Mint Mobile Representative (6:28)

And.

Omar Zenhom (6:29)

And the rest is history. If you're wondering, first thing he did was buy his dog back. He went back to that liquor store hoping that the guy that he sold the dog to frequents that liquor store. Day after day, he waited for him. On the third day, he finally showed up with his dog. Rocky said, I'd love to buy my dog back. The guy's like, no, he's my dog now. I love him. He's like, I'll give you whatever you want. He says, no, what are you talking about? Eventually, they settle on a deal. Sylvester Stallone pays $15,000 for his dog, the only one that stood beside him during his struggles. And he offers the guy a cameo part in Rocky. He's the referee in Rocky. And the dog in Rocky Butkus is his dog. I share this amazing story with you because Stallone had an incredible threshold to pain and perseverance. He endured countless rejections. He endured financial struggles. But his belief and his vision and his perseverance paid off. As entrepreneurs, those who still stand are the ones who could handle setbacks, keep moving forward. And even when things are tough, even when they think that they're down and out, those are the ones that eventually succeed. One of my favorite lines from the book Shoe Dog, which is Phil Knight, the founder of Nike's memoir, is the cowards never started. The weak died along the way. That leaves us. If you're one of us, if you're an entrepreneur, you're going to have to be willing to go through some pain and keep moving forward. Having that perseverance. That's a big differentiator between those who succeed and those who don't. The second reason why some succeed and some don't is that we all have a different understanding of hard work. Hard work isn't just about the number of hours you put in. It's about the quality and the intensity of that work. Successful entrepreneurs often work smarter and harder. Not just, oh, I'm going to work smarter, but not harder. No, they work smarter and harder. Consider this. Two people can work the same number of hours, but. But their outcomes can be vastly different. One might spend their time on tasks that don't really move the needle or bring in cash for their business, while the other focuses on high impact activities that drive the business forward. High impact meaning the activities that bring in the money. It's about prioritizing what truly matters and being relentless in your pursuit to actually getting the work done, the important work done. So working smarter, but also harder. So work just as hard, but on the smart stuff, the stuff that actually matters makes your business grow. It's so interesting because I love meeting new people. I love going to meetups, I love having lunches with entrepreneurs, going to conferences. And I like to hear what people are struggling with, what they're working on, what some of their wins are. And I really see firsthand there are so many different definitions of hard work. Some people really think they're working hard, but they've never been given an example or have seen what another version of hard work looks like. They have no perspective on what hard work means. One of the things I did, one of the habits I started to do, and I still continue to do this today, is I start my day with a notebook and a pen and I write down all the things I want to get done, a to do list. But then I circle the things that are most important in terms of growing my business. So my list might be 10 or 15 things, but then I eventually circle about seven things, maybe six things, maybe five things depending on the size of these tasks. I said if I get these things done today, today is a win because they will move my business forward. And I do not allow myself to be distracted by anything like social media, like messages like WhatsApp until I get those tasks done. Now I can jump into some fun and some videos and some YouTube and social when I'm having lunch, when I'm having a break, but not when I'm working. When I'm working, I gotta go hard. I gotta work hard on the things that matter. And what happens is I actually get six solid hours of work, concentrated work that actually gets things done. There's a lot of people I know that work 8, 9, 10, 12 hours a day, but they're being pulled from different directions with different distractions. So you may need to redefine what hard work means to you. Working smarter, working on the things that matter and working a lot. Sometimes I had some really long days and weeks. I didn't have a weekend for the first six or seven years of webinar Ninja. I think it was seven years, yes, seven years of webinar Ninja. I didn't have a weekend. Now maybe that's not healthy and maybe that's not good, you know, work, life, balance. But I was a bootstrap business. I was competing with people that had lots of funds and lots of staff and manpower. They have so much leverage over me. I need to win some other way. And working harder and smarter at the same time helped me tremendously.

Ryan Reynolds (11:02)

Ryan Reynolds here from IT Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do.

Mint Mobile Representative (11:19)

@Mintmobile.Com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms@mintmobile.com.

Omar Zenhom (11:34)

Got a 7am meeting on a Monday expensing breakfast because it's in policy wasting all afternoon submitting an expense that breakfast. If your company used Ramp you could.

Ryan Reynolds (11:50)

Submit expenses with just a text.

Omar Zenhom (11:54)

Yay.

Mint Mobile Representative (11:56)

Free your team from expense reports today switch your business to ramp.com.

Omar Zenhom (12:06)

The third reason why some succeed and some don't is that some entrepreneurs take responsibility for the results, win or lose. And if the results are not what they're supposed to be, they are resourceful with their plan of action, with their next step forward. They don't blame external factors or make excuses. They own their outcomes and they find ways to overcome obstacles. Some entrepreneurs fall in the blame game. They say the economy took a turn and that's why I failed. Even though they know there's a lot of businesses and a lot of entrepreneurs that have made millions and billions on downturn markets, they know this objective, but they blame the market, they blame their staff, they blame their family. Maybe their family was telling them they needed to do something else or they were pulled in different directions. They blame their health, they blame anything other than themselves. Those who succeed take responsibility. This is all on me. I got to figure this out. Because you know what? That's all you got. All you got is yourself. Okay? You can't change the economy. You can't change your employees attitude, you know, on a dime if you can replace them. But it's not that simple. You can't change your circumstances sometimes, but you can change yourself. I learned this from Jim Rohn from a very young age that you have to not blame the weather, don't blame the wind, change the set of your sail if you want to get somewhere. Don't blame, oh, the wind is blowing the wrong way. No, change your sail, point it in the right direction so that you can move in the right direction. One of my favorite entrepreneurs is Sarah Blakely. She's the founder of Spanx, a bootstrapped billion dollar business. She didn't have a background in fashion or retail, but she was determined to create a product that she believed in. She took responsibility for learning everything. She didn't say, oh, I have all these disadvantages. No, she took responsibility to learn everything that she needed to know to succeed in this field. From prototyping to her marketing to selling, to getting product placement in department stores. She didn't make excuses. She was resourceful. She was willing to take the nose and take charge of her success, which led to her billion dollar empire. There you have it. Those are the three big reasons why some are successful and some are not successful in business. Just to recap. First, one, threshold to pain and perseverance. Number two, not having a clear understanding of what hard work means, working smarter and harder. And number three, taking responsibility and being resourceful, not making excuses. One of my favorite sayings, and I say it all the time because it's one of my favorite sayings is you can have excuses or you can have results. You can't have both. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you love what you hear, the best way to say thank you is just to subscribe to follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, whatever podcast app you're listening to right now, follow the show. Click that button. That's all you gotta do to show your love. It makes a huge difference. So thank you in advance for doing that. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. The journey of entrepreneurship is filled with highs and a lot of lows. Those that succeed, they're not necessarily the smartest, they're not necessarily the most talented. But they're the ones who persevere through the pain. They understand the true meaning of what working hard means, working on the right things, distraction, free, as much as possible. And they don't make excuses. They're resourceful, they're adaptable, they're relentless. They take responsibility and say, that's on me. I gotta fix it. I gotta get better. This is what makes entrepreneurship so hard, but it's also what makes it so sweet. Because it's not about what you achieve. It's actually about who you become in the process of achieving it. Whatever that goal is, you transform into a new person because of what you have to do. That's the biggest reward. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll check you in the next episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

Jim (16:20)

And we're back, folks. It looks like Jim from Snails just got in from his client lunch and he's got receipts. His next meeting is in two minutes. The team is asking, can he get through his expenses in that time? He's going for it. Is that his phone? He's snapping a pic. He's texting Ramp. Jim is fast, but this is unheard of. That's it. He's done it. It's unbelievable.

Mint Mobile Representative (16:41)

On Ramp, expenses are faster than ever. Just submit them with a text. Switch your business to ramp. Com.