Dr. Levine: 5 Authentic Business Tips For Success

I wanted to disrupt the way people did business, and it's not about cold emails and cold DMs and going to networking groups. It is about making heart-to-heart connections.

Welcome to the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast, a show where we interview high voltage entrepreneurs growing and scaling through e-commerce, real estate, and other wealth without Wall Street ventures, showing you the path to making your first or next million.

All right folks, welcome back to the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast. If you are a heartrepreneur or even want to know that means, then keep listening. I've got a guest today who's had more than 40 years of experience, helped more than 7,200 businesses in that timeframe, and has published more than 40 books, if I'm not mistaken, and maybe working on her 41st. I don't know. We're going to find out today. So if you want to know what it means to have that level of experience, then pay attention to the podcast. As always, like, share, comment, engage, do something, leave snide remarks on the feeds. I don't care because it's going to help YouTube and Instagram and wherever else you are viewing this currently, give us some engagement and help big tech beat the message so that we can get this message out to anybody today who needs to hear it. Thank you, Terry, so much for joining me on the call today.

It's a pleasure. I'm glad to be with you, Neil.

Perfect. So what is a heartrepreneur?

Well, first of all, I compliment you because most people don't say it correctly and you have it perfect.

Well, you criticized me earlier, so I fixed it.

Well, it's a difficult word and so—

I'm sorry, criti— criticize.

That was a terrible word.

Excuse me. Critiqued, lovingly critiqued.

What does that mean? Lovingly. I'll tell you where it came from, then I'll tell you what it stands for. So one of my publishers years ago, I went to meet him in New York with a manuscript that I'd been working on for him, and he took the manuscript and he threw it on the floor.

Oh, yummy. That's a—

Yeah, I was like, we have a contract. What's going on? He said, I've known you for 11 years and I don't want this. I want How to Be a Heartrepreneur. And I went, a what? I couldn't say it either. I was like, what?

Right?

And he said, Terri, you do business differently. You do it heart to heart. You don't advertise, you don't DM, you just don't do what other people do. And yet you get a lot of hand raises. So I went back, I was from New York to Philadelphia, I was on the train going, what the heck does this mean? And then I realized, yes, I do business heart to heart. Changed the name of my company, established the trademark for Heartrepreneur. And what it stands for is doing business transparently, with integrity, and authentically.

Boy, does that mean a lot in this world. That's a mouthful.

It's quite a bit.

That's a mouthful in today's world, right? With challenges in our mindset, there's a lot of broken mindsets, as I'm sure we can talk about today. There's a lot of heart challenges with how to treat people and what is right and what is considered wrong. The taboos are certainly coming off the line. And so integrity in the things that we do and we say is probably the most greatest Differentiator, I think, in business that we can deliver, in my personal opinion. And so I would 100% agree with you.

Yeah, I wanted to disrupt the way people did business. And it's not about cold emails and cold DMs and going to networking groups. It is about making heart-to-heart connections. Game changer, really is.

But, but people who are doing that are thinking, okay, well, how do I get in front of somebody? How do I prospect somebody who has never heard of me, but not make it feel sleazy DM style, slide into my messages kind of thing, right?

Yeah. So let me tell you, when I established this consulting business 30-something years ago, the way that I did it, and I had 30 clients in 30 days, and then I had a waiting list, was I simply picked up this thing called a phone that most people don't use anymore. And I literally just called people I knew and I said, oh my gosh, I started something new. Can I share it with you? I'm so excited.

Yeah.

And by the end of 30 days, I had 30 clients and it still works just to give you a A quick case study. Brand new client literally started with me Monday. Monday. I said, every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, just want you to go meet 2 new people. I don't care where you go. I don't care how you do it and get a phone call with them. She signed on 4 people for her $10,000 program. That's $40,000.

Having conversations.

Just, and not pitching.

How'd she meet them? Yeah.

People she either knew, she went to a networking group, another she connected with somebody that had been commenting on a lot of her LinkedIn posts and said, hey, why don't we just connect for 15 minutes? And literally it was that easy. And she didn't pitch, she didn't sell, she talked, she gave tips, she gave hints, she gave advice. And people said, how do I get to work with you? It is really that simple. And most people don't do it.

No, it is in actuality, you're, what you're speaking to in my heart is the differentiation between sales and information. An informative sell of knowledge and intent for the real benefit of the person you're speaking to versus trying to sell them something just out of force of sales. What would you agree or disagree or change that?

Oh, I 100% disagree. And, and it's very common in the coaching world to hear surrender the outcome, yet I feel that most people don't.

Surrender the outcome? Am I the only one who hasn't heard of that?

Potentially. Surrender to outcome. It's part of how we live our lives in the world as coaches. And in addition, on calls, I have, I go into a call with nothing in my outcome other than I'm here to help and serve. Can I make an impact on this one person in some way, shape, or form?

You know what that is?

That's it.

Scarcity versus abundance, isn't it? The idea that there's only so many people and I gotta close every person I can talk to because there's not going to be another person. So I have to talk this person into it because there won't be another one tomorrow. Does that kind of sound about— I mean, scarcity is the right way of saying that?

Scarcity. And what I would actually add to that, Neil, is desperation. Because I can tell on these calls, you can feel when someone is desperate and people go away from that. They don't go towards that.

I get rejected by it, but I also see through the marketing, right? So I'm a little different in the way, and I give people credit for trying. There's a guy I was on a call with the other day and he was talking about KDP publishing and book stuff and that kind of stuff. And my daughter is about to publish her book and we're going through the process. And so I wanted to learn the rest of it correctly and how to market it because she's about to, it's taken her a year, but she's 15 and she's almost got it ready to go. And so I was learning some information and the guy who was on the call is a real sweet guy in his 20s and he really gave a conservative effort. But I could tell at the end when I really wasn't ready to buy yet that his frustration was kicking in. And I give him credit if you're listening to this dude, because you held back. You held back and that's fine. You didn't push in, you didn't try to force, you didn't try to make the deal work. You were just like, hey, that's cool. And good for him because he's probably commission-based.

Oh, I'm sure it is. And I've got commission-based folks on my team, and what I tell them is our job— and I wear this little bracelet that actually says it— our job is to show up, create, and serve. That's it.

Show up, create, and serve.

At the end of the day, when I've done that, I turn my bracelet around and there it is. I've got my little check mark that shows that I have accomplished that.

That's awesome.

So I tell my team, your job is just to educate and serve and help people.

Yeah.

And If they feel like they're a fit and we really feel we can help them, it's also our job just to extend the hand and say, do you want some help? If they say no, we don't overcome objections. We don't do anything. We don't pitch.

We don't push. That's the big one I was going for. Yeah. The, the overcoming of objections and how do you get these people in? And really you're getting down to like NLP or manipulative style conversations and tactics, which basically is what everybody's resisting these days.

Yes.

At the end of the line, they really are. 'Cause they're getting smarter, aren't they? The consumers are getting smarter about all this.

I think consumers are much more educated now, and I think the minute you go to closing, overcoming objections, and pitching, you're losing people.

Yeah.

And so just have a heart-to-heart conversation. It's just like if you were coming to visit me and you just got to my house and I said, oh my gosh, I just made great lemonade. Can I get you some? You can say yes or no. I'm not gonna convince you. You've gotta have it. Let me tell you why. It's just a yes or no question. Yeah. Someone wants your help or they don't. It's pretty darn simple.

Well, and they have to be ready to make that decision on their own. You can't necessarily convince somebody. You can't necessarily motivate somebody. You can't necessarily force somebody, as we say in the country, you can't lead a horse to water and make it drink.

Yeah.

Unless they are at a position of change. Correct. How do they, how do you see people get to that change in your line of business? Where do you see them get to that change? And if someone's listening and it's like, hey, I might be that person, what would you say to them?

So you're feeling a sense of overwhelm or frustration, like, what am I supposed to be doing? Why am I not making the money I want? Or I'm making the money and I have no time freedom. Like, there is a, what I like to call a missing link in your life, in your business, in your income. And you want help getting to a solution that is customized and works for you, not a cookie cutter.

Mm-hmm.

With thoughtful support. To me, those are the people who we can help, or anyone can help. And I always add this when we're talking to people, you have to be open and curious. If you think you know it all, or you've tried it all, or you've seen it all, or you're going to keep imitating what everybody else is doing, you're probably not ready to transform.

No, you're not, because what you're doing most likely is comparative against your competition. And maybe I gotta do what they're doing, maybe I gotta have their funnel, their marketing, their system. They have something I don't. They got some special secret sauce. Here's what I've discovered. If you just get in front of people and have a conversation, just as you said. And so I host weekly live webinars that I do myself just so I can get in front of people. And most of them are surprised that it's live and that I'm actually there. And I'm like, was nobody else just having— no, because they're all about automation. And maybe I'm starting to boomer myself here a little bit, and I'm not that old at 48, but I'm starting to feel at times like I'm acting like a boomer because, as the definition goes, because I'm resisting a lot of this change and I grew up with it. And I grew up with the knowledge of it, and I was doing AI at IBM before everybody even knew what AI meant. And so I know where these technologies are and where it goes, but I'm also starting to resist it.

It's interesting you say that. I just had a client conversation yesterday, and I watched a video of hers on YouTube and went, why are you using AI on camera instead of yourself?

It's supposed to be easier.

Yeah, she said, oh well, that way I don't have to put makeup on and get on camera. I said, I'm not watching a video of AI. Like, I went and watched 2 seconds and went, what the heck is this?

Rather look at you with no makeup on.

I'd rather see you. I'm here with no makeup on.

I got no makeup on. Let's rock. Although, you catch me wearing makeup is that I may live in a house full of girls, folks, but I don't wear makeup. The disclaimer.

I just tell people to show up and be authentic. I think people are shocked, by the way, when they come to my Speaking events, my live events, and I'm there in jeans and a t-shirt and no shoes, and I'm on stage and they're like, she should be dressed professionally.

No, I resist that too. I'm glad to hear that. I love jeans and boots.

There you go.

My regular shirt. And I'm like, everybody's dressed to the nines. And I get dressing up for the appropriate time frame. I know we're not talking about that, folks. We're talking about when you show up authentically, show up as your authentic self, right?

Yeah, that's really important. And That's why you don't want to be a cookie cutter imitating what everyone else is doing online.

We all want to be unique, don't we? Yet we are all forcibly trying to be unique as opposed to just being ourselves.

Oh, I like the way you said that.

Why is that, Taryn? What do you think is happening there?

I think that our society has become a very imitation kind of society, and I think it happened a lot from social media. That's just my own personal opinion.

A lot of follow the leader, even if the leader is not someone you should follow.

Even some of the people on social media can look really successful.

Oh yeah, yeah, put a check mark on it.

Behind the scenes, right? Right, there you go. Behind the scenes, they might not be, and you're like, oh, I'll just do what they're doing.

I jokingly laugh about the 19-year-old life coaches with the blue check marks. It's like, because you get 1,000 followers and a blue check mark, you're suddenly a life coach and you're somebody you should follow at 19 about, you know, what to do. It's a very— you're right, I think you are definitely over the target. It's a heart change to put change of values, right? It's like, where do we put our value? Interpersonal relationships and conversations have got less value now than how many of those we have, not the value of the ones we get is what you're talking about, if I'm saying it right.

Yeah. So for me, nothing is a numbers game. I was a sales trainer and everybody was like, it's a numbers game. Like, no, it really isn't.

Those are rookie numbers.

Just if you just talk to the right people for the right reasons, then I'm way more interested Instead, in the people I'm speaking to than trying to be interesting. And there's probably 80% of the time my team and I don't even make an offer. It's like, you know what, this isn't somebody we can help. However, maybe we know someone who can, a free book, a free tool, a resource, a YouTube video. We're here to help. And that's a sell.

That's fascinating because you get on and you do your videos or your marketing or whatever you're doing to reach people. And often in the comments, I get criticisms, which I kind of think are funny. Because I didn't reshoot the video and make it perfect.

Oh yeah.

So people argue, and this is a strange conundrum between, you know, AI or perfection-based videos or Hollywood-style videos. And then they argue if you don't say things right or you misspell a word or you say something not in context correctly and have to correct yourself. Where's this perfectionist mindset coming from?

I, I don't know. That's been around forever. I, I've just shared this with you. My first book, I think I put it out in 2000 called Work Yourself Happy. I had someone actually email me and say on page 32, the word and is spelled A-N instead of A-N-D.

Nazi in the room.

Uh-huh. You know, and I went to my publisher and went, he goes, we get this crap all the time. Right. People are just looking for pointing the finger of blame somewhere instead of taking in things and absorbing them. That's why I want people who are open and curious. And not pointing fingers. I think it's a human thing where we're kind of trained to look for problems. That's how our brain thinks. And we love to tell people about the problems. You misspelled this in your captions. Okay.

You know what? I do it on purpose now.

Oh, I love it.

Well, it's a little conflict, right? I'll do something, say something, or if I look at the captions that are auto-generated and one of them is wrong, I'll let it go.

Why?

Because it creates conflict marketing. And I know that sounds like I'm poking the bear or intentionally whatever, like you could fix it if you were aware of it, Neil. And I'm like, no, actually I just leave it there because someone's going to comment. And when they comment, it's engagement. And when, like I said on the very beginning, engagement is not necessarily always bad if it can be drawn to the right audience.

Yes, exactly.

You don't want haters and stalkers.

Uh, no, I'm good at blocking and deleting them.

Yeah, blocking and deleting, block and tackle is the name of the game this year. What are you bullish about this year? Terry, like, it's 2024. What do you really feel impassioned about?

100%. I really want to help people who have the ability to transform lives to get in front of more people. It's been something that I've been able to do easily and effortlessly, and I'm like, you know what, I am tired of people struggling, and it's my time to give back to the world of business, and I really want to help people who are struggling.

That's fantastic. I love that. That's why we do the podcast. I never really wanted to do it, by the way. People say, like, got a mic shoved in there, like, here, get on a podcast. I'm like, what am I gonna do on the podcast? I don't know, talk to people. Okay. So that's what I do. Yep. Is I just get on the podcast and talk to people. And it's been fun and it's been great for the networking and connections. And I would encourage anybody who has any sort of connectivity to business consulting relationships, e-commerce, et cetera, get on a podcast, talk to people, see what happens. What else would you encourage 'em to do in those activities?

The other thing that I'm gonna say is I'm gonna say what not to do. Don't spend a ton of time on social media. I, I think people get into social media and they get lost.

Yep.

Have a strategic plan. Your posts should all be aligned with your brand. They should all have hooks. And by the way, I prefer that you sit in the CEO chair, which means you don't need to be doing that. Go hire someone to do that. And I'm not talking a designer, I'm talking a copywriter, marketer that can really do that.

Yeah.

So that you create more time freedom to create heart-to-heart connections.

Absolutely.

And transparently, I tell people where I hang out on social media is my Facebook community with 8,200 or so like-minded people. That's where I am.

Yeah.

The rest of social media, I'm very transparent, it's not me, it's my team.

That's great. The one place I do hang out is about 5,000 followers on Facebook as well. And I just post stuff that I have mostly an opinion on.

Really?

It's not got me banned yet, although I've got plenty of warnings for having my opinions on there. But yeah, uh, the other social media stuff for me, and I agree 100%, is all controlled by Sierra. She posts everything, she does all the social media. I don't dive into that stuff. Don't want to go know what's going on and just let it go. And they handle it all for me, which gives me a little of control in my mindset too. Because I think a lot of people get into that. And as you said, they break their mindsets through that negativity. I have never, like, it's a mosh pit. It's a dirty thing. You go in and you listen to the comments or you read things. And if you start taking that on, it's, people are just, In some ways, not all people, but there's some horrible things being said continuously about people and it's online bullying. And now it's kind of non— it's unchecked in many ways. It's been unchecked. It's no longer taboo to just say whatever the heck you want to anybody at any time. And so we have to be guarding our hearts and our minds to be careful of that negativity and let— not let it slip into our personal life.

I'm glad you mentioned that because I use News Feed Eradicator on Facebook. I don't see anything in the newsfeed. Why? It wasted a lot of my time. I saw crap. My cat is sick. Pray for my cat. I'm making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Like, what is this?

Who doesn't like a PB&J? Come on, Terry.

And so I have News Feed Eradicator, and every day I spend 20 minutes on social media, on Facebook, not in my group, just looking at my clients' posts.

Yeah.

As well as, you know, family and friends' photos. I just go to their pages, look, and then I'm out. And I literally set a timer. And if I'm in the middle of a post and that timer goes off, I'm like, oh, well, not that important. And I'm out.

Yeah.

And it really, you mentioned mindset, it really keeps my mindset healthy. I mean, I can't open anything up without people fighting. This is a stick. No, it isn't a stick. It's this, or it becomes a political thing.

But you didn't say that it was a piece of wood. You said it was a stick.

There you go.

Maybe it was made of steel. Well, it's just like the, the thought processes get like crazy making in some ways. It is.

Yeah. It's something I don't want any part of. I want to keep my mindset positive and healthy and focused on creating my best life.

Do we see us transitioning away from a lot of that though? Do you think people are also getting burnt out of social media to a degree and, and maybe that's transitioning? What are your thoughts on that?

Don't know. I find it interesting. People constantly say they're leaving social media and they don't.

Right. Because they announced it. That doesn't mean anything.

It cracks me up on Facebook. Like, I can't remember how many people in 2020 were like, I'm leaving. I see all of them.

Seriously, it's like they're at your house and they're going outside. Instead of saying goodbye, they're like, I'm gone now. And they're walking out the door. I'm leaving. It's like, okay, just go. Oh no, I'm really going this time.

Oh, okay. And make a big announcement. Like, wasn't— you're leaving just— I saw somebody on Twitter, this is my last tweet. I went to their Twitter account. This was like the 10th time they said—

This is like one of those bad going out of business jokes where you drive by the road of the company. That business is always— for 10 years, that business has been having a going out of business sale. Maybe I need to be thinking this through.

Same. Yes.

You're going to go out of business if you keep that mindset going. So, all right. Heartrepreneur. Love the whole concept. Love your style, your energy, everything. Is there something I didn't bring up or topic I didn't talk about yet or something you'd like to say that we didn't get covered yet?

Yeah, the only thing that I would say is to pick— I don't care if it's a mentor, coach, consultant, I don't care who it is— get one person. Because when you've got 5 or 6 people or 3 people or even 2 people, you can have lots of different ideas that might conflict. And that's where I feel people feel confused and overwhelmed. Like, so-and-so said to do this and then you said to do that. Pick someone that's running faster than you, that you resonate with, and just get on board with that. That's what I've done in my businesses. This is my eighth multimillion-dollar business. I just follow one person, one direction, and I don't need anything else.

That's love. Love it. Love it. Okay, final question: If there was someone I could introduce you to my network, let's say maybe even historical, it's better if they're alive than dead, but that you would want to meet, talk to, have lunch, and just. You'll pick their brain and have 5 minutes with them to just have that conversation and relationship. Who would it be?

Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban. Okay, folks, 6 degrees of separation, as I always say at the end of these calls, someone in my network probably knows Mark Cuban. If you do know him, we're, we're gonna tag him below this post in all the social media. And then of course, guys, if you know him and can introduce him to Terry, please do. And let's make a connection if at all possible. Love to see that happen. Terry, thank you so much for joining me. It's been a fun call.

It's been a pleasure and I love you and your humor as well.

Thank you very much.

You this, if you're serious about building an e-commerce business starting on Amazon FBA, what if myself and my team worked with you one-on-one to execute the steps outlined in the podcast while helping you discover what the heck to sell, how to make sure it's profitable, and how to successfully launch a brand? Plus how to do it under a consulting plus performance-driven model where I put a $10,000 skin-in-the-game guarantee for those that show up and are serious about building a real business done with us. If yes, text keyword profit to +1-417-413-4202. That's 1-417-413-4209, and I will personally respond with a few simple questions. If you're not in the US or Canada, please visit voltage dm dot com. That's voltage dm dot com. Click Get Started and book a no-pressure discovery call with me or a member of my team to learn more about the Business Builders one-on-one coaching and mentoring for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and those looking to build an empire or retire using the power of e-commerce. Once again, thank you for listening, and be sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast.