Unlocking Success Lessons from My Kids

What can a six-year-old entrepreneur teach us about success? As it turns out, everything we need to know.

When my daughter collected ordinary beach rocks and declared she wanted to sell them, my adult mind immediately jumped to skepticism. But watching her paint those rocks, create heartfelt notes for customers, and persist through hours of rejection revealed the blueprint for achievement that many of us have forgotten.

Through this simple yet profound experience, I discovered three essential qualities that children naturally possess—qualities that lead directly to success when applied to adult goals. First, they maintain clear vision without self-doubt. My daughter didn't question whether people would buy rocks; she simply decided they would. Second, they demonstrate genuine willingness to pursue their goals despite potential judgment. She proudly announced "Rocks for sale!" without fear of looking foolish. Finally, they show remarkable persistence. Despite multiple rejections and moments of discouragement, she kept going until she sold every rock.

These three elements—vision, willingness, and persistence—form the foundation of achievement in any area of life. Whether you're building a business, improving relationships, pursuing fitness goals, or changing careers, success follows this same pattern. The problem isn't that we don't know how to succeed; it's that we've forgotten the determined, optimistic approach we once had as children.

Ready to reconnect with your inner child's wisdom? This episode will help you strip away the adult overthinking that blocks your progress and tap into the pure, determined energy that naturally moves you toward your goals. Subscribe now and share this message with someone who needs encouragement to pursue their dreams without fear or hesitation.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Remember what it was like to be a child with big
dreams, with big aspirations,with a pure heart, with the
willingness to go out and do thework.
Tap into your inner child,channel that into your current
goals and into your currentlifestyle and watch how to start
to change things for you goingforward.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Unstoppable Mindset

(00:25):
Podcast.
I'm your host, sean Crane.
Thank you, guys for tuning intothe message.
Make sure to subscribe if youhaven't already, and share this
message, this podcast, withsomebody who needs to be
inspired today, someone whomaybe is procrastinating,
someone who's stuck.
I want to break down somethingvery simple that you can all
apply into your life to createmore success.
In fact, the reason that I gotinspired to share this message

(00:48):
today is because I observe mychildren often and I noticed
that they have qualities that alot of adults lose over time,
qualities that would create alot more success, gratitude,
love, joy and happiness in allof our lives if we are able to
implement them consistently.
Now, the other day, this isreally cool.
I want to tell you a storybefore I share these qualities.

(01:09):
The other day, I took the kidson a beach walk, my wife and I
it was like Friday evening tookthe kids down to the beach.
It was like six or seven, sunwas setting, weather was
beautiful and they're running upand down the beach having a
blast.
And right before we left theysaw these rocks on the ground
and Scarlett and Preston go hey,can we bring these rocks home?
Like, what do you want to bringrocks home for?
Like, kids are so awesome,right, and the first thing I

(01:30):
think about as an adult and as aparent is like I don't want to
carry these rocks right.
And we had a bag and our bagwas packed full of beach stuff.
And Scarlett goes come on, dad,I want to like paint them or
something.
I forgot exactly what she saidin that moment, but she wanted
to bring these rocks home.
So I said okay, and I broughtthe rocks home.
And the next day we were hangingout around the house it was the
weekend and they got this idea.

(01:51):
They're like hey, let's, let'spaint these rocks.
So I set up a table for themoutside and little chairs and
they got their paint out andthey're painting all these rocks
and I thought it was coolbecause they're occupying
themselves.
My wife was like cleaningaround the house.
I was holding little Bella andit was just like a mellow start
to the weekend, you know.
And then Scarlett comes in, shegoes dad, I want to sell these
rocks.

(02:11):
Like you want to sell rocks.
Like who's going to buy rocks?
That was my first thought.
But I'm always cognizant oflike never shooting my children
down and and like going withthat imagination of those inner
desires they have, cause theworst thing you could do is
create a jaded child who doesn'tbelieve in themselves.
Like you expect them to besuccessful in life, right, but

(02:31):
as parents we get so caught upin our lives and we're busy and
we're tired and we're stressedand blah, blah, blah.
Like I almost didn't let herbring the rocks home that day.
And then when she wanted tosell them, my first thought was
like you want to sell rocks, butbe an entrepreneur and
understand what it takes to besuccessful in life.
I always want to support mychildren, to try everything and
to keep an open mind and havethat willingness Right.

(02:52):
So we set up a table outside andshe wrote on a piece of paper
there was six rocks.
She wrote $5 for all the rocks,or $1 per rock, and her and
Preston were out there andScarlett's writing these little
thank you cards or these notesfor people that are going to buy
them.
Like these really sweet things.
She wrote like you are thesunshine right, like all these
positive things.
That alone is better than aHallmark card.

(03:12):
Those are priceless.
And she's sitting out there andnobody's coming.
And a neighbor drove by andshe's like rocks for sale, rocks
for sale.
And then our other neighbor,who's an older gentleman.
I thought for sure he'd buy one.
He was in a hurry to take hisson to the airport.
He didn't buy one and so I wentdown there.
I'm giving her a pep talk aboutbeing persistent and what it

(03:33):
takes to build a business orsell stuff in life.
And we're going through herlittle spiel, what she's going
to say, how she's going to getpeople the rocks and see the
value.
Right, the value is that theseare priceless.
It was made by a little kid.
The little messages on them aresuper sweet.
And finally she ends up sellinglike three rocks in the next
hour and then a couple hourslater she ended up selling all

(03:54):
of them.
But there was many times whereshe came back up to the porch
and she wanted to quit and giveup and she was getting
discouraged.
So I'd talk her through it andshe'd go back down there and,
sure enough, she ended upselling all of them.
And it was so cute to see thatmassive grin and smile on her
face and her eyes lit up whenshe sold all of them and she was
like dad see, I wanted to quit,I.
And she was like dad see, Iwanted to quit, I wanted to give

(04:14):
up, but I didn't quit and giveup.
And look at like she's holdingup these dollar bills.
She's like like I got money, Igot results because I didn't
quit and give up.
And so it got me thinking abouthow simple it is to create
success.
Whether you want to have athriving business, you're
already an entrepreneur and youwant to start new products or
services, or just you want tocreate success in your life,
right, whatever that looks likefor you right now, whatever you

(04:36):
feel in your heart that you wantto change, pay attention,
there's three things that if youcan take this from my daughter,
scarlett, and apply it to yourlife, it's going to create more
happiness, more success, moregratitude, everything that we're
after.
Number one is the vision, theidea, the goal.
Right, that's the first thing.
We have to have that initialthought or idea about what we
want to change.

(04:56):
The thing that happens, though,is people have an idea or
thought about what they want tochange and they immediately talk
themselves out of it.
They get discouraged, they getfearful, they worry about being
judged, and you talk yourselfout of that idea or that goal.
That's what grownups do.
Kids don't do that.
My daughter had an idea topaint these rocks and sell them.
That's what the fuck she wasgoing to do.
Right, I could have tried toconvince her not to do it.

(05:17):
I could have told her no onewill buy them.
She didn't care.
She wanted to do it.
That was her idea.
You see children when they'reyoung and they're pure like that
and innocent.
They haven't been subjected tothis world, where things can go
wrong, they can fail or peoplecan undermine their efforts.
They haven't been exposed to asmuch negativity.
So when they're young, you gotto prime their little minds and
bodies and spirits to beresilient, to believe in

(05:40):
themselves.
That's when you can createsomebody who can go out into the
world and do anything right.
But maybe you, growing up, youdidn't hear those positive
things from mom and dad.
I never had my dad take me outto learn how to do sales or any
of that stuff Like sports, iswhat I'm always aware of, how

(06:02):
I'm talking to my children, whatthese life experiences are
internalized as in theirsubconscious mind, right, and so
the vision, the idea, the thingthat you want to change,
whatever it is.
That's step one.
Step two is the willingness toactually go after it.
Most of you never make it tostep two.
You have tons of ideas, youhave tons of goals, you have
tons of things you want tochange.
Are you really willing to gofor it?

(06:26):
Like, and put yourself outthere where you can fail, put
yourself out there where peoplemight make fun of you, put
yourself out there where othersare second guessing why you're
doing that thing, why you'regoing after that goal, why you
quit your job, why you're movingout of state, whatever the fuck
it is Okay.
So Scarlett didn't care aboutanything.
She wanted that result.
She wanted to go sell theserocks.
She was willing to sit thereand paint them, to go out on the
street for a couple hours andyell to the neighbors rocks for

(06:49):
sale, rocks for sale.
She even came back one time.
She's like dad, not enoughpeople are coming by, I'm going
to put the rocks in my backpack,I'm going to go ride around the
neighborhood and sell themright Next thing you know she's
going to want to go.
But anyway, the third thing youneed is persistence.
Okay, because my daughter wasout there for two hours trying
to sell rocks to our neighbors,rocks that they can get for free

(07:11):
anywhere.
She heard no two or three timesfrom the first people that
passed her by, but she didn'tquit and give up.
And I always tell my children wenever quit or give up.
If you want something badenough and you quit and give up,
you're not going to get it.
So we stay focused.
We believe in ourselves.
We never quit or give up.
You need persistence to besuccessful in life.
There will be resistance, therewill be adversity.

(07:33):
Your friends and family won'tbelieve in you.
You'll have some missteps.
You'll have perceived failures.
You'll feel discouraged.
The economy will be down.
Oh, the president, oh, we're inwar.
Oh, business is slow.
Dude, none of that shit matters.
I've been through it all.
I've been through prison.
I've been through the ups anddowns in the economy.
I've been around the naysayers,the negative people, the Debbie

(07:54):
Downers, dude, I'm sodelusional optimistic that I
just believe in the outcome thatI want and I will stop until it
becomes reality.
That's how you create successFor you.
You're looking for your husband.
You want that better job.
You want that career, you know.
You want a nice girlfriend.
You want to have a nice body.
You want to move to a new homeand have a nice piece of
property, whatever it is.

(08:15):
If you fixate on that goal andthat outcome and that result,
you obsess over it and yourthoughts and actions right.
That's the vision, that's theimage, and then you have the
willingness and persistence togo after it, nothing will stop
you.
Okay and I say this all the time, nine times out of 10, it's
going to work out your favor andyou're going to get what you
want.
The one time it doesn't workthe way you want it to work out,

(08:36):
god had a plan.
God had different plans instore for you and you're going
to have to pivot.
You're going to have to evolve.
You got the adjustments alwaysgoing to work out in the end,
and you're going to look backand go damn, his plan was better
than my plan that time and it'sall going to make sense for you
.
But you'll never get to thatmoment if you just sit around
and make excuses andprocrastinate and let this time
pass you by.
Remember what it was like to bea child with big dreams, with

(08:59):
big aspirations, with a pureheart, with the willingness to
go out and do the work.
Tap into your inner child,channel that into your current
goals and into your currentlifestyle and watch how to start
to change things for you goingforward.