I Asked My Multi-Millionaire Mentor How He Made His Money. He Told Me…

“Your level of success will never exceed your level of responsibility.”

Mentors have changed my life.

I’ve tried to surround myself with people I aspire to be like. My mentor found me through LinkedIn. He enjoyed the content I was posting and asked for a coffee.

That’s the power of building a personal brand.

But I want to talk about what he taught me.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

My millionaire mentor told me that:

“Your level of success will never exceed your level of responsibility.”

You can always play the victim.

Blaming your parents, circumstances, or where you were born. There’s a never-ending list of things that can oppress you. But You can either be a victim or be successful.

It’s hard to do both.

Taking responsibility can look like:

• Deciding to see a therapist.

• Hiring a personal trainer to exercise frequently.

• Distancing yourself from a group of friends who don’t align.

So, If you want...

Health freedom.

Financial freedom.

Relationship freedom.

It all starts with taking 100% responsibility for those outcomes.

My mentor made his multi-millions through business, but..

He always says, “Despite what people see, entrepreneurship isn’t sexy.”

He tells me about the constant anxiety.

The feeling of going broke (again). And unsure about whether any of this would ever work out for him. He doesn’t recommend it.

Not to forget about…

Working long hours.

Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations.

Risking failure and looking like a fool.

Sacrificing time with family and friends.

I’m starting to make a decent amount of money online.

When people ask me how it feels, I tell them it doesn’t feel good at all. Sure, the sales and money in my account feel great, but the actual process of learning and growing is painful.

But it’s all about choosing your hard.

Business is hard. So is working a 9–5 you don’t like.

Growing an audience is hard. So is not having a market to sell to.

Making money online is hard.

So is not having additional sources of income.

Choose your hard. And then accept the reality of it.

There are only two traps to avoid

1. Caring about people’s opinions.

2. Thinking that they care about you.

It’s liberating when you realize no one cares about you.

I used to hold myself back, filtering what I said and censoring how I felt. But if I can’t be myself, there’s no point in living. Fully embracing who I am has given me a sense of freedom.

So:

• Take that trip.

• Date that person.

• Start the business.

People will judge you no matter what you do.

So you might as well do what you actually want to do.

Back the jockey, not the horse

Some people are assets. Others are liabilities.

For my mentor, people are everything in business and life. When he finds someone he can trust, he does everything in his power to keep them close to him.

He always tells me, “Michael, if you had a choice, always back the jockey, not the horse.”

It’s the reason he decided to work with me.

I’ve taken this advice to start investing in relationships, building a strong network of supporters, and investing time to build and contribute to a creator community.

His advice made me re-evaluate every relationship I had.

I’ve stopped giving my time to everyone who asks. I distance myself from a lot of old friends. I pay to be part of new communities that align with my journey. I am intentional about my social environment.

Choosing who you surround yourself with is choosing the life you want.

Hard conversations move your life forward

They are hard for a reason.

But I recently had a difficult conversation with a business partner about another business partner's performance. I had to draw the line and say that I’ve had enough.

It wasn’t pleasant, but it wouldn’t be hard if it were.

The results? I felt 100x better. Most of my frustrations and resentment went away. I could perform better at my job. I started to focus on how to move forward.

Your life progresses at the speed of difficult conversations.

Whether it's with a business partner, relationship, or family member. It’ll be awkward and tricky. But I always tell myself that coming into a hard conversation is:

“I either get what I want, or I’ll have an answer.”

If my business partner had reacted poorly, I would have moved on, dissolving the business and going our separate ways.

So, either way, I win.

Reframe every difficult conversation as a win-win for you.

Money is made twice.

• First in your mind.

• And then in your bank account.

“You have to be able to see what you want.”

That’s what my mentor would say to me when he planned a business or partnership. “Without a vision, you don’t know where you’re going.”

This isn’t some visualization or manifestation ceremony.

It’s simply writing down what you want to happen and taking the necessary actions to make it happen. The best result I’ve had on Medium was when I decided to turn it into a business.

I wrote down what I wanted and joined a community.

The results?

In less than 12 months, I’ve grown from:

• 6,600 to 55,000 Medium followers

• 0 email subscribers to 3,800 subscribers.

• Released a suite of free digital products.

• Released my first paid product.

• $0 digital products to $800 AUD per month.

I didn’t always know exactly where I was going.

But I executed a vision of success. The path was full of uncertainty. But the more action you take, the more the path reveals itself.

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👉 I’ve previously sold a one-person business and I’m in the process of scaling another one to $20k per month. If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started.