The Biggest Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make – And How to Avoid Them

With your intellectual agility and your emotional availability and the kind of listening that you bring, with those attributes that you have, you'll hear more and get more to use and have more change in your life than you ever could have imagined. Because not everything that you hear is spoon fed, ready to use. Some of it is. But the biggest breakthroughs you can ever have and the most value you'll ever get here are your intellectual agility, your emotional availability. You hear something from someone who looks, sounds and has a business nothing like yours, and yet what they say is something you can repurpose, turn it 45 degrees, repurpose it, change it a little bit, and then you can slot it into what you do. And it's the biggest breakthrough you'll ever have here or maybe anywhere.

And I don't join many groups, I'm not part of that. But this has been such a special 10 year journey, especially at the end of my career, to see how much you can learn by being connected to the right people who have the right mindset and the giving mindset. And you set that tone. I mean, that's why it is what it is, because that's how you are. So as much time as you spent with me, I've also spent with you. I mean, we're at my house for two hours the other day talking about your upcoming presentation and you really get to know somebody. And he's very complimentary to me, but I told Cherie, she came out to my ski lake, we were skiing this last weekend with this special lady and I said, the 10 years I've known Joe, it's very different. The more I get to know him, the more I like him and the more I respect him. And you know, with most people other than your significant other, that's not usually true in business or in relationships. The more you get to know somebody, the more you see the flaws and the more I've seen the good in this guy. And it transfers the to us as members.

How many of you have not yet started utilizing AI in your life or in your business? Anyone? How many of you have. Okay, I'm just seeing if anyone didn't raise their hands. Michael Fishman, how are you using AI? Because I don't believe you. Is there where they do? You ready? Okay. Thanks, Mike. So tell us your mastery of AI, how it's been.

You got good vision. I'm not. You're not? I could talk about quite a few things, but that's not one of them.

Gotcha. Okay. And explain why. Just time. Some sort of resistance. Too old. What is it, what is the deal?

The way I. Well, my community is the Consumer Health Summit founder community.

Right.

And most of what I write to them about comes from me. And so not that I have the best voice in the world, but it is my voice.

Yeah.

And so I don't, I don't know about the effectiveness of that set of tools in preserving the voice of some. Not just the sound of the voice, but the tone of writing that people are accustomed to and the way that hospitality and the way that concepts are commun. The way that concepts are communicated. So I'm just, I'm not certain about that yet.

Yeah, gotcha. Okay. No, that's good, that's fair. Now that you got the thing, advice for new people in the group, how to get the most out of this, because how many years has this been for you now?

I think this is 13.

Thirteen years. Yeah. Okay.

I can't make up your mind.

You know, I'll tell you, slow learners with money are the best. Even if it comes to AI.

I can't make up my mind. So I just keep renew. But it has a lot to do with your book. I mean, two things. Number one, talk about things people have said before. I've said this before. And if you've heard it, hear it like you've never heard it before. With your intellectual agility and your emotional availability and the kind of listening that you bring with those attributes that you have, you'll hear more and get more to use and have more change in your life than you ever could have imagined. Because not everything that you hear is spoon fed ready to use. Some of it is. But the biggest breakthroughs you can ever have and the most value you'll ever get here are your intellectual agility, your emotional availability. You hear something from someone who looks, sounds and has a business nothing like yours. And yet what they say is something you can repurpose, turn it 45 degrees, repurpose it, change it a little bit, and then you can slot it into what you do and it's the biggest breakthrough you'll ever have here or maybe anywhere. So it's a particular quality of listening that will enable you to find strategies and ways that you can win, ways that you can improve your business and your life. And a lot of the ways you improve your life have no value. They're priceless in a relationship or something like your health or something like that. So that's the big thing. And then the other thing you've heard before, of course, is that when you have 70 or 80 givers in a room. A lot of people are receiving. If people. If everybody showed up to get something, the value would decline completely. But when people all show up to give, a lot of people are gonna. Are gonna get something, and you're gonna get something you had no idea you could even get. So thanks for the opportunity.

No, thank you. Thank you.

And.

There, you know, I've actually, since I wrote the book, what's in it for them? And it's really a book. Well, there's a lot of things I wanted to accomplish with the book, including documenting for myself, because I think it's funny, when they ask authors, why did you write this book? It's like, well, I just want to give back to the world. And I felt I've had so much success in my life, and I just want to share it with others. But I know a lot of these people, and they just wrote the fucking book because it's a lead generator so they can sell shit and make money, but they kind of leave that part out. And so there's nothing wrong with that. It's just when you try to pretend it's something that it's not. And it could be all of those things.

Right.

And so I wrote the book because I wanted to figure out. I wanted to make a shit ton of money, actually. I give all the. Everything from that book goes to recovery work anyway. So that's me trying to act like I'm a philanthropist. By the way, people always say, you do so much great stuff in genius recovery. And I've been saying, like on podcasts, when they asked me though, I go, it's not because I'm some angelic philanthropist or anything. Actually helps me with my recovery. Because if I have to hold myself out, it makes it a lot harder to act out and do stuff when I hold myself in that position, which is one of the same reasons for Lean Life and all of the other stuff we do, there's actually strategic byproducts that come out of anything. And I think a lot of you are in the work that you do, because this is me saying it, not saying what it is. It kind of keeps you in check. I mean, how many of you. Your business helps kind of give you some boundaries, that if you weren't in that business, you would lose your shit. Right? Yeah, I mean, I think that's true. You're very much in health and all this. Right. So what I was going to say about Michael, I forgot. I was about to say something really profound, but I actually forgot what it was. So it'll come back. But in the meantime, I'm going to read the James Nestor quote and then my weird brain will come right back to it. So let me see, because I pulled it up here. All right, so December 12th, how many of you have ever read Breathe by James Nestor? Honest to God, it is one of the best health books I've ever read. It's so damn good. Oh, you put it up here. All right, let me just read it then. Where did it go on here? Okay, Joe, hope you are recovered after the event. I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me. Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to be walking into. I thought the event was like 50 or so people. We had 400 people there. When I showed up, my jaw dropped. Not only did each presenter blow my mind, but every single person I met in the audience. I met dozens and dozens. Was so generous and selfishly helpful. I'm used to getting pitched all kinds of shit by super annoying people at every conference I speak at. None of that happened at your event. It was so refreshing. And now I understand the ethos of the Genius Network, which. He said it way better than I could. A, don't be a dick, baby. B, don't be sleazy. C, lead with giving instead of taking. I had an absolute blast and made some very interesting contacts for the research of my new book. So, Dan, thanks again. It was a real privilege. Please stay in touch. He's a great dude. And what I like about why it's meaningful to me is I've seen him be offered millions of dollars to take his work and do movies and documentaries that would commercialize it in a way that would be. It's just not congruent with his value system. And I've seen that guy turn down money because he's like, nope, it's not an ethical use of how I want the work put out there. And so there's not a lot of journalists like that. They don't build them like that as much as they maybe. I don't know if they ever did, but I'm not. So he's just a great guy, and I respect him and he's a good dude. So when I hear that. But I think that's exactly how Joel Weldon would describe GDS Network. Because Joel, as you know, is new people here. All I have to. Joel's a very helpful guy, but he's got a potty mouth. Just the profanity. I mean, at 82 years old, Joel has gotten to the Point like, I don't know, you say something, Joel. Like I don't want. I mean, yeah, try to behave a little bit. So you've been in Genius Network 8 years?

10.

10 years. I should know this better. Yeah, See, I really demonstrated. I don't care about our clients or the lifetime value. So Joel, by the way, Joel's to not sound like a complete jerk. Partial jerk, not complete. Joel has always been one of the most helpful humans on the planet and a great. I learned so much from this guy. Not because of what he says and what he knows, but how he actually lives. I mean, I've been to his house numerous times. He's just a good human and he's super helpful and he's awesome. But he also can teach you a lot of stuff. This is a connection network. And so Joel has made and helped people with so much connection. So what would you suggest to new people on how to get the most value out of Genius?

Well, I think one of the things that you've heard it is the network, but it's the environment. And it was so good having this gentleman all the way here from Scotland because I remember the day he sat and you were sitting in that seat right over there when you told us that you were having an alcohol issue and that you were starting or had just started this one year without beer. And it was a very open and touching moment. And the reason he was able to say that it was a safe environment. And here you had this guy come to the annual event, didn't know anything, and he immediately picked up on what this is about. And I don't join many groups, I'm not part of that. But this has been such a special 10 year journey, especially at the end of my career, to see how much you can learn by being connected to the right people who have the right mindset and the giving mindset. And you set that tone. I mean, that's why it is what it is, because that's how you are. So as much time as you spent with me, I've also spent with you. I mean, we were at my house for two hours the other day talking about your upcoming presentation. And you really get to know somebody. And he's very complimentary to me. But I told Cherie, she came out to my ski lake, we were skiing this last weekend with his special lady. And I said, the 10 years I've known Joe, it's very different. The more I get to know him, the more I like him and the more I respect him. And you know, with most People other than your significant other. That's not usually true in business or in relationships. The more you get to know somebody, the more you see the flaws and the more I've seen the good in this guy. And it transfers to us as members. But it takes time, Michael. All the years that I've known you, and you're always here and giving, and by 10 years, it takes a while. So if you're a first timer here, it's not going to happen in the next two days. It's going to happen over the next couple of years, and it's going to be a wonderful gift to you. So it's feeling a safe environment and being a giver and telling the truth. And I do say some bad words. I'm going to say one right now, darn it.

I don't know if I've ever heard him cuss. It just really bothers me a lot.

I was just corrected. I said the end of my career. I didn't mean that I'm never retiring from what I do. But, you know, having done it for 40 years when I joined and now 50 years standing here, I had a lot of experience. So I wasn't coming in here to figure out what I was going to do with my life. It just took it to a whole other level. And my daughter Jenny is a member and she's on the zoom call right now. And my other daughter runs our business, so we have a wonderful family relationship. But they've seen more progress than me in the last 10 years because of this group and the exposure to AI and all the other things I never would have heard of. And Syndra, who is going to be speaking to you, is a member of the National Speakers association, and she's going to see also how different this group is from most professional organizations that in my opinion now they're living in the dark ages compared to what we learn in this room. So you're in a great spot and just trust people. It's really a very safe place.

Hey, I hope you're enjoying this video. And I want to let you know that I have a new book that's come out and if you'd like to get it absolutely free, there's a link below in the description. Or you can wait till the end of this video or you can Simply go to joesfreebook.com and you can get a copy there. You know what I will say, I think the things to look for here is not just what to learn, but what to unlearn. What you're doing Currently, that may have gotten you to one point, but that is not going to get you to, you know, it's sort of a version of the Joseph Campbell quote, where the line, the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek. So this is a connection network. It is not just a mastermind. It started out as a mastermind, but I really think of it as a connection network. We will refer to this probably more that first year is foundation, second year is growth. Third year is acceleration. If you are a highly driven person, you can accomplish many of those things in the span of a few weeks, a few months, a year. There's a lot to be said, though, with patience. There's a. I'm trying to. I thought it used. It used to be right up there on the wall, but it's somewhere else in the office now. It says, you know, why is patience a virtue? Why can't hurry the fuck up be a virtue? So those of you that are very driven are just like, super impatient. And there is a time and a place where that is very valuable, where everyone's sitting around in their ass trying to make something happen. Those that act with urgency do. And there are times where you just can't find. Force a seed to grow quicker than it's going to grow. And so you have to. It's a little bit of a mixed bag. So we have to deal with the, you know, with our own hypocrisies and with our own, you know, mixed views on something. And some of you wake up every day and you just feel happy and grateful and other people have to work really hard to see that. And some of you are goal setters and others of you are problem solvers. I set goals. But I also. I read a book years ago. I was talking about this at the last meeting called Stop Setting Goals. And it was a book about how half the people are problem solvers and the other half are goal setters. But I always set goals. I go to strategic Coach Dan always wants people to set goals. I set goals. I write goals. I frame them, though, in my mind as problems. How many of you would consider yourself problem solvers and not necessarily goal setters? How many of you consider yourself goal setters? Yeah, it's very interesting to think about that. So everyone shows up here with your ambitions, with your opportunities, with your problems, with your challenges. And that's pretty much what we do our best to have the group to help support you with that. Just because someone is here does not necessarily mean you should hire them. So you will have People in the room that have something to sell, because that would be like all of you, because you're all here because you have a business. So we do. To a certain. I was hiking with my buddy Jay Jacobs, and he sold his last company for over $100 million. And he just joined like, EO and Yeo and he's telling me about what he. That he likes it and this sort of stuff. And I was like, he's telling me what he wants. And I go, huh? I go, well, you know, I think Genius Network would probably help you. He goes, I go, why haven't you joined Genius Network? And I'm like the worst salesperson for my own group because I don't want to talk people into. And we're literally hiking Camelback Mountain with another friend. This is like two or three days ago. And he's like, well, he goes, I don't really need more marketing right now because I sold my company. He thinks this is just a marketing group. And you know Jay, right? From Coach Brian. Yeah. And it just made me. It's like, oh, wow, it's so funny, the perceptions. So I go, I must have been doing a shitty job with the, with the positioning of marketing outside of my own group. But when I've watched the Amazing and some of you in the room are on the videos we have, Manuel and Rakim and Akira have recorded these great conversations with people starting in September and then in February. And some of you. And I've watched some of them and there's so many that they're saying how they love the people in the group, how it's been so helpful. And it's really hard to explain what this group is outside to people because they're like, there's several that are like, you don't even know what it is until you've been in it for a while. Susan Gilbert has this great explanation because she was in for like a year, but she had never, because of COVID had never come to a person, an in person meeting. And my team just kept on her and kept on her, like, come and meet the people. Now she just loves it. But their entrepreneurship is really lonely and really isolating. Not for everybody. And a lot of it has to do with who you are. But, you know, is Susan online? If she's. Susan, if you are willing to say anything, I would love to have you share because what you shared in that video was just really valuable about how to look at getting the most out of Genius. Is she available to say, okay, yeah, I'm here.

Hey, it was really interesting. Whenever I was at the annual meeting and I was called into the recording room, I was like a deer in a headlight. I was like, what?

What?

You know, what am I going to say? And then your team just recently sent me the video itself, and I was like, okay, well, that came together because what I said is that in the beginning, you are just kind of like, feeling your way in the group and do I really belong here? And, you know, how am I going to interact? And then year two, you start to interact and you're like, okay, this is good. This is feeling better. But by year three, you're home.

Yeah, I love that. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, I could add to that, but I would probably diminish the usefulness of what she just said. Yeah, thank you. And that's a great line. Home. I really. Because it. And I'll tell you, when I meet young entrepreneurs, there's a part of me that I have to refrain myself from all of the stupid shit when I was young that older people were trying to warn me about. Oh, you got to do this, you got to do that, because you can only hear something from kind of where you're at. And you need to deal with people at the level at which they'll respond. And a lot of you were very successful right out of the gate in terms of behaviors, attitude, ambition, challenging competitiveness, work ethic. But you were. You didn't know how to piece it all together. So you weren't respected, you weren't viewed. A lot of you crashed and burned, had a lot of failures, maybe some addictions, maybe some mental illness, maybe some, you know, betrayals, maybe just some. Lots of dumb shit. And I always like saying to young entrepreneurs, if I would have known being successful was this much work, I would have stuck with being a loser. Because you have no idea early on how much effort it often takes. Has anyone read the amazing book by Dale Carnegie, how to Stop Worrying and Start Living? Yeah. There's a story in there where he talks about his. Well, it's another guy, not Dale Carnegie, but he has people that give examples of how they overcame worry and overwhelm. And one of them is the guy watching his wife wash dishes. Remember that story. And correct me if I'm wrong, those of you that have read the book, but the analogy he makes out of it is he was really stressed and he was. Had so much work and so much overwhelm. But he said, well, if my wife would have looked at the lifetime of dishes, she would have to wash it would just be. It would fill up buildings. But the fact that you do it every day is how he started saying, well, this is shit I have to do. There's this stuff you just have to clean up every day and you do it consistently and you keep it clean. And if you let it pile up, you let it pile up. You let it pile up. Then it's overwhelming. But he. Him watching his wife clean dishes, he reframed how he approached his work, and that was his worry cure of just how to take things on. Like, quit trying to take it on. And so utilize the group. Don't use it. Don't use anyone. If you find someone trying to use you. We're going to do a tool in a little bit called Elf versus Half. Who are the people and projects and things in your life that are easy, lucrative, fun? And what are the things that are hard, annoying, lame and frustrating? And that includes people. Me and Eunice were filling out a ELF tool, but then we're like, shit, we need to just show a blank version. Because if I have to show who in my life is Elf, then that might be a little, you know, I mean, it'll be one of those Jay Shetty moments where you call someone out and they're like, no, I didn't plagiarize and steal shit and make up the fact that I was not really a monk and all that sort of stuff. But we're going to. Has anyone seen the video? The little bit. It's funny. I've talked to the reporter that wrote the article on Guardian about Jay Shetty, and he's really wanting me to make statements and stuff that I said off the record and stuff. But this guy's spent a year doing research on Jay Shetty and destroyed, which I don't know, it would be painful to spend that much time. But, you know, Jay puts out good videos and he's a handsome. He's a handsome. Pretty blue eyes and whatnot. But we'll come back if we need material later. Just say Jay Shetty and I'll just insert. So if there's a lag in the programming here. All right, so I'd like to get. Yes, can we throw.

I've done this once before on Zoom. I feel like I have to argue with or throw a count of you in to something over the last few minutes, which doesn't have to take three years. And I've said this before, so I don't want to sound like a dick, but I'm allowed to say that now because you put that on the screen because Joel gave you permission and I am a dick. Yeah. And in three years time, I might be like, oh, you were all right. But right now, me on 10 months will say, if you surrender to this room of people properly, and I can feel myself welling up as I'm saying it, you can do it in your first session here. My life was completely changed and transformed in the first two days last June because I ignored what you all said about it takes three years. Because I think if we keep saying that, it'll be true. And there's a depth of relationship you can get with people in this room if. If all you do is try and get nothing from it yourself over the next few days and just give to everybody else, you'll end up with a shitload of stuff for yourself anyway. Just trust me, that'll just happen. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm calling bullshit.

Sorry.

No, thank you. And so, like I said it, because I did say this, is that you oftentimes can do all three in a matter of days, weeks, months. Here's what I would say, though. Part of the reason I say foundation growth acceleration is there's a lot of people that become incredibly impatient. I also know that this is not the only group book thing that everyone's investing in. And I know that entrepreneurs are rarely monogamous when it comes to ideas and different stuff. They're just doing everything right. And so people get. Become impatient. And I have seen this over and over because I first started my first coaching group in 1998, and we would have people that would come in, make a shit ton of money in the beginning, have a big spurt in their business. It's like, oh, we figured everything out and they drop out and they quit. So there's the business side of me that's like, yeah, I want people. I want long term clients, I want Michael Fishman's, I want Joel Weldon's. I want people that. Because the more someone's in here, the better I believe it becomes for them if they utilize it. And secondly, it takes a while to really get to know some people. And what I would see happen is people would drop out and then they would start losing momentum because it was the group. And we see it in strategic coach all the time. Like, I always stay with Dan and Babs when I go to coach. We were just there like what, a week last week or whatever. And they have a term that they have in strategic coach called in out in where people are in strategic coach, they drop out. Business drops their life Gets all screwed up, they join back in because it's like, oh, things were working better. And so the foundation growth acceleration. I mean, I have people that have come into Genius Network and they've made millions of dollars literally, in a few months just from relationships and things that they've learned. And I hope that does happen, and I hope it speeds up. That being said, though, how many of you feel like you're in. You've been in business for a while, but you feel like you're. You just started a startup, you have a startup right now. How many of you feel like that? So we're all going through different phases. So what you're saying is absolutely right. And it's a context thing. I just wanted to explain it that way. So thank you very much for sharing that. And if we could throw it to Patty. Patty Ann, See the anger and Addie.

Okay, so I just. Just following up what you said, what Joel said, and what Joe just said. So for years, I was asked to join all these different kind of masterminds, like, for years, because I'm old, right? So a lot of years. And. And I would go when I was younger and I. And I'm originally from New York, right? So, like, no, don't bullshit me. Like, like, like, just stop with the bullshit. And I would go to these events and I would go home and say, I need to take a shower. This felt so sleazy. I told Cameron that for the years, he kept telling me to join. I'm like, no, I've tried those things. It's like, so sleazy. And then at the right time, when I was ready to hear it, after years of people, different people, quality people telling me to join, that there was nothing in it for them, it truly was for. For me, I decided to pull the trigger. The year Joe goes on sabbatical and during COVID Score, right? Classic me. And then people were saying, don't join. Wait till Joe comes back. I'm like, no, I'm ready, right? I was ready. So to what you were saying, I think, and what Joel was saying is to trust the people in the group. That's a hard thing for people to do because there's so much BS out there. But like Stephen M. Arcovy says, right? What's trust based on character and competency. If you're in this room, you are competent, no doubt, right? But there's a lot of competent assholes running around like Wall Street's made of them. So the trust factor, though, is the character. And the character here is Undeniable. And it starts with the man standing up there, right? And there's no doubt to the point where Joe is so trusting, like, he'll tell you he's lost, like, millions of dollars because he's too trusting. If there's such a thing. And there is such a thing, right? Because the takers know exactly who the givers are. But that's not what happens in this room. So depending upon where you are at the moment that you join Genius, you're ready. That's all I wanted to say.

Thank you. Thank you, Annie. Okay, okay, okay.

I'm Annie. I'm a love coach. And I love the word trust because it has us in the middle. And I think the way you feel trust with another person is when they put the primary. They put at the center of the interaction primacy on the relationship. When the us is made primary and more important than your agenda or your outcome or your desire, the other person instantly trusts you. And so what I've noticed in this group, and of course it's because of the example you set, every interaction is optimizing for an increase in the intimacy and the connection, not an agenda. And I think if you just think about how delighted you are when someone asks you for support or advice on the thing you're good at, how it's such a joy to contribute, that's what everyone here is looking for with you. So trust.

Thank you. And by the way, let me also say this too, because how many of you have ever committed a crime? I have. How many of you ever lied through your teeth? I have. How many of you ever probably fucked someone over? I've had. I don't wake up and say, I'm gonna screw this person over. But when I was an addict, I was a shoplifter, I was stealing, I was dealing drugs. I've tried to make as many amends as I could throughout my life to people that I have hurt. Except, like they say in 12 steps, except when to do so would injure yourself or others. So, you know, it's a mix bag of stuff. But the thing is that I know what it feels like to have someone hurt you. And there's a part of me that has developed. I don't want to hurt people, intentionally or non intentionally. Now I will say things that people, you know, may find offensive. I think I'm pretty blunt. I have opinions. I try not to share opinions strongly if I don't feel I have a little bit of or a lot of understanding and research on it. But I'm wrong. A lot. And I'm a flawed human on so many different ways. And we all are. And anyone that thinks they're not. I mean, go sit in an open 12 step group and listen to people and go into a very successful part of town and sit in an open 12 step group, and you will often see people that are very successful financially, very respected in the community. But you see the brokenness and you see the hurt and you see the pain. And through that, though, you know, like that Ram Dass line, you know, we're all just trying to walk each other home. So you know, everybody, you know Don Wood, Dr. Don Wood. I mean, I just got a message from a person who just had their life transformed with you like a few days ago. And Don has that great line where if you understood the atmospheric conditions of somebody's life, it would make sense why they are the way they are. You know, I mean, I was Harvey Weinstein's sober coach, you know, And I only say that because someone shot a video and it showed up on TMZ with me at the end of a dinner with this guy. All volunteer work, never took a penny from him. But I get asked to meet with people that are pretty, you know, messed up in some areas. And if people understood the atmospheric conditions of Harvey Weinstein's life, it would make sense how a guy like him became Harvey Weinstein or any of these people. Even people that I may talk shit about, it doesn't excuse their behavior. It just gives some understanding to how we show up. So I believe as an adult, the responsible thing to do is you can change the atmospheric conditions of your life. You can change the atmospheric conditions of your community by how you operate. And definitely do not surround yourself with yes people if you do not have relationships in your life where they will call you out on your shit and purposely put yourself in those things situations too. Especially, especially when things are going well, because it's real easy to have an army of people that are around you and celebrating you and everything is really good. It's when things fall to pieces, when you really see who the hell is going to stand by your side. Okay. I hope you found that video awesome and useful. So if you want to get a free copy of my book, I want you to click here. And if you want to watch some more videos that will be useful and awesome, click here. Go ahead. They're over here. Do it now. Come on. Thank you. Watch them.