Are you clueless about financial planning? Do you have a 401k, sitting there, wondering what it’s doing?Do you even know what it’s supposed to be doing for your future?Are you still under the impression that you shouldn’t touch your 401k until it’s time to retire?Do you think you’ll have no money to retire unless your home is paid off?Our guest is on a mission to make the word “retirement” disappear and change the mindset of every working American. Rather than working your entire life trying to save enough money to hopefully live a life you love… instead of living a life where you get to do all of the things you desire, starting TODAY!His name is Charlie Epstein. He’s a good friend, a client and a 26-year member of Strategic Coach. He’s going to show you how he’s able to make something as dull as paste (i.e: financial planning) interesting. 😱Charlie’s in a highly commoditized, very challenging market that is governed by all sorts of rules and regulations but he also happens to be the only financial advisor in the world with a one-man show, called “Yield of Dreams, Paychecks for Life.” He has the unique ability to get outside of his “box.” He’s open, creative, and expansive, all rolled up in a charismatic personality.Like Mike, Charlie has always been fascinated with the entertainment world. Growing up, his mother was an opera singer, and her father was a starving artist. His father and grandfather were both entrepreneurs, so he was always torn between two worlds.It was that convergence of the right and left brains that made him question everything growing up. If he didn’t think somebody knew what they were doing, he questioned it, so when he started his first business, he didn’t know any better. He thought it was up to him to find creative ways to sell commoditized products.He’s always been enamored with how to create an “experience” for people so they feel special, unique and HEARD. His ministry in life is to ease people’s pain and suffering about their money, whether they’re broke or multimillionaires.Charlie always focused on “how do you allow people to have a different experience about their financial life?” He finds it always came down to, “what did you want to be when you grew up? What do you do now? What happened? Are you going to live your dreams? How do you get around the obstacles that stand in your way?”Those obstacles could be compliance issues, (because every industry and government them.) or life issues. Then it became a balancing act and how to get around them.He’s always looked at the entertainment, marketing, and creative worlds and how to combine those with the financial world (in spite of compliance) and look for industry bypasses. One industry bypass he created in 1992 was something he called the 401k Coaching Program, (which came out of working with Dan Sullivan,) and “thinking about his thinking” inside of the financial industry.He thought, if he could teach financial advisors how to be better at what they’re doing in the 401k retirement world, that would be valuable. People asked him “why would you teach your competitors how to get better? That means they’re going to be better than you and you’ll be out of business.”On the contrary. He was able to get major companies like Nationwide and Fidelity to write him checks for millions of dollars. Today he’s coached over 10,000 advisors around the country. By starting that business, he created a shortcut to not only coach advisors, but consumer too.It was an awakening for Charlie when he realized he could live both in the entertainment and financial worlds simultaneously.Charlie’s company is completely different from any other financial organization you’ve ever worked with in one significant way. Everybody else is in the business of getting you to save and invest your money. Charlie’s only job is to get you to spend your money right now.Most people are holding onto their money because they’re afraid they won’t have enough when they retire, but think of it this way…isn’t right now the healthiest you’re ever going to be? Why wait until you’re even older?Take one of Charlie’s clients for instance. He came to Charlie because he was getting ready to retire and wanted to explore his options. He was a really hard-working guy but never felt like he’d been acknowledged. Charlie asked him “what’s the one thing you don’t have, that you would love to have? What’s the one thing that would “razzle-dazzle” you as a tough guy?”The client immediately got a grin on his face and Charlie said, THAT… what’s THAT?” He said he always wanted a Corvette and without hesitation, rattled off the exact year, color and style he wanted. Charlie asked, “why don’t you buy one?” He said because the people currently handling his finances told him he couldn’t even retire and was going to run out of money. Understandably, he was freaked out.Charlie told him that based on the numbers, he was going to be fine. He showed him how they could refinance his house, by pulling the “dead equity” out, allowing him to buy that corvette PLUS a new barn and driveway so he could work on cars. He reorganized his “thinking about his thinking.”He was able to show the client how to unlock dead assets to pay for joy, happiness, wonderment and play. Guess who the client chose to manage his money? 😉If you’re thinking to yourself, “my advisory firm doesn’t ask these questions, and we don’t have that kind of relationship!” If you’re looking for something like this, something different then you really need to reach out to Charlie and his team. He’s going to send you some really cool, free tools and start a conversation that focuses on possibility and freedom. That’s it, no pressure.To hear more about Charlie’s experiences with stand-up comedy and how that led to creating his own one-man show and podcast, listen today or watch on YouTube and SHARE with all your friends!

Imagine if you were able to create enough passive income and cash flow from investments so that you never had to work another day in your life?What would you DO with your financial FREEDOM? Travel to exotic places? Buy your dream home? Spend more time with loved ones? Donate lots of $$ to your favorite charities?Mike Koenigs has a confession to make. He’s made equity investments well over seven figures in lots of businesses. Done poorly, equity investments are basically zero-interest loans for an indefinite period of time in exchange for ownership. Unfortunately for him, very few of them have had liquidation events and a couple tanked – a total loss.This interview is just as much a story about how Mike’s entire investment strategy changed, but how that happened – and who influenced him.Meet Justin Donald, author of the brand new book, “The Lifestyle Investor – The 10 Commandments of Cash Flow Investing for Passive Income and Financial Freedom.In the book and this week’s episode, Justin shares how to transition from earned income or needing to have a job or business to creating passive income that provides for your lifestyle and builds equity. He’ll also talk about “invisible deals” that aren’t normally available to the public, how to find them and how to use his “strategy stack” to improve deal terms, and reduce risk.Whether you’ve never invested or are a sophisticated investor, this episode will change the way you think about money and investing. If you are looking for financial freedom to live life on your terms, without a job or a business, this episode is for YOU.PLUS you’ll find out how to get a copy of Justin’s brand new book FREE and when you decide to order the book, all the proceeds are going to charity so no matter what… everyone wins.Mike met Justin a year and a half ago and in minutes, he changed the way Mike thought about investing forever. He has a really unique strategy and investing methodology. He’s a brilliant guy and adheres to strong family values. He is an action-taking MACHINE and we connected deeply.Justin has been investing since he was 18 years old starting with a Roth IRA after hearing a talk that he should start saving for his future. After that, he was hooked and invested every year since (he’s 40 now). In the beginning, it wasn’t a lot. He was making money and paying his way through college so he decided to just put his money somewhere and get it to work for him.His first big win came when he started generating enough cash flow income from an investment so his wife could quit her job. She was a teacher at that time, earning $36,000 a year. She had a rigid Monday through Friday schedule with weekends and summers off. Justin often had to work weekends and summer was his busiest season. They wanted to be able to travel together and live life on their terms so he thought, “if I can replace her income with passive income, then she won’t have to work if she doesn’t want to.”He found a mobile home park for sale, ran the numbers, and knew that by buying it he’d generate the cash flow to be able to replace her income. He also likes cash flow investments that pay TODAY. He doesn’t want to invest in real estate and hope that appreciation kicks in and he makes money in the future.The cash flow from that very first purchase was able to replace her $36,000 a year income. They bought her freedom and started their family. Shortly after that, he replaced his income and what it cost them to pay their bills and live comfortably. It was a huge sense of relief, knowing that he technically didn’t have to work.Justin says he wants all of his investments to protect his lifestyle without working more hours. His goal is to buy his time back. He doesn’t want to work for money. He says if he’s going to work for money, he wants it to be because he loves what he’s doing so much, that he’d do it for free.Another MAJOR takeaway is that the terms someone provides on any particular investment, are terms that are good for them. That’s why they presented them, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be good for you. Justin likes to push back on terms to get to a point where he feels 100% comfortable. He’s okay with walking away from any deal if they can’t get there. No issues, no judgment, but whatever terms he’s given, that doesn’t mean that that’s the end of the day terms. He looks at it as a starting point.This episode is so jam-packed with valuable, actionable information that we can’t possibly tell you about all of it here. Watch or listen to get the rest of Justin’s investing strategy stack and to hear about a couple of really big brand deals that he did.Mike’s had the time to get to know this man and he’s really extraordinary at everything he does, everything he touches, and the way he treats his wife and his daughter, and everyone that he works with, with the highest degree of respect says a lot about who he is. He has a book, product, mastermind, and he’s doing one-on-one coaching where he teaches people the mindset and strategies he’s using. If you ever get a chance to work with Justin, do it! Mike can assure you as soon as this book gets out, getting access to Justin is going to get a lot harder.Listen now to the episode or watch the YouTube video here. And ake sure to check out Justin’s Podcast and sign up for his Life-Style Investing Course.

What are the TOP 10 Opportunities hidden in plain sight or available right now to grow and scale your business now EVEN IF you were affected by the pandemic?That’s what this episode is all about, along with the latest trends, gadgets and investments to focus on to take advantage of the current climate and use it to grow your wealth instead of staying stagnant and waiting to “see what happens next.”This episode is all about the post pandemic opportunity and what you’re going to do about it.In other words, is your business prepared for the post pandemic crash and crisis? Mike will also be giving you his “10 post pandemic growth strategies to make 2021 your most profitable year yet,” but something that is REALLY important about this episode is that it is very, very visual.If you listen to this episode, Mike will describe everything that’s on screen, but he highly recommends heading over to www.CapabiltyAmplifier.com/2021 where you’ll be able to visually see this episode streaming on YouTube. He has lots of props and he’s super excited to share them with you.We don’t have to tell you that this has been a CRAZY year for most people. We won’t repeat what you already know. We like to stay on the positive side of things. That being said, there are a TON of businesses that have done exceptionally well during this unprecedented pandemic.Dan and Mike talk a lot about “future focus,” and what you can do right now and that’s really what this episode is all about.The largest wealth transfer in human history is happening right now.Professor Scott Galloway talks about how in 2009, ecommerce represented about 6% of all retail sales in the United States. That increased 1% each year up until last year when the pandemic struck. Inside of eight weeks, we went from 16% to 27%.The world and business shot ahead about five years due to the usage of Zoom.We had no choice. We didn’t have travel, the hotel industry or live events. Everything crashed and burned but those who changed have done very well. Those who didn’t are struggling to survive. The advancement in mindset, thinking about what has value, shifted dramatically and is a huge part in the preparation for the post pandemic, chaos, crisis and opportunity.Through an entrepreneurs lens, Mike asks, “where are the opportunities inside of this chaos and confusion? How can I add value and serve and provide more value?” That’s what Mike thinks being a great entrepreneur (at this point in time) is all about.Here are Mike’s “Top 10 Post Pandemic Growth Strategies”These come from a variety of case studies, observations, and thoughts Mike’s had this past year. (Watch the Youtube video for links, tools, resources and case studies you can model.)1. Craft a Pandemic Proof Offer:Elevate what you already do and move into a big ticket offer targeted at an audience with $$$Virtualize, Digitize, DematerializeCraft a story that’s tied to your brand that articulates your product experience with social proofElevate you and your brand properly with authority and status using content marketingUse one or more channel to “bring ‘em in.”2. Narrow, Deep and Expensive:Build deep, meaningful relationships with potential clients.Design offers that can exist in any world, any country, any industryDon’t be afraid to double or triple your pricesSeparate yourself as a “category of one”3. ZOOM it up!Sell and deliver with Zoom/videoThe perception of live vs. virtual is zeroThe biggest players increased revenue, sales and satisfaction using ZoomGo international4. Create and Borrow Super CredibilityIf you can’t be found on Google immediately, you’re at a huge disadvantage and have some work to do.Content marketing is critical for generating leads and credibility5. Never trust a Platform. EVER. Email Still rules.Facebook, Google and Social Media in general is EVIL. You MUST control and build your listsEmail reigns for revenueInvest in cold email6. Podcasts to Get Clients and Rapidly Create ContentEither get yourself on podcasts where your ideal clients will hear you or start your own.7. WHO Everything. Stop Stepping in How PiesEliminate fixed expensesStop asking how. Ask who, instead.Create collaborations8. Invert: Prepare to Go Back to PhysicalEvents will come backReinvent and zig when everyone else zagsStand out and be different9. Accept CryptocurrencyPayPal and Stripe are supporting it this yearBig Players are taking partAlmost zero feesEasy, easy, easy!Sign up here www.MrBz.com/Coinbase10. The Future “ZOOM” is Artificial Reality and Virtual RealityIt’s intimate, connected and immersiveI’m delivering a new program with VR this year!How can you use it today?To hear and watch a much more in depth description of the Top 10 Post Pandemic Growth Strategies, listen to this episode now, and watch the YouTube video!Dan Sullivan Called this “the finest piece of marketing material Strategic Coach has had in 31 years. It’s a work of art.At the end of this episode, Mike shares a very special video that he produced for Strategic Coach. It was designed to overcome every sales objection they run into and describe a day in the life of a Strategic Coach member, both physical and virtual.It’s the result of having interviewed over 100 members, the executive team, the sales team, looking at years of buyer and customer data. My team and I set out to craft a short story that would be easy to share for salespeople, clients and customers, but also be shareable. More importantly, it’s Mike’s story inside of Strategic Coach. Have a look and let Mike know what you think!After you listen to the interview, leave me a message and let me know what you think of this episode OR ask a question you’d like Dan or Mike to answer in an upcoming episode!

WOW. The end of 2020 is here and I, for one am glad to see it go… but I am looking forward to the year ahead and reflecting on all of the GREAT things that happened this past year.That’s why we’re gifting you with a REWIND episode of our #1 downloaded podcast episode today!Have a listen and enjoy. It’s a great one and I’m super grateful for YOU!When you’re the most interesting person in the room, you’re in the wrong room!Mike recently had the pleasure of sitting down to interview Rich Litvin, “The Accidental Entrepreneur,” for this podcast. In case you’re not familiar, Rich is a hugely successful author of three bestselling books, he runs a high level mastermind group, and is a highly sought after business coach who only works with five clients per year and gets $100,000 per client!Why is Rich “The Accidental Entrepreneur”? Well … because his dad was an entrepreneur and did his best to persuade his three sons to do anything BUT become entrepreneurs. But it turns out, many years later, guess what all three sons are! Yup, you guessed it. They’re entrepreneurs!He was a high school teacher for 15 years and eventually a vice principal because that is his passion. But he lost his job in 2005 and began a new career as a coach. He didn’t know you were supposed to have a business plan or how to write a business plan, so for the last 14 years his one-line business plan has been, “Meet fun and interesting people.”During our time together, Rich and I delve into some pretty interesting subjects that I know you’ll get a lot out of. Have a look:The 4% Rule: • The way to get better when you’re an extraordinary top performer, and in an arena where you could die, is to only push yourself 4% beyond your current capabilities.The Three Traps (that leaders get themselves into in their evolution as business owners, people, and SuperBeings): • One – The Isolation Trap: “I’m not lonely, but I feel very alone.” • Two – The Imposter Trap: “People admire me, but I feel like a fraud.” • Three – The Emptiness Trap: “I have everything I ever wanted, but I feel empty.Serving people SO powerfully that they never forget your conversation for the rest of their life.The power of LISTENING and the willingness to sit in the uncomfortable silence.Serving people vs. pleasing people.“The dream behind the dream”: The difference between what people SAY they want vs. what they ACTUALLY want.“When you’re the most interesting person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”What are you tolerating?Who are you being right now in your life that if your child grew up to be that way, you’d feel like, “How did I miss that?”What’s the legacy you would leave today if it were your last day on earth vs. the legacy you’d like to leave?”These are just a few of the incredible highlights from our conversation. Rich has some AMAZING stories to share. You DO NOT want to miss this episode!

Admittedly the last 8 months have been rough on most of the world. Who could have imagined we’d be here, in a real-life pandemic? It’s straight out of a sci-fi movie.We’ve been dealing with restrictions, lockdowns, isolation, and businesses closing, evolving, and changing on a dime. It hasn’t been easy…But believe it or not, right NOW is one of the greatest opportunities in human history to actually amplify your capabilities using a concept Dan Sullivan and Mike Koenigs call “The Talent Stack.”Today on the podcast they’ll let you in on exactly what “The Talent Stack” is and how you can use it to your advantage, but want they really want to share with you is how to make someone’s dream come true by being able to create “stacks” of value that have higher perceived value than you could ever imagine.There are a few ways of thinking about this concept. First, imagine if you had the ability to stack value in a way to give your client, what feels like to them, more choices when in fact what you’re doing is putting them inside a container so they can only choose you.It’s a way of thinking about your talents through the perspective of, how do you take value, put it in a container, then position it so you can charge 10 times more for what you’re doing by changing the way your prospective clients think.Here’s a little backstory to give you some perspective. Recently Mike worked with a new client who designs supplement ingredients and proprietary, patented ingredients. (in the supplement world, if you get someone to use your ingredient, you get paid royalties) In his case, his products have been in billions of dollars of different products and services.Come to find out, he’s been scheduled to be on the Joe Rogan podcast! (for anyone who isn’t familiar with Joe Rogan, he has about 10 million subscribers on YouTube and hundreds of millions of downloads. It’s in the top three of all podcasts in the world right now.)It just so happens that Mike’s fantasized about being on the Joe Rogan podcast himself and he knew that his client being on Joe’s show was going to change his life FOREVER. Mike’s studied Joe and his show. He’s a guy who’s very specific. He wants great guests but you’ve really got to earn your way into his world and some of that has to do with having shared experiences, shared relationships, and shared values.So Mike and his client sat down and watched some of Joe’s highest-rated episodes that had to do with personal development, personal growth, food, or nutrition and one thing that happens on Joe’s podcast with a great guest is they come in with props and gifts.One big idea Mike came up with for his client’s appearance on Joe’s show was to order him a custom set of knives with a unique quote (that Joe said) on each one because Joe’s a hunter and eats what he kills. Hunting is a spiritual experience for Joe and this unique gift shows that he’s done his homework and has a shared value.A deeper, more significant concept is an “artifact.” To explain…Mike’s client is in the business of creating different kinds of supplements and nutritional products that you consume. So what they designed was a whole bunch of “stacks” that are good for you and meaningful to Joe. (like a longevity or gamer stack.)When Mike’s client walks in with a box of super fascinating stacks, designed specifically for Joe that aren’t available anywhere else… how do you think Joe and his audience will react? It naturally shows off Mike’s client’s talents and skill set to the world and creates a deep bond and connection with Joe. It’s hyper personalized and packaged in a way that’s meaningful.Mike’s client truly has a goal to improve the quality of mankind and to develop a relationship with Joe that is not manipulative or yucky. He wants to be asked back someday, right? These stacks will help him accomplish those goals.To hear the rest of the podcast where they go deep into the definitions of “stacks,” like the bonding stack and the notion of creating an artifact, download and listen to this episode right now.After you listen to the interview, leave Mike and Dan a message and let theme know what you think of this episode OR ask a question you’d like Dan or Mike to answer in an upcoming episode!

Do you have a list a mile long of stuff you NEED to get done but you keep procrastinating?Your business and personal growth may DEPEND on you checking off those important things on the list but still… you can’t seem to get them done.We ALL struggle with procrastination… but why? And how do you get past it so you can move forward and grow?Today we talk about Dan’s latest book with Dr. Benjamin Hardy, “Who Not How.” The subtitle of the book is, “The formula to achieve bigger goals through accelerating teamwork,” and it’s a big idea that will completely change the way you think about getting things done.The idea comes from a comment that Dean Jackson made during a podcast that he and Dan were doing about why people procrastinate. We have goals, we have a vision of who we can be in the future and we’re very excited about that vision but then we stop moving forward.But WHY?The reason is that you ask yourself, how can I accomplish this goal? This question brings up a weird response because if we had the ability to actually accomplish the goal, we would have accomplished it already. By the very nature of having a bigger and better goal, we’re going into territory where we probably don’t have all the capabilities we need.So instead of saying, “how can I accomplish this goal,” you be should saying, “who can accomplish this with me or who can accomplish it for me.” You need to untrain youself from the natural way of thinking that you have to do all the steps to get to the goal and start thinking about who around you can help.The WHY of the concept was so interesting that Dan turned it into a book.The making of the book is a perfect example of his concept. Because Dan knows his strength is in the “ideas,” he brought together a team to bring the book together. Contributors, writers, book strategists, and deal negotiators all did their part and a new book was born.It’s something Dan has been doing for the last 30-40 years of his career and the reason he publishes 4 books a year and NEVER suffers from procrastination.To learn more about how to win the battle against procrastination and achieve bigger goals by building and using teams, listen to this episode right now then go grab your copy of Dan’s new book, “Who Not How” here!After you listen to the interview, leave us a message and let us know what you think of this episode OR ask a question you’d like Dan or Mike to answer in an upcoming episode!

How do you get access to the unreachable? How do you become unforgettable? That’s the focus of this episode of Capability Amplifier. 15 years ago, Mike Koenigs called a good friend who was buying three people $12,000 Rolex watches and thought he was crazy. "Why?" He asked! Keep reading or start listening... You know that amazing, warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you receive or give a gift? Did you know there’s a psychology and science behind gift-giving that could help you build incredibly strong business relationships, grow your business and make a ton of money? Today on the Capability Amplifier podcast, Mike's special guest is John Ruhlin, the author of “Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention.” John says that gratitude isn't a “woo-woo thing,” it's an ROI driver because “nobody cares about gifts, but we all care about relationships.” John didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth or in country clubs, in fact, it was the complete opposite. He’s a farm boy from Ohio who grew up milking goats and baling hay in a town of 417 people. Then his life completely changed because of a mentor. When John was in college he had a girlfriend who’s dad, Paul, was this rainmaking attorney in a small town. When you're poor, you notice when people are generous and Paul was radically generous with everybody, whether it was the assistant, the janitor, or the CEO.Paul would find deals on noodles and everybody at church the next Sunday would walk away with 200 cases of noodles and John would say to him, “that was $30,000 or $40,000! Are you nuts?” Paul would just smile. It wasn't tactical for him, it was just who he was. He exuded generosity and because of it, he owned oil wells, banks, real estate, and everybody came to him because he was the most liked, trusted, and top of mind person in the community.  John was selling Cutco knives at the time and decided to pitch Paul the idea of giving away pocket knives to all of his high-end clients. Paul didn’t like the idea of pocket knives but instead told John he wanted to order a bunch of his $100 paring knives. John was confused. He didn’t understand why Paul wanted to give a bunch of grown men and CEOs of billion-dollar companies a kitchen tool! What Paul told him next changed his life forever.  Paul said that after being in business for 35 years, he found that if you take care of the family in the business, everything else takes care of itself. It was at that point John had the epiphany that it wasn't about the silly knives. Paul understood that the knife was a delivery vehicle for an emotion. People loved and trusted Paul because he was always around even when he wasn't there because of gifts like this. So John started mimicking Paul’s ideas and pitching to CEO’s of multi-million dollar companies. But rather than say “hey, I want to pitch you knives,” (because he’d be hung on real quick) he would mail these guys $300 carving sets with a handwritten note that said, “carve out five minutes for me,” and he’d get the meeting every time. Inevitably when he’d walk into the board room for his meeting with guys in their 50’s and 60’s they’d be shocked at how young John was and they’d ask him, “Are you here to sell me knives?” John’s answer was always, “no, I'm here to help you and your thousand sales reps do exactly what I did to you and your top 10,000 relationships.” 

Imagine piloting a plane that’s 1000 miles away from land and your engine starts to fail… what do you do?  If you’re an entrepreneur, you can relate to this scenario because you're dealing with lots and lots of different “plane crashes” all the time, right?.  You need to be agile and change your focus to survive, especially in the climate we’re operating in right now, as a business leader and owner.  Our special guest on today’s Capability Amplifier is Ed Rush. He’s a good friend and former F-18 fighter pilot, entrepreneur, business coach and all around brilliant guy and someone we’ve worked with for 10 years.  Today we're going to be diving deep into all sorts of interesting stuff, including turning on a dime, creating regular content in shows and events and how the whole business (and life) climate has changed. We're also going to talk a bit about politics and getting attention in this crazy time (but not the kind of politics you're thinking about… politics and media.)  We didn’t pull the scenario of piloting a plane, being 1000 miles away from land and having your engine start to fail, out of thin air. It ACTUALLY HAPPENED to Ed. He was flying an F-18 fighter jet to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii when his engine literally started “eating itself” alive. Yikes!  Unless Ed did exactly what he needed to do, his plane would catch fire, explode, and he’d end up in some of the most shark infested waters in the world and a 2 day flight away from land. So he immediately pulled his engine back, shut it down and started emergency procedures.  Then what? How did he deal with the mental part? The first thing he did was take a BIG deep breath. Second, believe it or not, he smiled (because when you smile you’re telling yourself everything is going to be okay,) and third he did the next, most logical thing he needed to do to get himself to his destination... (You’ll have to listen to the whole episode to hear what that was!)  The lesson is that sometimes, life deals you problem after problem after problem and the tendency is to throw your hands up and quit, but if you simply breathe, smile and take the next most logical step to get you to your destination, you can get to where you need to go.  We're in the middle of 2020. Arguabley, the most volatile and STRANGE business year in the history of business years. Now is a really great time to smile and take the next, most logical step to get you to your destination because there WILL BE be some major winners that emerge from this insanity.  Right now we’re seeing some of the greatest opportunities in history, the greatest wealth transfer, and certainly the greatest shift in power. It’s not good or bad or right or wrong but what you make of it.  For the last 10 years we have been communicating to a world that fell asleep. We've got two parties that have droned people into submission. People have been watching things that are essentially boring them to death and all of a sudden in March of 2020, the world woke up.  Both Ed and Mike have sold more products, training, coaching and events in the last few months than they have in the last two years combined and it's because people have finally broken out of their stupor. When times are certain, people get complacent but when times are UNcertain people invest in speed and reinvention, and this is where we're at right now. So if you're a business owner, smile, because the opportunities presented to you when you can adjust quickly are incredible.  Being able to pivot on a dime, change your direction and focus according to what’s happening in the world around you is a HUGE part of being successful. It’s a skill every entrepreneur needs to master.  To find out exactly how Ed landed his plane safely and survived that super scary moment PLUS how he took this l...

Two words and one 3x5 card that pitched and closed one of the most recognizable TV shows from the 1980s in seconds ... what was it? What's the fastest way to stand out, be distinctive, get attention, and be referable in six seconds or less?  On the latest episode, you’re going to meet Scott McKain. He’s done everything from playing the villain in a Werner Herzog film that Roger Ebert called one of the 50 great movies in cinema history, to being booked to speak by Arnold Schwarzenegger for an event on the White House lawn with the president in the audience, to being the author of business books named among the year’s ten best.  Scott’s matchless experiences make him one of the world’s most in-demand business experts and speakers. He’s known as the ultimate customer experience and distinction expert, and he's developed a system for standing out, getting attention, and being what I call “a category of one.”  Today, we're going to talk about how the four cornerstones of distinction—Clarity, Creativity, Communication, and a Customer Experience Focus—can help you create distinction for your business in a hyper-competitive marketplace.  Scott and I have very similar philosophies and both come from small towns in the Midwest. Scott’s folks ran the local grocery store. His first experience in business was watching how his mom and dad ran the store and how his dad fought against the big box supermarket chain after they came to town.  Later, Scott got involved in a student organization where he became State President, then National Officer, which led to a chance to take two years off of college to travel and speak. By the time he was 21, he had been in the Oval Office with a president and a private meeting with the chairman of General Motors in their boardroom in Detroit.  He continued to get involved with organizations and was invited to speak about what he had learned throughout his journey. He then started his own small business and realized there were things that big corporations were teaching their teams that he needed in his small business.  Then he went through a personal tragedy. His wife became ill with cancer, and he shut down his business for a period of time to be her caregiver before she died.  When he got back to the business and tried to relaunch, he went to his customers (mostly speakers bureaus) and asked them a very important question for any entrepreneur: “When you refer me to a right-fit prospect, what do you say?” And the number one answer was, “Scott is a good speaker and a nice guy.” His clients thought that was a great recommendation, but it was actually the kiss of death.  The VP of sales of Porsche doesn’t want a “really nice guy” speaking at his yearly event. He wants content, he wants meat, he wants meaning, so Scott set out to discover how he could stand out among the plethora of speakers and authors. He started researching and creating case studies of highly successful entrepreneurs and what they were doing.  So, what does it take to stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace?  The customers you attract will always be of greater value than the customers you pursue. No one is ever attracted to “generic.” You attract exactly whom you deserve, which is based upon the kind of energy you're sending out into the world and your language patterns. If you come from a desperate or cheap perspective, those are the types of clients you’re going to attract.

Have you ever wondered how to charge $50,000, $250,000, $500,000, or MORE for a professional service or product?Or how to go from getting paid for doing to getting paid for knowing to getting paid for actually BEING? How do you sell something like that? Influence a prospect? What IS the enrollment process? What kind of questions do you have to ask for people to raise their hands and say, “I've been looking for someone just like you, I already know I want to work with you, and how do we start working together right now?” This episode is special because it’s my first solo episode. I'm going to teach you everything I've learned about influence persuasion and enrolling high-ticket clients over the last 30 years in about 40 minutes. All of this and more, including how to go from a face-to-face business to a virtualized, digitized, and de-materialized business. Plus, I share how to scale it with your sales team. Over the last 30 years, I have personally sold over $60 million worth of products and services online and face to face. That includes scaling businesses and teams. Today, I’m going to share exactly how I did it, starting with how I have been working with Dan Sullivan in Strategic Coach®, doing something Dan calls the Free Zone Frontier. (If you're not familiar with that, definitely check out what the Free Zone Frontier is in this previous episode.) Dan and I started a project with the idea that he wanted to generate a minimum of 100 leads per week for his sales team that were pre-qualified hand raisers wanting to enroll in one of his three programs. He also wanted me to be able to teach and make this system viable for other participants in Strategic Coach. All of this came from a moment Dan and I had together that we call the Civitas Moment (We talked about this in another past episode called The Best Pitch You've Ever Heard. If you haven't already, definitely check it out.) It’s the equivalent of saying, “I love you” in the world of sales and marketing when someone shows up saying, “I already know I want to work with you. How do we start working together? It feels like I've been looking for someone just like you forever!” In the old days of traditional sales, it took many, many follow-ups and a number of connections to close a deal, but I say BullSh#@ to that. I think it's important to get your marketing and messaging nailed and be able to create a replicable and scalable system, and then add automation to do the tedious, repetitive work. In this episode, I’ll guide you through all the most important stuff I’m doing with Dan and a lot of my clients inside the Superpower Accelerator Program. Plus, I'll give you actionable steps to take to grow and move forward. Enjoy!