Entrepreneur -- I started with nothing and have been blessed with enough focus, commitment, follow through and the ability to not make excuses that I have done extremely well in my life.

I recently did a show on GrantCardoneTV.com on How to Make Your First Million, which was streamed on Periscope and Meerkat and viewed live by over 10,000 people.

Here are the takeaways from the show:

1. It's never been easier.

It has never been easier, so don’t make it so difficult. There is so much money in the world today and so many ways to get yourself known. The first thing you have to know is that it’s out there and it’s not that hard. In fact, everyone will be a millionaire in their lifetime: $50,000 per year times 20 years equals $1 million.

Related: 4 Reasons Why You'll Never Be a Millionaire, and How You Can Change That

2. Saving won’t do.

The old ideas of saving every penny is not the way today. You can’t simply save your way to the first million without becoming old, at which point the money probably won’t matter to you.

3. Live below your means.

Live below the money you are making. Not because you are depriving yourself, but because you are seeking to bank millions. No one has ever done business with me because of the suit I wear, the watch I have on my wrist or the car I drove. Live below your means until you don’t have to anymore.

4. Push every tax angle you can.

Learn the tax code and use it to your advantage. Quit bitching about taxes and learn how it can benefit you. The code was put together to give preference to earners. I have joined multiple multi-level marketing companies while still being an employee so I could take advantage of write-offs like the home and car. These were, and are, legitimate ways for me to reduce my tax bill and possibly make some more money -- plus I have a chance to surround myself with great people.

5. Mature from income to investor.

The way to get rich is to make investments, but you can’t do that if your income doesn’t allow for you to set aside money to invest. The only reason to make and save money is so that you can invest it. Only invest money in projects you know will score and never give up your income.

6. Start acting like a boss.

Quit acting poor and quit acting like you are a spectator. Boss up in everything. When the bill comes for dinner, boss up. When you have to invest money to get information, buy a list, grow your brand or learn to sell you need to write the check like a boss, not like a little whiner.

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247054

MARCH 20, 2017, Entrepreneur.com -- For some people, entrepreneurship is a way of life. Creating something new and leading a team is living the dream, and a destination in its own right. For others, it’s only a means to an end, or might even be considered a detour en route to even bigger and better things.

Entrepreneur -- Many people suffer from being rational dreamers. They want to achieve a big dream but hold themselves back by being risk averse. They don't want to disrupt the status quo and play things safe. 

To coax themselves out of their comfort zones, people learn to setgoals. I consider the process of goal setting to be like arranging checkpoints along the way to a desired end. Setting and meeting small goals can serve as a thermometer check on progress, measuring advancement and indicating an overall plan's viability.

Approach goal setting like creating a customized road map to chart your success. Think about when you take a really long road trip with your friends. Most often, you start off knowing the destination, but since road trips can be fairly long, making pit stops along the way is necessary.

Before venturing out, you might decide to stop a quarter of the way along for food, then at the halfway point for gas, at the two-thirds mark to stretch and perhaps 100 miles beyond that for more gas.  

You’re meeting smaller, more immediate goals that build on your efforts to reach the final destination.

Create a personalized road map for arriving at your desired destination by setting the following types of goals: immediate, intermediate and stretch goals. 

Related: Create a Personal Business Plan That You'll Really Use

1. Set a stretch goal.

Start by developing a stretch goals, a long-term objective that will take years to accomplish. Determine your stretch goal first because this choice will influence the selection of intermediate and immediate goals.

A stretch goal should be big. Some stretch goals are more specific than others. One person's specific goal might be “to become the CEO of Google.” Another individual's vaguer stretch goal would be “to produce a national television show.” An extremely vague goal would be “to work in the fashion industry.”

It's OK, though, to leave room for interpretation.

Be as specific as possible and allow yourself to adjust a goal. Once you establish a stretch goal, you can sketch out checkpoints along the way.

Read more here.

Entrepreneur -- Q: What's your number-one tip to boost your social-media following?

A: First of all, I’m going to state right there’s no one single way to boost your social-media following. It takes a matrix of methods and a continuous commitment to create, establish, build and maintain a social media presence and following.

But if you are going to force me to give one single answer, for me it’s all about the content. Now I’m not the first to give this answer but hopefully I can give a meaningful perspective about it.

We’ve all seen the tweets with offers to buy followers. Evidently you can get a new bargain on followers every day. I’m not interested.

To me, it’s not about the volume of followers that I’ve attached to my social channels, it’s about my followers’ linkage and engagement to my “brand.” If I have to forgo the 100,000 bargain followers to get 100 committed people who engage with my content, then so be it. All the better for it.

9-11-2017, Entrepreneur.com -- I’m a people pleaser. It’s hard for me to say "no" to people who ask for something -- despite a reluctance inside of me. This has gotten me into trouble more than a few times in life and especially in business. Time is precious and slips by quickly but there is also no lack of things that have to get done in an entrepreneur's life.

For 12 years, I took life a day at a time. I had a dream but no goals for making it real. I just woke up each day hoping for something more. In 2011, I had had enough and began chasing my dream of starting a lifestyle business. This meant more work on top of a service business that took 60-80 hours of my week. It didn’t take long for me to realize that something had to give. I had to learn how to say no to open up room for the things that were important. Seeing how much time and energy was freed by saying no, I started looking at all the other areas of my life. Here are six things I said no to. Saying no helped me live a much better life and create the kind of business that I love.

1. Other people’s baggage.

Life is hard for all of us. Sometimes it’s easier to push your baggage onto someone else, maybe even without you realizing it. If you are trying to make changes in your life and someone reacts a certain way because of their baggage, it’s up to you to say "no". You don’t need any more drama in your life. For me, this meant ignoring some people on social media and purging negative people from my life. It meant ending the business partnerships that were not in alignment with the direction I was taking my business.

2. Situations that I knew would make me angry.

There are things in life that you know you don’t want to do. For years, I just rolled with it. I went to gatherings and hung out with people who I knew would make me angry. I got on "get-to-know-you" calls with entrepreneurs who were all talk and no action. I entered into collaborations with business owners that weren't serious. When I said enough and stopped, it felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. It freed my mind and business and helped me focus.

3. A business that I absolutely hated.

I had a service business in the vendor industry for 12 years and hated it. I felt stuck and believed that someone like me -- a high school dropout -- couldn’t do better. In 2011, I said "no" more and worked hard for four years to make my dream of being a global lifestyle entrepreneur a reality. I now wake up loving what I get to do for work and traveling the world. Saing no led to happier days.

Read the rest of the article HERE.