Posts

business outsourcing

Chris Schwab – Local Business Outsourcing: How Virtual Assistants Can Make an Impact in Your Local Business (AoL 127)

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Starting a business comes natural to many people. You see a need and you deliver a solution. Suddenly, you have a business. Many small businesses are you’re everyday cleaners, mechanics, and other local service providers.

In a world where making passive income and traveling the world is a fairly well known lifestyle, it might seem that these local business owners might have missed the boat.

How can someone who performs services in real life like painting or cleaning make their business more passive? How can they move their business from one where they own the job to a business that they actually own?

Today’s guest, Chris Schwab, is a young entrepreneur who’s figured it out. He started his cleaning business with the end in mind back when he was in college. Today, he lives in London while running this Washington, DC based business.

Think it’s too good to be true for you?

Listen in as we hear how he uses virtual assistants in a way that many of us might not consider!!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Chris become a ‘citizen of the world’? 8:24
  • What’s a place that he perceived one way but when he actually experienced it, it was completely different? 9:40
  • How’d he realize that traveling was going to be a long term lifestyle after graduation? 10:55
  • How did he come up with how to run a cleaning business remotely? 12:16
  • How does someone find reliable people to be part of their remote business? 14:01
  • What are some skills that Chris would say need to be utilized in running a business remotely? 18:13
  • How does he find the discipline to make sure that the business is running smoothly? 19:43
  • Who should consider working with Chris and his VAs? 25:13
  • What’s his new project “Local Business Hustlers” all about? 35:09
  • What’s he looking forward to in the upcoming future? 39:20
  • Who’s Chris’ 3 top influential people in his life? 40:31
  • What’s a gift he loves giving others? 41:23
  • How does he stop the feeling of being overwhelmed when it he feels it creeping in? 41:48
  • What’s his favorite social custom from around the world? 42:33
  • What is something that he would want all high school students to know? 43:42
  • Is there a tip Chris would offer that would allow traveling to be easier for people? 44:19
  • What’s the secret to personal freedom? 45:16

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

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Automating a Cleaning Business (part 1 of Chris’ Journey)

How to Expand Your Cleaning Company Services (part 2 of Chris’ Journey)

What is Local Business Hustlers?

An Update on Local Business Hustlers

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 Castbox, 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!

the junto

The Junto – 10 Month Update

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So, almost a year ago, I thought that things were progressing smoothly with the New Inceptions sphere of influence. The podcast was seeing more and more listeners, I had met several people in town who I partnered with, and I had just recently started the Junto. We had a pretty good weekly plan – including doing weekly videos discussing the life of an entrepreneur.

Well, fast forward a handful of months, we lose the building we were doing our videos in (Collaborate 317). We also lost several key people who were building the community – due to, well, life, really. (The aliens got them!)

So, after these changes, those who were left of us in our local group started wondering – “What’s next? How do we do the things that we set out to do with C317?”

Well, long story short, the heart of C317 has been transplanted into Amplify – which we now refer to as Amplify Indy. It’s a prototype of what we want to help other cities do around the country.

For the last 2 months, we’ve been holding monthly events where we highlight nonprofits, business, artists, and musicians.

However, because it’s been so Indy focused – I wasn’t sure how to capture it in a group like the Junto that is for anyone across the globe to be a part of.

Also, I got burnt out of Facebook for awhile. (I think I touched it once or twice a week for marketing purposes.)

 

So, if you were wondering what happened. There ya go.

 

Lessons Learned

There was a couple of things I learned from this experience.

1. Don’t Be Vague

When I originally set out in creating the Junto, my idea was to create a safe space where people could “debate questions of morals, politics, natural philosophy, and to exchange knowledge of business affairs.” I was looking to make it a place where people could come together as opposed to being segregated into silos. Facebook is very good at separating us.

What I found out is that having these types of talks are much easier to have in person. Not only because it’s a bit more intimate and people feel safer in real world settings. But also because finding groups on Facebook is all about keywords. And if people aren’t looking for things they’re not aware of, they’re not going to find the answers, let alone ask the questions, about those topics.

In other words, to do what I wanted to do on Facebook might not have been the best idea. Facebook isn’t a platform designed to create an organic following while talking about somewhat vague topics. People don’t know what they don’t know. And they’re not going to search for things they’re not thinking about or even aware of.

 

2. Don’t Make Busy People Admins of a Vague Idea

They simply don’t have the time.

If someone is hugely busy offline, then they don’t usually have the time to do things that aren’t directly impacting them. They especially don’t have the time to put the time and effort into an “online experiment” such as the Junto.

I’ve noticed that as other groups have gotten to be more populated, the founders usually promoted those who were already contributing. Or they hired someone to be the community leader.

When you’re first starting out, you don’t have that.

Tied to the vagueness of what the group was intended to help people with, people weren’t ever sure if their content was helpful to the group.

So that was a failure on my end.

 

3. Play to Your Strengths

While I make a great connector, I’ve come to realize I’m not the best when it comes to promoting things to the masses. Thankfully, I’ve come to know people who are. They’re much better at being online more regularly, whereas I tend to randomly disconnect from the online world as a whole. Sometimes, a couple days at a time.

Considering that none of my content is made beforehand (I like to stay current and keep you guys informed on what’s going on NOW!), sometimes it’s difficult for me to get content out. Last week was a good example. I was starting on a course that I’m excited about finishing. It fits into my strengths and I’ll be able to serve local folks in a different manner than I would have ever considered.

 

Where do WE go from here?

While New Inceptions’ main focus will always be to help those who have missed the mark on their personal mission, I have personally started focusing much more on local things.

This is something that I really didn’t pay attention to when I restarted this entrepreneurial adventure in 2015 – engaging with local established folks.

Sure, I had Laila as cohost of the podcast and yes, we lead the local Fizzle meetup for over a year. But really, we weren’t making much, if any, of an impact outside of ourselves!

However, with these new events and the doors that are beginning to open up locally (including some REALLY good opportunities) my focus has shifted to being more of a local impact.

Why? Because it’s pretty fulfilling to be part of something that is bigger than just me!

So where does that leave the Junto as a group?

 

A Few Options

After having my second 12 minute conversation with Engel Jones (on Facebook) I realized that there were a few options that we could run with:

  • Shut it down all together and restart with something new. (Not my favorite choice. I love the idea of the group still.)
  • Just start off again as if nothing happened (Yeah, that’s not going to work.).
  • Or, we can rebuild it with a some new admins but refocus on what we’re really helping people with:
    • Help people find their personal mission and
    • Excel as an influencer once that mission is found.

The third choice seems to be more practical.

However, this time around, I’ll be looking for some admins that are in the same niche as NI and Amplify AND that can actually contribute.

So, for the foreseeable future, the Junto is going to be going through some under the hood reworkings – but I think they’ll be for the better. I’m really looking forward to bringing what we’re doing here locally in Indy to the rest of the world.

 

Action Steps

If you’d be interested in working with me on the next iteration of the group, connect with me on or offline. I want to make it a great experience for all. And I know I’m going to need help doing that!

linkedin lead generation

AJ Wilcox – Get Yourself Noticed by the Right People – Why LinkedIn Lead Generation Might be Perfect for Your Business (AoL 126)

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When many of us online business folks think of running an ad campaign, we immediately think of Facebook. However, that market is totally saturated and it might not be the greatest fit for your business – especially if your customers are other businesses.

If you think that might be the case, today’s guest, AJ Wilcox, might just be your new favorite marketer. His specialty is helping B2B businesses market on LinkedIn.

This is an almost a nonexistent niche. In fact, when AJ was learning about it, he realized there were relatively no search results for LinkedIn Ad Campaigns. So he’s definitely the guy to know!

In today’s chat with AJ, Harrison and I discover who this opportunity is a good match for and some key things to know when you’re getting your feet wet!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What did AJ do before he started his own marketing business? 10:22
  • What’s the difference between doing ads on LinkedIn vs other social media platforms? 12:40
  • Are the ads on LinkedIn strictly B2B or is there room for B2C advertising? 14:41
  • What’s the UI like for LinkedIn when it comes to placing ads? 18:13
  • What should newbies consider when they’re first placing ads on LinkedIn? 19:33
  • What’s a good way for a beginner to budget their ads so that they actually move the needle? 21:44
  • How has LinkedIn changed over the years as a whole? 24:39
  • How is videos changing LinkedIn and can people use them in ads? 28:35
  • What are the metrics that matter on LinkedIn when someone is running a campaign? 31:43
  • What are mistakes that newbies make when they’re starting with marketing on LinkedIn? 33:45
  • Are there some trends that AJ sees on the horizon? 36:35
  • Might LinkedIn start using Chatbots and other AI on their site soon? 39:05
  • What does AJ think about the barriers that are preventing social media platforms from fully utilizing AI? 42:49
  • What’s the experience like to work with AJ? 44:21
  • How does he incorporate his faith into his business? 46:49
  • What’s he looking forward to in the future? 48:26
  • What are AJ’s top 3 favorite podcasts? 49:23
  • If LinkedIn wasn’t a thing, what would he be doing? 50:52
  • One thing all high school students must know? 51:47
  • Something under $100 that has changed his life? 53:58
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 55:23

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

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

The Ultimate LinkedIn Ad Checklist

Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn Ads

Search Ads vs Social Ads

How to Structure Your Social Ads

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 Castbox, 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!

balanced lifestyle

Damion Lupo – Don’t Live to Work! Discover Your Own Balanced Lifestyle (AoL 125)

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The saying goes, “If you can do it once, you can do it again!” This is especially true for us creative types who might see success with one project, but on our next, we might start seeing our metrics go down.

This session’s guest, Damion Lupo, once owned 150 single family houses as as a real estate investor. But in 2008, everything came to a grinding halt. He was no longer able to live the lavish lifestyle that he was pursuing at the time.

It was soon after that he started on a quest to put more meaning into his life.

In 2012, he coauthored a book called Reinvented Life, where he talks about many of the things he learned during that journey.

In today’s chat, we go over some of these concepts as well as some pointers that he’d give someone just starting in investing.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Damion become so resilient as an entrepreneur? 6:36
  • How does he see wealth and how can abundantly thinking people reach out to others? 10:22
  • What’s his thinking behind financial freedom and retirement? 12:23
  • Why entrepreneurs might not make the best investors. 20:20
  • If someone has a $5,000 – $10,000 to invest in something, what’s a good strategy to get started? 27:41
  • What’s the best way for someone to find great opportunities in REI? 33:28
  • What are the pillars of Yokido? 37:05
  • What does Damion believe about Elon Musk’s perspective on having a universal income? 43:45
  • Who are the three influencers that has helped Damion get to where he’s at? 51:21
  • What’s an issue that more people should be talking about? 52:01
  • If Damion woke up tomorrow as a 10 year old and all his memories were intact, what would he do? 53:17
  • Something he’d like to do in his lifetime that no one knows about? 54:18
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 54:54

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

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Yokido is Born

The Financial Freedom Formula

Damion on the Bigger Pockets Podcast

Damion Interviewed by Dom Brightmon

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 Castbox, 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!

entrepreneurial process

4 Phases of the Mission Driven Entrepreneurial Process

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When I restarted my own entrepreneurial process 3 years ago, I used Fizzle to help me design a roadmap of what I wanted New Inceptions to be.

Since then, I’ve realized that I was trying to build something that I couldn’t by myself. So, last summer, I started really putting an emphasis on meeting the right kinds of people to help things go bigger faster.

That’s about the time that I started doing more things locally and getting started with Amplify and C317.

Well, fast forward to today, and I have to say, there’s a lot of things I’ve learned along the way. And one of those things is that when you’re talking about scaling a business where you’re making a huge impact, you’re talking about a business that has gone through several stages to get where they’re at.

In this post, I want to share what those phases are so you have an idea of where you’re at.

 

Definition of the Entrepreneurial Process

Traditional Process

So there’s several entrepreneurial processes out there. One is the model that a lot of people know from academia or other traditional sources. It looks a little like this:

I’m not saying that this isn’t correct, but it’s not very functional. It “might” be functional if you’re in the tech entrepreneur space. But in reality, most entrepreneurs don’t focus on these topics today – especially not “Developing a business plan”!

 

Fizzle’s Three Phases

When I was in Fizzle, they had their own entrepreneurial process. It looks like this:

This is a much more practical model. And when you listen to Corbett, Chase, and Steph on their podcast, it does make a lot of sense in why they made it this way.

However, as I’ve been going back into studying other entrepreneurs out there, there seems to be an alternative path to the one above (which, I think is a great plan otherwise I wouldn’t be a proponent of theirs!).

This 4 phase path is one I wanted to share with you guys

The New Inceptions Roadmap

So, New Inceptions – what does that mean? When I first came up with it, I had recently seen the movie Inception. In the movie, we see this world where dreams happen in dreams. And if you’ve heard the podcast or talked to me in person, you might have heard that I feel that my job in life is to pull people out of mental prisons. Whether or not they put themselves there OR they’ve allowed others to put them there, they’re stuck.

So my 4 phase process includes one phase in where the focus is simply getting “unstuck”. I believe that this is is the most foundational phase and I see a lot of entrepreneurs skipping right over it as well as the next one. They start in phase 3, eventually find that they don’t like the work they’re doing or they’re simply not happy, and then have to start something again.

Our goal here is to prevent that from happening to you!

So, just to lay them out – here are the four stages:

  • Phase 1 – Set the Foundation
  • Phase 2 – Personal Mission Development
  • Phase 3 – Product and Service Development with First Customers (Start Becoming the Expert!)
  • Phase 4 – Optimization and Growth

 

Let’s take a little more of a look at them:

 

The 4 Phases of the Mission Driven Entrepreneurial Process

entrepreneurial process

Phase 1: Set the Foundation

You guys know that I’m also a huge fan of Dane Maxwell and Andy Drish’s The Foundation.

When I heard about it back in 2012, it blew me away. Up until that point, I had only really heard of the first process I presented here.

One of the things that The Foundation does a great deal of work in is helping people with their limiting beliefs.

It’s these same limiting beliefs that keep people stuck in their mental prisons.

So in this phase, a new entrepreneur should be essentially taking dumb action. Just getting a feel for what’s out there. What sounds interesting to them? What do they feel like they gravitate towards?

Another thing we need to look at is how do we communicate with ourselves and the world around us. Are we real when need to be with ourselves and others? If not, why not? Do we lump all people into one group or are we aware of the different personalities that are out there?

Also in this phase, we need to focus on moving a external locus of control to one that is a bit more internal.

This is all important stuff that needs to be thought about before we can dive into the next phase.

 

Phase 2: Create Your Personal Mission

In this phase, we’ll be looking at crafting your own personal mission.

This is a vital phase that many entrepreneurs skip over. However, time and time again, I’ve heard those from the top say they would have gotten to the top faster had they taken the time to understand what their work actually meant.

In particular, in this phase we’re looking at discovering our Passions, Purpose, and preferred Process (the 3 P’s) and how that relates to our overall mission. We’ll also be looking at all the options you could put your unique skill set towards.

And we also want to make sure we’re starting to develop our network. But we have to make sure we’re doing it strategically. There’s some key people that we need to be meeting if we want to do extraordinary things. We have to seek those folks out who have been there before.

 

Phase 3: Product and Service Development with First Customers (Start Becoming the Expert!)

Now that we’ve developed a understanding of who we are and the skills that we can bring to the market, it’s time that we actually see if someone would be willing to pay for what we can help them with.

Here’s the thing, though. It’s not about what we THINK we can help them with. It’s about what we KNOW we can help them with. And the only way to find out what we can help them with is by actually ASKING them.

Once you know what they want – how are you going to bring it to them? Are you going to get external funding or are you going to do a presale (hint: if you’re smart, you’ll do a presale before you ever lift a finger creating a service, course, SaaS, or even a physical product).

There’s a lot of moving parts in this phase. However, if you do them in the right sequence, it can be super fun.

 

Phase 4: Optimization and Growth

Once you have your first handful of customers, you’ll need to start thinking about your systems. No business became an empire without having a set way of doing things. The more automated you can make things, the more you can leverage your time… and your TEAM’s time.

So, yes. This is the stage where we start thinking about hiring people to help.

Also, if you haven’t made a website yet, then you’ll want to do that in this phase. Because when you’re marketing to the masses (regardless of how you do it), you have to give them something to go to that’s not controlled by third parties.

 

Action Steps

So, this is a lot to throw at you. And really, it depends on where you’re at in your journey. I’ve known people who were in phase 4 and ended up having to go back to phase 2 to recreate their career. In fact, the last two books I read were all about that – people who were at the “top of the world” came crashing down only to build a less stressful and much more enjoyable life.

So where are you at in your journey? Let me know where you’re starting from and I’ll help you get to the next level.

investing basics

Whitney Nicely – Real Estate Investing Made Simple: Learning the A, B, C’s of Investing Basics (AoL 123)

/by

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s making money passively or you’re simply interested to do so, there’s a good chance you’ve read a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

I remember when I read that book back in 2002 – it was an eye opener. I couldn’t put the book down. Since then, it’s one of the books I’ve bought whenever I see on sale so that I can give it to other people when I see them struggling to get ahead.

What’s cool is that this particular book isn’t the only one that Robert has written. And if you spend any time reading those other books, you realize that he made a big part of his fortune early on in Real Estate.

Today’s guest is on the same path. After starting in 2013 being paid $24k a year, she now does that in a month. In fact, she actually owns more than $2.5 MILLION in real estate assets!

Personally when I saw that she’s in the business of helping others do the same, I had to jump at the chance to get her on the show.

In our chat, we talk about getting started in real estate investing and some of the common pitfalls that newbies make when they’re getting started.

If you’re thinking about getting into the investing game and not sure where to start – real estate might be a good choice.

Listen in to find out!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Whitney get started in real estate? 7:26
  • Where can people find real estate auctions to attend? 10:35
  • When did she believe that she could leave her 9 to 5 position to do real estate investing (REI) full time? 12:10
  • What’s some good advice that she’d tell someone first starting out? 14:55
  • What’s the process in finding a property to possibly buy as a someone starting out? 17:48
  • What are some mistakes that she’s see newbies make in REI? 19:31
  • How does someone scale their real estate business without getting over consumed by responsibilities? 23:20
  • How can someone find an apartment complex to buy if they have the means to? 26:35
  • What are some emotional pitfalls that can happen when you’re a landlord? 29:31
  • What’s a good strategy to use when you’re looking for places to invest in? 34:48
  • What’s she looking forward to in the near future? 37:00
  • Who are 3 influencers that have helped her get to where she’s at today? 38:42
  • Is there something that she believes is going to affect entrepreneurship or REI in the future? 41:45
  • What’s an issue that people should be talking about yet hardly anyone is? 43:17
  • Is there something that all high school students must know? 44:24
  • What’s it mean to live a life of abundance? 45:44

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

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Strategies to get Started:

Why Women are the Best REI’s:

Blissful Buy and Hold Houses with Moneeka Sawyer:

What’s Whitney’s Course About?

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 Castbox, 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!

surround yourself with good people

Finding Your Success Board – Why It’s Necessary to Surround Yourself with Good People

/by

Have you ever thought back to a time where you met someone super intriguing? Someone who simply made you feel better about the world? And all you had to do was be near them? Maybe you met them when you were in school and they gave you a certain attention that others didn’t? Perhaps it was a colleague you gave you some career guidance?

Hopefully, you’ve lucked into one of these people in some way in your life.

They’re a complete joy to be with.

 

John Maxwell says that people are like elevators. Some bring you up, and others bring you down.

Personally, I’m all about spending time with people who bring me up. In fact, I try to have a core group of around 5 people in which I bounce ideas and concerns off of on a regular basis.

Why 5? Because Jim Rohn once said that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

If you’re looking to get somewhere in life or with your business, you need to make sure that those people are people YOU’VE chosen and are not placed there randomly by the universe.

 

YOU have to seek these people out.

So here’s the question – how do you find these people? Well, here’s a few ideas to help you start a process to find these right folks.

 

Define Your Influencers

Here’s the thing. The 5 people on your Success Board – your Influencers – they need to be sought after and chosen by you. Your immediate family members don’t really count because they’re family and you’re stuck with them. There might be some bias there and there’s a good chance they might not have the life that you’re looking to have someday.

So who does that leave? You’d think the rest of the world, but that’s simply not the case. I wish it was as simple as that!

No, what you and I both have to do is have a way of sorting out the folks that we want in our life. We want to find those that take us up, not down.

How do you do that?

By defining a list of characteristics that you want in those people!

If you take the time to define the vision and the attributes of your inner circle, you could discover those folks who embody those attributes are probably not far away from where you’re at today.

When it comes to those that I surround myself with, here’s a list of characteristics that I thought was important.

 

Authentic

No one wins when people try to be someone they’re not. Not the person themselves, and certainly not those that think they’re that certain kind of person. Who you are professionally should be a better representation of who you are, but not completely alien.

 

Intelligent

For me, up til grad school, I knew I always wanted to be around people who had completed their bachelors. The reason I believed I wanted this in my friends and spouse was because for the longest time, academic achievement was how I measured intelligence. (Unfortunately, that’s how it is in most of the world yet today!)

However, when I did get into grad school, I had many huge revelations. One was realizing that there are people who have degrees that aren’t that intelligent (they do whatever they’re told). There’s also those that don’t have degrees who have been super successful in life.

So how do you recognize intelligence? It’s simple. Look for thinkers, dreamers, and people who want to do great things.

 

Creative

There’s a lot of problems in the world that need to be fixed. We need more people who want to fix those issues themselves or be part of a group that’s making great change. Personally, I don’t have time for people who think “someone should do something about that…”. Do you?

 

Growth Mentality

It’s been said that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. Or, if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Either way you look at it, to move forward you have to grow. And to grow, you have to learn.

When searching for people to be part of my Success Board, I like to find out what they are currently learning about. If they’re not learning about something or aren’t readily willing to share what they’ve learned, they might not be the best folks to work with.

I also like to look for people who aren’t happy with where they’re at in life and are actively trying to be more, earn more, and help more.

 

Aware of Meaningful Current Events

I don’t understand people who live vicariously through others. Watching reality shows has never really been of interest to me. Why? Because I feel that it’s not fair for someone to devote their emotions to an event that doesn’t affect them one way or the other.

When I was younger, I did this way too often. Heck, I’d have a bad week when the Colts lost – but if they won, it’d be a great week! (And of course, those were the weeks where I’d wear a jersey with pride!)

A lot of my friends were the same way about their favorite NFL teams.

However, when they finally won the Super Bowl back in 2007, it got me thinking: how did this affect me personally?

The best response that I came up with was “Well, I guess I can tell future generations that ‘I was there.’” When in reality, I saw it on TV.

Today, anyone can watch that same game on YouTube. It’s not that big of a deal.

What’s going on with the Kardashians or the Royal Family? Who cares? How does watching their life help yours?

What’s going on with your family or the people around you who you care about? What can affect those people? That’s what really matters.

And just for clarity, I’m not saying that you and the folks you surround yourself with should not pay attention to pop culture at all. What I am saying is that we all need to find the things that are interesting to the REAL us. If you’re a bit dorky like I am, then enjoy your Sci-Fi. But ask yourself why you liked that series or movie. Was it worth the time you put into it?

Are you really into music? Why are you into that particular song or group?

These aren’t just questions we should be asking ourselves, but also those who we surround ourselves with.

 

Sense of Humor

One thing that irritates the heck out of me is when folks are constantly promoting a politically correct agenda. If you want to be, that’s great. If you want to be the next Donald Trump, I’m for that too.

But sometimes, you need to look around and see things for what they are and have a chuckle. While I might not have had the same views as George Carlin on a lot of things, I did appreciate his genius in finding the humor in just about everything. And when he did, there was always a bit of truth to it.

There’s a place and time where humor is needed. Heck, even Avengers: Infinity Wars used it for plot gaps!

 

Civilized

As much as I hate to admit that I have certain standards, I do.

I like being a person of the people. I believe that everyone has potential. It’s just that they have to see it in themselves before they can act on it.

So sometimes, I find myself interacting with people who others might think are a bit shady on the surface. But the truth is that if I see they’re trying to be better (see above), then I’ll help them along the way.

However, if they’re not interested in improving themselves, are vulgar for no reason, and just down right crude – I’ll typically not be interested in spending time with that person.

Same thing could be said about how they achieve what they want in life. Are they grateful for what they have or are they trying to knock everyone else down?

Even taking care of themselves. Do they practice good hygiene regularly or only when they have to?

If you have certain standards, why surround yourself with people who don’t? They could easily become a distraction or even worse, a downer!

 

Action Steps

So the above traits are a few simple examples of traits that people in my Success Board have. You might have a longer list than the one above – which is just fine.

In fact, using a list like this can be a great way of finding a future spouse. (It’s how I realized Maria as wife material! However that list was much longer as it was more of an itemized list.)

The sooner you have a list like this, the sooner your subconscious will start seeing disconnects with those who are bringing you down but you just weren’t aware of.

Are you thinking of adding any other traits to your list? Maybe you have already. I’d love to hear your thoughts below!