“Why is it that some people seem to get more done in a short period of time, where I’m effectively just treading water?”
Here’s the deal — you’re a small business person. You’re the little guy. You only have so much time to do all of the things that need to get done in a given day. As I’ve mentioned in The 6 Cornerstones eBook, there are 6 things you have to do to be successful online. When you’re doing those things regularly, you still might feel as if you’re simply not moving forward as fast as you’d like.
As I also mention in the book, the first thing you need to do when starting any business is to embrace your Why. I’ve talked about this a couple of times on the blog – it’s that important.
When Brendon Burchard had his infamous accident, he asked himself at the time (because he didn’t know he was going to make it), if he had the opportunity to “Live, Love, and Matter.” That simple question helped him find his Why.
Similarly, today’s guest, Clay Green, has had a similar brush with death on a motorcycle. He actually hit a deer as he was out on his motorcycle. Since that moment, he’s been able to come to grips with his Why and it’s because he was able to encapsulate the focus that he felt in that moment.
Through his work with his clients, he helps them find that focus and clarity that so many of us struggle with – not only when we’re just getting started, but also as we’ve been working for such a long time that we’ve forgotten what we’re doing.
In this chat, we talk about the wreck, how people can live a Charged life, and what it’s like to be one of Brendon’s Certified High Performance Coaches.
SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:
Why Clay believes his career in military has lead to his success today. 4:31
How he believes that people can go from a comfortable or caged life to a charged life 14:25
The “Deer Incident” and what he got from it. 34:19
Why someone might actually want to have their own business. 46:15
What Clay got out of the Deer Incident 49:05
What’s the difference between going through Brendon’s High Performance Academy and becoming a Certified High Performance Coach? 54:15
How can someone realize that they’re struggling with one of the areas that Certified High Performance Coaches can help clients with? 1:00:44
What are three thought leaders he’s suggested the most to people? 1:13:10
One book that has catapulted him to where he is today. 1:14:35
What are three truths he’s learned over time that he’d share with others. 1:15:06
If he could say any ad on any social media, what would he say and what platform would he use? 1:18:13
What’s something he believed when he was 30 but he considers bogus now. 1:19:50
When he thinks of the word success, who comes to mind and why? 1:20:50
Clay and Tara Howisey discuss SnapChat to Drive Engagement and Increase Revenue:
Clay on Personal Branding:
Why you might be avoiding Success:
Bootstrap Businessmen Dale Roberts and Kevin Allen interview Clay:
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 extremelyhelpful 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.
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/AoL-Podcast-Logo-Master-Image-session46.jpg700700JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-07-28 12:23:492018-12-27 16:18:51AoL 046: Why Finding Your Clarity and Focus is Vital to Achieving High Performance with Clay Green
As many of you might know, I officially started my journey into entrepreneurship through Amway and LTD. It was where I had the opportunity to learn the true entrepreneurial mindset, learn more about what freedom really is, and even more about what this country is all about. I also got to meet great go-getters that I plan on bringing onto the podcast from time to time.
While I might not have gotten great financial results from being in it, I’m glad that I was able to absorb the knowledge and influence. Without that experience, I really don’t know where I’d be today. Maybe a teacher or engineer somewhere. I’m really not quite sure.
What I do know is that what I’m doing today allows me to utilize what I found out about myself when I was active in Amway. I realized that I do like to teach, coach, and work on a team.
However, I also realized some of the things that I wasn’t so great at as well. One of those things was to scrape off the negative connotation that comes with the industry. I just found it too difficult to constantly fight through that stigma. I hated being in “one of those things”.
So in this post, I’m going to utilize a list of Pro and Cons that was inspired from the Fizzle forums and give them my personal touch. They are items that the original author (Tony Rush – who’s earned well over $100k in a single month) and I have learned about through working in our groups (and what I’ve found out since I was active) and hopefully it will allow you to make a better choice if joining a group and company is good for you!
Pros:
Build on a Shoestring Budget / Low Barrier to Entry:
As with an online business, you really don’t have to have that much money to start. Of course the more skills you bring to the table (sales skills specifically), the better off you’ll do from the get go. (In the online business world, the more technical skills you have, the more things you don’t have to pay others to do.)
Can (Should?) be a Part Time Endeavour:
While starting a traditional business is definitely time intensive, doing an MLM isn’t nearly as bad. In fact, because they’re designed for you to bring more people into the group as opposed to just sales, it’s almost foolish to not have a job as you’re getting started. Building your army of distributors takes time!
Team Game:
The more people you bring into your team, the more you’ll win. Period. That said, don’t rely on one person that you bring into your team to do all the recruiting. You won’t get rewarded for that. It’s not how it works.
Personal Development:
Your “Upline” has your best interest at heart. If you do well, they do well. So they’re going to want you to be as great as you can in all areas of your life – not just in bringing in money. The more stable your life is in the business, the more stable their life is. The more business skills you have, the less work they have to do in your line of sponsorship (LoS).
Learn about Real Freedom:
Somewhere in your upline there will be people who have really made it. These people live celebrity lifestyles without the worry of having to dodge paparazzi. With the ability to see and learn from these folks directly or from team events, this is often the first time that many people honestly see that they don’t have to work a 9 to 5. For many people who might be familiar with online business, they might also realize that they have better skills to perform in the MLM arena because they don’t have to have “technical” skills to do the work there.
True Passive Income:
Real Freedom comes from being paid over and over for work you did once. That’s the whole idea of passive income. If you become a sponsoring machine in your first two years in business and you do well in your own personal circle of sales (selling to people you know), you have really the main ingredients to be successful at any MLM. You build your group and help others build theirs. It’s really that simple. If you can’t do these two main activities, you’re going to have problems in having true success. (If building courses and creating other content is more your thing, then I HIGHLY recommend going the online route. This is definitely more my strong suit!)
Don’t have to handle Customer Support:
Again, your job is twofold: selling and coaching. You sell the idea of the business to prospects and the products to customers. You coach downline to do the same thing.
What your job doesn’t consist of is having to worry about invoices, returns, shipping, and other merchant issues. Totally the opposite of having your own online retail store.
Built-in Community:
There was a saying that I learned in my LTD days that I still use with online business making. You’re in business for yourself, but you’re not by yourself. In an MLM, this is particularly true. Again, you’re upline and downline both want you to succeed. When you succeed, they look good and are more likely to have success.
However, you can find plenty of community to help your online business as well these days. There’s plenty of Mega Groups on Facebook as well as paid membership sites like Fizzle. Heck, many courses that are out there these days have a group as part of the bonus for enrolling!
Cons:
So now that we’ve looked at the things that I think are great about MLM’s, let’s look at the issues that I saw when I was active.
Low Barrier of Entry:
This is on both lists because there are simply some folks who shouldn’t be in business – period. They don’t know how to invest in themselves and/or their business. They’re consumers through and through and only take. You don’t want these kinds of people on your team and taking up your time as a coach.
Little or no Autonomy: Remember how I was talking about Freedom up above? Well, there is a catch to that. When it comes to your business, you usually have very little or no freedom when it comes to prices of products, what your online portal (“website”) looks like, marketing materials, and how customers are interacted with from the customer support side. You’re essentially a freelance salesperson/coach. Unless you make the board of one of these companies (which is possible in Amway), your thoughts on the business are not going to be anything more than feedback.
This personally drives me CRAZY.
Stigma of being in “one of those things” or a Pyramid Scheme: Yeah, I hate having to fight this. So many people believe that MLM’s are pyramid schemes. Heck, I’ve known a few people that would even go out of their way and tell others that I was in a pyramid scheme. Simply this aspect of being in an MLM can make life and the work you’re trying to do uncomfortable – even if you have all the best intentions in the world.
Not all MLM’s are created equal:
Some MLM’s like Amway have been around for awhile. Amway, itself, has been around for 50+ years. However, most MLM’s come and go as quickly as a summer storm. So one of the things that you’ll want to make sure you do is kick the tires if you’re thinking of joining a particular group and/or company. Find out how long they’ve been around. If they’ve been around for awhile, then you should be good. If they’ve only been around a handful of years or less, then check out the fruit on the trees. Are the leaders where you want to be? Do they have high morals or do they give you a feeling of being used car salesfolk?
This is a really important thing you check out!!
Commitment Levels Vary:
You might be completely jacked to start your new business. However, not everyone is going to be as excited as you are. You might sponsor some people who simply get started because you’re the most confident people they know. There might be people you sponsor who put more work into building this thing right away and then vanish all of a sudden. It’s probably because they’ve found the next shiny object project.
A Cult-like Experience:
Again, for many people, this might be the first time that many people have ever been exposed to self improvement material. At first, it feels unnatural that all of these people are constantly talking positively about life. For me, it was just weird.
Once you get past this, though, and you realize that there are all kinds of people in the group, you’ll find that there’s not many places like this in the rest of the world. In our perspective, this is great! It solidifies our interest in the group because we feel that it was the group that gave us this new understanding of the world.
In the perspective of the people that we’ve been around up until we joined the group, we might be changing in a way that they’re not comfortable with.
So, when those people, who might be life long friends or spouses, criticize the MLM, trouble might be brewing. The folks who are on the outside “just don’t understand” from the perspective on the member. From the outside, the member is drifting further away.
From what I’ve found out, this is entirely from a lack of communication. It’s completely unnecessary for relationships to get to this point. However, they do and I think you should be aware of it.
Wrap-Up:
It might sound that I’m being ungrateful of my experience. However, it’s the contrary. I really enjoyed my active years and it really helped me change for the better.
The thing is that I don’t think many people see both sides of MLM like I do. Once you get in it, and if it’s really the only thing you’ve experienced, you might find it hard to leave. Or, if you’re like people I know that have built their fortune on it alone, then you can’t explore things outside of it due to risk of losing what you’ve built.
Ultimately, these are some of the reasons why I ultimately focused more on building New Inceptions.
However, not everyone minds these limitations. If what you’re passionate isn’t going to bring in the resources for you to continue to pursue it, then perhaps you should consider being involved with a MLM company. Simply think of them as a vehicle for you to bring in income that allows you to engage in your passion more.
Action Steps:
If you’re interested in getting into Amway, checking it out, and being shown the ropes, I’d be more than happy to sponsor you. The products are great and there’s plenty of people who aren’t Independent Business Owners (IBOs) and want to use the products as well. The last I checked, the buy in is around $63. However, you can get larger starter packages that have sample products at a discounted rate.
Also, Maria is in various ones herself. Each group has it’s own products. One is insurance focused, another is jewelry based, and yet another is health food based.
Connect with us if you’re interested to see if any of the lines that we’re involved with might be a solution for you!
They talk more than just MLM, however. They also talk real estate and the entrepreneurial mindset as well. A well rounded great talk. The best advice towards MLM starts just after the 57 mark. However, the conversation is great after the 34 minute mark.
Also, David mentions an interview of Tony Robbins in there as well talking about Network Marketing. Here’s that interview:
So, I think that’s a good start. Let me know if you have any further questions regarding this topic below. Those of you who have seen some success in an MLM in the past – whether financial or not – let me know about your experience too!
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-Truth-About-Network-Marketing-Should-Your-First-Business-be-with-a-Multi-Level-Marketing-Business.jpg800800JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-06-21 13:49:002016-06-21 20:28:13The Truth About Network Marketing: Should Your First Business be with a Multi-Level Marketing Company?
Everyone has heard of the phrase Alpha Male. If you remember, they’re the type of guy who is normally thought of as a natural athlete and/or have everything going right in life, or just have many women around them at a given time. They’re a natural leader.
Have you ever heard of the phrase Alpha Female? There’s a good chance that you’ve heard that phrase too. When you think of the phrase, what kind of women come to mind? For me, I think of women in business, government, entertainment, and the military. All of them are leaders of some sort. And most of them probably don’t have time to be the center of a traditional family that society teaches us is the norm.
Personally, I’m married to an Alpha Female. I’m always joking with her that she’s 52% girl, 48% guy. Otherwise I don’t think she’d be able to have done as well in the military career as she has. Perhaps growing up with two brothers helps. But for the most part, I can joke with her like I joke with most guys – which is actually awesome. And for me, that’s normal.
Today’s guest, I imagine has married an Alpha Female as well. In fact, as he explains in the interview, he grew up with mainly women in his house. This forced him to learn how to think like the women in his life.
Today, Moe DeCarlo uses this power of his to be a translator for women and gets paid to do so as a woman’s social coach.
In this session, we’ll be talking about what got him into coaching in the first place, how he keeps up with all the work he does, and what he got out of his recent time at this past April’s Experts Academy.
If you feel like you have this special trait, or something similar, and not sure how to use it, perhaps Moe can help you learn how to utilize those skills in a way that you never thought you could!
SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:
How Moe schedules his days and weeks to be masterful. 8:06
How Moe sees himself as a coach in relationships. 10:01
How Moe compares himself to Steve Harvey. 11:00
Why he works with women more so than he works with men. 12:28
3 Ways that men and women are different. 15:10
When Moe realized he could be a Women’s Social Coach as a full time career. 20:01
Resources that Moe has used in getting better at coaching. 24:23
How he was able to secure his first paying client. 26:57
What Moe would have done differently as he was building his business. 30:45
What Moe believes will sap your energy quickly if you’re not careful. 35:19
How Moe gets past the societal label of a Player when it comes to him doing his work. 38:43
Why it’s important to start your business with boundaries and how you let others know that you have them. 43:09
Why Moe decided to go to Expert’s Academy vs buying a lease expensive online training. 46:33
Why he believes that the biggest take away that he got from the event was the new connection with other people. 49:28
Why you should market to aspirations, not demographics. 51:19
What Expert Academy helped him realize he should change in his future business. 56:12
3 Life Truths He’d Want People to Know 1:02:12
3 Favorite Teachers or Influencers 1:04:40
What Would He Tell the 20 Year Old Version of Himself 1:06:10
Finding out if you’re an Alpha Women through Astrology:
An example of what I imagine Moe does with his clients:
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 extremelyhelpful 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.
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/AoL-Podcast-Logo-Master-Image-session40.jpg700700JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-06-16 10:15:502019-01-09 14:34:17AoL 040: Understanding Alpha Women and Maintaining High Creative Performance with Moe DeCarlo
People wonder where I get inspired for my writing. Sometimes I get inspiration from the people I’m working with. Other times, it’s just to fill a knowledge gap in my content.
Yet, other times, it’s when I’m constantly berated by a subject and I need to make an account of all that is coming my way.
I mean, when the universe tells you to do something, you better be listening and be prepared to act, right?
Passion is Half the Battle:
In the last two blog posts, I wrote about building a website. While this might not necessarily be the most interesting to me, it is a question that I can answer and have a knack to help people get started on. It’s kinda like me and math. Can I teach it? Sure. Do I have a passion for it? Well, I have a passion that people are educated. So… in a way I guess? But not directly.
Same thing for building websites. Is it something that I can help people with? Sure. I had to figure it out on my own and if I can help someone else figure it out, then I’m happy.
Also, it’s a question that I’ve been meaning to respond to in a blog post form for awhile.
Today’s post has a little bit of both: “Something I want to make sure people get because it’s important” and something that I’m asked about quite a bit.
How did I find my Why?
The Secret is in the Why:
Pursuing your Passion with a definite Why, I believe, is one of the critical parts of being happy, building a successful life, and building a thriving business.
I share this belief with a well known author, Simon Sinek.
If you’re unfamiliar with Simon, there’s been a big TEDx speech of his out there on the web for several years now. Time and time again I recommend it to people if they’re having trouble finding their Why.
Good stuff, huh?
Bonus: He also just recently did an interview with Marie Forleo that came out last week about his newest book.
Don’t Forget about Being Happy:
As Simon was saying in that last video, many times we get so focused on the small details of a job that might actually be part of our Why, that we forget about why we started it in the first place. When this happens, we might actually become unhappy.
Among many of the great points that Raj talks about in the discussion, he points out that we all need three main things to be happy: Mastery, Belonging, and Autonomy.
Mastery: We need to feel that we’re good at something.
Belonging: We need to feel a sense of intimacy or connection with at least one other person.
Autonomy: We need to feel a sense of freedom in what we’re doing. (Not to be micromanaged.)
Just a note here: Mastery is another way of describing passion. Those that don’t have a passion in a particular subject rarely care to develop a mastery in or of it.
A Recent Example:
Say you’re interested in starting a podcast. You want to have really interesting conversations with people and get those out into the world and inspire others to take certain actions.
That focus – having really interesting conversations with others – might meet the three criteria of being happy.
However, when you start figuring out the details of where the host for the recordings might be and what the your site looks like that you’re posting the talks to, those might be things you don’t really want to deal with.
As you get lost in the details of getting technical things prepped to do the show, you might actually start asking yourself why you started thinking that you wanted to do podcasts in the first place.
Right?
Well, for starters – the two are not mutually related. Technical parts of doing a podcast aren’t the same as actually being the host. In fact, the only “technical” thing a host should do is hit the record button. In the ideal world, you’d have people to help you with all the other stuff.
You don’t necessarily have to pay those folks, either. There’s plenty of trading that goes on in the business world behind the scenes – both online and offline. Maybe you have a talent that they need as well? They help you, you help them.
And the other thing is that this is where the Why gets you through. Without a strong Why, you might just tap out early on in your endeavor of being a podcaster. There’s a saying that goes, “If you want something bad enough, the facts don’t matter!”.
More Resources to Help You Find Your Why, Your Passion, and Find What Makes You Happy:
If you’re wanting to make sure that you’re on the right path, that you’re on it for a good reason, and that you want to make sure you can make it all the way through to completion, then there’s a few resources that I think you should check.
As I was writing this post, I took a short break and ran across an interesting piece that I wanted to share with you guys:
When you think about this family – is it clear to you that Garrett knew his why when he was building his business? Do you think it was what he started with or did it grow over time? Or perhaps he realized it when he sold his business?
Regardless, the Why was deciding factor of the life that they have now.
The best thing you can do with yourself before you ever start your business is to figure out what really motivates you to start working and to keep going when it’s hard for you to do anything. Us solopreneurs, we have very wild emotional roller coasters. One day we feel like we’re on the top of the world, the next day we could feel like “meh”.
If you don’t get the books that I’ve mentioned in this post (which I think might be a mistake), I’d definitely check out interviews that they’ve done, and talks they’ve given across the web.
Also, another something that I think would help you is making a bucket list for yourself as well as a list of things that would be fun to do with your family (if you have one). Make each one at least 10 to 20 items. Let it be as wild as you want.
Now from there, start categorizing these into things that don’t cost anything or very little, all the way up to those that cost a fortune (like a prolonged trip, a boat, or a better house!)
Those that don’t cost anything or cost very little, you should plan to do them as rewards soon.
The more the something costs, the higher up on your success ladder you should place it. Think of it as a reward for getting to that level of success.
Now find some pictures of these rewards and place them on a bulletin board, tape them on the back of a door, or, put them up on a refrigerator. These are forms of what many people call Vision Boards. If you need help of what I’m talking about – here’s an example:
I’d love to see what you all come up with!
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-Importance-of-Why-Learning-How-to-Get-Going-when-the-Going-Gets-Tough.jpg800800JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-06-14 11:16:522016-06-14 12:58:06The Importance of Why: Learning How to Get Going when the Going Gets Tough
Being in business for yourself has many different labels. Solopreneur, Expert, Entrepreneur… the list goes on. Many times we’ve found out that these particular names might not necessarily mean anything other than you have a passion for what you do and you happen to make income doing it.
Most of us go the long way of doing that. Going to school for one thing and then making our business from something else.
I frequently ask myself, could I have learned what I know today about online business without going to school? Would I have been able to help people they way I do today?
While I think that I might have been able to shortcut the process, the truth of the matter is simply this: I wouldn’t have the experience to be able to help people at the LEVEL that I help people today.
The same goes for today’s guest, David Rachford.
David started his career in the military after being an athlete for years in several sports. After getting out of the military, he went to college to become an accountant. Growing tired of that world in 10 years, he found himself at a position that he could do something that utilized those accounting skills, but at the same time, he didn’t want to make that his whole career.
That’s where his interest in teaching others about Yoga and starting the Better Human Show came from.
In this session, we’ll learn exactly how a kid who was too husky to be in youth football started playing all kinds of sports, How his yoga journey started, how he “measures creativity”, and why he started doing his podcast.
Listen to this episode if you’ve ever found yourself bouncing from one thing in your career to the next, thinking about starting a business, or you’re simply curious in what it takes to sit with “strong determination” like monks do in meditation.
SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:
What kind of sports David played growing up despite being too big to play football. (10:04)
How David got into Meditation, Yoga, and eventually learned how to sit in “strong determination”. (13:48)
David’s advice to someone who says they get migraines when meditating. (20:42)
Why he left the accounting world after doing it for 10 years. (22:50)
How Dave measures creativity. (26:22)
Why Dave focuses on established entrepreneurs for his ideal clients (29:00)
How the Better Human show came into being. (34:38)
Which talks on his podcast have stuck in his mind the most. (38:18)
What’s an occurring theme that he’s gotten from his guests. (42:20)
David’s thoughts on falling back on a safe job (45:07)
What purchase $100 or less has most affected David’s life. (50:43)
What are three truths that he wants to share with others (53:10)
Who are David’s three favorite teachers (56:55)
What Dave recommends in spreading your message into the world (1:03:34)
David’s Norwegian Lundehund, Nikolina checking out a T-Rex!
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 extremelyhelpful 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.
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/AoL-Podcast-Logo-Master-Image-session38.jpg700700JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-06-02 19:35:102019-03-20 15:35:36AoL 038: Yoga, How to Measure Creativity, and Being a Better Human with David Rachford
As online content makers, we all put a ton of work into the content that we create. That work takes time. And unless you’re some 5th dimension alien being that has no problem traveling in the 4th dimension (which is time), then you probably don’t have the minutes in a day to make new piece after new piece of content for each platform you’re on.
However, that’s not too say you should just throw one piece out there, forget about it and move on to the next. On the other hand, it also doesn’t mean that you should go out there and post “20 posts on Facebook a day”.
There is a happy medium between making one post and moving on to the next (which is highly ineffective) to repeatedly saying “Hey everyone! Check this out!” 10+ times a day (which is another highly ineffective way to get your message out there).
What’s a way to produce that content in a way that isn’t overwhelming? And what’s the correct amount?
Content “Sawdust”
In a video that came out last week, Gary Vaynerchuck dropped this word to describe macro-content. While I had heard of his strategy from Brendon Burchard, in how he uses quotes for Instagram and Facebook, I hadn’t really thought about applying it to anything else than that platform.
Essentially content sawdust is little snippets from the main content. As Gary said, when people think of .gif pictures, that is a form of sawdust. When you see a trailer for a movie, that consists of sawdust. Heck, you might even be able to think of sawdust as that thing that Paul Harvey used to do before he did his Midday NEWS or The Rest of the Story.
(Speaking of Paul Harvey, Mike Rowe – yes, from Dirty Jobs – is starting a new podcast that Paul Harvey was an inspiration for. Check that out here!)
Know Thy Platform
Before you go posting content sawdust, you need to know how to work the platform that you’re posting that sawdust on.
For example, the topic of this post came to me last week from one of my favorite Facebook Groups: The Expert Community. If you don’t know about Facebook Groups and how they’re helping online business in 2016, then you have a few things to learn about how Facebook currently works.
In the old days, before Pages, Groups were the place where people could come together and discuss things that they had an interest in. I know that when I was going to Purdue, that I made several off the wall ones. So did some of my friends.
One of the ones that I was proudest of was called the 10/22 Club. It started of as a club at Purdue who members had their birthday on October 22nd. Very elitist, right? Haha.
Back then, you could search for people by birthday. And, if I recall correctly, I had 25 members at one point. However, by this point, it had grown beyond Purdue itself.
Eventually, Pages did come into the picture, and when they did – groups essentially stopped having a purpose. If you had a Page, you could essentially create a profile for an organization, game, or anything else that wasn’t just one person. Dogs, cats, birthday clubs… you name it.
Just like you can on your own wall, a Page could post something and people who liked that page would see it on their feeds. Groups never had the ability to really do this.
Technically, that’s still the way Pages work. Unfortunately for us business owners, things changed again about 2 years ago. To get more than 10% of your followers to see what you posted on a Page, you have to pay for it – regardless of what the Page is being used for. I call this the Page Pay to Play. It’s very one direction.
In retaliation(?) to this, groups started making a comeback. However, instead of just passively posting things on your page wall, with groups, you have to pay attention to the rules of the group. Many don’t support posts to external links. They fear that the use of external links will drive people away from the group. A greedy owner of the group might see this as a threat.
Personally, I feel the more the merrier. As long as posts are relevant to the group and are offering free value to the members – it’s a great thing to do. However, if spam starts entering then, you might just have to draw some lines. Simply come up some rules in which the community has to follow. That’s why big groups with 1000+ members often have themes and rules when it comes to what’s going on each day.
Another thing about groups is that you actually have to engage and become connected to the people in the group. To do this well, I think you really have to think of it more as a community and not so much of an authority page.
That said, I think Facebook has become community driven. You just have to be willing to friend up to the max of 5000 people if you want it to work that way for you. Otherwise, go with the Page Pay to Play method.
That all being said, you’ll have to figure out how to use the platform that you want to connect with your audiences on. Do you use Instagram? What works over there? Do you use Snapchat? How does that work? Periscope? Again – figure out the best way to package the sawdust to those audiences.
If you want some specific examples of how you can package sawdust from your blog posts, specifically, you can check out Pat’s examples here.
Correct Amount to Post
If you feel I haven’t answered this part indirectly already, then I’ll go ahead an answer it directly here. The correct amount to post is… ::drumroll::
…up to you.
Brendon posts 4 times a day. He uses 2 posts that he made that morning. I’ve seen him do 2 images on Instagram and 2 on Facebook. Specifically he says his times are 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm for those posts. He posts many of his YouTube videos on Sunday (who does that?).
Pat posts several times a day. I wasn’t able to pin down exactly other than a 9am post, a midday post, and an after work post. Generally speaking he does a good job of posting on the weekends a couple of times. However, when he’s traveling – he kinda goes through all the platforms. On his trip to the Food Blogger Conference in Salt Lake City this past weekend, he ended up Instagramming a pic of his luggage during the day. Then later, he did a ‘scope and then a couple of Facebook Live posts in the evening. As well as saying thanks to the people he had dinner with and the tours he got though the rest of the weekend.
Gary posts… well, I haven’t been able to pin it down yet. But I’m assuming it’s similar – AND he has a guy shadowing him for DailyVee. So, it’s not necessarily a one man band. If you’re really interested in when his accounts post (or anyone) – make an account on IFTTT and create a recipe that monitors certain accounts and posts the message on a spreadsheet. Then from there you can see patterns after a week of monitoring.
Action Steps:
So this week, as you’re creating your new epic posts. I want you to start going through some of the work you’ve already done. See if there’s anything in there that you might be able to say to yourself “man, that was good!”. Quote it and repackage it.
So many people don’t reuse the evergreen content they have. If you’re on a budget (like me) use what’s free and what you can afford to spend. If you have some extra funds to try some other stuff, get a subscription to Edgar or something similar. Spend some time coming up with a daily and monthly plan of how you can line up content. Make themed weeks. If that goes well, start doing themed months!
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Repurposing-Content-How-to-Reuse-Your-Content-Sawdust.jpg800800JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-05-24 12:00:382016-05-24 11:16:01Repurposing Content Roundup: How to Use Your Content Sawdust
One thing that I notice that people ask their mentors is this simple question: “should I have a plan B in case my business idea doesn’t pan out?”.
And really, it depends on who you ask and what the meaning behind your question is.
As I was doing the research for this piece, the answers I found were all over the board. Some said, “Yes, it’s irresponsible not to have a Plan B.”. While others suggest that you need to burn your bridges. Their thinking is that, like Aeneas of Roman mythology, that there is no going back. Having a plan B means that you have a back door – an escape plan of doing great things.
While I’m a huge believer in being prepared and planning in general (I mean, I’ve been trained to think like an engineer, right?), I think the bridge burners have some points as well.
So which is it?
When President Kennedy wanted to take us to the moon, as impossible as the goal was, we were able to craft a plan to get it done. With a ton of engineering, we were able to accomplish it – even with the primitive computers they had at the time.
However, because they were engineers, they probably had a plan B, C, AND D.
With this in mind, you can see that even the most responsible amongst us are shooting for the stars. However, it might take multiple tries to actually get you there.
Fire and Adjust
This past weekend, I was listening to a podcast in where the host, Michael O’Neal, was talking about branding. One of the ideas that he suggested for starting a new company is to use a name that your audience would know, but not necessarily other people. In this instance, he was talking about a friend of his (or client) who was wanting to start a military based podcast for success. The phase “Fire and Adjust” seemed to fit the bill of veteran entrepreneurs.
When I heard that phrase, it made me think of this Plan B issue again.
In the military, they have an objective. They have overarching goals. However, the tactics that are used to achieve the big picture goal might change depending on the circumstances.
For example, for the Angles of Lattitude Podcast, I originally wanted to have 3 regular hosts that would be discussing topics in entrepreneurship and having guests on. Those three were Brian, Jonathan, and myself.
However, life happened to both of them about the same time. Jon got sucked up by his senior year at college. Brian had a new kid which he now spends part of his days caring for.
So I had to do something quick.
What did I do? Instead of having the same co-hosts every week, I’d have guest co-hosts who were actually past guests themselves. That way, if someone was interested to know more about a particular co-host, they could go back into the archive and find out more about them.
So far, it seems to be working. Which means, I’m still going to have a co-host based podcast, but now it’s almost as if I have multiple guests at the same time – which is something that I don’t hear many podcasts doing. You never know what you’re going to get!
Great story, JC – but how does that apply to me?
Well, in your particular instance, I’m not sure. But there are 4 takeaways that you can get out of it and apply to your own situation.
Commit
This is where the bridge and boat burners got it right. Say what you’re going to do and do what you said you were going to do. Sure, you might not be literally going to the moon on your own, but if you want to build a business that provides for you and your family that utilizes a passion, then you’re going to have to do some work. If you’re still working a day job, you might not have full-time commitment. However, I’m not saying to quit your job. (In fact, sometimes, quitting your job might have a negative effect on a new business.) When you do have the time to build your dream (which you’ll more than likely have to prioritize to get the time in), you need to have a steady focus and intensity that tells your subconscious that “this is important to me”.
Take Small Steps
One of the things that I’ve noticed many people that I’ve been working with lately start their dream job is that they’re overloading themselves with all the things that need to be done to have a fully functioning online business. “I need a logo. I need Mailchimp, I need to learn how to put videos on YouTube. I need to learn how to use Snapchat… and… and…” This is one reason why I highly recommend Fizzle to everyone who starts their first online business. Before Fizzle, I always thought it’d be cool if there was a ONE place where people could go to to get the education to build an online business for a relatively small monthly fee. That’s what Fizzle is. A community built by entrepreneurs for new entrepreneurs to get their business going. Think of it as inexpensive online mentorship. Anyway, without being in Fizzle, I’d say that you need to build your own Roadmap starting with the end in mind. Ask yourself, what does success look like? Not just when you have a successful business that’s actually in the black, but on the way to that point. Are there examples of businesses that you can model up to the “end point”? This applies to all of your business, not just the tactics. When you start seeing results, and you feel confident that going at it 100% of the time will be as rewarding as the day job that you’re in (monetarily and emotionally), then go for it! Plan and execute a transition. Choose a date for your “Freedom Day” – the day that you’re able to pursue your dream full time. Between then and now, research, learn, and build the foundation of your future business. DON’T try to do it all in one month! Hell, it’s taken me a year to get up to this point!!
Network and Leverage Relationships (Like Mad!)
How do I expand my influence?
Read the following in Gary V.’s voice. (He didn’t actually say this… I just imagine he would!)
Meet. New. People. Why? Because each person you’ve ever met has had an impact in how you think today. Cause and Effect. Where there’s an action, there’s a reaction. Whether they were a positive influence, or a negative influence, you’ve thought about them for a least a second. If they were a positive influence, you might have thought “How can I use what they said in my life?” If they were negative, you might have thought “Oh, I don’t want to be like them!” or some other type of reaction. Lack of meeting new people means not only lack of you getting the right influences in your life, but it also means lack of opportunity. One thing that’s really been making me scratch my head recently is people who must keep their Facebook account limited to real lifefriends. It’s like they’re trying to play golf and going for the lowest score to… I don’t know what the point is. Minimalism perhaps? Trying to keep “positivity” in their feed? Not quite sure. Here’s the problem with this. They’re not expanding their influence in either direction. They’re not allowing the doors to be open to new opportunities (and in Facebook’s case, new Groups) and they’re not influencing new people. Think about this. The friends that they have on their account now, were at one time strangers. Even more, those friends probably also have a particular view of this person who’s trying to radically change their life. Chances are pretty low that those friends are going to be going along on the same journey. So, person, who is building influence online… How are you going to build influence online if you don’t and CAN’T even utilize one of the easiest ways to do that? Pages? Pages can’t network. They can’t get into Groups. They can’t actually build influence. They can keep it going, sure. But when you’re just starting, you need to be shooting for that 5000 max friend score. By then, you might have enough traction for your “Fan Page” to actually have a following. But using a Fan Page in 2016 to build a following is going to require investing money for advertisements. If you’re against using Facebook to build your network, there’s other tools that can do that for you. Instagram, Twitter, and what I highly recommend you figure out: Snapchat. You keep asking questions, we’ll keep answering them. Gary V. out!
Don’t fall into the false belief that you have to do just one thing. There used to be a time when you could take advantage of Google and call your website something that people would search. This is where websites like Smart Passive Income originally came from. From there you’d talk about whatever that topic was. That was (and still is) called building a niche site.
However, Google’s changed since then. You can name your business whatever you want. It’s the actions and your engagement that are going to build it. If Google and the rest of the world is changing all the time, why shouldn’t you? Not too long ago I talked about the difference between niche marketing and niche product development. This also applies to your career. Just like you can market your business to multiple audiences, you can also do the same for yourself and the dreams and careers you choose. Maybe go-getter millennials don’t pay attention to you. That doesn’t mean that you can’t focus on other audiences and serve them!
Action Steps
So until next time, let’s think about a couple of things here. Do you need a Plan B? Not if you’re committed to your goal. At this point, as a beginner, just remember that you want to plan a transition to your next career. If you’ve been laid off and thinking that building an online business is quick money, it’s not. Go get a job that complements what you’re wanting to do in the future with this online business. Now build a roadmap. Having trouble doing that? Not sure what one is? Subscribe to Fizzle and use theirs. Find some people that are on the path to that destination. Add them on Facebook if possible, get to know them a bit. From there, start working on one thing at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day! If you’re not a beginner, how’s your plan going? Did you have to change things up a bit to get to where you are? Would love to hear what caused your plan to change. Also, I’d love to get your feedback my thoughts above!
https://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Do-I-need-a-Plan-B-for-my-Business.jpg800800JChttp://www.newinceptions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NI-Web-Logo8.20165.pngJC2016-05-17 10:31:402016-05-17 10:31:40Do I Need a Plan B for my Business?
