What separates a successful entrepreneur from one who changes the way people live and work? In this episode, Dan Sullivan explores the shift in thinking that sets great entrepreneurs apart, using Steve Jobs as an example. Discover how a different approach to creating value can open up possibilities you might not see when you focus only on what customers ask for.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The two ways entrepreneurs think differently from most people.
• What most entrepreneurs focus on in the marketplace.
• What great entrepreneurs focus on instead.
• How Steve Jobs created capabilities for himself and millions of others.

Show notes:

Entrepreneurs take responsibility for their own financial success and security rather than expecting an employer, government, or institution to do it for them.

Entrepreneurs don’t get paid first; they get paid after they create value that someone else is willing to buy.

It doesn’t matter how useful you think your work is; it only matters if someone else sees enough value in it to write you a check.

When you focus only on solving existing problems, your clients can end up defining the work you do.

Great entrepreneurs are more interested in creating new capabilities than solving known problems.

Start with a capability you wish existed for your own life, then ask whether other people would want it too.

Steve Jobs wanted computers to be easier to use, music to be purchased one song at a time, and phones to do far more than make calls.

Great entrepreneurs build a formula around their capabilities that stays true even as technology, markets, and the world change.

Apple’s enduring formula is to create beautiful technology that people love using.

A clear formula lets you keep creating new value without having to reinvent who you are every time the world changes.

After seven years in the NHL playing for the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens, Evan Lindsay retired as a professional athlete and entered the realm of entrepreneurism. Evan shares the story of how he went from the National Hockey League to engaging in successful teamwork he’ll never have to retire from.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The mindset that’s made Evan both a successful athlete and a successful entrepreneur.
• How Evan’s multi-faceted company works with failing gyms.
• How Evan’s employment experiences always ended.
• The ways in which Evan’s company has grown and continues to expand.
• Some of the most useful tools and experiences Evan has gained as a Strategic Coach® member.

Show Notes:

Being a professional athlete at the highest level means you can be coached and you’re good at teamwork. Those are also the two crucial capabilities to being an entrepreneur.

For a lot of professional athletes, their unusual talent was spotted very early in life.

NHL hopefuls are serious professionals before the end of their teen years.

Many professional athletes don’t prepare for the time when their athletic career ends. And then they're thrown out into the world where they don't have the system that’s supported them.

An entrepreneur’s number one job is to improve themselves in relationship to their team members and then to the business they’re in.

If you consult but haven’t actually worked in the field for a while, you’re coming from a space of theory and ideas.

Being familiar with the nuances and details of an industry makes you a lot more effective and proficient at supporting the people around you.

In professional sports, you adapt or you don’t get paid. And whether you’re leading the team or on the bench, you have to be in service of winning.

When you take over failing businesses, you take over something where the identity is the losing business.

You have to come up against hurdles a few times before you realize what doesn’t work.

There’s no finish line for entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur is a life sentence.

Resources:

EOS®

Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Unique Ability®

My Plan For Living To 156 by Dan Sullivan

What does it take to build a company that grows without depending on you for every decision? In this episode, biotech entrepreneur Geoff Meyerson shares how failure, clear communication, and continual self-investment have helped him build a global business, empower his team, and create greater impact with less effort.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why entrepreneurship may be in Geoff’s genes.
• How experiencing failure led him to an early breakthrough.
• How Geoff discovered he wanted to build a career in biotech.
• What he did to unknowingly prepare himself for entrepreneurship.
• How he grew his company into a global firm.

Show Notes:

AI has had one of its greatest impacts in medicine, especially in pharmaceuticals and drug development.

Growth-minded entrepreneurs take on the next exciting opportunity, then grow themselves to become more valuable to the team they’re building.

Failure is a natural part of the entrepreneurial cycle that leads to breakthrough.

To move from failure to breakthrough, the entrepreneur leading the company must evolve their role.

One way to make an impact is to donate some of the money you make, but meaningful work can create a more direct impact in your day-to-day life.

When your work is meaningful, you know you’re making a difference even on the days that don’t go well.

Knowing what you want early in your entrepreneurial career is an advantage because the sooner you gain clarity, the sooner you can get there.

Whenever people are involved, challenges, misunderstandings, and things going wrong are inevitable.

Clear, honest, and consistent communication prevents small problems from becoming larger relationship issues.

Investing more time in your team enables the company to grow faster and allows you to accomplish more with less effort.

A Self-Managing Company® gives entrepreneurs the freedom to focus on higher-value opportunities rather than being pulled into day-to-day details.

The more entrepreneurs invest in themselves, the more likely they are to have higher-caliber conversations, relationships, and opportunities.

Resources:

Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers

The Impact Filter®

The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management

What Is A Self-Managing Company®?