In keeping with the same theme as we discussed last week I’d like to share a little story about a chat I had a few days ago with a very successful marketer. The man in question may not be a household name to all but he is a genuine 7 Figure Marketer who started from scratch and built his business to the point whereby he can live life on his own terms – doing what he wants, when wants, how he wants.
He shared with me some valuable insights into the mind of someone who has become uber-successful and I think you’ll find them as inspiring and motivating as I did.
He had a normal job in the corporate world working the 9-5 Rat Race for a big commercial bank. He didn’t particularly hate it, after all it was a good job and paid well but it’d didn’t excite him and he didn’t see himself staying there for the long term.
Little did he know at the time that he was about to be left go, this came as a shock to him but he tried to look on the bright-side of things and planned his next step. Like a lot of us he has an interest in working for himself and got interested in marketing.
Dreamboard
One of the first things he told be he did was to buy a big drywipe board and he put it up in his make shift workspace at home. He called this his “Dreamboard” and on it he wrote all the things that he wanted in life. Many things would seem far fetched to us like owning a Ferrari, taking wild exotic holidays whenever he wanted, or own his own multi-million dollar business etc. etc.
Bare in mind this coming from someone who had just been told he would soon be out of a job. Fast forward on 5 years and he has achieved every one of those things which he wrote on his Dreamboard – every single goal has been ticked off and accounted for.
I asked him what was the biggest factor in his success and he simply replied – “having the right Mindset”
Remember last week I posted the article with the 75 Most Inspirational Quotes? Well, going by what I’ve since been told having the right Mindset is a huge part of achieving success and I don’t think all of us really appreciate how important it is.
We all know that we have to Plan, we need to set Goals and then work out an achievable course of action that will see us achieve our aims in a certain period of time. But we also need the right Mindset because there will be obstacles, there will be challenges and you will fail from time to time…
But remember what Robert Kyosaki says about Failure?
“Failure defeats losers…but failure inspires winners”
That’s the kind of outlook you need to take in business because it’s not going to be easy. If it was easy then everybody you know would be successful business owners, but in reality this is not the case.
I think one reason for this would be because success rarely happens overnight, sure you might get lucky but the kind of consistent results which come from building a strong business based on sound fundamentals takes time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint…
You should take comfort in the fact that you are putting in the hard work and you are making progress, little by little, week after week. Often I enjoy these little successes more than when something big I’ve been working towards comes off – because I can see these little successes on a weekly basis and they keep me motivated, which ultimately leads me to achieving my BIG ambition.
So to wrap it all up I’d again like to emphasize how important having the right “Mindset” is for your success. You need to believe that you will get there in the end, it may take a little time and you may run into some trouble along the way – but it can be done and you will get there!
Who knows maybe in 5 years time I’ll be chatting to YOU and you’ll be telling about your awesome business and how you built it up yourself little by little and are now enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Hopefully this will be the case, and if it is – what would have on your Dreamboard today? I could definitely see myself in a nice Ferrari…how about you? Leave a comment below and let’s see who has the biggest plans 🙂
Hi Noel,
On my dreamboard is a small cottage on Lake Michigan my father once owned. He’d take us up there on various weekends throughout the year and for weeks during summer. We’d swim, water-ski, have bon fires, explore the woods, ski in Winter. It was paradise. He had to sell it in the ’70’s and now it’s been replaced with a big 2 story house. It’s probably worth between $400-500k now.
It would be nice to approach the owner and give him whatever he wants for it. Then I could tell the rest of my family “I got the cottage back”.
-Karl
That is some story Karl, wouldn’t it be great if in a few years from know you were able to do exactly that? And who knows what the future may bring?
Anybody else got a Big Goal for their Dreamboard? I think it’ll be hard to top that but we can give it a shot…One of the aims on my Dreamboard is to have enough money to be able to travel around the world, spending a little time in different places along the way. Most of my class from uni are scattered all over the Globe now and it would be great to just be able to “drop in” on them whenever I wished.
I think you’re so right – you struggle on week by week and don’t think you’re not going anywhere.
But if you’d done a dreamboard you would probably find that slowly and surely you were ticking them off!
I must go and acquire a board to write my dreams on and see how fast – no, how successfully – I can cross them off!
Hi Jennifer,
That’s the right attitude to have and ya – getting some sort of a board up in your workspace is a great thing to do!
I know this idea of having a “Dreamboard” is a bit airy-fairy but if it’s good enough for those super successful entrepreneurs I think it’s good enough for us 🙂
All the Best,
– Noel.
Hey Noel,
Totally agree with you.. without the right mindset you’ll end being one of the 97% of people that fail online right? (Did I get that number right? I’ve got so many of those numbers going through my head that I get confused – I need to stop multi-tasking and re-read your Productivity Pump post again!)
Sometime’s it gets frustrating though, you see some people having success in a short space of time and it makes you wonder… but then you have to just remember like you said, it’s a marathon.. some will finish before you, some after but the important thing is that you WILL finish..
I’m obsessed with nature, wildlife and travel.. My dreamboard has on it:
A house in Northern Thailand with lots of land and a river or stream nearby. My own rescued elephant sanctuary beside it along with an orphanage for kids. All supported by my online income. Oh, and a husband of some sort (sexy and kind will do) 🙂
Thanks for sharing this great post Noel!
Jas
Thanks Jas – it’s great to see that you’re thinking Big, that’s the only way to go IMO..
I totally get the frustration you feel when you here about someone becoming really successful, really fast but there’s usually an underlying story there. Maybe they just got lucky…or they had some “behind the scenes” help from someone who’s been there, done that.
But for the rest we just have to take it one step at a time and as you said the important thing is that “you WILL finish”
Awesome goals Jas – lets see if anyone can top that 😉
– Noel.
Hey Noel,
I’m not keen on the term dreamboard myself, but nonetheless here it is:
Maserati Granturismo – Summer
Range Rover – Winter
Owning the deeds to my house
Stable full of horses
Cellar full of fine wine
First class travel
Do I win a prize?!
Cheers,
Rich
Hey Rich,
You don’t win a prize I’m afraid but you do have some nice items on your list… Nice to see we have another wine lover in our midst 🙂
All the Best,
– Noel.
Always nice to read something inspirational and always nice to be reminded that small successes lead to your ultimate goal.
Perhaps too many of us get embroiled in this fantasy that success will happen overnight when in reality it is a series of steps that need to be taken. The more we tread the path, the more we work towards the end goals the faster it will come towards us.
I have plenty of things on my dream board, some of them I achieved already without having to be mega rich (such as travelling for three years) but there is still a long way to go for many things on my board. I’m getting there, but my next dream is to finish my book, which I hope to do so in the coming days. I can then tick author off my list of dreams as it will be a reality.
Dee J Kumar
Thanks Dee, as always appreciate your thoughts 😉
And your right “overnight success” is a Fantasy for 99% of people out there. We need to do the little things right, make a plan and regularly take little steps until we start hitting out Big Goals..
Good luck with finishing the book, I’ll be wanting a signed copy for myself when it’s released 🙂
Cheers,
– Noel.
Very nice post,
I do not have a dreamboard yet…
I think it is good to have one in order to keep yourself on track for achieving your goals.
I use an alternative for the dreamboard. A piece of paper with my goals and dreams written on it.
But I think having a visual picture of your end goal is much more powerful to keep you focus than a simple sentence on a pice of paper.
Thanks for sharing
Michael
Hi Michael,
Hey, a piece of paper works perfectly fine too! I think the main thing is to put your goals down somewhere because when you do you make yourself accountable and will be more likely to keep yourself on track!
Thanks for dropping by 😉
– Noel.
Hi Noel,
Having the right mindset is definitely a key factor to success. I’ve had a few ‘dream stealers’ make some unwarranted comments recently. Very sure they didn’t get what IM is about so they can have their 9 to 5 jobs! To me failure is not an option in my quest for online success. Its part of the learning curve.
At the moment on my dream board is a Black 67 Chevy Impala. Yeah, I’m a sucker for muscle cars. And also a new house, holiday and travel overseas again.
Craig
Hey Craig,
I like the idea of that Chevy – would love to get something like that. Ya, let those “dream stealers” enjoy their their boring 9-5s for the next 40 years. Just keep your head in the Game and keep taking little steps forward all the time until you get to where you wanna go.
I agree with how you describe failure as “part of the learning curve” IMO we learn a lot more about ourselves from our failures than we do from out successes, it’s important not to let them hold us back and try use them as some sort of inspiration to drive us forward.
Cheers,
– Noel.
Hi
I agree with what you say. Putting up a dream of how our future will be is something that your dreamboard helps you to do. And when there are pictures of how it looks, that helps even more. Someone I know did this with a picture of their dream cottage… with the view from the window they’d like to have and a few years later found themselves with the almost identical property presenting itself in the real world when they were looking to purchase. Guess what I’m going to do this morning.
That’s so true Aileen, the more I look into it the more important visualization seems to be. It’s def a worthwhile exercise and a great motivator!
Hope your dreamboard is coming along nicely 😉
Thanks,
– Noel.