School fails entrepreneurs. This is a strong statement, so let me start by giving you some context.
School fails entrepreneurs
When we go to school…
We are allowed a minimum grade in order to pass (in most school systems it’s 70%).
This means that if we get more than 30% incorrect…
We fail.
I’m going to be honest with you…
When I was in school, I was NOT the best student.
My grades were about as good as the person sitting next to me.
I barely got through high-school when I joined the U.S. Marine Core.
When I came out of boot camp, I thought I could conquer the world…
I thought I was invincible so I went to college to become a doctor (although I SUCKED in school).
This, obviously, did not go too well.
I failed chemistry and biology…
BADLY. It wasn’t even close…
Figured I would try my luck at economics…
Same result.
I thought, “I’m not really cut out for this” so I did the only thing that was left…
Becoming an entrepreneur.
Why school fails entrepreneurs
When I began my entrepreneurship journey…
I carried the belief and identity as a “failure” with me into business because I failed in school.
School labeled me a failure because I wasn’t great at taking their tests.
So, I’d start a business and I would look at myself and think, “Man! I’m a failure!”.
I got involved in network marketing at the age of 18…
…and I did a BUNCH of presentations but NOBODY signed up. ZERO.
I felt terrible about my results.
Why?
Because I was taught to feel terrible.
What I’ve come to realize over the years however is the opposite.
Most successful entrepreneurs are not successful because they don’t fail.
They are successful because they DO fail…
Are WILLING to fail.
Thank goodness I got exposed to personal development at a young age and was able to re-wire my brain to adopt this way of thinking.
A lesson I learned in high-school that I carry with me still
When I was 15 years old, I got my first job as a newspaper door-to-door salesman.
The way the business incentivized us was through competition…
Whoever sold the most newspapers would win a $ 20 gift-card.
At the time, that was a lot of money to me and I was CRAVING to win.
There was just one problem…
JIMMY!
This kid, Jimmy, was the best salesman.
It seemed as if no matter what I did…
Jimmy would ALWAYS win.
Even though Jimmy would always win…
I began to notice something about him.
Jimmy was a heavy set individual and walks REALLY slow.
I thought to myself, “Even if Jimmy closes more sales than me… I bet I can move much quicker than him, therefore allowing me to talk to more customers and even out the playing field!”
So, that’s exactly what I did.
I SPRINTED to every single door.
Can you guess what happened?
I still lost most of the time…
…BUT sometimes I won.
The lesson?
What you lack in skill, you make up for in numbers
Take a look at baseball:
If you strike out 7 out of 10 times…
You’d be considered one of the best in the world.
You’re going to be a legend if you can consistently only miss 7 out of 10.
The founder of IBM said, “If you want to greatly increase your success, you need to double your rate of failure”.
Double your rate of failure!
This is why school fails entrepreneurs.
Where did you ever learn that it’s EXTREMELY beneficial to fail?
Did they ever tell you how to become successful through your failures?
NO!
At least, not when I was in school.
Some of you are not failing at all!
Why?
Because you’re too scared to do shit!
If you’re not failing AT LEAST once a day…
…and if you’re in network marketing, at least a few times a day…
Then it’s going to be very difficult for you to reach the level of success you’re most likely striving to achieve.
The reality is…
Every failure is a learning lesson
Sometimes I speak on stage or record training videos and look back and think, “Oh my goodness! I said “uh” 57 times, “You know” 30 times and “so” 20!”
Or maybe I tell a joke on stage that doesn’t hit the audience right.
This allows me to understand what DOES NOT work so I can make adjustments.
If you can fail 9 out of 10 times…
You can become incredibly successful.
If you fail 9 out of 10 times…
You can live your dream life and impact the planet in a massive way.
If you’re worried about failure or rejection…
Understand how childish those concerns are.
You’re worried about what people think of you.
Put your ego aside and go forward toward your missing of making an impact regardless of what other people say.
When I haven’t heard anything from a hater in awhile…
That’s when I know I’m doing something wrong!
Listen… School fails entrepreneurs because…
If you’re new in your entrepreneurial career…
Stay driven towards your missiong and your purpose of making an impact of living the life that you truly know that you deserve.
You will have people hating on you and you’ll have a lot of failures.
School fails entrepreneurs because they don’t teach you how to embrace failure… how to embrace people hating on you… and how to properly use it to fuel your success.
They don’t teach you that hate is sometimes a by-product of success.
I’m telling you right now, however, that the haters will pale in comparison to the number of people who celebrate you.
So, in closing:
Be willing to put up with the haters and be willing to put your ego aside.
Stop worrying about looking good and what others say about you.
Go out there and serve your mission of making an impact.
If you want some advanced training on leadership
Feel free to hop over to LeadwithMatt.com. I’ve got some strategies there on becoming a powerful leader and recruiting powerful leaders.
I’d love to hear what your biggest takeaway was out of this in the comments below.
If you feel like this can add some value to some others, feel free to share it.
Take care.
If you’d like to learn how to impact others, check out this blog post.
Go Make Life An Adventure
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Matt Morris
#1 Best Selling Author of The Unemployed Millionaire
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