The #1 Piece of Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

From the desk of Elijah “The Realist”

Location: Saigon

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I recently received this email from an excited and aspiring young reader:

Uncle Elijah!

When I signed up for your emails my entire life changed. More specifically, when I read some of the books you recommended (rich dad/poor dad and think and grow rich), I developed a new outlook on life. Every morning all I want to do is better myself, increase my financial literacy, and ultimately increase my passive income. I’m writing this to thank you and encourage you to keep at it. I’m also looking for a few tips to help me avoid beginner mistakes in my journey to financial freedom.

What things would you have done differently when you first started developing your passive income?

What is your “motto” or code that you live your life by?

What is the absolute BEST piece of advice or wisdom you’ve received in all your years of doing this?

Thanks a lot man. I’m looking forward to your next email.”

OK, you wanted the best, you’re going to get the absolute BEST piece of advice. The #1 HOTTEST piece of advise in the world…..

The #1 piece of advice I give to ALL young aspiring entrepreneurs who want to Succeed is THIS:

Do it pro from the get go.

The attitude you have makes ALL of the difference to your “Luck” and your SUCCESS.

When you say things like “well, I’ll just do it and see how it goes” or “I’ll give it a try and see what happens” you are setting yourself up for failure.

When you say things like “This is what I’m going to do. I’ll sleep on the street before I give up” you are setting yourself up for SUCCESS.

You’ve got to do it PRO from the get go.

That means you need to set yourself up as a professional and not an amateur. Pros are successful, amateurs aren’t.

Pros MAKE MONEY, amateurs make a BUNCH of excuses.

I’ve been a professional at two things in my whole life. I’ve been a pro real estate investor and a pro blogger.

I’ve been an amateur at countless other endeavors.

The difference, the ONE absolutely ONLY difference, between my pro endeavors and my amateur endeavors was my attitude.

I said “I am going to do this” and that’s all there was to it.

In my amateur endeavors, which lead nowhere, I always said “well, I’ll just try this out and see how it works. I’ll give it a shot“.

You know where that LOSER mentality lead me?

It lead me to borrowing money all the damn time JUST to make rent.

I could go pay a YEARS worth of rent tomorrow and not even notice the money was gone.

That’s the #1 MAJOR difference between having a professional attitude and having an amateur attitude.

Do everything the right way direct from the starting line. No if’s or maybe’s.

Doesn’t matter if you are 17 or 57, start your project like a professional or don’t even start it at all.

Set yourself up for success and SUCCESS is what you will get.

The 3 steps for setting yourself up for success every single day:

Work 16 hours per day.

Passive income is not really the correct phrase. Deferred income is a MUCH better phrase.

You do the work FIRST and then you get paid. You aren’t going to make any money if you don’t work for it. Period.

It’s “passive income” only in the sense that it comes to you at all times, whether you are sleeping or awake, whether you have been naughty or nice. But no such thing as FREE income.

Work FIRST… and THEN you shall GET PAID.

The difference between what I do and what Johnny office worker does is TIME.

I don’t get paid for my time, I get paid for my WORK.

Johnny office worker gets paid for his TIME. I do my work ONCE and get paid for a long time afterwards, Johnny office worker clocks in at 9 am every single day just to beg for scraps.

If you want to eventually receive deferred income like I do… then you work 16 hours per day and sleep 8 hours per night and you do that for one year. That’s how you get passive income.

You do a MASSIVE amount of work in the beginning and then you can RELAX and GET PAID.

Live as CHEAP as possible.

I cannot stress this enough. Live as cheaply as possible.

Get rid of ALL of your unnecessary bills. Cable TV, $100 phone contracts, high rent/mortgage, auto loan payments.

Get rid of EVERYTHING that you can.

Stop using credit cards unless you are taking advantage of a points/rewards/frequent flier miles program.

If you can’t afford to pay in cash then do not purchase it UNLESS you need it for business (that’s NEED, not want).

It’s not impossible to go out on your own when you have bills up to your eyeballs but it’s really damn hard and I recommend making it easier on yourself.

Do it pro from the get go.

Whatever your project is always present a professional image.

Always be an authority.

Even if you don’t have a CLUE what you’re doing or even talking about.

Fake it ’til you make it as they say.

If you need to, absolutely, you can do so.

You are NOT a PRO until you are PAID for it, but you can and should always have the mentality of a professional.

When I started out in the real estate investing world I wasn’t a pro.

You aren’t a bona fide pro until you’ve made money and done deals.

Well, I just pretended. I pretended my way through my first few deals. I presented a pro from the get go appearance and was able to do a tremendous amount of deals and make lots and lots of dollar bills.

After several deals I was a bona-fide PRO doing more deals than a lot of other people who had been in the business for years and years.

Fake it, sure, but fake it ’til you make it.

The 2nd part of that phrase is the MOST important.

Do what you’ve got to do until you get to your destination. If you’re not an expert in your field you will eventually become one with time.

If you plan on becoming a SUCCESS then don’t ever present an amateur appearance.

If you don’t plan on being a success then don’t even bother starting.

Put on the big league jersey and leave the little league jersey at home.

Even if you’re a nobody, act like somebody. That’s the attitude of a go-getter.

So if you want something, go get it.

Do some deals and make some dollar bills.

Until next time.

Your man,