Counting Steps: Go Get It

When did I know I was going to be an Entrepreneur?

It wasn’t until I started writing this that I figured out that answer.

And the quick answer is when I purchased a … rental property. That is how it all started. That was the very first product I purchased, sold as a service, and made a profit on.

I never had a master plan to be a business owner. I didn’t have the luxury that some people have of wanting to solve a problem for the world or build some amazing business or product.

In fact, I rarely look up to see where I am going, which may resonate with some of you. We get ingrained in the work and skip the planning part, and honestly, that works too.

Counting Steps

I have a love/hate relationship with running. Tell me I have to run a 5k or do it to get in shape, and I despise it. But running because I want to listen to a podcast I’ve been wanting to hear—now you’ve got something.

When I run, I can’t look to see where I am or how much further I need to go because it exhausts me. Instead, I count the cracks in the sidewalk or my steps. 1, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, and so on. If I run a 5k, I feel like I’m going to die during those 30 minutes, but running on my own while listening to a 30-minute podcast at the same pace? No problem just don’t tell me its being timed.

Starting a company worked the same way. I didn’t plan to build a company with dozens of employees. In fact, the original plan was just me. But I kept going, putting myself into situations where I had to count 1-2, 1-2-3…

Initially, when I began thinking about how to answer this question on when I knew, I thought back to when I broke out on my own. New house, 3 kids, a stay-at-home wife, and a dog, and I just up and quit my job to do my own thing. That should be the moment, right? Nope it wasn’t.

You may have heard the story: When my third child was about to be born, I read The 4-Hour Workweek. It lit a fire under me to start running, metaphorically. I put in my two week’s notice and walked out with nowhere to go.

It was like walking out the door and hopping into a helicopter for an exciting journey. There I am, all smiles, riding in the helicopter, only to have that damn thing drop me five miles offshore by myself. Sink or swim time. “Are there sharks under me?” “How far is land?” “Can I make it?” 1, 1-2, 1-2-3…

At the time, another project was sitting on the side, bringing in just enough to make a car payment maybe. I had no intentions of blowing that up into something bigger. Instead, I was focused on doing marketing services for local businesses to stay afloat. (I’m having way too much fun with these swimming metaphors.)

After what felt like 15,000 strokes (4-5 years later), I hit land and realized I should have just applied those marketing efforts to the project sitting on the side. So I did, but that’s for a later day.

What I didn’t realize before writing this is that my real entrepreneurial start began when I bought my first rental property. I had $20k in a 401(k). I figured I’d take that and buy the property as my “retirement.” So I closed the 401(k) and put it into the property. My $20k plus the bank’s ~$100k, and the tenants pay for it—sounds great, where do I start?

And yup, that was the first time I got dropped into the ocean thinking it would be easy. 1, 1-2, 1-2-3… I never intended to turn it into a business with dozens of properties and employees—I just kept going. I finally looked up last year (2022) and realized I had hit land and sold them.

I think a lot of people put being a business owner on a pedestal or that it’s a rewarding ribbon you break when you cross over the line, but its not.

What they don’t realize is that it’s just a job with a 401k (equity) piece attached to it, like a rental property.

It takes about 20 years before a rental property produces significant income and value, just like a business. As an owner, you have an equity piece, but it’s only lucrative when you sell.

Overall, my role as an entrepreneur is just that—a position.

I run the financials just as sales sells and tech fixes things.

I don’t think it’s a gift or curse that someone is born with—just a means to create a limitless amount of work with endless actions for now, but 20 years later. Wow

I think that is the true Key to Any Success … Action!

Being an entrepreneur or successful person didn’t hit me like a Tyson punch. I didn’t set out a trail of goals to get there, I just kept moving. So when did I know I was an entrepreneur? Today, when you asked me.

So stop looking for that moment and take some steps.