Entrepreneur Success Recipe: Key Ingredients that Separate the Millionaires from the Strugglers

By Colin Sprake

Want to be a massively successful entrepreneur? Just take the Entrepreneur Test and discover the key ingredients you are missing. Then add them into your daily habits and massive success will be yours. Colin has identified the specific key ingredients of what it takes to be massively successful and defy the odds, no matter what the external economic factors may be. Whether you’re a start-up or have an established business, the secret ingredients are the same because they apply to you, the entrepreneur. In the Entrepreneur Success Recipe Colin shares with you all of the secrets that he uncovered while working with and studying the habits of thousands of entrepreneurs. This is an “in the trenches” entrepreneurship book written by one of the most sought after emerging business experts in the world. In fact, there’s a reason they refer to Colin as the Business Acceleration Renegade... because he takes a “no holds barred” approach to telling you what you need to do and with the secret ingredients addressed, your business can experience extreme acceleration. Find out what’s keeping you from achieving the ultimate level of success and exceeding your goals consistently year after year...take the Entrepreneurship Test and identify specifically what’s holding you back!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781614483373

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

KNOWLEDGE + ACTION = PROFIT

Most of my friends know me as a serial entrepreneur. I’ve been running my own businesses since the young age of nine, and I know that there are so many things to consider when deciding to venture out on your own to start a business and take the entrepreneurial life by the horns. It’s one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life, and if done right, it is extremely rewarding and fulfilling. But because there are so many unknowns before you even start out, this by itself can take many people out of the entrepreneurship game unnecessarily.

Being an entrepreneur takes many talents and skills; my goal is to take you on the same three-decade journey that I’ve been on to help you understand what true entrepreneurship is all about. I have learned a ton and figured out what it takes to be a truly SUCCESSFUL entrepreneur. My life experiences and what I call my university fees of life have in some instances cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you have the skills, and understand what skills you need to learn and develop in order to be a successful entrepreneur, then you are on your path to massive success.

Since the age of nine, I have ventured out into many types of businesses: from cabinet making, handyman services, mining equipment, natural skin care, and pole dancing (for fitness), to my current business, Make Your Mark Training and Consulting, Inc., which trains and transforms businesses to achieve massive levels of success. Over the past several decades, I have worked with thousands of entrepreneurs, and I have discovered what separates those who become millionaires and live the dream lifestyle, and those who go broke, doing everything they can to make it. Yet those in the second group are only missing a few key ingredients that will dramatically improve their chances of living the lifestyle and earning the income they dream about. They only need to understand what they are.

In this book, you will learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur with the Entrepreneurial Success Recipe. Following a recipe is the best metaphor I know to describe what it takes to really succeed as an entrepreneur. For instance, if you want to bake a cake, you need to first make sure you have the right recipe: you need to make sure you’re making something you want to eat! Second, you need to prepare your work area so you have all the space and equipment you need to follow the recipe. Third, you need to look at the ingredient list to see which ones you have and which ones you need. But even when you have everything the recipe calls for, that isn’t enough. If you want the mouth-watering cake the recipe promises, you have to take action and DO something, don’t you?

Similarly, in this book, first we’ll make sure you know what an entrepreneur is—and whether you really want what this recipe will deliver! Second, you’ll learn how to prepare for your entrepreneurial success by developing a success mindset. Third, you’ll learn about the nineteen crucial ingredients (i.e., skills and habits) for entrepreneurial success and assess which ones you have and which ones you need with the Entrepreneurial Test. But again, it’s not enough to know everything there is to know about starting and growing a business. You have to DO it. So then I’ll show you exactly what to do to put these skills and habits into practice with a straightforward list of the fifteen things you must do after you read this book. Plus, you’ll get a bonus most recipes don’t give you. I’ve also included a troubleshooting section that explains the nine areas where most entrepreneurs’ success tends to stall—when you think you’ve been following the recipe exactly, but something’s still not working. It does take work, but it’s fun, and I am pleased to assist you on your journey.

Like most recipes, it often takes a few attempts to get the perfect product, even if you do follow the instructions perfectly. You may look at the success recipe in this book and decide to alter it even before you have attempted it the first time. My advice to you is to follow the instructions a few times before you decide to alter or enhance the recipe. The ingredients and instructions have been created from decades of work and life experiences and are served to you on a golden platter to achieve the success you want without having to go through all the learning and costly mistakes.

Many people struggling in their own businesses, whether it is a traditional business, multilevel marketing business, or a franchise, do not even know that they are lacking in certain skills to become a successful entrepreneur. Sadly, in some instances they are too proud and often too stubborn to acknowledge that they do not have all the skills they need, and they would rather die defending their actions than learn from other successful business owners and entrepreneurs.

In fact, many entrepreneurs are technicians who worked for somebody else and now have gone out and started their own business in exactly the same field. A good example of this is a plumber who works for a company and then decides to go out and start his own plumbing business. He may be a good plumber, but who says he is a good entrepreneur or businessperson? Does he truly have what it takes? This goes for doctors, dentists, chiropractors, electricians, hairdressers, etc. They are all specialized in their fields, but often they have not received the training or tools to truly understand what it takes to be successful as a businessperson.

You may have heard the statistic that 80 percent of start-up businesses fail in the first year, and of the remaining 20 percent, 80 percent of them fail in their second year. This means that 96 percent of businesses fail in their first two years. Achieving your fifth anniversary is even more daunting, as only 1 percent of start-up businesses get to their fifth anniversary in a highly profitable state. Yes, you can say you are still alive at the five-year mark, but are you surviving or thriving?

The difference between surviving and thriving is taking the knowledge that you get from this book and start putting it into action immediately. You do not have to finish the book before you start taking action. In fact, you may read a chapter a week and implement the items as you go. Just get it done! In my training company, Make Your Mark, we live by the KAP principle: Knowledge, Action, and Profit. The principle is very simple: you will not profit from any knowledge you receive unless you take action as a result.

Action truly is the bridge between knowledge and profit.

Have fun, enjoy the journey, and become part of the 1 percent of truly successful entrepreneurs who celebrate their fifth anniversary in an extremely profitable position.

You are your success,

COLIN SPRAKE

Founder and Lead Trainer

Make Your Mark Training and Consulting, Inc.

PART ONE

PREPARATION

When you’re following a recipe, it’s good to know what the recipe is for—and if it’s what you really want to make! So, what are we going to end up with if we follow the Entrepreneurial Success Recipe? What is an entrepreneur? According to Wikipedia, an entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative. It is also a term applied to a person who is willing to help launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome. The key words in this definition are risk, initiative, and responsibility.

In fact, I sometimes sit back and chuckle at the challenges that we have as entrepreneurs. In order to be an entrepreneur, you have to be creative, which is a huge asset. Yet the only way you truly win is when you become laser focused on the goals you want to achieve.

Laser focus can only happen when you have a clear goal or target. Without a goal, you have nothing to aim at—being laser focused requires becoming dedicated (no matter what) to achieving a goal and not being taken out by distractions along the way. This is often one of the more challenging items for entrepreneurs. In fact, the statement laser-focused entrepreneur often is an oxymoron. How do you become a laser-focused entrepreneur? It all starts with your mindset.

SELF-AWARENESS AND

SELF-OBSERVATION

As you begin your journey as an entrepreneur, the most important first step is to develop the right mindset. When I talk about your mindset, I’m talking about the way that you think, because the way that you think will dictate the results that you get in your business. I believe that your thoughts completely control your destiny in every aspect of your life. Thoughts are energy, whether conscious or subconscious, and what you put out there will show up in your life. This is known as the law of attraction. ¹ Our life experiences as children and the habits we inherited from our parents or siblings dramatically impact who we are as adults and how we approach things, even as an entrepreneur.

Your thoughts completely dictate what is showing up in your life right now!

I hear thousands of different life-impacting statements that hinder people from achieving the success they deserve, and the sad part is most people do not even realize it.

Here are a few key examples:

•I am not good at that.

•It’s tough in our industry right now!

•I cannot remember names.

•I hate looking at my numbers.

•People never return my phone calls.

•I am not good at doing videos.

•It’s hard to find profitable clients.

•Our business is seasonal and we are slow in…

•The economy has changed.

•I don’t like sales or selling.

•I keep on getting tough clients!

•I don’t have the success formula.

•What you teach does not work in my industry.

•Mondays are put-out-fire days!

It’s very simple. Until you start reframing these statements, you will continue to attract them into your life and business and will keep