Embrace the pressure
It’s those moments when the pressure is on, and you don’t know how something will work or where you’re going to go that define successful people. You prevail and realize your ultimate vision—reaping the rewards of your stress and hard work—or you quit.
Most will quit.
When I first started my business, I went through six failed attempts within two years before I found success and could repeat it sustainably. Think of spending all your time over the last few weeks polishing a perfect essay for school or an important project for work, but after each session, you find that your work didn’t save on the computer.
SIX TIMES IN A ROW.
Would you give up at that point? Smash the computer? Think the world is out to get you? Few can go through what an entrepreneur has to endure.
I spent over $100,000 on personal development and psychology courses during those two years—$40,000 on online business programs alone. All of my savings were gone, and I had racked up significant credit card debt. Then, in a split-second decision, I dropped my career, friends, family, and girlfriend to follow a stranger from a networking event in Toronto to his business in Winnipeg. I drove 2,229 km (1,385 miles) and paid around $1,000 a month in fees to live there and learn from my new coach—money I didn’t have at the time. To top it all off, I was working for free!
The first night I spent in Winnipeg, I broke down and cried. There were two reasons for this: I didn’t sleep during my 26-hour drive, and I questioned everything I was doing. I’m sure most people would think I was spiralling out of control, putting more and more on the line, hoping my dream would pay off. It wasn’t normal behaviour. I was taking an enormous risk. I didn’t know if I had just ruined everything or if this was the start of something great.
The uncertainty was killing me, yet there was a little voice in the back of my head that wondered if I could be a multi-millionaire or billionaire living the good life. Because somebody will be the next online millionaire—with many more minted every year—and the question, for me, has always been, “Will it be you?”
I’m glad I listened to that little voice. By the time I was 20, I had travelled the country selling and speaking on stage, earned back far more than my $140,000 education startup investment, made over $1 million in online sales, helped investors raise over $1 million of capital for private real estate deals, trained and managed a team of salespeople, was let go from my job, built three successful online businesses (corporate sales coaching, online business coaching, and digital marketing), and helped clients worldwide to develop wealth-creating online companies. The information, knowledge, and skills I gained from these experiences will pay my clients and me dividends for the rest of my life, so the risk I took seems small in comparison.
One decision changed my entire life, and I would never change what I had to go through.
However, there’s something you should know. Making that life-altering decision was the hardest thing I had ever done to that point in my life. Like so many of the people I work with, I was blinded by the risks and the “what ifs.” So, I get it. Joining is scary. Everyone experiences the fear of not knowing if a decision will pay off. That’s why I want you to know Williams Wealth Creation has a 75% success rate for graduated students, and their big decision to join has dramatically changed their lives for the better.
By definition, an entrepreneur is an individual who takes on greater than normal financial risks to run a business. When I laid everything on the line, I felt like no one could stop me. And nobody could. I wanted success, and I was willing to do whatever it took. So, the fear didn’t matter to me anymore, nor did what people thought. I also proved that the upside of winning far outweighs the downside.
There’s no denying that most successful people go through a lot of bullshit and hard times. They have to sacrifice and take significant risks to get to where they want to be. My point is that this road isn’t easy for anyone, but it’s doable.
The process begins with acquiring the proper mindset and being less connected to material things. You must understand what spending money to make money means, and be willing to do what others won’t or would consider ludicrous or crazy. Being strong is a large part of being successful. Trusting yourself, your team, and the world is something you’ll just have to do, even if you don’t know how or don’t have 100% certainty—because no one ever does.
The most successful people in the world have the same fears and problems you do, and they have had since day one. That doesn’t change because you can’t predict what will happen. It’s only through looking backward that you can understand what happened and what you should have done better. So, in those moments that you begin the enormous life transformation to build a real online business, remember the world will test you with such immense pressure that you’ll know whether or not you’re an entrepreneur.
Pressure creates diamonds. It’s the final stage. The hardest. The longest. And it’s where 99% of people give up.
If you’re strong enough, trust enough, and don’t quit when things are hard, you’ll do great things.
