The Argument For Moving Against the STATUS QUO

Welcome to success story the most useful podcast in the world. I'm your host Scott DeClairey the success story Podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network and the blue wire podcast network the HubSpot podcast network has incredible Podcasts like my first million my first million is hosted by Sam par and Sean Perry they feature famous guests They discuss how companies made their first million and then some they brainstorm new business ideas based on the hottest trends and Opportunities in the marketplace here are some of the topics you talk about if you like any of these you will love the show Three profitable business ideas that you should start in 2022 drunk business ideas that can make you millions Asking the founder of Grammarly how he built a 13 billion dollar company or SaaS companies that anybody can start if these topics are up your alley Go check out my first million listen to it wherever you listen to your podcast What's going on Scott here today? I want to talk about Moving against the status quo. These are going to be lessons that I pulled out of an incredible conversation that I had With Anthony Dioreo who is the co-founder of Ethereum and candidly one of the smartest most forward looking individuals I've ever had the chance to sit down with I had him on the success story podcast We spoke about a ton of stuff But one thing that I thought was incredibly interesting is just how he looks at solving problems And obviously this is why he has been so successful But I think it's a valuable point to touch on and to speak through and to expand on So let's start off with a question the way things have always been done in any industry in any category If they have never existed What would you do? It's a compelling thought and this is the stream of thought that ran through the entire Conversation I had with Anthony It's rare to encounter someone who thinks like this But not just things like this things like this In a lens of Serving others his desire to serve others is so extreme. He's incredibly forward thinking And he rejects the status quo in everything his approach to business across everything he's done not just Ethereum Leads him to new views new angles and unique ways of solving problems For example, if you're frustrated with the stock standard practices that your industry follows Perhaps you're looking for a way to jump the rails into carve a new path that leads to better outcomes Now you might be at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey looking for unique ways to fill that gap to create something new But wherever your at I do suggest you go listen to the full interview with Anthony It's filled with a ton of insights into cutting edge thinking entrepreneurship and plenty of food for thought So let's go into the topic of going against the status quo Because this is a major topic that we spoke about and I think We can expand on that and provide some value First let's talk about Anthony how he disrupted oh he disrupted a lot of stuff I want to recap his achievements within crypto What he's managed to achieve over the past three decades is incredibly impressive So in late 2013 He co-founded Ethereum one of the first decentralized smart contract platforms at its peak and it's still increasing every single day The total market cap of Ethereum is valued at over $350 billion dollars He's made groundbreaking headway in crypto wallet technology fueled by his passion for financial autonomy and freedom He was also a founder of Decentral a company that is devoted to staying on the cutting edge of decentralized technologies And disrupting industries across all sectors Of course if you're a crypto enthusiast you know Anthony Diorio you know Ethereum But not everybody knows these things. So that's his background As someone in the entrepreneurial space sometimes it's difficult to avoid this get rich quick mentality Because we see it all over social We see these incredible lives that people are leading these entrepreneurs that have the nice cars the great life the jets or whatever But the reality and especially in crypto It's compounded because we see people that actually made like millions of dollars in an exceedingly short period of time But however in general in the general business space you have to focus on being smart being strategic and thinking differently And crypto is more or less gambling in a lot of in a lot of different ways Entrepreneurship is gambling too But ultimately that monetary gain cannot be your only driving force Not if you want to achieve Anthony Diorio's level of success Anthony has a mission So from the outset and Anthony was a thinker with a desire to empower and serve others His vision has remained consistent since Ethereum Allow people autonomy over their digital lives There are three pillars that he has always built things on he thinks it's very important to own your identity He thinks it's very important to own your money and he thinks it's very important to own your communications And those three things done in a decentralized fashion allows the user to have full control And that's an incredibly powerful product with an emphasis on identity ownership and financial freedom He was drawn to crypto for its ability to remove the middleman from the equation Unlike banks Ethereum and also other crypto allows people to mediate and control their own finances Without having to go through a third party to quote Anthony his mission has always been about freedom He doesn't like school He doesn't like being told what to do with bitcoin I saw it as a big opportunity to help create change and empower billions of people around the world with the tools That they need to be their own bank knowing that Ethereum is one of the first crypto projects that really achieve notoriety and success Um, outside of like bitcoin It's particularly impressive that Anthony was able to focus on the Objective rather than the monetary gain his others first mentality led him to develop technologies that have been truly life changing For millions of people so establishing a personal mission This is incredibly important as an entrepreneur. This is something Anthony did as an entrepreneur going against the grain Perhaps is one of the most important things you can do As an entrepreneur, but to do that you do have to establish your own personal mission And the mission cannot be a financial or business school It's not solve this problem or make this company the biggest in the world Your personal mission is something that encapsulates who you are as an individual and what you stand for It's your guiding light your north star metric when things get tough And it's a source of motivation when all around you people are giving up for Anthony His mission for many years was focused on the financial freedom of others He didn't find true clarity around his reason for doing things however long until Ethereum had taken off So to quote Anthony after the big ICO craze had happened in 2017 I started re-evaluating what it is I want to do with my life And I got into the point where I didn't need to be thinking about setting myself up for the rest of my life Things are pretty good at the time But I realized that the more freedom that I was seeking the less freedom that I actually had This realization coupled with the success of his endeavors with Ethereum opened his eyes for the need of more personal direction as Unless business direction. So he ended up rethinking what his mission was He spent a lot of time thinking about three things his what his why and his how and over a decade He decided that what makes him happy is being in service not just building but being in service So he wants to serve as many people as possible and to help people because that's what ultimately makes him happy So what Anthony did here is reminiscent of the finding your why exercise popularized by Simon Sinek in order to find what you stand for These are the questions that you should be asking yourself as an entrepreneur What are you passionate about what makes you unique? What can you offer the world that no one else can when you answer these questions You become more in tune with your personal mission and what you can offer the world You'll find that some of the most successful people in the world from Oprah Winfrey to Elon Musk Have very clear missions that inspire them to achieve great things now after you figured out your mission Next you should look for your icky guy now. What is icky guy? This was not a topic that actually was discussed in the interview But I thought it provided some framework for entrepreneurs And I find it's a very useful concept to explore the concept of icky guy It's a concept of what gets you up in the morning It's what drives you and gives your life purpose It's much more than financial or business. It's different for everyone But there's actually a chart based on Japanese culture that can help you find what your icky guy is So the chart has four sections. It's what you're good at what you love What the world needs and what you can be paid for And then you find a balance between these four things and this is the key to finding your icky guy It's almost like the old saying if you find a job you love you'll never work a day in your life The point is to find that one task that sits at the intersection of talent, passion, utility, and monetary compensation For some people, this is their job. For others, it's a hobby or a passion or a project that you do on the side But finding your icky guy is key to living a fulfilling life It's what drives you and determines your why So the reason why I bring up this Japanese philosophy is that for most people, their icky guy remains hidden It's something they have discovered yet or it's something you're not actively looking for However, I view it the same way that I view Simon Sinek's concept of finding your why I believe it's truly necessary to have outstanding success, exceptional success Success beyond the measure of what most people think is possible Now, if you want to stand out from the pack, perhaps this is your starting point This is what you have to figure out to successfully go against the grain Another thing that I actually pulled out from speaking with Anthony It stood out to me as an abundantly clear thought is throughout his entire career Anthony had remained well ahead of the curve So what I mean by this is that Anthony is a forward thinker So he watches trends, he understands the progression of technology and its impact on society And this understanding has allowed him to remain at the forefront of innovation So for instance when Bitcoin came onto his radar Anthony didn't wait for someone else to jump onto the new technology first He dove in himself, learned absolutely everything he possibly could about it And quickly devised a strategy to use a technology for good And when there was no technology available to manage multiple cryptocurrencies from one wallet He didn't wait for another company to fill that void Because there was many that were trying he created his own technology Which is now used by some of the largest exchanges in the world This mentality staying ahead of the curve Being proactive rather than reactive has served Anthony and Ethereum well Obviously and it's a mindset that I believe anybody can effectively use To set themselves up against the status quo So how you can stay ahead of the game So how do you actually adopt this mentality and be ahead of the curve in your own industry So first of all I think it takes a level of courage to be proactive to be honest It's easy to react to how others are doing it But it takes guts to forge your own path Once you've braced for a potential bumpy ride You have to be real with yourself that it's not going to be easy You can begin to educate yourself on trends within your industry Think about these points What are people talking about? So this is an easy one if you're present on Twitter or LinkedIn or any social You keep an eye on hashtags, keywords, articles that are shared frequently You see things that are going viral and you see things that are trending What's happening in the world outside of your industry? Again, this is something you can keep tabs on by following popular new sources and blog Are there any technological advances or societal changes that could have an impact on your field And then lastly, what's the next big thing? Now admittedly this is a harder question to answer But if you keep in the company of innovative thinkers You generally have conversations around trends and things before they take off So of course it takes more than foresight to create something truly disruptive like Ethereum It also takes guts, passion and an unwavering dedication to your vision But if you're ready to challenge the status quo These are all attainable qualities So what's your next move? Say you've decided what you want to take on Say you found your Iki guy, say you've come to terms with the fact that it's going to be difficult And you know where you want to take your company or your business Or even yourself, what do you do next? You reframe the issues at hand So entrepreneurs are described as inventive, innovative, courageous and relentless In their pursuit of their vision They are also risk takers, often bucking the status quo in favor of something new and better When it comes down to it though, what entrepreneurs actually do is solve problems They see a need in the world and they find a way to fill it What sets some entrepreneurs apart from the rest, however, is the way in which they go about solving these problems Do they use methods that have already been proven to work or do they experiment and take risks This is where Anthony Dioreo always had the upper hand He's an innovator by nature And he continues to come up with his own methods and frameworks for problem solving So let's break down Anthony's framework for problem solving So that you can think the way Anthony does So part of Anthony's approach to business has always been skepticism Not a pessimistic skepticism But a skepticism that basically allows him to reframe the issue he's trying to solve So for example, he recognized very early on There were serious flaws in the advertisement-based model Of accumulating and finding customers that most businesses were using at the time And are still using To quote Anthony, there are better ways to do things that don't necessarily rely on advertising models Advertisers are paying money to get eyeballs on something Which leads to this attention economy that we have We need to think differently So instead of following the what's considered quote-unquote normal Anthony designed his own framework in order to counteract the issues he identified with other business models So a lot of the times business formulas are not efficient enough They have deficiencies which exclude people And if you can move the dial from deficient models It serves 50% of the population to serving 60% or 70% of the population By joining your product or joining your company or joining your mission And including this is actually coming back to community building to be honest And you're serving your audience better Not just getting their attention but actually serving them And you're making sure their day-to-day life is getting better This is when you can actually build a community which in turn can build a business To help bring this change about Anthony uses a framework of his own invention Which focuses on creating solutions For as many stakeholders as possible Not just the top percent Which could be the most profitable customers To quote Anthony he wanted to be a leader and a problem-solver Because I think that that's two things that the world is sorely lacking these days And he's using the framework that he's developed to serve as many people as possible So taking the lead from Anthony's book Is there a way that you can reframe the problem that you're trying to solve Is there still a problem to be solved in the first place Perhaps the issue is that the current solutions just aren't cutting it This is where going against a grain can ultimately create lasting change So these are some questions that you should actually be asking yourself If you're trying to reframe a problem and look at a problem differently And ultimately you can still bring it back to Anthony's model Where you're trying to build a community and serve a wider percentage of the population But at least before you go down that route Do try and reframe the problem and take a look at it from a different perspective So questions you should be asking yourself How have others attempted to solve this problem or fill this gap Were they successful in what ways did they fall short What are the potential benefits of a new solution How would it improve the lives of those affected How could you go about implementing a new solution What risks or challenges would you face What's a totally new angle you've never considered before If every other pre-existing business has appeared out of your mind What would you come up with to solve that problem And if you're able to come up with a new solution that actually works It is likely to be met with some resistance But after all the status quo is comfortable It's always risky trying something new But if you're able to succeed in spite of the resistance That's when you know that you've really made a difference So in summary Going against a status quo can be a daunting task You have to set yourself up for success You have to understand where your values lie And then from that cornerstone That's when you can build out a strategy and a mindset To position yourself against a status quo And to look at things differently Whatever your passion is be it art, fashion, food, technology Don't be afraid to think outside the box and to create something new The world needs more entrepreneurs that can challenge the normal That are not afraid to do things differently Anyways if you enjoy this I hope it provided some value If you love Anthony's story in the way that he looks at the world Definitely go check out the podcast What you can also do for sure Is hit that like button Hit subscribe, leave a comment below Any business topics if you want me to go into it Just leave it in the comments below, I'll get to it Have a great week and we'll speak again soon Bye now