I had a call last evening with someone who joined us over at InfoMarketer’sZone that will help me help you!

This person had been “thinking about”, “planning” and “wishing” he had his own online business for the last 5-years…my guess is it’s been even longer than that.

What was holding him back?

He told me it was because he was poor…he came from a poor family.

Not having a penny to invest in your business is a challenge, no doubt…but I wanted to dig further.

So, I asked him what he had done to refine, test and begin to put his business idea into execution.

He mentioned a blog, some videos he put up on YouTube, a Facebook account and a website…ok now we’re getting some where.

But…

  • The blog had a grand total of 32 posts and hadn’t been updated in over 1-year…not to mention the fact that the posts were all over the place, there was no purpose or point to the blog and it looked like crap
  • Over to the videos, again not one mention of his idea or content in alignment with his idea and value proposition – only 12 videos
  • Next, I asked to review the website – apparently that was no longer up as he let his hosting account expire and the page is long gone – vapor!
  • I could have guessed, but the Facebook page fell into the same category – no alignment with his idea, target market and infrequent updates

The Root Of The Problem

So I asked him, why hadn’t you brought your idea into these content pieces?  Why hadn’t you started to test your market and begin to offer content around your business idea?

His answer…”Because I was afraid someone would steal my ideas and by the way, these communities are all very negative against my ideas and I didn’t want them bashing me”

There It Was…It was not Being Poor That Stopped Him It Was His Poor Thinking

This person could have had all the money in the world, but wouldn’t be one step further had he taken this same approach to bringing his idea to market.

As anyone involved directly in a fast-paced, high-growth business knows, the risk of having someone steal your idea and bring it to market only exists if you fail to bring the idea to market.

In other words, it all comes down to execution – ideas are a dime a dozen – it’s your ability to execute that differentiates you from your competition.

Next, fear of being trashed or criticized is something you MUST be prepared for if you are going to start or run any business.

Criticism is something you must deal with in 1 of two ways:

  1. Justified criticism is incredibly valuable for improving your products and business
  2. Unjustified or irrelevant criticism should be ignored in favor of never being distracted

That’s it – there is no emotion, not a great deal of thought – just categorizing any criticism you are aware of into one of these two buckets and deal with it.

The point of me telling this story is that far more people fail at being an entrepreneur due to Poor Thinking than Being Poor.  Of course, this is difference is not always easy to admit to yourself…so ask yourself what is really holding you back.