The Entrepreneur's Solution

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[melabraham]

How to Create Frameworks That Get Results

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— Summary —

In this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show, we talk about how to take your concepts and communicate them in a way that gets action as well as results from the people that you are serving. As visual learners, we learn with pictures and frameworks. They are the key to inspire understanding and results.

If we don’t get it right, your marketplace will be lost in complexity and confusion, there’s no understanding and what really happens is that there is no progress. When we get it right, the mess becomes simple, your audience sees themselves in there and it gives them path to results. It’s how they take their first step.

The 3 things that you need to know:

Geometry is real. There’s basically squares, circles and triangles.

Emotions are imbedded. Your audience identifies with the fears, frustrations, aspirations, and dreams.

Choreography gives it life. The syntax and process to unpack it will move them.

The Framework Formula

Here are the 4 common elements that all frameworks will have:

Geometry: Squares, circles and triangles are pushed together. The shapes have different meanings attached but we must realize that every framework has geometry and it needs to be really thought out.

Content: Content needs to be meaningful. They are the points that start to bring things home and allow for that movement.

Emotion: Think about what emotions you are trying to bring out. Think about their fears, frustrations, aspirations, dreams and how you will instill certainty in them.

Choreography: It’s about the steps that you are going to use to reveal the whole thing. An emotional dance of understanding to bring simplicity to complexity.

There are 6 types of frameworks:

Value framework: Present levels of value so that your market can identify where they are, the challenges that exists and where they want to go. It gets them to have that desire or emotion.

What framework: It’s about teaching someone a set of principles. Most of the times they are in the form of matrices.

Process framework: With process frameworks, you are sharing the steps and what needs to be done.

If framework: It’s evolutionary. It talks about “If we do these things, we will evolve to this level”.

Urgency framework: It’s a model that creates a need to do something now. It’s to move them by giving them the consideration of inaction.

Genius framework: You combine several frameworks into one. It includes a multitude of things that grasps everything.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to capture, package and monetize what you know so you can have greater freedom, greater impact and greater income.

And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. Let me get down to nuts and bolts. How do you really take your concepts and communicate them in a way that not only do you get action out of the people that you are serving but you get results and frameworks are the key. You know that I am a framework junkie.

So, we’re going to talk about the fundamentals of frameworks in this episode as we dig in because it’s about how do you use frameworks to create understanding and results. And if you are not using framework in your training, in your teaching, your speaking, in the things that you do, you’re missing the boat, alright and I really believe that.

So, here’s the thing. I’m going to give you what I call The Framework Formula here and if you want that action guide, just download it. Go to MelAbraham.com/session094 and I will give you the download of the action guide so you can really work through the framework formula. If you are not at your computer, totally get it, if you are running around or listening to this on your iPhone or mobile, just text me. Text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. I will send you the download links so you can get all of the value out of this episode.

Let’s get started. Alright, here we go.

Here’s the thing. How do you create frameworks?

And frameworks, you can hear it called models here but you will see me, if you see me speak, if you see any of the episodes there’s always a framework attached to it and the reason for that is that it allows people to really start to understand complex concepts in a simple way.

Here’s how I see it. We are actually visual learners. I know that some people say, “Well, I am auditory.” This and that, and I get it. But if you think about it historically as a people, the first language that we learned whether in caveman days was pictures. We learned to speak with pictures and frameworks. Create pictures, they create systems, it creates geometry that represents things in people’s minds that they can go, “Wow, I can duplicate it.” And so, that’s really what the deal is.

Here’s the challenge. If we don’t get this right, if we are not using frameworks or we’re not building frameworks that are meaningful or that have the right factors or elements, characteristics to them, couple of things are going to happen.

You’re going to have your audience, your marketplace, the people you serve, they’re going to be lost in complexity and confusion.

I mean, as you see this and maybe, this works in the context of running electricity and all of that but it’s a mess and if I handed that to someone and said, “Here’s how we do it”, you’re going to look at it and go, “Oh my god, are you kidding me”.

And so, the key is that we want to reverse that. We want people, if our audience doesn’t see that, isn’t able to say to themselves, “I need this. I want this. I need it now and I can do this.” They’re never going to buy from you. So, the real key is that the frameworks really gets to that point of, “I can do this” because they start to understand it.

If we don’t get this right, the other thing that happens is this, is that, there’s no understanding.

I mean, we’re confused and I don’t understand it and I don’t grasp them. When someone draws a picture for me or when I do that with you or with a class or with an audience, whether it’s thousands or one-on-one, all of a sudden, it starts to come to life.

And the other thing that happens is that, if they don’t understand it, and it’s complex and confusing, then what really happens is, there’s just no progress.

We are stagnant. We are stuck in inertia and if we are really looking at things, if we are to be an influencer, if really looking at it from being a influencer, in the marketspace, that market leader, what those 3%, the top 3% do, what we need to do is,

What we are trying to do is really get them to move and create behavior change. But the only way we can create behavior change is through thought change.

In other words, we need to shift their thinking first if we expect to shift their actions. They got to think differently and the way we do that is to get inside their thinking and help them think differently. And I do that and most of the times we do that is typically a framework is involved.

Because here is the deal—when we get this right, things shift. When we get this right, all of a sudden, that mess becomes simple.

What I say is that frameworks move you from the edge of complexity to the edge of simplicity.

And when they look at it and go, “Is that all it is?”, now, you got them in a place where they are starting to say, “I can do that. I can do that.” And when it’s simple, what ultimately will start to happen is they start to look at things and they go, “Wait a second, I can see myself in there.”

What they literally do is they project themselves into the framework and say, “Here’s where I am. Here’s how I can do this. Here’s where I can go with this.” And all of a sudden, they start to see themselves in the framework itself.

And in the end, it gives them a path to results.

They start to see that there’s actually a path to getting the results that they are looking to get. And until they see a path, they’re not going to take the first step. You may have a handful of people that are willing to follow you blindly but I think that in order to do this properly and to serve the greater population, the people in your audience, your marketplace at that higher level, they need to get the feeling that there’s a path to the results that they are getting, that they want to get because

Ultimately, we are trying to take them from point A to point B. From where they are, the pains, the challenges, the frustrations, the fears that they have to the aspirations, the dreams that they want.

And it’s through this process of saying, “I can see through the fog. I can see through the clouds. I can see through the crowded space, the pathway because you’ve given me the pathway” and a framework allows you to do that.

So, if that’s why, in other words, what we’re really looking to try and do is give them a pathway to results. We’re trying to let them see themselves in it and to bring it so it’s become simple then what do you need to know?

In order to bring frameworks to life in your speaking, whether you’re speaking, whether you’re coaching, whether you’re consulting, whether you’re an advisor, whether you are a teacher. It doesn’t matter where you use them, there’s a place for them in almost everything we do.

So, what is it that you need to know?

And I can give you 3 of the principles that I think are really important in understanding frameworks in general and then, I’m going to teach you and talk about at least the fact that there’s six different kinds of frameworks that you may use in different places and where you use them. So, what are the things you need to know.

First is this, is that we need to understand that a framework is just geometry.

And I get it, some of you may not be your creators and stuff and you don’t want to talk about math but it really is taking three shapes because there’s basically squares, circles, triangles. That’s it. Taking those three shapes and pushing them together. Now, you may turn around and say, “Well, there’s ovals”. Well, ovals is just a squashed circle and a rectangle is a squashed square.

So, really three different shapes and what we are looking at is try and understand how do you put shapes together to indicate a certain emotion, a certain movement, a certain action, a certain feeling for our audience to grasp. And so, geometry is real. And we’re going to need to use geometry as part of the process.

The second principle to understand is that emotions are imbedded in the framework.

As much as it’s shapes and you could say this is just logical work, there’s actually emotions imbedded into the framework and what do I mean by that. I mean that when you get a chance, when your audience, when your marketplace, when your customers, when your client sees themselves inside the framework, they see themselves, they also identify with the fears, the frustration and the aspirations and the dreams if it’s built correctly and it’s through that emotional connection within the framework that gets them to move.

So, hopefully this will make sense as we start to move forward because we will talk about value frameworks, we will talk about process frameworks, we will talk a little bit about each of these frameworks and what they are because in a value framework, for instance, they see where they are and they see where they want to go and they have that hunger and that yearning to move themselves up into that space.

And so, when you can create that in a picture, in a graphic, in their mind that’s going to connect with their emotions too.

So hopefully, that makes sense.

Then the last, one of the last principles to consider here in this is to realize that the choreography gives it life.

In other words, I’m not just going to slap. If you watch me unpack my frameworks, I build them with you. I don’t just slap up the graphics and say, “Here is it.” Even when I’m speaking on big stages and I’m not drawing it out and it’s being built on a slide, it’s being built piece by piece and it’s got choreography to it. It’s got a syntax to it. It’s got a process to it because I want to unpack it in a way that one, moves you along the process, moves you along to understanding because remember, I want to get you to that point of saying, “I need this. I want this and I can do this.”

And if I just give you this big graphic with all this stuff on it, it becomes overwhelming. The idea is we got to bring this to simplicity, so let me take it one step at a time with you. So, those are the key principles when we’re really kind of looking at this.

First is to understand that there’s geometry involved, there’s shapes that we’re going to use and that different shapes will indicate different things. For instance: A circles, a triangle, a square. A lot of times, you look at it like, triangle, a lot of times indicates action or movement. A circle is connection or inclusion. A square maybe boundaries. It just depends on how you present it. So, there’s different things involved. That there is emotions involved in it and in the end, it’s really about the choreography. How do you unpack it in that process?

And one of the things, if you really want to start to understand just go back and look at any of the episodes including this one because I’m doing the same thing each and every time to really build it out.

So, in order to do this, here’s what I want to do is I want to introduce you to something called The Framework Formula. Now, I’m not going to go into the details of how do you build each framework. I’m going to talk about the four common elements that all frameworks will have and I’m going to give you an understanding or at least a fundamental understanding of the 6 types of frameworks you might find yourself dealing with or you might find use for in your business, in your practice, in your speaking, in your coaching, your mentoring, your advising; whatever it is and so you get that awareness and then, we can go deeper into how do you build each of those frameworks at another time.

So, in order to do this, we’re going to jump to the iPad and I’m going to draw this out for you and you’re going to see this all come to life. So, let’s just jump to that and let’s get going. So, here’s what we’re going to do.

Alright so, there’s four aspects of a framework, typically, that we need to consider as we move forward and as I said, there’s six types of frameworks that I think that you can see or you can use depending on what you’re trying to accomplish but all six of them will have some of these four, have these elements in there. At some level, they may not be all the same, they may not be equal. But you’re going to have them at some level.

The first piece is to realize as I said before, that there’s Geometry involved and when I say geometry, like I said, there’s squares, triangles and circles, and they are pushed together.

This happens to be a circle. In actuality, when you look at this, it is a circle and squares because the quadrant in the middle is basically four squares but I have kind of cut it off.

But in this case, what I’m trying to do is create a feeling of inclusiveness. In other words, all four elements that I’m going to put on this model are ones that are representative. So, I’m not necessarily saying, one is better than the other. I’m just simply saying that they exist. So, realize that when you are building a framework, there’s going to be geometry and you need to think about what that framework is.

In this case, I am creating a framework that is inclusive of four characteristics and six types. So, it gives you this choice. There may be other frameworks when you look back that you will see are rectangles in a ladder or triangles or funnels which are really triangles or a Venn diagram or a quadrant model. They all have different aspects, they have different action, they have different feelings that come about but there’s a geometry. Realize that every framework has a geometry and it needs to be really well thought out to bring that home.

The second part of this is and these are the two things that are typically obvious is that each framework has content.

What I’m writing on here is content. The content needs to be the meaningful points that start to bring things home and allow for that movement.

The other thing to consider, the third thing to consider when you are building your frameworks is to ask yourself the question, “What emotions am I trying to bring out?”

Am I trying to get them to identify with their fears or their frustrations in an effort to move them to a different place?

Am I trying to get them to look and see their aspirations, their dreams to draw them that way?

Am I trying to give them a process so they have certainty in what they do in building that out?

Am I trying to instill certainty in them?

Am I trying to instill a more encompassing understanding so they can have some calmness?

So, what are the emotions you’re trying to bring out?

And then, the last part of this is this element of choreography and that is how do you unpack it?

Just like I’m doing here, how do you step-by-step unwrap the whole thing in a way that it’s a dance, that it takes them on this emotional dance of understanding:

What they need to know?

Why they need to know it?

And what they need to do?

When you do that, you do it in such a way that it brings simplicity to complexity. Now, all of a sudden, you’re going to start to get them to take action. You’re going to see them, saying to themselves, “I can do that. I can duplicate that. Yeah, that’s easy enough.”

To look at it and say, there’s four things you need to have in a framework—geometry, content, emotion and choreography. In other words, what’s the shape, what’s the data I’m going to put in there, what’s the feelings that they are going to have and what’s the dance? (I don’t know how to create a dancing person here). What kind of dance they’re going to have? And then, this is data, stuff.

So, what are those things?

Once you identify that, then you realize that, “Okay, it’s pretty easy and straightforward to create that.”

Now, I said that there are six types of frameworks that you’re going to run into and the six types of frameworks are used for different purposes. The first framework and this is one that I use often. It’s what I call a value framework. What I call it, you will hear me call it a, ‘Value Visual’.

What I’m trying to do in this framework is to present a levels of value if you will where they can identify where they are currently, identify the challenges that exist and the roadblocks that exists between where they are currently and where they want to go. So, the framework will show them:

Where they are,

Where they want to go, and

Give them a path to get there, at least, a process to get there.

Although, there is a separate process framework that we will talk about.

So, a value framework is something that starts to get them to have that desire, that emotion, that understanding as well as the belief that there is something better for them and how to get there. So, those, a lot of times, are triangles, they are squares, they are ladders, they are building on each other in many case.

The second type of framework is what I call a ‘What’ framework. This is when I want to teach someone a set of principles. We talk about it, like for instance, my 9 ideals of legacy. Here’s the 9 ideals, here’s the 9 questions that I ask before I take on any kind of business, relationship, commitment and if any of the answers to any of those 9 questions is known, then I go take it one. That’s called the 9 ideals of legacy.

You’ve seen my negotiation model. Those are the, that’s a what model. What do you need to know or what do you need to do to make it happen?

Most of the time, these frameworks are 3x2s, 3×3 matrices and things of that nature.

The third framework that you may see is what I call a Process framework, a process framework.

So, with a process framework, this is how. This is literally saying, “Here’s the process. Here’s the steps. Do this, this and this.”

And this will be in some sort of flow, some sort of elements. So, now you start to see that I can create desire with the value framework. I can create an understanding with a ‘what’ framework. And I can create certainty of the ‘how’ with the process framework.

Then there is three other types of frameworks you might see. One is what I call a If framework.

This is kind of evolutionary. If you look at The Influencer’s Evolution, it’s concentric circles to show the evolution from just kind of existing to becoming an influencer in the marketplace.

You’ve seen my hierarchy of thinking to go from information to transformation. It’s this if. If we do all of these things, we will evolve to this level. And so, that’s an If framework.

Then the last two are frameworks that we’ve started to use a bit more often. The first is what we call an Urgency Framework. And what I mean by that is that we start to create a model that creates a feeling of urgency, a need to do something now which when you couple an urgency framework with a value framework. In other words, they see where they are and where they want to go and you couple it with urgency where they say, “Gosh, if you delay this, here’s what could happen.”

Now, all of a sudden, you got a lot of heat underneath them to move them to action. Remember, we’re trying to get to behavior change and the way we get to behavior change is through thought change. So, we will create an urgency framework that starts to take into consideration the issue of not doing, basically the cost of inaction if you look at it that way.

And then, the last framework is what I call, it’s called the Genius framework.

Okay? And these are little more complicated. There’s a little more work involved with the genius framework but with the genius framework, you actually combine a number of these frameworks into one. So, all of a sudden, they see their fears and frustrations. They see their desires if they get it right. They see the what. They see the process. And so, it’s a conglomeration of 3 or 4, or 2 or 3 of these frameworks in a way that in one picture, as you unpack it, they get the whole understanding of everything including

Why they need to do the things they need to do?

What they need to do?

What happens if they don’t do it?

What happens if they do do it?

And the process to get it done.

That’s why we call it a genius framework because it grasps everything. So, hope that this starts to get you to start thinking. If all you do with looking at frameworks is start to look at it in the context of understanding

How could I draw a picture?

How could I bring geometry to what I’m trying to teach to make it simple?

And to take that and say,

What content needs to be on there?

What emotions am I trying to create inside of them that’s going to move them to that next step?

And how do I need to unpack it?

How do I need to choreograph it?

What do I need to do first to get them to come along?

Because here’s the challenge. If you start to unpack a framework and at the very beginning, they dig their heels in and the rest of the framework they are not going to hear it. So, I need to get them a buy-off on the premise at the very beginning and then, they will move with me through the process.

So, if we can agree, so for instance: At the beginning of this session, I started to talk about it. I said, we started out learning through pictures like cavemen as they were drawing pictures on the wall. We are visual learners. Even the alphabet. When we talk about the alphabet, we look at the alphabet and it’s a picture of a representation of a letter. So, there’s always a visual aspect to it. And so, when you bring that visual aspect to creating frameworks, changes are dynamic.

So, I hope this serves you. I can tell you that once I started using frameworks, both in my book, (which I got another book coming out soon, I am working on) and in my speaking, my mentoring, my coaching, my presenting, it changed the dynamics of everything I do because what it allows me to do is one with that picture in my mind to simply go and co-create the picture with the audience. It doesn’t matter in what format we’re doing it.

I’m not as concerned. When you start to learn all the principles that we talk about in Thoughtpreneur Academy and being a Thoughtpreneur, how do you catalog and capture you information and you surround it around a framework. Now, you have the ability to speak and go and I do it without, effectively without notes or anything because I’ve got the framework in my mind and we get a chance to do that.

So, I think it will serve you, I think it will help you out tremendously when you start to build these things out and it will take a little while but all of a sudden, they will come to life and they will take a life of their own. And these are the thing that a lot of people remember because they’re going to go back and go, “I’m not a hundred percent sure but they drew this” and they start to insert themselves in it, they start to extract things out of it and it starts to bring a whole level of, new level of meaning to them as you move forward.

So, that’s the framework formula. Download the action guide at MelAbraham.com/session094. Work through it. Understand it. Start utilizing it. It’s going to shift and change not only the things you do but the things that your audience does, that your marketplace does, that your client, your customers do. Bring frameworks up to the surface. There’s a lot more I can do on frameworks. We can talk about each one of these types of frameworks. Dig in exactly how they can be built because there’s a process to each and every one of them. I go into that really deeply into Thoughtpreneur Academy but here I just wanted to get you the fundamentals.

If you start thinking in the context of frameworks, and I used to not, but if you start thinking in the context of frameworks, then you’re going to have the ability to communicate more effectively, more memorably, more valuably and more distinctly out there in the future.

So again, download the action guide at MelAbraham.com/session094 or text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. Do me a favor. Also, if you haven’t done so hit subscribe. Just hit subscribe. It’s somewhere on this page. Hit subscribe now. Stay with me. Lot more information, lot more stuff to,

How do you get yourself out there?

How do you position yourself as the market leader, the influencer in your space so you are the highly paid or highly sought after expert on what you know?

And so, if you’ve got something that solves peoples’ problems, help them get to their dreams and it’s your knowledge that you want to get out into the space, this is the place to be. Make sure you subscribe and do me a favor. One more favor. Share this with a friend. I am sure you have other people that are trying to get their information out, they are trying to figure out how to do this. This is the key. These are the keys. Share this with a friend. Let’s get them       on the wagon so we can all do this training together because I think our society is starved for the things that we can do. To have a new way of thinking and you can lead that for them and I will be blessed to be on this journey with you.

So, until we get a chance to see each other in the next episode, subscribe, share with a friend, download the action guide. Let me know if you have questions, anything that I can do. Go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me your questions. Let me see if I can bring it up on an upcoming episode. Make sure that I serve you and support you in your journey. Thanks again. Until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant.

See you soon. Cheers. Bye.

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Go from Job to Entrepreneur

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Get the mp3/podcast of this episode free on iTunes

— Summary —

This episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show is going to be different as we answer a question about whether it it is time to quit your job and go from job to entrepreneur. As risk mitigators, entrepreneurs must weigh the risks before moving forward. If you do not get it right, you are living a dual life, there is no joy in earning, and you find yourself in no or low cash flow. If you get it right, you feel like you are in flow, you are monetizing your passion, and you find freedom and cash flow.

The 3 key principles you should understand:

Committed vs reckless. There’s a difference between being committed and being reckless.

Plan and test. Put strategies in place and get feedback.

Set your scale threshold. Not everyone has the same transition point.

The Entrepreneur Transition Formula

Preparation: It is about your thinking. Clarify what you are passionate about but passion itself isn’t enough. You must create value in other people’s lives with your passion. Also, interview the people you want to serve and know about the things that they are looking for.

Evaluation: It is about analyzing. Plan your idea and how the journey looks like. Do micro-launches, test, get feedback and tweak it as needed. Finally, assess everything so you can move forward.

Execution: It is about doing. Look at the financial viability and see whether it’s a viable commercial option. Understand who do you need to make it happen and form a team over time. Decide on your scale threshold. It’s the tipping point where you believe that you can make money at it, scale it if you dedicate more time on it, and it will allow you to fulfill your dreams and live your aspirations.

Get preparation and evaluation correct and you will find some comfort in the process. When you get evaluation and execution correct, you get clarity. Through evaluation and execution, we are living our calling. Transition is built on all of this.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself based on your wisdom, your knowledge, your expertise so you can have greater impact, greater income and greater freedom. So, welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

This one is going to be kind of unusual. We’re going to be talking and answering a question.

Is it time for you to quit your job?

So, here’s the thing. One of the most often questions I get as I travel the country and the world speaking on entrepreneurship, thoughtpreneurship, becoming an influencer is:

How do I go from sidepreneur, in other words, doing it for part time to entrepreneur? At what point do I quit my job? Should I just quit my job?

And so, I’m going to give you a framework. Yes, a framework, a process, a system, a way to analyze it and a way to do it safely. Obviously, there’s always risk but entrepreneurs, in fact, this is one of the things that I don’t agree with, with most people. They say, “Oh, entrepreneurs are risk takers.”

No, they are not. They are risk mitigators. We analyze things, we look at things and we’re very strategic in how we do things. So, it’s not about taking on risk. It’s about weighing the risk against the benefit and the reward before we move forward. That’s really the key behind it.

So, in this episode, I’m going to talk about something that I call The Entrepreneur Transition Formula. You can get the action guide right here MelAbraham.com just go to MelAbraham.com/session093. Download the action guide. It will walk you through some of the processes we’re going to talk about today.

If you are not at your computer, if you are out running and driving or something, I want you to be safe, but just text me and I will send you the download link. Text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. We will make sure that we get that to you.

So, let’s jump in right now. Let’s talk about this whole thing of: When do I quit my job?

Because this is something that a lot of folks, a lot folks struggle with is: What do I need to do and how do I do this and when to I do this?

And so, let’s jump in. Here’s  the thing: If we don’t get this right, here’s what I see happening is that ultimately, you find yourself, living this dual existence, this dual life.

This place where during the day, you’re doing what you need to do to pay the bills. And you’re struggling to get through the days. I don’t know, maybe, you’re feeling that way right now where you’re sitting back and saying, “I’m serving the time. I’m putting in the work. And I got to do it because I got bills to pay.” And I totally get that.

And then, at night, you got this passion project. This thing that just juices you, that excites you, that really fulfils you, that you’re trying to get moving. And so, it’s in fits and start. So, if we don’t get this right, you’re living this dual existence which I think is a challenge. I don’t that it’s sustainable in the long term because you have this incongruence, this friction if you will in your life because of the fact that you’re living two existences. So, that’s the first thing that happens if you don’t get this right.

The other thing that I see happening is that, that you’re focusing on earning money and I get it. Everything we do and everything I teach has a commercial angle to it and what I mean by commercial angle is that it is about making money but really it’s about the money you make because of the impact you have. Impact is what the leading element is.

I want to lead with impact.

I want to lead with transformation.

I want to lead with making a difference in people’s lives.

I don’t care, I don’t care what your product, what your service is. As an entrepreneur, as a thoughtpreneur, as an influencer, as a market leader, you have one responsibility and that is to improve the human condition. That’s it. That’s it.

Whether it’s through your services.

Whether it’s through your products.

Whether it’s through your writings.

Whether it’s through your speaking

Whether it’s through your videos.

No matter what it is, the challenge is, if we don’t get this right, you’re focused on just earning and I get it, we got to get the bills paid. So, I want to be realistic about this. We got to get the bills paid so sometimes we do have to focus on earning. We just got to figure out how do we find the joy in it because if all we’re focused on is earnings there is no joy in the earnings.

And I want to make sure that, that you have the joy in the process, the joy in the journey and that’s really how I look at it that the joy is actually not at the destination, the joy is embedded in the journey when we get you on the right journey.

This is one of the reasons that I do what I do is because I look at what happens to people. When I can help you take what you know, to take the ideas that you have and bring them to life; that life that juices you because you are making a difference in other people’s lives is huge. It’s far greater of value to you than the earnings that come from it and because you’re impacting people’s lives at a high level, the earnings that come from it are high. So, that’s the second thing that happens if we don’t get it right.

The third thing that happens if we don’t get it right is that you find yourself in no or low cash flow.

In other words, you’re doing some things that are a passion but you’re doing these other things and because you’re divided, you’re not focused on some of the things that need to get done and so, you are ultimately are not making money at it.

And in that process, what happens is we’re slowly planting the seeds of uncertainty. “Well, I’m not making money at this, so maybe, it’s not just going to work. Maybe, I should give it up.”

Well, you’re not making money at it, primarily, because you’re not focused on it and you’re just doing it in fits and start. It’s really hard to really make a good living, to position yourself distinctly, uniquely as a market leader, as an influencer in the space if you’re doing it in fits and start. So, that’s the third thing that happens.

But what happens if we get this right?

When we really figure out what does it take to transition properly from this jobpreneur, if you will, to thoughtpreneur, to an entrepreneur, what does it take to do that? When we get this right, here’s the kind of cool thing that ultimately happens. We feel like we’re in flow. Alright. It’s like this dance that you’re going back and forth, and you feel like you’re in flow.

I will look at what I am blessed to do. I just came back from speaking at mastermind of a good friend of mine and getting a chance to speak, whether it’s a large group, I’ve had the fortunate opportunities to speak to small groups, handfuls of people—10 people or less. And to large groups, where there’s thousands of people in the audience and the feeling to be able to be out there and doing that, to affect people’s lives in a positive way, to give them direction, to give them hope, to bring possibility back in their lives, just energizes me.

I mean, I sit here today with this camera on, and this recorder to record each of my episodes and it’s a joy, it’s actually a ton of fun for me because I know on the other end of it, is you. And I know what happens if you take the principles, the tools, the tactics, the strategies that I’m giving you and put them into play because I’ve seen them coming to life not only in my life.

I mean, I feel blessed with my life but also in my clients’ lives, in my friends’ lives because what they’ve had the opportunity to do is take this and put it out there and live life by their own design, by their own desire, in their own way. And so, it really feels like in flow when we get this right.

The second thing that happens is that you’re monetizing your passion.

What better way to make a living than monetizing your passion? Is that it’s you’re creating money, you’re creating a living, you’re creating a life based on what you enjoy doing. I can’t think of a better way to make a living and make a life from something than from something that you absolutely loved doing because if you look at it that way, you would probably do it at no charge because it’s something you love doing.

But we’re not going to do that because I want this to be commercially viable for you. The idea here is to serve other people at the highest level to give them the greatest impact, the greatest transformation in their life that gives you the life that give you want by your own design.

And then, the third thing is that you find freedom and cash flow.

Freedom and cash flow; think about this and you’ve heard me say this before. We released The Entrepreneur’s Solution, we hit a #1 best-seller on Barnes & Noble, we hit the best-seller list on USA Today. We moved 16,000 books in a couple of weeks and so, here we were putting a bestselling book out there. It was the same year that I was blessed to be able to take 93 days off, a quarter of the year of to spend travelling the world with my beautiful bride.

And I tell you this not to impress you but to impress upon you that the ability to have the freedom to do the things you want to do because you chose to live life a different way, chose to take the concepts, the strategies and the tactics and put them into play. So, now we understand what happens if we don’t get it right. We also understand what happens if we do get it right.

So, the question we got to ask ourselves, well, in order to get it right, what are the things you need to know?

So, here’s the key things. Just, I want to give you at least 3 things here to focus in on that are going to help you move this forward and then, we will jump into a process. I will give you a framework that I work through with my clients and with myself originally when I was starting to move in this direction. So, look at this.

The first thing is this, is to understand that there’s a difference between being committed and being reckless.

What do I mean by that?

I remember that I was speaking at a conference and there was 600 people there and I got off stage and then, I kind of got rushed off stage and a lot of people came to me and this one person, this young lady came in and she said to me, “You know what Mel? I love what you had to say. It totally juiced me. It’s exactly what I needed to hear and it’s exactly what I need to really put the wheels on it and move this thing forward. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m jumping into your program. I’m working with you. It doesn’t matter what it is, I’m going to work with you and I’m going home this weekend and Monday morning, I’m quitting my job.”

And I’m going, “Wait a second!”

The thing is this: There’s a difference between being committed and reckless. I’m not here to convince you to quit your job. I’m actually here to convince you to make a choice that’s intentional in your life. Whatever fits, there is no judgement on me. I don’t think everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. My wife, doesn’t necessarily want to be an entrepreneur. She does amazing, amazing stuff in her own right. She’s in management, she runs teams, she builds teams, she’s an incredible, incredibly bright, articulate woman. She doesn’t really, necessarily want to be an entrepreneur, at least, not at this point. Still have some years left to convince her.

But the thing is that, that what I don’t want people to do is to just think that, “Oh well, then I just got to burn the boats at the shore.”

Well, there’s a difference between doing that. Yeah, that shows commitment but also, maybe, shows recklessness because what happens if you have a family that’s depending on you? You have bills that need to get paid. You’ve got debt that needs to be satisfied.

And then, you turn around and say, “Well, I’m quitting because I’m going to fall on my dreams, because Mel told me so.”

Well, let me be clear, Mel’s not telling you to quit your job. I’m telling you to create a transition plan that’s responsible based on your circumstances. Be committed to that transition plan not recklessly just saying, “I’m burning the ships and off I go.”

Now, granted some people have done it and have made a tremendous success out of doing it. I just happen to not think that, that’s necessary. I think we can do it a better way and I’m going to give you that transition plan to do that.

The second principle to understand is this: Is that I want you to plan and test.

So, before we make this transition, we’re going to be testing, we’re going to be planning, we’re going to be strategizing, we’re going to be putting things in place, we’re going to be getting feedback. So, when we make that launch, when we make that move, we are at the highest probability state that we’re going to be successful. That we know that we’ve got a lot of things in place because of the feedback and the things that we’ve done that the likelihood that we’re going to be successful is higher.

Remember, I said that entrepreneurs, some people think that entrepreneurs are risk takers. They’re not. They’re risk mitigators. In other words, we’re going to look at things, we’re going to plan things, we’re going to test things so we can reduce the risk as low as possible before we start moving forward.

Listen, business is really easy and some of you just see me talk about this in what I call my Analyst Framework is that business is easy. You got to manage two things. You got to manage the downside. In other words, reduce the risk and you got to maximize the upside which means increase the opportunities. If we can manage those things effectively, we’re doing well and that’s what entrepreneurs and thoughtpreneurs do is that we plan, we test, we reduce risk and then, we move forward.

And then, the third principle to understand is what I call, set your scale threshold.

And this is what I mean by this: Is that not everyone has the same transition point. That there is a tipping point where you can say, “Now is the time.”

And maybe, today is that time for you. I don’t know. Maybe, it’s tomorrow. Maybe, it’s a year from now. It depends on your circumstances. We will talk a little bit more about that when we get into the framework and as we start to pencil this thing out. But what I want you to realize is that at some point, we’re going to set a scale threshold. It’s that tipping point. It’s that line that when you step over it, you’ve started the journey, you started the transition.

So, those are the three principles to understand, to think about. First off, is to realize that there’s a difference between committed and being reckless. I want you to plan and test and we’re going to decide and determine what the proper scale threshold is for you.

So, if that’s what we need to know, how do we make it happen? And I want to take you through the process of what I call The Entrepreneur Transition Formula. I’m going to give you the framework. In order to do that, we’re going to jump to the iPad.

I’m going to draw this thing out. I want you to follow along. I’m going to ask you some questions. There’s going to be some things that you need to complete as you do this and you may have to reflect on it in order to get this done. That’s fine. I want you to take the time off. I want you to do this the right way. So, let’s jump to the iPad and let’s get in to The Entrepreneur Transition Formula.

Alright, so let’s jump into this, The Entrepreneur Transition Formula. As I said, there’s 3 phases that you’re going to go through in this Entrepreneur Transition Formula and the first phase is really about your Preparation. Okay?

The second phase, so we’re going to prepare first and I will give you the criteria that there’s 3 steps in each of these phases that I want you to understand. So, the second piece is once we’ve gone through the preparation phase, there’s the Evaluation phase. The evaluation phase.

So, we’re going to prepare first, I will give you that. We’re going to evaluate what that preparation has set us up. Now, we move. Now, we move. That’s what I call the Execution phase.

Here’s the thing: If we look at this and we do this right, what you’re going to see is that the preparation phase is really about your thinking. And if that’s about your thinking, the evaluation phase is about your analyzing. So, we’re going to do some analysis. Thinking, analyzing, the last phase execution is really about Doing.

Now, we’re going to get out there and do it. Here’s how this plays out, how I see this playing out in our world. If we get the preparation and the evaluation piece of it correct, what happen ultimately happens is that you’re going to find some Comfort in the process that you’re going to walk through. Now, all of a sudden, that transition doesn’t seem so scary because you’ve got a plan in place.

When we get the evaluation and the execution correct, what you’re going to find is you get clarity.

Because here is what happens. We start to evaluate, we start to take action. Action creates clarity. Here’s one of the challenges that I think a lot of people, they’re afraid to make a decision. Is a lot of people have that challenge. I don’t want to make a decision. I’m afraid to make the wrong decision.

Let me invite you to understand that the decision you make doesn’t set everything in stone. It is only a dot on a line and it’s a series of dots that make the line.

And so, the real key is this, is that we make a choice, we make a decision so we can get better information to make the next better decision. So, through the process of evaluation and execution, we gain clarity.

Then the third piece is this, that through the execution and the preparation, we prepare things, we start to ask them questions and we go out and execute. What we are actually doing, is we’re living our calling and that’s cool.

And so, this is really what I think the transition is built on. And this is what I call The Entrepreneur’s Transition formula in order to do that.

So, what do you need to do specifically in each of these 3 phases?

To really make it come to life

To really start to build on this

And so, let’s look at the preparation phase first. There’s 3 things I want you to focus in on and help start to define and the action guide, when you download the action guide, kind of walks you through this process in doing it. But let’s summarize them here.

The first thing is this: On the preparation phase is that we need to understand what you’re passionate about. Now, let me clarify something because what I hear people say is, “Well, just follow your passion and the money will follow you.”

Well honestly, that’s a bunch of crap. Sorry about the language. Following your passion doesn’t mean money is going to follow you. Listen, I enjoy eating chocolate. If I sit around and eat chocolate all day long, it is not going to make me money. It’s not going to do anything but make me fat. Alright so, realize that just following your passion isn’t enough.

Here’s how we need to look at it: Creating value in other people’s lives with your passion will let the money fall. So, I want to take my passion and figure out how I can use that to shift and change people’s lives then the money falls. The key is this: Is that the greater the impact that we can have, the greater the transformation that we can create in other people’s lives through our passions, the greater the value will be perceived in the marketplace, the more they will pay you, the more that your position.

You see, it all fits in. So, the first piece is to understand not only your passion but then the value you can create with passion. So, it’s going to take some thinking. It’s going to take some reflecting. It’s going to take some analyzing. Maybe, some process of understanding.

In fact, I’m going to ask you to do this next piece and that is the third step of this is to interview or survey or something.

The people you want to serve, what are things that they are looking for?

Struggling with

Frustrations

Their fears

Their challenges

What are their obstacles?

What are the blocks?

What are the things that you might be able to help them with?

They may see you differently than you see yourself. They may look at you and say, “You know what? It’s about this.”

In fact, one of my clients happened to be sitting in my office one day and I was working with him to build his business and his business was growing and it was ramping up. And he looked at me and he said, “You know what? There’s a couple of things I just want to touch based on. One, my business is growing, and thank for you. It is ramping up. It is growing. I’m leveraging it. I’m having more time. I’m having more fun. All that stuff is working.”

He says, “But there’s a piece that you’re leaving out.”

I said, “What’s that?”

He says, “I, not only want to know how you built your business. I want to understand how you created your life?”

And that was the lightbulb that went on. I’m going, “Oh my gosh.”

So, the question, one of the questions you want to really understand about the group that you want to serve is

What do they hunger for?

What are the things that they’re looking for?

What do they see in you that they wish they had in them, that you can bring to bear?

Alright so, this first phase of preparation is focused on your really getting and understanding what your passions are. How you can create value with those passions. How you can create impact or transformation in other people’s lives with those passions.

And then, testing it out in the sense by talking to the people you want to serve.

What are their fears?

What are their frustrations?

What are their challenges?

What are their dreams?

What are their aspirations?

What are the things they see in you that they want in them?

And once you’ve done that, we can then move to this evaluation stage to really start to build out this next piece, this plan piece of it. And so, the first step in this is just that is to Plan. What I don’t want you to do is going out there and say, “I got this great idea” and you just go full-fledged without thinking it through because there’s a ripple effect.

It’s time

It’s effort

It’s money

It’s all kind of things

Whether you’re going to go in and build a website. I just had a conversation with someone that called me up. They were part of one of my groups and they were going to, they joined one of my trainings but before they joined my training, I had a conversation with them and she just told me that someone, literally, in my mind, robber her 8,000 dollars for a website.

So, and if anyone’s trying to get 8,000 dollars from you for a website, stop. Alright? But here’s the thing, is I want you to plan it out. I want you to be strategic. I want you to map it. I want you to understand where you’re starting point is, what that journey looks like, what that pathway looks like, and be very strategic about it and say, “What are the different pieces?”

There’s a couple of reasons for that.

It gives you a visual and a vision of how things are going to go.

In fact, you probably see the things behind me. Those are all visual maps of what I do in my business and I create that and follow through that because it allows me to understand the pathway and say, “Alright, what’s working, what’s not working, where is it working?”

Here’s the other challenge with that. Is that the other good part about that is that, it gets me to stay focused on the core elements that will drive that strategy forward because it’s really easy to get distracted.

Some new technology comes out. Some new way to post on Facebook or some new social media platform comes out. And what I don’t want you to do is get distracted and diverted. Most of us, the entrepreneurs, thoughtpreneurs, we have the what I call The Hummingbird Syndrome so we get distracted easily. So, I don’t want you to get distracted. That plan will keep you in place doing that. So, this first piece of this evaluation is to plan.

The second piece is to do what’s called a micro launch. My son, talks about this too. You will hear it called by my good friend, Jeff Walker, a seed launch. My good friend, James Whitmore, calls it a beta launch. What we want to do is a mini kind of micro step, if you will, where we’re saying, “Alright, we’re going to put some of this out there. Let’s see what we get back. Let’s see the feedback. Let’s tweak it. Let’s adjust it. Let’s do that.”

So, what I don’t want you to do is invest a lot of time, effort, and money to build something that you think is going to blow the doors off and then, it lands with a thought.

So, we want to test it

We want to put our toes in the water

We want to see what the feedback is

We want to adjust

Which leads to that third piece in this phase which is Assess.

So, the through the planning stages, you’re going to run a beta or a micro launch. You’re going to then assess the feedback from that so you can adjust it before you go back out and do that.

And so, that leads to this third phase execution. So, in the execution phase is when we start to really put this thing out there. The first part of this though is after you’ve had a chance to go through the preparation and evaluation, is to look at the Financial Viability. I’m an accountant. I’m an accountant, full-born CPA, this and that. So, bottom-line is I need to be financially valuable.

If I want to do something as a non-profit and it’s a misnomer to think that non-profits don’t make money. They do make money. Alright but, to do something as a donation is fine as long as there’s a conscious choice but somehow, that donation has to get funded. So, we need something that is a viable commercial option. Something that is going to make money so you can you do the donations. So, we’re not talking about the donation side of this if that’s what you want to do. I want this to be finally viable.

Remember, we’re talking about you transitioning from jobpreneur, from a job to a thoughtpreneur or an entrepreneur. That means that we need to make sure that you can pay your bills. That means that we need to make sure that not only can you pay your bills, you can build the life that you deserve, build the life that you want, build the life based on the aspirations and the dreams that you hold so near and dear. That’s what it’s about.

So, going to need to look at it and say,

How much can we make?

What are they willing to pay?

How can we increase the value?

What are the things that I can do to make that happen?

Once we understand the financial viability of it, then we go to the next piece and that is to understand who do you need to make this happen?

Now, I am not one of those that says, go build out a bunch of overhead, hire a bunch of people and incur a bunch of fees. That’s going to destroy people financially at the early part of your career. Much of what you do, you may have to do yourself because that’s the only way to make it financially viable and then, over time, you’re going to get a VA, you’re going to get an assistant, you’re going to outsource, you’re going to do some things.

But you might need an attorney. You might need an accountant. You might need team members. You might need a graphic design. So, list out the team members that you need to make this happen and make this happen in a big way. It doesn’t mean that you’re spending a ton of money because there is, especially in today’s world, the boundaries, the threshold to get into this type of a business is almost not existent.

If you have a camera, I mean, a phone that has a camera on it, you got a computer, you have access to do the things that you need to do to make this happen. You don’t need a big studio set up. You don’t need all that overhead. Great, at some point, maybe, you will put it in there. But I want you to evaluate who you need to make this really work and really fly.

Who do you need now?

Who do you need next?

Who do you need after that?

It doesn’t mean you’re going to hire them. I just want you to understand who the players may be in this journey with you as you are moving forward.

And then, the third thing here is this and that is the Scale Threshold. What is your scale threshold? And what do I mean by that?

I briefly touched on this and this is the whole thing of The Entrepreneur Transition Formula and that is this is that ultimately each and every one of us are in different positions. So, your scale threshold is going to be different than mine and then, the next person’s. The question is what’s that tipping point where you say, “I’ve proved the concept. It can make money. It’s making enough money right now that I can now turn around and let go of the other business because I’m making good money part time. All I need to do is dedicate myself full time and that money is going to multiply.”

And so, and it’s different for everyone because think about this. There may be someone that doesn’t have a family, they’re single, they have an older car that’s paid off so you can have very few bills. So, their scale threshold, that tipping point where they can let go, is much lower than someone that maybe, has a family, that has kids, that has responsibilities. That scale threshold is vastly different.

So, the question is: At what point, do you feel comfortable that a couple of things happen?

You know you can make money at it.

You know that if you dedicated more time, you can scale it, that you can multiple the money that you’re already making.

It will satisfy not only your bills but your ability to fulfil your dreams and live your aspirations.

Those kinds of 3 things are the place I want you to start to consider at defining your scale threshold.

Now, am I going to give you a number? – No, I’m not because each one like I said is different.

Am I going to give you a percentage? – Maybe.

Here’s the deal, I’ve had some people say, “If I can make 30 to 40 percent of what I’m currently making, working this part time, I know that when I work it full time, I can kick that up into gear pretty quickly.”

So, you plan it out. You say, “Alright, how do I accumulate a little more cash from my day job, if you will, while I get this thing up to 30 or 40 percent to give me that store of cash to work from as I kick it up and move from that scale threshold.”

So hopefully, that makes sense to you is that you understand that the key component here is dependent upon the structure of your life, your expense structure, the responsibilities you have, everything you have. I do not want you to be reckless in this. I want you to be responsible. I want you to think about and strategize how you can make this happen in a way that reduces the risk of failure and increases the probability of success without putting undue stress and pressure on yourself, your family, and the people around you.

And that kind of brings me to this last point before we close this out and that’s this. For instance: In my practice, in my business, my wife is not formally part of the business. But she is. And some of you that are going through this probably have a significant other. You have children. You have a wife or a husband and you want to make this transition. This is your dream. This is what you want to do.

Well, I’m going to invite you and not only, am I going to invite you, I’m going to direct you to have the conversation with them and those of you that know me know that I don’t believe that there’s anything such as work-life balance. There’s simply life.

And if this is your partner in the journey, if this is that person that is special to you, that is supposed to be on that journey with you for the rest of your life, you owe it to them to have this conversation. Say, “This is what I’m trying to do. This is what I want to do and I need you with me.”

And the way you do that is to invite them in. Now, they may not be part of the business. My wife, like I said, she’s a tremendously amazing, amazing business and executive in her own right. But we still have conversations about my business about her business and we’re able to have that dialogue because we share with each other.

And so, one of the things that I want to make sure you do is if you’re going to go through this kind of transition, sit down with the people that are near and dear to you, that are special to you that are going to be part of this journey with you have the conversation. No matter how challenging it is, how scary it might be, it’s better than trying to navigate this without them and you owe it to them.

I really believe that. I think one of the worst things you can ever do in a relationship is to put that wedge in place that seems like a little thing but it becomes this chasm if we’re not careful.

So, bring them into the game.

Bring them into the conversation.

Bring them into the plan.

Bring them into the micro launch.

Bring them into the team and the financial viability.

Have the conversation. Walk them through the transition formula so they understand and they’re going to give you a different perspective. They might even give you this perspective because they might be scared. That’s okay because through that fear, you get a chance to analyze it and look at it and say, “How do I allay those fears?” Because that will make it actually easier for you to be successful because you’re going to identify some possible because they’re looking at alternatives that maybe you’re not looking at.

So, that’s it. That’s what I want you to do in this. If you really want to move from job to thoughtpreneur or entrepreneur, this is the transition.

You got to prepare for it.

You got to evaluate it.

You go to execute it.

You got to know what your scale threshold is.

You got to have deep conversations.

You got to be able to analyze, assess, tweak, adjust, be dedicated, be smart in this process, alright.

Because ultimately, it’s not about being reckless because recklessness is not the same committed as I said. So, I hope this serves you. I hope this helps answer the question, “Is it time to quit my job?” because it may be. Just do it smart. And I’m here to support you. I’m here to help you on this journey. I’m here to help you in this transition or anything that you’re trying to do in this process.

So, if you have a question, if you have a follow up, just go to AskMelNow.com. Leave it for me and let’s see what I can do to support you in this process and in this journey. And do me a favor. If you know someone that can get value out of this message or this process, do me a favor? Share this with them. Put this out there. Let’s get this information out there because I think that there’s a lot of people that are looking for another way.

They’re looking for a way to live their life by their own terms and this is the key to transition in a way that’s responsible, that’s fruitful, that’s going to allow them to live their aspirations and serve the people and do it from their passions, what’s near and dear to their heart. So, do me a favor, share this and if you have not subscribed, subscribe now. Stay with me. Stay with me. We’re going to have lots of fun. I’m here for you and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.

Until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

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— Summary —

If you want to build an audience or a following, you need to be able to spread the right message to the right ears at the right time in the right way. This episode will teach you how you can get your market to message right by building a bridge between the two.

If you do not get it right, your message gets lost and no one sees it. Nobody is there for your content and you end up with no sales. But if you get the market and the message right, there is clarity. Once they have it, your message becomes music to their ears and deals end up getting done.

The 3 principles that you need to know:

They need to feel understood. You have walked in their shoes or understand what it’s like.

They need to see a path. That you can take them from point A to point B.

Transformation drives value. Articulate the transformation that they get.

The Market/Message Bridge

This framework allows you to articulate the value, transformation, messaging, and empathy. It’s about (1) being able to articulate the frustration, (2) giving them hope and (3) speak to their aspirations.

There are 6 levels or hot buttons to this process:

Emotion: What are they feeling? Articulate their frustrations, fears, anger, angst, and anxiety at the base level.

Existence: It’s their current reality. What is really going on? Appeal to their struggles.

Empathy: Understanding them from their position. What did you do when you were in their place?

Evidence: They need to see the solution in you. Move them from frustration to hope.

Envision: It’s about giving them a foretelling of the future. Say how you figured it out.

Evolution: Attach to the desires. What are they feeling now and what new feelings come to light?

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there everybody, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to capture, package and monetize what you know so you can have greater impact, greater income and greater freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to talk about how do you match your message to the right market because if we can’t get a market to message match, in a sense, bridge that, we’re not going to get the customers. Alright, so in this session, in this episode, we’re going to walk through all of that.

I got a couple of tools as I always have to help you along. We’re going to talk about what I said, The Market/Message Bridge and you’re going to get the Market Message Bridge Builder. So, if you want that just go to MelAbraham.com/session092 and you will get the chance to download the action guide for you. I want you to have that in front of you. You can do it before, after, during. It’s better if it’s during but I’m cool with it.

And if you’re not at your computer, if you’re not somewhere where you can download it immediately, that’s fine. Just text me: MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces, 38470. I will send you the download link. We will make sure that you have all the tools, all the templates, all the things that I use to create success for myself and my clients, the people that I mentor and my high-level mentoring clients but we want to get it in your hands also because I want to see you blow out this year. I wanted this to be a breakthrough year for you.

So, let’s jump in. Let’s look at this because this idea of market message match, we hear this message to market.

Maybe, it’s our messaging that’s wrong.

Maybe, it’s the market that’s wrong.

Maybe, we’re talking to the wrong people or we’re using the wrong language.

This is a really important thing to get right when you’re trying to set yourself apart, when you’re trying to build that following to build that audience, to build a customer base, a client base to have people that are coming to you because of what you know and because what you know makes a difference.

And so, what I want to talk about is this element. So, how do you build a market to message bridge?

And really, when we think about this, why is this, why is this so important?

And it is important. It’s one of the most important things that you can get to. In fact, this was a discussion that I’ve had repeatedly with my son Jeremy who does a lot of marketing consulting online and we work together a lot on my stuff and other things and it comes down to a lot of times this concept of messaging.

Did I use the right words? Did I use it in the right way? Did I use it to the right people?

And if we didn’t, that’s a problem. A lot of people, they realize that we live in a noisy market. Especially, with the internet, especially, with all the stuff that comes into our inbox, in our mailbox, anytime we’re driving, anytime we’re out, we’re getting these constant messages, these constant marketing messages.

How do you stand out?

And I had a friend of mine telling me this one time and I think that it’s really important to understand this is that a lot times in a noisy market, what we choose to do is to scream louder. Screaming louder in a noisy market doesn’t get you seen. What we really need to do is find the right ears and whisper the right words at the right time in the right way. That’s the bridge. You don’t have to scream louder. We simply have to do that.

So, why is it so important?

Because if we don’t get this, your message gets lost.

They don’t even see it. It’s like there’s this fog over them and even though you have a compelling message, you have a compelling result, you can make a difference in their lives, it’s lost on them.

And when it’s lost on them, you end up finding that you have all the stuff out there whether it’s blog posts, whether it’s videos on YouTube, whether it’s your Facebook; whatever it is; your Facebook Lives, whatever it is, no one’s there.

You’re talking to the empty chairs, you’re talking to the empty seats. Actually, no one’s there.

And ultimately, what happens if we don’t get this right, is you make no sales.

You got no customers. You got no clients. And obviously, no matter how much you want to make an impact, and I want to make a huge impact, I want to be able to serve people at the highest level, no matter how much I want to do that, I still need to make it a commercial success. In other words, I need to make money at it so I can sustain the message and I can sustain the mission and I can sustain the journey.

So, if you have no clients, no customers, you can’t sustain the message so we got to get the message and the market right. We got to find the right ears and the right words to make it happen because when we do, ultimately, there becomes clarity.

Your market is clear that you’re the solution and that’s what we want them to do. That we want them to realize that you’re the source of the solution to the problem that they’ve been frustrated with and challenged with for a long time.

Then once they have that clarity, it becomes music to their ears.

It’s one of those things that you want your customers, your clients to go, “Oh my god, where have you been all my life. I wish I would have known about this decades ago, years ago, days ago, months ago”, whatever it is. You want to be the music to their ears and it will be when you get this piece right.

Then instead of having no clients, the deal gets done.

Okay? The deal gets done. And so, I think that’s really important to understand and that’s why it’s important to get this right. What do you need to know?

So, let’s just look at at least three of the principles I think you need to know to bring this one home and the first is this. Is that they need to feel understood.

Your marketplace needs to know that you understand them, that you’ve walked in their shoes and whether it’s you’ve literally walked in their shoes, in other words been there which is a great place to be or you simply understand what it’s like to walk in their shoes.

The term that a lot of people will use is empathy and in marketing, empathy leadership, that kind of thing but they need to feel understood. If they don’t feel like you understand them, then they’re going to put a wall up. So, the first thing is, are your messages showing them that they feel understood?

The second is that they need to see a path.

In other words, they’re looking at their life through their eyes and they see that they’re at point A. You’re talking about point B. And that’s great in their eyes but if you can’t show them the path, in other words, if they don’t see that you can get them from A to B, then you’re going to lose the messaging. You will lose that and you’re going to lose the dynamic, they’re not going to buy.

So, once they feel understood is they’ve got to see the path from where they are to where they want to be and that you are solution in the middle. Alright, does that make sense? Hopefully that makes sense.

And then, the third principle you need to understand is that the reality is they’re not buying your service, they’re not buying your product; it doesn’t matter what it is you’re selling, what they are looking for is a transformation.

The level of transformation is what drives values. And I can go on a whole another tangent on this because we’ve had a discussion recently about pricing and everything, and pricing cost and quite frankly pricing costs, I think, absolutely do not matter in the marketplace when you get the value part of it right.

In other words, what people do is they buy the value that they perceive so you need to be able to articulate the value, give them the value so they can buy the value. Because here’s how a transaction is done—as long as, as long as what I’ve, I’m the buyer, as long as what I am giving up, the value of what I am giving up whether it’s my money, my time, whatever it is, as long as the value of what I’m giving up is less than the value that I’m getting. In other words, I’m getting back more in return than what I’m giving up, I’ll do the deal all day long.

We, from a marketing standpoint, from an influencer standpoint, from that expertise standpoint, we simply need to make sure that we articulate it in a way that they see that the value they’re giving up is far less, far less than the value they’re receiving. When we do that, the transformation will drive it. That’s what will drive the transaction.

Okay so, hopefully that makes sense to you. Those are the 3 principles to consider in this.

Remember that they need to feel understood,

That they need to see a path, a clear path, a path from A to B, a path from frustration to solution, and

That the level of transformation creates the value and that they’re going to be, there’s going to be a value exchange.

So, get those straight. Now we know why, we know what. How do we get this done?

In order to get this done, I want to actually introduce you to what I call my framework of The Market/Message Bridge. In order to do that, we’re going to go back to the iPad. We’re going to draw this out. We’re going to co-create it together and so, in this process, this market message bridge is to give you a template or a tool that allows you to articulate the value, the transformation and the messaging, the empathy through this process if we hit all six of these hot buttons if you will in the process. So, let’s jump to the iPad and let’s work through The Market/Message Bridge framework.

Alright so, here we are and you will see that there’s six levels on this and we’re going to work on a couple of different levels. I just wat to work on a couple of different levels but what I want you to think about is how you use this in a message because ultimately what we’re going to look at is 3 different levels of things that are going on and the first is this is first I want to be able to articulate the frustration they have.

Once we articulate the frustration, this is going to get them to start to think, “Wait a second, they know me. They understand me. They get me.”

But once we articulate the frustration, what we need to insert, what we need them to feel and these 3 elements are kind of the feelings that I think they go through in this process because I need them to feel hope. So, in the next phase of this, I want to give them hope.

And then, once they have hope, now what I want to do is give them this last piece and this is what we will cause them, this is the tipping point that’s going to cause them to

Make the decision

Commit to the work that they need to do to get the change or the difference and the solution that they want

And that is Aspiration.

So, if you look at how we do this and we build this out, this is how it’s built out.

To speak to their frustrations

To speak to their hopes

To speak to their aspirations

That’s what’s going to start to drive things.

And at the very base level, what we need to be able to articulate is what I call the Emotions. This is, if you will, this is the current Feelings. What are they feeling?

And I have a great tool in here that gives you a list of, a bunch of different emotions.

So, it could be aggravation

It could be frustration

It could be fear

It could be anger

It could be angst

It could be anxiety

What are they feeling because if you can articulate what they are feeling internally, viscerally, they’re going to start to realize, “Wait a second, they get to know me.”

But what we need to look at is remember, I want to communicate right brain, left brain. In other words, I want to communicate emotionally and logically with them.

And so, the next piece of this is once I articulate the emotions, I want to articulate what I call Existence and it’s their current Reality. What’s really going on?

You’re struggling with cash flow

You’re not spending time with your family

Your spouse is irritated because you’re never home

Whatever it is; you can’t get clients

You having problems collecting the funds

Whatever that current reality is from a logical standpoint, we want to appeal to that because now we’re appealing right brain, left brain in this process. That’s the frustration level. If you will, it’s the pain that they’re feeling and now we need to transition them to hope and in that hope piece, this is where we bring in the Empathy because they get hope as soon as they feel that you Understand them. Okay?

And so, this is one of those situations where if you’re talking about the emotional problems that they are facing right now, the frustration, the angst, the anxiety and the fact that they can’t pay their bills and they’re having problems collecting from their customers or they’re having problems getting their content out in the world in a way that sets them apart and that ultimately, this is their reality that you can go to empathy now and say, “You know what? I went through the same thing. I walked that same journey.”

In fact, in my case, I was a single full time dad trying to figure out how to build a business but serve the greatest gift that was given to me that of being a father. To take care of that five and a half, six year old son, to take care of what his needs were while living my dream and creating something that is meaningful and that is impactful.

And so, I struggled through this process and figured out what it takes to really build a business, to position myself as an influencer, as an expert in a space where I was the sought-after market leader and I created and I figured out a system and a process to make that work which leads us to this next piece which is the Evidence which is really about the Solution.

They need to see the solution in you. They need to see the solution in you and they will do that through the story that you’re telling and that process. Now, all of a sudden, you’re moving them from frustration to hope and now we want to electrify them with aspirations. We want them to be energized with the aspiration and that comes from giving them a Foretelling of the future.

So, what I want to do is I want to give them a picture of the future and say, “Listen. So, I figured it out. I figured out what I needed to do to take care of my son and build my business.”

I’ve been able to build multiple 7-figure businesses as a single fulltime dad, released a book, became a #1 Barnes & Noble best-seller and #1 USA TODAY best-seller in that same year because I had systems and processes in place and I was positioned as the expert to be working with as the market leader. I still took 93 days off. So, I’m giving them a visual of what it is to get it right.

So, I want to envision what their future is. What’s that future that they are looking for?

The thing that is their sought-after solution.

The thing that they lie awake dreaming about.

The things that take them away and say, “This is what I want.”

Because then that leads us to this last piece of this model and that’s the Evolution and this is really kind of attaching to the Desires and it’s going back to the emotional side. So, if we started with the feelings at the beginning, the frustrations, the angst, the anxiety, when we get this right and they transition and they get this transformation from us and we talk through this process

What are they feeling now? What’s the new feelings that come to light because of who they are?

Because they use the solution that you have

The transformation that you bring

That’s the key.

So, how this transitions, how this works—this market message bridge is really how you build your messaging. In other words, I want to start where they are with their feelings, their emotions, the challenges that they’re having. Then I want to move from that to their current reality, their existence, the logical side of it.

And then, build from there—the empathy understanding and this is typically through your own expert journey. This is typically through your own expert story. It’s in that context that we see this all come out.

Then we want to give them a vision, an optic if you will. A visual of what their future can be like to draw them forward and do that. And in fact, if you look at many, many commercials and many marketing elements, this is exactly what they do. They’re giving you a visual of what your future could be like while attaching it to your current reality.

So, I may turn around and say to someone that, “Are you feeling the struggle?” Whether it’s a pinch from cash flow. Maybe, it’s that you’re trying to get your content out there. You’re trying to become an expert. You’re trying to get known for what you know. You’re trying to build a consulting practice, a speaker, an author, a trainer or coach and you’re struggling. You’re swapping hours for dollars and even then, you’ve got clients that don’t show up.

They don’t get the work done.

They don’t’ get the results.

And then, they cancel on you.

And they don’t stay with you.

So, now I’ve talked about the emotions and the current reality. And then, I move from there and say, “You know what? That’s what I did. I was a CPA and I was doing a lot of consulting. I was swapping hours for dollars. Yeah maybe, my hourly rate, I was able to push it up from a hundred dollars to a hundred fifty to two hundred dollars and maybe higher. But I was still swapping hours for dollars and I was capped out. I couldn’t do anymore because there was only so many hours in a day and you know what? I was a single full time dad and I was trying to figure out how do I build this in a way that I could leverage it, that I could set myself apart distinctly and be a premium market leader that allows me to do that.

And so, I figured it out. I went through and I reformatted how I did things. I started to have conversations around the value of the transformation not necessarily the transaction of an hour for a dollar and I was getting the results and I had proof, social proof and testimonials that allowed them to show that. And you know what ultimately happened? Is that not only if you went to my hourly rate and tried to figured it out by the hour, my hourly rate was in the thousands at that point.

But what I was doing is I was creating a business based on a transaction of value because of the transformation I was bringing because of the difference I was making because of the results I was getting. And what that did for me is that it allowed me to have more time for myself and allowed me to have more time with my wife. It allowed me to actually write a bestselling book, a #1 bestselling book and get it out, sell 16 thousand copies in a couple of weeks and still take one quarter of the year off to do the things that I loved to do.

And that’s what I want for you. That’s what I want for you. I mean, if you imagine just for a moment, what would it be like that you get a chance to have a big impact to take what you know out in the world, to get results for the people that you want to serve, to see them flourish, to see their life expand, and to have the life that you want.

To be able to travel when you want

To do the things that you want with who you want, when you want

What does that feel like?”

Now, if you watched what I just did there, is I actually transitioned through all six stages of the market message bridge and that’s how we build this out. So, here’s the question for you now as we go back into the presentation. You will see this and you can build this out but this is the way I want you to start thinking in the context of your messaging.

Whether it is in emails

Whether it is in video

Whether it is in copy on the website, on the pages

All of that. How do you create this arc, if you will, this bridge to do that?

And I’m going to give you a tool that you download the action guide that’s going to give you a tool that’s going to start to extract some of this information for you. It’s called The Market Message Builder and so, what you need to do is go to MelAbraham.com/session092. Download that action guide.

If you are not at your computer the text me MYLEGACY one-word 38470 and I will send you the download link because this is a matrix that’s going to ask you some specific questions so as you’re developing your content, as you’re developing your messaging, it will extract it and build it in a way that satisfies the framework of The Market/Message Bridge.

So, I hope that this serves you. I hope that this really starts to bring things home for you in a way that you now understand how it is that you can match your message to your marketplace. Remember, it’s about finding the right ear at the right time and whispering the right message in the right way. That will get them to buy.

So, I hope you found this of value to you. If you have not subscribed, here’s what I want you to do. Hit subscribe. Stay with me. We’re going to be doing more of this. What I’m really looking to try to do is I want to give you the tools, the templates, the tactics and the strategies so you can get yourself out of the world, so you can position yourself as a market leader, as the influencer in that market space. And so, make sure you subscribe.

The other thing if you would do me a favor, share this. Let’s get it out there. Do me a favor? Hit share right now. Share it with a friend. Share it with a couple of friends. I would be totally, totally grateful if you did that.

If you have questions, if you have comments and questions or challenges, then just send me a not to AskMelNow.com. Just go to AskMelNow.com, leave me a message. We will make sure that we get your questions answered may be on an upcoming episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. So, hope you found this of value. Make sure you download the action guide. Let me know what’s going on. Let’s keep the conversation going. I love doing this with you guys and seeing the difference that it’s making and the things that you’re doing because the world needs what you’re doing. The world needs the transformation that you’re given, getting out there, the work that we’re doing.

I don’t care whether you’re an entrepreneur or a thoughtpreneur as I call it where you’re selling your thoughts, you acknowledge your wisdom as an entrepreneur, you’re selling products and other services. The bottom line is, our primary focus is to prove the human condition. So, let’s get on with it.

Until we get a chance to see each other again,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Create a Training that Transforms

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Get the mp3/podcast of this episode free on iTunes

— Summary —

In this episode, we’re going to continue our journey of being an influencer and discuss about how you can create a training that builds in transformational results for the people that buy, use, attend and learn from you. We need a killer program for it because if we do not do it right, there is no one that has attention on us, there is no demand and it results in the fact that we can’t improve other people’s lives. When we get it right, there is an intense focus on us, we are in demand and the users get the results in the process.

The 3 principles that you should know:

Insights drive transformation

Feelings deepen retention

Action steps will lead to results

The Killer Program Paradigm

This framework will allow you to make an experience and build the feelings necessary to give your audience the action steps which in turn gives them the results in the process.

Education: They come to us for training and so we educate them. We give them the insights which are not just the data but the interpretation and application of it.

Experience: It shouldn’t flow in just one direction. People want to experience it and you have to make sure that they immerse in it so that it creates feelings inside of them. This is how you retain them.

Execution: It should be executable. They should be able to apply it. Give them a step-by-step action plan.

If we build their feelings and give them the insights, they assimilate and identify with it. When you educate them, and give them the execution plan, you’re giving them the clarity. Finally, when we create the experience and education, passion sparks inside of them.

Ultimately, when you get everything right, you end up with creating Transformation.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution, the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer, a market leader so you can have a greater impact, more income and more freedom.

And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to kind of continue on this journey of being an influencer. And in this one, specifically, I’m going to talk about ‘How do you create a killer program?’ Something that builds in transformation results for the people that buy it, attend it, use it, learn from you and digest your content.

So, we will talk about The Killer Program Paradigm and I’m going to give you a tool, an action guide called The Program Focus Builder and you can download that by going to MelAbraham.com/session091 or if you’re not at your computer, just text me, you know it. MYLEGACY 38470. MYLEGACY is one word, no spaces to 38470. I will send you the download link for the action guide. We will talk about it in this episode. Let’s get into it now.

So, here’s the thing. Why do we want to create a killer program?

There’s a lot of people out there doing seminars and online courses and they’re doing live video on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and podcasts, all over the place. And there’s a ton of it out there.

How do you stand out?

How do you stand out?

How do you build in transformation?

How do you get results for the people that are part of it?

How do I build the things that I’m doing?

And I think that there’s a process to it but I think, before we get into this, is to really understand why this is important to get right. Because if I’m going to be out there as an influencer, if I’m going to be out there to be that expert, that person, that go to person in the marketplace that solves challenges, solves problems, helps them with their frustrations, aggravations and challenges in that process, you got to get it right.

Because if I don’t get it right, here’s what happens. There’s no one that has attention with us.

They’re bored to tears. They don’t even notice us. We got no eyeballs and we talked about that in the last episode of needing to get eyeballs. So, we don’t get their attention.

And if we don’t get their at tention, there’s no demand.

I mean, our tables are empty. The streets are empty. The phone is not ringing. The emails aren’t coming in. The sales aren’t coming in. No one’s there so I’ve got a whole bunch of content and I got nowhere to deliver it, no one to deliver it to. So, there is no demand.

And ultimately, if there is no demand, we can’t improve other people’s lives.

They’re still sinking. They’re drowning. They’re struggling and they’re frustrated and they’re in search for the solution that maybe you have; the tools, the tactics, the strategies, the things that you can give them to improve their lives.

I know you’ve heard it before that my belief is that as a thoughtpreneur, as an entrepreneur, the sole purpose of bringing products, services and things to market is to improve the human condition. And if there is no attention and no demand, we can’t improve the human condition.

Here’s the cool thing though. When we get this right, it changes everything because what ends up happening is that there becomes this intense focus on us.

That we get the attention of our marketplace, we get the attention of the right qualified leads, we get the attention of the consumers, we get the attention of the audience, the people that are sitting in our audience if it’s a live program that we’re doing or the people that are on the other side of the camera such as yourself or someone that’s in the Facebook group or on LinkedIn.

We get their focus.

We get their attention.

They give us the time to digest the knowledge, the information that we have.

And with that intense focus, we end up finding that we’re in demand.

That people are searching for us. That they need our stuff and they’re coming to our trainings, they’re taking our programs, they’re using our programs, they’re getting results in the process.

And that becomes the key is that ultimately,

We’re serving at the highest level,

We’re shifting their behavior,

We’re shifting their lives, and

Their lives improve.

So, that’s why this is important. So, if we’re going to do this, what are the key principles, the key things that you need to do or you need to know to bring it to life?

Well, there’s a couple of things I want you to know in order to do this correctly, to create that killer program—whether it’s live, whether it’s online, whether it’s digital, whether it’s some hybrid of it. What do you need to know?

The first thing is this is that insights drive transformation.

I know you’ve heard me talk about this before. Information has no value. Information is a commodity now. When you have a billion searches a month on Google, you’ve got 40 thousand searches every second on Google, it’s not information that drives value. It’s the transformation that drives value and that transformation is driven by insights, your ability to interpret the information out there and put it in someone’s life so it makes a difference. That’s the key behind all of that. And so, the first thing is to understand that your insights, your distinct, unique insights drive the transformation which drives the value because it drives the results.

The second thing to understand is that when you create feelings, when you create an experience and we stir feelings in our audience, whether they’re sitting there live in the audience or whether they’re sitting on the other side of the video screen or the camera or they’re digesting it by having us in their ears in a podcast, whatever it is or they’re reading it in a book like they did with The Entrepreneur’s Solution, the feelings that we generate deepen the retentions of the lessons and the insights that you bring to them.

And so, we need to create feelings in them not just logic, not just information.

And the other thing I want you to think about is this, is that action steps will lead to results.

It’s really easy to talk about theoretical and conceptual stuff, to be talking about things up in the clouds of what could be, what’s possible and everything. It’s never going to get them results. It’s going to get their head in the clouds. It’s going to get them excited. But it’s never going to get them results.

The only thing that’s going to get them results is giving them the action steps that are necessary to bring it to life. And so, remember, as you build the programs, as you create your live programs, your online programs; whatever it is; to consider these things.

To realize that, “I got to figure out what my unique insights are.” In Thoughtpreneur Academy, we have some unique ways to capture them. The ones that will drive the transformation that interpret the information that landed in their lives. I need to create an experience for them. I need to create feelings and allow that so they retain it and they go use it and then, I got to give them the action steps to go get the results.

So, how do we do this as we start to build this out?

Well, what I use is something called The Killer Program Paradigm. And this is my framework. Again in this framework, we’re going to do some drawing again, we’re going to build this out for you on my iPad. But it’s a framework that I think when you understand the elements of it and you bring this to bear in the programs that you’re putting together,

It will allow you to make an experience,

I will allow you to build in the feelings,

To give them the action steps, and

To get the results in that process.

So, why don’t we jump to the iPad? Let’s do some drawing, alright? Let me move you into The Killer Program Paradigm. Here’s the thing as we talked about this before. One of the first things that this program is all about is going to be Education. Let me just zoom so we can write it here. Education.

So, obviously if they’re coming us for training, we got to educate them. We got to give them some education which revolves around what we were talking about, the Insights.

So, it’s not just about data. It’s about the interpretation and the application of that data.

There’s a very different thing from just education and applications. So, we’re going to need to get them the point of application. Otherwise, we are never going to get a shift or a change. So, the first part of it is to make sure that what you have is educational. And that, you’re giving insights on how it can be applied.

The second thing to understand is that it’s important to create as I said an Experience for them. People don’t want to just go to a live event and just be talked to or talked at. They want to experience it. They want to immerse themselves. They want to create the experience so what it does is it creates feelings inside.

Remember, the feelings inside are what’s going to allow you to retain it better.

They will retain some of it but if they have this great experience, they’re going to retain a lot more so what are you doing in your trainings to create an experience

Whether it’s tangible

Whether it’s sending them something

Whether it’s interacting

Whether it’s Q&A

What kind of experience are you creating and then, the last piece and this is what I find is one of the things that a lot of folks mess up on when they’re creating their programs and that is they’ve given the education, they’ve given them valuable, valuable information, they in fact even create an experience but they don’t give them a pathway to Execution.

So, what I need is I need to make sure that what I give them is a step-by-step execution plan that allows them to take Action.

To take action. That’s the key behind creating a killer program.

So, the key to having a killer program are these 3 things.

Education,

Experience, and

Execution

Because when we get these correct and right, ultimately, what we end up with is we create the Transformation we’re looking for, the change, the shift, the things that they’re looking for in the process.

So, this is the key behind really building something out and if we do this right, we get the education piece right and we get the experience piece right; in other words, we build on their feelings, we give them insights, what ends up happening is they assimilate or identify with it.

And when they identify with something, it becomes part of them and that keeps them in the game with you.

The other side of that is that when I educate them and I give them, the execution plan, I give them the steps to take action. That gives them Clarity.

So, it gives them clarity on what they need to do. The problem is that if I give them a bunch of information, they may still not need not know what they need to do. So, what we need to simply do is here’s the 10 steps. Here’s the 5 steps. Here’s the 3 things that I need you to do right now to move you forward.

And then, when we create the experience, and the execution, the plan in place and they feel it and they go do it, what starts the spark in them is the Passion.

And so, that’s the model, that’s the framework that I’m looking to. That’s the lens that I look through when I’m trying to create a killer program and it’s what I call The Killer Program Paradigm.

Here’s the thing that I want you to do is I want you to think about if you’re going to go out there to do a video, if you’re going to go out there to do a training, you’re going to do a live event:

Are you hitting on all these points?

Education

Experience

Execution

Because if you’re not, you’re not going to get the transformation that you need. Now, I got something for you that’s going to help you build this out in a way that is going to be helpful. You need to be able to download the action guide to bring it home to you so you can use it.

It’s called The Program Focus Builder. Why I call it the focus builder is because I think we need to focus on a couple of things. When we do this, you get a chance to decide how you want to build. Now, it could be like I said, when you look at it, it’s on the left hand side,

It could be a digital program,

It could be a live program, or

It could be a hybrid, a combination of both.

I do a lot of hybrid programs. I do a lot of live, a lot of speaking, a lot of video, online, so, one of the things you need to understand is, okay so, how many training units or modules I’m going to have. When I say training, it means that maybe I’m doing a 3-day live program and I’m going to have 9 different training units in there, 9 different if you will, sequences or points that I really want to make.

So, how many modules you got to decide and here’s my advice: Don’t pack too many. Less is more. What are the most important that your audience needs to know now to get the transformation? Don’t worry about the rest of the stuff you know. We will give that to them later. So, let’s just focus on the depending on the time you have. The one, the two, the three, the five things they need to know now to move them forward.

Once they get there, we will give them another couple of things to move forward. So, you can look at this in this way. So, one of the things to ask when you use this focus builder, you will see that it asks

What’s the outcome you want for your audience?

What do I want them to be, feel or understand on the other side of this? (When they get done with it).

The second thing to consider is that what do I want the audiences experience to feel like. If I’m just going to go in there and not intentionally define what the experience is like, then I’m going to not have any consistency. So, I want to be very intentional. So, when I come to my live programs, there are certain videos, there are certain music, there are certain setup, there are certain things that we do that are part of the client experience that become part of your brand. And I think that we need to orchestrate those with intention.

Then in order to get them the outcome that they want, I always ask, “What are the frameworks they need to know and understand to get that experience and that outcome?”

Then the next question that you will ask in this and answer in this is: What activities will bring your insights to life?

If they’re simply just sitting there staring at you lecturing, it’s not going to bring it to life. When you build your programs, you will see that I focus on, alright,

There’s a portion of the program that’s a teaching portion.

There’s a portion of program that’s a building portion.

And there’s a portion of the program that’s a doing portion.

That gets them involved. That gets you to be able to teach, them to be able to co-create and them to go create it on their own.

So, what activities do you want to do?

What exercise, tools, templates, things that you need them to do to bring that to life?

Then what tools can you give them to make it easier or faster for them to do it?4

And then, the last thing is this: Remember, I said, it needs to have an action plan. It needs to be execution-able and actionable.

So, what are the action steps that you’re going to ask them to take?

What is the next things they need to do?

Just list them out. It’s as simple as: So, here’s the next, the 3 things that I need you to do when you go home—1, 2, 3.

And that gives them the recipe that allows them to go forward and do the things that they need to do to get the transformation that your program is promising. So, here’s the deal: Get really clear on the killer program paradigm. Understand the 3 components of it there. Use the focus builder to build out your programs. It’s going to get your focus.

Now, there’s a lot more that goes into building programs and building content and doing that but this is the beginning of it, at least. At least, we get you in the game in a different way. This is how many of the top people in our industry—whether it’s a Seth Goden or Simon Sinek or Brendon Burchard. All of us use these kinds of tools to really make sure that we’re going to get the experience, the education and the execution and the results and transformation ultimately for our clients or customers and our audience in that way.

So, I hope that you found this of value to you. I hope that you will go out there, you will take this. You will go serve your customers, your clients at the absolute highest level. So, if you haven’t done so already, download the action guide. Go to MelAbraham.com/session091. If you’re not, again, if you’re not by your computer, just text me MYLEGACY, one-word, no-spaces to 38470. I will make sure you get the download link.

Do me a favor. Two favors. Make sure you subscribe. Subscribe, hit the button now, yes, now and share this. Let’s get it out there. I would be blessed, I would be honored if you would share it with a friend. So, do me a favor. Subscribe, share it.

And the last thing, if I can serve you, if I can support you, you have questions on this or anything else that I’m doing or things in your business or building your practice or getting yourself positioned as that influencer in your market space, go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me your questions. Leave me the challenges, frustrations, the thing you’re dealing with. Let’s get it on one of these episodes. That way I can mentor you and give you the tools that can help you accelerate your success and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

And until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Create a Lead Magnet that Converts

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— Summary —

Have you ever thought about what it takes to attract qualified leads? This episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show will teach you the framework and the tools so that you can build a lead magnet that converts. If you do not get it right, we’re going to end up with a bunch of lookie-loos, we are in a situation where there’s literally no traffic and we don’t even get that first date with our audience. But if we get it right, qualified people will be attracted to our content, they even share it and you end up with courtship which is a trusting and loyal relationship.

The 3 key principles that you need to know:

They are looking for something

It solves a specific problem

It highlights a bigger solution

The Lead Magnet Pillars

The objective here is to get something that actually attracts and converts. There are 3 keys to it:

Educate: They got to feel that it’s going to educate them. There should be information that is useful. The easily digestible content that you provide should empower them.

Engage: It should not be a data dump but something that can engage them. Ultimately, what we’re looking for is eyeballs. You want them to be attracted to it so you can convert.

Inspire: It should inspire them to (1) take action and (2) take them to a higher aspiration. It should build excitement of what is possible in the sense of growth, ease, and certainty.

When we create a lead magnet that engages and inspires them, we are able to create loyalty. Trust is gained when we inspire and educate them correctly. Lastly, if we get the engagement and education in place, we are going to build authority. All of this is going to attract and convert.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, I’m Mel Abraham, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer and market leader so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome back to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solutions show and in this episode, we’re going to do something that I think is extremely important to building your influencer network, to build your influencer business and that is: What does it take to attract qualified leads?

We’re going to talk about something called The Lead Magnet and I’m going to teach you The Lead Magnet Pillars and I’m going to give you a tool that’s called The Magnet Matrix in this episode. If you want to get the downloadable action guide with the tool and the template to build out your lead magnet, just go to MelAbraham.com/session090 and you will get the download link.

And also, if you’re not close to your computer or if you happen to be out and about and maybe, you’re at the gym or you’re on a run, just text me. Just me MYLEGACY one word to 38470. I will send you the download link. Make sure you get the action guide and you start taking the tools; put them into play. It’s going to make things a whole lot easier. It’s going to accelerate your success. It’s going to elevate your success and make this a whole lot easier.

So, let’s jump in. Let’s talk about this whole thing about how do you create a lead magnet. The 3 keys to a lead magnet that actually attracts and converts and what does it take and why is this so important is one of the first things we want to touch on is:

Why do we even need this?

What does it take?

Why do this?

Well, because here’s what’s happening is that we are inundated with information these days. Information’s not the issue. Insights are the issue that are going to be of value. It used to be that one point. The person that had the information had the value. But information is easy. You just go to Mr. Goog. It’s Google and just type in. There’s plenty of information. I’m not saying it’s all true as we had seen in the recent months but the bottom line is that there is a plethora of information. There’s a bunch of information out there.

And what we want to do is we want to attract those people that are not information seekers but people that are trying to get a chance and a shift in their life. And so, if we don’t get this right, we’re going to end up with a bunch of lookie-loos.

They’re just going to be coming, they’re going to be tire kickers and lookie-looks,

They’re going to waste our time

They’re going to waste our energy

They’re going to not value the things that we have to give, to share with them

And that’s never…well, it’s not a good recipe for your business and it’s certainly not a good recipe for how to spend your time in your day.

Then, if we don’t get this right, we end up in a situation where there’s literally no traffic.

I mean, it’s an empty road. It’s completely barren. In other words, that people don’t even know we exist and if we have no traffic, this is the one place where traffic’s a good thing. Especially, coming from Los Angeles, we hate traffic out here and we got a ton of it.

But where do we want a ton of traffic?

We want it on our website.

We want it to our lead magnet.

We want it to our Facebook pages.

We want it to our content.

But we want traffic that is qualified traffic. So, if we don’t get this right, we end up with no traffic and in the end, if we don’t get this right, we don’t even get a first date.

And I’m using that metaphor intentionally because what this really is when you talk about finding your proper market, finding your audience, finding your clients, your customers, it’s a courtship. No matter how you cut it, no matter how you look at it, we are courting our market and we’re courting them in a way that

We want to serve them

We want to support them

We want to give them the tools and the things they need to improve their lives

Like I said, many, many times before, the job of every entrepreneur, the job of a thoughtpreneur, the job of an influencer such as yourself is to improve the human condition. To give them what they need to be better off because they met you. So, if we don’t get this right, we don’t even get the first date. So, let alone the courtship

But here’s the cool thing, when we do get this right, when we get the proper lead magnet place that is attractive, that converts, that gets them to give us their email, give us their name and want to go on a journey with us and that journey could be really short, it could be really long, it could be where they spend a little money or no money at all or a lot of money. It just depends.

But what happens when we get this right, is the people that come to our page, the people that start to digest and eat up our content, they’re qualified people.

They have a certain set of characteristics, traits. Some people will call this their characteristic, the demographics, the geographics, the psychographics, the avatar (if you will) but they’re people and here’s what I would say is that you’re attracting a certain type of people to your space based upon

The information you have,

The insights you can give,

The direction that you can give,

The ability to shift and change their lives, improve their lives, and

Do the things that you want to do.

And this is at the very foundational level. This is the very beginning stages of that courtship is to get them into that sphere of influence called YOU in that process.

The other thing that happens when we get this right is that we have people that come, they get what we have and they go share it.

It’s like the pollination of the bees where they go and they land on a flower and then, they go to another flower and this pollination process where they’re spreading and sharing the good stuff all around. So, when you create the proper content, what ends up happening is that

People start talking,

People start sharing, and

People start joining in.

And in the end, you end up in a situation where you end up in this courtship.

In this respectful, trusting, loyal, loving relationship with your customers, your clients, your audience, your marketplace where there’s this give and take of care and compassion and taking care of them and that’s really what we’re trying to get at.

And this is the beginning. This is kind of the gateway to get access to you, your information and the kind of shifts and changes you can bring to their lives. It’s also the gateway for you to reach out to that certain component, that certain demographic, that certain type of person that you can serve, that maybe has a certain set of problems, challenges or needs that you get to solve, that you get to build on.

And so, that’s the reason that we got to get this right and the cool thing is that when we do, now all of a sudden, we got flooded qualified leads, qualified people coming to our space. They’re going on a journey with us and now, we create this courtship.

So, if that’s why it’s important, the question that you got to ask yourself is then, great, so how do I do it? So, what do I need to know?

And so, what do you need to know?

Here’s the key principles I think you need to write down and be aware of when you’re creating a lead magnet or when you’re creating something that is there as the entry point, that is there as something that’s going to attract someone to you. There’s a couple of principles that I think come into play here.

And the first one is this: They’re looking for something and you got to have it.

So, in other words, what I want you to do is to sit back and ask yourself, what is the emotional hot button if you will that maybe exists in their life, that they are struggling with, that they’re challenged with that you have the solution for?

Remember, most entrepreneurs, what they do is they go searching for markets and they look for market gaps and when they find market gaps, they figure out a solution to bring to that market gap. But influencers such as ourselves that had knowledge expertise and wisdom that go and share with the world to change and shift their thinking and change and shift their behavior which ultimately changes and shifts their lives, what we do is we do it the other way around.

We don’t search the market for gaps, we search ourselves for the knowledge and the expertise that can solve problems and then, we find where those problems exists and we go serve. And that’s what we’re looking at here is that there’s a market out there, there’s a group of people out there, there’s businesses, there’s clients and audiences out there that have a specific set of needs.

Call them problem

Call them challenges

Call them frustrations

Call them fears

And it’s those specific set of needs that you get to solve, that you get to work from and so, what we need to understand is what is it that they’re looking for? So, understanding that they’re all looking for something but what it is that they’re looking for so we can serve at that space and at that level.

The second principle is this that you’re going to come at it and solve a specific problem.

Here’s the deal. It’s going to be a one-page thing. It’s going to be something that’s short and digestible. So, you can’t solve all their problems with this lead magnet as you will but you can solve a specific problem and hopefully, it’s one of their hot buttons. Hopefully, it’s one of those things that they’re frustrated with on an ongoing basics and you can give them a simple solution.

So, one of the principles here is to make sure that you’re really clear about the specific problem you can solve when they download that lead magnet, when they give you their name, their email address, their phone number; whatever it is in return for the tools and the things that you have. It becomes really important that they are clear on what problem you’re solving and that when they get it, it actually does solve the problem.

And then, the third principle is this, is that it’s a vehicle that allows you to solve that specific problem as I said in the last principle but then highlights a bigger solution.

In other words, it previews that there is something bigger, that there is something greater, that you have a bigger solution that will solve some of the other challenges, frustrations, fears, and aggravations that they have. And so, you can highlight a bigger solution.

For instance: One of my lead magnets is called The Content Multiplier, the content creation multiplier but it is a little sliver of my bigger process in Thoughtpreneur Academy and what it does is it solves a specific problem that is in the level of content creation but at the same time, when they get it, they start to understand that there’s a process to becoming an influencer.

And that, this is one little piece in the process and if they really want to expand becoming an influencer, they can go deeper and understand the process. So, that’s effectively what you need to know.

Understanding that your audience, your market, your customers are looking for something. That specific need they have, the aggravation and the frustration that you’re going to solve and that you’re going to create something that’s solves a specific problem. One sliver of a problem and when you create it in the proper way, it actually highlights that there’s a bigger solution.

So, now you know why it’s important. Now, you know what you need to know; the 3 key principles to make it happen. So, the question then is:

How do you do it?

What do you do?

I’m going to introduce you to something called The Lead Magnet Pillars and the lead magnet pillars is kind of my framework of how I look at lead magnets and what I think are the key elements of creating a proper lead magnet.

And in order to do that, we’re going to jump to my iPad. We will do a little bit of drawing, we will bring this thing to life for you. So, let’s jump to the iPad and let’s see what we can come up with.

Alright, so here we are. This is what I call The Lead Magnet Pillars. It’s the 3 keys to a magnet that attracts and converts as I see it. And I think that when you understand this, and you understand the 3 elements and why they’re important, you then can sit back and look at it and say, “Alright, how do I put a lead magnet together that is going to attract them, the qualified leads and it’s going to get them to give me their information to allow me to have this dialog with them.”

So, the first thing to understand is that they got to feel that it’s going to educate them. In other words, there’s information in it that’s useful. It’s like I said, information is ubiquitous. It’s easy to get to. The question is the interpretation of the information. So, this education that they get by getting your lead magnet or this download which is typically going to be a template, a tool, a checklist, a cheat sheet, something that’s easy to digest is going to in-effect, empower them.

Because they’re going to know stuff that they didn’t otherwise know and they’re going to have a tool, a recipe, a transition, a template, something that allows them to implement and execute things a lot easier to get themselves to a solution.

Remember, the objective here is to get something that actually attracts and converts. So, these are the keys to make sure that you have something that attracts and converts.

The next thing is that if it’s going to educate them, that’s great but at the same time, what I need it to do is I need it to engage them. If it’s going to be something that is not engaging. Maybe it’s going to be a bunch of date. Now, some people love data and I’m a data wonk myself. But there’s only so much I can take. So, if it’s going to be this like 132-page data dump, it’s not going to engage them.

So, it needs to be something that engages them, that entices them if you will because ultimately what we’re really looking is eyeballs.

I need to get their eyeballs on it. If they’re not going to digest it, if they’re going to use it, then it’s not going to serve its purpose because remember,

I want it to attract them.

I want it to convert them. In other words, I want it to give me their email and their name in return for it but…

I want them to digest it and use it because that’s the only way we get from that ‘first date’ to the ‘second date’.

So, it needs to get their eyeballs. It needs to engage them

And then, the last piece of this is really to understand that it needs to inspire them. And I think, it needs to inspire them on two fronts. It needs to inspire them to take action, to use it. The second thing that it needs to do is it needs to inspire them to a higher aspiration to something greater that they’re thirsty for, that they’re hungry for to build that out.

And so, what it really needs to do is build excitement of what’s possible.

Now, it could be what’s possible in the sense of growth.

It could be what’s possible in the sense of ease.

It could be what’s possible in the sense of certainty.

Whatever it is, it needs to create some level of excitement for them. When we do this correctly, ultimately, when we do this correctly, you’re going to find that if we got a magnet that creates that engagement and inspires them, we create loyalty with our people, with the audience that downloads this.

The second thing that happens is that if it engages them and it educates them at the same time, what you start to do is position yourself in a place of authority.

And then, the last piece when we do this correctly is that if it inspires them and educates them at the same time and if we’ve got that right, we build trust.

So, your lead magnet, what you’re going to give away to interact your qualified leads needs to have all of this in place. And if we get the engagement in place, if we get the education in place, if we get the inspiration in place,

We’re going to build loyalty,

We’re going to build authority, and

We’re going to build trust.

Which is going to attract and convert. That’s the key to a lead magnet. This is the lead magnet, the 3 pillars of the lead magnet. So, that’s the element.

So now, where do we take it from here?

Well, where we take it from here is to really understand the dynamics of how to do that and his is going to be done by you downloading The Magnet Matrix. You can go to MelAbraham.com/session90 to grab that but it’s going to walk you through, asking you some very specific questions.

And it’s a matrix that you get a chance to complete that will allow you to decide what kind of magnet you want to make. Now, I’m going to tell you that it should be easy for them digest.

I get it, e-books and things like that are really kind of cool sometimes but how many people read e-books? If I get a 20-page, 30-page e-book, I can just download 132-page e-book, am I really going to read it? No, I’m going to probably page through it and kind of thumb through it if you will or glance through it and see if anything jumps out of it. So, here’s what I’m going to recommend you do is I’m going to recommend that you come up with something using the magnet matrix, you come up with something that is 1 to maybe, 4, 5 pages max that’s easily digestible in 3 to 15 minutes maximum.

So, it’s probably going to be some sort of worksheet, some sort of cheat sheet, some sort of checklist, template, tool, infographic that is going to be easily executable, actionable, digestible, and understandable.

And the one way to do that is to use the magnet matrix, answer the questions in the magnet matrix so I ask questions like, what’s your audience’s emotional hot button. So, getting clear on what that hot button is.

The other thing is to describe the problem and their desired outcome in their words because if we describe it in our words but it doesn’t resonate with them, guess what? Remember the elevation of your thinking starts with essential, it needs to land in their life which means that it needs to be using their words.

Then, how are you going to solve this hot button issue in the magnet?

So, that’s another question that we will ask. And then, how does that solution become a sliver or part of the bigger solution. Remember, we want this to highlight the possibility of a bigger solution, a bigger program or something to work with from there.

And then, ask yourself and really be clear on what’s the next natural step for them to take once they have this?

Because that is something that we’re going to want to orchestrate and ask them to do. In the lead magnet, we’re going to simply say, “Your next step should be this”. And then, come up with a sexy name.

You will know that every single one of my templates, tools, everything has a name. Some are sexier than others, I know. But they have a name so I know it is. It becomes proprietary in that process. So, I hope that this helps you.

Here’s what I want you to do again. Download the action guide. Download the action. It’s going to give you the information, it’s going to give you the magnet matrix to allow you to start building out your lead magnet. Let’s get it out there. Let’s start attracting. Let’s start building the flow of traffic, the good kind of traffic, qualified leads into your sphere, into your space so you can serve them at that base level and then, continue with them in the courtship and on that journey to get them to a higher level.

So, I hope that you found this of value. Do me a favor. If you did, share this with a friend. Just click share and share it with a friend. Let’s get this stuff out there because I think that it’s going to serve a lot of folks as we move forward.

Also, if you haven’t subscribed, click the subscribe button. I don’t know it’s somewhere on here. Click the subscribe button. Stay with me so I can give you more tools, templates. I want to help you build your influencer practice, your thoughtpreneur practice, your business, your success, your wealth, build a life, really, a freedom and peace of mind in the process.

And in the meantime, if you have a question or if you have a challenge or you’re struggling with a specific thing that you want some help with or you’re looking for some guidance, go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me your question, your comment, the challenge and let’s see if we can get it on one of my upcoming episodes. Let’s give you the tools to get it solved.

So, I hope that this serves you. Hope you found value in it. I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. And until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Build Engagement with Your Market

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In this episode, we talk about how you can engage your audience or market so that you excel in your presence out there and build a following that is going to champion you. If we don’t get this right we are going to feel deserted, it leads to feeling ignored and there is no growth. But if you get it right, there is a crowd and it is populated, you will enter into conversations and ultimately it becomes a stampede as they want to be a part of the community.

The 3 principles that you need to know to building engagement with your market:

Speak to their desires. Understand their dreams and aspirations.

Get their commitment to do something.

Decision is simply the catalyst. Only a few them are immovable.

The Engagement Elevator

This framework helps us to understand the following 3 pillars of engagement:

Heart: It is about incorporating the emotional side. It may be a story, a statement or something that grabs them emotionally first. It’s a ‘why’ statement.

Head: It is about engaging their rational thought process. Your communication with them should speak to the logical part of their mind.

Hands: It is behavioral. Get them to do something. Get them to make a movement or take an action. It is how you get results.

Dealing with the head and hands together, you have given them the logic and the action items. It is how you get your audience to take a Decision.

If you get the head and heart together, you speak to their logical and emotional side. That is how you incorporate their Aspiration.

When you incorporate their heart and hands, their decisions are driven more by heart and less by logic. That is how you create a Mission.

All this leads to generating Engagement with your audience and marketplace.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 bestselling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as a market leader and an influencer so you can more income, more impact and more freedom. And welcome back to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to talk about how do you engage your audience.

I think that we’re in a situation in today’s world, in today’s economy, today’s society where we’re starved for engagement. It’s not products and services that most of our customers and clients or our team members or even our loved ones are looking for. They’re looking for engagement. They’re looking for that presence in there and those that get this right, those that get this right are going to blow the doors off.

Those are the companies that are going to thrive.

Those are the people that are going to thrive.

Because they’re engaging people and creating community. So, in this episode, I’m going to talk about my framework called The Engagement Elevator and we will work through that and I’m going to give you a tool called The Engagement Matrix and the engagement matrix, if you want to download that just go to MelAbraham.com/session089 and you will be able to download that action guide. If you are not at your computer, you’re running around, you’re doing some things, you’re at the gym; whatever it is, as long as you are not driving, just be safe, alright, you can text me. Text me MYLEGACY one word to 38470 and we will make sure that we get you the download link so you can get all the tools, all the value out of this episode that you want.

So, let’s jump in to really understanding:

How do you engage your market?

What are the 3 pillars to market engagement as we move forward?

And we think about this thing, then we go, “Alright, well why is it even important?”

Because listen, if I have a product, if I have a service, if I have something that works, why should I really care about engaging my audience? They’re going to come to me because I got that product or service.

Not true. The question is, they may come to you, they may come to you even once, they may come to you even twice but are they going to stay with you? Are they going to become the champions in your world?

That’s what I want to create.

I don’t want to create customers.

I don’t want to create clients.

I want to create champions.

I want to create the people that are willing to fight for me. The people that are going to rally for me. The people that are going to turn around and scream to the hills to let people know, “Hey, I did business with Mel and let me tell you what happened. Let me tell you how my life, my business and my world is different because of him.”

And so, that’s the thing that I think we need to think about.

How do you do that?

How do you do that?

Because if we don’t get this right, what’s going to happen is that we may have a good product, we may have a good service, they may last for a little bit but in the end, we’re going to feel deserted.

We’re going to feel like we’re on an island and nowhere to go and no one’s there to share it with and it’s unfulfilling and it doesn’t feel good.

And which ultimately leads to feeling ignored.

We’re not even seen. They don’t even know we exist and so, one of the challenges is, “Alright, I got to get myself out there. I got to position myself in a way…” Whether you’re in the product space or in the space that I spend a lot of time working is—building the personal brand, the influencer space, the wisdom space as we call it or sometimes the expert industry it’s called.

Again, if you don’t get this right, then there’s no growth.

Because if you are ignored, or you’re deserted, then how do you grow? I mean, we can create all kinds of stuff in a vacuum but then it’s not a commercially viable option. What do I mean by that? I mean that you can’t make money at it.

And so, we need to make sure that it’s a commercially viable option. It’s commercially lucrative so we can grow and especially, in the expert space, so we can grow and get our message out there. We can create a movement, create a mission. We can do some things at a far greater rate.

The other thing that happens is that when we get this right, all of sudden, instead of being deserted, there’s a crowd. It’s populated.

They’re coming in and it’s … I mean think about this for a moment, that you’ve got a product or service or the knowledge you have, the expertise you have is at a such a high level that people are lining up for it.

Now that’s a cool thing. I mean, imagine that for a moment.

What that would be like?

How would that shift your business?

What would it do for you to be able to know that there is such a high regard for what you’ve got?

And there’s such a deep relationship with the people that are in the mix with you that they’re going to be standing at the door day-in and day-out to do that.

The other thing that happens when we get this right is that you actually enter into conversations.

I think one of the challenges that we have in today’s world is we’ve allowed this concept of social media and they call it social media but unfortunately, I think that social media has a tendency and the capacity to de-socialize us. In other words, to completely work the opposite, to do things that are not what we thought it was going to do.

Here’s what I mean by that is how many times do you hear people talk about, “Well, I’ve got 10 thousand Facebook followers and I’ve got 5 thousand views on my YouTube channel and I’ve got 300 likes on this post.” It’s ludicrous because what we’re doing is measuring vanity metrics. And I get it and maybe it feeds your ego but it’s not creating connections.

What we’ve done is we’ve allowed social media to take connections, relationships, engagement and reduce it to what we call contacts. Contacts and connections are not the same thing. Contacts and conversations are not the same thing. Our market, our people, our team, our industries that we’re service are starved for conversations so give it to them because those that give it to them are going to thrive because you are now all of a sudden, the people on the other side of that conversation are saying, “I’m being heard” and that’s the key element to it.

And if we have conversations, now it’s a stampede.

They’re going to be beating down our door because they feel wanted, they feel heard, they feel part of a community, they feel part of a team, they feel part of a movement and a mission at a far greater level than just buying something for the sake of using something. So, we can deal at the commodity level where we’re satisfying a utility need, we’re satisfying something that they need to solve a problem. That’s at the commodity level or we can deal at the commodity level where we:

Create a movement

Create a mission

Where they feel like they’re part of something

You look at something like a Tom’s shoes where they’re giving shoes away to children in other countries. One of my clients that I’ve worked with does all kinds of community service or Clifbar does that and gives their people time off so they feel that they’re serving at a different level, they’re serving not only to create a product but they’re on a mission to make a change, to do things at a different level and that’s what creates the stampede.

So, that’s the keys behind this is that because if we don’t get it right, we now know that we’re going to be deserted, we’re going to be ignored, and there’s going to be no growth. If we do get this right, we’re going to create the stampede and I want a stampede for you.

So, if that’s really why this is important, what do you need to know to really build this engagement in your marketplace? What are the key principles?

I want you to write these down because these are the key elements that go into building engagement with your marketplace.

And the first one is this: Speak to their desires. Speak to their aspirations.

Understand what it is they’re dreaming about.

Understand what it is they’re thinking about.

Understand what it is that they’re aspiring to.

And let’s speak to them. Listen, there’s a whole host of people out there speaking to the negative, speaking to what’s not possible.

Why not speak to what is possible?

Why not speak to what is the possibility that exists in each and every person’s lives?

And they give them the pathway to make that happen. Okay, so the first thing is this: When you look at your communications, when you look at the dialogs you have, when you look at your marketing, when you look at your posts, when you look at all of that, are you speaking to their aspirations?

The second thing is this: Get their commitment.

Get them to be committed to something. We live in a time where I think that some people struggle with this…I know growing up we used to say, “Are you commitment phobic?” I didn’t get married until later in life and so people say, “Well, does he have a problem with commitment?” The answer is ‘absolutely not’.

If you look at my history, if you look at my background, I’m perfectly find with commitment. I just happen to wait until I found that one person that really floated my soul and that it was working on both sides and I have. I’ve been married now almost six years to a beautiful, beautiful, intelligent soul that is my partner in life and everything.

But what about your customers?

What about your clients?

Let’s get them to commit to something. Get their commitment to do something. Get their commitment to be something more and know that you’re going to and allow them to know that you’re going to nurture them and support them in that journey.

I know in a lot of my Facebook groups that’s one of the things I’m trying to do is to be there for them, to get in there and to support and know that, you know what? They’re not alone.

The third principle is to realize that the decision is simply the catalyst.

So often, I see folks that are reluctant to make a choice, reluctant to make a decision and what they do is they feel like, “If I make a decision and it’s the wrong one, oh my god. It’s the wrong one, now what?”

See, with that kind of thinking we believe that the single decision sets wheels in motion and feet in concrete so we can’t move, maneuver or adjust and that’s a complete myth. See, the one decision and the only reason we make decisions is to make a decision to get more feedback so we can make the next decision better, that’s it.

Think about it this way: Think about a stalled car. If you’ve ever tried to push a stalled car and get it started, the most difficult thing to do is just the start. Is to start pushing that car and once the car is moving, steering it and adjusting it and getting it moving in the right direction is much, much easier.

But if we start and stop, start and stop, start and stop, that’s exhausting. Realize that we simply want them to make a choice and I’m not concerned about what choice it is as long it’s an informed choice and it’s the right choice for them.

Some people ask, “Well, do I need to sell them into my programs or sell my product?”

And the answer is, “No, I really don’t think so.”

If we’re good or articulating the value that comes out of what it is that we do, if we’re good at articulating the solutions, the problems that we’re solving with the solutions that we have. If we’re good at articulating who it’s for and who it’s not for, and we done that effectively, they will make the right choice.

I don’t need to convince them.

I don’t need to twist the arm.

I don’t need to cajole them, manipulate them or do any of that.

That’s the difference between what we call convincing selling where we’re trying to convince someone and conviction selling saying, “Here’s what I have. Here’s what it can do. Here’s is the solutions that it brings. Here is how well it works. And I’m here for you.”

All I want people to do is make a good decision for themselves and if that means that they’re joining me, I love it. If that means that they’re not joining me now, I also love it. I want them to make the right choice and if there is questions, unanswered questions that’s keeping them from making that decision, that’s my responsibility to make sure they’re answered. So, the decision is simply the catalyst. It’s the starting point. It’s not the ending point.

And very few choices and decisions that we make are in concrete, are something that you can’t move from. So, we want to make decision. So, decision is the catalyst in building that.

So, if that’s the case, how do we make this happen? So, you now know the principles, let’s look at what I call The Engagement Elevator framework. In order to do that what I’m going to do is I’m going to jump to the iPad and we’re going to draw this out, we’re going to build this together and so you can understand the dynamics of what goes into what I call The Engagement Elevator. So, let’s jump to the iPad real quick and let’s build this thing out together.

Alright so, so, this is really about understanding the 3 pillars of engagement in this process and it’s an interesting dynamic to figure this out and say, “Alright”. Effectively what we’re really trying to do is engage the different aspects of their beings (if you will) and I’m not trying to be wohoo here but I mean it that we’re trying to engage the different aspects of their being.

The first is this, is their Head. This is about engaging their rational thought process. Now, I will walk through what I think the order in which these may play out in once I put these all down. Look, I want to engage their rational thought process, I want to make sure that part of my communication with them, my engagement with them brings about and speaks to their logical end, their logical mind.

In fact, when I build out content, I teach people in Thoughtpreneur Academy, I had to build out content. I have a tool, a template call the CPT that allows them to understand how to do that and capture their information so they deliver it in this way and hit on all these element. So, the first is to understand that the head which is really speaking to the rational side.

Which then, let’s look at the other side of that which I’m sure you’re probably thinking about already and that’s the Heart. This is about incorporating the emotional side.

So, what are the things to do? and this is what I would look at is that a lot of times, I’m going to start with the emotional side first. It may be with a story, it may be with a statement, it may be something that just grabs them emotionally first.

It’s a why statement in a way and then we will justify it and we will come over here and speak to some of the logic, the data, the statistics, the information, the how to’s in doing that. So, we need to make sure that if we’re going to engage at a high level that all of my communication have each of these components—the head incorporated, I have the heart incorporated (the rational and the emotional).

Then we come in and sometimes people will stop there. But I think there’s another place that we need to go and that is called the Hands. And that’s really about behavioral.

That’s about behavioral. In other words, I need to get them to do something. I need to get them to make a movement, to take an action.

If I’m looking to move them to change, you’ve heard me say this before that entrepreneurs and thoughtpreneurs, no matter what they do—their products, their services—their primary focus is to improve the human condition, to change and shift people’s lives for the positive.

So, in order to do that, you will start with the thought change. So, we start with thinking first but in order to really get different results, I got to get to actions. That means that I need to at some point deal with the behavioral to really get them to make a decision to do something and then, go do it which leads me to this next piece of understanding this framework and this model of doing that because if we’re truly going to get into what I call Engagement, we need to think about a couple of things.

One, if I’m really dealing with the head and the hands together, in other words, I’ve given them the logic, and the action items I need them to take, and I’ve done it effectively, what you’re going to do is you’re going to get your audience, your marketplace, your people to actually make the decision. To actually make the decision.

So, the key is to really make sure that you understand how you’re training them in this process, what you’ve given them to make a decision to buy, to make the decision to do, to make the decision to not do, to make a decision and that’s going to be a logical element coupled with the action.

But if I get the head and the heart together, in other words, I’m speaking to the logical side and the emotional side, that’s when we incorporate what I call the Aspiration and that’s why it’s important to make sure that we’re not speaking just to one side or we’re not marketing to just one element. I come from, listen, I’m a CPA, I’m a left-brain thinker, I come from a world of analysis and data. It’s columns and rows and stuff like that.

But I learned really quickly working with businesses and entrepreneurs and I could look at the businesses that thrived, the entrepreneurs that thrived, the creatives that really thrived. They had the left-brain side going but what really drove them is the right brain, the emotional side. The balance between the two, the interplay between the two becomes important. So, your communications in engaging people need to balance and intermix between the two.

And then, when we’ve incorporated the heart and their behavioral choices are driven less by the logic. It will still be driven by the logic, the rational mind, that decision that they make and more by the heart that’s when all of a sudden, you’ve created a mission. And that’s what’s really going to drive people.

And so, when you do this, when you understand this framework and you look at the keys to how you’re communicating, how you’re doing whether it’s your Facebook ads or your direct adverts, your display ads, whether it’s communications, whether it’s posts, whether it’s videos, what are you doing to make sure that you deal with the elements of heart, head and hands? Because when you get that right, you’re going to get them to make a decision, you’re going to get them live into the aspirations and they’re going to be driven by a mission.

So, hopefully that makes sense to you as we’re coming to this. Here’s the tool that I want to give to you. When you download the action guide, you’re going to get access to what’s called the engagement matrix that’s going to walk you through a series of questions, a series of effectively six elements, six questions—it’s about understanding the pre-frame.

How do you set this up initially?

And then, what does the actual conversation look like?

Because if we intentionally orchestrate it, if we intentionally set up things then from the beginning, when we communicate in marketing, in posts, in products, in videos, we start to drive them through this engagement elevator and we use the engagement matrix to bring it to life.

So, do me a favor? Download the engagement matrix. Download the action guide to really start to build this out and start to utilize it. When you go the next time to post something, when you go the next time to write an email, when you go the next time to create marketing, go in there and build it through the engagement matrix. You’re going to fill in the blanks. It’s a matrix like I said.

So, there’s 6 boxes in there with 6 specific questions. I want you to take that topic or that area and I want you to fill it in before you go and do something. So, that’s it for this episode.

I hope that you found this of value. Make sure you download the action guide. If you are looking for the action guide, just go to MelAbraham.com/session089 or text me, MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. I will send you the download link.

Hopefully you found this of value. I know that when I taught this live, people have freaked out. I mean, this really revolutionized the way they communicated, the way they did some things in their posts, in their advertisement and in their emails. So, get this, understand it, implement it, execute on it.

If you found this of value, do me a favor: Share this. Share this video. Share this knowledge. Share it with people because I really believe that people are looking for a new paradigm. They’re looking for a way to take control of their lives and do things differently to elevate themselves and this is one of the keys.

And if you’ve got questions for me or challenges or things that you need to help with respect to business, entrepreneurship, the expert space, becoming an influencer, just go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me your question. Leave me your comment and let’s see if I can get that answered for you so you don’t feel isolated, you don’t feel isolated, that you don’t feel alone and that I can become your kind of back pocket mentor in the process.

And then, in the process, make sure that you’ve subscribed and not only subscribed, leave me some comments. Let’s keep the dialog going and let’s really kind of blow the doors off. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the next episode and in the next episode. Until then,

May your vision be brand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

Download. Do the work. Let’s make a difference. And I will see you soon. Cheers. Bye.

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

++++++++++++++

[melabraham]

Moving From Goal-Setting to Goal-Getting

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— Summary —

In this session of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show, we’re going to talk about moving from goal-setting to goal-getting using something called The Achievement Ladder. If we are not focused on achievement and goal-getting, we end up with spotty success, we have a complete lack of drive and we start to stew pessimism. When we get it right, we will walk through the success gateway, we are hyper-driven and we approach things with a knowing.

Here are the 3 things that you need to know:

Micro-successes are key

Blame builds walls

Positive expectancy

The Achievement Ladder

Goals are useless unless they are energized by emotion. They should be aligned with your vision and purpose. This ladder of achievement is meant to infuse you with the energy so you move from goals to success.

Personal Growth: At the very bottom of this framework is personal growth. In order for you to succeed, you need to be willing to do things and have that inherent desire to grow.

Perseverance

Purpose: Why are you doing this? Why do you want this goal? Write it down because purpose is effectively your emotional why.

Passion: What is the passion you bring to it? You got to have strong emotions behind it so that you and your team will get behind the mission.

Patience: Have the patience to continue on the path to build things. You can’t control everything but you need to have the patience to deal with the setbacks and move forward.

Practice

Plan: What are the bite-sized action steps that you have in place? You need to plan out the resources, people and help that you need in your journey.

People: Who are the people you need? Success is never a solitary pursuit. Think of the people you need like employees, team and customers.

Positivity: Have positive expectancy. Be idealistic as well as realistic. Come up with 2 to 3 emotionally compelling positive statements to bring you back to the center.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 bestselling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom.

And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to talk about something that I think a lot of people talk about but don’t do and that is they think that goal-setting is actually goal-getting and I want you to focus on goal-getting and not just goal-getting. So, I’m going to give you the steps to build what I call Your Achievement Ladder in this episode.

And in this episode, again, there is an action guide that comes along with it. It’s called The Achievement Ladder action guide. If you want to download it go to MelAbraham.com/session088 and you can download that. If you’re not by your computer, you happen to be driving; don’t do anything that’s unsafe but if you happen to be driving make sure you can text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces to 38470. I will send you the download link so you can make sure you have the tools, templates and the worksheets that will make this stuff come to life in your business and in your life and to make a huge difference.

So, we’re going to jump into this. I’m going to give you kind of the process that I think moves you from goal-setting to goal-getting. Think about the last couple of sessions that we had. We spent a bit of time talking about productivity, then success. Now I want to talk about achievement. So, let’s jump in.

All right, so as I said, what I want to do is focus in on goal-getting not just goal-setting and give you the process that I call the achievement ladder process. You know, why is that? Why is that so important?

Because I think the reality is, is that if we don’t get this right, if we’re not focused on achievement, if we’re not focused on goal-getting, we don’t understand how to get goal-getting what we end up with is spotty success.

We become short of that hole.

We get short of the goal.

We get short of the homerun.

We get short of the success, the finish line.

And so, what I don’t want, I don’t want spotty success. I want consistent success. I want you to know that you’re crossing that goal line, that finish line each and every time. So, we need to move from goal-setting to goal-getting. The idea is this: Is that setting a goal, putting it up on the wall, doing all of that is meaningless. It doesn’t start to really drive things and we will talk about why and what and what I think is missing in the process.

I think that when we don’t do this right, we find that we have a complete lack of drive.

That if the goals aren’t done correctly, they’re not drawing us, they’re not pushing us and they’re not pulling us. And so, we get complacent, we get apathetic and we don’t do anything.

And ultimately, what ends up happening is that we start stewing pessimism.

We start looking at it and saying, “I can’t accomplish this. I can’t do this.” How many times have maybe you’ve seen it or you’ve seen it in another people or maybe you’ve felt this way? I know with me at times that I, if I didn’t recognize it and I didn’t shake myself out of this, I started to get pessimistic and down on myself and say, “This isn’t going to work” and that’s not the space to be.

When we get it right though, it’s a different ball game because what ultimately happens is that we will walk through the success gateway.

We literally get a trail of successes along the way. We start to see that we’re making progress and we’re able to start doing things a little differently.

What ends up happening is that when it’s done correctly, is that we’re hyper-driven.

We’re literally hyper-driven for the outcome. I mean we are focused, we are accelerating and we’re going towards the finish line in that process.

And ultimately, we approach things with a knowing and what I mean is that there is a level of certainty.

I’m going, “I may not know exactly how I’m going to get the outcomes. I may not know exactly what I’m in store for. But I do know that the outcome is given.” There’s this confidence, this certainty, a knowing that you’re going to move forward because you’ve got a system, a process, a framework of achievement that’s going to make that happen.

And so, those are the things I think happen when we do this right, or we do this wrong and I think if we understand that then what’s left? We got to understand the process. We got to understand what you need to know. So, let me touch on, I think, the couple of things that you need to know to really bring this to life and the first thing is this, is that we got to look at the micro-successes along the way.

It’s easy for me to sit back and say, “I want to make a million dollars next year.” That’s great. But it’s such a distant goal and it may be such a big goal or it may be something that I want to build a whole new house and it’s going to cost whatever or I want to build a whole new business or whatever it is. The question is what are the milestones? What are the mile markers every step of the way?

That you can celebrate.

That indicate that you’re on the right path.

That start to accelerate.

Because I look at this whole process as a in effect a relay race. So every micro success is passing baton to the next runner, the next runner to the next runner to get that micro success. So, I want to break it down into micro successes along the way. That’s the key to keep you moving in this process.

The second thing is this. Is to realize that when we blame the lack of success, the failures, the problems, the challenges on people outside of ourselves, we build walls.

We build walls against progress in doing that. Now, I’m not talking about beating yourself up and taking all the blame but until you take responsibility for how you got there, you cannot be responsible for how you get to the next space and granted things happen.

Listen, as many of you know, I had one-third of my wealth in my net-worth wiped out in a Ponzi scheme. Now, it’s really easy for me to point the finger at the guy who is sitting in jail right now and say, “He did this to me” and blame him. But in that process of blame, I don’t take responsibility and I don’t find a vehicle and a way for me to grow and become better out of it. So, what I needed to do is look at it.

Yes, he did something but I contributed to it. So, I have to take responsibility for the process that got me involved, kept me involved and lost me the money. Not from a critical stand point to beat myself up but from a learning standpoint to grow and learn from it and to know that I can do something different and it was that process that allowed me to not only recover what was lost but surpass it and recover not only what was lost but to rebuild to three times where it once was in 18 months and that’s the key to doing this and when we start blaming things, we put walls up from our own progress and doing that. So, I don’t want to do that.

And then, to live in a place of positive expectancy and what I mean by this is that remember I said there is a knowing, is I want to have this positive expectancy.

In other words, I expect good things to happen and to live there like this picture of the dog just watching the owner come home and that excitement. That’s the way I want. That’s the energy I want to bring to my achievements, to have that positive expectancy instead of the hesitancy that comes into play, the negative hesitancy of going, “I hope this works out.”

I mean, if you approach things to this, “I hope this works out.” People feel that and that doesn’t come into play. When you step out on stage, when you get in front of a camera, when you go to a meeting to approach it with that positive expectancy as if it’s already happened to come at it with that positive energy because it is contagious if you do that, that way.

So, that’s the three things that I’d love for you to really start to understand is:

Micro successes are the key

Blame builds walls, and

Live in a state of positive expectancy

So, if we know those things and we know what happens if we get it wrong and what happens if we get it right, how do we get this done?

And it’s something that I call The Achievement Ladder. And once again, we’re going to jump to the iPad and we’re going to draw this out for you so you understand how I look at this concept called the achievement ladder. We’re going to just build this out for you in this process. So, let’s just jump over to that.

So here’s the thing. Let’s just talk about goals in general for a moment as we look at this. I think that goals in general for many people are just part of the expression, they’re impotent. I mean, they’re useless because they haven’t been energized by emotion. They haven’t been electrified with a process to bring them to life inside of you. If the goals don’t feel viscerally and emotionally compelling, they’re not going to get accomplished and so, what we end up going into is looking at things and you hear this, this thing of smart goals.

Smart goals and I’m telling you, ugh it’s just awful to look at that. Now, I like some of the concepts of smart goals in the process but here’s the problem with smart goals. One of the biggest problems I think with smart goals is that they’re left brained. I’m going to write them down.

They’re Specific

They’re Measurable

They’re Actionable

They’re Results-driven

They’re Time-driven

Okay great. I can check the box and they work but where is the emotion that drives me forward to go and do the things that I need to do because in order for those goals to become a reality, I got to take action and if I’m not going to take action because it doesn’t stir me emotionally inside, we have an issue. So, the goals become goal-setting that sit up on a wall. They are something that you say, “Yeah, I set goals” but you’re not going after them. You’re not goal-getting them and I want to create goal-getting and so, what I want to do is if I’m going to use the SMART acronym which I will use in this case for a moment.

I want to make them ASMART goals. In other words A, if you look at it here; I want to use the term ASMART because if I’m going to use SMART goals, they need to be aligned with something and that’s what the A stands for.

They got to be aligned with my purpose.

They got to be aligned with emotions.

They got to be aligned with my vision, with my mission.

Until they are aligned with that, they don’t have any emotion or electricity to move you forward. They got to be aligned and we sit back and create goals that are not necessarily to the emotional side of our being and now, I know this is kind of crazy that this CPA is a left brain thinker’s talking about the right brain emotional side but I can tell you this, those that are uber successful, those that are super successful are those that have connected the right and the left, the emotional with the logical. So yes, we can set goals but until we infuse them with energy, you’re never going to make them; you might but the reality is that you’re, the likelihood is that you’re not going to get there.

So, one of the things that I want you to do is to consider that and that’s the part of what this ladder of achievement is meant to do is to infuse with them with the energy to move from goals to success. All right?

So, let’s jump into this. The first stage or the first piece of this is really this, is that at the very bottom of all of what we’re trying to deal with is that we need to be focused on Personal Growth in the process. Here’s the thing is that personal growth is going to, we got to be bent on the reality is that in order for me to succeed, I need to be willing to grow. I need to be willing to do things. So at the foundation of achievement of goals needs to be my desire, the inherent desire to continue to grow.

Once we’ve got that, there’s two other macro kind of things that we want to look at is that if I have personal growth, I need to have Perseverance. I will give you the things that you need to make that come to life. And then, I need to make it a Practice.

In other words, I got to have emotions. I’m going to have thoughts but now, I need to have actions in order to go from goals to success. It’s not about money alone in this process. And so, one of the first things that I want us to do, it’s a cliché term but it’s really important for us to analyze, to really start to understand this, the first part of perseverance is to make sure that we know what our Purpose is.

Why are you doing this?

Why do you want this goal?

And if it’s about money in a bank account or some big house or some car, I got to tell you, it’s not enough to move you through the challenges, the obstacles and the things that may happen along the way and so, the key is what is the purpose, the why behind it as Simon Sinek says or I talk about in Business Breakthrough Academy in my analyst model is that we need to look at that, what is driving you to really make that happen? And here is what I invite you to do.

What do you think that is? Write it down.

Use the action guide because it walks you through this to really define this in a way that start to really drive this home. Not drive it home intellectually but to spiritually, emotionally to put it into your heart and soul to make that really come about. Purpose is effectively your emotional why and that’s what we need to build it and that’s the foundation.

First the desire for personal growth then what’s the purpose, what’s the emotional why that’s driving you forward to really make that happen?

Then, from there it becomes a Passion because it is related to your purpose.

Whether it’s in life

Whether it’s in health

Whether it’s in business

Whether it’s in relationships

What’s the passion you bring to it?

Passion is contagious.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone is talking like this? You’re just not a lot there and it’s not contagious, it’s not exciting but I want to, in order for me to succeed and get my goals and a lot of times, I need to instill and enroll other people in the process and the way that happens is that they understand the why the passion behind it, the purpose behind it, the emotions behind it that they’re willing to get behind the mission.

My team understands why I do what I do is to serve and to help people grow to be better, to have better lives by their own design to do all of that and they get behind the mission because of the passion I bring to this.

And then, this last piece of perseverance is Patience. Now remember, I was in a program and talking with Gary Vaynerchuk and here he is talking in front of, talking in front of 20,000 people and he says, “The reason you’re not going to be successful, most of you, is got nothing to be what you think it is.”

And this really kind of solidified this because I had put this, this achievement ladder was done well before I have even heard this but he said the reason is because of patience. Most of you are not willing to do the work that is necessary to be successful. You don’t have the patience to do it. And that’s what he said to everyone.

And I tend to agree. I said, “The fact is, is that I need to have the patience to continue on the path to build things. To realize that I cannot control everything, I’m not going to control everything. I’ve got to stay on purpose. I’m going to deal with challenges and obstacles. I have the patience to continue on that journey knowing that it’s tied to my purpose, knowing that it’s tied to my passion, knowing that it’s tied to an emotional why that moves me from goals to success.”

That’s really the key as we move forward. We got to have the patience. We can’t rush it and I think that we can be assertive, but realize that when there’s setbacks, it’s just a setback and be patient with it.

Which then, which is really the recipe for perseverance for me is this whole concept of purpose, passion and patience to really build that but that then takes us to this next piece of practice. If we really want to do now you see what we’re doing is we’re instilling the emotions into the goals to move us into that place of success and if these things are not high on the ladder when you go through the rating and the ranking systems and you’re not at 8s or 10s on these then guess what? It’s probably not a goal that is really compelling enough that’s going to get you to do the things that you need to do to make it happen.

When we go to practice though now what we need to do is really start to understand this next piece is really the Plan. Okay? The Plan. Practice is about your discipline in action. You know a lot of people, I have said this a number of times before is that people will look at success. They say, “Well they’re gifted.”

Yeah, they’re gifted. Most of them though are being gifted with the gift of discipline to do the work that other people won’t do and so, if you’re going to take and build something from a practice standpoint, practice is another way of saying I’m going to be disciplined enough to do the things that I need to do each and every day, each and every hour, each and every quarter, each and every year to get the goal to move from goal-setting to goal-getting.

To become a success, I’m going to do what it takes and if we’re going to do that, that becomes a problem and really starting to build it. So, now the question thought is:

What’re your plan?

What kind of plan can you put in place?

What are the bite sized little action steps or projects you can do to move these things forward?

Who are the people that you need on your team, on your side?

What are the resources that you need to make it happen?

How are you going to get those resources?

Do you need a mentor?

Remember, this is a relay race.

What are we going to do to really make that come alive?

And then, once we have a plan, as I said, who are the people you need?

Your success, your ability to achieve your goals is never going to be a solitary pursuit and I don’t agree with the whole term of self-made millionaire, billionaire whatever because no one’s self-made. Everyone has had help. Whether it’s employees, team, customers.

I mean, I look at my success, my success is the sum product of all the people around that have surrounded me and supported me, that have energized me, that have coached me, that have mentored me, that have spurred me along, that have kicked me in the butt, that have done all of that. My success is a result of the people around me.

Who do you need around you?

How are you going to get contact with them?

How are you going to engage them in your journey?

How are you going to enroll them in your mission?

List them out. Get in touch with them. Engage with them. Tell them what you’re trying to do. Get them in the process to help you out with your plan to make it come to life.

And then, the last piece is this: Positive Expectancy. This is about how you think about it. If you come into this and say, “Here is some goals and these are really good goals” and you go, “But I hope I get them”. No, it’s probably not the way you’re going to achieve it. I want you to have this positive expectancy as if it has happened. I don’t want you to be idealistic; I want you to be realistic at the same time because there is some things that need to be put in place for it to happen.

But if you look at the plan, if you sit back and go, “I’m looking at the plan and I’m looking at the people” and it’s in my purpose, in my passion and if all those things can come true, yeah, I will make it. Now, you can approach it with a positive expectancy but look at that and do it that way. And here is what I would invite you to do at this stage, is to look at it and say, “What are 2 or 3 positive emotionally compelling statements that you can make that will bring you back to your north star, bring you back to center?”

If you start to get knocked off, or

If you start to feel challenged, or

You start to feel that it’s not working for you.

To turn around and say, “What are the statements, the emotionally compelling statements that will drive you?”

I know that I have some stories that I tell; not that I tell myself that I’m aware of, the story that you guys have heard me talk about Kyle is really important to me because I realized that the reason I’m doing what I do is not for the masses, it’s for the one. It’s for the one that needs to hear the message that’s going to bring them off the cliff, that’s going to bring them off the edge to give them avenue to do some things differently.

And so, what are the 2 or 3 things that really start to drive you?

And then, here is where I would really be careful because this is where blame starts to come in and so, what I want to do is rather than think about blame, to consider about responsibility.

So, how can you take responsibility for the things that happen and what you’re going to do about them?

Not beat yourself up because things happen.

Not blame someone else so you don’t take responsibility to build those walls up like we talked about.

But really what are the things that you can do to take responsibility? Watch the blame game because that’s going to build a wall to your progress and it’s going to put a wall up between your goals and your success and building that. I’m not saying that other people may not impact you or affect you or infect you if you will. We just need to be aware of it and then, take responsibility for what we had to do and what we need to do to move forward because I look at responsibility as two words—response ability. My ability to respond to the things around me and that’s the key to all of it.

And this is really how I look at the achievement ladder. When you turn around and you say, “All right, I’m going to do goal-setting” and then you infuse it with purpose, passions, patience, plan, people and positivity; when you infuse it with that and you’ve got perseverance, and you bring it into practice and build it in that way, now you’ve infused it with this emotionally compelling alignment with what your mission is, what your vision is and that’s what’s going to drive you to success; that’s the achievement ladder, that’s how I turn around and say, “I may start with some goals but I’m going to infuse it with the emotion to drive me forward” and that’s what’s going to drive you to success.

So, I hope that you found this of value to you. I hope that you start to realize the importance of what is your doing in your life and that’s it’s not about goal-setting, it’s really about goal-getting. It’s about driving things in a way that really start to achieve things. It’s not about a checklist. It’s not about putting something on the wall. It’s literally about instilling you with the energy and the electricity necessary to move you forward and make your goals a reality in your life and not some wish list. Okay?

Hope that serves you. I hope you found this of value. If you haven’t done so already, download the action guide and do the work and you will thank me for it. Go to MelAbraham.com/session088, you can download that. Or text me. MYLEGACY one-word, no-spaces to 38470. I will send you the download link.

If you found this of value do me a favor. Would you share this with someone? There is a lot of people out there that are struggling to achieve things. This is a tool that may help them. Share this, share it as much as you possibly can, subscribe, stay with me on this journey, leave me your comments, let’s have a dialog, let’s have a conversation, let’s continue on this journey of success and achievement together as much as I possibly can, I want to be your back pocket mentor in doing that.

If you have a question, or you have a challenge or you just want to talk about something, go to AskMelNow.com, leave me your note and we will turn around and either use it on one of the upcoming episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution where I will make sure that we get a chance to answer it and help you out. So, hope that you found this of value. It was great spending time with you. Remember to go back to the last sessions because I think they all build on each other—productivity, success and achievement in that process and I look forward to seeing you in the next session. Until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Maximize Your Success

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— Summary —

In this episode, we continue our journey on productivity and talk about how you can maximize your success in such a way that accelerates you toward your destination. If we don’t understand how to do it, we end up with no process, we don’t recognize successes along the way and we’re just not successful. On the flip side of this if we get it right, we become process driven, we celebrate our successes along the way and ultimately we have learned-success.

Here are the 3 things that you need to know:

Lessons are key

Process brings control

Blocking moves the ball

The Success Maximizer

Here are the 8 areas of focus for maximum success:

Reflect: Define and celebrate your wins. Reflect where you are and where you have come from.

Lessons: List the top 10 lessons from the past year. This is where you start to get the growth.

Attitude: Where did you spend most of your time from an attitude perspective? Were you pessimistic or optimistic? What was your overall attitude?

Gratitude: What are the top 10 things you’re most grateful for? List them all out.

Simplify: What are 3 things you can let go of to simplify your life? Be honest with yourself and subtract the over complicated from your life.

Process: Set your key goals for the coming 12 months and build the process into 90-day accomplishments. Have a course of action where you define your 90 day plans for the next 12 months.

Disconnect: Set a minimum of 3 times during the year for you and your loved ones. Create the time to unplug and disconnect.

Block: Schedule your time blocks for the coming year. Block out time for events, time outs, personal and creative time.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, I’m Mel Abraham, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to continue this journey. We talked about productivity in the last episode, taught you the 10 productivity spheres, the rituals that I have in the morning and the evening but in this one we’re going to talk about the areas of focus in my success maximizer.

How to maximize your success in a way that accelerates your going from point A to point B, to your destination, to your goal?

And these are the various areas that I have seen work with entrepreneurs around the globe as well as within myself and my clients, my high level mentoring one-on-one mentoring or even my workshops as I take you through this. So, we’re going to jump into that right now.

Oh, you know what? One more thing. If you want to get the action guide because each one of these episodes comes with an action guide and worksheet so you can really build it out and you can actually put pen to paper and make it come to life, just go to MelAbraham.com/session087 and you will be able to download the action guide, the success maximizer action guide.

If you are not at your computer, you happen to be driving, you’re on the gym, you’re running, you’re doing something but do it safely, just text me. We will make sure that we get you the download link. Just text MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. We will make sure that we get you what you need to really drive this forward. So, let’s jump in now.

All right, as I said, we’re going to focus in on How do you maximize your success? It’s one thing to be successful but

Can we maximize it?

Can we accelerate it?

Can we kind of rocket it if you will into the stratosphere?

And what are the 8 areas that you need to focus in for success?

Now, here’s the thing and I’ve seen this happen with entrepreneurs and folks throughout the year, through my decades of working with businesses, boards of directors and helping people build their businesses or start their businesses what I’ve found is that these are the 8 areas that we need to kind of take a hold of if we really want to maximize our success.

So, what happens thought before we get to what you need to know, what happens if we don’t get this right?

If we don’t understand how to do this, here’s what happens. I think that we end up with No Process.

And I can’t tell you that how many times I’ve seen where actually I’ve seen some folks that are successful but they’re not as successful as they could be because they have no process. And so, it’s really hit and miss and spotty. Good friend, Brendon Burchard, he talks about people going out in their yard and trying to dig a hole and they don’t dig deep enough so they’ve got this half dug holes and nothing’s ever completed and so the same thing.

I mean, it’s, I’ve got another good friend James Whitmore talks about half-built bridges. Bottom line is, you don’t complete the process, you don’t have a process to go from start to end if we don’t get this right.

And the other thing is that we don’t see, we don’t recognize the successes along the way.

We are notoriously, we’re notoriously good at ridiculing, criticizing, and blaming. What we’re really bad at is celebrating. Celebrating the success, celebrating micro-successes, celebrating the progress that we’re making and recognizing that and I think that we need to do is get rid of those blinders so we can recognize our progress.

And ultimately what we find is that we’re just not successful and so we need to figure out what’s the process.

Here’s the cool thing though. If we get this right, things start to shift because we become process driven.

We, in effect, and not necessarily like an assembly line but there is a process to everything. If you look at some of the things that I’m doing in creating any of these episodes, there is a process that I go through that allows me to build an episode and to train.

When I create my training programs, when I do my live events, when I create my keynotes all of it is process driven. When I spend the time consulting with a client, all of it has a process to it and there is reason for it. We will talk about it in a moment.

The other thing that we do is I think that when you get this right, you actually see your progress. You take the time to celebrate your progress to know that no matter how minute, no matter how small or how large, you get to celebrate progress, you get to celebrate the accomplishments, the successes along the way.

And the last thing is when we get this right, we go and do something what I call learned-success.

In other words, we’re not anticipating or expecting that we will be flawless in everything we do. Trust me, just watch me. I made tons of mistakes; a lot of mistakes but it’s through the mistakes that I get all the great learnings. It’s through the mistakes that I get a chance to teach you some of the things that I’ve learned.

In fact, I think some of the greatest mistakes I’ve made have turned into great successes for myself in the long run but for my clients in the short run because I’ve had a chance to bring those learnings and bring the life in their world in a way that it leads to their success in an accelerate way. So, we end up in this space called learned success in the process.

So, if that’s through the case, what are the things that you need to know?

So, if we know what it takes in the sense of what happens if we don’t get it right and what happens if we do get it right, now there is some things that you need to know. Things that will change the dynamics of your world and your success rate and the first is this: Lessons are key.

If we really think that we’re going to be able to be successful without making mistakes, then we’re mistaken, we’re living in a fantasy world quite frankly. In fact, I want to make, I don’t want to make mistakes but I want to relish the fact that I’m going to learn from the mistakes. I want to embrace the fact that I’m going to learn from mistakes.

The lessons are the key because the richness is in the lessons that we get from the mistakes that we might make. So, if we try to avoid and this is really the key behind it, if we spend all our time trying to avoid the mistakes and push the possibility of mistakes away what we tend to do is not take action.

So, what I don’t want to do is try to push away and avoid the mistakes. I want to reduce the number of mistakes for certain but I want to stay in progress towards my goal knowing that I’m not infallible, knowing that I’m not going to be without mis-steps. But to be able to recognize and celebrate the successes, learn from the mistakes, so we can move forward.

Fact of the matter is, is that we didn’t walk the first time when we tried to walk. We couldn’t tie our shoes the first time we tried to tie our shoes. We couldn’t play ball the first time we tried to play ball. When I first started playing baseball, I tried to catch a ball that hit me in the face because I didn’t have the glove in the right place. You learn. Trust me. It didn’t happen again. So, the bottom line is that if we make a mistake and quit, we never make progress and/or even worse for fear of making a mistake, we don’t ever try.

So, I’m going to ask you and invite you to try to know that mistakes might be made to learn from the mistakes so we don’t make them again. In fact, I have kind of a way that I look at it in business and when I’m working with boards of directors or entrepreneurs, I said, “Listen, the first time we make it is a learning. The second time we make it, it’s a mistake.”

So, I’m going to learn first but if I continue to make the same error then now it’s a mistake. Third time though it’s a problem. So, what I want to do is learn from it the first time I never get to mistake or a problem and doing that and that’s kind of the way I look at it with some of my team is the first time’s a lesson, it’s a learning. The second time is a mistake. The third time is a problem. So, lessons are key.

The second thing that you need to realize is that process bring control, brings certainty.

Why do we want to be process driven? For a lot of reason. One, if I have a process in place then I have predictable outcomes, typically, through that process. There’s predictable outcomes for me but there is also a predictable outcome for my customers, my clients and the people I work with.

Lot of the processes that I have in place in Business Breakthrough Academy and Thoughtpreneur Academy are truly processes that I know when you use the processes, you go from A to B and the outcome at the backend of it is the same each and every time. You just got to work the process. The process works, we just got to work the process. That’s the key so I want to build processes in place so I can control the outcomes, the what comes out of it.

This is, you will see this in business a lot in what we call franchises. Franchises, the appeal to franchises is that they create processes and that means that when you go to a, I’m not saying that it’s great food but when you go to a Subway sandwich shop in Idaho and a Subway sandwich shop in say Connecticut, you’re going to get the same sandwich made effectively the same way because the process is in place.

So, what ends up happening? Think about this for a moment. The process assures that the customer has a similar experience no matter where they go. The process assures that the outcome for the company, the costs, the revenues, and all of that are similar no matter what store it’s in. The process gives guidance to the employees, the team members to do things a certain way to know that they’re going to get those outcomes. So, process is huge. It gives us control and certainty in what we’re doing. So, what processes do we have in place to assure our success?

And then, the last is this, blocking moves a ball and I’m using a football analogy but the bottom line is that in order to achieve, you’re going to need to block time out. In order to be successful and achieve, you’re going to need to block some time out which means that you can’t just haphazardly go through your day.

This is why the rituals that we talked about in the last session are so, so important is that you create a process, you block the time out, you focus on the most important things first and now, you start to move the ball forward versus being at the whim of the winds that are coming at you at the time. So, blocking moves the ball.

So, if that’s the case then what is it, what is it that you need to do, what’s the process if you will and the process is what I call The Success Maximizer. We’re going to jump into it. I’m going to jump on to the iPad here in a second and we’re going to kind of draw this out for you so you start to understand what it takes and if you haven’t got this already, go ahead and download the action guide because it’s all in the action guide. MelAbraham.com/session087 is a way to get that action guide. Download that and we will make sure that you have it in front of you.

Let’s jump into the iPad and let’s walk through this a bit. So, here’s how I look at it. The Success Maximizer talks about the 8 areas of focus for maximum success and I think that this is really important for us to really start to understand moving forward.

The first thing is this: And I kind of did this with the rituals but I want you to start to understand this. The first thing that I want to do is Reflect. That’s the first piece is to reflect if you will, to reflect if you will—define and celebrate your wins. So, that’s the first, the first stage of anything is I really want you to reflect on where you are, where you’ve come from.

I’ve been in the martial arts for 40 plus years and one of the reason they have a belt system is to remind you of the process you’ve been through. How much growth you’ve had? In fact, we had a little dragon’s program. Little dragon’s program is for the little 3 to 5 year olds to teach them about balance and co-ordination. It’s not about martial arts. It’s really to develop them as athletes and as people.

One of the challenges, they went in 6 weeks increments, one of the challenges was that they didn’t have any belts, they didn’t have anything. They wore a t-shirt and bottoms and we trained with them but every six weeks, they would renew. But then we start to see a fall off on the renewals and the reason it was a fall off on the renewals was because they didn’t see the progress. It’s like watching your child grow, you don’t see how much they sprout unless you are marking it on the door jam or if you haven’t seen some of them for a while, you’ve grown tall. You don’t get a chance to see that when you’re in the game with them.

So, what we did with the little dragons is we started on the seam of their pants. We just started to give them patches so like every six weeks, depending what the focus was, it was either co-ordination, it was speed, it was movement, we would give them a patch just like the merit badges in boy scouts or girl scouts and everything. And they would put in on the side of their pants.

So, they would have this ladder of patches but what it was, was an indirect way to remind them of all the things that they’re learning and how much they grow is to celebrate them. And I want you to do the same thing here. To reflect on and celebrate; define the wins and reflect on.

The second piece is this, is to be able to go in and say, “All right then I may reflect on the wins, what are the lessons? What did I truly learn here?”

And I would tell you to list and if you’re doing this for a 12 month period and you’re going to look back for a year, I’d list the 10 top lessons that you learned in the past year.

If we’re just looking at it for yourself. List the 10 top lessons because these are the things that won’t get duplicated. This is where you start to get that growth. This is where you get the tipping points on why you do things differently than you previously have.

Once we move from that, we turn around and go from the reflection to the lessons and then, I want you to look at your Attitude. And this is an interesting, an interesting is where did you spend most of your time from an attitude perspective?

In other words, where did you spend most of the time?

Were you pessimistic?

Were you optimistic?

Were you negative?

What was your overall attitude?

And what I would do is, actually in the action guide, you will see that we have you rating these and ranking these so you can score yourself because it’s really important for you to understand. Listen, if I’m coming to, trying to be successful and I’ve got a pessimistic, negative, defeatist attitude, guess what? You might be successful despite yourself but you’re not going to be successful as you possibly could. So, the question is, is what’s your attitude on that scoresheet?

I want to be in the not unrealistically positive, I want to be realistic. I want to be optimistic. If I’m constantly badgering, complaining, criticizing, man it’s going to suck the energy out of you, it’s going to suck the success out of you so where are you on the attitude scale as you move forward with that.

Then we talk from attitude to Gratitude. If we’re going to look at attitude and gratitude, now the thing that I want you to look at is, “Huh! What are the 10 things you are most grateful for?” What are the 10 things you’re most grateful for?

We cannot be critical, pessimistic, defeatist if we got gratitude in our heart. So, I want you to list them out. All of this, I want you to list them out. Use the action guide because it’s going to force you to do this in a formal way to really bring it to life.

So, those are the first four. Now we start to go into these last four levels of focus to maximize your success and this one’s kind of an interesting one that I think will really kind of take some people by surprise. And what do I mean? Simplify. Simplify, I mean is that what are 3 things you can simplify in your life? Or eliminate.

Because if you don’t need it, being really, really, really honest with yourself, brutally honest with yourself, are there things that you’re doing in your life, in your business that are over complex, over complicated or just completed unneeded? Get rid of it.

The more we can simplify, the greater our success will be. It’s going to relieve us of those chains, the burdens. May be some of it, simplification maybe, outsourcing and getting it off of your back so you’re doing that so what can you do to simplify? What are 3 things that you can do to simplify what it is you’re doing?

Then once we go from simplification, this goes back to what I was just talking about: What’s the process? Create a process and what I’d like you to is actually think about a 90 day plan and a 12 month plan. So, what do you need to do, what are the key goals for 12 months?

And we’re going to talk about goal-getting versus goal-setting in the next session but what are the key goals for the 12 months and what are the 90 day projects to make those a reality? And the 30 day actions.

So, what do I mean by that?

I have given you a lot but here’s the thing. I want you to look at your year and say, “All right, if I want to go from A to B in a year, what do I need to do each quarter to make that happen? What’s the project, one or two projects; maximum each 90 days? And what are the key action items under each project that I need to take?”

Because here is what I want you to do, I want you to be able to, if I think about this, I’m going to do some math for you so don’t freak out. If I have 2 projects every 90 days, 2 projects every 90 days and say 4 action items for each project, then that is 8 action items that I need to do to take and drive it for me. Can I do 8 things in 90 days? Yes.

If I try to look at the year and try to embrace that and hug that all that one time, it’s too much but if I’m looking at it and saying, “Hey all I got to do is 8 things in 90 days, I can do that. 10 things in 90 days, I can do that.” It breaks it down.

Here is what I need you to do: Build the process to get the outcome to create the certainty and the control that we were talking about in the process.

And from that, the next piece is really this. Disconnect. Wait a second. “How can I be successful when I disconnect?”

Now the question is, how can you be successful without disconnecting. The problem is, is that you are not going to be successful without this thing. Here is what I want you to do is I want you to set a minimum of 3 times per year to completely unplug and disconnect, to be with your loved ones, to be with your spouse, to be with your significant other, to be with your husband, your wife, your kids, with your family whoever it is to completely disconnect 3 times in a year. Block it out.

I sit down with my wife and we look at a year and we actually do it 4 to 5 times a year and we block the time out and we say, “We’re going to do this.”

Now, we might just stay home, sit by the beach, we may take a big trip to Europe or Asia or something. We might just go for a day trip. We might just go to brunch. But we block it out not movable. We put it in stone. This is when, our disconnect time, it’s a disconnect time from this to reconnect time for us. It’s the 3 hours that I’ve talked about in my other sessions. We talk about reflection, rejuvenation and reconnection.

So, one of the things that I want you to do is: Plan in the process for your success at least 3 times a year to completely disconnect. Block it out.

And that is the last piece of this is the Blocking which means that now that I’ve got this all planned out, I want you to schedule your time in blocks. I want you to literally take it and say, “Okay, I’m going to block this time out and I’m going to mark it in red or I’m going to mark it in green”.

If you look at my calendar, it’s a bunch of blocks in color and those colors mean something

Whether it’s an event

Whether it’s time away

Whether it’s personal time

Whether it’s personal time

Whether it’s creative time

It’s all blocks of color and I block it out. What happens is that once I’ve done the rituals that we talked about in the last session and I take this and I say, “All right, this is what the year looks like. Now it’s stepped in for the daily rituals to a broader view and I blocked the time out on the calendar. This is how I start to maximize what I get done and my ability to move from one thing to success on an ongoing basis.”

So, this is the success maximizer—the areas of focus that you got to look at, you got to reflect, you got to understand, you got to have your attitude. Sometimes, we need an attitude adjustment. We got to be grateful for the things that we’ve got, things that maybe we’re still working on, we’ve got to simplify and get rid of things or simplify things in our life, in our business. We’ve got to put a process in place, disconnect time and block it out so we can stay connected and we don’t jeopardize the other areas of life between our health and our relationships and all of that stuff to do that and then, block it out to make it happen.

That’s the success maximizer is what I do on an ongoing basis to really start to drive things, it’s what I teach with my high-level mastermind clients and my boards, the entrepreneurs that I work with to really make that happen. So hopefully this helps you, hopefully this serves you for you to understand what it takes to really drive your success to a whole new level and build it.

So, if you haven’t done so already, make sure that you got the action guide in front of you and that you work through this process. Put it in practice. Until you put it in practice, you can’t get different results. I hope that you found this of value and if you found this of value, do me a favor? Share this, make sure you subscribe too though.

But share this people because this is something that conserve and support a lot of different people and if you’ve got a question, just ask me the question at AskMelNow.com. We will make sure that I get it answered either on one of the upcoming episodes of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show or just get it answered for you. You are not alone in this journey. I am your back pocket as we move forward.

So, I hope this serves you. Remember to subscribe and share it. Remember to get that action guide. Put it into place. You will be amazed at what will happen to your life and your business over the next couple of months if you do this religiously and ritually like we’ve talked about in the last two sessions. And I will see you back here on the next episode. Until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Be More Productive

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— Summary —

In this episode, we are going to talk about how you can be more productive with the help of successful rituals or habits in your life. If we don’t get such rituals right, we find ourselves in a confused state, we are totally unfocused and we ultimately end up with no results. When we get it right, we have clarity, everything we do is intentional and we start to complete tasks.

So here are the 3 principles that you need to know:

Focus precedes action

Actions don’t equate to completion

Fulfillment is your true currency

The Productivity Sphere

This framework will allow you to divide your time in the morning and later in the day. Each activity gets a maximum of 90 minutes. The activity doesn’t have to be the same for everyone. You can use this as a reference to create your own sphere of productivity.

In the AM

Creativity: This is the time to be creative. You can spend the time generating ideas and writing them down. It is not necessary that you do it as the first thing in the morning.

Exercise: The time for exercise is largely important. It energizes you and brings vibrancy back in your life.

Team: This is the time that you separate for your team. Do they need something from you so that they can carry on with their work?

Strategy: Sit back and look at your strategies. What are the plans that are and aren’t working, the things that you need to tweak?

MIF: Most Important First. When you have a lot of things to do or are procrastinating, list them out and do the ones that are most important.

In the PM

Review: Look back and review the day. Think about how you did your daily tasks and carried on with your strategy.

Wins: What are your wins for the day? Did you accomplish what you set out to? It’s a way to compliment ourselves.

Gratitude: Realize the things that you are truly, truly grateful for so that you create a chance to expand and grow from there.

Plan: What are the wins for tomorrow? What needs to take place for them? Who do I need help from?

Unplug: Shut the doors to your office and unplug. Be with your loved ones and rejuvenate yourselves so that you are ready to take on your morning rituals tomorrow.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there everyone, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episodes of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to talk about what I call The Productivity Sphere.

How do you become more productive?

And the rituals that come about. This question came up in recent one-on-one, with one of my high-level clients also asked this in my live event where what are the rituals that I go through to make sure that I’m productive and successful? And so, that’s what we’re going to tackle in this episode.

There’s an action guide that goes along with this called The Productivity Ritualizer. If you want to download that go to MelAbraham.com/session086 and you will be able to download the action guide. Work along with me. Make sure that you use the same templates and tools that I use each and every day in my business for myself and with my clients.

Now if you’re not at your computer. If you’re not sitting in front of your computer where you can download it that’s all right. Just take your phone out, text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces, MYLEGACY to 38470. I will send you the download links so you can follow along, get the same tools and templates that I’ve used again with my high-level clients and with myself. So, why don’t we jump in and let’s get started.

So let’s jump into this, the 10 productivity spheres and The Productivity Ritualizer in this so we can kind of figure out what it takes. What I want to talk about is really how do you build success rituals in our life? And rituals are an interesting thing. We talk about it and some people may think about it in the context of religious rituals but rituals are habits. They are things that we do on a regular basis that get us a certain level of results and every entrepreneur that I know that is truly, truly successful that is at the highest level of success, I find that they have rituals, they have things that they do in the mornings, during the day and evenings that are consistent, that’s systematic.

So, I’m going to give you a process and some of the rituals that I have used. This, as I said, came out of a question that was asked to me saying,

What do you do each and every morning?

What do you do when you get up?

What do you do before you go to sleep?

What do you do to make sure that you’re successful and productive?

And so, what we’re going to deal with is just that. Here’s the interesting thing. If we don’t get rituals right, if we don’t understand what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, why we’re doing it, ultimately we find ourselves really in a confused state.

We’re spotting, we’re going from one place to the next place and we don’t know why and we don’t know where and we don’t know necessarily what we’re doing. So, we’re extremely confused in the process.

And through that, we find that we’re totally unfocused.

Ultimately, we’re in a place where we’re not focused on anything. In fact, we’re like that kind of that what I call an ADHD that’s flying around or the moth to a flame that you go to one light, you go to another light, or the Shiny Ball Syndrome. And so, we’re completely unfocused and when you’re unfocused as an entrepreneur, when you’re unfocused as an individual, getting results becomes sporadic, it becomes problematic because you’re not directed, you’re not intentional, you’re not making and taking steps and things that need to go to get to a point.

Think about this. When we need to do, when they do laser cutting of metal for instance, that laser very, very thin, very, very concentrated, very, very focused. That’s what we need in our life to really make the successes, the productivity successes possible is that the more laser focused we are, the more directed we are, the more accomplishments and achievements we’re going to find that we make.

The other thing that happens if we don’t get this right is that we ultimately end up with no results because we’re all over the place.

We’re a patchwork of action with no real direction and so the key is that we got to get this right, otherwise we’re going to not going to get through this or the results that we get are not going to be at the level that we want them, the results that we get are not even going to be in the ballpark of where we want them.

So the key here is a couple of things because when we get this right, one, we have clarity.

When we figure out what those rituals are, when we figure out what those productivity elements are, we find clarity in it. In other words, we go from confusion to clarity in that sense that we go, “I know that’s the direction I need to go. That’s what I need to accomplish, that’s what I need to do to move me to that point.”

The other thing that happens when we get this right is, everything we do is intentional.

Every step we make, every move we make is with a specific result in mind that it is intentional. Too often, I see individuals and entrepreneurs that literally will just kind of go at the whim of the winds and when you go at the whim of the winds, then where you are going to end up is haphazard, it’s where you’re going to end up is going to be at the whim of the winds and if I have a destination, if I want to go from point A to point B and that’s the destination I want to get to then I need to make some intentional decisions and choices along the way to keep me on that line towards that destination of point B. Otherwise, if we happen to get to the destination it’s purely coincidental.

And so, what I’m going to invite you to do is to be very intentional with your actions, very intentional with your decisions on what you do and even more intentional with you decisions of what you don’t do. In fact, that’s the thing that will probably drive you the furthest, the fastest is to be able to say, “This is something that doesn’t move me from point A to point B in a fast way therefore I’m not going to do it.” Saying no is probably one of the biggest choices that you can make to move that forward.

And ultimately, if we get the clarity right, and we get that intentional decision making, we find that we start to complete tasks.

We start to get to the finish line. We start to get accomplishments. We start to get to the goals that we’re trying to get to. Instead of being confused, unfocused and haphazard results, we actually get the results that we’re looking at and so, that’s the reason why this is important so

We can gain clarity,

We can gain focus,

We can be intentional of what we do, and

We can get to completion.

So if that’s why it’s important, what do you need to know? And these are the keys that I think really start to drive things in the process and these are the three principles that I want you to take away here.

First is your focus precedes action.

A lot of times, we just, in our energy, in our excitement to want to do something, we just want to jump in and get it done. Here’s what I invite you to do is instead of just jumping in to get it done, take a moment to sit back. Get the clarity, focus on what it is that you’re trying to accomplish then take action. So get the clarity first, focus second and then, take action. That’s why the first principle is focus precedes action.

In other words, before we take action, we got to know where we want to go. It’s like that racer just before they start the race. They are intense, they’re focused on what they got to accomplish, they have an intentional direction that they know

What they got to do next,

What they got to do after that, and

What their ultimate outcome is.

But they get focus first before the race starts, before they take action. So, focus precedes action.

The second principle I want you to take away is to realize that actions don’t equate to completion.

We can be busy but we may not be making progress. The idea is that we need to be busy with the things that are going to create progress for us, things that are going to move us intentionally in the direction of where we want to go and so, the next one principle is to realize that action does not equate to completion so we need to take those actions that move us closer to completion.

And then, the third principle is to do this is that fulfillment is really your true currency.

Now a lot of people will sit back and say, “Oh, I want to make money. I want to make money.” And I get it and money is a scorecard, money is a big deal in the sense of measurement of success but what we’re really searching for is that fulfillment.

And so, really looking at

Wow do we set up those rituals?

How do we setup our days?

How do we set up that process?

To build fulfillment into the process versus just profits. So, those are the 3 key elements that I want you to know which leads us to the next piece which is, okay if that’s the case, how do you do it?

So, I want to introduce you to the 10 spheres of productivity and these are the kind of the 10 aspects, the 10 things that I do each and every day, 5 in the morning, 5 in the evening and it’ll set you up for success not only in the current day but it’ll establish a pattern for each and every coming day the way you do this. So, we’re going to jump into this. I’m going to walk you through this worksheet. We will jump to the iPad and do that so you understand what those 10 productivity spheres are.

So, let’s get into the iPad and see what that is. So, here’s the thing: What I do is I try to do some things first thing in the morning when I get up and then last thing in the evening and then the in between the morning rituals and the evening rituals is just my productivity time. It’s when I am doing and taking the actions that I need to take.

The first thing that I will typically look at, typically do is in the mornings, I wake up early typically between, depends, between 5 am and 6 am, 6:30 maybe on the late side. My wife, she sleeps. She sleeps a little later not much but she sleeps a little later so I will just come downstairs to my office or I will go out on the balcony watching the water and the very first thing that I do is what I call my creativity time.

And so, this is my time to be creative. It’s where I find that most of my writing is best, most of my thinking is best and so what I’m doing is capturing that creativity. Now sometimes, it’s going to be just me doodling frameworks or thoughts or writing in a journal or a diary or maybe it’s actually drafting emails and blog posts and specific writing that is involved or creating coursework or creating additional trainings for you or building out another podcast or session or YouTube session such as this for The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

But what I found is that for me and you may be a little different, you may say I’m more creative in the afternoons and you will move these spheres around but I think you need to have these spheres in place and do them as rituals which are things you’re going to do each and every day. And so, the first piece for me is this creativity piece is that I’m going to take the time where my mind is fresh, I haven’t been impacted by phone calls, by reading or anything like that and I will take that time to create and to write and to do those things that are meaningful to me.

The second, the second sphere of productivity and I think that this is huge for a lot of folks if we do this right is what I call my Exercise time.

Now inevitably, inevitably, I typically will go and work out between five and six days a week and I’m either going to go to the gym or I’m going to go run on the beach or I’m going to do some sort of cardio. Typically my workouts are some are between 45 minutes and an hour and a half depending on the day and depending on what it is I’m doing.

But I find that once I’ve done the creativity work, then to energize me and bring that vibrancy in and one of the things that I want to do is go out and do some exercise. One when I do exercise, I put the headphones in and I’m either going to be listening to music and thinking as I’m doing that or I’m going to be listening to a specific podcast or something that’s going to keep me in focus and in tune.

So, I will go over the gym and get some exercise in. I feel energized by the time I get back and now I’m ready to kind of tackle the day if you will in doing that. And so, you may find again that some folks like to exercise in the afternoon. I got into the habit of exercising in the morning primarily because what I used to do is consistently exercise in the morning and then, I did martial arts in the evening so I couldn’t exercise in the evening at the gym.

And so, I still work out in the morning and I will do some other stuff in the evening. I will even do more exercise in the evening at times but I want you to block out creativity time, exercise time. My time is in the morning. I think it’s a great time to try it. If you don’t have a specific preference follow what I’m doing and see how it fits for you and then make some tweaks.

Once I’m done with exercise and these are the rituals that I do each and every morning, once I’m done with exercise time, then it comes down to what I call Team time. Is there things, are there things that my team is waiting for? People on my team that need me.

Does Jeremy need something?

Does Denise need something?

Does someone else need something from me?

Whether it’s an email, a phone call, a yes, a no, a review of a contract, a review of something, are they sitting and waiting on stuff, they’re not probably sitting and waiting on anything from me but the bottom line is do they need something from me? Do I owe them a phone call, a written response? So, one of the things that I’m going to do immediately once I’m done with exercise and I’m ready to hit kind of get into the work in the productivity mode is I’m going to search my email box for things for my team members, see what they need, see if I can answer those so I can keep them moving forward and keep them productive also.

I’m going to look at, “Do I need to make any kind of phone calls or give them resources at that? Do I need to make a call on their behalf and introduction on their behalf?” So I’m going to take this moment and it could be literally 5 minutes, it could be 15 minutes, it could be an hour. We will talk about the timing of some of this in a moment but I’m going to do the things that my team needs right away

And so then I go from team time to what I call Strategy time.

This is the time that I get a chance to sit back and look at my strategies.

What do I have in place that’s working?

What do I have in place that may be isn’t working so well and then I got to tweak?

What are the tweaks that I need?

Are there resources that I need?

Are there people I need to talk to, to develop that, to really start to build it?

What do I need to do?

What strategies am I working on now?

Now those of you that know me know that I work in 90 day sprints. So, I typically have a 90 day plan. Within that 90 day plan is typically 3, maximum 4 projects that need to get done and then some action items in there. So, my strategy is all penciled out for every 90 days and that’s what I’m really working on.

I’m going to review my strategy,

I’m going to review where I’m at,

I’m going to review the action items that are in that strategy, and

What I need to get done to move the needle.

Everything that I’m going to focus in on during this ritual time is what are the needle moves, what are the things that I heard this saying, “What’s the small hinge that swings the big door? What’s the small hinge that I need to take care of that’s going to allow me to move in great strides towards my goal?”

Which leads me to this next piece and it’s what I call MIF time. This is where I now go from this…now by this point, the only emails, the only things that I have typically done are from my team or anything related to my strategy; that’s it. I’m not digging in, I’m not going into anything with respect to Facebook although part of my strategy is Facebook so I will do a live or something like that when it comes to that.

But MIF, the MIF time is what I call the most important first. So, a lot of times we find and it’s really interesting when I talk to entrepreneurs, when I talk to some of my clients, when we start to say; actually, “What do you think you should be doing?” and it’s usually the thing that they are procrastinating on. I know that they should be doing it and it’s the most important thing first. So, I want to take everything and I want to write them and I’m going to do the most important thing first because that’s the needle mover, that’s the small hinge, that’s the thing that’s going to swing the big door and move the needle the furthest, the fastest, so we’re going to do most important first and we’re just going to keep going down that place.

The key behind all of this is that I will typically not exceed 90 minutes in any block. I work in 90 minute increments but I will think about 30, 60, 90 because I want to get up, I want to keep the energy flowing so never will I cross 90 minutes. I will sit down, I will set an alarm, I will look at the time, I will do something that every 90 minutes that allows me to get up, move around, refocus, re-energize, get my blood flowing if I’m sitting down and do that. So, be aware of the time. Doing lengthy 3 hour marathons isn’t going to be productive for you so I’m going to invite you to do thinking in terms of 90 minute increments in doing that.

So that’s my morning routine.

Creativity

Exercise

Team

Strategy

The MIF stuff

And that carries me through the day. 90 minute increments maximum giving me my time, hydrating a lot and then I go to the afternoon.

So now, I have come to the afternoon. I’ve done my day. I’ve done my work. Now, I have an afternoon ritual that starts to build this out and I’m going to give you the action guide, got a worksheet that’s going to allow you how to map out your day with this. So you want to make sure you download that.

The first thing that I do when I’m done with the day and I’m ready to start winding it down, the first thing that I do here is this. It’s Review time.

This is when I look back on the day and I say, “How did I do?”

How did I do with my MIF tasks?

How am I doing on my strategy?

How am I doing with my team?

How am I feeling in the sense of my vibrancy, my energy, the progress that I make?

What are the successes?

What are the wins?

What are the things that we’re trying to build into?

And so, when I do this, I kind of look at this time and this next time which is my Wins time is all right what are my wins for the day?

Did I accomplish the things that I wanted to accomplish?

Did we have a big contract get signed?

What happened during the day that are my wins?

Here’s the interesting thing is that we are really good at being critical on ourselves; we’re awful at complimenting ourselves. We’re awful at celebrating our successes and so, what I’m going to invite you to do is to celebrate the wins of the day, to acknowledge the fact that you go certain things done each and every day to be able to celebrate those, to be able to go home and say, “You know what honey? I got this, this and this done, I feel really good about it.”

Because without that we keep beating ourselves up on the stuff we didn’t get done. We’re focused on the negative versus the positive. Granted, there may be more things that we would like to get done. We will pick that up in the review, we will pick that up in the plan in one of these next rituals and move it on to the MIF list for the next day as we move forward but one of the things that I do is review and I will look at the wins in building through that.

The next piece is this and this is something that I think we need to do a lot more of. Gratitude. Gratitude. So, I take a moment once I’m done with the review and the wins to sit back and ask myself “What are the things that I’m grateful for today?” Not just the accomplishments but the people, the happenings, the existence, and to be truly, truly grateful for what has transpired in that day because from that space is where we get to be able to build. That’s the time that we get a chance to expand and grow and see things better because we’ve taken a moment to celebrate our wins, to understand the learning and to build on to that and now we’re grateful for the time we have.

Listen, here’s the thing that I realized is that when we have gratitude in our heart, in our soul, in our mind we think differently. The things that we come up are very, very different. So I will spend time in the afternoon, in the evenings as I’m shutting down to look at my gratitude.

Then I move in to this piece called Plan which is plan time.

Now I’m going to think about the three’s WWW and it’s not worldwide web. The thing that I want to look at is for the next day, what’s my plan? And I will look at it under the three Ws.

What do I need to have happen tomorrow for it to be a win? So that’s the first W. What are the wins for tomorrow that I want to have?

Then in order for those wins to happen what are the whats that need to take place. In other words, what do I need to do? What do I need to accomplish to make it a win?

And the third W is this: Who? Who do I need help from to get the Whats done so I can have the wins in the next day because that’s going to allow me to reach out to them, connect with them and contact them because they now become part of that team and part of the strategy in the morning ritual of the next day. So, my plan is really about the wins, the whats and the whos in the process that I’m going to put into place for the very next day.

And then, the last piece is this, the Unplug time. The unplug time. Here’s what I think we need to do and this is a challenge in many cases for many entrepreneurs, especially home based entrepreneurs and those of you that are home based solopreneurs or home based businesses it’s really a challenge to put those boundaries around, to shut the door of the office to say work’s done for the day and unplug.

Now, you may unplug and say, “I’m going to.” Some people like to go and cook, some people don’t. Some people just want to go have a nice dinner somewhere. Some want to sit and watch a little bit of TV. Some want to turn around and maybe read. Whatever it is, once you choose to unplug, you unplug. You unplug and you spend it with your loved ones, you spend it with your spouse, you spend it with your significant other. You’re present in the moment.

You take the time to rejuvenate yourself to unplug completely so then when you come back in the morning to the morning rituals you’re ready to be creative, you’re ready to do that. You don’t have the guilt, you don’t have the weight of the fact that you didn’t unplug, you didn’t spend time with loved ones or your spouse or your significant other in a way that was meaningful to them.

So that’s what I call the 10 productivity spheres. This is how I kind of look at my days. In the mornings, I do the 5. In the morning,

The creativity,

The exercise,

The team,

The strategy, and

The MIF time.

I try to break things down at 30, 60, 90 minute increments maximum and do it that way. Then in the afternoons,

I’m simply going to review

I’m going to celebrate my wins

I’m going to be grateful for the things that have happened. I’m going to…I’m not just generically grateful; specifically what it is.

Create the plan for the next day, thinking about the 3 Ws, the Whens, the Whats and the Whos.

And then I’m going to completely unplug.

Those are the 10 productivity spheres and I think that when you see how this all plays out you’re going to see that it truly is a way that changes and shifts how much you can get done in a day, how much you can get done in week and it will blow you away what you’re going to get done in a year when you bring rituals into life that allow you to turn around and say, “I know what I’m doing, I know how I’m doing it, I’m staying intentional, I’m keeping clear and I’m going to be focused. I’m going to take action to go from point A to point B.”

That’s worked in my life and it’s worked in a lot of the people that I’ve mentored and coached as clients, high level clients as well as entrepreneurs around the globe. If it’s not this specific ritual, they have rituals and so the key is this: What’s your ritual?

If you don’t have one, embrace this one. At least, start with this one and then, you can modify it because this takes into consideration

The intellect,

The physical,

The caring,

The thinking,

The logical side,

The emotional side.

It brings into play all of the elements of your life to make it more meaningful. As I said that there is a worksheet, an action guide that goes along with this session. It’s called the productivity ritualizer. It will explain everything to you and it’s going to give you a worksheet format to bring the spheres of productivity to life in your world.

So grab that and the way to grab that is to go to MelAbraham.com/session086 and you will be able to download the action guide with the worksheet. Use that each and every day. It gives you all the instructions to do it. If you’re not by your computer again, you can get it by just texting me. Text MYLEGACY one-word to 38470 and we will make sure that we send you the download link so you get the tools, the templates that can drive your success in an accelerated way.

If you haven’t done so already, I’m going to ask you to do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button. Subscribe, stay with me on this journey. Let’s have some fun. Let’s make some differences. Let’s have an impact. Let’s grow your life and create the success that you’re looking for in doing that. So, one way that I can be your mentor in your back pocket as you move forward in this space.

And everyone needs more productivity. So, you do me another favor? I’m going to ask you for a couple of favors here. Share this. Go ahead, hit the share button and share it with some friends. Share it with some friends that maybe don’t have a process and we can give them the process and the tools to be more productive and get more out of their life.

And last but not the least, if you have questions for me, if you have comments. Post them. Let me know, let’s keep this, let’s make this a dialog, let’s have a conversation, let me see how I can help you out in doing that and if you want to leave me a message or a question, just go to AskMelNow.com and you can record your personal voicemail message to me. If it’s a question, I may bring it on one of the episodes and make sure that it becomes one of the episodes of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

So, I hope this serves you. I hope you found it of value. Get your productivity in line. Let’s rock and roll this next 12 months for you and if there is something that I can do, please let me know. Until we get a chance to see each other in another episode,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Make Sure People Know Your Value

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— Summary —

Are you valuable? Do others see the value in you? Why should you be chosen over someone else?

In this episode, we are going to talk about your value because if you don’t get value right no one sees you, people don’t have interest in you and there is no sale. However, if you get it right, you’re seen by your marketplace and the potential folks trying to hire you, people are curious and want to know more, and ultimately they buy.

Here are the 3 things that you need to know:

Transformation drives value

Process gives confidence

Results create certainty

The Value Articulator

This framework allows you to articulate your value so that you are able to speak to your audience in a succinct way.

Who: Who do you help? This is our market.

What: What results do you help people get?

How: How do you help? This is the process.

 Problems: When you talk about who and what together, it’s really about the problems you solve.

Transformation: It’s between what and who. We get transformation by matching the people we work with, with the process that works.

Distinction: It is what the results are that we get and how we get them.

The Value Articulator Template

This is a template that you can use to answer who, what, how along with the distinction that you have when compared to others.

Here is how it works:

I help [X] do [Y] so that [Z], unlike [A] because of [B].

X – Who do you help Y – What do you help with Z – What results you help get A – Customer alternatives B – Your Distinction

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to talk about your value. Are you valuable?

Here’s an interesting story. So, I was recently in the middle of a presentation for a board of directors that I sit on and we had a couple of vendors that we were meeting with on a high priced big project that we were going to hire a vendor on, a consultant if you will. And the last question that we asked each and every consultant was this.

Clearly, we were talking to a few other people, the question we have is: Why should we hire you versus them?

And you know what? The funny thing is and the scary thing was, is that out of all three of the people that we talked to most of them had, in fact all of them had a difficult time answering that question and I’m thinking, “Wait a second. You came into a meeting that you knew was a meeting with the board of directors with the committee to evaluate your ability to do work with us, to maybe help us out on a project and when we asked the question, ‘Why should we hire you?’ you can’t articulate it in a clear, concise, definitive way that sets you apart from the rest? Well, now we’ve got a problem.”

And that’s what this episode’s about. So, in this episode we’re going to talk about something that I call The Value Articulator and The Value Articulator template. You can get the action guide here by going to MelAbraham.com/session085. You can download it. It’ll help you through being able to articulate your value clearly, concisely, and definitively when you’re talking to a possible prospect. And this is something that I thought that most people would be able to do or that we thought about it a lot of times we’re finding out that they don’t. In fact, that was a clear indication that we don’t.

Now, if you’re not at your computer and you’re trying to get the download, the action guide, just text me. Do it safely. Text me: MYLEGACY one-word, no-spaces to 38470 and I will text you back the download link. You can get it when it’s convenient and safe to do.

And so, let’s jump into this because here is what I’m finding out is if we don’t get this value conversation right, if we don’t understand how to articulate our value in a concise clear way that’s compelling to our audience, you’re going to find a situation ultimately, no one sees you.

You don’t even see yourself and that becomes a problem and so, one of the things we need to think about is how do we articulate our value?

The other thing that happens if we don’t get this right is that people don’t have an interest.

What happens is that people will just kind of walk away and say, “Yeah, whatever” and I know it’s really kind of a brush off but there is no interest in what you have to offer. There’s in no interest in the kinds of things that you can do for them and so they just push you aside in the process.

And ultimately, there is no sales.

We had to scratch our heads after each one of them walked away and said, “Gosh, do we want to work with someone. They don’t know what their distinction is or when they don’t know how to articulate the value that they bring to the table is clearly and definitively.”

But here is the deal. When we get this right, when you use this framework and you get this right, now all of a sudden, you stand out.

You’re seen by your marketplace.

You’re seen by the potential folks that are trying to hire you.

You’re seen in a way that you create the light, the spotlight that you want to shine and you frame yourself in a specific way.

People are curious.

They want to know more. They want to understand more about what you do and they’re curious about the way you do it.

And ultimately, people buy.

And so, what we need to do is get this whole idea of value out on the table to be able to do this in a way that really starts to shift your understanding, shift your audience’s, your market’s and to get you to be able to succinctly, distinctly state what is it you bring to the table that’s unique from everyone else.

So, if we’re going to do this, what do you really need to do? What do you really need to know?

Actually, first, let’s figure out the principles that really drive us and I think the first principles to understand is that the transformation you create drives the value.

So, a lot of times we get caught up in cost and we get caught up in price and we get caught up in all these other things but let’s focus on the value creation, the transformation.

I come into a situation. A lot of times, I get hired especially when we’re dealing with high stakes consulting, strategic work and I get hired as kind of the hired gun if you will, the person that’s there to fix things. Well, when I know that I’m making a shift that’s going to change the dynamics and the trajectory of a business that’s going to set the business on a course to have a million dollar a year, a 10 million dollar a year, a 20 million dollar a year, those kinds of things, the value that I create is high. Therefore, it’s not about price and cost. It’s about transformation.

So, what one of the things we need to understand is what’s the transformation you create? The true transformation in their business, in their life. How does it land in their life? Because that’s where the value is brought from.

The second principle to understand is this, is that your possible buyers, your marketplace, the community that you’re trying to serve need to know that you have a process.

Now, they’re not that concerned about what the process is immediately but when they understand that you have a definitive proprietary process is we help people build their proprietary process in Thoughtpreneur Academy. When they know that you have a process, it gives them the confidence that you can get the solution, the result for them and so, one of the questions is do you have a process?

Building that pr ocess into the conversation gives them confidence. Then the third thing to realize is that there needs to be proof. In other words, your results to be able to say, listen.

For instance: I sit on a board of directors that was a company that was founded hundreds of years ago, a couple of hundred years—150 years ago and we’ve been able to successfully build that business since I’ve been in the board from a 20 million dollar revenue company to over 200 million dollars. I’ve had the opportunity to work with people in the thoughtpreneur space, in the influencer space:

To build their frameworks,

To build their content,

To build their businesses, and

To work that perspective.

And the results that I’ve gotten give my clients and my customers, certainty. Now, there isn’t a guarantee but there’s certainty that I can get results with the processes and the intellectual property that I have, the skills, the information that I have. So, one of the things that we need to understand is what’s the transformation? Then what’s the process that you have and what are the results of that process because that’s going to give them confidence, it’s going to give them certainty and that’s going to give them value and that’s what we need to focus in on.

In order to do that, I will walk you through a framework. I know, I got another framework for you. But this is the framework that I call The Value Articulator that start to understand how do you put together the statement if you will. Now, some people will call it an elevator pitch. Some people will call it a value statement or a value proposition. I think that it’s actually more than that.

An elevator pitch; some of that stuff doesn’t have that emotionally compelling perspective to it. We need to be able to speak to our audience in a much more direct, succinct way and that’s what we do with it.

So, in order to do that, I’m going to go jump to as always the iPad. We’re going to talk about, about the value articulator. I’m going to complete this for you. If you haven’t got the downloadable action guide to kind of work through it with me, download it MelAbraham.com/session085. That’s MelAbraham.com/session085 or text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces 38470 and you can get that here.

So, let me jump into the iPad and let’s see about The Value Articulator and what it takes to really start to build this out. So, the thing that we need to do in our conversations is to really understand what are the keys that we need to make sure are included.

And the first piece is what I call the Who. This is who is our market? In other words, who do you help? I don’t help everyone. There is certain people that I work with. There’s certain types of people that I work with. So, who do you help in there and be definitive. And if you are broad based, you’re not going to, if you’re trying to help everyone, you’re not going to help anyone. It’s we want to be much more narrow in that perspective so we can be really clear.

The idea here is, part of the who is it filters in the people that are in your wheelhouse and it filters out those that are not. I want to attract the right clients, the right people into my community. I want to detract the ones that aren’t right for me. That’s really the way to try and do this. I don’t want to help everyone because I can.

The second part of this is the What. What results and this is about the results, what results do you help people get?  What results do you help people get?

Understanding that. The interesting thing is that when you talk about the who and the what together, it’s really about the Problems that you solve.

So, about understanding those problems that you solve when you get that dialed because you’re looking at a certain group of people that are trying to get a certain result and if you have the process in there that’s what’s going to solve the problems that they have.

And then, the third piece is this and this is the How. This is the Process. So, I need to build my value out of the who, what and the how in there. And if we do this correctly, you will understand that the problems are what are taken care of with the what and the who but the Transformation which is what I talked about earlier is between the who and the how.

We get transformation by matching the people we work with, with the process that works and that’s how we get the transformation.

The other side of that is when we look at the what, in other words the results we get and how we get the results, that’s what gives us our Distinction in the marketplace and that’s what sets us apart.

Now, each of these people; some of them had a process and they really actually did a great job in explaining the process but they didn’t connect it to the results and the way that gave distinction in the marketplace and that’s one of the challenges that we have in order to do that.

So, one of the things that I’ve done is we’ve come up with a template and now I’m going to give credit where credit is due. The first part of this template was something that I was taught by a good friend of mine and one of my mentors, Brendon Burchard. And he talks about, when you’re going to articulate what you do, he says, he calls it the XYZ formula: I help X do Y so that Z.

And so, I’m going to bring this back so you can see how this plays out. I help X Do Y so that Z. And what I’ve done is I’ve added something on this because it’s great to be able to say, “I know who I help” to do what which is the Y so that they can have a certain result which is the Z. But how do I do it distinctly?

I want to bring that distinction in to raise the value in the eyes of the consumers. So, what I did is I added on to it this concept of saying “Unlike A because of B” and A and B is how you articulate your distinction in the marketplace. So, let’s look at this in this context.

I help X, X being who do you help and that’s the ‘Who’ part of the framework. Do ‘Y’ which is what do you help them with? What do you help them with? Which is kind of the results so what do you help them with so that Z which is really the results you help them get. Okay so, X is who, Y is the problem and the result and Z is the result.

Then I say Unlike A which is what are the customer alternatives? Now, for instance they can go to any other business consultant or strategist. They can go to any other person that works with entrepreneurs so they’ve got, in my case, they can go to other alternatives. So, I want to state those alternatives but I say, “Unlike those alternatives because I have a unique distinction.” And state my distinction which is the B. So, hopefully that makes sense.

I’m going to give you some examples to really bring this home because the reality is that this one sentence, if either one of those or any other three of them came out when we ask the question why you versus them and they said, “I help X do Y so that Z unlike A because of B” man they would have nailed it. And that’s the thing we’re missing out there is being able to articulate our distinction and our value in a succinct, valuable way that connects with our audience.

So, let me give you a couple of examples and then that’s the work that you’re going to need to do is you’re going to need to take this template, download it if you haven’t so already at MelAbraham.com/session085 so you’ve got this. Fill this in, get used to it, be able to rattle it off, be able to know what it is you do.

So, I’m going to give you a couple of examples. This one is the example, these are all examples that I use depending on the context, depending on the audience. This is when I’m working with thoughtpreneurs, working with people that want to become influencers, people in the expert space.

I help experts position themselves as influencers so that they have more impact, income and freedom unlike many focused marketing only we build it through the depth of their knowledge and their content.

So, what I did is I said, “Here is who I work with. Here is what I help them do. I don’t do it like the rest of them that are solely focused on marketing. We’re going to do it from the content out, the knowledge, the wisdom out and we come at it with that distinctions.”

So, that’s one example. Let me give you another example. This is an example when I’m dealing with entrepreneurs.

I help entrepreneurs create meaningful and profitable businesses so that they have financial freedom and peace of mind unlike many that are focused on the bottom line only we build through your values and impacting others in a positive way.

Here is the thing. Those of you that know me, know that my philosophy about business is that business is about improving the human condition, the greater improvement we can make to the human condition, the greater the value, the greater the profits we will have. So, it’s about solely focusing on the bottom line and that’s why I have articulated it this way.

It’s about creating value and having impact in other people’s lives. The bottom line the profits of a business become the byproduct of those activities. So, what I want to do is I want to build a meaningful and profitable business by making sure that it is in consistent alignment with your values and the impact you’re trying to have. And so, that’s why this statement is in there this way.

Let me give you one last one to maybe bring this home. This is in my work with valuing businesses and working against the IRS or with the IRS when they’re trying to hire me as a valuation professional and I’m setting myself apart because I’ve had an opportunity to work on both sides of the fence whereas a lot of people haven’t.

So, I help taxpayers with valuation disputes so they get better resolution results, unlike many other valuation professionals because I’ve work on both sides of the fence.

I’ve been hired as an expert by the IRS so I know what they do, I know what they’re looking for and I’ve also battled against them successfully. So, a lot of people don’t have that experience and so, I’m using that experience as a distinction in there.

So, I hope these examples start to bring this home to you. Here is what I need you to do now though. I need you to download The Value Articulator Template. I need you to fill in the blanks; it’s just fill in the blanks. Let’s get your value articulated in a way in a succinct way that you distinctly set yourself apart from the people in your space. Get it, rehearse it so you have got it embedded into your being so when someone says what do you do, you can just rattle it off and let it flow depending on context and it allows you to use that to your benefit and set you apart.

So, I hope that you found this of value. I hope that this serves you and helps you at a much greater level and you don’t find yourself in a meeting like those consultants did, not being able to say why people should work with you. I want you to know why you are so valuable out there. I want you to know why you are distinct and why people should work with you versus anyone else.

So, hope you found this of value and if you haven’t done so already, make sure you subscribe. Stay with me. More tools, more templates, more strategies to build your success, your wealth, your entrepreneurship, your thoughtpreneur business, your influence in the marketplace. That’s the way I get a chance to mentor you in this process.

If you have a question for me or you got something that you want me to maybe help out with and I can bring it on one of my episodes, just go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me that message. Record that message for me. We will make sure that we get it out there and see if we can support you and help you as best possible in doing that.

And if you haven’t done so already, let’s have a dialog. Leave me comments, let me know what you think of this, leave me comments and also share this with a friend. So, I know I’m asking a lot of you but just share it, subscribe, leave me comments; that’s it.

Hope you found this of value. I look forward to talking to you in the next episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. Until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

++++++++++++++

Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

++++++++++++++

[melabraham]

How to Negotiate or Get to Solutions

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Get the mp3/podcast of this episode free on iTunes

— Summary —

In this episode, we talk about negotiation so that you understand the concept of conflict and how you can go from contention to solution. In any type of negotiation, if you don’t get it right, it’s going to be an energy drain, the conversation will stall and you find yourself in a constant battle. If you get it right, you start to make progress, get some understanding and finally, produce some sort of resolution.

The 3 principles that you need to understand are:

The details bogs you down

The meaning that people give to situations is highly emotional

We need to find our solutions above the meaning and details

The Solution Pathway

To go from contention to solution, there are a couple of things to understand:

Observations: What happened? This is the detail, the stuff that we get caught into and we can’t get away from it because we’re stuck in the specifics.

Emotions: What made it happen? What are the meanings placed in it? We need to understand the meaning that comes from it.

Realizations: What is it about? This is where your solutions can be found.

What they are doing

Excavation: At an observation level, they dig into the problem and create a hole of emotions.

Personalization: Once they dig in, they make it personal.

Escalation: This is when we start to really have problems. People are worried about the details and escalating it.

What they should be doing

Information: At the observation level, we actually should be getting the facts and not placing blame on anyone.

Appreciation: Acknowledge and realize what they are feeling. Identify the difficulties and emotions without discounting it. Have empathy.

Resolution: At the highest level, we finally get to the resolution.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thougtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this episode, we’re going to talk about conflict resolution. We’re going to talk about negotiation. Talk about how do we go from contention to solution.

I’m going to give you what I call my framework, The Solution Pathway and give you the ability to get the action guide that helps you through this. It’s called The Resolution Conversation. If you want to grab that action guide, just go to MelAbraham.com/session084. If you are not around your computer or if you are not close to your computer and you want to make sure you get the action guide then just text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces to 38470. We will make sure that we get you the download link so you can have that and work through it.

So, here’s the thing. We’re going to jump into this now and start to understand this concept of conflict resolution. Having conversations that are high stakes. You may sit back and say, “I’m not in the middle of a conflict.” Well, we actually all are. We’re all in the middle of this negotiation, this transaction. I mean, especially in today’s world where we are today, the challenges that most people are having conversations at the wrong level and because of that, things aren’t going the way they want.

And it’s not about getting your way.

It’s about communicating.

It’s about openness.

It’s about transparency.

It’s about being heard and trying to understand the other person.

Unfortunately, what I see going on is people are close minded to other people’s thinking and there truly is never going to be any progress without having some sort of open dialog. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to go to the other side; if there is an other side. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to necessarily agree completely. But it does mean that we’re going to have meaningful conversations.

Here’s the challenge with this, is that when we talk about negotiation whether it’s mediation negotiation, transaction negotiation, conflict negotiation; whatever it is, when we talk about this if we don’t get it right, if we don’t understand the principles of dealing with this solution pathway then we’re going to find ourselves in a situation where it’s going to be an energy drain.

And in fact, it’s going to be this constant beating your head against the wall and it’s going to suck the energy out of you and that may be something that you’ve already noticed. I mean say, if you can think back on a time where maybe you were having a conversation with someone. It was a bit heated and you couldn’t get them to see your point of view, you couldn’t get them to acknowledge the kinds of things that you were feeling and how that started to suck the energy out of you and build the anxiety and build the walls up so you couldn’t move through it. And so, we’re going to talk about how do you navigate through that process.

The other thing to realize is that if we don’t get this thing right, if we don’t understand how to communicate in these high stakes situations then you’re going to find that the conversations stall.

We’re not moving forward. There is no progress. There is no real discussion. It’s he said, she said, back and forth, back and forth, and there is this impasse if you will where you can’t move from.

And then, the last thing is that you find yourself in a constant battle.

You’re constantly hitting heads. And there is this constant friction and let’s face it, if that’s truly the case, it’s certainly not the way that we want to live.

It’s not a productive way to live,

It’s not a positive way to live, and

It’s certainly not something that is enjoyable.

And one of the things we need to think about is how do we have meaningful conversations?

So, if we do this right, here’s how things start to shift for us. If we do this right, ultimately, we find that we start to make progress.

There’s transformation

There’s progress

There’s movement if you will

Now, maybe it doesn’t get all the way to where you wanted. In fact, we were just recently negotiating the purchase of a car for my wife and this whole process played out in front of her eyes, in front of our eyes in the negotiation where we started to move through and use some of these principles to allow us to actually to walk out of the dealership with the deal that we wanted in the first place, with the deal that we were trying to get. So, effectively we were able to negotiate and get everything that we wanted in that deal.

Now, I’m not going to say that it happened immediately. We had to go through the process in doing that. If we get this right, not only do we get progress, we start to get some understanding.

The other side or both sides start to understand each other at a higher level. It doesn’t mean that there is agreement.

So, let me clarify.

There is empathy

There is understanding

But there may not necessarily be agreement and that’s okay. We’re not talking about coming to an agreement and having unanimous consent. I sit on a number of boards of directors where we’re constantly having high stakes negotiation, we’re having conversations, we’re buying and selling businesses and not all the directors agree completely but we understand each other. We’re heard. Our concerns are heard. Our positive aspects, the aspirations are heard and we’re understood. And I think that, that goes along ways to moving beyond it. It’s not necessarily getting to agreement.

The other thing that happens ultimately if we get this solution pathway correct is that we get some sort of resolution.

Is that we get to a place where all parties can agree on something and we move past the impasse and that’s really where we’re trying to get to. It’s not necessarily that we want the pendulum to swing one side or the other. Certainly, we would love to have it all our way.

But let’s face it. That’s not the reality of life and we need to understand as a society, as a humanity, as entrepreneurs, as thoughtpreneurs, as people in relationships, as parents that there is certain things that we’re going to negotiate and have a conversation around that we’re going to come to resolution because of our understanding at a level that allows us to realize even though we may not have gotten everything we wanted, it’s still a win for both sides.

So, if that’s really where we’re going through. If that’s really where we’re trying to get to, what are the things that you need to know to get yourself there? What are the key principles that when you understand them and put them in a place and put them into this framework, will start to drive the negotiation, drive the mediation, drive the conversation if you will at a higher level?

Well, I think, the first principle that we need to think about is this, is that, the first thing is that the details, the stuff, the weeds, that stuff bogs you down.

If we’re talking in the context of something that may be happened and you’re stuck in the details, “Well he did this and then he did this and she did that”, well you’re stuck in actually the specific things that happened which is important to understand and we will talk about how that fits in, in the framework.

But if that’s where we’re trying to solve things what you’re going to find is that everyone’s pointing fingers for fault to each other.

They’re creating blame,

They’re critical of each other, and

They’re complaining

Because we’re stuck in the details, we’re stuck in the stuff, we’re stuck in the weeds. We’re going to need to move beyond that at some point and time.

The other principle that we need to understand is this. Is that the meaning that people give situations is highly emotional.

In other words, two of us can come to a very similar situation. We can look at it in that context but we can come away with it meaning something different, both of us meaning something different.

In other words, I can look at going into a presentation and say the presentation doesn’t go well. Okay, we’ve; it doesn’t go well. I can come away from that in one of two ways. I can come away from it saying “That didn’t go well, what did I learn and how am I going to improve? What am I going to do with it?”

The alternative is I can come away from it and say, “I’m no good at it. I should quit.”

It has to do with the emotion and the meaning we bring to it. Same thing happened but the meaning that we gave to it is different. So, the meaning that’s given to it is an emotional impact which is one of the things that makes it really challenging when we’re stuck in that space to transcend it.

The third thing is this: If we really want to find resolution, we need to rise above it. We need to find our solutions above the meaning and above the details and we will see that in the upcoming framework.

We can’t be in the weeds with our face against the tree and think that we’re going to get the solution. The solution doesn’t exist there. The solution exists above that as we go through it.

So here is what I’d like to do. Now that you’ve got an idea of why it’s important, what happens if we get it wrong and what happens if we get it right and the principles that you need to understand to move through this type of a conversation or mediation or negotiation or solution investigation; any of that type of stuff.

I want to introduce you to The Solution Pathway framework and in order to do  that we’re going to jump back to the iPad and we will draw this out for you. So hang with me here. Let’s jump to the iPad.

All right, so here in front of you, you get a chance to see what I call The Solution Pathway and it’s what we do we need to do to go from contention to solution.

And there’s a couple of things to understand. There are 3 levels that we’ve already kind of talked about in the principles. The first level is what I call the Observations. It’s the observations. It’s really about what happened.

This is the details. This is the stuff that a lot of times we get caught into and we can’t seem to get ourselves away from that because we’re stuck in specifics of exactly what happened.

But what really starts to erode is when we bring the emotions to it and this is the second level is where we talk about the Emotions and the emotions when we look at this is really about What each of the parties make it mean.

What meaning did they place on it? What meaning did they place on it?

Because what happens is that above the details and I will give you an example of this in a moment, above the details is emotions, is the meaning that we gave to it. We need to understand that meaning that comes to it and then, there is that third level, that level up which is really where your solutions are going to be found and this is what I coined the Realizations. And this is What’s it really about? What’s it really about?

When we start to look at this as a framework, there’s 3 levels.

What happened?

What do we make it mean?

And what’s it about?

Let me give you an example. Let’s just take a; I’m going to take a personal situation for a moment. Let’s just take a married couple where one cheats on the other. So what happened is that say one cheated on the other. Maybe, it’s the husband cheated on the wife and trust me I don’t agree with any of that stuff but let’s just assume that that’s what happened is that one person cheated on the other.

That’s what happened. That’s the observation and so, you’ve got a wife that sees the husband cheating. Now she is interpreting is saying, “My husband cheated on me.” He’s interpreting it as, “Oh my god, I cheated on her.”

The emotions that come into play, the meaning that we given to it is she maybe says, “He doesn’t love me anymore. I’m not attractive.” And he may look at it and put a different set of emotions on it and that may be something like, “She doesn’t care about me and she doesn’t give me attention.”

Well, so now we’ve figured out what the details are, we figured out what the meaning is. Now you see that there’s an impasse between the details and the meaning. The details are the facts. The meaning is emotions that each person’s feeling. But what’s it really about and this is where the solution is going to be found.

What’s it about?

In her eyes it’s trust and respect.

In his eyes it’s typically something like, in his eyes, it could be attention and affection.

It’s something greater. It’s something greater that we need to think about. So, if we look at this kind of a situation, we need to be talking at the highest level about what’s it about. To come to an agreement, to figure out how we rebuild the respect and the trust and the connection between the two before we start to deal with those details. The details are just a symptom of the situation. So, here’s how else I would fill this framework out is to realize that what happens on the side of the parties, the people that are going through this.

At the observation level, what they’re really doing is what I call, Excavation. And here is where the problem is, Excavation is digging in. They’re digging in the details and they’re going to dig and dig and dig a hole of deeper emotion and deeper seeding and that’s where we start to have the problem of getting them above that.

The second thing that happens is that when they start to do that, once they start to dig in, you’re going to see that there’s Personalization. They make it personal. They personalize it.

What’s wrong with me?

What is it?

And they personalize it in that context and when you personalize things it’s hard to remove yourself to get to that solution and then ultimately, what happens is that, if they’ve gone through dug in deep into the details and they’ve personalized it then ultimately there’s Escalation and that’s when we start to really have problems.

That’s when we really start to dig in and we can’t get out of the details and you can see it going along, going around in society right now. People are not having conversations at the realization level, at the solution level. They’re worried about the details and they’re personalizing it and they’re escalating it and we need to look at things differently no matter what the conversation is about.

And in order to do that, the things that we need to focus in on are a little different. At the observation level, at the observation level, what we really need to focus in on is simply getting Information. This is just getting the facts. This is not about necessarily placing blame, pointing fingers, figuring out any of that. This is just about getting the information. So, it’s about information.

The second thing that we need to do when we start to understand the emotions that are involved at that second level is to realize that we need to have an Appreciation for what they’re feeling. Acknowledge what they’re feeling. Realize what they’re feeling. Realize the difficulties and the emotions that are there and acknowledge it not discount it, not say that they shouldn’t be thinking that way and all of that. We need to appreciate that what they’re feeling. We got a come to it from an empathetic ear, an empathetic heart to do that.

And then, the last thing to really start to move from that because if we can come at it and say, this is, that down here is information and we now appreciate the emotions that are involved, we now at the higher level, we have the ability to find Resolution.

And so, when we look at this model, this is how we need to look at things. So when I get involved in a high stakes negotiation or a high stakes situation or mediation or a conversation, I ask myself these questions.

What happened?

What did they make it mean?

What’s it about?

What can I do to move myself from information to appreciation to resolution?

And in order to do that, I actually have another framework, an action guide that helps me navigate through that process, that helps me ask the right questions to move me through that process because ultimately, we don’t want conflict, we don’t want disagreement. We’re going to have those kinds of but they don’t need to create a wedge, a gap and a chasm between parties, between people and we’re seeing it today in society. I’ve seen it in businesses, we’re seeing it in communities now, I’ve seen it in relationships and we can avoid that if we understand these principles and start to move through it.

So, let’s look at this concept at a much higher level and that’s the resolution conversation. How do you have that conversation?

And the way I do it is I basically walk through a 9 box grid. Basically, three different types of questions that come into play. One is pre conversation. In other words, before I get to the conversation, I need to understand some things. I need to get clarity.

First thing that I need to understand is: What’s the single most important issue right now?

The second thing that I need to understand is: What’s an example or analogy of this issue coming to light? How is this coming to bear? Where does it come from?

And the third is: What’s the concern or the result of the issue?

So, before I even go into a conversation, I want to understand those things.

What’s the issue?

What’s the example of the issue?

And what’s the result of the issue?

Now, I can move into the conversation and when I move into the conversation, I think about three other things.

Why is it important to resolve this?

How does it affect me and the other people personally?

And what am I hearing from them?

Remember that we got to come from an appreciation standpoint, an empathetic standpoint. I need to hear them, they need to be heard. If I don’t allow them to be heard, they’re going to feel discounted, they’re going to go back on their heels, they’re going to dig their heels in and they’re not going to move.

Once we’ve move through that conversation, there’s three other things to take it from conversation to completion and to make sure that we move through that.

The first is: How can I show curiosity?

It’s an interesting dynamic. When you simply start a question as “I’m curious, can you help me?” Then you come to it with a curiosity bet. They’re going to help you understand. They’re going to look at it a little differently as we move forward.

So one of the things I look at it and say, “As I’m going through this, how can I be more curious about what’s going on?”

The second thing is: What do they need and what do I need to make sure that whatever resolution we come up with actually stays in place?

And then, the third question is: What’s each person’s next step? What’s the very next thing that I need to do?

Is it a phone call?

Is it a letter?

Is it an action, some task?

What is the very next thing I need to do to move this forward towards resolution?

And what is the next thing that the other parties need to do move it forward?

And we get agreement across all those lines. And so, any time I’m going into some sort of negotiation-mediation, I ask myself these 9 questions and I move through it. This is how I bring that solution pathway that goes from the element of observations to emotions to realizations to life. And so, this is the thing that I’m going to invite you to do as you move into high stakes conversations whether they’re personal business.

To download this action guide, again you can get it at, MelAbraham.com/session084. Download this action guide, use the resolution conversation, understand the solution pathway and see how your conversations go differently because you’re going to come at it from a different level, you’re going to solve at the realization level not at the detail, not at the observation level but not with the stuff and the details where you can’t get solutions and resolutions. So we need to get out of the weeds, get above the clouds and deal with what it’s all about and not the details of what’s happening. So, download the action guide.

Again, if you’re not at your computer, you can text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces to 38470. I will send you that download link. If you’re having challenges or you’re going through this and you’re unclear, go ahead and send me a note. Go to AskMelNow.com. You can send me a question, a note or you can just post it down below.

I’d love to have a conversation with you. I’d love to have a dialog with you. See how I can support you. Tell me what you think about using this framework in your conversations as you move forward and seeing how this may help you move through whether it’s a negotiation, a mediation or just a simple conversation to build through it.

And if you haven’t done so already, couple of things I’d love to have you to do. One is Subscribe. Hit the subscribe button wherever it is. I think it’s somewhere in here. Hit the subscribe button, stay with me so we can have more of these conversations and I can give you more tools for success, wealth, becoming a thought leader and influencer and an entrepreneur, to help you out as best as I can.

And then, the last thing is would you share this with a friend? Share this with someone else that maybe is having some difficult time, maybe having some difficult conversations and give them this tool so they can take that into their life.

So, I hope again that you found this of value. Hope you’re doing well. I can’t wait to get a chance to chat with you further and maybe see you at one of my live events coming up soon.

And until we get a chance to see each other again,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Talk to you. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

Finding Gratitude in Business and Life

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— Summary —

In this episode, we do something different because it is Thanksgiving week and so we will reflect on what we are grateful for and the concept of gratitude in life.

If you don’t get gratitude right, you are going to be limited with energy because it sucks us dry, you will find yourselves full of angst and if you are not gracious, you will find yourself alone. But if you get it right, you will have unlimited energy, you are going to be happier and ultimately it makes you magnetic. So, here are the 3 things you need to know:

All gratitude is generated from within

The actions you take will give it life

The habit of appreciation comes from practice

The Gratitude Grid

We are going to look at elements that are internal to you, activities you need to undertake and we finally look at the practices that need to come to life.

Internal

Notice: We have the ability to notice things—negative and positive. Look around and appreciate the things that are good and what can be improved.

Humility: Do not allow your ego to get in the way. People do not want to be around egotistical folks. You have to come from a place of service and humility.

Commit: Being committed to raise awareness, notice things, reduce ego, live with humility and looking for things that you can be grateful for.

Activity

Journal: Journal daily if you can or else do it at least weekly. Write about what happened, what you learned, what you are grateful for and what you can do better with.

Compliment: Compliment people for who they are and what they do even if you don’t know them. It will shift their behavior.

Cause: Elevate yourself beyond the tactical missions to something greater. Get over that task zone and approach it with a higher cause.

Practice

Transform: Transform yourself and look at your life differently to focus on the good and grateful things. Also, transform the people around you and how they feel.

Learn: Be open to making mistakes and learning. Focus on the growth as you become more open.

Sincerity: Go through emotions and be sincere with them. Don’t say things just because they sound right but because you mean them.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

In this episode, we’re going to do something a little different in the sense that here in the United States as this is being released, this week happens to be our Thanksgiving week and it’s a time where a lot of us reflect and think about what are we grateful for in today’s world and I think that we really need that. And today, we’re going to talk about this concept of gratitude. I’m going to introduce you to what I call The Gratitude Grid and I’m going to give you the ability to download what I call The Gratitude Game Plan. It’s an action guide that you can use each and every week, each and every day to make sure that gratitude is living in your life. And we will talk about why that’s important.

But if you want to get that action guide, just go to my website MelAbraham.com/session083. You will be able to download the action guide. You will be able to follow along and make sure that you’re doing the right thing. So, let’s just jump … oh you know what? Before we jump in, if you’re not at your computer, you can also get the action guide. Just text me. Text one-word MYLEGACY with no-spaces to 38470 and I will make sure that I send you the download link for that action guide.

So, let’s jump into this whole thing. Talking about finding gratitude not just in your life but in your business but as you know that I don’t look at life and business as two separate entities. I think that they coexist as one entity and so when I say gratitude in your life, it means, in your business and your life and everything else because I think gratitude truly is the pathway to fulfillment. When we look at the things that are going on in society today, when we look at what has transpired, if we don’t get this gratitude thing right, ultimately, what’s going to end up happening is that we’re going to be limited in our energy because it sucks us dry. I mean, think about what it’s like when you’re going through a day. And I’m not enveloped.

So, I’ve done this plenty of times and I’m sure that I will continue to do it but the question is do I live there and the answer is no. Is that you’re going through your day and you’re not grateful for things. You’re irritated, you’re agitated, you see nothing but the bad in everything and you can’t be grateful in that context. And what that does is it just erodes your energy—your energy to go on. It’s what keeps people from getting out of bed because they’re not grateful for what they do have.

And I know that that’s really a simplistic thing to say and some people out there might be looking at it and going, “Mel, it’s easy for you to say these things. Look at where you live and your life and all of that.”

And yeah, I guess you could say that. The reality is that it’s not easy. Each and every day we need to find the things that we’re grateful for. I’m going to give you the process to do that.

The other thing that happens if we don’t get this right is that we’re going to find ourselves full of angst.

I mean, just full of anxiety and stress because

We’re not appreciating the things that we do have.

We’re not appreciating the things that are going on good in our business.

We’re not appreciating the things that we have in our life, our relationships, our family, our health.

The things that are going well which will be the springboard to increase even more.

The other thing that will happen ultimately, is that if you’re not very grateful, if you’re not very gracious, you’re going to find yourself alone because people don’t like to be around people that aren’t grateful for them being around.

For me just a simple thank you, a simple appreciation, a simple acknowledgement, a lot of times goes long, long ways.

But here’s the other side of this so when you get this right, when you start to understand how to bring this into your life on a regular basis, to walk into your office, to walk into your business, to interact with your vendors, your customers, your team members, to interact with the people in your life on a regular basis with this in your heart, with this in your soul, what does that do for you?

And I think that what it really starts to do is if I’m on the wrong side of it, you have limited energy. It creates energy for you.

It energizes you because it moves you forward. I know that every time I’m out there and I get a chance to speak or I get a chance to do one of these episodes or some of my daily videos and I get responses back from you all, that energizes me, that keeps me going, that’s what really starts to drive me because I know that I’m serving and I’m serving at a level that’s making a difference to you. So, I love hearing from you so let that be a hint.

So, put some comments below and share this. All that stuff really helps to really energize and continue the message going forward. So, when we get this right and we’re coming from a grateful place, you’re going to find that you’re energized in that process.

The other thing that happens in this is that you’re going to be happier.

Let’s face it. If I’m focused on all the negativity and all the stuff that is bad in my life, how am I going to be happy? You can’t.

If we’re constantly beating ourselves down with all the negativity, we’re never going to find that happiness. If we really want to be happy, we’ve got to focus on the gratitude side of things. We’ve got to look at what we have and appreciate the things that we do have and there’s plenty of things out there.

If you want to choose to focus on the negative or want to choose and focus on the lack, choose to focus on those things, plenty of that out there if you choose to do it but it’s just not a good way to live. It’s not a good way to do business. It’s not a good way to do things where you are coming from fear, you’re coming from lack, you’re coming from angst and anxiety.

Now, I’m not saying to ignore it and live in some fairytale world where you are unaware of some of the risks and the exposures out there. I’m just saying that as we make our choices, be grateful for the things we have so we can be happy in the process.

In the long run, what that ultimately does is it makes you magnetic.

I mean it really does. I mean, think about this.  You probably have, many, you probably have that one person, those two people in your life that are always, they are always happy, they are always finding the right side of the coin if you will, the happy side of the coin if you will and so, what are they like?

A lot of people love being around them. Now sometimes, it can be a little much but for the most part, we like being around happy people. We like being around people that are grateful and appreciative of the things that we do for us being there and for us being in their lives. And if you bring that to your life, if you bring that to your business, if you bring that to your team, to your customers, to your vendors, to everyone around you and you are grateful and appreciative, man, you’re going to become the magnet. You’re going to become that part of it and people will ask, “How do you get charisma?”

I think part of that is this gratitude piece. Is being grateful for the things that you do have and I’ve seen some extremely tremendously successful entrepreneurs because of how they show their gratitude they’re going to be even more dramatically successful. I know one, a good friend of mine that is in the real estate industry and what he does is that when they’re coming up to the end of their lease, he literally sends a note saying, “You know what? Your lease is up for renewal. You know, you’ve been a great tenant.”  If they’ve been a great tenant for the year he says, “You’ve been a great tenant for the last year. If you choose to renew, I’m going to give you another month free.”

And it’s just out of gratefulness but you know what he’s done? He’s tremendously decreased his vacancies, his exit rates and all of that because he showed his appreciation. I think that there’s a lot of times that with our audiences, with our marketplaces, with our people in our life, we should be able to show that in a much greater way.

So, if that’s really the case, if that’s what we need to think about if things are good, if we get it right, great. If we don’t get it right, you know it now what’s going to happen then we need to think about what do we need to know.

What do you need to know to bring that to life in your life, in your business and I think that the first thing we need to understand is all that gratitude, all of that energy, all of that is generated from within.

It’s not something that’s going to come and drop on you. It’s not something that’s external. It’s something that has to come from within you and I will give you a process that allows you to bring that out. So, that’s the first thing to understand is that our gratitude is generated from within; it’s from our thoughts, it’s from our insights, it’s how we see the world.

The second thing that we need to understand is that the actions you take will give it life.

In other words, we may be grateful on the inside but

Are we acting on that gratefulness?

Are we acting on that appreciation?

When we act with that gratefulness as a lead, it’s going to give life to that appreciation that you have, it’s going to be what brings that happiness in us. It’s what’s going to allow you to become that contagious magnetic person in doing that.

And then, the third thing to understand, the third principle to really understand is that the habits and I think gratitude and appreciation is a habit, is going to come from practice.

In other words, setting some things up in your life that will continue to bring that to the surface, the idea of gratitude, the idea of happiness. To bring that into your life and make it a practice

Until it becomes a habit.

Until it becomes second nature.

Until it’s just like tying your shoes or walking.

Although, I’ve seen myself not walk so well at times.

But the bottom line is that I want it to be ingrained in my soul, in my veins so it’s the way I show up on an everyday basis.

Now again, we are going to ebb and flow. We’re going to have those moments and the question is not whether we have those moments that we’re infallible. The question is that we don’t live there. The idea is that there’s going to be plenty of times where I’m living with anxiety or angst or possibly even fear or anger or some of those other emotions. The question is “Do I live in that? Do I stay in that? Do I stew in it?” And the answer is, “No”.

The idea is to be able to pull yourself out of it, to recognize it, to shake yourself up to be able to do that. And so, in order to do this, one of the things that I think we need to do with this is understand how do we make it part of our life and that’s what I call using The Gratitude Grid.

It’s actually a weekly practice that turns into a daily practice that really starts to embed itself into your pattern of behavior which becomes the habits that show up in your life. And so, what I’m going to do is I’m going to draw this out for you. I’m going to jump to the iPad again and we’re going to draw the framework. I know I’ve got a framework for everything. I’m going to draw the framework that I call The Gratitude Grid that’s going to allow you to start to understand the key components to really driving and making sure that you’re living in that space of gratitude,

Be it in business,

Be it in relationships,

Be it in home,

Be it with your loved ones

> Whoever it is because we’re going to create a process that’s going to allow you to do that.

So, let’s jump into, let’s jump to the iPad and let’s walk through what I call the gratitude grid. The first part of this, so, when we look at this, one of the keys here is that we’re going to look at things, remember I said that it’s internally generated. So, one of the first things that we’re going to look at is some of the elements that are Internal to you.

So, we’re going to look at 3 different levels—internal first, the actions or the Activity that you need to undertake. The things that you need to do on a regular basis and then ultimately, we’re going to look at what I call the Practice.

So, we’re going to look at those three elements of this:

What’s internal? What’s going on inside?

What’s the activities you need to take?

And what’s the practices that need to come into your life to make that happen?

So, let’s start with the internal first. The first thing to understand is this: Is that we need to notice things. And now we have the ability to notice negative. We also have the ability to notice the positive. We have the ability to walk through life and be appreciative of the things and grateful for the things that are around there or we have the ability to critique, criticize, compound, complain, whine and do that.

And there is plenty of that going on today and I’m not saying that some of that is not warranted but it’s not solving anything. So, if we’re not doing it from the perspective of constructive growth then what we’re doing is we’re doing it from the perspective of destruction. And the point is, is that I want to look around and I want to appreciate the things that are good around here and what are the things that I might be able to improve because if I come from a grateful place, how much more energy can I bring to the improvement side of that?

So, the first thing for you to do is to raise your awareness level, to start noticing the things even when you wake up in the morning, what are the things that you’re grateful for each and every morning. Noticing it, what is your filter, what’s your focal point becomes really important.

The second internal mechanism is what I call Humility. When we talk about this, it’s really about not allowing your ego to get in the way. Ego gets in the way of gratitude. If you come at it from an egoic type of perspective, “I am the best. Here is who I am.” You know what? It doesn’t feel good for the people around you. Bottom line is, I feel blessed to be doing some of the things I’m doing to be able to have the life that I have, to have the beautiful bride that I have. I feel blessed to be living in the space doing the things that I’m doing to get a chance to talk with you, to get a chance to share my knowledge, my experience, my expertise to help you grow and to see you grow.

The greatest feeling for me is to see you more successful, to see your life come to fruition; your dreams come to fruition. So, it’s really about coming at it with some level of humility. May be you’ve achieved great things. That’s great. But if you have a great ego to along with that great achievement, it sucks. Let’s face it. I don’t want to be around egotistical folks. I want people that are coming from a place of service, that are coming from a place of community. People like yourselves that really want to improve the human condition, people that really want to help other people. And so, we want to keep that humility as an internal filter in the process.

And then, the other side of this is this: I think this is really something that we need to think about in all aspects of life. What commitment are you bringing to it?

In other words, being committed to raise your awareness, to notice things.

Being commitment to reduce the ego with living with humility.

Being committed to looking for the things that you can be grateful for.

Versus the things that you can be miserable about because there is plenty of misery to go around if we choose to focus on it. There is plenty of gratitude to go around. There is plenty of things that we should be thankful for especially given what we’ve got going on today and I think that the more we can focus on the greatness that is within us and the greatness that is around us, the more greatness we’re going to get out of people. You’re going to get them to live into that greatness.

Here’s an interesting dynamic is that one of the strongest forces in human nature is for people to be congruent with the commitments that they make. And so, if we give them an identity of greatness, if we give them an identity of gratitude, if we give them an identity of success, they’re going to live into it. Now, some may not but most of them will. They’re going to strive to. It’s going to shift and change things. So, from an internal standpoint, we need to notice the things that are around us. We need to consider it from the perspective of eliminating our ego and being that kind of, coming at it from a humility standpoint and being committed to doing that.

In order to do that, what kind of activities do we need to undertake? What are the things that I think we ought to do?

Well, the first one and I think that this seems basic but a lot of people don’t do it. And that’s journaling. Journaling daily if you can, weekly if you can’t but I would say daily where you’re sitting back and saying in your journal, “What happened today? What did I learn?” Some key questions.

What happened today?

What did I learn?

What am I grateful for?

What can I do better with?

And just writing it and sometimes it’s just going to flow, sometimes it’s not. But make it a regular habit because here’s what happens. When you start to write, when you start to reflect on the day and you reflect through those filters of ‘What happened? What did I learn? What am I grateful for? What can I do better?’ it’s always pushing you towards the positives, always pushing you towards growth, it’s always pushing you for it and we don’t take enough time to reflect on the day, to sit back and say, “Did I do all right today? Did I make it go so well today? Is there something I can do differently tomorrow?”

And we don’t always do that. We get home, we’re stressed out, we’ve had a long day, what do we do? We eat. We sit down on the couch. We turn on the TV and we watch brainless TV that isn’t going to improve our lives but it’s an escape. It’s a numbing drug (if you will) in my estimation versus maybe having a conversation with yourself and maybe a conversation with your spouse and having those conversations that deepen the relationships around you.

So the first thing that I would tell you to do is journal daily. You can do it in the morning or you can do it in the evening. Whatever fits, I would do it typically in the evening. It clears my mind and puts me in a good state to go to bed and sleep in that state of gratitude.

The other thing is this: Compliment. This is something that we need a lot more in the society today. Bottom line is that, bottom line is that we don’t compliment each other enough. To just simply walk in and say, “You know what? You’ve got a beautiful smile.” Or “You look really nice today”. Or “That was a great job”.

To simply compliment someone is something that we don’t do enough of today. And I don’t understand why that is. Think about this. When I walk up to a cashier, I say, “Hey there how you doing today?” I ask them how they’re doing. A lot of times they get freaked out. A lot of times they are surprised or taken back because they’re not used to it. They’re just kind of going through the day. All right, scanning things and taking your credit card or having you scan or put your card in and that’s it. And it’s this but have a conversation with.

How often are you complimenting the people around you for the things that maybe you are noticing because how you’ve raised your awareness? So, one of the things that I would look at is,

Look for places where you can compliment people for

What they are,

What they’re doing,

How they are showing up even strangers.

I know that especially in the United States, you start complimenting strangers, they go, “What do you want from me?”

They feel like, they’re checking their pockets because they think you’re taking their wallet or something but the bottom line is, compliment people. Complimenting people will constantly shift their behavior. You will watch their shift in their behavior.

Just think about this. When someone had complemented you, what did you do?

You stood taller.

You felt better.

You moved with more energy.

You moved with more decisiveness.

And you kept going.

And so, I think that that’s one of the activities that we ought to do. So, journaling, complimenting and then the last activity that I’d like you to consider is what I call Cause.

Why are you doing some of the things you’re doing?

In other words, move it beyond the tactical outcome to more of a mission. To move yourself over and above what it is, to elevate the driving force in your life for something greater. For me a lot of times especially as I was a single fulltime dad building my businesses, a lot of the choices I made were for my son. It was to either set an example, to be a role model, to give him a life, to do the things that would drive him and to set that example.

And if I know that people are watching, how am I going to show up differently.

So, what is that driving cause?

What is that driving mission?

What is that driving motivation?

That is over and above getting a task done.

And you think about people like Zappos, organizations like Zappos where they’re overwriting a cause, they’re overwriting missions to deliver happiness and that drives the way they show up. If I turn around and say, “Listen, sell a bunch of shoes, just sell a bunch of shoes” because that’s what they did when they first started. That’s what matters.

You got to approach it differently than if I tell you, they will make sure they’re happy as you sell the shoes. I remember that, that one of the businesses I was a martial arts student. We had 150 students and I would work with my instructors and I said, “We are teaching. Make no bones about it. We are teaching self-defense. We are teaching the martial arts here but that’s our commodity. What we’re really doing is using the martial arts as a vehicle to build self esteem but also make sure that the families, the kids that are training with us and the families and the parents of those kids feel cared about.”

So, the question for each of the instructors before they stepped on the mat was “As I go to teach these techniques, how can I make sure that the families and the kids feel cared about when I’m done?”

And you approach things differently when you find that higher cause versus just saying, “I just got to get this done” and some checklist and you are checking the box.

So, those are the activities.

Journaling,

Complimenting, and

Raising it to the level of cause.

And then, this last column which is really the column that starts to really ingrain it into your soul and to your being, into the threads of your everyday life and that’s the practice. And the first thing is what I call Transform. And what do I mean by that?

There is two sides of this. One the transformation for you. How are you going to look at your life differently to make sure that you are

Focused on the good

Focused on the grateful

Focused on the things that are really important to you

That are really starting to drive the things around you

To be grateful, to notice the things that are good so you can be grateful for this. So, that’s the first transformation.

The second transformation is to the people around you. Think about this. If one, just like in Zappos where they say, the primary purpose is for them is to deliver happiness. If one of your primary purposes is to transform the energy of someone else, in other words, to give them, to make them feel appreciated because we’re talking about gratitude. To walk into a Starbucks and you’re going to order that coffee. How can I make sure that, that person, the barista feels appreciated?

Well, if my job is not only to transform how I show up but to transform how everyone else is feeling around me, man, it’s a different game. It’s a different game to play. It’s something that we need this step into and make that a daily habit.

The second thing as far as the daily habit is this and practice and that’s to Learn. Learning. Listen, I don’t have it all right. Trust me and if you think I do, talk to my wife. She will tell you otherwise. All right? But I’m open to learning. I make mistakes, I have made plenty of mistakes and I will continue to make mistakes. But I’m open to learning. I don’t come at it from a, “My way is the only way.”

I’m willing to listen.

I’m willing to be open.

I’m willing to learn.

I’m willing to accept that you know what? I screwed up and I learned from it, it won’t happen again. So, I need to bring into it. And that’s why one of the questions of journaling is “What did I learn today?” As we learn we grow. We need to focus on that learning and that growth in the process.

And then, the last piece of this is this. Sincerity.

And I think that this really becomes extremely important to us is that this concept of sincerity. When we go out there, we can certainly go out there in a superficial way and put things out there and say, “Thank you” and not mean it. We can say, “I’m sorry” and not mean it. We can even say, “I love you” and not mean it.

To go through with emotions but to be really sincere with a thank you, with appreciation, with compliments, with how you feel. To really be sincere, to be present with that person and do that. And that takes a little bit of effort if you’re not used to doing it. It takes a little bit of vulnerability to be there and be present with them. To look them in the eye and as I’m looking through this camera lens to you in the eye, to look at you and say, “You know what? I actually appreciate you being here. I really do. I appreciate each and every one of you that are on this journey with me, that are part of this community, that are willing to take the time to listen, to watch, to comment, to share, to do the things to support me, to support this process.”

And I think that, that sincerity is lacking. So, those are the three columns of what I call The Gratitude Grid.

It’s the internal game,

It’s the activity game, and

It’s the practice game.

It’s what’s going to drive us and so here’s what I’m going to invite you to is to download that, the gratitude game plan. The gratitude game plan’s going to walk you through how to bring this to life. You will need to go to MelAbraham.com/session083 to download that. It’s going to give you something that’s going to allow you to do this and in a nutshell, what you’re going to do is you’re going to actually plan gratitude for the week. Literally, every Sunday you’re going to plan specific actions that you’re going to take each week with specific people that you want to show appreciation to.

And at some point, you’re not going to need it. I don’t necessarily need it but at the very beginning, you plan it, you get it and you do it that way. It allows you to really start to bring it forward and build it that way.

So, that’s the thing that I think becomes important is to implement it in your life. Just as much I say journaling needs to be part of. Just as much as I said, noticing and being aware needs to be part of your life. Complimenting needs to be part of your life.

Create a process that is going to force you to trigger it because when we look at the game plan, you’re literally going to put things on a calendar and look at the people that you want to reach out to. You’re going to review or revisit, if you will, the last time you had a conversation with them. You’re going to consider where they’re coming from,

Do they have kids?

Do they have a spouse?

Do they like sports?

Do they have animals?

So, you can actually have a sincere real conversation. Yes, that’s going to take a little time. You’re going to have to document it. But if you want to create, if you really want to create meaningful relationships with people that takes time; it doesn’t just happen. In fact, you need to be intentional with the relationships that you create as we move forward.

So, download the gratitude game plan, implement it, put it in the calendar, start using it because I’m going to tell you this literally in 30 days, 30 days your life and your business will be transformed because they’re going to go, “What happened to you? What are you doing? What do you eat in the morning? What’s going on?”

Because all of a sudden, you are intentionally being appreciative to those around you, going to have a dramatic, dramatic affect and impact on them and your life.

So, I hope you found this of value. I hope that you will go out there and be grateful. I hope that you will show your appreciation in a sincere way. I hope that you will go out and compliment the people because people are hungry for the compliments. There’s a lot of criticisms out, there’s a lot of complaining, there’s a lot of whining, there’s plenty of that. Let someone else do it.

You guys be the carrier of the compliments, the carriers of the gratitude and the appreciation, and building people up so they can be greater doing the things that they want to do. So, download The Gratitude Game Plan. Again, it’s MelAbraham.com/session083. If you’re not at your computer, just text me. MYLEGACY one-word with no-spaces. MYLEGACY to 38470. I will make sure I will send you the download link.

Do me a favor? There’s a lot of people that need to hear this message. So, share this. Get this out there to people and let’s start shifting the attitudes out there in the marketplace and in the community and humanity by sharing this whole concept of gratitude and appreciation. Give them the tools to do that. So, share it with a friend.

If you haven’t done so already, hit the subscribe button, stay with me, lots more to come. Lots of stuff for your success, for your wealth, for your life, for your business and if you have specific questions, specific challenges that you’re dealing with, then reach out to me and put it on one of these episodes and let me help you out. Just to AskMelNow.com and leave me your message. Leave me your question and I will make sure that we get it taken care of.

And in the meantime, put some comments, share this stuff, subscribe and stay in touch with me. I want to have a conversation with you.

And until we get a chance to see each other again,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Create Valuable Content

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— Summary —

This episode is about how you can create valuable content. We discuss on what it takes to create content that is perceived as valuable so that you are much more in demand as an influencer.

If we don’t get it right, people are going to perceive your content as trivial, it will feel complex and what happens is that your content gets forgotten. But if you get it right, people will realize that it is useful, simple and ultimately it becomes unforgettable.

The three principles that you need to consider when doing this:

Distinction comes at the end

It comes from their world

Actionable leads to impact

The Thinking Hierarchy

Essential: At the base level, it has to be essential in their lives. It needs to hit home. Otherwise they are going to perceive your content as junk. So, at the base level, you need to make it informational to make it atleast 1X important.

Expansive: The next stage where your content should deepen the thinking on your topic and area of expertise. If that’s not the case, it becomes trivial. We are trying to extend the body of knowledge so that it becomes useful and 2X important.

Actionable: Your content should be able to get results. People should be able to use it in their lives. Otherwise, it is not valuable and what we want is to create something that is invaluable so that it is 3X important.

Refined: Is the content easily effective? We are trying to move from something that is perceived as complex to something that is simple enough for people to do it. In this way we can move it from 3X to 6X.

Distinct: The final stage which is about making your information distinct. We shouldn’t start with it but finally, we want it to stand out. The result that we are looking for is to make it unforgettable instead of being forgotten. The results move to 10X.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer for more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome back to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to kind of continue our path on The Influencer’s Path and in this episode, we’re going to talk about how do you create valuable content.

One of the challenges that people have had is how is it that some people can create content that goes viral or create content that wows people? What does it take to create content that is perceived as valuable? And when you are creating content that’s valuable, not only does that make it go longer and have a longer lifespan but it creates the value on that content which means that you become much more in demand as an influencer as we talked about in the last episode.

So that’s what we’re going to talk about in this episode. There is an action guide. I’m going to introduce you to what I call The Thinking Hierarchy in this episode and I’m going to take you through an exercise or at least you will be able to download the exercise and the template for what I call The Insight Amplifier to amplify your ideas to a higher level of value. Once you’ve captured them, how do you do that?

So if you want to get that action guide, do me a favor. Just go to MelAbraham.com/session082, you will be able to download that. If you’re not by your computer, I want to make sure you’re safe, so don’t be trying to do this while you’re driving or anything but when you get to a safe place, just text me. You may be out running or something. Just text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470, I will send you the download link. You can get that action guide and you can work through the process with us. All right?

So glad you’re here. Let’s jump into this whole thing and we will just start to understand this whole concept of:

What does it take to create valuable content?

How do you create valuable content?

What does it take to create what I call compellingly valuable content?

Now, why do we even care about this? Because content is content.

It’s not truly the case because if we don’t get this right, if we don’t get this right, people are going to perceive your content as trivial and If it is trivial, there’s no value in it.

They’re not going to search you out and the idea is to remember, if I’m going to be an influencer it’s because they believe that my content and the things that I know and the wisdom I have makes a positive difference in their life and they’re going to search me out for that difference. So, if it’s trivial, it’s not making a difference. So we don’t want it to be trivial.

The other thing that will happen if we don’t get this right is it’s going to feel complex and I know I’ve been guilty about this in the past where I got these great ideas but they’re so freaking complex, it’s like a tangled string and you just can’t get it all untangled.

It’s a mess to deal with and your audience and the folks that you’re trying to serve, although you know internally that if they understood it, they would be served at the highest level in their lives and their businesses would be better off because they cannot digest it, because it’s too complex, it’ doesn’t serve.

So, if we get this wrong and we don’t create the content properly then it becomes too complex and people won’t use it, they won’t search you out and ultimately what ends up happening is your content gets forgotten.

They might read it in passing and then it just goes away, just fades into the shadows, into the darkness which is not what we want.

We want it to have a life. We want it to continue to grow. Because here is the thing when we get this right and we really start to drive this and we start to do it the correct what ultimately is going to happen is that people are going to look at your content and go, “This is useful. This is the key unlocks the door. This is the element that allows me to move to the next stage, the next level to be able to allow me to continue on the path or my journey in a better way more well-equipped with the things that I need to do.”

Also, if you get this right is they realize that it’s simple. It actually is easy to do.

They go, “I can do that”. So, remember that when we’re working with folks, they got to understand that, hey they need it, two they want it, three they can do it and four they can do it now. And so, that’s the thing that we want is we need that simplicity for them to have that feeling to be able to do that on an ongoing basis.

And then the third thing ultimately it becomes unforgettable.

It’s like the love letters that you get from the love of your life. They become unforgettable. The words that you say, the things that you do, the impact that you have become unforgettable in their lives and that is when it starts to permeate. That’s when they are out there speaking to people

About what it is that you’ve done for them

About the impact that you’ve had

About the wisdom that you brought to them

That allow them to do things differently in their business and their life. I mean, Think about that. Think about that in your space. If you’re trying to develop your positioning in the marketplace, if the impact that your products or services have in someone’s life is a positive, unforgettable experience. I put positive in front of there because it can be a negative unforgettable experience and we don’t want those. We want positive unforgettable experiences with our products or services and our interactions.

That’s what’s going to get people to talk.

That’s what’s going to get things to grow.

That’s what’s going to get people to start to search you out.

>Because you create positive unforgettable experiences in people’s lives as we do that.

I feel blessed with some of the things that I had a chance to do so here’s the thing. What do you need to know?

And I think there’s a couple of principles to consider when you’re doing this and the first is this is that distinction is what a lot of people are focused on.

I want to be distinct. I want to be out there with distinction and that is a great aspiration at the end. It’s not where you start. The problem with starting with trying to be distinct is that you don’t do the deep thinking that we talked about in the previous episode. You don’t do enough deep thinking to flush out the insights, the perspective that you have to build on it at a deep enough level that people will look to you and say, “They know what they’re talking about. They’ve extended and expanded and expanded the thinking on this topic area with some distinct insights which are actionable in the process.” So, we will talk about this in more detail but the fact is, is that distinction is important but not till the end.

The second thing that I want you to know is that we need to come from their world.

In other words, we need to step in their shoes. We need to speak their language. We want to use their nomenclature. We need to understand what is going on

With our audience,

With our marketplace,

With our clients,

With our customers.

Do you?

And I’m not talking some flippant avatar or some flippant customer profile. I mean deeply seeded feelings.

Do you understand their frustrations?

Do you understand their fears?

Do you know what their aspirations are?

Do you know what’s driving them?

What’s paining them?

What is aggravating them?

Do we really, truly understand that?

Because until we do, we can’t, we can’t package our solutions in a container that resonates with them and so we need to build that in that process.

The other thing that we need to understand is that actionable leads to impact.

I can talk conceptual up here and I can tell you theory but if I don’t give you a step by step. In fact, this is one of the reasons that almost every single one of my episodes has a tool, has a template, has a worksheet, has an action guide, has a resource guide so you could go out and step by step start to build.

Everything needs to be actionable because until we take action we can have no impact. It’s just fluff in the air. It’s clouds in the sky. So, what we need to really do is make sure that what we’re presenting, what we’re creating is acti onable and when it becomes actionable, is when we start to get the impact to move forward.

So, that’s kind of the basic principles. There are some other principles that we can go into but let’s do this. Let me jump into the iPad. Let me jump back to the iPad for a moment and let’s just actually for a moment just talk about the thinking hierarchy in a sense of

What’s the value of your thinking?

What’s the value, the insights you’re creating?

And what does it take to get there?

So, let’s just jump to that iPad real quickly and let’s build this out. If you don’t have the action guide in front of you to do this with me, download it. Go to MelAbraham.com/session082 or just text me at MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces to 38470 and I will send you the download link.

If you don’t have it and yet can’t get it just take out a piece of paper, follow along and let’s do some doodling. Alright? Let’s do some drawing. Let’s put this together and let’s jump in to The Thinking Hierarchy.

So here is the thing. I think at the very base level, our thinking, in order for it to have any kind of value at all, has to be what I call Essential. Okay? It has to be essential to their life. If it’s not, it’s not going to hit home. It’s got to hit home with them. In other words, they need to see that it’s necessary, they need to see that it lands in their lap that it lands in their lap.

At the very base, fundamental level if they don’t think they need it, if they don’t see importance of it, they’re not going to buy into it no matter how valuable you think it is but here is the thing. If we don’t get this right, if we don’t create content that is essential in their lives, in their businesses, what they’re going to do is they’re going to perceive it as Junk. And trust me, we get a ton of junk. Junk mail, junk email; all the time. What do we do? Delete, delete, delete, delete. Swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe. And it’s done. All right.

That’s not what we want. They need to see it as essential so it becomes at least at a base level Informational.

Here is the key behind this. If it’s informational at a minimum, if it’s informational at a minimum that starts to move it up what I call the value echelon, the value ladder. So versus something that is not essential. Something that is essential is probably going to be at least 1X. The value of something that’s not essential.

Here is the next step though then. Once we move this up, is that, remember, we’re not there to just repeat what others have said. That’s fine and dandy but there is not a tremendous amount of value in just repeating other people’s thoughts and repeating other people’s insights. It’s about our own insights. It’s about how we grow and how we find our own insights and so I think the next stage of this is that our information needs to be Expansive.

So, it’ needs to be expansive. In other words, it needs to deepen the thinking on your topic, on your area, on your expertise, on the industry, on whatever it is because if it doesn’t, if it doesn’t deepen the thinking then it’ll be perceived as Trivial. Trivial, repetitive, unimportant.

But if we can deepen it, if we can extend the body of knowledge, say it’s on productivity, on leadership, if there is a way that we can extend it and build on it, so we can give our unique take that grows it either by contradicting what has already been talked about or by contributing something further. Then it goes from trivial to useful and then it goes from 1X to 2X. It really starts to grow.

Now, this is the base. I really think that if we’re going to be in this space as an influencer, as a wisdom leader, as a thoughtpreneur (as I call them) then we need to be essential and expansive no matter what we do but we need to move beyond that at some point because in order to really start to increase the value of what we know and position ourselves properly, once we get to expansive, it now needs to be what I call Actionable.

In other words, it has to Get Results. So it needs to be actionable because that means that people can then take it, go use it and change their lives, change their business, do something different, end up somewhere different, a new destination because it becomes actionable. If it’s not actionable then it’s not going to be valuable.

It’s conceptual kind of “in the heaven’s” theory that can’t land in their life and they can’t do anything with but if we create actionable steps that that will get them results, now it’s not valuable, it is actually Invaluable. And if it’s invaluable, ultimately, that actually increases the value to say 3 times (if you will).

But there is still two levels that I want you to think about going. Now, we’re going to slowly evolve through this but we’re going to build our content this way in order to get us there and the next stage of that is this. Once it’s actionable, is it Refined?

What do I mean by refined?

In other words, is it Easily Effective?

In other words, how do we move them from something that is perceived as Complex and make it Simple. Where they look at it and go, “Shoot I get this. Not only do I get it, I can do it.”

That is where the things start to really start to accelerate. And what ends up happening here is when you create and this is usually done with your frameworks, with the models that you put together. It starts to take and move them from complexity to simplicity and when you do that, now all of a sudden, you have a multiple effect and it just jumps because they go, “I get it. I get it.”

And it changes the dynamics of what you are doing tremendously in the marketplace so the question is…and you see this all the time with my content. There’s always frameworks, there’s always tools, there is always templates to try and simplify it for you so you go, “I get it. I can do it and let’s move forward”. So, it creates simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Which then leads to this last stage and this is when and only when you start to think about this and that is, is my information Distinct? See we don’t start with that. In other words, does it stand out? Does it stand out? We want to make sure that our information stands out and is distinct but if we start with distinction, we didn’t do all the work below it. It’s like building a skyscraper on a sand foundation. It is not going to stand. It’s going to last. So we can’t create distinction.

First, you’re going to find that when you do that, you kind of get cliché kinds of presentations. You get cliché kinds of information. It’s superficial and surface and there is no depth to it and there isn’t the work that was necessary behind it and the marketplace doesn’t value it for very long. They may catch on. They may like it at the beginning but then they see there is nothing to it and that’s superficial so you don’t have the longevity and we want you to have the longevity, we want you to have the premium positioning but we want you to also have longevity.

When we get the distinction, if we don’t get the distinction right, then again, what ends up happening is that you’re Forgotten. But if we’re really distinct and part of the distinction comes through this building through the thinking hierarchy. When you build through the thinking hierarchy with frameworks and all of the metaphors and the stories and all the stuff that goes into it, it changes it because instead of being forgotten, you become Unforgettable.

And when that happens, that is when all of a sudden your value really jumps. That’s when people search you out. That’s when people are looking at you and saying, “This person knows something. This person knows something, makes a difference in my life and I will search them out. I will pay premium to work with them. I want to be in their circle. I want to understand the depth of knowledge and information I have.”

This is what creates a Gary Vaynerchuk. This is what creates a Simon Sinek. This is what creates a Seth Goden. This is what creates all of them to really start to bring this forward and to build it.

And so, that’s the framework that I need you to start to understand to really start to build it and there is steps in each of these that I don’t have time to go into but I am going to give you one part of it in the action guide and this is what I call The Insight Amplifier. And so, you want to download the action guide if you haven’t done so already MelAbraham.com/session082 or text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. We will send you the download link.

In that action guide, you’re going to find that Insight Amplifier that’s going to take you through the key, the three key questions they need to ask about each piece of content that you’re putting out there, each piece of content whether it’s on a landing page, whether it’s in a blog post, whether it’s in a video to ask those three questions and when you answer those questions that’s what starts to elevate you up the thinking hierarchy and you get used to building it from that perspective.

So download, download that and start working through it. As you start to bring your content forward, as you start to build content whether it’s on the website, whether it’s a blog post, whether it’s in video, whether it’s articles, whether it’s presentations or speeches or mentoring, you want to make sure that you’re working through the thinking hierarchy to increase the value and you use The Insight Amplifier to make that happen.

I hope that you found this of value to you. I hope that this starts to extend the things that you’re doing in this wisdom area, in this impact entrepreneur, this thoughtpreneur kind of space to really build things in a different light, to put yourself out there and postured as the influencer in your marketplace. To be known for making a difference for what you know.

Do me a favor? So as I’m closing this out, there’s a couple of things that I’d love for you to do. One is if you are not a subscriber, click the button. Subscribe. Stay with me, all right? I’d love to have this dialogue and make this more of a dialogue. So, if you have comments, questions, do me a favor? Leave comments. Leave questions. Or you can ask them on my automated line by going to AskMelNow.com and we will make sure that you get your questions on an upcoming episode to help you and support you as you move forward in your journeys and try to make your journeys epic ones.

And then, one last thing. Do me a favor? Would you share this with a friend? Just share it with someone because I know that these things have made a tremendous difference in my life, in my client’s and many of my friend’s lives as I’ve worked with them and I want to get this information, these tools, these templates, these worksheets and this technology and processes in the hands of as many people as possible because I believe that our society is searching for a new paradigm and let’s give it to them. Let’s give them what they need to do that.

So, I hope you found this of value. I look forward to seeing you in another episode. Leave me your comments, let me know, let’s have a conversation and until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again. Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

How to Build a Personal Brand

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— Summary —

In this episode, we talk about how you can brand yourself and create a personal brand so that you become that premium provider who is sought after because what you know makes a big difference in people’s lives.

If you don’t get this right, there is going to be tons of friction, you will start to feel isolated and ultimately you will be invisible. If you get it right, you will be in this natural state of flow, you will create a community and you find yourself in demand. So what you need to realize is that deeper thinking leads to valuable impact, your positioning is intentional and you need to have platform obsession.

The Influencer’s Evolution

There are 6 stages to it:

Purpose: What is your purpose? You are it. This is really about you. If you don’t get it right, you will find friction in life and if you get it right, you end up with flow.

Perspective: This is about what you know. You know it. It will be a drain if you don’t have a process to it and if you do, then it gives you distinction.

Positioning: Positioning is about them. They see it. If you don’t do it properly, you are invisible but you will be in demand if you do it in a proper fashion.

Platform: They get it, your stuffs and solutions. If it’s not properly done, you will be isolated but if when it’s done right, you’re building a community who will champion you forward.

Prosperity: This is about the rewards. We value it. If we don’t know what is going on, then you will be unfulfilled versus being fulfilled when you get it right.

Plan: We see it and we need to plan after we get the five mentioned above right. If you don’t plan properly, we get random results. But if we keep the five in mind and make the right plans, we end up with predictable and deliberate results.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, I’m Mel Abraham, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself so you can have more impact, more income and more freedom. And welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show. In this one, we’re going to dig into something that I think is really, really important today in today’s market, for you entrepreneurs and a lot of people in my community and that is, how do you build a personal brand.

For instance: How does someone like a Simon Sinek or a Seth Goden or a Brendon Burchard or a Jim Collins, how do they go about building a person brand? To get themselves out there in a way that they’re know for the differences they make with the knowledge they have in their head and what I’m going to introduce you to is this process that I call The Influencer’s Evolution. It’s the process that I take my people through in Thoughtpreneur Academy and when I’m working with my high level clients and it’s how I built my practice.

And with this episode, just like most every other episode, this comes with a specific action guide and in this action guide, I’m going to talk to you and give you a tool. That tool is what I call The Influencers’ Personal Brand Articulator. It’s a worksheet that allows you to start to articulate your brand out into the world in a different way that really elevates you up the ladder of the evolution. You will understand it when we get into it deeper in this session but if you want to get the action guide which I think you should, just go to MelAbraham.com/session081 and you will be able to download the guide.

If you are not by your computer and you are out running around, maybe, you’re driving, I want you to be safe but I still want you to have the tools, I still want you to have the value. So here is what I want you to do is at some point, when it’s safe, just text me one-word no-spaces MYLEGACY to 38470. When you text me that, you’re going to get a link back to you that you can download the action guide and really start to get into this Personal Brand Articulator and understand what it takes to elevate you to a personal brand.

So, let’s jump in because I think there is some things in here that we need to think about as we move forward and really start to build this concept of a personal brand. How do you get known for what you know and that what you know makes a difference and so, the key here is this. Is that if we don’t get this thing right, the challenge that you’re going to face is one of the challenges you’re going to face is that there’s going to be tons of friction.

In other words, when we talk about personal brand, it’s about you. There’s a reason that personal is in the front, in the beginning of that.

It’s about you.

It’s about what you know.

It’s about what’s internal to you.

It’s about your ten thousand hours.

It’s about your expertise.

It’s about your journey.

It’s about your wisdom.

There’s some things that have happened to you that are valuable to people out there that you get a chance to have a conversation with, to train, to work with, to help them along in their journey and in their struggles that maybe similar to yours. For instance: I’ve been a CPA. I’ve lost one-third of my net worth in a Ponzi scheme and re-built it within 18 months. Not only rebuilt it but rebuilt it to 300%, three times of where it was at but understanding a certain level of skills.

I’ve been a martial arts sensei. I’ve been in the martial arts for 40+ years now and the fact of the matter is, is that all of those things create a level of expertise in different areas. They’re not all in the same area that allow me to be with you here today but they come from within. See the challenge is that, that a lot of times, when we don’t get this right there’s tons of friction because it doesn’t come from within, it’s not part of your being, it’s not who you are and so we need to figure that out.

The other thing that happens when we don’t get this right is that you start to feel completely isolated.

You start to feel on an island because it just doesn’t, it’s not you and so you seem to realize that and there is this lack of congruency and you’re out of touch.

And then, the third thing that happens when we don’t get this right is that ultimately you’re invisible.

People don’t see you. People just affectively don’t see you and what happens, what do I mean by that is that, is that the marketplace doesn’t even know you exist. When we don’t get the personal brand piece right,

They don’t know about what you know,

They don’t know about the difference you can make in their lives, and

They don’t know you exist.

If they see you at all, they see you as a commodity and we don’t want to be a commodity. I want you to be that premium provider, that one that’s sought after, the one that’s chased after, the one that is hunted because what you know makes a huge difference in people’s lives and so, if that’s what happens, if we don’t get this right what happens when we do get this right.

I think one of the first things that happen is this, is that we find ourselves in this natural state of flow.

I can sit here and talk with you about the different elements and concepts of my intellectual property, the things that I know because it’s part of me, it’s what I’ve lived, it’s my ten thousand hours plus if you will. So, there’s a lot there for me to do. So, I’m in this natural flow and I can chat and we can talk and I can go deeper and deeper as needed based on that. So, you find yourself when we get this right in that natural state of flow.

The second thing that happens is that you create community.

In this process, you create community because what happens is that you actually attract the people that you resonate with. You actually attract the people that see what you have essential to their lives and you attract that and they then create a conversation with you and you have a conversation with them which creates community and they all support each other and all of a sudden, you have a bunch of people standing shoulder to shoulder on a journey with you because you’ve done that.

And then, the third thing that happens when we get this right is that you find yourself in demand.

Ultimately, people are searching you up. You become the hunted. It’s an interesting dynamic. Like many of you know, I’ve been doing, I value businesses, buy and sell businesses, I’ve done this for decades now and have had the blessing of learning a ton about entrepreneurship and businesses through that process.

Now, I started out doing marketing and all of that for that part of that business. I don’t do a lot of that anymore because I’ve built a reputation, I’ve built that presence in that industry that the phone will ring, people will search me out, they’ve heard about me, they know about me and they will search me out and that’s what we want.

Imagine this, can you imagine what it’s like for you to just wake up and know that you have positioned yourself properly in a marketplace, in an industry, in a niche to solve a problem, a solver, an influencer in that space where you know that people are always searching you out and when they search for you, you’re the first name that comes up, you’re the second name that comes up, you’re that top of the top of doing it. And that’s what this is about.

So, if that’s why it’s important, in other words, in other words, we got to get ourselves in a place where we’re in demand, where we’re creating community and that we’re in flow. So, what do you need to know? And that’s the principles that I think are really important to really bring this home for you and I think the first thing that you need to realize is that, that your deeper thinking leads to valuable impact, leads to the impact that you have and in society, in your community, in the industry, in the marketplace that you’re working with and here is the thing behind this that it’s no longer about information; Information is ubiquitous.

We’ve got GOOG, the Mr. Goog, the Google; however, you want to call it that allows you to have access to information at your fingertips. I can just go type in and I can get as much information. Now, I’m not saying it’s all good information and I’m not saying it’s all real or true information but there is information nonetheless and that’s where you fit in.

This isn’t about information anymore because it used to be that the keeper of the information was the one that had the highest value. That’s not the case anymore because information is now a commodity. We’ve got access to it at our fingertips, in our phones, whatever it is that we want to do, we’ve got access to that information that allows us to be able to bring that forward.

So, the real key is how do you interpret the information that you become the interpreter of the information, that you broaden the conversation around the topic, the subject area, the solutions, the challenges, the problems that you’re solving? You broaden that by expanding the thinking, by deepening the thinking. So, what we want to do is we don’t want to just repeat the things that other people have said on the topic.

Let’s just for instance look at it and say, well, maybe you’re talking on productivity or maybe you’re talking on leadership or maybe you’re talking on corporate culture or maybe you’re talking on relationships or fitness, you know what? Repeating what other people have done doesn’t necessarily extend the thinking, doesn’t extend the body of knowledge and that won’t set you apart. It will just set you with.

In other words, people will see you as the more of the same. What we want you to be seen is different. We want you to be seen with a distinction. We want you to be seen at a point where they’re going, “Huh, they know everything that’s going on before and they’re giving me a little more”. That deep thinking is going to lead to greater, great impact. So, you’re going to have to do the work to get this stuff out of your head, to think it through and to build the depth and the layers into your content, into the information that you have, the solutions that you bring to the table to really make that come to life.

And then, the second piece of this and the second principle is to realize that your positioning is intentional.

In other words, we can go out there and say, just start putting blog posts up and then just start YouTube videos up, going out and speaking, picking up gigs, you get a call and someone says, “Can you write an article?” and you say, “Yes” and it’s this haphazard, hodgepodge, mess of content that doesn’t position you in this specific way that you are choosing to be positioned.

So, what do I mean by this concept of intentional? Just that. I want you to define. We need to define what we want to be in our space. The question is what do you want to be in your space? Do you know that specifically? And is everything that you’re doing moving you towards that space, towards that place and if it’s not, we got to shift it.

The bottom line is this, is that your positioning in the eyes of your market, your positioning in the eyes of the industry, your positioning in the eyes of your peers need to be intentional and not be left for them to decide because if you allow the market to decide, they may define you in a role that becomes, to take a term from the Hollywood is you become typecast and we don’t want to be typecast. You want to present yourself in the light, in the posture, in the position that you want to be presented in. So, we need to be intentional about that and this process allows you to do that.

Then the third thing is to realize that we need to have a platform obsession.

So, what do I mean by platform? There’s a couple of things that I mean by platform. First things first is that, that platform for me is about reach. It’s about audience but it’s about reach which means that it’s also about impact. We need to be obsessed with reaching our audience

Reaching them geographically,

Reaching them emotionally,

Reaching them intellectually,

Reaching them in their demographics,

In their psychographics.

Understanding what industry they’re in, in location. So, we need to be obsessed about being there with them, for them and standing by them and serving them in that process. That’s what I mean by platform obsession. It’s about getting your information out there in a way that serves them in a place they’re at, with the pains that they have to move them to the solutions that they need.

The bottom line is that businesses to me are all about improving the human condition. It’s not about profit. Profit becomes the by-product. Let’s improve the human condition, let’s have the greater impact, let’s have the high impact and in the process, the profit becomes the by-product of what it is you’re doing.

So, those are principles that I think that we need to focus in on. There’s a couple of other ones but these are the most important ones. How do we bring this to life?

And this is when I want to introduce you to what I call, The Influencer’s Evolution. In order to do that, I’m going to jump on to the iPad so we will draw this out on there. If you’re not watching on the video, then go to the YouTube channel. You will see this on the video but you will see this also in the blog in stills and pictures also.

So, let’s just jump into The Influencer’s Evolution. Let’s jump to the iPad for a moment and let’s understand what it is we’re trying to do here as this comes through. So, the first thing is this, is that we need to realize, we need to realize that some of the things that we’re doing is there’s six stages if you will of what I call The Influencer’s Evolution.

And the stage one, stage one is what I call Purpose. What’s your purpose? What is it about you? This is, if I had to make it in a statement, You Are It. This is really about you. You are it. This is what is internally your 10 thousand hours. What is inside of you that we need to bring out in this process.

Here is the thing. If we don’t get this right, if we don’t get this right, this is why you’re going to find that there is a fair amount of friction in your life, in your professional life because it isn’t congruent with who you are, it isn’t part of who you are. It’s not flowing from you. But when we do get this right, that’s actually what happens. We end up in what I call Flow. This is the first stage of The Influencer’s Evolution.

The second stage of the Influencer’s Evolution is what I call Perspective and this is about what you know. This is about the insights, the ideas, the things you know, the things that you want your audience, your marketplace to really understand. So, this is really you know it. It’s what you know in the process.

So, we need to capture all your insights and there is a process to do that. We need to capture your insights; we need to capture the things that you want to teach with your audience in a way that you can then communicate it. Here’s the issue, is if you don’t have a process to that, it’s a drain. If you have a process to extract the unique insights, the things that you know out of your head, what that actually does is it gives you distinction. It makes you distinct in that process. So, that’s one of the reasons this is really important for us to do.

The third stage is what I call Positioning. Positioning is about them. This starts to move; it is about you a bit but it’s about them. It’s like who do you want to see? Who do you want to serve? This is really coming from a place of understanding that they get a chance to see it. It being what you know. They get a chance to see it and that’s the challenge that we need to start to move through.

Here is the deal. If we don’t position yourself properly; remember, I already said that I want you to be obsessed with positioning in the sense of being intentional with it. If we don’t position you properly, you’re going to find that you’re invisible to your marketplace. They don’t see you. They don’t even know you exist and if they do, they don’t see the value in you. We need them to know you exist. We need them to know what you exist for. We need them to see them value in it and they need to see the need.

Bottom line is, it’s, if you’re going to be an influencer, it’s not about knowing stuff. It’s about making a difference with the stuff you know. That’s the key. It’s not about knowing stuff. It’s about making a difference with the stuff you know and then you become known for that. And if you do that positioning properly, you find instead of being invisible, you’re in demand. You’re in demand.

And so, now we’ve moved up those three stages and these are really important stages and then it’s the last, this next stage, that’s where the core of the work is to really become an influencer, to build that personal brand is in this next piece. It’s really about Platform. This is when you finally get it to them. They finally get it. It being your stuff, the solutions, the insights that you have.

When you have the platform properly done, it’s amazing. But if you screw it up, if we don’t have the platform, in other words, we don’t have the reach, we’re not getting to the right people, we’re not getting to the people that need us, we’re not working with our core because we don’t understand them, you’re going to find that you’re isolated.

Yet when we get this right, now you’re building community. Remember that community piece becomes important because they’re going to be your champions, they’re going to move your forward, they’re the ones that are going to be screaming to the hills about what you know and what impact you’ve had on their lives. They become your army, the sales force. Well, you don’t even have to pay them, okay. That’s the cool part about it.

Then the next piece of this is what I call Prosperity and this is about the rewards. This is about the meaning. This is about being fulfilled if you will in doing that. This is about what do we value. What do we value?

If we don’t know this going in, we might be chasing like I said, the profits, the cash flow which I get it. We got to pay bills and we got to make a living and all of that and this is a commercial endeavor. Absolutely, we will never take that away. Listen, I am a CPA. It is about making business successful but business in it of itself is about creating an impact, about doing something that’s meaningful, it’s about creating community, serving society and living your dreams. Let’s build it so that becomes the reality.

It’s not about, solely about profitability. Profitability, when we do it right becomes the byproduct not the focal product. Profitability becomes the byproduct not the focal product when we do this right. The thing is that if we don’t get prosperity right, all of a sudden, we’re running and we think we’re successful but we can’t figure out why we’re unfulfilled and miserable.

I got a guy that I know who is probably worth 150 million dollars and he’s miserable as hell. Miserable as hell. He’s got three or four airplanes; I don’t even know anymore and cars and property and all of that but he is unhappy. To me that’s not success. Success is a holistic thing.

It’s about health.

It’s about relationships.

It’s about financial.

It’s about experiencing life.

It’s about a lot of things. It’s not about one. It’s about a lot of things.

So, if we don’t get this prosperity piece right, we’re going to be unfulfilled versus when we get it right, we will be fulfilled because we’re working for the right reasons for the right why (if you will).

Some of you’ve seen me draw that model of when Jeremy drew the picture of me when he was six years old that kind of taught me one of the most important business lessons I learned which is about the why of business versus the what and the how in doing that.

So, then the last piece of this which you kind of look at it and go, “Huh, why is this the last?” That is about the Plan. We need to plan. In other words, I need to be able to see it and I do this last because if I don’t get the first five right, I can’t create the right plan for it. So, I got to know my purpose.

I got to know my perspective. I got to build my positioning. I got to understand and build that platform. I got to understand what the prosperity piece is.

And then, I build the plan to make that all a reality. And so, if we don’t plan based on the decisions and the things that we’re doing in the five stages before in this Influencer’s Evolution, what you’re going to find is that, you will have random results. You know you will have up years, you will have down years, you will have random results, you’re going to have random outcomes and it’s just not going to be filling. It’s peaks and valleys and that’s really not a way to live. It’s in fits and starts so just you can’t live that way, you can’t sustain it that way. So, the reality is that when we set the plan in place, the strategies, the tactics and the things that I teach and put it in place we end up with predictable and deliberate results.

And so, that’s really what we’re dealing with in this whole thing of the influencers evolution. This is the key to changing and shifting the things that you do. This is the key to building a practice that puts you at the forefront of a personal brand to elevate you into a place where people are searching you out because you will make a difference in their lives. The difference that you make with what you know is tremendous, it’s dramatic and that’s the key.

So, we need to extract that out. We need to position you properly. We need to build the platform so we can reach, we can build it around the prosperity that you want in your life. We create the plan and we execute on the plan. So, how do we do this?

Well, I’m going to give you a tool here and you need to download the action guide. If you haven’t done so already, in order to use this, and it’s really the influencers personal brand articulator. To download it just go to MelAbraham.com/session081 or text me. Text me MYLEGACY one-word MYLEGACY to 38470. I will send you the download link.

And when you get this what you’re going to find is that you’re going to get a summary of some of the work that we’re doing and a workbook, a template from which you can answer nine questions, nine questions that as you’re building this out, when you work through these nine questions, it starts to give you a template to elevate you to that personal brand status.

And so, I’m not going to go through the nine questions here. I want you to download the guide. Yes, I’m going to make you download the guide to get the nine questions and to work through the exercise in a way that really starts to build things. Because in those nine questions, we’re going to worry about what’s your solution, how do we position that solution uniquely, distinctly, and with depth in the marketplace. We’re going to walk you through a couple of questions that talk about your tribe, the people you serve, the community that you’re creating. What do you need to do with respect to that? And then, the last piece is what’s the results you get about the results that you get.

So, download that, walk you through those elements and really start to build this out. Use the tool consistently and constantly to build that personal brand out in the marketplace because when you build that personal brand,

You move away from commodity

You become known in the market space

You will be able to command premium fees

People will search you out

Here’s the thing. It’s not about marketing that’s going to get you the personal brand. It’s about creating the depth of knowledge that has a huge impact and then when you layer the marketing on top of that, it’s says, as my son says, “It’s a match to gasoline” and it’s going to explode your business. So, that’s what we need to do to really build this out.

So, I hope that you found this of value, to understand the influencers evolution, the stages you need to go through to build your personal brand just like Seth Goden, Simon Sinek, Jim Collins, Brian Tracy. These are the stages that you’re going to need to go through to build your personal brand and get yourself out there.

If you haven’t done so already, download the guide. Again, MelAbraham.com/session081 or text me MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. We will get that to you because this is the first step to building your personal brand and getting yourself out there in a big way that sets you apart from everything that is out there, that is commodity based. We want to set you apart, we want you to make a huge impact.

So, if you haven’t done so already, do me a favor. Subscribe. Hit the button right now. Don’t wait. Hit the button right now. Subscribe. Stay with me because these tools are going to continually come. This is my way of becoming your personal mentor in this context. We can go deeper in other ways but right now this is one of the greatest ways for me to do that.

The other thing is if you have a question, if you have a challenge, if you have a problem that you’re trying to deal with in business, in success, in wealth, in thought leadership, anything like that, go ahead and leave me a note. In fact, you can go to AskMelNow.com and leave me a message. I will make sure that I pick it up on one of my upcoming episodes or just leave comments. I love comments and I want to have a dialogue and I want this to be a conversation not me talking at you, talking with you to really build some things out.

And the other thing that I ask you is do me a favor? Share this. Share this information. Share this link with a friend. Get it out there so we can help people shift their paradigm in their life to give them the tools that they need to be successful just like you. So, thanks again for being a part of this. Thanks for being on this journey. I hope this serves you and I can’t wait to see you in the next episode. And until then,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again. Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

The Three Simple Keys to John Lee Dumas’ Success and 1400 Podcasts

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— Summary —

About John Lee Dumas

John Lee Dumas is the founder and host of EOFire, a top ranked business podcast where he interviews inspiring entrepreneurs daily. Before getting into the podcast space, he served eight years in the army. After he came back, he went through a six year struggle in his search for meaning and making an impact. His journey took him through a law school to corporate finance to real estate. With some wins and some failures, he just wasn’t happy.

So, in his search for content he discovered some incredible podcasts which were free, valuable and constant. But he found out that the frequency in which they were published wasn’t enough for him so he started his own podcast Entrepreneur on Fire which is published 7 days a week. As of now, there are almost 1400 episodes published with over a million monthly listeners and 30 million downloads to date.

Key Takeaways

It really is important to distinguish yourself to make better stuff and be better at what you do.

You are not going to be awesome from day one. Keep working hard every single day to get a little bit better.

It is not about the hack or the technology. We have to run the miles.

Create the solution for your avatar.

Don’t force out more than you can really get out there in a quality way. People want the quality so work on it.

Three Habits for Success

Creating (1) free, (2) valuable and (3) consistent content.

Biggest Hurdle

The Imposter Syndrome due to which high-achieving individuals are terrified and are unable to internalize their accomplishments.

Looking Into the Future

We need to focus our energy and our greatest impact on specific avatars that we want to serve. If you try to resonate with everybody, you resonate with no one. Just know who you are at your core, know exactly who you want to serve and then just serve that person or those few. Those few people even that one person will grow into a much bigger tribe.

Interview Links

The Freedom Journal ($5 Off)

EOFire

Podcasters’ Paradise

Fire Nation

Webinars on Fire

The Resource

Profit First, Michael Michalowicz

The Doozy

Stop taking life so seriously. You have a long road ahead of you. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Enjoy the moment. Work hard and chill out.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey everyone, this is Mel Abraham from The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and welcome to this episode. And this episode’s for me is an absolute joy. It’s kind of full circle for me because this show came about because of my guest this morning and getting a chance to have a chat with the John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire, Fire Nation, Webinars on Fire. It’s Podcasters’ Paradise. You name it.

John’s got an amazing, amazing story. I guess we call him JLD. And here’s a guy who one has served our country in a great way, 7 years in the army and doing tours in Iraq and leading a platoon, leadership qualities. But then he came back here and he went through a struggle that many of us entrepreneurs go through. It’s kind of that search for meaning, that search for who we are, that search for what’s meaningful and how we can have the greatest impact.

He will tell you a little bit more about his journey but he went from the service to law school to finance to real estate all around until he landed on this concept of serving entrepreneurs and serving entrepreneurs in a great way. With Entrepreneur on Fire, it’s one of the best podcast out there in the entrepreneur space and just in the podcast space in general; talks about life and that type of thing.

You look at it, he’s on episode; last time I checked I think it’s episode 1333. So, this guy has been busy seven days a week and some of the cool things that I like about him is that some of the concepts with his podcast is it was focused on valuable content and consistent content which I think for content creators, thought leaders, entrepreneurs is something that we lack is this concept of saying, “Let’s give value first and let’s do it consistently and then let’s see where the chips fall” and John has done that and we’re going to get a chance to talk to him about a couple of things that include…

I want to talk to him about his Freedom Journal which is his newest endeavor and an amazing, amazing resource that he did on kick start. It was like number 6 on Kickstarter campaigns so welcome, welcome John. JLD it’s just great to have you here and get a chance to spend some time with you.

John: Well Mel, there is no place I’d rather be then right here, right now brother and whether it’s John or JLD or just Dumas, I’m all good with it brother. Let’s just say I will rock the mic.

Mel: You’ve got it. You got it my friend. Hey, do me a favor. I kind of gave you my synopsis of your journey but maybe you could give us your perspective and the key turning points, the things that were the Ahas! Or the realizations that got you because sometimes we get pushed back on our heels and we are afraid to make those choices but you stepped through them and you did them in a big way.

John: I think you did a great job so maybe I will just go through some of the highlights and lowlights. I come from a very inauspicious background in the state of Maine. Spent the first 18 years in my life there. Great, great time. Then I went to college under Army ROTC scholarship and when I graduated, I spent 8 years in the army 4 active, 4 in the reserve. Did a little 13 month tour of duty in Iraq which you mentioned.

Then when I got out of the military, I thought the world was my oyster but then I spent the next 6 years struggling greatly and failing consistently. I tried law school. I quit after one semester. Corporate finance. Dying of slow death in a cubicle, I quit after 18 months. And then, I tried real estate for 4 years; commercial and residential, and I had some successes there, some wins but a lot of failures and struggles and I just wasn’t happy.

So, I was searching. Searching for content. Luckily, some of the podcasts which are incredibly free, valuable and consistent content targeted on demand. All the things that I know that we love as human beings and I found my podcast that I loved and I would be listening to them but then I saw and heard that these podcasts were just coming out with one a week or two a month. Twice a month at the most and I was like, “Man, I’m driving to work 5 days a week. I’m heading to the gym.”

Like there has to be a solution for people like myself and I did more research, it didn’t exist. I decided to follow that great Gandhi quote and ‘Be the change you wished to see in the world’ and for me that was to create a 7 day a week podcast interviewing inspiring entrepreneurs. And was I good when I started? No. I was clueless. I was naïve. I didn’t know what I was getting into.

But ignorance is a bliss for entrepreneurs. I just woke up every single day, got a little bit better, learned a little bit more. Here we are. I’ve now recorded over 1400 episodes. We’ve had over 30 million downloads to date. We’re generating over a million listeners per month and our business is a 7 figure a year business. So, a lot of things have been going well and I’m just excited to continue to share inspiration with the world.

Mel: It’s amazing that what you’ve done in what I think is a relatively short time because the podcast started late, late 2012. So, you’re talking about less than 4 years, 30 million downloads.

John: Yeah.

Mel: Yeah. I mean that’s incredible and I think it’s a statement to a couple of things. And this is maybe where we jump off is one you focused on creating distinction but distinction with excellence and I’m just curious where that came from for you.

John: Yeah, so one thing I do want to kind of point out first is, we hear a lot of these metrics out there and like 30 million downloads is not a vanity metric; like that’s a real number for sure. Like that’s a huge number in the podcasting world but you know, I know as myself when I listen to other episodes and interviews etc. I’m like, “What does that really mean?”

Like okay. Like you’ve got two thousand likes on your Instagram posts. Like is that really doing something positive for your business? And so, I think, what is important that do that I’m really proud of here at EOFire is we do share our income reports every single month. Last year EOFire generated over four and a half million gross and we did 2.6 million net revenue. So, this is real money coming from a real business so you know these numbers that we can throw around all day long and I caution everybody to take a lot of them with a grain of salt.

But in a really search and strive for people that are actually bringing in real revenue for content that they’re providing and for businesses that they’re growing because that’s important. And not to get off on to a rant Mel but look at these like Ink Talk 100 list every single year. I go through the magazine and it’s like number 34, this company that did 9 million dollars in gross revenue with 218 employees. I’m like, “There’s no money there.” That is losing money every single year so we need to be careful like who we look up to and who we admire and who we are following. We need to find people that are actually doing it the way that we want to be doing.

And for me, an important thing, and this is a great book by Michael Michalowicz, Profit First. I wanted to have money in the bank at the end of the day, at the end of the year. And that’s important to me so that’s the business that I’m building is a very net profit focused business. You know 60 to 70, sometimes even up to 80 percent on what we do.

But kind of getting to what you are saying about the distinction, I think it really is important to distinguish yourself and the ways that you’re able to because a lot of people say, “John, what are best tactics to get more downloads and more listeners and grow my audience?”

My answer is, “Make better stuff.”

Like be better at what you do. Create a better podcast episode. Do a better blog post. Like create better content. Stop worrying about the latest hack that’s going to get more people to your podcast episode because I don’t care if you get a thousand people to your podcast episode when you used to get a hundred. If your podcast episode stinks then that’s just going to be 900 people being like, “Well, what is this crap?” and they’re never coming back. So, work on your stuff, distinguish yourself.

That doesn’t mean you got to be awesome from day 1 because you’re not going to be. But just be as good as you can from day one and keep working hard every single day to get a little bit better. I mean, go back and listen to episode 100 of EOFire. I wasn’t good even after a hundred episodes. Listen to episode 500. I was a little bit better. Episode 1000, I was really getting a lot better. Now, here I am approaching my 1500th episode. Like the quality is increasing because I’m working on it every single day.

Mel: Well, it becomes the, your tools of the trade. And I love what you say. I will go back to your rant for a moment because I look at those Inc 100 lists and I do the math. I look at the revenue per employee and I go, “Are you kidding me? I want nothing to do with this.” But I think that this is…what did you say?

John: Working so hard too.

Mel: Oh my god. Forget it. I had a staff of 30 at one point. I’m done. So, high margin, high cash flow, high impact, high excellence. That’s the way to go. And I think that the message that you take away from what you just said is, we got to run the miles. It’s not about the hack, the technology, the recording, the music, the bumpers; any of that. We got to run the miles to get ourselves at a level that people take notice.

And I honor you for that and I thank you for that because you basically told me the same thing in a 10 minute conversation and said, “You just got to go do it.” And that’s what we’ve done. And we just keep doing it. I’m doing some daily videos. I’m doing weekly podcasts. And I can tell you and everyone out there that, that regular patterns serves you; when I went into the studio to record my latest launch videos, it was totally different and on live stages, it’s totally different because you’ve created and worked the muscle out in a great way and it’s perfect to do that.

John: After you’re doing a weekly podcast, like so many people are saying, like, “John is doing a daily podcast. That must be the reason why he is successful.” And the reason is, “No” like I’m creating a daily podcast because I know that that’s what I wanted as a listener so I’m creating the solution for my avatar, for my perfect listener. It is so much better that you’re going to do one episode per week or one episode a month that’s an awesome podcast episode then to just force out a daily podcast or more than you can really get out there in a quality way. People want the quality so work on the quality.

Mel: Yeah. Absolutely.

John: Consistency. That is the keyword.

Mel: What was that? Consistency. So, when we look back on your journey and like you said, you’ve had your stumbles and falls, your stubbed toes and broken noses along the way. What do you think are the three habits that really drove your success that may help some of the listeners to understand, hmm because to me habits are just rituals that are the things that we just do repeatedly sometimes unconsciously but sometimes, we start them consciously and they make a huge difference over time?

John: Yes. So I will talk about three ingredients that I believe are important to success because I want to talk about some of my habits that I’ve implemented but the thing about habits for me is they are always changing, they are always adjusting because once I’ve formed a habit, it’s a habit now I would move on to the next thing. So that’s always evolving for me. I’m always pivoting and adjusting and kind of finding out new things about myself but three ingredients that are so key and you touched upon them a little bit in the intro, you touched upon two of them specifically.

But for me the three ingredients for success are creating free, valuable and consistent content. If you’re able to take those three ingredients and do that on again, that third ingredient consistent basis, you will win. It’s just a matter of when. And you have to realize that we are on a marathon. Like, EOFire did not turn on back in September of 2012 and become a cash generating machine.

No, like the first year we did twenty six thousand dollars in gross revenue. The second year, we definitely did a lot more into the six figures but it wasn’t until year three and four that we started seeing our seven figure and not that we are approaching eight figures but we’re getting closer to eight figures then we are to seven figures at this point which is pretty exciting and that took time, it took the … of us saying, “You know what? We are going to do free, valuable and consistent content around what our avatar wants.”

Because when we do that then we’re going to build an audience of our avatars and then, we can say, “Avatars, what are you struggling with? What is your pain points, your obstacles?”

And then, we can create the solution for them in the form of a product, a service, a community that starts generating revenue. That’s called building the audience the right way so that they can know, like and trust you and then you engage them in a powerful, meaningful, caring way and then, you create the solution for their problems, for their pain points that they’ve shared with you. You hand it back to them on a silver platter and maybe for the first few times, you do it for free as well like I do with free podcast course and our free webinar course.

Like those were things that we put out there for free. But of course we do have opportunities for higher level for the premium like Podcasters’ Paradise and Webinar on Fire and The Freedom Journal. So, those are opportunities as well. So, that to me are the three ingredients of success and if you can implement that and make that a habit then every day, you’re doing those three things, you win. It’s just a matter of when.

Mel: Making that the top of the list to make sure that when you get to that end of the day, you literally are just, you can look at yourself and say, “Can I check these things off? And if I can check these things off, I did all right that day.” Cool. Cool.

What do you think the biggest hurdle is that you had to overcome, maybe that was a mindset hurdle or maybe it was a thought process or maybe it was just knowledge that you had to overcome that really actually released you in that process and what did you do to overcome it?

John: Yeah, I say the biggest thing by far was something that I call The Imposter Syndrome and that is, just, that voice inside your head because Mel, when I launched EOFire or I was actually right there in free launch mode, like I had never interviewed anybody before. I had never done any kind of a podcast or a broadcast show. I had no online experience. I didn’t have a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page.

I was starting from ground zero and again, ignorance is bliss in a lot of ways but it can also be scary at the same time too because I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into. So, when it came time for me to launch like I was terrified. I was like, I can’t press this publish button because who am I to have interviewed Tim Ferris and Gary Vaynerchuk and Barbara Corcoran. Like who am I to have interviewed these people and it definitely terrified me and I was actually paralyzed and I pushed my launch date back five weeks because of that fear that I had surrounding my launch.

I was ready in every way, shape and form but the imposter syndrome stepped in and the reality is this because I’ve now personally mentored over 40 mentees. There’s over 2800 people in Podcasters’ Paradise. Like there is an absolute reality that we’re human beings and we’re going to experience the imposter syndrome. It is innate within us when we’re born. Those who are successful are those who learn to embrace the imposter syndrome and rise above.

Mel: So true. I know that I struggle with it many times because you also even have the outside forces saying, “Who are you to do that?” and if you listen to the voices inside and outside, it makes it even more challenging to deal with it. And so, it’s cool that you brought that piece up because I think that we all struggle with it and we all need to find that way and maybe it’s an external; The Entrepreneur Solution, the book didn’t get out because I put it on a shelf because I was scared to put it out; same thing until someone that was in my life looked at me and he was a mentor and a friend and he said, “I will not support anything else you do until we put this book out in the world.” And there we were sixteen thousand books sold in two weeks.

John: It’s kind of funny you told that story because for us, it was really interesting. I was delaying launching for five weeks and it was my mentor Jaime Masters of the Eventual Millionaire who finally came to me and said, “John, like I’m calling out your BS. If you don’t launch your podcast today, I will fire you.”

Mel: Wow. So you had the same experience. You know, you’re pissed off at the time but thankful afterwards. It was a great gift for him to do that for me. So, we start to look towards the; we’ve got I know a handful of minutes left but as you start to look to the future, if you were looking out 5 – 10 years based on what’s going on tech wise, globally, economically what is, where would you say we need to focus our time, our energy to have the greatest impact?

John: I think we need to focus our energy and our greatest impact on these specific avatars that we want to serve. I mean, so many people try to go broad and look for the biggest numbers and try to resonate with everybody. Instead, they resonate with nobody. I mean, just know who you are at your core, know exactly who you want to serve and then just serve that person or those few, few people because believe me, those few people even that one person will grow into a much bigger tribe.

I mean, I started speaking to my avatar Jimmy and now EOFire gets over a million listens per months. I mean, believe me, just by starting speaking to one vision and to one avatar, like it might seem limiting but it’s the exact opposite. It allows you to actually resonate with others in a deep way and make an impact and start that momentum to get going.

So, going to the future, there’s just going to be a lot of noise, lot of voices out there in the world and you’re just going to get drowned if you try to just sound like everybody else and try to appeal to everybody because you’re going to say, the 10 best entrepreneurial books to read in 2016; I mean, that can be written by anybody but what can just be done by you like what is that one thing that you want to serve? What’s that one problem that you want to solve or that you can solve better than anybody else for any number of reasons?

And just really dial into that one thing, become known for it and then, if you want to expand out and broaden out after you’ve gotten an initial momentum or maybe you just stay there making an incredibly valuable impact with a set number of people and you have a great business, a great career, great life.

Mel: So true. So many people think that the way to rise above all the noise is just to scream louder and it’s not. And this is kind of one of the things that I will typically say. I said it’s about finding the right ear with the right message at the right time and just whispering and they will go with you. And that’s really where you’re going with this and I think that our economy, though we’re global now, we’re going to be slivering it up in pieces so we can serve based in the slices that we can go out there.

So, I’ve got one more question for you but before we do that, I want to make sure we get this is in because I think it’s such an incredible, incredible resource. You put out something; well, I guess it was late 2015, late last year, early this year, it’s still out there called The Freedom Journal. And that seems to me just in seeing how you handled it and how you promoted that. That is a passion work, it seemed to me and it’s a tremendous resource. Do me a favor, tell us about The Freedom Journal. How it came about and why it’s so important? Because I think it will transform people’s lives.

John: Well, thank you for this stage to do so Mel. It is definitely a passion project of mine for sure and it all started back when I started interviewing successful entrepreneurs back in 2012. My listeners from day 1 would say, “John, what is the secret to success? Like why are these entrepreneurs successful? What’s their magic bullet?”

And I never had a great answer besides hard work which will always be one of the answers but giving it some more thought over the years, I have realized that successful entrepreneurs know how to set and accomplish goals, period. And unsuccessful entrepreneurs struggle with that very thing. So, I said, “How can I create the solution? How can I bridge that gap?”

And it really just came to me. Like I wanted to create a physical product because I had the means to and because I wanted to be different, unique and not easily replicable. So, I sat down and spent a year crafting what is now The Freedom Journal which is a gorgeous full leather, because I’m an animal lover, gold embossed journal that will help you set your number one goal and then, it will guide you in accomplishing that goal in 100 days. So, it’s a huge passion project of mine that’s something that we spent an entire year doing, creating, perfecting.

And then in January of 2016, we launched The Freedom Journal via Kickstarter and we did a 33 day Kickstarter campaign. Over those 33 days, we raised over four hundred and fifty three thousand dollars in revenue which made it the sixth most funded publishing campaign of all time on Kickstarter. And we did over nine thousand freedom journal sold and again, this is a 39 dollar journal.

Again, going back to like really making money guys, like this isn’t something where you hear like authors say like, “Oh yeah, like I sold all these books and they’ve made like 50 cents per book.” Our profit margin on The Freedom Journal are 26 dollars per book. So, I mean like it is significant because we’re doing it again the right way of providing the value but then also doing this our way not the traditional way.

And so, that was huge. We also partnered with Pencils of Promise and the reason why and because The Freedom Journal was so profitable to us, we were able to donate over seventy five thousand dollars to Pencils of Promise from the profits to build schools in developing countries, specifically three because every twenty five thousand dollars that we’re able to donate builds a school in a developing country.

And to this day, we’re now over twelve thousand five hundred freedom journals sold and we make sales every single day and a portion of those sales go to Pencils of Promise to this day so if you’re sitting there right now thinking that you might want to have a guide, the guide, the ultimate guide to setting and accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days check out TheFreedomJournal.com.

Mel: Dynamite, dynamite. And I love it because what you’re doing is you’re doing good and while doing well at the same time and that is so cool to see. One last question and then we’ll close out but I could spend a lot of time chatting with you and just kind of picking your brain, my friend. So, here is this and this is kind of like going back and saying, if you went back to yourself when you first started this journey. Maybe, it was five years ago. Maybe, it was ten years ago. And had a chance to whisper in your ear kind of some words of wisdom about the potholes and the journey, what would it be?

John: Pretty simple. I’d say, “JLD chill out brother.” Like, stop taking life so seriously. Like, you have a long road ahead of you. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Enjoy the moment. Work hard and chill out.

Mel: Awesome, awesome. Listen JLD, this to me is a blessing and honor to have you here full circle, getting a chance to have you on the show that would have never come alive if it wasn’t for you my friend and so, I thank you for taking the time. I know, you’ve got an incredible, incredible busy schedule but for all the entrepreneur listeners out there, The Entrepreneur’s Solution listeners out there, to me this is a treat. Enjoy it, digest it. See what John is doing. John and Kate are amazing people.

Look at Fire Nation because if you’re looking to create a community, if you’re looking to create something that is a movement, see what they’ve done because they love their people and their people love them back and it’s tremendous to see how they created that. I look forward to seeing you all in the next episode. John, thanks again my friend. Cheers to you brother.

John: Appreciate you.

Mel: See you.

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again. Cheers, Mel

++++++++++++++

[melabraham]

How to Create a Compelling Customer Promise

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— Summary —

In this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show we’re going to talk about how you can create a compelling customer promise so that you not only end up with customers for life but with evangelists who are ready to do anything for your business.

If you don’t get this right, you will have no distinction in the marketplace, the perception of your value is low and you end up with customers who are runaways. They will buy from you but there is no loyalty and connection. But if you get it right, competition will fade away, your price will not matter and you will build an army of evangelists.

To make it happen, here are the principles that you need to know:

Expectations are transactional,

Be focused on their identity, and

Create a buzz from the delivery.

The Customer Promise Amplifier

This tool allows you to figure out how you deliver your promise to customers in terms of execution, perception, buy criteria, type and impact. There are 3 levels to this:

Expectation level At the bare minimum, your execution is based on their expectation and you meet it. The perception in the marketplace is that you’ve got a commodity that you are offering and it’s without any distinction. The buying criterion is the cost and you have satisfied customers who end up being leavers or runaways.

Desire Level This is the minimum level that you want to serve. Serve their desires and you have elevated above their expectations. They will look at you and your offer as a premium and the buying criteria is not much the cost but the utility or the impact that it’s going to have in their life. You will have happy customers and they will become repeaters who keep coming back.

Unexpected Needs Level You do completely unexpected things so that your customers will look at it and perceive it as extraordinary. Their buying criteria will be based on their identity and you will have customers who are your fans. It will cost you money but in the long term it’s going to pay back as the impact you have will create evangelists who are willing to vocalize for you and are out there talking you up.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 bestselling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to brand yourself as an influencer for more impact, income and freedom. And welcome back to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show and in this episode, we’re going to talk a bit about promises. We’re going to talk about your customer promise.

How do we elevate and amplify your customer promise so not only do you end up with customers for life but evangelists, they will fight for your business and I’m going to introduce you to my Customer Promise Amplifier, a tool and template that I use with many of my high level clients. And if you want to download that tool, just go to MelAbraham.com/session080 and you will get a chance to download the action guide for the Customer Promise Amplifier in that process.

And if you’re not by your computer, maybe, you’re out for a run and you’re just listening to this on the podcast or you happen to be driving and I want you to be safe then just text me at some point in time. Text MYLEGACY one-word to 38470, I will send you the download link to make sure that you get all the tools, all the value out of each and every episode.

So, let’s look at this whole idea of the customer promise because here is what I believe—a satisfied customer is your path to disaster. It’s not what I want. I don’t want satisfied customers. I actually want ecstatic customers. I want customers that are jumping for joy that are absolutely beyond themselves. Think about what it’s like.

I remember, my wife and I, we frequent a hotel down here for brunch. They have a great brunch and it’s right on the water. We love going there and we happen to go there for our wedding anniversary this past year. And they kind of know us there but they treat us so well. We walk in, we sit down for the brunch, we’ve got the view of the water and all of that and here they come. They bring us this beautiful pastry with happy anniversary on it.

And the treatment and everything throughout the whole process was phenomenal but then we come out and now, normally they keep my car up front and I come walking out and I don’t see the car and I look at Dan the valet and I said, “Hey Dan, where’s the car?”

And he says, “Oh shoot, I’m sorry Mr. Abraham. It will be up in just a moment.”

And I said, “Where is it?”

And he says, “Well, it was your anniversary. So, we decided to wash the car for you.”

And you think about that. As completely not it was not something that we expected, it was not something we asked for, we had no idea that they would even consider but they took it upon themselves to create an extraordinary experience for Stefanie and I and this is what I’m talking about.

What is your customer promise?

And I think that the things that we got to think about is this: If we don’t get this right, there’s some things that happen. Effectively if we don’t get this right, you’re going to find that you have no distinction in the marketplace.

You become commoditized. You become reduced to being put in a pile of sameness and people won’t go there. I mean, we typically go there many times a year because of the way they treat us, because of the experiences, because of the whole process. Aside from the fact that the food is absolutely amazing. So, if we don’t get this right, there is no distinction between us and the rest of the stuff that is out there.

And if we don’t get this right, what you find is that since there is no distinction, the perception in the marketplace is that you’re low value.

You’re a commodity. You may be a pile of beans at that point of time and I don’t mean it in a negative way. Well, I guess, actually I do. Fact of the matter is, is that as a business, as an entrepreneur, I never ever want to compete at a commodity level because then there is no differentiation and the primary focus when you’re at a commodity level then is price and I don’t ever want to be the differentiator on price. I want to be the differentiator on         quality, experience, connection, the whole process but price is never in there because I want price to become no object. In fact, if I do this correctly, not only does price objections go away but competitive objections go away.

The last thing that happens; well, one of the last things that happens if we don’t get this right is effectively, you end up with customers that I call runaways.

In other words, they’re transactional. They’re going to come to you, they’re going to buy and then, there is no loyalty, there is no connection. It’s a transactional relationship and they’re going to run away. They’re going to be gone out of your sphere, out of your circle; you’re never going to hear from them again.

And that means that the challenge is that in order to continue your business, you always got to keep getting more and more customers. You’ve heard the cliché that it’s easier to sell a current customer, to create value in a current customer’s hands that’s already got a relationship with you versus trying to do something from the very beginning, start to find a new customer.

So, what I want to do is, yes I’m going to have a process or a system that allows me to bring in new customers but I need to have something that nurtures the customers that are already there, the people that I care for, that I’ve cared to come to me and transact with me at least once to really build that relationship and build that connection.

Many of you have heard that I believe that our society in general is starved for connection and we’ve confused contacts, likes, and shares and thumbs up and all that stuff as connection and it’s not. It’s contacts. So, how are you connecting with the audience?

Here is the cool thing. When you get this right, when you get this right, some things happen. Some really cool things happen. First things first, competition fades away because what ends up happening is you’ve created a relationship with that customer in such a way that you’re not going to go anywhere else. There’s a tremendous level of loyalty.

I have just had a recent buying experience for something that was a very high priced, high ticket item and the salesperson that I worked with was absolutely phenomenal. Bent over backwards, he’d worked through some challenges that we had during the transaction, some difficulties with timing, with structuring, with all the types of things and he did everything possible.

In fact, when there was ever an issue, I would simply call him up and he says, “I got this. Don’t worry about it.”

When you can do that for your customer, man, I took the time to write his direct report, his boss and their boss a letter about him because and I’m going to refer to him because of the experience that he created. So, competition effectively fades away if we do this correctly.

The other thing that happens is that as I said earlier, price doesn’t matter.

The conversation is not about price at that point because you are the provider. If you’ve positioned yourself correctly and you’ve created the experience in your customer’s eyes, in your client’s hearts, in their minds, through the experiences that you created; not some promise that is never fulfilled but something that is over fulfilled if you will see in the framework when I break it down; that is over fulfilled in such a way that they say, “I get it. I’m paying a little more or I’m paying a lot more but I’m willing to do it because of the experience, because of how it makes me feel, because of how they treat me in that process.”

And so, really when we start to look at this, that starts to really, really shift and change the relationship that you have:

With your market,

With your audience,

With your customers, and

Your clients.

And ultimately, what ends up happening is that you’ve build an army of evangelists.

People that are willing to go to bat for you, people that are willing to stand toe to toe for you in a way that they’re going to tell people about you. In fact, this transaction I just talked about, I’ve already referred them 2 people to talk to them about doing a deal for them and the fact is, is that, that relationship is what created the referral. So, they’ve got someone in me that is an evangelist for their brand and when you can create evangelists for your brand through experience so they can sit back and say, “I’ve had first hand experience with you or with your brand and here is what it was like”.

It’s like having a bunch of really high ratings on yelp. But when you’re going out there vocally and telling people about it that’s a different ball game. And so, what we want to do is use the customer buying experience to build an army of evangelists. In fact, this if you will, unpaid sales team that’s out there touting your .., that’s out there singing your praises, that’s out there willing to raise the flag and say, “This is who you got to go to. This is who you should be working with”.

I mean think about that in your business. Think about how that would affect your business, the business coming in, the revenues, the profitability, the work that you’re doing, the meaning, all the way down the line, the ripple effect of creating that experience.

So, what do you need to know to make that happen?

I think there is a couple of principles for you to understand as we move forward and then we will build out the framework, the customer promise amplifier framework. So, here is the thing. The first thing to understand is Expectations are transactional.

What do I mean by this?

If all we do is build our business, our customer experience to meet their expectations then you’re creating a transactional relationship. We’ve got to surpass our expectations. We’ve got to absolutely wow them with the things that we do and we will give you some ways to do that. We’ve got to give them some surprises. We’ve got to do some things differently because meeting expectations is the bare minimum of operations and that’s not enough and that is where I think we start to create that transactional relationship that’s fleeting and I want you to have not transactional relationships. I want you to have long term relationships that are mutually valuable.

In other words, they get value out of the relationships and you do too. Granted, there is commerce involved and it’s a commercial relationship but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be a relationship just the same, just because there is money involved.

The second principle that I think we need to really think about is if we’re not focused on expectations, what should we be focused on? We should be focused on is their identity. Their aspirations. What are they really trying to identify with?

If you think about some of the incredible commercials, even going way back, it was when they first came out and women started to smoke, there was an advertisement that came out for the cigarettes that they called them torches of freedom. I mean, think about that. What they did is they created an identity for women to pick up cigarettes. Now, I am not a smoker nor have I ever been nor do I support it. I think it’s an unfortunately unhealthy habit so I’m using this as an example because when we’re talking decades and decades ago, when this started to happen what they used as an advertisement is to create an experience that created a connection to an identity and that was torches of freedom.

You could see the same thing with Apple when they first came out with the iPod and you had those silhouette, those white silhouettes of the people with the headphones on and this cool kind of feel for it and they created an identity for people to work from and to say, “I want to be part of that crowd.”

So, one of the things that we need to think about in our products or services is how do we appeal to their individual identities, to their aspirational identities in order to make it come to fruition, to raise bar of what it is that they want in the process?

And then, the third principle is to realize that we need to create a buzz from the delivery.

In other words, when you deliver your service, your product or something, how do you create a buzz? How do you over deliver and create an experience beyond any other?

I know that last year during the holidays, my wife and I took some time out. We went and spent Christmas Eve out at a hotel and here we came back in from an evening out and they had on our bed a monogram pillow with ‘A’ for my last name of Abraham. They had rose petals through the room. They had a bubble bath. They had chocolates and champagne and all that was nothing we ordered, it was nothing we asked for. It was something they did to create a buzz, to allow me to sit back and want to talk about the delivery, to want to talk about the experience and I ask you this, is that if you look at your experience, if you look at your customers journey, if you look at that relationship, what are you doing to get them to talk about it, to verbalize it, to post it on social media, to have conversations with their friends saying, “You have to go there. That’s the only place to go.”

Because if you’re not doing that then we’re failing on this principle. We need to get people to have a buzz, to be willing to talk about it and even if there is problems, I get it there is problems, there is challenges that we deal with those at a level that also creates a positive buzz, that you take care of things in a way that allows people to feel good about the relationship they have with you..

So, how does this happen?

I think that we need to understand what I call The Customer Promise Amplifier and in order to do that I’m going to actually jump to the iPad here and get ourselves into building out this framework and again, if you’ve not downloaded the action guide, the customer promise amplifier action guide, just go to MelAbraham.com/session080 to download it or text me MYLEGACY one-word no-spaces to 38470. I will make sure that I get that to you.

So, let’s just jump in to the iPad and let’s work this thing out and see how this works. So, one of the first things to consider in this process is this, is that we’re going to talk about things on a variety of different levels and the first, the first things that we’re going to talk about is really about your execution. So, at what level are you executing at first. We’re going to talk about your execution. We’re going to talk a bit about, we’re going to talk a bit about your customer’s perception.

And then, from there, because based on their perception, I just going to expand this a little bit, based on their perception they will then come up with their buying criteria. So, we’re going to talk a bit about the buying criteria based on your execution and what they’re looking at. We will then touch on the type of customer that you’re creating. You’re creating a relationship, the kind of relationship that you’re creating with a customer becomes important and you have the ability to impact that. And then, the last thing that I want to touch on is what impact that has with your relationship in the marketplace and that customer as we move forward.

So, at the bare minimum, at the bare minimum, when you first start out, we’re really dealing and this is the thing that we talked about in one of the principles is that you can deliver your execution based on their expectations. Effectively, you meet their expectations. Here is the challenge with that is when you meet their expectations, as I said, you’re actually creating a relationship of a commodity. The perception in the marketplace is that you’ve got a commodity that you’re offering and there is no differentiation, there is no distinction, there is no value beyond what they’re using it for.

Their buying criteria then becomes one of “What does it cost me?”

They’re totally focused on one thing and one thing only and that’s the price and we need to get that customer focus off of price and on to value that client focus in order to really nail this thing and in the end what ends up happening is you have satisfied customers and that my friends, will be the beginning of the end for you because satisfied customers end up becoming what I call leavers or runaways. They’re not going to stay with you for long.

So what we need to do is we got to look at this whole piece and say, alright that’s where a lot of people may play but it’s not a place where you want to play. You want to move yourself up? I don’t want to serve at the expectation level. The minimum that I want to serve at is what I call the desires level because if I’m serving their desires, I’ve elevated myself above their expectations because they come into the game with a level of expectations but there is always a little bit where they would desire, just a little more, just a little more.

And so, if you can serve at that desires level what ends up happening is they start to look at you not as a commodity but as a premium, as a premium and when you start to be seen as a premium, what they start to look at from a buying criteria is not as much the cost. They’re still going to focus a bit on the cost but they’re actually going to look at what we call utility.

The impact it’s going to have in their life.

How it works.

The functionality.

The utility of what it does for them in the process.

And now, instead of satisfied customers, you actually have happy customers.

So, this becomes the minimum level. This is the minimum level we need to operate at the desire level, not at the expectation level, at the desire level because with happy customers you have what I call repeaters. Now people are going to come back to you and use you over and over again because they felt that you actually exceeded the expectations that they had.

But there is still another level above that and this is where I actually think we ought to strive for. This is where I think if you take the time to create the relationships, to do the things to really bring this to life, things will change for you dynamically and I’m going to give you a worksheet that’s going to help you build out and amplify this customer promise experience for your customers in doing that.

But now you start to operate at a different place and this is at their unexpected needs level. Completely unexpected just like this whole thing with them washing the car for me and doing some of those things. It was totally unexpected. The car certainly needed a wash, so I’m guessing that’s what they saw. But the fact of the matter is it was totally unexpected and in that process, it made me look at it and say that is extraordinary.

So their perception, if you operated at that unexpected needs level is that you are extraordinary in your delivery, that you’re extraordinary in your service, in your product, you’re extraordinary in that process of creating the connection with your clients, your customers and your marketplace and with that extraordinary type of relationship, with that kind of perception in the marketplace, their buying criteria is based on their identity. They identify with it.

Now you’ve created a deep-seated relationship and connection with them in their heart, in their soul not only in their logical mind that gets them to go this is about me and this is who I am and this is what I want and I want to be part of and they feel like they’re part of a movement, they feel they’re part of a mission. This is what drives; some of these companies that have some tremendous, tremendous success and growth is because they work at the identity level.

Clifbar is one of them. Patagonia is another one. Tom’s shoes, Zappos; all of them what they’re doing is they’re actually; Apply in some cases, they’re a little challenged right now but what’s built Apple is that people identified with them, they worked at the identity level and when you work at the identity level, what you do is you create not only happy customers but you create fans and the impact and this is the cool thing about it is if you do this well and when you do this well and if you take the time and I know none of this is easy and in fact sometimes, it’s going to cost you money to do it but in the long term, it’s going to pay you back in spades because in the long term the impact you’re going to have is now I have evangelists.

People that are willing to go to bat for you.

People that are willing to speak about it.

People that are willing to be vocal about it.

Not someone that says, “Yeah I’m satisfied” and they don’t say anything good bad or indifferent. I want people that are speaking to the hills that are saying, “My gosh, you got to go to Mel.” I’ve had a couple of folks in recent, just recent times that I’ve had the opportunity and the blessing to work with them one-on-one and the response because of the impact they had was tremendous and so, what you need is people that are willing to vocalize this in that way.

We live in a different marketplace today. It’s not about just direct advertising or TV advertising or newspaper ads. It is about word of mouth. It is about that viral kind of nature of contacts and communication and we need to create that viral nature by blowing away our customers, by exceeding their expectations, by far exceeding their expectations and exceeding their desires by working at their unexpected needs level and doing it in such a way that creates them a perception of you being extraordinary and makes them your evangelists. Your invisible (if you will) unpaid sales team that’s out there talking you up and putting it out there for you.

That’s the key to doing this. That’s the key to amplifying your customer promise and your customers’ experience and when you do that successfully, man, the doors are going to open up. As I said, price and cost become a non-issue, competition becomes a non-issue because you set yourself apart, you’ve created the distinctions in a way that people cannot compare you to what’s out there.

Great book if you haven’t read it that talks a bit about this distinction is Blue Ocean Strategy. I love, love, love that book. If you haven’t checked it out, check out Blue Ocean Strategy in the process. So, here’s the deal. The customer promise amplifier action guide that you can download MelAbraham.com/session080 you can download has a worksheet that takes you through a number of processes that allows you to start to understand what it takes to really build out and work through the process of amplifying your customer promise and delivering on it.

So it’s not, hear me clearly on this, it’s not about just making the promise. It’s about delivering on it. It’s about fulfilling that promise in a way that your customers, your clients, our marketplace are talking about it all the time. So, you’re going to go through, we’re going to talk about three different categories of things that you can do in the action guide. We’re going to talk about your baseline.

What’s the baseline things that you can do?

What’s the aspirational things that you can do?

What’s the experience you can create for your customers and clients?

So, do me a favor. Download that action guide, work it through, get it implemented in your business, get it out there in such a way that you start to see things. I get it, you’re going to have to invest your time because it takes a little while to create these experiences and build that trust that the experience is going to be consistent experience over and over again. But when you do, man what happens is you start to create momentum in the business.

So take that guide, work through it with your people, work through it with the people that are the face to the customer people, your internal people. Create it part of your business identity to go out there and create extraordinary experiences to wow them in a way that makes them go, “Oh my gosh, I got to tell the world about them.”

So, I hope that this serves you. I hope that you found this of value. Fulfilling and exceeding your customer promise will be the key to transcending price objections, competitive impacts and that will do it. So, do me a favor. If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you subscribe because I got a lot of these tools, these templates and these success tips for you in business, in wealth and success, in thought leadership, in thoughtpreneurship that I’m going to keep doing on a weekly basis. So, subscribe. Be part of the community.

Love to hear from you also. So, if you’ve got any questions just leave them for me at AskMelNow.com. You can go there. You can leave me your questions. We will make sure we get it on an upcoming episode. And one last favor. If you would do me a favor is that there is probably people that you know that these kinds of tips, these things could serve them, could help them, share it with a friend. Go ahead and share this, post it, put it out there. Let’s get it out to the world so I can be their mentor, their success mentor, their entrepreneurial mentor in their back pocket.

This is the way I can get access to as many people as possible and give them access to me at this level. So, do me a favor. Share it, subscribe and until we see each other on the next episode,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

— End Transcript —

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Like this? Please share it and help a few more people bring their dreams out of the darkness and give life to them again.  Cheers, Mel

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[melabraham]

Defining Your Business Identity & Culture

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— Summary —

In this episode, we are going to talk about defining your business persona and creating a business identity. It is how your customers, employees, team and the people around you identify with your company and brand. We need to be really particular about creating an identity for our business.

If we do not get it right, we have no direction as an organization which leads to hiring people that don’t fit our identity needs. Ultimately you are not going to be able to build loyalty in your business. But if you do it right, you are going to create a group of people that are on a mission, they are going to be totally dedicated for your cause and outcome. All these result in the creation of a valued brand. So, what you need to know is that your culture is your aquarium and you need to keep it cleansed. Your tactics are driven by values that you set in the organization and the results are the byproduct of the identity that you create.

Business Persona Cycle

Values: The very first things that you want to define are the values of your organization. It is how you make decisions. If you are consistent with the values, it will lead to a specific culture.

Culture: When culture is done right, your team and employees will be there to follow your cause and not just to get their pay checks. You need to have a culture that serves something far greater.

Dialogue: This is the talk and it could be conversations about anything. Interactions between employees, team members, management and the team are all dialogues which build what we call a movement.

Tactics: The dialogue and movement determine the tactics that we are going to take. They are the specific actions that you put in place so that they result in certain desirable outcomes.

Systems/Processes: When we systematize the thinking, culture, dialogue and tactics, we have something known as a process. These systems or processes drive the results of your organization or business.

Results: They are what we want; our ultimate goal. When you get the results that you desire, don’t stop there as the cycle continues and you have to go back to your values. These are the keys to building your business persona.

— Begin Transcript —

Hey there, Mel Abraham here, the author of the #1 best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Solution and the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy where we teach you how to capture, package and monetize what you know, the ideas in your head, the wisdom and experience and expertise that you have so you can have greater impact, greater income and greater freedom. Welcome to this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Solution show.

In the last episode, we talked a bit about your personal identity and how that is important, how that impacts the people around you, how it impacts the results that you’re getting and taught you the personal identity cycle. In this episode, we’re going to take that similar concept and talk about business. Defining your business persona, how is it that you create a business identity and yes a business does have an identity, a business identity needs to be created in a specific way.

In fact, someone people might call it a brand but the question is how do your customers, how do the people around you, your team, your employees identify with your company and your brand? So, we’re going to jump into this in a minute, but you know what? There’s an action guide that goes along with this. If you want to download the action guide, then just simply go to MelAbraham.com/session079 and you will be able to download the action guide. And if you’re not at your computer, maybe you’re out running, you’re doing some errands, you’re listening to me on the podcast then do me a favor? Just text me. Text MYLEGACY one-word to 38470 and I will send you the download link, you can get it when you get back to your computer so you have all the tools and templates and worksheets to make that happen.

So, let’s jump into this whole thing of the business persona and why identity in a business is so important and this is kind of an interesting thing for a left-brain thinker like me, an accountant to talk about because a lot of times, we get driven by results and I’m looking at financial statements, I’m looking at all the types of things that are driving the financial results but what’s really driving the financial results are the people and the people are driven by the identity and so what we need to do is really be specific in particular about creating an identity.

And so, here’s the thing. If we don’t get this right, this is the challenge that we’ve got. If we don’t get this right, ultimately, we’ve got no direction as an organization.

As a business, what happens is that everyone is doing their own thing and you will find, you may have seen it in the past, in places that you’ve worked, places that you’ve even run where there wasn’t a clear identity and therefore people were doing their own thing and they weren’t consistent in the choices they were making that led to supporting the identity that you intended to create. So, what ultimately happens is we have no direction and people feel lost in the process.

Second, what ultimately happens is that you end up taking on people that don’t fit the organization.

You hire the wrong people. Maybe, they’re skilled and talented which is great but they had the wrong value system and they don’t have the right identity to be in your organization to support the identity that you are trying to create in the organization. And when you do that, you create conflict within an organization.

So, you might hire the wrong people or you hire the right people but you got them in the wrong seats. That’s another thing. So, what ultimately happens is that you put them in a place where you think that they can serve but it doesn’t fit and when it doesn’t fit they’re in the wrong seats, it’s still going to create conflict and strife and problems in a business.

So, the other thing that will happen if we don’t get this right is that you’re not going to build loyalty.

Brand loyalty comes from brand identity. In other words, people identify with the brand. They want to be part of the movement. They want to part of the position. They want to be part of what you stand for.

Whether it’s team players.

Whether it’s customers.

Whether it’s your vendors.

People want to be around it because they identify with your identity and if you’re not clear on that identity then people have nothing to identify with and that becomes a problem. So, you lose the loyalty of the people around you.

But here is the cool thing, when we get this right, ultimately, when we get this right, you’re going to create a group of people that are on a mission.

They’re driven. In fact, I had a conversation today with someone who is working with this company for twenties. He’s made a ton of money and he doesn’t have to work anymore and the reason he works and the reason he goes to work each and every day and works long hours and travels a lot of miles for this business is because of the identity, the loyalty that he’s created. He feels he’s on a mission to serve, not only serve the customers that he is serving, to serve the mission of the organization but to serve the people that work for him and the people that work around him and a loyalty to that.

So when we get this identity right, you’re going to find that you’re going to end up with people on a mission. The other thing that happens when we get this right is that people are going to be totally dedicated. They’re going to be totally loyal and dedicated to the outcome.

So, I will give you a for instance. Back in the day, there was a scare with peanuts at one point of time. One of my clients, Clifbar, they create health foods, breakfast bars, not breakfast bar but workout bars and those kinds of things and because of the scare in nuts and everything, they started to have a problem with their organization but all of the people in the organization, all the employees, all the team members, everyone were so much engaged in their mission, in their identity, they said, “Not to worry, we’re going to find alternatives, we’re going to make this work.”

And they actually took a dip but they came out the other side with a roar. It was an amazing thing to watch but it was because everyone rallied behind the mission of the company, the identity of the company and dedicated themselves to finding the new outcome.

Another thing that comes to mind on this is if you ever watched the movie Apollo 13; it’s an amazing movie. You got to see it if you haven’t seen it. I’ve watched it over and over again. But that one scene Ed Harris walks into the board room and says, “We got three people, we’ve got our astronauts stuck up there and we got to figure out a way to get them back to earth safely and alive.” And he dumps a box of stuff on the boardroom table and he says, “This is what they have up there to work with. Now let’s figure out how to get them home safely with this.”

And that’s what they did. They all worked together. They dedicated themselves to a specific outcome and when you got the right identity and you put the right people in the right seats, you’re going to end up with people that are going to dedicate themselves to getting that outcome.

Which ultimately creates a valued brand.

Your valued brand is going to be built on the foundation of the identity that you create out in the marketplace and that identity that you create out in the marketplace is a result of the things that you create internally in the organization. So, when we do this, we ultimately end up with

People that are dedicated,

People on a mission, and

A valued brand.

So, we got to get it right. So, in order to get it right, what do you need to know and then, how does the business persona cycle work?

So, what do you need to know, let’s jump into that. Let’s figure out what are the key elements that you need to take away to know first and then, I will walk you through the persona cycle in a moment.

So, the first thing is this. The culture is your aquarium.

It’s an interesting paradigm but think about this. If I’ve got an aquarium with some fish in it and that aquarium isn’t getting cleansed and it’s dirty and the water is dirty, the fish start to get sick. So, I take those fish out of the aquarium and I put them in clean water and they get healthy again and then, I take them back and I put them into the aquarium that’s still dirty and I didn’t clean it. What happens to them?

Exactly! They’re going to get sick again. See the aquarium is the culture. The culture in your organization is either going to allow people, customers, everyone to thrive or it’s going to suck the life out of them and that’s the challenge. Your culture is going to be driving a whole lot of things in it and business culture will drive profits, drive actions, drive dedication, drive loyalty, drive a lot of thing. So culture.

Then the tactics are driven by the values.

In other words, the actions you take are going to be actions that are consistent with the values that you set in your organization. I know that when we talk about business, we want a mission statement, we want a vision statement. Well the vision and mission statement are built on the values that you want to create in the organization, that you want to support in the organization as you move forward in building a business which ultimately leads to this.

Is that the results are driven as a byproduct of the identity that you create.

In other words, with organizations, I know this is going to be alien coming from an accountant that loves numbers and results is that if I take care of the culture, if I take care of the team, if I do the right things and I build a loyal following and I build a valued brand, the bottom line results will become the byproduct. If all I do is crack a whip, beat them with a stick and say, “Results, results, results” and that’s the only thing that matters is the numbers and the results and it’s the only thing I focus on and I don’t focus on culture, I don’t focus on values, I don’t focus on identity then yeah, I’m going to get some results but are they going to last? I’m going to suggest not.

I think that you’re going to lose people, you’re going to lose good people. They’re not going to be dedicated, they’re going to look for the first exit because they don’t feel appreciated, they don’t feel cared for and they don’t feel valued and they don’t feel fulfilled and when those things are lacking in an organization, you’ve got a bad culture, a poison culture and I think that ultimately, it will show in your results. So, let’s get the aquarium right. Let’s get all of that right. The results will then become the byproduct.

I’m not saying not to pay attention to the bottom line but I am saying that if the bottom line is the only thing you’re paying attention to, it’s a mistake. I know coming from an accountant, you’re going wait a second, that’s blasphemy. Well, no. It’s the way business should work because remember, I say that businesses they’re to create community, serve society and live your dreams. So, if we’re going to create community and serve society, it’s not just with the results of the bottom line.

So, if that’s what you need to know and you understand why, what’s the business persona cycle? It’s similar to the personal identity cycle but it’s focused on business. So, let’s jump into the business persona cycle. I’m going to jump to my iPad. We’re going to walk through this. I’m going to draw this out for you and let’s walk through this.

All right so, if we’re going to look at the Business Persona Cycle, let me just. So, I want to define the persona of the business. Once again, just like in the Personal Identity Cycle, the very first thing that I want to really start to define is what are the values of the organization and again, this is something that we can dive deep into. I don’t have the time in this episode to go into it but we need to define our values first to really start to understand

How we make choices

How we make decisions in the organization

How we’re going to make those decisions in an organization

Because we need to be consistent with those values. When we’re consistent with those values, what you’re going to see is that the consistent application of values will lead to a specific culture.

Now, whether that culture is what you’re looking for in your business, I don’t know but if you do it right and the values are done properly, the culture that will result is exactly what it is you’re trying to create. So, the values will result in the culture which ultimately when we get the culture right, remember, that’s the aquarium that everyone is swimming in. So, we want that water that they’re swimming in to be rich and full of nutrients, something that they love coming to that, they feel fulfilled and that really starts to feed more than just their pocket. It’s almost like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Fact of the matter is, once the bills are paid, they’re going to want more than just the money in the process. From that culture, what that’s going to create is what I call a dialogue. This is the talk. This could be the water cooler talk, it could be the talk between the management team, it could be interactions between them, it could be the dialogue that ultimately results in a movement. But it is through that the values and that culture that when we build on that and then create that dialogue, the conversations that we have internally in the organization, that ultimately we then determine the tactics that we’re going to take. The tactics that we’re going to take.

In other words, what are the specific actions that we’re going to put into place? Now those tactics are going to result in certain types of results but ultimately what ends up happening is that from the tactics once we see how they’re going we’re going to create Systems or Processes because if we’re trying to create consistency in an organization, in a business what we do is we start to systematize the thinking, the culture so we take that culture, we create a dialogue, we create tactics and then we systematize or process those tactics so we can get consistent results.

Whether you like the food or not which I don’t, McDonalds has a process and you get consistent crappy burgers. Sorry about that. I had to put an editorial in there. But you get consistent results so what ultimately happens is that we end up with systems which then start to drive our ultimate results. Now once we get the results, we don’t just sit back and rest, we actually look at it and say, “Alright, is this the results we want? Does it affect our values?” and there we get the cycle.

So, what ultimately happens is we start with our values which creates our culture in the organization which create the dialogue and the movement in the organization which ultimately results in the tactics we’re going to use to take our product to the market, our service to the market, our people to the market; whatever it is and those tactics will then be systematized and be developed into processes which will create our results which ultimately may tweak or adjust our values, our culture and continue until we have this refined cycle continually growing.

This is the key to building out what I call the business persona. Once you do that, when you do this effectively,

People that work for you understand the culture

People that work for you will become loyal to you

People that work for you will fight for the outcomes you’re looking for

> Because it fulfils them in the process.

Now when it comes to your customers, they understand the culture of the organization, they understand the values of the organization, they understand your persona, they then start to do business with you not just because of the products and services but because of the identity that they identify with out of the organization, the persona that you have. And so, what you do is you create them.

Look at Apple for instance. Apple computers and I’m an Apple fanatic. Apple computers by all measurements are easily way overpriced from a utility standpoint but identify with the company, identify with their identity and how they do things and their product styling and the feel of the products and I pay for it and I realize that I could get the same utility out of a cheaper computer if I didn’t go to Apple but I still go to Apple. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what we’re trying to create in the process and it is not about focus on the bottom line, it’s about focus on the business persona which creates a valued brand internally and externally as you move forward.

So that’s the business persona cycle. I hope that you found this of value to you and as you go forward. Do me a favor? If you haven’t done so already, make sure you get the action guide. Just go to MelAbraham.com/session079. If you’re not at your computer, once again, you can text me. Text MYLEGACY one-word to 38470. I will make sure that I send you the download link so you can get the guide for this session.

If you got questions or if you are having challenges in business, success, wealth, whatever it is; send me a question. Just go to AskMelNow.com. Leave me your question. I will make sure that I answer it on one of my upcoming episodes so we can make sure that you are supported in the journey that you are on, that you are supported trying to create the wealth, create the success, create the life and the freedom and the peace of mind that you’re looking to create.

And if you haven’t done so already, two more things that I’m going to ask you to do. First make sure you subscribe so we can stay together. I want to have a dialogue with you. Leave me your comments, leave me your question and do that but also share this with a friend. Get this information out there. I’m putting it out there to support people, to help people, to give them the tools that have allowed me to do the things that I have been blessed to do in my life with the businesses and the clients, the entrepreneurs, the thought leaders, thoughtpreneurs out there to help them develop businesses that fulfilled them, that helped them develop practices that fulfilled them and give them the income they need to live the life that they want to give them the freedom and peace of mind and I want that for you too.

So, I hope that this serves you and I look forward to hearing from you and until we get a chance to meet in the next episode,

May your vision be grand, your journey epic and your legacy significant!

See you soon. Cheers. Bye!!

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