Evan Carmichael and Keith Ferrazzi argue that entrepreneurs should shift from selling to serving. Ferrazzi realized that focusing on service improves product quality and business outcomes. Carmichael's salsa studio displays acts of kindness instead of sales pitches, building emotional attachment and word-of-mouth loyalty over short-term revenue.
Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is generously serve. Over to you, Keith Farazzi. I wake up every morning with espresso, keep me going.
In retrospect, in my life, I spent way too much time early on as an entrepreneur pushing, selling, and as opposed to generously serving. And once I started to generously serve, my product got better as an entrepreneur. So even in that area of professional currency, people who believe that their job is to sell stuff versus serve a community actually don't do as well.
I think too many entrepreneurs are focused on trying to make a quick buck. Too many entrepreneurs are focused on just trying to get sales without really thinking about the community that they're serving, the customers around them. And I think about this business here, right? We're in a— I mean, a business that I own right now is Toronto Dance Salsa. One of the things that I've done is we have this TV that's out here that people walk by. And, you know, most, most stores, when you see a TV in front, you're going to see messages of sales that they're having, or coupons, or special promotions. Where ours has nothing to do with that. You walk by our TV, you're going to see Random Acts of Kindness, and there's a message on there that encourages people to do something nice for somebody else today. You're not gonna see sales on our salsa classes or our schedule. You're gonna see a guy stopping out of his car to help an old lady cross a really busy street. You're gonna see a woman who, on her 20th birthday, decided to do 20 things to help people in her community. Random Acts of Kindness. You're gonna see a homeless man take money out of his change pocket, all the money he has, pay for somebody else's parking meter because the guy ran off and didn't pay for parking and the homeless guy didn't want that guy to get a ticket. Some moving stuff. And I picked videos that moved me, that when I watched I got emotional, I got a little teary-eyed, made me want to do something better. Because yes, I want people to sign up for my salsa classes and sign up for the programs that we have here, but more importantly, I want people to be moved. I want people who come and experience a class with us to come out a better person. I want people who walk by our store to feel like they're a better person. I want to give back and help them. And while so many people focus just on the short-term sales sale, there's an insane amount of equity that is built up in having people be able to talk about you, right? Like, give people a reason to talk about you because you're helping them so much. And there is that business side. For me, it's just I want to do good, you know? I want to feel like I'm making an impact. I want to feel like I'm touching people's lives, and I can do that through entrepreneurship. I could do that through Salsa, I could do it through a number of different ways, and as much as I can help, I want to. And when you take on that approach instead of being selfish and just thinking, I need to make as much money as possible, then the world opens up to you. Then that's when you start seeing results and progress and traction with your business. Another quick example, one of my old instructors moved out of the city to a different city, and she's coming back and asked if she could use the studio and what kind of rental agreement we could work out. I told her, you know, you're not an instructor here anymore, but you're still part of the family. And as long as the studio is free, you can use it. You know, I don't need to make any money off of you using the studio. It's yours as long as we don't have anything else going on. And you might look at that on a business case and say, well, you lost an opportunity to make money. You know, why did you do that? And for me, it seems very short-sighted. For me, it always finds ways to come back to me. And it's not that she owes me now, but it's— if people feel an emotional attachment to your company, an emotional attachment to your brand, an emotional attachment to you, they're going to like you more, they're going to tell more people about you, they're going to spread the good news, they're going to buy from you more if they're customers. That is what you want. And so I'm happy to give up the short-term, immediate dollars because I know it's always going to come back to me tenfold. And it's also just a way more fun and exciting and enjoyable way to live instead of constantly being stressed out. And I know that for a lot of you, you need to make money quickly. You might say, "Well, it's easy for you to say, Evan, but I got bills to pay, I have a mortgage, I have a family." I got student loans I'm trying to pay off. I can't make my rent next month. I know that that sucks, but the path to making lots of money is to providing lots of value. And if all you're looking at is seeing the next person that you meet as your meal ticket, you're not gonna give them the real value that they need. And as long as you're being selfish and close-minded and only thinking about yourself, then you're not gonna have the success that you would have if you were more open more giving, more trying to help. When you genuinely care about others and you genuinely want to see them succeed, and these people are your customers and your suppliers and your team, it comes back to you in so many ways that I can't even count. And I've, I've invested so much energy, especially into the people around me, that doesn't pay immediate results. Just knowing though that by them working on themselves and getting better and improving that I would do it even if I had zero business impact because I just like doing it. It makes me feel alive. But I know it's gonna come back to the business too, right? The skills they learn, the improvements they make will bring it back. And so if you're frustrated and down and out and not making enough money, your business isn't where you want it to be, I'd encourage you really to think about how you can serve others better, how you can provide more value, how you can care more about others, because it'll make you feel really good and it'll also make you more money over the long term. So the question of the day today is, how are you serving your customers or your community? Leave in the comments below. I'm going to join the discussion. Thank you guys so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot Ivan Espresso. I wake up every morning. Espresso keep me going.
