Pat Flynn On Fear, Motivation and the Opportunity To Serve [LNIM170]

Pat Flynn is back. This time we talk about his fears, how he is able to overcome them, bold action, and why he takes risk. It’s an intimate interview that’s different from all the rest. All this and more on the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast.

Show Notes

When it comes to business, why do you get up in the morning?

I get really excited about possibilities. I just don’t know what the results are going to be — whether it works out or it doesn’t work out — and that gets me so excited. A lot of times, things that I put together don’t go as planned and I always find them as amazing lessons.  

It’s been a huge advantage because it allows me to make sure that I follow through with everything until the point at which it either does work or does not; and then I can pivot or scrap it and move on to something else. The most important thing is, knowing I’m going to do whatever I can to get to that point and that’s what excites me every single day.

How do you know if things are going to work or not?

You’ll never know a hundred percent, but you can stack things in your favour so that percentage is a little bit higher. You would then know a little bit more and can take an educated guess — that’s where I position myself with every single time. This includes having conversations with people who had already done what you are trying to do so you can skip ahead.

When I think about starting anything new, I think back to then and I do remember having a ton of fear. But I have now realized that my drive to make sure people get served is the number one thing that has allowed me to succeed, more than anything. There have been many failures, but it doesn’t equate to giving up and walking away. It means to reassess what had just happened to figure out how I can try something different.

It’s always about the bold actions that you take, and fear is in that equation.

How did the kind of risks that you took as an architect compare to the business risks that you are taking?

It was always starting with the end in mind. Working in the online world is very much like in the architecture space, priorities are important as well. There are definitely differences though. In the online space, communication is a lot faster, iterations and designing are a lot quicker. But no matter what it comes down to it, starting with the end in mind and realizing why this thing is existing – that is essential.

A lot of entrepreneurs try to dive into things with just the aim to succeed in mind, there is no realization of the ‘why’. If that’s the only reason why you’re doing something, you are missing the whole point. The earnings that you have are by-product of how well you serve your audience.

In the design world, when you deliver for a client, they’re likely to a recommend you or hire you again, especially if you’ve worked with them and they realize how much time, care and consideration you put into your projects. In the online world, if you spend the time listening to people, understanding their problems and delivering a solution (whether paid or free), they are going to come back to you for more,  share and recommend you, and even fight for you if they see trolls coming after you.

Why are you so self-centred to create an event and name it after yourself?

It’s partly because it is me onstage 90% of the time unlike a lot of other events where there are multiple things going on or multiple people showing up to present about all different kinds of topics. In which case, most people feel like they’re drinking from a fire hose and then leave very overwhelmed and just disabled to try something when they get home because there’s so many options and opportunities. This is more of a giant workshop where we’re going to help you start your next big thing. Whatever your next big this is, I want to prepare you for it – from the start to getting through all the obstacles.

There are special guests one at the end of each day, but you won’t even know who they are until right before I announce them. That’s another big differentiator. I’m not using headliners to promote the event, I’m using my community. That’s why it’s called FlynnCon1 because my community is known as Team Flynn. I’m the team captain but were all in this together.

Do you have a message for people who are just on the cusp of taking action?

You have the ideas, you have the drive but make sure you have your ‘why’. You will need your ‘why’ so you have a reason for your action and in making hard decisions.  Put some thought about why you want to go forward because you must have a clear answer to that and tattoo that on your forehead. Write it on a Post-It and keep it next to you all the time because that’s going to help you more than anything.  

Find other people who have done something similar and who are a little bit ahead of you.

They can be your inspiration and somebody who could guide you based on their own previous experiences. There’s a lot of content out there but finding a person who shares, not just the information and knowledge, but also shares the same values is important.

A lot of online entrepreneurs forget that we’re actually helping real people so my last message is to have real-life conversations with people in your target market. Whatever it is that you’re thinking of doing, this will lead you to empathize with them and really understand their problem.

Links Mentioned In This Episode

• Pat’s Blog, Smart Passive Income
• Pat’s product, the Switch Pod
• Pat’s Conference, FlynnCon1
• Pat’s Book, Superfans.
• Subscribe in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher or Spotify

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