Dan Martell - Overcome Your Fear of Failure

00:00:00.000 And I realized that I was acting out of fear of folks that I didn't even know.

00:00:04.900 You know, I don't know if you've ever heard this quote, but

00:00:06.820 people that mind don't matter and people that matter don't mind.

00:00:22.740 What is up, everybody? I'm Dan Martell, serial entrepreneur, investor, and creator of SaaS

00:00:26.140 Academy. And in this episode, I want to talk to you about the fear of your light, the fear of

00:00:32.400 actual success. Everybody wants to talk about feel of failure. I actually want to talk about the

00:00:36.600 opposite. You know, some of you guys may think that, oh, I don't want to do this because what

00:00:42.120 if it doesn't work out? What if everybody judges me for failing? You know, what if I take the leap

00:00:46.720 and lose my life savings? And that might be possible. But what also might be true, because

00:00:51.900 is two things can be true at the same time,

00:00:54.080 is that you may be afraid of your power,

00:00:57.500 you may be afraid of your greatness,

00:00:59.280 you may be afraid of what you could accomplish

00:01:01.580 because doing that would require you

00:01:04.100 to continue to live at a higher level.

00:01:06.780 Some of you are afraid to achieve new levels

00:01:10.020 because in doing so, you've now told the world

00:01:13.680 that this is the new you,

00:01:15.260 this is the new high-level watermark,

00:01:17.700 and that can feel scary, right?

00:01:20.900 I know for me personally, when it comes to coaching,

00:01:23.380 just the idea of being a coach, I rejected for years,

00:01:27.600 even though I started coaching and advising in my 20s

00:01:32.220 because I started investing.

00:01:33.980 By the time I was mid-30s,

00:01:36.100 I had invested in over 50 companies as an angel investors,

00:01:39.440 Intercom, Hootsuite, Udemy, right?

00:01:41.780 And I've advised hundreds of founders, okay,

00:01:46.080 over the years, speaking at events and getting phone calls

00:01:48.900 making introductions and you know,

00:01:50.740 trying to support other people with my life experiences.

00:01:54.020 Like it was something that I did.

00:01:55.480 It was something I felt called to.

00:01:57.140 And for whatever reason, I just didn't feel,

00:02:02.240 I just, I was scared to put myself out there.

00:02:04.860 Even to the point that instead of becoming a coach,

00:02:08.220 I started a company called Clarity

00:02:10.400 because I wanted to build a platform for me,

00:02:14.520 but I really didn't know it at the time.

00:02:16.160 And I kind of disguised myself as a tech entrepreneur

00:02:19.260 and this platform, Clarity, was a marketplace

00:02:21.980 for entrepreneurs to get advice over other entrepreneurs.

00:02:24.420 And even though we did 50,000,

00:02:26.960 or we have 50,000 experts

00:02:28.220 and hundreds of thousands of calls a year,

00:02:29.940 I still did 1,300 calls in two years.

00:02:32.560 That just shows you how much I was passionate

00:02:35.620 about kind of what I wanna do.

00:02:37.480 Some people call it the shadow career, okay?

00:02:39.840 This is actually a thing out there.

00:02:41.740 You can search shadow career.

00:02:43.440 And I had to go through the personal journey

00:02:46.580 of not only like building clarity, doing these calls,

00:02:49.380 and then finally after clarity, just putting it out there.

00:02:51.880 And there's so many different people that came into my life

00:02:54.100 that said, you really need to do this.

00:02:55.320 From my buddy Malta, to my buddy Alex Icon,

00:02:57.520 to Travis Houston down in San Diego,

00:03:00.360 like all these incredible people just said like,

00:03:02.920 you really need to do this.

00:03:04.280 I love the way you think, I love the way you share,

00:03:06.660 and I would love to hear more from you,

00:03:08.660 but this isn't what you do.

00:03:10.560 Would you consider putting your stuff out there

00:03:12.580 and indirectly then started coaching individuals.

00:03:15.520 But I share this because after two years of doing this,

00:03:19.700 this is how crazy I kinda,

00:03:22.040 I wasn't willing to step into my power.

00:03:24.880 Two years of doing this,

00:03:26.720 I didn't even use the word coach in any of my profiles.

00:03:29.300 It wasn't until clients of mine,

00:03:31.040 I'd worked at that point almost 50 different

00:03:33.380 SaaS founders helping them scale their business

00:03:35.520 that they were telling their friends,

00:03:37.260 Dan's my coach, Dan's my mentor, Dan's my coach.

00:03:39.860 And eventually they were like tweeting at me, tagging me,

00:03:43.640 and I was just like, okay team,

00:03:44.740 we probably need to put that I'm a coach.

00:03:46.700 At that point, we were starting to build

00:03:48.140 one of the largest coaching organizations

00:03:50.140 for B2B SaaS founders,

00:03:51.540 and I still didn't wanna own who I was.

00:03:54.920 And that, for me, is what I wanna share with you

00:03:58.680 because once I owned it, my life transformed.

00:04:01.660 And to this day, not only have I served thousands

00:04:05.660 of SaaS founders that we've coached inside of our program,

00:04:08.900 Our videos have been seen from tens of millions of people

00:04:11.880 across all our different platforms.

00:04:13.340 Our content's been consumed by millions of people

00:04:16.600 and none of that would happen if I didn't decide

00:04:19.780 to not be afraid of my light.

00:04:21.240 Cause I wasn't afraid of failure, okay?

00:04:23.940 At that point, like I'll be honest with you,

00:04:25.420 like I had built companies, I knew I could build the company.

00:04:29.140 I was afraid of the judgment.

00:04:30.400 I was afraid of trying to be the best at something

00:04:33.060 that I was new to.

00:04:34.220 I was afraid of going through that learning curve.

00:04:36.340 I was afraid of putting myself out there

00:04:37.980 and being rejected.

00:04:39.060 There's one thing to build a product and say,

00:04:41.000 hey, do you guys want this product?

00:04:42.320 Here's what the product does.

00:04:43.440 No, you don't want, okay, you're rejecting the product.

00:04:45.620 Hey, here's who I am.

00:04:47.120 Here's what I believe in.

00:04:48.020 Here's what I think is interesting.

00:04:49.340 Here's how I look at life.

00:04:50.740 Do you want this?

00:04:51.700 And they go, no, they're rejecting you.

00:04:54.200 It was a completely different psychological mindset.

00:04:58.020 And going through that, I learned a few things.

00:05:00.180 I learned some really incredible lessons.

00:05:01.980 The number one is this philosophy

00:05:05.520 that, you know, Marianne Williamson has this great quote

00:05:09.360 that our deepest fear, okay, is not that we're inadequate,

00:05:12.640 is that we are powerful beyond measure.

00:05:15.040 Okay, I love that.

00:05:15.880 Our deepest fear is not that we're inadequate,

00:05:17.440 is that we are powerful beyond measure.

00:05:19.420 And I remember I was in Toronto speaking at an event,

00:05:22.800 it was called Archangel Summit.

00:05:24.020 This would have been six years ago, maybe.

00:05:27.320 My buddy Giovanni asked me to speak on stage.

00:05:29.940 And, you know, Gary Vee speaking there, Seth Godin,

00:05:32.840 these are people I'd met over the years

00:05:34.260 that I consider the best of the best.

00:05:36.700 And I wanted to do something different.

00:05:38.740 I wanted to share my personal story,

00:05:40.660 my struggles of like dealing with addiction

00:05:43.520 and prison in my teenage years to learning how to code

00:05:47.020 and literally having that transform and save my life.

00:05:50.000 But it was scary.

00:05:51.540 I knew I would have to put myself out there

00:05:53.100 in front of thousands, 2,000 people at this event.

00:05:56.160 And I did, and I'll be honest with you,

00:05:58.700 I don't really remember a whole lot.

00:06:00.280 It's captured on video.

00:06:01.340 If you search the power of belief, Dan Martelli,

00:06:03.300 You can watch the video, but as it was happening,

00:06:07.460 I prepped, I did my thing, but I just, I gave it to God.

00:06:10.100 I said, God use me as a vehicle to touch

00:06:12.940 and influence these people's lives.

00:06:14.300 And I don't really remember a whole lot.

00:06:16.040 And that night I was at the hotel

00:06:17.960 and it really shook me up.

00:06:19.440 Like it made me realize like,

00:06:21.720 hey, maybe there's more to what I'm doing

00:06:23.500 than just helping SaaS founders

00:06:25.660 grow their SaaS companies, right?

00:06:27.060 Like maybe there's more for me to do.

00:06:28.900 And I ran into my buddy, Philip McKernan, who is, you know,

00:06:32.320 I don't even know how to explain who he is,

00:06:34.560 but he is one of the most powerful thinkers

00:06:37.920 when it comes to just personal alignment and congruence

00:06:40.580 on your life mission, and your vision, and your values,

00:06:45.840 and just, so I ended up going to Peru.

00:06:49.340 And because Philip said to me,

00:06:51.980 I went to Peru to work with Philip,

00:06:53.700 but at that night, he goes, how did you feel on stage?

00:06:57.340 And I said, I honestly don't remember.

00:06:59.440 And he goes, that was one of the most powerful talks

00:07:03.680 I've ever seen, and I'm not just blowing the smoke 0.99

00:07:05.720 up your ass, and he's funny, he's like, 0.98

00:07:07.420 and I also gave a talk, so it really hurt my feelings, 1.00

00:07:09.340 but the truth is, it just was.

00:07:11.280 And he goes, but I'm not even excited for you.

00:07:16.160 He said, I'm excited, and he pointed past me.

00:07:21.400 He said, I'm excited for all the people

00:07:23.080 that I know you're gonna touch with your story.

00:07:25.300 and I just broke down because I knew he was right and I knew how scary it was I'd never

00:07:34.440 shared any of that on stage in a public format before and I just I knew my life was going to

00:07:43.500 change forever after that and that belief that you know you're way more powerful you know then

00:07:53.780 you give yourself credit for is such a big one but to me it's like if you are scared of your

00:08:00.220 life the first thing is know that you're way more powerful than your deepest fears but even more

00:08:05.820 important is is the other people like I had Philip McKernan somebody that believed in me and other

00:08:10.520 people come up to me and I realized that I was acting out of fear of folks that I didn't even

00:08:15.700 know you know I don't know if you've ever heard this quote but people that mind don't matter and

00:08:20.140 people that matter don't mind. Like that's the philosophy that I continue to like go back to.

00:08:25.720 The folks that know me best, what do they say about me? What do they think about me? You know,

00:08:31.080 and the people that don't know me, that see me on social media and see me share these messages and

00:08:34.900 think whatever they want to think, like why do we put so much value on those words when it costs

00:08:42.200 them nothing? We don't know what's going on in their lives. I want to encourage you. That's a

00:08:46.460 second part of the mindset is people that matter people that that mind don't matter and people that

00:08:52.360 matter don't mind and to me that's just I think it's Bernard Shaw that said it it's just such a

00:08:57.280 powerful frame for dealing with external criticism and then the last thing I want to share with you

00:09:03.860 about just owning your power and shining your light as bright as freaking possible

00:09:09.600 is make a 10-year commitment and this one's a tough one for a lot of people to decide on

00:09:15.280 But some of you guys are dabbling.

00:09:17.320 Some of you guys are playing around.

00:09:19.020 Some of you guys are, you know, trying, hoping,

00:09:23.940 seeing if this will work out.

00:09:26.120 You haven't committed.

00:09:27.680 You know, you haven't gone pro, okay?

00:09:30.040 Turning pro is a great book, read it.

00:09:32.800 And I think part of turning pro is making a commitment.

00:09:35.500 And for me, I remember the moment I made the commitment.

00:09:38.060 I said, I'm gonna do my YouTube channel for 10 years.

00:09:42.120 10 freaking years.

00:09:43.300 It means I've posted every Monday nonstop 0.54

00:09:46.180 without missing a Monday, no delays, no excuses

00:09:48.540 for I think seven years now.

00:09:51.020 No, like literally nonstop.

00:09:53.500 And I will.

00:09:54.320 And I made the commitment.

00:09:55.380 Why?

00:09:55.860 I wanted to put in the time.

00:09:57.300 I wanted to practice.

00:09:58.200 I wanted to impact, right?

00:09:59.860 I knew that if I wanted to lean into that light

00:10:03.900 and impact and support other people's lives,

00:10:06.440 it was gonna require me to get better at a skill.

00:10:09.780 Go back.

00:10:10.720 Go back to the beginning and look at the early videos.

00:10:13.300 I know what you're going to find. You're going to find a guy that is just fire hosing. He's just

00:10:19.920 screaming at you because I was so insecure. I didn't know if anything I was saying was resonating

00:10:27.260 that I just felt like if I overwhelm them, they can only walk away going, I don't know what he

00:10:33.460 said, but at least I feel energized. But over the years, I've learned. I literally have hired coaches.

00:10:39.980 I've worked to the best.

00:10:41.680 And to me, like it's so inspiring when I go back

00:10:45.820 to look at the Gary Vee first videos.

00:10:48.020 You know, Wine Library TV, if you haven't watched that.

00:10:51.000 Go check out the early videos

00:10:52.280 or a Marie Forleo or a Tim Ferriss.

00:10:54.900 Like go back 10 years, watch the content,

00:10:59.700 see what the production value was when they were doing this

00:11:03.360 and then look at the video quality

00:11:06.900 and just be like inspired that like,

00:11:09.040 If they started there, then you can start anywhere.

00:11:12.240 Some of you guys think, well, I gotta get a studio.

00:11:13.860 I gotta do all this stuff.

00:11:14.780 Literally, grab your phone.

00:11:16.500 I don't have my phone on me, but grab your phone,

00:11:18.740 stick it in front of your face, and talk to the phone.

00:11:21.620 Go live on Facebook, go live on Instagram.

00:11:23.920 You got 24 hours.

00:11:25.280 It gets deleted.

00:11:26.360 Go, I started with Periscope.

00:11:29.200 Do something to take action, to shine your light,

00:11:33.260 to put your message out there, even if two people watch,

00:11:36.560 and both of them are family members.

00:11:38.300 I wanna encourage you to do that

00:11:39.900 because here's what I believe, okay?

00:11:41.620 This is a Jack Canfield quote that really resonated with me

00:11:44.400 and I wanna leave you guys with this.

00:11:46.120 That everything you want is on the other side of fear.

00:11:48.580 Everything that you desire, every dream, every goal,

00:11:51.840 every outcome that you wanna achieve for your life

00:11:54.180 is only gonna live on the other side of you

00:11:57.220 being anxious and fearful that you gotta do this.

00:12:01.560 But I want you to know that I'm gonna be your biggest fan.

00:12:05.640 I will support you, I will push you,

00:12:08.040 I will be your biggest cheerleader.

00:12:11.020 I want to encourage you to take the leap, make the jump.

00:12:14.980 Get over that hurdle.

00:12:16.700 Just do something today.

00:12:18.260 That is the call to action.

00:12:19.900 Something today to move this forward.

00:12:22.440 I don't care how small it is.

00:12:24.280 I don't care if you think it's insignificant.

00:12:26.480 If you pile up those insignificant moments

00:12:29.840 back to back to back to back,

00:12:31.720 day over day, day over day, day over day,

00:12:34.160 I'm telling you they're gonna pile up

00:12:35.720 and they're gonna turn into a significant moment.

00:12:39.640 So just watch this whenever you're feeling like,

00:12:43.000 I don't feel like shining my light,

00:12:44.440 or I don't feel like I've got confidence,

00:12:45.940 or what if I succeed?

00:12:47.840 What if you succeed?

00:12:48.880 What if you become the best-selling author,

00:12:50.960 and now you gotta go on national TV?

00:12:53.660 What if?

00:12:54.500 What if you become the best speaker in the world,

00:12:57.920 and now you've gotta go travel the world and be successful?

00:13:02.060 What if you decide to build that business empire

00:13:04.960 and have thousands of employees that you're responsible for?

00:13:07.940 What if that pressure and noise gets crazy?

00:13:11.920 I want that for you.

00:13:13.440 Because here's what I know.

00:13:14.460 It's not gonna happen overnight.

00:13:16.180 And if you're willing to do the work,

00:13:17.800 you will become better.

00:13:19.040 And over the years,

00:13:20.180 you will become the person who can deal with all of that.

00:13:23.180 And when it shows up in your life,

00:13:25.060 you will laugh at how you used to think about it

00:13:28.080 because you will be so equipped

00:13:29.760 and ready to push on it and to do even more.

00:13:32.380 That'll be the baseline if you're like,

00:13:33.780 no, I'm here, okay?

00:13:35.820 So I wanna encourage you,

00:13:36.720 shine your light as bright as possible.

00:13:38.240 That's what I have for you today.

00:13:39.560 And as per usual, I wanna leave you with this.

00:13:41.060 I wanna challenge you.

00:13:42.960 Live a bigger life.

00:13:44.300 Over here, just live it bigger

00:13:46.020 and build a bigger business.

00:13:48.220 Build the resources, build the infrastructure,

00:13:50.080 build the people

00:13:50.700 so that you can create a bigger world.

Dan Martell - September 19, 2022

Overcome Your Fear of Failure

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