This Will Preserve Entrepreneurial Momentum

This is the Momentum Podcast.

For many of us, it feels like the world is more chaotic than it ever has been. We're dealing with a number of crisis situations as a society and a global population. There's political issues in many countries, social issues in those same countries, medical issues across the entire globe, and radical financial and economic issues. But here's the reality, times like this can provide a specific advantage for us as entrepreneurs. If we're able to focus and maintain momentum while the rest of the world's in chaos, we can quickly get ahead and gain an advantage.

In this episode of the Momentum Podcast, Alex is going to share about how to make sure you don't just maintain your momentum, but you increase it and turn it into a massive period of growth for yourself. I hope you enjoy.

Alex Charfen: I'm Alex Charfen and this is the Momentum Podcast, made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will.

We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future, and instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters. Clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution and we always will be.

Good morning. So it is November 2nd, which means here in the United States tomorrow is, I think, it's called Super Tuesday, right? Tomorrow is Tuesday, November 3rd, which is our big election day. And the amount of challenges that we're having in the United States right now, it's difficult to even pretend like there's not massive challenges and massive issues happening all over the place right now. In fact, when you look at what's going on for us as entrepreneurs, there is massive chaos.

Let's just lay it out there. Let's get real about what's really happening here. You know, right now, if you look at the world and you focus on these things, you can find massive chaos and tons of distraction. Let's just put it out there. There is huge election and political distraction in the United States right now. Massive social and personal distraction for a lot of people. There's this social conflict that's going on, people are talking about violence and war, and what's going to happen in the United States itself. There's medical issues. This coronavirus, it's all over the place, has created massive chaos. And then there's huge financial issues.

When you look at what's going on right now in the world today, there is arguably as much chaos as there's been in my entire lifetime. I heard somebody this weekend say the world's more chaotic than it ever has been. I think when we say things like that, we're forgetting World War I, we're forgetting World War II, we're forgetting the 1918 pandemic where medical science was nowhere near where it is now. It's definitely a huge massively chaotic time. I don't know if it's the most chaotic time in history.

But that's not the point. My point is, this is one of the most chaotic times that we've ever had, and for us as entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity. And I know that sometimes when I say that it can sound kind of off. It's like, wait a second, are you saying that all of this stuff happening in the world actually creates an opportunity, so it's a good thing? That's not exactly what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying. All this stuff is happening in the world anyway, so it creates an opportunity and it just is. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, but it's a massive opportunity for us as entrepreneurs.

Here's how we take advantage of it. There's some important parts of this. So first is the mindset. Second is tactics. And then third thing is some things to keep in mind. I want to share a story around this.

In 2007, Katie and I went completely bankrupt. Prior to that in my entrepreneurial career I had been very successful. I had some close calls. I had some times where I thought things were wouldn't work out, but I had been very successful. I had created a tremendous amount of wealth. I'd supported myself and my company for my whole career. My whole life. I'd made millions of dollars for my team, for myself, and I made hundreds of millions for my clients.

Things were going really well right up until 2007, when we had a real estate empire that went completely bankrupt and we lost everything. Our world was in massive crisis and it was kind of hard to get over at the very beginning. It was hard to understand what had happened. It was hard to reconcile what had happened. We had gone from six figures a month in revenue to literally some months negative revenue. We were losing money across the board. It was horrible. We were in massive chaos.

However, within a year, Katie and I got to the place where we were liquid millionaires again. To make things very clear, I don't want to sound boastful or like this is something that anyone can do. We were fortunate in a lot of different ways. But through using exactly what I'm going to share with you, we were able to go from our lowest financial point in my entire life, and I'm pretty sure in Katie's as well, to liquid millionaires again, to then building back so much of the wealth we had lost and getting to a point where we actually got ahead of where we had been before.

Right now, going into this election tomorrow, going into all this conflict tomorrow, I feel like as entrepreneurs we need to approach this situation differently and understand, this is a quote that I share with entrepreneurs all the time, the world can be in crisis and you can be in momentum. Your focus determines your reality, so reality is yours to create. And I don't say either one of those statements lightly, I actually believe them with all of my heart.

In fact, here's what I think we need to do as entrepreneurs. There's three things we need to do in order to not just get through this timeframe, but to overcome this timeframe, to help people, to make a massive contribution, to move ahead regardless of what's going on in the world, what's happening in the world is going to happen, the way we behave around it, the way we approach it, what we apply to our lives, is what is going to happen to us.

Number one is mindset. In a time like this, we must focus on mindset because here's the easy thing to do at a time like this. The easy thing to do is to jump on social media, grab a phone, jump on social media, or jump on a news site and stay minute to minute up to date on everything that's going on right now. Here's what I've learned after 47 years on this planet and my entire career as an entrepreneur, is that if I'm watching minute to minute news cycles, if I'm checking on the news more than once today, or more than once every other day, I get way too wrapped up into it and it's way too distracting and it makes me anxious and I want to know more and see more. And here's the reality, every single time in my life that something important has happened and I have not been watching the news, within a couple of hours I find out. It's interesting.

Even when Kobe Bryant died in the helicopter accident, I remember going up the street and Katie and I went and grabbed some food up the street. I didn't hear that from a news outlet. I actually heard it from the people behind the counter. They were talking about it. I asked them about it. They told me Kobe Bryant had passed away. I thought that was really terrible. He was such a unique and incredible human being. And it was within about an hour of it having happened. So I knew like that.

I don't pay attention to the news. I don't watch the minute to minute. I don't watch the hour to hour. I completely divorce myself from that, because here's the mindset we have to have as entrepreneurs, regardless of what's going on in the world, regardless of the election, the social, the medical, the financial, all the other issues that are out there, we have to maintain the belief, the conviction, that the world can be in crisis, and we can be a momentum, and we are going to grow through this crisis.

Today, when I say this crisis, choose which one you want to talk about. There are so many right now that in this type of turmoil, chaos, challenging time, what we need to do as entrepreneurs is commit to ourselves that we are going to grow. And I don't just mean growing financially, but I mean that too, but I mean growing personally, understanding more about ourselves, understanding what's going on around us, understanding what's happening for us.

Two, really getting clear on growth in our business and how can we make a bigger contribution and how can we grow in this situation?

Three, how can we adapt to what's going on in the world and actually still make a massive contribution and massive change and create bigger outcomes for ourselves. That is the opportunity we have as entrepreneurs. The mindset in any crisis is committed to growth in this crisis and orient towards the future. I'm going to grow and I'm going to create a better future. I'm going to grow and I'm going to create a better future. Regardless of what's going on around you.

There's been some news reports, negative news reports, talking about how much billionaires have made during this crisis, how much wealth the upper percentage of the population, the wealthiest percentage of the population, has made. I've spent some time around people who exist in that upper percentage of the population. This is their mindset, no matter what's going on,. whether it's social, political, economic, financial, whatever the crisis is, their mindset is, how do I use this to my advantage? How do I move forward even though the world is in crisis? How do I make more? How do I contribute more? How do I do more? How do I grow my business, grow my empire, make what I'm doing safer and make what I'm doing more secure?

That is how it actually works. And so the mindset we must have is I'm going to grow and I'm going to orient towards the future. The second thing in a time of crisis like this is, you've got to double down on your process, structure, and routine. Double down on your tactics. Double down on what keeps you in the game. Remember what I said, your focus determines your reality, so your reality is yours to create.

Right now, going into this election week, I know that the world's going to be chaotic. I know things are going to be going crazy. I know people are going to be really upset. I know there's going to be a massive amount of conflict. We just know those are all true right now, especially given the climate in the United States and internationally.

As a global population right now, we are in massive chaos. And so this week, this morning, I started a two week time study. If you're not familiar with what a time study is, go to my podcast, go to charfen.com/podcast, and do a search on double your productivity in two weeks. It's one of our most downloaded episodes. It's all about a time study. It's basically where you write down in 15 minute increment what you're doing. I started this this morning. Here's why. I want to protect my focus for the next two weeks. I also want to offload a bunch and get a couple of days off a week and lower what I'm doing in the business so I can be more creative, but this was an ideal time to start the time study, because I know this week is, if nothing else, it's going to be massively distracting, and this is going to keep me on track.

It's not just the time study. I actually got up this morning, reviewed and updated my morning routine. Why? Because I want to make sure that every day this week, while the rest of the world is in chaos, while people are trying to figure out what happened and what's going to happen, while there's conflict, while all of the things that could and probably will happen are happening, I'm going to get up every day and I'm going to make the first hour of my day the best hour of my day. I'm going to make certain that I have the routine done so that I know I'm moving myself forward and I'm giving myself exactly what I need in to be massively successful.

You can do this too. So what I do is when I have chaos, when there's challenges, I double down on process, structure, and routine. I raise those guardrails so that I know that I'm going to be focused and moving forward and making things happen. Here's the last thing. I want to be sure that I am focused on the outcomes I want to create. You know, as entrepreneurs when we're clear on what we're creating, when we're clear on our destination, when we're clear on what we want to do next, that is when we actually create momentum, when we move things forward. So for me, it's first mindset, like I explained. Second it's tactics, my morning routine, my time study, doubling down on process, structure. And routine. And then third, it's getting hyper clear on what are the outcomes I want to create? What am I measuring to know that I'm successful? And then who's responsible for what? What am I doing and what are other people doing?

Here's why those three things are so crucially important. In our company, we share these over and over again. OTA. Outcome. What are you aiming at? Transparency. What are you measuring to see if you're successful? And accountability. Who's doing what? Here's why. I've spent time around some of the most successful people on the planet and I've been able to watch them identify and understand and move things forward and create massive organizations and literally billions of dollars in revenue and billions of dollars in wealth.

It is a privilege to be able to watch that type of thinking, that type of organization, that type of mentality in an entrepreneur's mind. It's blown me away over and over again. And here's what I saw hanging out with the most successful people on the planet. They are constantly asking questions, whether they're diagnosing a problem or figuring out where they're going to go next, they ask three questions. Where are we going? What are we measuring to see if we're making progress, if we're moving in the right direction? And who's going to do what?

When they're diagnosing an issue, it's where were we going? What were we measuring? And who was going to do what? And if you have those three things, clear outcome, transparency, and measurement and accountability, you're not only going to make it through this period of time, you're going to thrive. Because here's what I want all of us to understand, the opportunity right now for us as entrepreneurs is massive. Here's why.

The bandwidth in the world is being taken up by all of the things that I talked about, by the elections, by the social issues, by the medical issues, by the financial issues, by the economic issues, that are really, let's get real, these are global. This is not one country against another, every country in the world right now is experiencing some type of challenge or frustration or turmoil or something. Those that have succeeded with the virus have closed off from the rest of the world and scared to let anybody in. And those who have not succeeded with the virus are trying to get it under control. There's all kinds of different stuff that's happening.

But for me as an entrepreneur, here's what I know. I know that if I look at outcome, transparency, and accountability, I'm actually going to get way further ahead in times of chaos, than I would in a flat market. You know what. When I was younger, I think I was in my early twenties, when somebody said, the times where business growth is easiest is when the market is going up like crazy or down like crazy. But when the market is just calm and stable, it's very difficult to make progress.

I didn't understand that when I was younger. After over 20 years as an entrepreneur and running teams and helping hundreds of companies grow, I understand it intimately. See, here's why. When the market is moving, when it's going up, when it's going down, when there's chaos, when there's challenges, where there's problems, everyone else is distracted by the subject matter of the crisis, whatever that is for them.

I know some people who are obsessed with the election right now. I know other people who are obsessed with the coronavirus and the medical issues. I know other people that are obsessed with unemployment and what's happening for people, the social issues. That obsession, unless it's actually part of your business and what you're doing to move forward, that takes you out of the game and distracts you like crazy.

Here's what I know. If I'm focused, if I'm aware, if I know what I need to do moving forward, if I'm leaning on my process, if I have the right mindset, if I have clear outcomes, clear understanding of scoreboards, clear understanding of who's going to do what, times like this or where we can move our business forward faster than any other times.

This is a massive opportunity. So this isn't just how to maintain your momentum in a crisis, this is how to increase your momentum, take advantage of what's going on, and move forward. And for us as entrepreneurs, this is the key.

What's going to happen now, in every crisis that I've talked about, in all of the examples that I've given you, is what's happened in every crisis in history. Are you ready for this? An entrepreneur, just like you, just like me, is going to rise above the noise, identify an opportunity, grab hold of it like crazy, breathe their energy into it to get it to grow and expand and get into momentum, and they will take the world with us. That will be you. That will be me. That is all of us who are willing to focus on our mindset, put the right tactics in place, understand that we have the right things in place to grow, and orient towards growth and focus on the future. To me, it's the only option we have.

This is going to be interesting, but as entrepreneurs, our life is about creating momentum and helping the people around us and making the world a better place. Don't forget it for a second. Do not let what's going on in the world distract you from the greater outcomes you're going to create for the world with your life. This is our opportunity. This is our time as entrepreneurs. Let's lean in, let's focus, and create the reality we want to see.

If you want some help with this, if you want help with the process, structure, and routine that will help you not just grow your business, but identify the right people to hire, bring them onboard your team, get them productive like crazy, and stop feeling like you have to do everything yourself. Reach out to us. Go to billionairecode.com, answer a few questions from my team, and you'll get three things. A copy of The Billionaire Code Matrix, which is the nine levels you go through to go from zero to $100 million, you can identify where you are and understand exactly where you should be focused right now, so you stop wasting time in your business.

Second, you'll get a copy of our new ebook, The Billionaire Code Decoded, where we explain the billionaire code in detail level by level exactly how you should apply it. And then third, you'll have an opportunity to book a call with my team and understand how we can help you grow your business, build an empire, stop doing everything else yourself, and make a massive contribution.

Go to billionairecode.com. We look forward to talking to you. And remember, commit to growth, orient towards the future, and you're not just going to overcome this crisis, you're going to own it. Thanks everybody.