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We're sure you're like us and over the years you've read countless "motivational" quotes.
Looking back, most of them have had almost zero long-term impact on our lives.
They feel good at the time you read them but then they're gone.
But in our lives, there's been a handful of quotes that have stood the test of time and served us well.
Perhaps we came across them at turning points in our lives and that's why they have mattered so much to us.
Regardless, we love these quotes to this day.
And today we'd like to share a handful of them with you in hopes they may have some impact on you as well...
We attributed this one to Mike Litman, motivational speaker and author, but we've seen variations of it attributed to several other people including Jack Canfield and Barbara Corcoran. So we actually have no idea the true source of the quote.
For years both of us believed you had to have the "perfect business idea," or find the "perfect property to flip" before you began.
This simple quote said with such extreme conviction by Mike, finally convinced us that you don't have to have everything figured out before you begin and that there will never be a "perfect time" to start.
You just begin and adjust and then continue and adjust and repeat.
This quote was responsible for motivating us to start one of our first little website businesses online and has guided us ever since.
We've launched events for hundreds of people without having a clue what we would present. We've announced services in our current business that we didn't have the staff for. We've sold courses before we made them.
Heck, we quit our jobs without a real business plan of any kind (but we did have a very clear understanding of how to attract new clients).
For whatever reason when I heard Robert Allen first share this, on some sort of weekly conference call that I had paid to participate on, it stuck.
I just couldn't forget it.
I guess I was looking for reasons to hate my 9-5 job and this one helped.
But somehow it was more than that. I believed every word.
Our father and mother ran a drywall company growing up and it seemed to me that they had both freedom and security. If they needed to make more money they could hustle to find another job or project to work on.
After University, with my 9-5 job, it seemed that even with a fair amount of hustle my future was dictated more by politics than potential. I know that's normal for any company but it just didn't feel right.
I knew I wouldn't last in the corporate world and this quote helped convince me of it.
Saying "poor" and "rich" just doesn't seem politically correct any longer, does it? But the point is the same no matter how you say it.
The late Jim Rohn was Tony Robbins' mentor and he was a never-ending quote machine.
This is one of many from him that we love.
We've invested multiple times more in our education after graduating from University and College. Books, courses, seminars, conference calls, tapes (yes, cassette and VHS tapes), events, mentors, mastermind groups ... you name it, we've spent money on it.
I took vacation days from my 9-5 software job once to fly to Alberta for a conference where I felt I could learn something, leaving behind my wife and 2-year-old son.
Nick spent $5K or $10K (I can't recall) on a one-week real estate boot camp that would teach him how to be a real estate millionaire "overnight."
He was 21 at the time and I'm pretty sure that was all the money to his name.
I definitely read less today than I did in my late 20's and early 30's but I still deliberately spend time reading something of value every single day. We have books and subscription newsletters arriving almost daily.
Dan has been another longtime mentor of ours. We love this quote.
We apply this actively to everything in our lives.
For income properties, we always try to figure out multiple ways to make money from them before we buy.
So if we are buying a single-family home as a rental we always try to figure out if we could duplex it if needed, or renovate it and sell it for a profit if needed etc.
In business, if we ever find ourselves with only one new way to get new clients/members we panic. If we only have one good lawyer then we try to develop relationships with others. If we only have one good mortgage broker then we search for more.
We never count on a single revenue source for our businesses or our lives.
In everything we do in life and in business, we never want one of anything. No single point of failure if you will.
Having options in all areas gives you a certain sense of both security and freedom.
We've likely butchered this quote but that's the essence of it.
This quote gives us a great perspective on how to treat each day.
We've always done our best to work on stuff that would make us money today but also set aside some time to work on items that would help us in the long run.
So for example, when we began working with investors it was obviously important to scout for good properties, write offers, and earn commissions. That was "now" income.
But at the same time we have always been careful to block out some time, almost daily but not quite, to work on long term income. That may mean developing a website that would make us no money for months or years but knowing that we should sit down and begin creating it.
Or putting together a weekly email that only had seven people on the distribution list at first but sending it out each and every week regardless (today it has more than 30K).
Or doing a renovation on a property, not because it would make us more rent today, but long term it would maintain the value of the property and help it appreciate faster.
For years we would not end our day unless we had done one item that would help our future income. That may mean generating one new lead for the business somehow or making one call that we were putting off.
It must have been Tim Ferriss who introduced us to Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans essay.
We've heard this concept from others but love the way Kevin breaks it down.
The original essay doesn't say "you need only thousands," in the plural form. It said, "1,000 true fans."
It's more powerful in the singular.
You can read both versions by clicking right here, they're excellent.
The reason this idea has had such an impact on us is that it breaks down business to an absolute number.
And when you focus on serving 1,000 clients instead of the entire world, it really keeps your priorities clear. Your messaging is clear, your decision-making is clear, and you operate with a feeling that it's something you could actually achieve.
It's one of the motivators behind building the Rock Star Inner Circle Membership. We're at about 800 members right now, not all of them will stay, but there's a core group within that 800 that continues to expand. And we do everything we can to try and deliver as much value as possible to those people. We're not perfect at it but they do motivate us and give us purpose. It's amazing.
These are not original by any means. We think we first heard a variation of these three watching a documentary on legendary Notre Dame football coach, Lou Holtz.
These are the operating principles for Rock Star.
We tell everyone on the team that they can make any decision on behalf of all of us if they just follow those three things. That includes having to spend the company's money to fix something that's gone wrong if that's the right thing to do.
Following these three principles has made our decision making so easy.
Over the years at Rock Star, we've had people who have offered us a lot of money to speak and sell their wares in front of Rock Star members. Each time we've been able to turn them down very easily because it just wasn't the right thing to do.
The speed at which we've been able to operate has been greatly helped by having principles to follow.
We're not perfect at following these by any means, but each day we strive to be.
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And there you have it.
Seven quotes that have had a lasting impact on us.
Hope you enjoyed 'em.
Until next time ... Your Life! Your Terms!
