Success Secrets from The Fab Four

The year is 1965 and the Beatles were just named “Top Vocal Group in the World.” Just behind them, The Rolling Stones were named “Best New Group.” As I watch reruns of the Musical Express award show I am reminded that we all start from somewhere. Even The Rolling Stones were once “best new group” and before that, they were some band you’d never heard of.

The Beatles had a long path to fame too. Though it may seem that they were an overnight success, they very much weren’t. The members of the band struggled deeply for many years before they struck it rich as the greatest pop-rock band of all time. In fact, all of the fab four came from very poor circumstances. They were a rough group with troubled childhoods who came together and built their dreams on rock ‘n roll. Though I’m sure many young men had a similar dream, it was John, Paul, George and Ringo who risked it all for this dream. Not only committing hundreds and hundreds of hours to mastering their craft, but also putting it all on the line. John Lennon, for example, was a fabulous art student. He dropped out of art college (to the shock and horror of his family, who didn’t have much money and only wanted him to have a stable job that would keep bread on his table) just so he could pursue music more seriously. Keep in mind that when he made this courageous decision the band had no big breaks on their horizon. They were still playing in dark, smoky bars with a very small fanbase. Even after dropping out to focus more solely on music, the band would still struggle greatly for years, making next to nothing and seeing little to no success. It’s a wonder they didn’t quit.

Success is not for the faint at heart though. It’s for those who want to swing for the fences. Because, to truly be great, that’s the only way to be – all in. 200% committed. I often tell my clients that they must mentally get to a place where they understand with all their heart and sole that failure is not an option, neither is plan B. when you are in complete alignment with your life’s purpose, you know without a shadow of a doubt that nothing else in this life is going to matter. Your soul has a mission to complete and that’s worth betting on.

Here are a few lessons we can take away from the most iconic rock band of all times:

Swing for the Fences

In order to be your most expressed, fully successful self. You have to go all in. I see too many people who are half-in, half-out. I used to be one of them. I thought I was going all in for the business of my dreams, but I was actually still making a whole lot of excuses. It was everyone else’s fault I wasn’t where I wanted to be yet. Around the time I dropped those tall tales and decided to take seriously my success mindset, well, that’s when things actually started to progress.

Commit for the Long-haul

I have a lot of clients who are freshly certified and ready to change the world and make lots of money doing it. I love it. Who doesn’t want that? The problem is they are impatient. We get fed so many stories of overnight success that we come to expect it as the norm. The reality is that building a business, especially one that aligns with your deepest purpose and being, takes a long time. Many businesses don’t see profits until years 3-5. Others don’t profit until even later.

Honestly, if I had been dating Paul McCartney in the late 50’s, watching him go to nightly gigs at the Cavern without bringing home much money night after night – I probably would have told him to think about going into something more practical like working on a ship. I mean, Liverpool wasn’t exactly a musical hot-spot at the time. Thankfully I wasn’t around to date Paul and even though his girlfriends and wife told him to give it up, he stuck to it. He knew in his bones he wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. So even though he spent a decade or so hunched over his guitar, studying the R+B artists from the southern United States – trying desperately to mimic their sound and figure out how they got their rhythm, eventually it all paid off. Gumption.

It’s going to be tough as hell. Stay after it.

I think we all need to hear this phrase periodically. Because things worth going after are typically tough. Mentally, physically and emotionally draining. That’s because they require our all. The ones who only half-committed to being in The Beatles band, well – you’ve never heard of Pete Best, have you? He’s one of a handful of guys who wanted to be big, famous rock stars but after a short amount of time gave it up for something more “practical.” The ones who stayed after it, even though it was painful for the first decade, well—they are the ones we now know as the fab four, and for good reason too.

Success, fame and fortune don’t happen overnight. Don’t do it for the glam.

It seems really glamorous to be chased by the paparazzi and singing on stage in front of thousands, but truthfully those moments are just flashes in time. This can’t be your end goal. It’s an outcome that may or may not happen because you pursue your goal. Your goal is doing what you love, for a lifetime. That’s where success and happiness comes from. Not from chasing an external circumstance that is beyond your control. Do it for the love of the game.

In short, The Beatles became wildly successful after they’d spent their childhood learning their instruments and their early adulthood mastering the craft and playing in treacherous places that paid very little and fed them even less. Their breakthrough happened when they took a huge risk by hiring a manager, who cleaned them up, tweaked their image and performance habits, and got them booked at the right places. It was still a few years later before Beatlemania would hit the planet. This is the type of realism we need to focus on as aspiring entrepreneurs, change-makers and planet-shakers. We’re here for the long-haul. We’re doing it because we know we’re called to do it. And though we admit it will be tough, it will probably get ugly and it will require our 200% commitment, we’re still going to do it because deep down there really is no other way to our own happiness.

How to be as successful as the Beatles (in your business)