The Entrepreneur-ial Mindset: Are We Born With It?

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SUMMARY

In this episode, Josh discusses the entrepreneurial mindset and questions whether we are born with it or not. He also gets Josh Linkner— author, speaker, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist — on the phone to discuss his hardships and successes as an entrepreneur. Josh has invested in hundreds of business and describes the three things that must exist within an entrepreneur before he’ll invest. You’ll learn how important your mindset is in allowing you to keeping striving for greatness when you are down.  Every successful entrepreneur has had extreme hardships and their mindset is what kept them driving.  Our world would be completely different if some of the greats, like Steve Jobs, wouldn’t have had their minds right. Watch as these two exchange stories of downfall and triumph while giving you tips to become better in your business.

WORKSHEET

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Josh F:            When you’re starting your business it seems so easy. You see all the successes in the news, you see all the great things that are happening, but if you’re going to make it, you have to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. What I mean by that … I know you’re thinking, “Josh, what is an entrepreneurial mindset and how is that going to help me?” I’ve owned fifteen different companies over the years since I was fourteen years old, and one of the things you learn very early on is that it is not easy. There’s a whole lot more that it takes to make it successful than what they show you in the news. Facebook wasn’t an overnight sensation, Google wasn’t an overnight sensation. At Tesla, they all have gone through numerous challenges, failures, different processes that did or didn’t work to make them successful.

One of the businesses I used to own was in the fitness industry. We had several gyms that we opened up and when we opened those gyms we started with zero. We had no revenue coming in, and putting in hours and hours of work and dedication and time, going ten months without any kind of pay. Those are the pieces that you out there and the news does not portray. When you have your own business, and what I mean by entrepreneurial mindset, is being able to deal with this and deal with those challenges that come at you. Once of those things is sacrifice. You’re going to sacrifice, whether it’s your time, it’s going to get lonely. You may not be able to go out with your friends and spend the time with them out at the restaurants or at the clubs, and things that they all get to go out and do.

As well as stability, being an entrepreneur you do not initially have a stable flow of cash or a stable life around you. A lot of people say, “It’s got to be part of your DNA, it’s got to be in you,” and yeah, part of that is true but I think we’re all born with that entrepreneurial piece in us. We either head down different paths and end up losing that and not able to capture that part of it, and so with my gyms that we opened up, we went ten months not bringing any kind of revenue in. All of a sudden after that tenth, eleventh month it just exploded. Our referrals were coming through, clients were talking about us, and it really pushed us to that next level to move forward.

One of the other businesses I owned was in the green wireless energy company. We put in three years of losses every year, every year, and around that time is when I decided to exit out of that business and move into something that was more passionate, more fun for myself. I just happened to actually talk to my ex-business partner the other day, and we were talking about it, and they have a valuation now of thirty million dollars. It was really cool to step back and see what I initially started, to where that business is today.

Being an entrepreneur and having that entrepreneurial mindset, some of the things that you really want to think about, is you’re giving without expectation of return as an entrepreneur. Keeping control of your vision is really important, focusing your energy on what is good. By doing some of these things, the rewards are going to be great. As you get more and more successful as an entrepreneur and you’re able to mange that mindset, you’re now able to wake up maybe without your alarm clock anymore, go on vacations and spend that time with your family and your friends and your kids, and now start having that flexibility to do what you want and have that freedom in your life.

It all starts up here, it all starts with your mindset and what you focus on. A lot of times in business, if our mindset is not right we start to sabotage our business. We start it, we get it going, and then all of a sudden maybe it’s the money fears like, “oh the money’s not coming in yet,” and I’ve had it. I know you’ve had it if you have your business. It’s like, “how are we going to make payroll this week?” I’ve been there many of times. You’re scrambling, and all of a sudden boom, it hits, and you make your payroll. I know I do this and I really try hard not to anymore, is procrastination. I know you’re like, “Oh Josh, I don’t do this,” but you know you do it as well out there. Procrastination is a big piece, we’d rather surf Facebook than make those sales calls. We’d rather play on Twitter or play online games than getting out there and marketing our business and generating revenue in our business.

As entrepreneurs, a lot of times we have that shiny object syndrome. As an entrepreneur you see that new, cool, maybe if you love cars, the next shiny car, you’re like, “Oh I got to have that, I got to have that.” We totally lose focus on what we have right in front of us, and that’s where we really need to concentrate and that’s really where we need to put all of our attention. Then just lack of action. If we do not take action on what we’re doing today, we’re never going to push ourselves forward till tomorrow. You’ve got to start taking action today. This all plays back with your start-up or with your business that you’re moving forward with. As an entrepreneur, we’ve got to make sure our mindset is right, and we also have to focus in and be ready to handle those challenges and move forward with success.

One of the things I want to leave you with today is that, as a business owner, it is your success and your duty to you and your family to be there for them, to make yourself successful, and to push forward in your business. This is Josh Felber on the Whatever It Takes Network, when we return we’re going to have Josh Linkner, uber-successful entrepreneur, business owner, who has bought and sold numerous businesses. I’m excited to talk to him and learn more about his mindset.

We have here on the phone with us today Josh Linkner. Best-selling author, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. Welcome, Josh. I’m excited to have you on today.

Josh L:            Thanks, great to be here.

Josh F:            I’d love to hear a little bit more about your background, and how you got into being … What drove you to be an entrepreneur, and just give our audience a little insight on who you are.

Josh L:            Sure. Well, I actually started my career as a jazz musician, of all things. I would sneak into clubs in my hometown of Detroit at age thirteen, and I’d either get to sit in with the group or I’d get kicked out, one of the two things. Anyway, I just love the form of art that jazz is, because it’s improvisational in nature. You’re making things up as you go, all the notes aren’t on the page in front of you.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            Some percent of the notes are there and you have to make it up as you go along. Ironically, that was an amazing background or education to become an entrepreneur. With that as a backdrop, I started my first company at age twenty. I’d never taken a business class, but like jazz I figured, I’ll just figure it out. How hard could it be? Made a ton of mistakes and I launched a computer company where we would build computer components up into a finished system and sell them on my college campus.

Josh F:            Awesome.

Josh L:            Made tons of mistakes but made a little money and learned a lot. Fast forward over the next twenty or so years, I had the privilege to start, build, and sell four technology companies. I was the sole founder and CEO of each of them, and have since gone on to become both an investor and an author.

Josh F:            Excellent. As an author, your book, kind of what’s the basis of your book that you wrote?

Josh L:            I wrote two books on pretty much the same general topic, which is that of innovation and transformation. The first book was called “Disciplined Dreaming, A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity.” That book was all about systematizing a fairly messy process, that of human creativity. I tried to break it down into a very step-by-step, easy to follow, deployable process to harness and build creativity for yourself and those around you in your organization.

The second book was called “The Road to Reinvention” and that book is taking a proactive approach to transforming your business or even your career ahead of the curve. In other words, instead of waiting till you have to do a turnaround, which is usually characterized by all kinds of problems and clawing and scratching back from adversity. The idea is early and often on an ongoing basis, how do you reinvent yourself and your company? It’s also sort of applying the art and skill of innovation to the process of reinventing all aspects of your business and your career.

Josh F:            Awesome. With reinventing yourself, is that kind of taking yourself from that jazz musician into business owner kind of phase? Is that what you were doing there?

Josh L:            Well, funny of you to say, I really did at that point, but throughout my career I’ve done the same thing. I started two companies, sold them, I started the next company and that was bought by a large public firm, and I had an executive position there and I could have continued on, and I had hundreds of employees. What did I do? I left this good, big, cushy corporate job, because I was only there for six months, and went and started another company. Then I built my next company, ePrise, up to scale. We had a hundred million dollars in revenue and five hundred employees. I was the CEO, my board was happy, and what did I do? I reinvented myself again, I hired an outside CEO after eleven years and became an author and investor. I actually love the process of that proactive creative disruption to reinvent oneself, and that’s certainly been a thread in my life.

Josh F:            That’s awesome, and that’s similar to my background over the years, is starting businesses and building them up and then you kind of move on to that next thing. I think that a lot of excitement and energy comes from that. It sounds like when you were a kid, what kind of transferred you into that position of entrepreneurship? I know you said you went towards a jazz musician approach, but then what really made it happen for you? Like, “Man, this is that path I want to head down, this is where I want to focus my life on and my passion.”

Josh L:            You know, I don’t think that I really … It wasn’t like I was ten years old and said, “I’m going to be an entrepreneur.” In fact, that was a fairly unpopular thing. I’m not that old, but in my day it was more like you go become a doctor or a lawyer.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            Really, it more evolved and unfolded than it was anything sort of predestined. I always was focusing on the possibilities. In other words, rather than thinking about life as the way it was, I was always imagining what it could be. I look at something I’m like, “Oh, what if we made a product out of that? How could we advertise?” I was always very curious, and I think that led into music and ultimately into business. I wish I could say it was sort of this beautifully mapped career path, but it was really more of one that unfolded. I do think the only real thing that I … I’m certainly not smarter than the average person. I’m probably dumber and I have a lot more flaws than you can imagine, but the one thing I’ve been able to do is have that sense of creative wonder and be always thinking about the possibilities, and thinking about, “Hey, this has never been done before, but why not? What if we did it? Let’s take it on.” I’ve always enjoyed the disruptive process.

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Josh F:            That’s excellent. One of the things that we’re talking about on the show today is that entrepreneurial mindset. Part of what you mentioned, that vision, that creativity, the disruption, always looking for how you can make things better. What are your key successes that you’ve instilled in yourself for your entrepreneurial mindset to kind of push you through those challenges, and the different failures you’ve mentioned with your businesses?

Josh L:            It’s funny you say that, I’ve thought a lot about the entrepreneurial process and what makes a successful entrepreneur versus not. I’ve seen thousands of entrepreneurial pitches and invested in hundreds of start-ups, so I’ll give you my perspective on it. I think there’s a combination of things that have to exist, and without any of them you have a problem.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            The first one is what we’ve been talking about, which is kind of a creative vision. Imagining a better whatever, and so usually it’s big breakthrough ideas. In other words, it’s not saying, “Hey, I’m going to launch a chewing gum and it’s going to be 2% better than Wrigley.” You’ve got to have something that’s much more groundbreaking, so sort of a ten-x, innovative approach …

Josh F:            For sure.

Josh L:            As Grant likes to say on your show. The second thing I would say though that is often overlooked, is an incredible amount of grit. This is often, like I said people think, “Oh, I had a great idea in the shower and I’m just going to be whisked off to fame and fortune.” That’s just not what entrepreneurial efforts are like. In fact, the word entrepreneur really bothers me, because it seems like all refined and like you’re drinking tea in white gloves. Entrepreneurship is tough, tough work. Generally what happens as an entrepreneur is you get kicked in the teeth the first thing that happens. Then you finally dust yourself off and you get sucker punched. It’s a fist-fighting blood sport, and to have the grit and resiliency and persistence and be able to tough it out and fight through adversity with whatever it takes, again back to the network’s name, approach is absolutely critical. Where I’ve seen more entrepreneurs fail, not because they lacked a great idea, it’s cause they don’t have the courage and grit to actually fight their way through it and make it happen.

Josh F:            For sure.

Josh L:            The other thing I would say is just from a leadership standpoint, I have a strong belief that, today anyway, the greatest leaders are servants, they’re not kings. In other words, I believe that if you have the creative vision, then you got the grit, you can’t do it alone. Building a good company is certainly a skill as a team sport. I knew [Crosstalk 00:14:32] who were better.

Josh F:            Excellent, Josh.

Josh L:            What?

Josh F:            No, that’s all right, we’ve got to cut to a break real quick. I’m Josh Felber on the Whatever It Takes Network, we’ll be back with Josh Linkner right after this break.

Welcome back, Josh Felber on the Whatever It Takes Network. We’re speaking with Josh Linkner, two best-selling author, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and Josh, we’re excited to hear the rest of the story. You’re telling us a little bit about that entrepreneurial mindset that you use, and what makes you successful.

Josh L:            Sure, and a quick recap, we were talking a few key ingredients. One of them is having a big creative vision of what can be instead of just what is. The second one is a deep commitment to results. It is entrepreneurial grit, the grit of a street fighter. You’re fighting for survival and you can’t be blown over in the wind. It takes a lot of resiliency and commitment to executing on a vision. The third one I was just mentioning, is that if you’re going to be a leader, you should have the focus that great entrepreneurs are there to serve others more than to be served. In other words, if you’re going into it thinking, “Oh, I’m going to have this corner office and everyone’s going to kiss up to me and race my coffee over, and I’m going to be the king,” that’s not a successful approach.

The best entrepreneurs are servant leaders, they view their role as there to serve others, both their customers and those in the community or investors, and certainly the people on their team. When I see an entrepreneur that has those three things, they have tons of grit, they have a big creative vision, and they have a humility and a sense of service, that’s a winning combination.

Josh F:            Definitely, and I don’t think I’ve been in any position as an entrepreneur where people were waiting on me hand and foot. It’s definitely the grit and serving, and I think being obsessed with creating as much value as you can, as you mentioned when you’re a leader in your businesses. I know you mentioned some of the businesses that you’ve worked in briefly over the years and sold and everything. What was one of the major failures that you ran into that you were like, “Wow, this is …” Where you almost thought you were going to have to just quit, but you pushed through, and what did you learn from that?

Josh L:            Well I don’t think you have enough time on your radio program to cover them all. I can give you one as an example.

Josh F:            Sure.

Josh L:            Back in … At one point I was building my company and I had a verbal commitment of three million dollars from my existing investor. Based on that verbal commitment, I hired new people, I took out expensive ads, I secured new office space, I was really all in.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            Then I got this call. “Hey Josh, you know that three million dollars we talked about. Listen, we decided to get out of the venture capital business, the stock market is going to tank, so no money or support for you, but don’t take it personally.” Don’t take it personally. Entrepreneurial pursuits are very personal.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            It was just a horrible moment. I just felt my gut tightening up, and I was sweating and scared to death. I kept envisioning all the work that my team and I had done up until that point falling into the abyss. What happened for the next ninety days was basically hell. We were just fighting for life, we were about to be out of business. I couldn’t bring our expenses down fast enough to save the company. I was doing everything I possibly could to survive, and it all came down to one day. It was a Friday afternoon, I’ll never forget it. I had a all-company meeting scheduled, and at the time it was less than fifty people.

Coincidentally, that was the same day that payroll was due, and the problem is I had done everything I could. I stretched our vendors, I was out of money, I woke up that morning with zero dollars in our bank account. I realized that I had to go face my team, and I was close to some new investors but I didn’t know what I was going to say. I literally prepared two speeches, I prepared the speech if we made it and the speech if we didn’t. Fifteen minutes before everyone’s paycheck bounced, and our company was gone and the doors were padlocked, I received a wire transfer from new investors that I’d been working on. I walk in this meeting, I was exhausted and sweating, and said, “Guys, we saved the company.” As I mentioned, that company went on to be … We had a nine figure exit later on.

Josh F:            Awesome.

Josh L:            The point though, is not a heroic tale, the reason why I burned so bad, was that was a total failure of mine. In other words, I got lucky, I was able to save the company, but that’s a fight that I should have never had to take on at all. Had I been a better leader at the time, I should have been reinventing six months earlier. When the Nasdaq went from five thousand down to one thousand, that’s when I needed to be making change. When all my dot com customers were drying up, that’s when I needed to be going after big brand advertisers. It was a powerful lesson to us in that, no matter how successful we felt at the time, we couldn’t become complacent, and we had to always be on the edge of disruption. Essentially, it felt like we had to be the company that would consistently put ourselves out of business. It was a very powerful lesson and that fueled our success for years to come.

Josh F:            Yeah, definitely. That’s a great piece of advice, just really focused on taking your business and putting it in the position of, “Hey, we may be out of business tomorrow, so we need to do whatever we need to do today to make sure we’re always ahead of the game.”

Josh L:            Then there’s a big myth that success is an arrival, it’s a permanent state. Like, “Hey, I’ve arrived. I’m successful.” That’s just not how it works. Success in any company, big or small, is a temporary state in the context of many external factors that today are changing at a rate like none other in history. The best of the best, when they enjoy success, they slap high five, they celebrate it, but at that moment is the exact moment when you want to be writing the next chapter so you’re not trying to come back from behind.

Josh F:            Right, and one of the things that I think a lot of our viewers see, is they see all the reports and all the news of all the success part of it, but it’s not the part of that grit, that grind, that daily … The Fridays sweating, “Oh, are we going to make payroll and stuff.” They don’t see what all those pieces are that go into that back end to make that success. One of the things with our show is, we want to empower. Our focus is helping start-ups and people that have just started their business really push through and take their businesses to push towards success, and move them to that next level. It’s really cool with your venture capital background, you get to see and you get to sit in front of a lot of different start-ups and people trying to pitch you to get money. From what you’ve seen and talking to different people, what are maybe two or three nuggets of wisdom that we can share from a start-up side of things to really help those businesses out there and those people that are listening to us today?

Josh L:            One thing I would suggest, and not everyone agrees with this, but my opinion is that overpaying for A+ talent is a bet I would make every time. It’s early on in the start-up life and you’re cash conscious, of course you’re resource constrained, and you might say, “Well, why would I pay for this person who’s ninety thousand dollars a year when I can get someone else who would probably do the job for fifty-five thousand.” The problem is that if it’s a key role, that ninety thousand dollar a year person may drive a ten times return on that investment, where the fifty-five thousand dollar person may really struggle. Even when it hurts, I find it’s always worth overpaying for A+ talent, because that really is your business, it is the people.

Josh F:            Right, for sure.

Josh L:            Along that same point, I would say many people think about culture backwards. In other words, they say, “Well, culture, once I build a company, my business is all about what I do. I make guitars or whatever, I sell vacation packages.” Then they say, “Well, once I’m successful I’ll figure out what my culture is.” I think it’s got to be the opposite. I think you start with who you are, what are your core values, what are things that really drive you? Not just platitude that you put on your lobby wall, I’m talking about the real philosophy, the underpinnings of how you do business and who you are. That becomes the underpinnings for how decisions are made at all levels of the company.

Josh F:            For sure.

Josh L:            I think getting super deliberate about that is the thing that you do much earlier than you would expect, because if you get the who right, the what kind of takes care of itself.

Josh F:            Right.

Josh L:            By the way, business has evolved so much. You might be selling travel packages one day, and the next day you’re selling something else. The what you do will change, but who you are is the foundation.

Josh F:            For sure.

Josh L:            If you get that right, you’re going to be in great shape later on.

Josh F:            Awesome, Josh. I really appreciate you coming on today, and we are excited to be able to learn a lot of information from you, and let everybody get some of your background knowledge and some wisdom and some good advice to help move their start-ups forward.

Like this? Please comment below and share it with your friends so that your loved ones can try some of these ideas to enhance their mindset and create massive change to have the freedom to live the life they want.

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