In keeping with the theme of the New Year and getting your ship sailing in the right
direction, making necessary and often tough changes and decisions, this week I’m
going to take you behind the scenes of how I get so much done and manage so many
different projects, businesses, income streams, and relationships.

The short answer is, I work. Hard, long, often, relentlessly. But, that’s not the
sexy answer you are looking for and to leave it at that wouldn’t be telling you all
the truth.

My business is pretty much divided right down the middle in terms of getting money
and fulfilling for the money we get. My primary responsibility is being me, going
out and getting clients and expanding relationship into bigger opportunities,
creating enough demand to raise fees and become more valuable.

That’s all another way of saying creating chaos, running around causing trouble, and
doing a whole of stuff then having to figure it out after the fact. That’s the way
it goes if you want to get a lot done, we are valuable to a lot of people, and
create above average income.

But, there is after all another side to the business. You can never fully do the
“work on the business” versus “in the business” thing entirely. It’s impossible.
At least someone has to pay attention to the details, deliver on the goods, fulfill
for the money.

Without some backend support, someone taking care of the ying while you’re out
yanging…you’ll go nowhere fast and hit a ceiling in your business quickly leading
to frustration and unhealthy stress. I say unhealthy because too many people think
stress is avoidable and crumble under pressure. Not so. Everything happens under
pressure and stress is inevitable but it doesn’t ever have to be unhealthy.

Back to my point, and my brother, who is my business partner and really life partner
as friend and confidant. I mean, he keeps me alive, out of jail, and relatively
sane.

Yet, I seldom see him, less than once a month now, this year. We talk one
structured time each week and have more random conversations about football and
politics than business, because we have a system for working together, for building
businesses.

We divide things right down the middle both using our own specialized and developed
skills, maximizing our talents, things we prefer to be doing, we do.

Ryan acts as COO and master implementer and I as CEO and Spokesperson, Celebrity
Talent, and hired gun locked in a cage to produce what’s needed for everyone else to
be able to work their magic.

One without the other can’t survive.

Now, you can serve both roles yourself as long as you clearly identify BOTH roles
and divide and conquer with your own time and effort.

Okay, let’s keep this short and sweet, here are my rules of engagement for getting
things done and working through others.

1. Reprioritize Weekly – what can NOT go undone another day
2. As tasks and opportunities expand and you create more you must delegate
responsibility…you can only handle so much, bring on people to help you
3. No Two People work on the same thing – a critical reason why Ryan and I are
rarely in the same place, that would mean only one thing is getting attention
4. Have a diversified business model – some intense labor with high dollars, and
other limited effort for less. For example: my monthly workshop versus private
client business development. Neither could exist without the other – and I couldn’t
exist by doing just one of them all of the time
5. I must dictate my agenda, my to-do list (and my TEAM’s agenda) without exception
6. You must understand opportunity cost and know what your time is worth – and
therefor what an project/opportunity must be worth to say “yes”
7. Be obsessed with results – good or bad – often it’s a fear of an outcome that
prevents us from taking action, eliminate that fear

My team, all of them, are key people in every way. Without each person I could not
perform at my best without a doubt.

And, here’s the big and main point for you this week – YOU MUST BE OPERATING AT YOUR
PEAK and DOING THE HIGHEST LEVEL WORK YOU ARE CAPABLE OF all the time, that’s the
key and secret to achieving maximum results and profits and creating more
opportunities for yourself.

I wanted to remind you of something today. Something I think I have mentioned in
the past, but has never been truer.

Several years ago I attended one of the two Renegade Millionaire Retreats that Dan
Kennedy hosted and it was there he promised to reveal what he said was the secret to
life.

Which he happened to have written on a single 3×5 card, the card containing only one
word.
Dan cleverly wrote this promise into the sales letter selling the event, then having
gone through the entire event and concluding the final question and answer session
someone reminded him of his promise and then, in very anticlimactic marketing let
down fashion…

He gave the answer.

Dan said that the secret to all of life and the word he had written on the card was –

DECIDE.

Yes, that’s right “Decide.”

Dan said, “the secret is to just decide and then go do something.”

Now, before you dismiss this, understand the power in it.
The POWER that you hold the secret to life and everything you could possibly want.

Let me put it to you a different way –
Without DECISION, nothing, and I do mean nothing, happens.

When I look back at my life, periods of disappointment, unhappiness, lack of
success, even failure…times when I could have called myself “depressed”.

I can confidently say it was my unwillingness to decide
To change
To act
To think
To move
To ask
To be uncomfortable
To have integrity
To step up
To sell
To say no
To say yes

Simply, every action first requires a decision.
And that, my friend, is powerful.
Empowering.

The definition of DECISION is:
To come to a resolution in the mind as a result of consideration.
And RESOLUTION:
A firm decision to do or not to do something.

I will promise you this;
Any uneasiness you face is a direct result of you not making a decision.

Lack of commitment (by nature of the three words)
Is what kills a persons ability to have success.

Indecision is lack of commitment.

Now that you know what you must do more of.

Decide.

The great Zig Ziglar has many sayings that have stuck and become memorable principles for people all over the world. For the professional salesperson and those of us whose lives have to do with the extraction and attraction of money, this one draws the perfect picture as to why so many people do not have the money and success that they could otherwise have…

“Timid Sales People Have Skinny Kids!”

You read that right and let me make the point very clearly –
THERE IS NO PROFIT IN BEING TIMID

Period. End of story.

If I were to describe to you the thing that holds more people back from making
money, any money at all, I’m talking about, it’s that they say one thing but then
their behavior says something different.

The World Series got me to thinking so I’ll use it as an analogy.

I played baseball as a young boy all the way up until High School, kinda wish I
would’ve kept it up, but, wrestling was the only sport whose schedule fit with the
running of my martial arts schools so I had to let baseball go…but I still
remember the fun I had and get why so many people still find it America’s Pastime.

I was a pitcher and shortstop most of the time.

So, we’ll start with Pitching…

Back in the day, not at a pro level, the coaches always said, just throw it in there
and let them hit it. “give em something they can swing at” they’d say. That’s why
you’ve got the other 7 guys behind you…

And in sales, too many people try to trick every prospect they’ve got with some
crazy pitches that usually miss the mark. Instead of just throwing it right down
the middle.

I mean, seriously, if you’re any good at what you do, if you “deliver” and create
relationships, why not give them something they can swing at.

Stop being so paranoid and timid and desperate and trying to trick people into
things and just let them hit the ball.

It’s amazing how many people THINK they are “selling” when really they are
dancing, throwing the ball all over the place – and the batter couldn’t hit the
pitch if they wanted.

This is also related to the good old fashion salesperson problem of

NOT ASKING FOR THE ORDER

NOT GIVING THEM A PITCH THEY CAN HIT

So give them a pitch they can hit and let the 7 fielders behind you (answering their questions and objections, use of testimonials, explaining the benefits for them, etc.) help you make the out.

Every week, right here, I attempt to give you some inspiration, some business insight, some personal experience that I believe will be helpful for you. Really, the point is to nudge you, push you, encourage you, hold your hand, pick you up, and, yes, my favorite, to kick in you in the rear, and help you find some THING that will drive you to want more, do more, be more, achieve more in your business and life this week, today, right now.

Based on the feedback I get, I accomplish my mission, in some way, for some people, each and every time I sit down to write. This is, after all, the only thing that makes it worth it…for me.

There are many reasons why we reconvene here as we do and share thoughts with each
other and stimulate and motivate one another to fight the good fight and keep going.
I’m not sure what yours are and I certainly never know what or when you’ll find
that trigger point in your life, in what I say, or in what you encounter anywhere
else from anyone else.

I just know that ‘triggers’ do happen as long as you are looking for them, as long
as you are desirous of them.

I must tell you, I’ve come to realize that one saying that I’ve found more truth in
than most other ‘opinions’ that are spouted out like law all the time by
everybody…that saying is:

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.”

Okay, well, not so fast, because there are some missing pieces to that.
Kind of what I said a few sentences ago…you have to be looking for the teacher,
committed to finding the teacher, and willing to listen when you find the teacher.

If those things are true, then yes, when you are ready, as if it just “appears”,
magic will happen…kind of like luck, ‘magic’ will be orchestrated, worked for,
strategized about, and then realized.

Where am I going with all of this…

Well, let me tell you. It’s never everything around you, rather it’s YOU, that ends
up being the difference. You know, that famous song by Moonwalking Michael…”The
Man In The Mirror”.

I want to quickly tell you a story about some dear friends of mine and long time
Mastermind and Coaching members James and AJ Clingerman, who just so happened to be
featured on the live full day Dan Kennedy broadcast last Friday hosted by Joe Polish
in San Diego.

They deserve a huge round of applause, a pat on the back, heck, maybe even a little
vacation. Of course, now, they can afford to go on vacations, take some time off,
get out of their business once in a while.

What landed James and AJ in San Diego was not some overnight success, rather many
dominoes falling in their favor because of exactly what I describe above. They were
looking for triggers in their life, they had enough of ‘not having enough’, and
wanted more.

Three years later, they have liberation and control and are working their way towards financial freedom.

I remember the very first day they walked into the Chapter Event, of course, a much
smaller group than we have now, and I could see the hunger in their eyes, their
determination, and, their resilience.

As James and AJ shared their story with Joe Polish, as they have many times before,
they were reaching a point in their life when they did not know what was next, or
where to turn. AJ talks about having to take cold showers because of not being able
to afford their heat bill and of other struggles on their way to creating success
for themselves.

To see where they’ve come is exciting, but not nearly as much so as where they have
yet to go. Because I’m so close to them, I believe they would have “figured it out”
at some point, made a break for it, and turned everything around…they would have
found another “trigger”.

I’m just fortunate to have been one for them.
But, and my point is, there were other people in that same room at the same time
hearing the same things and yet, James and AJ are in San Diego all expenses paid
trip telling their story to thousands of people through the internet.

The smart question to ask is not, why them, but why not you!

I will tell you why –
We settle. Yes, we all do. I know that because there is one thing we can’t
change…being human. And that’s why it is so incredibly important to set yourself
up for success.

Because, all by yourself, excuses creep in, goals are easily forgotten or ignored.
And you get use to the cycle of WHATEVER.

Hey, you can be in a cycle of poverty, cycle of working your business as a job,
cycle of $100,000 income, cycle of anything at any level. The only difference is
the amount of money and challenges, not the cycle in and of itself and not being
immune to settling.

That is why success is more about endurance, strength, outwitting you, more than
outwitting anyone else. It’s why most people never realize just how close they
might be to success, because they give up to easy.

I often explain it to coaching and mastermind members like running a race and always
expecting a finish line and you keep running and you see what you think is the
finish line and then like a mirage, you just never get there…well it’s there and
you probably crossed it, but the next race had already begun, you were wanting a
chance to stop, take a break, look back at the course you completed and stand up and
cheer…instead of keeping on running.

Which is what you must do.
And yes, I know, I used the running analogy in a different way, last month. But
don’t get confused. Today, I’m talking very clearly about how to break yourself
loose from where ever you are stuck, whatever cycle, whatever income level, whatever
business or problems.

Most successful entrepreneurs experience very similar circumstances that lead to
“the teacher” finally appearing. And by teacher, I don’t necessarily mean another
person, it could be a book, an idea, an opportunity…just where something clicks.

Most people do not truly find success until that have first reached a point of
desperation so low that they have no other choice but to do something different.
They must either go up or give up altogether.

For James and AJ it might have been the cold showers. For others it’s losing their
house, seeing their kids doing without, having a family crisis and not being able to
do anything about it. It could be losing it all in your business, or losing a job.

It doesn’t matter what, just that there is usually something that sends the
entrepreneur once and for all out into the wilderness not to return home until
they’re bringing dinner with them.

At the end of the day, the only thing that you have control over is what you do,
what you think, how you invest your time, and whether or not you go looking for
triggers.

The question to ask yourself is, do you need to experience trauma in your life to
wake up to the opportunities and possibilities that you have available to you, or
will you be like James and AJ and proactively go hunting for answers, solutions,
breakthroughs, and then never stop hunting after you find that first trigger and
taste success.

Understand, it does not matter how successful you are right now. The next level
should you seek it, will appear when you are ready. What are you doing to get
ready, today.

I’ll leave you with this. And this philosophy if nothing else, will illustrate what
it takes to never settle for anything else again. My Korean grandmaster in the
martial arts once told me about a famous general in Korea during one of their
battles with Japan and this general who was motivating an army probably a 10th or at
best 5th of the size of the enemy.

He said to them, “If you fight the war to SAVE your life, you are sure to die.” “If
you fight the war WITH you life, you will survive!”

Of course, that was war, whether he meant that literally or not, doesn’t matter.
But, this, this is life, luckily not often life and death, but then again maybe
therein lies the problem.

You want to win wars, fight with your life.
You want to win football games, you have to play to win, you can’t play ‘not to lose’.
You want to get rich, achieve success, have the business and life of your dreams,
you must BE ALL IN, and give it all you’ve got!

When the student is ready the teacher will appear has little to do with the teacher
and everything to with the student playing to win, giving it all they’ve got, being
“ready”, and then doing something.

Learn something from James and AJ, today, they can be your teacher.