Imagine this scene…
You’re at the mall and you run into a former coworker.
She’s with her family… she’s also ecstatic to see you.
You were always good to her during your time working together…
You went out of your way to listen to her stories that bore everyone else…
Not only that, you always did your best to help her with her job.
“Hey! Good to see you.” You say, smiling.
She quickly remembers the conversations you guys had about your fitness business.
Now, in an amazing coincidence, she is able help her sister who is struggling with her weight-loss and add value to a good friend at the same time.
What a good day.
She says, “Meet my sister! I told you about her. She’s been looking for someone to help her with her fitness. A coach or something…”
Her sister, more than a little embarrassed, introduces herself to you.
“Would you be able to book me in for a consultation?” She asks, almost pleadingly.
This is when your smiley expression will switch into a mildly pained one.
You say, “Unfortunately, I’m swamped at the moment. For the next 6 months, actually.”
Until you scale your business by hiring a team, which can’t happen for another 6 months…
You’ll have your work cut out for you in client work in the meantime.
You just turned down business.
Would this scene play out the same if it were your business?
Imagine if you had a select few clients that paid you a high retainer fee every month…
As a result, in order to do a high quality job, you won’t be able to divide your work periods into too many pieces.
Alas, whenever you’re at networking events you’re spending a fair amount of time just rejecting potential clients.
Maybe in a few months when you scale with hiring on a team you’ll be able to handle more business, you think.
If you can afford to turn away from paying clients, you’re doing something right.
Only a small percentage of entrepreneurs ever experience this level of business.
Why is that?
Maybe I can help you.
This is something I occasionally think about when I feel like procrastinating on the actual work I need to do.
Obviously, there are more than 3 reasons for anything… but I thought it would be fun to break down my explanation of this “scarcity of excellence” into 3 components.
3 key components separate this small pack of entrepreneurs from everyone else. Have all 3 components in place, and you too, can be one of them:
- Just plain ol’ genetics:Some people were born in a way that makes them perfect for a particular discipline.The stars align, and they end up finding themselves involved in this discipline. Because of their tailored genetics, they excel.
The odds of this happening are rare, but you often hear about people like this in media. You rarely meet them though. These are the likes of professional athletes and billionaires.
The high level athlete with amazing genetics for bone structure. He also has a high IQ and can manage a team of intelligent, almost equally talented, people.Someone who has to work to improve his physique and also struggles with high level management in the beginning will never catch up to him.
Depending on what discipline you embark upon, genetics plays a huge role in whether you ever reach any notable feat of achievement in it.
Achieving excellence in any endeavor is evidence of the cerebral capacity to do so.
Therefore, it is very important to consider genetic factors when deciding what path to take in life. You must consider, with your genetic make-up, if you can get to a high enough level and thus create enough scarcity to be recognized and rewarded. If not, then you need to be wise in choosing something that your genetics don’t limit you in.
If you’re still reading this and you’re not discouraged, that’s probably because you know that you can figure something like entrepreneurial ship out.
Something that requires a fair bit of cognitive ability to achieve success in.
You’ve figured other things out before- maybe you’ve achieved a high level in rather mundane things like video games. You know that there is a potential for you to belong in the 1% of achievers.
Capable genetics.
- An amazing culture of success:This is kinda like genetics in that you don’t get to choose the quality of the component.Unlike genetics, the creative and open-minded ones of us, through reading and watching, can take on and develop a culture of success and reach a high level of achievement.
Depending on what kind of endeavor you embark upon, you may have had to have a culture of success from the beginning.
A person that started being serious about playing piano later in life will never be a major concert pianist. She will never be able to out compete someone who had a lifetime of “culture of success” dedicated towards playing piano.
To elaborate on this, I’m trying to make money on the internet right now.The original people that have made money on the internet are the extreme out-liers. Think, Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.
I will never be able to make more money than them because I’m using their platforms to make a decent living off of. They were hustling and grinding so long before I started that it is impossible for me to catch up. That’s okay though…There is no catching up these guys, but I’m still thankful for their inventions.
It is as if their entrepreneurial spirit has been shared through their inventions and have made it possible for hundreds of thousands of people to achieve a high level of achievement of their own.
This component of success can be learned. Thank god. But touching back on my first point, genetics will play a huge factor in developing a culture of success.
Generally, people that are naturally creative and open-minded can grasp philosophy better. They can set goals better because they can come up with creative narratives for their lives.
It’s often possible that someone who does not have a history of success in their life can “turn it around” by learning a “culture of success” mindset.
Because of the wide reaching platforms on the internet, there is more room for successful entrepreneurs than ever before. There is still a lot of time to adopt a “culture of success” and take your place among them.
- They have sustainable relationships:If you have the first two points checked off then this is something that generally just happens on that’s own.It’s rare to find intelligent and positive people to have very toxic relationships in their lives. People that achieve a high level of success will always cut out nonproductive relationships.
Whether it is an employee that is sabotaging the company’s growth, or a family member that is always too quick to disparage, an entrepreneur needs to take the initiative to cut these people out.
Or, at least limit interactions with them, in the case of family members.
Toxic relationships can ruin everything.
Someone who is naturally intelligent and ambitious can end up being a nobody just because they never had the supportive relationships they desperately needed early in their developmental period.
Thankfully, wounds do heal. Avoidance of gross relationships and adoption of healthy ones can bring a person to their full potential.
For example, someone who was born and raised in a rough area and around rough people will have been traumatized in a way that makes it difficult to sustain a disciplined work habit and have a trusting demeanor towards others. Two things that are essential for an entrepreneur to be successful.
Although, through sheer determination, they can build these skills up later in life, they will never reach a level of someone who always had the component of “healthy relationships”. Like in most endeavors though, one does not need to reach the level of being the best in order to have a high level of fulfillment.
Starting an entrepreneurial journey online is one of these endeavors. It is not too late to cut out those that are holding you back and build relationships with people that are mutually beneficial.
So, like component 2, an entrepreneur can “install” this component. Also, like component 2, they need to have the cognitive ability to do so.
If you’re struggling to get your own thing going, it is likely something in these 3 components is left to be desired.
Yes, they are quite broad components. As there are many nuanced skills and characteristics that belong in each of them. You can even look at each component as a category for self-improvement…
I wrote this article in part to self-reflect on what I’ve need to learn on my journey, and to also invite you to join me.
How?