I love motivational quotes. They make me feel all warm inside; like the sunshine on my cheek on a hot summers morning. But, I also see these terrible motivational quotes and they outright bum me out because I know people see this stuff and *want* to try to achieve it. So lets delve into the inspirational quotes that I hate:

1. The reality is you can only give 100% because 100% is all. If you’re trying to give 110% to any one thing you’re going to either reach burnout or die. There’s 24 hours in a day, so if you devote all 24 to something, then what???

2. Mistake or not trying? You can chalk anything up to a “mistake”; an affair? Theft? Lying? Shipping a customers order totally half-ass because you were too lazy to buy packaging material? You gotta draw a line and say “anything else is unacceptable”. Humans error; this is a fact but there is a difference between error and “I don’t give a shit…. Error”

3. No dude…. Give up and try again using a different method. If what you’re doing isn’t working you are doing it wrong! Call it quits for a few. LEARN. READ. ABSORB KNOWLEDGE. BETTER YOUR CRAFT THEN START AGAIN. Do you have any clue how many things I have given up along the way to becoming the biggest clothing wholesaler in Michigan??? I’ve given up on a TON! Here’s a few examples:

• A college degree
• A 3rd vocational degree
• A makeup line
• A home fragrance line
• TWO retail stores
• TWO partnerships
• THREE commercial retail spaces
• FOUR warehouse
• 16 Vehicles (I think I can name them in order, let me try: 1971 Ford Torino, 1987 Dodge 500 Convertible, 1998 or 1999 Probe, 2001 Mustang, 2002 Dodge Durango, 2010 Hummer and 12 mercedes benz so far years 2018 - current)
• 30 (???) Jobs before I started my own business
• 40 (???) relationships before I got married

IT IS OKAY TO LET GO!!!!!!

4. Lies, lies, lies. So this is how life works:

You meet someone and everything is friggin great. 3 years in youre nowhere near as blissful as month #1. 7 years in you’re wondering if you made the right choice. 10 years in your interests change and things become more challenging as you grow into different people. 15 years in you realize they are everything you ever wanted and you’re happy BUT you do not have the month #1 excitement you had 15 years prior. Business is no different. Man, the stamina I had back in 2005 to stay up all night and work on the company is nowhere near the stamina I have in 2020. I’m getting old, my friends. Back then I was excited to sell a $20 item a day. It was elatement. I felt like I was on top of the world. These days I’m depressed if we hit $1,000 in sales because that is a crappy day that doesn’t even cover costs. Like Biggie Smalls said, “Mo Money, Mo Problems”. I absolutely can assure you, IT DOES NOT GET EASIER, ***BUT*** you get better at learning how to handle things. This could be due to age or it could be the wisdom you gain through experience, or perhaps a mixture of both,

5. I think I hate this hate this quote the most. A dream without goals and a plan is nothing more than a wish or hope. While you dream I’ll plan and let’s see who reaches the goal faster.

6. I despise "try".  I really do.  Either you get it done or you don't in the world of online selling.  I have aquaninteces who "try" to list 30 things a day or who "try" to get more sales.... they always fail because "try" isn't enough.  You must DO. 

7. No, do NOT relax.  You can chill when your're dead.  For now, go hard and figure it out.  Every minute you spend relaxing now puts you 1 minute behind. If you can't focus, take a 30 minute break to regroup or get a good nights sleep and start again at 5am. Set a goal of "when I make $10,000 a month I will take a week vacation and go to Mexico"... and until then, WORK! 

PS - by "break" I mean doing a different task for your company.  There is NO rest until you hit at least 10k. No exceptions.  Once you hit 1 million you can afford a weekend off each month.  When you hit 2 million you can take a couple more days.  KEEP GOING. Your life literally depends on it if you want to be successful in business!