Back in 2003 I was 3 years into my real entrepreneurial journey. At that point I was $142k in debt to my mentor/business partner.
I had both my credit cards maxed out and the pressure of launching my business was mentally and emotionally exhausting.
At the time my only source of income was my personal training job that I worked part time. And this particular job was barely making me enough money to stay afloat.
The rest of my waking hours were spent trying to get this new business to take off and start turning a profit.
One day my mentor Jim Franco called me and asked me to stop by his office for a “come to Jesus” meeting. I’d never heard that term before.
I stopped by later that afternoon and Jim asked me to sit down. He said: I can’t loan you any more money. I need to see this business make a profit. Your debt to me is too high for my comfort and so the Jim Franco bank is now closed for business.
Then he said something that I did not see coming…
…he said I will wipe your debt clean and start paying you $10K a month salary if you give me all of your equity in the business and become the full time CEO of the business.
WTF I thought to myself! On one hand this is a great offer… my $142K debt is wiped clean and I start making $10K a month.
On the other hand, I didn’t start this business so that I could end of working as an employee for it. I wanted to become an entrepreneur and chart my own path in life.
However the entrepreneurial dream was proving to be far more difficult than I had imagined.
“Maybe it’s better that I work as an employee. Maybe I’m not meant to be a businessman” is what ran through my mind.
After two days thinking about it I came back to Jim with my answer. I decided that I’m not going to take his offer. I’m going to fight and figure out how to make this business grow and profit.
A couple years later the business hit its stride after a couple pivots and we ended up partnering with Sprint cellular and the rest was history as they say.
BUT THERE’S A LESSON IN THIS FOR YOU IF YOU’RE AN ENTREPRENEUR WHO’S STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW…
During the most stressful and overwhelming time of your entrepreneurial journey you will be tested.
It’s during this time or everything seems hopeless and you begin to question why you ever got into business in the first place.
I call this “the sh!t test” this is the metaphorical fork in the road. This is where every entrepreneur who’s ever achieved any level of success has found themselves.
The decision you make while at this metaphorical fork in the road will determine how bad you really wanted it and if you’re worthy of having this success.
I don’t know, maybe it’s God. Maybe it’s the universe. Maybe it’s your subconscious mind.
Whatever it is, I can tell you that the shit test is real, and that every entrepreneur is going to experience it, and it will be the deciding factor whether you continue on the journey and endure the pain or if you choose to quit on your dream and go back to being an employee.
If you’re someone who wants to keep fighting for your dreams and want to win, then I want you to join me and over a thousand other entrepreneurs at BK Live on September 13th and 14th in Scottsdale Arizona.