Seth Anderson “The Mindset That Helped Me Quit My Job”

When Seth Anderson joined Amazing Selling Machine in October of 2014, he made a goal for himself.  He would quit his job as a FedEx driver and reach his $10K revenue badge by September 1st, 2015. Well, not only did Seth quit his job on August 29th and earn his $25K badge, but he celebrated by taking his family on a beach vacation to celebrate his parents’ 50th anniversary.  Now if that?s not what this business is all about, we don?t know what is! We loved chatting with Seth and hearing his positive outlook on building his business and earning his freedom.

Set goals!

We teach our students that it?s important to set both realistic and measurable goals. Seth?s goal was to be his own boss by September 1st and be earning $10K in revenue monthly by that date.  Here?s what Seth had to say when we asked how he decided on this goal:

I figured it was realistic, but it wouldn’t just happen by accident. It was going to take work. I ended up hitting the goal way earlier than I expected, but waited just to kind of stabilize things before I actually left my job. I’m way beyond the $10K mark now.  It definitely didn’t happen by accident.

There are going to be hurdles, but it?s about never giving up.

Building a business is never easy – it takes time, hard work, and late nights.  Any entrepreneur will tell you the same thing.  But we definitely think that taking the challenge is worth it.  Seth definitely didn?t start Amazing Selling Machine under ideal circumstances–he put the course on a credit card and borrowed money from his roommate to place his first inventory order.  With big goals set, Seth was well aware that building his Amazon business was a huge undertaking.  Seth has dealt with issues in cash management, hijackers, customs, and vicious competition–but he hasn?t given up yet. Here?s what Seth has to say about his attitude when faced with hurdles:

I’ve been part of other things where they always talk about your ?why,? and I always hated that because it just felt kind of like a joke. I’ve found that when you apply it to the idea that everything is always going to have hurdles then what’s your why for getting over it?

Because if you don’t have a reason that’s strong enough, you’re going to give up. Because there are going to be hurdles that you have to jump. Even just finding somebody who does good packaging, a good shipper, somebody that you can trust to do your customer service, or hiring an employee – there’s always going to be hurdles in business.  If those hurdles become stronger than the reason why you have to overcome them, that’s where you quit.

For me, knowing the things I want to accomplish in life – meaning I need to not be under the time restraints of somebody else as an employee – I had to overcome those hurdles. I will always have to overcome those hurdles.  This experience hasn’t been easy, but the only option is always to either figure it out or quit. And that’s never been an option. I came home from vacation today to find another hurdle that I have to jump that I wasn’t expecting, and I know I can either jump it or I can quit. Take your pick. I’m definitely in this for the long haul.

Take Imperfect Action

At Amazing.com we believe that taking action is the key to success.  Don?t be afraid to fail…making mistakes means you?ve learned something.  It?s all part of the process. Taking action every single day–even if it?s imperfect–will lead you on the path to success. When we asked Seth how taking action has helped his business succeed, here?s what he had to say:

When I started, I decided that going as fast as possible was what I needed to do. There’s kind of two ways to go about things. You can plan out every decision, and get as much information as you can, and slow down the process, which is great for some people. For me, I needed to go about it as fast as I could with the best knowledge I could get in a short period of time.

Maybe I could have saved a little bit of money with packing and shipping, or design, but anything that was going to slow me down for more than a day or so, I just decided to move with the best information that I could. I’m not going to sacrifice weeks to figure out a tiny problem, when I could be doing something like launching another product or doing something major. That’s what’s really kept me going.  I feel like I take the big necessary actions and I do them quickly so it keeps things moving and I can refine in the long run.  I’m not saying be lazy, just don’t get hung up on tiny little things.You’ll find that your weeks have gone by and you haven’t made a move because of one tiny little question that you didn’t feel you had the perfect answer for.

Be Patient

People become entrepreneurs for many reasons–a big one being that they want freedom.  They want to be their own boss and they don?t want to be restricted by their company?s policies.  They want to be able to work from a laptop anywhere around the world, and they want an income that allows them to do all of this.  The key here? Patience!  While it?s tempting to leave your ?real? job as soon as the opportunity presents itself, be smart, and be patient.  Here is what Seth has to say about picking the right time to quit your job:

I think people get too hung up on wanting to spend the money right away. If you’re not putting, at least for a while, the money back into the business and buying inventory so you can expand your product line or have more inventory available for things like Christmas coming up and so on, just be patient.

Be patient.  If you’re getting by with your job, wait until the time is right. I’ve made more with Amazing Selling Machine than my regular job for quite a number of months, but I didn’t just jump ship the first day I got a paycheck that was higher than my other. I think that’s one of the pieces of advice that I would give to people that are looking to spend the money: just be patient.