The biggest failures aren't things you did. They're things you didn't do. Playing it safe is one of the biggest failures possible. The first step is learning to recognize it in every facet of our lives.
How can you achieve your goal if you're terrified of what you'll look like when you're successful?
3 Surprising Rules of Money:
People pay me for the value I create.
The more money I make, the more value I can create.
Money is a marker that I'm doing the right thing.
It takes a lot of trust for someone to actually pull out their wallet and pay you money, because they believe you can help them solve their problems.
A huge part of your success in business comes from consciously choosing who you're attracting and who you're repelling.
Actually listening is the critical differentiator between a successful business with happy customers...and everyone else.
I already gave you the 4 simplest words you can use to get people to talk: "Tell me about that." Here are some other simple but effective questions to dig into their problems: What's going on? How do you think about this? How does it make you feel?
Here's an unexpected lesson I learned: The world wants you to be vanilla. They will always push you to look and act the same as everyone else. If your business is going to stand out and succeed, it's up to you to push back.
The greatest irony is that the moment you give in and start to conform is the same moment everyone else abandons you.
In a world full of websites and e-books and apps, the moment you look and sound like everyone else, you're dead.
Know the best practices, execute them. Then, when you understand the rules and why they exist, you can start to break them. But don't be different for the sake of being different.
Understand that people value what they pay for. You're not doing them a disservice by charging them, you're actually doing a profound service for the people who want to take action.
The fact is, some people will NEVER buy from you. Apologetic messages only seem to please the non-buyers. Their complaints poison the well for your real customers. Your real customers will be relieved that you have something worthwhile for them.
Pricing isn't just the sticker price. It informs your entire business.
If you're solving a problem that's important to people, AND if you have the credibility so that they believe you can solve it, then price become a mere triviality.
The right system is the linchpin that gives you total control over your life. Imagine waking up on a weekday, whenever you want. You take your time getting up, brew some coffee, and check your email. And you see received 10 sales...most for $497, a couple for $997, and even one for $1997... All while you were sleeping. This kind of revenue is life changing.
Life is always going to be messy. But the most successful people don't rely on "motivation" or "working harder" to get things done. Instead, they have systems for the big, big wins, and let the inconsequential stuff fall to the wayside.
The key is: Do the work before you NEED it.
Selling to anyone involves the same building blocks. To sell, you need to know four key things about your customers: their hopes, dreams, pain points, and fears.
Use the notes from your conversations in the same way. When you notice that a certain word or phrase keeps popping up, use that in a blog post, in an email, or on your website.
Storytelling is proven to help people learn and remember information.
Genuine selling starts with truly understanding the needs of your clients through surveys, conversations, and online research. Then you use that research to write engaging, inspiring stories. Lastly, you address why your clients want to change so they're motivated to take action.
There's no point in comparing ourselves to someone who's only marginally better, when could look 5 steps ahead and study what the best are doing.
Aim for 3-5 things per year to move all-in on. Things that take 100% percent of your time, money, and attention. We pick those 3 to 5 things carefully, and once they're picked, we expect success. We might not always win, but we play to win.
When you ask for a busy person's time for mentorship or advice, so that 1) you're serious and you've gone as far as you can by yourself, and 2) you've taken concrete steps to address whatever your needs are, and show how you can benefit them and their project.
If you're even slightly better than the average, you can easily stand out from amongst the masses.
How to Never Be Afraid of Failure:
Actually get better.
Reframe failure.
Prepare for failure.
You don't have to be a weirdo and track all your failures like me, but if you don't have 3 things you've failed at in the last 6 months, you've probably not trying enough.
The truth is, this is supposed to be hard. But if you compare yourself to what everyone else is doing, you're going to be stuck there forever for no reason at all.
Focus on what you can control, ignore what you cannot.
