HS 390 FBF - "Its Okay to be Scared" with Jim Palmer

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My pleasure to welcome back to the show Jim Palmer. He is the author of a new book with Martin Howey entitled It's okay to be scared but Never Give up. And I think you'll find this to be inspirational where he did profiles on a lot of people who've overcome great adversity to reach new heights of success. And I think you'll find it to be very inspirational. Jim, welcome. How are you?

I'm great. How are you doing, Jason?

Good, good. You're coming to us from Pennsylvania today, right?

That is correct. Philadelphia area.

Fantastic. What inspired you to write this book?

Well, my good friend Martin Howey has gone through a very serious battle with cancer. He's one of Martin Howey, in case people don't know, is one of the most infamous of business consultants, had an international business. Martin actually was extremely healthy, a runner, a cyclist and triathlete. He was a Marine, Eat healthy, all this stuff. The one thing he didn't do, which he is just sharing openly now, is he didn't get the regular checkups that men and women should have after a certain age. He suddenly found himself about two years ago with stage four colon cancer. And, you know, he was given about six months to live, but he underwent some really radical surgeries and chemo and radiation. And In August of 2011, Jason, he was told by his doctors that the cancer is nowhere to be seen. This cancer that was really pervasive throughout his body. And so I started challenging and a couple other friends started challenging. Martin, you got to write this book and tell your story. There's people's. You know, you could save people's lives with, you know, the message of early detection and things like that. And then in. On December 2nd of 2011, Martin and I were together at a marketing seminar in la, and we were having breakfast, and I kept badgering about the book. And that's when he shared with me very sadly that he had cancer again. So I knew writing the book wasn't something he had time or focus for. I said, well, let's write it together. We had talked all along. Jason, you probably find this too, but I think that the nation and the country, and certainly for small business owners, there's kind of like this little bit of gloom in the atmosphere. And we thought, you know, in addition to just another book about some good success strategies, marketing principles, things like that, I think it would be good to really put out a book that also has some hope and inspiration. In addition to telling Martin's story and then also my story, I'm a cancer survivor. He said, let's interview some highly successful entrepreneurs and have them each share something like a major challenge that they went through, whether it be in their business life or their personal life, how they get through it, and then ask them to share some business wisdom. Now, in massive action style, we set up ourselves a hard date of 60 days to get the book done, and we actually pulled it off in 62 days. In early February, we launched the book it's okay to Be Scared But Never Give up, which we actually wrote into the book as a business lesson about how to get something done quickly.

Yeah. Yeah, that's good. 62 days to do a book is a good pace. Tell us about some of the Stories in the book. I mean you've profiled a whole bunch of different people here. I'm looking at your table of contents. Quite a list of names. Jim, give us maybe your top four or five stories from the people you, you know.

Adam Urbanski is known as the millionaire marketing mentor. Very, very bright entrepreneur in business. A long time, I think, you know, 10 to 15 years he told a story. He was a very successful coach, you know, multimillion dollar business. He had his dream house, he had two dream cars, living the life. And then he got a little bit lazy with some of the strategies which helped him to be successful. And he also had some, some bad spending habits. And he suddenly found himself, Jason, where he had to sell his house and actually get rid of his two cars and move in with his brother in law and almost start his business over. And he talked about having this major mindset struggle because he was known as the millionaire marketing mentor. Had a very successful coaching business and here he was living in his brother in law's home, driving a used car. So he told a story about how he got through that and built his business back up. So I think fair to say that was a major and significant challenge that he worked through. Very, very interesting and inspiring story.

So what were some of the things that he did or told himself? Because a lot of this I think. Well I don't, I mean I know a lot of it is a result of self talk of us. Just the most important conversation any of us will ever have is the conversation we have with ourselves, isn't it?

Absolutely.

And what are the, what are these people? This may weave through all the stories so it doesn't need to be about Adam in particular. And maybe this is even better left for the end after you talk about few people here. But what I want to know, and I want the listeners to hear Jim is what did they do? How did they overcome these obstacles? What were they saying to themselves in the heat of the moment when all the chips were down, when things look really bad where most people would give up, jump off a bridge, you know, whatever. And unfortunately people do that stuff and what do they do to just keep themselves going and work through the fire?

In Adam's case, he actually shared this story. He went back to a networking event which is something a lot of very brand new entrepreneurs do. But he was going to a networking event. He shared how he parked actually a few blocks from the place in his used Ford Fiesta. I think he said it was, he had $20 in his pocket and he was kind of nervous that he might have to go out for drinks afterward and buy drinks. So that was going through his head and that was kind of hitting bottom for him. And he said he went back to one of his earlier mentors who helped early on in his business and the guy told him exactly what to do. He said, you got to get on the phone, stop all the email and all this other stuff, get on the phone, talk to the people that you've coached, that have coached with you before and introduce a new program and sell it one on one. And that's essentially what he did. And he kind of fought back and developed a new coaching program as much as he hated doing it. Got on the phone, talked to past clients who again had no idea of his current situation. And he actually built up a book of business and a new coaching program and he just kept going from there. I think one of the morals of the story, in addition to never giving up, is that he went back to something that he relied on early in his business, which is a mentor and a coach. And the coach was able to deliver some really rock solid advice. Kind of hit you between the eyes type stuff. Pull up your bootstraps and make it happen type advice. You know what I mean?

Sure, sure. Okay, Go on to the next one that you'd like to share. I mean, obviously we don't have time to share all of these people, but tell us about the ones you'd like to talk about.

Let me tell you about Melanie Benjam Strick. She again was a successful Internet marketer. She was a speaker and a coach. And Melanie started building this business from six figures to multiple six figures to a million dollar coaching practice where she had multiple coaches working for her partners. Melanie looks back on it now and shares how it was really not congruent with what she wanted to build for a business. And because of that, she started doing things and relia on things that she didn't feel comfortable with. She's all about really providing great customer service. But the bigger the business got, the more she got out of touch with that. She ended up getting into a couple relationships and partnerships where she was launching this very expensive live event, three day live event at a very expensive hotel. And it was just as the economy was starting to crash several years ago, I think four years ago.

One of those relationships ended up busting up like days before the event. So therefore she was on the hook for like, I think she shared the book, $80,000 hotel bill.

Whoa.

Because the, because the coaching relationship she had dissolved. She wasn't able to. Even though she went on with the event, she wasn't able to sell what they were going to sell. I mean, she really. Everything completely fell apart for Melanie. Again, here's somebody who had a million dollar business and just in the complete despair of anguish. And, you know, she's just working through it, getting back. And again, she reached out to some friends in the business, and actually I was one of the friends she reached out to and back. About three little over three years ago, Mellie and I created the Mars training program together based on both of our beliefs about customer retention and providing good customer experience. So she did that with a couple folks and, you know, fair to say, I think she'd say she's still building her business back up, but again, never giving up. She's fighting back. And it's a real testament to when you see highly successful entrepreneurs, you never know what's going on behind the scenes.

Sometimes they make it look so easy, like there's just no problems. It's amazing how people on the outside so many times think that, oh, I can just do that. I can just start a business like this and do that. And it's a lot more to it than that. Every business has its challenges, and things are a lot more complicated than they sometimes make them look on the surface, huh?

Exactly. There's two sides to every coin, that's for sure. Another story I'll share. Also, let me share a little bit about my backstory. In 2000, July of 2000, for the first time since I was 15 years old, I was out of work, and it was very sudden. My wife was a stay at home mom all these years. We had four kids and I was the main breadwinner. And my position was eliminated with this company. And I'd done pretty well for myself, Jason. And I thought, I'm sure I'll be bounced back in a couple of weeks. Feeling multiple lucrative job offers was in my head. That actually turned into 14 months of unemployment. We lost all our savings, started racking up incredible debt. My wife did go back to work, but things got really bad. I don't know if you, Ben, or if you know anybody that's been out of work for that long. It really wreaks havoc on your self esteem and your confidence.

Sure it does.

About 12 months into this already, you know, horrific scene, I was diagnosed with stage two melanoma, just for good measure.

So I got through that A couple months later as I was recovering and in this time, October of 2001, I just. I had to Figure a way to take control of my life, because I was. I felt like I was spinning out of control. And, you know, I basically turned to prayer. And it became clear to me that I was supposed to start a business. Owning and operating my own business was the way that I was going to rebuild my life and our financial situation. And that was what I did. I battled back. I've actually had cancer twice again, but I catch it early on, all my checkups that I go to. But I built a very successful business. And again, I've never looked back. It's been tough. I gave an interview to somebody and they said, tell me about your early years. I said, well, my entire first year, 12 months in business was what I did called revenue free, which means revenue free. Revenue free. It took me over a year to get my first client. And so just because you have a business, I felt like I had a job. I just didn't have any income, which was the problem I had to solve and figure out how to do that. But I kept going and going and going. I was in debt for quite a while, as I know anybody who starts a business can understand. You still got to feed the family, and as you build things up, you keep incurring more and more debt. But. But thankfully, things have worked out very well for me.

Good, good. So your story is inspiring. These other stories are inspiring. Are there maybe one or two more that you want to share with us before we go, Jim?

Well, I was going to mention Renee. I didn't know her at all. I met her. She's Jo Polish's girlfriend. You know, Joe Polish is the famous carpet cleaner and direct marketer. And she was very beautiful. She is a very beautiful woman. And she was having illness and problems with her face and things like that, and she discovered she had a tumor on her brainstem. I mean, again, basically a death sentence. And through some really good therapy and doctors and all these different things, she is still with us and doing well today. And again using what she went through to help and coach others. Very, very inspirational when you. When you hear what she went through. And you want to ask me about somebody?

Yeah, I want to ask you about Mike Koenigse.

Mike Koenigs. You know Mike. His story is a little bit less of a oh, my gosh type challenge, but really a great story of inspiration and hope. Where Mike grew up in this very small town. I believe it was Minnesota. Yeah, Eagle Lake, Minnesota. And his father was a barber. And it was just a small town that most people grew up and stayed in. But Mike's main ambition was to get out and create something of himself. Mike really started his entrepreneurial route making movies and doing things like that. It caused actually, you know, so much debt and trying to build his business. It caused the divorce of his first marriage, but he kept going and plodding along. You know, today, Mike is the creator of many successful programs, you know, to help people market their business. Traffic Geyser is one of them. And it's a real testament to when you really put your customers first and you try and solve problems. Mike, I think, is one of the best problem solvers I've ever met. He takes a look at a problem or situation, what people need to do, which is help people with marketing, grow the business. And he kind of what he called reverse engineers it and finds a way to automate it so it can be quick and easy. He's really built quite a business. It's, as I say, not a life threatening challenge like some of the others, but very, very inspirational.

Yeah, it sure is. It sure is. Well, any common threads that you want to mention, Jim, between all of these people? I mean, certainly persistence, tenacity, not giving up, you got to keep going in the face of incredible odds. And in fact, in my own life, I like that. You know, it's quite exhilarating to do that. And I think that's why people take up extreme sports or big challenges, whether it be, you know, running marathons or climbing mountains or whatever it is, because it's not an uncommon thing that people like overcoming challenges by any means.

I mean, especially when your back's up against the wall. I mean, you got to make it happen. You know, I love watching the show the Shark Tank. I don't know if you're familiar about an ABC where these entrepreneurs go before these highly successful business people and try and get them to invest in their business. And one of the people that was trying to get, he had like about. He was doing about two or three hundred thousand dollars a year, living in a small apartment, very comfortable. And he was trying to get these, what they call, they call them sharks, the investors, to invest in his business. And he was talking in kind of a braggadocious manner as he talked. Yeah, all I need is like six figures to live on. I got a simple life. And one of the sharks said, you know what, I'm not investing because you're no longer scared and you're no longer hungry. And that means you're not more than likely not going to do the tough work that needs to be done. And so when you have 10 or $100,000 worth of credit card debt or when you, you know, in my case, the doctor said, well, you know, there may be a 50, 50 chance you'll be alive after five years. I mean that really there's, it's a real slap in the face of hard, cold reality. Well, what do I got to do? I've got to do something to protect my family. And you know, in my case, when I started my business and I had zero revenue, I had to go out to networking events, I had to go speak. I knew all these different things which were, to be honest with you, well outside my comfort zone at the time. But, you know, it's that fear, being scared coupled with, I'm going to make it, I know I need to do this, I know I can do it. This is exactly what I was made for. And when you marry those two, the kind of the ambition with also a little bit of the fear, man, there's nothing more driving, potential driving than that.

Yeah, very, very good points. Where can people get the book?

Www.it's okay to be scared.com? it's also available at Amazon and you can get a Kindle version on Amazon as well. There's some amazing bonuses. A number of the people that we interviewed gave us some pretty cool bonuses that you'll get instantly if you buy the book at it's okay to be scared dot com. You get them instantly if you buy it at Amazon. On the last page of the book, I give you the URL where you can claim your bonuses. I think the final thing I would say, Jason, is one of the things that will help any business owner succeed is what I call constant implementation and massive action. Martin and I really, in some real straight talk. I didn't know if Martin would be here in 60 or 90 days. When we talked about the book when his cancer came back, I didn't know what that meant. So I did not want this to be like a six month thing. So we developed a strategy where Martin and I were going to get on the phone and interview each other for three hours and then we're going to get all of our guests on the phone, interview them, have it transcribed, then we would edit it into a book. It was an amazing two month of very hard work and really diligent nose to the grindstone. But we got the book done and it's out and it's really making an impact. Some of these stories are really changing lives. So massive action, just get it done and stop looking for perfection. Do the best you can get it done and don't keep it in your word processor trying to look for that last comma that you might have missed.

Right, right. Yeah. No, get it out there definitely and things can be improved later. Good advice. Jim Palmer, thanks so much for joining us today. Good to talk to you again.

My pleasure, Jason. Take care.

Thank you for joining us today for the Holistic Survival show protecting the people, places and profits you care about in uncertainty times. Be sure to listen to our Creating wealth show which focuses on exploiting the financial and wealth creation opportunities in today's economy. Learn more at www.jasonhartman.com or search Jason Hartman on itunes. This show is produced by the Hartman Media Company offering very general guidelines and information. Opinions of guests are their own and none, none of the content should be considered individual advice. If you require personalized advice, please consult an appropriate professional information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.