If you’ve ever wondered what sets apart successful entrepreneurs from those who struggle to find success, look no further. I’ve seen the same consistent things among friends and peers (and myself) when it comes to success, and I’m sharing 5 of them. Things like: 

– investing in personal development

– the speed at which you take action

– how willing you are to be uncomfortable

…and more. Today’s episode isn’t one filled with massive changes you’ll need to make in your business, but rather awareness and alignment you can create within yourself. Tune in!

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh:

When I look at any one of my successful friends or business owners who I look up to are entrepreneurs or just people in general, like you could even go outside of business and entrepreneurship and look at professional athletes or people who are mastering something and are really just crushing it in their life. They invest in their growth. 

You are listening to the Not For Lazy Marketers podcast, episode number 479.

Hello my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I hope you guys are having an amazing week. And if you’re not, it’s almost a new week. I am traveling again, not by myself this time next week. I am taking the family to Colorado, so some more snowboarding, some more mountains if you can’t tell yet I belong in the mountains.I am so excited to be back snowboarding, to be back on the mountains. I just love it. I really have fallen in love with snowboarding. I’ve always liked sports like that growing up. I would wakeboard. Our family had a boat and then I love doing wakeboarding and recently wake surfing and snowboarding. I just, I love it. It’s just, there’s something about being in nature and being fully in the present. Like you cannot be in your head when you’re snowboarding. You have to be focused on where you’re going, your feet, your movement, like your, your whole body.

And so that level of presence out in nature, I just feel like you can’t replicate in other places. And it’s truly one of my favorite, favorite things. I feel the same thing when I hike. When you hike and you’re in nature, you can be in your head a little bit, but not really. I mean you have to pay attention to the rocks on the ground. You have to pay attention to are there animals around you? And I love it. So I’m very excited. Next week I should get in like at least three full days. We’re gonna be there for a week and my youngest is turning three, which is crazy cuz I can feel like I was just pregnant with him. Yeah, my youngest and my last is turning three. So anyways, this podcast topic came to me in the middle of the night. <Laugh>,

I have been so in alignment you guys, like I’m not a super woo person, but I’m moving more into that direction I guess you could say. I don’t know. And lately I’ve just felt this like, I keep saying it to my team, like, okay, something feels out of alignment here, let’s get back in alignment. And like really knowing when I am in alignment and when I’m not. And it’s really crazy like when that happens, how things just flow. Like you just all of a sudden like a con a piece of content comes to you or you’re like, oh, I need to go check on this thing. Or Oh, we should probably do this. And it just comes to you. It’s you’ve prob some of you have probably experienced it, but I have been really experiencing that, which means I’m really in alignment in my life and I’m really clear on what I’m doing and who I am and what my next steps are and how I’m showing up every day.

So that makes me really happy. So this came to me in the night and then evolved from there. And so I wanted to do this episode today and that is, I wanna talk about five things that I feel like overall set apart successful entrepreneurs from ones that are maybe more struggling to find that success. And these are things that I’ve observed have worked really well myself, like in my own growth, what I’ve worked on, what I’ve focused on, what has contributed to my success, but also what I’ve tried to do more of or less of to create success. And then also when I look at, you know, I’ve some really successful friends and peers who are way ahead of where I am, who I look up to and what they’re doing. And so I thought it would be a cool thing to talk about and really just listen in and ask yourself like, am I doing these things?

Am I aware of these things? And they’re not like massive changes that you need to make today, but it’s really like that awareness and that alignment that you can create in yourself. So the first one is what came to me in the night, which is talking about investing in your growth. And that’s the first one. That’s the first one of these secrets is investing in growth. And when I look at any one of my successful friends or business owners who I look up to are entrepreneurs or just people in general. Like you could even go outside of business and entrepreneurship and look at professional athletes or people who are mastering something and are really just crushing it in their life. They invest in their growth, meaning they actually spend money in getting support from somebody who can do it better than them. And this came to me in the night because I realized that I spend over six figures a year on coaching and on personal development, right?

And that is a lot. But I realized and this like hit me. I do that so that I can show up better for you guys on the podcast in who I am in my everyday life for my team, like the level of impact I’m able to have on my team because of the coaching that I get and what I pay for in various ways from right now. I do have a coach, my friend George, but also if I go to an event or I invest in, it can be as small as like investing in a little course or investing in a book or you know, for me I experience I explored M D M A this last year. So there’s lots of ways that you can get this support, but it’s investing in that growth and support and specifically like mentorship from somebody who can do it better than you, who has, has more wisdom and experience from you and you get to learn from them.

And so since I’ve started my business, I’ve really always done this and there’s been ti there’s times where I feel like the only time that you shouldn’t go get support, expert level support and hire a coach is if you feel like they’re going to solve a problem for you without you having to do work. Like the only reason that it works is this collaboration of wisdom advice, a different perspective coaching combined with your own action and drive. And so yeah, it hit me like I was just like, wow, I spend six figures a year in my personal development and I feel that I need to do that in this season because I need to become a different and better version of myself to get my company to the $10 million level while also being the mom. I wanna be the wife, I wanna be the person that I wanna be.

And I think that every successful person invests in that. And here’s another small example. I was just in Montana snowboarding and my friend George has another friend who was in the X Games for snowboarding and we paid her for a full day of snowboarding with us and giving us lessons. And it was awesome. And it’s like even in that example of I know how to snowboard, I can teach myself, I can get better, I get better every single time. I’m pretty athletic it, it comes pretty easy to me. But that four hours that I got with her made probably like six months worth of progress for me because I fast tracked it, right? So knowing that, you know, obviously taking what you’re able to, like, if you’re not making six figures, don’t pay six figures for support, right? It’s a percentage of where you’re at.

But being able to take that and invest that, you know, because I’m making multimillion dollars and I’m trying to get to 10 million and so I’m heavily investing and I just had this thought of like, wow, you know, I don’t think people realize that all of the very successful people that you see their success on the outside and you see them growing and exploding and becoming better people and you see that you don’t see all the work they’re doing and I know that they’re doing it because I also know people who are amazing and are way ahead of me and way wiser than me are still doing the work. So I, I feel that this is something to reflect on and ask yourself like, am I truly seeking out experts who can do what I wanna do better, who have more wisdom than me who can support me?

And and whoever that is, it’s gonna be different for you than it is for me. And I feel that in some cases, like anybody that I’ve hired and I haven’t actually hired a lot of coaches, only two, it’s been this feeling of like, okay, I, I need this. This is 100% the right decision. I really need this support. And I knew that they were, you know, able to support me and bring me awareness and wisdom that I didn’t have. So investing in your growth, investing and finding experts brings success and growth so much faster than trying to struggle and do it all by yourself. Okay? The second secret is the speed at which you take action and are willing to fail. Myself and every single successful person that I’ve witnessed and observed seen behind the scenes move extremely fast, but not just for the point of moving fast.

Like I think a lot of entrepreneurs do move fast and like things at fast pace, myself included. But it’s more so the speed at which you get up, the speed at which you get back up and you’re willing to fail that is going to contribute to your success. Because think about it, if something doesn’t work and it takes you three, four weeks to get back up and try again and just start taking action, whatever that action is you are going to be behind. But if you fail and failing is a part of the process also, and then you get back up the next day and you keep going, you’re just going to get to the end result so much faster. And if you think about sports teams, I, I like observing sports teams from the perspective of leadership and growth as well because I think there’s a lot for us to learn if somebody on let’s say like the soccer field or the football field and I am not a sports like expert at all, I don’t really watch sports but I do like observing it.

Sometimes if they fall down or they mess up, they do a wrong play or something happens and they were to sit there and contemplate it for even three minutes without getting back up and just going, they would not be on that field. They would not make it right. So the speed at which you’re willing to fail and get back up contributes so much to your success and the rate at which you’ll find that success because the shorter window that you create in having to kind of go through that like I’m failing and I suck and nothing’s working and that I guess it’s like wallowing. I don’t know. The longer you do that, the longer you’re delaying your success. But the shorter window you create in getting back up and just trying, even if you fail again, you will get to success. Whatever success is.

And it could be a big goal, like a huge revenue goal, it could be a small goal like you make your first sale, it could be a podcast download goal, it could be something in your personal life, it happens in those little actions and it happens when no one’s watching and you decide to get back up after feeling like or failing, feeling like you’re failing or failing and something didn’t work how you wanted it to, something doesn’t work how I want it to every week, every day because we are not in control of a lot of things, right? So the faster at which you take action, the speed at which you take action and the faster you’re willing to fail and get back up, the faster you’ll create success. So I challenge you to ask yourself and look at your business right now, your life right now and the things you feel like are like, ah, they’re just not working.

Or like, I don’t know if I can do this. And those thoughts, are you still moving forward with action or are you allowing that to delay your action? The third thing is the willingness to be uncomfortable. I was blessed with this in my genes or maybe it came from childhood trauma, who knows? But I was best blessed with the actual attraction to this. I absolutely love having an impossible thing put in front of me and being able to do it anyways. One thing I’ve learned with this over the last six to 12 months is that is a great trait to have, but I don’t have to live there every day. But my willingness to be uncomfortable, which comes up with from the very beginning of my business going and sending out you know, proposals to potential clients that I had no business landing because of my experience, but I did it anyways.

It comes from showing up on a stage or an interview that I’m intimidated by. It comes from doing something for the first time, like doing a v i P day for the first time. You bet there was thoughts in my head of am I good enough for this? Can I charge this? Will I bring enough value? And I did. But going into it, I had those thoughts but I did it anyways. I showed up anyways. I over-delivered anyways, the very first time that Marie Forleo’s team reached out to us, you know, five years ago to work with us who was in at that time such a huge name to me that I could never have imagined would be a client that we’d land. Do you think I sat there and was like, oh, I’m too scared to get on an interview with them. No, I immediately did and I represented myself confidently, which that is something that naturally comes to me and I’m blessed with that.

But the willingness to be uncomfortable, whatever that is, I am willing to step into that. And the more you do that, because the growth happens in the discomfort zone and we can talk about all the ways I do it in my personal life too, from ice baths to pushing myself on 75 hards. I have a weird enjoyment for it because when I’m uncomfortable and then something becomes easy after I grew. And so the willingness to push yourself and be uncomfortable, whether that’s show up on video better, whether that’s push more content, whether that’s push back against the imposter syndrome, you feel about releasing that new thing, whether that’s being afraid that you’re gonna fail so you don’t actually launch the ads, you don’t actually launch the funnel, you don’t actually move forward. Whether that’s getting on a stage, whether that’s doing a podcast interview, whatever that is, everybody feels it in different ways.

Even the most successful people feel discomfort. But push and lean into it and that will create success so much faster for you when you’re willing to be in that discomfort zone and recognize it for what it is. Like, yes, I am uncomfortable with this. I’m uncomfortable getting on the stage, I’m uncomfortable, you know, charging this amount for the first time and delivering this offer, but I’m not gonna let it stop me. I’m still going to do it. That’s the key there. The discomfort isn’t the problem, it’s the actions that you don’t take because of the discomfort that are a problem. The fourth thing, the fourth secret is consistently striving to be better than yesterday. That’s a company value of ours. And I think that my, my good friend Alex Sharpen says there’s, there’s a quote he says of like, you don’t have the business that you want because you’re not the CEO that you need to be for that business.

Something like that. I probably butchered it a little bit and I just think that’s so true. Like if you are in a situation right now where you don’t have the business that the size that you want it, the team size you want it, the revenue that you want it, or we can even apply this in your personal life, you don’t have the relationship you want with your partner, you don’t have the relationship with your kids, your health, you are not being the person that you need to be to have that. And so by consistently working on that future version of yourself and who you wanna become and striving towards that and imagining that person and asking yourself, what would I ask myself this all the time? What would the 10 million CEO Emily do, how would she respond to this? Would she react to this or would she take a pause and be strategic about this?

Would she say no to this? Would she say yes to this? Would she engage in this? Would she not? How would she handle this team situation? I ask myself that on a weekly basis, if not daily because I wanna be that version. I already am operating as that version. I think it was Brooke Castillo who he still listened to her podcast a lot, love her and she really does a great job. So does Byron Katie with focusing on you already are that future version, not just like I wanna be that version, but you just start telling yourself you’re that person. You start acting like that person. And so if you want something different than your current reality, you have to consistently be working on and already claiming that future version of yourself. Whether that’s business, health, relationships, whatever it is. And so if you look at your business today and you’re like, oh, I’m not the six figure or the seven figure or eight figure ceo, well what do you have to change to get there?

What are you doing in your day-to-day right now? How are you showing up? How is your energy? How are you taking care of yourself? How are you leading that has to change in order for you to get there. It’s a really powerful question to sit with because you realize things that you need to stop doing in order to get there and things that you need to start doing more of. And you realize where you’re wasting time or you’re wasting energy or you’re not showing up how you should in order to be that person that you wanna be. All right, the fifth secret, this is one I wouldn’t have had on my list a year ago, but is a personal one to me and is also something I’ve witnessed in almost all the successful people around me. And that’s releasing the addiction to chaos and crossing off to Dee.

And so I’ve seen this cycle in many including myself. And here’s how it works. And you may not be at the place where this resonates with you yet, let’s just say that because if, if I heard somebody say this a year ago, I may have been like, I don’t have that problem. Like that actually serves me <laugh>. And so you might hear this and say that and that’s okay. Maybe you don’t need to hear it right now. Maybe you’re not ready to hear it right now. Or maybe you take a pause and ask yourself, why did I have that reaction? So I think that there are a lot of entrepreneurs who are addicted to chaos. We cause problems, we cause issues to be able to go solve those problems. And that’s all we know how somewhere along the line, whether it’s in our genetics or in our childhood, like this became the norm for us.

Chaos. Like having problems, having things you have to go solve, being super busy, being reactive, having things thrown at you. And also the addiction to like productivity and educe. And here’s the thing that I’ve sat with for a long time that really served me in the beginning of my business. That is what created a lot of my beginning success. That grind and that willingness to just show up to work hard, to push through things that most people couldn’t push through to get things done and to constantly have when I didn’t have help with my kids yet when I was really young, when I didn’t have a lot of money when when I was at that beginning stage. That’s what created the success. But there comes a point when you have to step into the place of leadership and a different level of awareness and ability to show up for your company that that actually will damage and hold you back.

And so it’s this interesting thing where depending on where you are in your business, like if you don’t, if you haven’t been able to build a team, if you haven’t gotten past like selling your offer, if you’re not at six figures yet, you’re probably still in the hustle phase and that is normal. And you have to get, you have to earn the right to not hustle is what I say. But after that, as you move past six figures into seven figures, as you build your team, as you truly become a leader, as you truly build a company and a vision and not just a side hustle or something like that you dreamed of and you’re, you’re still at the very early stages, you have to release the addiction to chaos and the addiction to crossing to-dos off and associating your value with how much you get done in a day.

And I say this like, am I really saying this? Because for me this has been the biggest thing in realizing that a day that is completely open on my calendar and is not cram packed with to-dos and people needing me and emergencies and problems is my goal. Because when I can be in that state of not reactivity and things being thrown at me, when I can be in that state, I’m able to make decisions. I’m able to hold a stronger vision, I’m able to be in better alignment and grow my company and become that person that I wanna be. But I didn’t even realize I had this. And once you get out of it, and I’ve shared this on the podcast before, like sometimes you can just get yourself out of this by unplugging for like three days. Like literally delete social media, do not respond to any emails, do not respond to slacks and give yourself that break.

And you realize how much chaos and demand of your attention and your response and like urgent things are pushed at you that become normal and then you’re like, whoa, these things are not actually that urgent. And I’m not centered and grounded here because I walked away and found it and then came back and realized I wasn’t. And so I, I really believe like you cannot grow a large successful company past a certain point for sure not past 3 million cuz I’ll tell you that’s why I had been stuck. But I’d argue past one and a half to $1 million being addicted to chaos. Because what will happen is when things are going right in your company and things are going well, you’re gonna go create problems, you’re gonna go create chaos, you’re gonna go associate your value with crossing things off a to-do list instead of holding a vision and being clear and and having that space.

And so this is something I’ve seen a lot of my friends and peers go through in growth too, where like in the beginning phases, like I said, we are, we are designed this way and it actually serves us in the beginning and then hurts us later on. So it’s not a bad thing. Like our grind in our hustle is not a bad thing. But as my friend George told me one time that stuck with me as he said, Emily, do you think professional athletes show up and give 110% every single day? No, they train and they train and they give 80, 70 sometimes maybe 90% in their training. And then when it’s time to run that race, when it’s time to show up, they have the ability to give 110%, which is so much better than their normal every day 110%. I just added to that a little bit.

But when he said that to me I was like, that makes so much sense because I show up used to show up and feel like I’d give 110% every single day where I was failing. But my 110% gets watered down because I can’t even think clear and because I’m stressed and overwhelmed and everything is chaotic, right? So those are my five secrets that I myself am focusing on, am focused on that I’ve witnessed in a lot of other successful people and that I wish somebody told me a year ago, two years ago. So all of this just like came to me and flowed out and I feel like it’s a little woo for me, you guys like what is happening <laugh>? I love how my podcast followers get to see the evolution of me. Like I swear if you go back and listen to my podcast probably like two years ago, I bet that I sound completely different.

If you ever, if you, if you have that, if you’ve gone way back to the archives, cuz I’ve had my podcast for, gosh, going on five years now. I was a completely different person. And you guys get to, even if you’ve been only been following along for six months, couple months, you get to go along for the journey and I change. And that is what happens with CEOs and content creators. But the thing is that growth allows me to show up for you guys and share my takeaways, my mistakes, my failings, and also success. So I hope you guys found this episode helpful and next week I will have a special series for you coming that I’m super excited about. So I will talk to you then.

Thanks for listening to the Not for Lazy Marketers podcast. If you love this episode and want deeper support with your marketing, head over to helpmystrategy.com to see how Hirsh Marketing can help take your marketing to the next level no matter where you’re at today. We help our clients scale faster than ever, find hidden leaks in their funnel, experiment with new creative marketing strategies, and help their business explode and be more profitable than they ever dreamed possible. Head over to helpmystrategy.com and see if you qualify for a free strategy audit with Team Hirsh.

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