How I Get More Done Than Most People Think Possible - #EvansBook ep. 52

Why do I seem like I'm insanely productive? I'm going to tell you today. I get a lot of emails and messages and comments from people saying, "Evan, I don't know how you're doing all this work. I don't know how you're making 3 YouTube videos a day. I don't know how you're working all these other projects and took on a new company here, Toronto Dance Salsa." "how do you balance everything, how do you make it all work, why are you so insanely productive where I can't even get most of the things on my to-do list done?" And the answer is I have a team. I've built up a team. And when I started, it was just me and I was doing everything myself and I tried to focus on what's the highest leverage thing I could do today, right? What do I want to be best in the world at and how can I spend as much time as possible doing that and not all the other stuff? Because that's where most people are spending their time is on the other stuff. And the things that you could be a genius at, you're only spending 10% of your time on. Doing that allows you to get to the place where you can start bringing on people. And the first person I hired was for 1 hour a day, and I slowly built that up. And now we've got 16 people on my team. And if you look at the YouTube videos, how am I able to make 3 videos a day? It's because I have Jason behind the camera filming me, because I have Christina and Sam doing the editing, because I have Ivan helping with all the research for the films. Because I have people helping me with all the comments from my wife Nina, to Luca and Sandra, and everybody on my team has to spend an hour a day in the comments connecting with you guys. And so it may look like I'm doing all of this stuff. It's because there's so many people who are behind the scenes doing their work, and all I have to do is show up and talk, and then respond to the comments that have been flagged for me to answer. And so it allows me to be productive. It allows me to think about what am I best in the world at? What do I want to do? What do I enjoy doing most? And spend my time on that and not do all the other stuff. And so this relates to the book in that I just got back the copy-edited version of my book. And almost every single page had issues that they want to edit. And so the publisher has a copy editor who basically looks over the entire manuscript, the entire book, and starts making changes and suggestions. And most of the changes are pretty minor. Most of them were adding an extra period, putting the comma, punctuation, a little bit of grammar. But I appreciate that. I appreciate having an extra set of eyes on it because it allows me to focus on the writing of the book and then not all the specific, you know, errors and mistakes. And me having to reread that book, how many times? Like, for me to read it 10 times over and over and over again to catch all the little spelling mistakes, or punctuation mistakes is not the best use of my time, right? I would rather spend my time making more videos for you guys or responding to comments or planning the next book or planning my book marketing strategy. That's a way better use of my time. And so that's how I'm able to launch the book and get the YouTube channel going and run Toronto Dance Salsa and do all these other projects I have going on because I built the team. And as soon as you're able to do it, you want to look at how can I involve other people in my business? So that you can get more done. Over to your questions. First up is @iamalexx. Your belief in believing makes me believe in myself. I love that, Alex. I'm humbled by that. That's why I do what I do. I want people to believe in themselves. I think it's one of the biggest things that's missing from a lot of people. We live a Photoshopped version of our lives. We pretend like we're doing these big things that we really believe in, but secretly we go home and and cry to ourselves or look in the mirror and say, "We can't do that," and the voices in our head tell us that we're not gonna be successful. And that's a conversation that I think people need to break out and need to share and need to have people who surround themselves with positive vibes, energy, flow, things that make you believe that you can do more than you can do. You know, going a little deeper with this, I'd like all of you guys to be that for somebody else. Maybe it's not Believe in somebody else. Believe is my word, but find the one word that you stand for and be a source of joy, of inspiration, of happiness, of motivation for other people. Just like I help you believe in yourself even though you've never met me, probably, what can you do to be a source of positivity for other people in your life? Because the way that I make you feel right now, you can spread that and have that kind of force multiplier to have a major impact on your family, on your community, on people around the world through the internet, right? You wanna be a force for good in the world as well. And if I can be a small part in that success and having you guys go out and spread joy and happiness and motivation around the world, man, that fires me up. Next up, New Future Builder. Looking forward to you getting into marketing mode with the book. Thanks, man, I am too. I am too, so excited. Great points made here. I can identify with the 3 people showing at your workshop. "Is your definition of launching your book successfully? Are you looking for a more tangible goal here, like sales numbers, because you're looking for wider impact, or is there an intangible measure that will be your primary indicator of success? I sense a both/and coming here, LOL." You're right, so I am driven by impact. You know, I've never sold a book before, so I don't know what to expect. My agent is saying that a really good book sells 50,000 to 100,000 copies in its first year. So that's a milestone to aim for. For me though, it's— you're right, you know, it's not just about the numbers. It's feeling like the work that I'm doing is meaningful and having an impact. I don't have a tangible measure for it. Just like making this YouTube channel, yes, I track views, yes, I track new subscribers, but the most meaningful metric for me is seeing the comments come in. It's seeing your questions come in. It's knowing that the work that I'm doing is meaningful and having an impact on you guys. And so translate that to the book, that's what's gonna be the biggest success factor for me to think, okay, do I wanna write more books? Is did you guys enjoy it? Are you seeing the results? Are you applying it? Are you reading through the book and saying, you know, I made a change in my life because of it? And that's what's gonna be the big driver for me. So whether that comes across through emails or YouTube videos or tweets, if a book goes on and sells 100,000 copies, but nobody writes to me about the impact it had, then that would be a failure. I wouldn't want to do another book. So the numbers are there, it's a nice kind of benchmark, it's good to have something to shoot for, but for me it's much more about seeing the qualitative impact that comes back from you guys letting me know that you read the book and are helping spread the message. Next up, Aichlit Tahit, I hope I pronounced that okay. Happy that I found your YouTube channel, I enjoy each of your new videos. Feeling the love, thank you for that. They have good topics and most of all having a great speaker like you to keep the attention, even with long content to read, LOL. Making an audiobook with your own voice is a great idea. You speak well and clear. Even if English is not my native language, I can understand each word you are saying. Keep up doing these videos every day. They're a good source of believing in our potential. Thank you for the reminder. More about the ESL, I can tend to, when I get excited, speak very quickly, and I remember doing a presentation overseas where I wanted to jam so much information in that I spoke super fast, and people came up to me after the first day and said, "We love your energy and passion, but we don't really understand what you said because you were speaking too quickly, and English is our second language." I've tried to be better at that, although also when I do get excited and, you know, emotional out of control, I can talk very quickly, which I know can hurt the ESL market, people who, you know, English is not their first language, and you're trying to keep up. And it means something to me because my mom, when she moved to Canada, came to Canada, didn't speak English, she moved from Italy, and she learned English by watching TV, by watching movies. She's the only one of her friends who moved at the same age who doesn't have an accent. She speaks with a native Canadian accent where all of her other friends still have an Italian accent, and she also speaks Italian fluently. Knowing, uh, my mother's story and then seeing how I get messages from you guys saying that you're learning English by watching my videos, is a big mind trip. It's a big honor. And so I need to do, I need to just keep that in mind when I'm doing the audiobook. And I'm sure that the team there will also tell me if I'm speaking too quickly, but I need to keep that in mind because I want it to be a message that can be applicable to everybody. I imagine, you know, my mom at her age coming over, and if she's picking up my audiobook, I want it to be something that she can learn English with and that can still have a big impact on her life. So I appreciate that message and the chance to kind of go a little more emotional with that story. You got me choking up a little bit here. Next up, Tom Stop. Tell us about the first company you sold, please. Seriously, you mentioned it here and there, but I would like to know what it was. It would give you more credibility to you as an entrepreneur, in my opinion. I'm happy to talk to you more about my company, but I don't put out content to improve my credibility. If I can tell my story in a way that helps you in your business, that's awesome, but I don't need to prove myself to anybody, so that's it. Next up, Pretty Brown Girl 71. I love your channel and appreciate your advice. How did you get your first start in business? Very interesting. Exact same question almost as the one before, but with a much better tone, and so I'm happy to answer this one. When I was getting started, I always thought I was gonna be a banker. High school yearbook said I was gonna be a banker, and I always, that was my dream job. My parents were not entrepreneurs. I didn't have anybody in my family who was an entrepreneur. I never thought I was gonna be an entrepreneur. It was never on my radar, never something I thought about. And then when I went to university, there were two people I connected with who had started a business and needed help with it, and it was the toughest decision of my life because I had opportunities to work at big companies that I thought were my dream job and giving me you know, $80,000 to $100,000 starting salary and flying me around the world and putting me up in expensive hotels. And it's like, this is the life that I was working towards. And on the other hand, I had this startup company that's not making any money where I'm making like $300 a month, not able to survive. And which one do you go for? And the safe route was the big companies and the logical route and the one all my friends wanted and, you know, people were guiding me towards with that one. But just something felt Something felt like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I had to, I didn't want to live with regret. And that's what changed the whole game for me. I did not want to live with regret. And so I thought, you know what, I'm gonna give this a shot. If it doesn't work out, at least I know that it would not work out. And that wouldn't haunt me for the rest of my life. And so every time I've had to make a big decision in my life, I ask myself, Is this something that I will regret not doing? You don't really regret too many things that you do. You regret more the things that you don't do, are afraid to do. I try to imagine myself, you know, when I'm 90 or 100 or 250 looking back at my deathbed, and I don't want to have wished that I had done more or tried something else, but I just didn't have the courage to do it in that moment. And kind of fast-forwarding my life forward to that point helps me push through the fear. It doesn't eliminate the fear. Like, the decision I have to make right now is still very scary. The decision to not take those jobs but to take this startup opportunity was scary. But that idea of not living with regret helped me push through the fear to take the course of action I felt was best for me. And so it ended up working out. It wasn't easy, but that's how I got started. Country girl 2007. "Awesome videos, Evan." Thank you, Country Girl. "Quick question. I'm often told I should write a book about the tons of knowledge and wisdom I possess. I'm not sure where or how to begin. Not much of a writer either. Well, maybe I am and haven't tapped into it yet. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. For instance, how does one begin writing, especially when they haven't done it before? How does one find a publisher? How does one know when it's time to find a publisher, and so forth? Thank you." This is an interesting series of questions. In terms of how to get started writing, you just start. Just like anything else. There's no one big momentous day that this is, you know, how you're supposed to do it. There's no one way to start. You just start. You get in front of your laptop and you just start writing. Whether it's at home or coffee shop, subway, whatever it is, you just start writing. And expect the first stuff to be crap. Expect your first pages to be crap. Expect to read it over and say, "This is really, really bad." Especially if you've never written before, then your first stuff is going to suck. It's a process of getting it out of your head and then refining it and refining it and refining it and refining it to eventually get it better. On top of that, I would ask myself, "Do you want to be a writer?" Like, is this a skill that you want to improve on or not? Because you could have somebody help you write it for you. You could have a ghostwriter who interviews you, who, if you would much rather make videos or do interviews and talk it out, somebody else who loves that skill of writing could take that and turn that into a book for you. It's a matter of just finding that right person and building the team up. So it's figuring out, do you wanna learn that skill of writing or not? I find that I love making videos. I think well on the spot, but I also, I'm a good writer. I think I'm a good writer, and I can often articulate myself better when I write. I don't like being a full-time writer. I wouldn't wanna be a full-time writer. I enjoy making videos, and meeting people too much. But I wouldn't want to just give it over to somebody else to write. I feel like I can write better than somebody else. I can get my voice out better than somebody else, and so that's why I wrote the book personally. In terms of finding a publisher, that's much more a question of what's the impact that you wanna have? If your goal is just to have a book, then the faster and easier way to do it is just to self-publish. If your goal is to make money from the book, the faster and easier way to do it is to self-publish. 'cause you don't make a lot of money with a book, and finding a publisher is a long, arduous process. If your bucket list is just, I wanna write a book, then maybe you don't need a publisher to do it. If you're gonna go to a publisher, the way that I made my path there was I have an agent, a talent agent who books me into gigs, speaking gigs, corporate opportunities. His job is just to find me deals. He introduced me to a literary agent, and the literary agent's job is to go out and I can find a publisher for you and get you the best deal. And then she introduced me to 5 publishers who I had phone calls with, and then we ended up making a deal with, with the one that we liked the best. I'd recommend going through the agent route because they help mold your idea into something that is sellable to publishers. They also help you get the best deal, and not just financially the best deal, but also help connect you with the best publisher for you. You want somebody who believes in your vision, who loves what you're all about, who wants to work with you, 'cause this is, we're already past a year into making this book, you know, it's a process. You gotta like the people that you're working with. That being said, if you're a first-time author, what they wanna see to increase the chances of you getting the deal is not just having a great idea, they wanna see that you have an audience. They wanna see that people will listen to you. They wanna see that when the book comes out, You know, they want you to go out and sell it. They don't wanna have to rely on just selling in bookstores or online, but you have an audience that when you release it, they're gonna go to the bookstore, they're gonna go to Amazon, they're gonna buy it for you. So what you wanna do is as much as possible now, start building up your audience. Whatever the message is that you have in the book, whatever the message is that's in your head, all this wisdom that has to come out, start sharing that, whether it's YouTube, whether it's Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or whatever it is. Start building up an audience because the bigger an audience that you have, the easier it is to get a publisher to say yes, and the more likely you're gonna get an advance on your book, which is extremely unlikely for a first-time author, but you can do it if you have a big enough audience. Next up, Omar. Evan, I would like to send you a copy of my book. Do you have an address? If you look at many of my Mail Time videos, I include the address to send me stuff, and I look forward to getting a copy of your book and opening it up. Over to Alan next. Hi Evan, I hardly comment on any channel, but I have to say you're an inspiration. I can't wait for your book to come out. Been working on my startup and watching your videos gives me daily motivation. I really appreciate that, Alan. You know, I love people who are consistent commenters. I also love the people who are first-time commenters. It means a lot that you made me a part of your morning routine. That's why I do this thing. I wish you the best of luck with your startup. And, and as much as I'm the motivation for you guys, You're the motivation for me too. You're the motivation for me to want to keep posting videos, to want to keep making content, to want to keep sharing it with you. Seeing comments like this saying that I'm helping you, that motivates me to keep going. So, so please keep it up. Thank you so much for the comments. Make sure to leave a comment below. But to take that maybe a step further, like a previous question, I would try to be that for other people as well. You know, I remember when I was first starting my YouTube channel, every single comment was meant a lot to me, right? Every, that first comment that came in, I might not get a comment for 10 videos that I make, and then a comment comes in, I'm like, ah, somebody's watching. And if you're watching videos and it has an impact on you and you like it, don't just leave a thumbs up, give a comment, especially in the smaller channels. If it's a smaller channel where I see the person responding to comments, I will always try to leave a comment myself because I know Thinking back to me being at that size, how important every single comment was. Knowing how important it is to me, I would encourage you to not just be a first-time commenter on my channel, but also do it on other people's channels too if you feel like that comment's gonna have an impact on their life. Next up, Ananda writing in, "Great video, thanks a lot. I always love your stuff, Evan. I would appreciate some advice. As an entrepreneur in the making, I'm looking for connections, advice, and help about giving first. I don't have any business leads or connections to offer them, so instead I give them a popular self-help book first." first, which they have not read. Generally it's books by Robin Sharma, Dale Carnegie, or The Alchemist. Is that okay? Much more important than what you're giving is the intent. And so I'd be looking at what value can you give them and is it coming from a place of warmth, right? So I want to have good feelings about you. And a lot of times it's just leaving a comment. Like you don't have to spend any money on them. You don't have to give them a book. It's just giving them something that they would appreciate. Understanding that you've spent time thinking and caring about them. So as an example, like the last question, can you leave a comment on their YouTube video? Can you spread a little bit of love? Can you retweet something that they put on Twitter? You know, the people who are consistently sharing my stuff, commenting, are active in the community, I know who they are. They haven't spent any money on me. They haven't sent me any books, but they've invested their time. And if they ask me for a favor, they ask me to check out their new startup, they ask me to look at their video, I would do it because I know the amount of hustle and love they put in to my channel being successful. And so that's all you need to do. It's not about sending somebody, like making a list of 100 people and sending them books. You know, if you don't stay in touch with them, you don't continue to provide value to them, if you don't put in the heart, then it's not gonna lead to a relationship. So it's much more important to invest the time and the caring and find a way that you can have an emotional impact on their life and their business. And if you do that, then when you need help, they're much more likely to be involved because they remember who you are. Last question comes from Mr. 5 On It. I need that shirt. I'm glad you like the shirt. It's not the one I'm wearing today. It's the Hustler one that I had on last week. You can order it in the description below. There's a link to the gear page. We'll pop it up on the screen too. And yeah, you can buy the shirt, wear it off. If you do, post it somewhere— YouTube, Twitter, Facebook— let me know. I want to see what you look like in it, and I might just share it too. So thank you guys so much for watching. Tons of questions, I love it. If you guys have a question about my book, the book writing process, about building a team, which is the topic at the top of the show, let me know, leave in the comments below. I'll make a video reply for you on next week's video. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.