Business Lunch

We’ve had the pleasure of sharing Grant Cardone and Daymond John’s biggest takeaways from this extra challenging year. Now it’s Jay Abraham’s turn to enlighten us with what he’s learned in 2020 and what he will be taking from this year into 2021.

“I lost many millions. It was heartbreaking for about a day. And then you realize nobody cares. So you might as well, you know, shift. I don’t like the word pivot because I think it’s been beaten up, but I think you have to find a new way of thinking. That’s all”. Jay Abraham.

Who is Jay Abraham?

Jay is America’s highest-paid marketing consultant. He worked with Entrepreneur Magazine and multiplied their revenue back when nobody knew what an entrepreneur was. He’s been through six or seven tough economic cycles and therefore has experience and wisdom to help all kinds of entrepreneurs. But he acknowledges, this year has been profound. 

If you want to hear more from Jay, check out the last episode we shared with him from the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic (Part 1).

Thanks so much for joining us for this podcast episode. Be sure to hit that Subscribe button on ApplePodcasts, so you never miss a thing. We usually share a snack-size show on Mondays and an interview on Wednesdays. We appreciate your support and thank you for sharing the show with your business-minded friends.

Listen For,

• How thinking bigger can lead you to a bigger market.

“There’s all these markets that you don’t think of that are not defined as the market you would normally target, but there are subsets in any market. And when you start looking at that, it opens up all kinds of business.” Jay Abraham.

Three Key Questions To Think Bigger And Identify Opportunity

1. Who has my market? 

2. How many ways can I reach the market? 

3. How can I move fixed costs to variable?

• Why Jay believes it doesn’t matter what the market is doing.

“So, I mean, in all honesty, my kind of business has always flourished in adversity. I’ve been through six, seven downturns? Nothing as profound as this. And I have been trained to see opportunity in adversity. And so I’ve been able to methodically go to people, calm them down, and show them two or three things. One, it doesn’t really matter if the market’s flat or even dropping. As long as there’s a market, there’s an opportunity.” Jay Abraham.

• The opportunity that many entrepreneurs miss when limiting their marketing to digital/online strategies and forget traditional media (and how this helped a client go from 40 million to 140 million-plus this year).

Plus, Windows Of Opportunity In A Covid Economy (In his words).

1. Collaboration. “If you guys and girls are all oriented towards affiliate programs, there’s a much bigger world of collaboration, endorsement, joint venture packaging, co-branding, just all kinds of stuff, that dwarfs where affiliate is. If you understand it, there’ll never be as wide a window open of companies, Influencers, organizations, not-for-profits, all kinds of media platforms, bloggers, podcasters - who are open and receptive to collaboration and joint venture performance-based opportunities. You just have to be a student enough to know how to identify, position, and then structure it. And most importantly, you shouldn’t...

We’ve got a ‘snackable’ edition of the show today, with a soundbite that’s worth a lot of money for you. 

Roland Frasier recently talked to Pete Vargus at the 21for21 Challenge. He looks back on March 2020, when every business owner out there was verging on panic. There was a world of uncertainty, and Roland saw that they needed to act fast. 

Things are still uncertain for most people. So listen to how Roland pivoted quickly into a surprisingly lucrative strategy, one they’ve used in the form of the EPIC Challenge and the 21For21Challenge. 

“I had no fricking clue how to do any of that stuff. I just knew that we had to do something to pivot… and if I were still plotting and planning how to do this, I would not have $4 million that we have right now.” Roland Frasier.

Hopefully, this brief recording will give you the nudge you need and the critical mindset-shift to do something wildly successful in 2021. 

“The worst thing you can do is start a business (or a business program, or a plan, or a profit center) and have to get your business cards and set up your company and all that other crap first. Just do it and make money first. Right? Get it out there. Just do it and do it imperfectly. There’s just nothing like taking action”. Roland Frasier

Who Is Our Host Roland Frasier?

Co-founder or principal of 5 different Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing companies (e-commerce, e-learning, SaaS + real estate), Roland is a serial entrepreneur who has built or sold 24 businesses with adjusted sales ranging from $3 million to just under $4 billion. He’s a mentor and investor and an excellent podcaster too! Read more about Roland here.

If you’re enjoying Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos from us. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation. But most of all, to support the show, would you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts? We would appreciate it!

Click to find us on Apple Podcasts and other podcast players. 🎧 

Contact & Follow Roland

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Today Roland talks with Chris Voss, who was formerly the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator. He’s also an American businessman, author, academic, and CEO of The Black Swan Group. Roland tells the story of being on Safari, trying to close on a huge deal over a satellite phone, but with Chris Voss’s influential book on Negotiating in hand. It made all the difference. 

If you’re ever making deals, negotiating, advocating for your business, clients, team, or family, this is a great episode. But even more relevant at a time like this (2020) is if you’re ever stalling, procrastinating, frozen by fear, and locked into a negative mindset; Chris also talks about the power of negotiating with yourself.

“Great negotiation is about great collaboration.” Chris Voss.

Listen Today For,

• The role of Empathy in negotiating.

“Empathy is not agreement. It’s not at all. You don’t even have to like the other side to be able to exercise empathy with them.” Chris Voss.

• The power of a Calibrated Question.

“When you say to somebody, how am I supposed to do that? And you say it, not in an accusatory way, but, you know, in a deferential way, because there’s great power in deference- it makes them look at you and see you as a human being. See your situation and rethink what they’re doing”. Chris Voss.

• The neuroscientific hack that Voss uses to counteract his own overwhelm and negativity.

“The identification of a negative emotion diffuses that emotion in the most effective way, not the denial of the negative emotion, but the identification of it.” Chris Voss.

• How you can cultivate positivity.

“If I deactivate the negative, then my positive part of my brain will kick into gear every time.” Chris Voss.

• What to do when someone on the other side is ‘in NO mode,’ saying no to everything - and why are they doing that?

• How to find the other party’s limits without damaging the relationship.

• What you can do to influence the decision-maker when you’re working through a hostile intermediary or third party.

And so much more!

“Vision drives decision. Decision drives action.” Chris Voss.

If you’re enjoying Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos from us. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation. But most of all, to support the show, would you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts? We would appreciate it!

Click to find us on Apple Podcasts and other podcast players. 🎧 

Mentioned In This Episode

The Book, Never Split the Difference.

Contact & Follow Chris Voss

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Although most of us are trying to stay home as much as we can right now, Entrepreneurs still need to travel. So in 2021, travel smarter, with the tips Roland shares in this snack-size episode.

If you visit his Instagram, you will see how our host Roland Frasier always travels in style. Travel hacks are one of his favorite subjects because he admits he’s a little cheap(!) - so he’s become a pro at getting great deals on luxury. 

Listen to how he creates a win-win situation for everyone. 

Who Is Roland Frasier?

Co-founder or principal of 5 different Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing companies (e-commerce, e-learning, SaaS + real estate), Roland is a serial entrepreneur who has built or sold 24 businesses with adjusted sales ranging from $3 million to just under $4 billion. He’s a mentor and investor and an excellent podcaster too! Read more about Roland here.

If you’re enjoying Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos from us. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation. But most of all, to support the show, would you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts? We would appreciate it!

Click to find us on Apple Podcasts and other podcast players. 🎧 

Contact & Follow Roland

On Facebook 

On Instagram 

Through his Website 

Follow Business Lunch Podcast

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On Twitter

Mentioned in this episode:

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Justin Christianson is a serial entrepreneur, a digital marketing veteran, Father, Husband, and #1 Bestselling author of Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales, and profits with A/B testing. He is also the co-founder and President of Conversion Fanatics, a full-service conversion rate optimization company, helping companies improve their results (Including Burt’s Bees, Dr. Axe, Clorox, and the NBA store).

Justin talks with Roland Frasier on today’s episode. Listen to hear how he manages the logistics of a Retainer style consulting agency, and he shares three counter-intuitive insights that will help your conversion rate.

If you’re enjoying Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos from us. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation. But most of all, to support the show, would you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts? We would appreciate it!

What To Do First To Help Your Conversion Rate.

“Generally what I tell people is just try to remove any level of friction in that process. That’s all I do in terms of optimization. I want to say that we’ve got some crazy framework and some magic sauce, but it’s really just, we test and ask the right questions. What can I add, remove, change, rearrange to alleviate friction from point a to point B?” Justin Christianson.

Plus, 3 Counter-Intuitive Insights.

1. You can do too many tests. “I’m like, how about we run five really effective tests and learn something, instead of that hundred. Over testing can skew your data a lot and lead you to false positives”. Justin Christianson.
2. The Conversion Rate is not your sole metric. “A lot of companies come to us and just say, I need to raise my conversion rate, and they think it’s going to infinitely go up from one to two to three to four to five, and it just doesn’t work that way.” Justin Christianson
3. You can’t get a statistically sound result in just a couple of days. “We’ve seen it swing wildly after, you know, four or five days. So I try to get at least a full calendar week in on a test and at least a calendar weekend in there”. Justin Christianson

Plus, Roland and Justin Discuss,

• • A danger that lies in over-automating (and how he prevents this problem).
  • How he sets up his Retainer arrangement with clients (and prevents them from taking advantage of a flat fee). 
  • How he decides when to increase prices.
  
  

“People that pay the least generally value the work the least. Those that pay the most are generally the easiest to work with. Right? So yeah, we kind of try to find that happy medium, and we’ve really gotten good about whom we work with, and saying no to the wrong people.” Justin Christianson.

Click to find us on Apple Podcasts and other podcast players. 🎧 

Connect With Justin/Conversion Fanatics

We’ve recently been sharing some excellent content from Roland Frasier’s Epic Challenge  (Ethical Profits In Crisis). Today’s show is an eye-opening 8-minute episode on how you can buy a business with no money down.

“You’re only limited by your creativity and how you do this.” Roland Frasier

Who Is Our Host Roland Frasier?

Co-founder or principal of 5 different Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing companies (e-commerce, e-learning, SaaS + real estate), Roland is a serial entrepreneur who has built or sold 24 businesses with adjusted sales ranging from $3 million to just under $4 billion. He’s a mentor and investor and an excellent podcaster too! Read more about Roland here.

Listen For,

• 7 Essential (tried and tested) strategies for buying a business with no cash out of pocket.

• The power of talking to people and finding out their needs and wants so that you can configure a truly win-win arrangement.

• The difference between a Sweat Equity deal and an Earn In agreement.

• The off-the-cuff strategy he first pitched to William Shatner, that has worked since then, time and time again.

If this episode helps you, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos and messages. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation.

7 Ways To Buy A Business With No Money Down. 1. Borrowed from the Real Estate Industry, Seller Financing is the easiest and simplest way. Offer no money down out of pocket, with a fixed stream of payments.

“So you can frequently offer a higher interest rate than they would be able to invest the money and take on no risk because you’re securing it with the assets or the stock of the company that you’re buying. So the worst case for them is they get their company back, plus whatever cash they got out of you before you defaulted”. Roland Frasier

2.  Credit Card Cash Advance.

“Use your existing credit to get the down payment, buy the thing that you want to buy and then pay your credit card off because it’s usually pretty expensive.” Roland Frasier.

3. Offer an Earn-Out Deal. Configure a formula where they’re going to get paid over a while based on the company’s performance.

“So an earn-out typically happens when you can’t agree for whatever reason on the purchase price now…but it also works if you’re cheap like I am, and you just don’t want to pay anything out of pocket.” Roland Frasier

Negotiation Tip: If you find out what they want the money for, or what they’re going to do with the money, it tells you how much cash you need to put together for the deal. Listen to Roland’s examples of this.

4. Consider an ‘Earn In’ Deal a.k.a Equity deals.

An Earn-in is when you come in and bring value, and both parties agree on performance milestones. And then, as those milestones are met, you have earned into the equity of the company.

“We’ve had 50% of 20 million dollar company earn-ins, just because we come in with the skills and the connections and the resources that we have”. Roland Frasier.

5. Sweat...

In this episode of Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, we get to sit and hear  Grant Cardone and Roland reflect on the last eight months in 2020. You will appreciate his takeaways, especially if you are struggling right now. Listen through to the end for the three things to do if you’re in trouble right now. In Roland’s words, “They’re money”.

Who Is Grant Cardone?

Grant is an American author, motivational speaker, real estate investor, and professional sales trainer. Grant Cardone speaks on leadership, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, social media, and finance and has written eight business books, runs thirteen businesses, and is the CEO of seven privately-held companies. 

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch with Roland Frasier? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on ApplePodcasts and leave us an honest review! Your feedback will help us improve the show and connect us with more high flyers like you.

Listen Today For,

• What he was most wrong about.

“I thought the world was coming to an end…100% sure that no one would ever pay us again for anything literally for the next three months. Every time somebody gave me a thousand dollars, I was like, what is wrong with these people?”. Grant Cardone.

• His reflections on 2008, and his biggest lesson from that time.

“I remember 2008, and man, I was in a different position because I was dependent upon one vertical.” Grant Cardone.

• His number 1 takeaway from 2020.

“When the going gets tough, the Executives have to get better. Leadership has to be much greater.” Grant Cardone.

• A principle to help you as you move forward into 2021.

“The second thing is just, whatever you lose, you need to figure out how to pick that up times something, in these other spaces.” Grant Cardone

• Grants initial response to the country shutting down and the decision he made that he wouldn’t make again.

“Looking in retrospect, I made some mistakes.” Grant Cardone.

Plus, You'll Also Hear,

• How he led his team in a way that sustained energy and results.

“And basically the theme was ain’t no virus going to stop us. And we have had the best year we’ve ever had at this company”. Grant Cardone.

• How he made sure that his team would be able to keep their jobs.

“As long as they do the right number, the right amount of outflow, the outflow is going to take care of the inflow.” Grant Cardone.

• Why he thinks he’s been able to end the year with incredible results.

“I think what happens is people that are committed, find the best part of them when they get hit and, and their commitments get challenged.” Grant Cardone.

• His approach to staying connected with his audience and market.

“So as you know, we’ve been virtual for a long time and, we have been very heavy in social media, and zoom or any way to deliver to the client every day, whether we’re paid for that or, not has been a heavy emphasis. So all we’ve done really is not just double down on that, but 10 X on that.” Grant Cardone.

In today’s episode, our Acquisition guru and podcast host, Roland Frasier, talks about the easiest way to dip your toe into the waters of Acquisitions. If you’re ready to grow your business creatively, Roland lays out some brilliant ideas that have worked for him and his partners time and time again.

“It’s way easier to buy an Instagram account or a Facebook page than it is to buy a company. So that might be a good place to start to dip your feet in the water of the acquisitions game.” Roland Frasier

Who Is Our Host Roland Frasier?

Co-founder or principal of 5 different Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing companies (e-commerce, e-learning, SaaS + real estate), Roland is a serial entrepreneur who has built or sold 24 businesses with adjusted sales ranging from $3 million to just under $4 billion. He’s a mentor and investor and an excellent podcaster too! Read more about Roland here.

If this episode helps you, head over to our home page and sign up for occasional memos and messages. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation.

Listen Today For:

• Why it’s easy to afford many media properties and why they tend to be super cheap.
• How to set up a real win-win deal for the media sellers.
• Elements of Businesses that are assets you can purchase without buying the whole business.
• How to avoid a Netflix/Blockbuster type threat through acquisitions.

“I work as if five years from now, every bit of income I’ve got is going away because I’ve been, out engineered or substituted away. If you’re thinking about that, you’ll be looking for substitute products today, and the easiest way to acquire them is to buy them.” Roland Frasier

And more!

Media Properties You May Not Have Considered Acquiring, But Should.

“Anything that is aggregating eyeballs.” Roland Frasier

1. A Blog.

2. Facebook group.

3. Instagram (or any social media) account. 

4. YouTube account.

5. An Association.

6. A Newspaper.

7. Television channel/Satellite channel.

8. Radio Channel.

9. Podcast.

Click to find us on Apple Podcasts and other podcast players. 🎧 

Mentioned In This Episode

Thank you to our partners, Conversion Fanatics.

Contact & Follow Roland

On Facebook 

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Through his Website 

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For Thanksgiving week, in a very tough year, we’re sharing a previously shared episode in the spirit of Gratitude, Goodwill, and Grace.

If you’re a regular listener, you’ve been blown away by Roland’s success, strategies, and stories. He’s nothing short of impressive. But in today’s episode, Roland levels with you and tells his personal story so that you can be encouraged, learn from his mistakes, stop comparing yourself to others, and build the life you truly want. 

He shares his reflections, revelations, and how his path led him to a better version of himself and an exponentially better life. 

“That moment is the moment I mark as the creation of who I am today. Version 2.0 of me, a better human”. -Roland Frasier.

If his transparency inspires you, be sure to head over to our home page and sign up for exclusive content from Roland. You can also follow Roland on Facebook, where his profile is always full of content and conversation.

Listen Today For:

• The challenges that knocked the wind out of Roland. (His wife left him, the US Government came after him, The IRS demanded $2M in back taxes, and most of his friends and family turned their back on him). Yes, that happened.
• Roland’s ‘take’ on that sequence of events as he looks back now.
• The wisdom that helped him let go of resentments toward those that ‘gave up on him.’

“I didn’t have the servant’s heart. Not yet. At this point, pretty much everyone I knew thought I was out of the game. And you know what? I almost was.” Roland Frasier

• What Roland believes was one of his most significant breakthroughs in his life - that will also help you face your biggest challenges.
• The time he almost killed himself, followed by three years of running from the hard questions.
• The revelatory moment that turned things around and the clarity that it gave him.

Roland’s Revelations (In His Words) That Might Help You Too:

1. I would never understand any of this until I could look at my role in it all.

2. Only what I and I alone had done, or not done, brought all of these troubles down on my head.

3. The only way out was through. I had to be the one who got myself to the other side.

4. I was the only one who could get me through the challenges I was facing.

5. I had to own my actions, both past, and present. That would give me the power to create change.

6. My future was as bright as I decided it would be. I could quit now and fade away or lean into adversity, beat it, bend it to my will and persevere through it.

7. No one wronged me. They all had their own experiences of what was happening. They were driven by their own needs, wants, limitations, fears, and interpretations of all the events unfolding around them, and they were dealing with this as best they could. It was not personal to me, no matter how personal it seemed. It was about them and their experience.

8. I needed to have a Servant’s heart and offer help to others with no expectation of anything in return, to stop being transactional in all relationships.

9. In all my business dealings, I needed to put my customer, client, partner, or vendor first, serve their interests, and...

“All the success that he (Daymond) has achieved has happened because he combines intelligence with an incredible amount of hustle, and this is critical; humility. I’ve never seen somebody so willing to give and so willing to share it. And that is exhibited right now at this moment because he’s here talking with us.” Ryan Deiss

Daymond John doesn’t need much introduction among entrepreneurs. He is an American businessman, investor, television personality, author, and motivational speaker.

In this episode of Business Lunch with Roland Frasier, we get to sit and hear what guest Daymond John had to say to the participants of Ryan and Roland’s 21for21Challenge. You can read more about that here.

“The biggest breakthroughs happen when we’re kind of backed up against the wall. That’s when we’re forced to act. We tend not to fix things when they aren’t broken. So that’s really what this, 2020 has been about a year of learning”. Ryan Deiss.

Listen Today For,

• Why Daymond is always optimistic, even in a year like 2020. 

“But many times you see that these people, your staff, and your customers and your partners and strategic partners, they step up. I’ve also seen a lot of tragic things happen around the country, but I’ve also seen people who have nothing go out of their way and give what they can. So I’m always an optimistic person about what’s going on in the world.” Daymond John.

• The two different kinds of people there are in the world and how they respond to difficult times.

“COVID has just highlighted either people’s weaknesses or people’s strengths.” Daymond John.

• The importance of your WHY.

• The big thing he learned from 2020 that he will take into 2021

“What are you really selling you in your business, in your brand? What are you promising somebody? And the best way to do it is to explain it is like if you’re a gym and you’re selling people gym memberships, and you think that that’s what you’re selling people, know that you’re selling them a healthy lifestyle, you’re not selling them gym memberships. So, understand what you are delivering to somebody, and you’ll realize that your brand or yourself, you’re much larger than you thought”. Daymond John.

• The flip-side tip not to forget.

“Don’t do things that are not in the area that you’re at, just because it’s an easy way to make money because you will repel customers just as quickly. I’ve seen that happen already as well.” Daymond John.

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch with Roland Frasier? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on ApplePodcasts and leave us an honest review! Your feedback will help us improve the show and connect us with more high flyers like you.

You can also find us on your go-to podcast platform here. 

Mentioned In This Episode

Thank you to our partners, Conversion Fanatics.

Follow Roland Frasier

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