Thinking Big: Mindset, Habits, and Hacks

Today I welcome my friend Stacey Hanke to the show as we dig into the importance of influence and tips for what we can do to increase our own. Stacey is the author of two books;  Influence Redefined…Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, Monday to Monday® and Yes You Can! Everything You Need to Know From A to Z to Influence Others To Take Action. Her books provide practical and immediate skills and techniques that have given thousands the ability to enhance their influence. Her client list reads like dow from Coca-Cola, FedEx, Kohl’s, McDonald’s, Pfizer, GE, General Mills, just to name a few. Stacey has been featured on Fox News and Tedx And now she chose to grace our amazing listeners. Today we will be Think Big on how to help us to influence others to take action Monday to Monday. Connect with Stacey Hanke https://staceyhankeinc.com https://www.instagram.com/staceyhankeinc/ https://www.facebook.com/StaceyHankeInc?ref=hl http://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyhanke https://twitter.com/StaceyHankeInc Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/

Sean welcomes his friend Lauren Davis to the podcast--aka the branding and social media whisperer. She’s a digital branding strategist who focuses on personal branding, which goes hand-in-hand with social media. Lauren loves teaching people strategies that she uses with personal brands, podcasters, speakers, and leaders all over the world. She helps them to be more visible online as well and increases their personal brand strategy and personal brand presence through their social media. Instead of using social media as an afterthought, she teaches them to use it as a tool for their success.   In this episode, you’ll hear:   How impactful and powerful a tool social media can be. Lauren’s tips for podcast show notes. The biggest mistakes people make on social media and how you can make social media fun and exciting. Consistency on social media is key. Lauren’s background story and how the record store she started with her husband led her into social media and marketing. Why making connections with people on your social media platforms is so important. What platforms Lauren recommends based on your social media goals. What Clubhouse is, how it works, and where Lauren sees its future. How she gets people to engage with social media and why connecting with your followers is so important. About Lauren’s free download, which is 100 high-quality, engaging social media content ideas and why it’s different than others on the internet. The change in Lauren’s presence on social media and why her branding is becoming more defined.   Connect with Sean Osborn here: https://thinkingbig.info/ https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Connect with Lauren Davis Lauren's 100 social media prompts The Real Personal Branding Podcast Instagram.com/Ldaviscreative https://www.facebook.com/groups/understandsocialmedia

Today we get to talk with Brenden from Master Talks, and we are going to talk about tips and tricks to help us with our public speaking, going live, and connecting with the audience.  Brenden has one unique goal - to help you overcome your fear of public speaking so that you can use your voice to better communicate your ideas to the world. Today we will discuss: Tips and tricks that will 10x your communications skills.   Understanding how communication is everything we do. Understanding the pros have done this 100’s of times, so don’t beat yourself up. The 3 biggest tips for your Facebook Lives and other presentations. So today, we are thinking big into our communication skills. Get in touch with Brenden Kumarasamy. https://www.mastertalk.ca/ https://www.youtube.com/c/MasterTalks/featured https://www.instagram.com/masteryourtalk/   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite podcast player. Until next week, remember to always think big Episode Transcription 8uIYpcE7SxSCR8rSv83O Thinking BIG Podcast with Guest Brenden [00:00:00] Sean Osborn - Thinking Big:  I want to welcome Brendan to the show today. He's actually the host of master talk on YouTube and it is a fantastic YouTube channel, on public speaking. And I know I'm like a lot of people out there. Public speaking is probably one of the hardest things for people to do. Most people would literally rather die than get up and do public speaking. I remember the first time I had to get up and do public speaking and not in a corporate environment, I'm okay. In a corporate environment and, in conference rooms and stuff like that. But actual public speaking, I was terrified that I could not stop shaking. And it's one of those things. And one of my mentors actually had told me a long time ago that the person at the front of the room with the marker is the one making the money. And what he meant by that is the person that's up there at the front doing the speaking is the one that has the influence [00:01:00] on the people within the room. So again, I absolutely want to welcome you Brendan to the show and tell us a little bit about master talk and what, how you got started in doing that Brenden - Master Talk: Absolutely Sean thanks for having me. So I, like you mentioned, I have a YouTube channel called master talk where I help people through communication skills and how I got stuck. It was when I was in university, I used to do these things called case competitions. Think of it like professional sports, but for nerds. So other guys, my age were playing football or soccer, some other sport. I channeled that competitive spirit. To presentations. So for three years, I presented hundreds of times coached dozens of people in their communication skill. So when I graduated and I got a job in corporate America, I guess in my case, corporate Canada, some based in Canada, I just asked myself a simple question, which was how do I make a difference in the world? And that's when the idea for the YouTube channel came to be, because I realized a lot of the [00:02:00] communication information out there was really bad. You hear advice like, Oh Sean, you should be yourself. Making videos in my mother's basement. One thing led to another and the rest is history. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Oh, fantastic. Yeah. And did you see when you were in college? What gave you the idea? Did you see people actually struggling with trying to get up and doing to do public speaking presentations? What kind of, where did you see that? And clicking your mind saying, Hey, I can actually help people live better. I can help people do this and have them actually be more fulfilled and really more successful to me. You cannot be successful. In a corporate environment in much any environment, if you can't communicate and you can't get up, you can't speak, you just can't be very successful. I don't think, to me, it's, to me, it's one of the core values that I wish they taught heavily in school, which they don't. Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah. And I completely agree with you on that one, for sure. The way that I think about the Shaun is when I started doing these competitions. So just to give [00:03:00] you an idea, the tie in with the corporate world, this is what a case competition is. Essentially is a business gives you a problem and you have three hours to solve it and present a solution to a board of executives. So people do that for fun and university. It's an odd thing. And there's this weird international competitions where people fly out from 19 countries around the world to give these types of presentation. It's really bizarre. And it was the best three years of my life also. But to build on that think of me as the in-house speech coach for that competition. So when I competed the first year, I wasn't really good, obviously, I was kinda trying to figure out how to do this, but I entered the second year, much like sports. You start to take a more mature, more mentorship role. As you get older within an organization as new fresh individuals start entering the program. In this case, it was a presentation program. So I started coaching those people. And then over time, in those three years, I was the speech coach for pretty much everyone who was new to the program. And as I was nearing graduation, I was getting started to worry because the [00:04:00] technology consulting and jumping into the corporate world, I kept noticing a consistent theme of out of all the students. I coach, I probably coached me 50 people in three years and the consistent threat theme, but rather question, they kept asking me that never had a good answer myself was how did you learn how to speak? And I kinda just said I just learned, I'm self-taught and I've done hundreds of presentations, but because they kept asking me, I wondered what resources actually exist out there. It seems like people like to look this up and watch it. So I started watching a lot of my competitors, YouTube channels, who PhDs and the subject who, or who had decades of experience. And I just kept vomiting in my mouth. To be honest, it was too academic. Wasn't practical. And for the younger demographic, it was useless because they couldn't understand the complex lingo. So I got so frustrated that it started making videos basement with no budget and with the phone. And then a year later I ended up coaching a lot of executives and developing a practice out of it as well. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: And I actually absolutely love stories like that, [00:05:00] where. People get into business and they, or they get into doing something that they love. They don't know how they're going to do it. They don't have all the technology. They don't have all the stuff figured out. They don't have. But you wanted to help and you've found a way to help and you got better by, by doing that. Cause obviously your stuff is extremely professional. Definitely not done in the basement and definitely not done, so you just see you've gone from there. But if people don't start somewhere, we never off the ground. We never do it. So just going out, I love that because just going out and yeah. Doing it, get you better now. One question. So how do you think the difference between presenting live and presenting in front of a camera? The difference in that, especially now with, with what's going on in the world and, people are having to obviously social distance and there's not a lot of big live events and there's not a lot of big, public speaking things. I actually find it harder. To sit in front of a camera to do a [00:06:00] presentation, to do something then I do in real life. So when I'm in, when I'm on a stage and I'm talking with people, I can feel the room. I can feel the energy, it's either you do it or you don't. There's no going back. You're up there. You're live. When I'm in front of a camera, I absolutely frightened. To even start to push the play or push push the record. So w what do you see the difference in, difference between live virtual and live in real Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah, absolutely. I would say the biggest difference in the two, Sean is in the online world, you can't gauge your audience's reaction. So what does this mean? Let's say I was in person. I was giving you and your company, your family, a workshop on communication. And to say, joke, two things will have been in that instance. One is you'll laugh at the joke. I'll say, wow, Brendan's such a funny guy. We're number two. Which is much more likely you look at me and say, wow, this person should [00:07:00] really not be seeing any jokes, but either way I can gauge your reaction in real time and adapt my presentation. As my presentation goes on. I don't have that luxury in the online world, because if you're on a zoom call with all the cameras off, if you're presenting on camera and there's nobody there it's much harder for you to gauge how your audience is reacting. Especially when they're not in the room. So how are you supposed to navigate those types of situations? So a couple of easy tips. I was like to give out one, always keep your eyes on the lens of the camera. So one way I do that is I take a picture of favorite food or a favorite person that I like. And that always forces me to look at the lens in that way. It's a good artificial trick you can implement. Second one is get on a phone call with one of the people that will be sitting in that zoom call. So we have a feeling of who's going to be there, what their needs and expectations are, what do they aspire to be? And you can always picture that person. So it's a lot easier for you to present energetically for them, even if you [00:08:00] don't see them on the other side. Number three is always assumed good intentions from your audience, whether it's in person or online. This is a lot more important than it seems, but it's not something you'll get overnight. So for example, with me, when I started doing podcasts myself as a guest, it was really bizarre. Essentially what a podcast is a stranger. You don't know, asks you a bunch of questions about your life, does an unhealthy amount of research on you. And you have to answer as if you know that person. So when I started, it was very frightening for me, but when you get into those off off show discussions with the hosts, after you realized that. They're really just doing this to benefit their communities there. And everyone's just a really nice person. So my perception of my, the hosts that ended up, I ended up speaking to, and this analogy applies for any presentation that you do in the virtual space or really anything at all transitions very quickly from who's the Shawn guy to, wow. I really love what Sean's doing, what the thinking big podcast is really helping us communities think bigger and achieve greater goals. So I'm going to assume as if I've known him for five years and speak to him in that way. [00:09:00] It's not something you get overnight, but over time, that belief becomes true. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: And that takes a lot of time to develop. Now, one of the things that I actually do like right now, I actually do use a teleprompter, but not for words, I actually have you in front of the teleprompter. So I'm actually looking right at you and you're actually. Right behind your right in front of the camera. That's the only way that I can truly connect with the people that I'm talking to because I had where I had the camera above the, above the monitor and you always look up, you can't, it just was a natural I'm the type of person that I actually have to look at someone, in the eyes when I'm talking to them. To, you know what you said, it that's how you read how people are taking in what you're doing. And that's how you read how they, how they're interpreting what you're saying. But I personally, I have to do that. I can't, I hate it. So I do some podcasts, matter of fact, where it's just audio only. And it's just [00:10:00] dry it's absolutely dry. I know the people that listen to the podcast are only listening to it, but I get so much more out of the conversation when I can see the other person, when I can see you, Brandon, we're sitting here looking at each other, eye to eye, even though we're not in the same room. And I think that is very powerful for really any type of communication, especially public speaking, but. I see that's going to be a huge, or that is a huge problem for people that are trying to do video. I don't know why I'm so scared. Why get more scared in front of a video camera? Then in front of an audience, I guess I, maybe I used to be afraid in front of an audience and maybe I've just grown and I get used to it. But I'm terrified in front of cameras. I don't know. I try tricks. I tried doing different things, but getting used to and going live. So to me, I'd love to get your thoughts on how you go live on things like Facebook and [00:11:00] things like, YouTube and stuff, because. It's one thing to sit there and record something 20 times until you think it's good. And then you post it, but that I was, man, I'm telling you the first time I went live, I was scared to death. What do you do a lot of your, do you do much stuff live Brenden - Master Talk: I don't do a lot of live presentations. I do mostly speaking engagements that are alive online, but I definitely understand where you're coming from and happy to talk about the differences between camera and live because I get it. And I would say the big difference there, Sean is. For actually, let me give you an easy win here for the camera. There's actually an easy trick to present. This is a of my videos alone. There's a guy. There's yeah, there's a guy behind the camera. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Oh, wow. See, now that is a great, that is a fantastic tip. So you actually have someone there that you're actually talking Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah, exactly. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: That's a Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah. And don't get me wrong by the [00:12:00] first year. It was just me. One man show had no budget for anything. I was just a broke student to, this is before my production and my business ramped up. But when I started, yeah, it was just me and a camera hated my life. It was so bad. I didn't like the video making process. I couldn't talk to anybody. I was speaking to nobody. I just couldn't show up. I, but I still tried my best. And I did all right. My first, sir, when I brought Danny my best friend to do all my production and I just gave him a chunk of my salary to do all of that. Oh, it just became so much more enjoyable. So we'd have dinner after and lunch, it'd just be fun, a lot more relationship building. So that's my recommendation. Obviously you don't need to have a professional person doing this. You could have a friend, a wife, a husband, a family member, or just do that for you. So that would be one thing. Yeah, go ahead. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: So what so what are someone that's wanting to either get into public speaking or they're needing to get into public speaking with either, their job. I know you do coaching for corporate people too, but what do you, what are some of the best ways to start? Getting into being able to [00:13:00] do public speaking from a, I think from a personal development standpoint or not from the technical side of, Oh, you need to contact an agency to get, on stages and stuff from a personal development standpoint, what are the best things for someone to start to get the ability or to get the skill set to doing public speaking? What are the best ways to Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah let's go into two directions here. So one for people who don't want to be keynote speakers and for the others who do those who don't wanna be keynote speakers. This is my pitch to you. My pitch is understand that communication is everything that you do. It's not just about presentations, it's every interaction that you have, the people around you, the tough conversations you have with your family, the dinner conversation you have with your friends, the tip that you give the delivery guy when he comes and gives you pizza. Every interaction is all about communication. And once you realized that the only question left to answer is the following. [00:14:00] How would the world change if you were an exceptional communicator, how would the world be different? If you were top 1% speaker that answer's going to be different for everybody, for some it's about having this big YouTube channel and for others, it's just spending more time with their family and understanding how to interact with them in a more healthier way. Find that why and find that reason you'll be able to find communication work on a way that's comfortable for you. That's one side other side is you want to go pro that's a totally different conversation. If you want to go pro the big piece of advice I have for you is understand that professionals present the same presentation. Hundreds of times, Tony Robbins has been doing the same seminar for 40 years. 40 years, same seminar unleash the power within three days, workshop, you walk on fire. He yells at you the first day. Always the same thing. Repeat, repeat. So if your goal is to be a pro, you need to figure out one [00:15:00] topic that you want to be a grand master at. So the topic I ended up choosing for my life that I'm still trying to do well obviously I'm very far away from Tony, but I'm getting there is communication. I want to be, I want to be the number one person in that space. So for you, what is that thing? Focus in, dial in on that one, talk a master it, and then you'll, you can get paid to speak and be a pro. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: How do you think, so for me communicate, or, communication is really about connecting. How do you go about making sure that when you're communicating with someone, when you're talking with someone, because a lot of people sit there and talk, but not a lot of people actually connect. That's not something. How do you go about making sure when you're talking with someone that you're actually connecting with them? Brenden - Master Talk: Yeah. Once again I've a pro hack here solving the symptom versus the issue. I think most people, most humans struggle with this idea of how do I connect with everybody? Cause it can be exhausting to listen to people you don't actually [00:16:00] particularly like. So my advice, because that's more for advanced people. I would say the chapter one is to find your tribe and connect with them first, because those are the people that you're more inclined to, to have a relationship with, to, to have the same interests as them. And you'll also be more inclined to ask them the questions you actually want to have answers to. And lesson to them. So for me, just, you don't use me as an example here, but I'm just using it just to demonstrate. I love personal development conferences, Tony Robbins seminars, mine Valley events, Lewis house events, just like places where people want to get better. So the community there, I usually. Gel with pretty much anyone there in the room. I just get up, talk to anybody and I immediately liked them because we all have the same values. So it's all about picking the right events, but that analogy applies for anybody. If you're somebody who. Loves collecting buttons for some random reason. I highly encourage you to go to a button meetup. Talk about the different buttons they're collecting. It's a lot [00:17:00] easier for you to interact with those people and start conversations. And that's really how you'll get rid of your social anxiety and get comfortable talking to people. You have zero interests in common with. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: It's you have to be. Comfortable just communicating and talking with the people around you, let alone up on stage. Cause that's just a whole different level of sitting there. That's a great tip that really connecting with the people, people in the audience caring about the people who you're with before you can really get up and talk to them. What what are some of the best tips? What do you do? How do you prepare? If you're going to get up and you're going to do a presentation or you're going to do. A talk, how do you prepare for that? Now I understand if you're a pro you've done this, thousands of times it's the same thing, but if you're fresh and you're just getting started, what are some of the things that we can do to help that first time or help get up? What, or how do you prep for a talker or a presentation? Brenden - Master Talk: Absolutely. So [00:18:00] here's, if you do this one technique from boat to share, it will 10 X or communication skills overnight, especially if you want to be a keynoter and the technique is called the puzzle method. Sean public speaking is like a jigsaw puzzle. Those thousand piece puzzles in a box, he put together like a puzzle piece. So if I , family or something, which pieces would you start with first and why? Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Yeah I would start with the edges because that's the that's the easiest thing to Brenden - Master Talk: Exactly right. And you're absolutely right. It's not a trick question, right? You do the edges for us. They're easy. You work you in the middle. So the question we'd ask ourselves is why don't we do that in public speaking, we have a presentation, the boardroom in the classroom, in the conference room. So what do we do? Start with the middle. We shove a bunch of content chefs of shove. Then we get to the presentation. We ramble. We get to the last slide. And then it sounds something like this. The thanks. So that's [00:19:00] probably 95% of the presentations I hear, but there's an easy way to fix this. And the way you fix this is treat your presentations like a Chickasaw puzzle. Start with the edges. First practice, your introduction, 50 times, not three times, not five times do it 50 times. It's actually not that hard. Your introductions admit it. It'll take you an hour. Same thing with the conclusion. What's a great movie with a terrible ending. Last time I checked terrible movie. 50 times the conclusion and only two hours of practice, you'll transform your keynote and look at your presentation and go, wow. I can never introduce like that before. The way that I conclude in this. Speech is so marvelous, then tackle the middle. And then when you tackle the middle two simple questions, we're keeping it very simple today. The first question is what's your key idea. If you were to summarize your entire presentation in one sentence, what would that sentence be or better? [00:20:00] If you were to summarize your life's work in one sentence, what would that sentence be? And then the second part, which we'll spend the rest of your time working on is what is the best way of defending that key idea? Is it a quote? Is it an analogy you won't get it the first time, but as you continuously test and do it hundreds of times, dozens of times, or even just a couple of times, you'll have a pretty solid keynote just with that framework. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: man. That is some I'm telling you that is a. Fantastic tip D when I do presentation stuff that alone will help so many people. So I'm trying to pay attention to the camera. I'm trying to look at you, but I'm trying to write stuff down too. I'm taking notes right now. I'm taking massive notes. So what do you now, one of my problems that I'd run into when I do when I do public speaking, especially if I'm not prepared enough, is I am always afraid. Then I'm going to forget stuff. [00:21:00] So I will like, if I'm doing a presentation for, a company all just have a presentation of slides full of, 20 bullet points for each, each slide and it's just like communication or upload, but I'm afraid that I'm going to forget stuff. So that's why I always want it on the slides. And that to me just makes for such a boring. Blah presentation or speaking event that, w so what do you do you use a lot of like props for speaking like a, presentation type stuff in the background, or what is your preferred method to, I don't want to say map out your talk. Like how do you map out? If you've got a 15 minute talk or a 20 minute talk what type of tips do you have for In your mind mapping out where you're going through the, do the story. Brenden - Master Talk: So the way that I think about this, because every expert is going to give you a different opinion here. I usually don't like to prescribe. And the reason I don't [00:22:00] is because every speaker's very different with the way that they think about it. Like Joseph Campbell would talk about the hero's journey, Donald Miller, we're talking about that journey and how that hero moves across. Nancy's got her own thing for me. The big thing is I don't, I'm not a big fan of frameworks for him. The big thing is. If you want to do be a master communicator, you need to fail a couple of times. What does that mean? That means as you're presenting, you need to constantly have dinner with your audience. And I'm very big on the dinners. Like connecting personally with the people that you're seeking to serve to understand if the ideas are actually landing. Now, I'll give you a personal example. So when I started master talk, I was very insecure. Not because of my skill, but because of how young I was coaching executives double my age when I was probably 22 or 23. So it was very intimidating for me. So in order to compensate for the insecurity, I used to just gloat about my clients at the beginning to be shown as credible. And I say, Oh yeah, I worked for this client, did the CEO thing, and then an a, a six-year-old asked me the best question. I think I've gotten into my career. And the question was, what's the [00:23:00] CEO. And I said, ah, yeah, you're right. What is a CEO? That's a good point. And I realized from her question, That nobody really cares about your credentials. They only care about the value. If you deliver your value with confidence, people don't care how old you are, the right people. Anyways. So from that experience, I changed my tune from just talking about my clients. I left all of that out of the conversation and I replaced it with a personal story about how I used to struggle with communication, because I grew up in a city called Montreal and Montreal. You need to know how to speak French. So I went to a French school, so my whole life. I presented a language. I didn't even know it. So if I can master communication, anyone can, because that method. Oh, presenting was better at defending my key idea, which is convincing anyone that they can master communication in a purely authentic. But didn't get that the first time I got that the 25th time after the six-year-old kind of got me in with the right feedback. So you have to understand that it's an iterative process and how you tell your stories, but [00:24:00] eventually once you've done it enough times, you can jump up keynotes out of thin air. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: and one of the things that I noticed people, especially newer in doing talks is they will, if they've got a 10 minute talk or a 15 minute talk, they will spend 90% of it on the technical, the data the stuff, and very little time on the story. And. That to me that's so that was a hard lesson learned that people learn. People want to know based on stories. It's all about the story of, and how you can intertwine, the story with what you're trying to teach, but sitting there for 15 minutes, just giving them backed up to fact that per fact is just. And I see the thing is I see so many people do it and it's, to me, it's all about the story and all about the storytelling and how to me, the best speakers are the best storytellers. It's, that's just for me, [00:25:00] at least that's how I learn. And I actually pay attention much more to people if they're telling stories, obviously than not than just trying to shove facts down my, down my throat of whatever they're trying to teach. Brenden - Master Talk: And I agree it right. I think a good way of thinking about this, the whole content versus delivery thing. I want you all to think about your high school presentations and your high school teachers. How much do we actually remember from high school? I don't know about you, but I don't remember much. But why is that? The content is so good. The teachers are so educational, they're very well-educated. They have master degrees, so what's the problem. But the opposite is also true. When you think about your favorite speakers in the world, it could be Tony, it could be Bernie Brown. It could be anyone you put your finger on and go ask somebody in the crowd. You go, Tommy, what is it about this speaker that got you excited. Tommy's going to look at us and go. Was, I'm not sure, Brent, it was just a way that he made me [00:26:00] feel or she made me feel it was well, what's the lesson then Tommy, me, what did you learn from this speech? All I learned that I could do anything I want. So even the best speakers in the world, you don't remember much either. You only remember one or two key ideas, but it's those one or two key ideas that changes your life, which is still important. But the lesson is the following provided your key ideas. Solid. You need to spend 99% of your time on delivered to make sure that key idea lens. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Yeah. And that, so one of the things that, that I've been taught and not from a speaking standpoint, just from a communication standpoint, with your tribe and with your with the people that you communicate with is people need to hear, things five, six, seven times before they actually get it. Now, when you're doing, when you're doing a talk, do you actually what you were saying, do you actually go over. Maybe the same thing in different ways during a speech to get a point [00:27:00] across. Brenden - Master Talk: You got it? Absolutely. So I've probably presented the same keynote 350 times now. So give or take, and in those 350 shots, I've definitely experimented with different slides, different ways of thinking. But now I have a pretty robust. Standardized way of thinking about that specific Keno, but you're right in the sense that when they create a new one, let's see when I do my storytelling workshop, I reworked that a lot and I'm still reworking that one today. Cause I've probably done that one 75 times give or take. So I'm still refining that one, but that's the point I'm driving is every time you open a new slot, a new slide deck, you always have to keep refining. You have to keep applying the methodology. Of listening to your customers, listening to your audience and seeing if they actually understood the idea. But the beauty is once you get the hang of this, it's going to be much easier for you to take a presentation from zero to hero in a much shorter period of time. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Yeah, and I think so it's one of the things that, you know, and you touched on this is there's a lot of speakers that I've gone and I've listened to, or people that are [00:28:00] teaching, whatever it is. I don't necessarily remember all the stuff. They said, very little of the stuff they said, but I do remember. Key things on how they made me feel. And you had mentioned that and it's we don't, I don't remember details, but I remember feelings much better than detail. You know what, or if you had, three tips on public speaking, what are the three biggest tips for someone to, to do To start doing their public speaking. What are the three things that, that you absolutely. If you screw any of these three things up you're going to die. Brenden - Master Talk: So to keep it simple, apply puzzle, right? Start with the edges first, master your intro, your conclusion, dive for the middle. That's one. Number two, apply puzzle to one singular topic in presentation. As best as you can. So in your case, on let's, I was coaching you for you. The advice is simple. Make a presentation on your own podcast. What are you trying to achieve with [00:29:00] thinking big who's your core audience? What do you aspire for that audience and make a presentation out of that? Cause you can use that as promotional material and the beauty is that it's repeatable. You can spin it up as many times as you want. And after a couple of dozens of times, you'll be a master at communicating your own podcast to the world. And then number three is have dinner with your audience. I'm always astounded, whether you're a content creator or a business owner the lack of awareness and time that people spend actually interacting with the people that already listened to them. A common question I get is Brendon, how do I get as many subscribers as you and you, your YouTube channel, how to get thousands of followers, we need to understand. That when I asked the question back to, then I go, how many people listen to your podcasts to go? Like 50. And I go, okay, how many people do know? And that 52. Okay. And that's the point I want to drive. The third biggest mistake people make in public speaking is they don't talk enough with their audience. How are you supposed to make an elite level presentation? If you don't understand your audience at a level that they don't even understand [00:30:00] themselves, that's the secret. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: Oh, and that is huge. I'm telling you that is absolutely huge because most people will. I don't care if you're developing courses. If you're developing speeches. Most people will spend all this time developing a speech or developing a course without ever talking to their tribe because we think we know what they want. We think we know what they want to hear. We think we know what they want to learn. And without going in front of your tribe, without going in front of the people, listening to you. I will get it wrong every single time. I think I know what they want, but until I go out and talk with them, I get it wrong every single time. So that, that is absolutely huge. And Brendan, I really want to thank you for for being on the podcast and everyone make sure that you go and I'm going to put this in the show notes. The links are going to be all there. But go to master talks on YouTube, but I'm telling you it is a fantastic [00:31:00] channel tons. And tons of content on everything from public speaking to you. I know you just did one on online TEDx stuff. So let me ask you, so one question, what is the best way for someone to grow or get onto like a TEDx talk? W what is the best thing to do? Brenden - Master Talk: I would say the general piece of advice with Ted is prepared the speech before you get invited for the talk? That's the big thing I would focus on my, with my expertise is you need to start thinking about your Ted talk years in advance. Because if you start preparing your Ted at this, when you get invited for it, you won't nail it. You just don't have enough time unless you like quit your job. And all you do is the Ted talk. The people who actually nailed their Ted talk, I've done it hundreds of times. Most of them, not all of them. There's always exceptions to the rule, but the general idea with Ted is prepare for Ted before Ted calls. You. Sean Osborn - Thinking Big: that's. That's good advice. That is great advice again, [00:32:00] Brendan. Thank you so much for for being on the podcast and. Master talk, people go watch, mash, talk, go watch the videos. They're fantastic videos and I'm telling you they are. So I see a lot of content on YouTube. That's on, of not professional and all of your stuff is extremely professional. It's very good. It's very well done. So congratulations to that. It's I see huge things for that, because it is to me it's one of the most, I don't know if it's the most sought after or most underused. Type of skillset is the speaking and so absolutely necessary. So thank you. Thank you for putting that content out. It's wonderful content.

Welcome to the Thinking Big Podcast. Today we get to talk with Trav Bell, THE Bucket List Guy.  Someone first called Trav the Bucket List Guy about ten years ago, (and no it was not David Hasselhoff). It was because of all the crazy and interesting things he has done in his life. From the age of eighteen – well before Bucket Lists were a ‘thing’ – Trav had written a ‘To Do Before I Die List’. Today, as a forty (something) year-old guy, thanks to The Bucket List movie and the popularity of the concept, they certainly popular now. Trav’s Bucket List is the reason why he attacks life. It’s always been his compass, his motivation. It continues to give him purpose and bring meaning into his life.  Ignorantly, he thought everyone had a written list like his… apparently not. Today we will discover: What is a Reverse Bucket List?   What is a Future Bucket List? What is a F%CKIT List? Why you must #tickitB4Ukickit A bonus, Why “The Hoff” is so popular in Australia. So today, we are thinking big into why LIFE'S WAY TOO SHORT NOT TO LIVE YOUR BUCKET LIST LIFE. Get in touch with Trav Bell. https://www.thebucketlistguy.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bucketlistguy.travbell/ https://www.facebook.com/thebucketlistguy/ https://twitter.com/travbell   Order the Bucket List Blueprint book here: https://thebucketlistguy.shop/collections/frontpage   Bucket List Life Podcast https://www.thebucketlistguy.com/podcast/ Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below. Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS bucket list, people, life, book, bucket list items, write, thinking big, david hasselhoff, mount everest, run,  ironman, absolutely, business, list, years,   Welcome to the thinking big podcast. Today, we get to talk with Travis Bell, the bucket list guy. Someone first called trap the bucket list guy about 10 years ago. And no, it was not David Hasselhoff. But it was because of all the crazy and interesting things he's done in his life. From the age of 18, this is well before the bucket list were thing Trump had written a to do before I die list. And today, as a 40 something year old guy, thanks to the bucket list movie and the popularity of the concept. It is certainly a popular thing now. Trump's bucket list is the reason why he attacks life. It's always been his compass, his motivation, and it continues to give him purpose and bring meaning into his life. And ironically, he thought everybody had written a list like this, and it is apparent that it's not true. So today, we're thinking big into why life's too short, not to live your bucket list life.   Welcome to the thinking big podcast with Sean Osborne. The show helping you think bigger into your life and potential Shaun believes by equipping you with the tools, strategies and philosophies required to be successful in all aspects of your life you can achieve anything you believe in empowering our own growth makes a deeply positive and lasting impact on our lives, community and our world. Now, here's Sean, everybody. I want to welcome tribe bell to the podcast today. I have been looking so forward to this because the stuff you do, I think actually wakes people up or makes you alive. But for the people listening you know, Travis, he's from the bucket list guy. Yeah, he is the bucket list guy. He's got, you know, his podcasts. He's got his coaching. He's got his speaking. And, man, I am so excited to have you on. But I do have one question because I really   question the sanity of where you're at. You think in the US why and how did David Hasselhoff ever get popular over there?   Oh, wow.   I   would it   I've never been able to figure that out. Okay, so   why would you elect Donald Trump? I'm gonna ask a question with a question because there's both each other.   There might be related, I don't know, to show.   So the I've actually like check this out. I've actually met David Hasselhoff   True Story Fun fact, I represented. I'm not going to speak on behalf of the nation.   But I was I grew up doing surf lifesaving like lifeguarding, competition and as a swim out surf lifesaver and doing   doing all that stuff when I was growing up. And our state was in the state team and we actually competed against California and the California lifeguards. And back in the day when Baywatch was at its peak. We went to the set of Baywatch. They're in Malibu and actually met David Hasselhoff went out in the water with him and all that net net that pretty much my life that was my life Pinnacle right there.   downhill since   but   Baywatch was huge. Everywhere was in it, was it? I think it was owl. Owl. You know, we were full of Australian lifeguards and the surf lifesaving movement here in Australia. You know, bondo rescue was another another big thing over here. I don't know that. That's pretty sad, though, isn't it? It really is.   I thought it was his singing that got so popular there. So that's what I don't. Well, he he, he single handedly bought down the wall, didn't he?   He single handedly got up on that thing and bogged down the wall   between East and West Germany back in the day 89 I think it was or something like that. And, I mean, the harsh You know, we've got a lot to thank   Jesus. All right, well, that makes a little bit   happened. But I want to I want to get into all the stuff that you're doing because it's such To me, it's such great stuff. And it's such when we start having these bucket list items or these things that just go out and do epic shit. I'm not doing epic shit bucket list up. Yeah, absolutely. For me, it absolutely wakes me up as a human. It. It's what drives me. It's what God did. There's just so much to doing   Teaching and there's so much I mean, it just breeds so much life into people. Now, how did you? I know, but the people, you know, people listening, how did you get started in doing the bucket list? So that, yeah, hello how this came about? I've been the bucket list guy for 10 years now, you know, and how it all actually started is someone actually called me the backup this guy, like, you know, user generated content, as we say in my internet marketing speaker, but someone actually called me the back of this guy was not   it wasn't David Hasselhoff. No, I wish it was, I wish but   again, again.   I mean, he is the original bucket this guy, I'm just his Lackey, you know, so he can do anything.   And he'll tell you about the now I was in the you know, we just, you know, talked about the Iron Man, I just talked about my life getting a job growing up. So I did a phys ed degree after after high school. And I started personal fitness training back in the early 90s. So that was my first business, I started personal training my own business, always worked for myself   side that in third uni. And then started with one client, I was the first to franchise personal fitness training studios in Australia, I did that. And I did that for 20 years in the personal training industry. And that was pretty much my identity.   One of the biggest personal training companies here in Australia, 10s of 1000s of clients later, you know, a whole bunch of personal trainers working under that brand chain of gyms up and down the eastern seaboard in Australia, over 2 million personal training sessions done under that brand. And but it was   I, I sort of became a bit too much of a lawyer a bit too much of an accountant, there was some toxic people, there's a   it became too much for me to be honest. And I found myself in a bit of a downward spiral I went, you know, there's some toxic people in my life and situations and circumstances and legal stuff. And it just became too much. And I found myself slipping into a mild when   compared to what I've heard since I'll be at a mild state of depression, but instead of going on heavy antidepressants, which, you know, as you know, is kind of like a band aid effect. I wanted to get to the root cause my psychology of what I was going through. So being always curious, I wanted to find out what the hell was going on. So I signed up for every course known to man and you know, when they said run to the back of the room, I rent I was in first round to the back of room Sign me up for the upgrade, you know how it goes and   but I learned about positive psychology I learned about you know, NLP life coaching, Academy principle, law of attraction, etc, etc, etc. and had mentors books in but I really had to force myself at that point in time to go to these things. And it wasn't until I've worked through a whole lot of stuff, a friend of mine, at the end of it about a year and a half of really intense, full immersion kind of learning. A friend of mine said, Hey, why don't you teach this shit truth.   And that actually helped me compartmentalize what I was going through, I'm like, that's why I'm here and helped me justify what all the money I'd spent as well. Like, that's why I'm here. I'm here to teach this stuff. So I put on a tour   and only had to pay the 40 people to come to my tour. And it was shit compared to what I do now. But about halfway through I started sharing my list to do before I died always had one written down since I was 18. A lot of people didn't know that about and this is on 10 years ago.   And I'm certainly not 18 anymore.   And I said you know who else has got one of these lists to do before you die? She written down like me and and I was like doughnuts. Now. I was the only freak in the room. I said why are you you know, there's some entrepreneurs in their own nervous and you know, why? Why are you earning money? You know what, why are you getting out of bed in the morning? Why do you want more time? Why do you want to grow your business? Why do you want to climb the corporate ladder? What is your reason? Why? commonly?   No pay off the house? Put the kids through school? do a bit of trouble when I'm older. Yeah, and possibly sicker. I want   Is that it? Yep. Have you written any of that down now?   Well,   that inspired the group I started sharing my list and some of the things that I'd done and for me since I was 18   I don't know whether I picked it up from a Tony Robbins scene or something, I just wrote down his list. And I've always been crossing it off. So wherever I went and shared housing, or wherever I had my little blue folder with my list to do before I die. And I just thought everyone did it, honestly. And then to realize it was a bit of a, you know, awakening thing for a lot of a tool for a lot of people in that seminar, and it fired everyone up. And it really got them thinking. And then Joe, one of the participants said, at the end has all this list to do before you die stuff. It's like you're back at this short, you'll love the back of this guy. And when ping lightbulb moment is around that time that I read the four hour workweek by Tim Ferriss who I've met on my lunch with on my bucket list and   and yeah, it was like, that was the epiphany. That was the lightbulb moment that I went now what I'm going to get out of personal training, I sold off all my gym beside the franchise the whole thing, and was and then went online. And it was scary. But I knew there was something this this packet this guy.com could really offer me it was really congruent to my values. It's a reflection of who I am. I can help more people kind of life coaching but not life coaching. Because it's gets met with skepticism. Yeah, but it's a way in which I can you know, travel the world do my bucket list and help others to live, you know, live a life experiencing more meaning purpose and fulfillment through this lens. And back at least really what I teach is positive psychology, which is the psychology or the The Science of Happiness, really, but with this bucket list, you know, theme over the top, but that's how it all started, man. Yeah, and it to me, it's the it's the whole you said it's the why of things. It's like we do all this shit all our life to eventually get to a place that we don't know what it is we, as you said, no one writes it down. No one does this.   What's interesting, though, is   you did that at 18. So you made a bucket list of 18 or so lists to do before a dive before I called it a bucket list before the movie. Yeah. And it's like that one decision that you made. It's weird that if we look back to our lives, there are certain things that we do. We don't know why we do. I mean, you get a bucket list. And you know, Monday this is just something I do but   I think things that we put down on paper and things that we do like that actually helped develop our develop our life develop where we're going. So it does it does if you don't write stuff down, you're not like you know, the stats say that if you if you write stuff down, actually, right? Remember this stuff called? member this member these   guys? Crazy concept. It's called a pain of kids. And and this is called paper. It's a crazy. Yeah. Okay, if you answer   this is we're in the 21st century, this is a electronic piece of paper. Just I don't want to continue just ruining the whole thing now. So so this is my point, your your major horror, I think we rehearsed this earlier. But   if you actually write stuff down Go analog, there is statistics to prove that if you actually put pen to paper, it's more of a conscious process even more than typing into your phone or a computer. I don't know about the whole tablet kind of pen thing that you got going on over there, man, but but I'm sure it's somewhere in the middle. It's more of a consciousness process. Albeit,   if you actually write stuff down, you got a 42% more likelihood of actually manifesting, you know, things turning up. So whether it be goals, or whether it be bucket list, or whatever, just writing stuff down that that is my tip of the day is to write stuff down, get it out of your head, because we're so busy on our daily to do lists that we forget about our bucket list until something traumatic or dramatic happens to us or a loved one. You know, so I want to my whole thing is in our coaches around the world to is to help wake people up before they get given the use by date.   Yeah, this suddenly, yeah, you get given a boy died suddenly, people reprioritize Go on. Now my bucket list is important, you know, like the movie was shit, because because there's about two blokes who get given a cancer diagnosis. And then they write a bucket list, which is done. Yeah, I base my career on.   And that is the thing, if you don't write this stuff down to me, when we write it down, we actually   mean that's part of the manifesting of is creating what we want in life. You know, you mentioned you know, the law of attraction and creating what we want. And I fully believe in that. And I think if we don't write stuff down if we don't make that plan, and if you don't put pen to paper and you don't physically write, it's like building a house. You can't just say, to build something there. You've got to be   pen to paper and you got to draw the damn command and draw the blueprint of the house. And so what is so easy to do is easy not to do, right? It's easy to do is easy not to do easy. People don't even write goals down, they look back at the start, and because of fear of success and fear of failure, same psychological makeup, you know, they might have done in the past. And they're like, well, if I write that down, I'm sort of committing to myself, but I won't let myself down. I've disappointed myself in a form in a form of life. So I'm not going to give this again. So people are scared of actually writing goals now. But yeah, the thing is about writing stuff down. I know, it's really simple. But if you don't write stuff down, you're not typing into Google.   What your search terms are, right, you know, and you're not getting the information fed to you, the universe will not provide that information by osmosis or frickin telepathy. All right, you got a hunch in, you got a punch in Google? You know, by writing it down. I believe we're punching it into Google. And then, you know, as NLP teaches you, then the universe you know, it's a Why is strong enough? The hell will work itself out. We're gonna know what that wise first. And that's why I think the way that you do things on not setting goals, but setting bucket lists, to me my bucket list items. Those are my wise. Yeah, I don't care how Yeah, I don't care how I get there. I don't care. But I write a book, I don't care. It doesn't matter how I get to the end. That bucket list item is my why. And if I focus on having a list of my why's that is so much more powerful than the having a list of my goals, I might have a goal of writing a book, I might have a goal of, you know, doing a, you know, a talk in front of 5000 people, I might have a goal. But that's not what drives me, what drives me is the bucket list of being able to go and hike in the you know, wherever and go to Australia and surf on the, you know, certain air and to travel and do all these things. Those bucket list items. For me, that's actually what drives my goals. And that's why I think it's such a powerful concept is you're not with this bucket list. I'm not worried about my goal. I'm not worried about the why I have   Yeah, you're right, you're right. I think when we say goals to anyone, they sort of they, you know, they shrink. And as business coaches, even Life Coach, you know, like, we we say that to people and, and they get scared of it. But if you say bucket list has got a lot more fun attached to it, and a lot more a lot more individuality, they can be a little bit more loose. Yeah, it's got a motion. It's, and it takes into account. And I've written about this so many times in the book. And, you know, it takes into account all the smart Golding, you know, and the SMART goal.   You know, acronym there is specific, targeted, measurable, all that sort of thing. And what these things are, top, there's two types of goals, right is there's a type, there's an achievement goal and a habit goal. So an achievement goal is where you get to the end and you go   you know, yep, I've ticked that off ticket before you kick it. Alright, so I have ticked that off. That is an achievement that is a bucket list item. But there's the habit goal, which is my you know, you're drinking a lot of water, they're shown and they may, you know, drink four liters of water a day that that's a habit goal. And now those habit goals might be contributing towards, you know, the end result of an achievement goal or a backup this diagram, but the two,   you know, interrelated.   But let's be really specific. A bucket list is a tangible life plan, right? You know, where your career plan in your business plan should fit into your life plan and not be the other way around. So this is really bringing home that work to live principle, if, and I'm sure the people around you that guide, you know, the people that you coach, that you're always saying, you know, your vehicle, your business, your job, your career, whatever, it's got to produce two things. And those two things are the cash flow and also the time flow for you, the owner to go out there and do your bucket list. It's not about the time and money is what gets spit out of a good optimized business, right. And double bonus if you actually love what you do, which a lot of people can't say that. If you actually love what you do is hitting your values, which is your internal rulebook, you're doing good for other people, you're of service to community. I think that's the holy grail, man, you know, like, if you're doing something you love, and it's giving you the time flow and the cash flow for you to to go and do your bucket list with your family and your mates, then then Thanks for coming. That's that's the that's it.   To me, and if everybody did that, we would be in a much, much better place. I mean, if everyone was happy with what they did, and they you know,   We'd be much happier. Well cap, you know, the sad reality in pre COVID 89% of people are what they call who work or an employer is disengaged. So there's 89% of people in America and it's an American stat, we go to work every day, just get the paycheck and go home and not engaged and not into what they're doing. They just get this got a job. Yeah, and that's, that's, that's scary. Because you look at and Australia and Canada, we're not that far off, you know, the western, we're not that far off. The point is, that those sort of statistics are all well and good. But when the, the, the negative effect of that is things like depression, mental health, anxiety, the loneliness, you know, we've got this thing called the loneliness epidemic. Now, that's the adverse effect of social media. Now, that's scary. It's an epidemic, that we know it is well, and truly, we know what a pandemic is. But this is an epidemic.   The over prescription of antidepressants, suicides, youth suicides, this is the shit that really gets me going. And this is my why, especially with young, you know, young men and suicides. Don't even get me started. And so   what I'm trying to do is, is, you know, through this lens of bucketlist, is get these positive psychology kind of principles out there, this other perspective maybe on life for people to either map into their world or not, I'm not telling anyone how to live their life, how they must, should or have to, or need to live or anything like that, just try it on ca go. But over the last 10 years, we've been really successful waking people up giving them that, that, you know, I've had people literally come off suicide watch, go off antidepressants, big call, but maybe right place right time. But at the end of the day, it really helped people get that perspective shift, you know, to be in more gratitude, to have more meaning purpose and fulfillment in their life. And for a lot of people right now, it's been the light at the end of the tunnel.   Because, you know, once again, these statistics are not getting any better, they were already shocking before COVID you gotta throw COVID on top of that, with Yeah, with that, you know, like, it's, it's pretty bad. And, and   so, just, and for everyone kind of listening and watching my life, this is not just about ticking a whole bunch of cool stuff off. This is really about how a person how we reverse engineer every aspect of our lives, in order to make this stuff come to fruition. Get encouraged, get excited about the growth of you on the journey towards these destinations, these self imposed destinations, but most importantly, get excited get curiously excited about the person that exists on the other side. And that's the person that we don't know yet. That's called out potential, right? Yeah.   We probably get excited about it. And people seem to think that their current situation is their potential. They think where they're at right then that that's their limit. That's their potential. Get yourself out of the ecosystem or the negative of negative support. Get around some people unfollow unsubscribe, stop watching the fucking news. Pretty simple. You know, control your inputs, control your inputs. One of the things that I learned when I've gone through depression is simply switch off the frickin news. You know, before we start our day within you with bad news ended with bad news. No wonder all depressed. It's like a shit sandwich. Oh, I mean, yeah. And then and then everyone has, like, a complaining competition whenever they catch up with each other.   Yeah. Now you'd you'd mentioned, you know, that kind of the achievement. And you know, the habit things and how they, how they interact. Now. For instance, one of my stories or, you know, part of my life is I was about, I'd say over 100 pounds overweight, somewhat depressed. I didn't realize I was clueless about how depressed I actually was, but overweight, too. And I had set up a you know, so I did a bucket list of, you know what, I'm going to do an Ironman. So, that one decision to do that, I, I couldn't swim. I couldn't I couldn't run to my damn cupboard to get the cookies out without being out of breath. I mean, it was. So it was way out. There was a bucket list thing that was like, Who the hell do you think you are? But I knew that by setting that huge bucket. To me, that was a bucket list item by setting that huge bucket list item. I would have to develop the habits to become that person to be able to do that. And it wasn't about crossing the finish line. It wasn't about crossing and hanging. I'm an Iron Man. It was who I was going to have to become habits I was going to have to develop the person I was going to have to be in order to go   across that line, yeah, those were the habits. You know, you talk about the habits. And now one decision, you know that one bucket list item completely changed my life. This was like 15 years ago. Yeah, yeah, 10 years ago, and it completely changed my life that just that one bucket list item. And that's Yeah, that's why I think this stuff is so damn powerful. That's what it's that's that that's a perfect example, man. You know, like, that's a perfect example of, I've got one.   The second thing I ever wrote, right? Second thing I ever wrote on my list to do before I die. When I was 18, before this whole bucket list, even moving in, was to complete a full Ironman, right. And I'd grown up as an this, the first thing I ever wrote was to go to base camp on Everest. And so I did that, I did that with my dad, and on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, and that was absolutely. And and, and the thing is, when I got to Mount Everest, when I got to the advanced base camp on Mount Everest, which was 6500 meters, we got to, I don't know what that isn't feet.   That's the highest place in the world that you can, that you can track to without being you know, giving up the ice axes and getting on the rope and all that something.   The point, the point of that little story is that I went to Mount Everest base camp, advanced base camp, I had severe altitude sickness. And I felt like I was hung over every single day you do 10 steps and you're out of breath, you think you're fit until you get to altitude. And another two kilometers above me was Mount Everest, the top of Mount Everest. So we've got three bucket lists that I want to talk about just briefly, one, we've got our future bucket list, all the stuff we want to do in the future. One is reverse backup this, which I encourage everyone to also write and actually write first, which is all the cool stuff you've done in your life as if it were in abundance all the way along. And that's a big gratitude exercise, which is, you know, one of the pillars of positive positive psychology. And we've also got a third type of list, and that's called the bucket list. So it is mentioned in the book. It's called a bucket list. So we've got three. So when I went to Mount Everest and went to advanced base camp, I'm hugging. I'm hugging the fucking porcelain bowl every morning throwing up because of altitude sickness. I had Mount Everest on the bucket on the future bucket list and it went on to the bucket list straightaway. I went back there I'm not gonna go any higher.   So I'm a surfer, not a mountaineer.   Be be real with yourself, but   did the Ironman I too. I entered the I grown up as a swimmer. So that was no fun right into I entered the Iron Man, Melvin Iron Man when I ran it down here in 2012. I entered the year out because you got to do that because it sold out really quickly. And I didn't even own a bike. I done one marathon, I could swim, but I didn't own a bike. And then that was the agenda that that that was actually one of the things that put me on the map because I did about 6070 videos and I just posted them a lot of people started following the journey. But it was like you just said it was that absolute transformation. When the Why is strong enough to hell work itself out. So I entered a video of me actually entering the Iron Man paying the 1000 bucks or whatever it was, and then going and this is the full Iron Man two, and I never mind you I've never done a full triathlon before.   Like before, the Ironman was the first triathlon ever entered. So you do an Olympic distance. You do a half Ironman in the full Ironman. So I've done three triathlons in my whole life. And they're all part of training. But yeah, I got a coach broke down before breakthrough kind of thing. Got a coach after I broke down. I'd also i overtrained for it.   But yeah, that that and I had a heap of people who followed me on social media actually, you know, turn up for the for the Iron Man to watch it all. And   you know, it is these journeys that really define us. And, you know, in that in that year of training for the Ironman, I had my most productive and highest income year as well. So, anonymize it and see and that's what So, what I don't get with a lot of people is   what people don't understand is the training for an Ironman. It takes a lot of time. It's full time is full time and people will always say I don't have time to exercise. I don't have time to work out. I can tell you don't that's what gives you the energy to go and do your other stuff. Energy and also you become an absolute time management Nazi. Yeah, you know, like you'd become a freak and don't you you just like Bang, bang bang and your nutrition. Everything you're rested is going to be on point and we had, you know with the most productive business year   No, since and it was just amazing. I've got a quick story. But another quick story about Iron Man cam. Who was a, again, I don't know what this is in pounds, but he was 160 kilograms. Now that's, that's a lot of pounds, it was a big big boy, over six foot i think is 62 or 63.   And he was an alcoholic, he smoked, he was a biker,   he,   he was in a job that he hated.   He was a miserable prick, you know, catch up with him is just just, you know, Debbie Downer.   The whole and he had you know, shitty friends, they all just got drunk on weekends, etc, etc. Now, he was dragged like a headlock to one of my early you know, earliest seminars, he used to run an event called the, the bucket list experience, three days personal development. And I in that I get people to in the break to actually, you know, take action, they back into something, pay for something, you know, just do something, it comes out the back of the room, just angry. Shit, you know, I didn't sign up for this, you know, I was dragged here. And he's made Simon was like, you know, I just dragged him here. And I'm like, if he wants to leave, and let him leave, you know, like, he doesn't want to be here. And he's just, you know, having having smoked in every break and not doing anything just like, when is this gonna finish? Can we go now and you know, so   we got to the end of the three days and came Hang in there. He hung in there. Simon's I come, I come. I didn't do something, do something. And I said in the last last break in three days, right? In the afternoon, I said cam? You've said it for three days, mate. I know you don't want to be here. You know, you've complained all the way through for the love of God just so just for me. I can do something on you know, just take action on something. Something. I don't care what it is.   Alright, so now I had it was face to face. It was like just dude. It was you know, looking at might do something.   guys   come back   and come back into the room after the bright side smoke. He's gone. Alright, you're happy? Show me is fun.   into the five k run.   Good. Nice. Well Done.   Done. Yeah. Why did you want to do that? Because I don't know. Just to keep you happy. All you got bullshit. You could have done a lot of different things. So what why? Why did you do art? I've always wanted to do a run, I guess. And you know, Glover did it when I was younger, you know? Alright. Anyway.   Months later, it really started. He started doing a little bit of training. Months later, probably six months later, I think it's five k running come around. I didn't lost contact with cam he wasn't really that close to me. Um, and Simon has made it and I'm close with. He said, Cam spent training. What's, you know, you've done something, you've lit a fire somewhere and he's gonna do this five years following through with it. Like really? Okay, well, look, I'm not doing anything on that Sunday, I'll go down and it was the run to the G the big mcg   where we held the Australian Rules, you know, Grand Final 100,000 people and what you do at the end of the run, they've got a five, even a 10 they got a half marathon, you can run into the Genie, you're up on the big scoreboard and all that sort of thing. And so we said in the US, I went there and I just did support cam to see if this thing was real. Went to sit in the bleachers and he comes camp. He came in he run shuffle, run, shuffle, kind of walk and he finished and he lost a bit of weight in that in that in that time that I'd seen him since he lost a little bit of weight. He had the participation t shirt on they put the big metal around him. He had his family and people in the bleachers as well got the hugs afterwards. I said Mike well, Dan is our tribe. Thanks for turning up.   And the small side appears I've never seen before.   Hmm, what's going on here that day without knowing you went in into the 10 k run? Did the same.   The day you finished these 10 k run into the half marathon day finish this half marathon in full day into the fall and the day ended full.   He ended his first triathlon couldn't swim.   had to go and get a bike.   Did a sprint distance, didn't Olympic distance. Same thing on the day that he finished, did a half then did a full over the course of like two or three years   and it   In the process, he given up drinking, I still had beers and stuff. He wasn't, you know, wasn't going to meetings, put it that way. Giving up the smokes whole new network of friends wasn't a biker anymore.   Got a girlfriend changed jobs, his income had gone up. He was smiling. He was off antidepressants. And you know, when Iron Man right at the end, you have the catches, and the catches the guys, the girls, the supporters that get there, at the end of the night before 12 o'clock. midnight. And the people who were the last people are coming through and they've got the glow sticks, and you know that they walk in most of the marathon kind of thing. And you got to cut off is well in Australia. Anyway, it was 12 midnight, he got in at quarter to midnight 1145. And here we are   going on, she's gonna make it easy. And he comes through fucking bleeding from nipples. You know, I've chafing and it was just unbelievable. Yeah, you know.   And, and he finished and he just collapsed in a hate but he was a completely different person, man. And we were one of the catches there midnight, you know, to bring him down the chute, you know, and Ken more, you are an Iron Man, you know, rang out. And it was just absolutely amazing and changed his life ever since man. You know, one thing, one thing, that's amazing.   And that's what, that's why I love doing what I do. And I'm sure that's one of the reasons that you love doing what you're doing.   When you get when someone gets that one idea that all it takes is   just one thing. And then once that person starts believing in what they can do, nothing's gonna stop them. Nothing, nothing once they get to bleep nothing will stop them. When the Why is strong enough to hell work itself out. Simple as that. You know, like, if you look at all your bucket list items and write them from, you know, inspiration or inspiration number 10. In a Mia inspired one to 1010 being really inspired one being near   anything that's five and above. Pay close attention to their the life challenges. You know, they're the things that   and when you're writing this stuff down, always think about the what and the why not about how   the how will appear? You know, you will it will appear but people overcomplicate the hell, don't they? Yeah, absolutely. I think we go Why don't think about people who go climb Everest, you know, don't think about every single step they've got to make up to mount the top of Mount Everest, they don't over complicate it, they just go Alright, I'm as as prepared and I've got the right people around me the Sherpas, I've got the right gear, checks and balances, shits gonna, she's gonna go on up there, and it's not always going to go to plan. But that's how we should we've got to trust ourselves a lot more and fall into it, you know, lean right into it. And, and just commit, because in the commitment is where you get, I think infinitely resourceful. It's not about resources, it's about resourcefulness, when the Why is strong enough? Absolutely. And and you mentioned about this guy, and I personally think I'm not here to do talk about you know, fitness and getting healthy and, but to me, if you don't have a well rounded life is meaning relationships, your help your career, you know, if you don't have a good rounded life, they affect each other, they really do. So I'm not advocating people going out and doing an Iron Man did. But if you for me, until I started looking at everything in my life, the you know that the health of fitness, things didn't change, I had to be more holistic on everything around not just not just planning. And let's be honest, you know, like in this day and age with, with us being as authentic and vulnerable as we possibly can. And I said on social media trying to grow business, no   disrespect, there's a level of respect that comes with people who are out there having a go, you know, there's a level of respect that, you know, you can't, you can't hide anymore, you got to put yourself out there and someone that takes, you know, does stuff like that in another part of their life. It maps into other areas, or deliberately, you know, it maps directly into other areas, you know, and and that's, you know, you doing an iron man would have bought you more business no doubt. Yeah, absolutely Simple as that and again, and not knowing how, so to me, if you if you already knew how to do these bucket list items, you'd have already done them. Yeah, I would have already   Anything that I've ever done in life that has been big, I have no clue how I started. I know the steps didn't know the house didn't know that. And I shouldn't, I shouldn't know how if I know how it's not a bucket list item, it's not a big item, if I already know how I need to write that one off, don't need to give, we need to trust our intuition, intuition, a lot more thinking and just trust ourselves a lot more, to fall into things to, you know, get uncomfortable, and take more risks. Because people we do it, we do it in other areas of our life, whether it be in relationships, whether being investments, whether it be in business,   you know, we got to trust ourselves more. And what's the worst thing that can happen? Honestly? Yeah. So. So yeah, it's it's a mindset that has definitely helped a lot of people over the years. To that the saddest thing I've heard over the years is people saying Trev thank you for giving me permission to dream again.   Dude, what's happened? You know, one of the things I said in the TED Talk, that I'm quoted on probably more than anything, and people are dying at 40 and being buried in it. Yep. The Walking Dead. We know. You know, Groundhog Day. Corporate America. Yeah, yeah. But But,   you know, so. So wake up, you haven't got much time. Let's, you know, do something small, write some stuff down, do the low hanging fruit first, and cross a few of the smaller ones off. And you can still do or a lot of different things during COVID. I'm doing five things at the moment. And at the end of the day, knock off those small ones, and never give you the momentum and motivation, especially the big ones. Yeah. So what is left? So what's the biggest thing right now? On your bucket list? What's that one? hairy, dirty, big ass thing that you still? Well, okay, so I've just obviously, you know, just done the book. So there it is. And that that was only 10 years since I've been the bucket this guy, you know, every speaking I do you have a book. It's coming. It's coming. It's kind of talking about a battle and perfectionism and procrastination. But, you know, 10 years it took me to write this is only this thick. That's pretty sad.   But it's, it's a big thing to do. I mean, that's a huge, yeah, extremely cathartic. And, and it was a, you know, I just couldn't bear to write on my goal list for this year. 2021 when we've been in lockdowns and all that might What is your excuse for not getting this thing done? I could not write. This is the year I'm publishing my book. So getting the book was, you know, getting the book done. Two weeks before Christmas has been huge. So   the next one, I   What have I got coming in? So stand up comedy geek.   I'm absolutely shitting myself.   Yeah.   See my mind make it so I've done a TED talk in front of 2000 people. I've done the book. I've don't mind making it and myself but doing that I've just, yeah. That that's a signpost   like,   you see one of mine is to rap with Snoop Dogg so I've got a manifesting that out somebody isn't rapping check yourself in chapter nine what chapter is a one of one of the guys   one of the guys in the book one of the stories that are telling Aaron young he no word of a lie he wrapped ice ice baby with vanilla ice on stage. No shit. And he's just like any lost the phone. He lost the phone that he did the selfie with   he did a selfie on stage and I got waterlogged or something like that he wrote and when he told me the story on   another guy is played with with with kiss. Like we met Paul Stanley from kiss.   It's in May, you should eat some of the stories that are just nuts. And it's so cool. But yes, nope.   Yeah, hopefully is you might   if you smoke in probably   a green light or so. One of the other I mean random I'm 47 and and one of the things that I literally bought just before Christmas as a reward for getting my book out. Was this if you can see this right here is some DJ decks. Yeah, so I literally bought those just before   Just before Christmas as a reward. So one of the bucket list items I've got for myself this year is to play is to play a live DJ ship DJ set   night   somewhere and I host a party somewhere and just play a play a live set. I put like a mouse head or something. You got to come up with some Yeah, it did.   I don't, I don't think Burning Man or tomorrow land or one of these big Miami festivals that are calling me up anytime soon. But it's just something and it's also a massive   you know, a really good way for me to type you know, just switch off. I can't play a musical instrument to save myself. But I can I can kind of put some music together on this. And yeah, I love it and time just time to stop just like surfing for me to stop time. You know, float. That's really cool. Yeah, I can't serve. Not Yeah. Yeah.   You're in Texas.   I'm in Texas. Yeah, I can't ride a bull either.   I can do that, either. So that's the thing I did in Houston. Right. So check this out. I went and spoke in Houston. And we went to some   when they were there film Dallas. That was around there wasn't in Dallas. Was it done now?   Houston, maybe not in No, it's doing Dallas No.   Went to some ranch thing. It's like this old, like, like a ghost town kind of set up. It was in Houston. And one of the things on my bucket list was to ride a mechanical bull with a cowboy hat on. And, and I did that in Houston.   That see that now that you can do in Houston? that that that's available? Yeah.   Yeah. So on your I want to talk about your book a little bit that you've talked about it, but it's so you can get it. I know it's on your website. And for those listening, just go to, you know, traps website, and you can get on amazon.com. It's on Amazon as well. Yeah, but if you want to sign one, we'd have to sign it from amazon.com in the US. But   yeah, it takes a week or so to get over there. If it's in the if it's in the US and I'll put a little gear, put little notes, a note in there. And, you know, like I do   know where to go and send it and send it over to so yeah, it's been, it's   really cool, because a lot of people have ordered them before Christmas and New Year's and taking this time between Christmas New Year and the start of the year, taking time out of their life to work on their lives using the framework, the my bucket blueprint framework to unpack their bucket lists, write stuff down and write their reverse bucket list the fact that this may be and also the future bucket list, but they're doing it with their families as well. They're doing it as a couple, which I encourage but more importantly, doing it themselves. First, you got to put your own oxygen mask on first before you can help others so so I want people to go into 2021 and, and really, you know, really prioritize. Because this for a lot of people has been the light at the end of this COVID tunnel   for a lot of people and stuff that they can action right now. Yeah, and it's an actual action. I mean, there's steps within the book to, you know, get you from point A to point B and so that's what I absolutely love about talking with people that have spent their blood, their sweat their tears, creating a book creating an asset creating something for us to you know, I can, you know, now I can take you know, 10 years of what took me What took you 10 years, and condense that down into you know, a month or two. And to me that is one I appreciate that more than anything I mean that that is such a big thing. And to be able to it's gonna cost me $30 to get 20 years of experience and it's like yeah, are you kidding me? I can I can spend $30 and get 20 years of experience. It's just yeah, so easy is another side thing. Yeah, well another side You know,   one of the bucket list items that I'm doing at the moment is reading 52 books in a year   that you know, that's an interesting   exercise it literally we wake up it's I my partner Tracy and I we wake up we have a coffee in bed and I read out loud so she learns Ireland and it makes me accountable weren't warms up my voice because I'm doing a lot of zoom and media and right you know, things with the team and, and so and that first hour is where my brain is really impressionable. So rather than jumping onto social   Media and you know, becoming the pitcher of someone else's agenda. And getting that negative input on controlling the input on learning, the, the, the retention of information goes through the roof, I abused books, you know, writing, writing through them. And it's that daily practice that we absolutely love. And it's and we both learned so much from it, reading one or two chapters a day and because I want to be a writer of love that are going to read well, Mr. Writer, I guess, but I want to, I'm reading it the other I'm writing at the other end of the day, but reading 52 books in a year is this daily practice, just like training for an Iron Man is a daily thing. And it's, it's had   a huge impact on my life.   My business, well done that. Do you think doing? Like an Iron Man has helped you?   Do things like writing and do things like reading 52? books? Yeah, from a mindset standpoint? Yeah. Look, it's, it's all it all compounds, you know, it's not just the Iron Man, it's, it's not just writing a book it you know, it's, it's, it's all the above, you know, you're breaking stuff down. And we're all, you know, to sit here and say, oh, I've got all the answers. No, why, you know, like, the more you read, the more you realize you don't know.   But   little bit by little bit, you know, chunking chunking, I do a lot of coaching around this concept called a typical perfect day, or a typical, perfect week, compared to, you know, an optimizing and hacking, what I call this, well, our definition of work life blend, not work life balance, nothing ever balances, but work life blend. And this whole concept of work life blend is what people are, I think, defining for themselves right now in the midst of COVID. And, you know, working from home and all that sort of thing. It's very different for each person. And it comes down to controlling the inputs, controlling what you hear, you're learning, controlling, are you managing your time, controlling who you bring into your life, you know, all the different habits of success that you decide to, you know, put into your day. And   I think I think that all compounds on each other, you know, and I think when you've got a system, a daily system sort of sorted out hacked, trial and error tested and measured that, you know,   you know, I just, I just always think, how can I go like Ilan musk run $3 billion companies.   He's not real good on the relationship side of things. But he's, he's got a bunch of kids, but his health is probably questionable, but you know, like, like, everyone's got 24 hours in the day, and there's high achievers that seem to, you know, smash it. And so, you know, I'm always learning of how I can squeeze more make it more quality rather than quantity. And, you know, you then it gives you the confidence if you've got that daily system in place, it gives you the confidence to go you know, what, I know how to manage my time, no matter what's going on, all into that I'm in and I know I can deploy. Right? Yeah, and I think you know, as you said, learning and doing all the stuff that you're doing it to me if you if we are not learning, we are absolutely dying, and we've got to continually push ourselves to learn and to be more you know, tomorrow than we are today. Yeah, yeah. That being said, when I'm learning I sort of started off like last year I started off at like war and peace you know, really thick book with very small font and I think at the end of the year I finished with Mr. tickle you know, the Mr. Men book is fucking about three bids in.   Desperate to knock out the goal.   So you got to learn to be specific because you have 252 books, but they didn't say they have a very big one a big book.   That's right. Oh, well travel. I absolutely want to thank you for being on being on the podcast, and everybody the bucket list blueprint, his book, everyone go to the shownotes I'm gonna have links to obviously everything about to get in touch with grab. And yeah, there's the book. And I cannot wait to get mine. Yeah, I followed your stuff. And I can't wait to get the book and start looking at the steps and implementing the steps because to me, whenever I get someone else's viewpoint of something, I always even if even if I get one, only one nugget from your book. Yeah, that is worth 1000s and 1000s of dollars. Just one nugget. I know him to get more than that. But just one he only got one set better. You're going to get the book and everyone. Here's my challenge to you Sean and on all your watchers and listeners in it. Get it   What's your TED Talk Do you know, it goes into a lot, a lot, a lot deeper into the book, of course, and it's more of a workbook too. So there's a link in the book. Whereas when you map out your battles, when you write your bucket list, I want you to send it to the link in there, send it and that comes directly to me. I'm collecting right now and collecting 365 365 bucket lists from all around the world, from from people of all walks of life. So you may or may not   be in the next book with your bucket list. But more broadly, I can't help myself being in a personal training industry for 20 years, I want to make people accountable to not just write this stuff down. But that, you know, we've got a really big group of hashtag bucket list is on Facebook. And I've got everyone in there, you know, like uploading their bucket lists, doing things on their backup is providing support and encouragement to each other. And this is also about accountabilities, because again, what's easy to do is easy not to do. So I encourage everyone to write you know, get a book, write, write their backups down, send it to me, and we've got special magical ways to make this stuff come to fruition, boy. Oh, fantastic. And again, thank you so much for being on. I look forward to I'm gonna upload mine, I'm telling you, mine is gonna be mine, I'll be able to so all right. Well, thanks again, so much. And thanks for your time. And thanks for writing this book. So people just, I don't think people understand how much it actually takes and how much.   And I don't think we tell the authors enough how much we appreciate the stuff that they're putting out and the stuff that they're getting, you're giving it to people. I mean, it's $30 is nothing for what we get. It's unbelievable. So thank you for doing that. And the whole philosophy of the bucket list is just fantastic. And you have a hash tag that you use on everything and it's ticket before you kick it. And that's what that's fantastic.   Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wait until they're about to kick it before they go credit. Once that better. We've got signs that say,   there we go. I love it. Yeah, those are great.   We got back at this coaches now in 22 countries around the world. So they're all teaching teaching this stuff.   I it was so great having traveled and thank you so much. And thank all the listeners for listening as well. And make sure you go to the show notes and go visit trap. He's got a ton of stuff up there at the bucket list. guy.com. He's got his fantastic podcast, the bucket list life podcast, and many, many things. Go look at his book, you know, in order the bucket list blueprint book, he's got a link directly there where you can get a signed copy from him, as well as through Amazon. And it means so much to me, and the guests that if you enjoyed listening to this, and if you got anything out of this, please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes. Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drives listeners to our shows. So please let me know what your thoughts are. And make sure you subscribe using your favorite player and using the links within the show notes. And again, thank you so much and until next week, remember to always think big

Sean welcomes Dana Malstaff to the Thinking Big podcast. Dana is the founder of the Boss Mom movement, which includes her Facebook community, courses, a YouTube channel, and the chart-topping podcast “The Boss Mom Podcast”.   Her book, Boss Mom, was published in 2015 and kicked off her business and the Boss Mom movement. Dana has been featured in Fast Company, Amy Porterfield’s podcast, Goal Digger podcast, and more.   One of my biggest takeaways from this episode is how she organically grew her Facebook community to over 50k, and why she runs it the way she does. Her methods are pretty genius.   Today, we are thinking big about our communities, and how we show up.   In this episode, you’ll also hear: The story behind how Boss Mom began. How Dana found her tribe to support her while she started her business. Why women have different motivations for starting a business than men. What feeling valued can do for your business. Dana’s email system and why every part of that ecosystem is important to your community. A breakdown of her Facebook community and how it grew organically. What Dana doesn’t allow in her Facebook community and why. Why she encourages questions and how those questions can spin into marketing and ideal clients. Dana’s affinity for systems and how they help increase productivity and flexibility. How breaking down an expert system so that people can easily understand it leads to success. Why familiarity is optimal in most cases. Novelty is less sought after. Asking questions is growing, and no one is perfect the way they are. Dana sees perfection as a moving goal, and being messy should be the goal. About the Nurture to Convert YouTube channel Dana just launched.   Connect with Dana Malstaff https://boss-mom.com/ https://nurturetoconvert.com/ https://boss-mom.com/itunes https://www.instagram.com/danamalstaff/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/BossMomGroup https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeTjINhAn35dIsEAsapkuLw   Connect with Sean Osborn here: https://thinkingbig.info/ https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Thank You for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below.

Welcome to the Thinking Big Podcast. Today we get to talk with Alexandra Holcbarova from the thementoringeffect.com. She is a visionary and has the ability to bring out the best in people and uncover their full potential.  She grew her own businesses in a range of different global markets including Europe, Thailand, Bahamas, and now Australia.  On her journey, she discovered so much around human potential and experienced how to overcome a physical and mental crisis with the knowledge and tools that now she teaches others. Today we will discover: Self-Awareness is the first step to success in leadership, business or in everyday life. Judgment & comparison = suffering.   Your thoughts influence how you feel So today, we are thinking big into our own self-awareness. Connect with Bob Gentle at the following social media link: Website https://thementoringeffect.com/ Email alex@thementoringeffect.com   3 simple steps to self-awareness. https://thementoringeffect.com/ Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below. Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, self awareness, business, thinking, traveling, programmed, day, talk, life, means, important, friends, create, absolutely, perception, australia, story, aware, world, decisions   00:00 You are listening to the thinking big podcast. And it is such a pleasure to have you listening to the show. And today we're talking with Alexandra from the mentoring effect. And she is a visionary, and has the ability to really bring out the best in people and really uncover their full and true potential. She herself she's grown her own businesses in a range of different environments from all over the world, including Europe, Thailand, Bahamas, and now she's in Australia. And on her journey, she's discovered so much around human potential, and experienced how to really overcome physical and mental crisis, and the knowledge and tools that she's gained. That's what she's teaching others down. So today's show, we're going to talk about, you know, self awareness and how it's the first step to really any success, whether it's in business or in health, or in or in anything that you're doing. So today, we're thinking big on ourselves.   01:01 Welcome to the thinking big podcast with Sean Osborne. The show helping you think bigger into your life and potential Sean believes by equipping you with the tools, strategies and philosophies required to be successful in all aspects of your life you can achieve anything you believe in empowering our own growth makes a deeply positive and lasting impact on our lives, community   01:23 and our world.   01:24 Now, here's Sean,   01:25 Alexandra, I want to welcome you to the thinking big podcast, and I know the listeners are gonna get a huge amount of benefit from the stuff that you're going to be talking about. Now, before we get into get into all this great stuff that you do. Tell everyone a little bit about yourself and kind of how you got where you are. It's an interesting story.   01:47 Thank you very much, and really appreciate to be here. Thank you very much for inviting me. And I didn't expect that. Okay, I will talk about myself. I will try to be very quick. Well, yeah, I'm in Australia. I don't even know how I ended up here. But I was traveling a lot and always having businesses. And my background is basically having 10 years of even management and catering, working for Red Bull and working as a coach for American corporates, having been out of business, but it was in Thailand. And there was more restaurant bar, or coffee shop with some small food, healthy food. And yeah, I after that, I think I stay in Thailand around for years. But as we know, you know that all vacation destinations are not very pushy. That means you just do your business, you know, a little bit, I would say a holiday holiday way. It's just different, I would say a different set up. And after that I moved to Bahamas and I did some tourist tourism business there. And yeah, ended up in Australia in last five years. I'm living in Perth, Australia, and I was running two businesses, but the one of them, it's already closed because of the events. And that it was not really sustainable because we don't have any events scheduled for 2020 and 2021. Because all governments basically don't know what will happen.   03:18 Right? And we were Yeah, we were running community events. And Mr. Schreiner even, you're even looking at 2021 as being limited already.   03:27 Well, it's a it's different because I so I have my family still in Europe, and I can see how every country is reacting, or I would say his reaction on on cases with COVID-19. And the crisis is really having different development in each country. And I thought and I really hope that we will be able to travel in December, and I will be able to see my family over Christmas. But it looks like they starting their you know, second wave. We have fine here. But Melbourne is not fine. That means it's all changing every week. And I don't like to predict, you know, the divorce thing. But I am prepared. And that's why I decided to build more the other business that I have. And that's the mentoring effect. Because I believe people need education, people need self awareness. People need someone that will inspire them. And that's the same thing that you do. Because I believe this is the time that the world is suffering and other people suffer. I know a lot of people are really successful, what is great, but as always, you know some sadness and fear in the world. And I believe this is this time and people need us. That's all that's all. Yeah.   04:38 So you have done a lot of presently How do you lie to me I didn't get a travel until later in life. It seems like I was kind of sheltered and didn't get a lot of do a lot of traveling. I'm telling you, the world absolutely opened up even from a mindset standpoint and a self awareness standpoint. When I started traveling on maybe 10 1012 years ago, that really changed my self awareness personally.   05:08 Yeah, I think that's big thing traveling. And knowing the cultures and also knowing yourself when you are traveling and staying in the country for a little while, I always said when someone is traveling, go, don't go to you know, hotel and stay in hotel where everybody's you know, having their vacation, but travel with people travel, the way that you can actually be touched by culture. And you also get to know yourself if you're able to adapt, if you are able to accept and I think this is huge. It's definitely helped helped me to to be more self aware and be more open.   05:48 I would say, What is your what's the favorite place you've been to in the world?   05:54 My favorite place now when I'm in Australia, because I'm so far away. It's definitely Europe. And I would say Slovakia, you know, Czech Republic, Croatia. But when I'm there, I also miss Australia. And it's really hard to say I love I love Thailand and I love Bali. Probably that's there are two countries that I'm able to create. I'm able to connect with myself, I'm able to connect different way probably with people. And yeah, I think I just different vibes, I guess. Yeah, that means they're probably Thailand and Bali. It's, I believe it's like a mecca of people you know, that they want to create. They want to grow, they want to do something more in life.   06:39 Yeah. And that I, we I was able to go to Thailand, I think maybe a year and a half, two years ago. And I absolutely loved it there. It was, it was fantastic. Although I won't get into the naming of their cities, because whoever named some of those cities, just a genius. I'm sorry. We won't go there. So on self awareness, tell me what do you think? Is self awareness? What do you what does that? What does that look like? For you?   07:12 That's really great question. Thank you. Um, self awareness for me is to knowing myself knowing what is going on around me, that means be aware of my environment, and how my how environment is influencing me and others. And also, it's a, it's part of emotional intelligence, for me, to be self aware, is to really understand what I'm thinking, how I'm thinking, and what are what the thought is triggering me, while thought is making me feel better, it's more like you are able, when you're self aware, you're able to, I wouldn't say control yourself, because we don't want to be really controlling. But I would say you really can influence your behavior to get better results. Maybe that's the way to say it.   08:04 Right? Yeah, I think that a lot of our program software, I think we're programmed at a very young age up to age five or six of what are programmed. Self Awareness is what, you know, we were brought into the world and and we learned, what was programmed into us what was around us, you know, the people that our parents were with, you know, the things that they did the things that they look, it's like language, you know, we learned language based on just being enculturated in that. And I think that's, for me self awareness for a long time. I didn't, I didn't try to change my self awareness. So I just lived by the self awareness that was programmed into me. And until we figured that out, we're gonna continue debt for me, from a self awareness standpoint, we're gonna continue down that same path forever and ever until we until we realize that till we become aware of that, and yeah, that's huge. Now, how do you? Again, I think we've been kind of pre programmed and we can definitely change when we when we want to, but how do you really create, you know, our How do you think we create our realities and, and things that for us?   09:24 I will touch just that. What do you just say? Because I think that's great. What do you what you just mentioned, that's exactly what is happening. We are programmed. And in thinking about that, that we don't know even how we are programmed because we are programmed, actually from the age from one to three. That's really scary because we even don't know what happened that time when we were young, that young, and we don't know in what kind of situations we were. And I always say parents, like just the small thing like, like your kid, your children are playing around. You know, you have your visitors and they're playing gold around and two years or you know, one and a half, three years old is running around without beta, you know, when you scream at a child, like, go to take it, you know, you can run like that, you know, you can run naked for example. And that's already something that sentences can already program the child that in their 18, maybe 16, they will be a little bit shy to go on a beach in betas or you know, show a positive body like it will be really uncomfortable. And, and those small things are programming us and based on that, as you said, based on filters, we are creating our perception, or our reality. And that's, that's the first thing that I was going to talk about as, as we started with self awareness, because to knowing how we create our perception or reality is most important thing to actually have better life, or increase self awareness, or make better decisions, or get a better jobs or have better partnership, or be better parent. That's all major thing to know, like how that works. And that's when you mentioned that we are programmed, like something happened outside of us, like is any external event that is influencing us, we always put our perception on that you probably experience a lot of things, you know, like, you're going to movie for example, of a friend. And and I always say there's the major thing when you can see how we see the world different way. Because you go into the same movie. And when you going out from the cinema, your friend is like I didn't like the movie. And you're like, Oh, I love the movie. That means that's already really two different perceptions. Right? One see what I think basically,   11:46 yeah. And how we, I always tell people how, you know, don't believe anything you see. It's I mean, it's because it's all based on what your reality is. And there is your reality is not reality, your reality is just how you, you happen to see things and work. And we I'm telling you, we are picking up things left and right from all of our senses, what we see what we hear what we taste what we smell, we're picking up all this stuff, and it's all going through our own. I call it a BS, or our belief system, our own bullshit that is filtering everything through. And we see it how we want to see it. Yeah,   12:24 yeah. And that's also when you're working with clients, because I believe you're working with a lot of clients that you can't really guess what they think when they started talking about their story or their their issues, or, or whatever they want to talk about with you. You can't really say like, I know you, what are you talking about? Because you don't know. And that's what I'm always saying to all coaches as well. You can't really say I know, or I understand. You need to let the person to really, really go deeper in their story in their world in their perception. And until you are super, super connected, I would say and you can see with their eyes, you can't really say You understand, right? And I think that's a big thing as well.   13:06 Yeah, and I'm a big proponent of people need to be self awareness. And if you look at the word education that actually comes from the word have to learn within, it's to do go it's, it's all within we all have to and if anybody tells me, this is what you need to do. Nobody knows me, like me, I can look and see and look at their steps and say yes, I want to I want to do that. That that is a great idea. But how does it internalize to me how does it because nobody knows me? But me? Nobody.   13:37 And and that's so funny because that's exactly how our conscious and unconscious mind works. That means if someone actually tell you you have to do this, or you should do that our unconscious mind is straightaway fighting, and is saying no, I don't want to do it. It's just reaction on on what is happening we have programmed that by it's it's how our mind works. And I would love to touch when you when you mentioned beliefs and all that programming because there are major fields they create or they they are helping us to, to see you know the world different with different eyes or through different eyes. And that's also when you sit when you mentioned beliefs, there are memories as well. Those are values what is important for us what is priority in our life? And also it's it's I think I mentioned memories, but attitudes are decisions we made before and and all those small things around us are what creates us actually influencing us unconsciously and we don't know about that or majority of people don't know about that.   14:37 Yeah, I call that we're flying on autopilot. We have no idea it's just it's just going on autopilot. And you know it's funny you mentioned that it's I've often explained to people it's like when you go and you you've wanted something for a while and all of a sudden you buy it let's say it's a car and you buy I called the Volkswagen a pack but if you if you want this car you want this car and you say me finally get it The second you get it, you drive off the lot, and all of a sudden, you see those cars everywhere. My wife does the same thing with shoes, she'll buy shoes, and it's like, shit. Now I see him, I see those same shoes. They're like, once we become consciously aware of something, our subconscious thinks, okay, that's important to us. So now I'm going to pay attention to that out there. And now all of a sudden, there's one, there's one because our subconscious thinks it's, it's important.   15:28 Yeah, that's so great, we'll just say, because that's exactly where our focus go. Basically, we starting to see the things because we are focusing on the things that we never really focused on before. And it's so important, I will actually probably touch the base, because this is coming to the, to the basic how we create this reality and how we actually feel. And I think that's, that's another thing that people, if people will start to be aware of their thoughts, they can actually change the reality or the perception. But I always if I can, if I'm made share, it's like a small story to understand where I'm coming from. Absolutely. Because it's probably something that everyone experience because I'm talking always about the dinner like you are preparing dinner, just imagine that you're preparing dinner for your partner or friends, or his anniversary dinner or something before is very important for you. And now there are two sides of things like how we think or how we react or respond. And I always compare it like, okay, that partner or a friend is not coming and he's not answering the phone is not answering the messages. And naturally, we are getting frustrated. I don't know if you experienced something like that before. That you probably can imagine, like we are angry and our stories started to grow the way that we're coming from fear, we're coming from anger, frustration, that means we're really coming from that reaction side. And our story will be or he doesn't love me or he doesn't want to come or he's not respecting me, or maybe he's with someone else. And and all that would happen is basically our other thought story that we created. It's really triggering us to really negative emotions. That means we are angry, frustrated, and based on that emotions that we created with thought and story. We are overreacting when the person coming home Actually, we probably started to scream or we started to be like, Oh, yeah, you light and we are angry. And the thing is, what I'm talking about is the result, that probably you're not going to talk that evening, maybe the dinner Will you know end up in rubbish bin,   17:39 I'll be in the doghouse.   17:43 And it's not really nice evening, but when we are actually self aware. And and we know that our thoughts are creating that reality that we can start to think about better story than means just change the story. And when we when we are writing for a partner or a friend and it's late we can start with thing. And it comes from love, I always said come from love and compassion first and very subtle thing Dubai. Okay, maybe he started with business partner or, or starting work. And he's probably said or she's probably said that she's missing the dinner, she's missing out on great dinner and or something happened. And that means I should probably count down and think about that person how I can actually that person may have I can make him or her feel better, but they will come home late. And that's absolutely different story that makes us feel actually really good and calm. And we don't react, but we respond that means the person coming home, I guess you can already, you know, imagine that you are actually welcoming the person you're happy. And you're probably having that result of the evening that you have to get a great dinner together and, and probably talking about what happened. And I believe that's much better result. And I say this example because it's very basic, and probably a lot of people can connect with with coming or waiting for someone with dinner. And that same in business. If you respond or respond you can have better results is the same with parenting is same with the friends and in any situation.   19:21 Yeah. And a lot of times you know us as human, I don't know if it's just by default or what but we always think that the action is what causes how we feel. In other words, something happens and and that's what causes it. And I go back to it. Not too long ago I was in a in a car accident. And there was three of us. And I got out and I'm like that's that's what insurance is for, you know shit happens that's, you know, not not too big of a deal. Everyone's okay. Another guy got out and he was absolutely irate. I mean, he was pissed off. He was yelling he was screaming and I had to sit back and think okay, you If the accident is what caused people to get mad, if that's what caused him to get mad, then everybody that got in an accident would get mad. So it's not the action that caused it. It's the meaning that we put on that action that actually caused, you know, he, you know, he put a meaning that he was gonna be laid, he put the meaning that he was gonna cost him money. He he put meanings on on that accident. And that's why he was mad. It wasn't that had nothing to do with the accident. No, it's how we perceive things and how near the meaning that we put on things that, you know, it's never the action. It's never never that.   20:36 Yeah, it was it was your story, like you said, you know, like you you actually got out from the car, and you were like, oh, everybody's Okay, that's great. Your first story or first thought was positive, basically, because you focus on other people, you sold them there, okay. And you, you came from love because you care about us. And that make you also think different way. And that thought make you karma? Exactly the meaning you said, you know, you put different meaning and different story on the event. And I think that's so important to understand that we are actually creating our reality. And if we are able to be happy, and it's just such a big thing to understand that it's just a thought. Yeah, we are just a thought away from being happy.   21:25 Thought away from being anything that we want. Yeah, exactly. Positive or negative. Yes. You're one negative thought. Negative two, I think it goes both ways. It goes up, it goes down. It goes both ways.   21:39 Think about that. It's just such an amazing concept. Because I think it was Sidney banks. He was talking about three principles. And three principles are actually mind consciousness and, and thought. And he's always saying there is nothing else. It's just a thought. Because it is what it is. That's all what it is. The world is just a thought everything what we decide to do, what we do, or what we are not doing. That's all just limiting belief, a limiting belief is again, just a thought.   22:07 Yeah. Yeah. Good that I think it was a Dr. Richter or Viktor Frankl that said that, you know, the only thing we have 100% control of is the time between we get an input, and how we respond. We have 100% control of how we take that input, how we take that action, and how we respond. That's the only thing that we actually have 100% control of. Yeah, yeah. And oh, go ahead. Go ahead.   22:36 I was just thinking that probably great thing to add, to this conversation is that we are actually having seven around 70,000 thoughts a day. And when you are thinking that you're not self aware, or you are not actually living conscious life, or you're not trying to live conscious life, and you're not available, you're thinking, you don't have any idea what kind of choices you're doing and decisions you're making. An and we have from that 70,000 thoughts is around 20,000 choices we do daily. And I think that's really crazy number and I'm talking about things like you know, what kind of water you pour into your glass? Or what, I don't know what, like you start to walk first, you know, it's left or right. It's just small things. Right? can actually if once all your day?   23:24 Yeah, absolutely. And that to me, that's why one of the reasons for me meditation or gratitude stuff in the morning is so important. It gets me really in the right frame of mind the right step the right, you know, it gets me in the, to me the right vibration to be in. And, and for us, I think it's kind of it's, you know, I think we're both kind of in the same mindset. But for people listening, you know, what, what are some of the benefits that you see, in increasing our mindset, increasing our self awareness? You know, what are the benefits that that people will have when they start? I know, I've got tons of stuff that that on that, but for others, I mean, it's it's such a huge thing, you know, and what are some of the benefits that you see   24:11 how it's exactly what you say, tons. But as a comparison comparison for me, when I was actually not having any meditation or any any habits in the morning, any rituals that it will actually helped me to be self aware or have I'm thinking how I'm preparing myself for a day, for example, that was really huge difference in my working day. I was, I was able to focus now. Like I'm able to focus now and don't be distracted when I'm actually starting the day with meditation or, or doing things very consciously. I'm really trying to think about step by step like what I'm going to do during the day. What is my intention? That means that that has really a huge influence on performance. And because because we are all business owners and what have you, you're ready No, that is so important to work effectively or efficiently and, and that's the majority of people, they don't understand that small thing like morning ritual can change their life or they their day and performance. The benefits are also it's about health. Like, that's actually even like cardiovascular diseases, I think you can, you can avoid them by being calmer and respond responsive, not reacting. That means you actually have you increase your emotional intelligence and you're making better decisions in your work with your team, you actually start to also Elisa a little bit different way, that means it helps you to connect better with other people, even deeper connections in your relationship, you can definitely build up deeper relationships with friends. And with kids, when you're a parent. And there are benefits like you can land the better job if somebody is looking for for work. If you are building up self awareness, you can definitely land a better job and better position. You can have better finance, you can have huge success in your business. Every successful business person will tell you that they meditate or they do something like that, or they they are aware how they work, how they make decisions. And the biggest thing is probably that making conscious decisions. I believe that was big thing for me to really understand, based on what I'm doing decision, because I'm angry at someone or because I can really sit down and say write down pros and cons and and really see what will be the benefit of decision. That means to learn how to read to respond is so important. And we know we can save people's lives when we are responding and reacting. Yeah, I don't know, it's a huge like, it's a lot of very health benefits for brain, you you really can live longer, and have better better thinking. And yeah, I don't know, it's just so many. Probably, health is for me, probably most important that I feel so awake, I feel so energized. I guess that's the method.   27:09 And what's funny is, when I first started getting into this, I would see people doing things like morning rituals that you talked about. And I would think oh, that's just some woowoo you know, crap that I was that no one actually does. You know, I remember years ago listening to Tony Robbins, and you know how he got up every day and, and, you know, did his priming and did his you know, doing all the stuff? I'm like, Yeah, yeah, that's bullshit. But they, but here's the thing. You look at successful people, and they all do it. It's not some woowoo it's not. It works. It absolutely works.   27:48 And it is really funny because I was I was the same exactly what you said, I was like, Ha that can change your day, when you will have morning ritual that can change anything, you know, any any habits. But when you think about creating healthy habits and rituals, I would, I would say we don't need to call it rituals if someone you know, doesn't like the bird. But it's some kind of discipline that you have around your morning, that you're able to say like I'm waking up at five, for example. And I have my 30 minutes yoga, I have 10 minutes meditation, at least. And I'm always evaluating what happened last day, the day before, and thinking about my intention and what I want to achieve the day ahead. And for me that that just that small thing, just calmed me down and prepare me for a day. And I will be very honest. Last week, I had one or two days that I didn't do any morning ritual because I felt funny, I don't know, I wasn't really focused. And because I didn't do any morning rituals, I was so absolutely opposite of productive. Like that day was a disaster. I didn't do anything like I ended up to you know, scroll down Facebook and didn't want to do it. Right. Don't do. I don't really scroll down through social media. I'm trying to focus only you know, I have one hour for social media, I'm posting and doing advertisement and whatever I need to do. Or I'm talking with my digital marketer, and that's all and I'm not scrolling. I just ended up scroll down and thinking all over the place. And I think he was all over the place. And that was really a big example or a big wake up call for me again to say, Oh, yeah, now I can see my morning rituals works. And I really need to do that because it's setting up my day to be successful. And it's setting up me to be more focused and I'm actually much better with clients as well, but I'm actually doing my morning rituals. And yeah, I think it's important for everyone who never ever tried just probably I will I will such as to start with small thing. Yeah, but very small thing just to take a piece of paper having next to your bed and and start a journal. What do you think about First thing in the morning, what is your first thought? And started just noticing yourself, you know, like who you are? How do you think just small thing like that just to really go back to your heart and and see how you think how you feel and what you mentioned, gratitude is amazing just to really think about one thing that you're grateful for.   30:20 Yeah, that can absolutely change your day. And it actually to me when when you when we do this stuff, and we do it consistently, obviously, there's days that we don't do it tell me we're obviously not. Nobody's perfect. We always do this, but it does to me. It changes my perception of things. It changes my decision making, it changes everything that I do when I'm in that, right. I call it a vibration. But when I'm in that right vibration, I make much different decisions, I make much different. I kind of liken it to health. So when you're trying to get healthy, and you're you're not at that vibration, you're not at that consciousness, it is so hard to do. It's like, it almost seems impossible. But then once you do it, and you get into that vibration, you get into that self awareness, it almost becomes like how did I not do this? And I think that's where that it puts you in that in really in that space? Or in that vibration?   31:24 Yeah, I love Jesus say that. After that we are thinking how, how come they can do it, how they can live like that. It's so funny how that change exactly like you change your life, you change your perception and your mornings and your vibes energy. And I will be very honest, from the time that I'm really looking inside, why I'm how I'm thinking and what I actually really want. And that's what I will probably suggest to other people, if they can think about when they are in business, usually solid traitors has you know that that issue that we are so much into business. And we don't have time to work on business, but we don't really know where we are in business. And instead of thinking about yourself, who you are, and we want to be and how you want to show up. And it's connecting me with people and clients a little bit different way. And I love it because it's just really being there for my clients and understand what they want. And all those small things like habits and rituals and being focused is actually helping to achieve that result probably just really recommended, especially with for people, they they really work for themselves. And it's really hard. I know, it's hard, especially now under lockdown people that sell only and that's the time to really do those small exercises.   32:47 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it's like we have to, I don't care what we do. But we have to be more if we want more we have to. So I know we're you know, to me, it all starts with personal awareness. And and and you know that our mindset, our self awareness, but it's all it all starts with us. But it does, it affects our business, it affects our careers, it affects everything it spills over, but it does, I do think that it all starts with us. And we can't, we can't be better. Until we until we are better. You know, we've got to get to that level before we can. And what's funny is you you kind of mentioned this, but when we get to these upper levels, we start attracting people. In that level, we start seeing, you know, like the Volkswagen, you know, once I once I now I'm at at level eight, let's say now all of a sudden, I didn't even see these level eight people over here that I can do business with. But now, hey, look at all these level eight people. They're there. They're everywhere. And we attract what we do me we attract what we are.   33:48 I have really personal experience. And that's really well sight. What it has mentioned is I mean, I came to Australia, I was I was going through some personal issues of trauma. And I was very that was my probably bottom that I hit. And it's so funny when I see that now, and I'm looking at the events and how I how I like how I was in and what kind of energy I had to spread. I was thinking like what I'm spreading out like I was really probably sad. I was very down and I actually attracted that kind of people. Yeah, I got all those friends that were really down. They had like past depressions and it was just so different. And when I actually broke on myself and was that it was probably major thing that I really started to focus on is personal development because I wanted to be you know, old Alex like the Alex that I know. And I remember and there was these fun laughing having friends and fun and grading business, all the things that I actually I kind of couldn't find it. And when I found it again I was Yeah, I just have amazing people around. And even my clients changed exactly what you said, I'm just having exactly clients that I want to work with. And it's all marketing or messaging or energy. Because I always said, when people are focusing so much on digital marketing, because I'm doing a lot of courses around business. Always think about yourself, and your intention behind the post, or, or message or picture. Anything. What are you putting out there? We'll come back to you. But you need to be really intentional. And you really need to be honest and coming from heart. Right? And yeah, that's probably   35:36 Yeah, absolutely. So do you know you're you're in Australia? The only thing that we get here from Australia now? Do you guys actually have shrimp on the barbie? See, the only thing we have is the only thing we have is Outback. Outback Steakhouse. That's the only thing we have. That's Yeah. Oh. Oh, man. See, I had to ask that. That's, that's. So what is your favorite out of all the places you've traveled? What has been your favorite culture? I think culture really does develop our self awareness. And it's like when I go to one of my favorite places is turkey going to going to Turkey, I just the vibration, the the culture just really. I know, it invigorates. Me it's it's something that really, really lifts me when when I'm in that, that environment. And I think that I think the environment that we put ourselves in, really helps dictate our self awareness, it dictates you know, who we are? Again, I think Jim Rohn said it, you know, people you hang out with the most is you become the average of that. So when we put ourselves in these cultures in these in these places, then, you know, we we tend to be like that.   36:57 Yeah. Yeah, that's, it's very interesting question, because I actually never really think about that the way that you just ask. And as I mentioned, that, for me, when I was alone, traveling was probably a great time. Because it's, it's really, like you have time to connect with culture and people. When you are with your family, it's not that easy, because you're staying with your family. But when you're alone, you're you're looking for people to talk and, and you're discovering more and that's why I will love to travel by myself as well. And I just probably Bali was was the place that made me very creative, creative, very excited, very driven. And I was amazed by places because the nature there and and also there is a lot of people, they they trying to discover, they trying to develop things that all I can, you know, like new thinkers and people very eager to achieve something and by the same time, they are very calm and connected and happy and, and chilled. That means it's kind of like they came to environment to really prepare, be prepared to hard work, but that of an environment is actually calming you down. I guess it's really like an opposites, like a two poles. And that that's vibrant, probably I love it there. And it's a beautiful place to start even start a business, you know, take your laptop and start to create. I really like that I know. But on the other hand, I love Italy, and I love Croatia. And probably because it's connected in my childhood and all my friends. We always travel there. We spend so much time on yachts and just having fun. And talking about business, talk about family talk about, you know, music. There was always just I would say that that is the time that I really don't try to brag, but I'm going to Croatia and Italy. And he's really just traveling and just eating beautiful food.   39:04 So Croatia, that's an interesting story. Do you know who the President of Croatia is? Oh, no,   39:11 I don't know. Actually.   39:13 I'm pretty sure it's Croatia. I'll have to go back and jump but I went to school with her. Really? Yes. Yes. She was in the States as a as a as a as a foreign exchange student and went to went to school with her.   39:27 That's really funny. Story. Yeah.   39:31 Yeah. Because, yeah.   39:35 So you've got two things up here that are that are really great things. You've got the three simple steps to self awareness. That is a downloadable thing. And then you also have the 21 day challenge for boosting your business. Those are great things and can you tell tell us a little bit about those because people can actually go up and download those and actually also watch the videos on the 21 day. Challenge.   40:01 Yes, thank you very much for asking about that. The, yeah, the PDF reader with three simple steps to self awareness is basically all the stuff that we already talked about. But it's simplifying the things that you can do for yourself, even, you know, two, three minutes at your home, you don't need to be prepared, you can just start to do it and build up your self awareness with three simple steps like journaling, writing your morning thought that I already mentioned, and take your cell phone judgment. Voltron is explaining PDF, it's very important because judgment and comparison are really decreasing the energy from our brain. And we actually perform on lower levels, though, as we tried to really avoid comparison and judgment. That's, that's another thing that we can probably talk about another hour.   40:52 Yes, at least. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. No, I'm just saying that, you know, the, you know, the, the download that you have on the three simple steps, it's such an easy thing. But it can make such a huge impact on our lives, it seems so simple three, you know, three things. But I guarantee if you actually go and you do those three things every day, you will have, you will have changed in your life. No doubt about it.   41:23 I absolutely agree. And that's why I tried to simplify that. And I know people are like, Oh, this can change my life. Those steps can change my life. But I see exactly what can actually those face steps can change your life forever. Yeah, I mean, it's important. And that's why it's awesome. They're so easy.   41:40 Yeah. And what people don't realize is when you start changing, you know, we talked about it a little bit in, in part of this podcast, but when you start changing things, you start looking at things different. So you start attracting different things in your life. It's not just those three steps. But those three steps lead to many other things that are byproducts of steps. Yeah.   42:01 Yeah, you're changing your perception, you're changing your emotional intelligence, you're changing your decisions, your choices, and you at the end, changing your results to be greater and better.   42:11 Yes. And that's what we're, that's what we're all here for.   42:15 Yes, well, I   42:16 absolutely want to thank you for for giving us your time being on the podcast it out, I'm telling you, this stuff is I, I believe in this more than I believe in most things, because I know for a fact, for me, this stuff is absolutely changed my changed my life, hands down, doing this, and all of that, I can tell you 100% guaranteed anybody listening, if you see anybody that is successful, I don't care if they're successful at sports, I don't care if they're successful at business, I don't care if they're successful in relationships. They do this, it's it's that simple. If you want to be successful, you have to be self aware, you have to control, you've got to control your own thoughts. Not not your programming. Not not the world. But but you.   43:11 Yeah, thank you very much for her for this. And I thank you very much for having me. And I love to talk about that, because I think is most important thing right now. And my self awareness as well, you know, helped me to grow my business and, and my amazing partner, she'd been my partner like, amazing relationship and amazing relationships with my family. And, yeah, I just can't recommend that more to just try, just just do it for seven days, just try for seven days, or you know, 18 days, whatever works for anyone. But as you said, it's most important thing, and and I believe we should really, really start to be aware of what's going on. And I hear more people say, Well, I don't have time. And right now, if you don't have time right now, all that's going on. If you don't have 10 minutes to take right now, you didn't have frickin half the time. I'm sorry, but it's now like right now more than ever. So again,   44:09 thank you so, so much. Such a huge inspiration in such great, great stuff. And I know that people are gonna get that, that download to people just do it. spend seven days trust me, just do it. It will, it will help will help change your life.   44:27 Just do it. Yeah, just try to   44:28 be like Nike just do. Well, thank you again. Thank you very much. And we will talk later.   44:35 Yeah, thank you very much on this pleasure. Thanks.

Bob Gentle What are the best digital marketing strategies? https://amplifyme.agency/ Welcome to the Thinking Big Podcast. Today we get to talk with the best digital marketing person I know of, Bob Gentle. If you own, want to own your own business, or you have a side hustle going on, you will want to listen to this episode. Bob helps entrepreneurs around the world discover, set, and achieve their goals online… Bob also hosts The Digital Marketing Entrepreneur podcast with some of the best small and solo marketers, consultants, and creators across the globe. My biggest takeaways from this episode are the following marketing strategies, what they are, and when to use them: Short-term strategies Medium-term strategies  Long-term strategies So today we are thinking big about your digital marketing. Get my Traffic & Conversion Prompts FREE - Grab my bucket list of prompts I use to drive traffic and boost conversion rates with clients every day. https://amplifyme.agency/ Connect with Bob Gentle at the following social media link: Website https://amplifyme.agency/ Email bob@amplifyme.agency The Digital Marketing Entrepreneur Show Bob Gentle: AmplifyMe https://amplifyme.agency/podcast/ Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below. Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, podcast, business, mastermind, medium term, marketing, digital marketing, absolutely, long term investments, smaller businesses, big, content, solopreneurs, thinking, understand, build, product   00:54 I truly want to welcome Bob Gentle to the podcast today, I have wanted to have you on here. For my own reasons, I get to spend, you know, 30 minutes to an hour with you picking your brain on what you do. Because it is so important, especially to you like to my listeners that people who are solopreneurs. They're early in their, their businesses, they're getting started, they're wearing many hats, trying to do everything. Most people don't either do it correctly, or they don't do it at all. And that's digital marketing. And that's how you, you know, sell your stuff. That's how you get business. That's I mean, I could have the best product in the world. But if I can't do what you do, or if I can't hire what you do, I'm not gonna sell a damn thing. It's it's not gonna go anywhere, because I just don't know how to do that. And so, everybody again, welcome, Bob, tell us a little bit about about yourself. Hi, Sean, thank you so much for having me. And, yeah, I am really excited to be on other people's podcasts, because it's not something I do very often. So in simple terms, my business is about Unlocking Potential.   02:32 That's really how I would sum it up, that digital marketing is about making something really magical happen, it's about allowing a value exchange to happen. So I have something that's a value to somebody out there that really needs it. How do I communicate that value strongly enough that that one person who needs it the most will go, that's the guy I need. And everything around that is digital marketing. So that's essentially what I do. I do it for tiny little businesses through a membership site. So really, through sort of mentoring and guiding and Wayfinding. And then I do it within a coaching group environment where I'm working with sort of 1520 business owners at the same time. And then I do it on a one to one basis for some, some more established companies. And then I do it as part of a product, a corporate consulting layer.   03:31 within all of that, there's all the strategy and tactics and technology that you would expect to find. But it's for me, it's more about the philosophy that underlies it. It's, it's, it's digital marketing, but it's not a lot of the time about the tech and the tactics, it ends up a lot of the time, especially for the smaller businesses being personal development. Because if you don't understand your value, how can you possibly hope to communicate that? Yeah, so there's so much just to unpack there. And and I think one of the problems that I had early on especially was I Thought Marketing was going to be something like, like Apple and Microsoft do it's like, and is me as an individual I, I can't brand myself, like apple, like Microsoft, like McDonald's, like these big names. And trying, I tried for a while to brand kind of brand and I just could not break through I could not you know, I spent so much money on your marketing and it's like, there has to be a different way to market. Someone like me that's coaching. That's more personal with people. It's not necessarily a big company and and   04:46 just in my mind, it was all about a brand and how how different is it from liking your work with you know, tiny businesses and in larger companies.   04:57 What is the philosophy difference? I mean, how did the   05:00 To look different to, to the public to, to the marketing to, and what are some of the differences between being a big company and being able to brand and being a small company and not really having the money to really produce it, what I call a brand.   05:17 I think if we look back at the roots of what is a brand, or what is a corporate identity,   05:25 we go back to the old tribal days where you had the tribe, you had the chief, the chief was the figurehead.   05:34 And that was a personal brand. Alongside that there was the tribe identity, whatever it was some some weird constellation of feathers with a certain kind of   05:45 pigment, perhaps. But at the end of the day, there was a standard behind which everybody rallied, and that would be the logo, possibly up on a flag.   05:55 And, really, that's what a brand is, it's the mythology and the stories that live within a community.   06:02 And that they express through there, and haven't thought this through in advance, I'm just sort of winging it here. But through their ceremonies, and through what they put out into the world, the stories they tell, and the stories people tell about them, their legend.   06:20 So essentially, that's our brand. And if you are Apple, you can afford to invest billions of dollars making that happen. But if you are, Shawn Arbor, Bob, you can afford, you don't have pockets deep enough to tell the tab those stories travel for you.   06:39 But what we do have are   06:43 what worked back in the old days, which is a face. And there's something really interesting. And usually I use this analogy, when I'm talking about the importance of video marketing, for example, or the power of a selfie, it's the human face, that if you can imagine driving down the highway, your brain is taking billions impressions every hour. But if there's somebody standing at the side of the road, and they're kind of leaning over, and they're looking directly in your car window, you're going to notice it and you're going to remember all day.   07:21 And this is what we have that Apple in the form of Steve Jobs kind of leveraged. Steve Jobs was a front man. Elon Musk is a front man, Richard Branson is a front man in front man matters for a reason, we can do exactly the same. And it's because the brain is hardwired to notice faces, pay attention to faces, build empathy with faces, and face is something that we can bring into our unconscious very easily. We build relationships with people, not organizations. So for me, I guess what we can do, as very small organizations is leverage that sort of biological imperative to understand that a face matters, we're hardwired to remember them.   08:13 And we can make that work for us by showing up in people's lives as people and not as organizations. Does that make sense? Yeah, it really does. And it's, you know, and when you said that, it made me think back when, when I see like, for instance, the Apple logo that does invoke a feeling. I mean, it really does, even though it's not a person, and you know, what you're saying is for someone like me, I can invoke the same type of feelings, but it's going to be on a much more personal level, not necessarily a logo, you know, logo level, but it absolutely does. When I look at, you know, for instance, if I look at a Microsoft logo, I don't get the same feelings as looking at an apple logo. It does invoke different things, even at a subconscious level. You're absolutely right. But the amount of friction required for that to become embedded in your unconscious is huge. And that's why it costs so much money.   09:13 Because in order for them to become embedded in the collective unconscious of a country, that just costs a ton of money. And also, importantly, because they're a mass market product, they have to have a large, large, a large number of people that they've influenced you or I don't need that. We just need to influence a small number of people in equally powerful ways, but as much more intimate. So we don't we don't need all that we can still achieve the same results, but the people who matter. And I think   09:48 I mean, I work with personal brands, and I work with corporations, but I will always   09:55 In fact, I won't even work with an organization anymore. If they're not willing to have somebody   10:00 Step up and inject themselves into the story.   10:03 If they just want to have marketing done to them, I walk away, because I know, they're not going to be able to achieve the results they want, within a reasonable time.   10:13 My business is called amplify for a reason, it's because whatever you do, I'm going to make it bigger. And   10:20 if I can't get a person to participate in that, I know I'm not going to be able to achieve the results I want. So that's, that's my philosophy there. And you think there is a   10:32 shift in how marketing especially the last, in the last five years, you know, the internet's really kicked off? You've got Facebook, you've got Instagram, do you think marketing fundamentally has changed? Because I know for me, for instance, all of my right now at least, all of my marketing is really, I call boots on the ground, it's, you know, making connections with people. It's that you know, what you're talking about that personal side? Do you think even on a even on large businesses, I would have to imagine that   11:06 there is a personal side, you know, you have the frontman you, to me You have to have that nowadays, especially for us smaller businesses, you have to have that personal side, I think that's, I'm not sure how it was prior to, you know, I remember my first company back in, you know, 2000, you know, all of my marketing was done, like online was, I mean, on TV, commercials, it was print, it was in magazines. And the fundamental change, I couldn't even imagine doing that now with with my company now, I couldn't even imagine it.   11:40 But it would still work. I think there's just so many other opportunities. Now, that is not necessarily the best route to market for everybody.   11:50 When I interview my podcast guest, one of the questions I regularly ask is, okay, your your business has maybe your Facebook ads business. So I'm talking to you about what you do, how you do it for your clients. But let's move away from that. And you tell me, how does opportunity come to you. And there are really only five routes, it either comes through the result of paid activity, and you described some of that. So you can do TV ads, you can do Facebook ads, you can do Google ads, there's lots of ways you can pay for attention. Or it can come to you as the fruits of content marketing. So you're super busy on social media, you're posting on YouTube, you've got a podcast, people encounter you, they discover you, and a proportion of those people are nurtured back to the point where they decide they want to do business with you. And that's inbound marketing.   12:44 And then there's outbound sales activity. So I make phone calls I prospect that's active outbound sales activity. And then there's referral marketing, which is what you're discussing, it's, I build a reputation, I build a network. And that network is out there. as ambassadors for me, an opportunity trickles back through that network. And I think if you're really smart, you understand, okay, there are those four routes. And I have strategies and tactics to address each one. That's a lot of work. So   13:19 I personally, I don't have an outbound sales process at all in my own business. But I have clients for whom that's really important, and other clients, it's all referral. So how can we make that work better?   13:32 So I would never really disregard one of those routes over any other it's just how do we make constellation work best for you?   13:40 And for like for a smaller company? Is there a best route? Do you think you think there's a best way? Or what's the first way that you would go after marketing? If you were a small company? And what's the first way you would go, but I think the mistake a lot of people make is they put all the emphasis on marketing, and they forget about sales. And there's a problem there that you can't send anyone a bill for being famous. You just can't You have no right to send somebody a bill, just because you're super amazing, famous. And a lot of people's approach to marketing is I just want audience audience audience, but they forget about the product, and they forget about an actual method of selling it the offer. So the place I would start is really understanding your product. And for a lot of people, their product is themselves. So you need to spend a bit of time thinking about what is it that people really love about me? What is it when people hire me?   14:46 What's the pain that they want the pain killer to come and fix? And what's my X Factor really look at?   14:53 What is the spirit of what it is I'm doing?   14:57 And then you need to look at who's it for   15:00 very specifically, and because if you can't draw a line between your value and the person that needs it, and really understand what both of those two parts are, you're gonna have a problem. So I would start there first. Yeah, I think that was one of my big problems that I had to do. Do I call it my ideal, you know, a client avatar.   15:20 People call the things but until I got really good clarity on who exactly, my ideal client was, I spun my wheels for a long time just producing stuff and not not really getting any results at all. Yeah, until until I got that ideal client, you know, what's the problem that I'm trying to? I'm trying to solve for somebody? And who is that person? And how, you know, so here, it goes back to, I've got my ideal client, I know who it is. Now, how do I get in front of that person? How do I market to exactly the person that I need to get in front of, for my product. And I think that's, that's where the problem that I had for a long time. I think the avatar, really understanding who your customer is, is really important. But I find that the mistake is that's where a lot of people go first. Because what I want to always pull people back to isn't,   16:18 is your value, nevermind the customer, we can understand who that customer is, once we understand what it is you want. What's your, what's your mission?   16:28 What's your magic, because once you've got that, that then becomes the beacon. That's the light that shines through the lens of the customer avatar, so that when you're creating content, when you're creating ads, it really becomes a powerful beacon, attracting that avatar strongly. And you're not scratching your head thinking about what can I do to persuade people? But you're thinking, what can I do to express truth in order that the right person sees that understands it? And comes to me for the reasons I really want, rather than just trick them into it? That makes sense. Yeah, perfect sense. And, and also, it's like,   17:07 to me, there is a, on a science of doing this, because you can you can do marketing, completely wrong. And I know from experience, completely wrong, spend all kinds of money and get absolutely nothing out of it. I mean, there is an actual, I don't wanna say science to it, but there is a true method that actually works. And   17:29 this is, so this is one of the areas that I know as solopreneurs, or as small businesses, we always have to kind of wear many hats. But to me for the dollar, this is one of those areas that I just can't, I'm not the most effective person to do any of my marketing. I don't know the tricks. I don't know what, because there's a lot of   17:52 mine thing, there's, there's a lot of ways to get, and I'm not by tricking someone not absolutely not. But there's a better method than what I've been using to present, how I can help somebody. And getting someone that knows what they're doing is much more effective than I spent so much money in the past. Because I didn't know, I didn't know what to do. So I was just, you know, willy nilly. But part of my philosophy is I really want my customers, my clients to take ownership of the process and really understand it. So the way I'm usually engaging with people is hybrid, coaching and technical support.   18:37 And I think that's really what needs to happen, because there's as much personal development needs to happen as technical development, and things like that. But I think to bring it back to your point about spinning the wheels, and it often doesn't work is because a lot of people think digital marketing, and they don't think sales. And a good way of looking at it is if you can imagine, marketing is all about sowing, sowing the seeds, it's about cultivating the harvest. It's about nurturing.   19:10 But sales is about the harvest sales is about reaping the crops. And the mistake a lot of people make is they saw an amazing crop, they nurture that crop, but then it withers in the field because nobody went out to harvest. That's me.   19:26 Man, I had some great crops going and I just did   19:29 this.   19:31 This is huge. And this is normal. And for me, it's something that I really zeroed in on in the last few months because I've been thinking digital marketing is great. But all I'm doing is teaching people to spin the wheels faster.   19:49 And I look at all the people you probably look on your listeners look at and they talk about seven figure launches and   19:58 you're sitting there thinking   20:00 But what am I doing wrong.   20:02 And it's a very simple equation that we all forget about. And it's that success online and in any business is a very simple formula is traffic or audience. Plus conversion equals money. Plus retention equals growth.   20:21 It's really simple.   20:23 But people don't follow the rules. They, they focus on traffic, or they focus on conversion, or they focus on growth. If you actually focus on that whole simple equation, you will have an amazing business, you need to keep everything moving in parallel. So a great example is   20:43 if you'd met me three years ago, I run an agency. And everything I did was entirely bespoke.   20:50 So if you can imagine, I do all the things, we see the online influencers doing I, I run a podcast, I build an audience, I have a Facebook group. But I've got nothing on the shelf, somebody can come along and point out and go, you know what, Bob, I want that one? Oh, no, sorry, we have to have a big consultative process here big discovery. On I've only got 50 bucks to send spell spend off.   21:13 The big mistake there is the conversion points aren't available for people, there's nothing been productized to the extent where I can convert.   21:22 So this is why rolling right back to the product. And thinking What does my product range look like? And is my product range aligned with the audience that I've building in the needs that they have? Because a lot of the time it isn't?   21:37 Again, if you never make an offer, you're not going to sell anything?   21:43 So not? Yeah, and I think that's, I see that time and time again, where people have they have good products, they have things, but a lot of people they're afraid to ask for a sale. I mean, when I'm working with people that you know, on the coaching side, you know, obviously not in marketing, but just on coaching for you know, for their their companies or their businesses. A lot of people have, they still have a hang up of asking for a sale. And if you're not, it's always No, if you never ask, it's always a no.   22:16 Again, I think this comes back to the whole mindset thing. Again, this isn't about technology, this isn't about strategy, this is about confidence, betting on yourself, if you don't believe in your, in your own values sufficiently, that you're willing to bet on yourself and say, You know what, I have value, and I think you'd benefit from it.   22:37 For me, that's about mission, that's not marketing, that's not business that's I exist to deliver value in this way.   22:45 And I, if you, if you can benefit from it, then I would love you to have it.   22:51 And if you can pay for it amazing. Here's a product, if you don't consume my content, that's all free. That's my mission to write. And you mentioned, you know, the the confidence and to me, I can, when I go to meet someone, or I'm working with someone, or I see someone online, you can tell by just the vibration of how they act, how they talk, how they set up on their vibration, and how much they believe in what they and what they do. And you can without any words ever being spoken. It's like if, you know, here in the US, we've got, you know, obviously football, you can watch someone go out on the field, a kicker go out on the field. And before he even kicks, I can say he's gonna miss it, or going for a free throw in basketball, he's gonna miss it, you can just tell by their out of their body language, that the vibration that they're in that they're, they're not going to make it. And if   23:49 that does tie back to to branding, if you are not 100% sure that your product is going to solve a problem. I think you will have that same. You know, people can see it, people can feel it.   24:04 I agree. And I think   24:09 it's an odd segue for me to make, I think, but a lot of the time.   24:15 It's how that player was nurtured, that really makes the difference. And   24:23 how that person has had their confidence reinforced over time. A lot of the time, it's not ability.   24:30 It really is that that person's had their confidence built over time.   24:35 It's personal development. Yeah. And that comes through spending time with other people on the same journey, a great team. And that, for me has been something that I'd underestimated a lot for the last   24:50 decade that I've taught business owners are sort of independent, they are self assured. You can find information   25:00 Books, you just need the information.   25:02 But it's when I started spending time with other people on the same journey with me. Or as me rather, spending time with other business owners. It's there's a strange magic happens. And the best way I can describe it is, you know, when you're playing a computer game, you don't get to do particular things until you've spent time engaging with particular characters, right? It's a bit like that, that you don't understand the importance of the relative relevance of the context of certain things that you see people doing online   25:35 until somebody helps you put that piece in place.   25:39 And that's really where masterminds are ridiculously important.   25:45 I would not have achieved what I've achieved over the last year without spending time very deliberately in masterminds with   25:54 some amazing people and some equally sort of,   25:58 from a business context, average people, but they brought something magical to my business.   26:07 And I know I think that probably aligns with your mission very well. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's to me, and I'm glad that you've, you've got into a mastermind, but to me, masterminds and everything. Here's the thing, everyone's calling workshops, a mastermind or everyone's calling everything a you know, a mastermind now nowadays, but if you go back to, you know, back in time, forever, people have been doing masterminds and you know, Polian Hill mentioned it and thinking Grow Rich, but the mastermind where you get, you know, two or more minds together, and you get access to what I call the mind that no two individuals or no three individuals, or however many people are in your mastermind, can come up individually, it does create that access to the mastermind to the mind. And I'm telling you like you.   26:58 I think every good idea that I've had in the past has come from some form of a mastermind. It's never been by myself at all, ever. Whether it's through friends, that we're just sitting around chit chat and come up with ideas whether it's in a true mastermind that I'm you know, I'm in masterminds as well.   27:18 Nothing, every good idea I've ever had has come in the form of a mastermind. Absolutely. And I think a good analogy that I would give because I was thinking about this earlier today is you see people doing some amazing things in their business.   27:35 And you think it's because they think differently? How do you get to the point where you can think like that? I don't know, does that resonate with you at all? Absolutely. And you have to believe your belief system, your belief. Now, that's what drives a lot of our a lot of our thoughts. But how do you change that, and this is what I've really unpacked in the last couple of weeks.   27:57 And what we're talking about there as you're sort of underlying operating system, these are the parameters upon which we operate.   28:06 And you think, well, if you're gonna run 21st century software, you can't do that on a 1975 operating system, you're gonna need to upgrade the operating system to run the newest ideas. And that's what a mastermind allows you to do it upgrade path is triggered. And your ideas and your mindset and your worldview begin to change, and you can start running these new ideas.   28:30 Yeah, and it's, you know, it's, you know, part of the way it does it is, you know, I hate when people say, you know, fake it until you make it, because you really don't, there's no such thing as faking it till you make it. But there's things as act as if you already, you know, earn it. act as if you already are there to act as if you already have what you're wanting act as if you already have the company act as if you know, that will start changing on a subconscious level kind of your belief system, even though you don't really see it, it actually actually does. And that's, to me, that's even what a mastermind does is it I believe in. So the people that I'm in masterminds with I believe in them way more than they believe in themselves. And vice versa. They believe in me way more than I believe in myself. It's you know, it's   29:16 and that brings it back to the football player, because when other people believe in you, suddenly things are possible, which weren't before.   29:24 But I think I want to bring it back, if I may, to your question of what one of the mistakes a lot of people make with her with digital marketing because I've never actually answered that question. It's just talking about lots of other things. And one thing that I find regularly really, really helps people is if you can imagine for for you and for many other people, digital marketing is a lot like a chaotic world of possible things that they could do. And you see some people telling you Facebook ads are the way to go. Other people will tell you podcast other people will say no, no, it's all about video. Anything   30:00 How am I supposed to make a decision here? And I think that's an experience a lot of people have is   30:07 analysis paralysis, they just don't know what to do. And so something that I regularly walk clients through is, okay, well, let's look at an investment portfolio. I know it's a bit weird, bear with me.   30:21 So if you sit down with an invest an investment advisor, they'll tell you, okay, you're going to need short term investments. They're a bit risky, but they can really pay off. And you can add medium term investments, you start today, you'll probably see a benefit in about six months, but the interest rates not amazing. And then you're going to need long term investments. And that's where the old song goes about compound interest. It takes a long time, but when it kicks in, it's amazing.   30:48 So our content marketing is a bit like that, we need a short term strategy. And we should be investing in a few short term, but we don't put all our eggs in one basket there. And really there we're talking about paid traffic, as Facebook ads, Google ads. And if you your budget is modest, you you need to be modest there.   31:12 And then there's traditional content marketing, this is where most people play in the medium term investment. So social media, social networking,   31:22 posting on social media, it's busy work for a lot of people, if all you do is that it feels like busy work. Because it's hamster wheel, it never ends. But it works.   31:34 You can get lucky quite quickly. But if you persist with being busy in the medium term investment,   31:41 you should see a payoff in three to six months, people will start to pay attention.   31:46 But then the long term investments that's podcast, blogging, and YouTube, very specifically, because if you do make that investment into one of those three platforms, over a period of time, you're going to start to see some significant benefit creep in. And what do you find, as an agency, as I tell people, I want you to go through the pain of looking at podcast blog, or YouTube, I get fired, and another guy comes in who just talks about ads.   32:14 So as a coach, I'm really focused on I want you to be thinking about a long term investment here. The order that you should think about them would be blog, podcast, and YouTube.   32:27 Because the blog, to be honest, is great for search engine marketing, it will create a big footprint over time. It's not necessarily unless you're amazing, they're going to help you build your personal brand, which is why I'd rather people thought about podcast, and YouTube.   32:46 Now, yeah, I think podcasts is, you know, that's one of the obviously one of the platforms that I've chose to go over. And so for me, and and hopefully for a lot of people, I don't necessarily do podcast for a sale of anything, I don't monetize my podcast. I don't I do it because, one, I absolutely love talking with people like you and learning all these amazing things. But over time, it does you build up a, a pretty large repertoire of content, just by doing, you know, blogs and podcasts. I mean, it's again, I, I do blogs, I do I do that. But as you said, that is a long term thing, you start building up, you know, over time, you start getting a lot of content there you start getting. But yeah, it's I love how you put that into short term, medium term and long term investments. See now for me that makes that makes perfect sense on how you explain that. And people can when you, when they understand the context, they can start to make sensible decisions, they can decide okay, and under understand the value of the podcast, or the blog, or the YouTube, and how that fits into everything else. But as you've identified, within a podcast, there's a magic power, which is the relationships and the credibility that you build. But when you come back to your medium term investments, you now have something to play with, which nobody else in that space does. You've got real amazing content that will make you stand out. And that's where the magic happens in the short to medium term.   34:18 And again, with YouTube, it's much the same, you've got incredible content to come back to the medium term, right? Now, do you when you when you're working with your clients, do you normally have them tried to get as much bang for the buck for their content? So in other words, if I have a piece of content that I've podcasted on what I you know, do you do then do blogs on the same thing, and then also take some of the micro content to put out on social media for short term and kind of use that   34:46 get get as much you know, value out of that content as you can or is that overload is that?   34:53 It isn't really I think you don't want to, as we say in this country over egg the pudding   35:00 So when somebody over repurpose things you can kind of tell.   35:06 But maybe that's just me because I pay attention.   35:10 I think most people would have the opposite problem where they under repurpose, I would say repurpose as much as you reasonably can, if you are producing a podcast, or you have a YouTube channel, and you're depending on people discovering you on YouTube or your podcast, you're not making best use of your content. If you are doing that, then it makes total sense to be reposting that into Facebook, or on Twitter and Instagram.   35:38 In order that you can take your content to places where people can discover it.   35:45 And be as methodical and structured about that as you can. Because   35:51 time will kill somebody that doesn't have a system, you'll know. Like anybody listening to this, who's trying to start a business time is your most precious thing. So you need to reduce as much friction as you can with systems.   36:04 which is again, if I, if I survey my audience, and I say what's your biggest challenge, it's going to be I don't have enough information, I don't have enough time, or I don't have enough money. So time is probably the number one most of the time. So that's where systems and automation can help. But don't get distracted by systems and automation, execution trumps everything. Indeed,   36:31 execution is all there really is at the end of the day, it's all it's all about execution. Now on your I want to bring up your podcast because it's a, I'm telling you if if you run a if you're selling anything, if you're running a small business and medium business, there is so much content and so much value on your podcast, the digital marketing entrepreneur show that you have to go and listen, it's like having, I'm telling you, I can get so much value just listening to, to your shows and your different the stuff that you bring up on on your show. How long have you been doing your podcast, it's just over two years. And it feels like a lot longer. If I if I look back at when I began my podcast, I was like a frightened little chicken.   37:19 And it's become other than my wife and my family. Obviously, the best thing I've ever done.   37:27 My guests are awesome. You've been on my show that the thing that I like about my podcast is I get to be super nosy on behalf of other people. So   37:40 it's really   37:43 spending time with amazing business owners and really unpacking what makes that business work. And it really addresses a lot of the questions that you've asked is when people are successful, particularly online, what made that happen, because we only a lot of the time get to see the veneer that the world sees. But we don't understand how that came to be and how it works. And does it even work?   38:12 So really, that's what my podcast is it's speaking to some very relatable, small solopreneurs. And some big names as well. And the only thing they have in common is they have to be pretty open with me about what's going on in the back office, not just what's going on in the front. Right. Yeah, and I think, you know, just from a personal side, I think, especially going through this damn pandemic, the podcast has been an absolute phenomenal thing to connect. I was like you like when I first started podcast I did, I mainly started the podcast because I was scared crapless to do anything like that, to put myself out there like that. And it was really just a challenge. But I'm telling you is one of the best things that I've ever done. from a personal standpoint. And really, from a business standpoint, it's it's opened up so many things. And it's I'm telling you being able to, you know, talk with people like you is just an absolute phenomenal thing. And that's what was so unexpected. I didn't expect that when I started my you know, when I started that thinking big podcast, I didn't. Yeah, I absolutely echo that when I started my podcast. It's because I was too scared to do YouTube. And I wanted to build my personal brand. I wanted people to know who I was. It's completely changed now. For me, it's my Ph. D program. It's where I get to   39:37 indulge my curiosity and   39:41 And along the way, I make amazing friends. I spend it's Yeah, honestly, I don't wouldn't even know where to begin telling people how awesome a podcast is. And it's not about you. Yeah, yeah. And how do so what's the best place to because I know you do.   40:00 Coaching you have your your programs, what is what is your core program that you have for people on, on what you do on the marketing?   40:09 Well, obviously the podcast is part of that. So if people want to understand what makes amazing businesses work online, it's all there available for you on the digital marketing entrepreneur. So if you want to take that deeper and you want help with implementation, then I have a membership site, amplify me dot community.   40:31 If you want to work more intimately, then I have a coaching program, which is, again, it's a hybrid mastermind and technical support product, I guess.   40:43 That's   40:45 my bet. That is absolutely amazing. Because taking what you do, and putting it in, like kind of that format, holy cow that   40:53 I can only imagine the stuff that's actually coming out of that, that group. It's awesome. And it's such a diverse group. And it's not like super high level business owners. I have somebody who does. So I have a member in her 70s. She's a color and style consultant. She's killing it.   41:13 I have existing business coaches in there.   41:16 But what they all have in common is they're starting from zero. And they really want somebody to help them take them from zero to actually achieving something. And sometimes it can take a couple of years. And that's why it's not the most expensive product in the world.   41:33 Yeah, I think Yeah, I think that's why but one, I'd love to be a fly on the wall on that mastermind that would be   41:40 that'd be amazing to see. But speaking of like that, you know, your group.   41:45 I think some of the misconceptions that people have are, those are, to me that that's like another long term investment. That's not when I joined mastermind, I am not looking to get something immediately, it is over the six month 12 month 18 month, it's a long term for me, at least for my true masterminds but, and then you also have up there, and this is for all of my listeners go I'm gonna put the links in the in the show notes and stuff, but he's got a traffic and conversion prompts.   42:16 I'm telling you, that is how they're Tell me a little bit. Tell people a little bit about that. That is great. The way that came about, and full disclosure, if you download this document, it it's effectively it's a mind map, and it looks a little bit scruffy. I'm not gonna lie. But it came about because I did a YouTube video on exactly what I was discussing earlier, which is what is success online need to make it happen, and you need traffic, and you need conversion. Those are the two elements of success online.   42:49 And a lot of people really don't know where to go to build traffic, they don't know what to look at, to influence conversion. And so I put a big Mind Map together on the left hand side, here's a whole bunch of things that you could think about in order to drive traffic. And here's a whole bunch of things that you could think about in order to convert that traffic into value for you.   43:13 So it's just a brain dump, essentially. And it's they're really just I call it prompts because I wanted to prompt ideas and new it's not a it's not a roadmap. It's not a it's a it's a guide. It's literally a dump of ideas that will hopefully stimulate some in a conversation or some action of some kind. Well, I don't know about you, but I absolutely love mind maps. I didn't know about mind maps until I don't know, I don't know, maybe two years ago, but I have the hardest time on   43:43 putting my concepts on paper, you know, putting my ideas in any type of order I get really stuck. But doing like mind maps like that have absolutely   43:55 they do they prompt you to think to think more? Yeah, I   44:00 I begin everything in a mindmap. I just I have since I was in my early 20s. Just I can't think in any other way. Yeah. So when you when I see things like that, that absolutely resonates with me because I don't know how I did it without I wish I would have known about him   44:18 years ago because yeah, they're absolutely   44:22 that's how I like you. That's how I start everything off now is with a mind map and just start building. Building prompts off each one of those and keep going. Yeah, absolutely. I think if I didn't answer your question, my main website address is amplify me dot agency. Everything is discoverable off there. And you will find me on social media at Bob gentle, everywhere you go. And everyone listening, check out the show notes. There's gonna be a lot of stuff in the show notes that we've talked about, including all the links, so just pop over to the show notes and click on the links to go see Bob and talk with Bob. But I absolutely want to thank   45:00 You so much for for being on the podcast, Bob because   45:04 it may be selfish, but I wanted you on because, yes, I want to I want to provide value to, you know, to my listeners, but I want you to. So I want to absolutely thank you because anybody listening if you want stuff in content marketing, I'm telling you, Bob is go check out his podcast and his website because he is definitely one person that you want to listen to and you want to follow. So again, thank you so, so much for being on being on the podcast. You're so generous. No, thank you very much. I've had a great time.

Today I got to talk with Megan Grant from MeganGrant.net about her formula for attracting and retaining quality clients, we also discuss some of the tricks that blogger use? I never knew bloggers were so sly. Megan is a business owner and the founder of Revenue Spark, as well as How to Blog Like a Pro. She traded in the 9-5 for entrepreneurship, building a business generating five figures a month in revenue. And now, she teaches other professionals how to do the same.   So today we are thinking big about your business. Megan will be running a live, accelerated version starting Monday, January 4. The goal is to work with students to land your next client during the month of January, with me. (There's also the self-paced course.) People can either email me here (hello@megangrant.net) or book a call if they're interested in enrolling. https://calendly.com/megangrant1/15min Revenue Spark: https://megangrant.net/revenue-spark   How to Blog Like a Pro: https://megangrant.net/how-to-blog-like-a-pro This is for people who want to learn how to write blogs that get more traffic and better rankings. Here are some freebies on my site:  https://megangrant.net/freebies   Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below.   Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, clients, blog, mindset, business, google, content, building, LinkedIn, big, growing, writing, work, students, podcast, thought, money, formula   00:00 Welcome to the thinking big podcast. Today I got the chance to talk with megan grant from Megangrant.net about her formula for attracting and retaining quality clients. We also discussed some of the tricks that bloggers use. I never knew bloggers were so sly. Megan is a business owner and the founder of revenue Spark, as well as how to blog like a pro. She traded in her nine to five for entrepreneurship, building a business and generating five figures a month in revenue. And now she's teaching other professionals how to do the same. So today, we're thinking big on your business.   00:41 I really want to welcome Megan grant to the podcast today. This has been, I've been looking forward to this one because you, you kind of go down my alley of the stuff that I'm actually very passionate about. That's mindset. And really how our mindset controls everything that we have, you know, to me, our whatever we see in the outside world is a direct mirror of our mindset. So having you on the show is actually great, because I want to pick your brain, I want you I know you're gonna add tremendous value to the people listening. Megan, Tell, tell us a little bit about yourself. Great. Well, first, thank you so much for having me on here. My background is actually in writing, I started writing professionally, in 2009, I believe. And, you know, speaking of mindset, I grew up hearing and understanding that writing as a hobby, and we tend to say that about fields that are more artistic. And so I always grew up never thinking I could really make any money from writing.   02:16 But then that, you know, thankfully changed. And after years of working on, you know, my business and my own mindset, I was able to build this into an agency. That's, you know, thankfully doing very well these days, and really take control of my workload and what I do for a living and my finances, and now I teach other professionals how to grow their own businesses. Oh, that's so in writing. So did you do like copyright stuff? I mean, is that what you what you did? Yeah. So I, what it ended up turning into with a lot of my clients was, you know, I, I'd be hired to write blogs, but then they'd be really happy with my work, which is always nice. And they'd say, Well, can you do our social media too? And I'd be like, Oh, sure. Yeah, of course. So then I learned how to do social media. And then they'd say, well, we need some email content written, can you read our emails, so it turned into this thing of, if it is written, I can write it. That is a double edged sword, because that you end up doing a million different things. But it's also why I believe that if you know how to write, you can do a lot. Now I'm on blog. So that to me, that is one of the   03:33 arts or the one of the one of the things that's still out there, that I think still has a lot of traction, I think blogs are still a fantastic way I take blogs and podcasts kind of in the same same light in the sense that I think that they're on a long term investments, their long term,   03:52 you know, long term marketing. It's not something that I'm going to, you know, do really quickly and you're not, at least I don't see a tremendous amount of immediate turnaround as far as dollars are concerned. But I see, you know, blogs being, you know, you're building up your, your content, you're building up, you're building up your tribe, you're building up people who look up to you that people that like what you have to say. And so I think that's really, blogs are still How do you see blogs going still? I mean, is it you see people doing more video logging or blogging or   04:28 they're definitely becoming more, more how I put this engaging, like multimedia people are adding in more video podcasts. They're evolving like everything in our industry.   04:42 But I don't think blogs are ever going to go away.   04:46 This type of content is timeless, and it's the gift that keeps on giving. I have blogs that I wrote for clients a couple years ago, that are still bringing them tons and tons of traffic, but you're absolutely right.   05:00 I want to highlight what you said it is a long term play, for sure. And I think that's one tricky part with a lot of professionals today. We've all kind of gotten sucked into this. We want immediate gratification, we want things to blow up and go viral overnight. And we're, we're impatient.   05:19 Not everyone, of course, but that's the trend I'm seeing, especially with social media with platforms like, you know, tick, tock and Instagram, people want to blow up overnight. And for the vast majority of us, that is just not going to be how it works. So you might as well sit down and get coffee, because it is going to take a while. Yeah, I'm not a Tiktok star. No, me. You and me both. So you mentioned that when you first started getting into writing that, you know, it was kind of a mindset thing of, you know, this is just a hobby. Where do you think that came? I mean, is that something that you grew up with that that is,   05:57 which is which is odd, because I so I was the type that I could never write. And I thought it was something that was you had to be so intelligent. And so you know, so good to be able to do you know, writing and write stuff. I was never, ever a writer by any means. But so you actually had a mindset, or at least got a mindset growing up that that really wasn't the thing to do.   06:22 Yeah, you know, it's something I've loved. I mean, I've been writing for as long as I can remember I can, I was a kid, and I was writing plays in newspapers. And I just, I always loved it. And I always, I was always a strong writer, like, I can remember even in college, my some of my professors telling me, like, why are you not writing for the newspaper? Why are you not writing for magazines, and this was always my thing.   06:48 But you know, because it was something I was very passionate about. Because it's kind of, you know, a lot of people view it as more artistic. Even though I will argue it's part art part science.   07:00 A lot of the feedback I got from, you know, some people in the family and you know, boyfriends and people like that, it's a great hobby, but you got to go out and get a real job. And I get that it's not a traditional path to take.   07:16 Thankfully, I'm very, very, very stubborn. And I eventually said to myself, I was like, This is the only thing I enjoy doing. So I'm gonna make money from it. And   07:29 I was not long after graduating from finishing college, a friend was like, Oh, you got to read this book about freelance writing. And I was like, what's that? Because the concept was still so foreign to me. Like, I knew I wanted to make money off of it. But at the time, I still had it in my head that it was going to be really, really hard, and maybe not even possible. And he read me this book, it changed everything. And yet, I can't remember the title of it. And   07:54 it opened me up to this whole world. And I thought, Oh, so there are people selling this, there are people making money from this. And I never looked back. And I just kept climbing and climbing and growing, and   08:06 trying everything. Because it's certainly not easy.   08:12 But it's possible. And I'm just I'm really glad these days that I didn't quit, because it's been very rewarding. Yeah, that's it. So I and I think that goes along with, honestly, just about everything, we all have this on a limited mindset of limiting mindset that what we do is not good enough, or it's not, it's not for us, or we're not, you know, it's I can't make money out of whatever it is. But once we once we get past that, you know, that really minimum, you know, mindset or that limiting mindset that any idea that we have any skill, I don't care what your skill is, you can absolutely make money at it.   08:54 It doesn't matter what it is. And that, why there's I see so many people that have that mindset, that it's just limited. And, you know, it's not for me, you know, I can't make that, you know, I can't do it. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. Whatever the you know, the limiting belief is but, you know, once you realize that, any idea, any skill that we have, we can absolutely turn it into either a business or we can make money at it, or we can utilize our genius. I mean, to me that that's our genius. What we're good at is our genius, and we can absolutely make money at it.   09:29 Yeah, yeah. You're so right. And it's it really I feel like the the biggest limits we have we place on ourselves.   09:40 And it's funny, you know, sometimes my students or people who are considering enrolling, they'll be like, Oh, I want to do this, but I don't know. Like, do you think I could come on? course what do you do? Do you mean to I think you could of course you could. Then I have to remind myself like, okay, they're where I was, you know, 510 years ago, whatever it is.   10:00 They don't know yet what's possible. And once you kind of let that sink in, it's really liberating. Because you can tell yourself, okay, if I want to make $5,000 a month, I can, and I will. And you will. I told myself, I want to make 10 grand a month. And then I did. And then I said, I want to make more. And then I did. And it's like, you can do anything. And I'm always telling people this, like, you can do it. It's all about having the right process the right steps. You know, there are so many successful people out there who are doing what you're doing, and it's not luck. It's not magic. It's not a fluke. It didn't you know, it just having the right steps. And if you follow the steps you get there. Yeah.   10:46 And one of the so how, I mean, how long have you been doing your, your business now?   10:53 Well, I officially, you know, like on paper, I registered it in 2017.   10:59 But I have been building it, probably a year or two prior to that, like trying to really grow and kind of get out of being a one woman show and then building it into an agency. So I've been doing that now for about the last three, three to four years.   11:15 And it's a constant learning process, you've never stop. But it's, it's good. You just keep growing and getting stronger. Yeah, and I, boy, I work with a lot of solopreneurs I work with a lot of people have small companies. And the one thing that I, I see everybody doing is   11:35 they're doing everything for the company. They they're doing their writing, they're doing their copy work, they're doing their graphics, they're doing their marketing, they're doing everything there for their company, and I get it, we all have to kind of do that. When we're starting out, we're starting our companies, we have to kind of be you know, we have to do everything within within the company until we get you know, big enough to, you know, start outsourcing that out. How long did it take for you to do that?   12:06 too long.   12:09 I, I'm a workhorse I always have been. And I am really good at working hard. But what I didn't realize this is something else I stress to people the difference between working hard and working smart. And I was always against finding easier ways of doing things because I thought it made me lazy I was so like buying into the hustle culture will you have to be working, you know, 14 hours a day and hardly sleeping and you're sick and stressed I thought that was like heroic and meant that I was on the right path. And really, I was just shooting myself in the foot.   12:47 And I didn't hire my first person until I hit my breaking point, which was the wrong way to go. But lesson learned.   12:57 But then thankfully, once I did hire her, it almost became addictive because I started, you know, passing some of my work off to her. And it freed up space in my brain First of all, to stress less, but also to think about ways of growing my business that I didn't have time to think about before. And I stopped having to do so much of the day to day grunt work, because she was doing it. And I could feel a little more like a business owner, which is what I wanted. And so now   13:29 I everything I have to do first I you know, get a grasp of it myself, so I can train someone on it. But then it's okay, can I get this off my plate and train somebody else to do it? Yes. Okay, here you go. And if I don't have to do it, then I don't. And that allows me to focus on growth.   13:47 Right. And I think that's so for me, and for a lot of people I've talked to, I'm the type of person that, like you said, If I, if I can do it, I want to do it. And it's a sense of, you know, I'm not going to pay someone $100 if I can do it, it might take me three hours. And that's worth a lot more than $100. But my mind, there's something in my mind that says, If I can do it, I'm not going to outsource it. And that was one of the biggest things that I had to get over was I'm not sure if it's a control thing if it's a   14:24 limiting mindset on money thing. I don't know what it was at the time. But it was it was to the point where I had to give up on doing some of the stuff that I couldn't because I did the technology stuff I did virtually everything my first company I built it was a technology company and I did virtually everything for that for a long time and it I'm telling you it about killed me doing all that stuff. And we have to again I What do you see when you're working with your clients? Do you see it as kind of a mindset thing a stubborn thing a god I'm trying to look back and think back when I was you know, doing everything in   15:01 I don't know why I had to do everything, but I did.   15:05 Well, I'm sure it's, you know, for everyone, it's a different experience. But I do think part of it's this mentality of, well, no one could do it as good as I can. And   15:20 that might be the case right now. But you are as good as you are at your tasks at your responsibilities, because you practice them, you didn't wake up being fantastic. So really, the what I tell myself now is that it's just a matter of allowing somebody else that same opportunity to become really, really good at it. And they might not do it in the exact same way. But your way isn't the only right way. So, and it really like, what I tell people is, if you want to keep growing, you will have to outsource, you don't have to, but then get get comfortable with where you advocate where you're at, because you're probably not going to grow a whole lot more like there are only so many hours in the day.   16:06 But that was certainly that was the case for me. I was okay, spending the money. You know, my business was doing very well. And it was just me. But I was terrified of letting go. Because my clients were so used to me, right? They were used to my work and my words. And I thought, well, no one could ever mimic that. And then I thought, well, Megan get real. Yeah, they could. They do. Like, it's just a matter of finding the right person, training them, keeping you know, the line of communication open, if they help, they need feedback, and also giving them room to be creative. Because, you know, the I've got one person on my very small team, a team of me and one other person right now. And   16:48 I give her so much freedom now. We've been working together for over a year. And   16:54 she's great. She's fine. She's just fine. Everything is great. So if I hadn't let go a little bit, I never would have gotten here. Yeah. And that's it. Boy, I tell you that that is something. I see it throughout many different things, not just in business, but people just don't want to get out of their own way sometimes. And they they do they think their ways, either the only way or the best way. And it's truly not. There's so many ways to get stuff done that we don't you know, we don't even really look at at all. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone knows something. You don't? Yeah.   17:33 That's, that's a hard thing to learn sometimes, too. It is, it is. And it's not even something we do to be like, you know, arrogant or malicious, I think we just don't realize it. And it's taught me I think, to be a better listener and to pay more attention and be more open minded. Everyone knows something. I don't.   17:54 Yeah, that's, uh, and to me from a just from a development standpoint, that is a great place to be. Because the second we think we know everything, it's the second we stop learning, it's the second we stop, you know, growing, we always have to have that. I like to call it like a child mindset of, you know, always always learning and   18:15 trying to know what other people know. That's one of the reasons why I absolutely love doing a podcast is I get to talk with so many people like you that do things that you know, some of the stuff I do, but it's it's in different ways. And it's just, it's so, so enlightening to talk to people about the ways that that they do things and the way that they they operate.   18:36 Yeah, good for your brain. It's good. It kind of expands your horizons a little bit. Yeah. Now some of the kind of like you're working with your clients and stuff. What are some of the biggest challenges or the biggest mistakes that you're seeing in   18:50 people right now in their business and what they're doing?   18:54 To clarify, are we talking about my clients with my agency or my students? clients with science to Yeah, okay, my agency? Oh, yeah, got it. Now, just checking.   19:05 One of one of the big ones is and it's so ironic when you think about it, um, I've had a lot of amazing clients who are very resistant to change. And, you know, a this industry changes sometimes by the day, so we have to be adaptable.   19:25 But it's funny because they hire me because what they're doing isn't working, then they don't want to change what they're doing. And so sometimes I will just have to, you know, like, if we're on a zoom call, or whatever, I just have to point blank say, what you're doing isn't working. So why do you want me to continue that? And it is, it is a struggle, like I have had to really, really, really, you know, push some clients and have these conversations with them. And I think it's just that maybe a matter of like, they're scared of stepping outside their comfort zone. So even though they know what   20:00 They're doing isn't working. It's what they know. And it's predictable. They know it's not work. But like you could save your money, don't hire me save your money, keep doing it and just continue not working.   20:12 Yes, it's so doesn't make any sense. Yeah. Now and you're now in your students? What? What, who is your I'm curious who is your ideal student who who is coming to you for, for your coursework and for your trainings.   20:30 Really, the beauty of it is that it, it works for most client based businesses, um, everyone will be different. So that's why I always get on a call with people first before I'll enroll them, because   20:44 I have to be really confident that this will work for them. You know, I want to keep the success rate up. But you know, I get a lot of freelancers, a lot of people who are still a one person show, and some of them come to me with absolutely nothing. Some come to me with a business that has plateaued, but it's a lot of freelancers, writers, PPC experts, social media people.   21:09 I've got an accountant. I've got, what else who else is in there? graphic design, web development. So any professional that needs clients to keep their business going?   21:21 The odds are, this will apply to them. So tell me about your about your course and stuff a little bit. That's it? Because to me, that is absolutely   21:31 amazing needed thing. People don't necessarily know how, how to do that. What is what are some of the biggest challenges that they have actually doing it?   21:41 Well, you know what, I say that there are two pieces to being a successful business owner. One is providing a really good service. And the other is sales. And you know, sales, brings people in the door, but you keep them there by being really good at what you do. So I get people that are really good at what they do. And they're still struggling. And they'll say, I'm not making money. I don't know why I'm not making money. And I'll say okay, well, how are you generating leads? And they go What? And I say, Well, how do you do outreach? They go What? So what's your client acquisition process? Hmm. And they're their eyes glaze over. And I'm like, okay, there's your problem. So what I do with them is, you know, my approach is very, very holistic. So, you know, appropriately enough, the first module in the course, is mindset, because a lot of people come to me with these very, very toxic self limiting beliefs. And I tell them, you got to work on those, or else, none of this is gonna work. Right? So we start there. And it's funny, a lot of people kind of, I've seen a few eye rolls when they when they enroll in the course, and I'm like, What is this? Why are we talking about mindset? And without fail every time they finish that lesson, and they're like, oh, okay, they get it. Now I get it. Now I get it. Yeah. Yeah, that and what's funny is working with   23:05 some of my clients, some of the biggest things that I see the biggest,   23:10 I won't say errors, but the biggest, you know, challenges I see is, I have a lot of people that do a lot of great things, and they'll do your marketing, they'll you know, get the lead, but they don't know how to ask for the sale.   23:22 And that's the biggest I see a huge I had that for a long time is I didn't know how to actually, you know, I'd get them into funnels, I would do various things. But I couldn't ask for that. I didn't know how to ask for the sale. And that was that was one of my biggest challenges.   23:40 Yeah, it's tricky. And it's, I think that's one of the hardest parts about landing clients. There are a number of variables and moving parts, you know, you just mentioned like, if you put them in a funnel, okay, that's one moving part. It's one moving part consisting of even smaller parts within it. And it there's no magic trick to it, but it's incredibly difficult, lining up all the pieces in the right order, and putting it all together. That's why I tell people you know, like, with the way I teach it, it's a very holistic, laser focused approach. And I'll often see people who have some of the parts, like they know they're onto something and they know that they're almost there, but something's not working. And it's just because there are so many pieces to it. And if you have you know, one but you don't have the others or you have almost all of them, but not quite then it's probably not gonna work. That's really hard. Yeah, and it's And so, when I was looking at your stuff, and when I was going through, some is up, it actually is a   24:47 formula a process a I call them standard operating procedures on how you do your thing and I think that's like I know you have you know, you do coaching, definitely want to talk about some of that coaching that you have come   25:00 up, but you also have evergreen evergreen courses up there. And it looked like the   25:07 you really do, it looks like you're, you're teaching a very good formula for it attracting for getting and for, you know, for keeping your clients.   25:20 Thank you. Thank you for saying that. Yeah, it's, um, I do so the Well, I've got I've got two programs. One is to help people write better blogs. But then there's my my client Acquisition Program. And that's also self paced. But it's, it's so much more than I didn't want it to be like, okay, you're enrolled, here you go, good luck.   25:44 You know, I take a very hands on approach to it. We have a Facebook group, that's for students only. And we do live zoom calls. And I always tell people, like you are never in this alone. And there are already people who have made this work many times, and that should bring you comfort.   26:03 And it's, it's like you said, it literally is a formula, I wanted people to be able to follow this step by step, check all the boxes and get consistent results. And, you know, take out the guesswork take out the trial and error. I mean, of course, there's always going to be a little bit of that to an extent. But, you know, generally the same concepts, the same steps are going to apply to everyone.   26:28 Yeah, I, anybody that can come up with a formula or for standard operating procedure to do something, to me that that is, to me, that's the only way to go. One of my mentors, God, at years ago, told me a story about, you know, if you had to go through a, you know, a minefield, where the bombs were planted, you know, the landmines were planted, and you want to get across safely, how would you do it? And I was like, I don't know, I'd run real fast. I would, is like, No, you take you find someone who actually did it. And you take every step, identical to the step that they take, and you're going to be successful. And that, that kind of drilled it into me is like, we have to find people, if there's something that we want, if we can find someone that has done it. And that's successful. I can turn months of my own learning into literally days or weeks. Because I'm following someone else's procedure that they've actually or their process, their, you know, their their formula, of how they did it exactly how they did it. And I don't care who goes through if you have a success formula, I don't care who goes through the formula and who does it. It's gonna work every time. And that's, yeah, so so going out and finding people that are specialized in what they do is, for me is very critical for business owners and business people is to go out and find these people who are like yourself that have been there done this, this is your specialty. This is where you've specialized and you've got a process. Why would I want to go spend months of my own time, although I always   28:10 do that stuff. But why why would Why do we want to go and, you know, spend all this time when we can work with someone that's already been there, already done that saved me a lot of money save me a lot of times, they made a lot of headaches.   28:25 I just yeah, you give me on a roll with the with standard procedures.   28:30 I need. That's why it's so important. Because you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You can, there are people out there who want you to copy their process. And I always tell people, if you do the work, it works. And one of my one of my star students, his name is bright.   28:49 And I always tell him, you light up the room, you're bright. And he has had incredible results. And sometimes, you know, stupid people who are considering enrolling, they'll say, Can I talk to a student? And I'll be like, sure, and I'll send them you know, too bright, or to someone else and bright told one of them.   29:09 If you follow this to a tee, do exactly what she says it works, and it will continue working. And I tell my students, if you come to me, which thankfully it is that hasn't happened yet, but I tell them, if you come to me and say it's not working.   29:26 I always tell my students, I teach them how to track all their work, track their progress, track their metrics, I'm going to ask for all of that. And if I start finding gaps, I'm going to send you back and tell you to go to to pick up the right way. Like I said, it's I haven't run into that yet. But the point is, if you do it, it works. And you brought up something that Oh, the   29:51 we need to do it as much as we can, but we always have to look back and reflect on how we've done what we've done and how   30:00 What book was it? I   30:02 think it was a psycho cybernetics by Maxwell maltz. And that's kind of what I mean, it's a cybernetic. It's a cybernetic application where you, you do something you evaluate, you change, you do again, you evaluate, you make any changes, you do it again. And most of the time, a lot of a lot of us, we don't go back and evaluate   30:25 or measure our progress. And if we to be if you don't, if you track something, you pay attention to it, you know, where you put your mind and when you know where you focus your your energy goes. And without having those measurements in place, then, yeah, we just keep spinning our wheels, at least I do. You know, I have to have that stuff in place.   30:45 So well, you're you're right, though, like it's and you actually you kind of mentioned said this in a different way earlier, you said you have to have like a, like a childlike mentality. We're talking about exploring and trying new things. I think that's what it comes down to here. You need to be a little bit of a detective, a little bit of a scientist or researcher, and you can't do those things if you're not tracking your progress. I mean, how can you know if what you're doing is working if you're not monitoring it, and that was another another limiting belief, I had to get over it. Because for as long as I can remember, I've always said I'm not a numbers person. I'm a words person. I'm a writer. And I've always said like, I'm terrible at math. I'm bad with numbers. I had to get over that real quick.   31:35 Especially as a business owner, yes. Yep. There's no way around that.   31:40 Now also up on your site, and that one of the things that intrigues me is you also have a thing for blogs on blogging like a pro. What are what are some of the best tips for because I, I do a half assed blog. And   31:57 and like anything, if you do half ass, it just doesn't, doesn't work that well. What are some of the best tips for like doing a blog? What do you look in? When you go to a blog? What are the first few things you look at and go, Ah, this guy's an amateur.   32:13 I would say the biggest is people who are writing entirely for the algorithm and not for the reader.   32:21 And SEO, Search Engine Optimization, keyword research, topic, research, all of those things are still really important. I teach them in the course, because they're important. But what Google cares about most these days, you can't get away with keyword stuffing anymore used to used to work, it doesn't anymore, and you're not going to outsmart Google, you're not going to trick Google.   32:45 And besides, what Google cares about most is user experience. They want the reader of your blog, to have the best experience possible. So really, what you should care about most is the reader, not Google. If you make the reader happy, as a byproduct, you will make Google happy. And you'll rank well. So and I think that's the biggest thing. Like, sometimes I'm surprised it's still happening to the degree it is I'll you know, be onboarding a client. And I'll look at their blog, and it's just keyword after keyword after keyword, you know, a million links, and they just went overboard with the SEO backfires not like you know, so you just like, are speaking a foreign language me? What do you mean by Sorry? No, no, no, that's fantastic. But But what do you mean by like, what do you say when you go in there? And you see, like, oh, they've got all these, you know, words in here that what does that look like? I mean, what is that?   33:42 As an example, and I'm, this is 100% made up. But I've seen variations of this a million times. I'm based in Las Vegas. And if I've got a client who is a lawyer, which I don't work with lawyers, so that's why this is made up. This is what people do. They know that they want to rank for the keyword lawyers in Las Vegas, so that if someone goes on Google and searches in lawyers in Las Vegas, they'll show up on page one. So what they then do is write a 500 word blog, and cram the keyword lawyers in Las Vegas in it 200 types. And, and it's it's it's spammy, and it doesn't work. And furthermore, it hurts your performance. You don't want to do that. Wow, begin the reader is going to be reading that it's going to sound very forced and mechanical and spammy. They're going to have a bad experience. So Google won't be happy.   34:39 See, now that's that's so far out of my paygrade I just don't   34:45 see now that stuff. Oh, that's so I didn't even know that was a thing. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's an older tactic because back Back in the day, whenever I don't even know exactly when that was how many years ago doing that.   35:00 kinds of things did work. You could rank high in Google by keyword stuffing. But Google caught on to it and is way too savvy for that. So really, you know, like I said, keywords are still important. But you really just need to write good content, write stuff that people want to read. So how does for instance, how does a Google say, yeah, that was a good experience, by time on a page by   35:28 clicks. But also time spent on a page, it doesn't matter. If you're getting tons and tons of clicks, but people aren't hanging out to read. That's actually a bad thing. That's why you shouldn't only be looking at clicks, we were talking a moment ago about monitoring your progress and your metrics.   35:48 If people are clicking on your content, but not sticking around to read it, that's a red flag, because Google is going to look at that and go, Oh, they're landing on a page, but they're not sticking around. So clearly, they don't like what they're seeing. And it will penalize you for that. So you want people to hang out and read, and you want to keep their attention and keep them scrolling. And if you can, you know, get them to click on another page on your site, and poke around a little even better. Wow, see, I didn't even that. See. That's why I need to take your course on blog like a pro.   36:23 I just have no idea that those are even even things. I'm just happy if I can get like, right two pages of stuff, then I'm golden.   36:32 Work.   36:34 Oh, but yeah, so I'm starting to try to. So do you see a lot of stuff in like repurposing content. So for instance, if like this blog, or this podcast, if I go in, and let's say turn parts of the content into a blog, and you because I'm the type that I'm, I'm very lazy. And if I can, if I can repurpose something and get more use out of it. But then again, that might be one of the Google filters. And they say, this guy's lazy, and he's trying to cross, you know, cross contaminate all these, you know, a blog and a podcast and, you know, micro content. And does it look   37:15 like is your site as a whole? Or is it just kind of   37:18 independent?   37:20 Yeah, you can't see me, but I'm shaking my head right now. In this case, your laziness will pay off. Because awesome, and this is   37:30 really exciting. You don't have to do more work.   37:33 What's really you should absolutely be repurposing content. And this is something else. I sometimes not too often, but sometimes I struggle with with my clients.   37:44 They'll pay me to write a blog. I'll write it, they post it on Facebook once and they're like, Okay, give us new content. And I'll say, okay, but what about this blog? And they go, Oh, no, no, we already posted that. People don't want to see that again. And I tell them, Okay, first of all, you're gonna reach new people, the more you post it, so we'll post it again in a couple of months. But turn it into a YouTube video, turn it into social media graphics, take quotes, put post the quotes online, if it's a podcast, take snippets of it and post it as a teaser, transcribe it and turn it into a blog or summarize it and turn it into a blog, and so on, and so on. You should get as much out of every piece of content as you can, especially with content that's more lengthy or long form, like a podcast or a blog, or a video. See, I knew there was genius in my laziness.   38:38 I knew deep down somewhere, that there was a reason for   38:44 Oh, no, we're laughing, but it's true. And one of the one of the best things I learned from actually my ex, um, he was always finding shortcuts. And I'd be like, you're so lazy. And he'd go, Yeah, but what you spent two hours doing I got done in 10 minutes. I'm like, Okay, well, it's hard to argue that   39:04 there's genius in that. Yeah, that's what I say when I want to find someone to come up with like an operating procedure or something, a procedure, I'm going to hire the laziest person that I could possibly find. Because I can guarantee that the process they come up with will be the most efficient, less time process than anybody that's, that that's where I come in. That's, that's where I come in. So, so true, that and that so that that is great. You know, for anybody listening that if we have content, repurpose it, I know that I've been trying to do that I need to get better at it. But man that's seeing there's there's things like this that most of us don't even realize we don't know the ins and outs. We don't know what things are looking at its algorithm here algorithm. We don't know any of that. Yeah, it's a lot. There's a lot to learn, but um,   40:00 You know, he's just looking at it like this, you spend a lot of time and energy creating this amazing piece of content, whatever it is podcasts blog video, why would you want to just post it once and be done with it? You worked so hard for it content can continue driving traffic to your site, and reaching new audiences. So leverage that and just keep, you know, hammering it, putting it in front of people in different forms. And you can take one piece of content and turn it into 50 pieces of content.   40:32 That is, and that's, that's all 100% for that. Now, do you do you see people like, for instance, if I wanted to get traffic from a blog, what would what would prevent me from going and just taking blogs from other people did I would think Google could say, hold on this exact same content was posted   40:53 over here   40:56 and not drive traffic to it?   40:59 Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a it's called duplicate content. And that will absolutely come back to bite you. And, you know, whenever you do stuff like that, we call it blackhat. techniques, blackhat, SEO, any like shady practices. It's like I was saying a few minutes ago, you're not going to trick Google.   41:20 So when you do stuff like that, it will see it, it'll catch you maybe not right away. Or the person you stole it from will catch you. I actually I used to write for bustle. It's like an online feminist magazine. And people stole my content all the time. I'm glad I didn't know what you were talking about when you said that then.   41:42 Because Oh, you mean, the name of the magazine? Or the thing? You're right. I'm like, a feminist. It's like, I'm glad I didn't know what it would have been weird if I would have known what that was.   41:52 Oh, yeah, I don't know. It's a   41:55 big, they have a huge audience. And   42:00 which is really, you know, great opportunity for a writer. But it also means that they're targeted a lot. And you know, they have the legal resources, they can send a cease and desist or whatever. But, um, I would actually get, like, they're called pingbacks, I would basically get an email. And I would be alerted when people would copy paste my content. And I would go and contact them and be like, You stole my content from start to finish. And it doesn't work.   42:34 Wow. Wow. So how so? You know, it's, it's the beginning of December right now. We've had a hellacious year, a year like northern how has 2020 been for you from a business standpoint, and also a personal standpoint, I'm very interested in how people are getting through this whole pandemic crap. And I've know people who have done apps, their businesses have grown 500%   43:02 I'm not every which way, but to me, and I can tell by your stuff that you've continued to learn, you've continued to push and I think that's what we all need to do. During this, you know, however long it lasts, I think we're gonna be I think 2021 will be much better than 2020.   43:21 Yeah, me too.   43:23 So I, you know, like a lot of people, my business took a hit. It was mid March. And I, I, I say last, I mean, I had about 65% of my clients go on hold. And it happened in a week.   43:42 And I'm not gonna lie, I was stressed out like I was, you know, I was, I was always fine financially. And I was going to be okay, either way. But it was more of this defeat, like, like, even now, it makes me sad. I work so hard. I work so hard, like a lot of people. And in a week, most of it was gone. And I was devastated. And I just like, cried and cried, and then I drank and then I was crushed. And then I thought, Okay, I'm going to let myself kind of be upset. And then you move on, because the world doesn't stop turning. So, um, I came back at it the next week, and I thought, Okay, this sucks. What do I do? And I thought I do what I did in the past. I pin it. And, you know, this wasn't the first time I ran into a big problem like this. In fact, the motivation for starting my business in the first place was that I got laid off.   44:46 So okay, all right, motivator.   44:50 Well, you know, it's like it is that was actually the fourth time I had been laid off. And that's when I was like, Okay, I'm done. I'm done with this.   44:58 But you know, we look   45:00 Look at it. And this doesn't this isn't to say that it's, it's easy. But at the end of the day, you have two choices. You can sit there and just,   45:10 you know, cry about it, or you can, you know, keep crying if you want to move on, pick up the pieces and find a way around it. And that's what I did. And,   45:19 you know, sure enough, a bunch of clients came back, I picked up a bunch of new clients, the course grew more students, and then I just keep pushing.   45:30 Yeah, the alternative, isn't that attractive of an option? No, it's not. And, and that's the thing. I I so from all the clients I've talked to in the people I've talked to one of the best things I think that's come out of this whole thing is people have become genius in the fact that their imagination, they've used people who haven't had to use their imagination are now having to think how the hell am I gonna get through this. And there's some amazing stuff that's that's come out this year, there's some amazing things that have been developed through 2020.   46:05 Because of because of what happened, and I think that I think it's gonna be one of the biggest upticks that we see is all the amazing stuff, you know, stuff coming out. And it's, again, I think 2021 is gonna be much better. Now, I know, you have your, you know, your evergreen courses up there, we were talking a little bit earlier, you have a live course, coming out in January. And I do the same thing. So I have, you know, I'll do a live course, and, or a live event, whatever it is, and then I will take recordings, and I'll have kind of an evergreen, you know, product up there. But there's nothing like being on the live side. And I've done the same with with, you know, people that you know, my mentors and stuff that I've taken their life stuff, I've taken their record stuff. All that was great, but there's nothing like being in a live meaning real time environment, whether I'm sure your this one coming up in January, I would assume is going to be like via zoom or some remote, remote technology. What how, How's this? What's this? What's this live course going to be?   47:13 So it's what I'm doing is I'm taking my whole process for landing clients. And as you said, I'm going to be teaching it live over zoom. But I'm also another little twist I'm adding is I'm going to do it in a month. And that means that it's going to be a little accelerated. But my reason for doing this was, because 2020 was so awful for so many people. And you know, yes, I have the the self paced evergreen course that that's always there. But I thought I want to do something different, I want to do something else. And I thought I'm gonna do it alive. Again, I've done this once before, when I first launched this course, I did it with a small group of professionals live. And it's a lot of work for me. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm not doing this again anytime soon. But you know, I was a little while ago. And you're right, like, it's a totally different experience. So bringing it back in January, it's going to be accelerated. And the goal is for people to land their, their next client in January with me, and you know, kind of holding their hand and walking them through it, and setting them up to have a really good year. And beyond, but it's about starting 2021 off on a brighter note. Yeah, and success builds success and just getting some of those early successes. God that's huge for so many people to do. And that's so that's fantastic. And for the people listening, this podcast should come out, right, right towards the beginning, I'd say a week or so before before this class starts. And Megan's so I'm going to make sure that those listening, go to the show notes. After you're done listening, and I'm gonna have all the links, I will have the link to the to the live course as well, obviously to your website, and, and everything is will be in the show notes as well. But I want to make sure that people can quickly get to get to the course of the live course because again, I think live courses are I get 30% more out of a live course just because one I think that there's more ownership or responsibility. So I take more responsibility. People are watching it's live you know, it's like yeah, so I always I maybe that's why I get so much more out of live is you know, I've got some accountability, kind of a built in accountability partner when when I do a live Yeah, accountability is huge. And that's something else I've been telling people. You know, if they enroll and they go through the self paced program, some people are totally fine on their own. Some aren't. And I get it, it can be really hard to stay motivated when it's just you but in this life course.   50:00 I'm going to be on your behind every week. And there's more homework and there's check ins. And so that's why it's for people who are ready to hit the ground running late. Let's go. Let's do it.   50:12 That's great. I can't wait to see how, see how that turns out. Now, I was up on your website, I also noticed that you have what First, I want to get your thoughts from a business standpoint. How big do you think LinkedIn is still? I mean, is that still a big platform for for business? Is it? How does that kind of rank in the in, you know, kind of the social media, stuff that's out there? I think it's huge. I think it's great. I know, LinkedIn, sometimes people give LinkedIn a hard time because it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that, you know, Facebook, or Instagram might. But if you use it the right way, it can be invaluable. And, you know, one thing I do want to say, though, is that whenever when it comes to connecting with people online, whether it's LinkedIn, or Instagram, or wherever, you have to be willing to have conversations, to talk to people to nurture relationships. But where LinkedIn has a leg up, I feel like is that it's not totally a social media platform. And it's not 100% business, it is this perfect spot in the middle. So you're in the perfect place to form like semi casual connections with people. And also talk business.   51:33 Yeah, I think the perfect blend. Yeah, and that's that, what you said is a great concept, it's it truly is more about, and this is on any business, it's more about making a connection, not a sale, especially on social media platforms, you're not there to make an immediate sale, you're there to make a connection and make a, you know, make a friend make a you know, make an acquaintance actually get to know know people. Yeah, definitely. And it's a, I know, it kind of goes against that whole instant gratification that we all kind of struggle with.   52:06 But there's really, really something to be said for building relationships, building authentic relationships. And, you know, one of the biggest mindset shifts for me and for my students has been look at it as helping not selling, if you reach out to people and try to form relationships, and all you're doing is just trying to like hammer them with the sale, because you want the money. It's not going to work. No, if you approach it from they have a problem, I have the solution, you will do so much better. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so I'm, I'm gonna take   52:43 the notes, but I'm going to take the action where I'm going to go up and get your LinkedIn, because that's one of the places that I don't engage as much as I should. I'm going to go up and I'm going to take your I'm going to get your LinkedIn profile, how to optimize your LinkedIn profile. I'm going to take that, and I'm actually gonna, so that's one of my takeaways from this is to go in, optimize my LinkedIn profile, and start using that a little bit more as well.   53:11 Yeah, definitely, we should. I don't know if we did already connect on LinkedIn. And, you know, let me know when you've had a chance to go through it. And I would love to read through it and see the changes that you made. And, you know, let me know what what kind of progress you've made. It's really powerful. And, you know, LinkedIn, it's a it's a search engine, not to the, to the extent that Google is, but it is people use it as a search engine. So you got to keep that in mind. Yeah, I think LinkedIn is absolutely powerful. I just haven't spent the time there. And I need to so that's why I'm glad that you have that up there. Because I'm definitely gonna, I'm definitely going to utilize that.   53:48 Yeah, you'll when you start seeing the results, you'll become a little obsessed with it. I used to hate LinkedIn I got this thing is so dull, it's so ugly. Now. I'm obsessed with it, because it works. I'll definitely have to check that out. And again, Megan, I want to thank you for for being on the on the show. And being on the podcast. This I'm telling you this all this information is absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to go back and actually read Listen to this. So I can pick out much more of the of the content that you have. And everyone listening, go go to the show notes, go to you know, go to the website. There's great stuff up there. You've got obviously blog stuff you've got, I was looking through your blogs, you've got great blogs, and great information out there. So it was absolutely and it's mega grant dotnet. And again, they're going to be in the show notes as well. So you can just go to the show notes and click, click on it and go go over there. But again, Megan, thank you so much for spending the time and enlightening all of my listeners on some of the ins and outs especially if I could blog I had no idea.   54:55 Thank you. I really enjoyed this and I love the information that you're using.   55:00 you're sharing with your listeners. It's it's the kind of stuff that I feel like I wish more people, you know, covered this kind of information mindset and business and growth. So you're doing a great thing and thank you for having me on here. Oh, thank you so much.

Welcome to the Thinking Big Podcast. You are in for such a treat today with my special guest Sandra Haseley. Sandra is one of the founders of Generation Impact, a group that exists to help you refine, develop, launch, scale, and MASTER your business to create the impact and life you desire. Sandra is one of the select few keynote speakers for Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi in their Knowledge Broker Blueprint program, and she is currently helping to build and head train their workshops for new entrepreneurs launching their businesses. One of my key takeaways from this episode is that every single one of us has a gift that we can build a business around, she even said I could use fluency in sarcasm as a platform… who would have known.  Today we are thinking big into your passions and your Impact on the world. Generation Impact: Generationimpactgroup.com   Connect With Sandra Haseley on Social Media Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/SandraHaseleyCO Facebook Business Page: https://www.facebook.com/SANDRAHASELEYANDCO Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesandrahaseleyco/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandrahaseley/ Email: heyboss@sandrahaseley.com Website: https://www.sandrahaseley.com   Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Thanks for listening! It means a lot to me and to the guests. If you enjoyed listening then please do take a second to rate the show on iTunes.  Every podcaster will tell you that iTunes reviews drive listeners to our shows so please let me know what you thought and make sure you subscribe using your favorite player using the links below.   Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, online, big, business, life, paid, clients, helping, steps, years, build, live, sarcasm, impact, Sandra Haseley, world, gift, degree   I want to welcome Sandra to the to the podcast. And if people are listening to this right now, and they're driving, I'm just fair warning, I'm just telling you, you better pull over keep your seatbelt on, because   01:39 it's Sandra is fast and furious. And you better be paying attention when she's talking because I normally can't even write that fast. I try but but I can't do it.   01:51 So keep your seatbelts on keep your hands in the car, but pull over because you're about ready to go on a ride should tell you, I'm just being honest here. I'm still I am still catching up on notes from our last stuff that you did. So I'm still trying to get my notes down. So welcome. Welcome to the show. Tell people a little bit that your story is absolutely fascinating where you've been and how you've gone. And that's, I really like to focus in on some of that. Because I think today, I mean, you've seen that kind of the gig economy, the side economy, these people starting their own, you know, their own businesses last couple years. But I think with what's happening with COVID   02:32 it's not just on the verge anymore. I mean, it is people are having to go and kind of do their own thing. And we just don't know how we don't know, we don't know how and you and that's what you've done. I mean, you've done this your whole your whole career. So tell us a little bit about you and kind of what the mindset are kind of what drove you to to where you are now.   02:52 Sure, yeah. I mean, I I went through the traditional model, like, like a lot of people did through, you know, I got a, I got a scholarship to play division one softball, and so I went that route. And I studied engineering, finance marketing, I graduated with a finance degree and, and I went into commercial real estate into commercial mortgage brokerage, and, and then continued on into to work for a commercial real estate developer. And in that space, I was because I was the director of sales for this company, it was important to make sure that the tenants were doing well, so that they could, you know, continue to pay rent and grow into additional properties or whatever. So I from very, very early on in my career, I was not only analyzing the back end and their financials, and looking at the way that they did their business to make sure that these loans would get approved. But I'm also nurturing them as tenants on you know, through the years making sure that I could help them in any way that I could. And I became somewhat of a tenant coach for all of these different tenant clients. And there are so many different industries. I mean, like every industry that you can think of the between the mom and pop retail stuff to the International, like international freight to e commerce attack, like everything. And so it was, you know, that that aside, I had carried that on throughout my entire, you know, corporate career. And it wasn't until I actually got fired from my job, where I just I just closed a $14.6 million deal got fired, didn't get the bonus that I was supposed to get got walking papers instead where I was like, What now? Now what? And then, you know, from that point that was like, that was my career rock bottom for sure. I didn't think that was possible because I was the highest performer in the company. And I had such a great reputation in the community. And my resume was just stellar. So how did that happen? This wasn't like, I didn't want to be an entrepreneur. It did not want that. Right. That sounds so scary to me, because I consider myself very risk averse.   04:57 And the safety net that I had been told   05:00 Throughout the traditional education model, get a job on retirement 401k savings pension if you can, and then you know, and then you live in your golden years. And that's that. So do your best work and all that. And that was a lie. So now I'm sitting here in this space where it's like, all right, your best shot at this point, when unemployment Wait, rates were very high, and they didn't have an employment, long run employment available any longer. It was like sink or swim. So I didn't want it. But I had to do it. If you look back at that, do you think that was probably the biggest blessing that you had?   05:35 Oh, for sure. Yeah, for two years. It was a it was depression. And it wasn't until I, you know, climbed out of that, that I look back. And I like when I drive by that, that former employer, every single time I'm in my car going, Thank You, Jesus, that you close that door for me, I would never have left on my own. And I know that it wouldn't, because you're scared. And I didn't think that it would have been a good life for me. Do you ever want to get a softball and just throw it at him? Get one, nice.   06:05 For a long time I did. I was a pitcher   06:09 or disappear. But I did for a while and my kids are my older two. I have four kids, my older two can remember when that happened. And and they're 13 and 15. Now, and we'll sometimes we'll drive by there and they'll say like, Hey, Mom, like you still mad? I'm like, no more, but they remember when I would drive my son.   06:30 So yeah, but yeah, no, you're right. It's it was the biggest blessing ever. And, and it was I was pushed off the ledge like a baby bird and learn to fly. And because of that, I was like, Wait a second. This is so much fun. Not only is this fun, but like this is nothing I went to school for I went to school finance, marketing, engineering, nothing I learned in university and I loved my school, not a single thing can I apply to my entrepreneurial journey here. So I'm looking at all of this differently. Right after that happened after like my first year in business on my own, and brick and mortar opening a wellness clinic, my husband's a chiropractor. So opening this wellness clinic, and everyone's saying three to five years take three to five years to get in the black. And it took me 18 months to turn six figures. So I did that without loans, without partnerships without affiliates, without any client base at all. So when I did that, I thought, Wait a second, like how if everybody in this space is telling us, this isn't possible for three to five years? What did we do, right? That I can help other people do right? So that they can save time. And like I know what it's like to be, you know, mother of four, trying to figure out what to do brand new and entrepreneurial journey and and if I got it right, I need to help other people because three to five years sounds like torture to me to get to where we needed to be right. So that's where it all started. And, and after that after the clinic opened, and we started doing really well we paint became the highest rated weight loss provider in the buffalo market. And I was like, This wasn't my dream. I did this out of necessity, my husband was happy. But what about me, um, and I went back to my roots, like I loved I loved being a consultant, I loved being a strategist for other businesses, I helped them that was meaningful, like that made their lives better that that helped them advance in their career, or it helped them earn more money for their families like that was meaningful to me. And I've had so much fun doing it ever since. Yeah. And again, I think with what's happened with the, you know, with the economy with the, you know, COVID with all the stuff that is going to be the way of the future, I really think it is I mean, it's going to be how we do things, and we have to learn these tools. I mean, we have to know what we're doing. And as you said, when we find someone that has been there when we find someone that's done that, why not go that route and learn from learn from them. I mean, that's the only way. Absolutely. And just curious, like when you were doing your your corporate stuff. It sounds like you were still using, I hate to say entrepreneur stuff, but you were to me, you were still thinking outside the box to help them outside of what your normal job was. So Oh, yes, yeah, you're right. Yeah, I never looked at it that way. But I yeah, you're right. And, um, it wasn't a It wasn't until like later on, like, maybe recently even that I thought, um, I wasn't taught that. But it was why was I doing it that way, when I know other people in my business weren't doing it that way for their clients and their tenants. It's, it's actually because I cared about them so much. And so I'm looking at them and it wasn't like, Um, let's see how we can get more money out of these clients. Let's squeeze them It looks like you know, it was more like, you have a relationship with them as they become your client. And you get to know them and you like them. And then they tell you about their goals and you are emotionally invested in their goals and you're thinking of ways that you can help them and   10:00 doesn't cost me anything to give them a good idea. And so when something sparks for me, and I give them a good idea, they apply it and they win. I'm going, ooh, what else can I give up? You know, and so that's kind of where that began. And then that led to further success for me, um, you know, through my clients in business, but, but it was like, it was like, an itch I needed to scratch like, I have to help people if I can, I have to. So um, but you're right, those those those things that I was applying weren't taught to me. But um, but I think that we all have, we all have these, like, these baked in skill sets that we can offer other people. And we never really tap into them unless the environment is like nurturing it, right? So like, unless you step into that space, and then all of a sudden, you're like, Oh, I'm good at this, or Oh, I've got something to offer. And then that, like, that's your thing. And like you touched on, you talked about how this is COVID. And this COVID here this whole year, has pushed people out of necessity into what are you going to do now? Like I was, but you know, different circumstances, like, what am I going to do now? And they have to learn? It's like, this is the scary thing for people like what Seriously? What do we do now? I have no idea. And I don't want to own a business and don't know how I'm so when it comes to that. It sounds It almost sounds childish for me to even advise, hey, what's your thing? What are you good at that little thing that you do, or that thing that lights you up doesn't even feel like work? I'm telling you to lean into that, like go into that space, there are a million ways you can apply your your your God given gifts into the business space and serve people at a high level and get paid for it. Most people don't believe that they can because they never have. I think and and i'm saying time to drop that nonsense. It's not even true. Whoever gave you that belief get over it. Like it's not true. It's bullshit. I mean, it truly is. bs, or it's your Bs, it's your belief system. And it's a it's a bad, it's about. And on top of that. People don't necessarily think that their gifts that they have, they don't see the value in him. I think that's the biggest thing that I see when I'm talking with people is they're good at something. But they do not see the value in it themselves. And that's one of the hardest things I have and talking with people is no, that is an absolute value. That is people want to know that people want to people will pay you for that knowledge. And so so, you know, first step is letting them letting them see, you know, what's the big How do you let people see what their, what their gift is? I mean, what are ways that people can say, Oh, this is my truly, you know, this is my gift. This is what I can give. Yeah, first of all, I gotta hit that, again, what you just said, most people don't believe that their gift is valuable. Oh my God, that's, that's probably the biggest message that needs to come out of this episode is that people don't actually attach the value that they deserve to their gift. It's, it's unbelievable. Because when even if it's this one thing, like even if it's, I'm going to use knitting as an example. Because it's like people have come up with all these different hobbies during COVID. Right, so so let's say this, this 60 year old woman who is a bang and crochet artist and can do the world's best booties, and little baby sweaters and everything. And she's just been doing it since forever. And this young mother who's 34, and has been trying to get pregnant for 10 years. And it's been her dream to knit something for her own baby. And she's never been able to do it. She doesn't know how. And this woman who's just like diddling around with like knitting needles, and she's been doing that for decades, doesn't think it's special, because all of her friends can knit. This woman comes to offer her like, I will give you $1,000 if you can teach me how to crochet in six weeks before this baby is born. So I can knit my baby booties and a sweater. I will, of course people are doing that people are doing that all over the world right now paying people 1000 2000 $3,000 to learn how to crochet or knit in about six to eight weeks, it's happening all over the place for a past time that used to be so normal, it was taught in school. And I think that just people if you if they have a value, if they have a skill set, I think that they need to   14:02 do the research on what people are actually paying for it. And then double it and start there. So when you say how do you know how do you know what your value is? Or what your what your gift is? Like what your skill set really is. The first place I like to go is the compliments you get from people What do people say you're good at? Like what do people thank you for? What do people always say? What are people referring your name out for in and that can be in, you know, in your personal life too. That doesn't have to be in business but like anything, so if they're complimenting you on something that you do well, it's probably something you enjoy, you know, it's it's not like oh my gosh, she's really good at balancing the books at the end of the year. She doesn't cuz she has to she doesn't love it. But like what do people say all year long that you're good at is an organization like oh, my gosh, she this woman is so good at organizing. It's like she can always find a way to clean things up for me or to like manage my stuff or to fix my kids schedule during you know, quarantine when it's been a mess. Or you know, what is the organization   15:00 Woman is the best like interior design or this man is the best if troubleshooting pieces that you have around the house and being able to fix them up in this way, there's so many different things that people do on the regular that they get credit for that they're like, Oh, yeah, that's just something I do, though. No, that's something you need to get paid for, if you're willing. So what you're saying is, I can actually get paid for being sarcastic. People compliment my sarcasm all the time.   15:27 So there's an avenue I need to go.   15:32 You can do and you could do a core point using sarcasm to leverage yourself in business, for using sarcasm to build relationships, in your business in your personal life in like mergers and acquisitions. There are negotiation strategies being taught through sarcasm right now in the world. Yes, that's, that's actually my first language. English is my second language. Sarcasm, number one, truly. And   15:59 so from a tool standpoint, or from a, I know, a method standpoint, where do you see things so you you bring these people in you, you show them? You know, here is what you're good at? Here's what you're passionate about? Here's the value you can add to other human beings? And what are the what are the biggest challenges you're seeing on people? When they do find this? How do they have they monetize it? How do they? How do they turn their gift and their passion into a into a business? Yes, good question. Perfect question. Because that's what matters in the end. So when you when you when you find your thing, and you're like, Oh my gosh, that's it. That is it. I love that I could really make money doing that. Yes. Okay. So once you get on board with the Yes, I can, then it's a matter of, Okay, well, where were you when you started doing this? Where were you? Where did you start? Okay, and where did you finish your finish there? Okay, what were the steps in between that took you from I'm just starting out to Hey, I'm really good at this. This is amazing. Because there's always a pattern, there's always steps. There's always like evidence or breadcrumbs, a trail that you leave behind that can show other people how to get there, too. And it's just a matter of actually taking a moment. And sometimes it's like taking a couple hours and falling back into your memory bank and saying, Where did I? Where did I start? Okay, then what did I do? Okay, I did that for a while, maybe that took me this long. And then what happened? What was the outcome after that, then I learned this, okay, then I took that, and I applied it to this, and just stack those steps to get to the end result. And that is your signature offer framework. That is what you can deliver to other people package that up. And when I say package that up, I mean, define those steps. And then within the steps, there should be, you know, instructions on how to get to the next step. Right. So that's just packaging your signature program, so that you can show other people how to get to where you went. And, and this can be done. Another thing, Shawn, is that people often say that, like they, they they even stop mentally, they block themselves by saying, I couldn't I couldn't actually do that, though, because I'm not a professional or I couldn't do that. Because like, I don't have a website, or I can't do that, because I don't have any acronyms at the end of my name. like nobody cares about your acronyms. You know how many people have asked me about my degree? since I graduated? None? Yep. Nobody asked me. They asked me Oh, how do you like work at Disney World? Oh, you got to you got to congressional nominations for the Naval Academy. Oh, you've lived in Canada, all you, they don't care about my degree, nobody cares. They, like I'm showing up for the job. They assume I have the degree that's it's like next day, so. And when you're online, nobody cares about any of that. They're like, prove it to me, prove it to me, by way of showing me online, that you can help me prove it to me by by giving me trainings for free to let me know that I can trust you prove it. So you don't have to show them a degree because it's garbage. And I mean, like people who have a license for their degree, that's different lawyers, doctors that that's different. But I really, I really want a surgeon to have a degree when they're working on me. But um, but I would rather have the surgeon that mentored with someone for 10 years over the degree.   19:02 The degree is, I don't know, I better have the experience. That's true.   19:08 That's true. I want I want an army surgeon who's been in triage locations all over the world first. You're right. So, but if they like, you know, if you show up and you serve people online with that thing, you know, you show them that you can get them from point A to point whatever, you only have to be one step ahead of them. That's it. That's it. And then they're there. People are often hanging on to this idea that they have to be the expert. There's no the expert in anything. I don't care how high up you go. Because somebody is coming right underneath to take that spot all the time. It's always shifting all the time. There's nobody that's the best ever. So let's get over it. And let's just say can you help them two steps behind you or one step behind you? Yeah, there are millions of people that could apply to so if you if you can just outline the framework of your signature offer by indicating which steps it takes to get there for that.   20:01 And then marketing that I can help you get from here to here, here are the steps it takes. That's all it is. Here's what it looks like for me. Now, here are the things that I struggled with. And here's how it's going now that I don't struggle anymore, here's the compelling future that I have. But here's how bad it sucked before I got here. If that sounds like, Whoa, come along. So it's just a matter of like marketing it that way, packaging up marketing that way. Because if you're clear on what you can do for people, and you let them know that, if you're clear, then they're clear, then they can decide for themselves. Yeah, that is something I want, I want that transformation to this person has a step by step outline for me, like, I can just go to them to help me get there perfect. So it's, it's just a matter of that. And then it's a matter of, you know, something, you talk about value, right? Like people don't don't necessarily value themselves, right. I tend to jump people up very quickly in their service pricing, however, I believe in being aligned with the offer that you have, because if you're not, at first, you won't sell it, you won't sell it right. It'll be weird, it'll come off creepy, it'll be like, do they not believe in it or what's going on, it's usually the money. So it's usually don't believe they should ask for this month, because much because they feel bad because they've done it for free in the past. Okay, so we need to also get over that. Now. You're certainly now you're serving people at a high level online, and you need to get paid for it. So once they can do that, it's like, Alright, if you can't energetically or emotionally or spiritually get behind, you know, a four figure number for a program, that's it's good that you've been doing that you take people through on 16 weeks or whatever, especially if it's a live training, that's worth that's worth more, if you can't really get behind it, there's nothing wrong with offering a lower a lower price. But you have to let them know, this is the only time we're going to do that. The only reason I have is a 1499 program, the only time I'm ever going to do this is now it is 397 This will be the last bunch. But in exchange for that extreme discount, I am going to require testimonials, possibly testimonial so that you can build that authority and that credibility and that social proof. And then what's beautiful about this is that then you do get paid, you get paid the money. And that proves to you that you can do it. And then you do the work. And you're like, oh, we're not we're not doing this for 397. Again, oh no, this is worth more, you find out it's hard, right? It's a little hard. Even if you love it, you gotta you gotta help people. So that I feel like that process, everybody kind of goes through that they create the structure, they start talking about it, they start helping people with it, they come up with a price, a lower price that they feel a little better about a little bit more aligned with at first and then they're like, Oh, no, and then they like triple, or quadruple and they're like, okay, I feel good about this for now. And then you get better. And as you get better, and the demand gets higher, you can increase it as you go. But that's that's where people need to start. Yeah. And I think you at that exact point when they sell their first stuff is lower than what they want. But I think right then is where I see the biggest mindset change. And people, once they once you, I mean success builds upon success. And once they get that first batch out of the way, the first money coming in, when they first sell it, that's when I see the biggest change in people's mindset of what they're capable of, and what they can do. And you'd mentioned something, I think it was probably one of my biggest setbacks is when I first started, you know, years ago, I thought I had to have all the technology in place. I thought I had to have the whole program done. I thought I had to. And that's not how people do it. I mean, you look at some of the great people, and they're literally building programs on the fly, based on the needs of the people. And you know, if you try building an entire, you know, 10 week program, and you haven't tested it, and you haven't developed it with people, I've done that, it I've gone through the biggest   23:48 I, you if you build it, they will come. No they won't.   23:53 You've got got a whip   23:57 I've tried, doesn't work that way. But I did   24:03 work. If you waste a ton of time doing it that way. And you think you know, as good as you are as good as anyone is you think you know, and you have no idea. You always assume people are further along with you. They're not right, you got to back you got to back it up. And you also have to fill all these holes. Think about so I'm with you like I I believe in. I believe in live training. The first batch I don't believe in course creation above other things. But there is a place for course creation for sure. But I believe in the live interaction. There's so much more value there. It's better for everybody. You're in the moment they have the your clients have the ability to do q&a with you. It's just better. And then what's beautiful about that is that you know shine like you extract, you extract what they need in that moment and say, say you did a six week course like a live training course and they showed up every Monday for two hours for six weeks. And that first week you gave them this stuff that you had for the first week.   25:00 And then at the end of the program at the end of that two hours, we're like, Hey, guys, how did you do? How did you like, what did you not? Are we clear on this? And then you're thinking, Okay, I'm ready for week two, and then they answer you, and you're like, Oh, you guys are not ready for week two, I'm gonna have to come up with something else. But because you're the expert, you know what we'll need based on their reaction? And then you just shift and adjust for that. But you would otherwise you would have wasted how many hours? How many hours creating this course that you can't even use after week two? Yeah. And what do you what do you think about me? Even for me, sometimes the biggest thing about going live is the fear people have.   25:37 People would rather die than go live. I mean, it's like, that is the biggest fear people have. And it's like, man, how do we get over that? Because, as you said, you can build stuff and build stuff, and no one's gonna, unless you have that energy from the I'm the same way. I love doing live because, to me, it forces me to think more into what the people need, you see them, you're getting feedback. And it's almost like a mastermind, you you can't think about that without those people, those people for me, the it drives better, better content and drives better ideas and drives better things. But that point of going live, hitting that live button or doing things with with people, it scares the crap out. Even people who were doing it live in the past, in person, you get in front of a camera and people change. They do I think, what are some of them? Yeah, what are some things that you do with your clients that help them with the you know, to me, it's all fear. It's all bullshit. And it's all in your head, but it's there. Okay, so I, I was there to, like, you know, I'm a, I'm a trained keynote speaker, I can get on stages and do this, I can get on virtual stages and do this. But that was not always the case. And I didn't even get on social media until 2019. So, um, I went when somebody and it wasn't until somebody said to me, um, you need to be going live like you're not translating any of your personality or any of your help online. And I'm like, Yeah, I hate social media. So I'm not doing it. And I you know, this this though, to me, all it was is a bunch of like, comparison Bs, like, just just brag fast. I just, I hated the idea of this toxic online space. I hated it. So I I just, I just blackballed it. And then somebody challenged me to say, okay, you do one live, and you help people in the way that I know you do in your clinic and in real life and in with your clients and everything. You go live and do it online. If you don't help anybody, and nobody wants to hear it. I'll never ask you to do it again. But if you do you do another one. And I was like, Oh, you're on. You're on. I'm about to, like, break friends. And this is gonna be so I went live. And before I did, I had so I have anxiety and panic disorder. Anyway, so I was I when I say that I was shaking, like I had cold sweats. And I was shaking. And I was like, doing deep breathing exercises. Because I was being I was being like, there she was in the corner, I was being forced. So I had to press the button. I went live, I go back and go back and look at that live. And I'm like, oh, gosh, you were so nervous. Why? Why reason nervous. And I blocked a bunch of people on my live like, you can block people on your friends list from seeing that live, which was felt safer. I'm like, Okay, I'll just keep those sarcastic people out of the way. Sean's not watching so well.   28:30 But I just didn't want any like, I didn't want it feel any jokes or anything else. Because like, everybody knew I don't go online. So all of a sudden, Sandra's gonna show up online? Who does she think she is a hypocrite? You betcha. So after that, I got such good feedback from people. And I was like, I have to help them. No, I have to like not because somebody said, but because these people are hurting. And they were so grateful. Now I have to. And so for me, when I teach other people how to how to get over the fear of going online, you often have to challenge them to do it in a way that's meaningful for them. Like, here's the outcome if you if you do this challenge. And when I do that, there's ways to do this, where like, you're looking at the camera. And on the other side of the camera, for me, is my dream client, my ideal client that I know that I can help and maybe it's a best friend of mine that's been sitting on my couch in tears before because she can't figure out how to get to the next step. And I'm saying, You are so good at this, it's on the other side, you have to do this. Here's why. Here's what this looks like. If you could just get over the fear part. Just block that for a second. Here's what's available for you all of this. And so when you look through the lens and know that there's a breathing heartbeat soul on the other end of that lens, that it's not this big, like chasm of judging people, it's a soul that needs your help on the other end of that camera lens. Does that change your mind? Does that make you feel differently? Because I'm I can tell you now as fearful as I was for so long and sometimes still am when I go up to speak and I don't know if you ever get that too, but like I still get nervous before. Right? And, and so if there was I've decided that if there was an audience   30:00 5000 people, and they were all like making fun of me rolling their eyes on their cell phones ignoring me. But there was one person in the back of the room in tears, because they were so grateful for what I was saying, I would keep going, despite anybody else in their opinion of me, because that person is in pain. That's, I think that's how most humans are built. So if you can, if you can just imagine that there's somebody that needs your help on the other end of that, like you've established that you're good at something, you know that your thing has value, you're going to price for it, now you're going to talk about it, talk about it, because somebody needs your help, not because you're worried, like, don't worry about the friends and family that might be like, Oh, he's going online. Now. That's interesting. How about block then if you don't like it? How about hide their hide their eyes from your life? Or how about ignore the fact that they're judging you at all? Because they might be cheering you on quietly? And the other thing is, if they're not? are they paying your bills? Do they help you financially? Do they have a say in what you do with your life, like all of these things, and you know, to shine like all of these things are limiting beliefs that keep you from greatness. And I feel like, if we could all have a snapshot view of what our life could look like, if we were to say no to all those fears all along the years, if we would have said no to all those things, what would we have right now? I feel like we would all be heartbroken if we could do that. So if we can now say, all right, COVID is forcing us to pivot things or pressure, like things or pressure us all around me, I want to I want to do something with this. But I don't know how can you just decide that fear doesn't get to say anything this time? And just try it and see, because the the worst thing that will happen is that you'll learn something great out of it. And most probably you'll do well, most probably Yeah. And I think especially with you know, with what's going on, we can't meet in person like we had in the past.   31:48 I mean, this is and this is great. And when we see each other on here, we're you know, we're communicating online, it's still not the same from a personal standpoint, but it's better than than not, it's better than to me just posting stuff, it's like, you're still we still have a connection, I'm still looking looking at you in your eyes, we're still having a connection, we're still doing that. And it's to me that video is so, so important. And it's where we accept, but it's where we're going, we have to, we have to be able to do that, in order to be successful. I think in any business that's online, now you have to be able to have, because without that live, without that interaction, you're not going to build the connections. And to me, that's what it is. It's it's not making a sale, it's not selling someone it is absolutely making a connection with someone. And you can't do it without. Without video, you really can't. I mean, not in the same way, you're right.   32:42 Not in the same way at all. And there are two things, two beautiful things that have happened out of COVID. For this reason, first of all, people are disconnected from brands, from big brand names from big box retailers from global brands, they're disconnected. Nobody has a relationship with Coca Cola, you might have nostalgia with Coca Cola and emotions tied to the brand, but you don't have a relationship with them, because they're not a person. But they you can have relationships with individuals who are serving you, and spending their time and their heart and their energy and their bandwidth, trying to help you you have a relationship with those people. And you do that by way of video connecting with them to like because you need you need the proof that they're like living, breathing moving, right, right. Anybody could cat fish with online, you need proof that this person is a person. And so the second thing, so that's one beautiful thing is that the individual brands like the self branded, like the US, the me's, the people out here that are doing their thing online. People build relationships with us, and they trust us and they love us, and we love them back and trust them back. And this is how we do business because it's not transaction, its relationship, right. And then the second thing that's beautiful is that now no one has an excuse to not get online. The physicians that I used to work with my clientele my patient basis, you know, 66 years older, they'll never get online there. Oh, these guys are younger, they don't have time to get online. They don't check emails anymore. Not anymore. Now the entire globe is forced to create zoom meetings interact online. This is it's it's a force feed and telemedicine has come I don't know, like five years in the last three months. It's amazing now, and everybody sat on their hands because they didn't feel like it because they got other things to do. And now that we're all being forced, everybody knows how to do business with you. There's no excuse anymore, and people are comfortable with it today.   34:30 It's almost like we got fired from our job of normal living we got fired from our normal way of doing things and now this is we're forced to do this this is you know, sink or swim you're gonna do it or you're or you're not. And so one of the things so you are doing your generation impact stuff, which is to me that that is such a great name for for what you're doing. What What is generation impact. What What are you guys doing over there? First of all, thank you we ruminated over that name for a long time because because of our intentions for people   35:00 generational impact was born out of the idea that we, we, me and my partners, Shane Thrall and David Walden, we decided that, you know, the people that we're meeting in the online space, like you said, didn't believe in themselves enough, they didn't realize where their value was lying. They didn't understand that they they're like walking treasures to the world. And we're saying, if you could tap into that, and give it to other people, do you understand what kind of impact you can make? So we're saying this whole generation of people that is willing to step out and say, like, what's my gift, how helped me serve, you can make the biggest impact, you have no idea, generationally making impact on other people's generations, depending on what you do wealth. generational wealth is available, like health, like relationships, it's all available to people. And we're saying, alright, as generation impact, what can we do to be the first domino that knocks down all these other dominoes that makes the impact across the world. And so what we do is we have to, we have basically two legs of the company where the one we are teaching, we have an academy that teaches entrepreneurs online, how to grow and scale their business, how to be efficient, how to how to create those sales, how to market themselves properly, how to build a team, how to deploy this brand for themselves. And then secondarily, we have a consulting side, where we consult with corporations, and we build training materials for them workshop trainings, we help their their team learn new mechanisms for sales and marketing online in this space, and shifting and growing and, you know, basically all the strategy that you need as you change in a company, and companies are kind of notorious for doing things an old way, until something is pretty painful, and they're forced to shift. Well, if we can help them avoid that pain and grow bigger without as much cost, then we're going to do that, too. So, so we're basically helping b2c and b2b at the same time in different ways. Right. And I, you know, I think that is so important that you have these, you have these tools, in the end companies like yours available, because you can truly compress with with what you do, you can help someone compress something that might take them a few years to learn and develop in a extremely short amount of time. And, and I think one of the one of the best things that I'm seeing out of out of COVID is, you know, the people that you're helping, you're helping them generate their their passion, their love into businesses, I have been out in it, absolutely fascinated with some of the great imagination, and the great things that people are starting to produce, and put out there to the world. I think that is one of the greatest things that has happened with with COVID is people are now seeing that and I'm starting to see these companies or these people develop their their companies and some of the stuff is just amazing of what they're doing the ideas that they're coming up with. It's it's absolutely amazing to to watch these people finally, open up and develop what they were, what to me what they were really meant to do. What the the I don't know that the they're so industrious, like humans are. So they surprised me every day. And every time I see not only the names they've been really giving me life this year. But but the but the inventions and the ideas and the and the way that people are willing to say, let's see, let me let me try. Let me shift it and try it this way. And you're going yeah, like you can do it. I feel like I'm just on the other side of the screen, like cheering people on all the time. Because every new idea, and there's so many when we're forced to figure stuff out and get creative. It's amazing what we can come up with. But like you said, I feel like like we birthed a new way of life in this COVID like time and the time of COVID. And it's almost like those, like those cartoon reels where you see all the men in suits and hats, and what they're walking in black and white, and they're all like, you know, a mob of men just walking to work with briefcases. And then there's somebody over here in color, like bouncing around doing things differently. I feel like that's where we're going now, where this was the way that of the of the past. And this is the way now it's more fun. It's more free, there's more opportunity, because people are willing to see things a little differently. Yeah, and with what's available now with the technology that's available, and where people's mindsets are, anybody can be a company, anybody can be an author, anybody can be a speaker, anybody, you you have everything you need to be as big as anybody else. There's nothing now there is nothing holding people back you have the same assets available to you as a entrepreneur as a solopreneur then big companies had in the past you can now that that's the biggest thing is from literally from your phone, you can create content you can create you can create amazing things but just the simplest stuff that you have now and it's all available to everybody if they know if they have the mindset so you know that's where you come in as you help them with the mindset that they can do it and here's how you do it. But no longer is to me no longer as technology or no longer as all these big, you know brick and mortar assets that people had. That's not a that's not a   40:00 They stop or anymore that the absolutely no stop or anybody upgrade anything. And that's the biggest thing I see is anybody can create anything that they want now. It's amazing. Isn't it like that? That sounds like if you said that in the 80s, you'd be like, okay, big finger settle down. Yeah. But now it's like there's nothing more true. I mean, you don't need a website, you don't need a website to get started. You don't need it. You don't even need that. So you don't even have to pay to host what you have. You have free access to any social platform online. And if you market yourself that way, with your cell phone, sure you have to pay for internet and like a cell phone bill. But that is it. That's it. So the opportunities really are available to everybody, kids, teenagers, young teenagers, kids younger than that are making money online right now doing whatever they're good at. It's unbelievable. It's It's wild. It's like the new Gold Rush. It is Oh, absolutely.   40:54 Yeah. And and people are, you know, they're creating this, this sense of freedom for them. Like there's nothing better. There's nothing but there are some things but there's nothing better for me, when I'm when an entrepreneur finally gets to the point where they're like, Okay, fine. No, no, no, you're right, I'm gonna get out of my head. I'm just gonna do the things. We do those things and launch myself. I'm gonna put myself out there. And I'm like, Yes, yes, let's do it. And then they get paid, and say they have like a 5000, or a 10,000, or like, a 27,000 launch. Or, or they have that that conversation with a new client, and they sign a $45,000 contract like this. And I'm going, how did that change your life? Talk to me about the things you can do. Now, talk to me about how you can grow your business. Now talk to me about how now you have a team. Now you have more time because your team is doing some of the work. And now you can actually I don't know, take your first vacation ever with your children in 10 years. What does that like? Like? Those kind of wins are exponential, because I know they're helping their clients. Let's talk about that. Like, how did your life change? It's an It's amazing. They're saying, with my camera phone, and my computer, that's all it took? Yeah. Love belief in yourself, too. That's awesome. Yeah. And it's funny, it's when it's a bad moment. And I'm sure you see this a lot. It's that that moment you actually see it in their eyes, you actually see it in their stature. When that light goes off. You can you can physically see that light going off in their in their head and like, wow, yeah, this is this is it? We can do this? Yeah, that to me, that's the funnest thing. Yeah. And so you But see, you've done that your entire seat. And that's the thing you want to be one of your gifts is yes, you care about your you know, all your clients, you care, you care that they are successful, you care that they get what they want. But you've done that your entire career. So you even when you were doing your real estate stuff, you were that's part of your DNA, that's part of who you are of helping people and you and everything you do you actually, you know, I see that in you on all this. I've seen you on stage. I've seen you, you know, on doing your stuff. And that always comes out that you absolutely care about the outcome of the person. And that it did does it absolutely shows if I could I don't process data that passed. Again, I'm going back to you are so good and so fast to what you do. It's like I can't process it that fast. It's so much so much great data. I'm like, bouncing around in my head. So let me ask you this on a percentage, if we had a percentage a 50%? Or could you strike me out with a softball still?   43:31 Yeah. How was that?   43:34 You didn't have to think about that. And then you say you're from Canada?   43:39 Oh, go ahead. Yes.   43:42 I was gonna say because two things. Um, because muscle memory is a little ridiculous. When you play a sport for so long. It's not hard to pick it back up pretty quickly. But also because most people can't hit a hit and underhand fast pitch, especially men who are used to playing baseball, and they're looking for the overhand release. So that's usually even even my baseball player buddies like D one, like I would pitch to them, we'd mess around and I pitch to him. And it wasn't that hard to strike them out. There D one baseball players like but would piss him off.   44:13 I better pass them off to I bet it would piss them off. Oh, yeah.   44:18 And then also, ya   44:22 know, so being from Canada. Do you know what a Looney tune is?   44:27 Of course, see now, transactional currency, but no one actually use it. So we went to me and my wife, we went up to I think Quebec City a couple years ago. And I convinced her to always talk like she was gonna pay and loonies and toonies. People there thought she was a nut. But I convinced her that she had to call them loonies and toonies.   44:48 She's never lived that down. And   44:51 but finally someone said, Hey,   44:54 what are you type? We don't call them loonies and toonies. We're just in the background.   45:00 You're you went to Quebec City? Yes. And that they're very French. So they're not going to call them that probably great. And so anywhere else in the southern part of Canada, if you say alluded to, and for listeners that don't know, I'm sure some people are googling it like what is that? But, but a loony is just $1 coin and today is a $2 point. And so, um, Canadians don't use pennies anymore. They're no longer part of the circulation. So everything rounds up to an even number. But, or like a five or zero but, but if you go if you you're safe shot if you go and you bring your wife to Southern Ontario, and you said Looney intuitive they'd be like, Yeah, no, I got it. But um, it came back city, like Montreal, like all the chemical I will um, they'll prefer it if you speak French period. Yes, carry it. And I don't do it well, so they don't like it   45:52 at all, but it was a man. We loved it up there. It was absolutely. Absolutely beautiful.   45:57 Isn't it? Yes. It was cold. There was brand new years. So we went New Year's Eve, we did some big rave, outdoor rave. New Year's Eve. It was wild. But yeah, it was it was cold. I'm from Texas. Yeah, well, I'm from Colorado, but oh, I've acclimated to Texas, and it's damn cold.   46:21 It's your blood wasn't ready. was not ready at all. But I've had an absolute fantastic, fantastic time. Thank you for coming on the podcast. And everybody go to you know, we're gonna put the you know, those listening, go to the show notes because we're gonna have all the ways that you can contact xandra and also going to generation impact group Comm. I'm telling you, this is the way this is the way the future and everybody, here's the thing. I think every household in the next year or two is going to have a business. Every household is going to have a side gig side business from doing what they love to some being forced, like you, you know, they're they've lost their jobs, they've lost their way of income, some just because they have the desire to do it, but everybody is going to every household is going to have a side business. And I just love the stuff that you guys do. So thanks so much for being on being on the podcast and adding so much value.

Welcome to the Thinking Big Podcast. Today we have probably the most organized guest I have ever had on the show, Jess Dual. Jess is the managing partner of Red Direction, providing executive business consulting and producing the BOLD Business Podcast. She brings over 20 years of advising, consulting, and facilitation experience in operational excellence and growth management focusing on where values and goals intersect. Both practical and unexpected, her views tune into to the uniqueness of the organizations she works with. Companies working closely with Jess learn to ask the right questions and think effectively on their feet. Jess specializes in working with companies at critical points in   Today we are thinking big on how taking a present retreat equals to business performance.   From Chaos to Control 3 Step Framework to Change Your Relationship with Meetings ... and Your Team https://9n9jedi5.pages.infusionsoft.net/   Connect with Jess Dewell at the following social media link: Website https://reddirection.com/ Email contactus@reddirection.com   The BOLD Business Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/voice-of-bold-business-radio/id1250990887   Books from the episode Giraffes Can't Dance A Question of Value Do you Quantum Think   Leaders are Readers, here are some free books for you to get. Free copy of Think and Grow Rich http://bit.ly/free-think-and-grow-rich-ebook   The 14-day Think and Grow Rich Challenge https://bit.ly/tagrchallenge   Free Audibles book http://bit.ly/thinkingbigaudible   Connect with Sean Osborn at Thinking Big Coaching http://www.thinkingbigcoaching.com https://www.instagram.com/thinkingbigcoaching/ https://www.facebook.com/thinkingbigcoaching/   Until next week, remember to always think big Ratings and reviews directly impact search rankings for the Thinking Big Podcast. So please help us get more ratings and reviews.   Episode Transcription SUMMARY KEYWORDS retreat, sticky notes, people, books, business, podcast, important, thinking, ideas, week, present, leadership, meeting, big, growth, awareness, priorities   00:49 I really want to welcome you Jess to the thinking big podcast, I followed your work. I've seen the stuff that you've done. I've seen your podcast, listen to your podcasts, all great stuff. Tell the thinking big podcast listeners a little bit about you.   01:29 I don't even know where to start with that question, Shawn. It's so funny. I mean, there are so many different pieces, right? My very first job was as a Girl Scout selling Girl Scout cookies to raise money so that I could send myself to camp, right helped my family be able to send me away to go sailing or horseback riding, or just day camps where we did archery and hiked and learned how to cook and things like that all the way up to the time when I decided I was going to be a scientist. That was after I was going to be a nun. And after I was going to be a fighter pilot, but I haven't gotten yet to like truck driver. And I want to be a cross country truck driver Sunday gardener. beekeeper, right. And then in general, these days, I build businesses. So somewhere in there have been all of these experiences that have something that has propelled me forward that curiosity that I bring to the world. And so right now it's building businesses, and in fact, it has been for over 20 years. And I think I found the place being a cheerleader and a support and   02:33 an outside set of eyes, a trusted advisor for companies that are really looking to navigate a difficult situation for your post acquisition. And even just how do we do? How do we use what we have that much more than we already are? And it's interesting that you bring up, you know, stuff that you did very early on as an entrepreneur. It's funny talking with entrepreneurs.   03:01 That is a telling sign when almost every entrepreneur when they were young, did something to make money to do it. It doesn't start when you get older, I think you it's   03:15 it starts at very young age. I mean, you you you become an entrepreneur very, very young. Right, I and by the way I knew early on sales was right. But helping other people make sales and being part of something bigger, right? All the things we got as a troop of all the Girl Scout selling cookies was always more interesting to me than anything I got on my own, which was still really good. Don't get me wrong. And that's I think you're right about that, Shawn. And those traits that come out at those early ages are the ones that do seem to stay with you and maybe can be found and whatever we're doing today. I remember, I must have been in, I don't know, third or fourth grade and I would I used to make cinnamon toothpicks. So I would dip cinnamon in or I dip toothpicks and cinnamon let them soak get really hot at something like 10 cents apiece. Yeah, that's   04:06 brilliant. I was hustling toothpicks at third grade. So you were an inventor and an entrepreneur. Yeah. And here's the thing. I think that's where all of our genius comes in when you have an idea. And you mix that with a little bit of creativity. I think that's where all the cheese comes from. So I said, Well, people like cinnamon. People like toothpicks. I'm gonna combine the two and I'm gonna make cinnamon toothpicks. I had in third grade. I made a fortune in third grade doing that.   04:36 Well, no, that's brilliant. I actually may pass that on to my son who's nine these days. And he he calls himself an inventor. He doesn't really he likes to sell things, but he really thinks they're really valuable and we're still working on the you have to have something that is valuable enough for somebody to part with their money for Yes. Um   04:56 so his cardboard arcade machines are awesome.   05:00 To him, but nobody wants to pay $1 to play them.   05:05 Why not? I know, right? That's what I'm like, well, you'll have to keep working on that that's a problem. You can you can chew on that one for a little while. It's all good. And and I think that that's an important thing to consider, too, because we are at a time where we believe and we're told, and it's reinforced that we have this internal value.   05:26 Sometimes it's really hard to bring that to the surface, though, isn't it to find out? Well, what is that sweet spot of service of production of the result of the exchange of money for what we are bringing to the table? Whatever our role is, right? Yeah. And I think that's, and I think now, now, more than ever, I think that's hugely important. How much is the current situation affecting, like what you do? as an industry as as you know, this has made such huge changes?   05:53 Yeah, well, so the work that I do really is it's that resiliency piece, that resiliency mapping, that, that that stuff that seems very inefficient in the day to day, but it's like a fire drill, when you know what the fire drill is supposed to be like. And if that bell ever got pulled, or you heard that sound, you knew what to do you know, who you were looking for, you knew where to go, you knew who you were expecting there, and there was some order in it. And I think that this time has really shown us Do we have those those equivalent of the fire drills within our companies.   06:30 And if we don't, we're feeling it more than if we do. And whether even if they're dusty, even if we haven't practiced them in years, or thought about them, and they their documents, living in a drawer, collecting dust, the fact that the exercise was gone through is really a key piece in what I'm seeing, not only in my organization, but also in the companies that we serve of, Well, okay, so you have to build as you go versus because you've thought about it, it's actually a little bit easier, because you have some you have a starting point with which to respond from, versus react all the way through, right. And in some of your stuff that I've looked at, you know, you talk about a present retreat, what what is a present retreat? What exactly are you talking about? When you when you talk about that? Can I can I be real with you? That that is like a name that I settled on? Because I couldn't think of anything better. I'm a horrible namer of things. However, this one has, and this one, no, I have a lot of different meanings, which is one of the keys, it's not always straightforward. And so I'm like, Okay, let me just honor that. The present retreat for me was a time I got to take a timeout for myself and really do some strategy. And the more that I did this, the more I thought about, well, what are the things that might happen right now? And do what have we thought about them? What are the things that I need to do as a leader what is in in what's out? Am I discerning correctly, based off of the trends I see and the actual results of what's happening? And then the third piece, this concept of a retreat,   08:05 really is being able to, to unplug from things to have space. Right. And, and so that's kind of like the spa day. But it's also if you think about it in the relation in relationship to war, a retreat was not failure, a retreat was a place to pause, take stock of everything that there is, and decide how to go forward with what we have, right. So that in return to the present retreat is in the moment.   08:28 Taking that pause, what do we have? And how do we move forward? I think and I think that is such a huge problem in general, not only with leaders, but I think with with everybody, especially with, you know, all the social media, all the things that we're being bombarded with, we don't take time anymore to reflect. And to make for me, if I internalize that, it's, I need to take time to sit back and reflect on both my wins and my losses on a daily basis. Because if I don't, if I don't sit back, and I don't actually think about what I've done for that day, my wins my losses, I'm not going to learn anything. Um, and, and to me, it's, I look back over the last six months, and it's harder and harder, even though I've been at home. Most the time. I, you know, I've done you know, obviously, you know, social distancing. I actually seem like I have less time for myself. For these retreats. I spent less time I actually stopped, right. I mean, depending on the situation in your household. I know in our household. I've already mentioned my nine year old, we were assistant teachers, between the adults in the house to him. And I have to say that that right. I stopped my present retreats during that time and it was only four weeks. I do them once a week. It was only four weeks, but I realized I had not only had gone backwards. I actually when I was plugging back into them. I was like oh I can't do this. I have to plug back in. I actually had   10:00 To ramp back up and really figure it out. And so this is something that I recognize and realize that anybody that works with me, we figure out what what it is some people are disciplined enough and can can take a whole day week, that's an important thing to consider. And I think that that is ultimately my goal. I'm I'm not at a place where I will commit to that I will commit to half a day for four hours a week, I am in this closed space. And that is what I challenge all of the clients and the companies that I'm working with, to do, how do we get up to that four hours in a row that's uninterrupted and protected time? Yeah. Because think about all the distractions I don't know about you, Shawn, I am incredibly fatigued decisions. If people would just tell me what to do from here on out, I would gladly follow directions I am exhausted from all of the decisions to be made. Yeah. And the present retreat actually can help with that some. But when we have so much extra pressure on all these other areas, we really do like to your point, we have to take that self time. Yeah. And Maverick, one of my mentors, john Maxwell, he actually takes a week, at the end of every year, an entire week, and goes through all his journals, all his every one of his planners, his daily planners, his weekly planners, and literally, and I've done it, and boy, it's it's hard, hard work to do that. But it's, you know, for an entire week going over. So the same thing you know, you're talking about on a daily basis on a weekly basis. He actually does it on an annual basis as well. And it is telling you it is so important to do those it is absolutely That's impressive. I do things semi annually. I do things twice a year, but I don't it's not a week. Or it might be a day and it might be two days, but it's never been a week and now and definitely not all at once. Ooh, I think I have a new bar, Shawn.   12:00 I've just taken that and raised it up a little bit. Yes, you did. And that's what it's all about. Right? That the discipline and the willingness and the commitment to understand where is the opportunity? And what is what are the skills? We actually have to have to move toward that? Yeah. Now, what do you think are some of the most important reasons that we sit back and reflect on why do these retreats? I mean, what are what are some of the, you know, what are three of the biggest things you get? And when you teach your your clients and stuff, you know, what, what's the purpose that they that they do these? Why is it so, so important?   12:35 So there are three soft skills, and there are three outcomes. The three soft skills that are developed in this is the ability to discern, right? What filters do I need? And can I trust in in? Can I run information through with confidence? The second is ruthlessness. I love this word. I love this word. Because we are not ruthless enough in business, we have to know if something is out. Well, let's let it be out. And let's not be worried about the fact that we'll if we don't say yes, we won't have the buy in from our team. Or we might stifle the creativity of our team. If we need to say no, we can actually then be and clearly say no, we can actually, we're actually better at saying well, this is where we're going. And here's the guide with which to work within. And then those people with ideas are going to come back with better ideas that move things forward, because they have guidance. And they've been shown a path that everybody gets to move toward together. And the third is then the skill of prioritization, which sounds easy. But after everything has been filtered with that discernment, and after it's been ruthlessly allowed through, then that concept of prioritization is, can I keep it front and center until it's done, and focus on the priority, not time priorities, the priority, until until it's done. And so Scott, soft skill development is really important, because that's what we're modeling to our teams, Shawn. And when our teams are able to pick up some of these skills, I know, you know, john Maxwell talks, your mentor, he's somebody that I am, have read some of his books as well. And he talks about this a lot. We lead by example. And so the soft skills that we embrace are the ones that we are modeling, which means we're teaching which means we're stating what is what is okay and what is not okay in our behaviors and the way that work is done.   14:27 And then, you know, we're talking about some outcomes of this, really, the outcomes of a present retreat happen to be that we can reduce the whole amount of overwhelm. So when something crazy happens, like a pandemic, or when something crazy happens, like we get called out of town unexpectedly, or we have to we have a family situation, or our neighbors really need us, or what we can really do is recognize that we're we're more likely to be in sync because we practice them   15:00 Because we take the time to reflect, as you said at the beginning, and then the second thing they are, is that, you know,   15:09 we're never we can actually shift away from putting out fires to proactively responding. Oh, I know what I want to do here. Oh, yeah. Oh, you know what you want to do here? Great. Tell me. Yep, that fits within, off we go. Off you go. And then the thing, you know, the third thing there is, it's much, it's much easier to find that moment, or the signs that lead to the fact that a growth plan has been outgrown and requires change, right? And now on your, on your stuff, or on your retreats. Do you? How do you do a specific thing? I mean, is it a specific way that you do them? Is it you know, random, I mean, how do you how do you do your? Yeah, mine, they're pretty structured. And I didn't, okay, so when I discovered this, and I'm not the first person to discover CEO time or reflection time and or my present retreat time, okay. By far I'm not, this was my journey. It started out, oh, I've got four hours. Right. I caught up on my emails, the first time in years, I had like five emails in my inbox. Every drawer in my desk was clean. every area of my office was dusted. My my little bin that I have to put all my recycled papers in when I'm done was empty all the time. And then it got to the point where I was like, hmm, cool, I feel caught up, there's nothing else to do I get to, I get to learn what's next. So I had to be busy for a while until there was nothing to be busy with. And then came the time where I was like, oh, gosh, this spaciousness allows all kinds of ideas to show up. And so I've actually implemented a whole bunch of other systems that come from that, that helped me in my workflow. And I will tell you, all of the clients that I have taken through this go through the same thing, they even if it's just an hour at a time, and they're working up from that, the first several sessions are Oh, let me let me catch up. Oh, I have a voicemail. Oh, I have that report. Oh, I have that idea. And see the thing of a present retreat isn't to catch up. It's actually to do the thinking that deep work Cal Newport would say that the deep work   17:17 and and understand what can we do to ensure we can find where are we in sync? Where are we out of sync? Right? Right. And I think that that's a huge piece of it right there just being able to sit in the time. Well, I can tell you, you would have your work absolutely out for you. Because I think right now I've got 20,000 emails   17:40 in my inbox,   17:42 I've got shit. See, I said it. Shit. I've got it everywhere. Let me tell you, you would have your work absolutely cut out.   17:53 Oh, I have sticky notes. Every see mine and mine are piles and ideas of sticky notes on they're stuck to everything around my around the office there in books. I actually was preparing for this podcast. And I was like, I know we may talk about books. And because I know you like to talk about books and reference books. And so I and I brought I brought nine ideas for books grouped in threes, just because I was like, Well, what if so I have sticky notes and books across strewn across my desk right now that I'm like, maybe I should leave them out. See I have I haven't even made it a sticky note yet. I'm still drawing on my desk.   18:30 I love sticky notes. And the colors end up meaning something even though I don't know what they are at first. All that good stuff, my anxiety levels going up just listening to colors, sticky notes. See, okay, by the way, I just like color because it made it seem less scary. And it turned out I actually was using the colors to mean something. And so for me, there's a system, but there's no way I could describe that system or ask anybody else because if somebody tried to teach me the system that I inherently have, I would be like, you know, what would happen if you went to the store for the blue sticky that you have to have for something and they were out of blue? See that? Right?   19:10 That doesn't see that doesn't bother me. I'll just insert another color and we'll just know   19:15 that   19:17 I just that's way over. That's way over my paygrade Are you a perfectionist?   19:24 Yes. And yes, I can see why you would then have to have the exact same color.   19:32 We dry girl we digress we   19:35 so on getting back to you know the retreat. One of the things that I you know, I don't have a specific, I guess I have a specific way that I do kind of my thinking and stuff but to me when I do these reflections, I do these retreats.   19:50 To me, that's when I get most of my creative ideas. things come to me from a creative standpoint of things I should do. Now the problem is I don't know   20:00 Normally, I have sticky notes with me. So I forget, five minutes after I think, but I have some amazing ideas. So now I need you to teach me the sticky note. So I can take those amazing ideas and actually put them on a.   20:13 I was people could see this. Okay, so here's how I this is actually how I work because I don't know. But if you're not tactile, it wouldn't work, Shawn. So what I do is I have a, I have two boxes that I set on my desk because I put everything if I'm around, and I'm out, I always have sticky notes with me. It's random little teeny, tiny pieces of paper. And so I'll put things on them. I have, and this is what I actually do my present retreat, I have the reports that I pull that I'm looking at, I have the issues at hand, I have a dynamic SWOT for what's going on in the business at any point in time. And I call it dynamic because we use it that way. And then I have these two boxes, I have the now and near box of sticky notes. And I have the future, which is six months to a year in the future. And by the way, that's actually drawn on with a sticky note.   21:02 The future   21:04 do you notice? I did I cut the sticky note sticky part to label my boxes? Oh my god. See? Now remember, when I let's go back just a few minutes. I said I have 20,000 emails in my inbox. Yeah. If I went to sticky notes, I would have sticky notes wallpaper everywhere. They would be just as disorganized as   21:25 as my email so well. And here's the thing, the only thing that goes in those boxes are my ideas, or initiatives or concepts because I haven't discerned them yet. I haven't been ruthless about do they fit with where our current goals are? And does it align with our long term mission. And I don't know if they fit our priorities. But they're things I don't want to forget. So they have they have a place to go. Because I don't want to take into my mind. But I also know I don't want to forget them. And so what you saw today is a Friday, I do my president retreats on Monday. And so they'll get weeded out because I'll go through the the near and now on I touch every week and stuff is coming out of there. If and if there's things that I can actually get done, then it goes into other systems and some stuff like that. But it's the time I have to reflect on all of the ideas that I was able to capture goes in there. And you know, I mean, and so for me, it actually helped because I quit feeling like I was forgetting things. I quit feeling like I was missing opportunities be and I quit feeling like I don't have time to really assess them. Because I made time. And in that time I can recognize and spend spend thoughtfulness does it work, does it fit? And if not, was it really for me? Or was it for somebody else that I can be in service to right? See what did the genius thing about what I do is I forget what I forget. So then I just don't? I don't even remember? I don't know. You know, can you teach me that?   22:55 It's been years in the making years, years of training? Oh, well, if you ever figured out the first step, help me out because I could save a few trees.   23:07 Now I was on your website. And one of the things that you know, again, I'm I love john Maxwell, I love leadership stuff. And you, you have a thing called dimensional leadership. I'll explain some of that, because I think that is a great, a great system. It's a great skills. It's, I really liked how you put the dimensional leadership up there.   23:27 Okay, so dimensional leadership starts with being able to say yes and no, as as a leader. So this present retreat is almost like a prerequisite. Is it in? Or is it out? And being able to be totally clear about that? And not feeling guilty? When the answer has to be No, okay? Because that's awareness of self. And that's awareness of the responsibility and accountability that we've taken in whatever our role is, and how we're showing up, whether that's at work, whether that's at home, whether that's in our community, wherever. So then you take that and once you are so solid in yourself, you can now actually really see and hear and seek to understand the people around you. But if we're unsure, and we're unclear, there's no we're we're working through a fog. So if I was unclear, Shawn, and I'm trying to listen to you, I have a much less chance of fully understanding and making the connection and getting the true information I need to be able to do whatever I need to do intentionally in our interaction. So removing that fog is key. So that's where the present retreat is a big part of it. And so it's like putting your so that first part is put your own mask on before you help anybody else. When you fly in a plane. That's what they tell you. And if you don't have a shirt, you can't give your own shirt away. You have to have your own shirt to be able to move forward and create something to be able to help somebody else get the shirt that they need. And so that is something that I think that's really hard.   25:00 hard to remember, as a leader, because there's a lot of there's a lot of judgment that comes both self and other. And so when we're talking about dimensional leadership, there's huge levels of awareness. And so that first one is, are we solid in ourself? And then what habits do we have? And what habits do those around us have? And can we use them for good? And if we can't use them for good, then we start thinking about how do we have to change them. But really, the ultimate piece of dimensional leadership is, every single time you add a person to the thought process, you're increasing awareness and increasing leadership, yourself, first, your business second, or your your responsibility to the business second, then the people that you work with side by side, the people you report to the people who report to you this any other stakeholders, every single time you do that you're adding this layer of awareness that when each one has clarity around it, and is built from a place of very clear intent. There is so much information that can be harnessed, there is so much opportunity that can be leveraged. And I find it comes with practice. That's what it is. It's practice. Yeah. And what do you think's the biggest? Like when you're out working with clients, you're out working with people? What do you think is the biggest issue right now, with leadership? People in leadership, I mean, I see people, the biggest problem that I see with working with people is, someone will get put in a leadership position, because they're a good at whatever it is that they're whatever, if they're an engineer, they're a good engineer. So now that makes you a good people person that makes you a good leader. And that's to me, I see that I see that more in corporate America than in anything that you get promoted, just because you're good at what you do. But what what do you see as some of the biggest problems with leadership on the people that you're working with? What came up first for me, was that we're all too tired.   27:04 And the reason we're tired especially now is we're having decision fatigue, are we doing what's right for ourselves? Is everybody that we're in touch with from the decisions that we're making going to be impacted by that? How do I then amplify that out to the people who report to me to the company that I'm supporting to the community that uses the product and all of those different things. So there's, there's a tiredness. And that's, that's part of it. I think another one, though,   27:36 is it comes back to awareness. And it's this, you were talking about promoting, for promoting because of performance, and not necessarily having all of the skills to do what needs to be done at that next level up. And I would say delegate versus dump is a big one. People talk about delegating, but really what they're doing is they're getting the things they don't like off their plate. And this happens in corporate America. And this happens in small business. This also happens in relationships. Oh my god. Yes. Don't tell my husband, my wife. Yeah, my wife.   28:11 I want to hear this story. Oh, I tend to dump   28:20 do see I we are both dumping grounds. And in fact, we've learned to we've learned who does what so we just stay at it, we get we have our own lanes. So there is no delegation and there is no dumping in our, in our marriage, there's Get out of my lane, or Hey, that's actually yours, it goes in your lane. See, I actually backup the dump truck to her lane and just   28:42 dump it all. Oh, Shawn. Oh, that's hilarious. Well, you know it, right. You know it. And I know, see, for me, I when I was first starting out, I dumped numbers, I forgot the governance part of business. And I was like, whatever things can happen, things are happening. It's all good. I was able to do more when I actually looked at it, right, it was being done, but I wasn't, I wasn't investing time or energy into it. And I think that's the difference in delegation is that we're, we must invest the time to know the purpose for the role, how it aligns to our how aligns to the work that we're trying to do. And having somebody that likes to do that work. And then actually being able to receive the work that has been completed to hear and be able to ask questions comes back to dimensional leadership, right? We can't know it all. So who are we going to put our attention and effort into so that they can put their attention and effort into creating what we need so we can use it effectively? Right? Yeah. And, you know, you talked about on the doing your retreats on Monday, do you by chance, I mean, what is your thought process on like doing weekly, or daily journals or daily   30:00 You know, the day planners type thing? Yeah, I personally, I have to have a day time I noticed when I don't do like a, if I don't plan out my day, before the day starts, I end up not doing anything. I have to I have to have that list. I've got to it's kind of like doing the retreat. It's like every day, I've got to sit down, it's okay. To I'm doing this at 3am doing this, because I don't I just get consumed by the crap of the day, you know, the buyers? Ah, here. Yeah, um, I am not a fan. my calendar is probably my best friend and my worst enemy. I'm pretty me personally. And so yes, part of a president retreat is actually looking at the weekend. What are the priorities for the week? What are the priorities for the rest of the quarter? What are the priorities for the rest of the year. And so then gets to look at what's going on each day. I refuse to do more than three big things in one day. Because there's a lot of little stuff I want to have to also have to fit in shows up that needs to be taken care of, sometimes things that I want to do. And so I limit myself to three priorities or initiatives I call I think in a day, I don't know I'm going back to the Stephen Covey, Boulder theory, I only have three boulders in a day. And that's going to be my biggest heaviest work that requires the most creativity that requires the most critical thinking that requires the most presence. And those are going to be the things that must get done and everything else is a bonus.   31:36 And one of the now one of the things I did want to bring up because I think it's such a great thing. But I want to talk about your podcast a little bit as well. And it is the bold business podcast that does a great, great, great podcast and I'm telling you, you've been you've been busy on that you do you have a lot of a lot of content out there a lot of great content out there as far as leadership and there's so much stuff out on that pocket. How is a doing a podcast? How's that been for for you? How's it   32:06 it turned into one of my boulders, Shawn, and just and then I had to discern it. Okay, so this was a backwards thing. Usually here it's in or it's out right? And you're ruthless that way. I was ruthless about figuring out how do you make it part of what we do here at redirection because it is my absolute hands down favorite thing to do with being guests on podcasts like yours, your end, all the shows that I've listened to, and the information that you're sharing is fantastic. And I come away with an at least one idea of some for something that I'm working on, in the near future or the day of as I'm listening. So that's fantastic. And you know, there's something to be said about just having conversation. So the way I started was I'm like, I kept talking to all these really cool people and getting really inspired. And they're telling me about these business problems that they've been grappling with. And I was like, I'm learning from this and inspired by it. Other people will be too, so I started recording them and sharing them in there came the podcast. Yeah, that's fantastic. It's a it's a great podcast. And I love the way that you have it on your homepage, by the way. That is Thank you, that is fantastic. I you I put the podcast at the bottom of your, your homepage. And for all the listeners, you know, we're going to there's gonna be links to your to your podcasts, there's gonna be links to your to your website, which is red direction.com. And the one of the things that you had on there was you had the the three step framework that will change both your relationships with meetings and with your team. What, what is that that is? And that's something that all the listeners can go and download and get this concept. All right, this concept for the three step framework to change your relationship with meetings is that none of us have enough time. So I'm I'm saying, Wow, wouldn't it be awesome if and I challenge you to take four hours a week in a row uninterrupted to have a president retreat, because it will change your business, because of all the things that will come up the way that you interface it will be uniquely your own to your workflow and style and companies initiatives.   34:09 But you need more time. And that's why I created this, this little book. And it's little it's short. It's only like 10 pages long, I think. And the purpose of it is to talk about what is a good meeting. How do you have a great meeting? And do you really need the meetings that you've got happening? No. I know. Do you know? Okay, so here I did this, right? I believe in walking the walk. So I come up with this thing. And I'm like, this is great. And I'm like, but I don't think I do it. So I put myself through the process. And I got rid of 25% of my meetings right off the bat. I 25% more time in my week by following my own advice. That's genius.   34:51 Sounds like oh my gosh, this works. And I will tell you, the team that works with me. They were like, oh, you're a little more accessible. Oh, you're responding to us a little faster. Oh,   35:00 This is so great. Yes, yes. And yes. So I mean, for years I was a, when people asked what I did for a living, I'd say, Well, I'm a professional meeting goer.   35:12 Oh, I know. And between the two, it's, you know, it was kind of up in the air. But yeah, it's a. So yeah, this, this framework, I think is fantastic. And how to be on time, right? We, we have unwritten agreements, Shawn, and like your inboxes, crazy, your professional meeting goer I've had both of those things happen to me, and they still happen to me. And so these are the types of things they're tools that we just get to rely on the information that you're sharing what you know, what the john Maxwell coaching programs do, what redirection is bringing to the table, all of these things are incredibly important to realize that you don't have to master them, we just have to know when we need them. Right. And I think that that's, I think that in itself is a science and an art. And there's mastery just in that. Yeah. And I've got all the listeners, everyone who listens to this, that there's absolute gold nuggets in what's being said, and go get that download, I'm telling you, if you get one out of any of this podcast, but if you get one thing that's going to help you save time, that's going to help you be better at what you do, it's gonna be better, it's gonna make you a better leader.   36:27 How long does it take to go through that?   36:29 I was gonna, let's see. Now, it'll take you about 15 minutes or so to read and digest. And it'll if you actually do what's suggested, it will, it will seem like it's adding time because you go into you have to analyze each meeting and go into each meeting with an intention. Right, like, so for our, our connection today, Shawn, I knew it was going to be a meeting that I didn't want to miss I wanted to be prepared for and I wanted to show up and have a great conversation with you. So I spent time going through what did we you know, what did I want to talk about making sure all the information was set? And how could I not only show up and share information? How do I show up and really support your work and what you were doing right? And that was my intention. And it took it took time at the beginning. But you know what, I feel so good about our conversation so far. I'm never gonna, I'm gonna get done and go, Oh, I wish I could have said 25 more things at the same point in time. I'm glad it's Wow, I wish I had never said that.   37:33 That's what this that's what this handout is really you know, this ebook. And this process is all about, because I don't want to I don't want to make people late for their next meetings, I want to be conscious and aware about value their time. Because when we let time slip, it just eats up like you said, if we don't have things on our calendar,   37:53 the day goes away. And we're like, What just happened? We did a lot of stuff. But what actually just happened today. And this allows us to be much more intentional about it. And you mentioned that you had some books pulled out what are what are three of your favorite books of all time. Okay, so I have I have books about growth. I have books about business, and I have books about decision making and strategy. Which group would you like? No, let me ask you this. What color sticky note is on each one of those? Oh, you know what? They're all the same color. They're all they're all like this teal blue? It's my Don't forget this sticky note. What is your favorite on growth? My favorite on growth? Okay, so I did bring three, I'm going to share this. My absolute positive favorite growth is children's book called giraffes can't dance. I've never heard of that book. And it's written by geils, Andrea and guy, Parker Reese. And it is the best book about coming back to what we were talking about with dimensional leadership. How do we show up as ourselves? How do we listen to what we actually have to bring to the table and then do it? Yeah. And everyone listening, I'm gonna put there's gonna be in the show notes. There's gonna be links to all these books. So that I think that's important that when any book is shared, that there's a link to people to be able to go find it. Yeah. Oh, good. I'm glad you're gonna do that, because I was gonna offer to send you links if it was helpful, because these are great ones. Um, and I don't even remember where we found this. But when I found it at a bookstore when my son was tiny, tiny, and when he grew out of it, it became it got added to my business library here in the office.   39:38 That's a book that grows with you. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Do you wanna hear the other two? Sure. Absolutely. The second one is called a question of values by Hunter Lewis. Great. This is something that helps us with our discernment, which helps us with our ruthlessness and it helps us with the prioritization because what we believe in   40:00 really drives,   40:02 really drives. And something that I talk about too is what you prioritize is what you value. And so it's really important to know what you value because if what you're prioritizing isn't what you value, there's a leak. And that leak is going to be draining and it's going to become heavy and hard, and we're not gonna be able to do what we need to do. Right. Right. And here's the third one. This was written by Diane Collins, it's called, do you quantum think?   40:28 Wow. Of the three Look at this. Of the three you can tell I This one is like within hands reach. It has water spilled on it, there's a coffee stain or two on the inside.   40:39 This one was back when I had star sticky notes for a while. Have you ever seen those giant sticky notes? Oh, yes. I'm so glad I don't have them because they don't fit into anything.   40:52 Your wall? they're grateful.   40:54 Oh, I don't I don't want anything on my wall. That would be a little overwhelming to me.   41:04 This and so quantum thing. Um, they, they're they're basically just saying all the time. Can you look at this from a different perspective? Can you look at this from a different perspective. So the reason the reason it's so well loved is because it's something that when I need when I need to look at something a different way. And I feel stuck in the moment, or especially during my present retreats, outcomes, this book, and I will just open it to a page and I will start reading. And then I'll be like, Okay, good. That was what I needed. And I can look at this. And it doesn't matter what page of the book it is, I can look at whatever I'm stuck on in a different way. And it'll help me move forward. So those are my three growth books. That's fantastic. And I know about one of those I don't know about the the first one or the last one. So I'm gonna, that's those are two books that I'm definitely going to check out. But just I absolutely want to thank you for being on the podcast you you've added so much value to my listener tonight. So I really do appreciate your time and all of your knowledge. I absolutely love it when when people have a passion for something. And you hear it all the time with people go go an inch wide and a mile deep. And people who just dive into what they're passionate about and do what they love. It's just it to me, I get so much out of doing a podcast with like you it's like I get to talk to so many amazing people that are so dedicated and what they do in such a great niche that that fits them. Perfect. So thank you, thank you so much. And and I know that the listeners are going to get tremendous amount of value from what you shared with us today. So thank you very much. I'm so glad to have been here today with you, Sean. Thank you. Well, I want to thank just for being on the podcast today. And be sure to go to the show notes and go. I'm gonna have links to the books that we talked about. There's links to her podcast, the bold business podcast, and make sure you go to a read. Make sure you go to her website red direction, calm. And again. It was absolutely fantastic. Having just on the podcast today