Podcast appearances and mentions of stacey alcorn

Stacey Alcorn, author of Reach! Dream, Stretch, Achieve, Influence encourages readers to reach for the lofty goals that may seem unreachable. The word “Reach!” has two meanings: going after the big goals and building a massive army of advocates to help you reach those big dreams. Alcorn has interviewed a series of c-level executives, like Richard Branson, other celebrities and celebrity athletes to gauge the path they took in order to achieve their goals. She argues that those who achieve a higher level of success are those that don't buy into their own beliefs – those who are open to change and not set in their ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Real Estate Leader: What You Will Learn: Stacey’s real estate journey Why Stacey decided to invest in real estate offices How Stacey achieved success by building a massive real estate network Nature vs. nurture in real estate and how it affected Stacey’s success How Stacey developed the necessary skills to become a real estate leader Stacey’s advice for biz dev and lead gen in the modern real estate industry How to leverage social media to grow your real estate business Where Stacey focuses the most energy when it comes to training new agents Leadership in Real Estate Stacey is the founder and CEO of LAER Realty, a brokerage based out of Boston, Massachusetts with over 500 agents on the team. LAER has more than 34 offices across the country, and Stacey leads the organization with experience on both the real estate side and the mortgage side of the industry. As you can imagine, Stacey has built a wealth of knowledge and expertise as a real estate leader. And in this episode of the Pursuing Freedom podcast, she brings so much value. Stacey joins us to share her real estate journey and explain what it takes to achieve success in real estate. From essential skills to mindset, professional development, and networking, Stacey walks us through her framework for success. Nature vs. Nurture Stacey purchased her first piece of real estate when she was just 19 years old after learning how to process 203k rehab mortgages for other investors. From there, she started flipping houses and became a loan officer so she could work for herself. To grow her investment business, she decided to purchase a real estate office, and by 2014, she had 14 offices under her own brand. Nature vs. nurture is a big debate in every profession, and like many of us, Stacey discovered real estate by accident. She wasn’t born as a real estate leader with innate skills. She leveraged every resource around her to develop personally and professionally with a massive network of support. The Universe Has Your Back Selling and originating requires an entirely different skill set than it takes to be a real estate leader. In order to make that leap, Stacey sought out mentorship at every stage of the journey. We are the sum of the people we surround ourselves with and the information we consume, so it is critical that we actively manage both of those areas. We have to take calculated risks knowing that the universe will play out exactly the way it is supposed to. Even when bad things happen, there is a silver lining. Regardless of what you’re seeking, you can succeed if you believe you can! Photo by Prateek Pisat on Unsplash How to Connect with Stacey Alcorn: Website: https://www.laerrealty.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyalcorn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/laer-realty-partners/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LAERRealty Twitter: @LAERRealty  @empoweredpeeps Book Recommendation: Think & Grow Rich Additional Resources 5-Step Guide to More Referrals

Episode: 111 Title: Daily Dose - Modern Day Napoleon Hill  Host: Michael J. Maher Guest: Stacey Alcorn  Description: What's the secret to success? Our guest today, Stacey Alcorn, thinks the answer might be in interviewing successful people. She's on a mission to learn from 500 business leaders in a very similar style to Napoleon Hill. She's over 400 interviews in, and here is some of what she shares today: • How to use interviews to grow your database and influence • Why Stacey thinks leaders are being created right now in quarantine • How she prescribes books for almost any issue • Where to put your focus in challenging times Take to heart the simple steps in this leadership episode and you will see powerful results both personally and professionally. Then share your results with us!! (7L) Referral Strategies and Podcast Topics: Special Offer: Did you enjoy today's episode? Come meet thousands of our friends in our private Facebook Group at www.Facebook.com/groups/JoinGenGen. We are waiting for you!!

What’s the secret to success? Our guest today, Stacey Alcorn, thinks the answer might be in interviewing successful people. She’s on a mission to learn from 500 business leaders in a very similar style to Napoleon Hill. She’s over 400 interviews in, and here is some of what she shares today: • How to use interviews to grow your database and influence • Why Stacey thinks leaders are being created right now in quarantine • How she prescribes books for almost any issue • Where to put your focus in challenging times Take to heart the simple steps in this leadership episode and you will see powerful results both personally and professionally. Then share your results with us!! Did you enjoy today’s episode? Come meet thousands of our friends in our private Facebook Group at www.Facebook.com/groups/JoinGenGen. We are waiting for you!!

Episode 49 - How to Build a Billion Dollar Business with Stacey Alcorn This is one of our favorite episodes with Stacey Alcorn founder and owner of Laer Realty, Stacey Alcorn is CEO of Boston-based, Laer Realty Partners She owns and operates several businesses in the Boston area including a consulting firm, a law firm and a fashion line. She is the author of REACH! -- Dream, Stretch, Achieve, Influence. You can watch the full interview and behind the scenes hear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0tZea6XrhI&t=2537s Here is the 5 Part course By Stacey "Change your Mind, Change your life" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u4gUbl6Sns&list=PL2LaBPSGpFSRUHbpjOZ-SsRwV2xAErza1 Find her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyalcorn Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/StaceyAlcorn10x Her interviews and articles - https://www.huffpost.com/author/salcorn-899?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMvbdEmC8Oh6yGeAveNhfhjTFAt7vaEgILdgHxjUI1lWO6Mnih5SDO5Gt7Ts5xa4tl-ZRNg8WOKhDvmsWZxgJktpWD3IVaVCOA4o2yTgx_Gf2KB5WGWUaDn6ZbOL-lR6CvFfsKuM5DO1WRvZl7pLnKDOeBc91L6oICBD5JC_QU0m More courses and classes by Stacey - https://laeruniversity.com https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/stacey-alcorn Book recommendation - Think and Grow Rich - https://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Landmark-Bestseller/dp/1585424331/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2CTSKQHM6OT1P&keywords=think+and+grow+rich&qid=1575824234&sprefix=think+and+grow%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-3 Her most interesting interview https://journey-forward.org/staff - his story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7TNOjQxS_k --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dnarealtygroup/support

Good Morning, I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation. Welcome to Episode 695 – this week’s solocast. I greatly appreciate your time and am grateful that you decided to share some of your precious 86,400 seconds that you have today with me – thank you, Onward Nation. Before we dive into how to recognize and solve what may be the two biggest challenges or obstacles to scaling your business...I want to provide some additional context as to why I chose this topic for our time together today. You might recall that in Episode 685...you and I took a deep dive into the Imposter Syndrome. We defined it and then sliced apart the Syndrome’s two main ingredients so you could recognize it whenever it rises up to block you on your path to success. However, when I went back through my notes for Episode 685 and re-listened to the content...I realized that the ingredients I shared were a bit incomplete because they weren’t part of a more comprehensive recipe including more ingredients and a series of action steps. And that comprehensive recipe is what we are going to cover today. So if you haven’t listened to Episode 685 yet – I encourage you to go back and review it so you have the full context from beginning to end. Being armed with both episodes will help you solve what may be the biggest challenges or obstacles in your business -- those things that are really holding you back from jumping off the plateau you may be on right now – and leaping onward to that next level. So here’s what we will cover today... First, I will show you how to spot the two biggest obstacles currently preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level. Second, I will show you how to attract the right mentors to help you overcome the obstacles and accelerate your results. Third, I will show you how to implement and master a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence. Sound good, Onward Nation? Okay...let’s dive in. What if I told you that the two biggest challenges preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level have nothing to do with the business climate, the economy, the skill level of your employees, the location of your business, your pricing strategy, your current customer base, the size of your marketing budget, the quality of your products, your distribution channels, or the myriad of other reasons we are given today by the media and government as to why businesses fail at such a staggering rate in this country? What if the obstacles in your way had nothing to do with any of that? And in instead, what was blocking you…the obstacles keeping your business in check…are the same obstacles that have always attempted to keep you in check throughout your entire life. Your enemy is not the myriad of reasons I just listed…instead…your first challenge…or better yet…your first enemy is the Fear of Poverty. And yes, there is a correlation to the Imposter Syndrome – you may recall that in Episode 685 when we dissected the syndrome into its most basic form...we could see that it was just fear. So now...I want us to dissect fear into a couple of smaller ingredients so we can have an even clearer view. And for that...let’s go back to 1937 and into the pages of the brilliant work by Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich.” The book sold over 70 million copies worldwide because it is such a compendium of knowledge. The book was made possible by Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie at the time was the wealthiest man in the world, met Napoleon Hill, liked him and offered to commission him to open the doors to the greatest industrialists of the time. That was 1908. And he said, “I’ll open the doors if you’ll sit down with these top business owners and figure out their secrets to success. What they do, their methods, their mindsets that have caused their extraordinary success and you put it into a book and publish it and make it available to the world.” So, Napoleon sat down with Henry Ford, Edison, Schwab, Wrigley, and both Rockefellers. Imagine being able to spend time with those business owners and pull out their best ideas for success and achievement. If you have read, studied, and applied the book…you understand the great knowledge in this book and are already ahead of 98% of your competition. But often times…this book is an easy to forget treasure because it was written in 1937 – but the strategies in this book are still just as applicable today. If you have not yet read, studied, and applied the book – then consider this a million dollar resource you have just been given. You can go to OnwardNation.com/book and get the Audible version of Think and Grow Rich for free…that’s OnwardNation.com/book. The Fear of Poverty is one of the 6 basic fears but it is also the most pervasive, destructive, and confusing to understand. But why? On the surface, it seems as though this fear would revolve around the fear of becoming poor – and there definitely is that component. But, the way this particular fear manifests itself is what makes it easy to spot. We become so fearful of poverty…that we freeze and are plagued with indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. Just when you ought to take action…you don’t. When sales are declining…you ought to make more sales calls…but you don’t…we sometimes freeze because the fear of poverty may hold us hostage and keep us from moving forward. Just when you should be investing in that new expansion – that new marketing strategy – that new development – hiring new employees – you don’t. You become overly cautious. Or…you disguise your caution by saying you’re “skeptical”. Which is a more pleasant way of saying, “I am afraid.” You become so fearful of hitting the wall – that all you do is focus on the wall. And then what happens? Exactly…you end up hitting the wall. To be clear…I am not suggesting that you throw caution to the wind and become financially irresponsible and then lose your business as a result of mismanagement. That would be silly. But I am trying to bring into focus that our Fear of Poverty can be one of the major obstacles that hold us back from the abundance at that next level. And it doesn’t matter who you are – we have all felt it before – especially when trying to pursue something new – that next level. Remember, if you focus on the wall…you will hit the wall. But if you focus on the infield – you may still eventually hit the wall…but your opportunity likely increases by a factor of 10 IF you steer your business where you want it to go instead of letting yourself and your business become paralyzed by indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. So if the Fear of Poverty is the first challenge – what is the second one keeping you from moving your business forward? It is the Fear of Criticism and is also one of the 6 basic fears…and it too is easy to spot. This fear what prevents you from making that sales call to that prospective client everyone in town wants because you hear that voice inside your head that says… “Oh come on…who do you think you’re kidding calling them? You have nothing to offer. They only work with big companies. You’re too small.” You hear… “You’re not good enough…you don’t have the skills, you will never make it…why bother trying…there are others who are more gifted, talented, they already have all the connections…what could you possibly offer that would be unique and different…just try something that is more at your current level – call on someone smaller – don’t call the president or owner – call someone who reports to them – that would be easier.” “Why can’t you just be normal?” The fear of criticism can be overcome with grit…with tenacity…with perseverance…with the shouting into the abyss…I will not be defeated. You saying… “I will WIN THE DAY”. And when you do that – and I believe when you’re moving in the direction of God’s plan for your life – there is nothing that can stop you. Now that we have identified the 2 biggest obstacles holding you back – which really aren’t obstacles at all are they – they all are in your mind – now let’s work through our first recipe. RECIPE #1: FOCUS ON MENTORSHIP If you have listened to our Onward Nation episodes, you already know that I ask every single guest to share the most influential lesson they ever learned from one of their mentors that helped them become the business owner they are today. And wow…our guests have shared some outstanding lessons. So for this solocast, I am going to share a very specific recipe for attracting and finding the right mentor. But let’s make this more specific. Why find a mentor? And yes, there is a specific recipe you can use to find a mentor and I am going to share that with you. Before I share the step-by-step ingredients to this powerful recipe…I will share two of the most influential lessons I ever learned from one of my mentors…Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. For 12-months, Darren was a member of our board of advisors at Predictive ROI. So we would get together either in-person or over the phone. And during one of our monthly calls, I explained to Darren some of my reservations about building a big business. I wasn’t sure how big I wanted Predictive ROI to become. And so I was nervous about it. And I said, “Gosh, Darren – you know – I’ve never thought of myself as being a great manager of people. And quite frankly, honestly Darren, I kind of suck at it.” And then Darren said to me, “Stephen…stop SUCKING at it!” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said… “Don’t give me that lie or tell me that myth that you are telling yourself. Don’t use that as a frickin’ excuse to stop moving forward. Stop telling yourself that limiting belief and that lie that you’re not a good manager or leader. Be better at it. Don’t give me the excuse.” And so I’m standing there almost like totally stripped down – I was like, my word, he just totally called me on it right. It was embarrassing – because Darren’s assessment was spot on, Onward Nation! And that’s what a good mentor does for you – they call you out when you need to be called out – they support you when you need to be supported and they teach you when you need to be taught. But they don’t do the hard work for you – that’s on you. So here are the specific 11 ingredients for finding the right mentor for you: Think about your own talents and skills you would like to strengthen — weaknesses you would like to lessen — areas of your business you would like to improve, etc. Then make a precise list that details everything you just thought about. This process helps you identify the person you need to become in order to move your business onward to the next level This is a really hard exercise because you have to force yourself to take a critical look at yourself (and by the way — most people are not willing to get really honest with themselves — and that is one of the major reasons they never grow) Once you have the list — look for people who are crushing it in these areas — the same areas where you need to grow. Then contact those people — invite them to lunch — let them know you are packed full of questions for them Be very prepared — they will love that Interview them and put what they share with you into practice — turn it into a blog post and your clients will love you for it Loop back to your mentors and share your success When you do, they will invite you to sit down so they can share more with you. Soak it all up — then put it into practice. Remember…a good mentee takes action on what is learned — and the responsibility is on you. Here’s the reality, Onward Nation…you are the average of who you spend the most time with as Jim Rohn so brilliantly shared decades ago. So you need to spend your time with people you have a common future with – not a common past. Let me close out this first recipe by saying…you can want to find a mentor – the recipe that I just shared with you could be worth millions of dollars in new sales to your company – but – it won’t be worth anything unless you DECIDE to take action. As Tony Robbins says, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken action – in fact – that you have taken massive action. And if there’s no action – then that is simply an indicator you haven’t really decided anything. Now that we have conquered and overcome the two main challenges standing in your way – and now that I have shared with you a very specific recipe with all of the step-by-step ingredients (in the proper syntax) so you can find your right mentor or mentors…it is now time to really accelerate your results and move your business onward to the next level. RECIPE #2: GROW YOUR INFLUENCE The next recipe I am going to share with you could represent a billion – yes, with a “B” – billion dollar strategy for your business. I am going to share a recipe for mastering a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence – and – I will also share with you how you can then monetize these valuable relationships into mutually beneficial partnerships and revenue for your business. And yes, I know it may sound crass or inappropriate when I say monetize relationships – unfortunately, I can’t think of a better word – I think you get what I am driving at. But before we get to the recipe…let me put typical “networking” into context. Most business owners go to an event with a large number of “prospects”. They pass out business cards. They chit chat small talk with the same people they met their last month. They collect others business cards. More chit chat and participate in some more small talk. They might even schedule some lunch meetings. Why do we do this? Here’s why. Because it is safe. It is easy. It does not put us out there or force us to face our fear of poverty or our fear of criticism. We begin to ask ourselves several horrible questions like we discussed in Episode 685. Questions like... “What would people think if I did this or that…or spent time with so and so?” I am going to work hard here to shift your paradigm and perspective of what is possible, Onward Nation. And that is why I love this quote from Archimedes. “Give me a prop strong enough, and a lever long enough, and I can single-handedly move the world” This next recipe I am about to share with you will become your lever and your prop. And it is big – this is literally a billion dollar recipe – and I am going to introduce you to the top business owner who is using it generate a billion dollars. She describes herself as a billionaire in the making and her name is Stacey Alcorn, our brilliant guest for Episode 3 of Onward Nation. During our interview, one of the stories Stacey shared was about the afternoon she had spent with Kevin O’Leary, Mr. Wonderful from ABC’s Shark Tank. They spent the afternoon tasting wine and exchanging business mantras and best lessons. As you might imagine, Stacey and Kevin had quite the masterminding session. There is always a strategy behind what Stacey does – and if you go back and re-listen to Episode 3, you will hear her map out her entire biz dev strategy with precision. But, let’s review one of the golden nuggets from that conversation – Stacey’s billion-dollar biz dev strategy and it revolves around swing for the fences with respect to the relationships you are seeking to develop. Most people will not swing for the fences – but Stacey does. And your ability to be bold with this biz dev strategy is the first ingredient and key to your success. So here are the other 9 ingredients in Stacey’s biz dev recipe. Make list of influencers in your industry and / or your Dream 50 clients / prospects Connect via social media, email, or call Ask for 30-minutes so you can interview them on their path / keys to success Do your homework – prep excellent questions Be excellent during the interview Briefly share what you and your company does at the close of interview Invite / open the door for future opportunities Then share guest’s expertise on your blog, media outlets, your podcast, etc. – your platform Rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat And here is another key benefit to this strategy, Onward Nation. If you interview the movers and shakers in your industry – they become your informal mentors…and you become one of the movers and shakers in the industry as a result. If you want a BIGGER – more ROBUST – more INFLUENTIAL network – then YOU must become bigger…your platform must become more robust…and you must become more influential. But – let me also share a WARNING or a potential ROADBLOCK with you. You might be thinking – “Sounds awesome, Stephen…but Stacey has an email list of 65,000 people and has interviewed all of these celebrities and big-time business people – I don’t have those connections.” Or, maybe you’re thinking… “My business just started…I don’t have mindshare in the marketplace, I’m not a published author, I don’t have a platform, no one knows who I am, who will listen to me – what do I have or could I share that would be relevant for anyone to listen to, I don’t have a network – I wouldn’t even know how to start.” I get it, Onward Nation. Honest I do. I asked myself those same questions when I sent out my initial invitations for guests to join me for an interview. I thought, “Who am I to send an invitation to these incredible people? Why on Earth would they say yes to me?” And yet...they did. And in the process of receiving the yeses – I realized that what I was doing was making excuses. I was allowing the Fear of Poverty and the Fear of Criticism to work against me, Onward Nation. Please don’t allow that to happen to you. If you hear those voices in your head – if you are having thoughts that are even remotely similar to what I just mentioned – let that be your litmus test – you now know you are heading in the right direction. Push forward – don’t stop – don’t let your fear hold you back from breaking through to that next level. Remember, you are the average of the people you spend the most time with…and look who Stacey is spending the most time with. She refers to herself as “A billionaire in the making.” And in order for that vision for her life to become a reality – she knows that she needs to spend as much time as possible with other billionaires. Well, I will let you in on a secret she told me during our interview – Stacey didn’t have those connections several years ago. But she decided to change her circumstance – her current network and then took action to make it happen. And I know you can too. Okay, Onward Nation – so with that said...I just want to say thank you again. I greatly appreciate your time, I greatly appreciate all of your feedback, and I am grateful that you decided to share with me some of your precious 86,400 seconds you have today. Please know – I always look forward to your feedback. You can reach me at Stephen@predictiveroi.com, on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Just drop me a line and let me know what you thought of today’s solocast – thumbs up or thumbs down. Until tomorrow – onward with gusto!

Good Morning, Onward Nation…I’m Stephen Woessner and welcome to Episode 600! Today’s episode is going to be a solocast — where I fly solo without a guest so that you and I have an opportunity to explore a topic with some real depth — and in the process — I can share practical and tactical steps — also with some real depth — that you can take and apply into your business right away to accelerate your business development with more leads and sales. And we are going to follow that exact recipe today. But before we do — I owe you a very big thank you. Seriously…episode 600!?! Seriously…it feels like yesterday when Scott McKain and I recorded Episode 1. And we have had the privilege and honor — that we take very seriously — of being able to serve business owners in 115 countries with our daily episodes. All of which is possible because of the questions YOU ask me, the feedback YOU send my way where you help us see what we are doing right — or — when YOU push us to go where we need to go in order to get better. So before we get into today’s lesson — I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you…and how I do not take for granted the generous gift that your time and attention represents. You make my team and I better every single day — so thank you, Onward Nation — thank you so very much. So now let’s shift our focus toward today’s lesson…and why I believe so strongly that business owners are going about selling the wrong way. To help illustrate that…let me share a couple of scenarios that I see happening inside the typical business. The owner is busy…so he or she doesn’t believe they have the time in their day to do “prospecting” so they hire a junior person, or several junior people, to run point and “get out there and kick up some prospects for us to sell to”. The owner rationalizes their decision by saying, “Well, if we are going to scale this business…then someone other than me needs to be able to sell what we do.” And the sales team does what they are asked to do. They research…they call…they follow up…they schedule appointments…and sometimes they make pitches. And sometimes…they even close a deal or two giving them confidence that the hard core sales process works…and it does from time to time…it just isn’t that efficient or cost effective. And you know what? That is exactly how I learned some extremely valuable sales skills early on in my career. One of my first positions inside an advertising agency when I was 21 years old was to go through the yellow pages (I know, cringe…the yellow pages!) and then cold call everyone in town…and then go meet with anyone who would listen. I learned a lot about persistence and tenacity…and we closed some business… but I wasn’t really that effective. So now let’s also consider another scenario…this time replacing the heaving lifting of hand-to-hand combat — that sometimes prospecting can become — with inbound digital tools designed to advertise and promote your business to a vast audience who doesn’t yet know you — where there is no context of relationship — but over time and if you invest the right budget — you will be able to win them over and they pick up the phone and call you…to become your next big client. But oftentimes…this is filled with marketing hyperbole because it is not that simple as launching a Facebook ad and connecting it to an email sales funnel…then voila — you have well prepared prospects who are desperate to become your next client. Logically, we know it takes more than one Google Adwords campaign, or one Facebook ad, or a retargeting campaign on AdRoll to earn the trust of your next client. Digital marketing is great — heck — Predictive ROI…my core business is a digital marketing agency…and we have worked hard to earn our chops in this space. Relying on a purely digital model is the wrong sales strategy for a business, too. Because…what I oftentimes find is that the business owners who are reluctant to get out and sell are the owners who are the most attracted to an inbound or digital marketing model for what should be a true sales strategy. So let’s set these two scenarios aside for a moment — and instead — I want you to consider the potential impact on your business if you and your team stopped the aimless prospecting — and paused your digital marketing budget budget — so you could take some time to get really clear on who you wanted to serve. Where you and your team sat down and made a list of your Dream 50 prospects — the companies you would most like to serve — but for whatever reason — you haven’t had an at bat just yet. And take it deeper that just saying… “Oh, we want to work for Harley Davidson!” Of course you do…and so do all of your competitors. Instead…you and your team need to get laser focused and say… “We want to develop a relationship with Sarah Jones at Harley Davidson because she is the type of business leader we most like to work with and for whom we can create the greatest impact.” And then instead of unleashing your junior salespeople or a digital armada on Sarah Jones and your other 49 Dream prospects…you first reached out to Sarah personally to begin building a relationship. But not a cold call. Instead, you will be seeking to build a relationship that is architected to remove all of the friction and uncomfortableness that can sometimes creep into the sales process. You will make Sarah feel valued…and most importantly…she no longer felt like a prospect. Wouldn’t that be rock solid awesome for Sarah and for you? And the sales process I just described…is what I call The Trojan Horse of Sales…and it has the potential to change the game for you and your business. The legend of the Trojan Horse comes from the story of the Trojan War between the Greeks and Troy chronicled in the Odyssey written by Homer near the end of the 8th century BC. The story – which could be fact or fiction – is a great illustration of strategy and subterfuge. According to the legend, the Trojan War ended in a stalemate because Greece was unable to devise a strategy to circumvent the city walls of Troy. The 10-year battle ended and the Greek army made what looked to be a retreat to their homeland. The Trojan army investigated and found the beach abandoned. The Greek armada was gone and a large wooden horse was all that remained on the desolate shore. The Trojans believed the Greeks had left the horse as a peace offering. They gleefully accepted the offering and pulled the horse from the beach, past their impenetrable city gates, into the city square, and began to celebrate their victory over the Greeks. However, a little due diligence by the Trojans would have been prudent. Perhaps they would have found the Greek strike force tucked quietly inside the horse. The Greeks seized their opportunity late that night when they snuck quietly out of the horse and opened the city gates so the balance of their army could enter unencumbered. The Greeks proceeded to sack the city. The story gave birth to the expression “Beware a Greek bearing gifts.” The business development strategy for your company, if executed properly, will work in a similar way. For example, a typical salesperson may have their access to a decision maker within a dream prospect’s company — like Sarah Jones in our example — blocked by a “gatekeeper.” Any sort of sales opportunity is thwarted and the salesperson may be forced to move on to her next prospect. However, what if you happen to be the host of a top-rated podcast — or a YouTube channel — or a popular blog with a lot of subscribers — and you are getting in touch with Sarah Jones — one of your Dream Prospects — because you would like to interview her about her journey, her secrets to success, and the wisdom she could share with others in her industry or the broader business community? Well now, you just changed the entire game, didn’t you? Your podcast — video interview — or article for your blog — just increased the probability of a one-on-one, private, 60-minute conversation with your ideal prospect. But how did your podcast give you this “All Access Pass?” Your podcast changed the game because you are no longer perceived as a business owner looking for a new account. You are now perceived as a journalist and your show is a media channel – a conduit – to an audience the guests on your show want to reach and influence. It’s as simple as letting the decision maker at your dream prospect wheel the horse past the company’s gatekeeper – and park it right in the center of the C-suite. You now have an opportunity to dazzle your dream prospect with your brilliance and intimate industry and company knowledge during the interview. Your podcast has done its job. Now it’s time for you to do yours. Sell to Sarah! And your sales strategy should be a blend of traditional sales tactics like scheduling appointments, making presentations, providing proposals, evaluating your sales team’s workflow in your CRM, and so forth — AND — employing some digital marketing tools, too. So after your interviews with your Dream prospects, you share the insights and wisdom collected from your guests through research guides, eBooks, webinars, and tag your guests in social media so they can feel the love — and — the appreciation you have for their contribution to your community. My Predictive ROI team and I call this process creating “Cornerstone Content” and it plays a vital role in the long term success of your Trojan Horse of Sales strategy. So whether you are comfortable writing articles, recording audio, or being in front of a camera — you should…without a doubt…interview each of your Dream 50 prospects with the result outcome being “Cornerstone Content” that you can share to build your platform — AND — relationships you can build, nurture, and cultivate over time so your Dream 50 prospects truly KNOW you…they truly LIKE you…and most importantly…they TRUST you. And all the while…you are also sharing your message publicly through your platform…and then an interesting thing begins to happen. You — yes, YOU as the business owner become known — you begin receiving invitations to be a guest on podcasts, you get quoted in the media, perhaps an agent or publisher approaches you to write a book, you are asked to speak at an industry conference, and on and on. All of this content forms the foundation of your thought leadership — and it is thought leadership — true thought leadership in today’s world of biz dev that separates the progressive market leading companies from the wannabes. In a future solocast — I will share some specific strategies and recipes you can use to create cornerstone content as well as how you can plug it into your Trojan Horse of Sales strategy. But for today…I want you see how the sales process in your business likely needs to change — and how if you put a Trojan Horse of Sales out in front of your business — and get clarity around your Dream 50 prospects — how you will improve your entire sales pipeline from end to end. I wanted to get you thinking about that. To take that thought process even further…I am going to share a story of how the strategy of the Trojan Horse of Sales changed every aspect of biz dev for my core business, Predictive ROI — and in the process — took us to a completely different level. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the middle of May 2015. I was sitting at my dining room table looking out the front window at my daughter and her friends having fun at our neighborhood playground. All was well outside – but not inside. I was under a great deal of stress. We had a just lost a major client. And although every business experiences this pain from time to time, what made this particular loss so painful was that we were overstaffed. The loss in revenue made our reality even more excruciating. I had purchased the domain name OnwardNation.com about 12 months earlier but had no idea why. No strategy; I just felt compelled to make the purchase. Funny how God whispers the seeds of inspiration into your ear sometimes and then just lets them sit until He is ready for them to germinate into some remarkable. That Sunday must have been germination day. As I sat there at my dining room table, I remembered the OnwardNation.com purchase and made the decision that we would create and launch a daily podcast using that name. Next, I crafted an enthusiastic, optimistic email explaining that Onward Nation was the solution we’d been seeking to turn Predictive ROI lead gen and sales activity around (mind you, I had zero strategy, only unbridled optimism). In the email I set an aggressive launch date of June 15th. I closed the lid to my Mac Book, and somehow felt good about the decision (or chaos) that I had just initiated. Why chaos, you ask? Well, I should probably share that the decision to create and launch a podcast in 30 days was made in complete and utter ignorance. I knew nothing about creating or launching a podcast. Sure, I had been a guest on a couple of podcasts such as EOFire with John Lee Dumas and ReLaunch with Joel Boggess. So I knew how to put on a headset and open Skype, which comprised my entire body of knowledge in the podcast world up to that point. Now let’s fast forward to launch day, Monday, June 15th. Remarkably, we launched on schedule and the first day of Onward Nation ran smoothly. We aired three episodes on launch day: Episode 1 with Scott McKain, Episode 2 with 10-time New York Times best selling author Don Yaeger, and Episode 3 with real estate mogul Stacey Alcorn. All three guests are rock stars and Onward Nation was off and running. Several weeks later, I attended my Agency Management Institute mastermind group. By then, Onward Nation had aired 47 episodes, daily downloads were steadily increasing, and we had scored top rankings in iTunes. I was feeling proud about our accomplishments. We had gone from zero to 60 in about 3.5 seconds. Not bad. But we were missing a vital outcome: Revenue! My mastermind group – all exceptional agency owners from across the country – asked me how I was going to make money from Onward Nation. Excellent question, but I had no idea of the answer. “I don’t know,” I said. “But we will figure it out.” Then providence set in. Two of our Onward Nation guests got in touch with me and asked, “Hey, could you do that for me?” “Do what for you?” I asked. “Build me a podcast!” they said. Like any enthusiastic entrepreneur in need of revenue, I said…achem…“Yes, we can!” So my team and I stripped out the branding and content from the Onward Nation system and replaced everything with our client’s branding, episodes, content – and voila! We launched two more podcasts and earned $26,000 for our effort. Rock solid awesome! Now, a smart businessperson would have said, “Hey, we might be onto something here. This could be worth pursuing.” But I didn’t say that. Instead, I returned to thinking about how we were overstaffed and needed to grow revenue. Ironic, isn’t it? I often say that if God wants me to get the message, He needs to take out a billboard or hit me over the head with the brick. Subtlety is lost on me. In late October, one of those clients (Drew McLellan, host of the Build a Better Agency podcast) said to me, “The podcast you built for me is awesome. And Onward Nation is awesome. Why in the world are you not building more of these?” In my brilliance, I said, “For who?” Drew rolled is eyes and said, “There have to be more Onward Nation guests who would love to have a podcast of their own!” He took the lesson he was teaching me deeper, adding, “Look, here’s what you do. You create a Silver, Gold, and Platinum Elite package…you charge this much, this much, and this much, and get out there and sell them to guests.” Brilliant! My team and I immediately got to work creating the packages Drew had recommended. And then providence struck a second time. On November 17, 2015 — I interviewed Wendy Keller, literary agent extraordinaire, for Episode 106 of Onward Nation. The conversation started out lovely – just what I had envisioned. Then, suddenly, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach and the air knocked right out of me. Wendy told her emotional and devastating story about the tragic car accident that she and her husband, along with their two children were in while on vacation in Europe. Her children were killed, she was critically injured, and her life was changed in an instant. My legs felt weak. In shock, I didn’t know what to say. Wendy had to be the strongest person I’d ever met. After continuing for a few minutes, she paused and gave me a moment to catch my breath. Then we continued the interview. I was captivated by Wendy’s courage, her commitment, and her resolve. What could stop this woman? When we finished the interview she turned the tables on me, asking about Onward Nation. Why was I doing it? What was the end game? I told her I was planning to write a book that distilled all the wisdom collected during the episodes of the podcast. I could practically feel her smile on the other end of our Skype connection. And then she asked me a life-altering question: “Hmm… Why don’t you write a book about how business owners can use podcasting to grow revenue and their business? That’s where the real opportunity is for a book.” Bam. Providence! Quick side note…Wendy is the one who gave me the idea and push to write Profitable Podcasting…which we released a few short weeks ago…and it became a #1 New Release on Amazon.com in just 18 hours and is currently rolling out to retail stores. So…back to the story…following the interview with Wendy, my Predictive ROI team made it a vital priority to accelerate the sales of our newly minted Silver, Gold, and Platinum Elite packages. We were on a mission to create a bone fide monetization strategy. Our goal was to grow revenue, and at the same time, create a compelling proof of concept for the system that would eventually become this book. We grew podcast-related revenue to $223,000 between November 17 and December 31, 2015 and built a sales pipeline of $380,000 during Q1 2016. We scaled our production and sales teams and created step-by-step documentation of our system. And now we predict $2 million in podcast-related revenue during the next 12 months. We accomplished this thanks in part to several amazing mentors who stepped into our path. We listened to them, and we did exactly what they recommended — and — we put the Trojan Horse of Sales to work and built a complete business development system around the entire process. But your story of growing your business, expanding your platform, and building a nation of true fans can be just as amazing if you put the right sales strategy to work for you. So in my next solocast…I will take this lesson deeper with more of the “How to” — but for now — I encourage you to take some time to consider the “Why” and how the game would change for you and your business if you were open to the possibilities of what the next level of biz dev may hold. In the coming weeks, I will share our full blueprints or “recipes” for success with you. I will share each and every step we took along the way in complete transparency. Not a single step will be hidden from you. It will all be here, in plain sight. So before we go…before we close out and I say goodbye…I just wanted to say thank you again. Thank you for listening…thank you for making Onward Nation what you listen to and study. Thank you for making Onward Nation part of your daily routine — please know — I am grateful for your time and I encourage you to drop me a line at stephen@onwardnation.com if you ever have any questions, concerns, or feedback on how we can get better. Let me know what you think of the show — thumbs up or thumbs down. I want to know because that is the only way we can get better. Until tomorrow — onward with gusto!

In this episode, I get to sit down with Stacey Alcorn — author, blogger, entrepreneur, startup expert, keynote speaker, and owner of the 4th largest real estate firm in Massachusetts, LAER Realty. Tune in to find out how she interviewed her way to the top! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Mortgage Lending Mastery Community today: jenduplessis.com Become a MLM Gold Member! MLM Membership

In this episode, I get to sit down with Stacey Alcorn — author, blogger, entrepreneur, startup expert, keynote speaker, and owner of the 4th largest real estate firm in Massachusetts, LAER Realty. Tune in to find out how she interviewed her way to the top!   Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How […]

Learn the secrets to achieving 87% lead conversion and infiltrating new market segments in today's interview with Stacey Alcorn, owner of LAER Realty Partners. Stacey built a hugely successful independent real estate company in a relatively short period of time, something she attributes to her unique SOI-building method. She shares this method (it's unlike anything you've heard of before) with Pat, and she discusses why her company attracts and keeps so many up-and-coming agents. Don't miss out on another exciting, informative Pat Hiban podcast interview packed full of valuable profit-building nuggets! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning Onward Nation…I’m Stephen Woessner and welcome to this week’s solocast…Episode 405. Today I am going to share a lesson about why — and how — you need to “go long” with your Dream 50 — each and every week. But first…I hope 2017 has started off with so much momentum for you that you’re scrambling to hang on to all of the opportunity by your fingernails — and that you are being forcefully pushed to scale your business — that your expertise is in such high-demand that you’re looking for any and all ways to expand what it is you’re offering to your customers — and that your view of your most profitable customers is getting clearer and clearer — giving you the opportunity to serve the customers who value you and your team the most — and in the process — you’re delivering your best work to the customers who appreciate most what you are delivering — and as a result — you are creating very happy customers! If that sounds like you — you are likely building a predictable, scalable, repeatable — and — profitable business. Again, that’s my hope for you in 2017. But — if this is not what is currently happening in your business — and instead you find yourself prospecting and working hard to turn over every stone you can — looking for new sources of revenue — or you’re being forced to work with customers you would rather not take on — you and your team are stressed trying to meet unrealistic demands of clients who abuse your team with insane deadlines and critical feedback — or maybe your prospective clients are sitting on the fence while taunting you with threats that they are continuing to evaluate all you and your competitors. Does any of that sound familiar? Then this week’s solocast is for you, Onward Nation. Of course…we have all been there. Some of us multiple times — being a business owner for any period of time means you have likely experienced the Entrepreneur Roller Coaster — great book by Darren Hardy by the way if you haven’t already read it. We have all experienced the highs and the lows — and sometimes — it can feel like we will never break free from the lows — and that the highs are way too short-lived. If you are feeling like you’re operating your business at the mercy of the market — it is a symptom of two chronic problems. Problem #1: that you have not precisely defined your client avatar. But that is easy to fix. Just go back to Episode 396 and get my complete blueprint for creating your client avatar — the questions you need to ask — the full process — it is there in complete transparency. Again, that’s Episode 396 — just a couple of weeks ago. Problem #2: you haven’t defined your Dream 50 clients — the people who you most want to serve. Your Dream 50 are of course in-line with your avatar — but these 50 prospects — they represent the best of the best. The highest level — the clients you would most like to serve — your ultimate dream clients. Do you have a Dream 50 list prepared, Onward Nation? If not…you need to. Like immediately. In fact, I have our Predictive ROI Dream 50 list hanging on the wall right next to my desk in my office — I can turn to see the list at any point throughout the day — it is a constant reminder. I think about the list — strategize about the list — every day. You need to do the same with your own Dream 50. Please go to back to Episode 308 for deeper insights into the Dream 50 process — it’s a lesson I learned from Darren Hardy. He told me, “Stephen…you need to create your Dream 50 list — and then — you need to develop a strategy for how you are going to show them the love — consistently — so they know that doing business with you would be one of the best decisions they could make.” And one of the best ways to show your Dream 50 the love is to go long — or share valuable long form content — each and every week. As Jay Baer, our outstanding guest in Episode 305 encouraged us… “You need to give away your best content — your secret sauce — for free.” In full transparency, Onward Nation — give it all away. Every step — every detail — each and every piece. So that if they wanted to — they could steal it all from you and do it themselves. I love that. And if you have been listening to this show for a while — you already know that I am firm believer in that philosophy. I give away the strategies my Predictive ROI team applies for our clients every day — I give those to you for free — in full transparency. Let’s look at this solocast so far…I just referred back to the Client Avatar workshop you can find in Episode 396 — at Predictive — we charge clients for that work. But I am giving it to you. Why? Because I hope it serves you — I want you to steal it — I want you to take it — I want you to apply it — I want you to grow your business as a result of applying it. That is my hope for you. And someday — when you are looking for a content marketing and lead gen agency to help you scale your business to that next level — my hope is you will remember my team at Predictive ROI and we will get a call from you. But until that day comes — you’re going to get it all for free in order to help you move onward to that next level. And you need to do the same — in long form — with your Dream 50 — each and every week. Just like I am doing with you right now. Whether you have your own podcast — or maybe you love video and you want to have a remarkable YouTube channel — or you love to write so your blog is going to be the next must-read on the Internet — it doesn’t matter what medium or social media platform you choose — just choose one and begin going long. So, let’s dig deeper in what I mean by going long — or long form. And yes, there is a time and place for short posts — Facebook Live videos — Instagram stories — short content is awesome. And in today’s attention starved society — short can be great. Let’s take something else from Jay Baer and call these short pieces of content…little info snacks. But, no amount of info snacks replaces the meal that long form content provides your audience. It is only through long form that you can share the true depth of your expertise and short info snacks cannot possibly match it. It is through long form that you can really open yourself up to your Dream 50 — show them who you are — where you come from — what you believe — your values — and where you draw inspiration from. Why is this important to your Dream 50? Because as John Jantsch explains in his brilliant book “Ducktape Marketing”…the conversion or decision-making path is all about someone getting to know you — then liking you — then trusting you — then trying you out — then buying from you — then repeating the purchase — and then becoming your brand ambassador by telling the world. So using long form content to help your Dream 50 move along this decision-making path — at their own speed and pace — is one of the best sales and marketing strategies you can implement for your business. Here, let me make this a bit more concrete with a new business development example. Last week…during one of my biz dev calls with a prospective client for Predictive ROI — I was amazed at the immediate rapport we felt at the beginning of our call. It was electric — as if she already knew me — like we were long lost friends — and not that this was our first phone call. During our conversation, I mentioned my family in passing and she jumped on it — and proceeded to tell me how she knew just how important family is to me — how I learned my entrepreneurial lessons from my grandfather and so on. And then she cited several Onward Nation episodes as the source for where she learned all about me. I was blown away and it felt awesome. Impact, Onward Nation. Or, last Friday…on another biz dev call…our prospective client shared with me that he had checked me out — had done his homework — and felt confident he knew me as a person because of the podcast and the quality of people I spend time with — the incredible guests on our show. Rock solid awesome — always great to hear. And earlier today — we received word that the prospective client had agreed to join forces with Predictive ROI so our team will now be in the trenches with their team to launch an incredible podcast so they can share the same long form love with their own Dream 50. Going long with your Dream also helps you build your platform — your profile as a business person — as an expert — as the go-to-person in your industry. Yesterday, at the end of an interview with a guest, he called me the world’s leading authority on business-to-business podcasting. I thanked him for the amazing compliment, then quickly disagreed with him, but it felt awesome to hear something like that. So why did he say something like that to me? Because the Onward Nation podcast has increased my personal brand equity to the point he felt it was an accurate assessment. And because of the show — I get to hang out on a daily basis with some of the top business owners in the country and around the world. Last week, I interviewed Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank and the inventor of the infomercial. Amazing conversation — and when I have let people know about the time I spent with Kevin — I get an eyebrow raise and a high five. Why? Because there is a small transference of Kevin’s credibility over to me — and that helps my personal brand. By the way — we air Kevin’s episode one week from today — and he is off the charts amazing. But here’s a little secret…you can do the same thing. There is nothing unique and special about what we are doing — the only difference between me and the other 98% of business owners is that I stand up and ask — I make the ask to our guests — and then have the guts to do a great interview. That’s it, Onward Nation. You can do the exact same thing. To prove the point…I urge you to go back to Episode 3 and listen to Stacey Alcorn share her story of how 5-years ago she had zero social circles — she didn’t know any movers and shakers but she did have a desire. So she started a blog — ever so slowly — and now — several years later — she is doing wine tasting on a Thursday afternoon with Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank while they were both in Boston. What??? The difference between Stacey and other real estate brokers in her marketplace — is that Stacey decided to go long — to create a blog — to create excellent long-form content — and then to use it to share the love with her Dream 50 — and — as the ultimate business card to get in front of the key influencers she wanted to meet. Oh, and Stacey just shared some photos of her recent adventure hanging out with Sir Richard Branson on his private island — yes, his private island. Stacey started with nothing — but — she decided she could be more and has used long form content as her strategy to get it. Here are some other thoughts to consider on the topic of long form. By building your personal platform through long-form content, you will also help your core business grow organically. The most content you create — the more expertise you share — the more you give away — the more you stay in the consciousness of your Dream 50 — the more likely your core business will grow as a result. Predictive ROI — my core business — has grown as a result of Onward Nation — and the core businesses of all our clients — have grown as a result of their podcasts and their weekly long-form content, too. In fact, I was catching up with one of our Predictive clients earlier today and he told me that his podcast has already generated $50,000 in new business to his company. $50,000, Onward Nation! As a result of the success of Onward Nation, we are now producing 20 podcasts for the business owners of other professional service firms. These owners saw what we were doing — the synergy between Onward Nation and our core business of Predictive ROI — and wanted to learn more. When they did — they wanted us to help them apply the same long form content strategy into their business — and now they are growing as a result of the love they are sharing consistently with their Dream 50 and giving away their best content for free. But you must be willing to go long. Going long gives you an opportunity to get real and authentic with your audience — to really let them in — just like I let you in, Onward Nation. There have been times when I am with a guest, and the stories are so emotional, that I tear up…or I get goosebumps, and I share with you how I am feeling — and sure that may be too much for some of you…but that is me. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve — and generally my view of the world is AWESOME — but the reality is that not everything is rock solid awesome 100 percent of the time…and I think it is okay to let your audience see that…so they know you are human. Your platform also creates a conduit of trust between you and your Dream 50. I share stories about my family — how my grandparents immigrated here from Greece and Turkey — how they struggled as entrepreneurs through the Great Depression — how they gritted it out — and how we as kids learned those same lessons — and how my entrepreneurial DNA was sharpened — oddly — to razor’s edge while I worked on nuclear missiles while in the Air Force. I have shared some of biggest failures — moments that have made me want to run and hide — and yet — I have shared them with you. Why? Because you cannot hide behind the curtain, Onward Nation if you are truly trying to build trust and authenticity with your audience. We cannot love someone in slices…so yes…I have failed…many times…I have made mistakes that have cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars…and each time it happened…I wanted to puke in the nearest trash can. And now I share those stories with you so you can hopefully avoid the same mistakes — and along the way — realize that I have been in that trench, too. And someday, if we are sitting across the dinner table together — you will have all of that context and that creates rapport like nothing else can, Onward Nation. So — please take today’s message — think about what I said — and decide to go long with your Dream 50 at least once a week. Launch a podcast, create a YouTube channel, dominate Medium, be the next Insta king or queen, find the platform that syncs up with your skill set the best — and do it. Don’t wait. Do it. And yes, your content might not win any awards or even recognition at first. But that is part of the process. Want a litmus test? Go and watch Episode 1 of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV. It’s not good — the lighting is bad — the structure is bad — and he is experimenting — and that is what makes it absolutely priceless. He could have never gotten to Episode 1,000 if he had never started at number 1. And that is why I love #1, way more than Episode 1,000 — I respect Gary’s journey, his hard work, and the grit it took to get to 1,000 — and the courage it took to launch # 1. And then recognize you don’t — and maybe you shouldn’t do this — on your own. You will need a support team around you. And I don’t mean you need to hire an agency to do this for you. Instead, recruit several unpaid interns to help you with audio, or design, or content…but begin building out your team…so you can focus on content and taking great care of your Dream 50. Get started, Onward Nation. Go long with your Dream 50 and it will be a game changer for your business in 2017. So with that…I want to say thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in. I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners. And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. Hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn — or stop by our Predictive ROI Facebook page — and let us know what you think of the show — thumbs up or thumbs down. Either way — we want to know. Your feedback will help us get better. And remember…you can always email me at stephen@onwardnation.com and I reply to every single message. So please let us know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you. We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Wes Pinkston — likely one of the most thought-provoking, profound, and counterintuitive conversations we have ever had her at Onward Nation. You will not want to miss Wes’s lesson of how to avoid complexification. Until then, onward with gusto!

Stacey Alcorn Part 2 - 9.3.15 by Bob and Stacey

Stacey Alcorn Part 1 10.10.2015 by Bob and Stacey

Owner of one of the largest Real Estate Companies in New England- Closing over 3000 transactions a year. Stacey has interviewed more than 250 celebrities, athletes, CEOs "If your dreams do not scare you they are not big enough."  Stacey STEPS To Success         •    Have a vision board     •    Create massive goals so even if you fall short you are far     •    Time block     •    Read Daily     •    Affirmations     •    Manifestations Sponsored by:  http://directmortgageloans.com   888.604.2525 "We all have the power to manifest whatever we want." Stacy Alcorn   About Stacey Alcorn: Entrepreneur, Author, Business Owner, Attorney, Blogger, and Mom….Stacey Alcorn’s keynotes, blogs, and radio show continue to offer a compelling message about defining and achieving your dreams. Her message is one of building upon everyday small successes as a catalyst to reaching greater accomplishments. To bolster triumphs even further, she shares a message of tuning out naysayers, focusing on constructive energy, and every individual’s fundamental ability to mentor others to greatness. Stacey blogs regularly on her own site http://StaceyAlcorn.com and writes regularly for The Huffington Post. She also hosts The Road Map to Wealth Radio show across the country on WBZ once a month on Saturday nights.

Entrepreneur, Author, Business Owner, Attorney, Blogger, and Mom….Stacey Alcorn’s keynotes, blogs, and radio show continue to offer a compelling message aboutdefining and achieving your dreams. Her message is one of building upon everyday small successes as a catalyst to reaching greater accomplishments. To bolster triumphs even further, she shares a message of tuning out naysayers, focusing on constructive energy, and every individual’s fundamental ability to mentor others to greatness. Stacey blogs regularly on her own site www.StaceyAlcorn.com and writes regularly for The Huffington Post. She also hosts The Road Map to Wealth Radio show across the country on WBZ once a month on Saturday nights.

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. Good Morning, Onward Nation -- Stephen Woessner here. Before we dive in -- and if you’re listening to Onward Nation for the first time -- I will give a very brief personal intro to provide some context behind the voice. Hi -- I’m Stephen Woessner. I am the host of Onward Nation – but – when I am not interviewing today’s top business owners, I am the CEO of Predictive ROI -- a digital marketing agency -- and I don’t particularly like that label because Predictive does so much more than digital marketing. Yes, we do the traditional things like increasing site traffic, leads, and sales. But what makes us truly unique -- is our ability to predict a client’s increase in sales -- their actual financial return on investment in the form of dollars and cents -- and then guarantee that performance -- or our work is free. And because of that -- we find ourselves deep inside a client’s systems, inventory, sales team, and all sorts of business development processes. I love the problem solving work we do -- it oftentimes reminds me of my days of troubleshooting when I was a missile technician working inside nuclear missiles silos on the prairies of South Dakota while I was in the Air Force many years ago. I have been in digital marketing since the advent of the commercial Internet. I am the best selling author of two books in the area, I spent nearly 6 years at the University of Wisconsin – at the La Crosse campus, and I taught throughout the state include the UW-Madison School of Business, and my business building insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes, SUCCESS, The Washington Post and some other media. And I am currently working on my third book. Okay, let’s press on to solving big challenges in our business – big obstacles – those things that are really holding you back from jumping off the plateau you may be on right now – and leaping onward to that next level. That’s what we are going to focus on during this episode. First, we all know that building and scaling a business is hard work. But when you have the right strategy – that right “recipe for success” to follow – the action steps become more like “ingredients” and can be added systematically into your business – one ingredient at a time. And every day at Onward Nation, I have the incredible opportunity to interview today’s top business owners and ask them to share their specific recipes for success – and to break those strategies down into tactical step-by-step processes and systems. I distilled all of those ideas, strategies, steps down into actionable “recipes” you can take and apply into your business right away. If you are not familiar with my recipe and ingredient thought process -- you may be thinking you just walked into a baking podcast by mistake. Close -- but not quite. Let me explain the recipe metaphor this way. Say I make the world’s best chocolate cake. And I grew up working in my mom’s bakery – so my chocolate cake is actually pretty good. And say you come up to me and say, hey Stephen -- I cannot bake anything, in fact, boiling what is hard for me -- but -- I love your chocolate cake. Could you teach me how to bake your cake so that it turns out just like yours? How could that even be possible? I’ve been perfecting my chocolate cake for the last 30 years -- and you have zero baking skills. How could you possibly think that you could duplicate my results? To even have a shot at it – is there something I could give you – some edge – some insider’s knowledge? Of course -- I need to give you my recipe. The recipe will act as your “strategy” behind the cake. Right? With the recipe -- you can see the entire process -- the flow -- the visualization of the goal -- how you need to setup the environment, i.e. your kitchen -- all the steps -- all the tools you will need. But the recipe is just one piece -- what else do you need? Right! The ingredients. You need to know the specific amounts and specific qualities of the ingredients, right? And then there is one more thing -- you have the recipe -- you have the ingredients -- but -- you must also follow the syntax. And syntax is a fancy word that simply means the order of the process. So think about a recipe you have followed in the past -- we have all done this -- we mix the eggs together with the flour before we put in the oil and now we have goo. Not awesome. So the syntax -- or the order in which we execute the strategy really matters. So I’m going to share some incredible business building recipes with you -- but I’m going to share the ingredients -- and I’m going to give you the syntax or the process for all the steps. Hopefully that makes sense. And as Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Now, maybe you are hearing Jim’s pearls of wisdom in this quote for the first time. I was having lunch with some friends the other day and I shared that quote and I could tell they were a bit shocked by it – so I took another minute to explain. I shared several scenarios to illustrate the powerful lesson Jim taught us in that quote -- and I will share the same with you. Say you’re walking down a hallway with your one of your top clients -- and your client has a faster pace than you. What do you do? Do you walk your normal pace or do you speed up? Does your client slow down? Likely not. Our natural instinct is to speed up – to keep pace. So let’s consider a different scenario. Let’s say this time you are walking with a group of four other people through the mall and they are all walking slow -- like dreadfully slow -- painfully slow. What do you do? You may start to think of some creative ways to speed them up -- but they don’t speed up -- in fact -- they may even slow down further -- but how is this possible? And if you try to speed up -- you simply get out in front of them and create stress for yourself and for the group. Here’s the reality: you will not de-stress until you are free from the slow group and find a group that wants to move at your same – faster speed – or potentially even faster than you so you are challenged to grow and speed up to keep up. Because if you don’t -- eventually you will slow your pace to conform to the group – because you don’t want to be rude -- so you slow down. This episode will move at a pace and tempo that is uncommon -- we are going to move at the pace of today’s top business owners. And if you listen to Onward Nation on a consistent basis – today’s top business owners are the people you are spending time with – and that is awesome. So here is the first lesson I want to share with you -- if you want to move your business onward to that next level -- then you need to spend time with business owners and mentors who are ALREADY at that next level – AND — they move at a pace and tempo faster than you. And when you join that group – or have that person as your mentor – you will grow. Hope that makes sense – and I have prepared a very detailed recipe on mentorship for you during today’s discussion. More on that in a few minutes. So make it a commitment – to find other business owners who are already at that next level – and spend time with them – learn from them – and you will naturally speed up to keep pace and as a result you will be moving toward the next level yourself. So here’s what I am going to cover during today’s episode – let’s call it an agenda of sorts – as Kim Garst said to me during our interview – “you gotta have a checklist, Stephen.” First, I will show you how to spot the two biggest obstacles currently preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level Second, I will show you how to attract the right mentors to help you overcome the obstacles and accelerate your results Third, I will show you how to implement and master a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence So let’s dive in. What if I told you that the two biggest challenges preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level have nothing to do with the business climate, the economy, the skill level of your employees, the location of your business, your pricing strategy, your current customer base, the size of your marketing budget, the quality of your products, your distribution channels, or the myriad of other reasons we are given today by the media and government as to why businesses fail at such a staggering rate in this country. What if the obstacles in your way had nothing to do with any of that? And in instead, what was blocking you -- the obstacles keeping your business in check -- are the same obstacles that have always attempted to keep you in check throughout your entire life. Your enemy is not the myriad of reasons I just listed off -- instead -- your first challenge -- or better yet -- your first enemy is the Fear of Poverty. Many of you have read – but possibly not in a while – this incredible book, "Think and Grow Rich" published in 1937 by Napoleon Hill. If you have listened to Onward Nation episodes – and my guess is you have or you would not be here this evening – our guests often reference "Think & Grow Rich" because it is a compendium of knowledge. The book was made possible by Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie at the time was the wealthiest man in the world, met Napoleon Hill, liked him and offered to commission him to open the doors to the greatest industrialists of the time. That was 1908. And he said, “I’ll open the doors if you’ll sit down with these top business owners and figure out their secrets to success. What they do, they’re methods, they’re mindsets that have caused their extraordinary success and you put it into a book and publish it and make it available to the world.” So, Napoleon sat down with Henry Ford, Edison, Schwab, Wrigley, and both Rockefellers. Imagine being able to spend time with those business owners and pull out their best ideas for success and achievement. If you have read, studied, and applied the book -- you understand the great knowledge in this book and are already ahead of 98% of your competition. But often times -- this book is an easy to forget treasure because it was written in 1937 – but the strategies in this book are still just as applicable today. If you have not yet read, studied, and applied the book – then consider this a million dollar resource you have just been given. You can go to OnwardNation.com/book and get the Audible version of "Think and Grow Rich" for free -- that’s OnwardNation.com/book. The Fear of Poverty is one of the 6 basic fears but it is also the most pervasive, destructive, and confusing to understand. But why? On the surface, it seems as though this fear would revolve around the fear of becoming poor – and there definitely is that component. But, the way this particular fear manifests itself is what makes it easy to spot. We become so fearful of poverty -- that we freeze and are plagued with indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. Just when you ought to take action -- you don’t. When sales are declining -- you ought to make more sales calls -- but you don’t -- you freeze because the fear of poverty has you paralyzed. Just when you should be investing in that new expansion – that new marketing strategy – that new development – hiring new employees – you don’t. You become overly cautious. Or -- you disguise your caution by saying you’re “skeptical”. And by the way — that is code for “I am afraid.” You become so fearful of hitting the wall – that all you do is focus on the wall. And then what happens? Exactly -- you end up hitting the wall. To be clear -- I am not suggesting that you throw caution to the wind and become financially irresponsible and then lose your business as a result of mismanagement. That would be silly. But I am trying to bring into focus that our Fear of Poverty can be one of the major obstacles that hold us back from the abundance at that next level. And it doesn’t matter who you are – we have all felt it before – especially when trying to pursue something new – that next level. Remember, if you focus on the wall -- you will hit the wall. But if you focus on the infield – you may still eventually hit the wall -- but your opportunity likely increases by a factor of 10 IF you steer your business where you want it to go instead of letting yourself and your business become paralyzed by indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. So if the Fear of Poverty is the first challenge – what is the second one keeping you from moving your business forward? It is the Fear of Criticism and is also one of the 6 basic fears -- and it too is easy to spot. This fear what prevents you from making that sales call to that prospective client everyone in town wants because you hear that voice inside your head that says, “Oh come on -- who do you think you’re kidding calling them? You have nothing to offer. They only work with big companies. You’re too small.” You hear -- “You’re not good enough -- you don’t have the skills, you will never make it -- why bother trying -- there are others who are more gifted, talented, they already have all the connections -- what could you possibly offer that would be unique and different -- just try something that is more at your current level – call on someone smaller – don’t call the president or owner – call someone who reports to them – that would be easier.” “Why can’t you just be normal?” The fear of criticism can be overcome with grit -- with tenacity -- with perseverance -- with the shouting into the abyss -- I will not be defeated. You saying -- "I will WIN THE DAY". And when you do that – and I believe when you’re moving in the direction of God’s plan for your life – there is nothing that can stop you. Now that we have identified the 2 biggest obstacles holding you back – which really aren’t obstacles at all are they – they all are in your mind – now let’s work through our first of several recipes during this solocast. Recipe #1 focuses on mentorship. If you have listened to our Onward Nation episodes, you already know that I ask every single guest to share the most influential lesson they ever learned from one of their mentors that helped them become the business owner they are today. And wow -- our guests have shared some outstanding lessons. So for this solocast, I am going to share a very specific recipe for attracting and finding the right mentor because Onward Nation listeners have asked me exactly that – as well as to help them understand what would be expected of them as a mentee? But first – let’s make this more specific. Why find a mentor? And yes, there is a specific recipe you can use to find a mentor and I am going to share that with you. Before I share the step-by-step ingredients to this powerful recipe -- I will share something I have not shared during Onward Nation episodes -- two of the most influential lessons I ever learned from one of my mentors -- Darren Hardy, former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. For 12-months, Darren was a member of our board of advisors at Predictive ROI. So we would get together either in-person or over the phone. And during one of our monthly calls, I explained to Darren some of my reservations about building a big business. I wasn’t sure how big I wanted Predictive ROI to become. And so I was nervous about it. And I said, “Gosh, Darren – you know – I’ve never thought of myself as being a great manager of people. And quite frankly, honestly Darren, I kind of suck at it.” And then Darren said to me, “Stephen -- stop SUCKING at it!” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said -- "Don’t give me that lie or tell me that myth that you are telling yourself. Don’t use that as a fricken excuse to stop moving forward. Stop telling yourself that limiting belief and that lie that you’re not a good manager or leader. Be better at it. Don’t give me the excuse." And so I’m standing there almost like fricken naked – totally stripped down – I was like, holy crap, he totally called me on it. That’s embarrassing – because he was right! And that’s what a good mentor does for you – they call you out when you need to be called out – they support you when you need to be supported and they teach you when you need to be taught. But they don’t do the hard work for you – that’s on you. So here are the specific ingredients for finding the right mentor for you: Think about your own talents and skills you would like to strengthen — weaknesses you would like to lessen — areas of your business you would like to improve, etc. Then make a precise list that details everything you just thought about. This process helps you identify the person you need to become in order to move your business onward to the next level This is a really hard exercise because you have to force yourself to take a critical look at yourself (and by the way — most people are not willing to get really honest with themselves — and that is one of the major reasons they never grow) Once you have the list — look for people who are crushing it in these areas — the same areas where you need to grow. Then contact those people — invite them to lunch — let them know you are packed full of questions for them Be very prepared — they will love that Interview them and put what they share with you into practice — turn it into a blog post and your clients will love you for it Loop back to your mentors and share your success When you do, they will invite you to sit down so they can share more with you. Soak it all up — then put it into practice. Remember -- a good mentee takes action on what is learned — and the responsibility is on you. Let’s go deeper by taking a look at three of our Onward Nation guests and how they are crushing it with mentorship. First, Don Yaeger – episode 2 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Don Yaeger and another professional speaker you could hire for an event? Don has mentored with the greatest champions of our time – including Coach John Wooden for over 12 years -- and Don distilled all of this knowledge into what he calls the 16 Characteristics of Greatness. Now, it would be easy to say – “Well sure, Stephen, Don can do that because he has all of the connections.” And true – Don can get anyone in the world of sports to take his call. In fact, I was staying with Don and his family for a week in Tallahassee and one morning, Don’s cell phone rang and Don said to me “It’s Bob Kraft” -- and I said, “Wait, what? You mean like Bob Kraft who owns the New England Patriots?” But don’t forget, Onward Nation -- even Don Yaeger had to start somewhere. So will you sit around and be fearful for another year – or – will you start getting mentored and move your business onward? Next, Stacey Alcorn -- episode 3 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Stacey Alcorn and another real estate professional? Stacey has mentored with some of the best and brightest minds in business and connected those relationships back into building her real estate empire. I will later share with you a billion dollar recipe right out of Stacey’s cookbook -- and I know we have several real estate professionals on the workshop right now -- Stacey’s firm had 324 closings in June. Bam! And lastly, Nancy Marshall – episode 19 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Nancy Marshall and another marketing or PR professional you could hire? Nancy realizes that she may be located in the state of Maine – but the market for Nancy Marshall Communications is worldwide -- which is why she has invested the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to write a book, develop a trademarked process in her agency called The Marshall Plan, and to invest in building a network through mentoring with the right people – and giving back – and now her network helps her company grow in the good times and become a safety net in the downturns – because the storm clouds will come no matter who you are or what kind of business you run. Here’s the reality -- you are the average of who you spend the most time with. So you need to spend your time with people you have a common future with – not a common past. Let me close out this first recipe by saying -- you can want to find a mentor – the recipe that I just shared with you could be worth millions of dollars in new sales to your company – but – it won’t be worth anything unless you DECIDE to take action. As Tony Robbins says, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken action – in fact – that you have taken massive action. And if there’s no action – then that is simply an indicator you haven’t really decided anything. Now that we have conquered and overcome the two main challenges standing in your way – and now that I have shared with you a very specific recipe with all of the step-by-step ingredients (in the proper syntax) so you can find your right mentor or mentors -- it is now time to really accelerate your results and move your business onward to the next level. The next recipe I am going to share with you could represent a billion – yes, with a “B” – billion dollar strategy for your business. I am going to share a recipe for mastering a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence – and – I will also share with you how you can then monetize these valuable relationships into mutually beneficial partnerships and revenue for your business. And yes, I know it may sound crass or inappropriate when I say monetize relationships – unfortunately, I can’t think of a better word – I think you get what I am driving at. But before we get to the recipe -- let me put typical “networking” into context. Most business owners go to an event with a large number of “prospects”. They pass out business cards. They chit-chat small talk with the same people they met their last month. The collect others business cards. More chit-chat small talk. They might even schedule some lunch meetings. Why do we do this? Here’s why. Because this is safe – it is easy – it does not make us face our fear of poverty or our fear of criticism. What would people think if I did that -- or went here -- or spent time with so and so -- they will all think I am too big for my britches. I am going to work hard here to shift your paradigm of what is possible. And that is why I love this quote from Archimedes. “Give me a prop strong enough, and a level long enough, and I can single-handedly move the world” This next recipe I am about to share with you will become your lever and prop. And it is big – this is literally a billion dollar recipe – and I am going to introduce you to the top business owner who is using it generate a billion dollars. She describes herself as a billionaire in the making. And I believe her. Let me introduce you again to Stacey Alcorn. Her episode is still on our leaderboard of top podcasts. During our interview, Stacey told me about the afternoon she had spent the week before with Kevin O’Leary, Mr. Wonderful from ABC’s Shark Tank – they spent the afternoon tasting wine and exchanging business mantras and best lessons. Stacey and Kevin had quite the masterminding session. There is always a strategy behind what Stacey does – and if you go back and re-listen to episode 3, Stacey maps out her entire business building strategy with precision. But we are going to focus on the billion-dollar recipe that Stacey has developed. Most people will not swing for the fences – but Stacey does. So here are the specific ingredients in Stacey’s recipe. Make list of influencers in your industry and / or your Dream 50 clients / prospects Connect via social media, email, or call Ask for 30-minutes so you can interview them on their path / keys to success Do your homework – prep excellent questions Be excellent during the interview Share what you and your company does at close of interview Invite / open the door for future opportunities Then share guest’s expertise on your blog, media outlets, your podcast, etc. – your platform Rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat Key point: if you interview the movers and shakers in your industry – they become your informal mentors -- and you become one of the movers and shakers in the industry as a result. If you want a BIGGER – more ROBUST – more INFLUENTIAL network – then YOU must become bigger -- your platform must become more robust -- and you must become more influential. Warning — ROAD BLOCKS!! Now, some of you listening to this recipe right now may be thinking – “Oh sure, Stephen -- Stacey has an email list of 65,000 people and has interviewed all of these celebrities and big-time business people – I don’t have those connections.” Or, maybe you’re thinking -- “My business just started -- I don’t have mindshare in the marketplace, I’m not a published author, I don’t have a platform, no one knows who I am, who will listen to me – what do I have or could I share that would be relevant for anyone to listen to, I don’t have a network – I wouldn’t even know how to start.” All of those excuses – all of those alibis – those are the Fear of Poverty and the Fear of Criticism working against you again. If you hear those voices in your head – if you are having thoughts that are even remotely similar to what I just mentioned – let that be your litmus test – you now know you are heading in the right direction. Push forward – don’t stop – don’t let your fear hold you back from breaking through to that next level. Remember, you are the average of the people you spend the most time with -- and look who Stacey is spending the most time with. She refers to herself as “A billionaire in the making.” And in order for that vision for her life to become a reality – she knows that she needs to spend as much time as possible with other billionaires. Well, I will let you in on a secret she told me during our interview – Stacey didn’t have those connections several years ago. But she DECIDED that was going to change and then she took action to make it happen. I hope that makes sense. Okay, Onward Nation – I hope this solocast was valuable to you. Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. Thumbs up or thumbs down? Please drop me a line and let me know. Onward with gusto! You can also find us here: ----- OnwardNation.com -----

Stacey is the Author of REACH! – Dream, Stretch, Achieve, Influence. This book is her blueprint on how to achieve any Big Hairy Audacious Goal, regardless of where you are right now. She is an avid blogger and writes regularly for The Huffington Post.

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.     Good Morning Onward Nation. This is Stephen Woessner. I am grateful you decided to be here this morning — to be here right now –– to share your most precious resource with me and Onward Nation –– your resource of time. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day and I consider it a sacred exchange of time and value — so I am delighted you and I can have this time together today. Let’s start off by considering some difficult questions — and then as I always try to do — I’ll leave you with some action steps that you can apply into your business to move onward to that next level. How do we become great? How do we achieve greatness in all we do? How do we realize our full potential — your dream for success? Les Brown said, “I don’t believe that any of us are giving dreams that we cannot accomplish. It is possible. You can have your dream as you run toward it.” So why can’t you be the best in your industry? Why? Why not you? You may have heard these words from Sylvester Stallone… “Let me tell you something you already know. The world is not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth — then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers and saying you ain’t where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and that ain’t you. You’re better than that.” Onward Nation…even some of the people who are closest to you — want you to fail. It isn’t because they are bad people. It’s because they love you and don’t want to lose you. But you can’t let their fears stop you. You have to decide that no matter what — no matter what you have to sacrifice in order to achieve greatness — you simply have to decide and finally agree with yourself that you are worthy to pursue your dream. That your dream — that deeply personal dream you are scared and afraid to be bold enough to chase with all of your gusto — that you are worthy to achieve that dream. That you will SHOW the world how great you are. Playing small does not serve your purpose — does not serve your WHY — and certainly does not serve God with all of the abundance of talents you were blessed with so you could build an extraordinary life for you, your family, and leave your impact on this world. If you are not making someone else’s life better — then you are wasting your time. Onward Nation…pain is temporary — it may last for a hour, day, a week, or even a year. But it will subside and be replaced by something else. But if you quit…your pain of regret will last forever. Instead, I encourage you to dig deep and pursue greatness like Bryan Arzani did. Bryan was my guest on episode 75 of Onward Nation. Bryan was broken…he was beat down by circumstances…by the fear of failure. He nearly went bankrupt twice. But he had the guts to keep moving forward. He said no to the fear and said “I WIN” and now he has. Because he decided greatness and success would be his fate. Or maybe you a listening to my voice right now and thinking to yourself…easy for you to say, Stephen…I just got served with this lawsuit from someone I trusted…a family member…or a business partner. How can I possibly go on? And if that is you…then do what Tim Fargo, my guest for episode 64, did. Tim shared the story of when he was at a Christmas party with friends and business associates and was served papers for a $10 million lawsuit — while he was at the party. Who was suing him? His former business partner — who also happened at the party! Did he quit? No. Why? Because Tim wanted to succeed as bad as he wanted to breathe. He dug deep — he fought — he won — and went on to great success when he sold his company. Oftentimes, one of the keys to success is being all-in on what you working so hard to accomplish. Eliminating any path of retreat. So Onward Nation, are you financially all-in with your business like Cody Foster? Cody was my guest during episode 80. Cody and his two co-founders at Advisors Excel invested everything they had 10 years ago to create the company. And it was not millions of dollars. It is was a modest amount while sitting at Cody’s kitchen table. Cody, Derrick, and David were all in ten years ago — and now they have built a company that will achieve over $5 billion this year. Or how about Carl Wright, my guest on episode 45 of Onward Nation. After the real estate market crashed…Carl was $14 million in debt. $14 million! He didn’t quit — instead — he took a few days to sit, think, and let the plan come to him. And then he decided he would make it happen. He would do it. And then he did it. He pursued it with all the energy he had — to make his vision a reality. You, Onward Nation, need to be the only person who you give permission to tell you what is so. And that is what Carl did, and now his company has built a real estate portfolio worth $100 million. All because Carl had the desire to be great and the will to win that pushed him forward. Carl was willing to pay the price and a little bit more. You have to do whatever it takes to get the job done. In the words of Art Williams… “Just do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, until the job gets done,” Onward Nation. The real challenge of greatness comes when you get knocked down and how you respond. Do you remember the story of Larry Winget, my guest in episode 98? He went to work, rich — and then by the time he left to go home that same day, he was poor and had lost everything. Not because of anything he did but because of circumstances outside his control in his industry. What did Larry do? Did he feel sorry for himself? Did he gather around a support group to listen to all of his misfortune and tell him it would be better someday? No. He developed a training program that contained four modules and then he started at the “A’s” in the phonebook selling the modules. Was it a glamorous way to make money? No. Was it effective? Yes. Why? Because no one else is willing to make that sacrifice — that same level of commitment. But that is what Larry did, and he won. Or how about David Mylrea, my guest on episode 35. At the beginning of his career, he was selling cars at a small town dealership in the heart of Wisconsin. When the gas crisis of the late 70s hit — and the country seemingly was no longer in the market for large gas guzzling cars, and the foot traffic at the dealership slowed –– did David quit? No. What did he do? He and his wife sat at their kitchen table…and typed letters to people right out of the phonebook…and mailed them. And what happened? People brought the letters into the dealership to see David and bought some cars. Why? Because no one had ever done that before. Onward Nation…it would have been easy for David, Larry, Carl, Bryan, and Tim to quit. But they didn’t. They allowed their pain to be part of their prize — to be part of their journey. They harnessed their will and challenged themselves to be successful. Just like Stacey Alcorn, my amazing guest for episode 3. When she had lost it all she could have given up and no one would have blamed her for quitting. But she didn’t. Instead she said yes to her dreams, she said yes to her unfolding future, instead of saying no. Now Stacey is a billionaire in the making and dominating the real estate industry in Massachusetts. Failure is the an ingredient to the recipe for success and greatness. Just listen to the stories of all the amazing and incredible business owners who have graced this show — the one thing the majority of them have in common is some sort of failure and sometimes a cataclysmic collapse — an epic failure of massive proportion. The loser is the one who fails and then quits. The loser and the winner have both failed. The difference is that the winner got back up again — got back into the ring — and pushed forward — learning from the past. While the loser sat there feeling sorry for himself or herself — making excuses why it didn’t work out, looking for a sympathetic ear, looking for a shoulder to cry on…anything to point to so that it didn’t have to be them who had failed. Fear kills dreams, Onward Nation. Fear kills hope. Fear puts people in the hospital. Fear can age you. Fear can hold you back from doing something that you know within yourself you are capable of doing but it will paralyze you. You are an incredible child of the most high God. You have every talent and skill already inside you that you need in order to be successful. It’s not easy. This road — this journey to success. But success leaves clues so let me share with you what I learned from Don Yaeger, one of my closest friends and most trusted mentors. Don created a list that he calls the 16 Characteristics of Greatness that he built after interview the most successful champions of our time. And then Don took the list deeper by creating the “Greatness Action List”. Step 1: I will not make excuses. Michael Jordan said, “A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.” Step 2: I will constantly evaluate my inner circle, surrounding myself with those headed someplace special. Step 3: I will set aside time each day to re-center myself. Step 4: I will encourage at least one person each day. Step 5: I will do the necessary “homework” to make each day — each meeting — as productive as possible. Step 6: I will seek out a new opportunity for personal or professional growth every day. Step 7: I will envision success – actually see it in my mind — in all I do. Step 8: I will be better, not bitter, in moments of adversity. Step 9: I will not be intimidated by taking thoughtful risks. Step 10: I will stay open-minded, not allowing old patterns or habits to hold me back. Step 11: I will point out the contributions of others. Step 12: I will consider what I can do or sacrifice to help strengthen my team. Step 13: I will do something today for someone who cannot give me anything in return. Step 14: I will act all day as if my son or daughter (or my future child) were sitting by my side. Step 15: I will relish the chance to be a standard for others. Step 16: I will remember that my life requires balance. Put those characteristics to work in your business — in your life. And if you want a daily dose of greatness…go to DonYaeger.com and subscribe for his daily dose of greatness email — it is amazing. So, before I leave you today…there is one last point I want to make. Our time here on this Earth is limited — so please don’t waste it living someone else’s life. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day so make sure, Onward Nation, that you are living the life you want to live and building the business you want to build and pursuing the dreams you want to pursue. That your dreams are big enough, bold enough, courageous enough, so you can look back on your life with no regret. Please don’t settle. Have the courage to follow your heart. You are going to experience a lot of setbacks, a lot of pain…but you are more powerful than you could ever imagine. You are greater than your circumstances. You can look at that snooze button and go back to bed…or you can get up at 4:00 in the morning and get a 4-hour start on most of your competitors…get a half-day’s work in — 50% more strategy, 50% more content written, 50% more sales calls, 50% more emails to prospects…all of that — 50% more of your vital metrics by just getting up early. You can lay there in bed and dream about your dreams — fantasize about them — or — you can punch that clock, get up, and go pursue them. There’s a reason why we release all of our daily episodes at 4:00 in the morning, Onward Nation. One last quote…and I have this hanging on one of my office walls… “Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up and knows that it must run faster than the fastest Lion that day, or it will be killed and eaten. Every morning in Africa, a Lion wakes up and knows that it must run faster than the slowest Gazelle that day, or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter, Onward Nation, if you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” Decide to make a great day. And I look forward to being with you again tomorrow when we share my interview with Mitch Stephen. Until then…Onward with gusto! ------ OnwardNation.com ------

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.  Good Morning Onward Nation…Stephen Woessner here. We all know that building and scaling a business is hard work…but when you have the right strategy — the right recipe for success to follow — the action steps become more like “ingredients” and can be added systematically into your business — one ingredient at a time. After 20+ years of owning five companies, and having an opportunity to work with and interview some of today’s top business owners here on Onward Nation, I’ve noticed 12 reoccurring themes – or master success strategies — that come up over and over again because they have contributed to the success of our amazing and incredible guests at Onward Nation. During today’s solocast, I am going to share the 5 of the 12 strategies with you. Unfortunately, I cannot cover all 12 due to time constraints — but — we created a free eBook to go along with today’s episode that covers all 12 strategies and how to apply them right away. You can download the 12 Success Strategies eBook here. Some of the strategies are simple and will only take a minute or two to cover, which also makes them pretty easy to put into practice inside your business. And there are several strategies that will require a long explanation. But I will guide you through the step-by-step to putting each strategy into practice. I decided to dedicate today’s solocast to these Success Strategies because during each episode of Onward Nation — our guests share lessons with you on how to make your business more systematic, repeatable, measurable – and successful! But, as Onward Nation has grown and enjoyed some success — and thank you for listening and being part of the ever-growing nation — the amount of data and recommendations is starting to grow rapidly. The eBook represents a distillation of some of the best strategies shared by our incredible guests — from episode 1 to episode 92. So let me know what you think of this solocast — please download the 12 Success Strategies eBook — and drop me a line. I recognize that getting better is a process. As Vince Lombardi said, “The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” So I would greatly appreciate your feedback — thumbs up or thumbs down. Your feedback helps us get better every day so please keep it coming. Okay, Onward Nation…here we go…the 5 Success Strategies of Today’s Top Business Owners.   Strategy #1: Fire the Destructive Customer Way back in episode #1, Scott McKain shocked me when he said, “Stephen, a business owner will find success if they are willing to fire the ‘destructive customer’.” Which if you have studied Scott’s books and curriculum — you know this is a rather counterintuitive thing for him to say. Scott is all about exceeding a customer’s expectations — creating that distinctive experience so customers are compelled to come back instead of visiting your competition. So firing a customer — where did that come from? Scott when on to explain to me that destructive customers want to buy products or services outside of your company’s core offering. And they push you to deliver. Destructive customers are demanding and time-consuming. Oftentimes, this becomes detrimental to your company’s ability to serve other customers because you are spending so much time trying to satisfy one set of needs. And when he said that…I thought… “Oohhhh. Darn it. Been there. Scott is so right.” But Scott took it deeper by also sharing how each of us can protect or business from The Destructive Customer. According to Scott…most business owners aren’t willing to say “no” to a destructive customer. Why? Because the fear of losing those sales is a near and present danger to cash flow. And by the way, Onward Nation…the fear of losing sales is the Fear of Poverty creeping back in. If you are listening for the first time, the Fear of Poverty is one of the 6 fears we all struggle with from time to time — sometimes consistently — throughout our business and life. All 6 Fears are documented and explained in depth by Napoleon Hill in his groundbreaking book, Think & Grow Rich, published in 1937 and still just a relevant today. I also do a deep dive into the Fear of Poverty in episode 65 of Onward Nation. So how do we protect ourselves? You as the business owner have to be bold and courageous enough to go an “Inch wide and a mile deep” with your company’s expertise instead of trying to be everything to everyone. Developing deep expertise will give you the ability to command a premium price for what you do at your company – and in the process – you will attract the right customers. And then you will be better equipped to say no to the destructive customer because you will no longer be in a position of need to take on whatever business you can get.   Strategy #2: Become a Master Storyteller Business owners will find success if they become master storytellers through mentorship…and that is another powerful lesson I learned from one of my mentors, Don Yaeger. You hear me talk about Don and his influence on nearly every episode of Onward Nation. AndDon is the one who said during episode #2, “Stephen, the reality is…whoever tells the best story wins.” Onward Nation, learning the principles of storytelling will help you clearly articulate your journey to yourself, to your employees, to customers, and to all of the stakeholders in your business. Mentorship is an invaluable asset that directly correlates and strengthens your ability to storytell because of the experience sharing and growth you will go through when you find the right mentor. ROADBLOCK…don’t get stuck in the mental trap of thinking you need to find mentors exclusively from within your industry. One of my closest and most trusted advisors at Predictive ROI is John Lyche — and he does not come from the digital marketing space. He has built a career in excellent in manufacturing, distribution, and product innovation. And he is an expert in scaling a small company into a large company. Oh, awesome — I want to learn those things…and he has been an incredible mentor and teacher. Because the lessons of how to scale effectively transcend industry — so don’t make the mistake — don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your business — your industry is so unique and different and no one outside of it could offer valuable insights. And that is why Don shared that oftentimes the most enlightening lessons are learned from those who can offer you a completely different perspective.   So how do you find the right mentor? Here’s a quick checklist. Think about your own talents and the skills you would like to strengthen – areas of your business you would like to improve, etc. This process will help you identify the person you need to become to take your business to the next level. This is really hard because you have to take a critical look at yourself. Most people are not willing to get honest with themselves and that is one of the major reasons they never grow. Once you have the list — look for people who are crushing it in these areas. The same areas where you need to grow. Contact those people. Invite them to lunch. Let them know you are packed full of questions for them. Be very prepared — and they will love the fact you took the time with them seriously enough to do your homework. Interview them and put what they share with you into practice. Turn it into a blog post and your clients will love you for it because you just shared some critical insights with them, too. Then loop back to your mentors and share your success. When you do, they will invite you to sit down so they can share more with you. Soak it all up — then put more of it into practice. Remember Onward Nation…a good mentee takes action on what is learned!   Strategy #3: Eat Rejection for Lunch So many of our Onward Nation guests have this strategy in common. The reality is Onward Nation, we will find success by eating rejection for lunch and ignoring the naysayers. Ignore the doubters. Ignore the people who say you’re not good enough — that you can’t do it — that you don’t have the pedigree, the education, the background to get it done. My grandfather immigrated to this country from Istanbul, Turkey in 1920…couldn’t speak the language and he had $10 in his pocket. He cut lettuce and washed dishes on the night shift at a Canton, Ohio restaurant…gritted it out…then moved to the day shift as a cook so he could make more money. And in 6 years…he had saved enough money to open his own restaurant…that he ran for over 40 years…including running the business through the Great Depression. Onward Nation…you have to refuse to take “NO” for an answer — you have to break through the fears, doubts, worries, struggles – those pits in your stomach. And as Stacey Alcorn shared with us in episode #3….she said… “Stephen, when you feel that fear and doubt are creeping in – let them be your signs – that you are headed in the right direction – and it is time to slam the gas down on the floor!” One of my favorite quotes of all time is “Fear and procrastination are the enemies of success”. My cousin, Dean Bacopoulos shared that with me when he and I were partners in a dot com together back in the late nineties. And I never forgot it. I have it now framed in my office as a constant reminder to the great wisdom in those words. So how do we break through the fear of rejection? Here are three simple steps. Step #1: Refuse to accept “NO” as an answer. Step #2: See step 1. Rinse and repeat. Breaking through the initial stage of dismay will allow you to pursue your biggest dreams. Success, Onward Nation, will come to those who refuse to accept “NO” as an answer. You will overcome your apprehension and gain the freedom to decide that NOW is your time — it’s time to take action toward your dreams. It’s not rocket science. The only way to truly ensure success is to “work your face off”. As Gary Vaynerchuk likes to say. There are no shortcuts. This is not an easy way to conquer and achieve your biggest goals. It takes persistence and tenacity. Success takes GRIT, Onward Nation. Surround yourself with mentors, books, training resources, and trusted networks will be invaluable to getting the feedback you need to grow your business. Owning a business is not always pretty — but everyone has to start somewhere – so don’t compare yourself to others who have been doing it longer than you. In the interest of time…I’m going to fast forward to Strategy #9: Good Execution Ensures Success. [Remember…we will email you the entire eBook that has all 12 Success Strategies. You can request it here.] Steve Olson, our guest on episode 15 said to me, “Good execution ensures success. Plain and simple.” A simple but very powerful lesson. Onward Nation…you can read all the books, craft an incredibly detailed business plan, and put all of the pieces into place for that product launch…but unless you execute and do the good work…you will not be successful. Jerry Rice, the hall of fame NFL wide receiver famously said… “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” And yes to say, it’s all about commitment to sound cliche — but it is the truth. So should we approach this — what are the tactical steps to ensure success? Here are four to put into practice right away? Seek out advisors who are specialized and can help support the development of the most vital functions in your company. Continually evaluate your business plan because conditions are changing in our rapidly evolving business environment. Take rapid action, find a way to get results, and be able to learn from the mistakes. Ask your clients how to improve a product because they know best. Remember, your success depends upon your ability to convert the recommendations from your advisors, and the strategies you develop, into actionable items.   Strategy #12: Build Your Network Two really amazing guests, Stacey Alcorn…episode #3 and Nancy Marshall…episode 19 are the queens of building impressive networks! Both Stacey and Nancy shared how business owners can and will find success by building their network of personal relationships — and — by being strategic about who you meet and who you spend your time with. During my interview with Nancy…she shared a very powerful story about how when her agency, Nancy Marshall Communications had lost a key account, it was her network that pulled her through those dark times. And now that once lost client — is back at her agency — and business is better than ever. But without a strong network in place — the temporary loss could have been devastating. So how should we go about building a network? Pay close attention to the little details, show gratitude, and make sure to nurture your relationships over time. Focus on clients, vendors, and most importantly family. Keep a gratitude journal to remain consistent with your relationship building. Plan strategically, identify your goals, and then measure your success along the way and then follow the interview and publish the recipe that Stacey Alcorn mapped out for you in episode 3. Put that into practice and you will see your network, your platform, and your influence grow…nearly exponentially.   Okay, Onward Nation – I hope this solocast was valuable to you. Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. You can share your comments at the bottom of the show notes for this episode – or – you can email me anytime at Stephen @ onwardnation.com and yes – that is my actual email address – comes directly to me – no fancy filter, routing, or sorting…comes right to my Inbox. Feel free to use it anytime. Let me know…thumbs up or thumbs down? I will be back tomorrow with my interview with Mitch Matthews — and oh my word — it is a conversation you don’t want to miss. Until then…onward with gusto!   You can also find us here: ------ OnwardNation.com ------

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.   Good Morning Onward Nation – I am so excited for today’s solocast! I’m excited because we are going to continue the momentum we have been building over the last several solocasts where we have begun to uncover what I call the Money Draining Mistakes. These are the mistakes that we all make – yes, everyone one of us from time to time – have made these mistakes in our business – and the net result is that cash has been literally sucked right out of our companies. Very expensive. And yes, I know that sounds a bit overly dramatic but when I share today’s Money Draining Mistake with you – by the end of this episode – my hope for you is that you will see why I consider this one – this mistake – to be one of the most expensive.   It is a silent killer for most businesses. But before we jump into this one – I want to go back to the two biggest challenges that are preventing you from moving your business onward to that next level because those challenges – those barriers to your success have nothing to do the business climate, the economy, the skill level of your employees, the location of your business, your pricing strategy, your current customer base, the size of your marketing budget, the quality of your products, your distribution channels, or the myriad of other reasons we are given today by the media and government as to why businesses fail at such a staggering rate in this country. The obstacles in your way have nothing to do with any of those things.   Your two biggest obstacles are the Fear of Poverty and the Fear of Criticism. I am not going to dissect both of these Fears here – instead, I encourage you to go back and re-listen to episode 65 to understand both fears more deeply – but what I will say is that the Fear of Criticism will directly impact your ability to stay plugged in to this episode and push forward to really want to master the recipe that I share with you during our time together this morning. I guarantee you...if you are like most business owners…as soon as I say the words “Bounce Rate” as part of today’s recipe – you will begin to tune out and lose interest. Or, as I share “data points”...as I discuss things like the “psychology of your customer”, or need to create “clear calls-to-action.” It will be real easy for you to say something like, “I have someone on my team who does that, Stephen...I don’t have to know it.” Why do I think you will say or at least think that? Because you – me – we are all afraid of the unknown. We are uncertain – we are afraid we might fail to understand the concept – the lesson. And so the best way for us to defend against that fear – to protect ourselves – is for us to say, “Oh Stephen, I don’t need to know that because someone on my team gets it...they have it down. I’m all set.” Do they? Do they really? And if you don’t understand it – how can you possibly hope to measure their success in it? Discounting the potential knowledge without really understanding the value of the knowledge is sort of like when we were all back in high school and it came time for Algebra or Biology class – or insert the name of your scary class here – and we tried to convince ourselves that we would never need to have access to that knowledge in our lifetime. Somehow we felt prepared to make that decision at 16 or 17 years old. And yet, if you were to sit down with someone like Mark Cuban, one of the acclaimed investors from Shark Tank and ask him what he wishes he would have done a better job of learning along the way…he readily admits…that he would have done a better job studying those things that he quickly discounted – that he told himself he would never need – and now he wishes he had mastered those skills early on…things like Algebra, Biology, and so forth. So this episode – episode 89 – you need to know that I am likely going to push you...to push your Fear of Criticism. But in full transparency – I think that is part of my job to help you grow – to help you become more certain – to help you reach that next level. And as my drill instructor said to me once – well, he actually shouted it to me one morning – I think he just wanted to be sure I heard him and never forgot the message – he stood over top of me as I was doing sit ups during PT one morning in basic training…it was June of 1990 at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas...5:00 in the morning and it was already about 90 degrees – how was that even possible – and as I was doing each repetition – St. Hodge looked down at me and yelled, “Airman Woessner, you are required to perform 25 repetitions of this exercise. HOWEVER...you are encouraged to do more.” He set the standard of excellent for me that morning. The standard was not the bare minimum of doing what was required – knowing what you had to know – or doing the least possible with as little effort as necessary. No, the standard was more – a lot more – and undefined – my standard – my bar was to do the most repetitions that I could possibly do – my personal best – to pursue excellence – and I never forgot the message – and now I pass it on to you. So to get that next level – you need to learn things you didn’t think you needed to learn – to master skills that someone on your team may also know – and to execute and implement with a standard of excellence – not the bare minimum. You Onward Nation are not average. You Onward Nation have a different standard. You Onward Nation are moving your business to that next level. And you do that by pushing past the Fear of Criticism – the fear of failure – the fear of not thinking you are worthy or smart enough.   Because you are smart enough – you can absolute master this...and this...Onward Nation...is Money Draining Mistake #3...High Bounce Rate. Are you ready to move onward with gusto? Let’s start this off with a scenario that happens every day within a typical business… Someone visits the website’s home page, a product page, or perhaps a blog post the business owner wrote. The person quickly scans the page from top to bottom, left to right, and after a second or two, they decide they hate it. They puke in a bucket and then immediately leave. And they continuing searching...except they continue searching SOMEPLACE ELSE. That person “bounced” because he or she was not motivated enough to make one single click within the site. Bounce rate is one of the most powerful metrics we have because it gives us insight into whether or not our customers believe we are delivering the value they want and need. Most un-optimized websites have a bounce rate between 50 to 60 percent (this represents huge opportunity for you if you apply steps 1-2-3 below). In other words, after all of the hard work you put toward building traffic through trade shows, advertising, public relations, email campaigns, content development, social media, and search engine optimization, between 50 and 60 percent of the people you attract will immediately leave without making one single click. And that is why I called this mistake the silent killer way back in my introduction to this episode. Let’s do a quick test. Pause this episode, open your Google Analytics dashboard, and check your bounce rate. If it 30 percent or less, give yourself a pat on the back because that is the target you should strive to reach. But if your bounce rate is above 50 percent, then the rest of this article will provide you with three steps you can apply to drive down bounce rate while converting more of your traffic into leads and sales. Let’s first calculate the dollar value that bounce rate is currently costing you. Say your website attracted 12,539 unique visitors during the past 12-months. And let’s say your website bounce rate is currently right in the middle of the 50 to 60 percent range (54.88 percent to be exact). That means 6,881 site visitors immediately bounced from your website during those 12-months (12,539 x .5488 = 6,881). The remaining 5,659 were the suspects you could attempt to convert into a lead or sale through some form of call-to-action, such as a phone call, visit to your store, etc. Now, let’s say your call-to-action process has been fine-tuned over the years so 4.77 percent of your suspects are converted into leads (between 2 to 4 percent is the global standard). This means 270 leads, phone calls, store visits, etc. were generated during the 12-months (5,659 suspects x .0477 conversion rate = 270). And lastly, let’s assume you have a history of converting 50 percent of your leads, such as inquiries, phone calls, store visits, etc. into sales, and each sale has an average value of $500. The revenue generated via your website should have been approximately $67,500 (270 x .5000 = 135 sales x $500 value = $67,500). Now, let’s lower bounce rate to the target level of 30 percent. I first learned about the 30 percent target from my friend and mentor, Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist for Google and co-founder of Market Motive. You can learn more about Avinash in episode 40 of Onward Nation. Now only 3,761 of the visitors bounce during the same 12-month time period (12,539 x .3000 = 3,761). You now have 8,778 suspects instead of 5,659. Big difference. Let’s also assume you maintained your 4.77 percent conversion rate into leads and your average order remained at $500. Your 8,778 suspects would convert into 418 leads, and those leads would convert into 209 sales, which would result in $104,500 in revenue (418 x .0477 = 418 x .5000 = 209 x $500 = $104,500). This represents a 54.81 percent increase in sales. Awesome. And the only thing that changed was bounce rate. Here’s the good news...any business owner can apply three simple steps to reduce bounce rate. At the bottom of this today’s Show Notes you will find a mini-class I recorded to provide some additional bounce rate insights. Free video training resource – I hope you find it valuable. So what is the first step?   We – and our business – must be distinctive. Now, distinction is not just about being different. Distinction creates loyal customers who continue coming back to you over and over again. If you want to learn more about distinction – go back to episode 1 and listen to the words of wisdom from Scott McKain, the leading authority on the topic of distinction and its importance in your business. And one of the very best recipes for how to create distinction is one that I learned from Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. Darren calls it the X-Y-Z Exercise and there are 3 simple steps.   Step 1: Complete the X-Y-Z Exercise Just answer three questions and blend the answers into a clear and concise statement. Caution: the questions are simple but they are not easy to answer. It will likely take you and your team about 60 to 90-minutes to complete this exercise with excellence. We do X (X equals the products and services your business provides to customers) For Y (Y equals the profile of your typical customer) So that they can Z (Z equals the result outcomes your customers receive from your products or services) Then place your X-Y-Z statement on your website above the fold – meaning – so the visitors to your website do not need to scroll in order to read it. Why above the fold? So your visitors will see it right away and they will know they are in the right place. When that happens, bounce rate goes down.   Step 2: Eliminate Visual Clutter The January-February 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review reported the results of a study on consumer choice, which confirmed that providing more options did not increase choice. In fact, more options actually decreased choice. So instead of having 15 options on your website, i.e. photos, copy blocks, or calls-to-action, just have three easy-to-understand options and eliminate all the rest. Your customers see a multitude of options as visual clutter and that encourages bounce.   Step 3: Create Clear Calls-to-Action Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, director of Marketing Experiments once said to me, “Clarity always trumps persuasion.” So are you being clear with customers regarding the steps they need to take along the decision-making path? Have a clear and concise path to purchase. That’s all you need. Okay, Onward Nation – that was Money Draining Mistake #3…High Bounce Rate. Now, if you if you are hearing those voices in your head – if you are having thoughts that are even remotely similar to what I described at the beginning of this episode – don’t run -- let those thoughts be your litmus test – they are telling you that you are heading in the right direction. Push forward – don’t stop – don’t let your fear hold you back from breaking through to that next level. And remember, you are the average of the people you spend the most time with…and look who Stacey Alcorn from episode #3 is spending the most time with. She refers to herself as “A billionaire in the making.” And in order for that vision for her life to become a reality – she knows that she needs to spend as much time as possible with other billionaires. Well, I will let you in on a secret she told me during our interview – Stacey didn’t have those connections several years ago. But she DECIDED that was going to change and then she took action to make it happen. I hope that makes sense.     Okay, Onward Nation – I hope this solocast was valuable to you. Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. You can share your comments at the bottom of the show notes for this episode – or – you can email me anytime at Stephen @ onwardnation.com and yes – that is my actual email address – comes directly to me – no fancy filter, routing, or sorting…comes right to my Inbox. Feel free to use it anytime. Let me know…thumbs up or thumbs down? Drop me a line. I will be back tomorrow with another amazing interview with one of today’s top business owners. Until then…onward with gusto!   Stephen     You can find us at: -----OnwardNation.com------

Stacey is the Author of REACH! - Dream, Stretch, Achieve, Influence. This book is her blueprint on how to achieve any Big Hairy Audacious Goal, regardless of where you are right now. She is an avid blogger and writes regularly for The Huffington Post.

Good Morning, Onward Nation…Stephen Woessner here… I am going to do something really different for this episode…episode 65 (and I cannot believe this is 65 already). I decided to go solo today and fly this episode without a guest.  And I did that because recently I was having a conversation with one of my mentors and he said to me…”Stephen, Onward Nation is great and it is wonderful how you always put the spotlight on the business owners – the incredible guests on your show – but I want to know more about what you think – what your path has been – tell me more about what you think about the same questions you ask your guests.” And I thought – wow – that is a really good question – but it really pushed my comfort zone. Although as I thought about his question -- I realized this would be an opportunity to add and share value with you, Onward Nation, in a completely different way. So I accepted his challenge – and depending on how this episode goes – I am planning to record a new solocast once a week where I really dig deep into a topic or business issue – strategies and ideas – recipes I have learned that you can apply into your business right away to make it more systematic, predictable, repeatable, and measurable. Again…this is my first solocast – and it feels a bit awkward – so I’d really like your feedback after you listen – drop me a line – let me know – thumbs up or thumbs down. Trust me – I love feedback – good – bad – whatever. So please share it with me. Before we dive in…and if you’re listening to Onward Nation now for the first time…I will give a very brief personal intro to provide some context behind the voice. Hi…I’m Stephen Woessner. I am the host of Onward Nation – but – when I am not interviewing today’s top business owners, I am the CEO of Predictive ROI…a digital marketing agency…and I don’t particularly like that label because Predictive does so much more than digital marketing. Yes, we do the traditional things like increasing site traffic, leads, and sales. But what makes us truly unique…is our ability to predict a client’s increase in sales…their actual financial return on investment in the form of dollars and cents…and then guarantee that performance…or our work is free. And because of that – we find ourselves deep inside a client’s systems, inventory, sales team, and all sorts of business development processes. I love the problem solving work we do – it oftentimes reminds me of my days of troubleshooting when I was a missile technician working inside nuclear missiles silos on the prairies of South Dakota while I was in the Air Force many years ago. I have been in digital marketing since the advent of the commercial Internet. I am the best selling author of two books in the area, I spent nearly 6 years at the University of Wisconsin – at the La Crosse campus, and I taught throughout the state include the UW-Madison School of Business, and my business building insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, Forbes, SUCCESS, The Washington Post and some other media. And I am currently working on my third book. Okay, let’s press on to something more valuable like solving big challenges in our business – big obstacles – those things that are really holding you back from jumping off the plateau you may be on right now – and leaping onward to that next level. That’s what we are going to focus on during this episode. First, we all know that building and scaling a business is hard work. But when you have the right strategy – that right “recipe for success” to follow – the action steps become more like “ingredients” and can be added systematically into your business – one ingredient at a time. And every day at Onward Nation, I have the incredible opportunity to interview today’s top business owners and ask them to share their specific recipes for success – and to break those strategies down into tactical step-by-step processes and systems. I distilled all of those ideas, strategies, steps down into actionable “recipes” you can take and apply into your business right away. If you are not familiar with my recipe and ingredient thought process – you may be thinking you just walked into a baking podcast by mistake. Close…but not quite. Here let me explain the recipe metaphor this way… Say I make the world’s best chocolate cake. And I grew up working in my mom’s bakery – so my chocolate cake is actually pretty good.  And say you come up to me and say, hey Stephen…I cannot bake anything, in fact, boiling what is hard for me…but…I love your chocolate cake. Could you teach me how to bake your cake so that it turns out just like yours? How could that even be possible? I’ve been perfecting my chocolate cake for the last 30 years…and you have zero baking skills. How could you possibly think that you could duplicate my results? To even have a shot at it – is there something I could give you – some edge – some insider’s knowledge? Of course…I need to give you my recipe. The recipe will act as your “strategy” behind the cake. Right? With the recipe…you can see the entire process…the flow…the visualization of the goal…how you need to setup the environment, i.e. your kitchen…all the steps…all the tools you will need. But the recipe is just one piece…what else do you need? Right! The ingredients. You need to know the specific amounts and specific qualities of the ingredients, right? And then there is one more thing…you have the recipe…you have the ingredients…but…you must also follow the syntax. And syntax is a fancy word that simply means the order of the process. So think about a recipe you have followed in the past…we have all done this…we mix the eggs together with the flour before we put in the oil and now we have goo. Not awesome. So the syntax…or the order in which we execute the strategy really matters. So I’m going to share some incredible business building recipes with you…but I’m going to share the ingredients…and I’m going to give you the syntax or the process for all the steps. Hopefully that makes sense. And as Jim Rohn said…”You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Now, maybe you are hearing Jim’s pearls of wisdom in this quote for the first time. I was having lunch with some friends the other day and I shared that quote and I could tell they were a bit shocked by it – so I took another minute to explain. I shared several scenarios to illustrate the powerful lesson Jim taught us in that quote…and I will share the same with you. Say you’re walking down a hallway with your one of your top clients…and your client has a faster pace than you. What do you do? Do you walk your normal pace or do you speed up? Does your client slow down? Likely not. Our natural instinct is to speed up – to keep pace. So let’s consider a different scenario. Let’s say this time you are walking with a group of four other people through the mall and they are all walking slow…like dreadfully slow…painfully slow. What do you do? You may start to think of some creative ways to speed them up…but they don’t speed up…in fact…they may even slow down further…but how is this possible? And if you try to speed up…you simply get out in front of them and create stress for yourself and for the group.  Here’s the reality: you will not de-stress until you are free from the slow group and find a group that wants to move at your same – faster speed – or potentially even faster than you so you are challenged to grow and speed up to keep up. Because if you don’t…eventually you will slow your pace to confirm to the group – because you don’t want to be rude…so you slow down. This episode will move at a pace and tempo that is uncommon…we are going to move at the pace of today’s top business owners. And if you listen to Onward Nation on a consistent basis – today’s top business owners are the people you are spending time with – and that is awesome. So here is the first lesson I want to share with you…if you want to move your business onward to that next level…then you need to spend time with business owners and mentors who are ALREADY at that next level – AND -- they move at a pace and tempo faster than you. And when you join that group – or have that person as your mentor – you will grow. Hope that makes sense – and I have prepared a very detailed recipe on mentorship for you during today’s discussion. More on that in a few minutes. So make it a commitment – to find other business owners who are already at that next level – and spend time with them – learn from them – and you will naturally speed up to keep pace and as a result you will be moving toward the next level yourself. So here’s what I am going to cover during today’s episode – let’s call it an agenda of sorts – as Kim Garst said to me during our interview – “you gotta have a checklist, Stephen.” 1.First, I will show you how to spot the two biggest obstacles currently preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level 2.Second, I will show you how to attract the right mentors to help you overcome the obstacles and accelerate your results 3.Third, I will show you how to implement and master a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence So let’s dive in. What if I told you that the two biggest challenges preventing you from moving your business onward to the next level have nothing to do with the business climate, the economy, the skill level of your employees, the location of your business, your pricing strategy, your current customer base, the size of your marketing budget, the quality of your products, your distribution channels, or the myriad of other reasons we are given today by the media and government as to why businesses fail at such a staggering rate in this country. What if the obstacles in your way had nothing to do with any of that? And in instead, what was blocking you…the obstacles keeping your business in check…are the same obstacles that have always attempted to keep you in check throughout your entire life. Your enemy is not the myriad of reasons I just listed off…instead…your first challenge…or better yet…your first enemy is the Fear of Poverty.  Many of you have read – but possibly not in a while – this incredible book, Think and Grow Rich published in 1937 by Napoleon Hill. If you have listened to Onward Nation episodes – and my guess is you have or you would not be here this evening – our guests often reference Think & Grow Rich because it is a compendium of knowledge. The book was made possible by Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie at the time was the wealthiest man in the world, met Napoleon Hill, liked him and offered to commission him to open the doors to the greatest industrialists of the time. That was 1908. And he said, “I’ll open the doors if you’ll sit down with these top business owners and figure out their secrets to success. What they do, they’re methods, they’re mindsets that have caused their extraordinary success and you put it into a book and publish it and make it available to the world.”  So, Napoleon sat down with Henry Ford, Edison, Schwab, Wrigley, and both Rockefellers. Imagine being able to spend time with those business owners and pull out their best ideas for success and achievement. If you have read, studied, and applied the book…you understand the great knowledge in this book and are already ahead of 98% of your competition. But often times…this book is an easy to forget treasure because it was written in 1937 – but the strategies in this book are still just as applicable today. If you have not yet read, studied, and applied the book – then consider this a million dollar resource you have just been given. You can go to OnwardNation.com/book and get the Audible version of Think and Grow Rich for free…that’s OnwardNation.com/book. The Fear of Poverty is one of the 6 basic fears but it is also the most pervasive, destructive, and confusing to understand. But why? On the surface, it seems as though this fear would revolve around the fear of becoming poor – and there definitely is that component. But, the way this particular fear manifests itself is what makes it easy to spot.  We become so fearful of poverty…that we freeze and are plagued with indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. Just when you ought to take action…you don’t. When sales are declining…you ought to make more sales calls…but you don’t…you freeze because the fear of poverty has you paralyzed. Just when you should be investing in that new expansion – that new marketing strategy – that new development – hiring new employees – you don’t. You become overly cautious. Or…you disguise your caution by saying your “skeptical”. And by the way -- that is code for “I am afraid.” You become so fearful of hitting the wall – that all you do is focus on the wall. And then what happens? Exactly…you end up hitting the wall. To be clear…I am not suggesting that you throw caution into the wind and become financially irresponsible and then lose your business as a result of mismanagement.  That would be silly. But I am trying to bring into focus that our Fear of Poverty can be one of the major obstacles that hold us back from the abundance at that next level. And it doesn’t matter who you are – we have all felt it before – especially when trying to pursue something new – that next level. Remember, if you focus on the wall…you will hit the wall. But if you focus on the infield – you may still eventually hit the wall…but your opportunity likely increases by a factor of 10 IF you steer your business where you want it to go instead of letting yourself and your business become paralyzed by indecision, indifference, doubt, worry, over-caution, and procrastination. So if the Fear of Poverty is the first challenge – what is the second one keeping you from moving your business forward? It is the Fear of Criticism and is also one of the 6 basic fears…and it too is easy to spot. This fear what prevents you from making that sales call to that prospective client everyone in town wants because you hear that voice inside your head that says… “Oh come on…who do you think you’re kidding calling them? You have nothing to offer. They only work with big companies. You’re too small.”  You hear… "You’re not good enough…you don’t have the skills, you will never make it…why bother trying…there are others who are more gifted, talented, they already have all the connections…what could you possibly offer that would be unique and different…just try something that is more at your current level – call on someone smaller – don’t call the president or owner – call someone who reports to them – that would be easier." "Why can’t you just be normal?" The fear of criticism can be overcome with grit…with tenacity…with perseverance…with the shouting into the abyss…I will not be defeated. You saying…"I will WIN THE DAY". And when you do that – and I believe when you’re moving in the direction of God’s plan for your life – there is nothing that can stop you.  Now that we have identified the 2 biggest obstacles holding you back – which really aren’t obstacles at all are they – they all are in your mind – now let’s work through our first of several recipes this evening. Recipe #1 focuses on mentorship.  If you have listened to our Onward Nation episodes, you already know that I ask every single guest to share the most influential lesson they ever learned from one of their mentors that helped them become the business owner they are today. And wow…our guests have shared some outstanding lessons. So for this solocast, I am going to share a very specific recipe for attracting and finding the right mentor because Onward Nation listeners have asked me exactly that – as well as to help them understand what would be expected of them as a mentee? But first – let’s make this more specific. Why find a mentor? And yes, there is a specific recipe you can use to find a mentor and I am going to share that with you. Before I share the step-by-step ingredients to this powerful recipe…I will share something I have not shared during Onward Nation episodes…two of the most influential lessons I ever learned from one of my mentors…Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. For 12-months, Darren was a member of our board of advisors at Predictive ROI. So we would get together either in-person or over the phone. And during one of our monthly calls, I explained to Darren some of my reservations about building a big business. I wasn’t sure how big I wanted Predictive ROI to become. And so I was nervous about it. And I said, “Gosh, Darren – you know – I’ve never thought of myself as being a great manager of people. And quite frankly, honestly Darren, I kind of suck at it.” And then Darren said to me, “Stephen…stop SUCKING at it!" And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said…”Don’t give me that lie or tell me that myth that you are telling yourself. Don’t use that as a fricken excuse to stop moving forward. Stop telling yourself that limiting belief and that lie that you’re not a good manager or leader. Be better at it. Don’t give me the excuse.” And so I’m standing there almost like fricken naked – totally stripped down – I was like, holy crap, he totally called me on it right. That’s embarrassing – because he was right! And that’s what a good mentor does for you – they call you out when you need to be called out – they support you when you need to be supported and they teach you when you need to be taught. But they don’t do the hard work for you – that’s on you. So here are the specific ingredients for finding the right mentor for you: Think about your own talents and skills you would like to strengthen -- weaknesses you would like to lessen -- areas of your business you would like to improve, etc. Then make a precise list that details everything you just thought about. This process helps you identify the person you need to become in order to move your business onward to the next level This is a really hard exercise because you have to force yourself to take a critical look at yourself (and by the way -- most people are not willing to get really honest with themselves -- and that is one of the major reasons they never grow) Once you have the list -- look for people who are crushing it in these areas -- the same areas where you need to grow. Then contact those people -- invite them to lunch -- let them know you are packed full of questions for them Be very prepared -- they will love that Interview them and put what they share with you into practice -- turn it into a blog post and your clients will love you for it Loop back to your mentors and share your success When you do, they will invite you to sit down so they can share more with you. Soak it all up -- then put it into practice. Remember…a good mentee takes action on what is learned — and the responsibility is on you. Let’s go deeper by taking a look at three of our Onward Nation guests and how they are crushing it with mentorship. First, Don Yaeger – episode 2 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Don Yaeger and another professional speaker you could hire for an event? Don has mentored with the greatest champions of our time – including Coach John Wooden for over 12 years…and Don distilled all of this knowledge into what he calls the 16 Characteristics of Greatness. Now, it would be easy to say – “Well sure, Stephen, Don can do that because he has all of the connections.” And true – Don can get anyone in the world of sports to take his call. In fact, I was staying with Don and his family for a week in Tallahassee and one morning, Don’s cell phone rang and Don said to me “It’s Bob Kraft”…and I said, “Wait, what? You mean like Bob Kraft who owns the New England Patriots?” But don’t forget, Onward Nation…even Don Yaeger had to start somewhere. So will you sit around and be fearful for another year – or – will you start getting mentored and move your business onward? Next, Stacey Alcorn…episode 3 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Stacey Alcorn and another real estate professional? Stacey has mentored with some of the best and brightest minds in business and connected those relationships back into building her real estate empire. I will later share with you a billion dollar recipe right out of Stacey’s cookbook…and I know we have several real estate professionals on the workshop right now…Stacey’s firm had 324 closings in June. Bam! And lastly, Nancy Marshall – episode 19 of Onward Nation. What is the difference between Nancy Marshall and another marketing or PR professional you could hire? Nancy realizes that she may be located in the state of Maine – but the market for Nancy Marshall Communications is worldwide…which is why she has invested the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to write a book, develop a trademarked process in her agency called The Marshall Plan, and to invest in building a network through mentoring with the right people – and giving back – and now her network helps her company grow in the good times and become a safety net in the downturns – because the storm clouds will come no matter who you are or what kind of business you run. Here’s the reality…you are the average of who you spend the most time with. So you need to spend your time with people you have a common future with – not a common past. Let me close out this first recipe by saying...you can want to find a mentor – the recipe that I just shared with you could be worth millions of dollars in new sales to your company – but – it won’t be worth anything unless you DECIDE to take action. As Tony Robbins says, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve take action – in fact – that you have taken massive action. And if there’s no action – then that is simply an indicator you haven’t really decided anything. Now that we have conquered and overcome the two main challenges standing in your way – and now that I have shared with you a very specific recipe with all of the step-by-step ingredients (in the proper syntax) so you can find your right mentor or mentors…it is now time to really accelerate your results and move your business onward to the next level. The next recipe I am going to share with you could represent a billion – yes, with a "B" – billion dollar strategy for your business. I am going to share a recipe for mastering a specific system that will dramatically expand your network and sphere of influence – and – I will also share with you how you can then monetize these valuable relationships into mutually beneficial partnerships and revenue for your business. And yes, I know it may sound crass or inappropriate when I say monetize relationships – unfortunately, I can’t think of a better word – I think you get what I am driving at. But before we get to the recipe…let me put typical “networking” into context. Most business owners go to an event with a large number of “prospects”. They pass out business cards. They chit-chat small talk with the same people they met their last month. The collect others business cards. More chit-chat small talk. They might even schedule some lunch meetings. Why do we do this? Here's why. Because this is safe – it is easy – it does not make us face our fear of poverty or our fear of criticism. What would people think if I did that…or went here…or spent time with so and so…they will all think I am too big for my britches.  I am going to work hard here to shift your paradigm of what is possible.  And that is why I love this quote from Archimedes. “Give me a prop strong enough, and a level long enough, and I can single handedly move the world” This next recipe I am about to share with you will become your lever and prop. And it is big – this is literally a billion dollar recipe – and I am going to introduce you to the top business owner who is using it generate a billion dollars. She describes herself as a billionaire in the making. Let me introduce you again to Stacey Alcorn. Her episode is still on our leaderboard of top podcasts.  During our interview, Stacey told me about the afternoon she had spent the week before with Kevin O’Leary, Mr. Wonderful from ABC’s Shark Tank – they spent the afternoon tasting wine and exchanging business mantras and best lessons. Stacey and Kevin had quite the masterminding session. There is always a strategy behind what Stacey does – and if you go back and re-listen to episode 3, Stacey maps out her entire business building strategy with precision. But we are going to focus on the billion-dollar recipe that Stacey has developed. Most people will not swing for the fences – but Stacey does. So here are the specific ingredients in Stacey’s recipe. Make list of influencers in your industry and / or your Dream 50 clients / prospects Connect via social media, email, or call Ask for 30-minutes so you can interview them on their path / keys to success Do your homework – prep excellent questions Be excellent during the interview Share what you and your company does at close of interview Invite / open the door for future opportunities Then share guest’s expertise on your blog, media outlets, your podcast, etc. – your platform Rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat Key point: if you interview the movers and shakers in your industry – they become your informal mentors…and you become one of the movers and shakers in the industry as a result. If you want a BIGGER – more ROBUST – more INFLUENTIAL network – then YOU must become bigger…your platform must become more robust…and you must become more influential. Warning -- ROAD BLOCKS!! Now, some of you listening to this recipe right now may be thinking – “Oh sure, Stephen…Stacey has an email list of 65,000 people and has interviewed all of these celebrities and big time business people – I don’t have those connections.” Or, maybe you’re thinking… “My business just started…I don’t have mindshare in the marketplace, I’m not a published author, I don’t have a platform, no one knows who I am, who will listen to me – what do I have or could I share that would be relevant for anyone to listen to, I don’t have a network – I wouldn’t even know how to start.” All of those excuses – all of those alibis – those are the Fear of Poverty and the Fear of Criticism working against you again. If you hear those voices in your head – if you are having thoughts that are even remotely similar to what I just mentioned – let that be your litmus test – you now know you are heading in the right direction.  Push forward – don’t stop – don’t let your fear hold you back from breaking through to that next level.  Remember, you are the average of the people you spend the most time with…and look who Stacey is spending the most time with. She refers to herself as "A billionaire in the making." And in order for that vision for her life to become a reality – she knows that she needs to spend as much time as possible with other billionaires. Well, I will let you in on a secret she told me during our interview – Stacey didn't have those connections several years ago. But she DECIDED that was going to change and then she took action to make it happen. I hope that makes sense. Okay, Onward Nation – I hope this first solocast was valuable to you. Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. Thumbs up or thumbs down? Please drop me a line and let me know. Onward with gusto! -- Stephen

Stacey is an entrepreneur, author, business owner, attorney, blogger, and mom. Stacey’s keynotes, blogs, and radio show continue to offer a compelling message about defining and achieving your dreams.   Secret -- timesaving technique Wake up early (4:00 to 4:30 a.m.) because by the time 8:00 a.m. hits -- the day is no longer your own. It belongs to your clients, employees, meetings, etc. During those early hours -- focus on several key priorities that are necessary for you to “win the day”. Daily habit that contributes to success Never focus on the immediate results. Could have ruined your business -- but now --  an invaluable learning experience In 2005 - 2006 the real estate market changed. Stacey went from having it all -- to having to sell it all in order to keep her business afloat. She sold her house, sold her cars, and moved into one of her investment properties. She then dug in, used the right affirmations, and has since battled back to success! “The stories in our head become the stories of our life.” Most critical skill you think business owners need to master to be successful If you want to build a successful business -- and have an awesome life -- you must recognize that you are the average of the people you spend the most time with. In this interview -- Stacey shared her step-by-step recipe for connecting with, interviewing, and doing business with the most affluent business leaders, millionaires, and billionaires throughout the Boston marketplace. She is now a contributor to Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Onward Nation...apply Stacey’s million dollar recipe for massive success within your industry. And if you want to get published in Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company -- Stacey can connect you. Contact Stacey directly using the details below. Most influential lesson learned a mentor When you are being mentored by someone -- it is a compliment to them -- if you someday fly the coup and do your own thing.   Final Round -- “Breaking Down the Recipe for Success”   What systems would you go back and put into place sooner? “Wished I would have applied the strategy of interviewing people 10 years ago. I cannot imagine the size of the network I would have by now had I started sooner.” What one strategy or “recipe” would compound into big wins for business owners? Build your own personal board of advisors by studying the books from all of the top people you want to learn from -- and share those resources with your employees to facilitate continuous learning. Then take immediate action on what was learned. How to exceed expectations and add the most value? Hire people who are master networkers and excellent at strategically selecting people they want to spend time with, interview them, and expand their sphere of influence in the process. What strategy would you recommend new business owners focus on to best ensure success? Never take “no” for an answer. You need to eat rejection for lunch. Believe in “you” even when no one else does. Ignore the naysayers. Break through the fear and pursue your big dreams. How best to connect with Stacey: About Stacey -- register for her weekly newsletter and receive her most recent interviews Get a copy of Stacey’s latest book, “Reach!: Dream | Stretch | Achieve | Influence”   Subscribe to Onward Nation!