DUBAI 2 October 2017: Locally, the old perception of the significant components of a startups and entrepreneurial journey, is still gravely misinterpreted and insufficiently actioned.
Historical methods are still applied by entrepreneurs which are no longer effective – they only result in future hardships that could have been avoided, versus current global trends that are the most effective and that are positively embraced as significant keys for transformation.
The reason for this is that core focus is only on the money as follows:
1. Choosing the wrong business – Currently, when starting any new business, the entrepreneur’s core focus is only on how much money can be made. When this is the focus where the venture is not aligned with who they really are, how they can achieve it and their goals, then the money can’t flow. But if they loved what they do that does not feel like work, it takes the focus off the money, so it can flow.
2. Refusing Mentorship – The reluctance to first invest in themselves to acquire more knowledge and experience on the path they wish to persue, which would afford them the time and opportunity to take key decisions to activate their new business now and start later, because they have learnt and realized they are not fully ready; or to make absolute informed decisions to activate their business once equipped with clarity, information and mentorship that they need, simply because learning or mentorship stops you from falling into inevitable pitfalls, especially if you are experienced.
3. Copying any business – Many times, it is a copy/paste business, with no thought, just the awareness that a same type business somewhere maybe in the same city, is successful, so they start the same business, only, it fails abysmally, as it was destined to fail from inception due to the approach. I am not referring to a franchise, just a normal business concept.
My experience is that when entrepreneurs or those wishing to transition from corporate to entrepreneurship connect requesting the possibility of mentorship for their new venture, they expect continual communication for advice and guidance free of charge. An experienced mentor will tell you that you have no idea of the magnitude of life lessons, money, investment into continual emergence of information, knowledge and experience they had to commit to and sacrifice to be in the position to offer you invaluable mentorship today.
Most of us in this position, simply did not just lucky, we had to earn our stripes the hard way. Today, you are extremely fortunate to be afforded this opportunity at the push of a button, where most are not taking advantage of the available resources.
The nuggets mentioned below are already saturated in countries like the US, UK, Canada and even Asia, where entrepreneurs don’t ponder over the investment amount, they do what they must do to source the funding, because they have come to understand the value. But here, entrepreneurs will frown upon investing $5,000 on a personal mentorship program, yet they will take the same money to purchase a Versace bag that will be used a few times, otherwise just lying unused in the cupboard most of the time. Therefore priorities for what you wish to achieve are key in entrepreneurship, regardless of whether you can afford the bag or not, that is irrelevant.
It has been an extremely difficult task to convince entrepreneurs to equate the value of investment in themselves versus the example mentioned above, because you cannot equate the knowledge, information and experience of a mentor with over 40 years of nuggets, to a materialistic purchase that will never serve your life and elevate you to the success levels you dream about.
We spend money so easily on tangibles we hardly use, that makes no sense and has no actual value, so never perceive mentorship, knowledge or experience as a tangible asset as they are all irreplaceable invaluable nuggets that will positively contribute to the future success of your life.
When you wish to embark on an entrepreneurial journey, first search yourself from within to find out if any event or program can be an asset to you on this journey and then it also depends on how much you want this success and how hungry you are!
Successful entrepreneurship dictates a continual emergence of knowledge, information, experience, following global changing trends, game changing, scalability, rising when you fall, maintaining your inner strength, drive and determination and simply never giving up, when your dream is to succeed! You can never acquire enough knowledge or experience, because this contributes to strengthen your creativity, innovative and strategic abilities, If you never spend time with like-minds, you can never grow and if you cannot grow, then you may as well find a job and wait for your salary every month, like clock-work.
I am big on exclusive VIP Mentorship Event days, because they have huge value, simply because it is a closed circle, you benefit from one-on-one mentorship, you meet new exciting entrepreneurs like yourself and get the opportunity to create in unique, sometimes exotic locations that would be a completely new experience for you, but worth the time, effort and investment because you never know it could be your time to unleash your own personal power.
When you connect with the right people, in the right environment at the right time, magic always happens where you won’t find that magic being continually seated in your office, burning your brains on how you will meet your operational costs this month. Simply, the experience will have transformed your way of thinking to no focus on these negative aspects, enabling your own innate gifts and abilities to overcome hurdles.
As entrepreneurs you must be free with your thinking, keep an open mind, be open to possibilities and take the plunge to an adventure that you may love, that will stimulate your creative juices, where you can indulge in work and play and find your true self. But the real nugget is whilst you are emerged in these days, your focus will be off the money, which means there is no time to build resistance, so the money will flow in the form of new creative unique ideas, collaborations, other partnerships, new opportunities and many more, which you can activate immediately to create your money flow.
Daily you witness the success of overseas entrepreneurs who have achieved awesome success and you wonder why those opportunities are not falling into your lap? Do me a favour, ask them how many seminars, or VIP event days or if they have a mentor who helped them achieve the success they have today and you may be surprised. Some may not admit to having mentors, but many high-ticket entrepreneurs I interact with on social media and those are the big names, all have a mentor and have had for many years in their career.
You should understand that your investment in any form of mentorship will be repaid repeatedly and you will wonder why you took so long to make that decision. Key fact is that you can never gain knowledge and experience from a book, or continuing asking advice from people ‘who have never been there’, because most of the time that’s what people do, because they ask advice from those close to them which could be the wrong people.
True success dictates that you step out of your comfort zone, take the risk, invest in yourself, because if you want something you have never had, you must do something you have never done before. You cannot create something new with the old and you cannot progress and achieve success if you are stagnating and that too, with limiting beliefs, because only that will hamper your growth and success.
It’s never about the money, but the decisions you make that will dictate your path. So never blame someone else for your failure, as you created it, the nuggets where there for the taking, only you were focused somewhere else…
Note: Theda Muller is a UAE-based visionary entrepreneur, CEO & Founder of various UAE companies, business advisor and legacy mentor, US trained and globally experienced. She is also an author of two books: Embrace Financial Freedom Volume One: 10 Proven Ways To Release Debt And Emotional Fears In Today’s Economy, and Volume Two: Releasing Fear And Bouncing Back From A Debt Crisis. She also conducts webinars and workshops on debt recovery.