Millionaire MBA Day 1: Millionaire Mindset
by
Millionaire MBA
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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Copyright © Millionaire MBA 2011
First Published 2011 by ELW Publishing Bath, UK
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Contents
Introduction
A few years back, 50 leading UK entrepreneurs and business owners were interviewed in their homes, offices and hotels. The purpose of the interviews was to find out exactly what made them successful, and how other aspiring entrepreneurs could replicate their business success.
Those digitally recorded audio interviews were turned into a 'timeless' business mentoring programme called Millionaire MBA. Millionaire MBA is regarded as one of the best programmes in the world to teach entrepreneurial thinking and the 'millionaire mindset'.
Millionaire MBA is a rich, deep mentoring programme which entrepreneurs listen to over 40 days. Literally tens of thousands of entrepreneurs (like you) around the world have benefited from this programme.
In this ebook, you’ll find the actual transcription from one whole day of the mentoring programme.
To find out more about the full business mentoring programme or to listen to the audio version, please visit http://www.millionairemba.com/
Day 1: Millionaire Mindset
Welcome to the Millionaire MBA, a unique course designed to change your thinking patterns from a traditional employee mindset to a new entrepreneurial millionaire mindset.
Before we start the full programme, please listen to the brief introduction to familiarise yourself with the structure of the course.
The Millionaire MBA is an eight-week audio course divided into two parts:
Part 1 provides the structured learning element and is designed to be listened to every day from Monday to Friday for four continuous weeks.
Each day is around 30 to 35 minutes long, with the exceptions of Days 1 and 2, which run to about 50 minutes.
Each day introduces a different element of the millionaire mindset, built around insights and experiences of 25 award-winning entrepreneurs.
Part 2 of the course is made up of 20 structured interviews with the individual entrepreneurs featured in Part 1. Again, these 30-minute interviews are designed to be listened to five days a week for four consecutive weeks.
The course also includes three special-feature CDs, which can be listened to at any time.
Each day you'll find a unique exercise to complete in the accompanying workbook. This specially designed workbook has been developed to provide additional information to the course and to stimulate further thinking on each topic.
The Millionaire MBA is based on the principles of NLP, or Neuro Linguistic Programming, and, for it to have a lasting effect on you, must be studied over the full eight-week duration.
We recommend that you develop a routine over the next eight weeks to study the course for 30 minutes every day.
This controlled approach will give your subconscious mind time to digest each subject and combine it with the daily exercises in the workbook.
We also suggest that, as you set out on your entrepreneurial journey, you adopt one of the habits of successful entrepreneurs: This is to keep a notebook with you at all times to write down thoughts and ideas.
It is from these initial inspirations that fortunes are made.
Sit back and relax and enjoy Day 1 of the Millionaire MBA.
Tom Hunter
The millionaire mindset, in my opinion, is a mix of qualities.
One, it is focused determination.
Two, it is about being able to lead and motivate a team, driving toward key focus goals, always with your eye to the future but learning from your mistakes of the past but not being frightened to make those mistakes.
Hello, and welcome to the Millionaire MBA.
I'll be with you over the next eight weeks as you set out on a journey to change your thinking patterns from a traditional employee mindset to that of a new entrepreneurial millionaire mindset.
By choosing to invest your time in this course, you have already set yourself apart from the majority of people who fail to take action or develop themselves beyond the mindset that is conditioned into them at school, the employee mindset.
You have recognised that success, like failure, is not an accident but is the result of your own design and efforts.
Those who have already achieved success in business haven't done so by accident but by excelling in the qualities of the millionaire mindset.
Few people realise it, but we are actually born with all the necessary qualities of excellence within us.
What sadly happens, however, is that as we grow up, go to school and become employees, we lose sight of the essence of these qualities and confine ourselves within our comfort zone.
The good news is that we can reprogramme ourselves to think differently. We can reprogramme ourselves to think with the millionaire mindset.
A recognised way to reprogramme the mind is to model someone who is already achieving the success you want.
Modelling requires you to understand another person's language, actions, habits and behaviours and adopt them for yourself.
Over the next eight weeks you'll have the opportunity to study the qualities of the millionaire mindset and hear how 25 award-winning entrepreneurs have turned these qualities into business and personal success.
By modelling these successful entrepreneurs, you too will be able to develop the millionaire mindset. As with all things in life you get out of it what you put into it; the Millionaire MBA is no different.
The more of yourself you put into the course, the more you'll get out of it.
If you have used the decision to use the Millionaire MBA as a catalyst to change your life then it will, your new life will start today.
If you simply want to take an easy path through the course and listen to it for 30 minutes a day then please do so.
I am confident that you will enjoy it hugely and that the benefit will come at a later date when you are ready to take action.
It is important to see the Millionaire MBA as part of your approach to life-long learning. It's a course that is designed to be studied many times; again, the more you put into it and the more you listen to the course, the greater the benefit you will receive.
Over the coming years, please make a personal commitment to listen to the Millionaire MBA many times.
I assure you: This will help you turn your new way of thinking into a deep-rooted condition, which becomes embedded into every fibre of your being, just as success is embedded in the entrepreneurs who feature within this course.
Remember, as well, that success must be worked at. Think only of the world's leading sports people: David Beckham, Johnny Wilkinson, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher.
They all work tremendously hard to be successful; they train harder than the rest and make huge sacrifices to be excellent in their chosen discipline.
Being a successful entrepreneur is no different; it is not easy, and it must be worked at.
What is true, though, is that success can be achieved by anybody, regardless of their previous academic background and regardless of previous personal or business circumstances.
Success is about the future and is about the mind.
This course is about your future and about reprogramming your mind.
This course is about thinking differently - it is about developing the millionaire mindset.
Julie Meyer
"Think different." It is the Apple slogan; their advertising has always been, "Think different." It has always resonated for me.
I never would have set up Ariadne, I would never would have set up First Tuesday if I were waiting for the market to come back, if I were waiting for anything.
It is about taking a risk just because of your own instinct and what your judgement tells you at that particular moment.
I was also intrigued by this concept of the millionaire mindset because it is money and yet what links, I think, so many successful entrepreneurs is not really the money.
There is no question that money is a pretty black/white metric: You either have a lot of it or you feel you need more, but the point is that I think that many successful entrepreneurs are driven by almost a need to solve a problem, to prove that they are capable of something, to change the world is a typical slogan.
I know that is certainly what drives me. There is a certain kind of philosophical causes that compel me to do what I do.
I would do what I'm doing even if I didn't make good money for it (I guess is what I'm saying), so I thought the choice of millionaire mindset was interesting, though.
Before we start to examine the millionaire mindset, let's reflect on the opposite of this, the employee mindset.
What is the employee mindset?
It's a mindset that is learnt at school and continues through our employed career. It is a mindset that is conditioned into us. It says, "Get a job; develop a CV; get a promotion, a title and move up the career ladder."
It is a mindset of over 99 percent of the world, which is why less than 1 percent of the world enjoys the true rewards for their efforts.
It's a mindset that earns a salary (some more than others) but in many cases one that would leave most people insolvent within a matter of months if they were to lose their job.
The employee mindset is about being told what time to go to work and what time to leave; it is one that has to ask their superior for time off; it is one that is typically required to spend eight hours or more each day being told what to do, working with people that by choice they prefer not to work with.
It is a mindset that always has one eye on the door and the other one looking for a new job.
The employee mindset, and even worse, the corporate mindset, is a mindset of bureaucracy where the word "no" features more than the word "yes" and where there are daily excuses why things can't be done.
These are the mindsets that this course aims to change.
Let me give you an example of another mindset.
Before I do that, ask yourself, "What type of person do the following words describe?"
Passion, self-belief, drive, determination, courage, vision, focus, hard work, self-discipline, persistence, tenacity, optimism, wisdom, common sense, judgement and risk.
To me, they sound like words describing somebody you would want to be, an exciting and interesting person, perhaps a mountaineer, a pioneer, a Formula One racing driver, an astronaut, an artist, an inventor.
These are the qualities of excellent people. These are very human qualities; they are the qualities of a mother.
When the maternal instinct takes over, these qualities shine through, a mother's passion for her child, instinctive wisdom, hard work like she has never known before, courage to save her child in times of danger, and an eternal optimism that her child will grow and succeed.
These are qualities which we all have all of the time. They are inherent in every human being; it simply takes an event to unleash them, an event such as having a baby or starting a business.
It is no surprise that entrepreneurs often refer to their business as their baby. Let me give you an example of that.
Duncan Bannatyne
I remember, it must have been 15 or 20 years ago, there was this fantastic picture on the front of all the newspapers.
There was this little girl in the road and a motorbike coming, and the mother threw herself on top of the little girl, and the motorbike hit the mother.
In actual fact, she was saved and she saved her daughter's life, but it was such - two seconds to think she done it - she threw herself down in front of the motorbike, and that is because they have got this unnerving belief that their child is the best thing and it can't do any wrong, and I suppose we believe the same thing.
If we don't believe in it, we won't do it. If we don't believe the business is right, if we don't believe in ourselves, we don't believe we can create this business, we won't do it. It's as simple as that.
It is also no surprise that these are the qualities of millionaires, the very characteristics that our entrepreneurs identified as the millionaire mindset.
It is also no surprise that these are the qualities of millionaires, the very characteristics that our entrepreneurs identified as the millionaire mindset.
Duncan Bannatyne
The millionaire mindset is definitely belief in oneself, determination to do things and get things done and a bit of arrogance sort of all thrown in together and a real belief that you don't have to go to work every day for someone else and that you can work for yourself better than anyone else.
Mandy Haberman
I think the millionaire mindset is a positive drive. It is a total belief that you are going to make something happen, "I am going to do that and that's it," and nothing else gets in the way.
Debbie Burke
I think the mindset is that you want to be successful and everybody is probably an entrepreneur inside; it is actually having the courage to do it.
We all want more money, a bigger house, better car, autonomy, and we have all got ideas of how to build a business, but it is those people who actually do it and those who don't, and I believe one of the biggest success factors is a can-do attitude, actually doing it.
James Minter
Quite simply, having a brain that cuts through all the crap and goes, "Right, that is good. I don't believe what everyone else thinks. That is good. That has value. I know that I can do it and I want to do it," and I go and do it.
I think it is a simple vision and a motivational kind of thing.
Sir Christopher Evans
It is a determined mind, people who are competitive, who see a challenge.
OK, they see an opportunity, an opportunity is sometimes something completely novel or somebody else's problem that they can solve, and then they are determined and ruthless and - what is the word? - energetic and enthusiastic about pursuing that opportunity, that challenge, and winning it and getting it.
It may or may not come off as they expect but sometimes it comes off a hell of a lot better than you expect, sometimes worse, but that is an entrepreneur's mind or a millionaire's mind.
So I don't think you become a millionaire through luck - well, you get elements of luck.
We've all had lots of luck, unless you win the lottery (of course, you are just filling in a form), but this sort of thing is where you are really focusing on going for something, and you see that all the time with individuals who have done this.
Tom Hunter
The millionaire mindset, in my opinion, is a mix of qualities.
One, it is focused determination.
Two, it is about being able to lead and motivate a team driving toward key focus goals and always with your eye to the future but learning from your mistakes of the past but not being frightened to make those mistakes.
Glenda Stone
The millionaire mindset, in my opinion, is the knowledge and the wisdom to create something that will succeed.
The millionaire mindset is all about taking a risk, embracing that risk, not shying away from that risk and very much focusing on how you are going to get to where you want to be as fast as possible and not taking "No, can't do, won't happen" as a barrier so that you have got this absolute blind, cross-eyed focus on what it is that you want to achieve and going for it and enjoying it.
That is the millionaire mindset.
Luke Johnson
The multimillionaire mindset is what you need in order to be successful as an entrepreneur, and I think it is an opportunistic attitude to life, such that you are constantly alive to opportunities that will enable you to accumulate wealth.
I think people who focus obsessively on making money quite often stumble, so in my view, the multimillionaire mindset is about generating a business that in itself becomes valuable and your shareholding in it becomes valuable and the wealth thereby created is a by-product.
If we examine the main characteristics mentioned by our entrepreneurs, they are words such as:
Passion
Belief
Drive
Determination
Courage
Vision
Focus
Hard work
Self-discipline
Persistence
Tenacity
Optimism
Wisdom
Common Sense
Judgement
Risk
No one here has spoken about the need for qualifications, degrees, CVs or finding a good company to work for. These are employee words and part of the make-up of the employee mindset.
Nowhere in this course will you hear entrepreneurs using these words.
The words entrepreneurs use represent the true emotions that bring out the best in people, such as passion, optimism, focus and tenacity.
They use words which describe people who achieve greatness, words such as self-belief, courage and risk.
They use words which get things done such as persistence, self-discipline, determination and hard work, and words of level-headed and calculated people, such as wisdom, common sense and judgement.
These are the words of entrepreneurs.
Passion
Let's start the course by examining each of the key elements of the millionaire mindset, starting with the most important of all: passion .
If you haven't realised it yet, passion is the one guaranteed quality that's certain to inspire you to do something and to do it well. It's your passion that gives you the edge. Passion and enthusiasm are infectious.
The one common trait that all entrepreneurs have is that they're passionate about what they do; they ooze it from every pore.
Passion is obvious; you can't hide it. You may have passion in other areas of your life: passion for your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend or children; passion for your football team; or for music.
Somewhere in your life, you'll know what passion feels like.
This is how entrepreneurs feel about their business.
It's only with passion for your ideas that you'll be able to find the necessary resolve and grit to push through the inevitable, tough times ahead.
Simon Woodroffe
I think that passion, enthusiasm, or whatever you call it, is probably the one common denominator to everything because unless you are - and I'm not saying that I'm passionate and enthusiastic the whole time.
Sometimes I go, "Oh, bloody hell, what am I doing this for!"
I get the same as everybody, not very often I must admit, but generally I'm enthusiastic about it, and I think that the people that I meet who are in business, that is a very common denominator about them because unless you are... what are you doing it for?
It will never get you through the hard times.
Tim Etchells
The most important element, I think, is to be passionate, is to be absolutely committed and passionate to what you're going to do. And I think if you haven't got that, you haven't got a hope in hell.
Lena Björck
To be honest, I think that it's all got to do with actually your own freedom and, I believe, to begin with, it's got to be passion.
Michael Smith
One of the most important things is probably passion. Entrepreneurs are absolutely obsessed and in love with what they're doing. And I think you need that if you're setting up a new business because it's extremely difficult to do.
And if you're not totally in love with the idea, it's very difficult to convince other people such as suppliers or bank managers or employees.
Angus Clacher
I guess, for me, it's having an absolutely passionate belief in your product or your service. It's really, really difficult to keep doing it and to make the sacrifices that you have to make if you don't ultimately believe that you're going to get there.
I'd wanted to start my own business for a long time, and it wasn't until I came across an idea that I absolutely, totally and utterly 100 percent believed in, that I could sort of tackle it with real sort of commitment.
So I think with me from the start... I never doubted for a second that it wouldn't work. I was so convinced by the idea.
Tom Hunter
The passion comes across and it's infectious in others. You know, if you come into the office and you're in a bad mood, that's infectious as well.
Whereas if you're passionate about your business, that's infectious and it leads and drives the team as well. It's hugely important.
Self Belief
Self-belief is the second trait that entrepreneurs must have.
This is beyond confidence; it is a belief in yourself and your business. The enemy of self-belief is self-doubt.
For those who haven't yet started on the path as an entrepreneur, self-doubt is most likely the biggest obstacle you will ever have to face.
We examine self-doubt later in the course, but for now it is important to realise that self-belief and confidence can be built.
Simply by increasing your knowledge and experience in an area, step by step, you can develop self-belief.
Think of the first time you rode a bicycle: Could you ride it straight away? If you could, you were the exception to the rule, but little by little, with experience and increased knowledge, you learned to ride.
You gained your confidence and developed the self-belief that you wouldn't fall off.
It is this type of confidence and lack of self-doubt that you need when starting a business.
Karan Bilimoria
What you've got to have and what I had is complete and utter faith in your idea, and that faith comes across as confidence, and that confidence generates trust from other people and belief from other people because you believe in your idea.
Duncan Bannatyne
I've got four brothers who still drive lorries and work as night porters and things like that. They have no ambition, no self-belief, no determination, and they just can't understand how I can do it and they can't.
I think it is a belief that there are better things out there that can be done.
Actually, anybody can do it - anybody can make a million - and once you know that, once you really believe it, you can do it!
Nick Wheeler
I think probably the most important thing is a complete self-belief. I have always, since I started the business, I have always felt that it will work.
Chris Rucker
If you are not going to believe in it 100 percent, you can't persuade other people to believe in it.
Tom Hunter
I think self-belief is a big part of it, having the confidence to take these risks as others would see it, but having the self-belief within yourself gives you the confidence to go and take the big steps.
Mandy Haberman
It is a belief in yourself.
It's an, "I can," not a sort of, "Oh, should I do that?" "Is it possible?" It's, "I can do that; I am going to do that."
Elena Souto
Most of all, you have to believe in what you do because if you don't believe in what you do, believe me, no one else is going to believe because it is hard enough convincing others to go along with you, so you have to have passion and determination because otherwise it is not going to happen.
Lord Harris
One thing I say to a lot of children at school is, "If your heart is in it, the sky is the limit. If you want to do well, you can do well."
Desire
You need desire, you need to want something badly enough that it gives you the drive and determination to become successful.
As Napoleon Hill said in "Think and Grow Rich," his 1937 inspirational classic, "Without developing an all-consuming obsession, a definite purpose and a burning desire, you won't find the motivation to succeed."
Once you have the desire, then drive and determination are fundamental in becoming a successful entrepreneur.
You can have all the passion in the world for your idea and all the self-confidence, but without the drive and determination to achieve your all-consuming, burning desire, you won't succeed.
You must want to become successful and, above all, you must want to create an outstanding business.
Karan Bilimoria
I always say the most important thing is [that] you've got to want to get somewhere, you've got to have that desire to succeed, you've got to have that aspiration.
When you have that will, then you find a way of doing it... and that old saying of, "Where there is a will there is a way." You have got to have that will to start with; you've got to have that aspiration.
Simon Woodroffe
I think you have to have something that drives you to do it, whether it's a desire to prove yourself or the need to survive financially or thinking that you can't work for anybody, whatever it is, you need to do that.
Michael Smith
Drive - just the absolute, sheer, single-minded pursuit of what you are doing.
Again, it is so easy to get sidetracked when setting up a business. There are so many obstacles that come in your way.
The right mindset, the millionaire mindset, would approach those obstacles in a positive way, always looking for ways around them, and finding them challenging and exciting and rewarding to get through them, whereas anyone that doesn't have that mindset would find it very easy to get tripped up at simple hurdles and give up.
Stephen Streater
I think the key is determination because nothing ever goes according to plan and, if people give up too soon, then they just won't achieve.
Sir Christopher Evans
Determination and confidence, they are almost linked because if you lose your confidence - you can be determined as you like, it ain't going to happen.
You've got to be confident about your abilities, moving forward and dragging in all of the elements you need to achieve your goal.
So whether it is confidence or determination, I tend to use them both all the time, absolutely determined to do something.
Once I enter the field, I am very confident that we are going to give this the best shot possible, and I have always linked it to lots of other elements, of course - but those two.
Duncan Bannatyne
I think the most important element of a millionaire is self-belief, and determination comes a close second.
Mark Marsland
First and foremost is pure determination and enthusiasm for what you are doing.
Eleanor Souto
Determination because... everyone is going to be knocking you down.
There is going to be more bad times than good times, especially when you are first starting out, so you really, really do have to keep on going and see it to the end, keep persevering.
Courage
Entrepreneurs must have courage - courage to turn their back on being an employee and then courage to walk a different path and start their own business.
As time goes by, entrepreneurs need courage to follow their own convictions and stand their ground against those who challenge them.
Debbie Burke
Everybody is probably an entrepreneur inside. It is actually having the courage to do it.
Many Haberman
It is also about courage because to be an entrepreneur you are sort of stepping into unknown territory. There is nobody to say to you, "Follow me. This is the way to go. This is the right decision to make."
So all the time you've got these challenges where you have to decide what you want to do, what you are going to do.
Chris Hughes
For me it is having the courage to follow my instincts rather than anybody else's structure, to have the courage to jump and the belief that you will create something of value.
It took me years and years and years to pluck up the courage to do in free fall what I had essentially done in lots of other people's corporate environments.
I had launched businesses for other people for about 10 years before I finally had the courage to do it for myself. It is about courage and ability to jump.
Vision
Entrepreneurs must have a vision of what they are trying to achieve. Without vision and goals, the entrepreneur has nowhere to go, nowhere to lead their team and nothing to focus on.
Dreams become visions, visions become goals and goals followed through with action become results.
As Walt Disney once said, "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."
James Minter
Vision is probably the most important thing of all, I would have thought, but then there is no good having vision if you can't actually execute it.
Nick Wheeler
The big difference between an entrepreneurial business is that there is much more of a focus for everybody who works in the business and they tend to focus on you as an entrepreneur, the person who started it.
I think they look to you for that vision.
They look to you for a clear target for which they can all aim for.
Stephen Streater
I think it is very important because it gives consistency, and if you keep changing direction all the time it is quite hard to arrive somewhere. But although the vision might be clear to me, it is often not easy to explain.
There are different aspects of it, so you can see different sides of it as we develop the business, but people gradually realise it is all going toward one end.
So we develop what seem like different products here, but in fact they are all the same master project, as it will become more and more apparent as we fill in the gaps.
Angus Clacher
A lot of people have a vision of the way the company will look at the end or the way the product will look at the end when they have got their Ferrari parked beside the jetty with the yacht bobbing nicely on the waves, but I think it is important to have a vision for all the steps in between.
At our company we knew exactly where we were going each month, all the way out to three years.
We knew what our targets were both financial, with people, that sort of stuff - so yes, it was not only seeing the final picture, it was seeing all the steps in between.
Nigel Risner
Vision is important, but it's a bit like going on holiday, getting to the airport and not having an idea where you want to get to, so you've got to know where you want to get to, so you can work backwards to find out what are the steps to take.
If every time you went to the airport you just went with your bags and said, "Take me wherever you want," you will probably end up somewhere you don't want to be! That is why vision is important.
Focus
Focus is a critical element of the millionaire mindset. Those who become distracted and fail to focus all their energies on their goals will struggle on the path to success.
Focus gives exponential results. Think of the power of the sun when directed through a magnifying glass; with this intensity, the sun has the power to ignite fire. It is this power of focus that gets results.
Glenda Stone
I think you have to be very astute. You have to be very focused, knowing what is relevant to you and what is going to get you to where you want to be sooner so that you can easily discard those things that aren't going to take you there.
Life is full of opportunities, and business every day is full of opportunities, but you have to make sure you carefully choose the right opportunities because you can get very distracted.
James Minter
You've got to be able to focus on what you are doing, not be distracted by other concepts surrounding what you are trying to do or by people trying to make you do other things.
Tom Hunter
One, it's focused determination.
Mandy Haberman
I think the most important element is probably focus - it is the clarity of vision.
It is very easy to get side-tracked into trivia, but I think that once you recognise what you want and where you are going, not so that you are totally blinkered, but that is what you are aiming at - that is the bull's-eye.
That is what you are shooting for, and that's I think where the drive comes in.
Hard Work
There is no getting away from the fact that entrepreneurs work hard, perhaps harder than anybody else you know. What is true, though, is even though it is hard work , it doesn't feel like work at all.
Noel Coward, the legendary songwriter, once said, "Work is more fun than fun."
I wonder how many employees can truly, hand on heart, say that? Entrepreneurs can.
Debbie Burke
I think you have to have a very strong work ethic, not be frightened of hard work. I don't believe anybody can be successful without putting in 100 percent effort and working every hour you possibly can.
Tim Etchells
I'm a bit of a 24/7 man. Unfortunately, I do lie awake at night and think about things, and I spend huge amounts of time working.
I probably do, one way or another (whilst I am not sitting at a desk), will spend probably up to 18 hours a day thinking about my business, plotting and planning and so on. I think that is probably giving it the time.
I'm amazed at the number of people I see in businesses who are similar to me, who don't give it the amount of time that I think you need to, and then are surprised [about] why it doesn't work and you kind of say, "Well, you have to have that sort of motivation."
Stuart Wheeler
A willingness to work hard. I don't think I'm the hardest worker in the world, but I probably have worked perhaps harder than most employees, so I think you must be willing to do that.
Chris Rucker
It is incredible... and the hours, the commitment that you will put into it, and you just don't even think about it: 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, all night if necessary...
Karan Bilimoria
I don't see it as coming to work or going to work. To me everything that I do seems to merge and blend into living, and I enjoy all of it.
Perhaps the most important difference between those who are truly successful and those who fall at the first, second or even third hurdle is persistence .
Persistence is recognised by successful entrepreneurs as one of the most vital ingredients of the millionaire mindset.
Stuart Wheeler
I think persistence is the thing.
Chris Rucker
Persistence is probably the single, most important thing that you will do.
Duncan Bannatyne
The alternative to persisting is giving up; so if you are going to give up, then you are not even an entrepreneur.
Mandy Haberman
Without bloody-minded determination and persistence, you don't achieve success, so you have to have that if you are going to be successful.
Luke Johnson
To me, the most important single attribute is persistence. I think it is the unwillingness to give up and the ability to continue against the odds that distinguishes the winners from the others.
Mark Marsland
No such word as "no." No such word as "no." No such word as "can't."
There are other ways, and you will find them because you will be determined to find them - no such word as "no."
Lord Harris
I've got a saying, "There is no such word as 'can't' because all you do is you take the 't' off it, which means you can do it." You can do anything - anything you try you can do.
We don't know the word "can't," so that can't is "no."
Optimism
It's essential to have a positive attitude and to be optimistic as an entrepreneur.
There is no room for negative thoughts, and no room to surround yourself with negative people if you want to develop the millionaire mindset.
Julie Meyer
I always say optimists rule the world, and it is so true.
The difference between something happening and it not happening is the belief that it will happen.
I have seen, time and time again, people who could have made something happen, but they didn't believe it, they didn't see it in their mind's eye and, as a result - self-fulfilling prophecy - it doesn't happen.
...Universally across all successful entrepreneurs and even successful business people that have not founded their own ventures, it is a confidence plus optimism plus persistence.
But if I had to choose between the three, I would say optimism, then confidence, then persistence.
Mark Marsland
And we don't view things negatively. If an obstacle is there, it is there to be climbed or smashed through. It is not something that would stop us.
It is something that we have to sit down, ruminate, cogitate on and then move forward and get over it.
An entrepreneur must have wisdom and common sense : wisdom to learn from their mistakes and failures, and common sense to prevent making them in the first place.
Chris Rucker
Every time, you just have to learn from each one as it comes along, try to not do it again the next time.
When I was young I used to ride a lot - I used to fall off a lot, too - but you just have to get back on again.
Each time something goes wrong, you have to just do as much as you possibly can, as quickly as you possibly can, to put it right and try not to do it again. It is all part of the learning process, and it is really important.
Sir Christopher Evans
We've all had failures, companies going wrong. I always look precisely, scientifically. I think I approach my business commercial life as a scientist; I think I always will.
So I always look logically at the facts. If something's gone wrong, I don't just say, "Oh, let's blame her, blame him; let's blame it." Because a lot of people do that - they blame things, and it's wrong, actually.
You've got to get right to it and say, "Why did it really fail?
"Ah, they didn't give us enough money."
"No, no, it wasn't quite that. You actually had money."
"Oh, the project failed; it didn't work."
"But why's that?"
"Because you designed it wrong."
"Well, who designed it wrong?"
"Well, he did, that bloke over there."
"No, no, but who's his boss?"
"Well, me."
"So it was you; you did. You're the director, the manager.
So suddenly we haven't made money as investors - not because of the project, not because of the lack of money, not because of the guy, not because of the design of the project, but because of you, you, the individual. So, you've got to go. We're going to get a new one."
That's how you then start to recover a situation.
Luke Johnson
An opportunist attitude to life, such that you are constantly alive to opportunities that will enable you to accumulate wealth.
Glenda Stone
Life is full of opportunities, and business every day is full of opportunities, but you have to make sure you carefully choose the right opportunities because you can get very distracted.
Tom Hunter
Well, first of all, you've got to be able to spot the opportunity because I've known people who have worked as hard as me, who were smarter than me, who put in more hours than me, but they chose the wrong opportunity and, therefore, never made as much money.
Therefore, you have got to be clever enough to spot the correct opportunity.
Entrepreneurs see an opportunity every day of the week, but I say, "What is the correct one?" because there is a big opportunity cost.
If you choose this , it means you can't do that . Therefore, is this the right one? Being able to work that out is key.
Then once you have spotted the right opportunity, then, yes, determination, focus, build a team.
But I guess the key thing is the opportunity.
Risk
Lastly, the one thing that everybody associates with entrepreneurs is risk .
Risk is, without question, a fundamental element of being an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurs don't see it purely as risk. It is more a question of judgement . With judgement, risk can be managed.
We will visit risk later on in the course, but for now let me tell you that employees, in many ways, take on more risk than entrepreneurs.
Employees put their income stream in the hands of one employer, an employer that they have no control over.
Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have control over their income stream. They have multiple streams of income and are, therefore, in command of their own destinies.
With all the other elements of the millionaire mindset in place, the ability to take a risk, or more so, the ability to exercise judgement, seems only natural.
Luke Johnson
Well, that is the very essence of being an entrepreneur, isn't it? Making an informed judgement about risk.
Duncan Bannatyne
I see it as judgement; some people might see it as risk.
Tom Hunter
One man sees a risk; one man sees an opportunity.
Sir Christopher Evans
People think we take big, big risks, but we don't. I don't know any of the entrepreneurs I have met that really just take a flyer.
Nick Wheeler
I mean, it is judgement. I am a great optimist, which is quite a dangerous thing, so I always think everything is going to work. So I am quite a risk-taker.
But, I suppose [that]when you have been doing it as long as I have (or as short a time as I have, depending on who you are speaking to and how long they have been doing it), there is a hell of a lot of experience in there, and judgements come to you much easier.
Making the right decision becomes easier as you get older. But I think the main thing is that, more often than not, it comes down to common sense.
That's why I say to people on the phone, "If this was your business, what would you do?" Most people would make the right decision.
Mandy Haberman
I think at the end of the day it is about willingness to take risk. If you don't take chances, you don't get anywhere, you don't go anywhere.
You have to make intellectual decisions, you have to look at commercial viability and decide what you are going to do, but at the end of the day, looking at all the logical stuff doesn't take you anywhere.
It's having that sort of... the balls to do it, really.
So you can see the millionaire mindset is something we all have in abundance.
There is only one thing stopping you from achieving the same level of success as the entrepreneurs featured in this course - that is the willingness to take the leap.
Duncan Bannatyne
I think the secret to success is actually doing it.
There is an awful lot of people who might stand in the pub talking about how to be successful or how to start a business or sit at home watching television and thinking about it, but they don't actually do it.
If you are going to be successful, you have got to start a business, and the way you do that is you stop going to the pub and you stop watching television. It's as simple as that.
The most important thing in the world for all of us is time, and if we waste that time doing nothing, lying on the couch watching television, then we won't be successful.
Michael Smith
The single most important reason I can think of is that we have actually started. We've made that crucial leap, despite everyone else's advice that we should stick with our sensible, well-paid jobs.
We took the huge risk of handing in our notices and setting up on our own and living on a shoestring budget.
A lot of my friends are very successful in their jobs and in their employment and stuff, but if they truly wanted to set up a business, I think they key thing they would have to do is just take that huge leap of faith and start, essentially.
I don't think I've got any kind of magic abilities that mark me out to be a successful.
Summary of Day 1: "The Millionaire Mindset."
Today you learnt about the difference between the employee mindset and the millionaire mindset.
The employee mindset uses words such as job, CV, promotion and salary, whereas the millionaire mindset uses words such as customers, sales, profits and assets.
There is a 180 degree difference in the way employees think versus the way entrepreneurs think.
The core of your learning today was around the 12 elements of the millionaire mindset.
Remember, these are: passion, self-belief, desire, drive and determination, courage, vision, focus, hard work, persistence and optimism, wisdom, common sense, being opportunistic and using your judgement to take risk.
For your first exercise, you will need to spend 15 minutes writing down a few things that you feel strongly about in life.
This is because if you are going to start a business, firstly, you need to feel strongly about it and, secondly, your idea may come from something you already feel passionate about.
Passion, as you have already learnt, is the first element of the millionaire mindset. In your workbook under Day 1, you will find four tables to complete, the first of which identifies your passion in life.
This can be anything from sushi to carpets or trainers to betting, as it was with some of our entrepreneurs. For you it may be your family, music, wine, theatre, education...
Whatever it is, it doesn't matter: It is the fact that you can identify something that you are passionate about that is important.
Table 2 asks you to identify other people who you admire. This course is about modelling other successful people; therefore, the more successful people you can model, the faster your route to success.
Table 3 asks you to write down what you want out of life. This may be personal fulfilment, financial independence or a successful and happy marriage.
There is plenty of room here to write everything you want, and rest assured, everything here is achievable if you put your mind to it.
Finally, in Table 4 you need to write down what you don't want out of life. Knowing what you don't want is as important as knowing what you do want.
I would encourage you to spend a few minutes doing this exercise. This will form the backbone of the course, so it is vital that you do it. But if you are like me, you have probably skipped every other exercise like this you have ever seen.
Just once, though, I actually completed a similar exercise to this, and it totally changed my life. It's the act of doing these tasks and writing things down that makes your subconscious work overtime to conspire toward your success.
If you only ever complete this type of exercise once in your life, make sure this is the one.
When you look back in your workbook after 20 days of the course, I assure you, you'll see the world differently and you won't regret a single moment.
Have fun doing this, and I will see you again tomorrow!
Millionaire MBA Featured Entrepreneurs
Simon Woodroffe
After a career in the 'Rock and Roll' business, Simon Woodroffe set-up YO! Sushi when he had turned 40, using borrowings from the government loan guarantee scheme and his life savings of £150,000.
His company, providing sushi on conveyor belts and drinks served by robots, has become a phenomenal success, with Simon being offered £1m for it immediately after its launch.
Simon took his initial YO! Sushi restaurant and built it into a unique 'brand', which has the ability to work with just about anything.
Already included under the umbrella of YO! are YO! Sushi, Yotels and many more to come.
Ivan Massow
Ivan Massow started his financial services company from a squat in Kentish Town, London, which he renamed to give himself a more credible sounding postal address.
With pure drive and determination and a true sense of knowing himself and what he wanted, Ivan has developed Massow Financial Services into a leader in the niche gay market.
Now moving beyond the core of his original market, Massow is offering financial services for 'survivors' of transplants, major surgery, cancer and mental health issues.
Duncan Bannatyne
After being kicked out of the Navy and living broke in Jersey, Duncan Bannatyne said to his wife, "let's go back to England to make a million". That he did, many times over.
Originally buying an ice cream van for £450 for a quick turn-around profit, Duncan decided he would build an ice cream business, which is exactly what he did.
Tired of counting cash every night, he decided to branch out into building nursing homes. He went on to build Quality Care Homes, a UK listed chain of care homes.
Duncan's success did not stop there as he later launched his own chain of children's day care nurseries and his most recent venture, a chain of 40 fitness centers (Bannatyne Fitness).
Duncan is now famous as a dragon on Dragons' Den.
Julie Meyer
Many people will be aware of First Tuesday as one of the hottest names in the early internet days, providing networking events for investors and entrepreneurs alike.
Julie Meyer was the entrepreneur behind this. Starting the company from her living room with no PC, she launched First Tuesday in the summer of 1999 in 17 European cities.
It is Julie's belief in 'win win' that made First Tuesday the success it is. She later sold First Tuesday and has since started her own Venture Capital company Ariadne Capital.
Lena Björck
Lena Björck started Inn or Out catering with a loan from the Prince's Trust. Believing that 100% is not enough, but 200% is needed, she has a passion for her business like a mother's love for her child.
Knowing next to nothing about the catering business, Lena worked for free for a week in a 5 star hotel in Austria.
A week well spent, when later she won a contract to cater for the American Ambassador and decided to fly chefs over from Austria to cook for the event.
Little did they know that they would be working and sleeping in Lena's flat, sharing only one cooker and sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
Lena would never let such a little thing as not having a kitchen stop her from providing world class food for over 3,000 people that day. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Lord Bilimoria
Karan Bilimoria turned his back on a career as a Chartered Accountant to follow his dream of bringing 'less gassy, extra smooth' Indian beer to the UK.
Facing obstacles at every turn and with no-one believing in him or his idea, plus being £20,000 in debt, Karan achieved the seemingly impossible and is now building up Cobra beer to be the world's leader in Indian beer.
Glenda Stone
Aurora was founded by an Australian entrepreneur, Glenda Stone.
Having co-founded a number of business women’s networks in Australia, Glenda launched the Aurora Women's Network (formerly the Busygirl Network) on International Women’s Day (8 March 2000) and grew membership to over 2,500 in the first 6 months.
Having secured significant industry support, the Aurora forums attract Europe's largest monthly gathering of corporate and entrepreneurial women.
In 2002, Glenda was awarded the `European Woman of Achievement for Entrepreneurialism'.
Mark Marsland
Mark Marsland came up with the idea for Castaway Tackle after selling some of his fishing gear at a local car boot sale.
Recognising that there was a massive demand for second hand fishing tackle, and with the help of a loan from the Prince's Trust, Mark started Castaway Tackle which brings the consumer shopping experience of the leading electrical retailers to the world of angling.
Mark has formidable self-belief which has carried him from his early days of working as a labourer, a factory worker and hypnotist, to the success that he enjoys today.
Chris Hughes
Having worked for many years in the events business, and being very close to starting his own company several times before, Chris Hughes finally made the break and started Brand Events after raising £250,000 from investors.
After making it to the 'end of the runway' at the end of year 1, Brand Events has certainly taken off.
Hosting many of the leading events held at Earls Court and Olympia, plus owning 'Chemistry', the massively successful network dating company, Chris Hughes and Brand events are most definitely flying.
James Minter
Having left the Navy as an officer with no business experience whatsoever, James Minter jumped in at the deep end by developing luxury serviced offices in the heart of London, just off the Strand.
By turning unproductive basement space into an exclusive private members' club for freelancers and entrepreneurs, he has created a complimentary business, which sits in harmony with the other.
James's days in the Navy gave him the mental strength to develop and run two businesses. He has now set himself a target to start a new business every two years.
Elena Souto
Elena Souto quit her office job to start Ooh la laa, a lingerie company serving bigger breasted women.
Driven by her passion to create her own success and a love of her company, Elena created a niche lingerie company and overcame the trials and tribulations of starting her own business.
Elena gained tremendous publicity using networking, persistence and her own shining personality to get exposure for her company.
However, rather than take on more debt at this stage in her company's development, she made the decision to change track and mentor other businesses in her role at Business Link for London.
There is no doubt that Elena has the Millionaire Mindset. When the right opportunity comes along, she will be back at the helm.
Luke Johnson
Luke Johnson established himself as one of the country's leading entrepreneurs by buying the Pizza Express chain when it was a sizeable 60 restaurants.
He later turned it into the brand it is today and a chain of over 300 restaurants, taking it public in the process.
Luke is now the entrepreneur behind many other ventures such as the Belgo chain of restaurants and the famous London Ivy restaurant and La Caprice.
Luke is an exceptional entrepreneur and has recently taken his business capabilities to Channel 4 where he has been appointed chairman.
Debbie Burke
Debbie Burke started ROC Recruitment after being made redundant from her 'employed position', when the recruitment company she worked for went bust.
Armed only with a credit card and a £10,000 overdraft, she took the immediate decision to take the remaining clients from her previous company and start ROC Recruitment.
Having been able to persuade her first two clients to use her for their recruitment needs, Debbie knew she was in business.
ROC Recruitment is now one of the country's leading recruitment agencies with a multi-million pound turnover and a staff of over 50.
Lord Harris
Wanting originally to play tennis, cricket and football, Lord Harris (originally Charles Harris from Peckham) started work in his family's three carpet shops at the age of 15 immediately after his father passed away.
His early years were spent travelling up and down the country’s high streets getting to know his business and his competitors.
He went on to achieve outstanding success with Harris Carpets, and again with Carpet Right.
Bringing his tremendous success in business and outstanding people skills to the public sector, Lord Harris has made a significant contribution as the Governor of a hospital and a school.
He has also worked with the government and given speeches to the Queen, all this whilst compensating for his dyslexia.
Sir Christopher Evans
Sir Christopher Evans is a rare breed of entrepreneur as he has taken the academic route to reach the highest level.
As a PhD, he has turned his love of science into a commercial success, investing in biosciences and life sciences.
Sir Christopher is an exceptionally savvy and driven entrepreneur who understands how to turn research and development into both financial profit and benefit to humanity.
Stephen Streater
Stephen Streater is the original founder behind the hugely successful computer games company, Eidos, which he founded after leaving university.
It went on to become the fastest growing company of the 1990s, gaining massive success with games such as Laura Croft - Tomb Raider.
Having retired in his early 30s, Stephen soon decided retirement was not for him and set up his second public company, Forbidden Technologies.
Forbidden provides narrow band streaming technology for PCs, phones and other hand-held devices.
Michael Smith
Together with fellow university friend Tom, Michael Smith quit his well paid job to follow his passion for gadgets and love of business.
Another one to start in the heady internet days, and another one to survive the hype and the crash, Michael's company has gone on to grow into a hugely successful internet mail order business specializing in gadgets and must-haves.
Michael's plans do not stop at Firebox, as over the next few years, he intends to develop several other business interests. His ambition is to rival the most successful entrepreneurs.
Nick Wheeler
Nick Wheeler spent his university years punching names into a database and selling shirts.
With the exception of a two-year working career with Bain Management consultants, Nick has spent his time building the distinctive Gentlemen's shirt maker, Charles Tyrwhitt.
Charles Tyrwhitt now employs over 200 people and is the country's largest web, catalogue and retail shirt maker. Nick and Charles Tyrwhitt stand for quality, service and value.
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