Why do some leaders hide from funding their vision?
And how can those leaders then lean into funding
that vision? The question is, I'm sorry, can
you repeat the question? I couldn't hear the
first part. Why do you think that some leaders
hide from funding their vision? Well, if leaders
are hiding from funding their vision... Can you
hear me now? Yeah, no, I got it. If leaders are
hiding from funding their vision, I think that
just comes down to they're really not believing
in what their vision is. Because if they believe
it, they can see clearly and have 100 % belief
that they can make it happen, they would be more
than happy to fund it or find the funding to
make their vision happen. So I think that just
comes to a matter of... really having the confidence
and the belief that they can see it through.
Wow. You put up a very, very great point. Thank
you for sharing that. What I have found that
most people don't bet on themselves enough in
the right time. And that has to maybe come from
lack of belief in themselves. So how can people
then find that faith or their belief in themselves
to fund their vision? How did you do it? yeah
yeah if people don't have a belief in themselves
how did i do it well i think i'm really fortunate
that my my parents instilled in me just like
this confidence that if if i really work hard
and give my 100 into what i'm doing that i'll
be able to achieve whatever it is that i want
to achieve but if you know not everybody has
that that kind of upbringing and i think if they're
lacking the confidence then They just need to
really just look back at what they have done
in their past. Okay, like what victories do they
have? What wins do they have? And, you know,
write them down, read them over and over, and
just really kind of instill that belief by themselves.
Because they need to be reminded of like all
their victories, all the good things that they
have done. And by doing that, I think they'll,
you know, build themselves up to say, you know
what, I've done a lot of things in my life. I
think I could really make this happen for myself.
I want to take a step back on that. ask a different
better questions with the same scenario do you
think that is the belief or not believing in
themselves or their lack of clarity that that
stops them from funding that vision so for give
you an example um if i knew about bitcoin uh
10 years ago and i know exactly what's going
to do like i i did not like i didn't expect it
i knew that it's going to go to this much money
do you think i would invest in bitcoin If I knew.
Oh, yeah, of course. If you knew, of course.
Exactly. So we have the stories of people who
have successfully created businesses and successfully
done their visions. We have books and books of
people who have done that. And we have history
records showing all that. And there's people
who have asked for that on the fingertips, which
people didn't 50 years ago, like 10 years ago
even. Like now we have asked for that right on
our fingertips. So do you still believe it's
the belief? that stops them from funding the
vision? Well, I think, yeah, the belief, absolutely.
And I think that goes together with the clarity
of the vision as well. If that's what you're
getting at, I think, yeah, you have to have the
clarity of what your vision is. And then number
two is be able to really believe that you can
make that happen. Because if your vision isn't
clear, then what are you even trying to get at?
You have to have that first in mind, put that
vision in your mind, make it crystal clear and
say, OK, well, now what steps can I take? OK,
I need to fund it. Then if you believe in it,
then you'll absolutely be willing to put in all
the money that you have to make that happen.
Yeah, I'm glad you said that was the whole goal
to bring that aspect of it. So what did you do
in your journey, Lam, apart from your parents
blessing you with the knowledge and a lot of
things? What did you do in your entrepreneurial
journey? Being a lawyer in this cutthroat market,
I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's an
easy thing to do, specifically if you're trying
to compete with big, big law firms at the same
time or throwing money on advertisements to take
away all the things that you can actually maybe
get. So what did you do in that case? Well, at
the beginning, when there weren't many phone
calls or weren't many clients, I was always just
telling myself. uh affirmations i would write
it down whatever it is i wanted to happen i would
tell myself that i could make it happen uh i
would actually have a vision board but not a
like a board that on the wall but just kind of
um like a photograph album and i would put pictures
on there that i wanted to see happen so that
i could make you know the vision of what i wanted
to to happen i could actually just see it in
my hands and just have it there and just review
it and that was something that thought like you
know that i've read in books that if you make
yourself like a vision board um your your mind
will constantly be working on making it so that
you can make that happen yeah that's awesome
what else did you do after that point i mean
after that it's just uh every day just um work
hard every single day wake up early commit yourself
100 take chances um just Whatever resources that
you had, whether it's your time or your money
or energy, you put everything that you can into
making your vision come true. Thank you for sharing
that. The reason I should have prefaced this
with this statement. On this show, I love and
I think our audience really appreciates if people
and leaders can share the good, bad, and the
ugly. I think we as leaders have the responsibility
to... to not just show the pretty picture of
what could happen or what we have achieved, right,
but the path that we took from hardships. And
a lot of people undervalue the amount of work
it takes to actually build a successful business.
And I think you mentioned that, that hard work
and believing in yourself and keep doing it again
and again and again. I think it's very, very
important to see. And I really, really believe
this. Most people, they're not willing to do
that. Most people are not willing to go through
what it takes to make something successful, making
it worthwhile. Have you read the book E -Myth,
Lem? Yeah, that was one of the first books that
I read when I was starting the business. I got
it at the library. And I don't remember the details,
but I remember the book and I did read it. Yeah,
and there's a very staggering stat in the book.
I don't know if you remember or not. 96 % of
businesses are failing within the first 10 years.
And if I cut that number to half and half, so
within the first 10 years, they're saying about
80 % of businesses are failing within the first
five years. And how many businesses are actually
getting to the two -year mark? That's 60 % maybe.
That's a high number of people that are failing.
And the number clearly shows that business owners
have no idea what they're doing. They have no
idea what they're doing. They're trying to do
something. do this this and whatever the gurus
are telling them i would say so what was it for
you like i i would love i think our audience
would appreciate that a lot like what was your
journey like well the beginning was really difficult
filled with a lot of doubt and i can't emphasize
it enough that in the beginning there's just
a lot of sacrifices that have to be made with
your time especially make sacrifices with with
that like you can't always be there for your
family you can't always have leisure time or
actually have no leisure time and just everything
like every minute hour that you have you have
to i mean at least i did i had to put it into
the business i just had a newborn at the time
so i was juggling those two things at the same
time but when i wasn't with the family taking
care of my newborn with with my wife everything
was going to the business. Even when I was with
the family, I think my thoughts were with like,
okay, well, what can I do differently? What do
I need to do tomorrow? How can I go to this business?
I'm just always like thinking of what do I need
to do? I'm looking at other people's ads. I'm
looking at commercials. I'm looking just everything.
It's just like constant. There's no really peace
of mind that. Things are going to be okay. There's
nothing else going on in my mind besides getting
the business going. I'm not interested in anything
else. It's my job. It's my hobby. It's my passion.
It's everything. And that's how I started out.
Let me ask you the same question on what you
just shared with us. That vision at that time
when you gave everything that you had to achieve
that, did you... Was it something that you were
looking towards, something you were building
towards that made you get out of bed every morning?
What was it that kept you going through all those
times of hardship or even now? I mean, my family.
Providing for my family is huge. I was a new
father, responsible for a life. I said, okay,
it's time to take things seriously. Really got
to make this happen. And that keeps me going
until today. But, yeah, I think also on top of
that is now that I think things are being well
taken care of is also just making sure that we're
living or that I'm living my life to its fullest
potential and getting everything out of myself
that I can. Thank you for sharing that. I think
a lot of times as entrepreneurs, they want to
start businesses and solve problems, which is
not a bad thing. But for people. Without the
skills and without the, I would say, experience
that is necessary to build a business, I think
having a why that will get you going, that will
keep you going, is very, very important. I think
at least for me. If I don't have the why that
I look up to, I don't feel like myself as motivated.
There has to be an external motivation. to help
me through that and i don't think that will last
long enough for you that was your family and
i think for a lot of people that is their family
that's also one of the reasons during like the
late late 20s and early 30s um men start to work
harder achieve more and more and try to do a
lot of stuff um so yeah thank you for sharing
that with us man of course yeah absolutely um
the other part of about hard work um and that
goes well in the hand is leadership um to you
What defines a great leader, Alam, and why? What
makes a great leader, I think, is someone that
day in and day out sets the example that shows
by action versus just by their words. Because
I don't think a leader should expect anyone to
do what they're not willing to do themselves.
Yes, because I can just build, I probably can
just build a lot of resentment if, you know,
you just have someone that's just, you know,
always telling people what to do, but then really
doesn't take action themselves, doesn't really
carry the burden. But a good leader is supposed
to carry the heaviest burden on them all. And
then everybody just kind of follows suit and
says, okay, well, the leader's carrying a lot
of weight. I need to carry my own weight too,
so that I can do my part with the team. Yeah,
well, thank you for sharing that. Almost everyone
has heard of Alex Hermosi, right? Alex Hermosi,
I think it's one of those leaders who I think
outworks almost everyone. And so he gave one
of these examples, and I'm trying to paraphrase
it. He said that one of his coworkers, the people
that work under him, wanted to know, like, hey,
how hard do I have to work? to get where I want
to get or get ahead of Alex Hermosi in a way.
And he said the amount of time Alex Hermosi has
on everyone in the market leaders, like the amount
of time he has of actual work, he is decades
ahead of people. And if you want to catch up
to that guy and get to the top, the amount of
work that you need to do is... is you just don't
have any other thing to do. It's just that your
passion, that's what you got to do. And I don't
think that's for everyone, but it's for, it's
a very, very selected few people. So leading
by example, and in that example, I think Alex
Ramos is the example where his company, where,
where he, he's the, he's the epitome of what
you got to achieve. Like he, he's, he's to him,
I think 16 hour days of normal work. It's yeah,
that's. It's crazy to me. I can't fathom that.
I can't fathom that. I'm like, if I'm working
eight hours on a good day, it would actually...
But those 16 hours, what he's saying is actual
work. It's not like what most people call busy.
He's not busy. He's actually working on things
that actually make a difference and does things
for him. Instead of... I call myself busy a lot
of times with things, but it's not actual work
most of the times. And that's where... That's
where most people don't realize. So what are
your thoughts on that? What do you think on that?
Yeah, I think that's on point. If that's what
it takes, that's what you need to do. If 16 -hour
days is what it takes, then that's what you need
to do. If you're in a business where the owners
are working 16 hours, but then you're like, well,
I can do 10, well, who's going to achieve more,
right? Yeah. i mean maybe you can achieve more
if you have more talent more skill but in the
end i think that's that's a lot more talent and
skill to over to to outwork someone that's going
16 hours a day yeah and going 10. so i think
that that's a problem why that's probably like
why a lot of businesses don't do well the owners
aren't willing to make that kind of sacrifice
and then you have other business owners that
are making that kind of sacrifice And eventually
you're just going to get out work. Thank you
for being here today. I'm really happy that you
tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward
to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue
to move forward. This is going to get more and
more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.