Why I Started Using Email Marketing in 2016 (and Why It Still Works)

August 9/by JC

Today, more than ever, we’re pressed for time and energy. Each day we start with so many minutes and energy to pay attention to all of the things that we need to deal with.

Many things in our lives distract us from what we want to actually get done. Email checking is one of the biggest pet peeves to most of us – me included. It feels like such a drag.

After swearing to myself that I’d never use email to reach people on a regular basis because of how unresponsive I personally am to it and how overused it seems, I realized that I was leaving a legitimate way to engage and connect with people on the table. Some people actually want to hear from me. 🙂

In fact, there’s some people (again me not being one of them) that actually pay more attention to their email than they do social media. So much so that in the past couple of weeks that I’ve been sending emails, I’ve already had a couple of unsubscribes! Personally I hardly ever unsubscribe from people unless they send too much – (usually those are daily senders and my junk mail tends to grab those after a while anyway).

So what made me realize that this was a good way for me to engage with folks if I’m not the most receptive of it myself? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s why:

There are some people who really only get their notifications from the web via emails.

Seriously. They don’t have Facebook, Twitter, or another social media constantly open. Nope, instead, they go to their online email web portal, check to see if anything is going on and if it’s not, then it’s not anything they need to worry about. Larry King recently put it this way on his interview with Lewis Howes when it came to having a phone that can text – “There’s a reason I don’t text. If I need to know it, I’m sure you or someone else will tell me.”

The same is true with social media. My dad is this kind of person as well.

Every cell phone, even flip phones, has email capability.

Unless you know someone that’s carrying a Zack Morris brick or something from the late 90’s or early 2000’s, all phones have email capability. (I don’t even know if those phones can actually use today’s signals or not though, so…)

While there are some people like Larry King who use their flip phone only as a phone, most cell phone users opt to use it for as much as possible. More than 50% (56% of this writing) of all traffic on the web is from mobile devices. People are connected, true, but not everyone has the same apps or use the same social media platforms. Email is “universal”.

People rely on emails for digests of what’s going on from their favorite brands.

When you’re looking to check and see if there’s a sale at a favorite store, are you going to do that via social media, their website, or check for an email if you subscribed to them?

You’ll probably check their website.

However… you probably wouldn’t even think to check their website if it wasn’t the fact that you had been notified by an email of theirs in the past about a sale.

Personally, I know for me that I bought two new Colts hats in the last couple of years because I saw them featured in emails. Had I not gotten those emails, I probably would not have gotten the hats that I wear pretty regularly.

It’s easier for the one doing the marketing to integrate emailing into other marketing systems making them seem more personalized.

Truth be told, I tend to pay attention to emails that start with this: “Hey, Jc!”

Why is that? Because it makes my subconscious feel important. Even though I know that I had to have had put my name in a form somewhere for it come out that way (I go by JC not Jc), I still have more of an interest in that particular email – because I obviously actively signed up for it.

On that same point, 31.5% of US online retailers use the customer’s name and/or a unique welcome message. However, nearly half of US online retailers use personalized product recommendations (44.9% – read marketing funnels) and a quarter of them report adding shopping cart reminders (27.6%) to cover all of their personalization bases.

It’s inexpensive.

Currently, right now with MailChimp, I’m not paying anything to email my email list. I think that this is a great option for anyone that might not have a huge budget to spend on tools when they’re first getting started.

Also, I’ve used other tools like Constant Contact and aWeber, and frankly, I wasn’t too impressed with their functionality. MailChimp has gotten way better over the last couple of years.

However, there’s one cavot that I’m pretty sure using MailChimp has – it has issues getting through spam filters. Not sure why that is.

If you’re using MailChimp and you start hearing about your subscribers ending up with your email in their spam folders a bit much, you might want to consider other options.

The least expensive one that I can think of is ActiveCampaign which seems to have a reasonable price point.

That said, if you already have a course or two and you’re bringing some money in to cover your expenditures, you might want to take a look at ConvertKit – which seems it’s quickly becoming the best platform for online business folks.

Love it or hate it, it’s still effective.

So there you have it. Even though I’m not the first one to use the medium by far (I went a whole year without using it), I’ve realized that even within the few weeks that I have used it that I get more engagement. In the end, if we’re trying to get our message out there as people who want to change lives, then I’ll concede that email is a tool that you might want to reconsider using in the foreseeable future.

Let me know below what your experience has been with email marketing. Did you hate it at first and eventually give in like me?

AoL 047: How to Skill Hack and Stay Engaged In Your Creative Work with Stephen Robinson

August 4/by JC

On the show today, 2 friends and a host share what it’s really like learning for a living. That’s right, I said LEARN for a living.

What does mean? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Ginger joins me again in this one and we talk with one of her friends that she’s met in her travels – Stephen Robinson.

Stephen is founder of 52Skillz, a YouTube channel in where he discovers, learns, and shares a new skill weekly.

With so many “leading learners” out there, there’s a lot of conversation in how to do it.

While Stephen has had plenty of inspiration, he wants to make sure he does it his own way. He does it by one-upping people that are already out there.

So, is it as easy as it sounds? Or, as we ask him in the chat: How do you stay engaged and up-to-date in your work?

The answer, and the story of where 52Skillz came from is what we lay out for you today on the show.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

How Stephen chose his major in college 10:42
How to not get your business lost in the ether of the internet. 14:37
Where the idea for 52 Skillz came from. 17:00
Does Stephen feel he was inspired by Tim Ferriss? 19:46
Does he feel like there’s any favorite skills that he’s learned? 21:53
Where he would recommend that people start if they wanted to start learning skills quickly. 29:02
How Stephen has a constant flow of content coming for his YouTube channel. 33:13
Does he do his own video production? 36:08
How he has the ability to work on a passion project while at the same pay the bills. 40:58
What’s a strategy that Stephen would recommend to transfer to do something they love? 44:34
How does Steven stay engaged in his work? 48:17
How he got ready for his TEDx talk 58:33
What is Stephen’s thoughts on having deadlines? 1:00:22
What’s Stephen looking forward to in the near future? 1:03:24
3 Favorite Influencers 1:07:00
3 Truths to share with others 1:07:18
What’s the message he’d put on social media? 1:08:42
What’s one thing that he used to believe but doesn’t anymore? 1:09:38
… and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Ginger comes through on her promise in learning to juggle!!:

Stephen’s TEDx Talk:

How He Prepped for his TEDx Talk:

Zephan Blaxberg Interview of Stephen:

Alexis Hillyard’s “Stump Kitchen” Crossover:

My Favorite Video of 52 Skillz:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

5 Obstacles in Achieving True Personal Freedom

August 2/by JC

No matter who you are or what you’re doing, those of us who are leading (or trying to lead) passion filled lives and businesses are doing so because we feel that we can be ourselves better than what a boss can prescribe for us. We’re trying to gain our Personal Independence, or as most call it, Personal Freedom. Most people don’t like being bossed around, right? (Obviously there’s an exception. But I have yet to meet that person…!)

Until you have personal freedom, you’re always going to have that as a possibility in your life.

In the last post, I spoke of 4 common problems that people have when trying to start a business. These problems are part of a larger list of obstacles that I want to point out in today’s post. Without overcoming these obstacles through actively working on them, or simply through understanding them, a person can never have true Personal Freedom.

Health

The first thing everyone should be able to maintain at an optimum level is their health – both physical and mental. This is the first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Due to this, many of us who are thinking about building a business take this part for granted. However, ignoring it can have a very negative impact on everything else we do.

In fact, if a person doesn’t have their sanity or the energy to do the activities that need to be done in a certain day, then they won’t get very far.

For many people this is a daily struggle. These people are living a Caged Life. Combined with the potential of not having shelter (the second level of Maslow’s), these folks might not ever think about starting their own business.

That said, one good thing that comes from having to struggle daily is a natural tenacity for “Hustle”. And, ironically, that’s an important ingredient to building a business.

Community

The third level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Love and Belonging. Once we have ourselves taken care of, we naturally want to start reaching out to others. Our need to engage with others is part of what it means to be human. We want to feel connected to people who are interested in the same things we are. I like to think of this as a need for us to feel that we have social proof. That we’re not alone.

As mentioned in the 6 Cornerstones eBook, a tribe is a very good thing to have when we’re aiming for higher success – it gives us support for when the going gets tough!

If this is done with authenticity, it gives us a feeling of esteem (Maslow’s fourth level) because we know that people appreciate the true us!

Once we have our health and know our role in our community, you could say that we’re experiencing a Comfortable Life. Life is good, but it’s not great. And funny enough, it’s been said numerous times that Good is, in fact, the enemy of Great. It’s really hard to give up Comfortable for what’s coming next…

Knowledge and Skills

On the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Self Actualization. This is where we start realizing who we are. That we do have passions, particular strengths, and know where we fit in life. It’s when we have this understanding, that we can master our knowledge and build other skills that will supplement what we already know about ourselves and how we interact with the world.

Because we can always keep learning about ourselves and the world around us, this journey never ends. And if you were looking for a label for someone that’s here… this is called living a Charged Life.

As a side note, our current school system doesn’t work in our favor when it comes to this obstacle. In fact, it makes it worse. Formal education makes us great soldiers who fit like cogs in a larger machine (society) where we don’t question if we’re in the right place.

So to be free in our knowledge and skill building, we typically have to go outside of the formal school system because it isn’t in their best interest to teach us about who we are as individuals.

One way of gaining more knowledge is by actively going out there and seeing it for yourself. That’s why so many millennials would rather have experiences than having things.

Financial

This factor and the next are not necessarily ascending levels like the past three are. But it’s something that I need to discuss in further detail because they’re not discussed hardly at all in formal education in a way that everyone can understand.

As you probably know, the better our finances are, the more options we have in life. What do I mean by this? In our current world, having financial freedom is what gets rid of living a life where you have a boss giving you orders all the time. Obviously, you can buy more expensive things, travel and see the world, but another benefit of having your finances taken care of is that YOU have the ability to help others out in times of need. Have a family member or friend who’s struggling? You don’t have to think twice about helping them out.

What’s interesting is that financial freedom isn’t really as far away as you might think. In fact, it’s up to you to determine what that means. To me, I think it’s about living the life you want to live while staying within your means. If your cost of living is lower than what your business (or other income) earns you, then you can technically call yourself financially independent.

The whole point of opting for a business versus having a job is becoming financially free. When you’re financially free, you don’t answer for anyone other than yourself and potential clients – but that’s the same even if you have a job.

Just remember, if you don’t tell yourself what to do, the world will gladly put someone next to you will. There’s leaders and followers. Make yourself a leader.

(Just a note: I watched The Wolf of Wall Street over the weekend. Really interesting movie if you can stomach lots of skin, drug use, and swearing. I found it incredible in how quickly he was able to capitalize on penny stocks and quickly start his own firm. In case you already saw it, here’s a list of other movies you can check out as well if you want to learn more about what being an entrepreneur is all about.)

Government – Know the Rules

We should have a clear understanding of how the rules work in our country so that we can know how we can play the game of life within the rules that are set up.

In other words, I like to think of a government as being the entity that makes the rules for it’s people. Which is true, right?

If you think of great sports players, they know how to use the rules to their advantage when needed.

Take Peyton Manning, for example. One of the best, if not the best player that ever played the quarterback position in football.

Up until the past couple of years when they changed the rule, occasionally, he’d hurry his team up to the ball and take the snap as quickly as possible. Why? Because he wanted to get the other team sleeping with too many people on the field.

The other team would get penalized which would in turn gain him a few additional yards… getting him closer to his goal.

Knowing little ins and outs of how the rules work, can really help your game.

Action Steps

So, that about does it! On that last note, if you do have any feedback you’d love to send my way, please do. I’d love to hear it!

As for this post, I wanted to dedicate some time to open up about what personal freedom is all about and let you in on my brain a little bit. These topics are important to me, and I hope you find that they’re cool with you too. My hope is that maybe what I’ve said here will help you prepare for what’s coming… not just in your business (because again I believe it’s the only way to have Financial Freedom) but also help you navigate the waters of life in general.

Supplemental: My Perspective on the Current Political Scene

If you’re not following me on Facebook, you’re missing out on some good postings recently. Currently, the election cycle is in full swing and as many of you know, I’m what many might call a Conservative Libertarian.

In my mind, the simple description of a Conservative Libertarian who believes that the government is in charge of the basics for everyone. These basics are expressed through the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. These are the rulebooks for our government. They say what the government CAN’T do.

Somehow, people have gotten this perspective that they’re about what the government CAN do, which is why they might also think that the rules are out of date. However, when you change the rulebook and what it can do, you’re changing how the game is played.

People generally don’t understand the rules – and again, it’s at the fault of “Formal Education”.

Where Things Stand Currently

Currently, many people rely on the government for one program or another. Typically these are the same people who are stuck in the first few levels of hierarchy of needs. They don’t see past tomorrow because they can’t. So why should they care about what comes after it?

While these programs seem like they’re doing good, they’re actually weakening us as a country. Why would anyone work for something if they’re going to get it for free? Principle? Sure. But for how long?

The problem is that there’s so many people out there that don’t care that what they rely on to get to the next day is coming off the hard work of others. It’s not even that they don’t care. It’s that they’re indifferent to it. They don’t know how things work.

As more and more people take “advantage” of these programs or rely on the government to make big decisions for the people and make everything easier, the more those who have made working for government a career gain more power. Not just power for themselves, but power over you, the individual. This is called Progressivism.

Currently, we have two people who, in their personal history, have shown that they are Statists. A Statist is someone who believes that the state should control either economic and/or social policy to some degree.

One is from Big Money and the other is from Big Government. Many people don’t realize that Big Money folk pay Government members to make legislation that will help them out. The more that these people make laws together, the more the little guy (you and I) get pushed out.

A Growing Oligarchy

As we continue to ask the government for favors because we “deserve it”, we move closer and closer to what’s called an oligarchy. (Here’s one of most referenced videos that describes what that is and more.) The more favors they provide, the more people that need to be in control of those favors. The larger the government (or ruling class) gets.

If the United States ever becomes an oligarchy, we will have became the opposite of what the country was originally founded on. A place where we can never have the opportunity for Personal Freedom. It won’t matter how much you tried to do what you wanted, at this point you have a society which has a specific purpose for you, and you’re going to do that specific job.

So this is why I harp on politics as much as I do. Right now I realize how much we have to lose if the rules are changed completely. While I’m fairly new to this whole personal freedom chase myself, I want to at least have a shot.

With the government adding more and more rules in how people function together, it gets harder and harder for EVERYONE to be more and achieve more in life.

How to Start a Business with a low budget, little technology access, hardly any time, and no college education

July 26/by JC

Many times I’m asked, what kind of business can I start if I don’t have the money, skills, or the technology?

The quick answer: Any kind you want.

Many of the folks that I interact with in my daily life on and offline would love to have their own thing and make an income with it. However, for one reason or another, they simply haven’t gotten there yet.

They usually have one to four major obstacles that are getting in their way:

Limited Education (might not have gone to college)
Limited Access to Technology (they *might* have a laptop)
Limited Funding (might be on welfare)
Limited Time (they need to make money with the time they spend on what they’re doing)

My goal with this post is to take you through some key points and see if we can come out the end having figured out a solution to these issues while allowing you to properly utilize your skill set. Just a heads up, in this case, we’re going to be utilizing the idea of setting up a car repair shop as the primary example.

College Graduate vs No College

One thing I’ve noticed is there is a pattern when it comes to those who graduated college vs those who haven’t.

Those that have completed college, tend to see more obstacles all at once which makes them less likely to even get started. They believe they don’t have the necessary skills to do precisely what they want to do, so that’s the point? Or, if they’re like me when I first started, they realize the time investment it’s going to take to learn all of these new skills and simply believe they’ll run out of runway before they get off the ground. Just like so many other things, smart people tend to overthink themselves from actually moving forward.

On the other hand, those that haven’t gone to college actually tend to get started, but then soon realize that they don’t have the skills or the funding to follow through on their idea or take it to another level.

I mean, I know several guys who are good with cars. Most of them have been “work at home” repair guys in the past, but realized that it was too much of a hassle to keep going for a prolonged period of time. I’m guessing because the reason they got busy is because word of their good work and super low prices got out and everyone wanted to take advantage of it! Not a bad deal if you didn’t have money coming in before you got started, but after awhile, it just gets old or difficult to keep up.

So, inevitably they want to scale it up a bit. But how do you do that?

They have no extra money to hire anyone. And they don’t have time to learn to shoot and edit video to start a YouTube channel documenting what they’ve done.

So what choice do they have other than continuing to do things they’ve always done?

Both of these examples illustrate people that in the end have maxed out their time. If they had more time, they’d probably use even more of it to do the work themselves.

This isn’t a great solution.

So let’s figure out a solution that takes care of all of these issues at once.

Getting Started

In my FREE eBook, The 6 Cornerstones of a Successful Online Business, one of the things that I discuss is that it’s very important to have a Why.

Based on your background, your Why will differ quite a bit from the next person’s. I mean, it’s true that you might be interested in having the same result, but the reason you’re doing it is going to be your own because everyone has different backgrounds.

So first, you need to find out what your Why is and learn to hold onto it because it’s what will get you through the tough times.

After you’ve found your Why, the next step is figuring out what you’ve enjoyed doing in the past the most in your past jobs and positions.

Whatever answers this question, that’s what you’re going to want to build your business off of.

Perhaps you like working with people, perhaps you actually do like working on cars. Maybe it’s both, it’s up to you to figure out what industry you want to work in.

Building the Foundation

Once you’ve determined the industry you want to work in, now it’s up to you to think about the type of business you’d like to ideally run. Would you like to have others working for you on a big online platform? Would you like to run a mechanic shop? Own several and just rake in the money? It really depends on what you see for yourself. Each goal is going to have a different approach. To build a proper foundation, you need to know what the finished product looks like.

Skill Inventory Check

At this point, if you’ve already read the 6 Cornerstones, you’re probably wondering where this is going because it seems pretty similar. Well, it is. That’s why I made the resource. It’s the general building blocks of a successful online business.

However, this post is more about the freelancing model. One big benefit of using this model is that it helps people earn income quickly.

So that said, this is the part that things start to change a bit.

If you’re wanting to do something online or that you have a fairly long runway, know that getting the 6 Cornerstones will help. But if you’re wanting to do something in the real world or need results yesterday, this hopefully will fill in some gaps.

So let’s stick with the mechanic example. As a mechanic you realize that you’d probably like having a shop, and you’re probably going to like having several guys working for you.

The first thing I’d do is make sure you have some procedures in place in how to do jobs. Luckily with mechanics, those procedures are fairly easy to get ahold of. If they’re not online, then I know that they’re in books in the part stores that have everything down to changing a headlight.

Now, here’s the thing. It’s not going to be up to you to be doing the jobs, What you need to find is someone that can actually do the jobs in the back while you’re out getting new customers. Or, if you REALLY want to be in the back working on things, you’re going to have to find someone that is good at getting the customers in.

You can’t do both in the end, and while I know at the beginning you might have time to do both, you should be more concerned about getting your shop started.

In other words, whatever you’re bad at or don’t want to do, find someone that will help fill in your weaknesses for a price point that you can afford.

Finding Help

Where are places that you can get folks who are looking to do work for cheap and not all the time? If you’re starting an online business, you can get people to help by project at Fiverr.com or at upwork.com if it’s something in depth.

As far as the mechanic shop owner goes, he’ll want to check schools or junior colleges that help mechanics get certified to work for the larger shops. They won’t be able to work all the time because they go to class, but they’ll probably need experience and they’ll probably want paid based on the project, and you can help them with both.

Of course you’ll want to find out what the market wants first, (specially in the car shop case, are you going to be specializing in domestics, imports, or both?) but in the end, you’re going to need help so start with it early based on how much work you got coming in.

Getting Paid

Now that we have you in charge of the “shop” and the actual mechanic (or in the online world a programmer or designer), you’ll want to make sure you’re not only covering your overhead (which in this case is charging enough to pay you and your help), but thinking about the future too.

Start off by pricing the work at something lower than most shops, but enough to pay you, your partner, and save a little per job. Eventually you’ll want to have some money to put towards that dream shop, but you want to also have enough money for taxes.

If you’re online and you’re starting a design group, the same holds true. Get enough that you and your partner are paid fairly, and have enough margin so that you can upgrade your technology, or buy better services to make your life easier so can put more enhancements in your sales funnel.

Momentum

As you and your help do more work, two things will happen.

If have good quality, word will get out there on your quality, and you’ll get more customers through referrals. Also, if you’re doing your job, you’re letting more people know about your services just like your first customer.
Your help might either want to go full time, or you might have to find another helper. As a full timer, your help will probably want to be paid more. If you opt to find another helper, you’ll have to put in more time as you get that new person up to speed. This choice is yours – just remember that a experience might just be worth the extra dollar, (or 20) per hour. Everyone has so much time, but there’s plenty of money out there.

Once you have this problem of momentum, this is where the real fun starts. Will you have to find another place to do your work before your dream shop? Do you bring on more part timers? It sounds basic, but it’s how the world works. Don’t over think it.

Checking our Results

Now, just in this mechanic shop example, we were able to come up with a business while dealing with all of the issues that were raised at the beginning.

Limited Education – If you’re not good at something, don’t want to deal with it, OR doing it yourself prohibits your goal, you can always find someone that knows what they’re doing for a price point you can afford. You just have to think outside the box to find them.
Limited Access to Technology – In the car shop sense, you’re not going to have all the greatest and best tools to get the job done. It doesn’t mean that you can’t rent equipment per job or just do the ones that you’re capable of doing at the time.

If you’re working online, perhaps this means that the only time you’re doing business is through a library computer or via computers that are in a studio. Maybe you do have a laptop. At that point, you can start finding more clients at any time for your developer or designer.
Limited Funding – Mechanic wise, if you’re starting off with $500 or $600, get tools you don’t have that are necessary to do one or two jobs that need to be done all the time. Meaning, do you have the basics for doing the jobs that a Jiffy Lube can do? Start there.

If you’re doing a job online, use that money to buy software that you and your partner can use to do simple jobs. There’s tons of open source software suites out there. And you’d be surprised on what all is available today that is a good alternative to Photoshop. Same thing can be said about website development. Buy the license on one theme that can be changed to do practically anything you want. Enfold (the theme I use) is a great example.
Limited Time – If you’re only able to spend 20 hours a week doing something, that’s all you need. That averages out to 3 hours a day. Not all of that time has to be equally distributed each day. If you can spend more time than that on a given day, then, by all means do so.

Spend time doing something you’re good at. Again, I’d strongly recommend finding someone to help out as a helper early on or even a co-founder. It’s a much easier road and 50% of something is always better than 100% of nothing.

Obviously, this is post is heavy in the freelancer model. And that’s for a reason. The freelancer is the one entrepreneur type that can start earning an income the quickest and potentially the highest right away. Other types of business models might have higher returns later, but this is a great place if you need to change your hours into dollars.

If earning income quickly isn’t a necessity for you, then you might have other limitations that you might have to deal with. Maybe if you’re trying to be a thought leader or a teacher, you haven’t quite learned everything you need to know to have as much impact as you’d like. Or perhaps if you’re an artist, you simply haven’t mastered your craft yet.

If you’re thinking of becoming a thought leader, teacher, or mediapreneur, I highly recommend checking out the 6 Cornerstones eBook I spoke of earlier. I believe it will truly help you go the right direction when building something online for the long haul.

That said, best of luck to you as you start this journey. Would love to hear your thoughts below.

AoL 045: Helping Veterans find Real Estate, Mentoring, and Business Success with Melinda Enfinger

July 21/by JC

Taking a passion and making money from it takes the form of many types of careers.

For me, you guys know I love helping people do actually that. That’s why my focus in grad school was entrepreneurship. I love discussing and thinking about it… turning around and helping someone else out through the process.

This session’s guest is no different. Melinda Enfinger is a veteran of the Marines who found herself in the reality industry afterwards, and now finds herself helping veterans find their own property – plus other benefits that they might not know about.

In this session, Laila and I talk with Melinda and find out about her years of service (especially being a female Marine in the 90’s), how she got into working with veterans, and some of the commonly missed benefits that veterans might not be aware of when it comes to reality.

If you are veteran (or know one) and you don’t have a great relationship with the Veterans Services Office, then you should definitely listen to this and see if knowing Melinda might be worth your while!!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

Why Melinda joined the Marines and what her experience was like during her tenure. 9:00
How she got into reality upon leaving the Marines. 14:11
How the transition went from being in Marines to being a civilian 15:47
Why she liked being involved with reality for as long as she’s been in it. 17:15
What some of her favorite stories are when it comes to helping veterans with reality. 21:25
How she found herself doing copywriting work. 22:43
What she belives makes for good copy. 28:30
When it’s better to use “we” vs “you” when writing blog posts. 32:49
How she feels being in the military pushed her into coaching and consulting 35:05
What kind of people does she like working with the most? 37:53
What some of her favorite wins are in her coaching. 42:02
What are some things that married military couples should pay attention to when thinking about buying a new house. 50:07
Why Melinda believes that veterans need to take advantage of their local Veteran Service Centers 52:58
What are some influencers in Melinda’s life 55:37
3 Truths she’s learned that she’d share with others 56:08
What ad would she put out into the world? 56:47
What would Melinda say to her 30 year old self? 58:27
Who comes to mind when she thinks of the word success? 1:02:10
…and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Interview with Shawn Mahdavi of Realbies:

How to be Authentic Online:

Mecklenburg County, NC Veterans Services Office (Just Google your county for yours or Use this link):

22Kill and the Honor Rings:

22Kill Intro:

Excerpt of the Glenn Beck Program featuring Jacob Schick of 22kill (Part 1):

Jacob Schick of 22kill (Part 2):

Entirety of the Glenn Beck Program for that day.

Additional interview with Jacob Schick:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Ashley Zahabian: Getting Through Difficult Times and Busting the Myth of Overnight Success (AoL 044)

July 14/by JC

When it comes to success, many times we think that people are lucky and that success just happens. Even this past week with the launch of Pokemon Go, we’ve seen something take very little time to become really well known – even by those of us who have put very little time into it if none at all.

However, just like the creator of Pokemon, our guest Ashley Zahabian would tell you that there is no such thing as overnight success. In fact, when it comes to her story, she’s been on the public speaking path for several years already – which is saying a lot for a 21 year old!

In this session, Ginger and I dive into Ashley’s path and find out how an overnight success story is made. Join in as we discuss how she went from living a caged life to a charged one, what she has planned for the next few years, and how she stays consistent in her work.

If you’ve seen this gal on stage, Facebook or YouTube, this is a backstage pass that should give you hope in reaching for your goals and dreams!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

Why the struggles she’s had over the last several years have helped her become an “overnight” success. 10:39
What she’s been able to implement into her entrepreneurial career from what she learned in college. 15:34
Ashley’s take on Mr. Wonderful blowing up on Maneesh Sethi on Shark Tank 19:09
Why she thinks it’s important to work with your passion. 21:00
How she belives that she was able to move from living a Caged life to a Charged life 27:22
The feeling of what it was like to become an honest person. 23:34
The first thing someone can do to step into a Charged life. 28:37
How Ashley stays consistent in her work week. 34:38
What gave Ashley the idea to start doing her video series. 38:47
Why she doesn’t worry about using clips from movies in her videos on YouTube. 40:45
How long Ashley has been doing speaking engagements. 42:10
What she would recommend for people to do if they wanted their first speaking gig. 43:34
What she imagines that the next 5 years of her career look like. 48:19
Three truths that she would share with others. 51:25
Three of her favorite influencers in her life. 52:02
If she could have high school consume certain information, what would she prescribe. 52:41
What she would tell the 13 year old version of herself. 56:50
…and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS (Update – 5.16.2017):

Hey guys! Thanks for looking for the show note extras for Ashley’s interview. Unfortunately, a lot of her earlier stuff has been taken down. So I’ve gone and added a few other videos for you to enjoy of Ashley at work… including her TEDx talk!

Ashley’s Interview on Addicted 2 Success TV:

Ashley on her Experiences at the Feliciano School of Business:

Believe in Yourself (An Early Speech by Ashley):

Ashley is officially a TEDx presenter!

Ashley on the I Am the Average Podcast:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Networking Skills and Build Successful Relationships

July 12/by JC

The process of networking itself is simple. Just show up to events and initiate conversation. True, even that part can be hard for people. However, that isn’t really the hardest part! The hardest part is the follow through.

When I was first introduced to the networking scene after I got out of grad school, I was a little clueless about how to do it exactly. I wanted to find people that would be able to help me get to where I wanted to be faster. I took advantage of the idea that there’s plenty of people out there who want to help new graduates move forward in their career. Not once did I really think about who I should be talking to.

Today, I have realized that there are 4 types of people that will be key to your success as an entrepreneur – whether you’re online, or offline. They are:

A mentor (virtual or not) – Someone you see yourself emulating as you grow your business. A working relationship with this person is a plus. Their job is to be the best version of themselves so that you have a target to keep shooting for.
A Tribe – A group of people that like what you do because you give value to the group as a whole.
A Mastermind – A small group of peers that are going in the same direction as yourself.
A Coach – Someone that gives you feedback on your growth and helps you figure out answers to questions you have. Their job is to help you be a better you.

(If you want to find out more about these different types of people and why they’re important to network with, you can do so by grabbing my resource: 6 Cornerstones to Building a Successful Online Business.)

Once you find these people, you need to be able to build meaningful relationships with them so they don’t leave your life as quickly as they entered. So here are some quick tips in doing just that.

Be In It to Win It

There’s no way around it. Winners like to surround themselves with other winners. If you’re wanting to get to know those that are at your level or above and want to keep them around, you’re going to have to have a mind-set that you’re going to succeed at your business.

This means that you’re going to have to have a long-term mentality to not only the decisions you make, but also realize that just because someone isn’t currently talking to you (and might not have for the past couple of months), doesn’t mean that they don’t “like” you anymore. Just like you should be, other solopreneurs and entrepreneurs in general are pretty damn busy. Get used to it!

Become a Go-To Person

Before you become a Go-To person in any field you need to have spent some quality time learning about that field. This is equally true for creative entrepreneurs as much as it is for engineers, realtors, insurance agents, etc.

The more you know about a certain subject, the more people will seek your knowledge out.

One thing that my mom always preached as I was growing up was that education is key to life. In fact, it was the one thing that she believed that worth pouring a small fortune into when the time arises. As you might know, it took me 6 years to get through my undergrad. She was totally ok with this as she would remind again and again, “when you look back on how long it took you to actually get through something worthwhile, you’ll realize, in the end, that it was worth it regardless of how long the process was”.

While I might not be directly using that knowledge that I picked up during those years, I will say that it has helped me become the person I am, help mold the way I think, and also introduce me to some of the best minds I know.

Give More Value Than You Seek

Many of us have superpowers that we try keep to ourselves. In the book, Will It Fly?, Pat Flynn talks about finding your superpowers early on in the book to figure out what you’re naturally good at doing so that you can make a business from it.

According to the results I got from the exercise in the book, my top 4 superpowers are:

Connecting
Teaching
Seeing Possibility
Loyalty

And you know what? I’d totally agree with this.

However, what he didn’t mention is that those same superpowers can help you even when you’re not trying to actively build your business. And, in fact, I think you should use them as much as possible.

Are you connector like me? Then introduce new ideas and people to each other without a fee. Are you a great coach? Then coach people here and there pro bono.

Eventually, others will know you for what you’re good at and all that good kharma that you’re putting out there will come back to you.

Treat Others by How You’d Want to be Treated

Meaning, treat them like a person.

Only celebrities are going to have crazy amounts of followers when they first open an account on a new social media platform. If you start using Periscope to build your business and you have one viewer, start engaging with that viewer. Make them feel like they’re not invisible.

The more you do this, the more likely that person will subscribe. The next time you come on, they might be there and so might another. Engage with both of them. Then you might have two subscribers.

The second one then might share you to their friends and the next time you hop on, you might have 5 viewers. Engage with them all. Ask them what they’re thinking about the topic. Find out where they’re from. Actually care about who you’re talking to.

No one cares what you know until you show how much you care.

Accept More Responsibility by Being More Intentional

Here’s one that we all struggle with in some manner or another. From a young age, many of us believe that if we can get people to not pay attention to us, then we won’t get in trouble as much. As a kid, this definitely has some merit to it!

If we’re known to be someone that doesn’t break things, when something does end up being broken, we can simply say “It wasn’t my fault!” and the grown-ups will go find someone else that has a dirtier track record.

However, this approach might not necessarily be useful later in life when we want to be recognized for our efforts.

If you’re the type of individual who wants to be recognized, you have to get on people’s radar first. There’s plenty of ways to do this.

If someone has a major life event on Facebook, even if you haven’t spoken to that person in a while (if ever), say something. Not only will you have a better chance of being recognized by that person in the future, Facebook will actually start sharing your posts with this person (unless they blocked you). Posting on people’s walls on birthdays is a great way to start.

A few other old school ways to start getting recognized is taking people out for coffee or lunch. Going to events you normally don’t go to and just calling more people up (either by phone or through skype) is great ways to build your reputation.

Also, if you’re in an organization or group of people where something goes south, and you’re known for having a good record, chances are that if you take responsibility for that situation, you might look better for trying to take the blame from whomever actually did. Even if you don’t have a good track record, you might get some recognition for actually taking responsibility. When we live in a society where many people try to shy away from responsibility, those that attempt to take it (good or bad) tend to get recognized.

Action Steps:

So, there you have it. Five ways I believe that will help you build better relationships as you go forward and meet those future great friends.

It’s fairly common sense stuff, really. However, as we all know – common sense isn’t commonly used in today’s world. It’s amazing what doing these tactics will do for you.

If you already employ some of these tactics, I’d love to hear some details in what works. Comment below!