The Illusion of Success Does Not Breed Success
Meet Ryan: an independent contractor who boasts having over 40 jobs in the past. Ryan has always dreamed of being an entrepreneur and owning his own business. There’s only one problem: Ryan keeps falling further and further into debt. With too many expenses for his level of income, Ryan hopes to get his spending under control, but he’s got a long way to go.
Having moved in with his mother who was diagnosed with cancer, Ryan feels the weight of his family to succeed. With foreclosure a very real possibility, Ryan is completely overwhelmed by his debt; however, less than half of his total debt is from student loans. The rest? Mostly purchases that Ryan does not need. Sporting a truck, boat, motorcycle and a car, Ryan is sitting on a hoard of high-interest loans keeping him from ever turning a profit in his personal life.
Ryan believes that these purchases will help him become more successful – that you need a big truck to succeed as a contractor. In his mind, he can’t close a sale if he shows up in an electric car. However, there is a big difference between optimism and delusion, and simply “looking the part” will never carry Ryan across the debt-free finish line. Ryan may be a salesman at heart, but he won’t be able to charm himself out of debt. Ryan’s only option is to roll up his sleeves and dig his own way out.
With the bulk of Ryan’s debt coming from vehicles and other frivolous purchases, it’s clear that his financial problems were born out of choice, not circumstance. What’s worse is these choices have led him to invest a huge chunk of his net worth into items with depreciating value. As time passes, Ryan’s assets are getting less valuable instead of more valuable – all while he’s investing even more money for things like insurance, repairs, new tires and over $1,000 in gas every month. Essentially, Ryan is losing money while he loses more money. While Ryan’s student loans aren’t something he can pass off, the other purchases are. How could he possibly pass off the payments for all his stuff? The answer is easy: sell it.
““The optics are the only thing in the world that you should not care about.”
- Gary Vaynerchuk, serial entrepreneur & CEO of VaynerMedia”
To succeed as a business owner, Ryan first needs to get rid of as much debt as quickly as possible, and the easiest way is to get rid of anything he doesn’t need. With so many belongings, it can be hard to find where to start. Luckily, Ryan has help from the Going from Broke team’s “Sell Your Stuff” worksheet to catalogue his belongings and what everything is worth. By selling the belongings that have the biggest strain on his finances, Ryan will be able to eliminate huge portions of his debt and set himself straight on the path to achieving his entrepreneurial dreams.
What’s the Next Step?
If you find yourself in a situation like Ryan’s, hoping to jumpstart your own journey as a business owner, it’s important to set yourself up for success, so you can execute your dream. As Kim Perell, CEO of 100.com, writes in her book, The Execution Factor, there are 5 key traits of execution. First, determine your vision. Take the first step in turning your dream into reality by writing down your mission. Your mission needs to be one of personal investment. When the going gets tough, you’ll need passion and the drive to succeed. Next, be prepared to take action. It’s easy to dream, but hard to do – in order to succeed, be prepared to really put in the work. Once you put your plan into action, don’t let anything get in your way. Resilience is the key to overcoming any obstacle. If you have a dream, stick with it until it becomes reality. Finally, do not be afraid to leverage the relationships in your life to better yourself and advance your goals. Friends, family, and mentors are in your life to do exactly that: help. When you’re an entrepreneur, it isn’t uncommon for your personal and professional commitments to overlap.
If owning your own business is your goal, there is nothing stopping you. However, along the way, it’s important to remember no one is going to make a bigger impact on your dream than yourself. As many successful entrepreneurs say: you have to put in the work now to reach your dream in the future.