We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alexander V. Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alexander V. below.
Alexander V., so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
First, you have to cease to compare yourself to someone else out there you want to be like. I’ve heard it said that if you want some attribute of a person, you have to assume you take everything on. So if you want Elon’s money, you also have to accept that you’ll have a hard time communicating with people, you’ll have 11 kids with multiple different people, and you’ll be working 14 hours a day. So in essence, you can’t just pick a specific trait, because someone had to sacrifice to have those traits. There are no solutions, just trade offs.
Second, you have to judge yourself internally. How hard are you working? How much of an effort are you giving? How hard are you working to attain your goals? If you are legitimately working as hard as you can on yourself and your goals, then “feeling bad” about what you don’t have is kind of silly. You can only control what’s in your ability to control. Then what are you mad about, the universe? So you just try as hard as you can to answer only to the internal questions and not the external ones.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I own and operate Mixt Solutions, and online sales company based in Columbus, OH. We have 37 employees and have been an Inc. 5,000 Fastest Growing Company 6 years in a row. In 2024, we will cross over $150,000,000 in lifetime sales online.
I also host the Entrepreneur, Among Other Things Podcast (Like and subscribe, of course).
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think the best lesson I can give for anyone is just to “start” when you are early on in your career.
If you want to own a business, start a YouTube channel, become a singer, whatever, there is no way to think your way into it. You just have to start.
That fact alone separates the 1% of most successful people in any field from the average folks. They just started whereas most people will never dare to begin. You can only learn so much “studying”. You have to get going and suck for a while, which is a natural part of the process for everyone. Fortunately, no one will be watching at first!
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
I have started reading every day this last year.
It’s cliche, but the smartest people all read A LOT. Warren Buffet reads something like 6 hours a day. And of course you can say “Well he doesn’t have top WORK like I work”, but he flicks a finger and moves billions or even hundreds of billions. In essence, he has decided that his knowledge is the most important thing, thus he needs to focus on attaining that.
Most people don’t read at all, let’s say 80% of people. Of the remaining 20%, probably 75% read only fiction. Of the remaining 5%, most probably don’t regularly read, maybe a few times a week. So just by consistently reading non fiction (with some fiction thrown in of course), you can get to the top 1% of “learners”. That’s a superpower!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alexandervjohnson.com
- Instagram: Verlinjohnson
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandervjohnson/
- Twitter: Verlinjohnson
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EAOTpodcast
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