Cultivating Your Entrepreneurial Mindset (While Employed)

Welcome back to the Infinite Goal Podcast. Today we've got a Friday fuel for you. Your host, Anthony Goldner, and I'll be running solo today. Today we're going to talk about cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset while you're still in the 9 to 5. Personally, still in the 9 to 5. So I've got some experience, I'd say, in discussing this topic as I'm going through the process of in my current job and most likely what the future unfolds. And I got a lot of questions and I've been pondering some answers that can arrive for these questions that I was getting. And this may turn into a 2-part episode depending on how long it goes. As you know, we try to keep these episodes within 20 to 30 minutes. So I want to give you all the juice and all the knowledge and experience and expertise quickly so you can get on with your day. So let's just jump into it. The first question that I have and that I've received is many people feel trapped or complacent in their 9-to-5 What was a specific moment or interaction or frustration within my own 9-to-5 experience that first sparked the realization that I need to start thinking like an entrepreneur, even if I'm not one yet? It all comes down to, for me personally, is I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I've always had the long game in mind. I majored in finance in school, almost double majored in real estate. I just didn't go enough and didn't care enough about school, so I didn't get that second major. But real estate, a legacy, a family legacy's always been at the top of my mind. I always just had that mindset of, you know, we're going to do it in 25, 30-year career. That's obviously been shrunk down quite significantly. And in my mind, that made it shrink down so quickly is I knew I wanted more. I knew I was destined for more. The day-in-and-day-out grind to me just felt like it was monotonous and that there was something more. There was something burning inside me that needed to come out, that I wanted, and there was more to me and more that I could do. You need to find out what is that burning desire, that belief, that purpose that you have, and harness it. If that is for you to continue the job that you're on and that you're in right now, continue it. If that has that idea or that thought of something else, Well, tap into that. What does that mean? What are you truly thinking? What do you truly want? And tap into that. If you want to tiptoe into that idea, that hobby, that thought that you have, do so. You have the time, you have the wherewithal, you have the ability to do it. Just know that, let's just say you sleep for, let's just, 7 hours a day, okay? And then you work 8 hours. Let's give you an hour of Transportation, yes, it could be a little bit more. That's 9 hours of working, 7 hours of sleeping. That puts you at 16 hours, which means you have 8 hours out of your day to do whatever it is that you want to do. If you've got family, tap into that. You got to be with that. But other than that, you have plenty of time to think about, do something else at the same time that you're working. Just think about that. If you think time, you don't have the time, you're wrong. Do a time audit of your days and you'll see that you do have the time to do something else. The next one that I have is we're often taught that a 9 to 5 offers security, that quote unquote word of security. Work here 20, 30 years, you get your retirement, that's your security. How did I shift my mindset to view true security not as a consistent paycheck, but as the ability to create your own value and income regardless of your employer. It's almost hard because I was taught, and it's nothing against my father because he was taught that way as well, is go to school, get a degree, get a job, get a nice paying job, get a blue collar job, work your 20 to 30 years, get that retirement, and then you could do whatever it is that you want to do. That's just, that's not in my cards. That's not in the idea of building a true legacy that lives on for generation after generation. You can't do it that way. Yeah, you can, but it's very minute. It's very hard. And let's be honest, if you're doing that, you're also doing something else on the side. You also have other things going on because your 9-to-5 job will not allow that for you. Also, that whole idea of true security in your paycheck, like things could happen. You could, God forbid, you could get injured. You could lose your job due to medical. Something could happen within the family and you can't go to work. And you can't get that consistent paycheck and that thing just disappears, it's gone. Let's be honest, doesn't matter where you're at, you are just a number. All right, they'll replace you as quickly as you're out the door. So you need to think about yourself. There's just so much you can get paid in a 9-to-5 job. Yes, I understand there's promotions. Yes, I understand that there's pay increases, but it's all capped. Every single position is capped at a certain point. Doesn't matter what you do, you You could be the best person in that position, it's capped. All right? If you're an entrepreneur, that's different. If you're the best at what you do, you could be making millions of dollars. If you're the best salesperson, you can— and you're getting paid commission, you can make an exorbitant amount of money. But also know if you're working for somebody, there is still a cap to it. When you work for yourself, the numbers are through the roof. It could be whatever it is that you want it to be. So just know, just because you have this quote unquote job, this quote unquote 9 to 5, this quote unquote paycheck every 2 weeks, that is not fully and 100% secure. Things do happen. Next question. Let's be real, balancing a 9 to 5 and cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset or even a side hustle is exhausting. Yes. Yes, it is. What's one unconventional or highly effective time management or energy hack I've discovered to make it all work without burning out? This is hard, and I'll be honest, the biggest thing is knowing what is your why, knowing what is your purpose, what are your dreams, why are you doing this, why are you taking on this side hustle, why are you taking on this second job, what's it for, what's the end goal. When you have that in mind, it puts all the worry aside, it puts all of the stress aside. Yeah, you're going to have them, but it limits them, all the anxiety, all the I don't know what's going on. When you just tap into that purpose, tap into that why, tap into you wanting that legacy, that dream, those goals, all of that, it pushes you along. It pushes you past whatever breaking point you thought you have. Your mind is a machine. If you feed it positivity, you feed it what you truly do care about, what you truly do want, your mind will go out there to get it. Your mind will look for opportunities, for options to get that. You're going to push yourself into the direction that you want to go. You just need to push yourself and keep grinding out no matter what it is. An idea also that you always need to take into account is you time. So burnout's going to happen. Burnout can happen in your 9 to 5 job. That's what some people— it doesn't— I don't understand. They're like, oh, you're doing all these things and you're going to burn out. It's like, You're going to burn out on your job too. How many hours of overtime are you working? How many, you know, late nights are you working? That's going to burn you out just as much as someone else doing a side hustle, just as much as me doing coaching or doing other things on the side. You can burn out no matter what. Always make sure that you have time for yourself and do things that line up your day. Do things that excite you. My family, going for walks, taking the kids to the park. These Little things help me forget about all the work, forget about all the worries. Spending time with them lightens up my mood. Seeing Jackson run around and seeing Laney just get that big old smile saying, "Daddy," and running to me, that's what lightens up my day. That's what reduces all the burnout, gets rid of all that. And basically what it does is it reinforces what I'm doing is for them. And what I'm doing, I know is the best route. Because it's going to be for them. It's going to help them out. It's going to give them opportunities that I didn't have. That's what I truly live for. And that's what basically eliminates the idea of burnout. I don't even know what that word is. All right, next question. For many still in a 9 to 5, the biggest hurdle is often self-doubt. Self-doubt is going to, will cripple you. Self-doubt will cripple anybody. You need to check that. How did you personally challenge and overcome the inner critic that whispers you're not experienced enough or you're not cut out for this. Basically, you need to tell that inner critic of yours to F off. Like, get rid of it. All right? The negativity is astronomical in this day and age. One of the things you can for sure get rid of is stop paying attention to the news every second of your day. It's all negative. Negative, negative, negative. The reason it's all negative is because that's what gets views. The more views you get, the more ads you can get. The more ads you get, the more money you make. So let's just funnel everything with negativity. Get rid of it. Get it out of your life. If you focus on positivity, it'll make a world of difference. It'll get rid of that inner critic in your mind. It'll get rid of that self-doubt. Look at success stories. Read success stories. Look at what people went through and look at where they started. That'll help show you that, like, whoo, They started there and they're here. I can easily do it. There's no doubt in my mind that I can't do it. If they can do it, I can do it. Read those success stories. Take a look at those. The biggest thing is the naysayers too. You're going to have them. They're all over the place, the keyboard warriors, the naysayers within your own 9-to-5 job. It's funny. Because there's a saying where it's when someone says to you, like, hey, what if it fails? Like, what happens if it doesn't work out? You just respond, what? You just respond back with, well, I'll just go back to working like you right then and there. That hits hard. Like, worst case scenario, you go back to work. Like, that's worst case scenario. But if you've got the grit, the resilience, the warrior mindset, if you have all that going, you're not going to fail. Okay, you need to push through. Let the naysayers go. Let them talk all the shit that they want. Let them, you know, put all of their self-doubt onto you. Don't let that happen. Everybody who is quote unquote worried about you failing or worried that it's not going to work out or just talking shit and saying that it's not, is because that's their own self-doubt. That's their own negativity coming out because they didn't do what you're doing. They couldn't accomplish what you're going to accomplish, and they're scared as hell, and that's why they're not doing it. So they're going to try to push that onto you and say, you can't do it because I can't. You're not going to do it because I can't do it. All right, let it go. Forget about it. Don't listen to them. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you go into spaces like this. Whatever community, whatever network of friends or people that you had around you A lot of times that shrinks. It's going to shrink at first and then it's going to build back up. And what it's going to do is it's going to build back up with people that are like you, like-minded individuals. That's what happened with me. There's a certain group of people I unfortunately don't hang out with as much because I have a new set of circle that have a different thought process. They have a different mindset. They're looking and they're talking at different levels of wanting certain things. Like, I'm hanging around with people who are talking about wanting private jets, that have private jets, that have 2, 3, 4 different vacation homes. These are the people that you are going to start associating yourself with. And then all those naysayers are going to be left to the curb. And then who cares about them? Like, don't even worry about them. And if that critic is in your mind, get rid of it as soon as possible. Again, the best part of— the best way to get rid of that critic within your own mind too is having faith, having optimism that it's going to work out, having faith that what you're going to do is going to accomplish it. There's hope and you can hope for things. You don't want to be there. You want to have faith. You want to have that faith that, yep, this is going to work. I'm going to get there. All those dreams, all those goals that I have are going to be accomplished because I have faith and I know that I can do it. That's what you want to be. That's where you want to be at. Next up, what do we got here? In a 9 to 5, we're trained to solve problems within existing frameworks. How did you intentionally train your mind to stop just identifying problems and start seeing opportunities everywhere, even in everyday frustrations? Ooh, this is good. And I'll be honest, this one's hard because I battle this one every single day. As a first responder, as a deputy sheriff, I look for problems. I go to problems. That's what my day-to-day job is. So when you go to problems, you're looking for problems, you're looking for solutions for those. So finding the opportunities is a lot harder. But what you got to focus on is if you're not in your 9-to-5 job, and let's just say in your 9-to-5 job like mine is always looking for the problems and putting them out. The thing that's cool about that actually is, is when you go to become an entrepreneur, guess what's going to happen? You're going to run into problems. You're going to have to be putting out fires. So if you're already good at finding those problems, eliciting those problems, finding the solutions, putting out those fires, that's going to help you as an entrepreneur. That's going to help you when those fires and when all those problems come to you, you're like, got the solution. But you also need to have an idea and a thought process of finding the opportunities. This is where The scarcity and abundance mindset comes into play. If you have a scarcity mindset, you're not going to find the opportunities. The opportunities are not going to come to you. Life will not provide you with opportunities if you have a scarcity mindset because those opportunities aren't going to come to you because you're not going to be able to see them. There could be opportunities all around you, everywhere you look, could be an opportunity. But if you have a scarcity mindset, you're not going to actually see the opportunities, even if it's right there, right in front of you, right within grasp, right, right here. If you have a scarcity mindset, you won't be able to get it. Now, if you have an abundance mindset, you have an idea that the sky is the limit, that I can make $1 million, I can make $10 million, I can make 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 figures. It's going to come to you. It's going to manifest towards you. The vision that you have, you will be able to get it because of the opportunities in front of you. So instead of you having a scarcity mindset, not being able to see anything, when you have an abundance mindset and those opportunities are walking all around you, you're going to be able to grasp them. You're going to be able to see them, like there's an opportunity there, there's an opportunity there, there's an opportunity there. And you don't necessarily have to go for every single opportunity, and I recommend you don't. But have an abundance mindset. So when that right opportunity comes and presents itself to you, you'll be like, that's the one. And then you dive all the way into it. And if that one doesn't work out, find that opportunity. That one doesn't work out, you find that opportunity. You just keep going. Or you start stacking them. You're like, that opportunity worked. Now I'm here. All right. That opportunity I must take. And now I'm here. And you're just going to keep moving up and up. Again, you need an abundance mindset. Not scarcity. Code, what do we got here next? Networking often feels daunting, especially when you're not officially an entrepreneur. What's a strategy you use to build valuable connections and gain insights for your future business without necessarily revealing all your plans at your current job? Keep your mouth shut. Like, it's really that simple. Too many people have what I call throw up of the mouth, and whatever literally comes to mind, it's coming out. And it's, a lot of times it's very bad, all right? Nobody really truly cares honestly about your story and nobody truly cares about where you're going. Most people don't give a rat's ass about it. Goes in one ear and right out the other. What they care about is what you're doing now. So if you're still in that 9 to 5 job, just like I am, nobody really gives any worry or any care about where you're going or where you think you're going to be because Most of them just can't see it. They don't see that vision. They don't see that thought process that you see. So they kind of just think like, "Ah, whatever." It's all smoke and mirrors to them. Now when you get there, that's when people's eyes are going to start opening up like, "Wait, what just happened? You were right over here and now you're here? Like, tell me what happened." But in between that time, they don't care. So just keep your mouth shut. Now when it comes to networking, why are you going to ask people that are in the same exact position as you? Don't take advice from somebody that's in your shoes. If you want to get to the next level, you need to ask somebody at that next level. Just like within your job, if you're trying to promote, you don't ask somebody who's in the same position as you. So if you're a deputy, you don't ask another deputy. You ask a senior deputy, you ask a sergeant, you ask a captain, you ask people above you. Same thing in the corporate world. If you're at ground zero and you're just pushing paperwork, you're not going to ask somebody who's alongside of you. For advice as to how to promote and how to get to the next level. You're going to ask the people that have already gone in those footsteps. So the same thing, if you're trying to be an entrepreneur, you're not going to ask your 9-to-5 colleagues how to be an entrepreneur because they're not going to know. They're not in that position. So with networking, you need to go outside your bubble. You need to go outside of your friends. You need to go outside of where you work and you need to find the people that are where you want to be. Okay? You need to find the collaboration, find those communities that are based around whatever it is. If it's real estate, go to real estate conferences, go to real estate meetups, join real estate communities, find that group of people that you want to be part of. If it has to do with life coaching, if it has to do with business coaching, if it has to do with consulting, if it has to do with finance, there are meetups, there's communities, there's groups. All over the place. Find one that you like, join it. That's how you network. That's where you're going to go. Now, when you get to that position, if all of a sudden your previous 9-to-5 colleagues are reaching out to you, hitting you up, and they're like, hey, how do I get into that? How do I do what you're doing? How do I do this, this, and this? Bring them along, help them out. Don't push them aside because they weren't there with you. We're all here to help other people. Just because they had a negative Nancy lifestyle before and they didn't think it was possible, they didn't think you were possible, you're there. They want the help, they can get the help from you, but hey, it costs money now. Everything costs money. Next up, entrepreneurship is a series of experiences. Whew, ain't that the truth. It's a roller coaster ride, that's for sure. How could someone still in their 9 to 5 fail small or prototype their ideas, learning crucial lessons and building resilience without risking their entire livelihood? Whew, this is super important. You need to know what your finances look like. You need to know what cash is coming in, what cash is going out. If you're in a 9-to-5 job and you have overtime, what are you making without any overtime? Because I know there's roller coaster. There's times where overtime could be in abundance and when overtime is not. So you need to know what that base level is without any overtime. If you're in a salary job, well, then there is that, but you need to know what the money is going in and what is coming out. Out. At that out portion, what you really need to be is you need to be as frugal as possible right now. You need to stop going on vacations left and right. You need to stop going out to dinner every single day. You need to start meal planning. You need to start focusing on you. Take that extra money and invest it into you, yourself. Don't invest it into other businesses, other people. Invest it into you, your knowledge base, This is, this is the key to breaking free from your 9 to 5 is what you know up here. What you know right now is not going to get you out of that 9 to 5 because what you know now is only based around that. Now there are keys and topics and ideas that you have learned from this that you could take into the entrepreneurial space, but you need to know how to do that and you don't know how to do that part. So that's where you need to take the time to invest in yourself. You need to go to those conferences, you need to go to those meetups, you need to read books, you need to jump on Audible. Audible is hands down, this isn't even an ad, hands down an immense tool that you can use, especially if you're in a job where you're driving around a lot like myself. Instead of listening to music 24/7, how about you throw on some podcast episodes? How about you throw on some Audible books? Learn something. Grow your intellectual property and get you to that next level that you want to be at. If you have a long commute to work and a long commute home, utilize that time. If you're traveling a lot by plane, utilize that time. If you have downtime at work or if you're doing jobs that you can listen to music, how about we not listen to music and listen to podcasts instead, listen to Audibles instead. Invest in you and that's what's going to get you to the next level. Next up, How did you identify transferable skills from your 9-to-5 role, even seemingly mundane ones, that would be invaluable assets in your entrepreneurial journey? How can listeners do the same? This is huge right here. This is literally what I've been accumulating for the past almost 12 years is you need to write down every little thing that you know because of your life. And it doesn't have to be just work. It could be work, it could be school, it could be your parents, it could be your lifestyles, it could be mistakes that you've made, all of that. And that's the biggest key right there. Think of all the mistakes that you've made and write every single one of those down because I guarantee you, you now have a solution for that mistake. You now know what not to do. And how to not do that same thing again. And what that can translate into is work for somebody else, AKA someone else can learn from you. You can now mentor someone in all of those mistakes that you made so that way they don't make the same mistakes. And you do what we like to call within the Final Percent is you compress decades into days. You do that by teaching and coaching other people on the mistakes that you've already made. And again, the mistakes that we've made are the biggest learning experiences. Trust me, when you do something right, yeah, you remember it, yeah, you learn from it, but when you really screw up and you mess something up completely, that's where you learn. Those are the biggest learning traits that you can take. So write all of them down, write down everything that you've learned from them, and then also take down everything that you've learned, all the conferences that you've already been to, within work, all the trainings that you have done, anything that has to do with anything, write it down because you never know that little minute thing that you, or class that you went to, that 8-hour class, you're like, this is the dumbest thing in the world. I bet you anything, there's a lot of people who've never been to that class outside of your job that would think that that's very intellectual and very important for their job. And you can help them on that. You could coach them on that. You could teach them on that. Whatever you're doing within your job, the resilience, the hard work, the grit, that can be transferred into a number of different businesses, a number of different hobbies, a number of different entrepreneurial spaces. Write it all down, take it to heart, help people, serve people. That's what it's all about. What do we got here? Next up: cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset while still employed can be a long game. What was your personal secret to staying consistently motivated and keeping the vision alive, especially on days when the 9-to-5 felt overwhelming. This is so good. So, uh, Greg told us all a quote, um, again within the Final Percent the other day: live now like most people won't so you can live like most people can't. I'll repeat that again: live now like most people won't so you can live like most people can't. That one hits hard for sure, and I think about that quote a lot especially right now because I'm in the grind. I'm 9 to 5, working on the overtime, coaching, learning about everything on the side, doing all that. Got an event coming up. Thinking about that pushes me further, pushes me along, gives me that extra energy to like, yep, we're going for it. Yeah, we're doing it. This is what's happening. This is why we're doing it. Which leads into the next thing is you need to have your passion, your vision, your why, like set in stone, have it written down, have it in your mind and just say it to yourself over and over and over again. Having that vision board up there, like for me, speaking on stages, for me, coaching students at schools, for me, it's owning private jets, it's owning vacation homes. It's all of those things. When you have that like in line and you're just like, that's what I want, that's where I'm going for. That's going to give you over those hump days. That's going to get you through those bad days because we're going to have them. You're going to have multiples of them. You're going to have them when you become an entrepreneur, but you need to keep focusing on what you truly want and where you want to go, and that's going to get you through it. One of the key words or one of the core values of our Infinite Gold, the acronym is We Are Gold. The R stands for resilience. My wife just had it tattooed, Bree, she just had it tattooed on her arm, resilient. You got to be resilient. You have to have resilience for being an entrepreneur, for getting through whatever it is that you want to get through. You're going to be exhausted. You're going to have bad days. You're going to have shitty days. You got to get through it. You've seen that photo. It's gone everywhere, I'm pretty sure. Everybody has seen it. It's that miner who's digging for the diamond and he stops right before it. Don't be that person. 99% of people are going to stop before their dream, before their goal. Don't be that 99%. Be that 1% that keeps going, that keeps striving for what they truly want. And I promise you, you're going to get it if you don't quit. It's inevitable. And lastly, whoo, this is a good one. If you could give just one piece of inner gold wisdom to someone listening right now who is sitting in their 9-to-5 cube or driving their commute dreaming of entrepreneurship, what is the single most important mindset shift or action they should focus on starting today? Biggest one, easiest one, it's a twofer, a mentor and a community. Those are the most important things. They go hand in hand. A mentor is most likely going to have a community, and the community is going to have a lead person, which is going to be the mentor. Community supercharges everything. Like I mentioned earlier, a community of like-minded individuals, a mentor who has made the mistakes, is going to help you compress the decades that's going to take you to get to where you want into days. They're gonna give you the path getting there. My mentor, I've mentioned him a lot, Greg, he has this what's called the snowplow effect. Okay, you need to get behind the snowplow to get you to where it is you want to go. Who's that? What's that snowplow? It's going to be different for every single person, but it is a mentor. It's someone who's gone the path that is that you're trying to go. You need to go that part. Here at Infinite Gold, we help you when you get knocked down. That's the thing is you need to find that community that's not beating you down. You need to find the community like ours, like the final percent, that when you do get knocked down, we're helping you up. We're like dragging you up. We're dragging you to the finish line. We're helping you when you're down. And then when you're up, we're pushing you even higher. We're getting you out there. Like there is no like, oh, why is so-and-so getting it? Oh, why did so-and-so make a million dollars and I didn't? No, we want that to happen. We're pushing people people as high and as far as they can go in whatever capacity that they're in and at whatever stage in their life they're in. It's our goal to get you there. Within the Final Percent, within Infinite Growth, we have 7, 8, 9-figure entrepreneurs that have been where it is that you want to go. Join us. We will help you get to wherever it is that you want to go. If you want to break from your 9-to-5 and get to that entrepreneurial dream, if you have that hobby that you want to take to the next level, maybe you just want to be a better entrepreneur,— or sorry, a better 9-to-5 employer— or sorry, employee. Wow, tongue twister right there. We will help you become that. There's the employees, there is the wantrepreneurs, the intrapreneurs, and the entrepreneurs. That's what you have, okay? Which one are you depends on whatever stage in your life you are, but we will help you no matter what stage you are in life. We're here to serve you, we're here to help you. The only thing is, is you got to take that step. You got to reach out to us. You got to put your front foot forward, take the step, take the risk and go the final percent. Love you guys. Can't wait to see you guys on the next podcast episode. If you are still interested, you need to check out Infinite Gold. Check out the final percent California Totality 2025, July 19th. 20th. Be there, it's gonna be an amazing experience. Can't wait to see you guys. And don't forget to like the show, leave a review, comment, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, if there's a topic that you want us to discuss, myself or Bri, if there's some experts that you want to bring on, if you know of an expert that should be on, or if you want to be on our episode, reach out to us. We love you guys. We want to make this show the best. We want to provide as much value as we can to you. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend.