Beliefs About Money, Questions About Business, And Coffee

All right, so to kick things off today, several of you submitted some questions and I'm going to put you on the hot seat. But first, I want to walk you all through a couple of exercises that have been on my mind. I kicked off the tribe call this week with something similar and I want to walk you guys through something similar. It's going to be a little bit of a different exercise, but if you could open up a notepad on your laptop or grab a piece of paper near you.

And I'm gonna prompt you with a couple of questions that I want you to play with this morning.

Give me a thumbs up when you are ready. Thank you, Adama. Thank you. Always. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Dana. All right, so here's today's prompt.

Why are you here this morning?

Why are you in the 1%? Why do you take an hour out of your Sunday to hang out with a bunch of crazy capitalists.

To talk about business and money and personal growth and all this stuff? What is it that brings you here? You after a specific challenge, is there a certain experience that you're going for?

Why are you here?

And if you're willing to share it, go ahead and put it in the. In the chat box.

To monetize my audience dedication.

I don't want to do this on my own. Accountability community.

Good, good.

Push me out of my comfort zone.

Sue, you're my favorite. All right, good. It feeds my energy to get perspective. I want to get to six figures a month. Okay, great, good. To be in a community for inspiration. Okay, good, great. So.

Second question is, how will you know when you get what you want?

So we're all here for some reason that we want to grow a business, to feel connected.

To make a certain amount of money. How will we know when we are there?

Go ahead and write that down. Just come. Whatever. Whatever comes up for you.

So is there something specific that will help you know when you have achieved whatever it is that you want?

And when you've got that, go ahead and put it in the chat box as well.

Myra, good. You are ahead of me.

Greg, well done.

When I wake up excited, when I make $10,000 a month profit, when my business has grown to the point where I can do it full time, they can step away and still growing.

Now, here's what I want to. For you to evaluate. And this is subjective. It's not as objective as most people think. But in that second column of how we know when we have achieved it, is what you wrote down a result or a feeling?

Is it A goal.

Or is it a feeling.

You're about to split halfway, halfway down? Now, if it is a result.

That means that there is some sort of missing piece.

Missing question.

Missing person.

Missing something.

That you feel like is in between where you are right now and the result that you want.

If it is a feeling.

Then it is a belief that is between where you are right now and and where you want to be. So if you wrote down I want to be at $10,000 a month profit, then there is some sort of challenge that it is that you are trying to overcome some sort of barrier, trying to some of strategy, some sort of knowledge, some very specific thing. And the more clear you can be on what that missing piece is, the easier we can get it right. If you're super clear about what that piece is and you bring that to the forefront Today, between the 50 of us plus the other 950 people in the 1%.

We probably know the right person, know the right strategy, know the right YouTube video, know the right person to hire, know the right outsourcer, know the right something to be able to solve that.

If it is a feeling that you're after, then it's a belief that is in there. And usually the belief is must do X in order to Y. So there's some sort of belief that you have around. I want to wake up excited each day was one of them that was put down. Well, then there's a belief that something external will make you wake up excited each day and we can play with that.

So if you can get really clear on either one of those, then we can make it real easy to get there. We can make the path super clear and easy to get there in either case, and either being a feeling or a result. But most of us have the kind of very loose goal that we're after. And so we spend most of our time kind of running around it rather than seeing it, addressing it, moving through it and enjoying the process.

So if you would, I'd like for you to take 30 to 60 seconds and jot down if you're clear on it. What is that challenge or what is that feeling? I'm sorry, that challenge or that belief that we're going to play with? So are we missing a person? Do we need to address a belief, which piece? And the clearer you can be.

The easier it will be to solve.

So give yourself that clarity for the next 30 to 60 seconds.

And when you've got it, put it in the chat box.

Paul says, I'm lost. Here you go, Paul. What is the.

Challenge or belief that is standing between what you want and the result you're trying to get.

So, Amy, wherever you are, I see you're saying it's multifaceted. Go ahead and unmute yourself. I want to coach you through this.

Where you at, Amy? Go ahead and unmute yourself and talk to me.

Amy, I can see you, but I can't hear you.

That's me. Stand by. It was my fault. Amy, go ahead.

Hi.

Nope, I'm wrong. I can't hear you at all. Can you guys hear Amy? No. Okay. No, Amy, we can't hear you. So. And on your screen, you might have to adjust your audio settings on where your mic is coming from.

And then whenever you figure it out, you can interrupt me.

Try now, Amy. Nope, nothing. I got nothing. All right, My apologies, Amy.

I like what Alexander says. I've never done this before. I don't know anyone else who has done this before. Good, good, good, good, good, good.

All right, so for.

All of you, what you are starting to get clear on.

Is a very specific point that if we address, in theory, would unblock whatever it is, the connection between where you are and where you would like to go.

Now, in the last part of this.

If you're. If you're writing this, draw a line.

And I want you to answer this.

Money is.

And write down whatever adjectives come up.

Money is.

Or if that doesn't inspire much. Business is, or my business is.

My money is. My business is.

Now. Bradley. Bradley Halbert. I see your chat box here. Money is freedom. If you're willing, unmute yourself and I ask you a couple of questions.

Can you hear me? I can hear you, Bradley. All right, so you put money is freedom as one of your answers, right? Yes. All right. So have you ever been broke, Bradley?

Yes, I have.

Okay. Now, do you think. What was your life like when you were. When you were broke?

Boring.

It was boring. Yeah.

It was tough. I mean, working paycheck to paycheck isn't exactly fun. And for me, the freedom means more than just money. You know, more for my family and giving them a better life than I had when I was younger.

Okay, got it. So let me ask you this. Did you have any moments that felt free when you were broke?

Sure.

Okay, so can you experience freedom without money?

Yes.

Okay. What's your hesitation? Talk that out some more.

I guess I'm kind of rethinking my. The answer there. I mean, obviously.

That was fast. I mean, yeah, I mean, money.

Money obviously just creates the freedom in a sense for me means a lot more than just, you know, a lifestyle. It's an opportunity for me to stay home with my family. You know, we homeschool our kids so that I could be home all day long and really experience, you know, them more than working nine to five.

Mm.

So you just, you just brought up the nine to five thing. What the hell does the nine to five have anything to do with it?

Well, I just mean working for somebody else opposed to working for myself and having the freedom to stop and start when I want.

Okay, got it. So does any of what you just said have anything to do with money? No.

So does money equal freedom? No.

That was fast. That was the easiest persuasion job I've ever had to do in my entire life.

So if I ask you now, what is money, what do you say? Money is more. Dogs.

Yeah, my neighbors.

I guess money then would probably create more opportunity to grow my business.

Cool, cool. So it's opportunities.

Or. Actually the word I really like that you just said is more.

Yep, yep, that's true.

Yeah. Cool. Thanks for playing, Bradley.

No, I appreciate it. Thank you, Ryan.

Bet. So I like that. Money is more. You don't need money to have opportunities. You don't need money to have freedom. But money brings more.

You don't need money to.

Have fun. Money can mean more. You don't need money to be self destructive, but money can bring more. Money is more. I like that.

Cool. So now the reason I call it Brad, this is a, this is a really, just a good example of what I want to do with kind of the final part of this.

So if you look at that, money is blank. The other side of that, on the other side of that, the money is blank.

How much of that other thing, the money is blank do you currently experience in your life?

Money is choices. Money is freedom.

Money is fun.

Money is.

Impact. Money is a vehicle. I'm just reading your, your comments in here.

And then there's some other things. Like Tiffany, you put money is elusive.

So question is, are there other things in your life that feel elusive.

Now? What all of you should be seeing right now.

Is just the pattern that you bring.

To the different interactions that you have in your life, to the different moments that you have in your life.

This is the programming and the pattern that you show up with.

On a regular basis. The beliefs that you have, the expectations that you have, the desires that you have.

You'Re all bringing to this call.

You'Re all bringing to your, your.

Interactions with your customers, your clients, your suppliers.

And so if you Operate with something like, the belief of money is freedom, and I can't have freedom without money. Then you will feel enslaven to whoever gives you money. The opposite of freedom is bondage or slavery. Then whoever you perceive controls the source of that will end up controlling you. So if money equals freedom and the customer pays you money, then by default you are enslaved into your customers and you are enslaved into your business.

Some people think the idea of money equals freedom is an empowering belief. No, it is not. No, it is not.

Is actually a belief that keeps you from having money.

So another way for us to play this out.

If money equals freedom and customers equal money.

You will be pursuing customers, pursuing sales.

But they actually control you.

So if on a deeper level, customers equal slavery and what you desire is freedom.

How many customers do you think you are going to go get?

Amanda's having a brain gasm.

So this is what, this is why this matters. Because if you are walking around with this in pursuit of what you think it is that you do want, but you're actually running away from what it is that you don't want.

Then you can't ever get what it is that you do want.

And so what I would like to do is continue to play with this, because the clearer we can be about the challenge or the belief that is preventing us from what we actually want, the faster we can clear it and we can, we could just effortlessly move towards what it is that we want. Chantal says, I love how woo this is. This is like the least woo thing I do.

To me, this is just totally logical, completely, totally observable and logical.

Because if I walk up, if I believe that a customer is my route to freedom.

But that by me taking money from this person, they will then control me, I know how I'm going to react around that person.

So the only solution to this, the only fix for this, is for you to be under the belief.

That what you've got or who you are is additional freedom for the customer.

We have to flip the whole thing on its head.

If you believe that what you have is more freedom for the customer.

Watch how fast and easy it is for you to make and accept sales for that product and thus get more of what it is that you want.

Give me a thumbs up if you are getting this. Give me a thumbs up if you're like, what the hell are we even talking about?

Thank you for your thumbs.

So what I would encourage you to do, and I do this pretty regularly, I often do this over a cup of coffee. So it's serendipitous that we're doing it today.

I just like to. In the morning when I am drinking my coffee, I either write an email to my list or I jot out the thoughts and beliefs that I'm currently playing with. And I'm not trying to fix anything.

I'm just trying to observe what it is that I already believe or what I already think or what is already going on in my head.

Because if you are operating on the belief that you've got to fix something, that's a belief, too. Those are just thoughts, too. So I like to just observe whatever it is that is going on in my brain, whatever is flowing around.

In my head, put them to paper and look at what's going on.

And when I find something that I'm. That is not serving me, then I will go in and address it and play with it and massage it, question it.

But there's nothing to fix. There's just an. There's just an increased awareness.

To experience.

All right, now I want to put is. Rhino, are you on the call?

Rhino, if you're on the call, I don't see your name on here. If you don't show up, you don't get to be on the hot seat. But Rhino submitted a question request to be on the hot seat. So, Rhino, if you are on and I don't see you, go ahead and unmute yourself and talk to me.

Rhino going once.

Rhino going twice.

Rhino sold. Okay, moving on. Chantal, I know you're on the call. You're the next person who submitted a hot seat request. Hey, Chantal.

Hello.

Am I saying your name right?

Yes, you are.

Awesome. What's going on?

Well, there's a lot. How much time do we have?

As much as you want.

No, but seriously, so just a nutshell, to give you a background. I started something without really knowing what I was doing, which is a good thing, because I just jumped in and I just started doing stuff. So in November, my daughter was diagnosed with autism. And that really set me in a loop of, like, almost depression, I'd say, because it's been a really hard year, because we were doubting stuff and whatever. So all this to say that in January, I decided to stop crying, and I wanted to focus my energy into something else for me, but also for her and for others. So I started a Facebook page all about sensory play. And I just started posting stuff, and then I just grew this amazing audience in a very short amount of time. And now I know I can monetize this audience, but I feel like I've been playing catch up the first six months and I mean, Covid didn't help because my toddler was at home with me. So it was always like doing things. Like, you know, I built an email list. I have a Facebook group. Like, I have a lot going on. I have some leads, as you would say. I know I'm. I listen to your stuff and it's so awesome because that's exactly it. My Facebook page is traffic and then it builds leads. And I know I can monetize, but I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel because listening to your stuff. I haven't read the book yet, but I feel like. Because I've been giving them a lot of free stuff. So. Free meaning free ideas, free things they want to do. Things they want to do from home. I'm just wondering if I'm. I have to test different things for monetizing and I guess that's where I'm stuck.

I mean, so.

Do you need to monetize or do you want to monetize right now?

Right now? I'd love to monetize because, I mean, I'm all about sensory play. I'm. I'm really into this because that's my life basically with my daughter. And I have a lot of ideas. I have. I've been noting down like product ideas for like months. I do have a lot. But that's the problem is I have a shit ton of ideas and it's like I don't know where to go. I'm like this squirrel that sees all the opportunities, but I don't know which one is the best one or the one that could give me the results the fastest.

You know, because I feel like I need that. And a side note is I'm a full time.

You feel like you need what?

The fastest way to get there? Because right now I'm a full time Amazon FBA reseller.

What is there?

What do you mean there?

You said the fastest way to get there. Where's. What is there?

To have some finance, I want to move away. It's because it's taking a lot of time for myself to build this audience and I'm not getting anything back. But I need to make a salary, I need to make a living. So to get there would be to give me some financial freedom, a little bit to work more on my audience, create products and do, you know? So I'm not sure there is not really defined.

I guess that's why I asked.

Yeah. So I Can tell that you're a little bit on the hamster wheel because you said, I want the freedom to be able to build my audience. But you are building your audience. And when you're building your audience, you're asking the question of how do I monetize this? So that becomes a little bit of an internal hamster wheel. So you said in your intake that you're doing between 800 and $1,000 a month right now. So where is that coming from?

So I wanted to test something and I've always wanted to publish a kids book. So I did a few kids book I self published on kdp and because of my audience, it became a bestseller. So I mean I made good money with that. It's just hard to keep up because it went really sky high. And then, I mean, right now kids niche is really hot, right, because of everything going on. And then I also launched my own line of sensory floor stickers. So that's basically for kids to like jump around and it's good for a lot of schools have them and stuff. So that's been going good. I just feel like I need to be better at my messaging for that because I feel like some parents don't understand what they are.

So. Okay, so that's your own brand of products, is that right?

Yeah.

And they're for sale on Amazon?

No, they're just for sale. I tested it on my website, but I know that if I was to put it on Amazon, it would probably pick up faster.

So what's the problem?

Oh, there's no problem. It's just I wanted to test it first with my audience to see. I wanted to get feedback. I wanted to make sure that it was good, that parents liked it.

And did you get it?

Yeah, I got a few. And I asked, like just last week I sent an email to all my buyers asking them like, you know, their honest feedback.

They didn't reply. So I wonder if I need to do like a private survey for them to like get back to me.

All right, so, so here, here's, here's what I'm observing. You have. You have a list of 20,000 followers, 3,000 email subscribers. Great work. You have an info product in a way, in the form of a book, and you have a physical product. But you're asking me, how do you monetize your audience?

It's because I'm not sure if this is really like the sensory decals. It's something I did for myself because I wanted them for my child. But they're super expensive, so What I wanted to do was to try and source it in a way that it's cheaper and affordable for all families.

How long have you been doing this, Chantal?

Doing what? The decals.

How long have you been doing the blog?

Oh, January.

And how long. How long have you been selling the. Selling stuff?

So the book was in June. Pretty much everything was June. End of May, June.

Okay, you started this in January. You have 20,000 subscribers and 3,000 email subscribers.

So in seven months.

You launched your book two months ago. And your physical product when?

End of May. Pretty much the same end of May, beginning of June, I shipped, I did a pre launch, people bought and I shipped mid June.

If you stop now, everyone's pissed at you. Here's why. You're right on pace.

Okay?

The worst thing you could do right now is try to crank the lever of how do I extract from my audience.

You are right on pace.

To be in this for seven months, asking when am I going to get mine out of this is.

Way too early for you to even have a reel at bat. You're already making a part time income in seven months from a group of people that you're exciting to serve. You've won.

Okay? The only thing you have to do is keep going.

You might need to be more emphatic about selling your products, but you've been selling products for two months.

And that's the thing. I'm not even selling, so I don't.

Okay, two months.

You are 1/6 of the way through the 12 months to 1 million process.

I need to start that book. I have it, by the way.

You don't need to do anything. I mean, you're already halfway there.

Okay, maybe I'm. Yeah, I like to see things happen quickly.

Like I'm two months in. You have a digital product, a physical product, and a following of 20,000 people. That's fast.

Okay, I'm sorry.

I am happy, but it's just, I feel like I should. I feel like, I don't know, I don't have a straight line ahead of me. It feels like I could go left, I could go right, I could, I could. There's so many things I could do that's, you know.

So tell me some of the things that you could do.

Okay, so they flagged to me that they would want a subscription box because I know that you talk about that and that's been on my mind because that's the first thing they told me they wanted.

Okay, what else?

They. They love activities. So I know that I could possibly make like sensory books where they have activities to, you know, do with their kids and stuff. I know that's something I could do. There's also a lack of time on my end because, I mean, hold on.

Stay. Stay in the place of what else you can do?

Yes, I could do products. I mean, I have a lot of ideas.

What else I could do. Sensory box.

It's very physical, right? Because sensory play is physical. So, I mean, that's basically in a nutshell. I mean, there's also a possibility, and I had to asked my audience at the beginning if they wanted. This was a membership where they would get sensory ideas. So all planned out for them for the month. So they every month they get a list of what they need to buy, what they could do with their kids. And a lot of peeps had said, well, yes, that would be great. But because of COVID and financial anyways, I didn't move forward with that.

Keep going. What else?

I don't know. I think that's pretty much my list.

Okay, great. How do you feel after talking out all those ideas?

I don't know which one I should do.

Okay, so here's the good news and bad news.

You have my full permission to do all of them.

But not at the same time, obviously.

Yeah.

So this is. This is. This is the good news. They're all fine. They're all great, and they will all work. And none of them are right or wrong or left or right. They're all fine.

I think for me, that's the good news and the bad news. Now, I'm talking about it from an objective level right now. Internally, what Chantal wants is going to determine which one we do first.

Right.

And then it's simply going to come down to which one do you have the most excitement about? The least resistant to the least amount of thoughts of this being hard or bad or wrong or whatever. And you're already doing those things.

And so those things are the book, the sensory mats and other physical products that are giving you the base hits to continue the momentum that you are. That you are experiencing all that is positive momentum. And so you don't have to. Here's where your brain is trying to go. Your brain is going, okay, I'm going in this direction now. This can't be right. Which of these other ones should I go after?

But the reality is the path you're on is the right one. And all these other ideas are great, and they're either going to become very clear or go away as you continue down this journey Your challenge is going to be if you take your focus off what's right here.

And into up. Let's about face and go over here.

Yeah.

So this is from a strategy and tactical perspective. Here's my assignment to you.

The membership list that you talked about, that's free content. Like, here's what you should buy and that's also your subscription box right now. All the products you like, all the products that you're finding, all that is your free content. So companies you like, products that you like, recommendations that you find, things that you think other people should experience, all of that is free content. Free, free, free, free, free. Just do blog posts about it. Your audience will grow faster. You can put affiliate links in there if you want, but mostly those are just gives to your audience. Your focus goes into the products that you currently have. Get them on Amazon and make a list of other sensory type of products that you'd be excited to launch over the next six months.

That's your focus right now.

Okay.

That does two things. It builds the audience and it builds it for the long term. And second, it gives you a clear path to a million dollar business within that audience that doesn't completely detract from what you're doing right now.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does. And you know, the affiliate is something. I've had two brands already. I'm waiting for my free arrive. But they want to work with me because they see that I, they want to tap into the sensory niche. So I also see an opportunity there for me with like glance. But yeah, great.

Why do you look all shut down when you talk about an opportunity that's in front of you?

I just feel overwhelmed because of there's, there's so many opportunities. And I know that some people are probably watching right now and they're like, why are you complaining? You have all these opportunities available to you. But to me it's like, okay, I need to do this, I need to do that. Like, there's a lot that goes behind the scenes, Chantal.

The only thing keeping you stuck is that you think you have to say yes to opportunities that you don't want to pursue.

Yeah.

That's the only thing wigging you out.

Yeah.

And what feels good to me too, like, I want to feel happy and excited about what I do.

Then stop giving your power to things that you don't want.

You're right.

The only thing that you have to say, it's, it is your business.

You don't have to say yes to nothing.

I don't like the brands, to me, felt exciting. But I know, like, I listen to what you say, and you're basically, I can't build my business around another brand because then I don't have a business.

But then I'm not following. I don't know. I don't know what the yes to other brands is.

Oh, to. To be like, they're. To accept, like, a sponsorship from brands because, I mean, I can't build a business around that because I understand what you're saying when you say, but do you want it? Well, yeah, because it's going to help me, I feel, with my audience, it's going to help me grow my audience because we're going to do, like, a giveaway. And so, I mean, obviously my audience is going to love this, so.

So if that's the case, do it while recognizing that that is not your business.

Yeah, exactly.

Something that your business does.

There's a difference.

Part of it.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's like something that your business does is different than what your primary business is. Now, the minute your business becomes I create partnerships with brands, you are no longer happy.

But if your business is to serve the parents of autistic children, and sometimes your business does partnerships with brands and you enjoy those, Mazel tov. Do it.

That's you building your audience and doing a service to your audience, but it is not your business. It's something your business does.

Okay. So it's just a shift in perspective.

Mm.

Okay.

Thank you.

How do you feel now?

No, it makes sense. It's just I feel like I've always had this problem as an entrepreneur. Like, I want to do it all. I see all the opportunities, and I don't want to miss out on anything. And I'm wondering, what's the good time? And I read a comment quickly when someone says, it's hard when you're alone to make decisions. And I think that's the problem, and that's why I joined the 1%, because I feel like you get stuck in your head and you just don't know where to go next. And then you also have life. And I have a daughter with autism, and I'm trying to help her, and I'm trying to be more present. And then, you know, yeah, you can.

Do all of those things.

You can do all of them. You literally can do all of them.

You cannot do all of them at the same time.

Right.

And you cannot do all of them when they conflict with one another.

And so the hack is.

Choosing which one to say yes to.

And then saying later to all the others.

We put so much pressure on our decisions because we see them as cutting off everything else, whereas we'd move so faster so much. We would move forward so much faster if we just saw it as saying, later to everything else. Yes, later.

Yes, you can do subscription box later. Yes, you can do those partnerships later. Right now, you've already said yes to physical products, and that's the right answer. You know why it's the right answer? Because it's the answer you chose.

I love that you said something earlier, and it made me realize something. And that's also part of my overwhelm, I guess, is that I started the page Fun Sensory Play not to target autism because I wanted to, like, step back a little bit, because autism is my life, and sensory play is good for all kids. But what I'm seeing is that your perspective. Well, you know, that's what you said. You said, you know, you do things for autism. And the two brands also said the same thing, is that they're targeting sensory moms. And then it started making me wonder, like, am I missing out on targeting a smaller niche?

But if I look at my audience right now, I'd say, like, most of them are just parents and educators. It's not really around autism, but that's the perception of. I don't know, or maybe I'm overthinking.

You're overthinking it.

Okay.

But actually, it's. Overthinking isn't the right word. You are questioning your past decisions.

Right.

And so what I'm picking up that you need from me right now is an endorsement over the decisions that you have made, and they're good ones.

You don't build an audience of 20,000 people.

And have a successful early launch. If you made bad early decisions, you've made great early decisions. You are chasing. You are chasing a faster result.

Yes, that's exactly it. Because you're saying successful. And I was like, yeah, well, I didn't feel that way. I didn't feel like it was successful.

You know why you are chasing faster results?

No.

Because for most of your career, you have been pivoting. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, back and forth to different things. And now you're trying to make up for lost time.

Maybe.

Yeah.

How long have you been trying to be an entrepreneur?

I've been an entrepreneur for the last 10 years.

Okay. And would you call yourself a successful entrepreneur?

Yes, but it's the first time that I'm actually building my own stuff, like my own audience, my own Product, products, and I see the opportunities ahead and it's like, okay, this could basically be whatever I want it to be.

Yep, yep.

Yeah, this is a first run for me.

And it helps to know that growth happens exponentially, not linearly. So in your mind, after two months of launch.

The predictability is with the. Is just going to do this and this isn't fast enough.

And so your temptation is to, when you're here, go back to zero and go in a different direction. That'll be more like this. But all of them are going to be at zero. All of them are.

And so the fastest thing to growth is for you to wait for the exponential curve to go up. Because the minute that you go from here to back to zero, you're starting over again. And you will stay at the beginning. And then what you will do to fix it is start taking swings to try and skip this step, which is just going to keep you where you are.

Makes total sense.

So this is the exciting thing because you are growing, you are getting new opportunities.

And the more you grow, the more opportunities you are going to get.

And the more you grow, the more things you can say yes to.

So you can always say yes. All of these opportunities coming to you are yes.

When they don't detract from your primary focus, which is not right now.

That makes total sense.

You can do it. Go do them when it is easy and effortless for you to do it as a service to your existing customers.

But right now, the best thing you can do for them is what's right in front of you. Does that make sense?

Yeah, totally. I see what you're saying.

Totally.

Good.

I appreciate this.

Keep doing what you're doing.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, next up is Amy. Jane. Amy, are you on the call?

Amy, can we hear you this time? Hopefully.

Go ahead, Amy.

And you are. You're muted. There we go. Try now.

Amy.

We can't hear you. So, Amy, there's controls in your zoom. What's happening is that zoom isn't picking up your microphone. So are you using an external mic? Just nod yes or no. Or are you using a built in one? All right, so go to the bottom of zoom where there's a microphone. The same thing, same button that is mute and there's a. There's an arrow. Click that arrow and see where it's picking up your audio.

And you should be able to play with that. If that doesn't work, just go into your preferences and you should be able to change the mic that you're using.

The other option is you could call in on your phone.

I know how every. Everybody has been in your shoes before and knows how frustrated you are, Amy.

But if you figure it out, we'd be happy to help.

Yeah, we'll come back to you. No worries. Amy. Amy, any. Anytime you get it figured out, just hit the raise your hand button on Zoom and I'll come back to you. Deal. All right, cool. All right, so we've still got about 15 minutes left in our time. If anyone would like the hot seat, hit raise your hand in Zoom and I'll bring you out and we'll just chat about whatever is on your mind, on your mind, or happen in your business. So, Michael Griswold, I see you. Go ahead and unmute yourself.

Hey, Ryan, can you hear me?

I can hear you, Michael. What's up?

Awesome.

Where you drive?

Well, my driving an A7.

Where.

I'm in Vail, Colorado right now.

All right, cool. What's up, man? What can we do for you?

I am launching the world's first, as far as I know, DNA based, custom crafted nootropic. And I would like your involvement in the role of investment advisor so that we can create the entrepreneur's ultimate advantage, which is customizing their neurochemistry based on their DNA.

Okay.

So all of the nootropics that are available right now all come in the same amounts available to everyone. But to craft it according to indicators.

That are unique to their DNA, the entrepreneur gets the ability to tap into their innate potential. That feeling that they haven't quite reached where they could if they only had this.

Limitless pill feeling.

Similar. Yes. Yes.

So. So what is your question?

So how does that excite you?

What I need. What is the question behind the question?

I'm. The reason I'm talking to you is because I know that you just are launching a nootropics brand. I'm wondering, does this idea interest you? Personally, I don't get it. Because I would love your involvement in it.

Do you have a prototype?

I have the manufacturer.

I don't have a prototype. I need to put the pieces together, basically get the test to the manufacturer so that they can customize based on your test results. So I'm in that. So in an early stage here, if.

You are waiting for my excitement for you to get excited about it, then no one's excited. If you are excited about it, then other people, myself included, would get excited about it. But what you're asking for is for other people to get excited about it before you have shown that you are so excited that you go get a prototype. I tell the story in my book. Somebody came up to me with an idea for a feminine hygiene product. It was a great product. It's a great idea. He had gone out to a bunch of people and gotten validation in the marketplace. He was super pumped about it. And I was like, all right, well, show me your prototype. And he's like.

I don't have that. I was like, well, what the hell? What the hell do you want me to advise, man? He's like, well, I don't have the capital to go do a inventory run. I'm like, you're so doubtful of this idea that you won't spend $50 to go have a prototype. And then I'm out at that point. So if you're really pumped about it, and sometimes you just need the shot in the arm to know that you're in the right direction, but your internal excitement about it is the indicator that you're onto something. So, Michael, if you're excited about it, go develop it, because that will bring. That will attract me or someone else as an investor or an advisor. But if you're waiting for somebody else in order to have that permission, then you're going to stay in a hamster wheel that. That goes nowhere.

Yeah, I'm more interested in getting some.

Capital help to make it go faster is essentially.

What the purpose of my question is. I'm doing it now, but I'm doing it slowly. And since you were involved in this market, I was wondering, what would it take for you to be excited about your involvement so that maybe I just wasn't very clear.

I mean, the first thing I would need is to see an entrepreneur who was doing it with or without an investor who was so pumped about their idea that they're like, I'm doing this regardless so that I am choosing to join something rather than driving something. But if somebody is dependent upon me to launch their business.

Now, I'm not an investor advisor now I'm parenting.

I got you. I got you. Well, I. I feel you on that. So I'm at a place that there isn't much to show. I'm getting the steps done, but I will.

I'll keep doing what I'm doing. The best thing to do right now.

Here's the thing. If you're really pumped about this, then you need to decide to do it regardless of who shows up. You need to give yourself a reel at bat. And a reel at bat looks like choosing the audience that you're going to serve and go all in on them until you have case studies and results that you can then take to investors, advisors, and other customers. It looks like getting real fricking curious about how this is going to roll out. And you do it regardless of who shows up to support it. It looks like you getting really, really in tune with this industry and how it works. So that when an investor says, tell me the formulation, you know it by heart, and you know what ingredients do what, and you know which manufacturers specialize in what, and you know what the price points on every piece are. And then when an affiliate who wants to support you or promote you comes to you, you know your numbers, you don't know those. Right now you're waiting for price permission to go, and you need to give yourself that permission. And if you get that permission, then other people will line up to support that. But if you're waiting for other people in order to line up to give you the go button, then you're. Then this isn't an idea that you really want. And, and you're the only person who knows that.

Well, I do know that. Yeah. And.

I am.

I'm in. I'm at the stage that I'm at where I'm.

Working towards it.

Working towards what?

Building the audience that I can sell this to. I've got the domain up, I'm getting content created that I'm then going to record. So I'm just in those early stages.

This is my assignment to you, Michael. I want you to stop doing all of that and go get a prototype. And the only content for you to make is you documenting the process of you getting the prototype made and you documenting the process of you running your own self experiments on this nootropic and then you asking a few people to do the same experiment and documenting them. That's the only content you should make. Otherwise you're teaching from a place of ignorance and you're going to be stuck in a place of creating content for years before you have an audience.

Okay.

Okay.

All right, here's how this would start. Hi, I'm Michael and I struggle with this, this, this, this, and this. And so I'm developing a prototype for a nootropic that does this, this, this and this. Here's what I think is going to happen. Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Let's see what happens. I just got the prototype. I'm going to take this for three days and give you an update.

You start where you are.

And you report upon you report on what changes?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's. I didn't think about doing it like that. Basically, the, the. I, the reason that I was on with you right now is it's a. I think it's a fucking brilliant idea to have. To have a supplement that is made according to your DNA. Right. And so all of the ways I was thinking about getting it to the marketplace required, you know, somebody who's got more money to like get the marketing going quickly. Right. So what you're saying is just a totally different approach that I didn't think of doing because I was thinking about this way only.

Yeah, I mean, you're thinking about getting everyone's DNA and then custom tailoring the product and you're going to stay.

You'Re going to stay stuck there for a long time. What you can do is go develop the perfect product for one type of DNA, which is probably going to be yours.

And then you can develop products for other results.

And then when people send in their DNA, which is going to be a process that you develop three years from now, you can match them with the right nootropic.

Why did you say that it's going to take three years to do that?

Because you're in no position right now to develop DNA mapping to discover what you're asking me for the money and connections to develop those systems.

Well, I've got, I've got all the pieces, I've got the test and I've got the manufacturer that be able to read the test. I just don't have the money to like get.

Like did.

It would take longer to create the audience if I.

Had the money to create a marketing campaign to get an audience to sell them into the first iteration.

You are so thinking about scale.

That you are not thinking about what is right in front of you.

You are trying to skip steps.

Okay.

No one gets to skip steps. Steps like developing the first product. Steps like documenting the process. Steps like testing it out with a few people before they try to go big time.

Right, right.

And you, and you perceive me.

As your fast lane to skipping all those steps. And I'm trying to get you to see that the only thing that brings on somebody like me is an entrepreneur who has shown that they are willing to do the steps that earn from.

Dude, it's so obvious now that you said it, but I swear I did not see it until this moment.

Most people don't thank you my stuff either.

That's. That's absolutely right. Absolutely right. Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thanks for. I know, I know. It took some mental jujitsu on both of our ends to get there, so thanks for playing.

Well, it was. It was fun rolling around, then. Fun mental jujitsu. I'll keep you posted.

All right. Please do, Michael. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks.

That was fun. Amy, how you doing? Do you have audio? What? If you mime it.

You'Re like, I feel stuck in a box, and I don't know what the best path out of the box is. You could do that. You can mime it.

Hey, Rhino, you made it. All right, cool. Let's. Hold on. Rhino, go ahead and take yourself off mute and chat with us.

I'm waiting for you. Rhino.

There you are. What's up, dude?

I can hear you and see you, Rhino.

This is the part where you speak. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, I can.

I'm going into the house. I don't have a good connection in my studio.

Hey, Rhino, thanks for your review this week, man. That was an awesome review.

Yes, sir. Look, a lot. I love it.

What can I do for you?

So I want to get into the field of nutritional products for autistic children.

So my.

Hurdle right now is how do I find a company to produce those products?

And the products are what?

How do I find a company to produce those products? Produce my supplement.

And the products are what?

For autistic children.

For autistic children?

Yes, sir.

Okay. And what type of products?

Vitamins, probiotics, stuff like that, sir.

Okay. Have you posted in the Facebook group?

No, sir.

Okay, so there are several people, two of them on the call right now that are in your same market. And there are a bunch of really good manufacturers for nutritional products. There's a bunch of them. One that I use is out of Atlanta. They're called Catalyst. Another that I like in New Jersey is called dne. I have no idea what that stands for, but dn. Dne. Another is out of Arkansas called. I think it's Innovative Labs. Innovative Labs. These are all. These are all supplement companies and nutrition companies, but there's a bunch of them. So my recommendation for you is when you know what the product is, you've got to be pretty specific on what the product is so that you can get, because some people specialize in food, some people specialize in fish oil, some people specialize in vitamins. So the more specific you are, the easier it's going to be to get a recommendation. But then the group is well connected in that space and well connected in nutritional supplements. And also, Google is your friend if you Just Google the type of product you're looking for plus manufacturer, and call around, talk to three to five of them and see who has the best communication. That's going to be your opening move.

And the reason I have a passion for this is we have a five year old autistic granddaughter that we adopted almost three years ago.

Awesome.

We've had her since she was a month old. And so, I mean, this is very important to me.

Amazing. That's great.

She goes to a special needs school. She's five. She still doesn't speak, but there is hope. And I mean, so, I mean, this, this is not just about money for me.

Good. Amazing. Others, by the way, I. I have no judgment over. It's. If it's just for money, you don't have to convince me. I support you whether it's for money or because it's for passion. That's amazing. Rhinos, where are you based?

I'm in between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I'm in Louisiana.

All right, cool. So you, Chantal and Adama need to form a little mastermind among the three of you about the audience that you serve and the manufacturers that you use, because one of you has an audience, one of you has an idea, and one of you has funding. And between the three of you, you've got a pretty awesome business.

Yeah, I caught part of Chantel's talk earlier. My problem was I was on my iPad trying to log into Zoom, and my wife said you got to use your computer.

So, Rhino, my assignment to you. Yes, sir. As clear as possible about what those three to five products are going to be out of the gate for you to post them in the Facebook group with the direction that you want to go, because there's connections that can be made. But also, I want you to go out and look for supplement or food manufacturers, whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, and talk to three of them and see who has the best communication.

I'll do it, sir.

Awesome. Thanks.

One other thing. Can you put your book on audio?

It's already recorded. We're just waiting on audible.

All right, I'll have that version too, sir.

All right, thank you. I like the style. Rhino.

Yes, sir.

Paul, you had your hand raised. Was there something that you wanted to chat about?

And if you're good, that's fine too. But I saw that you did have your hand raised.

Did I unmute myself?

Nope. We can't hear you. I'm kidding. Yes, I can hear you loud and clear.

Okay. Last week I told you I was going to start building my audience.

Yes, sir.

So I chose Facebook. I posted a post and nobody said anything. There's a reason for that. Because my first Facebook I built about 14 years ago, and back then I didn't know how to create pages, so I created different Facebook accounts. So as it turns out, I have like four Facebook accounts, and then nobody takes me seriously on anyone.

Because sometimes. What's your question, Paul?

The question is I gave up on that posting and getting feedback, and I'm going to build a page with a question.

Related to the supplements for men over 50 and drive traffic to that and get the people who are interested in the product.

Okay. So, I mean, I think you're adding.

Is that a good idea?

I think you're adding an extra step, Paul. You like to overthink things. Yes? Yeah, yeah.

Why make it? Why make it. Why easy if you can make it hard?

You're in good company, if that's what you think.

Yeah.

You love to add these extra steps to things that I don't quite understand. So, like what. What is the goal that you're trying to accomplish by even running this ad or doing this post?

I want. I want an audience.

Okay, you want an audience that.

What.

That is interested in supplements for men over 50.

But do you know what?

There's many available. What?

What do you know? What Supplements.

Yes. Multivitamins, but with a slight difference to the regular, which is target 50% of the daily requirement, because the other amount most likely.

Don't try and sell me on your product yet. We're not going there. I want to know, do you know your audience well enough to go develop a product? Because if so, you're wasting your time with whatever it is that you're doing and you need to go develop a prototype.

No, no, I don't know my audience that well. I know it. I think I do, but that's not good enough for me. I want to know, okay, do you.

Have a prototype made of your product?

No.

Why not? You've been telling me about it for three weeks.

Basically for two reasons. I landed on the idea this week. On what? The exact. Because multivitamins, if you look at the composition, they're made of many different things. So what is a multivitamin? Do I buy a white label one or do I make a private label one? I decided to go private label with 50% of the daily requirements as a target.

And so what's stopping you?

Number one, now I have to find someone who do, who will do that for me. And number two, there's a difficulty. I'm in Thai. In Thailand. And in Thailand, they don't let any supplements come into the country.

Okay, guess what? Running an ad on Facebook solves neither of those problems.

Okay.

But the problem of not getting the supplement to me, I don't think it's. It's that important. Eventually I will get it, but I think.

I take multivitamins. But I want. I just want to move along with my product.

Okay, so then why are you running posts and pages?

I want to build an audience.

Okay, does that help you develop a prototype?

It helps me gauge if they're interested or not.

Okay, so you know what the product you think is going to be, right?

Yes.

Okay. Take your idea, go over to a group that already exists and post your idea in there and ask for feedback.

Okay.

So why so simple?

Why can't it just be harder?

Yes. It sounds like it's not, right. No, no, I get your point, Ryan.

Okay, so next week I'll let you know how. How this part of this.

By Thursday.

And have your next step by next the next time we talk like you should. Okay, I talked to you should know whether or not your product his legs by then and order it. Just go, man. Just go.

Okay.

I talk to me for a month about your business. Just go. Just go.

You know what you want to do. Just go.

Okay. Thanks.

You're welcome.

Thanks for the push.

You're welcome.

Okay.

That'S it.

That's it.

See you.

See you later. Yep. Thanks. All right, so one more person gets the floor. And somebody was just waving at me. It was. It was Valentin. All right, Valentine, go ahead and unmute yourself. You get the last word for today unless Amy finds a way to chat with us. What's up, Valentine?

I cannot hear you.

No.

There we go. That's better.

Yeah. I had a whole. So I took me about six months to get into this group. I hesitate a lot. I overthink. I am extremely driven. I go, go, go when I'm sure about things. But a big thing is I'm very left hemisphere. I come from a creative background. Musician, artist. Going into marketing, going into more these. I'm not strong there. And I hesitate on. I keep learning and I keep learning. I keep learning. I keep educating myself. I want to have control. Right. I'm hesitating on what. At what point do I hand over that should I get, how good should I get at it? When do I hire somebody to take over the stuff I'm bad at? Or should I just keep getting better at it or Should I, you know, kind of. When do I go all in on my strengths?

You go in all in on your strengths when your strengths are fun and exciting to you.

When I, for example, like budgeting, forecasting, gets me nauseous.

All my resistance starts showing. I do it, I fight through it. But having that person like that's one of my dreams of finding.

I know you of business. Are you in right now?

I've gone from marketing and branding for customers. So I create their facade, their appeal. Right. And come up with concepts for them.

And are you full time?

Yeah, I'm full time for over 15 years now. 15 years, okay. Now I'm going into products.

Okay, great. So your question about like forecasting and all this, that's. That's a $400 a month bookkeeper.

So a bookkeeper, like that would be.

It's very basic for some people. It's very basic things and simple. Like you said, this is a bookkeeping. And maybe that's the thing that's holding me back where numbers is really. It's of course, extremely important for growth and to be able to show that to customers or for yourself, where just doing stuff that gets people excited gets me excited. But that part. So you say finding, not finding a full blown VA that does a lot of stuff, or an assistant, but just having a bookkeeper.

Well, that was the one example that you gave me. Are there more things that you wish you gave yourself permission to hand off?

Yeah, that's the tricky part. Just handing it off. Giving, giving away the.

Well, what, what is, what is it? Is it bookkeeping or is it our whole list of shit?

I do think it's. It's mainly.

Reporting to myself and to clients, to investors, people that I'm involved with on time. Right now my clients are bigger and bigger because I've been doing a lot of changing in how the way I work. I'm less of a per project, more now involved in it with commissions and partnerships in it. So the money is getting bigger. I have to report now. Should have reported earlier too. I should have the numbers more in check.

That's, that's my. So.

Yeah, I kind of see what you mean there. Just more. It's the numbers. It's the numbers. No, I just.

It's the bookkeeper pretty much.

I mean, so here, here is, here's my recommendation to you. One day we'll do a whole session about this, but I want you to draw on a piece of paper. One circle. Circle like a bullseye.

All right.

What are the things that you find intrinsically motivating and fascinating and exciting about your business. What are the things that you don't want to give up those things? And what you do is on the outside of the circle, all the things that you don't want to do.

It's all numbers out here.

I just see numbers would be the obvious one, right? And just like brainstorm around the circle, all the shit that happens that you don't want to do. And then what I like to do is I like to circle the things that connect with one another. So it's like.

It might be bookkeeping and reporting. Those two things. Like those two things connect. Or maybe it's numbers and billing. Right. Those are two things that are really related to one another. And I'm going to circle those together. And then the question is, okay, can one person do these two things?

And in your case, that is a part time bookkeeper for about 500 bucks a month for five hours, whose job it is to bill people and to report on the numbers. Now you just freed up probably.

20 hours worth of energy for you for 500 bucks a month. And then I looked at what's the next thing down. It's like, okay, now it is.

Accountability and outsourcing. Okay, well that's a project manager. Do I need that full or part time? And so it just becomes about moving as much outside the circle as possible so that you can stay in the.

Bullseye, unclutter it, just get stuff out of the strength, the strong zone.

That's right. So often we think about all the stuff outside the circle rather than what we actually want to focus on. But your job is to focus on those things that you find really exciting so you can clear and then clear out everything else. Yeah. And here's a dirty little secret, Valentin. Your clients would rather you be an amazing brand expert and creating that front end facade and terrible at billing and reporting.

Than for you to be great at billing and reporting and terrible at what they're paying you to do.

Amen.

Only one of those two things can be dropped and you still be in business.

And so you have to prioritize the thing in the circle goal and you can let the other shit go for a second and then hire somebody to take it over.

Okay, so now, for example, I have, I have a client. And the reason why I asked a question was because I saw a really good episode you were doing talking about amplifying what you're good at and that's who you're going to hire. Where that's when I got Little. Well, I just need now, you know, explains it a bit better. It was a different situation, I'm sure, but it got me a little crossed in what I was my next step was going to be there. But yeah, I appreciate it. So I'm going to take this client that I'm working with now. I'm going to take part of what I'm getting. It's a good. It's a good stipend I'm getting. That part is going to be towards the uncluttering so I can stay great at what they're hiring me for. My width is what they come for, but my width is also my weakness. If I stay to why did not have that. Yeah.

Yep. Stay as focused in on that sweet spot as possible. That's your primary job.

Golden.

Thank you, brother.

Good. You're welcome. Amy, if you're still here, I'm going to give you the opportunity to have the last word. If we can hear you, we might have lost Amy.

We did. So, Amy, if you watch the recording, post your question in the Facebook group and we can tackle it from there. All right, team, thanks for hanging out with me today. Flew by. Did that fly by for anybody else? So here's what we're gonna do. Next week is our off week, and then next month we are doing our series on. We have a member of the 1% who has several products that he has gotten over 10,000 legitimate reviews on his products. And so we're gonna do a series with him on what his systems and processes look like for getting thousands of reviews on products. It'll be really fun. All right, team, it's great to see you. Thanks to all of you who watched over on YouTube. If you watch this on YouTube, let me know in the comments if you like this format or zoom, if you like this format or the previous format better. I'd love to hear your opinion. Good to see all of you and if you want to chat with me on Tuesday or Thursday, I'll see you on the live then we'll do it the normal format and I'll talk to you guys in a few weeks. Bye, guys. Good to see you.