4 Traits of an Entrepreneur Ep 505

In this insightful episode, the host from acquisition.com delves into the critical challenges that entrepreneurs face, focusing on four key areas of ignorance that hinder business success. He emphasizes that not knowing what's possible, lacking tactical skills, failing to persuade others, and struggling with self-discipline can severely limit an entrepreneur's potential. Drawing from his own experiences, including transitioning from owning gyms to consulting and mastering Facebook ads, he shares how overcoming these knowledge gaps through mentorship, paying for expertise, and surrounding oneself with more successful individuals can lead to personal growth and business expansion. Additionally, he underscores the importance of character traits and the ability to coach oneself as pivotal in attracting talent and scaling a business. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to share the podcast to assist more entrepreneurs in their journeys.

• Ignorance is identified as the most expensive cost in a business.
• Not knowing how to make a billion dollars is equated to losing a billion dollars annually.
• The speaker stresses the urgency of overcoming ignorance to succeed in business.

"The most expensive thing that's costing you the most money in your business right now is ignorance. Right now, not knowing how to make a billion dollars a year costs you a billion dollars a year..."

This quote emphasizes the high cost of ignorance in business, suggesting that not possessing certain knowledge is equivalent to a significant financial loss.

• Alex shares his desire to document the process of building a billion-dollar business.
• He mentions his inspiration from figures like Bezos, Musk, and Buffett.
• Alex runs a private equity firm, Acquisition.com, which interacts with a large number of successful entrepreneurs.

"I'm trying to build a billion dollar thing with acquisition.com. I always wish Bezos, Musk, and Buffett had documented their journey. So I'm doing it for the rest of us."

Alex expresses his ambition to build a significant business and his intention to document the journey for educational purposes, inspired by other successful entrepreneurs.

• Alex's firm has developed a framework to evaluate an entrepreneur's skill.
• He introduces a rubric consisting of four elements to assess entrepreneurial success.
• The framework is designed to help entrepreneurs increase their chances of success.

"And so what I'm going to do today is break down how you can think through yourself as an entrepreneur and the four elements that we look at to say how good of an entrepreneur this person is and how much we're willing to bet on the fact that they're going to be successful."

This quote introduces the purpose of the framework, which is to analyze and predict an entrepreneur's likelihood of success.

• Entrepreneurs may not be successful because they lack knowledge in one of four key areas.
• The four areas are: knowing what is possible, knowing how to do something, getting others to do something, and getting oneself to do something.
• Alex will discuss each of these elements in detail.

"So every entrepreneur isn't successful because they don't know how to do one of four things. They either don't know that something is possible altogether. Number two, they don't know how to do something. Three, they don't know how to get other people to do something. And four, they don't know how to get themselves to do something."

This quote outlines the four critical areas of knowledge and action where entrepreneurs commonly have deficiencies, which can hinder their success.

• Alex shares his personal experience with ignorance of business possibilities.
• He explains how a mentor introduced him to the concept of licensing, which he was previously unaware of.
• Ignorance of what is possible is a significant barrier, especially for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

"I didn't know that that was possible. So for me, my deficiency was, number one, it was an ignorance around what is possible in the universe."

The quote illustrates how Alex's own experience with ignorance led to a revelation about business opportunities, highlighting the importance of understanding what is possible.

• To overcome ignorance, Alex advises associating with and learning from wealthier individuals.
• He emphasizes the value of consuming content from those who have achieved a higher level of wealth.
• This approach can reveal possibilities and strategies unknown to those from less affluent backgrounds.

"The way that you do that is by getting around people who make more money and watching and consuming the content of people who are wealthier than you and wealthier than your parents, and wealthier than your parents have ever been, and ideally, as wealthy as you want to become or beyond that, because they will tell you the things that are possible that you didn't know were like..."

This quote suggests a method for overcoming ignorance by engaging with and learning from individuals who have achieved greater financial success.

• Alex discusses how the average person is unaware of financial industry practices.
• He reveals that insurance is not taxable and mortgage sellers earn significant fees.
• The quote also highlights how banks profit from interest, which constitutes a large portion of the average American's income.

"You didn't know that insurance isn't a taxable thing. You didn't know that the guy who sells your mortgage makes $5,000 on the mortgage itself, really, just for selling an interest rate. You bet they do. You didn't know that on average, 35% of the average american income goes towards interest expenses to banks."

This quote provides specific examples of financial knowledge that many people lack, which can be detrimental to their financial well-being and success.

• Tactical skills are the practical abilities needed to perform specific tasks.
• Common deficits in tactical skills include building websites, integrating payment processors, setting up entities, and running digital ads.
• Learning tactical skills can often be achieved through self-education or one-on-one tutoring.

"So they don't know how to build a website. They don't know how to integrate a payment processor into their site. They don't know how to set up an entity. They don't know how to send an email to a list."

This quote exemplifies the various technical skills that individuals often lack when starting a business or engaging in digital marketing. It emphasizes the need for acquiring these skills to succeed in today's market.

• Alex transitioned to a turnaround business and needed to learn about Facebook ads.
• He attended a workshop but required advanced skills.
• Alex sought expert help and was willing to pay for one-on-one tutoring.
• The cost of learning Facebook ads through personal coaching was around $6,000.
• Direct interaction with a tutor accelerated the learning process.
• The method involved Alex controlling the mouse while being instructed, ensuring hands-on learning.

"And so I talked to a couple of friends and said, hey, do you know anybody who's really good at Facebook ads?... And finally, one guy said, I'll do it for 750 an hour... Within eight weeks, I knew everything that he was going to do on my ad account."

Alex describes his proactive approach to learning by seeking out an expert in Facebook ads and agreeing to a high hourly rate for tutoring. This quote shows the value he placed on acquiring the skill quickly and effectively, and the financial investment he made to achieve it.

• Influencing others is a meta skill that can compensate for a lack of tactical skills.
• It involves the ability to recruit, sell, lead, and manage effectively.
• Mastering this meta skill allows individuals to delegate tasks and achieve goals through others.

"The third type of difficulty is they don't know how to get other people to do stuff... if you know how to get people to do stuff, you could actually only learn that one skill and get everything else in your life done for you."

Alex points out that a fundamental challenge for many is the inability to influence and motivate others to take action. He suggests that mastering this single meta skill could be sufficient for achieving success, as it enables one to leverage the skills and efforts of others.

• Effective leadership involves the ability to attract and manage high-level talent.
• Vision casting is critical for getting people to want to work towards a common goal.
• Entrepreneurial success can be limited by personal and interpersonal skills.
• Interpersonal skills are often the limiting factor for growth, necessitating operators to complement entrepreneurs.
• Private equity firms can attract talent that may not be drawn to smaller scale businesses.
• Leveraging the firm's track record can help in casting a vision that attracts experienced talent.

"And so when we're looking at an entrepreneur, we think to ourselves, will this person be able to attract high level talent? Will this person be able to manage an enterprise that continues to grow with higher and higher level skill set? People?"

This quote emphasizes the importance of an entrepreneur's ability to attract and manage talented individuals as a key determinant of their potential for success.

"But if we cast the vision that we've done many exits like this, then they'll be far more likely to do it."

Here, the speaker underscores the power of a proven track record in vision casting to attract high-caliber professionals to a growing business.

• Character traits encompass personal and interpersonal skills vital for entrepreneurship.
• Traits like honesty, loyalty, patience, and focus are manifestations of consistent behaviors.
• Developing character traits involves placing oneself in situations that allow for these skills to be practiced and demonstrated.
• Reputation builds over time through consistent behavior, reflecting the character traits one exhibits.
• Loyalty, for instance, is proven when an individual chooses not to betray another despite the opportunity.

"And this character trait is an amorphous word, but it's really just personal and interpersonal skills."

The speaker clarifies that character traits are essentially a combination of personal and social competencies that are critical in business leadership.

"And so if you want to practice loyalty or develop the trait of loyalty, which is just a skill like everything else, which can be learned, then you go into environments, or you wait for the environment that presents itself with the opportunity to prove that you have this skill."

This quote explains that character traits, such as loyalty, can be developed through intentional practice in relevant situations.

• Getting oneself to take action is a challenging and lifelong process.
• Resistance to impulse increases with time, making self-discipline more difficult.
• Character traits are linked to a set of actions that must be consistently practiced.
• Developing traits like honesty and loyalty is akin to learning skills through repetitive practice.
• Self-awareness is crucial in recognizing one's own deficiencies, particularly in believing what is possible.
• Seeking out mentors or more experienced individuals can help break limiting beliefs.

"The final deficiency is getting themselves to do something. And this is both the hardest and the ongoing one that goes for the rest of your life."

The speaker identifies self-motivation as a critical and enduring challenge for entrepreneurs, emphasizing its importance in personal growth.

"And that's how you can develop humility, develop focus, develop loyalty, develop honesty. All of those things are skills."

This quote suggests that personal attributes often considered innate can be developed through practice, like any other skill.

• The speaker requests support for the podcast to reach and assist more entrepreneurs.
• Sharing and reviewing the podcast is seen as a way to contribute to the entrepreneurial community.
• The speaker emphasizes that spreading knowledge can have a significant impact on others.

"And so the only ask that I can ever have of you guys is that you help me spread the word so we can help more entrepreneurs make more money, feed their families, make better products, and have better experiences for their employees and customers."

This quote reflects the speaker's belief in the power of community support to extend the benefits of the podcast to a wider audience of entrepreneurs.

• Coachability is crucial for founders to develop their skill sets.
• An inability to self-reflect and adapt can limit business growth.
• Self-assessment is key to identifying personal and professional shortcomings.
• Discipline can be developed through consistent, focused actions.

"This is just how I am. And that's how, if I hear a founder talking like that, I know that they will be significantly less coachable."

This quote emphasizes the importance of adaptability and the danger of a fixed mindset in entrepreneurs.

"If you can look at yourself as the person or the asset that runs the bigger asset, which is your business, you can figure out, do I have a problem of not knowing what to do or how to do it?"

The speaker suggests that founders should view themselves as assets to their business, capable of self-improvement and addressing their weaknesses.

"If you string enough of those days in a row. You are a disciplined person."

Consistency in actions leads to the development of desired traits such as discipline.

• Ignorance is a significant financial burden for businesses.
• Knowledge is the most valuable asset in business sustainability and growth.
• Learning from others who are more successful can accelerate growth.
• First principles thinking is a method for understanding fundamental truths but can be challenging.

"And the craziest thing is that the most expensive thing that's costing you the most money in your business right now is ignorance."

Ignorance is highlighted as a major cost to businesses, implying the need for continuous learning and knowledge acquisition.

"Which is why knowledge is the number one asset that you have in your business, because what happens is your business can disappear and a billionaire can make it again, because they have the knowledge."

Knowledge is emphasized as the key to rebuilding and sustaining a business even after total loss.

"If you don't pass knowledge to the next generation, then they will eventually, statistically squander all of the wealth, because what wasn't passed was the knowledge to keep the asset, rather than the asset itself."

The importance of transferring knowledge to ensure generational wealth and business continuity is underscored.

• Seeking advice from successful individuals can reveal common truths and actionable insights.
• First principles thinking allows for understanding possibilities from the ground up.
• Beliefs informed by knowledge can direct actions towards high-leverage opportunities.

"The easy way is to find people who are way ahead of you, talk to as many of them as you possibly can, and cross collaborate the things that they are saying."

Networking with and learning from successful people is presented as an effective strategy for gaining insights and knowledge.

"The hard way to figure out what's possible is using aristotelian thinking, which is called first principles thinking."

First principles thinking is described as a more challenging, yet fundamental approach to understanding what can be achieved.

"That is the education that will break your beliefs about what you can do in this universe."

The speaker implies that education and knowledge acquisition can fundamentally change one's beliefs about their potential and capabilities.

• Beliefs shape the direction and quality of actions.
• Holding correct beliefs can lead to pursuing higher leverage opportunities.
• Actions oriented by belief can have greater impact and lead to better outcomes.

"The beliefs tell you what direction to take your action in."

This quote illustrates how beliefs serve as a compass for decision-making and action-taking.

"Once you have a belief, it now orients your direction into a higher leverage opportunity."

The speaker indicates that correct beliefs can guide individuals towards more impactful and rewarding opportunities.

"A belief will change your action because it will orient it rather than changing what you necessarily do."

The quote suggests that while beliefs may not change the nature of actions, they can significantly influence their trajectory and effectiveness.