John Lee Dumas shares 8 tips that helped him become a successful entrepreneur. They include working hard, having accountability, and 100% commitment.

Interview with John Lee Dumas

John Lee Dumas Bio

John Lee Dumas grew up in Maine and was an active duty Army Officer for four years, he tried Law School and was a 1st semester dropout. Then he then tried Corporate Finance, Commercial Real Estate and felt he was just in the grind of going to work and getting a paycheck.

While on the way to work one day he had an epiphany when a podcast he was listening to finished and he had nothing but the radio to listen to for the next 45 minutes. He wondered why there wasn’t a 7-day-per-week podcast to help make his commute be more productive.

Then came the “ah-ha” moment. He had the thought that he could do it. He could start that 7-day-per-week podcast. And he did. Podcasting has since become his passion.

JLD is the host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, which is an award winning podcast where he interviews inspiring Entrepreneurs who are truly ON FIRE. With over 2000 episodes, 1 million + listens a month, and seven-figures of annual revenue, he is just getting started.

John is the author of Podcast Launch, The 100-Day Goal Journal, The Freedom Journal, The Mastery Journal, and the Podcast Journal.

John currently lives in Puerto Rico where he enjoys watching the sunrise and living the dream.

The Keys to Being Successful

Benjamin Hardy wrote, “Making a commitment means you’re seeing it through to the end. It means you are leaving yourself no escape routes. You are burning any bridges that might lead to lesser paths of distraction. Your decision has been made. There’s no going back. You’ve passed your point of no return.”

Dr. Hardy once studied what made the difference between would-be entrepreneurs and successful entrepreneurs. One of the things he noticed was that those who were successful seemed to burn the bridge to their past which tended to force them to commit fully to their future. They had a point of no return.

When I asked JLD if he had seen this in his own life, he explained it had happened to him several times. After experiencing what he did serving full-time in the military in Iraq, John came home determined to make a difference in the world. “I had seen how precious life is and how quickly things can be altered, changed or taken away. I had that desire, but it didn’t translate into instant success.”

He spent the next 6 years trying to find what that focus was going to be. He tried law, finance, real estate and he was successful because he was committed and “all in.” John quickly found out that these avenues he was trying were awesome but just weren’t satisfying his need to make a difference. So, he burned that bridge and moved to the next thing wholly committed.

Be 100% Committeed

The lesson John learned from this is to commit 100% to whatever you do. Give it time to see if it is the right thing. If it isn’t, then don’t be afraid change your plan and pivot until you find your true mission in life.

This also gave John an opportunity to “taste” and then eliminate things that weren’t for him. But each career he tried took him one step closer to what was his one true mission in life.

When John committed to podcasting he was all in! He wasn’t going to be a weekly podcaster. He was going to be a daily podcaster. “How does anybody become good at anything doing it once a week? You don’t. There is no professional athlete that’s practiced one a week...