Eben Pagan introduces his Get Altitude podcast by defining what makes a successful entrepreneur and sharing his journey from the backwoods of Oregon to building a $100+ million information products business. He explains that entrepreneurs must balance the needs of customers, business, and themselves while developing speed of implementation.
What Is An Entrepreneur Who Is Eben Pagan
Eben opens by explaining why entrepreneurship matters - entrepreneurs create opportunities and success for themselves and others. He shares his unlikely background growing up in rural Oregon without business mentors or wealthy connections.
Eben recounts his path from failed business attempts to discovering online marketing. A friend's success with an ebook became the catalyst for applying everything he'd learned about marketing and products to build a business that eventually sold over $100 million in information products.
Successful entrepreneurs must balance customer needs, business needs, and personal needs. This requires developing new mindsets and skills, with speed of implementation being the key differentiator between winners and those who wait.
Eben provides multiple perspectives on entrepreneurship - from the French etymology meaning 'to undertake' to modern definitions as risk-takers, value creators, and shapers of environment rather than adapters to it. The entrepreneurial identity shifts you from cog in the wheel to prime mover.
“entrepreneurs don't only create most of the most interesting innovations and inventions and businesses and jobs and products in the world. They also create a lot of success for themselves and others in the process”
— Eben Pagan▶ 0:34
An entrepreneur is someone who creates opportunities and value for themselves and others, takes calculated risks, and balances the needs of customers, business, and themselves.
“the winners, they don't wait around for tomorrow or next week. They implement right now. Speed of implementation is a key mindset”
— Eben Pagan▶ 6:02
Speed of implementation is the key trait that separates successful entrepreneurs from others - it means taking action immediately when you get a great idea rather than waiting.
“to succeed as an entrepreneur, I think you must learn to balance three different, completely distinct sets of needs”
— Eben Pagan▶ 7:07
Entrepreneurs must learn to balance three completely distinct sets of needs: the needs of customers, the needs of the business itself, and their own personal needs.
“Turns out that most things in the world don't work”
— Eben Pagan▶ 12:13
Most things in business don't work, which is why entrepreneurs must keep trying different approaches until they find what works, similar to Edison's light bulb experiments.
“the entrepreneur is very interested in learning about what is desired by other people, what's needed by other people, what's wanted by other people, the fears and frustrations that customers want to avoid”
— Eben Pagan▶ 13:18
Entrepreneurs create value by learning what customers desire, need, want, and fear, then helping meet those needs through products and services.
“when you see yourself and you label yourself an entrepreneur, that's when the self-image of just being another kind of cog in the wheel, another one running in the rat race of competition”
— Eben Pagan▶ 14:55
Having an entrepreneurial identity means seeing yourself as a creator and prime mover rather than just another person adapting to circumstances or competing in the rat race.
A framework for shifting from employee mindset to creator mindset
Declare your identity
Say to yourself 'I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a creator, I'm a creator of value'
Embrace risk-taking
See yourself as someone who takes calculated risks rather than playing it safe
Focus on value creation
Identify yourself as someone who creates value for other people through products and services
Tell others
When people ask what you do, say 'I'm an entrepreneur'
Entrepreneurs create opportunities for themselves and others, making success for both parties
Eben explains that entrepreneurs don't just create innovations, inventions, businesses, jobs and products - they create success for themselves and others in the process
Speed of implementation is the key trait that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from everyone else
Eben cites a study his friend referenced showing that winners don't wait around for tomorrow or next week - they implement right now when they get a great idea
Successful entrepreneurs must balance three distinct sets of needs: customer needs, business needs, and personal needs
Eben explains that your business has needs separate from your customer and separate from you, requiring a new mindset and skill set to balance all three entities
Entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers who overcome the natural tendency to play it safe
Eben states that the intuitive safe game in life is avoiding loss, but entrepreneurs overcome this natural tendency and continually take calculated risks until they strike gold
Most business ideas don't work, so entrepreneurs must keep trying until they find what works
Eben references Thomas Edison's light bulb experiments where Edison said he hadn't failed hundreds of times but discovered hundreds of ways that don't work, emphasizing that most things don't work in business
Entrepreneurs create value by understanding what customers desire, need, want, and fear, then meeting those needs through products and services
Eben explains that humans have different ways of valuing things, and entrepreneurs learn about customer desires, needs, wants, fears and frustrations to help meet those needs and create lots of value
Entrepreneurs are creators who shape their environment rather than just adapting to it
Eben contrasts entrepreneurs as creators of their environment and knowledge versus people who just adapt to environments, inherit knowledge, or take received wisdom from others
Adopting the identity of 'entrepreneur' shifts you from being a cog in the wheel to being a prime mover and creative force
Eben explains that when you label yourself an entrepreneur, you shift from being another cog in the rat race to envisioning yourself as a prime mover in a world waiting to be shaped and evolved
Entrepreneurs create opportunities for themselves and others, making success for both parties
▶ 0:34Speed of implementation is the key trait that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from everyone else
▶ 6:02Successful entrepreneurs must balance three distinct sets of needs: customer needs, business needs, and personal needs
▶ 7:07Entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers who overcome the natural tendency to play it safe
▶ 10:31Most business ideas don't work, so entrepreneurs must keep trying until they find what works
▶ 12:13Entrepreneurs create value by understanding what customers desire, need, want, and fear, then meeting those needs through products and services
▶ 13:18Entrepreneurs are creators who shape their environment rather than just adapting to it
▶ 13:48Adopting the identity of 'entrepreneur' shifts you from being a cog in the wheel to being a prime mover and creative force
▶ 14:55Claim: “Play it safe and avoid loss to be successful”
Reframe: Entrepreneurs must overcome the natural tendency to play it safe and continually take calculated risks until they strike gold
Claim: “Failure means you're doing something wrong”
Reframe: Failure is discovering ways that don't work, which is necessary progress toward finding what does work
Claim: “Adapt to your environment and learn from others”
Reframe: Create your environment and generate your own knowledge rather than just consuming what others have done
“we entrepreneurs, we get to make opportunity. Okay, we literally get to make opportunities for ourselves and make opportunities for others”
“the winners, they don't wait around for tomorrow or next week. They implement right now. Speed of implementation is a key mindset”
“I haven't failed. I've actually discovered hundreds or thousands of ways that don't work to create a light bulb”
“I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a creator. I'm a creator of value. I create value for other people”
How To WIN by Losing Most of the Time
The secret to massive success isn't avoiding failure—it's being willing to fail most of the time to discover the breakthrough strategies that change everything.
What Nobody Tells You About Being A 'Quiet Quitter'
What if quiet quitting isn't a new trend but simply what happens when talented people are stuck doing work that doesn't utilize their unique gifts?
Entrepreurial Execution
The real reason most entrepreneurs fail isn't lack of good ideas—it's their inability to execute the fundamentals every single day.
Ebens Favorite Business Tools
The counterintuitive business principles that separate dramatically successful entrepreneurs from everyone else.
Mindsets For Taking Action In Your Business
Stop planning and start doing - Eben reveals why most entrepreneurs never execute and the mindset shifts that separate action-takers from dreamers.
Business Frameworks
Common Mistakes
Entrepreneurship is fundamentally a practice of doing, not a science or art form
Peter Drucker quote: 'Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.' Combined with Edison's insight that success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Smart business people worry about execution, not competition, because they know most competitors won't execute consistently
Smart business people Eben knows focus on keeping their business executing and staying on the edge of innovation because most other businesses won't maintain consistency.
Speed of implementation is the key differentiator between highly successful salespeople and average performers - it's the distance between learning something and putting it into action immediately.
University study of salespeople making over $250,000 annually found speed of implementation was the one common factor among high performers, shared by Mike Hardwick at a program Eben taught at.
Most business problems stem from the inability to understand another person's perspective - a skill called 'see through' that involves shutting down your own system and experiencing the world through someone else's view.
Child development research showing 3-year-olds can't understand others' perspectives (thinking adults know candy is in crayon box) while 5-year-olds can, plus Eben's observation that no English word exists for this critical business skill.
