John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker, and author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, Duct Tape Selling, The Commitment Engine, and SEO for Growth. His newest work, The Self-reliant Entrepreneur 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business, taps into the wisdom of 19th-century transcendentalist literature and the author’s own 30 year entrepreneurial journey to challenge today’s entrepreneurs to remain fiercely self-reliant while chasing their own version of success.   My big takeaway from today’s conversation is that there are two major challenges that every entrepreneur will run into - two major roadblocks. The first challenge is distraction, losing time, not making useful gains because you’re getting sidetracked. It’s the result of a lack of focus, but ultimately, distraction is really crippling because there’s only so many days in a row that you can not make progress before you have to throw in the towel for anything you’re doing. So remember, that distraction will keep you from making those daily gains. The second thing that John shares is one of the biggest challenges or failure points for entrepreneurs and creatives is comparison, and that’s getting caught up in what other people are doing. So the reason comparison is so deadly is because at best, it’s a distraction.   In this broadcast, John and I talk about:   How did John enter the marketing space What are the greatest frustrations in marketing Why did John decide to write his first book What caused John to shift to self-reliant entrepreneurship marketing Why did John choose a workbook style format for his book How-to books and the lack of “why” How did mid-19th century writings influence John’s book In what ways did John approach his book in a “morning routine” fashion What is the most appropriate level of entrepreneurship is John’s book most helpful What are the common challenges that entrepreneurs face How can you use mindfulness to increase productivity What are John’s thoughts on goals and setting your aim as an entrepreneur What are some examples of hacks or tricks to stay focused  What are John’s closing thoughts for 2020   How to Connect with John:   Check out John’s book at selfreliantentrepreneur.com ducttapemarketing.com   Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:   Subscribe to In The Trenches on iTunes   Listen to In The Trenches on Spotify   Get your weekly dose of In The Trenches on Google Play     How You Can Support In The Trenches   Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.     This podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off (for life)