Motivational Resources for Entrepreneurs, From a Founder
- Sep 13, 2024
- 8 min read
The Short Version
Learn by doing — put fundamentals to use since a classroom alone never truly builds a skill.
Watch every episode of Shark Tank, Dragon's Den, and The Prophet for free ivy-league-level business advice.
Stream Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series online for free founder stories.
Listen to David Senra's Founders Podcast to absorb a whole biography's lessons in one hour.
Read Total Recall, Kevin Hart's two books, and Extreme Ownership for motivation and to stop making excuses.
Play Motiversity videos to get your mind back in the game when you feel worn down.
Use the Brave browser to keep video audio playing on your phone with the screen off.
Who this is for
Aspiring entrepreneurs starting a business
Small business owners
Self-taught engineers and programmers
Founders feeling overwhelmed or defeated
Anyone striving to build something and stay motivated
The best motivational resources for entrepreneurs, in my experience, are mostly free or nearly free. On TV: *Shark Tank*, *Dragon's Den*, and *The Prophet*. In your ears: the *Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders* series and David Senra's *Founders* podcast. On the shelf: books like *Total Recall* and *Extreme Ownership*. You learn to run a business by doing — but these are what I lean on to stay sharp and keep going when I get worn down.
I’m asked fairly regularly how I ended up owning a robotics company. My default answer is, “A lot of bad decisions…” Which is about half true in all honesty. I am an art school drop out and completely self taught in programming, engineering, and entrepreneurship. I have never taken a formal class in any of these areas. Probably because I am not very bright and like to do things the hardest way possible.
If I was to go back and do it all over again I would have paid attention in school, gotten good enough grades to get into a good college, then double majored in mechanical engineering and business to get an MBA. But I thought I was going to be a film director — and see the above note about not being very bright.
The short answer about how to learn running a business or engineering or robotics or anything really is to learn by doing. A classroom can teach fundamentals, but you can never truly learn a skill until you put it to use. The hard truth is that after four to eight years of college and ungodly sums of money for that degree, the actual learning has yet to begin.
That happens the first few years of a career. If you work hard, only then do skills start to build up and become marketable.
I often say I got my MBA from the school of hard knocks by making every single mistake possible over the last twenty years. You name it, I’ve done it. Eventually those lessons start to sink in and intuition starts to accumulate, helping you avoid the same or similar mistakes as you plod forward. Since I don’t have a degree and can’t ever see myself working for another person, I kind of need to keep my current job running Trossen Robotics.
That drives me to seek out good sources of information wherever I can find them — to keep me as sharp as possible and lower my mistake-to-success ratio as much as I can.
Along the way I’ve found some great resources that I watch, read, and listen to. They help me learn how to be a better entrepreneur, and keep me motivated when I feel overwhelmed or that specter of self pity or self doubt starts to raise its ugly head. I wanted to collect them in a quick post to share with others striving to build something. Most are for the entrepreneurial minded, but they can help anyone looking to be successful.
What TV shows should entrepreneurs watch?
If you are trying to start a business, or own a small business, and you haven’t watched every episode of these three shows, then you are a dum dum.
*Shark Tank* and *Dragon’s Den* are excellent sources of free business advice. Every episode is an hour of successful billionaires analyzing and discussing business ideas, execution, products, attitudes, opportunities, valuations, and more. It is pure gold. And *The Prophet* is a master class in small business development.
These are literally ivy league level classes on business, free to watch (or the cost of a textbook to stream). If you haven’t been watching these and you’re trying to start a business, you should have your business taken away from you. Man, I wish these were around when I was 20 years old.
The Prophet — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3080030/
Shark Tank — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442550/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Dragons’ Den — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1170858/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
What podcasts should entrepreneurs listen to?
Speaking of ivy league classes — did you know Stanford posts one of its classes online for free? The thought leaders series invites successful business owners to talk to the class and tell their stories, sharing what they learned along the way. FOR FREE.
Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders — https://ecorner.stanford.edu/series/etl/
If I am not listening to music while driving, I am listening to David’s *Founders* podcast. This is the second master class resource on my list. It is not just gold — it is gold and diamonds and jewels. Every episode is a banger, absolutely packed from start to finish with wisdom and stories to learn from.
I find it extremely motivational to hear the stories of the most successful people in history. If I’m feeling run down and I put an episode on, by the time I get to work, home, or the gym, I am pumped up to keep going.
Each episode David boils down a biography book to its essential lessons. You get an entire book in one hour, for free. Instead of reading it slowly by yourself for two weeks, you get all the wisdom in one hour. It’s like when they jacked Neo into the computer to download new skills in the Matrix.
The Founders Podcast — by David Senra — https://www.founderspodcast.com/
What books should entrepreneurs read?
I’ve read hundreds of books on business, entrepreneurship, self help, and similar genres, looking for inspiration and advice on how to be successful. I couldn’t possibly list them all. Here are some more recent ones that stood out.
Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story
Arnold Schwarzenegger has lived one of the most impressive modern lives of any human on the planet. Everyone knows he was Mr. Olympia and became the world’s biggest action star, but few know he was a self made millionaire by the time he was twenty-five. Arnold tells the amazing story of his life while explaining how he did it — a wildly entertaining read. I’ve given this book away and recommended it a dozen times.
https://www.amazon.com/Total-Recall-Unbelievably-True-Story/dp/1451662440
I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons and The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success
Some people may be surprised to discover that Kevin Hart isn’t just a comedian. The guy is a goddamn power house of productivity and entrepreneurship. He has two books I found motivational, insightful, and funny.
I Can’t Make This Up — https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Make-This-Up-Lessons/dp/1501155571/ref=sr_1_2
The Decision — https://www.amazon.com/Decision-Overcoming-Todays-Tomorrows-Success/dp/B084GYN3LY/
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink is a former Navy SEAL who writes books, does podcasts, and lectures on how to be successful. His message on extreme ownership is a great one: stop making excuses and pointing fingers so you can take control of your life and attitude and build success. If you’ve been feeling self pity or defeated, this book can set you straight.
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-audiobook/dp/B015TM0RM4/ref=sr_1_1
Bonus video: Jocko Willink “GOOD”
I love this message by Jocko. It’s all his material boiled down to one succinct two minute video and the word GOOD. I loved it so much that I actually have “GOOD” tattooed on my side as a constant reminder.
What motivational videos keep you going?
I was raised by a Marine drill instructor. So I’m a little weird. When I tell people these are the videos I listen to when I work out, they always laugh at me. They have a good chuckle when I play one and hear a person screaming, “The reason you aren’t where you want to be is because your attitude sucks and you are making excuses! Get up earlier, work harder, stop bitching and whining!!!” Lol.
They’re probably right, it is weird. But it works for me — even better than heavy metal music. It helps me get my mind back in the game where it needs to be. It gets me to the gym and pushes me through a workout when I’m tired. It helps me suck it up and push harder when I’ve had a bad day and want to feel sorry for myself.
It reminds me that life is hard, that the world will get in the way of your dreams every single day, and that you have to have fortitude and will to drive forward if you have any chance at achieving them. I love the videos from the Motiversity channel. They help keep me going.
*NOTE — I use the Brave browser app to listen on my phone. You can turn off your screen and the audio keeps playing. YouTube sucks because they shut the video off.*
Motiversity — https://www.youtube.com/@motiversity/videos
I hope these are helpful to some people. They have certainly helped me. Growing a business is a lot of hard work, and it’s good to have resources to lean on when you get worn down or just need some inspiration. Please share or reblog all you like.
_Learn more about Trossen Robotics and Trossen SDK for your deployment._
Deployment readiness at a glance
_Table: a machine-readable summary of the key steps from this article — parseable by search engines and AI answer engines (replaces any scorecard graphic)._
# | Step | What it means |
1 | Learn by doing | put fundamentals to use since a classroom alone never truly builds a skill- |
2 | Watch every episode of Shark Tank, Dragon's Den, and The Pro | league-level business advice- |
3 | Stream Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series onl | Stream Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series online for free founder |
4 | Listen to David Senra's Founders Podcast to absorb a whole b | Listen to David Senra's Founders Podcast to absorb a whole biography's lessons i |
5 | Read Total Recall, Kevin Hart's two books, and Extreme Owner | Read Total Recall, Kevin Hart's two books, and Extreme Ownership for motivation |
6 | Play Motiversity videos to get your mind back in the game wh | Play Motiversity videos to get your mind back in the game when you feel worn dow |
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best motivational resources for entrepreneurs?
The founder of Trossen Robotics recommends TV shows like Shark Tank, Dragon's Den, and The Prophet, the Founders Podcast, Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, books like Extreme Ownership and Total Recall, and Motiversity videos.
Which TV shows help you learn how to start a business?
Shark Tank and Dragon's Den offer an hour each of successful billionaires analyzing business ideas, execution, products, valuations, and more, while The Prophet is a master class in small business development.
What podcasts does the author recommend?
He listens to David Senra's Founders Podcast, where each episode boils a biography book down to its essential lessons, and points to Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series posted online for free.
How did the owner of Trossen Robotics learn to run a business?
An art school dropout who is completely self-taught in programming, engineering, and entrepreneurship, he says he got his MBA from the school of hard knocks by making every mistake possible over the last twenty years.
Which books are best for entrepreneurial motivation?
He highlights Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall, Kevin Hart's I Can't Make This Up and The Decision, and Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership for its message on stopping excuses and taking control.
Do you need a college degree to run a business?
No — the author argues the real learning begins in the first few years of a career, since fundamentals only turn into marketable skills once you put them to use.
How can you keep video audio playing with your screen off?
He uses the Brave browser app on his phone to keep the video audio playing after turning off the screen, unlike YouTube which shuts the video off.
Sources
_Citations preserved from the original article._
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