BIG picture - LITTLE picture - #EvansBook ep. 33

Big picture, little picture. So I find with entrepreneurs, one of the biggest challenges is managing the big picture, the dream, where you want to go, with the little picture of actually executing. I find too many entrepreneurs are either one or the other, right? You're the dreamer, you're the big picture guy or girl, You know where you want to go, you know how you want to change the world, but you spend so much time dreaming and thinking and not actually executing and doing that you don't get stuff done. And you have the other people who just work, work, work. They're constantly executing, but they feel kind of lost. They feel like their work doesn't have meaning because they're missing the big picture. And you gotta, you gotta balance both, right? You gotta have the big picture of where you want to go and then actually execute against it to build something meaningful and important. And the way I do it is I'll usually segment that out to different days. I'll have a day where I'll be thinking big picture, planning where I want to go, the impact I want to have, and then that'll last me for a while of actually executing, right? I'll spend the next couple weeks or even couple months executing against that big vision that I have. And so how I applied to my book is when I first created the book and thinking about it, like, what's the impact I want to have, right? What am I going to call the book? What's the change I want to make in people's lives? How am I going to lay out the chapters? How am I going to lay out each page so that it flows well from the next? And then I got to the little picture of actually writing the book, right? Not just come with an idea for the book, but actually executing against it. And this has been a— how many months have I been writing it? I don't know. It's been a while. Um, but it's exciting because you need to have that big picture for what the book is going to be and then the actual execution against it on a weekly basis, creating the content. So today's my book writing day. I just got back from vacation. It's -7 degrees outside. So I'm going to, I'm going to stay home and just huddle in and create the book. Usually I'm making these videos walking to Whole Foods where I work on the book. And today I'm excited because the book is pretty much done. Hooray, hooray! Pretty much done. Really excited about that. And today what I'm doing is going through all the copy and just making sure that it flows, making sure that it's a big picture day today, making sure that all of the little picture days that I had, all the execution, writing one page at a time, at a time, at a time, now all flows well together, right? I've completed the project. Now I got to step up and make sure that everything flows well together. And so it's an exciting day for me. And I'm also really hopeful that you guys can take that knowledge and apply it to your business where you have some days where you're thinking big picture and planning. And it's New Year's, a good time to plan, think about where you want to go, and then actually spend the time executing against that plan until you feel maybe, you know, maybe you feel a little bit lost. Maybe you feel like I need to revisit the big picture again, but just don't get stuck on one mode and not do the other. Don't get so stuck on the big picture you don't execute, and don't get so stuck on execution that you lose your way of where you're trying to go and build a company. So I'm going to get to your questions. First up, Rishi Cup TV: There are entrepreneurs and there are entrepreneur personalities. Do you think aspiring entrepreneur personalities, people who want to entertain, like say Mark Cuban or those sharks on Shark Tank, should pursue entrepreneurship differently than an entrepreneur who doesn't care for showbiz? Thanks. It's a great question, and I think Mark Cuban specifically has been an interesting one because he's always had that flair. He had this show called The Benefactor, which I watched but didn't last very long. It didn't even make it through its first season. And it's interesting to see now that he is a star of Shark Tank. And it also kind of shows that if you stick with it long enough, your first attempts may fail, they may not work. A lot of people might have their first TV show and it fails, and they're like, I'm not doing that again. But Cuban kept on at it. Years later, now he's on Shark Tank and he's hitting it large. And so I love that little story as a lesson to persevere and keep going. But in terms of the type of entrepreneur that you are, I think it's easy to look at the guys who are the big personalities, to look at the Mark Cubans, to look at the Richard Bransons, to look at the Donald Trumps, to look at the Steve Jobses, look at the guys who are noisy, the guys who are loud, the guys who have strong, powerful opinions and want to be at the front. And you look at them and say, "Well, I need to be like that to be successful." where that's not the case. What you need to do is be like you, right? You need to be the best version of yourself. And that may mean being a personality. If you are outgoing, if you like being on video, if you like, you know, you turn up when you're in front of an audience or when the camera is on you, then you should go all in on that, right? You should try to do more of that because it's your greatest asset. And so you look at Cuban and Trump and Branson, and those guys do well because they've gone all in on their strengths. But there's a lot of people who are highly successful entrepreneurs who you've never heard of. Look at the Forbes billionaires list and see how many people do you actually recognize their name. You don't have to be a personality to be able to be successful. I think if you try to be a personality but you're not interested in it, if you think that that's what you have to be to be a successful entrepreneur, then you're going to fail. Where if it's something that you're genuinely interested, excited, and passionate about, then you should do it because that's what makes you come alive and that's probably a strength of yours. So it's, it's really betting on your strengths, understanding what you're good at, understanding what you want to learn and be the best in the world at. And if that happens to be personality, great, go for it. But if that's not a world that you want to get into, then don't feel like you have to. There are tons of ways to stand, and the best one for you is the one that leverages your strengths and passion the most. Next up, Fanny M. Why do you only wear black clothes? Fanny, as you can clearly see, there are white drawstrings on this sweater. Next up, Antoine. Great video again, Evan. Thank you, Antoine. About your book, do you already know if it'll be translated into different languages? Languages. I'm not sure, I haven't even really asked the question to the publisher yet. Right now I'm just in book writing mode and editing mode and getting something that I can give off to the publisher. This week I have a call with them about marketing, what we're going to do to get it out there and get spread the word. I believe that's Thursday, I want to say. Anyway, all of these conversations will be happening about languages, about audiobooks. I know you guys have been asking about that, about the tour, where I'm gonna be stopping. And so as soon as I have info, I promise I'm gonna share it. I appreciate the question and the love, and I hope so. Let me know what language you want it in and we'll see what I can do. Next up, Peter: Are you ever mad, down? You always look so excited and happy. Of course I'm mad, of course I'm down. There's a lot of things that bother me. Probably top of the list is wasting time. I hate wasting time. I hate feeling like, you know, I drive somewhere or fly somewhere and it wasn't a good use of my time. You know, I tend to not let it stick, though. There's something in me that, for good or bad, I just— I forget about it. I block out a lot of the negative things that have happened in my life. I try not to let things impact me too much, and maybe it's because I'm all about believe. I just— I'm optimistic, I'm happy in general, but I don't wake up every day super excited. You know, there are days that obviously that I'm mad or I'm down, but I tend not to live there for too long. I don't know why. Maybe if I had dug deep with self-analysis or had some psychology done on me to kind of ask me some questions, we might be able to figure it out. I think it's just my personality and my value system and my beliefs that I always think that something positive is coming down. So yes, of course I get mad and I get angry and upset and I get down. But it tends not to last too long. Next up, Francis: Very inspiring advice. Thank you, Francis. There are many ideas that I've researched and taken action on, yet many people in my environment do not have the same interest. Do you have any advice on how to network with other entrepreneurs around the area? I have many ideas that I know will make money after exhausting hours of research, but do not know anyone with the same interest or desires to learn more. Really tough, uh, and great question. Your environment is so important, the people around you are so important. You can't do this big thing that you're trying to do on your own. You need help. And if you don't already have the network around you, then part of your job is to start to build it. I would start looking in two places. One, online communities. I've made an insane number of connections online through my YouTube channel, through Twitter, people that I've, I've never met. I've hired people that I've never met. I've worked on partnership deals with people that I've never met face to face. And it's never been easier to find communities of people who are like-minded and can potentially work with you on a project. Second is I'd be looking at local communities. I'd be looking at whatever you're interested in doing, whatever. If you're trying to program something, if you're interested in marketing, if you're interested in self-tracking, you know, there are meetup groups, there are programs, there are workshops, there are seminars that you should get involved in, right? You should be at these events, at the conferences, at the speaking gigs, Eventually, I'd love to see you doing the speaking, right? That's actually where I get a lot of my connections now, is from doing talks at events, and people come up and find me afterwards to want to do something together. Partly it's because I'm not the most outgoing person naturally. I'm not the guy at those networking events shaking hands and talking to people, so I create a situation where people come to me, and that's by being a speaker at these events. So I would seek out events that are interesting to you. I would seek out conferences and programs where you look at the topic and you're like, oh, I want to learn more about that. And then you're gonna find people at those events who feel the same way, and that starts the bond, that starts the connection. I think if your sole goal of going to an event is, I need to meet somebody here that's gonna be my business partner, you're probably gonna get frustrated and not have a lot of luck. Where if you are generally interested in that topic that's being covered and you want to go to learn, you'll probably meet other people who are in the same boat who, funny enough, then become your partners and become great contacts for you for your business. So just start. Seek out events, conferences, organizations online, and then offline communities as well to start building up some connections. Good luck. Next up, Marwa: I have a question. In a brief, I have a good job that I like with a good salary, but "But my family isn't supporting me at all. I mean, some of my family members that I have to deal with daily are making fun of me and treat me in a very bad way. I can't even describe it. What can I do to succeed and be much better financially and to feel better?" That really sucks. Not having people in your, in your environment that support you is really bad, and especially when it's family and when they're making fun of you. I'm not a family counselor, and so I may not have the greatest advice for you. I think A couple things. One, you need to first figure out, you know, are you living your version of your life or somebody else's version of your life? Are you living the life that you want to live, or you're living the life that your, your family wants you to live? And it's an important distinction. And once you realize this applies to all haters, all people who doubt you, all people who laugh at you, all people who try to give you wisdom that you don't appreciate or like— is that person— have they done what what you want to do? Have they accomplished something that you want to accomplish? If they haven't, and if they come nowhere close to it, then they're not in a position to judge you. You shouldn't be listening to them. And that trigger for me helped, where people who are making fun of me or people who telling me that what I'm doing is crazy or stupid, have they done anything big? Have they done anything close to what I'm trying to do? And if not, then why am I listening to them? Why do their opinions matter to me? Second thing is, if you're dealing with bullies or people making fun of you, just as a general rule, they thrive off of the reaction, right? Like kids who don't get enough attention from their parents will then start breaking things and acting out because they want attention, because negative attention is better than no attention. The worst is being ignored. And so part of it for you may be just ignoring them. Part of it may just be not reacting because they want the negative reaction, because they want you to freak out, because they want you to feel bad, because they want you to cry, because they want you to whatever it is, right? And if you don't give them that satisfaction, if you just ignore them and you don't let it get to you, then they're less likely to do it again. They'll find another outlet, they'll find somebody else to pick on, they'll find some other way to get attention. So that's another option. And then the third thing on this is I'm a firm believer that you train people how to treat you. If you let people walk all over you, then they will. Where if you put up defenses and you have high standards and they're less likely to. And I'm reminded of a story of Nelson Mandela, when he went to prison, he made the prison guards call him sir. I think it was sir, it was some honorific title. And how did he do that? He's a prisoner, right? He's a prisoner and his guards were forced to call him sir. And he did it because he carries himself in a certain way. He doesn't let people walk all over him. He doesn't let people mistreat him. And so you need to raise your standards. You need to raise your standards of what's acceptable and what's no longer acceptable and not stand for. And however you fight back and stand up for yourself, letting people know— if there's anybody who's mistreating you in your life, anybody, you've let them do that. You have let them talk to you that way, treat you that way. And until you raise your standards of what is acceptable, then it's going to be hard for things to change for you. Last up, Gemaculate: Excellent talk. I often ask myself, does practicing my guitar several hours a day count towards my business of performing? I play out a number of times a week and that is a priority. So in any business, you know, you want to get better at something, you got to practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. I've covered that before a lot on the channel. I think if you want to be a performer, then yes, your skills as a guitarist will definitely help. You want to be able to play songs inside out, not have to worry about trying to memorize what chords you're going to play. And it's definitely a part of the game, but I think it's also only a part of the game because being a performer isn't just about playing the notes. It's about, one, not being nervous in front of a big crowd. It's actually being able to deliver on all the practice that you've done when you're in front of a big audience. It's about entertaining people. It's about having a message. It's about Practicing, you know, what are you going to say when you get up on stage? And so I think the more you can make your practice sessions feel like it's a real event. So as an example for public speakers, for me, before I get up on stage, I would practice a talk. I would practice it at home. I would imagine that I am talking to an audience. I imagine how I'm going to come on stage. I imagine what's the first thing I'm going to do. How am I going to use my arms and body language? So it's not just Practicing and memorizing a speech, it's the entire delivery, it's the performance. And so I think you should practice that as well. And so yes, you want to practice your chords and practice your songs and get really good at the skill of playing the guitar, but if you want to be a performer, then practice being a performer. So the more you can get gigs, great. Free gigs, unpaid gigs, volunteer gigs, whatever, just to get the practice and exposure and experience for you. Start building up a following. And to build that muscle. And then when you are practicing at home, I'd also say try to imagine that you're performing in front of an audience. You're performing at Madison Square Garden, you know, there's 40,000 people listening to you. What are you going to do as you walk on stage? What's the first thing you're going to say? How are you going to hold your guitar? Are you standing up or sitting down? How are you going to carry yourself? Is there a message that you want to share with the world besides just the tunes that are coming out, right? All of that stuff is important, and the more you practice it, The more you visualize it, the more real it becomes, and then when that moment happens and it does come, you're ready for it and you don't choke. And so I love that you're practicing. Keep on doing it. I just kind of raised the game now to practice the bigger picture stuff and not just the guitar. The guitar is important, but it's part of the game. So thank you guys so much for watching. I am off to do my book. I'm super excited about it. If you guys have a question for me that you want in the next video, either about my book, about the book writing process, or about something that we've covered on today's episode, leave in the comments below and I'll have you in the next video. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.