Joe Polish and I did an I Love Marketing episode with Daymond John about “the power of broke”.
And the main message in that episode is, there’s huge opportunity when you start out without too many resources. Because that forces you to narrow your focus locally and bootstrap from there.
I meet many entrepreneurs who want to conquer the world on day one. They’ve got big ambitions, great skills, but no resources to make their big vision happen. And they see it as an impediment.
But here’s the thing…
The only way to become the biggest band in the world… is to become the biggest band in your own town, first.
This may sound limiting, like you’re cutting yourself short and leaving money on the table. But the reality is…
There’s power in that.
Constraints force you to channel all your energy and attention to the single most important thing you need for creating a business that will impact people’s lives…
Which is: A proven, result-getting system.
I started out my real estate career back in 1988. And for the first 8 years of my career, I was just a residential real estate agent in a suburb of Toronto. But it’s those eight years that allowed me to figure out the basis of my scale-ready algorithm that I’m licensing out to this very day.
Eight years might seem like a long time. But in the grand scheme of things... when you think about what you really want to be doing for the next 20, 30, even 50 years of your life… Those initial “local” years are the best investment in your vision you could make.
And I’m not saying you have to spend eight years working locally…
But what I am saying is, when you’re at the very beginning, and the only resource you have is yourself… figure out how to make an impact in your local city or town first. Spend that first year documenting all the steps and the results you’re generating for people…
While keeping your eye on your bigger picture...
Knowing that what you’re doing is creating the building blocks of a model you’ll later be able to take it globally.