From Pinball to Empowered Entrepreneur: Taking Charge of Your Life and Business

“I wore my ability to be able to handle chaos like a badge of honor.”

Erin Marcus used to call herself The World's Number 1 pinball, constantly bouncing around, trying to score points and trying to avoid falling into the void. She used to take pride in her ability to thrive in the chaos.

Then she learned that this was actually the problem, not the solution. She also noticed that this does seem to be the human default; to be stuck in this place of reaction.

Erin’s mission is to show people that it does not have to be that way. You can (and need) to take charge of your life and your business. Erin shares her personal experience of transitioning from being that pinball with little focus (and little money) to building the multi-six-figure business she has now.

The Human Default

Erin said something that really made me think during, most people don’t make the decision for themselves. This, she believes, to be the human default. This may be because it feels much easier to blame someone else if things don’t work. However, the issue is that others who are not invested in you will end up making those decisions.

In entrepreneurship, if you are not taking charge then you are just waiting for others to make decisions then you are living on just what is leftover from them. We don’t want that at all! We want to make money, to make a difference, and to thrive!

This is about choosing what happens to you. Whether that’s a million-dollar business or a small hobby business – both answers are correct as long as you made those decisions.

From Pinball to Multi-Six-Figures

Erin tells us about her journey – which is really such an inspiration. She calls her first year of business after quitting her corporate job, Erin’s Year of Failure. She went from what she says was a very good corporate position with an expense account to being one of the top 10 franchise owners for a company to all of a sudden being completely on her own without someone else’s structure. She made only $11,000 in that first year.

She says she was so used to being that pinball that she didn’t give herself the time and space to get a plan together so that she could make that transition a bit smoother. In conversation with someone else, she had a perspective shift. This wasn’t a year of failure. It was just finding her spot. She just did it without a net – which neither of us recommends.

How did she get from basically nothing to six figures and beyond? She had influence over the process because she took charge. She didn’t sit back and wait. She networked and became a speaker. She sponsors other’s events. She gets herself in the same room as the people she knows she needs to talk to you.

That puts me in charge of my behavior. I can walk up to you and can tell by what you ask me if it makes sense to try to create a relationship with you. This isn’t about chasing people. It’s about creating relationships.

She makes a great point in that talking to people in some of the very best research we can do as business owners. People will tell you what their problems are, you just have to ask them.

Corporate vs. Entrepreneur Mindset

In the corporate world, Erin says, reaction mode works well. Why? Because you have the time to wait. Large businesses tend to be very risk averse with having everything meticulously planned to the point that the risk is almost not even there by launch.

Entrepreneurship tends to be very different. There is a lot of flexibility in entrepreneurship, lots of fluidity and that comes with risk. We get ideas and bring them to market fairly quickly (of course with planning and strategy, but not always years of it!)

Instatactics – What are they?

An InstaTactic is a one size fits all – flavor of the month – send this email make a millionaire dollar tactics. None of these tactics are bad, none are wrong. None of them don’t work.

This idea of Instatactics that Erin came up with immediately resonated with me, personally. So often we want to find the quick, easy, and perfect tactic that will magically make a million dollars. But…are we really ready for that? Is there a strategy behind that tactic…or are we falling into someone else’s marketing?

Another quote from Erin on these Instatactics that I loved was this:

Can you send an email and make a million? Sure. But you can also send a million emails and make zero dollars.

There is so much more in this episode such as Erin’s pricing strategy – which may seem a bit counterintuitive to some! Erin’s infectious, bubbly personality will give you the smile that you may need today. I am so excited for you to give this a listen.

Once you do, head over to Instagram to let me know what you think.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The human default and how we are being reprogrammed
• How Erin went from 0 to 6 figures 
• The mindset difference between the corporate world and the entrepreneurial world
• Instatactics – what they are and why they probably won’t work for you (yet)
• Erin’s unique pricing strategy

Listen below… and take charge of your life and business.