How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur With John Lee Dumas
Lindsay (00:01):
Welcome back to another episode of the book, your dream clients podcast. I am so grateful you are with us today because we have a great episode with John Lee Dumas. I asked him all of the questions that I had in my mind when I started my business. So I think you're going to really like it. Sit back, relax and enjoy.
John (00:50)
Yo!
Lindsay (00:53)
John, thank you so much for being on the book, your dream clients podcast. I'm so excited you're with us today.
John (00:56):
Lindsay, I am fired up to be here.
Lindsay (00:59):
I have to tell you something. You are a disruptor on her podcast. You are the first male guest we've ever had.
John (01:05):
I love it. I love breaking down walls and breaking barriers. Let's make it happen.
Lindsay (01:11):
Well, this is a good way to break it. So I decided I started listening to you years ago when I first started my business and I had some questions that I had to tap into the back of my mind. What was Lindsay wondering and thinking when she was listening to somebody so opposite of her, I, I was intimidated to listen to you at first. You're very outgoing and I'm the definition of an introvert. So it was like, you really pushed me to do things and push myself forward. So thank you. So I tapped in and I thought, what should I ask you? And I'm going to ask you the questions that I wanted ask you years ago. Is that okay? Yeah. All right. So one of the things that came to me right away, and I hear this from my clients all the time is this is taking for ever, when will it be my turn? So how do you encourage people who are just starting? And they think that just because they have the website and the social media platforms nothing's happening and they're doing something wrong, what do you say to them?
John (02:09):
I mean, number one, I get it because listen, we all want it. Like, we want that dream house. We want that dream life. We want that financial freedom, that location freedom. We want that time freedom. And the reality is if it was easy, everybody would do it. Everybody would have it. Everybody would be living it. And then it, frankly wouldn't be special because it would just be how everybody is. And it's just one of those things that I always love to say is that the higher, the barrier, the lower the competition, you know, putting up a website, you know, doing a couple episodes of a podcast, you know, putting a couple of things on a social media, that's a low barrier. And that's why there's a ton of competition because everybody can do it. And a lot of people do. It's the people that figured out, Hey, that's a high barrier over there.
John (02:59):
And I'm going to find a way to get over that high barrier because the higher, the barrier, the lower the competition, if I can find my way on the other side of that barrier, I'm going to look around and be like, where is everybody? Well, they're still like trying to get over that barrier or they've given up. There's no, absolutely no traffic on the extra mile because nobody's taking that extra mile and listen, just because you're busting your butt and you put your website up and you've done a few other things over a couple of months. That's not going the extra mile. The extra mile is still showing up consistently and doing that in two years and four years in six years, I'm into the eighth year of showing up for entrepreneurs on fire and back in 2012 and I was starting and I looked around and I said, okay, I see that there's a lot of people that want this type of dream life that I also want as well, which I did not have a super high barrier, well doing a seven day a week podcast, a daily show, nobody was willing to even try to overcome that barrier.
John (04:00):
Nobody's even willing to try to climb that. And I said, you know what? I might fail trying to climb that barrier because there's a reason why nobody tried it cause it's hard. But if I find a way to do it, then think of the reality, like think of the opportunity, think of the fact that I will be immediately the best daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. I will immediately be the worst daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs because I'll be the only daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. And that's the route that I took. And it's still, even with that high barrier overcome, it still took me 13 months of grinding to get to what I considered like decent revenue. And, you know, once we did kind of turn that corner, a snowball effect did, you know, come afterwards. And now for 81 months in a row, we've been netting over a hundred thousand dollars, every single one of those months. So we've been very financially successful for a very long time, but man, it was scary at the beginning. It was tough. There, nobody could see the future. You did not know the direction you were going, but I didn't know. One thing that I was committed to doing the first daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. And so for anybody listening right now, what is that one thing that you can find this, that massive barrier that you want to overcome? Go tackle it.
Lindsay (05:26):
I love that. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on all of your success. It's so inspirational. Thank you. You've had to have those days where you're like, Oh my gosh, every day I might crazy. What was that like? Okay, I'm doing it for this one reason. This is the only thing that was keeping me going. Cause we all have those days.
John (05:43):
Absolutely. Those days are, are still having to this day. I mean, you know, I wake up and I'm like, Oh my God, today's going to be brutal. But you know, that's the reality is that whenever I face one of those moments, whenever I have one of those days, like, you know what? I could look at this as a negative and be like, this is going to be so tough. Or I could say to myself, which is the path I always choose. Wow, thank goodness. This is tough because this is exactly why everybody else quits. This is exactly why everybody else can't hack it. This is exactly why I don't have any competition in the niche that I chose of daily podcasting, because it is so hard. It is so difficult. You know, I just got done last night, actually watching the CrossFit games and I'm like, Holy crap, those people are on another level.
John (06:31):
They are training 365 days a year. And guess what? I can never do that because I don't have the passion. I don't have the desire. I don't have the skills. And guess what many of your listeners shouldn't and don't want to do a daily podcast. And they shouldn't because that's not what they're passionate or expertise or curiosity lies. But man, when you find that thing, like those CrossFit athletes found their thing. Like I found my thing, then it just not saying it becomes easy, but now you have that North star and now it's just putting in the work.
Lindsay (07:04):
So when did you decide that this is what I'm going to do and how did, and you had to have felt really excited when you knew this is going to be my path because we all have a different path.
John (07:14):
How did you get to the point where you knew that this was it? So it was 2012 and I was really excited about the content that I was consuming. I was reading a ton of books on business and entrepreneurship. I was going to some great conferences. I was researching a ton of great people. And then I had to just ask myself, like, what's a one thing that I really wish existed in this world that I'm now living in that doesn't. And immediately I was just drawn to the fact that I was always complaining and being disappointed with the fact that the podcasts that I loved listening to the handful that were out there that were interviewing entrepreneurs were only doing it once a week or twice a month. And that I was having to wait so long for that next episode, when I wanted to consume content nonstop. And I said, man, there has to be a daily show. And then it wasn't. And that's when I said, I'm going to be the person that creates that. That's the moment that I knew. And I did not know what the full staircase looked like, but as Martin Luther King says, you don't have to see the full staircase to take the next step. So I just took the next step.
Lindsay (08:25):
I love that mindset must be so important for you. Was it always important to you? For me? I always thought it was some bogus thing and I never paid attention to it until I realized it actually pulls your pushes your business forward. So what does mindset mean to you in your business
John (08:42):
Without the right mindset? Every day is an opportunity to quit because you're always going to be saying, why am I working so hard? Why am I mentally taxing myself, physically taxing myself, emotionally taxing myself because so much goes into this. But when you have the right mindset and you know exactly what you're driving towards and why you're doing it, everything changes.
Lindsay (09:06):
Oh, totally. What about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone? I know that's when the magic happens, what's the most uncomfortable thing you've had to do in your business that really pushed yourself forward.
John (09:18):
A couple of months into my business, I was being mentored and I was part of Cliff Ravenscraft masterminds. And you know, I was just getting going. I had, you know, a few dozen episodes were released and I was losing another episode every single day, but I was still pure rookie didn't really know what I was doing. I was still figuring things out every single day. And he gets, he sends me an email and he says, John, we just had somebody drop out. That was supposed to be the speaker on the podcasting track at new media expo in Las Vegas next month. Can you fill in for him? And I was like, Oh my God, I am definitely not ready to do it. I've never spoken about podcasting to anybody. I barely know how to podcast myself, but you know, I, I knew an opportunity when I saw it.
John (10:06):
So I said, absolutely let's do it. And I knew that I just would figure it out later. And I can still remember, like, to this moment, like just pacing my hotel room, that the minutes before I was supposed to be on stage, like literally memorizing every single word I was going to say. And it was like so much work and I was up there and I was so nervous and shaking a little bit. And I was just like pacing back and forth and has, was just a really uncomfortable, struggling experience. But it was so powerful because, you know, I realized at the end of the day, it wasn't that bad and that I was actually looking forward to the next time that I could get up on stage so I could get a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better.
Lindsay (10:51):
Yeah. I think those uncomfortable situations are like hopping out of your old shell and getting into a new one and you have to just get used to the atmosphere and you know that it will, it will always work out for you. Totally. Okay. So people who are just starting their business realize that maybe this is the next move for them, or maybe they need to dust off the old one that they've had laying around. What's your advice to that person? Who's just starting.
John (11:15):
You need to identify your big idea. So many people make the mistake of just saying, Oh, like, look at what Lindsay's doing, or look at what JLD is doing. And they do like weak, pale imitations of that. And then they wonder why they don't succeed. What they need to do is identify their big idea. And the way that you do that is you go through an actual process. I can't go through the whole thing today because I actually have a free 60 minute training. You can definitely share with your audience. It's at your big idea.io, completely free 60 minutes. You'll get to your big idea where you really understands, Hey, on one side of things, what am I passionate about? What am I curious about? What am I excited about? But then on the other side of things, what do I actually have value in?
John (12:02):
Like, what value can I give to the world? What skills, what expertise have I acquired over the years? And then how can you combine those things together to find your zones of fire? And then one of those zones of fire lies, your big idea. And that big idea is then what you can go all in on. That's the focus that's where you need to start. And that's what you need to get to. Because once you have something that you're excited about that you're curious about, but then you're also adding value and knowledge to the world. And that's the start of your traction, because guess what? You're not going to get tired of doing it after three months, because you're excited about it. You chose it as your passion, but also, and this is the key. It's not just a hobby where you're just passionate about it. It's also adding value to the world. So as a result, you're actually building an audience around that and that audience will turn into your business.
Lindsay (12:54):
I love that. It's not about the money. It's about making an impact with the things that you love and just making the world a better place. Thank you so much for being on and sharing all of this with us. I know everyone's gonna love it. We'll definitely put that link in the notes so people can go and tap into therapy idea. Thank you again. I appreciate you being here with us,
John (13:14):
Lindsay. It was so much fun. Thanks for having me on and best of luck with everything. Take care.
John Lee Dumas is the host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, an award winning podcast where he interviews inspiring Entrepreneurs who are truly ON FIRE. With over 2000 episodes, 1 million + listens a month, and seven-figures of annual revenue, JLD is just getting started. Visit EOFire.com to set YOUR Entrepreneurial journey ON FIRE! Get access to John's free training: http://yourbigidea.io/