LEVEL 1: THE NEWBIE

The newbie is fresh, new and enthusiastic in a particular vocation or role. Their job is to learn the ropes and become functional. At this stage, your greatest assets are your enthusiasm and your fresh approach. Often a newbie is called an apprentice, however you're not simply here to learn a skill. You're also looking for ways things could be done better and to meet people who could one day be on your team. Everyone must do their time as an apprentice and you should embrace this part of the journey as much as you would embrace having your own business. If you are lucky, you will do an apprenticeship under a great mentor and you will set yourself up for a fast-track tour of the workforce. Most people, however, will simply do their training, become functional and then progress to the next level.

LEVEL 2: THE WORKER

After sufficient time in an apprentice role, you become functional and ready to be a worker. You can now do the things you were trained to do by your mentor and you can perform the tasks that will create value for someone who's organising your labour. You might become ambitious in the workforce and seek out a new mentor who will help prepare you for higher levels of functionality. Even senior leaders in large companies are workers.

You may find yourself working your way up the job ladder and doing very important work. Most people in society never go beyond this level; they bounce between apprentice and worker their whole career, always staying in the comfort zone where they don't want to rock the boat. A small group of people have an entrepreneurial seizure and decide they should work for themselves at the next level.

LEVEL 3: SELF-EMPLOYED

Self-employment might seem like a big, exciting change for a worker. However, little do they realise, they lack some crucial ingredients as an entrepreneur. As a worker, they were trained to believe that value is all about functionality – the more functional you are, the more valuable you are.

Subconsciously, they take these beliefs into their own enterprise and create even more work for themselves. As a worker, they had regular pay, support and didn't need to worry how the whole organisation performed. Now they have their old job to do plus a ton of other jobs that they never really considered until after they were self-employed. They find themselves having to make sales, compile accounts, fix IT problems, manage workflow, come up with strategies and even make the coffee too. The early stages of entrepreneurship can leave people overwhelmed, isolated, stressed and anxious.

The three levels we've just looked at make up the vast bulk of society. Only a tiny fraction of people are able to move beyond the worker levels into the realms of being an entrepreneur who gets to ‘play’. Moving into the ‘play’ category is how you begin living in the Entrepreneur Revolution.

LEVEL 4: KEY PERSON OF INFLUENCE

When a self-employed person ceases to see themselves as functional and starts seeing themselves as vital, they become a Key Person of Influence. Becoming a Key Person of Influence is what's required to break the feeling of work and functionality. You become valuable for who you are not what you do. It's the first step into the Entrepreneur Revolution.

Key Persons of Influence are clear about their vision, they are credible and they are able to attract resources. They easily attract a team, they can get investors excited, they have more customers than they know how to supply. Best of all, they have fun in business.

LEVEL 5: CAMPAIGN-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE

Key Persons of Influence eventually attract opportunities allowing them to tap into larger distribution, leverage on established brands and align themselves with attractive products.

The fastest way to begin to monetise these sorts of opportunities is with something I call a ‘campaign-driven enterprise’ (CDE). This is a business that creates a series of exciting promotions, events and launches in order to make the most of the opportunities that seem to keep showing up.

CDEs typically have between two and six people on the core team and can make huge amounts of money in the Entrepreneur Revolution. However, they also have a downside. When you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, they slow down very rapidly. The month you stop promoting or launching something you see a sharp decline in your revenues and profits. For this reason, a savvy entrepreneur will move to the next level in the Entrepreneur Revolution.

LEVEL 6: THE GLOBAL SMALL BUSINESS

The GSB is the ultimate goal of most entrepreneurs. It's a small business, often with 6–12 people, but it seriously punches above its weight. In addition to a committed team, it is masterful at creating digital assets that reach the right people around the world.

It's not linked to geography, it defines itself by an ideology or a philosophy. For that reason, it can trade anywhere and with anyone who shares a similar outlook.

It has a well-developed brand within a niche, a bulletproof sales and marketing engine, well-designed systems that automate functional tasks and a dynamic culture that entices high performers to want to stay. It also has the ability to attract funding and strategic partnerships that give it scale.

A GSB will not slow down easily; it takes on a life of its own and the challenge is not how to grow it, the challenge is how to direct it as it expands so that it doesn't explode.

As the creator of a GSB you will need to become good at saying ‘no’ to things that aren't exactly right for your brand. GSBs get opportunities flooding in and if you say yes to too many of them, your GSB will collapse. Like a race car driver, you must stay intensely focused on the path ahead and not go thinking about the side streets that might be nice to explore.

Most people would be thrilled to reach this level. As the owner of a GSB you will be known by your peers, you will be affluent, well-travelled and spend most of your time doing things that matter to you. Only after you reach this stage will you fully appreciate why you need to go one step further and why you also had to wait until now to achieve the final level.

There is a final bonus level in the Entrepreneur Revolution where you get to really play a big game.

LEVEL 7: MAKING A DIFFERENCE ENTERPRISE (MADE)

After building a GSB you will discover that you have influence, money, time and a well-developed sense of purpose and character. You will not be able to resist the thought of leaving a positive legacy and doing something that is meaningful and lasting. You will want to have an impact through your business directly or through politics, the media or your wealth and influence.

After building a GSB you will have the skills, contacts and resources to really do this. Had you attempted it too soon, you would not have been able to do this in a way that felt like your life's purpose. Probably, you would have turned your passion for making a difference into another job.

It would have become functional work and you would end up resenting the very cause you wanted to love. I meet people all the time who try to skip straight to this step out of a deep desire for altruism. They rarely succeed; they end up bitter that they gave so much but barely made a splash.

Even the well-known change-makers went through similar steps to the ones I've outlined here. They started as apprentices to other change-makers, they did the work, they became Key Persons of Influence, they launched campaigns, built their organisations then finally got recognised for making a difference.

When you evolve to a MADE you don't have to sacrifice your own life. People who successfully create a MADE end up having more travel, more fun, more influence, more experiences, more fulfilment and, in many cases, even more money.

As an active entrepreneur who is making a difference, your GSB will benefit enormously.

On a big scale you can see examples where the charity work benefits the commercial business. Richard Branson's businesses are affected positively by the work of his charity, Virgin Unite. Microsoft is benefitted by the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

DON'T SKIP THE LEVELS

Each level is an important part of the journey. As much as you want to get to the higher levels, you will actually move faster towards your goal if you focus on advancing one level at a time.

Yes, this even includes being an apprentice and doing the work so that you understand the functionality of your industry. You don't have to stay at each level for years, or decades, like most people do – but you do need to stamp your foot clearly on the base before moving to the next one.

Remember to keep your eye on the prize. You're living in the most exciting time in history.

There's a renaissance unfolding. The whole world is evolving and reorganising. This is the time for you to make a journey from an industrialised worker to an empowered entrepreneur.

This journey is worth it. As you make the crossing, you will discover yourself becoming a more evolved person capable of deeper thought, heightened empathy and more inspired decision-making abilities.

You will be capable of achieving the things that, just a few years ago, you thought of as dreams.

WILLINGNESS TO STRETCH

The very fact that you wish to create something new (a new lifestyle, a new product, a new business, a new result) means that you need to accept that it doesn't currently exist within your sphere of influence. If it did, you wouldn't be creating it. If you're creating something new, don't be shocked when it requires you to stretch.

Creating something worthwhile means that it will probably require more money than is in your current bank account, it will require more time than you have spare and it will require you to perform at a level you don't currently know how to. This means you're going to have to get used to being stretched.

You need to embrace the feeling of being stretched. Every time you feel that you're being pulled into the unknown, or there's too much to do, you need to smile and remember that this is what it feels like to be doing something big and meaningful.

Cultivate friendships with people who understand that being stretched is part of the process and can help you manage the feelings that come with it.

Remember that you're the one who chose this journey and you knew it was going to require you to stretch. If you're stretched then it means things are working out the way you planned!

WILLINGNESS TO GET RESOURCEFUL

The way you deal with being stretched is to get resourceful. Rather than dwelling in the discomfort of how you are being stretched, get proactive about finding a solution.

Being resourceful requires you to keep coming back to the fact that we live in a time when there's more money on the planet, more talented people on the planet and more access to great ideas than ever before in history. These resources already exist; you only need to go get them.

No amount of emotional frustration will help you get these resources; you don't get what you throw a tantrum for, you get what you pitch for.

If every time you get asked ‘how are you?’ you respond by saying ‘there's no money, there's no time, there are no good people’ you will ‘pitch it into existence’.

The person listening will not respond by saying ‘let me solve all your problems for you’. They will politely agree with you and reaffirm your view. Even if they have time, money or talent they will withhold it from you because they sense there could be good reasons why others aren't giving you resources.

Imagine if you respond to the question with: ‘I'm grateful that I have so many good opportunities showing up. I have opportunities for talented people to create real value. I also have opportunities where extra capital can be used to create valuable assets in my business.’

That pitch will get more people interested in helping you and investing in you.

If you want something new, you have to go and pitch for it. If you want money, you must pitch for it. If you want a team, you must pitch them. If you want customers, investors, partners, mentors or promoters, you must go out and pitch them. You get what you pitch for; and you're always pitching.

Resourcefulness is all about having resourceful conversations that move you in the right direction. It's about pitching for the things you want until you get them. Being resourceful is about dwelling on possible solutions rather than the dead ends. Very few people care about your complaints; they are too busy doing their own thing. Most successful people believe that if you live in a developed economy you don't have much to complain about, you just need to get on with it.

Having people around you who can tell you when you are being resourceful and when you're not is helpful. It's even better when they can help craft a pitch that will unlock new resources.

Once you're in a resourceful state and you are having resourceful conversations, it's just a matter of sticking to the path. After you know what needs doing, you must be willing to be held accountable for getting the results.

WILLINGNESS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

You will produce better results when you are held accountable. When you have deadlines to meet, you will do what needs to be done to hit them. When you have someone you respect pushing you to create your best work, you create your best work.

Most people know how to exercise and how to eat healthier meals. The reason we don't do it is because we don't have anyone else holding us to account.

Most people who get a fitness trainer suddenly start eating right and exercising every week because they have someone holding them to account, not because they have suddenly learned what to eat and how to exercise.

This principle applies to anything you want to do that requires you to stretch and be resourceful. Anything that's complex and difficult can trigger your reptile brain's ‘escape and survive’ mode. If your reptile ‘wakes up’, your natural response will be to run and hide from the challenges.

Your monkey brain wants to do things that are mostly familiar, with a pinch of drama thrown in. Your monkey brain isn't a great ally when it comes to stretching and getting resourceful. Your monkey brain is happier watching TV, checking Facebook, answering emails.

At this time, you need an external motivational force to keep you on track. Your entrepreneur brain needs an ally so it can overthrow the monkey and the reptile.

The ally is external accountability. It needs someone else to help hold the original intention of creating something big, exciting and meaningful.

As you stretch, and as you get resourceful, you need external accountability from people you respect to sustain you long enough to get results.

With these three attributes you can embark on creating lasting value, which will take more time, energy and creativity than most people realise. Once again, you'll see a predictable path for creating lasting value.