What Entrepreneurial Leaders Are Doing WRONG in Our Industry

business advice entrepreneurship May 17, 2021
importance of showing failure as a leader and giving back, donating as an entrepreneur
 

 

LET'S TALK ABOUT LEADERSHIP

I want to get started talking a little bit about leadership today, because I think there are a lot of misconceptions. And my hope is that we will have a different perspective on what it is to be a leader that we will set an incredible example for our clients and students, and that we will actually all move forward to making this world tangibly a better place. 

 

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I THINK LEADERS ARE DOING IT WRONG.

Here's what I mean...

Scrolling through Instagram, scrolling through Facebook, I can't tell you how frustrating it is. To see entrepreneurs presenting their life as this ideal situation and I get it, we have to make sales, we have to set goals for ourselves, we have to hit those goals. There's nothing wrong with that. {When I was able to get a car because of my affiliate income. I shared that absolutely.}

But what I'm talking about is when you're going on vacation, when you are in the Lamborghini or in the bikini, you're doing all these things, and making it seem like you have the perfect life.

I understand the impulse to share that and to pretty much only share the positive things that are happening in your business.

But I believe that it causes our audience and our students to really emotionally and mentally suffer.

Because if all they're seeing being proclaimed is the perfection that you've achieved, then they feel like they can never ever hit that. If they can never see the struggles and some of the ugliness of your business growth, then when they encounter obstacles when they see some ugliness or some stagnation, they think that they are doing it wrong.

 

WHAT TO DO INSTEAD OF ONLY SHOWING THE GOOD

If you had a challenging team situation, and maybe you had to fire someone, or maybe you're really searching to hire someone, maybe you had a little bit of a betrayal or something bad happened, we've all had those things happen. I'm not saying that you need to air all the dirty laundry online.

How inspiring would it be to our audience, if we said,

"Hey, you know, I'm going through a team transition. And I've never felt so vulnerable or so insecure. Because you know, I just started hiring a team in the last year. And so I'm learning how to lead my team. And there are some things that I failed that and here's a couple of them that I'm going to be adjusting for the next time that I hire."

That's inspirational. That shows someone like wow, like I have that goal that I want to hit, but it's okay if I make mistakes along the way.

We shouldn't constantly present the perfection of our businesses.

Absolutely showcase the wins, but tell of the losses to.

That's our responsibility as leaders.

When we make our business and ourselves look like this unattainable level of perfection, people automatically feel discouraged and disqualified whenever they see us.

A lot of entrepreneurs have failed at this because it's what they've been taught by their mentors.

And we've seen it backfire because when they say something that's a little bit uncouth, a little bit, you know, maybe rebellious or not politically correct, they get attacked. I think it's because they've spent so much time cultivating this perfect image that when it's jeopardized a little bit and the humanity comes through - people cannot handle it.

Show the failures, show people how how to get back up, because that's the most valuable skill.

We have to become excellent at failure to survive not only this business, but the world.

We have to be able to teach our audience how to morph and transform, and fall down and get back up again.

We can't just say, "I made a million dollars with this, I made 500k with this, my funnel brought in this" and not show the process.

People want to see the behind the scenes, they want to know that they can do it too.

And I think that that's something really important that we have to get across in today's society. Because I'm telling you, if I see one more picture of someone that is in the Caribbean, in their bathing suit, living their best life, it's going to drive me a little crazy.

And I'm not saying that you can't go and enjoy a vacation, but also showcase the transformation that you are going through, don't hide that from your audience.

 

GIVING BACK TO CHANGE THE WORLD...NOT JUST YOURSELF

If you're called to this business, if you're wanting to make money with your message, if you're wanting to be seen and be visible, we are past the time in the world where you can just be seen, make money, and run.

And a lot of people say, "Well, I want to, you know, I want to hit this income for me, I want to prove all the haters wrong"... but we are also energetically past that time.

If you feel called to lead with that mission, and to make a difference, and accumulate that wealth...

...it also has to go back into the world to help the world.

There's so much going on right now, homelessness in America, all the different animals and wildlife in the ocean that are washing up deceased, all the different natural disasters that are happening, the cyclone that just happened in Indonesia, the earthquake that happened in Pakistan.

Things are accelerating.

They are hard and challenging.

But if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to stay inside of this space, I'm going to challenge you to start portioning 1%, 5%, 10% or more of your monthly revenue, to go back into the world to help make it better.

We have to be called to this business for a reason, right?

It doesn't really matter how much money you're making if you're not giving back to help the planet.

I believe right now we're called as leaders to do that.

So whatever's been put on your heart:

  • homelessness
  • planting trees
  • bees
  • mothers that are suddenly single parents
  • prison system

Whatever is put on your heart, please start putting a little bit of your revenue into that.

It can be one million or one dollar.

That energetic act will do something.

We can all afford $1 right? No matter where it is. just that energetic act will do so much and you will see growth whether it's personal or financial.

For me it was really, really scary to start giving money every single month.

We have those worries of having worked hard for that money and wanting to keep it.

But I had to put my money where my mouth was right?

And so I just started doing it a little bit at a time. And I'm so glad that I did. Because it makes a difference. You know, every month, my Visibility Lounge students vote for where they want the money to go. And so we've been able to give to all these amazing places all over the world and see that impact.

 

LET'S END IT WITH CHANGE

So wherever you feel burdened, I just highly encourage you, since we're talking about leadership today, to start giving back. 

I think if we all focus on that, it's going to change things. And maybe we have a fighting chance to make an impact across the world where it's needed the most.

We're so inundated right now, and we need to be able to have the strength and the fortitude and the scrappiness and grit to be able to get up and show that example to the world.

So maybe you've been putting up perfect posts.

And that's because the people that came before you put up perfect posts, and you're thinking you know what, maybe I'm going to talk a little bit today about my transformation, or talk about when I lost everything in my business. And what I did to get it back.

Maybe just a little bit more honesty is what you're taking away from this conversation.

Maybe you're realizing like, "Hey, I have had this passion for months about giving back to this place. And now I'm going to actually go and do it."

Any of those takeaways I think are just absolutely incredible. And I would love to continue this conversation outside of this podcast.

So feel free to message me on Instagram, send me a voice note on Facebook, let me know what has struck you most about this episode and what is on your heart and what you're thinking about and processing. I would love, love, love to hear it.

 

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