Transcript
Speaker: In this episode of The Solopreneur, we're going to talk about the reason why you're not closing the amount of deals that you want and why you're not able to achieve the income of your dreams.
Speaker: And here's the good news.
Speaker: It's not your fault.
Speaker: But if it's not yours, then whose is it?
Speaker: It's because of craps.
Speaker: No, I'm not talking about the STI crabs.
Speaker: I'm talking about the crabs in the barrel and the crabs in your life that are pulling you down from the success that you're trying to achieve in your life.
Speaker: So that's what we're gonna talk about in this episode coming right up.
Speaker: What do you call an underground group of solar professionals on a mission to create a more sustainable world?
Speaker: We call ourselves solopreneurs.
Speaker: And while some might call us crazy, foolish, and dissatisfied with the status quo, we're the ones taking action to create a better future for ourselves,
Speaker: and the world.
Speaker: Solarpreneur is dedicated to give you the solar professional, the tools, skills, technology, and mentorship to take the industry by storm and sell more solar with less effort.
Speaker: We are Solarpreneurs and this is our story.
Speaker: What's up Solarpreneurs?
Speaker: This is James Swirsky.
Speaker: We got Joseph with that awesome and super weird intro.
Speaker: All right, guys, we're talking about the crabs in the bucket.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys have heard this analogy.
Speaker: Joseph's going to explain it here in a minute.
Speaker: But what we're going to talk about today is really about environment.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You are the product of your environment.
Speaker: This is the places you go, the things you think about, right?
Speaker: All of the things around you that make up you and your perception of the world, they create you.
Speaker: They create the habits that you have and they will either inhibit your ability to be successful or they are going to encourage you and lift you up and be one of your strongest aids in your times of need.
Speaker: That is what we're talking about in this episode.
Speaker: So Joseph, what the heck is the crabs in the bucket?
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So guys, the cat is out of the bag.
Speaker: So what is the crabs in the bucket?
Speaker: The crabs in the bucket is essentially, it's explaining, if you guys have ever seen crabs literally in a bucket, right?
Speaker: Like you go to a seafood shack or anything like that.
Speaker: They have crabs in a just barrel.
Speaker: And if you watch for maybe a couple minutes, you'll see this in real time.
Speaker: And so what happens is if a crab tries to crawl out of the bucket,
Speaker: there's a phenomenon that happens.
Speaker: And every single time, like if you notice, there's no lid where the crabs are.
Speaker: And it looks like they can just easily climb out.
Speaker: And I used to think like, why don't they just have a lid or why don't they just cover?
Speaker: It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker: And I'm like, I watched for about a couple of minutes and I,
Speaker: And what happened was that a crab tried to crawl out and all the crabs underneath it literally grabbed its legs and yanked it all the way back to the bottom of the barrel.
Speaker: That is the crab barrel effect.
Speaker: When a crab tries to crawl out, all the crabs literally grab its legs and pull it down to where it used to be.
Speaker: And it can never, ever, ever escape.
Speaker: So that's why there's no cover on those crabs.
Speaker: And that's exactly what's happening to you guys.
Speaker: And it happened to me.
Speaker: It happened to James.
Speaker: It happens to every single person that tries to better their life or try to achieve something more.
Speaker: And just what happens in this case is crazy.
Speaker: And it actually happens to like the crabs in your life are actually the people that you don't suspect.
Speaker: For example, it could be your family.
Speaker: It could be your friends.
Speaker: And that is the exact case in my scenario because my family actually didn't want me.
Speaker: It's not like they didn't want me to become successful, right?
Speaker: They wanted that, but they didn't want me to go down this path specifically, which was success.
Speaker: And there's a lot of reasons why, but one of the reasons, the biggest reason really is because
Speaker: They don't want you to succeed mostly because they don't want to look bad.
Speaker: And it's because if you succeed, it means what do they look like, right?
Speaker: And it kind of shatters their belief.
Speaker: And what people do is they literally project their own fears and insecurities onto you.
Speaker: And at that point in time, they literally try to pull you back down.
Speaker: So they're going to question you and be like, why are you doing this?
Speaker: Why are you doing that?
Speaker: Like, why are you leaving college?
Speaker: Or like, why are you trying to start a business?
Speaker: And they give you a bunch of reasons not to do something, right?
Speaker: I'm sure you guys have seen that.
Speaker: Like, if you guys just got into the solar industry,
Speaker: If you look back and remember, a lot of people are like, why are you doing this?
Speaker: Like, why are you leaving your job to do this?
Speaker: It's not safe.
Speaker: It's not secure.
Speaker: Like a sales job isn't as stable as something else, you know, like an accountant or something, right?
Speaker: And this is what happens a lot to entrepreneurs.
Speaker: Just because...
Speaker: It's quote unquote, not reliable or not safe.
Speaker: Like they'll just literally find any reason to drag you back down to where they are.
Speaker: And that's like the biggest, biggest reason by far.
Speaker: And another thing is like environment.
Speaker: If you want to touch on that, James, but pretty much like.
Speaker: You're surrounded by your environment.
Speaker: And your environment is literally what you are.
Speaker: And so if you surround yourself with a bunch of these people, that's why you're the average of the five people they spend the most time with.
Speaker: And quite frankly, most likely, if you weren't conscious of who your friends are,
Speaker: they are crabs.
Speaker: They're going to pull you back down to where their level is.
Speaker: And that's why you might always go back and forth.
Speaker: Like you're working all the time and you're trying to grind and you're trying to make things happen.
Speaker: And people are like, oh, let's go drink.
Speaker: Let's go party.
Speaker: Let's have fun.
Speaker: Like why working all the time?
Speaker: Like you don't have to work 50, 60, 70 hours a week.
Speaker: Like just relax, man.
Speaker: That's what they always say.
Speaker: And that's like a prime example of what a crab would say.
Speaker: So watch out for those Mr. Crabs, right?
Speaker: Those are some of the things that they say.
Speaker: And those are like some key indicators of them identifying themselves in the world.
Speaker: Yeah, guys.
Speaker: And I want to talk about as far as environment goes, how you are truly the product of your environment in all areas.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I'm sure you guys have heard the saying, right?
Speaker: You are what you eat.
Speaker: Very, very common saying, common expression everybody's familiar with.
Speaker: But
Speaker: A saying that I don't hear a lot of, and you're not going to hear around anybody, right?
Speaker: Even in self-development a lot of the time, but especially outside of it, these other crabs included, right?
Speaker: Other family members, friends that you hang around.
Speaker: Nobody's talking about the other things that you consume, right?
Speaker: You are what you think.
Speaker: You are what you believe, right?
Speaker: you are the product of your environment.
Speaker: These are all things that contribute to you, right?
Speaker: So what are some of these things that make up the environment?
Speaker: What is going to be the people, right?
Speaker: Some of those people can sneak up on you, right?
Speaker: And the cold, harsh truth of this is some of the people you're surrounded with do not want you to succeed, right?
Speaker: They have your best interest in mind, right?
Speaker: Maybe your family has your best interest in mind or your significant other.
Speaker: But when it comes down to it, people are people, right?
Speaker: And if you are more successful than them,
Speaker: and you accomplish something that they've been telling themselves their entire life is not possible, what do you think they're going to think, right?
Speaker: That totally flips their world upside down, right?
Speaker: It smashes their beliefs because they know you.
Speaker: It's one thing for somebody to go and see like the Kardashians on TV or some other celebrity accomplish something and they could say, oh yeah, well he's just rich and famous, that's why he can accomplish this.
Speaker: But when your own family member accomplishes something,
Speaker: that you didn't think was possible your entire life, what kind of feelings is that person going to go through, right?
Speaker: I had the same experience with my mom, a similar experience that Joseph did, right?
Speaker: She was, unfortunately, you know, she was a big crab in my life.
Speaker: And I helped work through those things with her, which is cool, right?
Speaker: We were able to grow closer as a relationship.
Speaker: But at first, right, in the coming first years when I was in entrepreneurship and sales,
Speaker: especially getting into solar, they were always so discouraging.
Speaker: And they were always talking about, oh, you can't sell.
Speaker: We don't sell, right?
Speaker: And she would always talk about how her and my dad had a sales job years and years ago and they sucked at it.
Speaker: And nobody in my family was in entrepreneurship and sales right on my dad's side.
Speaker: And she would just go on and on about these reasons.
Speaker: And I became successful at sales.
Speaker: I became successful at entrepreneurship.
Speaker: Think about how that makes someone feel.
Speaker: They start feeling, well, shoot, I just wasted 30 years, 50 years, whatever it is, believing this wasn't possible and my son just accomplished this.
Speaker: What the heck?
Speaker: They're going to start questioning everything.
Speaker: It's uncomfortable for them.
Speaker: They start maybe feeling regret.
Speaker: These are the feelings that will go through this person's mind.
Speaker: So don't be surprised.
Speaker: And don't be so shocked when these close individuals in your life
Speaker: really do not want you to succeed.
Speaker: It's because of this effect, right?
Speaker: They're scared and they don't want to face the reality and the truth like this that you guys are going out to seek and find, right?
Speaker: Most people, when the truth hits them hard, right, it hurts, okay?
Speaker: We've heard that the truth hurts, right?
Speaker: You're right now by listening to this podcast, The Solopreneur, and seeking out this information, you're going out purposely trying to seek the truth.
Speaker: So you're already one step ahead of other people who
Speaker: Because what do most people do when they face a problem?
Speaker: They like to just shove it in the corner, right?
Speaker: They just shove it deep and down, ignore it.
Speaker: Hey, we don't talk about things like that.
Speaker: We don't talk about money and success.
Speaker: That's too foo-foo.
Speaker: We don't touch that stuff, right?
Speaker: That's what most people do.
Speaker: And when you address it head on like a professional, you go and you dedicate your life to making these things a reality for you and changing the lives of those around you.
Speaker: you're going to get some criticism.
Speaker: You're going to get some feedback.
Speaker: You're going to get some haters.
Speaker: And that's expected.
Speaker: That is the law of how things go.
Speaker: That's a law of the universe.
Speaker: And if it wasn't that way, then everybody would be successful, right?
Speaker: These are the things you have to put up with.
Speaker: So some of the other things in your environment, right?
Speaker: Went off a little bit here, but some of the other inputs are, you know, like food, of course, but information is a huge one.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Information that you guys are putting in, right, is massive.
Speaker: A lot of your thoughts, a lot of your beliefs that you get are often not your own thoughts.
Speaker: They're often something that we read or somebody else told us, and we chose to adopt that belief and take it as our own.
Speaker: And the crazy thing about inputs, and Joseph, you can input in here as well, the crazy thing about inputs and thoughts is
Speaker: A lot of what people will say are simply opinions.
Speaker: So when somebody says like an opinion about something, say, you know, take like an election of like Donald Trump and all this stuff.
Speaker: There's a lot of opinions getting thrown around with politics.
Speaker: You can go and view a post or a news media outlet and everybody will have an opinion on something.
Speaker: Okay?
Speaker: And if I were to go consume that information and read that, I might take some of those opinions as facts, okay?
Speaker: And the odd thing is that person who had that opinion may have just done the same thing that you did where they just read something else, which they read someone else, that source, and that source read something else, and somebody else just had some idea they were throwing out at the root that may or may not have been true, and it went all the way down the chain like a game of telephone
Speaker: And now you're adopting that information as the truth and you've ingrained it in your mindset.
Speaker: And that's how you're going to believe at this point.
Speaker: And now that affects your entire interactions with everything.
Speaker: This is the magnitude we're talking about here.
Speaker: Yeah, this stuff affects your every single day life.
Speaker: Like most of the decisions, most of the thoughts that you have aren't even yours.
Speaker: It's kind of scary to think about when you really, really start to contemplate on that topic.
Speaker: Like when you're thinking about anything, really, just be careful about those opinions because
Speaker: If you take those as facts, right, then you don't really have a solid foundation to go off of your life.
Speaker: Like I didn't really know what life was until I started questioning everything because I started to realize like, oh my God, I haven't been thinking for myself.
Speaker: And when you realize that it's kind of like a rude awakening and you kind of open your eyes and start to see like, wait, why do I do this?
Speaker: Why do I think this?
Speaker: And when you start to think like the majority, you should be very concerned.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like that's a sure tell sign that you should start to question everything.
Speaker: If you start to agree with what everyone is saying.
Speaker: And like James was saying, like, it's a law.
Speaker: This is like the law of the crab barrel effect, where this is also an indicator of you starting to become successful.
Speaker: Like if you start getting resistance, if you start getting haters, if you start to polarize people, if you start to get a lot of, um,
Speaker: like resistance or backlash in your life, that's a good thing.
Speaker: That means you're moving in the right direction because if you're not feeling any resistance, that means you're going along with what everyone else is doing.
Speaker: And to be an entrepreneur in order to be successful, right?
Speaker: You have to go against the current.
Speaker: You have to go against the grain.
Speaker: So if you're not feeling that resistance, right?
Speaker: Just like going to the gym, if you're not feeling any resistance, you're not going to grow.
Speaker: You're not going to become better.
Speaker: You're not going to become successful.
Speaker: It's just not possible.
Speaker: And it's, it's, it's like the law, um, like Newton's law, right?
Speaker: For every force, right?
Speaker: For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.
Speaker: So that means if you're moving away from what everyone else is doing, that means you're going to feel a huge opposition and you want that just because you know then that you're moving in the right direction, that you will be successful because you're not doing what everyone else is doing.
Speaker: In order to be the top 1% you have to do with the 99% are not willing to do.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: Guys, like this environment thing is so key.
Speaker: Like I didn't realize it because most of my life was controlled for me.
Speaker: Like that's why I said in the beginning, right?
Speaker: Like it's not your fault, right?
Speaker: Because you didn't grow up.
Speaker: Like you didn't control your environment when you were growing up.
Speaker: You didn't control your parents when you were growing up.
Speaker: You didn't control the information that was flowing into you when you were growing up either.
Speaker: But it is your responsibility now that you know, right?
Speaker: So they always say like,
Speaker: With great power comes with great responsibility, but it's actually with great responsibility comes with great power.
Speaker: And then knowledge, right?
Speaker: Follows that, right?
Speaker: So it's a precursor.
Speaker: So when you have knowledge, now you have responsibility.
Speaker: When you have responsibility, now you have power.
Speaker: And that's the progression that you have to follow.
Speaker: And in this case, now that you are empowered with this knowledge, right?
Speaker: What are you going to do with it?
Speaker: Now that you know that the people in your life can control what you think, now you know that the places and the inputs that you put in, right?
Speaker: So you are what you eat, but you are what you consume, right?
Speaker: Consuming meaning what you put into your brain, what you put into your other senses.
Speaker: So it's like literally if you're consuming the news, you're going to become what you consume.
Speaker: So if you notice, like people that watch the news, all they talk about is negative stuff.
Speaker: Dude, that was big.
Speaker: My dad, my dad.
Speaker: So growing up, right?
Speaker: My dad, every morning we would get up together at like 6 a.m.
Speaker: and he would fire up the news.
Speaker: Dude, it's so bad.
Speaker: And he watched the news for an entire hour and the man literally keeps doing that.
Speaker: And you know why he did it?
Speaker: He did it because his parents did it.
Speaker: And his, yeah, I guess there wasn't TV before.
Speaker: So I guarantee that my great grandparents were reading the newspaper instead.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Same thing.
Speaker: But yeah, exactly.
Speaker: That it's, it's negative.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And the funny thing is,
Speaker: He'll come out of the day, right?
Speaker: Like come home from work.
Speaker: I remember him and he'd have like a negative attitude, right?
Speaker: A lot of the time, okay?
Speaker: Not all the time, but he would have a negative attitude, right?
Speaker: And, or he'd go to work negative, right?
Speaker: And he doesn't realize it.
Speaker: That's the crazy part.
Speaker: It's almost on an unconscious level because he's been doing it forever and he saw his parents do it forever.
Speaker: He thought it was true.
Speaker: He's just going through the motions.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And he literally what the excuse he would tell me is when I stopped watching the news.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I haven't watched the news in probably seven years.
Speaker: I've never watched the news.
Speaker: I don't read the newspaper.
Speaker: I don't give a crap about the news.
Speaker: And the thing he'll tell me when I tell him this is, oh, you're not being a responsible person.
Speaker: You got to know what these things are.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Those are beliefs that he adopted from his parents.
Speaker: So it's the exact same thing.
Speaker: And he's trying to bring me down to his level to watch the news.
Speaker: And that news has made a lot of negativity.
Speaker: It's just not necessary because what does the news get?
Speaker: They make profit off of getting your attention.
Speaker: And what gets more attention than anything?
Speaker: Negativity every single time.
Speaker: That's how the news operates.
Speaker: Yeah, I wish it was the opposite, man.
Speaker: But no one would watch the news if it was just like, oh my God, someone just donated to the homeless.
Speaker: It's like, you know, so it's literally like anything that becomes monetized, man, it quickly becomes unhealthy.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: that you guys really really really have to watch what you consume watch like consider the source as well like that's why we say like sometimes or most of the time actually it's the people that are closest to you right that want to do things in your best interest but really they're harming you the most and it's
Speaker: it's a weird paradox, right?
Speaker: Because we don't really realize it.
Speaker: And the way that we dealt with this, right?
Speaker: Like James and I both dealt with this is that we had to think for ourselves and we had to realize that what they're saying is not facts or not truth anymore.
Speaker: And in reality, no one really knows what they're talking about.
Speaker: Like very few people do.
Speaker: And so if you start to listen to everyone, you're going to listen to like nothing.
Speaker: Like you don't have an opinion or you don't have your own thoughts.
Speaker: You don't have your own consciousness anymore.
Speaker: So just be very careful to where you put your attention because where you put your attention is what you're going to become.
Speaker: And so what you allow yourself to consume is what you're going to become as well.
Speaker: So start to become the gatekeeper of your life, right?
Speaker: Watch the people that you let in, watch the places that you go to and watch the inputs that you allow to come in
Speaker: to your mind, because those are the seeds that are eventually going to grow into whatever you manifest it to be.
Speaker: And so guys, this applies directly to solar, right?
Speaker: Because this is like in business, right?
Speaker: Like, like we're all entrepreneurs here, right?
Speaker: Business owners.
Speaker: And we never, there's no such thing as business problems.
Speaker: It's just personal problems reflected in the business.
Speaker: And so if you have this negativity all around you, you must fix that.
Speaker: Like we are a product of our environment.
Speaker: It's just too difficult to go against the environment.
Speaker: So what you do is you can change the environment.
Speaker: That's the gift that we've been given, right?
Speaker: The consciousness, like free will and willpower, right?
Speaker: in order to bend and control reality.
Speaker: So if you are a product of your environment, you're not hopeless.
Speaker: Most people think that, oh, I'm a product in my environment.
Speaker: I'm just going to sit around.
Speaker: I don't have any control anymore, right?
Speaker: No, it's not true.
Speaker: You can control your environment and that controls you.
Speaker: So just know that.
Speaker: And it's extremely powerful to know that because now you can control everything in your life, control your environment, right?
Speaker: And so once you do that, you will be able to master your life.
Speaker: If you gatekeep all of this stuff and make sure that nothing negative gets in and only positive and only affirmations that you want in your life, right?
Speaker: And now you can start to cultivate the garden that you want to in your life and just eliminate all the weeds essentially.
Speaker: And so don't mistake the weeds for the flowers.
Speaker: Yeah, guys, get rid of those weeds.
Speaker: Bad news, bad news.
Speaker: Get rid of the weeds.
Speaker: Yeah, get rid of the weeds.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's it for this episode, right?
Speaker: Yeah, I think we're good to go to wrap things up.
Speaker: Guys, if you enjoyed this episode, we're going to be continuing that.
Speaker: five-part series that we talked about, how to become a solar demigod.
Speaker: We're going to space that out for you and make sure that it's digestible.
Speaker: We're going to fill it in with some good stuff here.
Speaker: A little bit more value-packed, just short tactical episodes like this.
Speaker: And if you enjoy this type of content or you like the longer content, let us know.
Speaker: Shoot us a message on social media.
Speaker: You can leave us a review on iTunes.
Speaker: Let us know what you think.
Speaker: Share this with another solar professional who needs to hear this.
Speaker: And I think that's it, guys.
Speaker: So we'll see you tomorrow for the next episode.
Speaker: Keep crushing it.
Speaker: And talk to you soon.
Speaker: And if you found any value in this episode or it's helped you in any way, all I ask in return is that you just take 30 seconds of your time and leave us a review on iTunes so that we can help more solopreneurs like you to change the world.
Speaker: And as a gift for leaving us a review, we have a special training package exclusive for solopreneur listeners over at solopreneurs.com.
Speaker: Remember, you need to leave us a review on iTunes to qualify for the training package.
Speaker: So take care of that now and we'll see you on the next episode.
