Clarity founder Dan Martell credits his success to motivation, hustle

The importance of hustle and motivation in the making of a successful entrepreneur was central to Dan Martell’s talk Wednesday at our Big Kansas City event. Martell is the founder and CEO of Clarity, a community of more than 7,000 entrepreneurs that offer advice over the phone to users across the world. Motivation trumps knowledge…

The importance of hustle and motivation in the making of a successful entrepreneur was central to Dan Martell‘s talk Wednesday at our Big Kansas City event. Martell is the founder and CEO of Clarity, a community of more than 7,000 entrepreneurs that offer advice over the phone to users across the world.

Motivation trumps knowledge

Martell shared the story of one of his earliest startups and hiring his first few employees. Jumping into the venture without much experience or thought as to what he would do if it failed, he paid a visit to one of his employee’s homes, and was hit with the realization that he had a family to support. This man had quit his job to jump on board with Martell’s brand new, unproven company. Hearing this, Martell realized failure wasn’t an option. He didn’t know what he was doing, but was determined and motivated to succeed.

His company grew, and despite strong client contracts and business, Martell, who said he didn’t know anything about cash-flow at that time, didn’t have enough money in the bank to make payroll. He called a mentor to learn how to remedy the situation. Giving up and not paying his employees wasn’t an option. Martell said that if you have the motivation, no problem is too large.

“Nothing is more important than the motivation to get through it.” he said.

Martell reinforced his message by showing a video clip of Steve Jobs answering a question about how he created success for himself. “You have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing,” Jobs said. “It’s so hard, any rational person would give up. And the ones that don’t love it, quit, because they’re sane.”

“How many insane people are in this room?” Martell asked the audience.

Hustle to help

Martell stressed that prioritizing helping others as much as, if not more than, yourself, is what will lead you to success. “You get what you put out there.” he said. He quoted personal development guru Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything in life you want, if you just help other people get what they want.”

“If you meet someone and don’t ever ask them, ‘How can I be helpful?’ you don’t really get it.” Martell said.

Martell closed his talk with two final pieces of advice. First, he said success is never achieved overnight, and second, he encouraged attendees to make no small plans.

Big Kansas City is a two-and-a-half-day event that aims to inspire, educate and celebrate the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the heart of the Midwest. Produced by Silicon Prairie News, it’s part of the Big Series, the nation’s most ambitious events on innovation and entrepreneurship.

 

Credits: Video by Quadrant5. Snippet photo by Kenny Johnson Photography.


The Big Kansas City Video Series is presented by NIC, Inc.

NIC Inc. is the nation’s leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company’s innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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