Expectations are very important. One thing I always remind myself is that business is like baseball. You can bat 10 times and only get 1 or 2 hits. Quitting after 1 at bat is waste of your time.

FYI: If you get SharkTank the TV show in your area, I've heard a Fastlane Forum member will be appearing on the show FRIDAY (tommorow). I won't divulge names/usernames, but he owns a product-based biz in "personal" transportation. 😉 Quite an interesting story as we met @ the last Fastlane Summit, he should do just fine! 👏 🎬

In 2013, when I made a post to Fastlane’s FB page it was routinely shown to 30K+ people within a day. Today in 2021, FB shows my posts to barely 300 people (LOL) and this is a page with 170,000 likes. A big lesson in control: A list controlled by FB is NOT a list you own. Don't work your butt off only to get clowned. 🤡 ~ MJ

Context and environment matters. The geek in high school loser. At CERN or at NASA, he is a winner. A great post at Fastlane about how we act based on our FEARS, but not our VALUES. A great read, plz comment if u enjoy. Have a great week folks. 📝 👍 https://bit.ly/3ryu3zM

Been getting a lot of messages from folks not knowing how to start. CENTS is a great framework, but if you have no experience or money, it might be best to target SMALL WINS. A small win is making your first $100 through some type of hustle, creativity, or effort. Don't let CENTS be destrutive to getting started. More: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/is-cents-destructive-to-action.87503/

It isn't often I can say a book has changed my life, but 2 recently have literally changed my life from great, to awesomeness. They aren't biz related. Those books are The Untethered Soul (Michael Singer) and Letting Go (Hawkins). Several ppl from TheFastlaneForum have also mentioned similar which is pretty rare since Fastlane is a biz forum. Check them out, u won't be disappointed.👍 ~ MJ

sorry that was Letting Go by Hawkins

Interesting hiring experience I had over the weekend. The easier you make it for people to cross the chasm of "interested" to "buyer" the more sales you make. Story here: https://bit.ly/3rR1spi

I'm a control freak & it's a tough balance between control & preferences. The more preferences you have, the more miserable you will be. You can't control the world, the markets & how other ppl respond to you. If you are always trying to bend the world to your will, you will be miserable for life. Control what u can, but surrender the rest. Stoicism+the books I recommended last week help. 😉

A great write up about this concept was posted recently by a forum user... https://bit.ly/3sUWZDo

Think about the last thing you bought NOT based on price, and WHY you bought it. That "reason" was a value skew. The more positive value skew a customer finds in your offer, the more runners you have in the race to sales. Entrepreneurship is mostly about improvement and better value, you don't have to reinvent the wheel or disrupt some industry with some "never seen before" invention or concept. ~MJ 👍

Solopreneur million dollar businesses are possible, but it gets progressively harder as you scale. If we want to grow your biz into life-changing enterprise, ultimately you have to transition from Operator to Owner. (Employees!) As KungFuSteve recently said, work ON the biz more than you work IN the biz. This is something I still struggle with as well!! 🤔 🚧 ~MJ

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/welding-business-failure.99608/

What is the MOST VALUABLE business tool you use for your business? If you'd like to share a great resource, please respond to this text. I will gather the data and report back to the group some responses, especially if some big commonalities exist. We can leverage some wisdom of the crowd.

Some great responses to the (?) What is your most valued business tool? Many of these tools I never heard of, & under further review, the are worth investigation in your business. I've aggregated the data which you will find in the attached image. Blue = multiple mentions, green = several mentions and white = one mention. Enjoy and have great weekend! ~ MJ ✌️🙂

Truth: As you grow and succeed in business, people in your life will either stay with you, fade away, or oppose you. Don't fear leaving people behind who are stuck in old ways, old thinking, and old paradigms. Hard to grow a productive garden surrounded by weeds. Have a great week! 🤩🤠✌️~ MJ

The happiest day of my life was when I realized I never needed a job again. While I was still mostly broke back then, I knew I had the mental tools to win this game. That happiness never abated. Scientific research proves that autonomy (freedom) accounts for up to 50% of your happiness. I can verify, it is true! When the going gets tough (and it will!!) try to remember WHY u r an entrepreneur. 💪~MJ

In many ways, the customer is your boss, but don't be fooled. Bosses can be fired. The old, "Customer is King" is BS. At some point in your business, you will need to FIRE problem customers who aren't worth the time, drama, or $$ that they deliver in value/revenue to your company. I've done it many times including recently. Addition by subtraction! Have a great weekend! 👍🏖️ ~MJ