Entrepreneur who makes up to $170,000 a month shares the two key lessons he's learned

If you’ve ever dreamt of starting your own business and earning tens of thousands each month, an entrepreneur who’s done just that has shared his two key lessons.

Businessman Pat Flynn earns $170,000 a month – around £140,000 – and sometimes even more from his online ventures.

He’s now sharing what he’s learned from the mistakes he made along the way to help others make their business dreams come true.

Flynn, from San Diego, California, hasn’t always been an entrepreneur. At the age of 25 he suffered mild depression after he lost his job at an architecture firm in 2008.

Yet, it was this seemingly unfortunate incident which got him to where he is today.

Soon after becoming unemployed, Flynn created a website to help people pass their architecture exams, which then snowballed into him selling study guides, classes and practice papers.

It wasn’t long before he generated more than $200,000 in sales and built several other online businesses including Smart Passive Income, a site full of helpful content for aspiring business owners, which brings him in his hefty monthly earnings.

In his self-published book Will it Fly?, Flynn wrote: “Even though I’ve created successful businesses over the years, I’ve had a number of complete failures too.

“When I look back and carefully examine each of these failures, the fatal flaw always comes down to one of two things.”

And those are: prioritising making money over serving people and rushing into things.

Flynn clarified: “You just don’t make money if you don’t care about people first.

“Putting cash over caring has never rewarded me, and I’ve since learned that your earnings become a by-product of how well you serve your audience."

And on his point about getting carried away, Flynn explained: “Getting excited about something and rushing into it isn’t a behaviour that only children possess. It’s common in all ages, and particularly common in entrepreneurs.

“I used to rush into things because I didn’t want to waste time, but my haste often cost me more time (and a lot of money) in the process.

“A little bit of time up front to validate an idea can make all the difference in the world.”

Many are finding his advice useful. Sharing reviews of his book online, one entrepreneur said: “I am constantly getting new ideas for businesses to start. Before reading this book, I would get an idea, think it was great, and just go for it! That led to some success... and a string of left-behind businesses.”

Another added: “I’ve had an idea in my head for years. I never knew how to start, so I was paralysed by indecision. In my head, the idea seemed flawless, but I needed a way to give my idea wings to take off.” After reading Flynn’s advice they added: “I’m so excited to launch my idea.”