It had been a few years since we had last talked…
My friend “John”, who I met while promoting Jim Rohn for an event in the early 90’s, had built a highly profitable distributorship in network marketing and now had it virtually running in cruise control. In fact, his son was taking over the reins and life was good.
John had not only heard Jim multiple times over the years (and was responsible for hundreds of people attending our events) he also had the great fortune of getting to know Jim one-on-one.
Now with things going so well, John wanted to connect with me about his next big venture. He wanted to mastermind how to take his content and package it into a speaking business (speaking, training, books, CDs, etc.), something I know quite a bit about. 🙂
Then the disconnect…
All of us in business experience it; it’s when the vision of our dreams comes face-to-face with the reality of what it will take to reach our dreams.
Although loaded with great content and ideas, John has not yet done his first paid speech, written a book, created a website, built a list, created high-end training programs or launched a social media presence.
It’s the difference between playing air guitar to Stairway to Heaven and actually picking up a guitar for the first time and trying to learn to play. Or even if you’ve played for a few years and then you get around someone that has played for 10 years and is really good!
It can be eye opening! It can be a reality check! And it can be a bit discouraging!
What to do?
I can only speak from my 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business owner and someone who has extensive experience in the speaking/marketing world. So here was my advice (edited down, of course) to John.
1) Look at this venture with a 1-3-5-10 year perspective.
Every item I list above (speaking, writing, list building, consulting, etc) can be accomplished if looked at from a longer time horizon. The great guitar player had to start at zero too. The key is they got started.
The great travesty is NEVER getting started because you don’t know where to start or it seems too overwhelming.
2) Keep your day job for now.
I’m a strong believer in having a core income stream and then building your additional profit centers out from there. I’ve covered many advantages of this in a previous post. But this is more than a hedge, it’s common sense and allows you build a strong and lasting foundation over time.
3) Check your commitment level.
Any new venture requires a commitment. There is a BIG difference between a hobby and a business venture. Remember: If you treat your business like a business, it will pay you like a business. If you treat your business like a hobby, it will cost you like a hobby.
4) Get Smart!
As our mentor Jim Rohn would say, you have to get smart . Motivation with the wrong plan takes you further down the wrong road. Make sure you have a wise road map to follow.
5) Get started!
Once you press play and you have a long term perspective, your core needs are meet, you are committed and you have a roadmap then you can feel confident that every activity and effort you invest into your venture will pay dividends. Plus you will be building a long term asset.
When I think of John I know it can go either way, based on the 5 areas I list above. The bottom-line is it all gets down to him and what he decides and commits to do and then how well he executes.
3 years ago I started coaching a speaker who was doing okay. He had written a few books, kept a pretty nice speaking schedule and had a pretty good list. But today he is doing multiple 7 figures with a huge list, recently got paid a mid 6 figure book advance, gets paid a very high speaking fee, has a great team and is playing in 3 core areas of high-end training (each netting 7 figures a year). He is not the norm. But what he did do was get started, followed a plan and remained coachable even after he starting experiencing success.
I could also mention people I know (none who are clients but have inquired over the years) who 5-10 years later are still doing about what they were doing 5-10 years ago (mostly trading time for money and working very, very hard but not very smart).
It’s been a year in the planning and 90 days of pure execution in creating the Online Marketing Mentor Program , but I really felt the time was right to create a vehicle for small business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, authors and coaches could go through inexpensively.
And that is what I did (along with Tony Teegarden). It is truly a remarkable program. In fact, just in the first month of its release we have had multiple unsolicited testimonials… click here to read.
While the majority of my time is tied up with other business ventures along with about half dozen coaching clients I highly nurture, I’ve also invested the time, focus and energy to make sure people are blown away with the incredible content and customer service we provide with the Online Marketing Mentor Program.
I invite you to Get Started and Get Smarter today.
Don’t look back a year from now and ask yourself why you still haven’t taken the steps to launch your online business, build your list, learn SEO, create valuable content, learn tons more great marketing strategies and even write and publish your new book.
Today is the day! Take a look and join us!
To Your Better Future!
Kyle Wilson
P.S. I mentioned how inexpensive the Online Marketing Mentor Program truly is and how one sale of anything will basically pay for it. I must also tell you we will be raising the investment in the coming week. Get started today!
P.S.S. You can access the material for an entire year of our 6 week program, so take advantage today of the special pricing.
