The Pursuit of Profit

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Hi Reader,

In public, every billionaire’s success story begins with the business that created wealth.

The reality is that success begins with the entrepreneur’s worst day.

Colton Paulhus, CEO of Anchored Tiny Homes has dealt with personal and entrepreneurial failures that led to an $88 million business.

We recently talked to Colton Paulhus for an episode of our Pursuit of Profit podcast.

Colton’s dream was to make it to the NFL. After earning a football scholarship at Colorado State University, he was on his way. But that dream ended when a violent incident led to the expulsion of three football players, including Colton.

Fast forward a few years to Colton as an insurance sales representative — until a DUI landed him in jail and the termination of his insurance license.

Colton cleaned up his act, and his entrepreneurship journey began in earnest. Now a husband and a soon-to-be dad, he tried and failed at seven different start ups, including a mobile app and a clothing line.

Then he asked a question: “Dad, can we build a tiny house?”

Dad said, “Sure!” and when Colton asked his Facebook followers if they had interest, three hundred people expressed interest. Colton was first-to-market, just as the state of California initiated legislation designed to create more affordable housing options.

​Last week we shared a brand profile on Anchored Tiny Homes. If you saw it and haven’t gotten around to booking a call to learn more, here’s the scheduling link.

In the meantime, we’re highlighting four key “don’t do this” takeaways from Colton’s story.

Don’t overthink.

Most people are stuck on step one. But success often comes from being first-to-market on a new product or service. Taking action with speed is the difference between success and a “That was my idea first!” mentality.

Trust your intuition, be ready to pivot if it doesn’t work.

Don’t fall in love with the outcome.

People often pursue the entrepreneurial life because they’re fixated on Italian sports cars, big houses, global travel, and the idea of posting Instagram pics of “working hard on a beach in Bali.”

Colton underscores that success and freedom come from falling in love with the process of doing the tiny, boring, disciplined things it takes to get you to the next level.

Don’t delegate your business.

We grabbed this great quote straight from our podcast.

Colton and his family figured out how to build and market tiny homes. That doesn’t get delegated. Developing and refining systems has been his responsibility.

The part of the business that can be delegated are the systems and processes.

The beauty of franchising is that someone else has designed a successful blueprint. A licensee’s responsibility is implementing the brand’s formula.

Don’t stop in the midst of failure.

People choose not to pursue an entrepreneurial dream because of fear. They don’t believe in themselves because they’ve failed at something in their past. And they never want to feel that kind of pain again.

Colton figured out how to not take failure personally — even after the terrible decisions he made. The time he spent in jail following his DUI? That’s the failure that led him to a decision to change.

It’s way too easy to leave out the messy, painful, ugly parts of a success story.

The reality is that failure is an essential part of the entrepreneurial journey.

Unbelief is a battle every human being faces. Every day, forever. It always wants to distract and paralyze.

An entrepreneur works hard — every day — to break free from the “I can’t” mindset. Immersing himself daily in biographies about the world’s most successful entrepreneurs has been part of Colton’s work.

Surrounding yourself with people who could but don’t and people who tell you why you can’t — these are the people who keep people from believing in themselves enough to even try.

Could it be that your first next step is booking a 30-minute call with us?

We love helping people untangle fear from fact. Reply to this email or book a call now.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

The Franocity Team