The Secret To Success: Commit First and Figure the Rest Out Later with Dion Coopwood: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Light that spark fire nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by high level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down the secret to success, commit first and figure out the rest later. To drop these vibe bombs, I have brought Dion Coopwood into EO Fire Studios. Dion is a serial entrepreneur who's passionate about teaching others how to accelerate achieving their goals and dreams in life by conquering fear and procrastination so they can dominate the decade. And today we talk about how ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice, how to drown yourself in sacrifice.

0:34You have to give up something to get results you're looking for. Commit first and figure out the rest later. And oh, so much more. And the big thing for sponsoring today's episode goes to Dion and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit Visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, success isn't a solo journey. It's about who you surround yourself with.

1:13That's why I built the Freedom Circle, a powerful community of entrepreneurs ready to support, inspire, and share the ideas that move you forward. Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Dion, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's going on, Fire Nation? I'm Dion Coopwood here just to kind of chat with you guys. So the question is, what is something that I think a person needs to do in order to become successful that they would disagree with? Man, John, that's a good question. I would probably say just go do and be you.

1:59You know, don't don't ask for permission. You know, just kind of go execute and dominate and do the best that you can. As long as you go and do, you will never have any regrets because the last thing we want to do, John, is be 50, 60, 70 years old and be staring down a barrel of and being in a position of having more past than we have future. and regret not making decisions that we could have made a long time ago to affect us going forward. No one wants a pale, weak imitation of somebody else, Fire Nation. They want the best version of you. And we're talking about the secret to success, committing first and figuring out the rest later.

2:40Dion, you have a story about how you became a successful entrepreneur. Be concise. tell us that story. My background isn't pretty at all. And I think that that's the beauty within, you know, my story in itself is that, you know, I was raised, I'm the oldest of four. My mom did the best she could with raising four, you know, children on her own in a consistently broken home. Father was never around. I met him about maybe three or four times, John, believe it or not. He was incarcerated pretty much majority of his life, probably about 90 % of his life, And, you know, just made some wrong decisions.

3:14But I didn't let that, you know, navigate my future or the man that I am today and the father figure and the husband and things of that nature. You know, but just watching my mom do the best she can. And then at the same time, you know, John, I just I did what my mom told me to do. You know, being raised by my mom is that, hey, listen, son, you got to get good grades. You got to go to college. You got to graduate and you got to get a good job. And so, John, that's what I did. I did exactly that. Went through high school, college, went to Southern Illinois University, had a great time there, John, and played Sweet 16 for Southern Illinois University in basketball.

3:54Is that the Salukis? Yeah. Yes. Yep, I went to Saluki, man. What year were you there? I was there from like 05 to 08, so some really good times. Those were some good times. You went to the Sweet 16? Wow, that's fantastic. Yeah, we played against Kansas and we lost about three, John. So, yeah, a little brokenhearted there. But, you know, that's the kind of stuff, John, that paved the way for me. You know, my coach always told us that, you know, when we win, especially against big teams, and we won against a lot of big teams, we were ranked number 11 in the nation. And, you know, stuff like that is what built character.

4:27He said, when you win, act like you've been there. You know, for me, John, just being transparent, I was the last guard off the bench, you know, playing for Southern Illinois. So we had like six guards in rotation. But, see, I was bought in and I committed, you know. And I was like, I'm not going to worry about how much playing time I do or don't get. I'm just going to make the best out of my experience here. And so I did that when I graduated, John, from college. I did exactly what my mom said. Hey, get you a good job. And so I got me a good job. And I worked for Sprint and T-Mobile for eight years, John.

4:57We're talking about eight years. This is my real first and only job out of college. I thought I was going to retire there. And, you know, it got to a point to where I was having so much consistent success. And listen, John, I'm being transparent. This is stuff that you could potentially look up. I was the number one store manager in the nation for like three years running. Wow. Yeah, yeah. Crazy, right? Like, we're talking about just dominating. I'm talking about I started as a sales consultant. And that was in 2000 and like, nah. I started there May 11, 2009. I was the number one sales consultant in the district.

5:36I moved up to a manager role. It was like eight months, John. I mean, literally eight months. They saw something in me that I didn't see in myself as a kid. They was like, hey, you're going to run this store. And I'm like, what? What are you? I don't understand. It was like, you're good at leading people. You're great at sales. We need you to run this store. And I'm like, all right. And I'm not going to lie, John. I refused for like two months. I was like, I don't want to do this. I like working with people. I like selling. I don't want to just manage. But I didn't know what came with it. I didn't know that, you know, you need to grow with a company.

6:08And so essentially they kind of was like, hey, listen, you don't have a choice. We're going to promote you whether you like it or not. And I love that role to being a manager and being able to hire people and put people in winning positions and continue to be able to coach, motivate and inspire. And so I did that for eight years, John, and, you know, went from number one sales rep to number one store manager. And it got to a point to where I kind of got bored. T-Mobile came and recruited me within my last tenure of working in retail. And they promised continuous growth opportunities. And it just kind of got to a point where I was like, you know what?

6:45It's not working for me. And I got to a point where I hit a roadblock, John. I had an epiphany. I said, well, if you guys can pay me six figures running all of these multiple stores, doing store manager and district manager work. I said, man, I got to be able to become an entrepreneur and make at least a million, at least. Right, John? I'm like, it's I mean, it's got to be there for me. You know, so when I when I had that epiphany, I said, it's time for me to try, you know, transition out of work mode and go ahead and, you know, just bet it all on myself. And so six years later, here I am, John, a successful entrepreneur and mentor to many other business owners.

7:23And that's kind of like the roadmap in a sense of how I got to where I'm at. Now, Dion, you have a phrase, commit first and figure the rest out later. We talked about this a little bit in the intro because that's the title of this episode. But what exactly does this phrase mean? That's the winning concept. I tell people all the time, ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on. ice. And what I mean by that, John, is most people can never get to a point of commitment to a goal or their dreams because they're too busy trying to research and ask people for permission and make sure that they got everything figured out before they make any move or commit, John.

8:04It's like they're so worried about what somebody's going to say or failing or just trying to make sure all the right pieces in place or even worse, you know, before they even commit, they'll ask somebody that's unqualified, John. Hey, like a mom. And it's no disrespect, but they'll ask their mom, they'll ask their dad, they'll ask a cousin, they'll ask their best friends about their goals, their dreams, and their ideas and what they think, right? And I tell people all the time, you know, well, my mentor says this all the time, not really me. I say it because my mentor tells me this, but he says the quickest way to kill a big dream is to tell it to a small minded individual.

8:46And so it's like the reality is that how can we expect someone who's never been a successful entrepreneur to give us the right guidance and information and leadership in order to really achieve success? If they've never been a successful entrepreneur, how can you ask somebody that's not qualified. And so that's the idea of committing first and figuring the rest out later, because it's like the reality is here. You have to audit your circle, because you got to be very, very careful about when you're ready to commit. There are so many people around you that's going to potentially try to talk you out of things that you want to do.

9:27So you got to say, you know what, let me look at the people that I'm around before I kind of start talking about the things that I will do, because they're going to definitely hold you accountable. But some people will talk you out of the accountability before you can even get to the point where you need to get held accountable, John, if that makes sense to you. So, you know, committing first and figuring the rest out later is everything. Because if you commit now, a long time, everything goes on a place if you just continue to operate with faith, you know, and just continue to understand and know that I'm going to commit.

9:57There's no plan B. There's no plan C. I know this is going to work. It has to work or it has to work. So committing first and figuring the rest out later, that is the key to success because most people, they can't even get started, John. Fire Nation, I love these words. I hope you're taking them in. I hope you're willing to take that leap. And we have so much more energy to talk about when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, let me drop a truth bomb. The biggest bottleneck holding most entrepreneurs back isn't lack of ideas, tools, or hustle. It's lack of connection. And when I scaled my business to eight figures and mentored thousands of entrepreneurs, I saw the same thing again and again.

10:35People trying to do it alone. And that's why I created the Freedom Circle. You've heard me end every episode of Entrepreneurs on Fire by saying you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. That's not just a quote. It's the reality of success. The Freedom Circle instantly becomes your family of five and then some. It's a community of driven entrepreneurs ready to pour ideas, connections, and support into every part of your journey. So Fire Nation, if you're ready to level up and finally create freedom on your terms, head to freedom-circle.com to learn more. That's freedom-circle.com.

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12:15So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Deanne, we're back, and I loved how you just talked about, so passionately, by the way, committing first, figuring the rest out later. Can you give us a real world example of this, of how you've done this or one of your clients or just a real world actual example? This is my sixth year of entrepreneurship. Commit first and figure the rest out later for me was this was real life.

12:53When I worked at Sprint for seven years, I left there with seven years of tenure making six figures. And I went to T-Mobile not even knowing or understanding the culture of that company. and I left and I went because I figured out, I said, hey, you know, if I could be successful here, I guess I could go be successful at T-Mobile. So I went there and within 90 days, I was the number one store manager at T-Mobile. So I said, well, that works, right? And then I had that epiphany and I said, well, if I can have success at, you know, running Fortune 500 companies in multiple stores, I think that I can definitely go and have success for myself as an entrepreneur and without no experience, John, I mean, I literally, my first taste of entrepreneurship was in financial services.

13:37And John, as we all know, and anybody that's listening to this, if you've ever sold life insurance, you know that that's not a sexy topic to have. That's not a sexy conversation. People don't necessarily indulge in it. And so that was the first, you know, grind that I've ever indulged in when it came to entrepreneurship. And I knew nothing about, you know, that industry. And that was the first industry that I got into. And I did that for my first three years. And I didn't have a real coach. I didn't have a real mentor. I had somebody that told me about, you know, financial literacy in the industry.

14:08But I didn't have nobody really coaching me and mentoring me through the process. And so I just said, you know what, I can figure this thing out. If I can figure out how to run Fortune 500 company stores, I can figure this thing out, too. And so while doing that, I got into real estate a little bit. Right. So here I am now making six figures. Literally, John, in my first 10 months, I made$110 ,000 doing financial service, selling life insurance. I'm talking about going door to door, talking to people, going to the houses, meeting people that I never knew, just literally becoming friends and creating different opportunities and relationships with people that I literally, literally did not know.

14:47I literally didn't know them, John. I mean, I can't make none of this stuff up. So by me just committing, I was able to create a sense of success for myself. And I think that because financial literacy was something, it was one of the most, I would say the most challenging aspects of entrepreneurship that I indulged into. And it just happened to be the first avenue that I got myself into. It really paved the way for everything else because I got into real estate a little bit, was making money there. But then at the exact same time after tapping into real estate, I focused on, well, I'm not going to say I focused on, but I had the opportunity to start my own solar renewable energy company, John.

15:28And it's like, who does that? Who starts a solar renewable energy company? We're talking about in the midst of a pandemic. I started this company January 9th in 2020, and I was able to generate millions of dollars in revenue with a startup solar renewable energy company out of the Midwest. And it's unheard of. There's not like there's not a lot of solar renewable energy companies in the Midwest. And I was able to start one and achieve masses of amount of success during a midst of a pandemic. pandemic and what led me to what I'm really focused on and what I'm doing now, which is personal credit, business credit and business funding and mentorship is because I saw an opportunity within the solar renewable energy companies to start another company, which was a credit company to get the clients who were looking to go solar the opportunity to fix their credit because they needed a 650 or better to qualify for our no money down program.

16:22And so now I started a whole new company, which was about a year or so ago. And now literally, it hasn't even been a year. It was like April of last year. And within like five or six months, we're way over six figures. And it's just like, I am the example of committing first and figuring the rest out later. So now just really focusing on personal credit, business credit, business funding, and mentoring people to start their own successful six-figure company. That is my true example of me committing first and figuring the rest out later, John. Well, you talk about the importance of financial literacy.

16:59You talk about the importance of really knowing and understanding and focusing on credit and mentorship. Now tell us why. Tell us why credit, mentorship, these things are such a critical component to our success. I think that we all can agree, John, is that credit is huge. Credit is the stepping stone to a successful life and the lifestyle that you want to live. Nobody goes out and just literally cashes out and buys their dream car. Most of the time, my dream car is a$60 ,000,$100 ,000 plus car. My dream car is an I-8, and I recently bought an I-8. That's a$100 ,000 car, John. I didn't just literally just go dig into my bank account and just pull out 100 grand and buy that car.

17:41I used my credit. I leveraged my credit to purchase the vehicle to finance it and pay it out over time. Same thing with my home, John. And I'm pretty sure same thing with your home and other people's home. We don't just go out and just spend 500, 600, or a million dollars on a home. What we do is we go to the bank. We say, hey, I got great credit. Why don't you finance me this money? Right. And so it's the same thing with everything else, especially with business. I know that credit is critical and it's been critical for myself and other business owners and entrepreneurs because what I've been able to do is show people how to use OPM, which is other people's money, which is the bank money, while having great credit.

18:17So when you have great credit, you can qualify for business lines of credit. And what you do is you take those business lines of credit and you allow that to fund your company, which is essentially your goal or your dream to be able to create residualized income. So here we are talking about taking somebody from, let's just say, a 500 credit score to having a 700 plus credit score, showing them how to properly structure their personal credit profile to qualify for over$100 ,000 plus, quarter million dollars plus in business credit and lines of credit and taking those funds and starting their company, whether it's a salon or a trucking company or even their own credit repair company.

18:54anything that they want to get started now you have the money to actually put into your business you get that business started and now that business bring you back residualized income let's just say eight grand a month so you may have started your business with a hundred thousand dollars in cash flow and capital but then now if you're bringing your break your business bring you back eight grand a month now literally within 12 months you can pay that money back and now you got eight thousand dollars a month hitting your mailbox and you can't stop it it doesn't stop So I know for a fact that credit has been very impactful for myself and within my career and definitely for those individuals that I've been mentoring in order to understand the impact that credit has.

19:34Because it's crazy, you know, that it sounds this way, but financial literacy and credit is not something that's taught on a day to day basis. It's definitely not taught in elementary, high schools and universities. And so, you know, individuals like myself who has taken the reins to want to give back to the community and mentor people through this process, I think that a person like myself and other mentors and entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs who are willing to mentor somebody through the process to get them a roadmap, it's very critical because you got people who are lost. And so if they get with a person like myself or even you, John, for instance, and they say, hey, listen, you know, I don't know anything about credit.

20:12I don't know anything about, you know, business and how to get started and financial literacy and things of that nature. If I'm willing to mentor somebody through the process and they don't know where to start and where to go and I can give them that roadmap, this is changing the game. This is paving the way. I said all the time and I said again and I posted on my social media, entrepreneurship and mentorship through entrepreneurs are replacing universities. We are giving people the opportunity to literally connect with us. And instead of going to a four year university, maybe potentially wasting four years and paying 100 grand plus, we're giving you the opportunity to pay us a very small amount of money.

20:48And within literally like three to six months, you're in a position where you're potentially probably making six figures rather than drowning in debt and trying to pay student loans back. And so I love the concept, the idea of mentorship because it's really giving people the opportunity to choose whether I really want to go to college or I really want to become an entrepreneur and have an opportunity to tap into like a mentor like myself to be able to actually have a roadmap to success. Well, you mentioned that roadmap to success and there is a roadmap to success that's going to get us to that next level.

21:19Of course, we've already talked about credit and mentorship and, you know, just the reality of committing first, that theme that we keep having coming up over and over again. Take us home, Dion, this roadmap to success. What's the final thing that you want to say on this topic, on this subject? Share that with Fire Nation now. If there's one thing that we can really walk away with from everything that we've talked about here today, what is that? That final piece, John, is really just sacrificing. Sacrificing and, you know, I ask people all the time, what are you willing to give up to go up? You know, a lot of people want success, but are they really willing to go through the hard stuff, the growing pains, to actually get the results that they see other people have or the results that they actually want out of life?

22:07You know, like I've had so many different things that I had to sacrifice. We're talking about relationships, friendships. You know, man, John, I've given up alcohol years ago. I mean, I'm talking about I don't watch TV. I don't hang around certain people. I don't indulge in certain activities. The activities that I indulge in, John, they're only income generating activities. I don't sit on the phone and talk all day about nothing. I don't sit on social media just scrolling. If I'm on social media, if I'm on the phone, John, you best believe I'm either mentoring somebody or I'm closing a deal. I'm doing something that's generating me some income to get me to that next level.

22:45So if I could share one thing, and especially bringing back that concept of committing first and figuring the rest out later, you're going to have to literally drown yourself in sacrificing. You're going to have to give up something in order to get the results that you're looking for, John. So if anybody could take away anything from me, anything from this interview, it's really committing first and figuring the rest out later. But it's really in that sacrificial effort piece. Like you have to sacrifice in order to get to that next level that you're looking to go through in life. Fire Nation, I really hope you're understanding this.

23:18Like what are you willing to sacrifice? Like Dion, quote unquote sacrifice. Like I say quote unquote is because is it really a sacrifice to give up negatives in your life? like sitting on your butt, watching TV, eating Ben and Jerry's, like drinking alcohol that we all know is, is it's not adding quality to our life per se. Is it really a sacrifice? And what are you willing to give up to get to where you want to be? So Dion, share with us how we can connect with you. How do you want Fire Nation to take that next step, connect with you with what you have going on, any call to action you have for us right now, and then we'll say goodbye.

23:54You guys can follow me on social media. Facebook is just my regular name, Deion Coopwood, D-I-O-N, Coopwood, C-O-O-P-W-O-O-D. I'm on Instagram at Mr. Phenomenal Power. That's M-R-P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L, Power, P-O-W-E-R, Mr. Phenomenal Power. and literally inside of my bio on all of my pages, each one of my pages, you can literally click the link in my bio. I have a manufacturer spending eBooks that you can purchase. So you can literally learn how to turn credit into cash and be able to literally get paid for your credit cards. I have a do-it-yourself credit eBook where you're going to be able to literally learn how to structure and start your own six figure credit repair company, whether you want to do a full-time or part-time within 60 to 90 days.

24:41You know, those are those essentially the last piece is I also have my mentorship, my six figure credit mentorship program that you can actually tap into as well. So I have I give everybody the opportunity where every single month I give 10 people the special opportunity to literally connect with me in a private Facebook group for 30 days. And I do a live three day webinar. So you have you guys have the opportunity to work directly with me and connect with me personally so that I can kind of mentor you through the process. whether it's directly starting your own credit repair company or you're an entrepreneur looking to just get mentored to that next level.