The 3 Foundational Tools of Successful People

The following is adapted from Infinite Income

I’ll be honest. A nine-to-five job never appealed to me. The idea of graduating college at twenty-two and doing the same thing every day for the rest of my life sounded horrible. The only way I knew to have the lifestyle I wanted—the cars, the house, being able to help take care of my family—was to make a lot of money. And the best way I saw to do that was to start an online business.

For the next two years, I learned how to run an online business from my mentor, David Frey, and I created an online business that focused on the fitness and diet industry. Getting it off the ground was a rough ride, though. When I turned twenty-five, my business wasn’t going anywhere and I needed a change. That’s when I finally hired a coach (charging more than half of the $5,000 fee to my credit card because I didn’t have enough money in the bank to cover the cost) and started making money online. 

The first twelve months in business, I made over a million dollars in revenue and received a Two Comma Club Award (for making $1,000,000 in revenue) as a result of using ClickFunnels, a marketing tool that got my name out into the fitness industry. Soon, fitness trainers asked me for help to grow their online businesses. I started another business to fill this need and hit seven figures of income within three months. Seven months ago, I branched out even further and started a new business to help general business owners increase their online business income, which has further exploded my top-line revenue.

When I began coaching people, I thought about what tools I wanted to share with them. I came up with three foundational tools that I—and most successful people—use. If you have these three tools in your toolbox, you’ll be able to achieve any goal you set your mind to. 

1. Learn How to Problem Solve on Your Own

I learned how to problem solve while working with my mentor. When I’d get stuck, I’d ask how to do something. In the beginning, he would help me, but after a few months, he became annoyed and told me to figure out the solutions on my own. (Much like my dad told me I had to get a job if I wanted to go to the movies.) 

When someone tells you what to do all the time, you become lazy. I realized he was right and knew I had to start figuring out things on my own. If I didn’t, I’d be in trouble when he wasn’t around to help me anymore. From that day forward, I started Googling everything. If I was using a certain software program and didn’t understand how an aspect of it worked, I’d message support and ask. 

Problem solving on your own takes time—more time than getting a quick response from someone who already knows the answer—but you don’t learn if you become lazy and let someone tell you what to do all the time. And you can’t be a top business owner if you need other people to spell everything out for you. You must be able to problem solve. 

2. Understand That All Your Hard Work Will Give You the Skills You Need to Become Successful

Each job requires a particular skill set. It could be how to talk to others, how to make sales, how to perform consistently, how to remain dedicated to your work, etc. These skills are the backbones of success. 

When I was struggling to build my online business, I was also selling security alarms door-to-door. Door-to-door sales was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the gym before meeting the other salesmen at 8:00 a.m. We’d then typically drive two or two and a half hours to the towns where we were selling. After eating lunch in the car, I’d hit doors for seven or eight hours straight, until dark.

You’re walking and the sun’s beating down on you, people are cussing at you, calling the police on you, pulling a knife on you, or pointing a gun at you. And then you drive back home, arriving around 9:00 p.m., shower, go to bed, and do it all over again, six days a week. It sucks. But that job taught me how to sell, including reading body language, fighting objections, and being quick on my feet. That skill translated into my online business. 

Hard work, even when it’s unpleasant—maybe especially when it’s unpleasant—pays off by giving you the skills you need to succeed. 

3. If You Fail, Get Back Up and Do What Is Necessary to Become Successful, Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

Quitting when you fail is not an option if you want to become successful. Believe me, I know. I almost quit many times when starting my online business. Every time I got to that point, I’d call my mentor and he’d talk me out of it, insisting I’d figure out what to do in order to become a success. He always pointed out that I was smart, that I had a good work ethic, and that he was there to support me no matter what. 

You must keep going even when you fail. You must keep opening doors. If you quit, you get nothing. You have no chance to succeed. You must deal with adversity and keep working hard. 

Why do so many rich kids fail in the business world? Because they’ve had everything handed to them; they became entitled. They didn’t have to work hard, to deal with adversity, to fail and get back up again, to fight for what they want. After dealing with adversity my entire life, encountering adversity in the business world was expected and not difficult to deal with for the most part. 

Failure is part of success. It’s not just a nice saying—it’s true. What’s important is that you have the resiliency to keep going. That’s what sets apart those who succeed from those who don’t. 

Success is Like Baseball

In my quest to escape the nine-to-five rat race, I realized something important: success is like baseball. You can’t keep your foot on first base and also get to second base. You have to get off first and run. But there’s a right way to run and a wrong way to run. If you run the right way, you reach second base and then third, and then maybe home plate. But if you run into the outfield, you make your life worse, not better. 

Running the right way takes three essential skills: problem solving, hard work, and getting back up after a failure. If you have those skills, you have the mindset necessary to achieve success and win the game. 

For more advice on the tools of successful people, you can find Infinite Income on Amazon.

Tanner Chidester is the CEO and Founder of EliteCEOs.com, a company empowering business leaders to take the next step and start their own online company. Building his company with few resources of his own, Tanner created an empire from scratch by teaching himself the elements every business needs to succeed. He has been featured in Forbes and Business Insider and on CBS and CNBC. For more information, visit eliteceos.com and www.infiniteincomebook.com/info.