Success Secrets From A #Shark

Daymond John came to town recently and I had a chance to watch him being interviewed live. I believe it was either Jim Rohn or Tony Robbins who said success leaves clues. So when successful people share their wisdom, I try to listen with a pen and pad.

With no further delay, here are 10 Success Secrets I learned from The Shark:

1. Don’t Do It For The Money. Business has a literal and a figurative bottom line. Either way, it’s usually expressed in dollars and cents. That makes sense. (No rhyme intended). If you’re conducting certain activities masquerading as a business, but you have no bottom line money, you may not have a business.

That said, The Shark recounted the faultiness of making money your main pursuit. Whether done legally or illegally, the end result is usually emptiness, and sometimes an early grave or jail cell.

2. Become Financially Intelligent. Although money is not the most important thing in life, it certainly ranks up there with stuff like oxygen. Here’s the rub. It won’t matter how much money you earn if you have no understanding of how money works and how to wield it. Take some time to get a financial education or be prepared to get one from the School of Hard Knocks.

3. Keep Your Dayjob Until Your Dream Kickstarts. You’ve heard the advice: Burn The Bridges! Sever yourself from your 9-to-5 so that you can jump into your dream with two feet. Not so for The Shark. He spoke of the discipline he developed working a full time job at Red Lobster, coming home and stitching shirts into the wee hours, getting a few hours shuteye, before returning to work at Red Lobster.

Then he rinsed and repeated this process for three years!

Not only did this routine build personal discipline, it offered stability, a support network of friends at work and the financial safety net that allowed his dream to survive.

4. Set Goals And Review Them Often. Goals are the fuel of success. Think of any achievement, big or small. It no doubt began with a goal of some sort. Logically, it’s difficult to hit a target you can’t see. Goals provide that target. They are also the measuring stick of progress and the juice needed for achievement.

Goals are so important that The Shark reviews his written goals each night before bed and first thing in the morning. He keeps short, medium and long term goals and practices visualizing them as complete. These practices keep his goals top of mind. While he’s working on his goals, they are working on him.

5. Take Time Off To Enjoy Your Success. Success can act like a drug. The more you get, the more you want. Depending upon your definition of success, or the perceived demands of your business, it’s easy to get sucked into a never ending cycle of empire building.

In the end, financial success without the ability to enjoy it is empty. In fact, the ability to enjoy your life must be wrapped up in your definition of success. If it’s not, then you may be failing.

Photo By David Clode Via Unsplash.com

6. Give Back. For some, entrepreneurship is its own reward. If you do it well, you certainly may reap numerous rewards. The Shark is a perfect example of how rewarding a life in business can be.

Perhaps the ultimate reward is the great good that entrepreneurship facilitates. You can make lots of money by growing a business. You make a life by what you contribute with it.

7. You Are Whatever You Focus On. This is a general principle of life. Whatever you focus on grows. So it’s entirely up to you to manage your focus.

You can focus on negative things or on uplifting things; on what you don’t have versus what you do have; on how far you have to go versus how far you’ve come. Take control of your focus and you will shape your reality.

8. You’ve Got To Evolve As A Person. You should not remain the same. As you grow and gain experiences, you must evolve as a person. Tomorrow’s dreams should be different than yesterday’s.

The Shark imagines a day when his next act may be quite different from what he’s doing now. Remain open to the possibilities.

9. Money Is A Great Slave But A Terrible Master. This was given in response to a question about the best piece of advice ever received. A big motivation behind starting or owning a business is freedom. Financial freedom, time freedom, and freedom of choice.

It’s ironic then when the business owner becomes a slave to the business or the money that it generates. It turns the dream on its head. It sucks the joy out of the journey. A good practice is to ask yourself, “Who’s the boss?”

10. Money Is No Substitute For Your Health. The Shark is a cancer survivor. He summed it up with a quote: “The man who has his health as 1000 dreams. The man without his health has one.”

If you’re an entrepreneur then you’ve had the experience of being sucked into the vacuum of pressing work. Time stops, and you can forego eating or even your health. However, the moment your health is gone, nothing else matters.

Thus, you've got to reverse engineer that understanding. Begin with a commitment to your health and to building margin and times of refreshment in your life.

Well said, Mr. John.

About Wayne

Thanks for reading my post. I'm an attorney and Christian minister. I'm also a #keynote #speaker and an author. I write about business, life and faith, focusing on how to know God's vision for your life so that you may fulfill your purpose. You may connect further with me here or by clicking below!