Do you believe every experience teaches you something? Is there ever such a thing as success or failure? In episode 10 the delightful and intelligent Dawn Marrs Ortiz returns to The Solopreneur Hour; she and I answer these questions and we discuss the top 8 steps needed to become a successful solopreneur. 

There is so much meat in this show; every single one of the eight steps carries tremendous value, so here’s a quick glimpse of each one:

1: Discover Your Passion 

Don’t worry about what you know or what you’ve done, think about what you LOVE. Have you stayed up all night working on something and hardly noticed it was 4am? THAT is your passion.

2: Immerse yourself in the culture: dive on in.

Three questions to ask yourself about the thing you love: who’s who of that world? What are the top blogs/forums? Where do you go to get the latest info? Answer those and then dive into each.

3: Seek knowledge.

Wisdom isn’t just for the Buddhas of the world. Find out whatever you can and go wherever you have to go to learn EVERYTHING about your topic. This is what the greats do to become great.

4: Make the decision to TAKE (imperfect) ACTION!!!

Nothing gets done without action. You’re a hustler, now show it. Take your knowledge from the previous three steps and put it into action.  You’ve gotta pull the trigger at some point.

5: Surround yourself with leaders. 

Relationships, relationships, relationships. This is the only thing that matters: build relationships, especially with the leaders of your industry.  YOU are the product of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

6: Take MORE action.

Action begets more action so take some now and commit to continually doing so. Make your actions based on your knowledge and what you've learned so far, and GO.

7. Show gratitude. 

Find something to be grateful for on a daily basis: this one simple act can shift your life in ways you can’t begin to imagine.  Try this exercise: Everytime you sit down to a meal with a friend or family, have everyone say (out loud) 2 things you were grateful for that day, 1 thing you were good at, and 1 thing you're looking forward to.  You'll be surprised how it makes you feel.

8. Give back.

This one is beyond important: what could you pass on today to help someone else? Knowledge, money, time? Whatever someone has given to you in the past, pay it forward today.

Take each step one by one and I know you’ll find a way to make a living doing what you love. These eight steps are absolutely key for any solopreneur’s success.

If you're looking to put number 5 into action and surround yourself with another leader, find Dawn Marrs on Facebook and Twitter:

https://www.facebook.com/dawnmarrs

https://twitter.com/dawnmarrs

Resources from this episode:

http://disruptivethinkers.org

Get your FREE audiobook of your choice at:  http://solohourbook.com