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Everyone needs toilet paper! The initial increase in buying of toilet paper (AKA tissue paper) at the start of the COVID-19 crisis was likely due to a hoarding response, which is an instinctive psychological bias response found in nature. Hoarding is not always negative, in this case those that bought lots of toilet paper and hand sanitizer were more prepared. Tissue/Toilet paper made for home use is a different product, then toilet paper made for a public toilet. Although hoarding may not be continuing, more time is being spent at home has changed the needs for public vs home toilet/tissue paper. Thus, there is an increase in tissue products for at home use, and likely an increase in private label AKA store brand use of tissue. Why? Once you have tried private label tissue you may not feel there is much of a difference, and you can save money. With more people out of work, private label brand tissue will be one way they can save money. However, the ‘status quo bias’ also known as the default effect will keep us buying name brand tissue products over private label. It avoids us having to take a risk of an unknown product, which might result in money wasted if we don’t like the private label product. Stay safe and healthy out there! For more on best investing strategies, avoiding bias and learning about your brain BUY 5 star reviewed “Understanding Behavioral Bia$” on Amazon - link here: http://amzn.to/2XHtsOE

  This episode is sponsored by SHUG THE DUG PRODUCTIONS   Hello and welcome to Film Pro Productivity, the podcast that helps film professionals and other creatives to live a more focused, effective and HAPPY life. My name is Carter Ferguson and this is EPISODE 43 – THE LAW OF SUCCESS IN 16 LESSONS: PART 4   So yes, this is the fourth part of my series on Napoleon Hill’s powerful book and if you’ve not yet heard the previous parts then I’d strongly advise you to go back and check out episodes 40 through 42 first before listening to this one. My aim is to give you a fleeting glimpse of the power that lies within the book ad to open your mind to the possibilities that lie within its pages.   Now I won’t always identify sections of quoted text within this episode purely for streamlining purposes, but much of the content is my interpretation or direct quotation of NAPOLEON HILL. The main change I make is in neutralising the gender every now and again because I want to make the lessons as accessible and relevant for today’s audience as Hill intended it to be in 1928. Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance. Arthur Ashe UNQUOTE WHATEVER THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE   This is a very big episode with a veritable Aladdin’s cave of new ideas, observations and advice. I would give this next lesson an episode of its own if I could but instead what I’d advise you to do is pause between the lessons or listen again to take it all in. I have augmented it with additional information from Hill’s 1954 film as it adds a lot to the equation which the original book leaves out. Hang on to your breeks and stand by. This is…   LESSON 10 – A PLEASING PERSONALITY: Here, Hill encourages us to arrange the outward appearance through which the nature of our personality is expressed, SO THAT IT WILL ATTRACT AND NOT REPEL. He wants us to realise that our personalities can become what he calls master salesmen working on our behalf. If we look at successful people and wonder how they managed it, but overlook the importance of analyzing their methods and the price they had to pay in careful, well-organized preparation and presentation - then we are NOT seeing the full picture.   Hill kicks all this off by describing PERSONALITY as the sum of our characteristics and appearances which distinguish us from all others. The clothes we wear, the lines on our face, the tone of our voice and the thoughts we think ALL CONSTITUTE PARTS OF OUR PERSONALITY and by far the most important part of our personality - is the part that is not visible - OUR CHARACTER.   Whether your personality is attractive or not, of course, is another matter. Italian designer Alessandro Michele says “The way you dress is an expression of your personality.” And that’s yet another point that Hill makes in this chapter. He says the same thing my mum did when I was going for a job interview or meeting someone for the first time, that people form first impressions of you from your outward appearance. I highlight this here as a reminder to us all, that things like this matter, maybe not TO YOU, but to the people you meet and work with. Whether you like it or not, if you want to increase your chances of being successful you can start by dressing in a way that attracts and doesn’t repel success. This doesn’t have to be a suit and tie of course, just appropriately for the world in which you live and work, and thinking about what would be most likely to bring you success in that environment.   Hill touches on this topic in his lesson on enthusiasm, where he talks about being able to wear WEAR NICE CLOTHES and how it will make you feel better and be more enthusiastic. There he explains that IF YOU LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS, YOU'LL FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS, and you will quite likely FIND YOURSELF AROUND A MILLION BUCKS. The opposite is also true, of course, and this is to be avoided. I love these little, but incredibly telling, observations and this book is full of them.   He takes the time to talk about elements of success that no one would tell you to your face and so next he goes into personal hygene. YOU SIMPLY WON’T BE SUCCESSFUL IF YOU SMELL LIKE A RATS BACKSIDE. Wash yourself, wear deodorant, brush your teeth, use mouthwash and if you know you have a problem with sweat or bad breath or whatever - carry the things you need to stay clean and smell good with you. Whether you like it or not, and none of us particularly like it, you also need to regularly attend the dentist. Knowing your teeth are cared for and that problems with them are fixed, gives you much increased confidence. That confidence will be the key for you to open more doors to success. Ya know what I do almost every day? I wash. Personal hygiene is part of the package with me. Jim Carrey UNQUOTE Hill devotes a considerable amount of page space to something I’ve only vaguely ever thought about - the art of SHAKING HANDS. He believed that it forms an important part of our personality and points out that, like so many other things outlined here, it is an art which can be cultivated. Every trait which goes into your personality, he explains, is under your control and you can improve it so it will be whatever you want it to be.   Helen Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Touch to her was a truly vital sense. She said – “The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so empty of joy, that when I clasped their frosty finger-tips, it seemed as if I were shaking hands with a northeast storm. Others there are whose hands have sunbeams in them, so that their grasp warms my heart. It may be only the clinging touch of a child's hand; but there is as much potential sunshine in it for me as there is in a loving glance for others. A hearty handshake or a friendly letter gives me genuine pleasure.” I have occasionally shaken someone’s hand only to feel it collapse under my light but firm grip. I describe such handshakes as fish-fingers which amuses me greatly but I admit it leaves me with a feeling of discomfort with the person who’s squishy fish finger hand I have just shaken. Hill explains his feelings on this one as follows, “ If there is anything which leaves me flat and unfavourably impressed when I'm introduced it's an extended hand which feels like a piece of cold ham”. There’s also the hand crusher, the person that catches you unexpectedly in an iron like grip that breaks bones. I looked this up on google. Littlethings.com says The Crusher is a handshake that is all about power and aggression.   Shaking hands is a lost art of prosperity which is surely worth a little of our twenty-first-century consideration. Napoleon Hill says, in general, that you should make your handshake firm and vibrant and that if you merely permit the other person to shake your limp, cold, lifeless hand, you are displaying what constitutes a negative personality. And I’m very well aware that today’s society would encourage us to dismiss all this other stuff because it’s what’s inside that counts, OUR CHARACTER, but we would be remiss to not consider the outer elements through which others will perceive and judge us as this is, after all, a series of lectures about SUCCESS. What’s inside is not the only thing that counts. It just counts more than anything else…   And so again Hill gives examples in this chapter of how external appearances, manners, a firm handshake or a gentle and mesmerizing voice when presented by salespeople have won him over and how if these salespeople with pleasing personalities were to visit him again he would happily sit down and listen for three-quarters of an hour enjoying their company. I’ve certainly experienced this myself. He gives examples so that we can learn from them and cultivate our own personality traits. This is something which he covers too in Lesson 7 Enthusiasm. We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves to be perfect, we should die. Albert Camus UNQUOTE I’ll post a youtube link in the show notes to show a great example of personality in sales so go check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuA6hvDjg0&t=44s   Hill warns that cheap flattery has just the opposite effect. It repels instead of attracting. Analyze anone, he says, WHO DOES NOT HAVE A PLEASING PERSONALITY and you will find lacking in the faculties of Imagination and co-operation.   This lesson emphasizes at length the importance of making it your business to take a keen interest in other people and their work, to cultivate and work on your personality, and to be aware of your outward appearance. This is simply not something that is discussed these days, other than perhaps a mother nagging a child about looking smart, but I find it all quite intriguing as if we can consider it when others do not, it will give us the edge we may need to achieve success.   This year, for the first time ever, I had shirts and hoodies made up with fightdirector.com and Get Carter on them. I used to joke about having to prove myself on film sets on which I don’t know many people, that I should maybe have my CV printed on my T Shirt or a picture of me holding our Cineworld Audience Award at the BAFTAS, as some people try to sideline you as soon as meet you as they go through life offering up little or no respect to others. I’ve noticed now that things have changed. People ask me for my number far more often and proving myself to be competent when meeting new crews seems no longer to be a problem. It’s a fascinating subject this, and that’s why I’m giving it a bit more time.   Hill, himself, commits considerable time to character building through rigid self-discipline, self-control and autosuggestion. He provides a formula for character building and lists the factors that make a good personality. Here are just a few. · Your mental attitude is the most important trait of your personality. This is a trait with which you attract people to you and cause them to like you or repel them and cause them to dislike you. This is something Hill went into earlier on in the Enthusiasm lesson and which permeates the whole book. · The next most important trait of your personality consists of your flexibility of your mental attitude or your lack of it. If you have flexibility you adjust yourself to all the circumstances without losing your composure or allowing yourself to become irritable or angry. This is one I find easier to adopt the older I get. It’s a difficult skill to master though and I am still a novice. Hill explains here that you cannot control the actions of other people which might justify you becoming irritated by them but YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR REACTION to all such circumstances by exercising your trait of flexibility. · The third most important trait of a pleasing personality is the ability to control and direct your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is one of the means by which you can give force to your words but you must be able to turn it on or off at will as definitely as you can turn on and off the water at the tap. Uncontrolled enthusiasm often makes people boresome. It also allows others to enter and influence you in ways you do not wish to be influenced. That’s an interesting observation – tagged in almost as a throwaway. Don’t get carried away by your enthusiasm and find yourself committed to another’s purpose. Stay on Target. Remember your DEFINITE CHIEF AIM. · The fourth most important trait of a pleasing personality is SINCERITY OF PURPOSE. The person who is not sincere with others is soon detected and rejected because no one is attracted to the person who deceives others. Possibly my favourite quote of Hill’s is this “Sincerity is one quality of character which cannot be successfully faked: Not even by the most astute rascal or the most efficient actor.”   I’ll end with a list of DESTRUCTIVE HABITS which Hill explains will limit our success. · One of the most destructive habits which make one's personality objectionable is that of BREAKING IN AND RUNNING AWAY WITH THE CONVERSATION when others are speaking. · Next, SARCASM expressed by insinuations and wisecracks which are not so wise is near the head of the list of habits which you give you a negative personality · and third VANITY expressed by either words or actions is sure to make one unpopular. · Fourth, INDIFFERENCE in listening while others are speaking is sure to be noticed and resented. It is more profitable to be a good listener than it is to be a good talker because you are always apt to learn something while listening to others but never will learn anything from hearing yourself. · Five. The attempt to FLATTER WHERE FLATTERY IS OBVIOUSLY NOT DESERVED will bring quick resentment from others and if they are wise that the flatterer wants something they will ensure perhaps you should not get it. · Six. The habit of FINDING FAULT WITH THE WORLD AT LARGE AND PEOPLE IN GENERAL is never very popular habit and it is no part of a pleasing personality. It is far better to direct conversation to the circumstances and things which are right than to complain of those which one believes to be wrong. · Seven. One of the very worst habits is that of OPENLY AND DIRECTLY CHALLENGING THOSE WITH WHOM ONE MAY NOT AGREE, where there is no obvious reason for doing so, except the desire to be on the opposite side. Oh I know a few people that just can’t resist an argument and it’s something on which today’s internet fed populace just thrives. For me it just feels like a waste of mental energy. Energy that can be placed elsewhere - into more positive action. · …and Eight. The habit of VOLUNTEERING UNSOLICITED ADVICE to others who have not requested it can make one an intolerable bore. Free advice usually is considered to be worth just what it costs - which is nothing but the patience with which to listen to it · …and Nine THE HABIT OF SPEAKING OF ONE'S PHYSICAL AILMENTS and personal problems may be tolerated by others but this habit will never make one welcome or pleasing. · Ten. The habit of ENDEAVORING TO CONVEY AN IMPRESSION OF SUPERIORITY through the use of words and topics unfamiliar to others is a sure fire destroyer of popularity. · 11 ENVY OF THOSE WHO ARE SUCCESSFUL is a trait which destroys a pleasing personality. The truly great men and women have all been known to be generous, sympathetic and joyous in connection with the good fortunes of others. · Twelve. SLOVENLINESS - in body posture and in clothing never attract but always repels others. Carelessness in body courage and posture is immediately traceable to a negative mental attitude. OK, I must move on, but I’ll end with this. Hill says that before you can make full use of the MASTER KEY TO SUCCESS you will need to make your personality pleasing. This will require courage on your part and honesty with yourself. A PLEASING PERSONALITY STANDS NEAR THE HEAD OF THE LIST OF ASSETS WHICH WILL MAKE ONE TRULY RICH. WHATEVER THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE. Accuracy builds credibility. Jim Rohn UNQUOTE LESSON 11 - ACCURATE THOUGHT: In this lesson we learn to sort "facts" from "information", and use AUTO-SUGGESTION in conjunction with FOCUSED THOUGHT. In a gun fight... Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. You need to take your time in a hurry. Wyatt Earp UNQUOTE Hill straight off the bat warns us that unless you study this lesson with an open mind, you will miss the very key-stone to the arch of this course, and without this stone, you can never complete your Temple of Success. I’d add too that without accurate thought you’re going nowhere.   This is not WOOLY THOUGHT or BELIEF IN YOUR OWN HYPE or GULLIBLE THOUGHT. It’s ACCURATE THOUGHT and it involves two fundamentals which all who indulge in it must observe. · First, to think accurately you must separate facts from mere information. There is much "information" available to you that is not based upon facts. Don’t believe everything you hear on the internet, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, UNQUOTE · Second, you must separate facts into two classes; the IMPORTANT and the UNIMPORTANT, or, the RELEVANT and the IRRELEVANT. Only by so doing can you think clearly. So… · All facts which will aid you to any extent whatsoever in the attainment of your definite chief aim are important and relevant; · All that you cannot use are unimportant and irrelevant. I’ve covered PRIORITISING before many times with things like the focus funnel and the Eisenhower matrix so this shouldn’t be anything new to the regular listener. Focusing on the stuff that really matters is encapsulated very well in that quote of Peter Drucker who says “It is fundamentally the confusion between effectiveness and efficiency that stands between doing the right things and doing things right. There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency that which should not be done at all.” I have given this quote before as it’s a terrific pointer in the world of productivity.   The phrase WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER possibly originates here in The Law Of Success where Hill writes in regard to successful people that “Far from working harder than you, they are perhaps working less and with greater ease by virtue of their having learned the secret of separating the important facts from the unimportant”   Hill goes on to talk about other factors in ACCURATE THINKING as he talks about idle gossip and believing what one reads in the papers. This is so true about today’s world of FAKE NEWS and INTERNET FACTS that it could have been written this morning. He warns us too to accept that loose unsound opinions van be mistaken for accurate thinking but that most opinions are without value because they are based on bias, prejudice, intolerance, guesswork, hearsay evidence and out-and-out ignorance.   He goes on “the ACCURATE THINKER will not accept as such all that he sees and hears for the reason that it constitutes the rocks and reefs on which so many people flounder and go down to defeat in a bottomless ocean of false conclusions.”   Hill who trained as a lawyer talks of A principle called “the law of evidence; the object of this law is to get at the facts. Any judge can proceed with justice to all concerned if they have the facts upon which to base their judgment, but they may play havoc with innocent people if they circumvent the law of evidence and reach a conclusion or judgment that is based upon hearsay information.”   Hill points out that “The more successful a person is the less they are inclined to express wild unjustified opinions about anything – He warns us that often people he refers to as DRIFTERS or FAILURES have an assortment of opinions on about everything you can imagine”   In Hill’s 1954 address he gives us a simple rule to help us avoid being misled by unsound opinions expressed by other people. When you hear someone make a statement which your reason cannot accept or which you question or should for safety sake question for any reason whatsoever, ask this simple forward question. HOW DO YOU KNOW? Stand firm on that question and either force the speaker to identify the source from which he got the information he is endeavouring to pass on as facts or reject the statement entirely as if it had not been made. Do this no matter who is speaking or what may be his reputation for truth and veracity. Accuracy is twin brother to honesty, and inaccuracy to dishonesty. Nathaniel Hawthorne UNQUOTE Hill warns us too that “…it is true that most thinking of today, far from being accurate, is based upon the sole foundation of expediency. It is amazing how many people there are who are "honest" when it is profitable to them, but find myriads of facts to justify themselves in following a dishonest course when that course seems to be more profitable or advantageous.” An example of this may be the directors of companies that give themselves massive bonuses just before their companies collapse, leaving their former employees crying in the streets. Some, usually fair people, will simply lie through their teeth if it is advantageous to them to do so. Thomas Jefferson reminds us all “Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” So remember that the accurate thinker deals with facts, regardless of how they affect his own interests, for he knows that ultimately this policy will bring him out on top, in full possession of the object of his definite chief aim in life.   Other points of interest within this lesson include: · If one man slanders another, his remarks should be accepted, if of any weight at all, with at least a grain of the proverbial salt of caution; for it is a common human tendency for men to find nothing but evil in those whom they do not like. · The moment a man or a woman begins to assume leadership in any walk of life, the slanderers begin to circulate "rumors" and subtle whisperings reflecting upon his or her character. The slanderers killed both Harding and Wilson, he says - murdered them with vicious lies. They did the same to Lincoln, only in a somewhat more spectacular manner, by inciting a fanatic to hasten his death with a bullet. This was written 90 odd years ago remember… Could have been written yesterday. · Here again and throughout the book, Hill goes into a long section about auto suggestion, which I briefly touched upon before. It’s a valuable thing. It uses what we know perhaps as VISUALISATION and AFFIRMATIONS to move us towards our DEFINITE CHIEF AIM. As a reminder - Write out a clear, concise statement of that which you intend to accomplish, as your definite chief aim, covering a period of, let us say, the next five years. Make at least two copies of your statement, one to be placed where you can read it several times a day, while you are at work, and the other to be placed in the room where you sleep, where it can be read several times each evening before you go to sleep and just after you arise in the morning. This is how Hill introduced us to the power of auto-suggestion on our own minds at the start of the book. · As an accurate thinker, it is both your privilege and your duty to avail yourself of facts, even though you must go out of your way to get them. If you permit yourself to be swayed to and fro by all manner of information that comes to your attention, you will never become an accurate thinker; AND IF YOU DO NOT THINK ACCURATELY, YOU CANNOT be sure of attaining your DEFINITE CHIEF AIM in life. Finally, I believe that this quote sums up much of the lesson in one sentence – let it guide you "I do not believe I can afford to deceive others - I know I cannot afford to deceive myself!" This must be the motto of the accurate thinker. Don't believe the hype. Wyclef Jean UNQUOTE WHATEVER THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE “One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” Tony Robbins UNQUOTE LESSON 12 - CONCENTRATION: Learn to fix your attention on a given subject, at will, for whatever length of time you choose, and you will have learned the secret passage-way to power and plenty! THIS IS CONCENTRATION!   The dictionary defines concentration as “the action or power of focusing all one's attention.” but Hill takes this much further and attributes CONCENTRATION to be what he calls THE MAGIC KEY OF SUCCESS. “Concentration, in the sense in which it is used here, means the ability, through fixed habit and practice, to keep your mind on one subject until you have thoroughly familiarized yourself with and mastered it. It means the ability to control your attention and focus it on a given problem until you have solved it.”   Hill devotes a considerable amount of time in this lesson to environment, to habits, and to memory. I won’t go into all of this but it’s an interesting reading nonetheless. I’d just say on the topic of environment though that when my office or home is untidy, it is usually representative of the state of my mind. Getting on top of housework or office tasks, in the sense of cleaning up your environment, will, in the end, make you more productive. You can't break a bad habit by throwing it out the window. You've got to walk it slowly down the stairs. Mark Twain UNQUOTE Defined another way, Hill’s CONCENTRATION is the ability to THROW OFF THE EFFECTS OF BAD HABITS, and the POWER TO BUILD NEW HABITS THAT ARE MORE TO YOUR LIKING. It means COMPLETE SELF-MASTERY. · The ability to think as you wish to think; · The ability to control your thoughts and direct them to a definite end; · And the ability to organize your knowledge into a plan of action that is sound and workable. As a productivity podcaster this is a virtual snapshot of probably about 40 or 50% of all of the advice that’s out there about getting things done.   For Napoleon Hill “DESIRE” is the starting point of all achievement and he states that AMBITION and DESIRE are the chief factors which enter into the act of successful concentration. Without them, he says, the Magic Key, or CONCENTRATION, is useless.   And he says we must not underestimate the power of CONCENTRATION just because it did not come clothed in mysticism or because it is described in simple language. All great truths are simple in final analysis, and easily understood; if they are not they are not great truths.   Use this Magic Key with intelligence, and only for the attainment of worthy ends, and it will bring you enduring happiness and success. Forget the mistakes you have made and the failures you have experienced. Quit living in the past, for do you not know that your yesterdays never return? Start all over again, if your previous efforts have not turned out well, and make your next five or ten years tell a story of success that will satisfy your most lofty ambitions. Make a name for yourself and render the world a great service, through AMBITION, DESIRE and CONCENTRATED EFFORT!   You can do it if you BELIEVE you can!   Most people lack ambition, and desire nothing in particular, but if your DESIRE is strong and YOUR AMBITION within reason the MAGIC KEY OF CONCENTRATION will help you attain it.   No unbeliever, Hill warns us though, ever enjoyed the benefits of the Magic Key.   Summing Up   So I’ve covered a lot of ground today and it’s but a drop in the ocean of the content of the book. Let me recap though.   · LESSON 10 – A PLEASING PERSONALITY: His advice is have one, and if you don’t have one, cultivate one. Mediocrity does not care if you are pleasant or not. Success does. · LESSON 11 - ACCURATE THOUGHT: Separate facts from mere information. There is much "information" available to you that is not based upon facts. Then separate facts into two classes; the IMPORTANT and the UNIMPORTANT, or, the RELEVANT and the IRRELEVANT. All facts which will aid you to any extent whatsoever in the attainment of your definite chief aim are important and relevant; All that you cannot use are unimportant and irrelevant. · LESSON 12 - CONCENTRATION: "Concentration is the act of focusing the mind upon a given desire until the ways and means for its realization have been worked out and successfully put into operation"   Call To Action   The easiest person to deceive is one's self. Edward Bulwer-Lytton UNQUOTE One of the many important points I covered today was about accurate thought - Don’t get bogged down in your own hype and don’t deceive yourself. If you have been failing to achieve success in something, I want you to answer this question. Why? Once you know this, you have a chance at solving the problem. That’s today’s call to action.   Ending   The next episode will be the penultimate in this series within series 3 about the LAW OF SUCCESS. I hope you’ll join me for more mind expanding lessons from Napoleon Hill’s incredible book. In the show notes this week I’m going to make available for download the audio from a film that Mr Hill made in 1954 – I’m not sure how though, but it will be there. If I can figure out the legalities of it I’ll make it available as part of the podcast too. By 1954 Hill had refined his laws of success quite considerably and it’s an interesting listen.   Lastly I’d like to thank James at Shug The Dug Productions for sponsoring the last two shows. It is very much appreciated.   It’s been another long one so let’s end now with a final thought from the late Stephen Keshi: People don't have to believe in you for you to succeed. Just work hard, and when you succeed, THEY WILL BELIEVE. Now - take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’, join me next time on Film Pro Productivity.   • The music you can hear right now is Adventures by A Himitsu • You can view the show notes for this episode on the official website filmproproductivity.com • You can follow my personal account on Twitter and Instagram @fight_director or follow the show on Twitter @filmproprodpod or on Facebook @Filmproproductivity • Please support the show by subscribing, spreading the word and leaving an AWESOME review.   References: https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Law-of-Success-by-Napoleon-Hill-A-Quick-Overview   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuA6hvDjg0&t=44s https://www.littlethings.com/what-your-handshake-says-about-you/4 https://genius.com/Wyclef-jean-killer-mc-interlude-lyrics Thanks: A Himitsu Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsuCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsuhttps://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A

In order to live out your purpose you must first answer the question, what’s your WHY? Once you have answered that question then you can start to plot plan and strategize on how you’re going to carry out your purpose for the rest of your life. If you’re just chasing anything then it’s going to be difficult to achieve your goal. Figure out your why so you know why you’re going through all the blood sweat and tears for.

    The Journey of Entrepreneurship People often ask me if I studied writing or marketing in college. They assume that's where I learned how to do what I do today.  And while I did learn some valuable lessons in school and I'm grateful for those experiences. There was really only one class that directly taught me the skills that I could use and still use today in entrepreneurship, it was called The Foundry.  I want to share with you the lessons I learned from The Foundry today.     The Foundry - Creating an Entrepreneur  In some respects, The Foundry was a business incubator but there were not venture capitalist Shark Tankers with funding to share or startup gurus sharing their secrets to new entrepreneur apprentices. The goal was not to create a successful business it was to create an entrepreneur.    We celebrated failures as much as successes and we recognized failure as an integral part of building a business and building a good entrepreneur. If you weren't failing you probably weren't doing it right. You see I believe and continue to believe that you can't teach entrepreneurship like you can teach mathematics, spelling, or many basic classroom lessons. I believe the best way to learn entrepreneurship is on the front lines and alongside a community of other entrepreneurs who are on the front lines learning with you.    If you commit to lifting up a community, sharing what you learn, and helping others solve the problems that everyone brings to the table, then everyone can learn, prosper, and grow together.    The Foundry was a place for people who wanted to start a business, become entrepreneurs and support each other on their journey.   Teaching Entrepreneurship Each Monday morning I met with a group of 20 students, a handful of professors, alumni of the program and some members of the entrepreneurship community. And each week I would come away with new lessons and motivation to work hard on my own projects.    Instead of traditional lessons or homework we would set our own plans and goals for how to best grow our business in the grand scheme of things week by week. While it was far from a normal class it taught me and allowed me to teach myself some of the most foundational lessons that has defined me as an entrepreneur.    Today, I'm going to share some of those lessons with you.   Integral Lessons on Becoming an Entrepreneur  Lesson number one, live life deliberately.  One of the most challenging lessons of The Foundry is also one of the simplest, know what you want and make progress towards it.    At the start of the program we would fill out something called the MOKR which is an acronym that stands for Mission, Objectives, and Key Results. You create a mission and purpose for the next semester, not a business mission statement but a mission for how you want to use this semester and what do you want to see at the end of the semester.    Then you get clear on a couple of objectives or goals you want to achieve to advance that mission. Finally, you list the key results relating to each of those objectives and you need to be able to check those off to know that you have completed the objective.   Sounds simple enough but most people aren't in the habit of getting so clear on their goals or what they want in their life or their business. Sure we talk about things we want, we even think about things we want quite a lot, but rarely do we write it down and break it into a clear plan that is achievable and actionable.    The Process of Creating Actionable and Measurable Goals for Your Business In The Foundry a student would start by saying, "I want to test this idea for a business." To support each other as a community we would challenge each other to get clearer on our goals until they were measurable and falsifiable.    "How many potential customers would you need to speak to to test your service or how much revenue would you need to make to know if this was a successful test? How are you going to create your test? Who are you going to speak to?".   Digging deeper to clarify that goal and making it one where you can measure your progress helped refine and crystallize your idea.    That old statement, "I want to test this idea for a service business," can transform into something clearer like, "I have an idea for a service I want to create." I'll put together a test offering and I will cold call 10 potential clients each week for a month.    If I can get 15 clients in that first month then I'll know I'll have a workable business.   What Does a Clear Goal Look Like? This isn't just useful for business goals, making statements like, "I want to get in shape," becomes, "I want to be able to bench press my own body weight so I'm going to go to the gym three times a week for the next three months while measuring my bench press weight at the end of each month to know my progress."    When you have this level of clarity on your goals and what you want to achieve in your business then you'll be surprised at everything that you can accomplish.   The process of deciding what the most important things for you to do each week and every day it's one of the most empowering practices that you have. It changes how you feel when you wake up in the morning and it gives you a greater sense of purpose.    You value your time more and you feel more in control of your life. Over time, day after day, week after week, you collect a growing list of proof that you can control your life. Make your own choices. And that you are making progress towards those goals.  We often underestimate what's possible to achieve in a year and only by taking consistent and deliberate action can we find out what we really can do with that time.   Lesson number two, transparency is your friend.  Transparency is not only useful for sharing our experience with others but as a tool for self-reflection.    A game we play in The Foundry is pushing our peers to set higher expectations on themselves. If we say we're going to do something, we go big on what we set out to achieve and have a playful and curious attitude when failing to achieve them.    The Management Report - Understanding the Why Once we had our big goals written down and planned out we would meet once a week to share the progress, the plans, and the problems we were facing in achieving those goals.    We would write all of this in a simple one sheet document called the management report. We'd also include a little on our reasoning on why we made these plans or why this is a problem. This gives us a chance not only to understand what happened but the why behind it.    Understanding the reasoning behind the action allows for a much deeper level of feedback from your peers.   These reports would be shared with the whole group and reviewed by the group before our weekly meetings. Everything we said we'd do and everything we actually ended up doing.    Though most rise to the challenge and thrive as a result of this game sooner or later we are confronted by the fact that we fall short on our words and our plans. Being accountable and transparent to yourself and others was motivating in this case and it was also enlightening.    A Lesson in Failures Missing one of your plans for the week or a goal was not a failure but a lesson.    Was the goal not as important as you thought? Did you overload yourself and try and do too much this week?  You see, failure happens to everyone but most people try to cover their tracks and avoid these uncomfortable realizations.   Having our work and our plans written in management reports keeps us from the denial and rationalization that people typically experience with failure. Because we are accountable to ourselves and our community we ask the difficult questions to understand why we failed and what we can do instead next time.    Confronting our shortcomings allows us to make real steps towards improving ourselves. It's a painful process but if you want to be better it's necessary. This is where the game comes in. Instead of lamenting on our failures we approach them with a playful and curious attitude.    Failures Are Valuable Tools and Important to Success We were able to examine what happened with a light heart and learn from it. Where most might turn away from their failures, the high expectations, playfulness, and transparency allow us to fail often and learn from it and make those failures valuable and powerful. There are many startups that understand the power of transparency on this level not only internally with their teams but externally.   Monthly Reporting in Action In my time working with WP Curve our monthly reports reported on many of the things I shared. Such as the progress we were making, the plans we had for the future and how our content was doing. All of these topics were some of our most popular and effective articles on our site.    Groove HQ, a customer service startup, embodies this transparency and honesty in their blog. They have used it as a tool to take their business to over 5 million a year in annual recurring revenue at the time of reading that article. Which is probably several years old by now so they're probably much bigger and they've grown by building trust with their audience.   Buffer, a social media tool has the salaries of all their employees publicly displayed on their website.    They also have lots of fun and interesting ways to share transparency as well like a Pinterest board dedicated to what the employees are reading at the moment. Doing this not only builds trust on the team, but allows the audience and the customers of Buffer to get a little bit of a peak behind the curtain at the people who are creating their projects.    Creating this personal human connection is one of the most powerful currencies that you can really develop with your audience and your followers.   Jake Jorgovan, a recent podcast guest, credited this transparency and this currency "on his personal brand" as one of the biggest drivers of customers in his business.    This level of transparency may seem uncomfortable at first but it can be a powerful tool for growth. It builds trust between you and your team. When they are clear on everything that is happening in the business. Your audience trusts you more because they know they are seeing the honest version of yourself.   Lesson number three, There is More to Entrepreneurship than a Successful Business Many businesses were created in The Foundry and business is often a central topic for our discussions but The Foundry process teaches something more subtle and profound than just working on a business or project.    It teaches a philosophy and approach that you can use to take control of your life, education, and your time. It helps you be more effective in your work but also in your relationships.    We weren't attached to specific business ideas of our participants or the success of the businesses themselves. We focused on creating better entrepreneurs. Good entrepreneurs can manage the balance of their lives and know how to cultivate their own personal health and relationships as well as their revenue.    Though many students wanted to create some sort of business or startup with the potential for growth others chose smaller projects based on a passion of theirs that would fit in with their busy work or school schedule.   Revenue is easy to focus on but It is Not The Only Priority It's a simple number and it's a good indicator for success but it's not the only priority. We too often get caught up in the stories of billion dollar buy outs for Instagram or overnight successes. This becomes difficult to imagine other goals.    Cassidy - A Story of Failure that Launched Success My friend Cassidy's story is an excellent example of that. Cassidy was a young snowboarder from Idaho. A skilled craftsmen and designer. He could build tiny houses, sell clothing, and design websites and graphics but he was also quite shy and unsure of himself.    The first day of The Foundry, Cassidy found himself in a room of 30 people. He was so paralyzed with shyness that he did not introduce himself to anyone in that first meeting.   He joined The Foundry to build a print shop with his girlfriend. They set up their large printer and supplies in a coworking space where The Foundry met. His girlfriend handled the marketing and sales while he did the fulfillment and design.    For him the thought of speaking in front of a group or calling up a customer to close a sale terrified him. After a few months, he separated with his girlfriend leaving him homeless, carless, and business partnerless sleeping in the cubicle he had built in the coworking space. He had no money saved and the only choice was to return to his home or make his business work.    He slept on the floor each night underneath his desk and cooked most of his meals out of a small rice cooker. Without the help of his girlfriend, sales started to slow down and money became very, very tight.    Cassidy continued to participate in the weekly meetings of The Foundry and built relationships with the entrepreneurs that worked in the coworking space. The friends and connections he made helped him overcome his fears and recover his business and his life.   He took a job as a pedicabber, which is a mix between a bike and a taxi, to bring in extra cash during the night hustling prints by day and pedestrians by night.    With the support of the community of entrepreneurs he met through The Foundry he kept working hard despite the impossibly difficult situation he faced. He learned how to speak with his customers, close a sale, and promote his business. He also sharpened his sales skills further night by night with pedicabbing. There's not very much room for shyness when you need to convince people to hop in your pedicab and have you drive them around town.    Just barely a year later Cassidy was in front of a large group of entrepreneurs giving a presentation on his business. He was explaining his target market, how he worked with his customers, and some of the challenges he faced.    Totally transformed from how he was a year earlier he was energetic, enthusiastic, and charismatic.   Shortly after Cassidy found an apartment he could afford with the new earnings from his business and within a year of joining The Foundry, Cassidy had reinvented himself.    But the best part of his story was just beginning because Cassidy wanted to travel and inspire others to follow their dreams through photography. He had ambitions to bike through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Hauling people on a pedicab night by night had strengthened him physically for the challenge. The months spent living in a cubicle taught him to live simply and he was quickly able to save for his journey.    Using the sales skills he developed with his print business he found sponsors and began to build interest in his new project. This evolved into a two year bike trip around New Zealand practicing photography, taking design jobs online and odd jobs on the road to continue to finance his adventures.    He found the confidence and skills to control the direction of his life, follow his passions and his dream. He learned to be open to the kindness, coaching, and the feedback of others. While having the courage to put himself in uncertain and risky situations. Far from being a seven figure business or $1 billion exit Cassidy found his own definition of entrepreneurship and Cassidy discovered what he loved to do and found his own way to do it.   And those are the three lessons that The Foundry taught me.  You don't have to attend a university or be accepted into a fancy business accelerator to experience the benefits that I described in the foundry. You can build your own foundry by creating a community of peers, getting everybody clear on their goals and what they want to achieve. Then holding each other accountable week by week to make measurable progress towards those goals. Encouraging creativity and curiousness and growing from failure.   And those are my lessons from The Foundry and why I believe you can't teach entrepreneurship. Thank you so much for listening and if you enjoyed this episode or the other interviews on this show please leave us a review on iTunes.    Thank you so much, Kyle   Thanks for listening to the Story Engine Podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes and resources mentioned on this episode and every other episode at thestoryengine.co. If you're looking to learn more about how to use storytelling to grow your business, then check out my new book, Selling With Story: How to Use Storytelling to Become an Authority, Boost Sales, and Win the Hearts and Minds of Your Audience. This book will equip you with actionable strategies and templates to help you share your unique value and build trust in presentations, sales, and conversations, both online and offline. Learn more at sellingwithstory.co. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about entrepreneurship and business: they are one of the best ways to make a real difference in the world.In my own entrepreneurial journey, I started without a business bone in my body…and went on to help other people discover their own entrepreneurial paths to success.The way that teaching and business go hand in hand is EVERYTHING to me! Especially when it comes to developing a business mindset.The mindset you use to grow your business also positively affects every other aspect of your life as a side-effect. Why? Once you develop it – you’ll see it impacts everything!My guest on the Dream Cast today is Joe Trodden: a business mindset expert who helps entrepreneurs to scale their businesses and grow themselves to a higher level of achievement.If you know you need a better mindset but aren’t sure how to start, listen to learn:• The mindset blockers entrepreneurs face and how to confront your fears head-on• The key to developing self-awareness and building deep relationships• How to make your own decisions from a place of authenticity as a solo entrepreneurSome amazingly valuable nuggets in here for anyone who wants success in business! Listen now!Support the show (http://paypal.me/bwalsh)

This is one of the greatest skills I've ever learned. An incredible teacher taught this to me in college, and I taught everyone else at OfferMind...   One of the secret weapons I have in my arsenal of marketing skills (and life in general) is design thinking   Design thinking is one of the reasons why I'm able to step into the darkness without seeing the whole path in front of me.   I was taught design thinking when I was in college, and it’s one of the MOST valuable things I've ever been taught in my life.   When I shared the design thinking process at OfferMind, I got some amazing responses.   You can watch the whole process here, but if you’d rather keep reading, then carry on… WHY DESIGN THINKING?   The process was invented by a company called IDEO. If you don't know who IDEO are, they’re the company who invented the mouse for Steve Jobs’ first version of the personal computer.   IDEO are the reason why your toothbrush is shaped the way it is. In fact, many of the things we use daily have actually been designed by IDEO.   IDEO has mastered the process of creativity. They’ve manufactured process that produces innovation almost on demand. You’re gonna have to get your playful zone on to make the most of what I’m about to share with you, but just know that if you're boring as a person, your offers will be too.   I'm straight up telling you. If you suck to be around, no one's gonna wanna be in your tribe. If you have a Debbie Downer kind of mentality you're gonna be terrible at this process.   Those who are creative are typically more playful individuals.   It’s time to get back into your kindergarten brain and the enter the fun zone of your noggin if you want to get the MOST out of this process…   Almost everything I've created has been produced following this design thinking process.   When I was in college, I had a FANTASTIC professor who became one of my first ‘one on one’ mentors. He was the CMO of Denny's and Pizza Hut. He invented stuffed crust pizza. Yep, he's the man.   I used to hang out in his office after classes and just fire questions at him.   MY FAVORITE SEMESTER   There was one semester where our entire focus was to launch a business from scratch and make as much money as we could on our own.   Instead of being like, “Hey, do this and this and this and this…” they literally just threw us out the back door and said, “Build the parachute!” We were like, “Oh, Crap!”   We were together in different teams of about 15 and took us on a retreat to bond and brainstorm.   I got put in the food business. I was like, “Oh my gosh, I hate cooking.”   Each team spent several days up in the mountains talking about ideas, and trying to decide:   What should we sell?   Who do we need to serve?   What should we put together?   What would they want?   I don't know if you noticed, but I'm a little bit loud, and so I got voted CEO of the company. I was like, “Great…”   We  decided to sell empanadas (I didn’t even know what they were at the time)   We had one class each day, and the rest of the time we were just supposed to make money.   THE TEACHER WENT CRAZY...   One day we walked into class to find all the tables piled with toys. There were Lincoln Logs, Lego, bouncy balls, and Play Dough all over the place. I mean literally, just tons of toys all over the table...   We just stood there look at the just looking the teacher standing there with a whiteboard, a squirt gun, and all this random crap all over the room, and thought, “What the heck is going on? He's lost his marbles, right?”   Then teacher looks at us and says: “I'm gonna teach you how to think.”   He said, “I want you to brainstorm different ideas. Let's talk about what you're gonna call your company?” Then he sat down, and kinda hid away at the back of the room.   One by one each of us got up and started writing down our ideas on the whiteboard...   We came up with all these crazy names and it was really funny. Someone would stand up and write something on the board, and we'd be like, “Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.”   Then one time, after someone had written an idea on the board, a student in the corner of the room made a kinda disapproving sigh...     Quick as a flash, the teacher jumps up takes out a squirt bottle, shouts, "BAD KITTY!"   ...and started shooting the student in the face with water.   We're like, “Who is this guy? Are you serious?”  We were all afraid to “He's become unhinged, man!”   But we kept going, and eventually, we noticed that every time someone had any negative reaction to an idea, he would shoot them in the face with water and yell, “BAD KITTY!” HOW TO THINK   RULE #1: You cannot be creative and serious at the same time. Half the reason I mess about is that I'm trying to stay in the creative zone.   If you’re playful it’s way easier to be more creative. Most ideas aren’t gonna come to somebody who’s NOT playful.   If you're kind of a stiff,  this is not gonna be that effective. I'm just telling you, straight up. Some Papa Larsen love coming out here..   If you're boring your offer will be too   Just telling you... Okay?   Being an attractive character is a learnable trait, so that's the saving grace. RULE #2: Get moving  - I have a freaking trampoline and a balance board and I try to stay physically moving and active.   I guarantee that your change the world ideas are NOT gonna happen while you're sitting behind a desk. Get up!   When I need some sweet ideas. I put headphones on and jump on my the trampoline. or use my balance board with some Vitamin C in my veins. Then it’s like, *DING* “That would be sick. Yeah, that would be cool.” And then I go and test it.   RULE #3: You don’t have a lot of creative power on your own. It’s always amplified by doing it with one other person at least. Another time we walked into class and there was construction paper, scissors, pens, Crayola crayons, popsicle sticks, and glue all over the place...   We had to come up with an idea and then make a prototype of it. Then we had to walk to another human being and hand it to them... and if we looked at the prototype instead of the other person: “BAD KITTY!” MY PRODUCTS SUCK!   When you hand off your prototype to somebody you need to look into their eyes, so whatever reaction they have you can ask:     Why did you do that?     You think it’s crappy! Tell me why?”   Then you go back to the drawing board and make another prototype and based on that feedback, and rinse and repeat!go put it in front of more people.   Stop falling in love with your product. Hand it off to somebody and just get a reaction.   In only three weeks, our Empanada business ended up doing $3000 a week selling to poor college students. They created the entire business with us.   We’d go in with an idea, watch the reaction and say, “Why’d you do that?” Give me a reason.”  We’d deep dive until we started getting good at asking questions that caused amazing feedback.   Then we'd go back to the drawing board, and go through the same cycle again and again...   My offer creation is the exact same process. If you think I've developed these cool formulas that make my products great from the get-go. *WRONG*   I plan on failing at the gates. My product is gonna suck. ITERATION STATION   Get your prototype out of the gate as fast as you can, show it to people and watch there response. ASK QUESTIONS. Stop harboring your product like it's your baby.   It was the exact same with the Secrets Masterclass. When Secrets Masterclass was created, I went through and created different pieces and put it out base on my perceptions. Then I start getting in the weeds with the customer.   Everything in the bonus section in the bottom bonus section in Secrets Masterclass was created post-launch to fill the holes.   I call this Iteration Station, baby, woo!   When I enter Iteration Station it means that I'm in a test phase. It’s a no judgment phase. Stephen R Covey says:     This is huge! It’s a big piece of the puzzle. PREPARE TO FAIL When it comes to your core offer and offer creation itself, you’ve got to be willing to fail a ton of times as the market guides you, it's NOT gonna happen otherwise.   I've noticed that people’s identity gets hung up with:   What happens if I launch and I fail?   What happens here…?   It's all based on fears that are completely made up and haven't even happened yet.   You need to keep Iterating. Iteration is part of the process of innovation.   Design Thinking 101   This is the design thinking process as systematized by IDEO: STEP #1:  Empathize.   “What are the things that you need to understand about the red ocean before you can actually make it blue?”   You’re looking for signs to make sure that it’s even a good ocean to go into? Should you run? Should you go the other way?   You’re trying to empathize with the customer. You need to feel what they feel.   “Oh man, you're using that red ocean vehicle, I'm so sorry for you. That ocean sucks.”   They're like, “I know, I've been using this product and it's garbage.” Then you ask: “Why?”   Once you have the answers you can go in and start to design something awesome.   STEP #2: Define.   Next, you need to take all that data to fill in the gaps and design the framework. Once the framework is filled out, this next piece is super fun…   THE DESIGN CYCLESTEP #3: Ideate   STEP #4: Prototype   STEP #5: Test   These three are stages that you cycle through forever. Don't fall in love with the product.   Ideate = You have an idea of what offer you’re gonna produce.   Prototype  = You get ready for a test launch.   Their opinion doesn't matter, their wallet’s does.   Test = You actually try to sell your prototype to a potential customer. You don’t ask, “Hey, do you like it?” Then you ask, “Oh, what didn't you like about that?”   I've noticed that after three or four iterations... if you really do the process, you’ll have an offer that out values everything. This is the BIG process laid out: Empathize - First understand.   Data - Gather and start plugging it in.   Ideate - Come up with ideas   Prototype - Make a beta version... it's cool to call it beta, that's a good way to save pride if you want: “Oh yeah, it's in beta. I hate it too”  You're like, “Crap, it's supposed to be my thing.”   Test - Put it in front of customers; that's the last part.   You're going: Ideate, prototype, test, over and over again.   Remember it's NOT about being a creative genius, it's about being a detective.   If can walk in front of somebody and ask, “Tell me what you like or don't like? If it sucks or if it's amazing?”  If you look in their eyes... Man, you guys are gonna be great funnel builders. You're gonna make a lot of money.   Too many of you are like, “Oh it's my baby, I don't wanna put my product out there.” Yeah, that's why you're making money. You have to be prepared to fail.   Eventually, the market will guide you into discovering the core offer. HOW RUSSELL BUILDS FUNNELSWhen I built funnels with Russell, we fully expected that it wasn’t gonna be that amazing during round one.   Lots of funnels failed straight out of the gate.   If you saw the Experts Secrets book launch, we started that funnel two days before the launch. Woo! That was extremely stressful. I don't think I've had that much caffeine in such a short amount of time.   The Harmon brothers had this cabin where Russell, John, I and a few others went to help write the first script for the viral video. We were hanging out with these writers, and they're using this exact same process.   They’d come up to us and say, “We've got a script for you.” They'd read it out to us and we’d give feedback about any holes, and then they'd leave for four hours. Then they'd come back and read it again. Back forth, back forth, back forth, back forth.   This is the process of innovation.   During the Expert Secrets launch, we were still in the cabin. The writers were iterating, and so were we.   We looked at the stats for Expert Secrets Launch and saw that, for some reason, upsell number two, OT02 wasn’t working well.   So in the middle of the launch, at 1 AM (we tried to wait until there weren’t many people awake) ...Jamie Smith and I were busy changing the live funnel with all this traffic hitting it.   Then BOOM! One iteration hit and it brought the average cart value up a whole bunch.   You gotta understand that this is what Russell's doing with his team at ClickFunnels. We create all our stuff with the total expectation of failure.   You use the customer to help you innovate.   BAD KITTY COMES TO OFFERMIND   During OfferMInd , I used the same process I learned at college to teach design thinking.   STAGE #1: I split people into teams and gave them twenty minutes to design a prototype. These are some of the responses I got:   - Teamwork work helps.   - Craziness is creativity.   - Ask questions, lots of them.   It's about asking tons of questions back and forth, but using the market to do to help frees the Entrepreneur’s mental shelf space and give you room to think.   This is the process that actually causes creativity.   STAGE #2:  Hand the prototype to a person in another team while looking into their eyes to gauge feedback. DO NOT, for the love of it, fall in love with your prototype.   Ask questions, and have someone write down everything. If they...   Hate this   Love that   ...write those things down. This is the best market research you'll ever do in your life, it's amazing.   Did anyone feel how easy that was to gather information that way? Audience Member: It's amazing how people see something completely opposite of what we thought.  Like, “Whoa, we saw this as good. No that's bad cause of this.”   Steve: Isn't that crazy? It speeds up how cool something is, like how fast you can actually make it. Cool, thanks so much.   Audience Member: One thing that I thought was really great was when we showed our prototype to people, they’d say something different about it because they thought it was something else and really that helped us improve it more.   Steve: And you only did this for freaking 20 minutes, can you imagine if you actually did it? You know what I'm saying? With the actual product? It's very fast to make cool stuff.   Audience Member - Huge lesson for me. Our group flew right to prototype and test. we spent zero time getting data. So when we went to different people there were questions we didn't know. “Well, are you gonna do this? are you gonna provide this for me?   I was like I don't know, we didn't, we talked about where the steps should go. We didn't talk about the actual meat of what we're gonna do... we just talked about how pretty the cover was.   Stephen - Which is what happens for most entrepreneurs. they are like, “Hey I'm gonna go make this sweet thing, it's gonna be really awesome, it's amazing, why is it awesome? Because it's mine.” I don't know, right? You just gotta get it out the door. Launch.     Audience Member - Share all your craziest ideas with people because you might not be that crazy.   Steve: Yeah, absolutely.   Audience Member - We sold multiple products.     Audience Member - A lot of overwhelm at first. And then presenting it, in even more overwhelm and fear. Because I don't think we did a very good job honestly, but then getting feedback I was surprised at how much feedback people are willing to give us openly.   They'd be like “Hey, this is kind of like, this is what I see and this is good and this is bad.”   The one thing that Alex talks about is clarity getting you out of overwhelm.   And so as soon as we got some feedback from some people,I was like “Oh.” And then we wondered, “Is there gonna be a round two? Do we get to go play with Play Dough again and redo it? Cause we could totally nail it next time.” Steve: Isn't that the fun part--   Audience Member - So having multiple people give us feedback, the creativity took a minute, it didn’t feel like we had to spark it at first, but when we brought in people, that's when the spark happened. I don't have any doubt that we would light a fire and then take off, after multiple revisions. PLAYING THE GAME   Can you see how this game starts to get played? So, just to recap real fast. What we're doing is :   Gathering data from the red ocean, getting kind of an idea of something that would be awesome.   Empathizing, understanding the who and who we want to be selling to. Who we want our customer to be.   Prototype, coming up with ideas, grabbing all that data.   Launching,  the expectation to fail takes all the pressure off the mind for the entrepreneur. You actually can go back to the creative zone when you use this process.   When people try to be the only creative one:  “I'm gonna be making it out of my own mind.”  Funny enough, they're the ones that get landlocked. Ain't that funny? It's like totally opposite of what you expect. This is one of my offers in January when I launched it, by April it had changed dramatically because of this exact same process.     I make sure that I'm not falling in love with my offer. It's broken. It will always be broken. There will always be improvements. It will never be perfect and that’s good.   ...because it means that I DON’T emotionally attach to my product, so  then it’s easy to hand it off to other people and ask: “What would you change?”   I would launch back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in the middle of the value ladder.       Do you see the star right there in that value ladder? I ALWAYS launch in the middle of the value ladder.  At the mid-price points... that's how I get it off the ground.   Boom! If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies also, right? That's also good.   But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right? That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.   So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.     Wanna come?   There are small groups on purpose so I can are answer your direct questions in person for two straight days. You can hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com. Again, that's OfferMind.com.

Welcome to Talking Chopped the new podcast by Brandon T Gorin and David Piccolomini! This is the podcast where we review episodes of the TV Show Chopped! Why? Once you ride the wave of having a chopped contestant you legally can’t stop This week we have from the Orbits podcast, Julia Schachter and Elise Edwards! … Continue reading Amped for Ramps Ft Julia Schachter and Elise Edwards Ep 53 →

The Green Bay Packers were crushed 42-24 by the Washington Redskins on Sunday night. Why? Once again, the play of the cornerback corps cost the Packers dearly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices