Blog

Integrated Entrepreneurship

Why are you here?

Back in the early 2000s, I was really struggling as an entrepreneur.

I started a software consulting company, a professional blogging company, a collaborative CMS software company, a project management software company, a recruiting company, anything I hoped would make me successful.

I'd start a company with anyone that I thought had that "secret success sauce" hoping it would spill over on me and make me successful.

It didn't work.

I got more and more frustrated and spent so much time and e…

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You're not wrong

All the years I spent feeling wrong. Oh, man.

I felt like there was definitely something wrong with me, and I needed to be more like ... anybody successful, honestly.

I remember one time I was in Amsterdam with my wife, and we went to this shoe store to shop for her.

The store was small, but it looked pretty cool.

What was my first thought?

I want to be the owner of this store.

Why?

Did I know who he or she was?

Nope!

Did I know the first thing about that person?

Nothing at all. Wasn't…

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You can have anything you want

Back when I started this business, I was stressed out, scared, lonely.

I was worried about paying rent, feeding my family.

I felt like a failure. Not just as an entrepreneur, but as a father, as a husband, as a son ... 

I felt like a failure as a human being.

I wasn't sure I was ever going to make it.

I was scared I just didn't have what it takes.

And yet, there was a part of me that believed.

A part of me that knew I could make my dreams a reality.

That I could move to America.

That I …

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Engage

Just a quick inspirational note here from the founder of Simplero.

Whenever I go to the gym, I'm always fascinated by all the people there who just seem to dabble a bit.

  • They're on the treadmill, all slumped, just going on a Sunday stroll it seems.
  • Or doing pushups, but their arms are barely moving.
  • Or they're lifting weights, but their muscles are barely working.

I'm always like "what the fuck are you doing here?"

If you're not going to engage, if you're not going to put in effort and…

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Help the kid

Something that's been on my mind a lot lately ...

Whenever you're triggered, emotionally challenged, it's always, and only always, because you're not there for the little boy or little girl that lives inside you.

When you're making that sales call, and you feel scared unworthy ... it's because the little kid inside is having feelings, and you're not there for him or her.

When you're afraid you're not good enough, that you'll get boo'd on stage, that you don't have what it takes ... it's becau…

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Challenge and love

I love the feeling of rising to a challenge.

Can I do 50 more push-ups?

Can I grow my company by 10x?

Can I lose the fat?

Can I make this business work so I can quit my day job?

--

But sometimes you miss, right?

And how do you feel then?

Do you hate your body for its fat?

Do you get down on yourself for not making enough money?

...

We need both the challenge and the love.

We need to be challenged. Preferably by ourselves.

And we need to be loved unconditionally. Again, definitely by…

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When things get too good

Yesterday, I had such an awesome, awesome day.

I met with people that gave me tremendous compliments and ideas and insights that I could build on for an incredible future.

My team was all fired up and creative and brainstorming, planning our massive 10x breakthrough.

We had these massive custom made art pieces mounted on the walls of our home, and it looked absolutely amazing.

And yet, the day ended like shit.

I had an argument with Nomi.

I couldn't sleep.

I felt sorry for myself.

I knew…

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Plan backwards

One of my favorite tricks for planning projects is to plan backwards.

If I'm going to get to my goal, what absolutely has to be in place?

What else?

What else?

And then you just keep moving backwards from there.

Most people make the mistake of planning forwards. That gets them lots of things they think they need to do. Most of them wrong.

Say you want to launch a new course.

What absolutely has to be in place?

Obviously, you need the know what the product is, what the price is, who it's …

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There's always a reason

I've been doing Keto for a few months now.

And in the beginning, it was working perfectly. I was dropping body fat, feeling really good.

It was like I could feel myself more. I could feel my inner boy.

But then it was like it stopped working.

It even felt like the fat started to crawl back on.

So I added intermittent fasting. I'd stop eating at 8 pm and not start eating again until noon.

Still nothing.

Then I added some exogenous ketones. I'd used them in the beginning, but it felt like c…

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What My Book Is Going to Be about (and Why)

I’ve tried to write a book at least five times in the past.

What I’ve done in the past is just sit down and write every day, and then see where it leads.

I can do that. Easily. I’ll happily write a thousand words a day or more, and pretty soon I’ll have 60,000 words and no clue where I’m going.

And then I’ve stopped.

Of course, it’s the stopping part that’s done me in.

But I don’t think this approach is right for me. I work best when I know where I’m going.

I want this time to be different…

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