So in this episode, we've got Brian Justin Morgan, Ricardo, and Reuben, big goal for the call. Let's go to Ricardo. Let's see what happens.
So in this episode, we've got Brian Justin Morgan, Ricardo, and Reuben, big goal for the call. Let's go to Ricardo. Let's see what happens.
Dane:
Hey guys and welcome to season three, Start From Zero. Thumbs up, let's do this.
Speaker 2:
Starting from zero.
Dane:
You're about to watch multiple people at a time get coached on how to start a business from zero. Some people need emotional support, they're overwhelmed. They've had past failures. Some need strategy, they're beating their head against the wall. Some need tactics, they want to know what to say or do. These episodes are unique, they're vulnerable, they're weird. Many times people come to me with a question, but they need something entirely different. In these episodes, you'll see me combine my 15 or so years of business experience with a little intuition, and mindset training to help shape these folks into powerful and confident entrepreneurs. Now we've had 15 millionaire students and counting. So we know this stuff works. Now, make sure you're sending these folks love while you listen because that stuff matters. We're becoming more sensitive as a society and we can feel these things, even if we don't know it. Let's get to the episode. So in this episode, we've got Brian Justin Morgan, Ricardo, and Reuben, big goal for the call. Let's go to Ricardo.
Ricardo:
Yes, just to be able to get some sort of a treasure map in order to attain my goal.
Dane:
What is your goal?
Ricardo:
I don't know what the mechanism is, but just be able to obtain an income that allow me to survive ... I mean, to be able to live with an income doing whatever I want to do, instead of working for others. I mean, the normal thing, that's what I want to do.
Dane:
I see in your survey you wrote out, "How can I book a famous person to make my first interview?"
Ricardo:
Yes, exactly. One of the mechanism I have on mind is just to be able to ... Through podcasts, be able to contact people. And then after those interviews, just to start calling the attention of the other people and create some tribe of people interested in my subjects about how to work with kids or just to be able to work with kids.
Dane:
Just to be able to work with kids?
Ricardo:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dane:
So let's see if we try this again. What is your big goal for this call? Realistic, tangible. This call right here, you leave this call, and it's happened.
Ricardo:
Okay. Create a source of income doing something that I like to do, that I'm good at, which is teaching kids to do things. Be able to connect with them and be able to explain difficult concepts into easy way for them to grasp and to enjoy while they're learning those concepts. And I have several approaches.
Dane:
Pause that. That's great, wonderful goal. Let's come back to Ruben. Do you have a goal in mind?
Ruben:
Yes. So I want to get clear on where exactly I'm at. Because I tend to start with an idea and go with it and then just stop or pivot to something else and I never really finish anything. And so my big goal for this call would be to get clarity on how I want to move forward with-
Dane:
How to finish something you started?
Ruben:
Essentially, yeah. Because I mean, I get these what seemed like great ideas and then I get going, and it's great and then I stop. And then I stop whether it's because I think it's stupid, or I don't think it's good enough. Or I find another idea that I think is better and so I'd like to finish something that I start.
Dane:
Very good. So let's just have you try and say it very simply. My goal for this call is to learn how to finish something I start.
Ruben:
My goal for this call is to learn how to finish something I start.
Dane:
How's that land when you say it?
Ruben:
Simple.
Dane:
It's nice.
Ruben:
It's clear.
Dane:
It's nice. And I appreciate the vulnerability of opening up and sharing what you struggle with. And I look forward to getting to help you here.
Ruben:
Thank you.
Dane:
Yeah. And how about Justin, what's your big goal for the call?
Justin:
Yeah, so I would say that I've created a business model for myself where my business right now is entirely dependent on me. And I've grown it to a certain extent, I've cracked six figures now. But my goal is to find a way to create scale, or to create leverage. I think leverage is the better word actually, that allows me to run this business in a way that's not entirely dependent on me and that's not energetically exhausting.
Dane:
Wonderful. Okay. Good to have you here.
Justin:
Thank you.
Dane:
And Brian, how about you? What's a big goal for you?
Brian:
To be able to walk away with confidence that the business that I'm wanting to start is the right one. Having gone through some recent failures ... Having 25 years of success followed by three years of just complete disastrous failure has just riddled my mind with a lot of fear and doubt. So I just keep second guessing everything that I'm doing, even knowing that ... I feel like what I've chosen has been vetted, I just can't get out of my own way.
Dane:
Okay, thank you. Glad to have you here. And Morgan, how about you?
Morgan:
Yeah. Thanks for having me. I think at a high level, I would love to get a new perspective on our business growth. I think we have been doing this for a few years. So we've gone down a similar path. And I'd love to get a new fresh perspective on that. But more specifically, find a sustainable way to reach our target market and really expand on the demand we've created so far. So I know that that's there but I really want to figure out the best way to reach our customers and make a bigger impact and really grow the business.
Dane:
And if you were to be a just blatantly, obnoxiously selfish, what would your big goal for the call be? You know what, I want this.
Morgan:
A foolproof way to grow the business fast. I think as an entrepreneur, you want to grow it really fast. And it's hard because there's ... You have to work hard and do all those things to do it strategic. But yeah, a way to pick up speed and effectively reach people and grow the distribution.
Dane:
Wonderful. I see you on a gluten free banana bread company.
Morgan:
Yep. Gluten free, vegan. All the things but tastes amazing.
Dane:
Why don't you just give your URL? We'll help you grow a little right now.
Morgan:
Yeah, okay, let's shoot it out. www.eatgonanas G-O-N-A-N-A-S.com.
Dane:
You just need [Gwen Stefanie 00:07:01] to.
Morgan:
Yeah, our slog is this bread is B-A-N-A-N-A. So that's a shout out if you're listening Gwen.
Dane:
Yeah, so you just figure out how to get Gwen. There's your foolproof.
Morgan:
Done.
Dane:
Nail in the coffin, things are sealed. Or you could just build 16 marketing channels and monetize and measure all of them and then quantify, look through all of them and then do 80/20 principle on the ones that work and don't work. Or you could just Gwen Stefanie's [inaudible 00:07:28]. All right. Well, I'll probably be ordering some of that bread sometime today. I hope other people do. Ruben, let's start over with you again. Okay?
Ruben:
Okay.
Dane:
So mention your goal one more time for me. We'll go right from there.
Ruben:
My goal is to learn how to finish something that I start.
Dane:
Wonderful. Okay, so of all the ideas that you've started, how many of them have been originated and sourced from a customer that you were serving?
Ruben:
I would say zero.
Dane:
Okay. That's good, good. I'm going to keep cutting you off just to try to help develop the sync speak.
Ruben:
Okay.
Dane:
So the way that the mind thinks is in the way that the mind speaks, and if the way that your mind thinks is how it speaks, then you're probably running all day with all your ideas and thoughts. And then probably by the end of the day, your mind is going through a few marathons. Does that sound accurate?
Ruben:
That's it. Yeah, I mean, a hundred percent.
Dane:
Okay. There and look what you just did there, you just distinctly said that. That's sexy, man. That's like, yes Jeff Bezos, what he does? E-commerce. Yes, Bill Gates, oh we do software. I don't know if they do that. I fantasize that they say it that way, though.
Ruben:
Right.
Dane:
There's a guy who ... He creates the chemical combination that goes into the hamburger beef patties for McDonald's. And he's just perfected manufacturing process for the meat slides down this thing and it freezes right to the right temperature and it's freezed the chemicals go into it. And that create the taste and the addictive factor or whatever it all is. McDonald's called to threaten him once and they're like, "We don't want to pay your prices anymore. We're not going to pay X cents per patty." And he's like, "Okay." And he was such a baller. He had a button, he goes ... And he just shuts his factory down on one button. Two or three hours later, McDonald's called him back and they paid his prices. So this guy's got a lot of influence. If you meet him, he'll tell you he's a mechanic. "Yeah, I'm just a mechanic." Nevermind, he's cranking hamburgers for one of the fastest selling hamburger companies in the world.
Dane:
So that modesty is pretty darn cool. I like to tease my mindset mentor sometimes because he'll point out stuff that makes me uncomfortable. And he's like, "Well, Dane, you should look at this over here." And I was like, "Well, Brian, you're just a speck of sand." And he's like, "There's a lot of freedom in being a speck of sand, Dane." And I was like, "Damn it, let me insult you." If you'd like to get a free one on one with me and beyond the show, you can find out details at startfromzero.com/podcast.
Dane:
That modesty where you have nothing to prove, and you're just doing what you enjoy and things just ... You're doing this because it means a lot to you. It's an all new sport to play. So if you can remember that, it'll allow you just to work on things that matter to you because they matter, etc. Now, in terms of there is a secret really, that I've discovered with finishing projects, and getting out of imposter syndrome, getting out of fear of failure, getting out of, will this work? Getting out of, what feature do I build? Getting out of how do I charge a price? All of these questions, they're just nightmarishly paralyzing. And then all of a sudden, you focus on a customer, originate your idea from a customer, and all those things that run in your mind, they stop.
Dane:
I built my first six software products, obsessed with customers just 100% focused on them. And then for some reason I forgot. I just stopped being obsessed with customers. And then things got really hard, I started failing a lot, I did try way, way harder than I needed to. So basically, just focusing on a customer, will really really pull you through the finish line, it will also expose some other things that might not be there. If you were focused on, I mean what if I let them down? Yada, yada, those thoughts don't even need to be entertained. Because they're from a place of fear that if I answer ... What if I let them down? Well, I can answer that. But you'll have another question. Because the source of that isn't being addressed with the question and the source of that is, "Hey, I'm not really committed to this, so it's probably not going to work." And if you're like, "Oh, you know what? Commitment that is ... Oh, God, I got to commit?" Yeah, you do. So I'm going to give you an assignment, we'll come back to you.
Dane:
I want you to pick three people that are generally successful with whatever they're doing, that you could talk to. Because successful people have really, really nice problems. They got good problems. A guy who runs a $10 million business has way more problems than somebody that's just starting out. So like $10 million per year, a guy's got a lot of problems that need solved. So if you can find ... [inaudible 00:12:30] $10 million level, but I want you to think of three people that are generally successful, that you can talk to and run through the five question framework from the book. What's your most present problem? How are you solving it? What happens if you don't solve it? What's your magic wand dream solution? And what would you pay for that if anything? Right? You go through those five questions with them. And they're all in the book. And they're all on the site for free, too. But those five questions ... But I want you to find three people, write down and think about three of your favorite people that have successful qualities that you can ask.
Dane:
And I want you to try and find a problem that all three of them have, and a solution that they all say they want. And then I want you to actually then go forward, if you can, if it seems feasible. If that's too overwhelming, you do one at a time, and just one at a time, but you seem to be a guy that likes to have a few wheels spinning. So you pick, I love having few wheels spinning myself. So you're going to solve each person's problem. And you do it at cost, you may even do it for free. But you're going to find one customer with one problem that wants one result and you're going to solve it for that one person that's going to build you a tremendous amount of confidence. So they're going to give you a problem that you don't know how to solve. So that's when you bring in an expert, figure out if they want a percentage or profit figure out if they want a flat rate, and then you discharge whatever their flat rate is, for that expert, you get a result with that person, then you just got your business built for free. And you have a result that you can now sell to other people and make a profit. But it's that simple.
Dane:
And it can also be that complicated because maybe they give you an idea like, Well, how do I solve that? And that's why it's important to be around communities. That's why we have the starters community. You don't need starters, you can be other communities. But that may come back to you. Three folks that you can talk to, and then you stay focused on serving them. Just so you're not so wrapped up in your own world. Because when you're obsessed with serving them, it's the ultimate secret. My older sister is very talented. She's like a dueling piano player. We showed her this ... My partner and I we have my daughter and she watches YouTube videos. This glaze. She's like, "Oh, A is a letter O is a sound that it makes A is a letter O is [inaudible 00:14:52]." All the way through the alphabet. And I showed this to my sister. And [inaudible 00:14:59] She's like, "Well, what's this woman? So she's got a master's in music and she's got all these things and she's looking her up?"
Dane:
And I said, "Okay, now I want you to pay close attention. When I ask my partner this question." I said, "Jacqueline, did you know this person's credentials when you watch that video and chose to watch that video?" She said, "Nope. It had the result, I wanted a simple alphabet song for kids." Customers care about results. We had another guy the other day, and he was a phys Ed teacher, and he was helping high school kids train for getting full rides to college. And he said, "People want me, people want my credentials, people ..." No they know they don't. They're using you for a result. But they don't care about your credentials, they care about your credentials, and so that you could get them a result that it's more about the result they want then, whatever your track record says. So if I could help them run twice as fast, but I had no credentials, who do you think they're going to work with?
Ruben:
The person making them run twice as fast.
Dane:
Right? So let's take this deeper into the heart. Your problem will be solved when you focus on helping people instead of building your own inventions. So I'll come back and I want to hear those three people. Okay?
Ruben:
Okay.
Dane:
Morgan, let's jump to you gluten free bread, foolproof plan to scale your company?
Morgan:
Yes.
Dane:
Why don't you have that now?
Morgan:
I think it's a mix of things. I think it starts off with proving demand, which I think we've done. And then it takes figuring out the right channels to reach those people. And there's so many of those with food from everything now being online, in the retail space influx, but not as strong. So it's really about figuring out what channels to tap into to reach those people. We've done a lot of that on digital and online. And then we're really just going far and deep to get anywhere [crosstalk 00:16:51].
Dane:
I'm going to pause you.
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
Let's just check this out. I want you to be really, really honest with this. Okay?
Morgan:
Okay.
Dane:
Try and say out loud, I believe in myself.
Morgan:
I believe in myself.
Dane:
And what happens to your heart when you say it?
Morgan:
Gets warm. I do believe myself, especially after all these years. It's what keeps me going? I think that's the urgency I feel and why I applied for this, just because I have a-
Dane:
Where does the doubt come from them?
Morgan:
I think time. It's been a long time. And I'm just eager to make it big. And I see parts of that happening. So it's [crosstalk 00:17:32].
Dane:
I don't know, if you do believe in yourself. I'm just trying to shoot right to the jugular. I could be definitely wrong. But you might not.
Morgan:
Yeah, maybe I can work on that honestly. I think it's hard when you believe in something so much. And I see other people believe in it, too. So I think I definitely do to some extent, and maybe it's going further and really just ... I mean, I believe it's product out there. I think maybe then it's an issue of meeting the external validations. But I guess that's part of business.
Dane:
Well, let's look at this for a second. You believed in yourself to try and start a business?
Morgan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dane:
You believed in yourself to get it to where you got here now?
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
But now you're reaching a new level of success?
Morgan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dane:
Maybe this is just the next layer of believing itself.
Morgan:
Yeah. I mean, I think that's what it is. Because looking back, I would have never guessed that I would be here. And it's excitement and confidence in the future, I guess. Yeah. The future is so much more vast than it was previously.
Dane:
So ... Sorry to interrupt.
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
So let's try this. And there's zero absolutely zero shame in this.
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
To try to see if this connects anywhere. Because if we land here, then we can move even faster. But if not, we will find this solution somewhere else. So I don't believe in myself. See if you can finish the sentence based on where your company is. Did I lose you?
Morgan:
Oh, no, I'm here. What sentence am I supposed to finish?
Dane:
Yeah, we're just looking for a real simple articulation. I don't believe in myself to carry my business past X revenue, or I don't believe in myself to grow my company past X revenue, whatever that might be.
Morgan:
But I do.
Dane:
Okay. So then try it out. Try it out. Say what you do believe out loud.
Morgan:
I believe that I can grow my business to be a multi-million dollar business within the next few years.
Dane:
Wonderful.
Morgan:
That's pretty good.
Dane:
So I had a gentleman he was making about 10 million a year and he wanted to go to 100. And he said, "I need a lot of help. I'm not sure how to do that." So you have the belief he needed the help. So with your belief in place, It's just a matter of help.
Morgan:
Yeah, I've actually had that recent realization because my business partner and I have never actually committed to it 100% full time, it's about 75% we started as students. So we've come to that realization of, "Hey, this is something, hey, it has potential. Let's do this full time." And I keep getting all these weird signs of like, "Hey, you should commit to this full time [crosstalk 00:20:27]." So maybe this is just another one of those signs where it's, I do believe myself when it takes that time and effort. So it is time to commit to it.
Dane:
I'm working on a business tat means a lot to me right now. And do I believe in myself to build it? Yes, maybe. But I'm going to work my butt off either way.
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
Okay, but now we've got a proper foundation, So it's like, there's varying degrees and levels of belief. We're tapping into the next layer of belief, and the belief is there for you. So now we're just looking at our matter of help. So one of the most common things that a fast growing entrepreneur will do, is they will abandon the wicked intuition and intelligence that got them to where they were. And I've done it and it burned real bad [inaudible 00:21:23]. And they'll end up giving their power away to a scale expert. And you want to be like a dog with that bone and you growl like a mofo if anyone tries to take it. Right? And so, let's just have you with the business, and someone comes close to try to tell you what to do. And I want you to picture someone coming close and trying to tell you what to do.
Morgan:
Yeah. People do that all the time.
Dane:
Okay, yeah. And I want you to just try and save me a lot of this is mine.
Morgan:
This is mine,
Dane:
Or say, the declaration that roots you deep into the ground as the steward for this business.
Morgan:
Yeah, so I think a lot of people come back and say, "You should sell Whole Foods. That's where all the kind of healthy quality focus whatever products are." And we push back, as we ... Like you said, weren't focused on scaling necessarily. We're just building a sustainable foundation. And so we have built the business through a distribution network of boutique and health and quality focus retailers. So the coffee shops and cafes and juice bars of the world. Yeah, so it's actually a differentiated strategy there. And maybe eventually Whole Foods is the place we go for last and kind of distribution. But we're really focused on where there's the need, where customers are, and where the product naturally sells-
Dane:
For time;s sake, I'm going to interrupt.
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
So I've got a challenge for you. I want to give you then I'll come back. So this is what I want you to write down and think about what's worked to grow the business to the level you're at, and what hasn't worked to grow the business? And I want you to think and write down both those things and then when I come back, we'll start there and we'll continue.
Morgan:
Okay. Sounds good.
Dane:
But Congratulations, and stay fiercely protective of that thing.
Morgan:
Okay. Thanks. I will.
Dane:
Yeah. So let's go to Justin.
Justin:
Yep.
Dane:
Hit me up with that goal. Again, please.
Justin:
So my goal is to create leverage in a business where [crosstalk 00:23:37].
Dane:
That's right. Is there any grief for you around any of this sadness that your stalkers ... Is gone on too long? Are there any emotions that are have been pulling up in a pot?
Justin:
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely some. So there's some grief that I feel like I should be further along faster. [crosstalk 00:24:01].
Dane:
Pause for a sec. So you pretty hard on yourself?
Justin:
I'm very hard on myself.
Dane:
Okay. This is trying to say that out loud, slow and soft, just so we can get really acquainted with it. I'm really hard on myself.
Justin:
I'm really hard on myself.
Dane:
And almost like you're hearing it for the first time. Do you have a successful business?
Justin:
Yeah.
Dane:
You've ever start a successful business?
Justin:
I do.
Dane:
You get clients that get results?
Justin:
I do.
Dane:
It's amazing. Try, I have clients that get results.
Justin:
I have clients that get results.
Dane:
See if you can take your hand and put it on your throat if you wouldn't mind.
Justin:
Okay.
Dane:
With your hand on your throat. I've been really loving how this has been working lately. But what would you like to say? You can say anything that you want? The thing that's actually there. The thing that if you're actually fully honest about, you're not guarded, you're not protecting you're not putting on a show. It's a thing that's really there that you want to say.
Justin:
I think I'm still fearful to step into a certain level of spotlight.
Dane:
If you'd like to get a blueprint to my brain, I have it in a 302 page book, Start From Zero. And you can get a free chapter, you actually can get my best chapter for free on that book right now, at startfromzero.com. Go check it out. See if you can relax your throat even more, you can move your hand wherever your body calls for it. And actually, let's have you do this. It can be very powerful if a man really claims his hips, from your hips. I mean, you use your hips to move, to walk to create a life to make love to dance, without your hips where you're pretty screwed huh?
Justin:
Yeah.
Dane:
They're powerful. The hips are powerful. So, when it connects you down to your hips. Take a breath with me. What do you have yet to declare? Be honest, have yourself tremble if you can, when you say your real honest.
Justin:
Say, I feel like an imposter still. I have a lot of self doubt in some areas. I get stuck in feelings of, we want to call it unworthiness or things like that.
Dane:
And do you know that as normal?
Justin:
Starting to.
Dane:
So you know how when someone gets a compliment? What do they usually do?
Justin:
They usually react to it and say thank you, I think.
Dane:
Not really. Most people I see comments are like, "Oh, no, you're pretty." "Oh, I guess. Oh, you think so?" Then some do respond, thank you. So when appreciation comes, they usually just reject it for the most part.
Justin:
I definitely deflect compliments.
Dane:
So when you achieve success, it's the same darn thing. So receiving positive feelings, receiving positive ... From my vantage point, your situation is so much more complex, and also much more simple. It's something I wish I would have had help with sooner. Try I have difficulty receiving positive, however you want to say it.
Justin:
I have difficulty receiving positive feedback.
Dane:
Here you go. I feel too worthless to receive positive feedback.
Justin:
I feel too worthless to receive positive feedback.
Dane:
Thanks for going here with me. I'm really honored right now. I put a cap on my success as well. I'll have a really good month or something and then I want to back off, or I think honestly, I think one of the next great frontiers is humans who get that it's far more beneficial to spend time learning to be in the positive feelings than it is to process the negative ones.
Justin:
Yeah, I have a history of having a month of really strong success and then losing the momentum.
Dane:
Yeah, I just want you to know, you're not alone. And I struggle with that. And it's common amongst another one of my friends I can think of as well. He built himself into a real nice business and can sometimes hard to get out of bed because of it. Does that ever happen?
Justin:
Yes, I mean, I built myself a pretty decent business that's making more money than I've ever made before. And oftentimes, I find myself awake till three or four in the morning. And it's absolutely exhausted energetically. And I have a two year old on top of that. So, that makes it ... So I can't really sleep in at any time. So it's tough to catch up on sleep if I miss sleep.
Dane:
So there's a depth that you'll need to go to allow this to shift that's not possible on a group five person call that'll be recorded as a podcast. There are places that I would want to take you if you are ready. And oftentimes, folks that are in situations like this, like yourself that are extremely talented, extremely intelligent, and have had trauma in their life, thus created distorted self esteem, and distorted self image. They just do a particular help. But there's a lot of men that will get in their lakefront home, they'll get it, they'll move in and they'll look out the windows at the lake, and they won't be able to feel it. I was one of them. But I had no one that ... The problem was to help a successful man feel his life. It wasn't a thing that I ever thought would consider, so I empathize with you.
Dane:
So my assignment for you and then we'll come back to you is to figure out the jugular vein sentence that makes your eyes get wet with tears, that in captures the pattern that's happening and I want you to look towards your familiar belief systems. What's the energy of the beliefs that came from your family? See if we can get you ... Just write it out on paper and look at it and be like, yeah, that feels like it. No, that doesn't. Because as soon as we shine a light on that familial level belief system, we'll have a shot at loving that into a beautiful tree, bowl of money. But you don't need tactic help. You don't need any of that. You probably look at tactics and implement those pretty quick, huh?
Justin:
I'm obsessed with tactics. Yeah, my only other area would be in ... I think this goes with the emotional component, but it's trusting other people with outsourcing. Trusting other people to take on parts of this. So I think I also have a certain level of distrust for people in general, until they've really, really proven themselves to me. So that's also something that I have to explore.
Dane:
Is there physical abuse in your past?
Justin:
Not physical no, but definitely verbal.
Dane:
Verbal, emotional abuse, not being able to ... So at a moment's notice, verbal emotional attack?
Justin:
Yeah.
Dane:
Okay. Thanks for sharing that man. I look forward to hearing ... You might try those sentences with anything like it's not safe to be rich. It's not safe to be confident. It's not safe to feel good. Something along those lines, but I think that's a good starting point. So we'll come back because I've spent years working on the stuff that you're talking about. It's been a journey. Thank you for being here.
Justin:
Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate this.
Dane:
Yeah. So I think I've gone through all five. Did I miss anybody?
Brian:
Yes, Brian.
Dane:
Brian, there you are man [crosstalk 00:31:39]. Thank you for chiming in. Brian, what was your goal?
Brian:
Just to walk away with a little more confidence that I've chosen the right-
Dane:
Yeah. So what is that? What is that business that you've chosen?
Brian:
So my background has been in web design, IT for 25 plus years. Went through a franchise situation that just was a debacle and lost everything. So coming back to my strengths of web design, focusing on building a library of ready made affiliate websites for people that can help [crosstalk 00:32:13].
Dane:
Good. So who's your perfect customer for this?
Brian:
Someone who's new to the idea of blogging and making money online.
Dane:
Okay. So you're going after a pretty competitive niche.
Brian:
Right.
Dane:
How sharp would you say you are with your marketing skills?
Brian:
That is where I struggle. And I get it. I mean, I know who markets the best wins. And that's where I struggle.
Dane:
Well, yeah. And you're going to be jumping into waters like a cow surrounded by sharks, getting into the make money online, blogging space. I mean, I won't even touch that. With your marketing skills being not razor sharp, but your technical skills being really, really good. Bill Gates walked into a room full of hackers and they were building epic software. And they were all just giving it away for free. They're all open source developers building Linux and Unix and he's like, "You guys realize that you could charge companies ton of money for this?" And the hackers, if I remember the story correctly, looked at Bill like he was a freak. "What? That's stupid. We are not going to do that." And Bill's like, "Okay, well, I tried." And then he went and built billions of dollars software. But these very, very wise, smart, open source developers that were probably too smart for their own good, I doubt many of them ever even cracked a million. That doesn't mean they might not be happy doing what they're doing. But there's something to be said about someone overestimating their technical expertise and how actually valuable it would be to a certain target market.
Brian:
Right.
Dane:
There's a certain target market out there that I think would be phenomenal for you. And I don't think it's the make money blogging one. Does that seem right to you? I don't usually say stuff like this, or am I missing something?
Brian:
No. I mean, that's the only reason I can ... It's like there's a reason my mind just keeps doubting myself on this thing. But I can't seem to find that next path what it would be.
Dane:
Very perfect. I want you to say this out loud and I want you to never forget it. I can't find anything else better so I'm going to stick with this crap.
Brian:
I can't find anything else better so I'm going to stick with this crap.
Dane:
Does that capture it? Try it again.
Brian:
I can't find anything else better so I'm going to just stick with this crap.
Dane:
You know what? Comedians are so funny, right? They just tell the truth.
Brian:
Yeah.
Dane:
It's so good. You say, "Why are you doing that?" "Well, I don't really believe in myself to find something better so I'm just going to stick with this crap." This may be terrible nails on a chalkboard, but I really don't believe in myself enough to do anything else so I'm just going to stay here. So we're going to get you rooted into your heart, enough is enough, time to believe. And you are going to not only make money, but it's going to be centered around the heart. And it's going to be centered around helping with these amazing talents that you spend so much time building. I'm writing a new book, it's called Easy Money, Hard Money. And it's 50 millionaires reveal their easiest and hardest times making money. And I'm doing it for myself, so I don't make making money hard.
Dane:
And one of the interviews that I did with one of the 50 millionaires, he said that, making money was easy for him when he had momentum. And making money was hard for him when he was starting at a standstill. You've got all this momentum with your skill set. You're just ripping it in half by going into this niche doing this. So my question for you, is where would your momentum best be served to really touch and help people? And then once we get that we can actually look at making it much more profitable. So you can do that question for me, and then we'll come back to you.
Brian:
No, I didn't have one. That's the problem, is trying to figure out what that is.
Dane:
No, no, no, don't do that. Write the question down.
Brian:
Okay.
Dane:
Let me hear what the question you wrote down is.
Brian:
Where could my talents be best used or served?
Dane:
Two.
Brian:
Where could my talents be best served to make an impact on people and provide an income for my family?
Dane:
Yeah. There's something there that no one else can see but you. You even say it in your survey. You say, "There's one idea I've had for a really long time, but I just haven't pulled the trigger on it. My idea was to create a database, and listing of all white label software and service available, similar to G2 but only for White-label. We would create a community where businesses could find reputable business partners to work with." That sounds awesome.
Brian:
I've been working on that for about five years, and I've just been terrified to pull the trigger. I just didn't know if anybody would be interested.
Dane:
Yep. How can you find out if they would be?
Brian:
I have to find them. I have to find the customer. And ask if they'd be interested.
Dane:
That's it. So that question, how can I best use my talents and ... Like this thing here. This is a great ... Hooray intuition. Hooray my intuition for asking that question. And [inaudible 00:37:28] in front of me right here. A lot of folks come to me man, and they're like, "What do I do?" And they want me to tell them and then I tell them what to do. And then two years later, I find out that they have this other thing over here that if they just like ... You actually probably have something right in front of you right now. Most of the people have something that's waiting right in front of them perfectly made just for them.
Brian:
But it didn't feel sexy. So I'm like, yeah, maybe not.
Dane:
You know what else isn't sexy? Can you mention any boring businesses that just make bank?
Brian:
Probably.
Dane:
Probably. How about like Esignature Software?
Brian:
Yeah.
Dane:
How about paperlesspipeline.com? I'll tell you what's sexy. A customer that wants to pay for something.
Brian:
Right.
Dane:
That is sexy. You know what's even sexier? Is if they want to pay for something that takes you eight weeks to build because it's so simple. That's sexy. Sexy is simple. You know what? Sexy is a referral service that you set up with chiropractors and attorneys where you sell chiropractors like a $200 a month area exclusive service where you send 15 disability attorneys every month cookies saying, "Hey, if your clients are ever injured, we'd love to take care of them." And you just get 15 to attorneys every month getting cookies or maybe they get juice or something every single month. After about three or four months, all these attorneys are doing is referring 10s and 20s of patients to these chiropractors and all you're doing is sending them cookies to disability attorneys saying, "Hey, think of us if your patients are injured." But ain't very sexy, is it?
Brian:
Right.
Dane:
I don't know, you're supposed to say it was.
Brian:
[inaudible 00:39:10].
Dane:
So sending cookies once a month man, will it make it sexy. Well sexy works really good in pay per click ads. If you ever run an ad, you can pretty much throw sexy in front of anything and you'll increase the click through rate. So I mean, you're not wrong for the women's dresses, sexy women dresses, men, sexy single men. I tell you what, it's not sexy recruiting software, sexy course software. I mean, it's nuts. Sex sells. But you know what? Sexy is simple, customer wants to pay for it. So let's go through and check in with all your homework, guys. So, Ruben, let's go with you first. What do you got?
Ruben:
I've got a few people ... I've got four, not three.
Dane:
Oh, very good.
Ruben:
Do you want me to list the people out?
Dane:
Just the context of who each person is. The context of them.
Ruben:
Okay? I've got a CFO of an agriculture company that builds machines, they're multi hundred million plus company, a CEO of a multimillion dollar learning software, another CEO of I don't even know the number, but their successful digital products portfolio type thing. And then health media cite, the director of engineering on that.
Dane:
So this is great. So with all these people, I want you to hammer in and think greater than how you feel. I am worthy to help these people.
Ruben:
I am worthy to help these people.
Dane:
All right. So good. You start there, don't go anywhere else. You just stay with those folks until you find a problem that you can help them solve. And you've maybe do it for free, just to have the competence of solving a problem for someone and getting them a result.
Ruben:
Okay.
Dane:
You start doing that enough, you'll start walking with some swagger. Because you're like, I can solve a problem. I don't know how to solve that one. But I'll find an expert to do it. Very good. And Ricardo was burning the midnight oil all at once on you. I'm sorry, we forgot about you.
Ricardo:
Don't worry, you gave me time just to think about what I was looking for. And actually I can summarize it after hearing all the other participants which I share a lot of things with every one of them. I'm looking for an effective, funny, and sexy, fast way to sell my ebooks to the world having in mind that I'm not too well versed in social networks.
Dane:
The only reason that you're using sexy in the context of this when it's children's books?
Ricardo:
No, because I just like the context you were using the word right now.
Dane:
Let's drop that one from the children's books context maybe. We can try? What's your best children's book that parents seem to like the most?
Ricardo:
One about the first time the kid went into a plane, where a poor old things I teach my daughter's and-
Dane:
She can pass cars all he knows the title. The book sounds awesome. What you did say. So the first time a child goes on a plane?
Ricardo:
No, the girl could take the airplanes.
Dane:
Or what's the title of the book?
Ricardo:
The girl were tickling the airplane.
Dane:
Girl who is tickling the airplanes.
Ricardo:
Yeah.
Dane:
And this is the one that parents seem to like the most?
Ricardo:
So far to the parents have shown the book? Yes.
Dane:
Okay. And is this a book that's for sale anywhere yet?
Ricardo:
No, not yet. I'm working on to put on sell on Amazon, but not yet. It's on sale. I'm in the process of illustrating it now.
Dane:
Okay, I'm not versed in selling children's books, I don't know how it will be possible or how it works to generate a substantial income selling children's books. I don't think I can actually really help you with that. Because I would just be talking about in my book that I saw a Facebook ad once that was selling a children's book. Its one of the best Facebook ads that I've ever seen in my life. It was an ad targeted telling a story about how a girl was asking if they're going to die because of COVID. And the mom had no idea how to communicate it to her. So she was trying to find books, and she couldn't find a book to communicate it to her. And then she found this one book, but she couldn't find it for sale anywhere. So she called around and she finally found it somewhere. And then she called the publisher and asked the publisher to print more books so she could sell them to her friends. And the ad was amazing. It was all based on the story of starting out with a daughter, hearing her daughter's steps running down the hallway, running into her bed asking "Mommy, are we going to die because of COVID?" That was the start of the ad.
Dane:
And then so she had this problem of communicating to your kid. I mean, it was a beast of an ad. But if you google search, if I were you I'd say okay, business models of children's books profitability models of children's books. Can I make a full time living selling children's books? How can I do that? It may be a wholly different market. I would look up successful Facebook ads that sell children's books. I would Google that best ways to sell children's books. But then what I'd probably do, I really liked the grassroots stuff. I would find Facebook groups full of homeschool moms. I got a homeschool mom Facebook groups, and I would probably stay in homeschool for a bit and say, "Hey, moms, I've got this children's book. I'm not sure if it's any good or not. You guys tell me if you like it." That's all you got to put in that group. "Hey, moms, I got this new children's book I'm writing but I'm not sure if it's any good or not. Can you tell me what you think?"
Ricardo:
And just offer them the book for free?
Dane:
Well, maybe your first handful. But my model is giveaway what I've got for free as soon as it gets a result charge. That's what I do for my confident. Because I'm not confident new products that are launch. I'm like, "Hey." But as soon as it gets a result, and there are some exceptions to this, but in this case, I would just post a picture of the cover. So in that instance you say, this is like a book you'd ever want to read. Question mark, you can be honest, Please be honest. And then, so now you're in these Facebook groups, you find three or five home or school women Facebook groups and then maybe you expand to other moms. But then you're just posting pictures of covers. And then you're going to find one where the moms like, "I definitely want that." It's not like, "Hey, that's nice." "Yeah, it looks good." "No, it's like, I definitely want that book."
Dane:
Those are the books that you would then develop illustrated. But you're already doing good on this one, because you know that parents like it. So you're getting it illustrated. If you've got a certain runway of money left, don't hire people to ... I would be very leery do everything grassroots. If you don't have money, if you want to hire a book marketer for example, let's say you hire ... Go to Google, and you search digital marketers, for children's books. I would definitely type that into Google, digital marketers for children's books. And I would give them a percentage of the profits or the equity. Because if or with finances being tight, don't put yourself in a more vulnerable situation. Ask yourself the question, how can I build the market, promote and sell books without ever risking $1 of my own money? If you spend enough time with that question, then you could launch 100 books and the risk would never be too great.
Ricardo:
Okay.
Dane:
And I can envision you on podcasts years down the line. "Oh, what I did is I just went in women's groups, and I just showed the covers of the books and the ones that the women said that they definitely wanted to buy, or the ones that I made into children's books. But if it's not a Facebook group, it's somewhere else." You're just testing the man. Show the title, see if they want to.
Ricardo:
Okay, and you're always mentioning Facebook, don't you think about maybe Instagram?
Dane:
Or I'm just old dinosaur? I guess? Yeah, probably TikTok and Instagram, whatever the platform is, it doesn't matter what the platform is. The principles are the same.
Ricardo:
Okay. Got it. Perfect.
Dane:
Yeah, be a man of principles, not a man of platforms. Very good. So last thing I'll mention is, so I have someone in my circles, who is like, "Oh, you know what? I'm going to make coffee mugs and T shirts, and this stuff and sell them on Etsy, and eBay, and Amazon, that's what I'm going to do." It's great. Somebody made $60,000, selling a cup that said, "Best teacher ever. And that's all it said, I'm going to go do that, too." I said, "So if you just to be aware, when your confidence is low, you usually try to do product first. When your confidence is high, you go people first, when your confidence is low, you try building your businesses on other people's platforms, eBay, Etsy, Amazon, when your confidence is high, you build your own assets and platforms." So just be aware that you're doing these things. If in fact, that's what you're doing. But low confidence is generally product first. And higher confidence is like, "Let's do people first thinking instead of product first thinking." Very good, Ricardo. So let's move to Morgan. Morgan, how'd you do?
Morgan:
Good I think.
Dane:
So what's worked and what didn't work?
Morgan:
Yeah, it was a good reflection, I think, growing slowly, which is ironic, but growing slowly has been probably the key to our success as a business. So getting really strong in our foundation and confirming demand and our strategy, because it's shifted a bunch of times. So that slow growth has actually been pretty crucial, and has gotten us to where we are today where we can go a little bit faster. And then a little bit more tactically, specifically our strategy. I was explaining it before, but not going straight for the big guys in big distribution, like Whole Foods, but focusing on these boutique retailers where customers really are and looking for those local and more specialized and specialty products has worked really well, versus those bigger, crowded markets with a lot of emphasis on brand, and not as much quality and product. So those two things. I think have worked really well. And then conversely, the opposite hasn't worked
Dane:
You sound like a counter intuitive leadership expert.
Morgan:
Yeah. Well, it's tough. It's like the slow growth has worked for us really well. But now we see the opportunity in the bigger market. So I think that's where the big question mark is, can we play [inaudible 00:49:38]?
Dane:
And will I be happy?
Morgan:
Yeah.
Dane:
Will I be happy? Well, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. And there's a book called Small Giants.
Morgan:
Yeah, that's like one of our favorite books we live by.
Dane:
Oh, good. Okay, so yes, why companies choose to be small and great instead of big?
Morgan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dane:
So yeah, definitely. Keep to those values and one of my top business mentors, he throttled his growth every year at 20%, he wouldn't grow over it.
Morgan:
Interesting.
Dane:
So in a situation like yours, so many people are stuck in the desperate for success cycle where they want to do anything they can and success is uncertain. And if it happens, they're lucky. And if they do, they're unworthy of it. And so will they be able to do it again? And all these things go down for ... It's like success is this elusive mysterious thing I will never touch. What I want people to understand is that success doesn't have to be an elusive mystery. It can be definitely inevitable. And you can start acting that way. So if you just continue to remember and act like your success is assured, so you can grow slow. Our competitor is going to take over the space, will take over, they'll rip you off. Well, if that happens, that's fine because I believe in the greater good of things. And if that's what it wants to happen, then that's for the greater good and happy for the greater good. But for me, this is what I hope to.
Morgan:
Yeah, there definitely is that urgency. But that makes sense to hold on to that.
Dane:
Yeah, you'll use discernment just fine. Just use the same discernment that got you to where you are now to here. So many entrepreneurs, they just abandon all the brilliant intelligence that got them to where they go on and give their power away. And then the company just becomes a shell.
Morgan:
Right. Getting too caught up in scaling and growing. Yeah, that's why slow is good in some ways. Intentional, less than just slow. I think that's a better word.
Dane:
Well, it's like you meet a great partner in a relationship, you take things slow because care about it. There's a beauty to what you're doing. And it'll be very healing for you to do in my opinion and also to tell your story, as well.
Morgan:
Yeah. Well, thank you. I hope you get to try some.
Dane:
Yeah, I'll be ordering some. So okay, Brian, let's move to you. What do you got?
Brian:
So my statement was finding out where I can best serve and provide for my family. And I think I'm short changing myself to what I'm trying to do. And I think with my technical background of 25 plus years of my knowledge and success that I've actually seen, I think I would better serve to take a little time to try to develop something that's more focused on white label and try to go find those customers to try to find them wherever they are, to see if it's something they'd be willing to pay for.
Dane:
Yeah. And just do that as fast as you can, do it today, do it tomorrow.
Brian:
Exactly.
Dane:
One of my friend's friends does videos on YouTube of software tools with affiliate links that have lifetime deals. Makes 50 grand a month. Easy 50 grand a month. And he's just on YouTube recording demonstrations of the software products. He's got just thousands of subscribers, not much. But you look at everything is in his favor. Software is a lifetime deal to premium price. It's an affiliate, so many things are ... And he's got software companies now that are approaching and be like, "Please review my software, I will pay you and please do this." And the thing for him is he's not doing that just for the money. He's literally in heaven. Because he's like, "I love software. I love talking about software, I love trying software, I love reviewing software." There's nothing ... He's not losing anywhere.
Brian:
And that's exactly where I'm at. I mean, literally what you said just a moment ago, when you're lacking in confidence product usually comes first. And that's exactly where I was. Just lacking confidence. So the best thing I can do is come up with a product. But that's not what's going to give me where I want to be.
Dane:
That's right. You can find that competence in this moment. There's a guy that was saying, "You know Dane, I just don't have a lot of confidence right now." I was like, I don't think I'd have the confidence to say that. You don't have confidence right now. It takes a lot of competence to say I don't have confidence. So good on you. And so let's move to Justin. We're on Justin, yeah?
Justin:
Yes, you asked me to come up with some of my familial energetic [crosstalk 00:53:55].
Dane:
Yeah. Yeah.
Justin:
So I have a list of them here that came to me. No free lunches. We're always getting the short end of the stick. Life's not fair. Don't share everything. It's not safe to be open and honest. Don't speak up for what you want if it's uncomfortable. Anger is bad and dangerous. How I perceive you is the most important thing. And old ideas won't work. And don't rock the boat. These aren't verbatim but this is my interpretation of what I experienced energetically.
Dane:
Yeah, you revealed the map to your current operating system.
Justin:
Yeah.
Dane:
So as quickly as you can find a therapist to use for business, cognitive behavioral therapist, psycho-somatic therapist any of those. Emotional Freedom Technique therapist, any of those three, you can just google EFT therapy.
Justin:
Yeah. I'm familiar.
Dane:
But hire them for one month. Just one month. Someone did some research, they found that in the first month of therapy the client will have a 90% transformation. And then for two years, then go up the next 10%. But in the first month 90% of the benefit is received.
Justin:
Interesting.
Dane:
Yeah, it was in a book called Snap, how to change your personality in 30 days. The data was in there. But yeah, just go for a month hard. See them like three times a week, burn. I'm going to see you three times a week for a month and I want to work with these little bit. Well, my take some times, [inaudible 00:55:23]. Let's do it for some time. But let's start with this. Hiring a therapist for my business issues was the highest ROI. Highest, highest ROI. It's like, "Oh, I should sell my business, Paperless Pipeline that when it's ... I got an $8 million offer for Paperless Pipeline, just sell it." I do some work. It's like, oh, crap, I don't feel worthy of anything more than that. So I think I need to get out now.
Dane:
Well, just earlier this year, I got a verbal offer on it for 12 million now. It's $4 million more if I would have said yes, which I didn't. Because I know it's going to be worth more. And man, I have made $4 million more just because of the energetics of identifying the energetics. So high, high ROI doing therapy for business ... Business issues. I fear cold calling. Talk to your therapist about that if you don't really want to do cold calling to grow. But I have a fear of getting my name out there or I have a fear of finishing things that I start. Hire a therapist to work on those issues. Freaking awesome. So good. Good, good. Good. So Morgan, we did you and Brian, let's hear from you.
Brian:
This is Brian, we've already ... I think we're good, right?
Dane:
Oh, yeah. Thank you, Brian. So Ricardo, you've shared. Ruben, you shared, didn't you?
Ruben:
I did. Yes. Thank you.
Dane:
Yep. Has everybody shared?
Brian:
Yes.
Dane:
There we go. Wow, these calls, we get five people. It's kind of disorienting after a while. So did everybody get what they needed?
Crowd:
Yes.
Ruben:
Yes. Thank you, Dane.
Dane:
So yeah, let's just go down the list one more time. So we'll go Brian, you said you got what you needed. What did you get?
Brian:
Outside clarity of what I already knew to be true.
Dane:
Justin, what did you get?
Justin:
Just redirecting my focus on the emotional energetics, on the deeper part of it instead of the external surface level stuff.
Dane:
Excellent. Ruben.
Ruben:
I have a clear actionable path forward.
Dane:
Beautiful. Ricardo.
Ricardo:
Low confidence going to platform, high confidence going to people. That's the way I will take. Thank you.
Dane:
Yes, and Morgan.
Morgan:
Reinforcement of my belief in what I'm doing and the confidence to keep going and keep growing.
Dane:
If you'd like to know the number one thing that kills people from being successful in entrepreneurship, it's really simple. It's them trying to do it alone, trying to do it without mentorship, trying to do without accountability, trying to do it without a way to focus, trying to do it without somebody helping you along the way to get your mind straight. And right now, I'm running a yearly mentoring, accountability and focus community called Starters. And you can learn more about Starters, and join a community of amazing entrepreneurs all practicing and living the principles from this podcast in this book. How do you get good at this stuff? Practice. How do you get even better? Being around others that practice. And how do you become unstoppable and just move no matter what? Community, community, community.
Dane:
And not just any community, a community of people that don't shame you for wanting freedom, a community of people that don't look at you weird for saying you want more. You can find that community as Starters. If you go to startfromzero.com, you'll see our products up top and then you can go and find the Starters Program. We would love to have you. And we also have a good fit quiz that you can take on that page, because not everybody's a good fit for Starters. So if you go look at the Starters page, take the good fit quiz and it'll tell you if you'll be a good fit for that program. We don't accept everyone because we're obviously not for everyone, but we are for certain people. If you'd like to see if that person is you, go to startfromzero.com, look at products, find Starters and then fill out that quiz. And we look forward to supporting you and mentoring you on your journey.