How to Win the War Within: A Mental Guide for Business Owners Struggling to Find that Balance – In Just 7 Minutes with Luke Fatooros

Resources/Links:

• Checkout and download this book, ‘Win the War Within’ for FREE at www.ideasintobusiness.com/win

Summary

Are you an entrepreneur or business owner struggling to find the right balance in your life? Many believe that achieving financial success and time freedom is the key to happiness, but often overlook the importance of mental peace. The constant pursuit of money can lead to burnout, stress, and a never-ending cycle of anxiety.

At 23, Luke Fatooros started his first business in his father’s shed with $800. It grew to $12 million, but he lost it all. He is an Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year awardee and an Amazon 2-time Best Seller.

In this episode, Luke, who has lived through these challenges, shares with us how to win the war within and find true freedom by embracing a balanced mindset.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 02:01 – Luke’s ideal client: Business owners and entrepreneurs struggling to find balance.
• 02:17 – The problem he helps solve: Worry and stress each day and anxiety inside.
• 03:34 – Symptoms of the problem: Burnout, mental breakdowns, health issues, relationship breakups, guilt, and later on in life, regret.
• 04:30 – Common mistakes his clients make before seeing him: Believing money is the goal.
• 06:22 – Luke’s Valuable Free Action [VFA]: Identify your self-sabotage.
• 08:38 – His Valuable Free Resource [VFR]: Checkout and download this book, ‘Win the War Within’ for FREE at www.ideasintobusiness.com/win
• 09:25 – Q: Why did it take me 50 years to discover my biggest self-sabotaging trait – the fear of running out of money? A: That was my goal. And, no matter how much money I kept, I kept chasing money because the beast within, my deepest fears was controlling me. I had to confront it and overcome it.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Money isn't the goal. Freedom is the goal.” -Luke Fatooros Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone! I’m Tom Poland, beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Joined today by Luke Fatooros. Luke, good day, Sir. Also in Australia, a couple of hours south of me. Where are you hanging out?

Luke Fatooros 00:20
Correct. Thanks Tom. Thanks for having me here. I’m on the Gold Coast.

Tom Poland 00:24
So a lot of people around the world will have heard of a surfers paradise and that’s pretty much where you’re hanging out. Beautiful part of the world, folks. Luke, I’m really looking forward to this interview because Luke is an absolutely fascinating guy. At age 23, he started his first business with 800 bucks in his father’s shed. He grew it to $12 million and then lost it all. Now, I would far rather hear from someone who grew a business to that size and lost it than someone who didn’t lose it because the lessons of failure are so invaluable. We’re not going to have time to unpack all that in seven minutes, but nevertheless, the core message that Luke is going to deliver is at the center of every sustainable business success. Without question, it’s more important than marketing. It’s more important than team selection. It’s more important than strategy because if you don’t have this one thing, nothing else is going to work. He’s also, by the way, been awarded Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, is two times bestselling author. Luke, I’ve been to your website. You’re an absolute class act. Genuine, best I can tell. Value add. Let’s rock and roll. Title today folks is, How to Win the War Within: A Mental Guide for Business Owners Struggling to Find that Balance. Luke, our seminar starts now. Question number one is, who’s your ideal client?

Luke Fatooros 02:01
Business owners and entrepreneurs struggling to find balance by building their businesses.

Tom Poland 02:06
So did you say entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs?

Luke Fatooros 02:09
Entrepreneurs. My accent. So business owners or entrepreneurs.

Tom Poland 02:14
How would you define the problem that you solve?

Luke Fatooros 02:17
So most business owners strive for money freedom and time freedom. I call these the two F’s, money freedom and time freedom. And that’s what I did for most of my business life. And there’s this endemic belief that if you achieve these two F’s, you are successful. But there’s the third F, mind freedom. And to achieve the first two F’s, time and money freedom, you obviously need a smart business plan, but for the third F, mind freedom, you need a smart mindset plan. Because what’s the point of achieving the first two F’s? Time and money freedom. If your mind is constantly full with worry and stress each day and anxiety inside.

Tom Poland 02:55
Yeah, a hundred percent. And so often folks, so often, I’ve seen this over almost 50 years now. As business owners or entrepreneurs, we think that in our outer world, everything is going to be okay in our inner world when it’s okay in our outer world. So we’ve got the time and we’ve got to do the ledger, we’ve got the money, we’ve got the business going well, everything’s got to be fixed inside here. Peace of mind, sense of freedom, fulfillment, it’s exactly the other way around. When we get it right within it comes right without. So what would you say are some of the typical symptoms that your ideal clients experience before they find your solution?

Luke Fatooros 03:34
Common issues of burnout, mental breakdowns, health issues, relationship breakups, guilt, and later on in life regret.

Tom Poland 03:43
So how’s that working for you so far?

Luke Fatooros 03:45
Well, my journey, I wouldn’t say it’s been roses for I’ve been building businesses for 25 years, three countries, and I was always chasing the two Fs, money and time freedom. Yet despite having financial success, which I’ve had many times in my life, I’ve had a $12 million bankruptcy, relationship breakups, intolerable stress, I almost had a stroke at the age of 35. I’ve had multiple burnouts, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, severe depression, insomnia. And just a few years ago, paralysis and anxiety. And that’s the reason I started this new journey to trying to achieve the third F, the mind freedom.

Tom Poland 04:30
Crushing pressure that you’ve been through and you’ve come out the other side. Along the way, you’ve made mistakes obviously, but you haven’t quit, that’s the important thing that gives you the experience to comment on what you believe are the common mistakes that others might be making before they find your solution. So that’s question four. What are some of the common mistakes that people try to get the mind, the money freedom and the time freedom. What are they doing that’s never going to work?

Luke Fatooros 05:02
First one is believing money is the goal. Money isn’t the goal. Freedom is the goal. The second one is not understanding why we don’t actually have this mind freedom. This leads to repeat cycles and this is all to do with sabotaging traits that result from fears that you’ve accumulated over the years. And for me, it was from my childhood and it took me 50 years to figure this out. it didn’t matter how much money I was making, I constantly had this beast within controlling me internally. I didn’t understand my ‘Why.’

Tom Poland 05:37
Right. So, and to that, some people would say, well, yes, no, I kind of, people have said that money’s not the goal. If it’s not the goal, is it the scoreboard? Is it what? What is it? Because we still seem to be quite…

Luke Fatooros 05:50
It’s a tool. Money is a tool to get you… There’s no point having lots of free time if you’ve got no money.

Tom Poland 05:57
What you’re saying is the means becomes the end. If you think the end is the means, then you’re going to get horribly screwed up. Let’s flip it now. We talked about the stuff that, the problems they have and the symptoms of the problems, the things they might have done wrong. I know I’ve certainly put my hand up for that with things, those mistakes. Let’s flip it and start getting action. What’s one top tip you can give people, a valuable free action as I call it, that would take people a step in the right direction?

Luke Fatooros 06:22
Well, I call this winning the war within, the third F, mind freedom. And to win this war, to find that peace and balance, there’s four battles that need to be won. This is what I’ve learned over my 50 years. The first battle is discovering your true self. The second battle is confronting self-sabotage. The third battle is breaking bad habits. And the fourth battle is embracing the transformation.

Tom Poland 06:46
Can you give me one thing that someone could physically do that’ll help them with one of those steps, a list of some sort or an observation? What would be one exercise I could complete that’ll just take them a step forward?

Luke Fatooros 06:57
Are you talking about identifying your self-sabotage, for example?

Tom Poland 07:02
Whatever you think would be the best place to start. That would be a good one, I imagine.

Luke Fatooros 07:05
Yeah, so an example of a self-sabotaging trait that possibly people are unaware of, things like procrastination, low self-esteem. What we do is we wear a thing called a mosque to disguise that. So for procrastination or low self-esteem, we appear overconfident or we have to show everybody showing off and telling everybody how marvelous you are. That’s called a mosque or effects on your life for.

Tom Poland 07:29
Right. So even the simple act of a self-observation, perhaps making a list of, got to be so self-honest and to do that you need to be self-aware. But even just making a small list or a small journal of the times when you felt you’ve been overcompensating, or the times where you felt anxious that could be a good step in the right direction.

Luke Fatooros 07:48
Correct. The first thing is discovering your true self. Why am I behaving like I am? And that is confronting that self-sabotage. It’s quite daunting. But you have to have the courage and then you have to break it.

Tom Poland 07:59
Yeah, I was just going to use the word courage as well, so, I remember 30 something years ago, my wife saying to me why don’t you tell me how you’re feeling about the business right now? Because I said, I don’t even admit to myself how I’m feeling. I’m not going to tell you. And that actually was the first step in becoming honest enough. And I simply started with a daily journal of observations of how I was feeling and what I was doing. Thank you for that. Let’s direct people to your website because you’ve got something on there, which just blew me away in terms of the quality and the content. Give us a landing page where people can go to find out more about your work.

Luke Fatooros 08:38
So, www.ideasintobusiness.com/win.

Tom Poland 08:46
It’s ideasintobusiness.com/win. And what will they find there?

Luke Fatooros 08:51
You can download my book, ‘Win the War Within’, it’s normally $39, but for your listeners, you just type in the code, Tom39, TOM39 at checkout and you can download it for free. It addresses the four battles, it’s got seven interactive workbooks and what you just said, Tom, a 10-step daily balance journal to help you get that freedom while building a successful business.

Tom Poland 09:13
So, folks, ideasintobusiness.com/win. The coupon code again.

Luke Fatooros 09:18
T-O-M, Tom39.

Tom Poland 09:19
Perfect. Thank you for that, Sir. Last question. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t? We got 24 seconds to answer it.

Luke Fatooros 09:25
Why did it take me 50 years to discover my biggest self-sabotaging trait? –The fear of running out of money.

Tom Poland 09:32
And?

Luke Fatooros 09:34
I was always chasing money. That was my goal. And, no matter how much money I kept, I kept chasing money because the beast within my deepest fears was controlling me. I had to confront it and overcome it.

Tom Poland 09:47
Luke, thanks so much for your time and sharing your wisdom and experience. Cheers!

Luke Fatooros 09:51
Thank you so much, Tom. Pleasure to meet you.

Tom Poland 09:53
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.