most entrepreneurs focus on the wrong
thing and that’s why they fail they
focus on the big picture the
million-dollar idea closing that big
sale the things going to get them rich
and if that’s what you’re focusing on
right now with your business you are
going to fail you’re not going to last a
year the reason is entrepreneurship is
about survival especially at the
beginning you have to make sure that you
are still around to recognize and
capitalize on the opportunities ahead of
you you have to make enough money to put
food on the table and pay your bills so
you have to go back and get a job
working for somebody else doing work
that you hate work or somebody that you
hate you have to get to that point of
survival and from there you can build a
platform for massive success I don’t
want you to close down your business and
end up working for another company and
seeing somebody else make big dollars
offer your idea because you couldn’t
last long enough because you ran out of
money ran out of time because you
couldn’t survive and you can have the
greatest idea greatest product or
service in the world but if you can’t
get to that point of survival it doesn’t
matter how great an idea you have your
going to fail it’s hard I know it’s hard
nobody tells us how hard it is as
entrepreneurs we see the books the
movies and TV shows and newspaper
stories it looks like it’s easy it looks
glamorous entrepreneurship is not
glamorous and it’s definitely not easy
it’s one of the hardest things you’re
ever going to do in your life it’s going
to test every personal belief you have
it’s going to take every ounce of
strength that you have to make this
company go and I know it’s hard with my
first business I was pulling out three
hundred dollars a month three hundred
dollars a month is not enough to survive
and we had a great product I had a great
team I had great customers but I wasn’t
making enough money and I had to say no
to my friends who wanted to go out for
dinner and drinks because I couldn’t
afford to go with them and I was too
embarrassed to tell them hey guys I know
you’re making or eighty thousand dollars
a year as investment bankers but I can’t
afford to twenty dollars it’s going to
take to go out and have dinner with you
or some drinks
and I had to reach an absolute low where
I hated my life where I thought about
quitting my business I had to get to
that point where I discovered the recipe
for survival the three steps you can
take to get to the point of survival and
get way beyond it and have massive
success of your business I had to almost
shut down and almost fail to get to that
point and I don’t want that for you I
want you to learn from my failure I
don’t want you to have to hit rock
bottom so in today’s webinar I’m going
to share with you the recipe for
survival the three simple steps that
anyone can take to get their business to
that point of survival and way beyond if
you give me half an hour today we’re
going to go over these three points and
it’s going to change the way you look at
your business the three points very
quickly are one follow your passion to
model success and three don’t quit so
before diving right in let me tell you a
little bit about myself who is this guy
we’re listening to and why you should
care when I was growing up I didn’t have
a lot of entrepreneurial mentors you
know I didn’t have the rich uncle who
ran his own business and could tell me
everything I needed to do my family were
supportive but they’re all in the
corporate world and it did a few things
I’m on the side of my own sold baseball
cards join during your achievement but
my real first experience came when I was
in University and I partnered up with
two people who are also students there
and we formed our first company and this
is where I cut my teeth this is where I
learned all the lessons of business for
all the text books that I read in school
and university it only barely applied
you know you have to go out and actually
get real hands-on experience to make it
help and we made all the wrong mistakes
made all the wrong moves and this is
where I was pulling out three hundred
dollars a month and I thought about
quitting I thought about giving up I
thought about getting a regular job like
most of my friends were doing and it was
until a hit bottom that I realized is a
better way there’s a faster way to get
to growth and it gets a success with
your company and I turned this business
from barely able to make any
thinking about quitting and giving up
from three hundred dollars a month to be
able to close big customers like NASA
and Johnson & Johnson and have customers
in 30 countries and a couple years after
I started with the business getting
acquired by an American company rapid
growth from nothing by following the
recipe for survival that was when I was
19 when I was 22 i joined the venture
capital company and I was helping
entrepreneurs raise between half a
million and 15 million dollars in growth
capital and this is an exciting time
because the guys who are coming in
they’d figured out survival they weren’t
coming in with just an idea they were
coming in with a real business that
needed to grow and you got to see I got
to see all sorts of awesome companies
come through and it taught me a lot of
lessons as well how to grow a successful
company get it to the point of survival
and way beyond and then from there I
started my business now Evan Carmichael
calm and the goal is to help
entrepreneurs my main goal is to help a
billion entrepreneurs and I hope that
you’re going to be one of them today so
let’s get into it rule number one or the
recipe for survival is follow your
passion you have to love what you do if
you want to have any chance of success
as an entrepreneur you have to feel it
in your bones starting the business is
one of the most grueling challenging
toughest experiences that you’re ever
going to have in your life and if you
don’t absolutely love what you’re doing
you’re going to quit as soon as it gets
hard because it’s going to get harp
really really really hard entrepreneurs
come to me and they say Evan I want to
start a business I want to start a
business because I want to make a ton of
money what kind of business should I
start and I tell them you’re approaching
this from the exact wrong angle if you
start a business just trying to make
money you’re going to fail you have to
start a business around something that
you love doing and it helps people look
at any successful entrepreneur look at
the person who you look up to the most
look at how and why they got started and
I guarantee you it wasn’t to make a lot
of money at the core of every successful
business is a deep love and passion
what they’re doing and you need to find
that if you want to have success as an
entrepreneur it’s an absolute must every
other rule every other strategy in the
book will not help you if you don’t
start by building a business around
something you’re deeply passionate about
let me tell you how I found the passion
for my business right now of helping
entrepreneurs I just sold my company my
software business and I was looking for
something else to do and I enjoy talking
entrepreneurs and I figured I could help
people I figured I went through such
dark days with my business of almost
giving up and then quickly being able to
see the light and move on and build this
castle enterprise that I figured I could
save other entrepreneurs the hassle and
the time and let them learn from my
lessons let them learn from my mistakes
so they could show cut their path and
remember partnering up with the YMCA and
they had an entrepreneurship program and
they said we’d love to have you come and
speak to us so I was excited I wanted to
deliver an awesome presentation and I
work for weeks preparing my content
exactly what I was going to say I
promoted it to the people that I knew to
my audience they promoted to their
audience and after the all weeks of
preparation and promotion the day
arrives I’m excited I remember walking
to the ymca opening the doors my heart’s
beating you know I’m nervous but also
excited because I want to deliver some
great content for these people I walk up
the elevators we set up this big room
full of chairs and I remember open the
door to the room ready to go all excited
and my heart stops for a second
three people showed up after all the
promotion that I did and after all the
promotion they did after all the work
that I did in creating an awesome
presentation that was free three people
showed up and a lot of people think well
that’s a failure how much time and
effort did you spend on this for a free
event and only three people show up are
you kidding me go do something else and
i admit that i was i was down you know i
was a little hurt i was expecting a full
room but the show must go on and i got
up there and i did my presentation and
they asked questions and i could see
from that first day that i helped those
three people and i knew i had to keep
doing it and after the day was over I
was on such a high that I didn’t care
that only three people came up I didn’t
care if I only helped three people at a
time I would still love doing this and
that’s a key that’s the secret that made
me keep going you got to love what you
do so much that you’re willing to bust
through any barrier that you would keep
doing it even if you had to go take on
part-time jobs just to make ends meet I
have no idea how is gonna make money if
I can get three people show up for a
free event how is it going to charge
these people how is it gonna make any
money anybody looking at this business
from an outside point of view would say
this is crazy this is stupid it’s never
going to work you should give this up go
get a job but I knew here this was for
me I didn’t know how I was going to work
out I didn’t know how the dots were
going to connect in the future but I
knew that I had to keep going and do
this that’s how I started my business
and it’s taken a lot of twists and turns
over the years but at the core is still
that deep passion for sharing what I
know but entrepreneurship and helping
others who are on their path who need
help to keep going so we’ve got to find
that for yourself I want to read for you
a quote that comes from one of my
favorite entrepreneurs now hopefully
will inspire you it’s this my first six
years in the business we’re hopeless
there are a lot of times when you sit
and you say
why am I doing this I’ll never make it
it’s just not going to happen I should
go and get a real job and try to survive
you have to find something that you love
enough to be able to take risks jump
over hurdles and break through the brick
walls that are always going to be placed
in front of you otherwise you’ll stop
the first giant hurdle the man who said
this is George Lucas creator of Star
Wars he’s worth over four billion
dollars today and when he started his
business it was hopeless he spent six
years trying to get his business going
and he couldn’t he thought of quitting
he thought of giving up people told him
go get a real job but he kept going
because he had to keep going he had to
do it because he loved doing it and
money came as a result but movies like
Star Wars which everybody thought was
crazy when it first came out before it
actually launched movies like Star Wars
were created out of a deep love for
creating something new and for a deep
love of film it came from George Lucas’s
heart and it ended up making him a lot
of money but the only reason he stuck
with it after six years of failure after
failure after failure was that he
absolutely loved what he did and he
would find any way to just keep going
and so for your own business you’ve got
to find something that you love it’s
paramount it’s the most important thing
in business you can figure it all out
everything else you can figure out if
you do love what you do and you’re
helping people do a gut check ask
yourself why did you start this business
why are you still doing this business is
it just trying to make a lot of money
and be honest with yourself you’re a
smart person don’t come up with a really
smart excuse don’t convince yourself
that you love this business you got to
feel it you got to know this was meant
for you and if you haven’t found it yet
that’s okay
I’m going to show you how to find it but
we have to start at the beginning rule
number one follow your passion let’s
move on to rule number two in our recipe
for survival model success the fastest
way to accomplish anything in life any
goal that you have in business or in
your personal life is to model success
find someone who’s already done what
you’re trying to do and put their
strategies to work for you otherwise
you’re going to spend countless hours
time resources going down the wrong path
trying to figure out how to do something
and it’s not going to work you don’t
have to be a genius in everything you
don’t have to have it all figured out
find the people who have already done
what you’re trying to do and take their
strategies and make it work for you when
I had my first business a software
company I reached such a point of
desperation work and only go on for so
long you know I hit my bottle like I’m
pulling out three hundred dollars a
month I can’t do this anymore and I
either had to find a different way to
stand or or give up the business and go
do something else and what snap for me
when the light bulb went off was I
realized this is a software company I’m
not the first guy to try to sell
software before why am I trying to
figure it all out myself I’m one guy
it’s not possible but success leaves
clues and the answers are out there and
so I started researching other software
companies I looked at companies like
Microsoft and looked at how they got
started I don’t care how Bill Gates
makes an extra million dollars now it’s
not interesting to me it’s not helpful
but how did it go from zero to one how
do you get that first million dollars
that’s what I wanted to know what led
him to that success what helped
Microsoft go from an idea to that early
beginning success and for them was
partnerships they found ways to partner
up with people who are already selling
to their target market Microsoft’s big
deal came when the part with IBM IBM had
a ton of computers they needed software
microsoft said we’ll give you our
software will sell it to you
every single IBM computer that went out
had Microsoft’s offer on it and you
continue to use that approach keep
finding companies who are already
selling to your target market and
partner up with them use their name
leverage their brand their contacts or
experience find a way to work together
so that they can introduce you to their
customers so put it to work for us I
started contacting distributors who had
connections other companies other
individuals let them know who we were
let them know what we’re up to and
started finding ways to partner up and
we landed new media opportunities
relented new customers we landed new
distribution agreements and it all
seemed to happen so fast and I thought
why didn’t I think of this before and it
comes down to the fact that you can’t
think of everything yourself and you
shouldn’t focus on what you do best and
learn from the people who’ve done it
before our partners pulled us along they
pulled me through I don’t know if I
would have kept going I don’t know how
much internal fortitude I had to keep
going I was at my bottom I was willing
to try anything and the model and
success came out of desperation said I’m
just going to try this because I’ve
tried everything else and now it’s one
of the most important things I do when I
launch any venture I went from being a
desperate idea to one of my core beliefs
these guys pulled us through they pulled
me through they brought me to the light
and it was just by copying Microsoft
strategy and the same thing can happen
for your business whatever problem
you’re facing right now tons of people
have already solved it inside your
industry and outside tons of people have
solved it research them find out how
they solved it copy their strategies and
make it work for you it’ll take what
took that maybe years of trial there to
figure out you can apply it in with in
desi results it can literally happen
that fast
we’ve got to be willing to model success
it doesn’t just happen for little
entrepreneurs you can build huge
businesses as a result one of my
favorite examples is Howard Schultz
who’s the chairman of starbucks when he
was getting starbucks started the idea
came for when he was in Italy on a
family vacation and he saw that at that
time coffee shops the cafe’s they were
the center of Italian life people
metacafe they spent hours there they
talked about their lives they had
important memories founded at the coffee
shop and he looked at North America he
saw the dunkin donuts of the world where
you’re in and out as fast as you can and
he said now this concept has been
working for decades through the Italians
they’ve already figured it out whatever
I just brought that concept of an
Italian coffee shop to north america and
starbucks took off and schultz copied as
much as he could from those coffee shops
he played enticing music to make people
want to stay he brought in delicious
foods to make people want to stay he
named his bartenders baristas and gave
them training he wanted them to feel
proud of what they were doing instead of
just serving coffee he called his drinks
venti the sizes are venti and grande he
created new drinks like frappuccinos he
tried to add an Italian flavor to
everything that he was doing he pulled
as many ideas as he could from watching
how these cafes operated and brought it
to north america and starbucks took off
and now it’s one of the most recognized
brands in the world and it all happened
because Howard Schultz was willing to
model success he just took something
that was working for decades for
somebody else and made it work for him
the same thing can apply to your
business you don’t have to come up with
every answer yourself it’s all there in
front of you someone has already solved
the problem you’re facing right now they
have the solution you just have to
research them and apply it to your
business the number three rule and our
recipe for survival is don’t quit you
can’t
quit if you love what you’re doing and
you’re helping people you owe it to
yourself to your friends to your family
to your community to keep going even if
you have to take a part-time job to
support yourself you have to keep going
you have to do something every day to
grow your business otherwise you’re
going to give up on your dream and I
don’t want that for you I know it’s hard
I know this is one of the hardest things
you’re ever going to do in your life and
you’re going to be pushed to that limit
of quitting so many times and the dirty
little secret of entrepreneurship is
everybody thinks about quitting it’s not
just you people just don’t talk about it
you know you’re not going to go up to
somebody at a networking event and say
yeah I’m thinking of quitting my
business I’m not making enough no you
always talk about the good things the
customer that you just landed or the
media opportunity just got it’s always a
good stuff but everybody thinks about
quitting multiple times you’re not alone
but you have to keep going my darkest
day as an entrepreneur came when I I
almost gave up my software company it
was hard because we weren’t making money
you know I said it was pulling off three
hundred dollars a month it’s not enough
you can only do that for so long before
you get so frustrated they have to find
something else and I usually got along
really well with my business partners
but one day we’re kind of snapped and
it’s easy when you’re making money it’s
easy to get along and love each other
but when you’ve been trying and trying
and trying so many different things over
so many so much time and nothing is
working you get frustrated you get
pushed to the limit and remember was
over at my parents house and I had a
call with my business partner and I
disagreed with the direction he wanted
to take I thought we should go one way
he wanted to go another way and all that
frustration came up when I told them you
know what that’s it I quit I’m out I
don’t want to do this anymore this is
crazy we’re never going to make it this
is a stupid idea you know we’ve tried so
many things nothing’s working out I’m
done I’m done I’m going to go do
something else
and I hung up the phone and just started
crying uncontrollably crying and I
remember my mom came up she had heard me
crying she put her hand on my shoulder
and asked me what happened if everything
was ok what she could do to help and I
think it took me 10 minutes before I
could even say something I love my
business I didn’t want to give it up but
I didn’t see another way it was so
infuriating and frustrating to not see
momentum after so much hard work and so
I lost it I calmed down and I didn’t
know what I would do I went to bed had a
hard time sleeping I remember the next
day I woke up and I went to work kept
back at it because I didn’t want to quit
I didn’t want to fail with this business
we were helping people I had to keep
going I had to keep going and so I got
up the next day and I went back to work
and eventually did work eventually paid
off I got my payday but it wasn’t
without a lot of hard work and sacrifice
a lot of doubt and so if you’re in that
dark moment now you’ve got to remember
back to why you started this thing what
you’re trying to accomplish and keep
going you have to keep going one of my
favorite entrepreneurs is Milton Hershey
from the Hershey Chocolate Company and
when he started his business in the
early nineteen hundreds he bar with a
hundred dollars from his aunt to make
caramels and he started Philadelphia and
he would spend 15 16 hours a day on his
business he would make his caramels at
night and then sell them on the streets
during the day and he started
Philadelphia and he couldn’t make it
work so shut then the business went to
Chicago did the same thing 15 16 hours a
day didn’t work so shut it down with the
New Orleans same thing again didn’t work
down moved to New York City did the same
thing again 15 16 hours every day and
eventually one day in New York he was
one in loan money had nothing left safe
had to make money that day on the
streets selling and Hawking his caramels
and a bunch of kids came over stole all
of his supplies stole all his money and
again he had to quit he returned home
and his family disowned him they said
your failure you’re not part of our
family anymore we don’t want to know you
or what you do he just spent the past
six years in four different cities
working 15 16 hours a day on this
business came home his family told him
he’s a failure disowned him and what did
he want to do keep going with his
business he wanted to keep going the
only person who had take him in was a
guy named Henry who we first worked with
in Philadelphia Henry was one of his
first employees and Henry gave him a
couch to sleep on and a little money to
keep going and Milton Hershey kept going
with his business and now he’s starting
the chocolates
and he eventually made it he turned the
business into something he made himself
into something that he could be proud of
but it wasn’t without a lot of hard work
and sacrifice how far you willing to go
for your business would you spend six
years working those kinds of hours not
seeing any result ending up completely
broke I keep going if you love what
you’re doing and you’re helping people
you have to keep going you’ve got to
find a way but every day you’ve got to
do something to keep growing and growing
your business nobody else is going to do
this for you you have to get up every
day and do something to keep going you
can’t quit we’ve got a few minutes left
in today’s webinar so I want to dive in
and give you some practical hands-on
advice for how to apply the recipe for
survival to your business let’s do a
quick recap first the idea behind this
recipe for survival is to get to the
point where you have enough money coming
in so you have to go back and get a job
that you hate working for somebody that
you hate it’s not glamorous it’s not
sexy you’re grinding it out but you’re
building a base and a platform that will
allow you to grow exponentially and give
you a company that you can be proud of
the three simple rules you need to
follow number one follow your passion
number two models success and number
three don’t quit let’s dig deeper number
one follow your passion again if you
don’t love what you do if you don’t feel
it in your bones then you’re going to
quit as soon as it gets hard you will
not have success as an entrepreneur if
you do not love what you do if you’re
coming and asking questions like how do
I find my passion you are on the right
path so here’s how to do it the best way
that I found you start making a list you
make a list of things that you love to
do things that you can get lost in
things that when you start at nine in
the morning you look up and it’s three
o’clock in the afternoon those are the
things you want to start write that down
any idea that comes to mind next you
also want to think about frustrations
that you’ve had recently and how you’ve
solved them because some of the best
businesses in the world start at around
one person who had a frustration and
they couldn’t find the solution so then
we’d won themselves and then they sold
that solution to other people who also
had the same problem so think about
frustration that you’ve solved recently
and how you’ve done it when you’ve made
your list now we want to think about
value you want to think about helping
people if you want to make money you
have to help people if you want to make
a lot of money you have to help people a
lot so think about the ideas on your
list how much of them can help people
and can help people a lot watching TV
isn’t going to help people playing
computer games isn’t going to help
people what is it on your list that you
love doing that helps people that
intersection where you’re doing
something you absolutely love doing and
you know it’s giving people a lot of
value that’s your winning business idea
start building that idea today you will
achieve success number two model success
again the idea here is you don’t have to
come up with everything yourself you
don’t have to be a genius at everything
you have to be a genius to anything
whatever goal challenge you have in
front of you someone has already solved
it success leaves clues you just have to
go and find them there are two types of
modeling that I enjoy doing the first
are companies within your industry so
when I had my software company I look to
other software companies I looked at
companies like Microsoft and looked at
when they were my size what did they do
when they were trying to drive business
growth like I’m trying to do now what
did they do leave it through
partnerships I applied that strategy to
my business whatever industry you’re in
look at the biggest companies in your
industry and look back to how they got
started look back to how they solve
whatever problem you’re facing today
because chances are you can apply those
same strategies and make it work for you
the bigger the company is the easier it
is to find how they got start in their
story you don’t have to be too specific
my company was biotech software there
aren’t a lot of big biotech software
companies for me to model so I make the
scope
bigger it’s a software in general
because those lessons are still directly
applicable to me and I meet them work
and it pulled my company through and
made me go from making three hundred
dollars a month to build them something
I could be proud of and eventually
selling it off to having huge customers
like NASA and johnson Johnson it’s being
in 30 different countries that all came
from modeling success look at the
company industry and apply their lessons
to your business now the second type of
modeling that I enjoy doing is called
aspirational mentors find people who you
look up to and look at how they got
started even if they have nothing to do
with your business maybe you really like
Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey or
Martha Stewart or Donald Trump whoever
it is the bigger the name the easier it
is to find their story you could be a
marketer like Richard Branson you can
apply what he has done in his career and
make it work for you as well and you
don’t have to look at Richard Branson
and virgin right now but look at how he
got started again look at how he solved
the problems that you’re facing today
and the more you like that entrepreneur
the greater the chances of you being
able to have success and copying their
strategies because you’re going to
believe in it and when you believe in it
it happens so two types of modeling one
will look into companies within our
industry research in their background
and how they got started and applying
their lessons to our company and two
were looking at aspirational mentors
people who we look up to people whose
lessons we want to learn from even it
has nothing to do with our business and
we apply it to our company the third
rule is don’t quit you can’t quit you
got to keep going and I know it’s hard I
know sometimes on a Monday morning it
might be raining outside you’ve had no
sales out last week you just don’t feel
like getting up and going to work you
have to get up and go to work nobody’s
going to do this for you nobody will run
your entrepreneurial dream for you it
has to be you you’ve got to get up today
and go to work and do something to grow
your business if you’re having trouble
staying motivated
there are two things that can help one
you came from somewhere before you would
started this business you were doing
something else we were working at some
job if you don’t get up and go do
something right now to grow your
business you’re going to end up back in
that kind of job and that should be
scary and painful for you you shouldn’t
want that life that should make you leap
out of your bed and go to work and try
to think of specific experiences what
was it about that job that you didn’t
like something really painful pain is a
great motivator maybe your boss called
you out and chewed you up in front of
everybody at the office maybe you’re
doing work that was so demeaning them
beneath you and you couldn’t believe you
were doing that kind of job made you
feel worthless whatever it is think
about those painful points and use that
as motivation because if you don’t get
up and do something that’s going to be
your life again and you shouldn’t want
that and I don’t want that for you the
other thing that can help is thinking
about living with no regrets a lot of
entrepreneurs who end up quitting and
going back to get a job you know might
be a year later they look back and say I
really wish I give it my all I really
wish I tried harder that day when I was
stuck in bed I could have done something
I could have gone and built my business
I could have done something to grow my
company that day and the last thing you
want to have is a life of regret because
you’re going to carry that with you the
rest of your life you’re going to think
back and wonder what else you could have
done to make that business ago you’re
going to see other people capitalize on
the same idea and turn into successful
businesses and know that it could have
been you if you just tried harder and
you didn’t give up you should not want
that life when Jeff Bezos started amazon
com he was 40 years old he was a VP at
an investment bank and he was the
youngest ever VP at the company and he
gave it up to start amazoncom the start
of calm company selling books people
thought it was crazy this was the early
early days of the internet said Jeff
what are you doing
you’re on the fast track here
youngest-ever VP you’re making tons of
money why do what he’s getting rid of it
all to start a book company online
nobody’s going to buy books online
you’re crazy and even though may not
have made the most sense at the time one
of the main reasons that Bezos had to
keep going and he did it was because he
didn’t want to live with the regret he
had to try he had to try because if he
didn’t you would think for the rest of
his life I should have done that now
he’s had a lot of success with amazon
com but in the early days nobody
believed in him and he kept going and he
gave up a successful life to do this you
never want to have an excuse any excuse
for seeing that you didn’t give it your
best you didn’t give it your all because
otherwise you’re going to end up living
in regret for the rest of your life I
hope you guys have enjoyed today i hope
you’ll apply the recipe for survival to
your business again we’re looking to
follow our passion number one model
success number two don’t quit number
three I always love hearing from you
guys I’d love to take some questions if
you want to leave it in the comments
below thank you so much i hope you apply
this to your business and I’ll see you
guys soon
you
thing and that’s why they fail they
focus on the big picture the
million-dollar idea closing that big
sale the things going to get them rich
and if that’s what you’re focusing on
right now with your business you are
going to fail you’re not going to last a
year the reason is entrepreneurship is
about survival especially at the
beginning you have to make sure that you
are still around to recognize and
capitalize on the opportunities ahead of
you you have to make enough money to put
food on the table and pay your bills so
you have to go back and get a job
working for somebody else doing work
that you hate work or somebody that you
hate you have to get to that point of
survival and from there you can build a
platform for massive success I don’t
want you to close down your business and
end up working for another company and
seeing somebody else make big dollars
offer your idea because you couldn’t
last long enough because you ran out of
money ran out of time because you
couldn’t survive and you can have the
greatest idea greatest product or
service in the world but if you can’t
get to that point of survival it doesn’t
matter how great an idea you have your
going to fail it’s hard I know it’s hard
nobody tells us how hard it is as
entrepreneurs we see the books the
movies and TV shows and newspaper
stories it looks like it’s easy it looks
glamorous entrepreneurship is not
glamorous and it’s definitely not easy
it’s one of the hardest things you’re
ever going to do in your life it’s going
to test every personal belief you have
it’s going to take every ounce of
strength that you have to make this
company go and I know it’s hard with my
first business I was pulling out three
hundred dollars a month three hundred
dollars a month is not enough to survive
and we had a great product I had a great
team I had great customers but I wasn’t
making enough money and I had to say no
to my friends who wanted to go out for
dinner and drinks because I couldn’t
afford to go with them and I was too
embarrassed to tell them hey guys I know
you’re making or eighty thousand dollars
a year as investment bankers but I can’t
afford to twenty dollars it’s going to
take to go out and have dinner with you
or some drinks
and I had to reach an absolute low where
I hated my life where I thought about
quitting my business I had to get to
that point where I discovered the recipe
for survival the three steps you can
take to get to the point of survival and
get way beyond it and have massive
success of your business I had to almost
shut down and almost fail to get to that
point and I don’t want that for you I
want you to learn from my failure I
don’t want you to have to hit rock
bottom so in today’s webinar I’m going
to share with you the recipe for
survival the three simple steps that
anyone can take to get their business to
that point of survival and way beyond if
you give me half an hour today we’re
going to go over these three points and
it’s going to change the way you look at
your business the three points very
quickly are one follow your passion to
model success and three don’t quit so
before diving right in let me tell you a
little bit about myself who is this guy
we’re listening to and why you should
care when I was growing up I didn’t have
a lot of entrepreneurial mentors you
know I didn’t have the rich uncle who
ran his own business and could tell me
everything I needed to do my family were
supportive but they’re all in the
corporate world and it did a few things
I’m on the side of my own sold baseball
cards join during your achievement but
my real first experience came when I was
in University and I partnered up with
two people who are also students there
and we formed our first company and this
is where I cut my teeth this is where I
learned all the lessons of business for
all the text books that I read in school
and university it only barely applied
you know you have to go out and actually
get real hands-on experience to make it
help and we made all the wrong mistakes
made all the wrong moves and this is
where I was pulling out three hundred
dollars a month and I thought about
quitting I thought about giving up I
thought about getting a regular job like
most of my friends were doing and it was
until a hit bottom that I realized is a
better way there’s a faster way to get
to growth and it gets a success with
your company and I turned this business
from barely able to make any
thinking about quitting and giving up
from three hundred dollars a month to be
able to close big customers like NASA
and Johnson & Johnson and have customers
in 30 countries and a couple years after
I started with the business getting
acquired by an American company rapid
growth from nothing by following the
recipe for survival that was when I was
19 when I was 22 i joined the venture
capital company and I was helping
entrepreneurs raise between half a
million and 15 million dollars in growth
capital and this is an exciting time
because the guys who are coming in
they’d figured out survival they weren’t
coming in with just an idea they were
coming in with a real business that
needed to grow and you got to see I got
to see all sorts of awesome companies
come through and it taught me a lot of
lessons as well how to grow a successful
company get it to the point of survival
and way beyond and then from there I
started my business now Evan Carmichael
calm and the goal is to help
entrepreneurs my main goal is to help a
billion entrepreneurs and I hope that
you’re going to be one of them today so
let’s get into it rule number one or the
recipe for survival is follow your
passion you have to love what you do if
you want to have any chance of success
as an entrepreneur you have to feel it
in your bones starting the business is
one of the most grueling challenging
toughest experiences that you’re ever
going to have in your life and if you
don’t absolutely love what you’re doing
you’re going to quit as soon as it gets
hard because it’s going to get harp
really really really hard entrepreneurs
come to me and they say Evan I want to
start a business I want to start a
business because I want to make a ton of
money what kind of business should I
start and I tell them you’re approaching
this from the exact wrong angle if you
start a business just trying to make
money you’re going to fail you have to
start a business around something that
you love doing and it helps people look
at any successful entrepreneur look at
the person who you look up to the most
look at how and why they got started and
I guarantee you it wasn’t to make a lot
of money at the core of every successful
business is a deep love and passion
what they’re doing and you need to find
that if you want to have success as an
entrepreneur it’s an absolute must every
other rule every other strategy in the
book will not help you if you don’t
start by building a business around
something you’re deeply passionate about
let me tell you how I found the passion
for my business right now of helping
entrepreneurs I just sold my company my
software business and I was looking for
something else to do and I enjoy talking
entrepreneurs and I figured I could help
people I figured I went through such
dark days with my business of almost
giving up and then quickly being able to
see the light and move on and build this
castle enterprise that I figured I could
save other entrepreneurs the hassle and
the time and let them learn from my
lessons let them learn from my mistakes
so they could show cut their path and
remember partnering up with the YMCA and
they had an entrepreneurship program and
they said we’d love to have you come and
speak to us so I was excited I wanted to
deliver an awesome presentation and I
work for weeks preparing my content
exactly what I was going to say I
promoted it to the people that I knew to
my audience they promoted to their
audience and after the all weeks of
preparation and promotion the day
arrives I’m excited I remember walking
to the ymca opening the doors my heart’s
beating you know I’m nervous but also
excited because I want to deliver some
great content for these people I walk up
the elevators we set up this big room
full of chairs and I remember open the
door to the room ready to go all excited
and my heart stops for a second
three people showed up after all the
promotion that I did and after all the
promotion they did after all the work
that I did in creating an awesome
presentation that was free three people
showed up and a lot of people think well
that’s a failure how much time and
effort did you spend on this for a free
event and only three people show up are
you kidding me go do something else and
i admit that i was i was down you know i
was a little hurt i was expecting a full
room but the show must go on and i got
up there and i did my presentation and
they asked questions and i could see
from that first day that i helped those
three people and i knew i had to keep
doing it and after the day was over I
was on such a high that I didn’t care
that only three people came up I didn’t
care if I only helped three people at a
time I would still love doing this and
that’s a key that’s the secret that made
me keep going you got to love what you
do so much that you’re willing to bust
through any barrier that you would keep
doing it even if you had to go take on
part-time jobs just to make ends meet I
have no idea how is gonna make money if
I can get three people show up for a
free event how is it going to charge
these people how is it gonna make any
money anybody looking at this business
from an outside point of view would say
this is crazy this is stupid it’s never
going to work you should give this up go
get a job but I knew here this was for
me I didn’t know how I was going to work
out I didn’t know how the dots were
going to connect in the future but I
knew that I had to keep going and do
this that’s how I started my business
and it’s taken a lot of twists and turns
over the years but at the core is still
that deep passion for sharing what I
know but entrepreneurship and helping
others who are on their path who need
help to keep going so we’ve got to find
that for yourself I want to read for you
a quote that comes from one of my
favorite entrepreneurs now hopefully
will inspire you it’s this my first six
years in the business we’re hopeless
there are a lot of times when you sit
and you say
why am I doing this I’ll never make it
it’s just not going to happen I should
go and get a real job and try to survive
you have to find something that you love
enough to be able to take risks jump
over hurdles and break through the brick
walls that are always going to be placed
in front of you otherwise you’ll stop
the first giant hurdle the man who said
this is George Lucas creator of Star
Wars he’s worth over four billion
dollars today and when he started his
business it was hopeless he spent six
years trying to get his business going
and he couldn’t he thought of quitting
he thought of giving up people told him
go get a real job but he kept going
because he had to keep going he had to
do it because he loved doing it and
money came as a result but movies like
Star Wars which everybody thought was
crazy when it first came out before it
actually launched movies like Star Wars
were created out of a deep love for
creating something new and for a deep
love of film it came from George Lucas’s
heart and it ended up making him a lot
of money but the only reason he stuck
with it after six years of failure after
failure after failure was that he
absolutely loved what he did and he
would find any way to just keep going
and so for your own business you’ve got
to find something that you love it’s
paramount it’s the most important thing
in business you can figure it all out
everything else you can figure out if
you do love what you do and you’re
helping people do a gut check ask
yourself why did you start this business
why are you still doing this business is
it just trying to make a lot of money
and be honest with yourself you’re a
smart person don’t come up with a really
smart excuse don’t convince yourself
that you love this business you got to
feel it you got to know this was meant
for you and if you haven’t found it yet
that’s okay
I’m going to show you how to find it but
we have to start at the beginning rule
number one follow your passion let’s
move on to rule number two in our recipe
for survival model success the fastest
way to accomplish anything in life any
goal that you have in business or in
your personal life is to model success
find someone who’s already done what
you’re trying to do and put their
strategies to work for you otherwise
you’re going to spend countless hours
time resources going down the wrong path
trying to figure out how to do something
and it’s not going to work you don’t
have to be a genius in everything you
don’t have to have it all figured out
find the people who have already done
what you’re trying to do and take their
strategies and make it work for you when
I had my first business a software
company I reached such a point of
desperation work and only go on for so
long you know I hit my bottle like I’m
pulling out three hundred dollars a
month I can’t do this anymore and I
either had to find a different way to
stand or or give up the business and go
do something else and what snap for me
when the light bulb went off was I
realized this is a software company I’m
not the first guy to try to sell
software before why am I trying to
figure it all out myself I’m one guy
it’s not possible but success leaves
clues and the answers are out there and
so I started researching other software
companies I looked at companies like
Microsoft and looked at how they got
started I don’t care how Bill Gates
makes an extra million dollars now it’s
not interesting to me it’s not helpful
but how did it go from zero to one how
do you get that first million dollars
that’s what I wanted to know what led
him to that success what helped
Microsoft go from an idea to that early
beginning success and for them was
partnerships they found ways to partner
up with people who are already selling
to their target market Microsoft’s big
deal came when the part with IBM IBM had
a ton of computers they needed software
microsoft said we’ll give you our
software will sell it to you
every single IBM computer that went out
had Microsoft’s offer on it and you
continue to use that approach keep
finding companies who are already
selling to your target market and
partner up with them use their name
leverage their brand their contacts or
experience find a way to work together
so that they can introduce you to their
customers so put it to work for us I
started contacting distributors who had
connections other companies other
individuals let them know who we were
let them know what we’re up to and
started finding ways to partner up and
we landed new media opportunities
relented new customers we landed new
distribution agreements and it all
seemed to happen so fast and I thought
why didn’t I think of this before and it
comes down to the fact that you can’t
think of everything yourself and you
shouldn’t focus on what you do best and
learn from the people who’ve done it
before our partners pulled us along they
pulled me through I don’t know if I
would have kept going I don’t know how
much internal fortitude I had to keep
going I was at my bottom I was willing
to try anything and the model and
success came out of desperation said I’m
just going to try this because I’ve
tried everything else and now it’s one
of the most important things I do when I
launch any venture I went from being a
desperate idea to one of my core beliefs
these guys pulled us through they pulled
me through they brought me to the light
and it was just by copying Microsoft
strategy and the same thing can happen
for your business whatever problem
you’re facing right now tons of people
have already solved it inside your
industry and outside tons of people have
solved it research them find out how
they solved it copy their strategies and
make it work for you it’ll take what
took that maybe years of trial there to
figure out you can apply it in with in
desi results it can literally happen
that fast
we’ve got to be willing to model success
it doesn’t just happen for little
entrepreneurs you can build huge
businesses as a result one of my
favorite examples is Howard Schultz
who’s the chairman of starbucks when he
was getting starbucks started the idea
came for when he was in Italy on a
family vacation and he saw that at that
time coffee shops the cafe’s they were
the center of Italian life people
metacafe they spent hours there they
talked about their lives they had
important memories founded at the coffee
shop and he looked at North America he
saw the dunkin donuts of the world where
you’re in and out as fast as you can and
he said now this concept has been
working for decades through the Italians
they’ve already figured it out whatever
I just brought that concept of an
Italian coffee shop to north america and
starbucks took off and schultz copied as
much as he could from those coffee shops
he played enticing music to make people
want to stay he brought in delicious
foods to make people want to stay he
named his bartenders baristas and gave
them training he wanted them to feel
proud of what they were doing instead of
just serving coffee he called his drinks
venti the sizes are venti and grande he
created new drinks like frappuccinos he
tried to add an Italian flavor to
everything that he was doing he pulled
as many ideas as he could from watching
how these cafes operated and brought it
to north america and starbucks took off
and now it’s one of the most recognized
brands in the world and it all happened
because Howard Schultz was willing to
model success he just took something
that was working for decades for
somebody else and made it work for him
the same thing can apply to your
business you don’t have to come up with
every answer yourself it’s all there in
front of you someone has already solved
the problem you’re facing right now they
have the solution you just have to
research them and apply it to your
business the number three rule and our
recipe for survival is don’t quit you
can’t
quit if you love what you’re doing and
you’re helping people you owe it to
yourself to your friends to your family
to your community to keep going even if
you have to take a part-time job to
support yourself you have to keep going
you have to do something every day to
grow your business otherwise you’re
going to give up on your dream and I
don’t want that for you I know it’s hard
I know this is one of the hardest things
you’re ever going to do in your life and
you’re going to be pushed to that limit
of quitting so many times and the dirty
little secret of entrepreneurship is
everybody thinks about quitting it’s not
just you people just don’t talk about it
you know you’re not going to go up to
somebody at a networking event and say
yeah I’m thinking of quitting my
business I’m not making enough no you
always talk about the good things the
customer that you just landed or the
media opportunity just got it’s always a
good stuff but everybody thinks about
quitting multiple times you’re not alone
but you have to keep going my darkest
day as an entrepreneur came when I I
almost gave up my software company it
was hard because we weren’t making money
you know I said it was pulling off three
hundred dollars a month it’s not enough
you can only do that for so long before
you get so frustrated they have to find
something else and I usually got along
really well with my business partners
but one day we’re kind of snapped and
it’s easy when you’re making money it’s
easy to get along and love each other
but when you’ve been trying and trying
and trying so many different things over
so many so much time and nothing is
working you get frustrated you get
pushed to the limit and remember was
over at my parents house and I had a
call with my business partner and I
disagreed with the direction he wanted
to take I thought we should go one way
he wanted to go another way and all that
frustration came up when I told them you
know what that’s it I quit I’m out I
don’t want to do this anymore this is
crazy we’re never going to make it this
is a stupid idea you know we’ve tried so
many things nothing’s working out I’m
done I’m done I’m going to go do
something else
and I hung up the phone and just started
crying uncontrollably crying and I
remember my mom came up she had heard me
crying she put her hand on my shoulder
and asked me what happened if everything
was ok what she could do to help and I
think it took me 10 minutes before I
could even say something I love my
business I didn’t want to give it up but
I didn’t see another way it was so
infuriating and frustrating to not see
momentum after so much hard work and so
I lost it I calmed down and I didn’t
know what I would do I went to bed had a
hard time sleeping I remember the next
day I woke up and I went to work kept
back at it because I didn’t want to quit
I didn’t want to fail with this business
we were helping people I had to keep
going I had to keep going and so I got
up the next day and I went back to work
and eventually did work eventually paid
off I got my payday but it wasn’t
without a lot of hard work and sacrifice
a lot of doubt and so if you’re in that
dark moment now you’ve got to remember
back to why you started this thing what
you’re trying to accomplish and keep
going you have to keep going one of my
favorite entrepreneurs is Milton Hershey
from the Hershey Chocolate Company and
when he started his business in the
early nineteen hundreds he bar with a
hundred dollars from his aunt to make
caramels and he started Philadelphia and
he would spend 15 16 hours a day on his
business he would make his caramels at
night and then sell them on the streets
during the day and he started
Philadelphia and he couldn’t make it
work so shut then the business went to
Chicago did the same thing 15 16 hours a
day didn’t work so shut it down with the
New Orleans same thing again didn’t work
down moved to New York City did the same
thing again 15 16 hours every day and
eventually one day in New York he was
one in loan money had nothing left safe
had to make money that day on the
streets selling and Hawking his caramels
and a bunch of kids came over stole all
of his supplies stole all his money and
again he had to quit he returned home
and his family disowned him they said
your failure you’re not part of our
family anymore we don’t want to know you
or what you do he just spent the past
six years in four different cities
working 15 16 hours a day on this
business came home his family told him
he’s a failure disowned him and what did
he want to do keep going with his
business he wanted to keep going the
only person who had take him in was a
guy named Henry who we first worked with
in Philadelphia Henry was one of his
first employees and Henry gave him a
couch to sleep on and a little money to
keep going and Milton Hershey kept going
with his business and now he’s starting
the chocolates
and he eventually made it he turned the
business into something he made himself
into something that he could be proud of
but it wasn’t without a lot of hard work
and sacrifice how far you willing to go
for your business would you spend six
years working those kinds of hours not
seeing any result ending up completely
broke I keep going if you love what
you’re doing and you’re helping people
you have to keep going you’ve got to
find a way but every day you’ve got to
do something to keep growing and growing
your business nobody else is going to do
this for you you have to get up every
day and do something to keep going you
can’t quit we’ve got a few minutes left
in today’s webinar so I want to dive in
and give you some practical hands-on
advice for how to apply the recipe for
survival to your business let’s do a
quick recap first the idea behind this
recipe for survival is to get to the
point where you have enough money coming
in so you have to go back and get a job
that you hate working for somebody that
you hate it’s not glamorous it’s not
sexy you’re grinding it out but you’re
building a base and a platform that will
allow you to grow exponentially and give
you a company that you can be proud of
the three simple rules you need to
follow number one follow your passion
number two models success and number
three don’t quit let’s dig deeper number
one follow your passion again if you
don’t love what you do if you don’t feel
it in your bones then you’re going to
quit as soon as it gets hard you will
not have success as an entrepreneur if
you do not love what you do if you’re
coming and asking questions like how do
I find my passion you are on the right
path so here’s how to do it the best way
that I found you start making a list you
make a list of things that you love to
do things that you can get lost in
things that when you start at nine in
the morning you look up and it’s three
o’clock in the afternoon those are the
things you want to start write that down
any idea that comes to mind next you
also want to think about frustrations
that you’ve had recently and how you’ve
solved them because some of the best
businesses in the world start at around
one person who had a frustration and
they couldn’t find the solution so then
we’d won themselves and then they sold
that solution to other people who also
had the same problem so think about
frustration that you’ve solved recently
and how you’ve done it when you’ve made
your list now we want to think about
value you want to think about helping
people if you want to make money you
have to help people if you want to make
a lot of money you have to help people a
lot so think about the ideas on your
list how much of them can help people
and can help people a lot watching TV
isn’t going to help people playing
computer games isn’t going to help
people what is it on your list that you
love doing that helps people that
intersection where you’re doing
something you absolutely love doing and
you know it’s giving people a lot of
value that’s your winning business idea
start building that idea today you will
achieve success number two model success
again the idea here is you don’t have to
come up with everything yourself you
don’t have to be a genius at everything
you have to be a genius to anything
whatever goal challenge you have in
front of you someone has already solved
it success leaves clues you just have to
go and find them there are two types of
modeling that I enjoy doing the first
are companies within your industry so
when I had my software company I look to
other software companies I looked at
companies like Microsoft and looked at
when they were my size what did they do
when they were trying to drive business
growth like I’m trying to do now what
did they do leave it through
partnerships I applied that strategy to
my business whatever industry you’re in
look at the biggest companies in your
industry and look back to how they got
started look back to how they solve
whatever problem you’re facing today
because chances are you can apply those
same strategies and make it work for you
the bigger the company is the easier it
is to find how they got start in their
story you don’t have to be too specific
my company was biotech software there
aren’t a lot of big biotech software
companies for me to model so I make the
scope
bigger it’s a software in general
because those lessons are still directly
applicable to me and I meet them work
and it pulled my company through and
made me go from making three hundred
dollars a month to build them something
I could be proud of and eventually
selling it off to having huge customers
like NASA and johnson Johnson it’s being
in 30 different countries that all came
from modeling success look at the
company industry and apply their lessons
to your business now the second type of
modeling that I enjoy doing is called
aspirational mentors find people who you
look up to and look at how they got
started even if they have nothing to do
with your business maybe you really like
Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey or
Martha Stewart or Donald Trump whoever
it is the bigger the name the easier it
is to find their story you could be a
marketer like Richard Branson you can
apply what he has done in his career and
make it work for you as well and you
don’t have to look at Richard Branson
and virgin right now but look at how he
got started again look at how he solved
the problems that you’re facing today
and the more you like that entrepreneur
the greater the chances of you being
able to have success and copying their
strategies because you’re going to
believe in it and when you believe in it
it happens so two types of modeling one
will look into companies within our
industry research in their background
and how they got started and applying
their lessons to our company and two
were looking at aspirational mentors
people who we look up to people whose
lessons we want to learn from even it
has nothing to do with our business and
we apply it to our company the third
rule is don’t quit you can’t quit you
got to keep going and I know it’s hard I
know sometimes on a Monday morning it
might be raining outside you’ve had no
sales out last week you just don’t feel
like getting up and going to work you
have to get up and go to work nobody’s
going to do this for you nobody will run
your entrepreneurial dream for you it
has to be you you’ve got to get up today
and go to work and do something to grow
your business if you’re having trouble
staying motivated
there are two things that can help one
you came from somewhere before you would
started this business you were doing
something else we were working at some
job if you don’t get up and go do
something right now to grow your
business you’re going to end up back in
that kind of job and that should be
scary and painful for you you shouldn’t
want that life that should make you leap
out of your bed and go to work and try
to think of specific experiences what
was it about that job that you didn’t
like something really painful pain is a
great motivator maybe your boss called
you out and chewed you up in front of
everybody at the office maybe you’re
doing work that was so demeaning them
beneath you and you couldn’t believe you
were doing that kind of job made you
feel worthless whatever it is think
about those painful points and use that
as motivation because if you don’t get
up and do something that’s going to be
your life again and you shouldn’t want
that and I don’t want that for you the
other thing that can help is thinking
about living with no regrets a lot of
entrepreneurs who end up quitting and
going back to get a job you know might
be a year later they look back and say I
really wish I give it my all I really
wish I tried harder that day when I was
stuck in bed I could have done something
I could have gone and built my business
I could have done something to grow my
company that day and the last thing you
want to have is a life of regret because
you’re going to carry that with you the
rest of your life you’re going to think
back and wonder what else you could have
done to make that business ago you’re
going to see other people capitalize on
the same idea and turn into successful
businesses and know that it could have
been you if you just tried harder and
you didn’t give up you should not want
that life when Jeff Bezos started amazon
com he was 40 years old he was a VP at
an investment bank and he was the
youngest ever VP at the company and he
gave it up to start amazoncom the start
of calm company selling books people
thought it was crazy this was the early
early days of the internet said Jeff
what are you doing
you’re on the fast track here
youngest-ever VP you’re making tons of
money why do what he’s getting rid of it
all to start a book company online
nobody’s going to buy books online
you’re crazy and even though may not
have made the most sense at the time one
of the main reasons that Bezos had to
keep going and he did it was because he
didn’t want to live with the regret he
had to try he had to try because if he
didn’t you would think for the rest of
his life I should have done that now
he’s had a lot of success with amazon
com but in the early days nobody
believed in him and he kept going and he
gave up a successful life to do this you
never want to have an excuse any excuse
for seeing that you didn’t give it your
best you didn’t give it your all because
otherwise you’re going to end up living
in regret for the rest of your life I
hope you guys have enjoyed today i hope
you’ll apply the recipe for survival to
your business again we’re looking to
follow our passion number one model
success number two don’t quit number
three I always love hearing from you
guys I’d love to take some questions if
you want to leave it in the comments
below thank you so much i hope you apply
this to your business and I’ll see you
guys soon
you
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