An Entrepreneur’s Most Frequently Asked Question. “Am I going to make it?”

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” – Anonymous

“Am I going to make it?” This is a question we all ask at least once in our lives. We all have goals and aspirations that we wish to achieve, but the question that needs to be asked instead is “What do I need to make it?” As an entrepreneur, I along with many others, face this question on a regular basis. In order to alleviate these doubting thoughts, I have lived and developed a foolproof criterion that assures the success of an entrepreneur. If you meet all five points of the criterion listed below, then I can undoubtedly assure you that YES, you will make it!

Dream

First and for most, do you have a dream? Your dream will be the destination of your entrepreneurship. Is your dream crystal clear? A crystal clear dream shows you exactly where you want to be. Having this type of a dream becomes uncontainable. It is something you can’t wait to share with others. The excitement is contagious, resulting in others wanting to to be a part of your dream. In sharing my dream with others, I have gained a sense of purpose and direction as I leverage building a successful team and business around me.

In order to stay focused on my dream, I use a “Dream Board.” A “Dream Board” can be a physical and or mental manifestation of your dream’s details and characteristics. I love to hear people describe theirs. Often “Dream Board” objectives are focused on getting a dream car, a home, a vacation, or some form of monetary gain. My “Dream Board” was like that until I received coaching and identified that the objective needed to be changed. It shifted from measuring success with possessions to measuring success with my personal growth.

My “Dream Board” objective became about WHO I WANTED TO BECOME. My perspective and thoughts on success had been transformed. This transformation of objectives is an amazing journey. I recommend that you take your dream to a whole new level. Review your perspective and challenge yourself to project 5 to 10 years into the future in your “Dream Board.” With this move, you will experience an incredible shift in your outlook. I believe that the number one reason for my success up to this point as an Entrepreneur is that I constantly challenge myself to be the person I want to become. I am striving towards a better me, every day.

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ― C.G. Jung

Purpose

 “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

        Do you have a purpose? If your dream is filled with purpose, you are one step closer to its manifestation. Your purpose will act as the fuel that will propel you towards your dream’s destination. It is crucial to understand that your dream is the destination you are journeying towards, but your purpose is your momentum that fuels your life eternally. Ultimately, not only should your dream be filled with purpose, but your life as well. A purpose driven life is a productive life.

The next step would be to ask yourself, why is your purpose important? Understanding the WHY factor of your purpose can help you attain the WHATs and the HOWs. For example, what do you want to fulfill with your purpose? What impact do you want to make? What transformations do you want to ignite? And lastly, what drives you and your dream? Once you have identified what your purpose is composed of, then you can easily act on how to implement your purpose in your life. Identifying these things will help develop a solid foundation for your purpose. As an entrepreneur, every step you take should be purpose driven and bearing fruit.

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.” 
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Passion

       Do you live your life with passion? A successful life integrates passion into one’s work and personal life. The passion in your life is the fire that lights and warms your way towards your purposed filled dream. Nothing significant has ever taken place without passion. As an entrepreneur, I must love everything I do; otherwise, I have set myself in the opposite trajectory of success. With love and passion, anything can become attainable, bearable, and possible. If you put your heart into your work and into your dreams, I can assure you, you will succeed. When living and working with passion, your life and life’s work is filled with value. Not only are you gaining and building value for yourself, but also you end up adding value to other peoples’ lives. This is the power of a passion driven dream. When gold is put through fire, it comes out purer, brighter, refined and even more beautiful. Treat your work, goals, dreams and even yourself as such, put your self through the fire of passion and bear witness to the remarkable results.

“I try to live my life where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to choose the road that I have the most passion on because then you can never really blame yourself for making the wrong choices. You can always say you’re following your passion.” – Darren Aronofsky

Ability

       Are you able to bring your dream to fruition? Is it in your power and capability to take on the tasks at hand to make your dream a reality? Here is the moment of truth. You must be honest and self-reflective. Being reasonable and realistic is key. Your abilities are the tools you need to use to attain the success you are striving for. It is like the engine you will utilize to reach your destination. If you are not built for a specific cause, then it is futile to reach from something that isn’t meant for you. For example, at church, I like to sing loudly; nevertheless, I do not have the vocal cords to sing nicely. My daughters always taunt me humorously and request of me not to sing with such fervor. I am not designed to sing. No matter how hard I try and how ever much time I spend on developing my voice, it could never become excellent. Working on weaknesses can only result in small changes; with all my efforts I could only become an average singer. Therefore I believe in developing one’s strengths. If you are already well equipped with certain abilities and gifts, then why not invest in them. When in pursuit of success, realize this fact, identify your abilities and act accordingly. With the right engine, you can reach your destination.

“Ability without dependability is a liability” -Shiv Khera

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

Attitude

       Last but not least, do you have the right attitude for success? I am always emphasizing that you need to work more on yourself than on your job. This increases the value you put on yourself and thereby affecting the value that others are willing to put on you. The best way to improve your own worth is by enhancing your own attitude. When on the road towards success, your attitude will be the speed at which you travel. With the right attitude and mentality, you can make all the right choices, make all the right impacts, meet all the right people, and gain all the right advantages. Ultimately, you are your own greatest challenge. If you can overcome your own weakness with the right attitude then success if a given.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us.” – Earl Nightingale

If you were able to identify with all five points of this criterion, then I would like to say Congratulations! If you have a dream, a purpose, a passion, the ability and the right attitude, then you are set for success. If you found in yourself an area of weakness from within this criterion, then focus on that point and strengthen it. Stop looking and start doing. If you meet and exceed these five criteria, you are unstoppable. You will make it, assuredly as an entrepreneur, or anything else you wish to be.

Please share the article and leave your comments for me.

Farshad Asl

“Few things will pay you bigger dividends than the time and trouble you take to understand people. Almost nothing will add more to your stature as an executive and a person. Nothing will give you greater satisfaction or bring you more happiness”. ~George Kienzle and Edward Dare (from Climbing the Executive Ladder)

Some things to think about:

“How are you doing when it comes to being relational?

Do you spend a lot of time and energy building solid relationships, or are you so focused on results that you tend to overlook (or overrun) others?”

Do you know what motivates the members of your team? How can you help them to achieve their goals and desires?

What can you do to help make our “team” experience better and more enjoyable?

We humans are social beings. A great deal of our happiness, success and experience in life rely on interaction with other people. It is through our contact with others on a daily basis that we acquire knowledge, learn skills, develop our goals and capture the chance at a better future. Meeting one person can unlock possibilities we never knew existed. Unfortunately, in today’s world, socialization is becoming less and less common. We create excuses that stand between us and other people; excuses that separate us from the happiness and the prospects these people can present. In my upcoming book “No Excuses Mind” you will learn how a “No Excuses” mindset can help achieve our goals in different areas of life, but how can a “No Excuses” mindset in social relationships change our lives?

What’s your excuse?

I frequently go to Starbucks and find people standing in line waiting for their coffee. They are surrounded by many people they could connect to, but instead of discovering these people, they are glued to their phones. Everybody is more focused on updating their Facebook profiles than on interacting with those around them. As gripping as modern technology is, it has made it very easy for us to forget to connect to people. We have become addicted to social media, and we let that addiction distract us from pursuing real relationships with real people. These technologies and ‘social’ outlets are excuses keeping us from getting out there, connecting with others and seizing the opportunities that come with socialization.

In our fast-paced culture, we have even found ways to take socialization out of social events! Instead of going to church or temple, many watch the services on television. People buy a seminar tape and watch it instead of attending the seminar. These alternatives don’t feed our human needs to socialize, be part of the community, form relationships, and make friendships. Our dependence on technology causes us to miss on that important part, and we find ourselves unhappy and unfulfilled.

When I go to Starbucks, I high five people. I go there and I enjoy people just like I enjoy coffee. I connect to several people during these few minutes I spend waiting for my coffee. Not only is this rewarding to me on a personal level, it is essential to my growth professionally. It’s all about relationships and your ability to build them.

Relationships and Career:

Take a step back and think about the best sales people you have met. What makes them good? The best enterpreuners have one thing in common: they connect with their clients. A good sales person customizes her approach to make a connection, to communicate and to form a relationship. I have been a sales professional for 17 years, and I can tell you that sales are all about relationships. People don’t only buy the product, they buy you as a salesperson. You sell them the relationship you form with them. Sadly, people are losing the touch, the ability to connect and socialize with other people. With that loss, they are losing chances at a whole new level; they are losing the horizons that entering a social circle can open up.

Social media may be a great marketing tool, but it is personal connection that benefits a relationship. Mass emails are perfect for business, but one-on-one contact is what really builds a professional relationship. Each of these things has its right time and place, and recognizing the difference is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, what we do is use one of these communication tools to replace another. We often create relationships for purposes that benefit our business goals. In the process, we fail to recognize the benefits of friendship, and relationships. I had the honor few years ago to have the CEO of our company visit our offices in CA. We had a great time discussing some of our successes and some of the challenges in business. After a few days, I was absolutly amazed when I received his handwritten note, thanking me for the time I spent with him. I still talk about it even today with my team members, and talk about the impact of his beautiful gesture.

Although modern technology has opened up so many possibilities to business, it has also created one of the biggest traps we fall into in our relationships. We falsely believe that email, text messages and social media can replace the personal touch.

Social media and texting are simply not enough. When I have the chance to meet the person or make a phone call, I will. I will do that because texting and using social media cannot replace the value of the relationship; they are good things, but not good enough.

Adapting to new forms of communication is essential, but it doesn’t mean that giving up the things that work, the things that give the most effect. We have to make the distinction between the situations that call for each method of communication.

I believe the misuse of these new communication methods is an obstacle. Before these tools were invented, people had fewer psychological problems; they were more relaxed. Professionally, we saw more success stories.

What do I want in my day-to-day relationships with others?

How can I relate better to others? What steps can I take to invest in people’s lives?

What will my life look like when I invest in relationships?

“A relationship without trust is like having a phone with no service. And what do you do with a phone with no service? You play games”

“A good relationship is more than something we want—it’s something we need to be our happiest, healthiest, most productive selves. But at home or work, supportive, fulfilling relationships don’t come automatically. They take an investment in time and energy as well as social skills that can be learned.” Trust and relationships are the currency of leadership.

Farshad Asl, Bankers Life, Regional Director

“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”

-William Arthur Ward

It was a couple of days before Christmas, and I was driving to one of the offices when I received a call from my doctor insisting I see her right away. A couple weeks prior, I had a very small bump removed from my thigh as part of a routine check-up. I’d had this small growth for some time and didn’t think anything of it. Despite the doctor’s insistence, my reaction was to put her off, not taking her request seriously. I was focused on getting to the branch and reminded her that I was very busy going so far as to suggest seeing her next year. Against my better judgment, I drove to her office.

“Adversity can signal a coming positive transition IF we respond correctly to it.”

I was told that the small bump I’d ignored for so long was cancerous and could have possibly spread throughout my body. To make matters worse, I couldn’t see an oncologist until after the holidays and New Year’s. I felt like everything had come to a complete stop and was sitting in a void without sound or feeling. This was the first time I’d heard of anyone in my family having cancer, let alone where to begin or how to deal with it. I had been so focused on work and now it was the last thing I could think about.

“You need to know yourself to grow yourself”

Saying I was overwhelmed with the situation was an understatement. All I could do was worry and reflect on life. I wondered if I had told my wife and daughters often enough or how much I loved them. Had I told my team members at work how much they meant to me and that I valued working with them? I also realized that a tremendous shift was occurring within me. I began to realize that I’d been too busy to think about my life. My entire focus had been on others and work. Now the paradigm was shifting and a new perspective was unfolding.

“I feel God wanted me to reflect for the two weeks before finding an oncologist. It was much more than removing cancer, it was an important life changing opportunity as well.” 

What once seemed important didn’t matter anymore. Previously being busy at work had changed to being efficient. Communication had transitioned to connecting with people. I realized that striving for quality time and not quantity, was the best time spent with my family. It became crystal clear that spending time being busy with others was empty and now wanted the time to create memories. I was taking a stern look at how I had placed a lot of value on success. That too had changed with my need to live a life of significance.

“There are seasons in a leader’s life when adversity, failure and hardships seem to be the only thing we encounter. It may feel like we can’t catch a break.”  

Fortunately, I had the cancer removed and learned it had not spread throughout my body. From this experience, I had a profound life change.

I’ve learned to think of challenges not as being bad or a setback, but as an opportunity to grow and take action. For some, challenge is a roadblock and an easy way to give up. Challenges are part of our everyday life, some greater than others.

Lessons Learned From Adversity:

–When you encounter adversity, take a step back, assess the situation and determine best next steps.

–Remember why you started on the path in the first place.

–Overall, “Adversity writes our story and if our response is right, the story will be good.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/farshadasl

And more… 

So often we find ourselves excited about the prospect of starting something new. Human nature requires that we break large task down to a manageable size with the tendency is to avoid being overwhelmed and limiting our success.
Let’s see if this applies to you? We’ve created a short questionnaire to assess how effectively you manage your time. Take a moment to answer the 18 questions below. Add up the points to see if you score 5 or higher, indicating how well you utilize your time. If you score 4 or below, you might review how you’re approaching projects. Be honest with yourself as this is meant to be helpful.

OK, Let’s GO:

1. Are you laser focused on the project without distractions? (+1 point)

2. Do you find yourself being distracted with other things instead of starting on the project? (-2 points)

3. You work hard but feel uncertain that you’re getting the right

information. (-2 points)

4. You work hard and feel good about what you’ve accomplished. (+1 point)

5. You have limited yourself to 3 projects and put all your effort into getting them finished successfully. (+1 point)

6. You have a lot of catching up to do and have 15 different projects to finish. By the end of the day nothing is done. (-2 points)

7. You take action to get the job done. (+1 point)

8. You talk about your actions, but never really get started. (-2 points)

9. You give 50% effort because you’re apprehensive about committing to the project. (-2 points)

10. You give 100% effort to the project. (+1 point)

11. You celebrate after the project is completed. (+1 point)

12. You celebrate before you begin the project. (-2 points)

13. You try to figure out a plan while you’re in the midst of

the project. (-2 points)

14. You have a clear plan before you start. (+1 point)

15. You are inconsistent in working on your project. (-2 points)

16. You are consistent and make good progress. (+1 point)

17. You have clear goals to accomplish. (+1 point)

18. Your goals are not clear or you haven’t set them up. (-2 points)

As an example, see if this situation or something similar has happened to you. How did you handle it?
 You’ve decided to assemble a desk or computer stand. The project comes with instructions and over 200 parts, some you have no clue what it is. If you find yourself with the objective to finish putting it together in an evening, make a plan. 1. Confirm you have the space, all the pieces and tools necessary to put it together and no distractions; 2. Carefully read the instructions to ensure it makes sense, 3. Carefully assemble the computer stand step-by-step as noted in the directions. If you begin to second guess yourself and decide you’ve never done anything like this before, you can easily talk yourself out of succeeding. Stay focused and see how much you can accomplish.
Statistically 32% give up – determining that they don’t know how to do the task. They often create “busy work” that derails their success.
Time management is a powerful tool that allows everyone to achieve success no matter how great or small the task.
Allow yourself to recognize the size of your project. If it is big, so may be the challenges that you meet along the way.
”We all have the same 24 hours in a day to get the job done” – Farshad Asl

Time Management

You hear people say “there aren’t enough hours in the day”. Managing your time is an art. It requires discipline and consistency. The main thing to remember is that we all have 24 hours in a day. Successful people like Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln all had big goals to accomplish and all had the same 24 hours in a day.

Some people  accomplish more, some will accomplish less and some may never accomplish anything. If I ask you what you are going to do for the next 60 days, you probably will give me your plan. But if I ask what you would do in the next 60 days if this were your last 60 days of life, the answer would most likely be different.

The key to productive work and successful life management include:

“Sense of Urgency” – Treat each day like it will be the last to do what’s important. Act immediately – because procrastination kills momentum.
“Power of 3” – There is an amazing power in preparing yourself mentally, physically and emotionally. Remain laser focused, ready to take action and remain passionate in the belief you are doing something important to succeed.
“Prioritize” – Select 3 projects for the week or month, based on the size of the project
“Patience” – Don’t get ahead of yourself – anything worthwhile doing, takes time.
“Write Your Goals” – When you write your plan, project or goal down, it becomes real, actionable and measureable. You are committing to getting the project done.

“When it comes to productive work and the management you do everything with intent and purpose.” – Farshad Asl
Share your project with someone. Make yourself accountable and share what you are doing with others. Be aware of the uphill road, taking a look at every challenge as an opportunity. When the challenge seems larger, it’s probably because your project is larger.

Productive Work
 You are laser focused
 You work hard and feel good about it
 You have 3 projects and put all your energy into all three and finish them successfully
 You take action
 You give your 100%
 You Celebrate after the project is done
 You have a clear plan before you start
 You are consistent
 You have clear goals

Busy Work
 You are all over the place
 You work hard but you feel lost
 You have 15 different projects and by the end of the day nothing is done
 You only talk about your actions 
 You give 50%
 You celebrate before even starting and you never finish timely
 You try to figure out a plan while you start
 You are inconsistent
 Your goals are not clear

Lastly, get rid of your “To Do List” and start your “To Stop List”. When you change your habits, the world around you will change.

I am LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/farshadasl

It’s a special time to celebrate, reflect and remember how truly blessed we are to live in America. It was 238 years ago that our fore-father’s fought for our independence. To this day, many fight for their democracy and seek freedom in this great land. I am so grateful to live in a country that promotes the growth of the human spirit to succeed in all that we do. From my family to yours, we wish you a safe and joyful celebration this 4^th of July – “Happy Birthday America!”

I am LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/farshadasl

And more…