Dominate Your Market | Thrive Beyond Competition Today

All right. Welcome, everybody, to another YouTube Hangout. Super excited to be here with you guys. I have a special guest with me. He's going to bring a lot of energy for the next half hour. Farouk—

No doubt.

Farouk from Polished Hustle. He's starting a new YouTube channel in English and in Dutch. I don't speak Dutch, but we can do English.

We can work on it, man. We can work on it. No problem at all. You know what I'm saying?

He's a loyal YouTube subscriber and follower and wanted to interview me, and so I said, let's do it. So we're going to talk about how you can dominate instead of just competing. So Farouk, maybe give a quick intro to who you are, what you're all about, and then let's get into your questions, man.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, man, I'm just, you know, basically I'm just a simple dude, man. I'm a simple dude. You know, from an immigrant family, just trying to hit it big, you know, just trying to make it. I just recently started my marketing firm, digital marketing firm in Holland, where we try to help small and micro businesses grow online. And I'm, you know, let's see how that pans out, man.

Where are you from? Where did you immigrate from?

I didn't immigrate. I grew up here. I was born here in Holland. My family comes from Turkey, so that's how it is. Turkey.

There's a lot. I mean, one of the first guys that I brought on my team was, his name was Adis Nazarit, and he was from Iraq, but living in Holland.

Wow.

Yeah, there's, anyway, maybe you guys—

Look at that thing, man. I don't believe in coincidences, man. I don't know about you, but that's pretty strange, man.

I'll have to see, maybe you guys can hook up. Anyway, okay, Demi, questions, what do you got?

Questions? Absolutely, let's get into it straight away. So look, let's talk about competition, right? I mean, they say, you know, competition is good for business, competition is healthy, you know, what do you think about that, Evan?

I think really when I look at competition, I don't think anybody else can out Farouk Farouk, right? I don't think anybody can out Evan Evan, right? I see people trying to do the same thing that I'm doing, whether it's top 10 or whatever. And I don't— like, people write into me all the time and say, hey, look, this guy is copying your video style. I don't— like, it doesn't matter. If you just focus on what other people are doing, um, you're gonna lose. If I'm just trying to focus on shutting them down, I'm just going forward. And when I know that is if I'm focusing on doing what I can do best, me, Evan Carmichael, then I'm going to win. Where I think a lot of people only do a piece of themselves, right? So maybe you're doing YouTube, but you also have all these other passions and interests and talents. The secret is to combine them all together. Because if you're only doing one, you're just going to be okay at it, where you could be great and unique and special and different by bringing them together. Because nobody can combine them the way you can combine them.

No doubt.

That's how I look at competition. Like, for me, there's— I have tons of competition. So who's my competition? Other people posting YouTube videos. There's tons of people doing YouTube, tons of authors putting out books, you know, tons of people doing this kind of stuff. But nobody can do it like me. As long as I'm true to me, I'm going to win. And so for the people watching, as long as you're true to you, as well, you guys are gonna win.

That's so interesting that you say that, man. So interesting. I don't know about if you, if you already know that, but I mean, when I say, you know, dominate instead of compete, it's not like I came up with that stuff, right? I didn't come up with that. Henry Ford, Henry Ford said his exact words, right, that the competitor To be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. Right? Look, I mean, look at that. And when you look at maybe for, you know, Jack Ma, I don't know if you know about the billionaire founder of Alibaba.

We've done videos on him, man.

Exactly, exactly. He said something similar, right? He said like, you know, you should learn from your competitor. But never copy. You know, copy and you die. That's his exact words. So it's very interesting that you say that, right? I mean, it's— let's be honest, it's just, you know, it's basically a mindset, right? If you were presented— if you were presented with the choice, the choice between thriving and surviving, right, which one would you choose? Which one?

You know, it's interesting because most people choose just surviving.

That's why, that's why you hesitated a little bit. That's, that's, that's, that may be true. Well, I mean, it's obvious that someone would say, you know, I want to freaking thrive, right? I don't want to survive. I don't want to just survive. I want to thrive, right? And that's basically what it means. Why would you worry about Oh man, my competitor just dropped the prices. Oh, oh, I'm gonna drop my prices as well. Oh, you know, he did this, he put up a big red sign saying sales. Oh, let's do it as well. Oh, I mean, that's what basically a lot of the businesses do. That's what competing is basically, you know. That's what they do. They try to copy, they try to worry about their competitor. I mean, It's very simple, right? I mean, look, of course you have competition, right? I mean, you will have, just like you said before, you know, you have competitors. Of course you have the, you know, you have to be aware that, you know, they're out there and they're trying to do everything they can to get your customers and bring down your business. And that's basically it. I mean, that's the reality of the situation, right? It ain't fun and games. It ain't fun and games out there. So it's a tough, tough world, you know? But, you know, I'm convinced that, you know, only the strong with great ethics will survive in the long run. And that's basically what I think, you know? You either win or you lose.

Farouk, man, you bring a different kind of vibe. I like it, dude.

That's how it is, man. That's how it is.

You got a special kind of energy there, man. Thanks, man.

Thanks. I appreciate that. You agree, right? I mean, it's basically how it is, right?

Yeah, you know, I think, I think, I think every— I think people would, if you ask them the question, thrive, survive, everybody's going to say thrive. They're not taking the action to thrive. It's too scary to thrive because they have to do something that's different, that's not part of the, you know, accepted norms because they have their parents tell them they can't do that. And so people end up just surviving. Because they're too afraid to actually go after it, of what that thrive would actually be.

Man, that's so true, man. That's so true. But I mean, it's— you have to know that, you know, business isn't like— you know, I mean, when you lose in business, you don't freaking eat. Your family doesn't eat, your team doesn't eat, and they have families, they don't eat. So So, you know, when I say dominate, don't compete, you know, I'm talking about that, that, you know, a certain type of that, you know, killer instinct mindset, right? I mean, you can only do so much. You can only do so much. You know, your competition, they can only do so much, right? It doesn't really matter if you want to compete, you know, or not. It doesn't really matter, right? You have a limit, they have a limit. Maybe their limit is much higher than yours, or vice versa. It is what it is, you know. I mean, I believe that, you know, when you take two people, two entrepreneurs for instance, two business owners, you know, when you take two of them, you know, they have similar businesses, maybe, you know, similar products, similar efforts, similar teams, similar resources, and one of them will make $10 million a year, while the other one will just make a million. That's the limit. It is what it is. So why worry about, you know, what my competition does? Worry about you. It's about you, right? You have to constantly, constantly put everything you have, everything, to improve, to get better, to get more efficient, to get more knowledgeable about your field. About your craft, and whatever happens, happens. You know, it's a mindset. Worry about you. Learn, just like Jack Ma said, right? Learn from the competition, but compete with yourself every single day. Agreed.

So, so we've got, we've got Zeno in the chat, and Zeno is also from Holland, and he's saying, hey guys, you got, you got some Holland love here. Uh, we got a question.

Awesome stuff.

Question coming in from— we have some questions coming from the live audience, so, but I know you have questions too, so you want to get it?

Let's get it, man.

What's your— you want to go through your questions or you want to hit the live?

Oh, dude, no, no problem. We can switch back and forth, no problem.

All right, so J-Rise is asking—

J-Rise again? Again, J-Rise? How you doing, J-Rise?

J-Rise is everywhere. He's always saying Dominate is a fairly masculine word.

Who cares?

Business is traditionally thought of as a masculine place. Do you feel this applies to womenpreneurs too?

Man, this is like, J-Rize, man, what? I mean, come on, man. Come on. Let's be real. Let's be real. J-Rize, okay?

Gonna make it real here.

Come on, man. This has nothing to do with male, female. Look. There are, you know, mothers— think about that. I don't know about your situation, right? My mom, for instance, she— I mean, it's just a little— she's just a little woman, a little woman, you know, uh, and she, she, she worked many, many years in a meat packing company, right? And she would come home, she would come home Almost every day she had cuts on her hands, you know, fainting, but never, never did she complain. Never did she complain. I can never— I can't remember that she ever, ever complained about that, right? I mean, you have to do what you have to do as long as it's ethical. I add that because some people scream and yell and jump, you know, do whatever it takes, you know, do whatever. But I'm like, man, no, I don't want to do whatever it takes. I want to do whatever it takes as long as it's ethical. Right? So it's, you know, masculine, immasculine, who cares? You just have to do, you just have to go for what you believe in. You have to understand where you are, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there. That's it. And you can go at it, man. That's it.

All right, man. What's your next question? Hit me.

That's awesome. I hope, I hope, hey, Jay Rice, I hope that helped, man. You know what I'm saying? So look, Evan, I mean, let's talk about entrepreneurs who are struggling right now, right?

Okay.

You know, what could you advise them to do today as a must in order to survive and thrive? A loaded question, I know, but you know, Well, it's just more action.

You know, it's like, it's just take more action. It's just do more, right? If you're struggling, you got to keep going. You got to keep— you know, you want to make your YouTube channel a success, right? Farouk has started his YouTube channel. I think it's linked up in the description. He's at the early stages here. There's going to be a lot of people who are starting up a YouTube channel. A lot of people starting up a business and feel like they're struggling and they're not getting it. You know, I'm pouring tons of energy and love into this thing, it's not going— you just got to keep doing it, you got to keep going, you got to make more videos. You know, one video a week is not enough. You got to practice, you got to get better, you got to turn the Farouk energy into a daily thing that comes out and people look forward to. So I think people just stop, I think people— Quit too soon. I think people stop trying.

Quitting is easy, man. Quitting is easy. That's what I see.

Stop experimenting. And when it's something that you really want and then you're frustrated, it's actually natural to want to feel like this is just— I'm so frustrated, I'm so upset. A lot of entrepreneurs think at some point about quitting in the business, and that's when you need to remember why you're doing this, what you're passionate about, why you're so excited about it. You got to keep going. You got to do it again. Like, you know, you're upset that your YouTube channel isn't doing better? Okay, make more videos. Get better on camera. You know, interview more people. You got to keep driving it. So, like, that's the action that you need to do. You have to take some action, but it's also the mindset of just remembering that this is important to me. You know, here's— this is why I'm doing it. I want to have an impact. I want to— whatever your goal is. Remembering that consistently helps keep you going.

Exactly, exactly. I mean, actually, I understand what you mean, you know. I mean, Mark Cuban, you know, I mean, this guy, I mean, this guy is— I follow him as well, you know. I mean, he's straight to the point and he's already there where we want to be, you know. So what he said was like, you know, sales cure all, right? I mean, now he's talking, of course, about business, you know. I mean, he's not talking about curing cancer, you know what I'm saying? So, I mean, it's basically very simple, right? No sales, no business. That's it. Okay, you must close deals. Okay, that's the reality of the situation. You have to ask for the sale. I don't know if you heard about him, Alex Turnbull, from from Groove. Groove is a SaaS company, software as a service company, and he has an extremely valuable entrepreneurial blog. Maybe you can, you can, you can reach out to him. And, you know, he talks about how they went from zero, basically from a dead stop, to over $500,000 in revenue per month, right? Every single month. So in one of his, in one of his last posts, you know, he talked about a very interesting thing, right? He talked about one simple thing he did to close more deals. Very simple thing: simply ask and keep asking in a non-obtrusive way. Okay, he talked about, he talked about a potential client, right, who seemed qualified and and who showed interest but never signed up for the premium plan, right? So he asked him what, you know, he just simply asked him, you know, why don't you sign up for the premium stuff, you know? And the client simply answered, you stopped asking. Okay, that's basically what he said. Go figure, right? So clients Clients themselves admit it. Okay, just ask for the deal. Ask for a deal, right? Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you ask for a deal if your product— if you really believed that the product was the best fit for the client, right? I mean, you're doing them a favor by offering it to them. That's basically how it is, right? Stand behind your product and ask for the deal. Ask for the sale. And if your offer And I mean, that's another thing, you know, if your offer is not the right fit for the client, don't sell it. Don't sell it to him, okay? Refer him to a competitor. You know what they're gonna do? I mean, they will trust you basically. I mean, look, trusting is selling. That's how it is. They will trust you more and possibly come back to you later on with a bigger budget. I mean, that's how it is. Sales, man, sales. You know, the problem now is that, you know, if you don't know how to sell, right? Not everybody is good at it, right? I mean, what can you do, right? I mean, what can you do? Invest in yourself to be better, to get better at selling, or, you know, just like you do, you know, hire great people who stand behind your product and sell it for you. On an ethical basis, right? That's how I feel. What do you feel, Bradley?

I like— I'm trying to count how many times you say, "That's how it is." I feel like that could be your tagline.

For real? That's how it is. It is what it is. It is what it is, you know?

That needs to be on like your YouTube banner. That's how it is.

That's how it is, man.

That's how it is with Faruk.

That's how it is, you know what I'm saying?

He's gonna tell you his thoughts. That's how it is.

All right. You may not agree, you know. Look, man, it's basically like this. You know, I don't really like to talk about myself that much. You know, it's just, you know, love me or hate me, man. You know, love me or hate me, but don't feel indifferent. I don't know who that was. Someone said it. It stayed there with me, right? Love me or hate me, but don't feel indifferent about me, right? Don't feel different about me. So I'm just gonna put it out there. This is how it is. This is how Faruk is. This is how Faruk D is. If you like it, you like it. If not, if not, that's how it is. Get out.

This is supposed to be an interview. Okay, let's go. Give me a question.

Awesome, awesome stuff. Awesome stuff. Look, look, uh, you know, in one of your posts, Evan, you said, you know, the traditional salesperson needs to evolve or we'll die, right? So let's talk about that for a minute, Evan.

Yeah, I think— so this is something I talk about in the book. I think when you start— when you start selling something, you're talking about the features, right? Feature-based selling. And then somewhere along the lines, you learn about— you got to sell benefits. You're not selling features, you're selling benefits now. And that's how most of the world sells. Where if you look at people who've really broken through, you look at companies that have really broken through, they use what I call core selling, where you buy from that person or you buy from the company because of who they are and what they represent. So, you know, why do I buy— why do I buy a Nike shoe? Maybe it has the best— maybe it has the best quality, you know, maybe, you know, maybe, you know, they have the best laces or whatever, but what is— are they advertising that? Is that what they're really pushing? It's when I put on a Nike shoe, I feel like I'm Michael Jordan, or I feel like I'm LeBron James, and so I feel like a winner, right?

You're trying to put that emotion into it. That's how it is, you know?

So it's not the features, it's not the benefits, and so every company and every salesperson has to do a better job of explaining why their company is here, what their company stands for. You know, I go to a Whole Foods and I just assume everything in there is healthier because it's at Whole Foods, and so I'm willing to go there and I'm willing to pay a premium, right? You buy anything at Whole Foods, it's 30%, 50% more expensive than somewhere else.

Exactly.

But I go and other people go because they just feel like Whole Foods is a healthy brand. And so where salespeople are falling down is that they're only trying to close the deal with features and benefits, but not talking about the deeper why, the deeper connection to the company that these potential clients have. And so when salespeople stop selling and start listening and start using storytelling— Farouk is a natural storyteller here, right? When salespeople start storytelling, right? Then they start to win.

I mean, exactly. I mean, put a face on it, right? Who— what's the story behind the company? That's why I, you know, I'm really, you know, I'm just, you know, put me somewhere, you know, somewhere in the mountains, you know, with my gun, you know, with my— with my—

wait, wait, wait, put me somewhere in the mountains with my gun? Is that what you said?

You know, like the people in Alaska or something, they hunt hunters and gatherers, right? You know, hunters and gatherers, you know, with their, you know, wife and kids, you know, with a couple of goats, with a couple of, you know, chickens running around. And when they need meat, they just go and hunt and they bring the meat. I'm a simple dude, man. But I knew that, like you said before, right, people— why? I mean, they're like— my company is a digital marketing firm, right? There are like thousands, more than 7,000 companies in Holland alone who can do what I do, basically. Why would someone say, hey, why would I, you know, let me hire the, the, the, the, you know, let me hire Faruk, let me hire Polish Tassel Digital, that's my firm in Holland, let me hire them? Why? I needed to put myself out there, you know, you have to get the story, you What's the face of the company? Who's the face of the company? Just like Steve Jobs did with Apple, right? He was the face. He put himself out there. It's something very, very out of the, you know, I mean, it's very uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable, but it is what it is. You have to get out of your comfort zone. People have to say, you know what, man, I got like 20 offers from 20 companies. Man, Parag and his team, man, these guys, I know who they are, I know what they believe in, I know what they stand for, I know their energy, I know they wanna help me out really, but you know, you can't do that without, you know, with just, you know, sitting behind your desk and just putting out Facebook ads, you know what I'm saying? So with this video, and I'm really investing in video a lot, that's why I started myself with a personal branding thought, putting myself out there so that my clients, my potential clients, when they look me up, when they, when they, when you try to, you know, uh, weigh everything down, every offer down, I want to be the one that just stands out massively, just like the big elephant in the room, right? They can't freaking— they can't go around me, man. They can't go, you know, under me, not above me. They have to face me. They have to accept me, right? That's what I believe. You have to get yourself out there, right?

Listen, I think if you put Farouk in a room, he's gonna stand out.

No doubt about it. And that's what business is all about, man. That's what business is all about. If people don't know you, how are you gonna sell, man? How are you gonna sell? You have to stand out. And not everybody's gonna love me. Not everybody's gonna like maybe the way I look. Not everybody's gonna like my beard. Who cares, man? Who cares, right? I don't give a crap, man. I don't give a crap. This is how it is. We know, I know we can help you out. Look, this is the price, and I would love to help you out. Take it or leave it. That's it. That's how I believe it, you know.

No, no, no, no, that's the way it is.

That's the way it is, bro. Exactly, exactly, exactly.

Okay, that's the end of every thought. That's the way it is.

That is what it is, man. It is what it is.

Next question. What do you got? What's the next question?

When we talk about selling, Evan, you know, there's a concept called social selling, right? Social selling. You know, a lot of people get that wrong. I don't know if you're familiar with that term, social selling.

Okay. Why do they get it wrong?

Are you aware of that term, social selling? That concept? I mean, some— I mean, a lot of companies, a lot of brands, they think that just, you know, by posting discounts, you know, offers, you know, products— we got this product on sale, we got that product on sale— on social media, right? They think that by doing that, they think it's social selling, right? I mean, it's so freaking funny, man. It's so funny.

What do you think about people doing that, man? I think people treat it like direct mail. I think people treat it like—

right, right—

just direct marketing, you know, just, you know, we're putting this out, how many people see it, how many people buy it, and just tracking conversion off each one. Where you can get some, but think about from a consumer's point of view, do they want to subscribe to your Twitter feed or Facebook feed or YouTube channel if all they're getting is promotions, you know. Some people might.

Why would they?

Well, some people might, you know, like if I want coupons for whatever, some people would, but it's much more effective if you can use it as a storytelling platform to get people to care about your message, to feel like they're aligned with what your company's all about. So back to core selling.

Right.

And have 80% of your content being related to your theme, your message, whether it's inspirational or believe or whatever it is. To make me feel something related to your brand, and then you can have something. Okay, we launched this new book, or we launched this new shoe, or we launched this new drink, or whatever it is, and you have people who now are attached to your brand instead of just coupon clipping. So I think people are just— I think a lot of brands are just lazy. I think they're starting to get a little bit better, but most brands are just like— big companies are slow. It's just what they do. So they've sucked for the most part doing social selling, right? But they were slow on everything. They were slow to get on the internet. They were slow to get on TV. They were slow to get on the radio. You know, they've been slow. That's what they do. They're slow.

They're slow, right?

So it's always— that's the opportunity for entrepreneurs. If you talk about dominating instead of competing, exactly, exactly, going where the eyeballs are, right? How many brands are really, really doing well on YouTube right now? You know, not that many. So this is your chance to be able to stand out and be different from your competition.

You said it beautifully, man. You said it beautifully. You're absolutely right. I mean, social selling, right? I mean, it's, it's, it's really simple, man. It's really, really simple, right? Social selling basically means you leverage all online activity to find the potential clients, to reach out Pitch and close the deal. That's basically how it is. I don't know if you know about Jack, Jack Kusakowski from Creation Agency and Jamie Shamps from Sales for Life. You know, they have some great, awesome content about this, so I suggest our viewers to check them out. Maybe we could, you know, post the links for them below, give them some love. You know, Jack recently He was featured in a video on the YouTube channel of Fanatics Media. I don't know if you know about him. You know, I mean, it's very, very beneficial, very short but extremely powerful video about social selling. So maybe, you know, if you post all the links in the description area below, maybe our viewers can check them out. It's very, very valuable, very interesting stuff, you know. Evan, I want to talk about why, why, right? People scream and shout, you know, hustle, hustle, you know, do whatever it takes, you know, become a billionaire, a trillionaire, a multi-trillionaire, you know what I'm saying? Why? Why, right? So my question to you, Evan, is what's your why, man?

I get, I get just insane I love when I feel like I'm helping somebody out. One of the things that bothers me a lot is untapped potential.

Right, right.

Like seeing somebody playing smaller than they are frustrates me.

Wow, that's deep, man.

Whether that's with interviews or just meeting entrepreneurs or just day-to-day people that you come across. Seeing somebody with a lot of talent that's not living up to their potential just bothers me on a personal level. And so I try to fix it, and the way that I can do it best is through entrepreneurs because that's what I have knowledge of. You know, you might be a truck driver and playing small, and you know, I don't know much about the truck driving industry, so I may not be able to help you as much as if you want to start your own business, right? But that's, that's my why. I want to feel like I'm making an impact. I want to feel like I'm helping people reach their potential. So that's what I get excited by every day, man.

That's, that's deep, man. I mean, a lot of people, you know, they hold themselves back just like you said, man. They hold themselves back, man. It's really You know, that's reality. People hold themselves back, man. I know it from myself, right? We hold ourselves back. We hold ourselves back. Why would I— for instance, today, man, today I made calls to potential clients, right? You know, I'm calling and they pick up, right? They pick up. Basically, they don't say a thing. They don't say a word. 'Cause like, you know, like the Scream movie, right? Not saying anything. I'm like, "Hello, this is Faruk, you know?" They basically said nothing. I had that twice happen to me. I'm like, "Man." And these people are, it seems like they're active, but it's very strange. How are you supposed to get a customer if you, one, don't pick up your phone, You pick up and you act like, you know, you're in a screen movie or something like that. So I don't get it, man. One client, I was speaking to her and she was like, I didn't even get to the proposal, but I was saying like, ma'am, we would love to help you out. We would love to help you out. Do you have a minute? Do you have a minute? Because I know what I can see is you don't have a website. Right, so she was like, boom, no, not interested, we don't need it, get out. I'm like, man, I tried it 3 times, right? Look, man, you don't know me, I don't know you, I completely understand why you act like that. Oh look, give me a minute and let me explain. No, get out. I'm like, man, what the hell is going on? And then they cry about Why does my business survive instead of thrive? Why am I constantly, constantly having issues with paying my bills? Why am I not getting enough clients, right? I'm like, man, you don't get out of your comfort zone and you don't invest in the things of today, today and tomorrow. Online is the way to go. And these people don't even have a website. So I'm like, man, but you know what? For me, I love that rejection, man. Why? I, you know, give it to me. Say to me, get out, get out. I don't want to hear you. I don't want to see you. I don't want to hear your voice. I'm like, man, that's awesome. That's awesome. Why? Because the more I get rejected, the more I can get to my what? To my yes. To the yeses, right? That's why I want to get through those nos. I don't know, how much nos do you get every day, Evan?

That's the way it is, man. That's the way it is, Farouk.

Cool, cool. How much do you get rejected, man? How much nos do you hear every single day?

I have a different model, man. I do zero selling. It's all inbound. I put out the content, people find me. That's how I roll. But dude, it's crazy how half an hour goes fast, man, for people who want to find out more about you.

Oh, well, man, is this it, man? Is this it? We should do this more often, man. Dude, this is, you know, I got a lot of things, I had a lot of things I want to talk about with you, man. Hopefully we can do this more often, Evan. What do you think, man?

We'll see, man, but I wanna give you a shout out. People wanna learn about you. Where are they going?

Man, you can find me, hopefully we can get some links in the description box below. You know, you can find me on polishedhustle.com. You know, I have a newsletter, an exclusive newsletter where I talk about my journey from going from zero to $30,000 plus a month. You can subscribe there. You can find me on Twitter @polishedhustle, on Instagram polished_hustle. And, you know, let's connect. I want to connect with people who, you know, who have the great ethics, great morals, and who just want to reach big, big things, man. If I can help you out, I would love to help you out. Let's connect.

Think big with Farouk. Think big with Farouk. All right. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you, Farouk, for the questions. Continue to believe, guys, whatever your own one word is, and we'll see you soon.

Let's get it.