I am here to tell you that I am a big, fat failure.

I've failed in business more times than I have succeeded. WAAAAY more!

But that doesn't bother me - not one iota - not even a twinge of embarrassment. The good news is you only have to be successful ONE TIME to have it made.

(I have been fortunate enough to notch several victories in business over the years, and after the first, I got so hooked on the startup phase I turned it into a science...)

Most people know that I started 43 businesses, and that's how I ultimately came up with my "7 Steps to S.U.C.C.E.S.S." formula for starting a new business.

What many people do not know, however, is that most of those businesses never got off the ground. (I never had a problem ditching a business idea when it proved to be a loser...)

The truth of the matter is that you have the highest chance for success or failure right out of the gates - when you select the market you will cater to.

-- Choose the wrong market - and you start off at a huge disadvantage.

-- Choose the right market - and your job is so much easier. (and funner, and more lucrative)

Let me say again: The one time an entrepreneur can really make a difference and put themselves in a great position is when choosing a market to cater to.

This 2 minute video is the first thing I do when considering a new business idea.

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/video-googletrends.aspx

Looking forward,

Travis

PS. If I could teach you the ONE single thing that contributed to my own success more than anything else, it would be: persistence. Keep trying. keep fighting! The next most important thing is picking and researching a potentially profitable market, and this is my first step:

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/video-googletrends.aspx

Instead of giving you another expert interview or business tip to help push your business forward -- I'm going to tell you what might be holding you BACK.

FEAR

Fear, in some form or another, is the *number one* reason most do not succeed.

• Fear of failure.
• Fear of loss.
• Fear of being wrong.

This is a 3-day series on facing fear. Today is the first part, and I'll post the rest later.

I'm here to tell you that fear is senseless, mindless, and USELESS!

Fear holds me back too... Even after tremendous success, I still fight my own tendencies...

• I was afraid to "get out there", take a leadership role, and let people know who I am. (for fear of rejection)
• I was afraid to spend money - even when I had plenty of it. (because I grew up very poor, money was something to be frugal with, not blow)
• I struggled to make big decisions that affected others. (the last thing I want is to harm someone else because of a wrong decision)

Sure, fear was a useful emotion when the cavemen were deciding whether or not to attack that sabre tooth tiger... but in this modern society... it just holds most of us back.

Fear has many names, like 'apprehension', 'anxiety', 'distress' - but they can all be overcome easily by applying something else evolution gave us: Reason.

The 9 Ways to Face Fear that follows is how I finally took control of my own destiny - and overcame the huge emotional road-blocks holding me back -

So without further ado...

9 Ways to Overcome Fear (Part 1)

1. Do the Right Thing!

Just doing what you think is "right" is the most powerful way to face your fears. If you know inyour heart of hearts that something is the right thing to do... it's easy.

2. Use Pain to Motivate Gain

If you are not happy with your current situation - change it! Use your unhappiness with today to take charge of your future and create something better for tomorrow.

Don't focus on the pain, but instead focus on joy. Visualize exactly what your life will be like when your situation isdifferent. When you are prosperous, have freedom, and security. Ifyou have painful parts of your life now, you have all the motivation you need to make it different.

3. Try, Try, Try Your Way to Courage

This is a quote by Henry James I like: "Until you try, you don't know what you can't do."

I like to think of "trying" something as less intimidating than "doing" something.

When you try something - even a little part of something - the mystery is gone. Fear is in large part due to the "unknown". And when you just TRY something, it is no longer unknown.

I'll share another story and parts 4-9 in a few days!

Looking forward!

Travis

PS. One useful way to overcome your fears is to use a checklist. When you can follow a checklist, step-by-step (like putting together a toy), a daunting task becomes easy. That is what I provide with my"7 Steps to S.U.C.C.E.S.S" formula in the Business Victory Club - a step-by-step system to build your own profitable business from scratch:

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/

The Principles and Mindset of Launching a Successful New Business - with a senior ambassador from SCORE - the government-funded non-profit helping entrepreneurs with business startup.

In this interview with SCORE's Carl Woodard, we cover the principles of launching a new business from scratch, including:

• How to discover a potentially profitable market, and what criteria should be considered before running with any idea you may have for a business
• What one thing you should do prior to writing a business plan
• How to greatly increase your odds of startup success
• What financeers and banks expect from a business plan, and which ones they actually fund!
• Are you going to be a good entrepreneur? Learn the skills and traits that most successful entrepreneurs possess.
• The 3 most important areas of knowledge you must have to run a business.
• How bank finance managers choose what business to fund, and which ones to ditch. (HINT: It is NOT necessarily the one with the 100 page business plan...)
• How much money you should raise prior to beginning serious operation.
• How to get help writing your business plan, funding your company, researching your market, and more.
• How to hire your team - an important lesson that every entrepreneur who wants success needs to learn.

Carl Woodard is a wealth of small business knowledge. This interview is worth hundreds of dollars of value - yours for free today.

Business Victory Club members receive valuable interviews like this on a regular basis, along with a weekly business building lesson. Learn more about the business victory club here.

You can listen to this interview right from here, or download it to your computer.

Launching a Successful Business with SCORE's Carl Woodard (1 hour 18 minutes)

• Download the MP3 Audio
• Transcript coming soon
• Listen in Streaming Audio Now (Below):

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Members of my Business Victory Club get a 52-week, step-by-step business startup lesson series, and learn how to beat the odds when starting their business.

Includes a step-by-step process to research your market and write a business plan.

To learn more about Business Victory Club, click here.

In the early 2000's, I was a successful Internet consultant. I had a thriving consultancy, and I was making pretty good money. But it wasn't meant to last... the dot-com bomb destroyed the cashflow of most of my clients...

Which in turn destroyed my business.

So with nothing to lose, living on a home equity line of credit, I moved to Southern California to make my mark on the world.

I spent several months looking, every day, for a new job. But SoCal was going through the same thing, with thousands of resourceful techies flooding the market - and they were willing to work for less money...

I finally found an entrepreneurial opportunity that I could live with. It involved a very low guaranteed salary, but the promise of a huge bonus if I could turn around the fortunes of a small direct marketing division of a strange little operation in a Century City high rise.

The overall business was run by two Israelis, who were combative, secretive, and hard-to-understand. This was my first (but not last) business deal with folks from the middle-east - and I learned that they do things a little differently than we did in the Mid-West.

In the area where I grew up, we made an agreement and shook hands on it. Done deal.

With these guys, the handshake was just the start of negotiation. (Nothing really wrong with that way of doing business in-and-of-itself, but if you don't know going in... you won't come away with a pleasant experience.)

So I slaved away, day and night, taking the company from $0to $80K/mo in only 6 months. I killed myself to get that big bonus... literally going into debt financially, emotionally, and in my relationship.

But all the pieces were in place, and with solutions of technology, human engineering, and creativity, I did it.

And then my boss told me that plans changed.

The company was throwing all resources into another project,and I had to help them launch an Internet business to get my bonus. 

So I was off to the races again. Working even crazier hours to reach their never-ending series of deadlines and modifications. I was working myself crazy, and ruining my relationship.

Three months later came the low-point of my professional career.

I found myself in the office - a high rise in Century City - at 3AM in the morning. I had been at work for 19 hours. A plane was leaving in 5 hours - and my fiancee' and I were supposed to be on that plane - on our way to get married.

My "boss" held a check in his hands that meant financial life-or-death to me. But he would not hand it over until I finished his special little project. I was a hostage to him for that check...

At one point, after countless requests were fulfilled, tasks accomplished, and minutae completed, I blew up. I found myself in a face-to-face screaming contest with my boss. I was at my wits end. He was screaming at me. I was screaming at him.

I turned to the side and threw my pen at the wall. He thundered, "NOBODY throws things in MY office! How DARE you disrespect me?"

I glared at him, with my bravest face on, and said "Well, I just did. What are you going to do about it?"

His defeated reply: "Nothing..."

Although it was never said, we both knew I would never be back.

Finally at 5AM, the project was completed. He made me sign a non-disclosure, a non-compete, and a privacy statement. Then he handed over my life-blood - the check.

I made the plane (barely) and got married as planned.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons from that experience, but none more important than these:

• I vowed on that day NEVER to allow ANYONE to hold me hostage for money again. My wife made a pact with me that she would never fault me for taking self-respect over cash. (Funny how that actually makes you more cash in the long run…)
• I vowed that I would NEVER treat people the way I was. A handshake is what I work on to this day. (In fact, if a client insists on signing a contract prior to an engagement, or if I get a funny feeling, I won't work for them. Trust is now my main currency...)
• I learned that I need to make my own fortune - financially and otherwise - and I dedicated my life to that task.

My Business Victory Club is the culmination of that life objective. I have created a repeatable process that gives me the surest shot to start with _nothing_, and turn it into a profitable business.

In just the second lesson, you’ll learn how to start making some immediate money. Soon afterward, you learn the most reliable way that I know of to prove if a market is profitable.

You’ll learn everything that I have learned over the years. 

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/

I hope you're paying attention... life's lessons can be forgotten. Life can be hard sometimes - but it can also be sweet. You only need to pay attention, and apply the lessons you learn in a dedicated way.

When viewed from this frame - Failure is Success. The more you fail - and learn from your failures - and apply it to your life - the more likely you are to achieve your version of success.

Leave with this quote in your mind:

"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they truimphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats." - B.C.Forbes 

Sincerely,

Travis

PS. Does it seem like the story of your entrepreneurial career has been: fail, fail, fail, fail?? If so, you might be interested in weaving a new story for yourself:

http://www.smallbusinessvictory.com/club/

Click play on the video below to see how the Business Victory Club can help launch your business to new heights, even in today's economic environment. Then, enter the contest below for a chance to win a full year of the Business Victory Club.

You can see all the different tools and info I'm providing you - immediately when you sign up - and during the first month. This information is just the tip of the iceberg of what you will receive throuought the next year.

If you feel these tools and this information will be useful to you and your business, especially in todays economic climate, please let me know by filling in the comment form below.

• Post what you feel these tools and this information will do for you, and how you will apply it in YOUR business.
• I'm going to sort through the entries to choose the ones I feel would be the best investment for me to make in your business. The person I choose as the winner will receive a full year's membership to the Business Victory Club.

Post your contest entry by filling out the Add New Comment form below.

Good luck!

Achieving Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness as a Consultant

In this interview with Joe Rogers, FileNet consultant and a mentor of mine, we discuss the ins-and-outs of consulting:

• What a Harvard education REALLY does for you
• How to achieve consulting success, even if you never considered being a consultant
• What 90% of experts I interview tell me is the secret to their success.
• What is consulting, really? What does a consultant do?
• The difference between an "independent contractor" and a "consultant"
• Why networking is such a vital part of being a consultant.
• Initial contact: How to approach and woo potential customers. Why flexibility is so important.
• The ideal scenario to try and achieve to get as many proposals accepted as possible.
• The average day of a super-successful consultant. How the average day of a consultant is different when just getting started and after reaching lift-off.
• How one consultancy differentiates from competitors in a HIGHLY competitive market. A boutique, small consultancy that successfully competes against much bigger fish.
• There is a difference between a "good" consultant and a "successful" consultant, and it is largely contained in this phrase "Everybody is a salesman... a kid who asks his mom for a lollipop is a salesman"
• How to find quality employees and consultants to work with. If you want to move from being an "independent contractor" to a super successful "consultant", you must NAIL this aspect of business.
• Why "Consulting is a relationship business." PERIOD
• The real reason why VC's rarely invest in consulting-based businesses.
• When to charge by the hour, and when to charge by the project (fixed bid).
• How to escape the control-freak mentality that most consultants have. One way to let go and enjoy your business - and your life.
• How to go about setting fees. How to determine what to charge your client.
• How to avoid the number one killer of consultants - BURNOUT.

Joe has a wealth of experience in consulting, and if you are considering - or already performing - consulting work, this is a must-listen!

You can listen to this interview right from here, or download it to your computer.

Achieving Consulting Success with Joe Rogers (53 minutes 40 seconds)

• Download the MP3 Audio
• Transcript coming soon
• Listen in Streaming Audio Now (Below):

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Members of my Business Victory Club get a 52-week, step-by-step lesson series, and learn how to beat the odds when starting their business.

Includes valuable sections on using consulting work to cashflow your operation as a subsitute for a long, time-consuming financing period.

To learn more about Business Victory Club, click here.

Happy 4th of July Entrepreneurs! You make America great!