4 Lessons I've Learned After 7 Years of Entrepreneurship

No fluff.

No bullshit intro.

No creative sales writing framework to "keep our attention".

Here are the 4 lessons I have learned from entrepreneurship after 7 long years of learning the game.

1.) Entrepreneurship Is A Skillset

When I first got introduced to entrepreneurship as a senior in High School.

I was told to take my passion and figure out what I would want to do if I couldn't live out that passion.

At that time I wanted to become a MMA coach and open a gym.

So I took our school project seriously and really dove deep into my passion of martial arts to start my business. (I also ended up winning 1st place at the Young entrepreneurship expo at the end of the year too.)

Over the years I started to fall more in love with entrepreneurship because it started to become the means of how I was able to live my overall dream which is monetizing my lifestyle.

Getting paid for doing the things I was already going to do.

When I turned 21 and started practicing the Rastafari lifestyle, a big lesson hit me and that being entrepreneur isn't really about the title.

It's more so about mastering the skillset of entrepreneurship.

Rastafari Teachings

In Rastafari you learn the importance of being self sustainable and providing for self.

Leonard P. Howell, the "first Rasta", built a community of 4,500 Jamaicans during the time.

That community thrived by using entrepreneurship to keep money circulating in their community.

When I learned this, it made me look at money differently, it made me look at business differently. It made me look at my life differently.

If I wanted to become a successful entrepreneur then I had to stop focusing on the title of being a business owner and put more focus on the skillset needed for my business to thrive and be self sustaining.

• Writing

• Sales

• Marketing

• Client Acquisition

These are some of the attributes needed to sharpen your skillset in entrepreneurship.

The more you can refine these skills, the more likely you are to become self sustainable and make money from your lifestyle.

Having More Resources

Another key advantage of mastering entrepreneurship is that it expands your access to resources(Money, network, tools, etc.).

Entrepreneurship requires a lot of resources and a lot of times that resource doesn't always mean money.

You could be in possession of a simple tool like a custom made planner that you made to boost your productivity.

Someone would buy that planner from you just so it can help them be more productive too!

Thats because you have a tool, a resource, that actually works and people see the value with in it.

This applies to the people you know and do business with. This also includes the knowledge you've gained from taking an online course.

Even this blog you're reading right now is a resource because Im giving you my knowledge so you can apply it to your life.

The more resources you have, the more value you can give.

The more value you give, the more money your business brings in.

2.) Growth = Doing The Right Task Over & Over

During the early days of my entrepreneurial journey my biggest issue was figuring out what I was suppose to be doing for my business.

I was damn near doing everything ranging from making:

• youtube videos

• making IG videos(before reels came out)

• trying to self workout plans

• get clients

and the list can go on and on.

Naturally as a one person business owner, you're going to wear a lot of hats but over time I realized the main things you should be focused on with your business is just doing the needle moving task that'll make your business grow on a consistent basis.

These task will vary business to business but the absolute basics task every business should be doing is:

• Putting out free content

• Building your email list

• Getting new leads

• Building your Brand Authority

It took me 7 long ass years to figure this out but its literally as simple and straight forward is this.

You can't just do these task though of 1 to 2 weeks and then quit because you're not growing.

You have to give it at least 3 to 6 month of consistent effort to even build some sort of data that you can go back and review so you can plan to grow for another 6 months.

Being consistent with just doing the basics is the biggest pain points for a lot of new young entrepreneurs.

Don't waste your tim getting so caught up in making your logo absolutely perfect or trying to add 30 different new products on your website when you're barely selling one product.

You must learn to show up and do the simple task that will drive your business every single day if you want to see growth in the beginning.

3.) Innovating Too Early

Innovations without a solid foundation will lead your business to failure.

I learned this first hand when I first started my business as a fitness trainer in 2019.

I started off solid, I was training clients in person and I was also selling Workout plans online as a low ticket offer.

I was getting confident with training and selling workout plans but where I messed up at was looking at other fitness trainers that were way ahead of me and trying to apply the same innovations they had.

(That was the goofiest shit I could've done but oh well, lessoned learned lol.)

I lost a lot of money investing into Personal training software and getting products made because at the time the target market I had wasn't able to afford my services.

So then when I introduced the products, they wasn't selling either because truthfully at the time...

I didn't really know how to sell at all.

I just knew how to get people to workout.

What I was neglecting was solidifying my foundation for my business.

My business had no structure that was going to support any future innovations, products, or anything else that I wanted to sell to my target customers.

Since taking note of this I have put more focus on only doing the needle driving task that my business needs to grow that I mentioned earlier.

My main task every week for my business consist of:

• Writing my Newsletter

• Commenting On Twitter Posts(Building Following & Connecting)

• Cold & Warm DMing(Building Leads & Connections)

• Posting Free Content on Social Media

• Working Out(Where most of my ideas spark from)

There is other small micro task that I do as well that is doesn't require much attention but they play a major part in my growth as well.

Understand a foundation takes time to build. If you think you're going to build a solid foundation in just 2 weeks you're going to fail.

If you're willing to invest for the long run and actually put in the work for at least 1 hour a day, in 1 to 2 years you can build a solid foundation.

4.) Business Is A Game of War

There is only ONE thing that always helps me understand life for what it is. War.

That's why I love martial arts and that's why I also love chess.

That's because business is a lot like chess and the best part for me and you is now in our favor!

We are now in a new age where you basically NEED the internet to scale your business and live the free life you been searching for.

You have to see the internet as the battlefield in which business wage war on.

Every piece on the board serves as a different element of your business. (Dont worry, next week newsletter will be an entire breakdown of this)

It is your sole job to learn how to leverage every piece on the battlefield so you can finally gain an edge in the battle so you can win.

I personally play chess at least 3-4 times a week just to learn more skills that'll help me with my business.

Chess helps you develop skills such as:

• Engagement Strategies

• Exit Strategies

• Proper Planning

• Critical Thinking

• Time Management

All these skills are a crucial attributes needed to run and scale your business in this new digital era we are walking into.

Don't get mad and blame the system because you can't figure out how to win.

Wars aren't won by those who wine and complain about the world being unfair.

They are won by the warrior minded individuals that refuse to accept a reality they dont want to live.

They learn, study, and exploit the game for what it is so they can remain in control of their reality and freedom.

So Whats the Word Rasta Man?

Regardless if you have been in business for 3 decades, 3 years, 3 months, or 3 weeks...

You need to always remember that entrepreneurship is a skill for survival.

You survive by building a strong foundation for your business, mastering the basics before innovating systems, and rembering that new age business is like a game of chess.

Control the board and position yourself in the best way that allows you to come on top.

From,

Rasta Riek aka "The Rast Man"

P.S: If you want to talk more on how you can build your personal brand click here and I'll be more than happy to help you get a head start on building your brand.

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