Hey everyone, it’s Alexander Seery, founder of Shifts to Success, and best selling author of Police Officer to Entrepreneur. In this video, I’m going to be talking about haters, energy drainers, and criticism. Now, it’s safe to say that some people out there dislike the police, for whatever reason, but this video isn’t about your role in the job. It’s about being in business.
Unfortunately, from time to time, people will, for whatever reason, criticise you and hate on you, and this can even be from family members and those close to you. Recently, I put myself out there on my company, on a Facebook group, consisting of a lot of ex and serving police officers from around the UK, introduced myself and see if there’s any way I can help in relation to their mindset, their business, or general ambitions to achieve success. Although the majority of people liked the idea of what I was offering and welcomed me, there were one or two people who criticised me, mainly because of the title of my best-selling book.
As my book is called, Police Officer to Entrepreneur, and the Six Step Method for Building a Successful Business Beyond the Force, and it states Officer based in custody on the back of the book, two people insinuated I was being unethical and dishonest. Now, the funny thing is, they have not took the time to read my book, nor done any research on me whatsoever, because if they had, they would have known that the book states nine times that I was a detention officer, as well as states on my YouTube channel, my podcast interviews, and my BBC interview, that I clearly state that I was a detention officer, as well as being a special constable, and also not to mention working for Nottinghamshire Police with around about 1,700 plus police officers.
You see, my book was written for ex and service police officers, so the title is for them, and also the book has case studies of successful ex-police officers who’ve all become successful entrepreneurs. You see some people in the world will always see how they can hate on you, despite the good you are trying to do. This will come at some point in your business journey, or entrepreneur journey.
I also remember when I started out building my first company, when working full time in custody, one of my fellow colleagues at the time walked by myself and another colleague, who were chatting about my plans to achieve financial independence and success, and she tried to belittle me, saying, “Oh working with millionaires now are we,” in a very kind of horrible way. Now I’m not going to lie, when you have high ambitions to achieve success, and live life on your terms, comments like those can hurt you, and it did, if I’m honest, but what these types of people don’t realise is that it only gives people like me, and maybe you watching this, more fuel for the fire.
You see, I never forget any of the negative criticism or hate I get. That is because I use it to my advantage. It actually gives me more energy to achieve higher levels of success, and that is what I encourage you to do as well. When you make your intentions clear, talk about your dreams, and goals and start gaining success for your life, just know that having haters is a sign you’re doing something right. It’s like success, if it was a person, giving you a little wink, and saying, “Keep it up.” The key thing to remember is that someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality, and often the limits they try and pose on you is just a reflection of their own insecurities and beliefs. Is it justification for their mediocre lives, and maybe they’re unhappy and afraid to be left behind.
The sad truth is, their lives will never change unless they change. Success and haters go hand in hand, and in fact, I do not know of one single successful person who has not got criticism or hate at some point in their life for the work they’re doing. Elon Musk, Jesus, Tony Robbins, Mother Teresa, they all had haters.
Now on the flip side, I do not know any successful person who hates on other people. For those of you who are watching this, and inspiring and helping others, building a business, making impact, adding value to the world, or taking the step to live up to your potential, I would encourage you 100% to keep that shit up because in the end, you are the one making a difference, and you are the one who gets to live life on your terms, and you are the one that’s happy. Remember, winners, focus on winning. Losers focus on the winners, and if you ever feel like quitting, just remember, those haters who you need to prove wrong.
Thankfully, there are more people out there in the world who support your goals and ambitions then there are those who don’t. But if there’s one way to avoid hate and criticism, that is to say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing, that’s for you to decide. Now I would love to know in the comment section below, what was the one piece of hate or criticism that really motivated you, even more so towards your goals and ambitions. For those of you who are interested in building a successful business, beyond the police force, you can also apply for our business accelerators by clicking on the link below.
I hope this video has helped. Don’t forget to subscribe, like and share, and I will see you in the next video.