Entrepreneurial Mindset: Everything You Do Has to Count for Something
Entrepreneurial mindset is the thought for today. There is a moment in time where you go from ordinary… to extraordinary. And the moment you become an entrepreneur or begin thinking like an entrepreneur, you will realize that everything you do has to count for something. Your investments, at some point, have to start producing a measurable return on investment. For any project that I am working on, it needs to start returning a profit within 1 or 2 years, depending on the complexity. Otherwise, I’m probably going to dump the project. Now, when I say dump the project, I don’t mean, as in giving up or quitting. Let me explain: Some of you have been working on fantasy projects for years with no results. And while you shouldn’t give up on your dreams, if it is money you are after, you may have to pivot and move on to something else for the time being. Then use the more profitable idea to fund your dream project. So, you’re not giving up necessarily on the original purpose -- your original dream -- you’re just taking a detour to reach your ultimate goal. Let me give you an example: I started off with a fitness website that was originally designed to answer questions from the public on matters usually pertaining to diet, exercise, and supplementation. At the time, I was a gold medalist in a national bodybuilding competition. And this particular event received national media attention. So, I did have a bit of traction from the start. But after a few years, my fitness site was making decent money, but there was never a time where I exceeded 10K in a single month. Most likely, that was because I was doing this while still active duty in the United States Air Force. But as time went on, there were opportunities to pivot and I took advantage. I noticed that many of the questions submitted on my website centered around the efficacy of fitness-related infomercial products. Now, I personally didn’t have any interest in infomercial products. But the demand from the public was there. Also, I didn’t feel it was fair for me to give my review or opinion of products that I had never tried. So what I did was create a website that allowed consumers to write reviews of as seen on TV products. And as you might expect, the site received global attention. And with that came more money. It was one of my largest and most successful projects. But there was an issue: It was not what I really wanted to do. It was not the ultimate goal. I was a fitness and athletic-minded person from day one. In fact, around this time I was either training or providing nutritional guidance to multiple UFC fighters. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I sold the infomercial review website, which gave me the capital needed to grow what would later become my most lucrative project, workoutz.com, spelled with the letter “Z.” So I started with one thing. And while it was doing okay, it wasn’t producing the returns I was hoping for. So, I had to pivot for a short minute -- had to take a detour -- before coming back to my original project. Translation: If you are selling items in a highly saturated market, and you are not seeing modest returns after a reasonable amount of time, consider temporarily going in another direction. Try to make money in a different lane. Focus on building up the capital base you need, then circle back around and invest in your dream project. Like I said, everything you do has to count for something.
