“You’re too soft to beat me”

That’s what Gary Vaynerchuk believes. Gary is a powerhouse, he is a beast in the entrepreneurial space and his belief is “you’re too soft to beat me”

It’s interesting because as I study more and more entrepreneurs especially the greats, the entrepreneurs who are considered to be household names; they hold a similar belief.

There’s a toughness, a grit, a belief, that they will not be denied even if they don’t know the way. Even if it defies logic and reason…there is still this unwavering belief that says “I can do it”.

Growing up I thought being a success in business meant you MUST have an MBA, you MUST know people (or your family does), you MUST come from money or you MUST be super smart.

Yet I’ve met several people who don’t have any of these things and their businesses are crushing it.

In fact, have you ever met someone or maybe you know them personally and they are massively successful and you think to yourself…how in the hell is this happening?

Gary says he was a D and F student. His company Vaynermedia is a freight train and now he is one of the most powerful entrepreneurs of our time. How is this possible?

It’s possible because the world doesn’t pay you for what you know…it pays you for what you do! Success doesn’t care about your background.

And this is what separates the Gary Vaynerchuk’s from the masses. Gary’s belief, “you’re too soft too beat me”. When the naysayers come and the doubters are throwing their spears of disbelief, Gary keeps moving forward and more than 90% of people will stop right there.

Too soft in my interpretation means you can’t take the hits and keep moving forward. Consider this: Can you try and fail and keep moving forward? Can you take incredibly destructive criticism and keep moving forward? How many times can you hear no? How many times can it go wrong?

This is where toughness and grit has to show up. Although useful, it’s not a battle of degrees, or contacts or money it’s a battle of grit. Are you tough enough? Notice how Gary didn’t say “you don’t have enough degrees to beat me”, he says “you’re too soft too beat me”. Will Smith says “I realized that the person that works the hardest wins. While the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working.”

From Mark Cuban to Steve Jobs to Kanye West to Gary Vaynerchuk to Madonna the overwhelming trait that’s needed is tenacity in the face of adversity

Maybe you don’t have the degrees, maybe you’re surrounded by naysayers, critics and jealous people, maybe you don’t have any money but so what neither did the greats.