5 Business Lies Keeping You Broke (And the Uncomfortable Truths That Will Set You Free)

Introduction: The Hidden Reason You’re Stuck

Are you tired of being broke, struggling for consistent income, and feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice? Do you find yourself trapped in a loop of “overthinking and perfectionism” that leads to paralysis, preventing you from getting the results you deserve?

This paralysis isn’t a personal failure. It is often the direct result of believing in comfortable lies and toxic industry advice. As business strategist Jerome “Mr. Implementation” Lewis argues, these lies are designed to make you feel good, not to make you successful. His entire playbook for winners is built on a foundational philosophy from Thomas Sowell:

“When you want to help yourself you tell people what they want to hear. When you want to help other people you tell them the truth.”

This article is for winners and doers, not thinkers. It is here to tell you the truth. We will shatter five of the most common—and destructive—lies that are holding you back. By replacing them with hard-won truths, you can break free from the cycle of inaction and start building the confidence and success you deserve.

The Truth: Trust Matters More Than Likability

You’ve heard the phrase a thousand times: people do business with those they “know, like, and trust.” While it’s true that people must know you exist, the idea that they must like you is the part of that phrase that keeps you broke.

When clients face a serious problem—like a home that failed to sell—they have often already hired someone they liked who failed them. Their friend, cousin, or the agreeable agent they met at an open house couldn’t get the job done. Now, their priority has shifted. They don’t need another friend; they need a competent professional they can trust to deliver results.

The real goal is to be trusted, and trust isn’t built on being agreeable. It’s built on your ability to deliver results. This requires direct, honest communication, not people-pleasing. As real estate coach David Radney discovered, the most effective partner isn’t always the most comfortable one, admitting:

“I’ll be honest—I wasn’t sure about him at 1st. His delivery was direct, and he didn’t sugarcoat anything… After 1 session, I had people messaging me, saying, ‘I don’t know if the energy is right. Maybe you shouldn’t have him back.’… but if you’re serious about growth, he’s exactly the type of person you need in your corner.”

This truth is powerful because it frees you from the pressure to be a people-pleaser. It empowers you to be a direct, honest expert focused on getting the job done—which is what builds the unshakeable trust that wins deals.

The Truth: Positive Emotion Is the Result of Solving a Problem

The pressure to be liked is directly tied to another destructive piece of sales advice—the common mantra that “people make decisions based on emotion and justify them with logic.” This is the direct cause of feeling “salesy” and “inauthentic,” forcing you to become a manipulator of feelings instead of a solver of problems.

For big, important decisions like a real estate transaction, the process begins with a “concrete, functional need.” A client needs more space, needs to sell an investment to free up capital, or needs to move for a new job. These are logical problems. Positive emotions like relief, excitement, and trust are the consequence of you logically demonstrating your competence and solving their functional problem.

Real estate investor Jhanel Wilson was trapped by the emotions of “overthinking and perfectionism,” which paralyzed her. But after being pushed to take direct, functional action based on a clear plan, she “made over $10,000 in a single weekend.” The result wasn’t just financial; it was transformational. As she put it, her “confidence soared.”

This principle holds true even in the face of fear. One agent, Terell Goodman, believed it was “impossible” to get deals from calls until he focused on the functional process. After securing his first deal, the positive emotion of “faith” followed the tangible result.

This shift changes your role from an emotional manipulator to a respected problem-solver. By focusing on the client’s logical needs, you build authentic confidence for both them and yourself.

The Truth: “Cold Calling” Is a Selfish Excuse

The phrase “cold calling” is a massive mental block and a toxic phrase that keeps capable professionals from taking the action required to build a consistent business.

The phrase is selfish because it makes the conversation about your fear, your comfort, and your feelings of rejection. It selfishly places your comfort above a potential client’s urgent need for a solution. It positions you as an intruder trying to get something, rather than a professional trying to give a solution.

To break free, you must reframe the activity as an act of service. You are not calling “cold strangers.” You are calling “warm leads”—like Expired listings or For Sale By Owners (FSBOs)—who have “already publicly raised their hand” for help. They have a problem, and your call is a potential solution. This mindset shift isn’t just theory; it produces real-world breakthroughs, as one professional discovered:

“Secured my 1st deal over the phones… Before ECC and Coaching I worked solely on referrals and I thought it was impossible to get deals from cold calling. Everyone in this group has shown me it’s possible and helped instill faith in me.”

This reframe is impactful because it changes your identity. You are no longer an intruder trying to get a commission; you are a problem-solver offering a solution.

The Truth: Honesty and Action Build Real Confidence

“Fake It ‘Til You Make It” is a trap designed for thinkers, not doers. It encourages you to build your business on a foundation of insecurity, creating a constant fear of being “found out.” Real, sustainable confidence is built on truth and action, not fairy tales. The alternative stands on three powerful pillars:

• Honesty: True confidence is having the self-awareness to be real. It’s admitting what you don’t know, which paradoxically builds more trust than pretending to be perfect.
• Knowledge: Instead of faking it, commit to learning the fundamentals. When you truly know something, you can explain it with a clarity and certainty that projects authentic power.
• Action: Real confidence is not learned by simply reading; it is forged through action. It’s a byproduct of doing the work, embracing the principle that “Version 1 Is Better Than Version None” to overcome the paralysis of perfectionism.

As real estate agent and coach Tiffany “The Closer” Tucker explains, honesty is a demonstration of strength, not weakness.

“When you tell a prospect, ‘That’s a great question. I’m not perfect in this… there are some things that I don’t know, but I can tell you exactly how I’ll find out for you,’ you aren’t showing weakness—you are demonstrating incredible strength.”

This approach removes the “crushing pressure of perfectionism.” It allows you to show up authentically and build a foundation of confidence that can withstand any challenge.

The Truth: Empathy Is an Action, Not a Feeling

Many professionals believe their job is to be sympathetic—to feel sorry for a client’s struggles. This is a passive mindset that leads to inaction. Sympathy is a feeling of pity from a distance (“Oh, that’s terrible…”), but it doesn’t solve the problem.

True empathy, the kind that wins deals, is a verb. It’s an understanding so deep it compels you to act. This is the concept of “Future Empathy”—the “Action-Driven Help” that gets a client through their problem. It’s about taking imperfect action because “Version 1 Is Better Than Version None”; a flawed plan in motion is infinitely better than perfect sympathy that goes nowhere. The difference between passive support and active help is powerfully illustrated by the story of entrepreneur Galyn Fergerson.

“Working with Jerome has allowed me to accomplish in 30 days what I have been trying to accomplish in 3 years.”

This mindset transforms you from a passive listener into an effective problem-solver. Clients with real challenges don’t just need someone to understand their pain; they need a competent professional they can trust to end it.

Conclusion: Stop Thinking, Start Doing

These five comfortable lies all have one thing in common: they encourage passive thinking over active doing. They stem from telling people what they want to hear, keeping you on the sidelines analyzing and perfecting while your competition is in the game getting results.

The central, most powerful takeaway is this: Knowledge on its own is “useless potential.” The only truth that creates results is that “implementation is power.” You must “‘ACT!’ Don’t overthink it.”

The theory is over. Your competition is waiting for perfection. What is the one imperfect, decisive action you will take today to get the results they only talk about?