Topics

1. The more you complain about something, the more you put your time and energy and focus into it, the more that thing, if it’s positive or negative, will grow.
2. There’s no reason why anyone should not have $25 to buy something that they think they really need or could really help them.
3. Instead of coming to social media to talk about the fact that you can’t afford whatever it is; get to work! Get to work on your business. Why are you talking about it? Stop talking! Do something!
4. If you can’t afford $25 to spend on a book, and you have time to complain about it on social media, you’re wasting your time.

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Build a Badass Business: Episode #50: Rant: If you don’t have $25…then stop talking and get to work! 

Coming to you from the city by the bay, this is Build a Badass Business with Diane Sanfilippo. Diane is a New York Times bestselling author and serial entrepreneur. She’s here to teach you how to grow and develop a successful business you love, and how to create raving fans along the way. Here she is, your host: Diane Sanfilippo.

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright guys, welcome back to the show. Not too long ago I made a comment myself on social media; I was doing a live video over on Periscope, and I kind of dropped a comment that if somebody is on my social media somewhere, particularly Instagram or Facebook, and leaves a comment for me and says a complaint, or a woe is me type of comment that says I can’t afford your book, then I sort of start to take issue with that when it comes to the face that we’re on social media and someone leaves that kind of comment.

First of all, and I will tie this in obviously how this relates to you as business owners, as entrepreneurs, whether you’re an

emerging or existing entrepreneur. But a couple of things here; number one, complaints on social media, there’s just no point to them. The more you complain about something, the more you put your time and energy and focus into it, the more that thing, if it’s positive or negative, will grow. So if you want to constantly complain about not having the money to afford something, then you’ll perpetuate that cycle. That’s not a cycle that I would like to perpetuate. It’s not something that I ever do.

I don’t try to comment when someone is on vacation and say, it must be nice. Or, oh I couldn’t afford that. You have no idea where the people who are on that vacation, what they were doing 5 years ago. You don’t know how hard they worked to get there. So making a comment like that is totally unfounded, and I don’t think it’s appropriate.

But here’s the thing you guys; I get it, when something is hundreds of dollars; thousands of dollars. Not every person has several hundred or several thousand dollars sitting around to drop on some random product or service, what have you. Right? I get that. But when somebody makes a comment that they don’t have $25 to buy a book, especially; and I don’t care if anybody buys anything that I have to sell. That’s not what this is about. This has nothing to do with me or anything that I sell. This simply has to do with a person being on social media, being connected, saying something on social media that they don’t have $25 to buy a book, and they’re upset, or stressed, or complaining about it because they feel like their health might depend on it, or they feel like it could really help them.

It’s something that, $25, do you realize that you could spend a few hours of your time doing something that someone would pay you for? Anything. You could clean someone’s house. You could be working retail. You could watch someone’s kids. You could paint something for someone. There is no end to the amount of things that you could do, and most people have some kind of skill. So if you’re not physically capable, you probably have some kind of intellectual capacity. Maybe you could help teach a kid to read. Maybe you could help them learn math. You could do something that someone will pay you for, because they would appreciate your time and energy and help. So this is what I’m talking about; I’m talking about this $25. There’s no reason why anyone should not have $25 to buy something that they think they really need or could really help them.

Now, how does this tie back to you as a business owner, as an entrepreneur? Because I get this a lot when people say I feel like I can’t afford a graphic designer, or I don’t have the money to pay this person to help me. Here’s the thing you guys; I have 3 things to tell you about this. If you feel like you can’t afford something; here’s the break down. Here’s the reality of it. Instead of coming to social media to say, and talk about the fact that you can’t afford a designer, you can’t afford a web developer or someone to help coach you, or whatever it is. Get to work! Get to work on your business. Why are you talking about it? Stop talking! Do something!

If you don’t have the money to pay for something, stop talking about it on social media. Don’t network with people and talk about ways to find a designer that’s cheaper all the time; get to work! Just get to work. Everybody needs to get to work. Stop talking, get to work. Ok.

Number two, while you’re getting to work, create something that you can sell. Here’s the thing; I know that it’s not inherent for everyone to make or create something that then they’re going to ask for someone to pay for. But here’s the thing; you guys have had a situation where maybe you’ve made excess baked goods, and you’re like; I can’t eat all of these. Right?

Or my example, back when I was in college, I was making bracelets. I wanted to make bracelets for myself. I made Swarovski crystal bracelets because I saw them in a store and I thought, that’s kind of expensive. I feel like I could buy those beads and string it together and figure out how to close it up and make that myself, and I bet it would be less expensive. Because that little bracelet costing $30 just seems crazy. So I went and bought the beads and I made them myself. And of course, the amount of money I spent was a little more than it would have been for one or two bracelets, but I had extra bracelets left over thereafter. Right, I didn’t just make one or two, I probably made 12. So I’m not going to just sit there and keep them to myself, I’m going to see if somebody wants them.

It doesn’t have to be people you know. If you’re not comfortable selling it to people you know, put the thing on eBay. Put it on Craigslist. There are so many millions of people looking to buy what you have, that you have to just get over yourself and put it out there. As soon as you do it one time, two times, you will find that people want what you have. And you’ll be able to actually earn money from things that maybe you didn’t think you could earn money from. That’s kind of the true heart and true nature of an entrepreneur.

And I hate to be the one to break this to people, but if that is something you can never find in yourself, and you can never get over the fact that you need to sell something; if you can’t find the possibility and the skill or talent or service or product that you have, then you’re not an entrepreneur. Bottom line. Entrepreneurs have to sell something. You have to exchange something of value that solves a problem or creates joy in someone else. You have to exchange that for money.

So number one work on your business; number two create something that you can sell. And this is outside what I was talking about before, which is part 3 or point 3, get a part time job, or do some work, exchange your time for money to build up what you have so you can pay someone else. At some point in time, you have to get over yourself and realize that, just because you were so skilled at this office job that you had, maybe you were making 6 figures, maybe your salary or your hourly rate if you were to calculate it was hundreds of dollars an hour, but you need to take $20 or $30 an hour to do something now, so what? If you’re not doing that other job still, you need to find a way to earn that money.

And if you can’t afford $25 to spend on a book, and you have time to complain about it on social media, you’re wasting your time. You are wasting your time. I love to connect with you guys; if you’re watching a Periscope video. If you are; if you’re listening to a podcast, you can probably be doing something else to earn money while you’re listening to a podcast. You can be washing someone’s dishes, painting something, cleaning something, washing cars. There are a million things to do. I think people let their ego and their pride get in the way.

One of the things I was just thinking about this morning is, people who work retail; you guys, I’m going to tell you that probably 80-90% of the time, if you meet someone working in a retail store; some place like Lululemon, maybe it’s Trader Joe’s, these are places that I worked in my past. Unless they are a manager, and even if they’re a manager, but the management teams at these places generally are a little bit more involved with it as a career and good for them because I’ll tell you what, Trader Joe’s is one of the best places to work company-wise. They treat they’re people extremely well when it comes to retirement, but I digress.

I will bet you 80-90% of the time, if you talk to somebody who is working a retail job, they are doing something else at the same time. They’re either in school, they’re working towards something else, this is a second job for them. There is no reason to have any disrespect or judgment for people who are working retail, because I’m going to tell you 8 or 9 times out of 10, this is not the only thing they’re doing, this is not the only thing they’re capable of, this is not the only skill that they have. Every time I worked retail, it was while I was back in school or building a new business, or doing something.

And this is obviously outside of when I was 16, 17, 18, and that was my first job. I’m talking I was back working at Lululemon when I was 29 years old! So what? You just have to get over it. I loved working there. I loved working at Trader Joe’s. I worked at Trader Joe’s when I went back to school for graphic design. It was awesome. I could have flexibility in my hours, I could earn money, I could go to school, I could work my other job as a graphic designer. I was doing 3 things. I was in school, working at Trader Joe’s, and started my graphic design job all at the same time. Busting my butt because I was up to work from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Trader Joe’s, I would go home, eat lunch, and work from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. as a graphic designer, and on days I wasn’t doing that, I was in school. So I know it. I walked the talk.

So this is something where; and I have never been, at a time in my life, where I’ve said, I want something that cost $25 and I can’t afford it. Never ever have I said that; never ever. Because I’m working to earn it, and if I’m not working to earn it, I’m certainly not complaining publicly on social media that I can’t afford it.

Now you guys know this is not; I’m not talking about someone who is having a life struggle, who has maybe dealt with a health crisis or a health challenge where it’s taken their funds, plummeted to a baseline level. This topic is not a criticism of anyone who is dealing with a major struggle like that. But I will tell you this; if that’s your situation, I really hope you’re not on social media complaining about it. I really hope that. Because if you’re in a situation of something really dire or really tragic has happened in your life, being on social media complaining about it is certainly not going to turn anything around, and I believe that wholeheartedly.

That’s all I have for you guys today. I wanted to share that with you. Sometimes I rant; it’s not often. There are not a lot of topics that kind of get me fired up in that way but this is one of them, and I hope that this has helped you. I hope it’s lit a fire for you. I hope that you never complain about not having $25 to spend on something, and more importantly I hope you always have that $25. I hope you always do. And if you don’t, get to work.

Hey guys, I’m so glad you’re loving the show. Let me ask you to do me a favor; come follow me on Periscope. You can find me; I believe you can search Diane Sanfilippo, or you can search @BalancedBites, which is my Twitter handle, which is the account name over on Periscope. I am going to start doing live sessions, really quick thoughts for the day. I’m not sure if it I will be every day, but it will be pretty often, and some Q&A on business topics and motivation, inspiration, etc. So make sure you’re following me over on Periscope. Download the app in the app store, and I will see you there.

That’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Don’t forget to subscribe in iTunes so you don’t miss an episode. And drop me a review to let me know what’s speaking to you from the show. If you want to get in on the conversation and you haven’t yet joined the group already on Facebook, head on over there and join the Build a Badass Business group. I share insights and tips regularly, as well as answer your questions right there on the page. Do work that you love, and hustle to make your business grow like your life depends on it, because it does. Thanks for listening, and I’ll catch you on the next episode.