If you want to truly live an extraordinary life, fueled by income streams you create, it’s imperative to have nothing to lose. I know that may sound unreasonable, irresponsible and like a misguided way to escape the 9 to 5 but in my entrepreneurial journey I’ve noticed it is the only way to go. So shake off your defensive about why you ‘can’t’ afford to jump head first into becoming an extraordinary entrepreneur and instead see why you can’t afford not to.

How to jumpstart your entrepreneur’s adventures

First thing you have to do is realize that extraordinary entrepreneurs live outside of societal norms 9 times out of 10. So don’t go chasing the dream of escaping the 9 to 5 and living the four hour work week then be surprised when you have to step way outside of your comfort zone to do it. People often say “But I have kids, a marriage, a job, a house, X, Y or Z how can I escape and live life on my own terms?”. Well I’ll tell you one thing, the path ISN’T the one you are currently on. But in reality you still are the only one that can decide which path will lead you to escape the rat race permanently… there is no quick fix, no magic bullet and no success pill.

Here are some jewels of advice on how to jump start your entrepreneur’s journey

• Decide how much you want it. Rate on a scale of 1-10 how  badly you want to live life on your own terms, whether that be making millions, living abroad, traveling constantly or adopting 15 children and raising them all in private schools. If you aren’t writing an 9 or 10 then this goal isn’t the one for you. You aren’t passionate about it to make the sacrifice and think outside of the box enough to make it happen.
• Get out of your comfort zone so much you aren’t comfortable in it anymore. For the last year I have spent so much time getting out of my comfort zone it is weird when I’m”in it”at all. I can’t watch TV for more than an hour without getting incredibly antsy. I can’t do the ‘normal’ things most people fill their day with, instead I am always wanting to push the envelope, to work towards my goals, to experience new and exciting things. At first getting out of my comfort zone was SOO hard that it was nearly crippling but now I can honestly say I’ve never been more comfortable in my own skin and outside of the normal ‘comfort zones’.
• Make it so failure is not an option. This may sound fool hearty and many people would disagree but I think the best way to learn how to swim is to have to or you’ll sink. Every major leap I’ve taken in my entrepreneurial journey, or even life, has been prompted by “I really can’t fail on this one”… It is a funny thing what the mind does once you take the option of failure out of the equation and instead focus solely on the goal. My first goal was 10k a month from my business, failure wasn’t an option since if I failed I’d be broke, so I had to focus, focus, focus on succeeding and it helped by envisioning my monthly monetary goal. 5 months later, I made it, and today I cashed in another $3500 check and MAN it feels good.
• Do and keep doing. Whether you try 50 things and fail at all of them or try two things and succeed on the second round it is VITAL to take action and keep going even after “failure”. Instead of focusing on a failure, use it as a learning experience and pick yourself back up so you can get back on the saddle again. I’ve done this countless times and each time I fall nowadays I get back on faster and ride with more endurance. Practice makes perfect and taking no action makes for a bunch of ‘what ifs’ – the worst type of regret in the world.

Action Jackson (steps you can take NOW to get closer to the goal)

• List one thing you could do tomorrow to get you closer to your dream life
• List the worst possible outcome if you fail miserably at escaping the 9 to 5 and then ask yourself how you would realistically recover (i.e. if my business tanks, I lose all my money and have not a CENT I would move in with friends/family, bartend for money and start new businesses in the off hours I wasn’t working)