594: (Solo) The Mindset Lessons I’ve Learned From 100+ Founders

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0:39Just head to omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. Hey guys, Nathan here. Welcome back to another Founder to Founder solo episode. These are short episodes where I share lessons from my journey building founder the past 10 plus years and from countless conversations I've had with entrepreneurs who have built some of the greatest companies in the world, some of the fastest growing companies in the world. So today I want to step away from the tactics and talk about something deeper. Now it's not sexy and truth be told we've created programs on this with some of like the coolest people out there that have rock solid mindsets and just extreme mental toughness and that is mindset.

1:23Hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder Podcast with Nathan Chan. The truth is tactics will change, platforms will change, industries will change, technologies will change, but your mindset is the one thing that will make or break your ability to last in the game. So I never forget, I was sitting in a room with a super successful founder. He built a$200 million a year company. And he said to me, he said, Nathan, do you think founder can be a$100 million a year company? And I said, yes. And he said, okay, well, that's 50 % of the battle won.

2:08And I thought that's just a crazy, crazy thought that 50%, half the battle won is just believing you can do it and then the other half is actually doing it. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. And there's such an illusion of overnight success. We're surrounded by headlines about unicorn startups, viral TikToks, overnight wins. But when you really peel back the curtain, all these success stories, almost none of them were overnight. My mentor Mitch, he taught me once, It takes seven to 10 years to build something of true worth and significance. And the founders that you admire have been grinding, failing, iterating for years before anyone knew their name.

2:52We might interview a founder that's done 100 million a year in like four years. But what you don't often know or see, and when I try and always uncover this, is they've built like five other companies before that. So the lesson here is you don't want to compare your chapter one to someone else's chapter 20. And I think this trips up so many people. It's so easy to see social media, to see what other people are doing online and comparing yourself to other people and knowing that it's your own journey. And sometimes that success isn't attainable in that moment for you or that person. And you just forget.

3:31It just takes years and years and years to build. because here's the truth. You need to experience a lot of fear, a lot of failure in the founder's journey to actually succeed, right? And actually build your own success story. And you're going to fail at a lot of things. You're going to launch products that flop. You'll make hires that don't work out. And that's not a sign that you're failing. It's just a sign that you're in the game. And I think a big part of this whole thing is staying in the game long enough to then be able to seize opportunities. As an example, I went through my first kind of round of extreme turbulent times in business when COVID happened, right?

4:11So I started Founder in 2013, went full-time on it in 2014. And obviously 2020 was just a whirlwind for everyone. And there was a time where I was like, oh my God, I don't know what's going to happen, right? And that was my first big shake. I'd never done that before. But knowing everything I know now, I would have approached things so much more differently. And every founder I've spoken to, from Richard Branson to Emma Greed, they've all said the same thing. Failure was their teacher. The fear never fully goes away, but you can decide how to take action despite it. So I'll give you an example.

4:46When I first started founder, I went to a talk. It was like on a weekend and there was a founder, his name's Noah Kagan. I've interviewed him and he was there. And I just started founder. And if you don't know Noah Kagan, he started sumo.com, amazing marketer, amazing business. And he did this talk. And there was a few other speakers there, but everyone wanted to speak to Noah because the guy's really cool. And I lined up to speak to him after he did his talk. And, you know, I was one of the last people to speak to him. And I just got interviewed with Richard Branson. And I said to him, hey, man, like, I'd love to interview for my magazine.

5:22I just got interviewed with Richard Branson. And he said to me, no offense, but like, why would I do an interview for your magazine? like it's new nobody's ever heard of you I've just been on Pat Flynn's show and then he said okay look just because I said no now doesn't mean it's a no forever and he said take my business card and he gave me an AppSumo sticker and I was absolutely gutted I felt like a big punch to the guts and I picked myself up and I just like kept building founder eventually went full-time and then what do you know a couple years later Noah gets in touch and he says hey Nathan let's do a partnership and I let him know this whole story.

6:01And long story short, we hashed it all out and we became friends and it was all good and I've interviewed him since and he's a legend. But that failure story, right, you never know, right? It's part of the journey. So I think if you're here to get rich, you know, building a true brand in the e-commerce space or any online business or brand for that matter probably isn't for you. But if you want to build something significant, something that impacts customers, builds community and last, and also a company that you can sell, like, don't get me wrong. Like I've had, you know, many people want to buy founder of the years and it's not something I was looking to entertain, but you want to play the long game.

6:41It takes seven to 10 years to build something of true worth and significance. And you want to have that mindset, not seven to 10 weeks. And like, you want to measure impact and significance, not just revenue. How many people are you serving? Did you create something meaningful? What problems are you solving? And stay grounded in your why. Money is just a byproduct of solving real problems well. So here's what I've learned that you can do to level up your mindset. You want to think in decades, act in day. So big vision, but small, consistent actions. You want to detach from outcomes and attach to the process.

7:16Don't judge success by one launch or one campaign. Reframe failure as data. Like every loss is a lesson and every pivot gives you progress. And then you want to surround yourself with builders. Borrow belief from others until you've built your own. One of the best things that you can do to level up your mindset is seeing other people doing it, hanging out with other people doing it. It will get you so inspired. It will show that it's possible. It will force you to level up. You truly are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with. So if you're listening right now and feeling the weight of fear, of impatience, or wondering why it's not happening fast enough, just remember this, great things take time.

7:59But with the right mindset, the right persistence, and the willingness to just never give up and learn from failure, you'll look back in time and realize you've built something truly significant. And if you want to learn from founders that have been there, who have done it, have played the long game. That's exactly what you find in Founder Plus with an incredible community. Make sure you go and sign up. We've got a$1 trial for 14 days. Go to founder.com forward slash membership. We're here to help serve you however we can. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you in another episode.