didn't have class until nine, I would just sleep in a little more. I wouldn't do anything else with the day. And so one of the things that have been really, really powerful for me, is I set appointments early in the day every day.

 

If I don't have an appointment, I make sure that I have a sense of accountability to something or someone. And now I'm practiced at it.

 

You guys know I was in the army for a while, right? I went and enlisted, and when I was done, I came out as an officer. And I remember when I went to basic training, there some guy who was 15 seconds late to this formation that we were doing And he didn't have all those crap with him.

 

We were doing something. I can't remember what it was. We hold our M16s with us. We had our weapons and shooting range or something like that, and we're gonna go on like six days or something...

 

Anyway, the dude didn't have all these crap together. And so the drill sergeant put everybody in a front leaning rest position. He just goes, "Attention! Front leaning position, move."

 

Then what you do is you just hold the push up position. That's it, with all of your gear on. And you put your M16 across the top of your hands. You have two liters of water on you, 40 pounds in your pocket, and you just hold the push up position.

 

We held that thing forever, while we waited for the dude to pack in front of the rest of the platoon. We just sat there. Hands shaking, you start freaking out. You try to self-talk, like "Yeah, you got this."

 

What they teach is that if you are the weak link, if you do not show up on time, if you cannot get your crap done, you actually are making the rest of team suffer.

 

They would not make the guy was late. They would not make the guy who was not packed. They would not make the guy who was late on the run get punished. They would make everybody else get punished for his mistake.

 

There's some psycho-ness to that if you think about it. But there's a really powerful crap behind it too. And it's the state that I try and stay in.

 

I got a little bit of a team now. I got like six VAs on my content team. I got other team members that I'm starting to look out for and grab as well. And if I don't have my crap together, if I can't get my butt in the chair at the right time I'm supposed to, if I can't get the stuff to the people that I need to, I literally am making the rest of the team unable to be successful in what I've asked them to do. I literally set up my team for failure if I do that.

 

That's not fair - that's not fair to them. It's not fair to what I'm trying to get done. And it's because of me; it's on me. You understand?

 

And so one of the things that's super, super helpful if you have a hard time getting where you need to be, just set appointments. Be active, have appointments.

 

There have been times where I've set appointments with people for the sake of having the appointment. That's it. Just getting up, just being where you need to be. The body and mind can handle far more than you think it can.

 

And so when I sit down and I'm like, "Oh man, I really don't wanna do this thing. I really don't wanna do that. I feel a little bit lazy. Let me just relax tonight..."

 

I'm not saying I don't relax. I really have been a lot, actually. It's been really cool. I've been really level-minded lately. I've been doing a lot of meditating, which have been very helpful also. Using that muse headband thing, it's been super helpful. Maybe we'll toss the link out to that somewhere. But that's been really, really helpful for me...

 

But what's been cool is by strategically just having a full, having a calendar where I'm accountable and responsible to somebody at a certain time in the morning.

 

I don't wanna feel like an idiot, and so I get my crap together, and I do it. Does that make sense?

 

So you can use, like, if you know you're like, "Hey Stephen, I'm really bad a time management too." Great, that's fine - you have two options:

 

#1: Get really good at time management - that could take a long time.

 

#2: If you're one of the people who's like, "I don't wanna feel like I'm an idiot or I don't wanna feel like I'm letting somebody down..." Man, use that fear to your advantage.

 

Start setting up things in your life to create barriers, to create constraints.

 

I get up, I exercise in the morning, most of the time, and I was traveling. That's why I got back super late. Holy crap. So I don't know. But my normal day, I get up, I go, and I lift really, really hard...

 

There's a future date that I'm preparing for, even though it's not for another four or five months, I don't wanna look like an idiot at it. That's one of the motivating factors I have for me for working out every day.  I remind myself of that. I really don't wanna be late today. I don't like to be a freaking idiot at this thing that is coming up. (I'll tell you guys what it is when we move on, but that's what I'm doing.)

 

I've been working my face off. I work the entire weekend, no breaks, working straight for 21 straight days. You know what I mean? I could take a break. You know what though? We got people coming over, we got this, or I got an interview.

 

That's why I have interviews at Tuesdays at 9 AM. I do another people's shows. It's mostly for me to get my butt in the seat.

 

So I'm giving you several things, several tools that work with here. Because funny enough, if you just...

 

More than half of success is just showing up. I know I'm gonna dominate what I'm going for because most people are too afraid to even show up. If I'm just here, then I'm the only option for people to consume.

 

If I'm just here, and I have my products out there, I'm the only option for people to buy when they wanna buy something. Does that make sense?

 

The game is really easy now. The game's super easy now. It's really easy to dominate a space. The incredible, ridiculous lack of discipline in society now mixed with such an abundance of education, of knowledge.

 

YouTube, and Google, and I can find out the answer to anything I want, pretty much, just by freaking searching it; if you couple that with this extreme lack of discipline...

 

Man, like, I want everyone to change. I want everyone to be like killing it, but if they're not willing to, it's like all easier for me to just go dominate a marketplace, right?

 

So I'm trying to give you guys a few different tools to understand how I do what I do. To show up, just be there. Just get in the freaking seat, right?

 

#1: willpower doesn't work.

 

#2: Set things early in your day for the sake of being where you need to be.

 

#3: You have got to have a full schedule.

 

That doesn't always mean like you're hanging out with other people and you're like, "Hey, I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that or whatever." But I pack my day.

 

Entrepreneurs are not very good at judging how much time it takes to get something done, right? We're not. But I would rather expect and run like crazy to get this list of crap done and get like 70% of it done than just be realistic and try and do this one thing today. You know what I mean?

 

I wanna stay hungry. I'm trying to stay hungry. Pack the day. Idle time, that's bad. That's bad. Pack the day. Have a ton of crap going on. Keep a full schedule. That's one of the ways that I push so hard as well.

 

There's stuff I've agreed to. I'm not totally sure yet how I'm gonna fulfill on it, but one thing I've noticed is that every time I take on stuff like that, I personally have to grow in order to match the opportunity I've been given.

If I just push hard at it, I never know the answer ahead of time, but I always find it in the middle of looking. Meaning, I have to actually be walking then I find the answers on how to get something done. Huge lesson to that.

 

Some of you guys are religious. I'm religious. Moses and the red sea, baby. That thing did not start splitting until he was walking in the freaking water, right? Go back and look at it. He didn't split that thing and then wait for it to go. The dude got wet before it moved, right? It's the same thing.

 

You got to be willing to get uncomfortable in order for your goals to happen. There's a level of personal fulfillment required, right? The level you develop will be at the level of your success on the other side as well.  

 

I'm trying to share with you guys little tiny things I've done to help make sure I've been successful along the way.

 

I am terrible at some things in my life. And that's cool. Whatever. Everybody is, right? But rather than be like, "Oh, I'm so crappy at this or this... let me just take this whip and just whip myself all the time. I suck at this. Time management, you piece of crap. You got me bad. I can't do what I want to in life..."

 

Instead, I call out my own crap.

 

I figure out exactly what I can craft around my life to create a positive constraint. Positive constraint. Positive constraint. Not all constraints are bad.

 

And when you're willing to submit to something like that, you learn the discipline to actually execute on those things.

 

That's why I'm doing what I am. That's why I can do what I can.

 

So again, just to recap real quick.

 

#1: Willpower doesn't work. It's all about setting up good environments. These are very simple things that I've done.

 

#2:  If you have a hard being in places you're supposed to be, set appointments just for the sake of getting there. That has helped me tremendously. I've used that multiple times. Multiple times.

 

On Tuesday, I have to be somewhere at nine. On all Fridays, I have to be somewhere at nine. Thursdays, not yet, but my discipline's really good. I've been a lot better at that stuff now.

 

So anyways, I work my face off when I finally get there. So instead, what if I just work on getting there? Mondays, there's a place I have to be right at nine.

 

Wednesdays, I can't remember. But I think it's kinda like flex time. Anyway, right?

 

So again, willpower doesn't work. It's all about environment. Number two, you have got to set up things to get you where you're supposed to be even just for the sake of being there because more than half of success is just showing freaking up. Because no one else is gonna do it. Not many people do it.

 

When you're the only option, guess what? You get paid.

 

#3: You gotta stay busy. You gotta pack that schedule, you gotta keep it busy, you gotta stay full and be productive.

 

I would rather make mistakes of ambition rather than mistakes of sloth. I am not a man to make mistakes of sloth. I will not be that character.

 

There have been so many freaking things that have not worked out that I've launched. Who the freak cares? I don't care. Because I've been in the act of just being in motion. Just being in motion causes amazing productivity, causes ideas to come.

 

Some people are like, "Stephen, how are you gonna ever run podcast materials? Stephen, how did you come up with that idea? Stephen, what books can I go read to learn, offer creation like you have?"

 

Man, I don't know. Those are things that I've learned while in the act of doing them. Some things you can't learn from a book.

 

So anyways, just know that those are three of the things that I do to stay productive.

 

My fear of, "Am I gonna have the discipline to stay hungry when we make that first six figures?”  -Which came really quick, same with the second one.  

 

Last month was really awesome. Am I ever gonna sit back and go, "You know what... we did really good." That is the scariest mentality. Oh my gosh. I am fighting complacency. I'm doing everything I can to not get complacent.

 

I can find great funnel builders. I can find great copywriters. I can find and train good marketers. I can find and train. You can learn how to do a lot of this stuff. I can teach you how to do a lot of stuff.  The thing that nobody can teach you that you have got to get serious about is hunger. How can you stay hungry?

It's challenging at first, and you're not gonna find the answer. You might try like this little tweak here, that little trick there. It might take you some time to figure your own system. But if you are not hungry, I can't have you, alright? If you're not hungry, it doesn't matter what I try to teach you.

 

If you're not hungry, I mean, like. "backed against a wall, you're gonna figure out a way" hungry. If you can't do that, it doesn't matter what you're trying to do. You're not gonna make it. That's why I'm trying to do this episode.

 

I've had the shocking amount of people reach out and be like, "How do you keep the mentality you do?" I was like, "Well, I just make sure I stay hungry. I just make sure I stay hungry."

 

I could pay myself a lot more right now, but I'm scared to do so. I kinda want to double or triple how much I pay myself for now, but like I'm nervous because I wanna make sure that I'm hungry. Will I maintain that hunger?

 

I don't have mechanisms in place yet to maintain that next level of responsibility. That's what I'm thinking about. I'm like, "Crap. I don't know that I can stay hungry?" That's more important to me.

 

There was a product that I was being offered percentage of. And I said 'no' to it. And it shocked a lot of people. Like why would you say no to that? And I said that because (I don't think I actually would have), but my fear of not staying hungry is so strong. It's got me everything. It's the reason why I've done what I have. I'm hungry.

 

My fear of not being hungry outweighs my fear of I don't know what to say in this podcast episode.

 

My fear of becoming complacent, my fear of that vastly outweighs my fear of I've never done a webinar before, and I've never written a script before, and I've never... Scary, right?

 

My fear of oh man, I've never introduced Russell on stage; that pales in comparison to my fear of becoming complacent.

 

And I'm begging you to not become complacent.

 

If you've gotten squishy and fussy and you've gotten too nice a life - you gotta get uncomfortable. You gotta get uncomfortable. I try and do something that freaks me out as regularly as possible.

 

There's a really good quote that I've heard. It's from David Goggins... He said the worst thing that can happen to a man is for him to become civilized. And I kind of believe that. I'm not here to be comfy You know what I mean?

 

It is not an easy task to create a freaking blue ocean. You're like, "Stephen, I got this great product, and I got this great offer around it, and I got this great marketing message around it. And I got this great thing around it, but I just don't know, like I'm really nervous..."

 

If you're not willing to become the character you're not gonna give birth to a blue ocean.

 

Be willing to be uncomfortable. That's part of the price. Funny enough though, it's really not that freaking scary once you do it. It's just like riding a bike for the first time or the first time I was driving shift, driving stick in a highway. You know what I mean?

 

It's like learning to walk. Like anything else, just downplay it, cause you should. 'Cause it's not as scary as you think it might be.

 

Anyways, it was a long episode. But I just want you guys to know a little bit more about how I do what I do and the mentality that I'm trying to stay in at all times.

 

#I'm trying to stay hungry.

 

# I'm trying to say yes to things that I should say yes to.

 

# I'm trying to create positive constraint in my life. I

 

# I'm trying to make sure that what I'm doing with my personal discipline is on purpose. There's intention behind it. That it actually is counteracting and adhering to my personal defects, my character defects.

 

I have character flaws; everybody does. But sometimes, people use that as a crutch to not do stuff. You should use that as a crutch to do stuff. Just create things around it. Create positive constraints and craft success environments, right?

 

Some people, they might look at celebrities on TV and be like, man, they're so lucky. "They're so lucky." Did you sit on your freaking couch for years doing nothing with your life? You know what I mean?

 

Are you are comparing where you are to that person? How much discipline does that person have that you don't? I beg you to learn discipline. I beg you to get it. I'm not perfect at it. I'm really not. But I'm trying.

 

Those are some of the tricks I've used in my personal life to maintain speed, right? And now that a lot of the speed with the business has been set up, I have this massive realization...

 

I was at Alex Charfen's event last week. I realized that I have done so much, sprinting and running and setting systems and processes and marketing and revenue and pulling stuff up in the business setting,  that I've been neglecting my own needs on a few things. So I'm gonna go start leasing those things back in.

 

There's no such thing as perfect balance. I believe in obsession.

 

So before I keep going on the soapbox, it's been a long episode...

 

Those are some of my tricks guys. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

 

If you guys like this podcast episode, please go rate and review it on iTunes or YouTube. That actually means a lot to me and helps the show a ton. And thanks so much.

 

Bye guys. Oh, yeah. Obviously, our funnel's already dead if you can't even get anyone opt in, right? So I spent four hours teaching an audience how to get high opt-ins when they work, when they don't work.

 

If you want access to that member's area, we can watch those replays. Just go to freeoptincourse.com to create your free member's account now.

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