zephan blaxberg interview

Zephan Blaxberg: Re-Scripting Your Life Through a Year of Purpose (AoL 028)

They say that your life can change by simply meeting one person. That new person can connect you to world that you only dreamed of living in. For some people, it might be landing that awesome job at a Fortune 500 company. For others, it might be finding a coach that will push them to excel and do more in life. Yet for others, it might just be that first client that will not only be a future raving fan but might actually be a mentor for years to come.

I think about that last one quite a bit. Not necessarily because I’m looking to find a mentor. No, I have my own.

Actually, I think about it because I want to help others succeed. So much has been given to me that I want to pass that power on to others.

This session’s guest, Zeph Blaxberg, knows all about this feeling. He, too, had a mentor that broke him out of mental jail. Working at an Apple Store as a fan of Apple’s… sure, that might sound like a great opportunity. However, when approached by his first client, he was quickly transformed to someone that was unemployable.

Like me, he wants to give back to others. He wants to help people break free of their every day lifestyle and live the life they could only dream of. He does this through multiple platforms including, but limited to, his podcast, a book, and an inner city social program that he helps with regularly.

Recently he was a guest on Pat Flynn’s podcast as someone that is indeed going places. So much so, that he inspired Pat to place an image of him on one of his keynote speeches.

In this chat between Laila, JC, and Zeph, we learn about his experience being featured on Pat’s podcast, his book and where the idea of it came from, his thoughts on the “fad of entrepreneurship”, and the success he had after hiring a business coach.

If you ever have felt that you want and deserve a better life, maybe you just haven’t met that one person – or people – yet. We hope our chat today can help you re-script your life.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Where his unusual name comes from.
  • What his high school experience was like and how he received double credit for it.
  • What the SPI podcast meant to Zephan when he first heard it.
  • What he’s realized about Pat after meeting him in person.
  • What it was like to have an impact on Pat.
  • When he felt like he had “arrived”.
  • When he hired his business coach and what that did for him and his success.
  • What his current work is focused on.
  • When he knew it was time for him to write a book.
  • How the launch for the book went and what he learned from the whole experience.
  • What Zephan believes makes his podcast successful.
  • The secret to getting busy guests on your podcast.
  • Why he does the podcast the way he does.
  • His thoughts on the “fad of entrepreneurship”.
  • …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:

Zephan’s Filmography Company: ZMBMedia

Zephan’s Podcast Interview with Tara Magalski:

Pat’s Podcast Interview of Zephan (SPI Session 202)

SPI-202-sharing

Zeph Interviewed by Alex Harris:

BONUS: Zeph’s 2014 presentation on Overcoming Your Fear of Being on Camera

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 iTunesStitcher, and/or Podbean. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

Tying Heartstrings: The #1 Way to Increase Influence, Traffic, and Income

I know this is a little to the point, but I’m going to admit it. I’ve found the secret to building a successful business… and you might not like it. However, it’s worked for tons of people around the web. And honestly, if you want to make an impact on others doing something you love, then you’re going to have to do it.

What’s this big it? What’s this secret? It’s being your genuine self and setting on a journey to master yourself.

When I say that, what kind of thoughts come to mind? Do you think of being a skilled speaker? Do you think of someone that hustles 24/7? Maybe you think of mastering the skill of connecting people? Perhaps you think of becoming a great author?

Perhaps you think about all those things. Maybe, none of them come to mind.

When I say “master yourself” or as others might put it become the ideal you”, I don’t mean for you to change who you are as a person. However, I might be asking for you to change your perspective of who you are and what you’re capable of.

Everyone is Different

From school, we know that certain kinds of people tend to resonate with others who are like them. Generally speaking, introverts get along real well with other introverts and extroverts get along well extroverts.

However, while this all true, we’re all different even more than that. Some introverts will like sports just as much as some extroverts. Some extroverts will love meditating as much as some introverts.

There were the groups that were popular. There were the band geeks. There were those of us who were into science.

It’s simple to say that there are all kinds of people. Your way of presenting yourself and your interests will resonate more with some people more than it does with others. Just as an example, I’ve met people who resonate more with Gary Vee more than they resonate with Ramit Sethi – even though, both are very direct in what they have to say and teach very similar topics.

To simplify what I am saying is this: the ideal you is someone that is not only a master of themselves, but someone that can communicate that self to others that will appreciate it.

I believe that the more compassion you show towards others, the more others will return for more in the future, and quite possibly, help you out in the future as well!

 

So, How do I Communite Myself Better to Others?

To say it in one word, be nice. Be honest, responsive, grateful, and go the extra mile for your audience.

On Monday, I was reminded about this once again when I was watching Brian Fanzo on Periscope. In this particular scope he said, that in the next year that three things were going to be huge in being a success in marketing (specifically live streaming):

  • Community
  • Storytelling
  • Engagement

Ask yourself, why are these things important? I’ll give you a moment.

It’s because they’re all things that people can connect with. As the host of the scope, you’re being nice here.

  • When you welcome others that are like you into a community, they realize that they’re no longer alone.
  • When you tell a story, they can connect you to others on so many levels. Your audience can relate better to who you are. They can agree that you want the same things in life. And furthermore, stories can even help people realize that your life and theirs are similar.
  • When you engage with someone who takes the time to engage with you first, they’ll appreciate you even more. When someone emails you, be sure to email them back. When someone drops a comment on your post or wall, make sure to respond. When you do this, it shows the audience member that you indeed care.

Doing these three things will build influence with your audience. In all three, you’re showing a certain levels of being nice and courteous. You’re providing value because they feel valued.

What’s the Point of Giving Away Value?

Well, if it’s not too obvious, the more value you give to your audience, the more they’ll come back. In LTD, we called it tying heartstrings. The more you do something for someone else, the more loops of string you’re throwing around their heart. If you have enough heartstrings tied around their heart, they’ll never be able to leave. If they did, they’d essentially be leaving a small portion of themselves behind. Also, the more heartstrings that you tie, the more they’ll want to engage even more with you, and promote you to others. This, in turn, drives up your traffic.

There are five ways this can happen:

  • They’ll share something you posted on social media.
  • They can subscribe to your email list. Whenever you deliver an update, there’s the potential that they’ll come back. Or heck, they might even share that newsletter with someone else.
  • They can comment on your post. This promotes conversation. If you’ve ever been over at Reddit, you might have realized that sometimes the comments and the discussion it leads to is much more interesting than the post itself.
  • They can email you directly. If they need help, again, you’d give it to them. This increases your trust level and helps them remember YOUR website. He or she will then be more likely to refer to your website to somebody else. If you’re just having a conversation about whatever, who knows – that person may have a blog with thousands of readers. Develop a rapport with this person and you may have found someone who may….
  • They’ll make a link back to your site from their site. (This is called back linking and Google LOVES backlinking.)

Ok, So I’ve Tied Some Heartstrings. Now What?

Well, I’m sure what you might like me to say is that you can sit back and watch your numbers go up, but things aren’t that simple. You’ll need to keep stirring the pot. Gotta keep that momentum going.

What it is time for, however, is for you to put up that first product of yours (if you haven’t already). Studies show that someone is more likely going to buy from a particular source the more times they’ve had in contact with that particular seller.

What’s it going to be? The easy way would be to just come up with something that they might like. The better idea would be to listen to those who you’ve brought in and ask them what they want – then make it. Like me, at the time of this writing, you might have silent traffic (hi guys!) and might have to rely on interviewing 5 to 10 people who you think would actually be candidates for what you have to offer.

Then once, you feel you have enough overlap of their responses, make it, and then deliver them back to them. (For bonus points, you might be so good at getting into those people’s needs that they might just be your first customers and prepay before it’s made!)

Action Steps:

So this week’s action steps are for you to think about this process. Are you connecting with your audience? Are they connecting with you? What kind of problems are you running into there?

If you are connecting and thinking about that first or next product, how’s your research going? Are you having any major setbacks as far as creating some actual buyers? Let us know below!

Labeling Business Accomplishment: Find Your Place, Your Peers, and GROW Faster!

With all the business training going around these days and the interaction of people at all levels of business, many business trainers have tried to label where people are by using a scale or other descriptive words to illustrate where people might be on the entrepreneurial path.

In Fizzle, for example, they have a roadmap to developing one’s business that contains three distinct phases that I chatted briefly about in this post few weeks ago. These 3 phases describe those who are starting their business:

  • Phase 1: Clarity stage (Figuring out what you want to do.)
  • Phase 2: Building Your Business (Building it enough that it replaces your day job financially).
  • Phase 3: Scaling (Fine tuning, adding paid team members, and growing larger than what you could do on your own)

 

While these three phases work out really well for Fizzle because they’re all about getting us from nothing to something, I believe it’s 3/4’s of the full story. Plus, as for the overall business world, there should be a description to describe those who have reached a high level of their own growth and are strictly focused on helping others grow. John Maxwell would call these Level 5 Leaders. Some of those folks might include serial entrepreneurs, gurus, angel investors, philanthropists, and advisors. Again, think more like Tim Ferriss, Pat Flynn, Gary Vee, on to someone like Oprah.

Essentially, people that wouldn’t be using Fizzle because they would have outgrown it.

For about a month, I’ve been trying to come up with a more generic ranking in helping people quickly understand where people are in the business world.

Finding the Solution

In a recent poll that I conducted on Facebook, I asked the members of a group where they fell in building their business. I wanted to find out where people were so that we could find out the makings of the group. This would lead us to reach out to those that were in similar levels and also figure out who we could reach up to for help.

 

Here was that poll:

business building

Where do you fall?

Besides the fact that I realized that I apparently don’t know how to use the alphabet (what happened to g and h?), I found out that all of these levels were being used to describe where people were in the group. Many were new and hadn’t started even building a platform (groups a and b), while a few were starting their business and had some success (groups c and d). Yet, others were having more success and scaling (groups e and f). Even more interesting, is that there are folks in the group that have had more than just success with online business, they’ve started a few businesses online and could be straight up veterans. It’s really hard to tell why those people are in the group. Networking? Sure.

Now, as far as the first three segments – I think you can describe those as the Clarity, Building, and Scaling segments from Fizzle. But what about that 4th group? I had to figure out something that could describe all 4 groups. And that’s when it hit me.

Why not use the labels that we’re all so familiar with when it comes to accomplishment in the scholastic world? I mean, it makes sense.

Let’s Look at Some Definitions:

Why does it make sense to use these terms that a lot of us might want to forget? Well it’s because they actually have appropriate meaning! Check this out:

The term Freshman dates back to the mid-16th century where it has invariably meant either “newcomer” or “novice.”

Sophomore is derived from two Greek terms, sophos, meaning “wise,” and moros, meaning “foolish” or “dull”. Meaning that the term Sophomore originally probably meant a wise moron! (I would definitely say I fit this rank right now. I know a lot of stuff, but I’m not exactly sure when to use it all!)

Junior simply means the younger of two. This is defined in relations to their more learned upperclassmen. Early on, juniors were called “Junior Soph,” and seniors were denoted with “Sophester”.

Senior has been used since the mid-14th century in English to denote either an older person or one of authority.

Cool, huh? Easily fits the different groups of folks in the group!

Check this Out

So here’s something else that I realized. When it comes to business, most people when they jump from one business to another have to start over again. As upcoming podcast guest Theresa French said in her interview, “going from one business to another type of business is just as hard as going from working a job to a business”. So, if that’s the case (which I’m pretty sure it is), then that would mean that those that start something new, are freshman again. (Makes sense, this is how college works.)

However, because they’ve already gotten their feet wet in business, I’d think that it’d be more suiting to call them sophomores again. They have skills, they just don’t know how exactly to apply them yet.

Grow Faster by Working with your Classmates!

Ok, so now that you’re familiar with these terms, why is it important? Because, it’s almost ALWAYS something that industries do – come up with their own words to describe something that might be complex to others outside of that industry.

Just like academia, the rules of business stay the same. What changes is the knowledge used for a particular business and how we execute in our industry. The catch is, as solopreneurs, we all have varying degrees in how well we’re doing both.

Typically speaking, the more experience we have, the more we’ll know how to wield both knowledge and execution. Labeling these levels of experience helps us determine whether we’ll be using our time effectively with the other person.

Freshman always want to learn from upperclassmen. However, working with seniors all the time might not be the best thing for them.

While it’s good for both parties to be around each other from time to time to expand each other’s point of view, there is a ton of work between a freshman and a senior. Just like in high school and college, the freshman gets frustrated that they can’t keep up and the senior gets frustrated when the freshman just doesn’t get it.

We have to learn from the upperclassmen, but practice with those who are our peers.

Action Steps

So this is a fairly simple activity. Figure out which level you’re at and connect with those that are close to you in experience. Perhaps even start a “study group” (aka mastermind) with them! (Just like when you’re studying, you’ll learn things much quicker from different perspectives than if you were to just go it alone.)

Are you a freshman? A sophomore? Maybe even a junior? Who are the seniors in your life? Are you learning from their path of success and how to apply things they’ve learned on your own journey?

Have you made already made a mastermind of peers that you can grow together with? If you have, that’s great! You know that iron sharpens iron. If you haven’t, think about who you’d want in that group. Freshman don’t tend to care who they study with, however, it might be best to start out with other freshmen or sophomores. Anything higher and you might find yourself drinking from a fire hose.

As a sophomore, a junior, or even a senior, you have to be picky not to get too many lowerclassmen in your group. Otherwise it doesn’t do YOU any good! Don’t let your niceness weigh you down. You’re not doing them or yourself any favors!

Social Confidence Mastery

Myke Macapinlac: Helping Shy Guys Succeed in Life via Social Confidence Mastery (AoL 022)

Being anxious is part of life. And, as we all know, it can be a problem. Ask anyone who’s ever tried to give a speech. Stage fright is definitely a thing. The question is whether you let it control you, or you use it to boost your ability to connect with someone.

Likewise, when we’re dating and meeting new people, anxiety has that ability to get in our heads. What if those people don’t like me? What if I don’t come across as my true self? What if my true self is too weird? What if… what if… what if?

There’s many ways to deal with this anxiety. Many of us learn how to cope with it early in life when making friends. Others, tend to avoid it. Those that tend to avoid it… we say that they’re shy.

Kids (especially teenagers) don’t want to stick out. In their mind, being part of the herd is part of what it is to be popular. If you don’t fit in, then you’re going to be ridiculed for being the odd one out.

When I was growing up, I didn’t fit into any one group. Being the biggest kid in my class AND being a geek, I kinda stuck out. Needless to say, I was picked on quite a bit.

That stuff sticks with you and can have a great affect on who you are later in life. So much so that instead of opening up to the world, you get further into a shell.

Today’s guest, Myke Macapinlac, wants to get guys out of that shell. Being a big kid himself, and not being able to speak English when he first moved to Canada, he was ostracized quite a bit. In fact, he felt it so much that he’d eat his lunch in the bathroom by himself.

Eventually, he felt that life was passing him by and that’s when he started to make a change.

Now he helps other guys make that change.

In today’s talk, I chat with Myke about how he got started, where the idea of the Social Man Project came from, where he gets some of his coaching techniques, and what separates him from other coaches.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How he fell into the coaching arena.
  • When he knew it was time to start his own path.
  • How he landed his first client.
  • How he finds space to do his bootcamps and courses.
  • Where the idea of the Social Man Project (now called Social Confidence Mastery) came from.
  • Where he gets some of his coaching techniques and how those set him apart from other coaches.
  • What are Myke’s 3 cornerstones of his coaching.
  • How to be a Nice Guy without being a pushover.
  • Thoughts on Neil Strauss and his teachings.
  • 4 questions answered on dating issues.
  • …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:

 

Myke on City TV for the Calgary Stampede in 2014

Cam and Myke discuss how you can create Charisma on Game Quitters:

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 iTunesStitcher, and/or Podbean. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

marrying an entrepreneur

AoL 019: Marrying an Entrepreneur and the Fundamentals of Building a Business with Francielle and Brian Daly

When you’re introduced to somethings, you either can go slow or fast. Examples of learning something slow might include many sports and school activities such as multiplication, reading, and writing. You get the idea.

Other times you have to go fast – like learning how to ride a bike.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, and teaching others, you can do it quickly and risk blowing their minds. Or you can go slow and try to recreate how you might have learned.

Unfortunately for people who marry an entrepreneur, they often times don’t get the chance to learn slow. Personally for me and Maria, I tried to keep her process relatively slow so that it wouldn’t get too nuts. However, as soon as we got married, I had her listening to podcasts and watching courses right away. Eventually getting her interested in what things she wanted to do outside of her day job.

I could have gone quicker than that. I know that one of my best friends from school, Ben, got his now wife, Megan, to go to an LTD open meeting for their second date. She got to know the business more than she got to know him! Yikes. Talk about a steep learning curve!

Similarly, one of today’s guests got the other to go to a business conference early on their dating life as well. As she eludes to in the podcast, he meant business!

Francielle Daly quickly realized that Brian was for real and that being with him would mean things would change in her life. And boy did they ever. Now she’s running her own site and coaching others with him. All in the matter of a couple of years.

In today’s session, we talk about what that transformation looked like and the ride they have taken together to this point in their solopreneur careers.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Francielle was introduced to Entrepreneurship
  • Where the idea of FullTimeMom.org came from and how it’s changed over time.
  • The importance of the 4 Pillars of Business and how they can affect a business.
  • How the question “If you thought you were doing everything right and someone told you that you were doing something wrong, how soon would you want to know?” has changed Brian’s perspective on life.
  • The importance of having a strategy for the things that you do in your business.
  • Why it might be a good thing to work with professionals.
  • Why an assessment is critical when forming teams and business relationships.
  • How they’ve had success finding clients.
  • Whether they see themselves as being unemployable.
  • …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:

Get the Dalys’ Execution Plan Template here:

GET THE EXECUTION PLAN TEMPLATE
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
In this plan, you'll see how you can execute and grow your business. It asks all the right questions regarding your business and makes you think about what your next steps might be.
Please be aware that any work you use this plan for is at your own discretion. It is highly recommended that you seek a proper assessment from Brian and Francielle Daly for proper use.

Article that talks about launching a company with a loved one and 5 things you need to know about doing it.

Marie Forleo asks 4 questions you can ask yourself when taking business advice from your spouse:

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 iTunesStitcher, and/or Podbean. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

Four Systematized Business Building Resources Which Will Help You Find Clarity in Your Work

The world tends to mistake desire for clarity.  When people talk in a no-nonsense way, it’s often mistaken for aggression. Getting aggressively engaged with your future will bring you clarity.

In a world of much chaos and huge differences in “factual” information, it’s pretty easy to get confused in what we want out of life. We spend so much time figuring out who we are, that many times we forget the actual process that we’ve taken to get to that point.

We forget that not everyone has had our struggles. We forget others don’t have our same background. And many times, we see the strengths that we’ve developed as no big deal.

Many of us, while we know we’re good at things, simply don’t choose to capitalize on those experiences and strengths. Many times believing that we have to emulate someone else to be considered “successful”.

But that’s simply not the case.

When we look at many of our favorite successful people, we might have different ideas of what made them succeed. It’s easy for us to think, “Oh yeah, that guy is a product of the system they’re in!” or “she was just lucky,” or my favorite, “dude, he simply has extraordinary talent”.

But, from successful person’s perspective, are those the true secrets to their success? That the reason they were good is out of their control?

Of course not.

So why is it that so many of us believe that success is given to us? That it’s from an external source?

Personally, I think that we’ve been trained to think that way. Our past schooling and our supervisors were the ones in charge in determining if we were successful. Success was based on our grades and our ability to move up in corporate ladder.

However, I’ve re-learned that true success comes from being able to build a sound foundation that all your future choices will be built on. That sound foundation is often referred to as clarity of purpose or simply clarity.

What Championship Sports Teams can Teach Us About Systemization

For a majority of people, professional sports seems simply as form of entertainment. On the surface, I can see how they see that. And frankly, they are. And I think that’s how many of us started watching our favorite teams. However, as I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that we can study them, not for stats and trivia, but actually for key elements that we can apply to the rest of our life. We can learn about relationships, teamwork, leadership, communication, execution, metrics… the list goes on.

For me, I learned a ton from watching the 2006-2007 Colts team win the Super Bowl. Every year prior while Tony Dungy was their coach, they focused on the small things – the basics of the game.

They focused on tackling. They focused on timing. They focused on communication development. I mean, compared to today’s team, they were pretty polished on every aspect of the game. There’s no way that this would have happened to that Dungy team. The team was simply prepared to win that Super Bowl.

Looking around the NFL, there are a couple of teams that might stick out as teams that just “have it”. They have a working system. One of those, as much as I and other NFL fans would hate to admit, is the New England Patriots.

For as far back as I’ve been a fan of the Colts, the Pats have been a powerhouse in the NFL. While there hasn’t been too much released to the public about how they win so regularly, NFL fans can tell that the program that they utilize works for each player on the team. A program that stresses that their players must “Do Their Job“.

Across the sports spectrum, we can see many instances in college basketball. Take for example, Coach K. Just like the system that the Patriots have with Belichick, part of what makes coach Krzyzewski is that he starts with the basics and that he wants feedback from those that are around him. Before Belichick and Krzyzewski, there was Bobby Knight, and before him there was John Wooden. Each had winning systems.

“But, JC. You just said that people aren’t a product of their environment.”

Well, they are and they aren’t. They are in that a good system can provide a player a good environment to get better in. However, it’s up to the player to take advantage of that environment. Those that don’t follow the system are yanked out and replaced. That said, the more a player excels in that environment, the higher potential they have. They excel, they get rewarded by more playing time. They can’t let their ego get the best of them or the team and they, themselves, won’t win.

They simply need to let the system work it’s magic on them. For some it takes a little less time than others. However, when the player utilizes the right system, they’ll have a much better chance to succeed than if they were the only star on their team… or outside of the league all together!

 

Systematized Business Building

Since personal development and business development have gone hand in hand since the Wallace Wattles days, we should realize that there are ways to build a business and ways not to build one.

Recently, I’ve been hearing a lot of the same material repeated about building a business. Each time I hear it, it differs just a tad bit. However, the foundational pieces stay the same. And the biggest and most important piece that most people who want to start their own business struggle with, right from the beginning, is clarity.

Following a system that can give you clarity, just like in sports, is a HUGE advantage when you’re trying to figure out a business that’s going to function and be successful.

Through the 8 years that I’ve been studying the entrepreneurship world in detail, there have been only four sources that I quote regularly for helping me move on. One of them is finally systematizing his findings. So I wanted to do a quick review for you guys today. Depending on what you want to do, these will all help you move forward without wasting time and money.

Leadership Team Development (LTD)

Type: Immersive Training. Everyone starts from nothing. You will be working with sponsors who have had success already. You’ll be selling already existing products and getting others to join your team. Marketing and training is available through the company.

Cost: Varies. Depends on how you get started. Whether or not you buy the same product you advertise. How much marketing stuff you’ll use.

So this is going to be a hard turn off for some. However, others will love it. Just depends on what you want your business to incorporate. If you want to just focus on marketing and growth, this is totally your thing. If you want control over R&D as well, keep moving down the list.

For me, if I hadn’t started with LTD, it would have taken me a little more time to get into personal and business development. As far as passive income goes, nothing beats the multi-level marketing business type.

Why?

Well, for one, it’s super simple. Because anyone can enter and it doesn’t take a genius to be successful. You simply move product for the main company, and you get more people started as IBOs, coaches, or whatever they call their members.

The second thing is that the right groups, like LTD, will teach it’s members life skills (I learned about John Maxwell and Coach K, among others, from LTD).

And the third thing is that if you truly build it like those that have gone before you discuss, it literally is the most passive income source available out there available for people at all levels. Once you build your business, if you’ve brought in the right kinds of leaders and trained them well, then chances are as your group gets bigger, you’re needed less and less. Oh, and your income increases as well.

If you’re wondering, I’m still a card carrying member, so if your interested to know more, contact me directly about it.

Just make sure you put “LTD” in the Subject line somewhere.

The Foundation (TF)

Type: Immersive Training. Again, everyone starts from the bottom and works their way to the top. You will be working with coaches who have been students in the program before. Originally geared towards building online membership software (Software as a Service).

Cost: Relatively high up front. The expense of being in this program runs in the thousands. So it might not be an option to all future entrepreneurs. But it’s definitely worth it as you will be fully virtually immersed by the class.

Another very focused group that I’ve been a part of has been the Foundation. There are 10 types of online businesses that you can start. Being a “engineer” is one of these options.

As an engineer, we specifically fix a problem that clients and future clients will have. Many times that solution will be done through building software. We do this through what TF calls Idea Extraction. 

Now, idea extraction can possibly scare plenty of people because it might involve cold contacting people – especially if you’re not connected to an industry you want to help. However, there’s ways to mitigate the effects of doing this contacting and it’s explained within their course.

Check them out here.

Pat Flynn’s Book: Will It Fly

Type: Independent Training. Most training across the web is what I’d consider independent training. “Students” can start anytime, anywhere, and at any level. (The previous two options makes everyone start from scratch.) They have complete control over everything about their platform. Some might find this level of control too much. Others might love it.

Cost: Least expensive of the four as it’s a book. However, it’s put together from years of Pat’s studies for his blog and interviewing for the SPI Podcast.

Being released in February 2016, I have had the pleasure of being on the Book Launch Team for this book by the Internet Marketing Crash Test Dummy himself, Pat Flynn. While it might not come with the specific community that the three other options have (not saying Pat doesn’t have community, he does), it does have a great interactive framework that you can use to start your online business.

Specifically the book is divided into five sections. Those five sections are:

  • Mission Design – Through a series of thought-experiments, we’ll make sure your target idea aligns with and supports your target goals.
  • Development Lab – No matter where you are currently in your business, this phase is used to uncover important details about your target idea that you haven’t even thought about yet.
  • Flight Planning – This is where you’re going to assess the current conditions of the market that you’re entering so that you can see what (and who) you’re up against.
  • Flight Simulator – You will be combining everything you’ve learned through your research together to actually validate and test your idea with a small segment of your target market.
  • All Systems Go – You’ll be doing some final analysis to make sure you’re ready to move forward with your idea. In addition to that, you’ll get some helpful insight on your next moves, and how you can take a lot of the information you’ve uncovered during your research in this book forward with you, so you know your next steps.

Check it out here. (Amazon affiliate link)

Fizzle.co 

Type: Hybrid Training. Is a mix between Independent Training and Immersive. While you go at it your own speed and can start from any entry point, there is a community to ask questions regarding anything you might have problems with. I believe this is the Jack of All Trades solution.

Cost: Typically $35 per month. However, there is a trial period. Which you can try here. (Affiliate link)

This resource for building your business, like LTD, is for the long term. You can learn the basics that Pat discusses in his book, but it will take you from creation all the way up to scaling up to a point where you actually start hiring a team to help you. As of the writing of this post, I am a local Fizzle meetup host for Indianapolis.

There are three main phases:

  • Find and Develop your Business Idea – Build a Solid Foundation
    roadmappage-phase1
  • Launch Your Business – Earn Enough to Support Yourself
    roadmappage-phase2
  • Optimize & Grow to Increased Profitability & Sustainability
    roadmappage-phase3

 

Again, you can get started at Fizzle for a free trial here!

If you’re interested in being the best in anything, you got to find a working system to learn it in. As you can tell, I’ve gone through several myself. While I take full responsibility for my lack of focus and discipline in the past, it is my sincere hope that you will be able to excel in any of the above programs.

While each resource above is geared towards making you successful, whether or not you acquire that success is up to you. As the Under Armor Tom Brady (the Patriot’s quarterback) commercial says, “You are the sum of all your training“.

Homework:

If doing what you love for a living is really what you want to start working towards this year, I believe you need to get yourself in a system that will help you focus and excel. There are many out there, but I hope this review gives you somewhere to start. Below, feel free to ask any further questions about each resource you might have.

If you’re a seasoned pro and have had training outside of these 4, I’d love to hear about your experience. Eventually, I’d like to get a guide and/or review for various programs so that people don’t waste their time or money on a program that doesn’t fit them.

linkedin connections

Mirna Bacun – How to Use LinkedIn to Build a Community and Make Thousands in Revenue (AoL 018)

If you’re a creator who wants to build awareness, there’s not many better ways than to build an online community on one of the social media platforms. Most creators opt for Facebook because it has the largest footprint. However, does that mean it’s the best? Does it mean it’s the most efficient?

I know for me, I’ve seen plenty of groups on Facebook that are highly engaged. That’s why I started the Junto group there. Unfortunately, I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started it, so it’s kind of a ghost town. I’m still trying to fix that because, Facebook groups is where it’s at in 2016 when it comes to engaged communities on social media.

Mirna Bacun begs to differ. Through doing her work with her SaaS project, Greenpie, she has found a great way to build communities on LinkedIn.

When she got into The Foundation, she had very little knowledge of entrepreneurship and possibly even worse, little to no connections when it came to building her list of potential clients. So long story short, she decided that LinkedIn was as good as any other place to build a community for her company.

She chose well. In the podcast, she talks about how literally everything she does on LinkedIn is free. Getting on News Feeds, messaging, sending bulletins – all of it.

Besides her background and how she got started as entrepreneur, she also talks about her new course and how you can learn just enough about LinkedIn to get a group going yourself and to make thousands in revenue

So if you’re in need for a community and want to do it in an effective an inexpensive way, then you’ll definitely dig this conversation… and then look for her to release her course in February 2016.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Myr got into entrepreneurship, and more specifically, in The Foundation.
  • What she got out of The Foundation besides her own company.
  • How she handled and overcame her family skepticism of what she was doing.
  • The founding of her first business, Greenpie
  • How she got into building communities on LinkedIn
  • What the benefits are of building a community on LinkedIn (including free traffic)
  • Why she loves LinkedIn vs Facebook
  • How you can learn what she knows about LinkedIn (she made a course version 2!)
  • How she’s been able to utilize her Yoga teaching methods to help others
  • …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:

My New Mic Setup!

2016-01-14 16.07.49

Equipment:

Audio-Technica AT875R (Amazon Link)
Mackie Onyx Blackjack USB (Amazon Link)
MXL Mics Professional Articulating Desktop Microphone Stand (Amazon Link)
Neewer® Metal Mic Suspension Shock Mount Stand Holder with Integrated Clip Pop Shield Filter (Amazon Link)

Book:

Ask by Ryan Levesque (Amazon Link)

Over a year ago, Pat Flynn had mentioned that he could only meditate with a certain piece of equipment called Muse. I’ll share a review of it. If you’re really interested in meditating and for some reason struggle with accomplishing it, Muse might be a good buy for you. You can check him out using it in Episode 2 of the SPI TV show on YouTube.

Also, we talked in detail about The Foundation earlier in the podcast. If you want to find out more about Dane Maxwell and Andy Drish’s program, I’ll have a couple of videos that give you an idea of what it’s all about. I’ll also have a link to their podcast. If anything, I’d say The Foundation is the boot camp to Fizzle’s volunteer program. If you need some strong motivation to get a business going, they’ll make sure of it.

What they’re doing is what I believe New Inceptions can help people do someday.

The Foundation Podcast

Thanks for Listening!

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Cheers!