UK Entrepreneur

Brexit: What it means for the UK Entrepreneur and Personal Freedom

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As we’re coming up on another fourth of July, I’m happy for what I’ve been able to accomplish in the past year. I’ve successfully helped a book launch (which I’ll get into more next week). I’ve helped build a few sites. I’ve also started a podcast that I continue to refine. AND I’ve met and reconnected with plenty of wonderful people who are joining me on this path with me – including my contributors, the fine crew over at the Experts Community Facebook Group, and, of course, you guys – the readers of this blog. 🙂

One of the people (hi Ameeta!) that I connected with over at the Experts Community, was actually pretty upset about how her country let her down the other day in this whole Brexit thing. And I must say, it’s one of the things that I’m interested in the current world affairs. Not because I’m losing thousands in the stock market right now. No, I’m sure that will come back (it’s not the first time). But because I’m really curious as to how the UK people are going to take advantage of this situation they now find themselves in.

I mean, we could go on and on about why they chose to leave the EU. But it really doesn’t matter at this point. Or, as Hillary Clinton will go down in history as saying, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

Really, the arguments that Scotland is arguing about “European” trade, jobs, and all of their opportunities disappearing – for now, yes. They have. However, in the long run, is that such a problem?

To be honest, the UK is/was the financial capital of the EU. Why can’t they just focus on building themselves back up on their own? Is the EU really going to be such a great place without them putting in their share of the funding?

 

How the UK Should Capitalize

Whether or not the UK makes it out of this entire situation is really up to them. They can either look at it as a catastrophe or an opportunity. If you’re a UK entrepreneur, I know how you already see it! That’s great. But, it’s up to the youth now to not say “oh, my future is broken now”.

They need to start figuring out like many of us in the US that the old ways just aren’t going to work. The old economy is broken. You can’t rely on the traditional J.o.B. as we once knew it. (In fact, we talked about this in depth in session 1 of the podcast.)

In fact, in reality, the way that our parents have grown up with a world of people seeking jobs as a “working for” a company vs what many of U.S. Millennials are realizing as a “working with” perspective is not new. Before the industrial revolution, everyone essentially owned their job.

In the US today, we see people owning their job more and more with the development of the sharing economy. Companies like Uber, Yerdle, and JustPark. Do they have to use the companies that started over here in the US? No, they don’t. Just like every town has plumbers, farmers, and car mechanics, they can have their own as well.

 

Personal Freedom

In the end, I think it’s this reliance on jobs and government that has weakened so many Millennials who, like me, expected a job to be waiting once we got out of our time in college. However, as I’ve said before, it’s not the rule anymore. And frankly Millennials as a unit shouldn’t “expect” all these gifts for just showing up. That’s never been how the world works.

Much of what we have now is from the expense of those that came before us. So what if we have companies giving us less than they had? How is it our right to have that standard of living? It’s not. And while the youth of the UK might have stumble forward in the short term, I really think that in the long run, they’re going to start coming up with their own sharing economy companies. Which means they’ll have their time back, something to show for it, and become a better person in the process.

Sounds like a rough deal, indeed! 😉

 

Action Steps

As with any post I’ve made, I have something for you to do next!

Take in the news about what’s going on this post-Brexit world. See how hard it is for people to accept change. Then read this article about what Gary Johnson had to say about the entire situation.

Once the dust does settle, I think many Brits might embrace what they have. They might even realize that they actually were paying more than the lion’s share for support of the EU.

Heaven forbid if they actually become an example for other European nations by standing on their own two feet.

mlm network marketing

The Truth About Network Marketing: Should Your First Business be with a Multi-Level Marketing Company?

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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!

For further information about MLM’s and network marketing, there’s a great podcast session with Michael O’Neal that I think you might want to listen to. The MLM he’s involved with is Isagenix. This particular interview features him in a conversation with David Wood at a dinner table at Joe’s Crab Shack. David is a multi-multi-millionaire in Isagenix and you can get connected with his brand here.

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!

Repurposing Content Roundup

Repurposing Content Roundup: How to Use Your Content Sawdust

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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!

stephan seyfert

AoL 036: Going from Good to Great in Business Coaching with Stephan Seyfert

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When people think of the labels consultant, coach, or teacher, they often think of the same type of person. Someone that instructs and helps others. However, each one of these labels are actually different than one another. The consultant uses their skill set to help their client. The coach helps bring the client to a solution by asking the right questions. While the teacher uses both skills to help their students learn and apply what’s being taught in the classroom.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always found myself being all three in one way or another. I’ve been the tech person when it comes to helping friends and family with their computers. I’ve always been the listening ear when people are trying to fix a problem in their life – helping them with problems they might not see right in front of them. And I have that uncanny ability to be able to mix the two and teach complex topics. Hence why I taught algebra for a couple of years.

I was quite amazed when I found out that each is it’s own separate skill.

For today’s guest, coaching has been something that he’s been utilizing for sometime as well. In fact, you’ll find out that when he started coaching people professionally, he was simply relaying information that he essentially had just learned in his classes in college. However, he found that he had a passion for it and he’s made it his full time career.

In this session, we’ll learn how he got into coaching in the first place. How it’s helped him along in his career. What he learned from the John Maxwell Team that sets him apart from other coaches, and how he specifically helps business go from Good to Great.

If you’ve wanted to find out how you might be able to become a professional business coach, then this might give you a couple of ideas in how you can get started down that career path. If you’re in need of a coach, then Stephan might be a great solution for you!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why Stephan’s formal education track wasn’t so different than most. (9:03)
  • How he got introduced to entrepreneurship (12:53)
  • When he felt that it was time to go separate ways with his first business partner from college (17:29)
  • How he was able to get his first clients while he was still a student (22:41)
  • How the John Maxwell Team has helped his business (28:27)
  • How John Warrillow has inspired the new version of his business (31:06)
  • Stephan’s 2 additional Value Drivers (beyond John Warrillow’s first 8) (33:50)
  • Why it’s important to intentionally develop a company’s culture (35:04)
  • Upcoming movies we’re excited about (40:23)
  • Why he likes working with groups as well as individuals (42:29)
  • How he currently meets his potential clients (46:25)
  • How his current career aligns with his “Why” (52:05)
  • Why Apple shows how its important to have a definitive “Why”. (58:24)
  • What’s the difference between the popularity of the Beatles and Boston? (1:02:05)
  • Stephan’s 3 influences in business (1:04:45)
  • …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:

The Importance of Mentoring Youth (via Illinois Homepage.net):

 

A Brief Intro to Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great:

Marie Forleo on going from Good to Great in Life and Business:

Five Levels of Leadership:

New Inceptions’ Post

A Short version via the John Maxwell Company

Long version via the Youth Banking Conference (Part 1):

Long version via the Youth Banking Conference (Part 2):

Thanks for Listening!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Do I Need a Plan B for my Business?

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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!

Embrace Your Inner Multipotentialite

 

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!

Daniel Postma

AoL 035: A Mission of Exploration – How Daniel Postma Became a Serial Entrepreneur by Age 20

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The current education system is broken. It’s hard to deny it. With college professors suggesting that students aren’t ready for college, and employers saying that graduates aren’t ready for the real world, there’s really too much evidence that something has to be done.

For me personally, I did what I was supposed to do. Go to school. Get good grades. Graduate.

What didn’t happen for me was the “Get a Good Job” part.

I would say that it’s partly my fault. By the time I was finally looking for a job, I wasn’t really interested in being another cog in the machine. In fact, I knew that I wanted to work at a startup.

However, most startups that I spoke with seemed like they were fish out of water. They approached entrepreneurship like a job. They didn’t have much of a reason why that they were doing it. They just knew that they were good at what they did. Maybe it was because it’s what they did before the recession of 2008. Maybe it’s because they thought they could make more money on their own.

Whatever the reason was, it didn’t seem to be working.

I think a big part of that was that the school system that most of us have grown up with program us to be followers. However, we need new leaders more so than ever. Be it in government or in the private sector. One way to get there currently is to homeschool students. Another way is to be mentored by people that are already leading.

Today’s guest, Daniel Postma has done both. Which means he’s well on his way to be one of tomorrow’s leaders.

 

In this session, we’ll learn all about homeschooling and find out how he was able to acquire the mentorship he’s had in his life. We’ll see what his time as an of apprentice of Dane Maxwell did for him. And we’ll also discuss how he got into the business of medical massage therapy.

 

If you’re interested to know more about homeschooling, experiential learning, or simply need some guidance in what you should do after you graduate, I think you’ll get a lot out of this conversation.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How being homeschooled has been a big help in who he is today. (9:07)
  • What homeschooling looks like from the inside. (10:51)
  • Why his parents opted for homeschooling him. (14:47)
  • How he believes homeschooling prepares students. (16:37)
  • Why Daniel chose not to go to college. (22:57)
  • What’s his thoughts on different kinds of education (25:17)
  • What kind of mentorship he’s had in his life (30:01)
  • His experience as Dane Maxwell’s apprentice for a month (34:11)
  • When Daniel knew he wanted to start his first business (39:59)
  • Why Daniel enrolled in The Foundation even though at that point it was icing on the cake (41:54)
  • How he’d reach out to others to get out of their comfort zone (43:56)
  • How he got into Medical Massage Therapy (46:48)
  • How his family has been able to help him with business (44:55)
  • Why Daniel’s superpower is being able to utilize everyone’s strengths in his life (52:35)
  • What he’d tell the younger versions of himself. (58:08)
  • …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:

What to do After College (NSFW) – Gary V.:

What Daniel Got out of Being Around Dane Maxwell in 3 Minutes:

Daniel and Terril Interview Clay Green:

Daniel Singing in Snow… Winter in April:

Thanks for Listening!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

4 Quick, Simple, and Immediate Steps to Take Action in Your Work

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Whether you call it analysis paralysis or overthinking it, why is it that we spend so much time trying to do what we know that we should be doing? Many of us go to workshops, classes, and even big events to get over this issue.

Even when I was in college, I started realizing that I’d think about how I’d want to do something before I actually tried. In retrospect, it probably cost me some good opportunities here and there.

Here are some of the reasons that people might over think something:

  • Worried about what other people might think.
  • Don’t want to start something else that they believe they might fail.
  • Not sure what the next step is.
  • Don’t want to waste time that could be used more productively.
  • Know what many next steps might be.

Do these sound similar to thoughts you’ve had? I know that for me, I’ve struggled with all of them at different points and continue to at times.

Needless to say overthinking things can happen at any level. Let’s look at how we can hack ourselves out of these thoughts that keep us in our comfort zone.

 

Look Beyond Yourself.

This is one that most of us struggle with as teenagers and early 20 year olds. We wonder if we’re good enough to go on the date with the cool guy or the pretty girl. We wonder if we’re good enough to get on the team. We believe that if we aren’t perfect at school or whatever that we take seriously, that other people won’t take us seriously in the future – meaning that we won’t get into that great school or land that awesome first opportunity.

Personally, for me, I lived in this cage for a good part of my life. I think I started caring when I was constantly bullied in school. And I have to say that really made me worry what others thought of me until 2011.

 

Then I was given a task to do: make 100 cold calls a week.

That’s what it took to break me out of my mold.

 

When I was doing those calls, I stopped worrying about what others were going to think of me. What I started to think about was what I was going to be able to do for them.

Here’s the key. When you don’t want to care about what others think of you, you need to realize that you taking action can help others. Sure, it can be people you don’t know with products you believe in (that’s key). But it can also be your friends and family.

By setting the example to do something new, you’re being an example of what’s possible.

However, you might have a deeper issue than that. Sure, you want to be a speaker on a stage sometime, and you realize how many people that would help. But you don’t see yourself as a speaker. In fact, you might have a speech impediment that’s keeping you from getting your message out.

However, it’s still possible for you to become that speaker.

How?

Well, for one, there are some speakers and comedians that have overcome some major hurdles in their lives to do the role that they do. Some of my favorite personalities are those who don’t see their disability as a disability – they see it as a way that sets them apart from the crowd.

One example of a comedian who does this is Josh Blue who has cerebral palsy. (If you want more, he has a special on Netflix.)

Another comedian that I love is Zach Anner – check out his YouTube channel here.

Yet another example is a Christian motivational speaker that you possibly might have heard about is Nick Vujicic who doesn’t have any limbs.

How did these guys get over their hurdles?

  • First off, they realized that doing what they felt they were being called to do was more important than what others might think.
  • They also realized, as we talked about before, that doing this new activity would make a difference in people’s lives.
  • But I think the main thing is that they were able to ask themselves this question: “What’s the worst thing that can happen from this?” and realize that while they might get the occasional heckler, not many bad things can actually happen from doing what they love to do.

Another way that you might be able to get over what others think of you is to simply focus on doing things that you know you have control over that are related to the task that you’re wanting to do.

When I was trying to get over my fear of doing cold calls, I started doing something I knew I could do. Call people that I already knew. That got me used to talking with people.

From there, I would call warm leads that I didn’t know. People that responded to an email that had already been sent.

During that time, I realized that not all those people had actually seen the email. So after a few of those, I realized that essentially I was doing cold calls anyway.

Well from there, I just started cold calling using a line similar to “Hi, this is JC in response to the email that <insert name> showed an interest in. Are they available?” This usually got me past the gatekeeper. From there, if they didn’t know what I was talking about, I just simply said “Oh yeah. Well, basically it was talking about this <insert topic>. Do you know how knowing how to do that would impact your business?

If you’re looking to become a speaker, maybe you can become a member of a nearby Toastmasters group?

 

Get Help From Others

Perhaps your problem isn’t so much the fear of doing something, but you currently don’t have the knowledge to get the task accomplished on your own. You don’t know what to do next. Or maybe you just don’t have the time to get proficient at yet another skill. This is when you ask for some help.

The first thing you can do is simply see what other people in your situation have done. When it comes to New Inceptions, you guys know I usually seek help from Fizzle. If there’s no answer there, I’ll go on over to SPI. If Pat doesn’t have an answer, I’ll check elsewhere.

Chances are that whatever you’re wanting to do, someone has probably already done it and they’ve made their success available on the internet.

That said, John Maxwell regularly talks about knowing your strengths and bringing in people for your weaknesses. Sometimes you have to do that. You have to delegate for others to make the decision.

You already do this in your life. Like me, you probably already have a mechanic for your car. Why is that? Because you don’t know how to fix your car.

Do you have an IT guy to fix your computer? Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. Personally, I’m my own IT guy for the most part.

While I don’t have to pay anyone to do this, there’s a ton of down time when I have to put that hat on. When it comes to the website, while I might be able to figure out how to make it more robust, there’s a big chance that when we do add additional features that I’ll need to hire someone else to work on it.

 

Accomplish 3 – 5 Things Daily

In the last segment, we discussed getting help to do things you don’t know anything about. However, that’s only going to get you so far.

Perhaps you know everything you should be doing, but because you’re busy doing other work, you find yourself not getting to the core work you should be doing.

The fix here is to set priorities by identifying what your objectives are. Ask yourself these kinds of questions:

  • What does your ultimate outcome look like?
  • What does success look like along this path?
  • How will you know if you’ve reached a goal?

Now figure out what the process is to accomplish these.

John Maxwell says it’s helpful to have a Rule of 5.

Simply said, if you find yourself trying to do everything, then nothing you do is going to be done well.

To solve this problem (which Chris Ducker calls Superman Syndrome) there’s going to be a time when you have to ask someone to do some of the work you might enjoy doing.

For example, I know I enjoy getting out and doing yard work. I think it comes from all the years that my mom and I did it. However, I realize that as New Inceptions becomes more popular, that I’m not going to be able to do all the work that I need to around the house.  I know that while I do enjoy doing it, I’m going to have to delegate that work to a professional.

Similarly, I’m going to do the same with the editing of my podcast. While I love working on each talk, eventually I’m going to have to hire it out so I can get my main 3 to 5 things done.

 

Daily Practice

As the above segment says, you have to do things daily to reach your goal. It’s not so much that that you have to be perfect at your work (we never are), but you should focus on being “Highly Ok”.

Pick which activity you’re going to do until it gets done. Don’t look back after choosing that activity. Do it until you have a stopping point.

And above all else. Set a hard time limit to get your 3 to 5 tasks done. Give yourself “working hours”.

Unless you’re Gary V., don’t be busy for busy’s sake. Don’t worry about hustling… unless you love the chase. In fact, you might want to consider having an anti-hustle lifestyle.

For even more on Anti-Hustling, check out this episode of the Fizzle Show:

Action Steps

The next time that you find yourself overthinking about a specific subject. Remember that there is a resource (here) that might help you from stopping. Try out the recommendations that I’ve suggested. However, if it doesn’t help – I want you to come back and let me know where it’s failing. I’ll personally help you think of a strategy and then add to this resource about what we did!