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hospitality consulting

Mike Thorp – Less Talk and More Creation! – How Saying No to Gary Vaynerchuk Helped Launch a Hospitality Consulting Business (AoL 114)

There’s a reason that many businesses fail in the first several years of business.

Of course, finances might play a part in that. But I think that even having a revenue problem is the sign of a deeper issue.

The issue is simply that business ownership doesn’t necessarily make one a great leader.

And without the ability to paint a vision and help employees see what’s going on, of course a company is going to fold.

Today’s guest, Mike Thorp, helps restaurants with this problem. He says that what he does for his clients is a combination of Hell’s Kitchen and The Profit. He loves what he’s doing, as you’ll find out.

But doing his own thing – it came at a cost. As creatives, we find out that to create our consumption must go down. And sometimes, we have to cut it out completely.

That’s exactly what Mike had to do with Gary V.

So in today’s chat, we’ll hear all about what Mike brings to the table with his business, but we’ll also learn what motivated Mike to pull the plug on Gary.

Enjoy!

 

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How’d Mike get started in the restaurant industry? 9:43
  • How does Mike view leadership and culture in the restaurant industry? 15:16
  • What’s an important role he sees his company doing for local students? 22:02
  • Does he only work with local businesses around Grand Rapids? 26:53
  • What was his transition like going from corporate work to consulting? 30:43
  • What does Mike wake up for in the morning? 34:18
  • What lead Mike to write his viral post on Medium? 42:28
  • Why do so many people have trouble leaving the consumer mindset to becoming a creative? 50:37
  • What are some of the things Mike’s looking forward to? 52:39
  • What are his three top favorite books? 54:50
  • What’s a fact from today that would blow the mind from someone ten years ago.? 56:41
  • Smallest decision he’s made that’s made the largest impact? 57:08
  • What’s a life skill that he’s amazed people lack? 58:44
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 1:01:44

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

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Last Video You Have to Watch:

Cy Wakeman on The #AskGaryVee Show:

Danny Meyer – The Convergence of Casual and Fine:

Michael Shafer reviews the Oz Principle:

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 iTunesStitcherSoundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

successful entrepreneurs

Andrew O’Brien – Forging the Vetpreneur Tribe: Helping Veterans become Successful Entrepreneurs (AoL 113)

Let’s face it. The world can eat you up and spit you out if you let it. And the number one way that this happens is by not having a personal mission.

Or simply not having something to fight for.

Like anyone else, military veterans are susceptible to having a numb life after they retire from the armed forces. However, because they have had something to fight for they know what it means to have a mission – even though it didn’t begin in their own head.

This mission gives veterans a unique sense of comradeship.

And when they retire – they lose all of the support they’ve become accustomed to.

As we’ve been learning, entrepreneurship can be a way to not only develop a personal mission, but embrace it as well.

And that being the case, veterans can make great entrepreneurs who support each other.

In today’s chat with Vetrepreneur Tribe founder, Andrew O’Brien, we learn how his life struggles have lead him to realize this and why he felt it was necessary to start the Tribe even though he had been having pretty good success with his PR company.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What’s the short version of Andrew’s story of how he ended up in the Army? 8:04
  • How did he come to the realization that he wanted to be public speaker? 14:38
  • What was Andrew’s early days of speaking like? 16:22
  • How did things start picking up for him where it eventually lead him to becoming the Publicity Guy? 17:33
  • How did Andrew realize there was a gap that he could fill as an entrepreneur? 21:21
  • What was the transition like from being the Publicity Guy to being the Vetrepreneur Tribe leader? 23:42
  • What does he contribute most of the success with the group to? 25:52
  • How can people build up their own resiliency? 31:26
  • How does one determine when it is actually time to pivot what someone’s doing in their business? 34:52
  • What’s Andrew looking forward to doing with Vetrepreneur Tribe? 39:07
  • What are his top books? 40:49
  • What’s a gift that Andrew likes giving others? 42:32
  • One thing that costs under $100 that has changed his life? 43:59
  • What’s something all high school students must know? 45:29
  • What’s Andrew’s secret to achieving personal freedom? 47:00

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

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

The Domino Effect:

Andrew on the Funnelhacker Radio Podcast:

Andrew’s Homestead Tour:

Andrew Interviews Dana Derricks:

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 iTunesStitcherSoundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

side business

Rachel Pedersen – From College Dropout to International Influencer: How a Former Hairdresser made her Side Business a 6 Figure Recurring Revenue Machine (AoL 112)

When we’re building a side business, it’s easy to get the mindset that because we have some sort of disadvantage compared to someone else that we won’t be able to do what they’ve done.

Truth is, though, that’s usually an excuse more than anything else. It’s a victim mentality.

If you truly want to do something with your life and your work, then having that mentality isn’t going to get you anywhere.

For me, when I was growing up in my hometown, I knew I was going to go to grad school. Both of my parents had their master’s degrees, so it was an automatic that I would at least have that. It didn’t matter how long it took or what I had to do to achieve that goal. It was going to happen.

However, a lot of my peers didn’t have that perspective and/or support that I did. So their goals weren’t as “big”. While they might have dreamed about leaving our hometown and doing great things, many fell short. They just didn’t have the missing ingredient to get to that point.

I’d argue that this particular missing ingredient, for most, is unfortunately hitting rock bottom. Where things are so unbearable that we are forced to dream of a better life.

For this session’s guest, this was definitely the case. Rachel Pedersen has lead a life peppered with all kinds of ups and downs. Growing up in Minnesota as a pastor’s daughter, she had great expectations. But somewhere along the line, life took a turn and she found herself a college dropout with kids AND on welfare. But her story doesn’t stop there. It got much better.

In fact, today she finds herself working on her own 7 figure marketing business. What happened in the middle there? That’s what we’re going to be finding out in today’s session.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Did she ever see herself being as successful as she’s become? 7:50
  • While growing up, did she live her life based on what others expected of her or did she do her own thing from get go? 9:49
  • What was the first mental click Rachel had where she realized she needed to start building a side business? 12:38
  • Did she start working with her clients for free like Russell Brunson suggests in his book or did she charge right away? 19:03
  • What are some tips for someone to become as successful as Rachel even if they live in a “small town” or don’t have the best support in getting there? 23:34
  • What are 5 steps that someone should take if they want to start their own side business? 29:44
  • How does Rachel build a real human connection with people through social media? 39:14
  • Who does she pay attention to when it comes to watching FB Live videos? 42:42
  • How do you build a following and how does one define that? 44:52
  • What’s Rachel looking forward to in 2018? 46:57
  • One gift she likes giving others? 53:11
  • What’s something that’s going to affect entrepreneurship in the future she’s excited about? 53:37
  • What’s an issue that’s not being talked about enough? 54:42
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 55:04

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

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

3 Ways of Finding Social Media Clients

Why Small Businesses Fear Social Media

3 Secrets of Facebook Ads and Funnels

How to Become a Fully Booked Social Media Manager

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 iTunesStitcherSoundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

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

Cheers!

self mastery

12 Principles for Self Mastery: How I Went from a Scarcity Mindset to one of Abundance

For me, it’s important to go over some of these past articles to see how far I’ve come. This one is another classic post from my days in LTD.

As I’ve expressed in several posts, it was during this time that I learned what would later become the foundation of all my entrepreneurial knowledge. It was inexpensive training that I thought (and still think) anyone could benefit from. That said, MLM’s are not for everyone. So that’s why I wrote these pieces early on – to help bring that knowledge to a wider group.

In this post originally dated December 4th, 2011, I list 12 principles which were really important to me at the time. They helped me move from a scarcity mindset to one that was more abundant.

If you’re looking for some good principles to base your self improvement on – this is a good place to start! Enjoy!


As you know, I’m making a major push in my life to actually get things done that I’ve wanted to achieve for several years now. One of those things is hire a professional coach. It’s been almost a year since mom passed, and I really need to get moving forward with creating a my own functional business. With the release of the LTD Media and Message Apps, I have been reminded more frequently of my Amway business, but truth be told – I haven’t taken much action. So I believe a coach there will surely help.

One thing I’ve realized during my time in LTD is that I want to surround myself with people who have an abundant thinking process. While not everyone has the same personality (some are more emotion oriented than others), I believe that living a life of abundance is something everyone can do.

It’s just a few core principles away – specifically 12.

So here are those principles I hope you can use to get out of whatever funk you might be finding yourself in!

The Principles of Self Mastery

1. Challenges aren’t Problems, They’re Opportunities

Problems are negative by definition. When you call a challenge an opportunity, then it’s turned into a positive situation where you can learn, grow, and meet your full potential.

2. Walls of Opportunity

With the previous statement, we see that obstacles in our life are there for us to grow and learn from. We can learn how to go over, go around, go under or exterminate problems in our lives. Once we do this, they’re no longer an unsolvable barrier to limit us from who we are.

3. Ideal or Nothing

It’s not ready, aim, fire. It’s ready, fire, aim. It is always better to take dumb action even though it’s not the exact action you want to take. Don’t miss opportunities because you’re trying to find or force the perfect one.

4. Time vs Priorities

Everyone that is, has been, or will be, has had the same amount of time in a day, week, month, and year (unless, of course, we colonize another planet with a different definition of time). With that said, the reason why people don’t achieve more in their life is because they don’t know how to prioritize better than what they’re currently prioritizing. Next time you’re tempted to say “I don’t have time,” remember yourself that you determined yourself that it was you who determined it wasn’t a high enough priority. Doing this will help you realize what you really value and how you can prioritize tasks and activities.

5. Good vs. Great

The enemy of Great isn’t bad – it’s good. Many times we don’t achieve something great because we didn’t do something bad, it’s because we did something good and settled for that particular result.

6. Thinking Not Knowing

Have you ever thought about the response “I don’t know” when you asked someone “What do you think?”? If you think about it, that’s not even the right response to that question. No one asked what the other person knows – they were asked what they thought. If someone asks you what you think, don’t be afraid to let them know what you think. If anything, you open up dialogue and communication with others.

7. The Multiplier Rule

When we take positive action, that action will be multiplied into two positive actions and so on. This rule could also be thought of as the Domino Effect as well as “adding a zero to a partner’s income”.

8. Values in Life

Whatever your values are, it is important to know what yours are and to make choices that are logically connected to them.

9. Roller Coaster Effect

Inconsistent action leads to a roller coaster effect of results. The more consistent your activity is in getting a result, the more likely it will be that you get that result. Consistent effort and follow through will make a huge difference in achieving your goals and dreams.

10. Focus and Duplication

You can do more with your time if you realize that 20% of your effort produces 80% of yours results. Once you know what 20%, spend your time on that 20% and figure out what tools, people, and systems can help with the other 80% of that effort. Don’t focus on making people exact copies of you – help them become a better version of themselves and show them where they fit into the big picture.

11. Stewardship

What gifts and traits do you naturally possess? What traits do others have? Figure out your strengths and share them with those less fortunate. If you do not, they will lose, but you will have the biggest loss. Help someone today!!

12. Never Quit

Mistakes and errors are learning opportunities. They’re not disastrous!! Learn from them and move on. You’ll be better the next time!! Failure to do so will result in disaster.


Action Steps

So really nothing to out of the ordinary here, right? I’ll tell you, when I first heard them, they made sense – but it didn’t seem like life could be THAT easy!!

Over time, though, I’ve realized that they have a ton of merit. Just like the Four Agreements.

Speaking of which, how do you think they relate to the Four Agreements or other rules that you might have heard? What would you add to this list? Let me know below in the comments!

 

relationship building

Making Winning Connections: Relationship Building Tips for Life and Business

As the Junto is starting to grow, I realize that there’s going to be more and more opportunities for people to connect with others who are seemingly going the same direction as they are.

To make sure they are, here’s a few notes from a recent John Maxwell course called the Mentor’s Guide to Relationships. I hope you can use the information presented here to make sure that a pursuing a certain relationship is worth your time.

At the very least, I want to help you realize if you’re in a one way relationship. One that you might be putting way too much energy in yourself and not getting anything back from it.

So let’s start off by looking at the four different levels of relationships.

 

Four Levels of Relationships

Surface Relationships

Now, when you’re on social media (or anywhere else for that matter) and you’re just meeting someone – you’re engaging in the most basic and common form of a relationship. A surface relationship is one where there’s really no strong commitment from either person and it’s a very passive interaction.

An example of a surface level relationship is just randomly adding a “friend” on Facebook and they in turn accepting that request. You might have just added them to your friends list because they have a lot of mutual friends – even though you don’t really know who they are.

Acquaintances would be part of this this level.

Just remember, all real friends start off as strangers at one point. So, just give it some time if you want things to grow…

 

Structured Relationships

The next level of a relationship is what’s called the structured relationship. These relationships are with people who meet at certain times. This can mean daily, weekly, or monthly.

Generally speaking this type of routine based engagement is centered around some sort of interest or activity such as an Meetup. In the online business world, it might mean a mastermind group. Or in the typical offline world, it can mean a group of students.

Outside of that group, there’s not much meaning for those people to interact – so they don’t.

 

Secure Relationships

The next level of relationships are those that when members of a structured relationships start appreciating the bond.

At this level, trust begins to form as the need to spend more time together grows. Most of the time, these folks will have no problems sharing with each other. And there’s a bit of a comfort zone feeling with these folks.

When you were going to school, these were the study friends. Perhaps they were the friends  that you hung out with before games. Or maybe they were your fellow band friends who you’d play euchre with each day. But the main thing was that these folks started relying on you as you relied on them.

In business, this might be someone that you decide to joint venture with on a particular project such as a course or new podcast.

 

Solid Relationships

Next up, we have the highest of all relationships – the solid relationship. At this level, not only do full trust and confidentiality exist, but there is a need to give back to the other party if they’ve helped you in some way.

Of course, this is the basis for a long term relationship.

If we were to think of the school analogy, your close friends were (or are still) examples of this! While, in the business world, you’d start new businesses with these folks.

 

Avoid High Maintenance Relationships

When I first started dating Maria I had a very strong feeling of “normality” when we were together. She felt like someone that I had known for a long time.

Society suggests – especially TV – that a normal romantic relationship is something that has a lot of maintenance to it. Drama and fighting is to be expected – not calmly discussing the issues at hand.

The truth is that this shouldn’t be the case in ANY relationship you want to make long term – including romantic relationships!

So how do you know if you’re in a high maintenance relationship?

In his book, High Maintenance Relationships, author Les Parrott talks about 12 different types of people who it would be hard to get along with – especially over a significant amount of time.

  • Critic – constantly complains and gives unwanted advice.
  • Martyr – forever the victim and wracked with self-pity.
  • Wet Blanket – pessimistic and automatically negative.
  • Steam Roller – blindly insensitive to others.
  • Gossip – spreads rumors and leaks secrets.
  • Control Freak – unable to let go and let be.
  • Backstabber – irrepressibly two-faced.
  • Cold Shoulder – disengages and avoids contact.
  • Green Eyed Monster – seethes with envy.
  • Volcano – builds steam and is ready to erupt.
  • Sponge – constantly in need but gives nothing back.
  • Competitor – keeps track of tit for tat.

 

Are you with one of these types of individuals? If so, you might want to move on.

If you wouldn’t be in romantic relationships with someone with one or several of these particular traits, why would you want to be in business with them… or visa versa?

Going from Surface to Solid Relationships

In the past week, I’ve relearned how awkward people can be when it comes to developing real relationships. Whether it’s simple friendships, jv partnerships, or going after a life partner… the goal is to not be a weirdo.

Believe me, I learnt the hard way!

So how do you go from adding a friend on Facebook to making them a good friend, business partner, or building something that could be even more?

Here’s 5 traits of a solid relationship.

 

Mutual Enjoyment

Here’s the truth. Spend time with people who enjoy your presence. If you feel that you’re having to pry and overly try with the relationship, it’s probably not a good foundation and you should move on.

Don’t be an irritant!

 

Respect

What’s the best way to make sure you’re not an irritant?

Be respectful of the other person.

Forget the golden rule of treating people how you’d want to be treated. Instead, treat people like they would like to be treated.

What’s that mean?

Learn how they want to be interpreted. Find out their story. Be curious and let them be the storyteller. Find out where they went to school and for what. If they didn’t go to school, find out what they’ve learned “the hard way”.

If you’re unclear as to how to read a certain topic with them – don’t feel like you have to assume something – this usually works out negatively if you do. No question is dumb. Just say “I’m not sure how to ask this but…” if you’re completely unsure how to ask something.

Have a problem with them? Let them know. Likewise, if they feel like they have a problem with you, they should come to you about it.

Make a point to get to know someone, but not for manipulative purposes. If they tell you something that’s a secret, don’t tell anyone. If they are hesitant in a certain area, learn how to help bring out the best in them through their own permission.

 

Mutual Shared Experiences

There’s a reason why military veterans get along as well as they do even if they didn’t know each other prior to them first getting together.

What’s the reason?

They have shared similar experiences.

From day 1, they’re taught to trust each other to be part of a larger organism. When you count on someone to do a certain action which allows you to do your job, then you’re going to care about that other person more. Cause if they get taken out, then you won’t be able to do what you need to do properly.

Sports players are the same way.

When talking about developing a winning football team, Vince Lombardi said, “The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys have for each other.”

It makes sense. If the line doesn’t do their job and block, then the ball handlers can’t do their jobs. The result is that the ball doesn’t go anywhere.

 

Reciprocity

For the above teams to win, that caring feeling needs to be mutual between teammates – whether on a battlefield with bullets… or on the gridiron.

Right here is how you can tell if a relationship is worth your time to develop. If you feel like everything is running smoothly, then everything is fine.

However, if you feel that the other person is getting a better deal, bring it up with them. If they don’t acknowledge it, then it might be time to move onto another relationship.

If you feel like you’re getting a better deal, then it’s your job to make sure that they’re being evenly compensated.

 

Trust

Trust comes over time and is the result of the previous 4 traits humming along just fine. Don’t forget that intentions don’t really matter when it comes to other people.

It’s all about actions.

When your actions match your words, that’s how you build trust.

Just make sure that those actions are positive and truly helpful to the other party!

 

Action Steps

As you might have realize, relationships are something that I take seriously. There was a time when I wasn’t super great at them – so I made it a point to go out of my way to learn about them. If you want to learn more about building great relationships, I’d check out the book by John Maxwell and Les Parrott 25 Ways to Win with People: How to Make Others Feel Like a Million Bucks

As you probably know, I’m a big fan of John’s and he has ton’s on this topic!

online income

Building an Online Business: An 11 Step Blueprint to An Online Income Generator

The below is a post that I recently posted in the Junto. It helped quite a bit of folks over there, so I thought I’d go ahead and post it on the official blog just to make sure I had it around when I needed it.

I think it’s a great representation of the online business world we live in and… in fact, it might even be something had I known a couple of years ago, I would have done things a bit differently!

So, without further adieu – here’s 11 steps to generate growing online income

Money Making Myths

I hear it all the time from people here in Indiana.

“There is no money in small town business – why should I stay?” or “Only people in big cities make the big income.”

There might have been a time I agreed with this. In fact, most would have at some point. It’s why Indiana and many states in the middle of the country have been suffering from brain drain.

However, today I’d say that both are myths – especially in 2017.

Why? It’s simple. The internet.

The Rise of Internet Commerce

Just like the introduction of interstates killed the local economies of so many small towns, the internet has essentially done the same thing to those metropolitan areas. We’re starting to see less and less of particular retail stores because it’s just simply easier to buy certain products offline.

And the great thing? ANYONE can be a seller online just as much as they can be a consumer.

Not only can you buy new releases of entertainment online, but we can also sell it and other goods and services on the internet ourselves as well.

If you’re someone who would like to make a larger impact in the world with your work, but you’re unclear where to start, here’s somewhat of a blueprint to get you started.

1. Find Clarity in how you want to help people.

Make sure you have clarity. What do you want to help people with? Do you want to help people with woodcarving? Fly fishing? Photography? Maybe even football. The first step is figuring out what you love to discuss and naturally help other people do if they’re interested.

2. Start building a following online.

Whether that’s a Facebook Group like the Junto, a YouTube channel, or a real Instagram account. (Actually you can do all 3 – this is what Laila Rahmatian is doing!)

3. Provide value by Teaching what you know.

If you’re just learning your craft, that’s fine. Get interviews with people who know the craft equally or better than you. Or if you’re funny – just be entertaining. There’s been a lot of channels which have boomed because the person is simply hilarious.

4. Hustle if you need to make income right away.

If you’re just starting out and in need of some income, there’s a few things you can do. You can do retail arbitrage like Tyler Philbrook, or learn some digital marketing skills. Whether you are creating content, working on SEO, or helping with sales funnels – these are all things that people have made thousands (even millions) online with. Check out JR Rivas’s group for help with that.

If neither of those are for you, perhaps you can sell your skill online. For example, a photographer can take stock photos for companies. Or if you’re a musician, write jingles for podcasts. Check out fiverr to see what’s available out there for quick cash.

Make sure you’re getting testimonials as you do things at the beginning for free or for the cheap. Having these testimonials along with case study videos of what you’ve done can be useful when going after bigger fish with larger budgets to pay you.

Also – start working on making contracts so you can cover your rear properly for work you’ve done!

5. Don’t Quit on Your Other Endeavours.

As you’re building income as a freelancer, you need to continue to build your following. Eventually you don’t want to sell your time for $. To stop doing that, you need products online. The most cost effective products are those that are called infoproducts. And since you’re probably already doing something successful in your life already, You can start building products that your following is going to potentially buy. I’d employ the teachings of Dane and the Foundation as much as possible. You can hear about that method in last week’s post.

6. As you’re learning more about your craft, share with your following.

How many times have we seem someone jump from one building to another or from one cliff to another after seeing the person they’re with do it first?

Same thing applies in business. If your followers see you succeed, they’ll more than likely have the right frame of mind to accomplish the same thing. Help them do what you’re doing and learning about. If you’re learning about ways to create passive income, teach what you’ve learned about that topic. That’s exactly what Pat Flynn did with his blog – and people are STILL replicating his success! (Just goes to show you don’t have to worry about originality!)

7. As you provide more and more value, find out what what your group members or followers really want.

Learn how to perform idea extraction, verify, and do presales of MVPs (Most Viable Products). Having a process for these 3 steps will help you craft anything your tribe wants!

8. Capitalize on your Testimonials!

If so, it’s time to go after those bigger fish! Heck, even better, just create a website showing what you can do, then send out emails to prospects redirecting them to the website. There’s all kinds of ways to find potential clients – it doesn’t have to be manual (Use Facebook ads if you’ve worked on that skill – that’s what JR did to find his chiropractor clients.)

9. Don’t forget to Grow the size of your Team

By this point, you’re probably making a decent income. Congratulations!! But we’re just getting started and there’s some things for you to start thinking about.

For example, I’m sure at this point you might feel that you’re overstretching yourself. Maybe it’s time to hire a VA or start mentoring someone to help you with stuff you suck at? A good place to start is Airtasker.

Also, if you haven’t already (which I know you have!) it might be a good time to invest in yourself. Start going to conventions and meeting people. Start thinking about buying those big name courses you always wanted.

10. Repeat the Process.

Build more products – hire more people to help! This is how you start scaling. As you grow your services and company, keep bringing on more people to help you with various things so you can spend more time doing what the founder should be doing.

11. Do what the Founder (or President) should be doing.

It’s totally up to you what that means. This might involve you working in your local community more and/or helping to start an incubator where you can mentor younger creatives. Perhaps it means going out and becoming a speaker? Or heck, maybe you could get into politics if that’s your thing.

Actions Steps

I hope this helps you guys a bit. I think the biggest thing that I didn’t do on purpose was focus on getting results for someone. That needs to be the first thing you focus on. Then, from there, get 3 to 5 testimonials that you can use on your first landing page for a course, eBook, etc.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or thought I left something out in this post. I might actually make it into a more detailed opt-in sometime.

emotional breakdown

Bren Dubé – Thriving after an Emotional Breakdown: 3 Steps to Get You to Your Breakthrough (AoL 109)

We live in a negative world. Society forces most of us to see things in a certain light and make us believe we have no power to change it. However, as creatives, we have the power to actually do something – because we’re creating!

Sometimes though, as creators we get lost along the path. We’re still doing our own work, but we’re doing it in a way that’s dictated to us in how we should be doing it.

Case in point, you have today’s guest, Bren Dubé. Bren is a successful musician. However, he realized that the lifestyle he was living while he was with his band Letterbomb wasn’t one he really wanted.

Once he realized that, he set out on a quest to find the life he wanted.

His secret was that he had a breakthrough. And what’s great is what he learned through his breakthrough is helping others achieve their own!

If you’re living a numb life and waiting to get to that next level, perhaps this chat will help you find more fulfillment in your life and work.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Bren’s background influence his start in music? 8:38
  • How did his band Letterbomb actually get off the ground and what lead to it’s failure? 16:44
  • With all their “success” – why did Bren’s brother decide to call him and let him know that he couldn’t be in the band any longer? 20:58
  • Where does he think he would be in life had his brother NOT quit the band? Does he feel he’s fulfilling his role as part of the Hero
  • Generation? 34:24
  • How do you help people that are going through a breakdown in their life? 41:17
  • What are Bren’s 3 Foundations of Change? 48:28
  • What’s next on the horizon for Bren? 56:27
  • Top books he recommends to others? 59:58
  • What’s one thing all high school students must know? 1:02:36
  • What’s it mean to live a life of abundance? 1:03:21
  • … 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:

Bren – Let Go:

Bren – HONEST:

Cover of Razor by Foo Fighters (Acoustic):

Bren on TEDx:

Thanks for Listening!

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