#mel abraham

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[brendonburchard]

Review: The Entrepreneur's Solution

"When my dear friend and business advisor Mel Abraham asked me to write the foreward to his new book, The Entrepreneur's Solution, I was honored. Mel, as you will read below, has a lot to teach you about business and creating a life and legacy you love. Read my forward and grab a free copy of his book here." - Brendon

Foreward to The Entrepreneur’s Solution

I never identified myself as an entrepreneur.

 Perhaps that is why I went broke so quickly when I started my first business.

 Ididn’t accept the identity of a risk-taker, a game-changer, a company-builder,a legacy-shaper. And so I didn’t approach commerce with the kind of zeal necessaryto make waves and boldly enter the unknown. I didn’t try to break convention. Ididn’t think team and scale. I didn’t envision the long-term. I faced theultimate problem for entrepreneurs: I letmy small business make me small-minded.

 Thisbook is a solution to that problem, and it’s why you need to read it.

 You may not know it now, but you are likely thinking too narrowly about your idea, and about business itself.

 If you’re just starting out, you’re thinking, Gosh, I’d love to follow my passions—hopefully things turn out and I make enough money. You are focused on the tasks of getting started, the critics, the amount of money you have in the bank, the rent, the team, the potential customers.

 If you have a growing business, you’ve probably been heads down, focused on your growth strategy, technology, competition, pricing models, and operational processes.

 The issue is that there are bigger, more complex questions you need to focus on throughout your entrepreneurial journey, and you can never lose sight of:

 How should I think about success?

How will I show up and what will I stand for every day?

What type of company do I want to scale now?

How should I seek to influence others?

How will I treat employees and customers?

How will I deal with conflict? Failure?

How can I stay sane and be present with my family while growing this thing?

What is my true calling?

These types of questions are like philosophical puzzles that we must piece together, break apart, and replace on a weekly basis. If unexplored, these questions will haunt entrepreneurs later in life as they watch their business fail—or, just as bad, watch their business succeed leaving a growth trail littered with failed marriages, broken promises and lost souls.  

 The Entrepreneur's Solution helps us tackle this grand puzzle of profit and purpose. It’s a book that is ultimately about you, about your character and conduct. This is not another throw away book about how to form an LLC or implement the latest social media fad; this is a thesis on how to think, how to show up, and how to make your mark from one of the smartest businessmen I’ve ever met. That’s why I’m endorsing it.

 You see, as soon as you force yourself to contemplate the ideas and frameworks in this book, you’ll start to think about your life and legacy with a wider, more inspired and abundant view. Even if you disregard every piece of advice in the book, and all you did was simply look at the frameworks and contemplate them deeply on your own, then you would undoubtedly find great value and transformation here.

But let me make a recommendation. Read every word of this book. It won’t take long for you to realize its author, Mel Abraham, is an incredibly smart, thoughtful, successful, and conscious person. His stories and advice will focus your mind on one of life’s most important questions: 

Who am I, really, and what kind of life do I want to live?

 Mel and I have discussed that question in some form or another, nearly every month, for the better part of seven years. We’re both blessed to be in the experts industry—sharing our advice as a profession with millions of people and with live audiences worldwide. We spend a lot of time together on the road and backstage. I’ve been lucky to have him speak to my audiences, and I’ve been blessed to present on his stages. I’ve done business deals with him. I’ve gotten to know his family well. And so I have a good idea about how he approaches life and business, and I’d like to share some things I’ve learned about the man. You’re going to be reading his book, so you might like to know something about him.

 Mel is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and successful people I’ve ever met, and not just in business. In Montana, where I was raised, we’d call him an “all-around man,” meaning he’s just good to the core and good at everything he does. His talents and roles are wide-ranging, a modern Renaissance man. He’s a CPA; an internationally respected business valuation expert; a well-known business trainer; a black belt in multiple martial arts; a multimillionaire investor; an online educator; a profoundly caring and present father; a fun-loving and supportive husband; a trusted and close friend to nearly everyone who knows him. He’s in the rare air of entrepreneurs who has achieved incredible financial freedom and at the same time a healthy lifestyle thriving with friends, family, free time, adventure, and love.

 I haven’t made a major business decision in the last five years without seeking Mel’s advice. 

He’s saved me from bad decisions, bad contracts, bad partnerships, and, recently, he saved me nearly half-a-million dollars in two phone calls. I’ve never met someone so attuned to the big picture and yet so brilliant in the details. And if you want to know the man deeply, just consider how he writes about his son in the Acknowledgments: “My incredible son, Jeremy, you are one my life’s greatest gifts and one of my life’s greatest teachers. Much of what is in these pages was my way to create a manual for you as you embark on your journey.”

 Mel goes on to describe the Solution this way: “This is a book about harnessing your creative force, breaking free of your former state, and getting your life in alignment with your intention and purpose.” In my favorite parts of the book, you’ll learn why you should “lose yourself in something that warms your heart,” and the profound truth that “whenever we choose not to grow, we are working against our true nature.” You’ll learn the difference between getting rich and “enriching one’s years and enjoying the journey.” How to add value? How to think about money and partnerships? That’s all here too. Most importantly, Mel will teach you all this with compassion and humanity, two things we need more of in the business world.

 You’re going to learn a lot in this book, and I’m excited for you. I can relate with your feelings as you start or scale your business.

 I vividly remember the day I decided to start learning more about entrepreneurship—to finally start taking my new business and my life seriously, to start aligning my intentions and actions.

 I was broke and living in my girlfriend’s apartment. 

I had recently quit my corporate job to start my dream of becoming a writer and trainer. I knew nothing about running my own business. No one knew me. I didn't know how to write or publish a book. Facebook and YouTube were just a few years old. I had to teach myself to build websites and do online marketing.

 Our apartment was so small that there was no room for a proper desk, so I worked and wrote on a foldout 'desk' borrowed from my mother's old sewing room. I used the bed as my extended desk, where I stacked all my bills and notes and fears.

 One night, I watched my girlfriend walk into the bedroom and, trying not to disturb my papers or me, quietly slip beneath the covers. I saw my woman sleeping under the weight of my bills. It broke my heart.

 The situation forced an all-in decision: Either I was going to become a writer and trainer and build a business doing it, getting in the game despite the uncertainty and hardship, awaking each morning to thrust my intention into the distance like a spear and seeking to reach it each day no matter the obstacle until I ended up successful... or I was going to end up with the angels for having happily exhausted myself trying to improve our lives and follow my dreams. 

 I decided I was not going to waste my days meandering about or marching under the banner of other people's rules;

 I decided I must change the situation and follow my dreams with more focus and intensity; 

 I decided to fight for my art and amplify my voice into the world so that I might make a greater difference; 

 I decided not to worry about the critics and instead give my whole heart and effort to those who wanted positivity and progress in life;

 I decided to think bigger, to overcome my fears and insecurities, to think about changing the world.

 I decided to stop letting my small business make me small-minded;

I decided to marry that girl. And that leads to today.

 I’m still the same guy, driven by a fierce desire to live fully, love openly, make a difference. I still look the same, though my bad haircut now costs a bit more, and the daily activity is the same: writing, pouring out my soul, trying to figure out how to say things that help and inspire people. 

All that has changed, really, is my brand business scaled immensely, even as I kept my core principles the same.

What changed are the venues and the platforms and the fans. Now I write in the library of one of my dream homes. As Facebook and YouTube grew up, so did I. As of today, 2.4 million fans follow me on Facebook, and last year alone 17,000,000 people watched my YouTube videos, making my show the most watched direct-to-camera self-help series in history. At this writing, my latest book, The Motivation Manifesto, is its ninth week on the New York Times bestseller list, my third New York Times bestseller in a row. My podcast debuted at #1 on iTunes in multiple countries. SUCCESS Magazine named me to their Top 25 Most Influential list along with Oprah and so many personal growth legends, and Entrepreneur rated my seminar in its Top 5 must-attends for entrepreneurs. Now I’m the highest paid motivation and high performance trainer in the world, and I share stages and swap phone calls with world leaders and innovators. And, finally, I don't have to eat cheap noodle dinners or watch my family struggle.

 This all happened because I built my business thinking of the bigger picture, that puzzle I told you about, the ideas in this book. And when you do that and display that level of humanity and discipline, the market cheers you on and shares your work and products. For me, at the beginning, there were just a few fans, five or ten. And then there were fifty. Then a hundred, then a thousand, and then, as I just stayed with it for eight years every single day with full faith and joy and a dedication to excellence and service... well, here we are.

 Could I have done all this without Mel Abraham in my life? Maybe. But I wouldn’t have enjoyed the journey half as much or turned out half the man.

 And so I say this to you, my friends:

 Read this book and use it as a tool to think about your life.

 As you begin your journey, never limit the vision you have for your life based on your current circumstances or competencies. 

Regardless of your past, you are more powerful, imaginative, and strong than you imagine.

 I had no reason to believe that I could one day live my dream as a writer and trainer; no reason to believe, I suppose, except that my heart told me it was my path, except that my mind invented dreams that felt so real, that faith said all the struggle and the hardship and the toil would be worth it. And it was and still is. So, please, believe in your heart and your voice and your mission no matter what, no matter how small it all feels now. 

 Also, don’t listen to the “realists” or the standard bearers of the status quo as you begin your dream. The masses confined to mediocrity will tell you to set ‘smart’ goals and ‘play it safe’ and ‘await the perfect timing.’ But smart goals almost always end up being weak goals, utterly predictable and absurdly measured small plans for small people who need certainty and safety to such a degree they cannot wade into the wide territory of the unknown where real vision and progress and vital entrepreneurship lives.

 From my vantage point, no great innovation or human leap forward came from a predictable path or an idea that was immediately 'attainable' or 'realistic.' It's rare that these types of goals ever spark the imagination or fire the will of the human spirit. That’s why we are now a culture flooded with tasks and spreadsheets and work plans that inspire no heart, no drive, no courage.

 You want to change? You want a growing business? 

Then do not, under any circumstances, allow yourself to settle on a vision or a calling or a change in any arena that is uninspiring. If you’re going to have clarity on something in your life, make it something so big and bright and meaningful that you will get out of bed and chase it until you grasp it or die. Bring forth a desire that is unbounded and even scares you a little bit, that will demand all the best that is in you, that takes you out of your own orbit and into the stratosphere of the remarkable. That kind of desire changes your life, and it changes the world.

 This is the ethos that perpetuates this book, and Mel’s life. He and I both believe that the journey to legend begins the moment our bias for ease and comfort is overpowered by our drive for challenge and contribution. 

 And so, dear Entrepreneur, keep working, keep at it, believe. Never forget that growth and greatness often come from those seemingly endless, fruitless days and nights of faith and discipline and service. 

 No matter how small you start, start something that matters.

Brendon Burchard, Founder of High Performance Academy and New York Times bestselling author of The Motivation Manifesto and The Millionaire Messenger

- Foreward from The Entrepreneur's Solution by Mel Abraham. Get it free here.