I’ve had a long series of profound, enlightening business experiences lately.
I spent a couple of days with my wife at Universal and Magic Kingdom and saw how one man with a vision built the greatest amusement marks in the world.
I went to the Tesla factory and saw how Elon Musk (a man with no car background) with a vision has built the biggest electric car company in the world.
I met and saw Naveen Jain, billionaire, who has created a company called “Moon Express”. Moon Express is planning on going to the moon and mining precious metals. He’s also founded and launched “Viome”, what could be the most comprehensive internal flora test on the market.
After those experiences, I realized I’ve been thinking SMALL. I’ve been playing small. Despite having taking 5 companies from zero to millions in revenue — I’ve been thinking and playing small.
I observed and analyzed some of the common threads between all 3 of these world changing entrepreneurs. And this is what this article is about.
Step 1: Have A World Changing Vision
The most obvious commonality between those 3 companies is they have world changing visions.
They’re not trying to make small improvements. They’re aiming to change the world.
One of the most important “side effects” of a world-changing vision is the people you attract.
World class talent can find jobs in thousands of companies. They want to make a difference. They want to work on the coolest projects.
Another “side effect” is attracting a lot of funding from investors. Building a mega vision requires money. Investors looking for big returns know they need to invest in companies having a massive impact to get the biggest returns.
When I was getting started as a entrepreneur in my early 20s, I had mega visions. Unfortunately, I stopped going after them after a failed business experiment.
One of my most painful business experiences ever was when I was around 22.
We were going to build the most sophisticated fitness website on the net. It was going to be automated training program delivery based on your personal profile. Even to this day, no one has really built what I wanted to build.
Armed with a $50,000 investment from an investor, we hired the wrong software company. I spent months and months getting videos and training programs ready.
A few months later, they declared bankruptcy 80% of the way into the project. We were left with some unfinished code and whole lot of resentments.
I didn’t have the tools I have now to process resentments. So what did I do? I decided to bet on sure things. I decided to play smaller. There was less chance of failure.
If someone doesn’t eliminate those painful experiences and resentments from their nervous system, they will naturally (consciously or unconsciously) avoid the potential of repeating that experience. That’s what I did.
So, I built dozens of profitable websites and companies and generated tens of millions of dollars in the last 2 decades. I’m certainly not saying those things were a waste of time. They weren’t. I learned and developed dozens of skills. I evolved as an entrepreneur (which is a key part of step 4).
Step 2: Be Audacious
Audacity is defined as the willingness to take bold risks.
I didn’t REALLY know what audacity was until I met Naveen. Sure I knew the definition of the word, but I didn’t know what it looked like in real life. Now I know.
And it’s impossible to GO for world-changing visions unless you’re audacious.
There’s massive risk in going for a world-changing vision. People are trying to build something that’s never been done. That’s why it’s BOLD RISKS.
There was nothing like Disney World when Walt envisioned it.
Elon Musk took his personal wealth (that he made from selling his shares in PayPal) and started 3 world-changing companies: Tesla Motors, Space X and Solar City. In my books, that quite possibly makes Elon Musk the most audacious businessman ever. At one point he had to borrow money to pay his rent. He literally risked it all. Now he’s worth 17 billion dollars.
Step 3: Walt Disney’s 3 Step Process For Creating Magic
At a Dan Kennedy event a few years back, one of Walt Disney’s top executives shared Walt’s process for making things happen.
It’s been one of the most valuable presentations I’ve ever seen.
I think this process is what separates a lot of the big dreamers and the people can make the big dreams happen.
Phase 1: Dream The Ultimate, Unfiltered Vision
There’s no holding back.
Imagine you have a “God Machine” and you can just push a button and make whatever you want happen. There’s no limitations. There’s no budget restrictions. There’s nothing stopping you from manifesting what’s in your head.
What does it look like?
That’s the process here. You build the ultimate dream… The grandest vision.
Phase 2: How Can We?
Having a big vision is not enough. You need to know how to make it happen.
In the second process, it’s time to start solving problems.
– What systems do we need?
– Who do we need on the team? How are we going to attract them?
– What’s the marketing plan?
– How are we going to create the product?
– How do we raise the funds?
There’s hundreds if not thousands of questions that need to be answered at this phase. The quality of the answers will be dependent on the quality of the people around you. This is why you need to attract a world-class team.
Phase 3: Bring The Critics Out Of The Closet
The most common mistake I see when teams working on creating big visions is that there’s someone who starts playing the critic too early in the process.
Tell him to put the critic into the closet until you’re at this phase. Once you’ve spent weeks and months working on the “HOW CAN WE?”, now it’s time to start questioning everything.
– What can go wrong?
– What can disrupt us?
– Is our marketing going to be effective?
– Do we have enough money?
– Do we have the right team?
– Who are we missing?
– What systems will break under pressure?
Walt Disney could do all 3 processes in his mind.
However he later discovered that most people are only good at one of these phases. So he built 3 teams, one for each phase.
Step 4: Evolve Into A World-Class Business Builder
The final step is to get to work and start building the dream.
In business, The Peter Principle states that people in business rise to their level of incompetence. This is one of the reasons I love business. It requires never-ending evolution.
Being a world-class entrepreneur requires dozens and dozens of skills and abilities. We constantly have to be learning, adapting and evolving. This step alone could be a tome of books.
Since these 3 experiences with Tesla, Disney World and Naveen, I’ve had some major shifts.
In the upcoming months and years, I’m applying audacity and these 4 steps and I’m going for the biggest visions of my life. It’s time.
And more importantly, I hope this article inspired you to start THINKING AND PLAYING BIGGER. This is how you’re going make the world a better place and develop your full potential as an entrepreneur.
