This is How to Build Momentum and Succeed as an Entrepreneur | Marc Lore's advice in 20 Minutes

Be brave enough to believe that your dreams will change your life. When you choose to see your vision clearly and share it openly, you turn dreams into realities. But this means risking being called crazy or unrealistic. In this top 10 rules, Mark Lowry tells us: learn from successful people, follow your passion, and don't fear mistakes. Always ask why not instead of worrying about what if. Counting your dreams before they hatch makes them happen faster. If you're bold enough to believe success becomes possible. Need motivation?

Watch the top 10 with Believe Nation.

If you've been here before, drop a believe in the comments below so I can feature you here in a future video. And if you're new, welcome to Believe Nation, the only channel that helps you believe in yourself daily, one video at a time. Okay, let's kick it off with rule number 1: focus on learning.

What advice would you give a 10-year-old, a 20-year-old, a teenager that wants to be the next Mark Lowry? What advice would you give them?

Yeah, I, I get this question a lot, and, um, you know, people say if you had to do it over again, what would you do? I got really lucky, but I think I've noticed that two daughters, 24 and 21 years old, and so they're asking me for, for advice a lot. And I think people at that age, in their teens or 20s, they feel like they need to have it all figured out. What do I need to do? It's very mechanical. Do I need to like get this degree to then do that, to then do this? And do I do this? And, and I— what I would say to everyone at that age is it's important that you just focus on learning as much as you can, finding mentors or people that have been successful that you respect in terms of, you know, their values. You'll learn a lot about leadership, a lot about people, lessons that you don't even realize you're learning just through osmosis of being around the person that'll pay huge dividends in the future. So I think, I think learning is, is, is really important. I think also following your passion. So like when my daughters ask me like, I don't know what to do, should I do this? Should I? It's like, what do you want to do? What's gonna make you happy? Like this month, next month. And like, yeah, but I wanna do this, this would make me happy, but then I won't be able to get here or get there. And I just sort of disagree with that philosophy.

Yeah.

I think follow your passion. If you've gotta drive something burning inside you that you want to go do or learn about, like the time to do it is when you're young, and that'll take you places that you have no idea and can't plan out. But I do know if you follow your passion, you, you surround yourself with great people, you learn, and you give more than you take and give without any regard for what you might get in the future. And if you come from that place of, of, of giving, surround yourself with great people, learn and follow your passion, I think magical things will happen.

Rule number 2, ask yourself, why not?

I think this is important when you're an entrepreneur. You need to have that naivete of not knowing too much about all the reasons why something can't work. You know, which I feel like that having done, you know, a decade plus of e-commerce, more than that, you know, 15 years in e-commerce. When somebody would share an e-commerce idea, it's so easy to poke holes in it because you know the industry really well. You need that naivete to like basically say, why not? And ask the question, why not?

Rule number 3 is manifest your future.

One of the things we've talked about before that I really appreciate is the importance of manifesting. And I think it gets a bad rap as being a little woo-woo. So you're a big believer in it. What has that meant for you and what does that look like for you in your life?

Yeah, you know the saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch? I count them every day, you know, because I think you have to believe it and see it and know where you're going to get there. That's the number one thing. It's manifesting your own vision for the future. And I think a lot of people are afraid to be bold, to share it because it feels risky. Like, what if I don't achieve it or I'm going to look stupid or things like that? But I think it's important if you're going to have a big, bold vision is to see it, create that vision, work it through in your head to like mold a piece of clay around that vision, and then, you know, work backwards. And so that you know every move that you make every day is in service of that bigger vision. And the bigger it is, the more capital you need to raise, the more you need to do, the faster you need to move, the more risk you need to take. Like, it's— everything falls in line once you not only put it out there, but tell people about it. I think that's important.

Then you have skin in the game.

It's like the difference between like when you go on a diet and you don't tell anyone and you're just like, you and yourself is on the diet and you're like, I guess I'm just gonna go off, you know? Whereas if you start telling everyone, hey, I'm like losing 15 pounds, you tell your friend, your partner, your thing, people in the office, I'm on a diet, I'm doing it. Then you're like, I kind of can't, can't just stop now. I kind of like put it out there already. It's a little bit of that. You sort of purposely box yourself into having to do certain things once you throw it out there.

Rule number 4: Choose who you're working for.

The most important thing you can do when you go and get your first job is— the most important thing is who are you working for? Who is your boss, leader, that's where you're going to do the most learning. And you should be thinking this mindset of like early in your career, don't get too impatient, don't get too anxious, just learn, learn, learn. And so whatever's going to accelerate that learning, I think the person you spend every day at work and you're interacting with and is giving you direction and showing you how to be a leader is so invaluable. And, and, and then I think you can learn a lot from the company you work at and the value system and how it operates. And if it's a startup, how they, they, the policies and procedures and the all hands and how that works, then it's job, then it's money. Unfortunately, people usually flip it around. Usually it's money, job, the company's the company, and I don't know who I'm working for. That's usually the way it is. And I think people just have it wrong. It is so important. You know, if you think about an individual as just like a stock— a stock is worth the present value of all expected future cash flows— you got to think about yourself as an individual in the same way. Like, your, your value is, is the present value of everything you're going to do the rest of your life. And the biggest way to impact that is learn.

If you want to take real action after this video, I made a free worksheet just for you. It covers the top lessons from today. Gives you space to write your biggest takeaways, and helps you build a simple action plan. It's 100% free. Just click the link in the description to go grab it. Let's start building real momentum in your life and business. I'll see you there. Rule number 5: Focus on VCP.

I always tell people, people see like the success to say, oh, you had one successful life, get 2, 3, and now it's Wonders working again. Like you make it look easy and it's anything but easy. I just want people to know, like, like, I feel like I'm eating glass every day and just hoping that it doesn't get— I don't get cut on the way down. Every day. That's what it feels like. You know, it's the entrepreneurs that don't get down on themselves and think, I'm a failure. What am I even doing this for? I could be doing other things. Like, once your brain goes there, you're done. Like, it requires being an entrepreneur is going to— is you're going to face really tough times. And it's those that go into what I call the sixth gear where you literally give it every ounce of energy you've got. It's more than 100 hours a week. Your brain is focused and dialed in on exactly what you need to do. And you couple that with the ability to take risk and try things and move very, very, very quickly and be comfortable with uncertainty. If you've got those attributes as an entrepreneur, you're gonna be okay. You're gonna figure it out. But it's not easy. It's really, really hard and tiring. I take a lot of pride in being more on the empathetic side of being a leader, because I think at the end of the day, you know, you can only do so much as an individual. It's about the team and, you know, you have to create the right culture. Culture in a startup is not, you know, ping pong tables and, and stuff like that. It really is about how you treat people and the value system of the organization. That's one part of a framework that I've created called VCP, Vision, Capital, People. And I think as a startup founder, you need to focus the, spend the vast majority, if not all your time, thinking about VCP, vision, capital, and people.

Rule number 6, take the biggest step you can.

I try to tell people all the time that you don't have to have everything buttoned up and know exactly what you're gonna do. You kind of just go all in. And a great example of this was we started, you know, there's like a CPA, Chartered Accountant, and there's the CFA, Chartered Financial Analyst. There was nothing for financial risk managers. You couldn't get certified. So I was talking to my boss and became a friend and I was like, you know, why don't we just kind of create an exam for risk managers because it doesn't exist? And he was kind of like, yeah, well—

You literally created an industry.

Yeah, how do you create an exam? And so we started talking to people and basically they're like, well, you can't just create a certification. Like, who are you? You're like 24 years old. You can't just start an exam. Who's gonna like accredit it, or who's gonna— and I said, no, no, we're just gonna start an association. Wow. And a not-for-profit association, and that association will credit it, you know, and then we'll kind of do the exam. And so everyone's like, you know, that's crazy, you can't do it. So I said, you know what, forget it. I'm jumping in. What we're gonna do is we're gonna set up a website, we're gonna put up a date for the exam. The first thing we did was date, we just picked a date, like it's May 1st. May, you know, whatever. I don't remember the year.

'98.

Here's the date.

It's New York City.

Actual date.

And here's the outline of all the things that are going to be on the exam. Send a check for $500 and you got your seat. And then that's it. And so we just put it up there. And all of a sudden we started getting checks. People started sending checks. And it was just like— so we looked at each other like, I think we need to write this exam now.

Oh my gosh. There was no exam at the time.

No, it was just— we just started with the date and the agenda for, you know, the topics. And we started getting all these checks in. We got 34 checks, $17,000, and 34 people. And so we decided— so me and Lev sat down and we spent weekend after weekend, nights and things, writing this entire exam on every topic. And we gave also recommended readings. As well. And then we went to New York City, we rented out a place, and we administered this exam to 34 people. And then we went home and corrected it. We decided where the pass/fail was. We sent certificates to the people that passed. And now today it's still in like 50 countries around the world. There's like thousands of people taking this exam.

You're a trip, man.

Like, like, no, but, but it's just a great— I'm just, I'm just saying that only because People think that when you start something, it has to be like buttoned up, or you need to have a plan, or you need to know your next step or whatever. And what I always say is, you know, just take the biggest step you can with your next move. That's it, like toward your vision. You have the vision, and just take the biggest step you can. And for us, the biggest step we can take was, here's the date.

Rule number 7, do whatever it takes.

What is it that you understand that makes you so successful that you think other people are missing?

I don't know if it's necessarily other people are missing it. I'm willing to do whatever it takes, like create a situation where it feels like life or death.

Billions or body bags?

Billions or body bags, yeah. No, but in all seriousness, that I think is the distinguishing characteristic because all four of the businesses, they all turned out to be successes, but If I didn't put it into that extra gear, I think none of them would have made it. Like, I really think that you have to be willing to go all the way.

How do you pull that off though? Like, the first time I get it because it really is, I know you left banking, you didn't exactly have a safety net, and so the first one really is sort of billions or body bags, but after that, I mean, you've had some huge wins. How do you recapture that?

I always figure out a way to put myself in a position where it can't not work, and so, you know, the first one, it was not only quitting, but I also put every dollar in my bank account into that first company.

Did you have kids at that point?

Yeah, I just had a kid. So what do you tell people?

Like, the number of people that want to be entrepreneurs that come up to me and they say, look, I've got this litany of things, you know, I'm married now, I have kids, I can't really do this, How did you position yourself financially and emotionally to pull that one off?

I just convinced myself that I would do this for, you know, a year or two, give it a real go.

Because you had that much saved up, or?

The idea was to take everything I saved, invest it in the company, take a salary, and then, but I still needed to raise capital to kind of continue on, and so, I hoped that I'd be able to do that, and if I was able to, then I'd be able to sustain. Worst case, wasn't able to raise money, had no more money in savings, and had to go back into the workforce, did I think that I can get back in? Like, was I, you know, past the point of no return? And I thought, no, you know, I'm 7 years into my career. Worst case, I can go back and get a, you know, normal job again. But it was, that was too much of a safety net. You know, you could always go back. It was investing every penny of savings into the business that was the real catalyst for making sure that it worked. And then in the subsequent business, it was less about the money that was at risk and more friends and family money. So every relative, every friend, everybody I knew pretty much had a stake in the startup. And I just didn't want to disappoint all the people that I love and care about, you know, by— so that drove me more than anything.

Rule number 8, put your ego in check.

How have you been one of the most highest paid CEOs of all time at Walmart e-commerce? You grew that business from $8 billion to $50 billion. You've done all these great things. How in 30+ years haven't you sued anyone and never been sued?

Yeah.

Now that is a feat on its own.

Yeah.

How?

Again, so it comes to the fairness thing, I can see somebody's point of view. So if somebody even, even is the least bit reasonable, then there's always a, a resolution. Mm-hmm.

Right.

And I'm, don't have the ego to say, you know, and I think it's the opposite of my dad. And so I learned this from my dad. My dad was the kind of guy that like, if, you know, he thought, you know, you were trying to like negotiate too hard, he would just on principle refuse to negotiate, you know. So I kind of learned that and like saw the, the turmoil that that causes when you dig your heels in on principle and ego, as opposed to like just check the ego. It doesn't matter.

Let's just—

if you're going to be reasonable, we'll debate it and debate it, and I'll listen, and, and there's got to be a resolution because you feel that way for a reason, I feel that way for a reason. There's gotta be some resolution. I'm very giving as long as the person is, is willing to, to negotiate. And I think that's always been the case is that people, I think when you be vulnerable, people be vulnerable back. You let down your guard, you talk it through, and people generally, I think, want a, want a good thing.

Number 9, have a plan you can crush.

Typically entrepreneurs, they create a financial plan when they're young. That's the best financial plan they can get venture capital investors or angel investors to believe, thinking that'll maximize valuation and maximize the chances of raising money. The problem is, this is more than just a one and done in terms of raising money. You have to raise money multiple times, most likely. My advice would be, put together a financial plan That's the worst plan you can get and raise money on. And they're very different sometimes. Because once you raise money on a plan that you know you can crush, you build momentum. And it's that momentum that's gonna carry you from round to round. Because there's definitely, the investment community is a lot smaller than people think, and word spreads quickly. If you're crushing plans, plan, you're going to get people's attention. If you're not hitting plan, it's going to be tough.

And rule number 10, the last one before a very special bonus clip, is do it better.

If you were to advise someone who goes, all right, I'm not an entrepreneur yet, or I'm in one kind of, but I might not be my dream one. There's just some piece of advice, like where do I start? Do I try to solve people's problems? Do I try to go where my passions are? You know, you hear all this conflicting advice, right?

Yeah, no, it's true.

What do you think?

I get asked this question all the time. I think there's a misunderstanding that when you start a business that you need to do something that's never been done. I think that is the critical mistake that people make. It's like they're looking and they wind up, and when you find something that's never been done, it's usually kind of niche. It's like small. It's like, yeah, there's a reason why nobody's doing that.

You know, usually.

Sometimes it's a true invention. Sometimes it's a true invention. You just hear these ideas all the time and they're a little bit, they're just kind of small. The biggest ideas are just take something in the world that's already big and proven, the demand's there, and just say, you know what, I can do it better. I can do it better. There's something that's a little bit off here. It's just not done quite right. You can pick any business you want. And look at it and say like, is there an opening here? Is there a way to disrupt this kind of industry or business? Like, is there something here? And yeah, and then just do it a better way. Start small and just, you know, put one foot in front of the other.

And congratulations, you're one video closer to who you're meant to be.

I found something really interesting is that people that have typically gone to really good schools and done really well grade-wise, they're used to getting A's on everything, have a much harder time taking risk because they just, they look at something that has a low probability of success and say, well, why would I do that? I don't, you know, I'm used to getting A's and that's 95%. So why would I do something that has 20%? Well, because the outcome is 200x or 500x. That's why you do it. But a lot of people just can't get comfortable with that. I think that's the difference between an entrepreneur and not. Somebody who's comfortable with a low probability of success with a huge outcome. And then you go after it and you're okay failing. I failed so many times as a kid, whether it be academically or otherwise, that I was so comfortable with failing that it was not even a concept. That combined with just being chill generally about things not working out, the combination of that, allowed me to like freely just take risks without any regard for, for like maybe failing.

For 10 more amazing rules from Elon Musk, check the video right there next to me.

I think you'll love it.

Continue to believe and I'll see you there.

There's a lot of discussion of like this problem or that problem, and a lot of people are sad about the future. And that they're pessimistic. And I think