Business Secrets Podcast Episode 6: Why Other People’s Opinions Of You Don’t Matter

This is a transcript from the Business Secrets Podcast With Robert Kanaat. Click here to view and subscribe on iTunes

Hello guys, and welcome to another episode of Business Secrets. My name is Robert Kanaat. Founder of wanderlustworker.com. I’m really excited to be here with you again today. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to these episodes. I sincerely appreciate it. Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, share, comment and like this podcast to help spread the word. If you’re getting some value from it, I sincerely appreciate it.

Today what I wanted to talk to you guys about is something huge. Something that is incredibly important. Something that bothers a lot of us, and it stifles us from doing anything. From taking those first steps even. That is other people’s opinions of us. I don’t need to say too much about this subject, because I think that it affects everybody. I know that it’s affected me personally in my life.

Because if you can imagine, my last name is Kanaat, but pronounced “cannot,” by a lot of people, especially during grade school and kind of like my early years. It was always Robert “cannot” do anything. So my tie to this topic dates back to the early years. Because I was made fun of a lot, and I was a huge introvert. I was never really good at making friends. I would always try to just fit in. Because I was so concerned about what other people thought about me.

In fact, that concern has followed me for a lot of my adult life even. Because even through kind of the earlier adult years of my life, I was always so worried about what other people thought about me. It wasn’t really until later on that I kind of released that, and I let it go. I can’t tell you how happy I have been since I’ve done that.

I started writing under the pen name R.L. Adams, partly because of the anonymity, and I just thought that everybody needed a pen name. But also because I was worried about what other people thought about me. I know that I should never have been, and it’s something that has kind of– I’ve kind of allowed it to get the best of me. Really it’s only been in the recent years that I’ve, that I’ve kind of shed that from my persona, from myself.

Really kind of, really making yourself vulnerable and putting yourself out there. I think when we’re very sensitive, like I can be very sensitive. We’re very sensitive, and we take other people’s opinions to heart, it really damages us. It really kind of stifles us from doing anything. I just wanted to put it out there, and tell you that it’s okay to embrace yourself, to embrace who you are.

You don’t have to live up to someone else’s standard of who they think you should be, or how you should act, or how you should do business, or what business you should start. What business you should be in. How big your goals are, and how much you want to scale your business. That should never concern anybody else. If you put your opinion out there and other people kind of scoff at you, that’s okay. You should use that to fuel you, as opposed to allowing that to make you cower and back down from your goals.

One of the things that I’ve learned really from some of the most successful entrepreneurs, is that they just put themselves out there. They care less what other people think about them. It’s only been recently that I’ve kind of embraced this. Because I have embraced this big culture of people, of really successful entrepreneurs that I’ve surrounded myself with. It’s pretty incredible to kind of see how that they act and behave.

Some of the richest and most successful and powerful people that I know, they don’t care what other people think about them. They could act a fool in public, and some people don’t know who they are. The crazy thing is, in the back of mind I think, “Wow, like this is a person who is so successful, and look at how they’re acting.” That’s kind of like the negative voice in my mind. But then I think, “Wow, that is powerful.” That a person could put themselves out there and really not care what other people think about us.

We are so self-conscious as a society, as a civilization. It’s natural. It’s not something like – it only happens to you, it’s only your negative voice. I’m afraid of hearing my own voice sometimes. It takes getting used to. I’m afraid of seeing myself on video sometimes. It takes getting used to, right? It’s not that like any of us are immune to this. It’s just that we choose to kind of do it because we’re operating on a higher standard, where we’re less concerned about what other people think about us, and more concerned about what we can give to the world, right? Because that contribution becomes more important than what other people think about us.

My advice to you, and one of the biggest secrets that I think there are in business is – is really to not care what other people think. Now I’m not telling you to go out there and do something illegal or do something bad, and then be like, “Oh I don’t care what other people think about me.” I’m telling you to go out there with a sincere desire to add real value, and not care what other people think about you. You know what? People are going to make fun of you.

If you start a new business and you put yourself out there on Facebook or Instagram, or whatever it is – some people might like silently laugh at you, and that’s cool. That’s okay. Because you are doing you. You’re putting yourself out there, and you’re trying to make your life better, make your business better. Don’t concern yourself what other people think about you. It really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all.

I don’t know if you know the story about Harrison Ford, for example? When Harrison Ford was around 24 years old, somebody told him in the movie business that he would never make it in the movie business. He stuck it out for nine years. People made fun of him. It wasn’t until nine years later that he got this role with George Lucas in, “American Graffiti.” Then later on, of course, went on to star in movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

But imagine if he cared so much about what other people thought about him? It’s like one person’s opinion, that’s just their opinion. That’s not the opinion of the masses. If somebody rejected you, or somebody made fun of you, like who cares? Who cares what that one person said? That one person does not speak for everybody.

If you allow yourself to be governed by the opinions of other people, you will forever live in the shackles of those opinions, unable to extricate yourself from that. Embrace yourself, embrace your identity. It’s okay, you are you, right? This is the biggest thing that I could tell you that will help you along the way.

Each one of these episodes, I’m trying to figure out like – trying to take one little gold nugget that I think would really add a tremendous amount to your business or your life. At the end of the day, you’re an entrepreneur. You’re a business owner, or you’re interested in becoming a business owner. You want to put yourself out there, and you want to scale, and you want to build a big business. You want to do something, you have a great dream.

But you’re – if you’re allowing other people’s opinions to stifle you, then it’s going to be impossible to get there. Ignore what they say. I’ve been made fun of literally, like my entire life. It’s something that I kind of – almost rebelling against these days. Sincerely rebelling against it. Because who cares what other people think? You know what? People are going to talk. It doesn’t matter. People will find something, find something to make fun of you about. People will find something to pick at you about. They’ll try to knock you down if they feel like you’re up too high.

I’m not telling you to be egotistical or anything like that. I’m just telling you that – there is a lot of heat, unfortunately in this world. A lot of people are living an average life. It’s almost as if they don’t want to see other people around them succeed. It’s an unfortunate truth, but I think that if you put yourself out there and really, really ignore those naysayers, ignore the haters – and just do you. Just build your business.

Do something great that’s going to impact your life. Not only just today, but it’s going to impact you for years and years to come. This is your future. This is your destiny. If you allow yourself to really be stifled by the other people around you, it’s going to be impossible to do anything really, really big in life. Because you’re going to be so worried about what other people think all of the time, that you’re never going to be able to put yourself out there and really do something extraordinary.

Whether it is like go on Facebook Live, and do a quick Facebook live. And really put yourself out there. Or go on Instagram and go live. It’s okay. It’s going to be tough in the beginning, right? Just like doing anything. It’s always tough. It’s like, you feel really awkward doing it. I assure you, I’ve been through this as well. It just feels really awkward in the very, very beginning. But over time, it feels incredible.

You start embracing it. You start building momentum. You really take hold of who you are as a person. Your God given talents and your gifts, and what you want to kind of put out there into the world and do. Don’t be afraid to embrace that. Don’t be afraid to embrace yourself, who you are, and really put yourself out there. I just know that if you do that, some extraordinary things are going to happen. The right people are going to come into your life.

You allow yourself to be vulnerable, really – people take notice. This is not about putting on an act, or putting on a show. It’s about just being vulnerable and being you, and not caring about what other people think about what you did or said. As long as you’re doing the right thing, that’s what matters. That’s what counts. Hopefully you take this, and you implement this in your business – and you really figure out a way that you can embrace who you are as a person, as a human being.

It doesn’t matter if you are a male or a female, what’s your religion, what your skin color is, where you live. It doesn’t matter. Just embrace who you are. Don’t care what other people think, and put yourself out there, and wonderful things will start happening for you.

Hope that you enjoyed this episode. Please don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, and share this and like this and comment it. I would greatly appreciate it. Until next time, I’ll talk to you guys later.