Entrepreneurs thrive on a positive outlook and determination; the world’s leading health and wellbeing coach, Mr Motivator, has an abundance of both.
I’m still buzzing from our previous conversation, but his message is so on point for entrepreneurs I knew I had to share more.
You can hear my full conversation with Derrick on the Interviews with Experts podcast, (or read my earlier blog here).
Motivation
If you run your own business you’ll have faced many challenges. When I first set up Write Business Results six years ago I was excited, and I couldn’t understand why people that I considered good friends were negative about it. I wanted to find out who helps motivate Mr Motivator when he finds himself in this situation.
Derrick: “I have people around me who enrich me and lift me up. I only read books that are autobiographies because they inspire me. It makes me understand the difficulties that people go through, especially if they’re starting a business. Getting other people to believe in your dream is so difficult, often they don’t; they will want to hold you back.
If you want to fly and there’s someone hanging around your ankles who’s saying have you thought of you this, why are you doing this this way and so on you need to tell them it’s because you believe in it.
You want friends who encourage you to go out there and do what you need to do and tell you that they’ll be there if you need help. That’s friendship. If they know so much about what’s going to work in your business why aren’t they out there doing it for themselves?
You can’t wait for your ship to come in. If you work hard, are considerate and kind, amazing things will happen to you. Years ago I adopted a motto from American poet Maya Angelou: ‘People may forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.’
Surround yourself with people who give you the fuel to carry on. I get letters from people telling me that I lift them up and that makes me want to carry on. My emotions keep me standing up straight. It’s not genealogy. It’s a mindset, and I believe that you get back what you give out. I don’t have bad days. I had a bad moment. That’s all.”
A strong and positive mindset is incredibly important when you’re an entrepreneur but as Derrick has explained, it’s about more than being resilient, it’s about self belief.
Derrick: “The number one path to success is perseverance; number two keep working hard. The successful man is the one who continues after failure; keep going, no matter what. The first two letters of goal are go. Just go for it; if for any reason it fails, you will learn some lessons that will make you stronger on your next venture.”
Love yourself
Whenever I listen to Derrick I want to write lots of notes because he has found such wisdom from his experiences in life and explains it with such passion. As an entrepreneur there are lots of conversations about loving the work that you do, and knowing why that’s your passion. Derrick took this conversation to a whole new level.
Derrick: “Our emotions are the controlling force in our lives. If you want balance in your life you need to get your emotions in check. If you’re unhappy you can’t sleep, eat or do anything. It almost takes away the reason why you get up every morning.
When you’re happy you can work late, sleep, get up and get on. You have purpose. It’s not a question of you having someone who loves you or that you love. There’s another person in the room; that person is you.
If you look in the mirror and love you, you’re telling the world you’re available for love, and it means your emotions are in balance because you are loving yourself first. If you’re emotionally happy and your fitness is in place (emotionally, physically, mentally) you’re well supported. You can float on air.
What have you discovered in the last year? You can only drive one car at a time. Wear one suit at a time. Watch one television at a time. All the effort you put into other things just disturbs and destabilises you. You are the most important person; treat yourself accordingly.”
Why you should always be the conductor of your business
Finding a work-life balance is a major challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs. Business owners who are trying to extricate themselves from the day-to-day running of their companies so that they can operate without them is a major hurdle for people who live and breathe what they do. I was excited to hear what Derrick had to say about this because he is the frontman of his business. He is the one and only Mr Motivator that people know and love.
Derrick: “Giving up or handing over to other people is very difficult, and I don’t believe that you ever should. You should always be the conductor of your business.
You start your orchestra with the woodwind section, but for it to become complete you need the drummers and the people playing the triangle and so on. You’re the one who has the temperature for your business. You know when it’s going off kilter. You know when it’s not working right so you’re the one who needs to remain in control.
Make sure that you develop an orchestra that knows how to play your tune. If they know how to play your tune they will know when it goes off and you can correct it. But the moment that you walk away I think you end up with a situation where the orchestra has the timings wrong or isn’t delivering the notes the way they should. Even if you do reach a point where your orchestra is complete and you can walk away, you need another conductor to take your place, and he or she still needs to know what you believe.”
Sharing your business message
One of the things that always inspires me about Derrick is how many different ways he has found to share this message of fitness and positivity. He has a book, his TV appearances, DVDs, and now the Motivation Club.
I wanted to know why having all these different ways to share his message matters to him.
Derrick: “Every single person’s life can be an inspiration to someone else. We underestimate our lives and think nobody would be interested. I think we should; when you start opening up and telling people how you feel and what you’ve been through that serves as either a warning to other people or a guiding light. It may provide them with the answers they have been looking for. You should always make time for other people; you don’t know the battles they are fighting.
Every time I open up to people I make them understand that I’m just doing a different job to them. I’m the same as you. I still get a cold and use the bathroom; it’s just that I’m in the public eye. Let’s just keep pushing those positive messages out there.
We’re given one life, and it’s up to us to make it good or bad.”
Derrick’s passion for life and business is contagious. Book a discovery call with me at Write Business Results if you’d like to inject some of that energy into building your personal brand and creating more impact with your message
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