When you say you’re going to do something it’s very important to make sure that you do it. I know so many people who talk a big game and say they’re going to do something. The next day, they kind of change their mind or they’ve already given up on the idea.
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It’s sad to see, but this happens a lot at meetups or networking events. Noobies walk through the door and attend their first meetup or conference. They are all excited about marketing or real estate or whatever the event is about. They join a Facebook group or two and make a Facebook page for their idea.
2 weeks later, they’re watching an entire season of a new show on Netflix and telling you that they decided to try that thing out later when they have more time.
Ummm, what? Are you okay with an average life? Have fun with that.
When you back out or go against your word over and over again, you are telling yourself it’s ok to change your mind, to not commit. The bad thing about that is that you’re never ever going to follow through on anything if you’re not even able to commit to the smallest of things.
Excuses sound best to the people making them up.
An example of committing is waking up right when your alarm goes off in the morning. Don’t hit the snooze button. If you’re hitting snooze, you’re starting your day off telling yourself that it’s OK to not commit to the smallest decisions.
You set your alarm at that time for a certain reason. So why do you think it’s OK to snooze five times in a row?
It’s going to make you late to work, late to your appointment, late to your meeting, and then you’re going to have that excuse that you’ve been stuck in traffic and that’s why you’re late.
And guess what? Nobody cares about your excuses. Accidents and traffic happen every day. The expectation is that you should have planned for it.
If you’re late to an interview or to a first time appointment with a client, they’re going to remember that you were late.
The thing that happens when you commit and you stay with the smallest of things, is that you’re able to over time see yourself accomplishing huge things. You’re going to notice that as you commit, as you go through your days, things become easier.
Staying true to your word also goes hand in hand with understanding what to say “yes” to and what you need to say “no” to.
You obviously can’t say yes to everything because time is limited. You don’t have time in the day to do everything that people want you to do.
Think about it. Have you ever said “yes” to too many things and ended up dropping the ball on many of them?
Exactly. I bet you have! I certainly have been there before. I’m getting better and better at knowing when my plate is full and telling people no. I literally turn down referrals friends send to me. I appreciate the thoughts but am staying focused on my main things.
To summarize: Commit. Do the work. Keep your word. Say no when your plate is full.
When you do this, people will take note.
You want people who interact with you to say, “wow, he really does everything he says he’ll do, or she always delivers.”
It’s so frustrating dealing with people or trying to help friends that say they’re going to take action but then let excuses or laziness take over.
Here’s an example. This one guy reached out to me and asked to borrow some of my time.
Literally an hour before, he rescheduled. I let it slide the first time, things come up.
We rescheduled. It happened again a second time. After that, I never really took meeting up seriously and kind of wrote it off.
So don’t be that person… honor your word or you’ll be like the boy who cried wolf. When you need help, people won’t be there for you because they’ll think you won’t take action.
When you commit to the process, you will find a way or MAKE one.
Are you just interested in what you’re doing? Or are you truly, fully committed?
In an Eric Thomas motivational video, he says:
I need you need to have heart because there’s some things you just can’t get without perseverance. You’ve got to have heart, because sometimes you’ll get hurt, and gotta be able to bounce back.
You gotta be resilient, sometimes you’re gonna face obstacles, you might pass the test on the 4th try, not the 1st, not the 2nd, not the 3rd, and you gotta have the ability to get back up and act like you never failed in the first place.
Commit. Do the work. Stay true to your word.
Be the person who shows up, gives 100% when nobody is watching, and watch as your dreams become reality by the day.
If you settle for mediocrity and come up with excuses, even for the smallest of things, you’ll start stacking up loss after loss, until you realize that you’re not able to commit to anything in life.
Steps you can take today
Actively self-evaluate your commitments. Everything I talk about in other episodes ties in with today’s message.
Some things I’ve preached over and over is that you should have goals planned and written down somewhere. Those goals should turn into actionable tasks that you can literally block time on your calendar to work on.
Look at your calendar (which hopefully has some things on there relevant to your short and long term goals). How many things are you actually following through on?
If your calendar is blank, work on getting some activities on there that will move the needle on your goals.
If you have things on your calendar, consistently check and make sure you are doing everything on your calendar that you can. If you find that you are pushing something back over and over or are not able to complete all the tasks, scale back a bit. Minimize the list of things you’re working on. Focus on less and give it your full attention. Then watch your productivity and progress skyrocket.
“You’ve come too far to quit now, you need to get a reward for it.” – Eric Thomas
You only live once. As overused as this phrase is, it’s absolutely true. Too many people let the fear of failing or the unknown stop them from pursuing their dreams.
Today’s episode is to inspire you to stop caring about what others think and to take action now… the only fear you are allowed to have is the fear of having regrets when on your deathbed.
Go out and make your dreams reality TODAY!
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” -Mae West
One of my biggest fears is looking back at my life when I’m at the end and having a feeling of regret:
Regret of not trying everything possible
Regret of not giving my all
Regret of not having visited certain countries or having certain experiences
YOLO, you only live once. While this phrase is thrown around a lot in rap songs and pretty overused, I really do love it.
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Why? Because it’s literally true. You really do only live once. You have only ONE shot at this life.
So often, we get caught up in worrying about what others think and how we’ll look if we try something and fail. It’s so easy to be afraid of trying new things or stepping outside of our comfort zone.
But… when we step back and take a look at the fact that tomorrow is not promised, what is there really to be afraid of?
Why not take a risk? Why not try something new?
Why not tell your crush how you feel?
Why not try that new business idea out?
What’s the worst that can happen?
That is something that you should ask yourself all the time. You’ll be surprised to find that the answer typically isn’t as scary as you may initially expect.
You want to start a business. What’s the worst that can happen? You raise money from investors, the business fails, investors lose money, and you might take a loss. Sucks, but it happens quite often.
You learn from your mistakes, you try again, and you do better next time.
As you listen to more and more content and podcasts about successful CEOs of popular companies, you realize that there were tons of failures along the way.
Many CEOs have a graveyard of ideas that didn’t work out for one reason or another.
Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from taking action.
On the other side of the coin, you can also ask yourself: what’s the best that can happen?
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What’s the best that can happen?
Let’s use the same example. You start a business. You raise money from investors. You do so well that you grow quickly and hire a successful team.
You go public and get acquired, have a great exit and become financially set for the rest of your life. The investors get a huge return on their investment.
To be fair, it’s not usually going to be black and white. It’s not like you either feel miserably or succeed flawlessly.
Usually, we tend to end up somewhere between the extremes and work to improve incrementally as time goes on.
We’re not perfect, but we are capable of more than we often give ourselves credit for.
I can think of countless things I’ve tried or done that turned out to be easier than I expected.
For example, some of you may be deathly afraid of public speaking. I’ve had the opportunity to speak in front of people a lot lately, especially in real estate.
I sponsor lunch at several offices around town and tell real estate agents the types of deals I’m looking for. I’ve spoken in front of as many as 60-70 people here in the last few weeks.
I jumped in front of the crowd at a recent real estate meetup to talk about a deal I had as I was looking for buyers.
You’ll find that the more you do something, the less frightening it becomes. You know what to expect, you have your pitch rehearsed.
What’s the worst that can happen, right?
In the meetup example, the worst that could happen was that there might not be anybody who wanted the deal I was pitching.
How about the best case scenario? I would find a buyer and make my profit margin.
To be completely honest, it didn’t end up how I wanted. I did meet some buyers who wanted other deals, but nobody really wanted the one I was pitching. Oh well. Like the Wayne Gretzky quote goes, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
So that’s my message for today… what is there to be afraid of? Dominate your day. Face your fears and overcome them.
The only fear you should have is the fear of regret
Many people experience massive regret on their deathbeds. I’ve talked to older people who envy many of the things I’ve done: skydiving, scuba diving in Thailand, hiking in California, etc. They say “I’m too old to do that now.”
That is so terribly sad to hear… I can honestly say that if I die tomorrow, I would go knowing that I literally lived my life to the fullest possible extent.
I hope that’s not the case, because there’s still so much I want to accomplish, see, and do, but you get the point.
Let this inspire you to take action today. There will always be fear – do it anyway.
Don’t let fear stop you from taking action.
Facing fear is much better than looking back at your deathbed and having a list of regrets. Take action today. Dream big. Do big.
Face your fears today
Think about a few things you’ve been wanting to do for awhile but haven’t due to fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of what others think.
Create that Facebook page, or YouTube channel, or blog. Start putting out content. Stay consistent.
Others may laugh or make rude comments about your little traction at first… let them. Keep your head down, let that negative energy fuel you and make you want to succeed EVEN MORE.
Luckily, I’ve never really dealt with “haters.” At least nobody has talked bad about me to my face…. But even if they did when I started my podcast, now the laughing has likely stopped… people now ask how I grew the podcast to 19K+ monthly downloads.
The answer is surprisingly simple… I stayed consistent. I kept going despite all odds. And that’s how I did it. No paid marketing, no social media influencer connections, none of that. Just good, ‘ol fashioned discipline and consistency.
The same can be done with anything else. Pick your craft and then commit to doing the work. The only fear I will allow you to have is the fear of regret. Be very afraid of living a mediocre life. You are capable of far more!
Go get it.
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West
Perfect is impossible… trying to achieve perfect on anything can leave us frustrated or worse, afraid to start. It’s important to remember to take massive, IMPERFECT action.
The perfect book that was never released has 0 sold copies. At the end of the day, DONE is better than perfect.
Here is the Thomas Frank video I referred to in today’s episode with some great tips to solve perfectionism:
For almost a year now, I’ve been doing a weekly phone call with my accountability partner and friend that I met at a local entrepreneur meetup. I can’t stress how awesome it is going to events and meeting like-minded individuals.
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I shared advice that I continue to hear over and over across various podcasts and books and that I truly resonate with…
And that advice is literally the title of this episode. I told him that DONE is better than perfect.
The perfect book that was never released has 0 sold copies.
I told him a few tips and tricks that I follow such as time blocking and setting deadlines. At the end of the day, you have to do the best you can in an allotted amount of time and then be done with it.
After our call, I searched for a YouTube video on this topic to find a message that put together all the words that I kind of thought of but couldn’t piece together eloquently enough on our call.
I found a great video from Thomas Frank. I actually just followed him recently after hearing him on Pat Flynn’s podcast, Smart Passive Income (which is a great show by the way if you’re looking for another podcast to start listening to).
Thomas has over 1.3m subscribers on YouTube and the video I’m referring to is called How to overcome perfectionism (and the anxiety it causes).
In the video, Thomas mentions that he’s always struggled with perfectionism and trying to get every little detail just right.
Over the years, he’s gotten better at this because to put out tons of content consistently, you have to get over the fact that you are not going to be perfect.
He mentions that there are two types of perfectionism: adaptive and maladaptive.
Adaptive perfectionists are motivated by high standards, which is a good thing. They are not hyper critical about their work in the invest a lot of time and effort into various projects.
Maladaptive is, on the other hand, not so great. Maladaptive perfectionists feel constant pressure to achieve unrealistic results. They often feel anxiety and depression because they’re holding themselves to standards that they can’t often reach.
The biggest pain point mentioned that resonated with me the most was that constant tweaking causes you to take too long to finish and move on.
I understand the struggle of not wanting to start something because it seems overwhelming. I used to be that person. But I’ve gotten better with doing things fast, implementing quickly and releasing an imperfect version 1.
There’s always room to tweak and iterate.
Here’s a few tips Thomas shared in that video:
Embrace imperfection. No one is perfect.
Get started and let your work become a mess.
Work with a deadline.
Focus on getting a little better each time. Skill and knowledge come through countless iterations.
Don’t compare yourself against others. Compare you vs you. An example he mentions is that you can’t compare your first YouTube video to someone else’s 500th. It’s simply not a fair comparison.
After the phone call, my friend thanked me for my advice and for sending over the video as it was totally relatable.
Just a few days later, he came across an idea in a training he attended and shared it with me. He had implemented it that day and told me how amazing it was.
The idea is to act as if you have different subjects and classes throughout the day. Take a “school” approach when scheduling your day.
Start and end new tasks on the hour and move from one to the next. On his first day of trying this he told me: “I feel I’ve been super productive and my mind has been fresh all day.”
I’m a huge fan of time blocking but I never thought of it from this angle, which really does help to organize in your day where you stay interested and engaged in your work.
It’s easy to get stuck in the flow and grind of one subject, but if we don’t set deadlines, we may be using our time inefficiently.
Imagine if you give yourself the entire day to write the perfect blog post. If you do this, you’ll find a way to take up most of the day, if not the entire day, drafting the perfect post.
The funny thing is, if you give yourself just one hour to do the same blog post, you’ll get a pretty good finish product that is concise and to the point.
Heck, maybe it’ll be even better than the one you gave yourself all day to write.
The beauty of setting deadlines is that you must stay focused and concise. Once you finish that task, you can spend the rest of your day doing other activities that are also important instead of just spinning your wheels trying to come up with the perfect headline for 2 hours.
For any of you listening who struggle with perfectionism or the inability to think or act quickly, really take this advice to heart.
Take a school schedule approach and see how much more you are able to accomplish in a day.
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
Here is the Thomas Frank video I referred to in today’s post with some great tips to solve perfectionism:
Time is truly our most valuable and limited resource. When we learn to optimize our time and “scale ourselves” by doing things like delegating or outsourcing non-critical tasks, we are able to do far more with less.
This episode dives into some of my tips and tricks for doing more with less and optimizing your time.
I mentioned some Linkin Park lyrics on a recent podcast episode from the song “In The End.” The words say: “time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down to the end of the day the clock ticks life away.”
Time is so valuable. We’ve all heard the phrase “time is money.” But it doesn’t really set in or make true sense until we take the time to figure out what our time is really worth.
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The beggar and the millionaire have the same 24 hours in a day. But how they utilize those hours are worlds apart.
There’s only so much we can do in 24 hours. Science and countless books talk about the importance of a good night’s rest (8 hours a night for adults is recommended).
I’ve met people who sleep 4 or 5 hours a night consistently thinking they are getting more done. But then they are burnt out and cranky… how much quality work can you do when you’re operating in those conditions?
So assuming we are sleeping 7 or 8 hours a night, we really only have 16-17 hours a day to make it happen.
What does your day look like?
Let’s look at a day through the lens of two people. They could both have the same position at the same company, yet have completely different days.
Let’s say the first person is Average Abe (I’m just making this up but it’s what I imagine a bunch of people do across America and the world):
6:45am – wake up, get ready for work
7:15am – leave to work (listening to terrible radio hosts that are not funny)
8:00am – 5:00pm – work, browse social media, work, coffee break, work
5:00pm – 5:40pm – sit in traffic to get home (while listening to pointless radio or just music)
6:00pm – 11:00pm – eat microwave dinner and watch Netflix or TV 11:30pm – go to bed
In short, Average Abe basically going through the motions and doing the bare minimum required. Other than putting in a few hours of effort at work, the learning and growth stops there.
Let’s look at Super Sally’s schedule (this is what I try to do for myself as well):
5:00am – wake up, do a 1 hour morning routine
6:00am – healthy breakfast, pack meal preps for work or the day, head to gym
6:30am – 7:30am – workout while gym is less crowded (listen to podcasts or watch informative youtube videos while on the treadmill or elliptical).
8:00am – 5:00pm – work, user a timer and time block tasks, stay focused on one thing at a time
5:00-5:40 – commute home while listening to podcasts or audio books
6:00-7:00pm- cook and eat healthy dinner
7:00pm – 10pm – read in an area she wants to grow in, work on creating content for a passion project (blog, podcast, youtube, etc.), research and pursue a side-hustle
10:00pm – hit the bed
Both people can literally have the same job and pay, but you can bet that Super Sally is going to beat Average Abe hands down. Sally in this example is utilizing any down time to continue learning and growing, to get better in all areas of her life.
She’s going to get so much further because she is actively working to learn during times when Average Abe is just plugging in hours watching pointless television or shows.
There’s an amazing quote that says “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” You can literally outperform people who are naturally smart and gifted by working harder than them more consistently.
There’s a bunch of ways you can optimize your time. Here’s a few things that I do and recommend.
Listen to podcasts or audiobooks during down time (when you’re driving, or waiting in a lobby for a doctor’s appointment, etc.)
Outsource as much as possible. Basically anything that isn’t your core competency should be outsourced.
For me right now, my main focus is generating real estate leads and closing deals (that’s my income producing activity with highest return on time spent).
I get my groceries ordered online and delivered to my house. I hired a few virtual assistants (VAs) to do real estate research recently. I’m working on having them handle the editing and uploading of my audio for podcasts and video content for YouTube.
I even hired a housekeeper for the first time ever last week and it was amazing. The house has never smelled so clean.
Some of you may be thinking, “But Chris, housekeepers and ordering groceries online is expensive.” Let’s do some math.
Sure, it’s $120 bucks I could have saved by doing it on my own, but what if I got a real estate deal in that hour with a $20K profit margin?
I could cover 166 home cleanings. If I have her clean my house once a month, that is 13 years of a clean house. Imagine if it takes 2 hours a month to keep my house clean. 13 years of time bought at 2 hours a month comes out to 312 hours saved.
I bet if I spend 312 hours on real estate I’ll get several more deals. The profit from those deals can more than cover other tasks that seem expensive to some, but really aren’t when you think about it like this.
I know people that try to save every single dollar possible. They want to mow their own lawns, clean their own homes, get their own groceries, etc. It’s really a mindset shift to get from thinking like that to thinking the way I’m talking about on this episode.
Another time saver is ordering online. Better yet, do the subscription set up on Amazon so it’s “one and done” for anything you use frequently. I have 2 cats and a dog, and all of their food, treats, and medicines come in automatically every few months.
Once you start to outsource, automate, and scale yourself by doing things like hiring VAs, you can increase your output significantly. If you’re stuck doing everything in your life or business, from meal prepping to shopping to cleaning your house, you’ll find yourself stretched thin.
Here’s another bit of advice I want to give you that I really need to take myself. Know when to draw the line. Sometimes you have to make exceptions to being productive 24/7.
Your family or friends may want to grab dinner and spend time with you, and that may mean you have to drive 30 minutes through traffic to a part of town you hate driving to. Ya gotta do it sometimes!
I sometimes find it hard to “turn off” and relax. Even when I’m watching Netflix with my girlfriend, I feel like I need to be typing notes out for my next blog post or coming up with ways to improve my website or content.
I think this is something that many productive and self-driven people face. We feel guilty if we’re ever not working on our business.
A piece of advice I heard on a podcast recently is to go ALL-IN at the task at hand. When you’re working, focus on that 100%. When you’re spending time with friends or loved ones, don’t check your email.
As you continue to get better at this, you can sit back and relax more because so many things will be getting taken care of on autopilot even when you are not physically working.
It’s an amazing feeling to come home to a sparkling house. To come home to the yard being freshly cut while you were out for the day doing other things.
Even to walk to the door to get groceries that were delivered. It’s time you save that you can spend on things you want to do, like reading a book that you previously “didn’t have time” to read or growing your side-hustle or business.
Can you imagine spending just 5 or 10 hours more a week on your core competency, the thing that you are the best at or that gives you the highest monetary return for your time spent?
Heck, even spending just 2 more hours a week on something. Your life will change drastically.
I urge you to try and identify a few things in your life that you can potentially delegate or outsource completely. You can come back and thank me for all the time I’ve helped you buy back. Enjoy!
A marketing or sales funnel is a series of landing pages strung together with an end goal in mind: to get the user to take specific action (such as entering an email address in exchange for a free ebook).
A great tool I use to easily create landing pages is called ClickFunnels. You can get a free 2 week trial here and also learn more about funnels and how they can help you: http://bit.ly/2qkv68B
If you’re not sure what funnels even are and want to start with some basics, Russell Brunson’s book, Dot Com Secrets, is a great place to start. Get it for free here (just pay shipping): http://bit.ly/2EAssAF
Marketing funnels are becoming more and more popular for business owners and entrepreneurs. Even if you don’t really know what a marketing funnel is, chances are that you’ve probably been through one.
A marketing or sales funnel is a series of landing pages strung together with an end goal in mind: to get the user to take specific actions. These funnels are tools to capture leads and drive user experience.
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Unlike a website where there are many options and chances of users jumping around is high, funnels offer set options.
In an opt-in page, for example, you offer a freebie (something of value) in exchange for information like an email address.
The only options the user has is to put an email address in to receive the freebie or back out. If they are interested and enter their email address, you capture a lead.
It’s called a funnel because like an actual funnel, a lot of users will come in through organic or paid traffic sources. However, as potential customers go through the funnel, click on pages and select items, not all convert into buyers. Some will drop off, and the number of potential customers that continue through towards the shopping cart narrows.
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If you’ve read any marketing book or taken a basic class about it, you know that most customers don’t buy at first sight or contact.
It takes multiple messages and “touches” to get your message to them and many people will argue that you shouldn’t even have a website, just funnels.
I personally use WordPress for my website with funnels in conjunction. ClickFunnels. ClickFunnels allows you to build landing pages easily with drag and drop functionality. My mom could probably figure it out.
Here’s an example of a funnel. Let’s say you saw an ad on Facebook and clicked on it. You then see a single page with an informative video and a few fields to fill in your info.
The only options you have are to leave the page, or to plug in your name and email to get a “free ebook” or whatever is promised on the other side.
Something that is very popular lately is offering a free book where you just pay for shipping (this is referred to as the free + shipping book funnel).
I’ve seen a TON of successful entrepreneurs doing this. Dean Graziosi with Millionaire Success Habits, Ed Mylett with #MAXOUT, and Brendon Burchard with High Performance Habits all offer free + shipping.
Some people have their entire website based off of simple funnels with high quality copywriting, or sales writing, which is basically powerful sales scripts.
Really good copywriters can run you thousands of dollars apparently, although I have done my own copy for funnels I’ve built up to this point.
These people are trained sales script pros… they write in a way that invokes user emotion and really strikes the chords of pain that cause people to want to buy to solve whatever problem it is that you have a solution to.
It is easy to put funnels together using software like ClickFunnels. I’m talking, VERY easy. You can literally have a decent, basic funnel up and running in 15-20 minutes if you have the copy and images ready to go.
You can add upsells and downsells, host membership courses, or even just offer a free gift such as an ebook in exchange for an email address to build your list.
An example of an upsell is when you go to McDonald’s… let’s say you go through the drive through with the intention of getting just a Big Mac. Then the drive thru employee asks if you want fries and a drink with that.
You say yes. In this case, they upsold you and made EVEN more money without having to spend any extra on marketing.
This is similar on many websites (which are really landing pages). Say you visit a landing page and opt-in for a free ebook. You then you see a one-time upsell trying to sell a product to you for 50% off, but only if you buy now.
You may be convinced to buy that product NOW because of this offer. You get a discount and the business owner gets additional sales.
You probably are starting to see why funnels are so powerful at this point.
Another cool thing with funnels is that you have to really refine your message and get specific about the outcome you want.
If a user on your page wants a free ebook or whatever result you are promising, they have to click through to the next page and provide an email address or additional contact info.
This is how you can grow your email list of people who are passionate about you and your offer. It also helps you weed out anyone who isn’t serious enough to even provide an email.
One thing about the “free book + shipping” is that there’s a 2 step order form… you can have interested traffic enter their contact info so that even if they choose to not pay for the 5 or 6 bucks in shipping, you’ve already captured the email address and lead to retarget them with ads like “hey, I noticed you were looking at ____ but didn’t quite pull the trigger, how about checking it out again?”
Also, when someone has to pull out their credit card even just to pay $5, they are more serious than the person just coming in for the free ebook.
You can literally use funnels for any business… I’ve mentioned that I joined a wholesaling company in Houston to learn from the pros… well, guess what? I’ve built a funnel for it :).
I drive traffic to that funnel and get my own leads, separate from the team’s website. I’ve even gone so far as to order a sticker of the domain name to put on the back of my car and generate more leads.
I really urge you to consider automating your business and technology if you aren’t already. There’s so many things you can do with funnels.
You can integrate them with autoresponders to have messages send once someone opts-in. You can even integrate with Zapier to automatically have a Google Sheet updated with the lead’s contact information.
Surprise, surprise… the book is free, but you just have to pay shipping :). It really is a great book though and will teach you about funnels as well as a ton of marketing knowledge in general.
Getting the free Dot Com Secrets book will show you a perfect example of a funnel done the right way. When you order yours, pay close attention to each step of the process and every bit of valuable content Russell sends your way.
