The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster

The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster Plot Summary

Introduction

Stepping into entrepreneurship is like boarding a roller coaster – thrilling, terrifying, and ultimately transformative. You'll experience exhilarating highs when landing that perfect client, devastating lows when facing rejection, and unexpected twists when the market shifts beneath your feet. This emotional journey catches many aspiring business owners off guard, leaving them wondering if they have what it takes to succeed. Yet within these challenges lies the true adventure of entrepreneurship. The obstacles you'll face aren't signs of failure but essential parts of growth. They're the very elements that will forge your resilience, sharpen your skills, and ultimately lead to your success. Whether you're just starting out or already in the midst of building your business, this guide will equip you with the mindset, strategies, and practical tools to not just survive the entrepreneurial roller coaster, but to thrive through its every twist and turn.

Chapter 1: Embracing Your Entrepreneurial Identity

The foundation of entrepreneurial success begins with understanding what truly drives you. Many people mistakenly believe they need to discover some hidden passion or magical business idea, when in reality, entrepreneurial identity forms around four key motivational switches you can activate at any time. Franklin P. Jones was right when he said, "Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." This love isn't just about what you do, but can manifest in different ways. Darren Hardy shares his personal journey of selling water filters at 18 years old, describing how his enthusiasm carried him through initial sales to his grandmother (which unfortunately led to flooding her apartment). Despite this setback, he persevered because he connected to a deeper purpose. As he evolved in his career, he learned that his passion wasn't necessarily for specific products but for communication and connecting with people. Your entrepreneurial identity might be fueled by any of four motivational switches: loving what you do, loving why you do it, loving how you do it, or loving who you do it for. Take Todd Duncan's story, who rebuilt his business after losing everything including his wife to cancer. When asked how he found the strength to continue, he simply pointed to his teenage sons and said, "I didn't ask myself what I was going to do or how I was going to do it. I just looked at them and said to myself, 'I have to do it for them.' They were all the motivation I needed." Finding your entrepreneurial strength means recognizing your unique advantages. Warren Buffett illustrates this with his "circle of competency" concept – only investing in what he thoroughly understands. Similarly, you must identify your core strengths and focus on businesses that leverage them. When Hardy invested in ventures outside his strengths (like oil wells and a jazz band), they failed. Success came when he built businesses around his natural communication abilities. Your DNA doesn't determine your entrepreneurial success. As Hardy learned from a discouraging high school teacher who told him "success just isn't in your DNA," many legendary entrepreneurs came from humble beginnings. Richard Branson had dyslexia, Steve Jobs was adopted, and Barbara Corcoran started as a waitress. What separated them wasn't genetic advantages but their relentless commitment to improvement. To embrace your entrepreneurial identity, start by identifying which motivational switch energizes you most, then match that with your unique strengths. Remember that mastery comes through deliberate practice – what Malcolm Gladwell calls the "10,000 Hour Rule" – not innate talent. As music producer David Foster explained, true fulfillment comes when "on a Saturday morning, there's no place I'd rather be on the planet than in my studio making great art."

Chapter 2: Building a Resilient Mindset

Creating resilience as an entrepreneur requires embracing your uniqueness while developing strategies to handle inevitable criticism and setbacks. Being an entrepreneur automatically makes you different – a "freak" in the best possible way. Only about 10% of people choose this path, which means you're already showing exceptional courage by stepping outside the comfortable conformity most people cling to. This difference often triggers what Hardy calls the "crab mentality" in others. Like crabs in a trap pulling down any that try to escape, people who stay in safe corporate jobs often criticize entrepreneurs' ambitions. Hardy experienced this personally when trying to impress his father with his dream home in Tiburon, California. After arranging a perfect evening to showcase the magnificent view, his father's only comment was about a water stain on the ceiling. This crushing moment became liberating when Hardy realized, "It was the instant I was liberated... I decided I would define success on my own terms." The story shifts to Maria Shriver, whose answer to Hardy's standard interview question "What is your definition of success?" was so profound it drove him straight home to journal his own definition. Despite her Kennedy legacy and professional accomplishments, Shriver's success definition centered on being a good daughter, parent, and friend – relationships rather than achievements. This personal definition became her north star amid life's pressures. To build resilience, Hardy offers five practical strategies. First, stop seeking universal approval – even U.S. presidents are disliked by nearly half the country. Second, embrace criticism as a sign you're making meaningful change. Third, define success on your own terms through deep reflection. Fourth, gain perspective with what Hardy calls "getting a grip" – realizing most people who judge you wouldn't even attend your funeral if it rained. The fifth strategy transformed Hardy's resilience completely: reducing recovery time. "What used to bum me out for two weeks, I eventually whittled down to two days... then to two hours and then to 20 minutes. Now, when I get knocked down, I give myself about two minutes to sulk, and then I brush myself off and get back on the horse," he explains. This ability to bounce back quickly separates successful entrepreneurs from those who stay down. Resilience ultimately means reframing failure as growth. Hardy's father taught him this on ski slopes when eight-year-old Darren proudly announced he hadn't fallen once: "Well, then you didn't get any better," his father replied. "If you're going to get better, you have to push yourself. If you push yourself, you're going to fall. If you're not falling, you're not pushing." The entrepreneur's journey guarantees you'll be knocked down – the question is how quickly you'll stand back up.

Chapter 3: Mastering Essential Sales Skills

Sales is the lifeblood of entrepreneurship, yet it's often the activity entrepreneurs most avoid. When faced with the choice of what business aspect to prioritize, most focus on product quality, management expertise, or profit margins. However, Hardy reveals a crucial truth: "The ultimate success of a product or service is 10 percent product quality and 90 percent sales." Hardy learned this lesson the hard way. As a young entrepreneur selling water filters, he would hide in Nordstrom department stores, wandering the aisles instead of making sales calls until security eventually escorted him out. This wake-up call forced him to confront his sales avoidance and recognize that "You don't have a business until you sell something." Hardy emphasizes that regardless of your title or industry, selling is unavoidable – you'll constantly sell ideas, visions, proposals, and solutions. The good news is that selling isn't about manipulation but helping others. Hardy shares the transformative advice from his real estate mentor who noticed Hardy's prospect list was labeled "HIT LIST." The mentor crossed it out and wrote "Families I'm Going to Help Next." This small shift in perspective completely changed Hardy's success rate. "Sales isn't about selling at all," Hardy explains. "Stop selling—HELP instead." Hardy outlines nine practical sales strategies anyone can implement. One powerful approach is "getting in bed with your customer" – mentally understanding their deepest concerns. Ask yourself: "What are they thinking about? What are they worried about? Who are they worried about?" When you understand these emotional drivers, your sales message connects authentically. Another key strategy is what Hardy learned from Miami real estate agent John Lennon (his real name), who sold $3.7 billion worth of real estate on just one street. His secret? "I don't sell what they sell," Lennon explained. While competitors sold identical units, Lennon sold "a $4 million parking space, a $2.8 million gym and spa access pass, and a $6 million closet. And each came with an apartment included." He discovered what mattered most to each client and focused his entire presentation on that single priority. Hardy also recommends finding your "Dream 50" – potential clients who could transform your business. When launching SUCCESS magazine during the economic recession with zero marketing budget, Hardy's team identified just 50 key influencers who could reach millions. In reality, just eight of those relationships led to selling over a million copies of their first issue – more than Oprah's magazine launch. The path to sales mastery begins with reframing selling as helping, deeply understanding your customers' needs, tailoring your message to their priorities, and focusing on relationships that can exponentially grow your business. As Hardy concludes, "You are one or two dream clients away from changing your future. Go get 'em!"

Chapter 4: Creating Your Dream Team

Building the right team is among the most consequential decisions you'll make as an entrepreneur. Hardy learned this lesson through his experience hiring an assistant named Amanda. Charmed by her enthusiasm for his work (she had read his book four times), Hardy hired her immediately without checking her qualifications. Within weeks, he realized she lacked the technical skills required for the role. His sister-in-law, an executive assistant herself, intervened and helped him hire Maggie instead – someone who didn't initially excite him but possessed all the necessary skills. The cost of poor hiring decisions extends far beyond salaries. Hardy explains that the average business spends 65-80% of operating costs on wages, but the true expense of wrong hires is much higher. A bad hire typically costs 6-15 times their annual salary when accounting for mistakes, missed opportunities, and replacement costs. As Hardy bluntly puts it, "When you hire the wrong person, you're not only paying them, you're paying them to light piles of your money on fire." The solution is to hire only "A-players" – exceptional performers who can transform your business. A-players possess three key qualities: First, they're better than you in their specific role. Hardy shares the story of a successful CEO who told him, "My goal is to always be the dumbest one in the room." Second, they have the right character attributes. When Hardy asked the Chairman of Marriott how they train their staff to be so friendly, he replied simply, "We don't train our people to be friendly. We just hire friendly people." Third, A-players must be able to "fall in love" with your mission. As Steve Jobs said, "When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple?" Employees who love what you're building will go above and beyond because they're personally invested in your success. To attract these exceptional people, understand what truly motivates them. According to research Hardy cites, great employees prioritize: working with other great people, doing challenging meaningful work, having growth opportunities, and advancing personally – with money ranking fifth in importance. Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel, explained this phenomenon during a conversation with Hardy: "What makes work fun is doing meaningful work." When recruiting, Hardy recommends following three principles: know exactly what you want, understand what motivates great candidates, and create an environment where people thrive. As Richard Branson puts it, "Business should be fun. Creating an exciting work culture is the best way to motivate and retain good people." Your team ultimately determines your ceiling – with A-players, there isn't one.

Chapter 5: Developing Focused Leadership

Leadership makes or breaks your entrepreneurial journey. While riding the entrepreneur roller coaster, you'll quickly discover that your own abilities are the primary limitation to growth. As Hardy learned from a real estate developer CEO in Las Vegas who was building 200 homes daily: "The only constraint of a company's growth and potential is the owner's ambition. I am the constraint." This sobering reality comes with tremendous responsibility. When things go right in your business, you deserve credit – but when they go wrong, it's entirely your fault too. Hardy experienced this leadership awakening during a team workshop where he received anonymous feedback from his employees. Their perception of him was drastically different from his self-image. Where he thought he was being organized and transparent, they saw him as secretive and shortsighted. When he thought he was being inspiring, they found him demeaning. Hardy faced a crucial choice: dismiss the feedback to protect his ego, or embrace it as an opportunity for growth. He chose growth, recognizing that most leaders overestimate their effectiveness. Studies show 75% of people in leadership positions believe they're in the top 10% of their field – a mathematical impossibility. This self-deception prevents improvement. To become an effective 21st-century leader, Hardy outlines four essential qualities. First, leaders set the pace through personal example. As Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower told his generals before D-Day using a string analogy: "Push it from behind, and it doubles up on itself—you get nowhere. To drive it forward you have to pull it from the front." Your team will only be as disciplined, positive, and hardworking as you demonstrate daily. Second, true leaders do what's unpopular when necessary. Hardy shares Howard Schultz's painful decision to close 600 Starbucks stores and lay off thousands: "I was faced with the burden and responsibility of saving the company." While difficult, making tough calls is essential for long-term success. Third, great leaders grow others. Hardy illustrates this with a story about Mr. Wilson, his high school English teacher, who patiently encouraged a silent classmate named Cassie to speak up, completely transforming her confidence. Fourth, effective leaders delegate extensively. A billionaire once told Hardy his secret was simple: "Be a quitter." He explained that entrepreneurs should strive to quit doing every function in their business except leading: "Once the founder has the vision, the key to achieving that vision is to delegate—as much and as fast as possible." This allows the company to scale beyond the founder's personal capacity. Hardy emphasizes that leadership isn't about control but creating opportunities for others to excel. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings captures this mindset perfectly: "We are a team, not a family. It is the coach's job at every level to hire, develop, and cut smartly so we have stars in every position." By developing these four leadership qualities, you transform your entrepreneurial roller coaster from a wild ride into a purposeful journey.

Chapter 6: Maximizing Your Productivity

Productivity for entrepreneurs isn't about working harder – it's about focusing on what truly matters. Hardy learned this lesson after interviewing highly successful figures like Richard Branson, Tony Hawk, and Donald Trump. Despite working longer hours than all of them, Hardy wasn't achieving their level of success. He realized: "If busyness, long hours, and hard work equaled success, I'd be wealthier and more successful than Richard Branson, Tony Hawk, and Donald Trump. But I'm not." The key insight came during Hardy's interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz, who manages an astonishing array of responsibilities – performing heart surgeries, teaching at Columbia, hosting a TV show, writing books, and running multiple organizations. When Hardy asked how he accomplished so much, Oz explained: "I've figured out that every endeavor that you do has a few vital functions. All you have to do is figure out what they are and become excellent at them." Hardy calls this principle "vital functions" – identifying the few critical activities that truly drive results. To implement this in his real estate business, Hardy wore a stopwatch around his neck, turning it on only when performing his three vital functions: pitching listings, negotiating contracts, and prospecting. After his first 16-hour workday, he was shocked to discover he had spent less than 20 minutes on these vital activities. This awareness helped him gradually increase his focus on high-value work. Another crucial productivity principle is narrowing your priorities. Hardy describes the "Buffett Method of Prioritization": Write down all your priorities, narrow them to the top three, then throw the rest away. As Jim Collins told Hardy, "If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any." This requires mastering what Hardy calls "the master skill of success" – saying no. Warren Buffett attributes his success to this ability: "For every hundred great opportunities that are brought to me, I say 'no' ninety-nine times." Hardy also emphasizes tracking vital metrics that drive your business forward. When discussing his financial goals for SUCCESS magazine with a friend, Hardy was asked, "Why?" This simple question revealed he was tracking the wrong metric – revenue – when his true goal was impact. By identifying your true objective and the key indicators that lead to it, you can focus your energy more effectively. For maximum productivity, Hardy recommends his "Massive Transformation Formula": First, identify your "Big 3" goals that would make this year extraordinary. Second, determine the one or two key habits that would transform each goal area if practiced consistently. Third, track your habits daily to prevent drift. "We don't fall off course, we drift off course," Hardy explains. "To prevent this drift you have to be strict about tracking your progress every day." The foundation of extraordinary productivity isn't working harder but focusing better – identifying your vital functions, narrowing your priorities, tracking key metrics, and implementing consistent habits. As Hardy concludes, "Productivity isn't magic. It's discipline."

Chapter 7: Conquering Fear and Uncertainty

Fear is the invisible barrier that prevents most entrepreneurs from reaching their potential. Hardy illustrates this with his childhood experience on Space Mountain at Disneyland – a roller coaster ride in complete darkness where you can't see the drops and turns coming. The unexpected plunges and twists left eight-year-old Hardy terrified, convinced he was going to die. Yet today, it's the first ride he seeks when visiting the park. Why? Because conquering fear is thrilling. Entrepreneurship works the same way. The uncertainty and fear make it terrifying, but also exhilarating when mastered. Hardy emphasizes that every successful entrepreneur starts out scared – Richard Branson, Bill Gates, every single one. "Courage is not the absence of fear—it's feeling the fear and proceeding anyway," he explains. The key is understanding what fear really is. Fear isn't real – it's an illusion created by your mind. The same situation can produce completely different emotional responses in different people. One person sees a German shepherd and feels terror while another feels love. The dog didn't change; the interpretation did. Our primitive brain evolved to constantly scan for threats, but now misinterprets modern challenges as life-threatening. When you understand this, you can hack your brain's response. Hardy shares six powerful brain hacks to overcome entrepreneurial fear. First, gain perspective by asking, "If I do this, am I going to die?" If the answer is no, your fear is manufactured and should have no power over you. Second, recognize it's the anticipation of fear that's most painful. Researcher Seymour Epstein discovered skydivers' heart rates were highest before jumping, then declined dramatically once they leapt – the anticipation was worse than the activity itself. Third, adopt Hardy's "Twenty Seconds of Courage" technique. You only need 20 seconds of bravery to make a sales call, introduce yourself to a potential client, or start a difficult conversation. Those brief moments of courage are enough to get engaged in the activity before your brain realizes it's not actually dangerous. Fourth, focus on tasks rather than outcomes to avoid the "twisted mind effect" where your brain catastrophizes potential results. Fifth, habituate yourself to fear through repeated exposure. Hardy shares how his father helped him overcome his fear of being hit by baseballs. Starting with whiffle balls, then tennis balls, and finally baseballs, his father gradually exposed him to what he feared until it no longer affected him. Similarly, entrepreneurs can desensitize themselves to rejection through regular exposure. Finally, reframe failure as the path to success. A real estate mentor taught Hardy to view life like a pendulum: "On one side, you have failure, rejection, defeat, pain, and sadness. On the other side, you have success, acceptance, victory, joy, and happiness." The pendulum must swing equally in both directions, so the greater your failures, the greater your potential successes. Hardy embraced this philosophy, deliberately seeking rejection and failure until they no longer hurt – ultimately leading to extraordinary success. By implementing these brain hacks, entrepreneurs can transform fear from a paralyzing force into a thrilling part of the journey. As Hardy concludes: "Risk means acting without certainty. It's scary. But it's also what makes the entrepreneur roller coaster so thrilling!"

Summary

The entrepreneurial journey transforms not just your business, but your entire being. Throughout this adventure, you've discovered that success isn't about avoiding challenges but embracing them as growth opportunities. You've learned to identify your motivational switches, build resilience against criticism, master essential sales skills, recruit A-players, lead with focus, maximize productivity, and conquer fear through practical brain hacks. As you continue forward, remember Coach's profound advice to Hardy: "Don't miss the point." Success isn't just about financial achievements but creating a life aligned with your true definition of fulfillment. Whether that means impact, freedom, relationships, or something entirely your own, stay focused on what truly matters. As Hardy reflects, "You have been given great gifts. You are capable of awe-inspiring achievement and significant contribution to the people and world around you. Your current results are well below what you are truly capable of." Take action today by identifying your top three ideas from what you've learned and implementing just one step for each. Real transformation doesn't come from consuming more information but from consistent application of what you already know. The entrepreneur's roller coaster awaits – climb aboard, put your hands in the air, and embrace the ride of a lifetime.

About Author

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Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon is an American business consultant and author on the topics of leadership, culture, sales, and teamwork.Jon Gordon's best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous NFL, NBA, and college coaches and teams, Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals and non-profits. He is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Energy Bus, The No Complaining Rule, Training Camp, The Shark and The Goldfish, Soup, The Seed and his latest The Positive Dog. Jon and his tips have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Fox and Friends and in numerous magazines and newspapers. His clients include The Atlanta Falcons, Campbell Soup, Wells Fargo, State Farm, Novartis, Bayer and more. Jon is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Masters in Teaching from Emory University. He and his training/consulting company are passionate about developing positive leaders, organizations and teams. When he's not running through airports or speaking, you can find him playing tennis or lacrosse with his wife and two "high energy" children. You can find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jongordonpage

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