“There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”
And as a result, your schedule and direction in life are not your own. Your agenda is at the whim of those around you.
Having a Definiteness of Purpose helps in two key areas:
Keeps you on track with your daily activities.
Helps you decide what to focus your time and attention on.
For the sake of brevity in this blog post, I’ve edited down my Definiteness of Purpose. My first version when I began Embanet was:
“Enable business school faculty and students to learn anywhere at any time.”
Over time my Definiteness of Purpose changed and became:
“Embanet helps schools achieve high enrollments, completion rates, and return-on-investment.”
My second Definiteness of Purpose spoke to both me and my target market.
Over time I learned that my target market, University Presidents, desired two things.
First, a quality online program that had most of the student’s graduate. Second, the online program is profitable to the University.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to lose control of your time and focus.
My Definiteness of Purpose kept me on track.
When invited to a meeting or I needed to make a difficult decision, I asked myself one question:
Will this activity help me increase enrollments and profits for my customers?
Saying ‘yes’ to the things that mattered became easy. And as important, if not more important, saying ‘no’ became even easier.
Creating Your Definiteness of Purpose
In Think and Grow Rich , Hill reveals how to create your Definiteness of Purpose:
Determine exactly what you desire. Your desire must be a ‘burning desire.’ Keep it specific. As an example, saying you want to be rich is vague. Instead, saying you would like to be in possession of a million dollars is specific.
Calculate when you will achieve your desire. If you’re not sure, that’s OK. Write down your best guess.
Decide what you will offer or provide for achieving your goal.
Map out a plan of the steps you’ll take to fulfill your desire. Know that your plan will likely change, but you need to start somewhere.
Write out a clear and detailed statement. This statement becomes your Definiteness of Purpose.
Read your Definiteness of Purpose upon waking and right before you go to bed. Do this every day.
Whether you’re a martial arts fan or not, you’ve likely heard of the legendary Bruce Lee.
Below is a picture of Lee’s Definiteness of Purpose, written in January 1969.
My Definite Chief Aim
I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.
From Bruce Lee to J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. Rowling’s road to success was both long and challenging. Check out my blog on Rowling. Here you’ll learn how Rowling created her empire through Definiteness of Purpose.
Success Principle 2 – The Mastermind To Keep You On Track To Building An 8 Figure Company
The mastermind term comes from Success Whisperer Napoleon Hill who defined it as:
“A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.”
Think of a mastermind group like your own personal board of advisors.
The only agenda for your mastermind group is your success.
Although a mastermind group can be as small as two people, it’s ideal to have more.
Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie attributes his success to his mastermind group. Carnegie’s comments are not to be taken lightly.
Carnegie goes down in the history books as one of the most successful businessmen, ever.
For history buffs, King Arthur and the knights of the round table were a mastermind.
I’ve been leveraging the power of mastermind groups for many years now. My best business breakthroughs have come from my mastermind group.
One idea was so powerful that it led to a new division at Embanet with a new business partner. This one idea rocketed Embanet into the future. We leapfrogged the competition, solved a major problem for our clients, and profited.
How To Set Up A Mastermind Group
Whether I’m in a mastermind group, leading one, or setting up a new one, here are some best practices.
I’ve found the ideal number of members to be 8
No member is a competitor to another member
It’s best when members come from different industries
Meet at least once a month
The mastermind group performs two key functions. First, provide you candid and honest feedback Second, holds you accountable.
Meetings are monthly, or more often if required.
One member of the group acts as the moderator to ensure the meeting stays on track.
Each member of the group presents during the meeting.
While on the topic of mastermind groups, here’s something to think about. Check out Jayson Gaignard’s book, Mastermind Dinners.
Gaignard is a master at connecting with people to build lifelong relationships. In Gaignard’s words, you learn how to “create and cultivate meaningful relationships.”
Lastly, do you know what John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Bill Gates have in common?
Applied faith is a state of mind in which you believe in yourself, your ability, and that things will work out.
Let me be clear.
I’m not saying to ignore everything around you, do nothing, and hope that things work out.
Applied faith on its own will not bring you success.
What you will achieve through applied faith is the ability to see what you need to do for success.
I started Embanet out of the attic in my parents’ home. My team consisted of me, myself and I.
My early days are best summarized in three words.
Painful.
Agonizing.
Lonely.
Many mornings I woke up and was petrified to take the ten steps to my desk and start my work day.
I had more rejection that I care to remember.
My friends and family thought I was crazy to go down this path.
Remember, my MBA friends were enjoying six-figure incomes and cushy corporate perks.
What got me out of bed, every day was faith.
I didn’t know how I would do it. All I knew was that I would find a way.
My definiteness of purpose (Success Principle 1) kept me focused. My applied faith was an active mindset that kept me open to the possibility.
On paper, I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. I should have failed in every way.
Remember, I had no business experience, no team, and no money.
All I had was my burning desire to help people and solve a problem.
How to Invoke Applied Faith
The subconscious mind is incredible.
Did you know that your brain can’t tell the difference between what’s real and not?
Ever wonder why a movie or a great book can move you to laughter or tears?
Your mind can’t tell the difference between the movie and reality.
Applied faith works on the same principle.
Whether you realize this or not, your mind interprets what you think and say to yourself as real.
What you say to yourself are affirmations to your subconscious mind.
Here are the steps I took to develop applied faith:
With a high level of emotion, I told myself that I have everything I need, right now, to achieve my definite purpose. I felt and saw myself taking constant action to realize my definite purpose.
Visualization. I visualized the person I wanted to be. The vision of myself was clear and bright in my mind.
Belief. I saw myself acting as if I already met my goal and how it felt.
I read my definite purpose with feeling and emotion.
An active state of mind. I created an active state of mind that either eliminated negative thoughts. Negative thoughts could have come from myself or those around me. Either way, I ensured to find the positive in every situation
Going the extra mile is one of those ‘small things’ that makes all the difference.
Speaking of making a difference, read my blog post ‘How to Go the Extra Mile and Explode Your Bottom Line.’ [[https://www.jeffreyfeldberg.com/extra-mile/]]
People prefer to do business with people they like.
Your personality will either be your biggest asset or liability.
It was Success Principle 5 that launched Embanet.
For over a year I was struggling to get my first customer.
Although we take it for granted today, the Internet and doing things online was both new and scary.
This new thing called the Internet peaked the interest of a business school in the Midwest.
Tired of using video tapes (remember those!?), the Dean of the business school, Jon, was ready to make a change.
I will always remember the phone call from Jon.
“Jeffrey,” said Jon excitedly, I’ve decided to go with Embanet to make the switch to online learning. Let’s be honest. You don’t have any track record to speak of, and you look like you’re still in high school. Despite this, I like you and know that you’ll do whatever it takes to ensure my program is a success. Send me your contract and let me know when we can start”.
A pleasing personality made all the difference.
So how do you develop a pleasing personality?
Travis Bradberry is an author and expert on emotional intelligence.
A lack of self-discipline is like having a car speeding down a hill without any brakes or steering wheel.
Self-discipline keeps in check your enthusiasm, personal initiative and positive mental attitude.
At Embanet I developed what I now call the 24-hour rule.
What is the 24-hour rule?
When I hit a milestone or won a new contract, I would celebrate like there’s no tomorrow.
When I had a setback or defeat, I would feel the pain.
But win or lose, tomorrow is a new day filled with opportunities.
How do you develop and maintain self-discipline?
My top 7 hacks are:
Develop daily rituals, that when followed, move you towards achieving your definite purpose.
The night before or the morning of, write down the top 3 to 5 tasks to achieve. Remember, if the task doesn’t move you closer to your definite purpose, don’t do it. Whatever tasks you haven’t completed, move them forward to the next day.
Build in fun throughout your day and week to keep you refreshed.
Accept mistakes and move forward.
Know what your ‘kryptonite’ is and remove it from your working environment. As an example, suppose you spend hours playing ‘Trivia Crack.’ Remove the app from your phone to avoid temptation. If you have a tablet or extra phone at home, play the app on that device when you’re not working.
Get at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night.
Eat healthy.
Success Whisperer Napoleon Hill sums it up best when he says:
“Self-discipline begins with the mastery of thought. If you do not control your thoughts, you cannot control your needs. Self-discipline calls for a balancing of the emotions of your heart with the reasoning faculty of your head.”
Success Principle 10 – Accurate Thinking
With the rise of social media and ‘fake news,’ the habit of accurate thinking couldn’t be more timely.
Accurate thinking is the discipline of filtering information into two categories:
Important
Unimportant
Anything that moves you closer to your definite purpose is important.
It’s OK and even encouraged to seek information from other people.
What’s important is that you, and you alone, make the decision. Never let anyone do the thinking for you.
At Embanet, accurate thinking played a large role in becoming an 8 figure company.
Embanet set the gold standard in two distinct areas. The first area was online course development. The second area was the marketing and enrollment of students into degree programs.
We achieved a fierce competitive advantage that steamrolled over the competition. Embanet also benefited from a healthy bottom line.
And the secret to our success in these areas?
Embanet defied conventional wisdom and proved the experts wrong, time-and-time again.
Embanet was able to do this because of accurate thinking.
Success Principle 11 – Controlled Attention
The power of controlled attention, otherwise known as focus, is best summed up by Bruce Lee:
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
The numbers say it all, and it isn’t pretty.
Evan Asano reports in Social Media Today that we consume 116 minutes a day on social media.
“Because I sometimes think in life you’ve got to dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You then have to catch up with them. You can make what people believe is impossible possible if you set big enough targets.”
Embanet became an 8 figure company because of creative vision.
In the beginning, Embanet’s focus was hosting, course development and technical support.
The creative vision led Embanet to take on marketing and student enrollments. The same creative vision changed up our business model.
These two changes catapulted Embanet to an even greater level of success in every way.
When I led Embanet, our vision was to change the social fabric of society. To do this we pictured Embanet becoming the ‘operating software’ of the industry.
I found a massive problem to solve. In my case it was a multi-tiered problem which consisted of:
I found a massive problem to solve. In my case it was a multi-tiered problem which consisted of:
Helping universities recruit quality students into their online degree program
Keeping the students in their seats once they enrolled in their program. Average completion rates before Embanet arrived on the scene was 60% on a good day. With Embanet, completion rates were as high as 93.8%.
Ensuring Embanet’s partners (e.g. the universities) were profitable. And were they ever!
When I started Embanet, it would be out of my room in my parents’ attic. Thirteen years later Embanet was in its own building and had nearly 200 employees.
My definite purpose of changing the social fabric of society, one graduate at a time, became a reality.
Embanet was privileged to help enroll:
Presidents of Fortune 100 companies
High ranking government officials
Law enforcement professionals
Single mothers.
The one thing in common for the students was the desire to change their lives for the better through education.
My business partners and I achieved this over thirteen years. It was a great ride that was fulfilling and life changing.
It was not an easy decision to sell Embanet.
My baby had grown from nothing into a 8 figure company that dominated the industry.
But it was time.
My passion is solving problems and creating. It’s the same for my business partners. Embanet required a different leadership style to continue to grow and prosper.
Two venture capital groups teamed up and purchased Embanet. This same group later sold Embanet to Pearson.
And all of this from 17 Success Principles and a kid with no business experience
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