Freedom FastTrack Podcast

Managing Director of MainTraining. Winner of the 'Influential 100 Awards 2015'; Ambassador and guest speaker for 'Tribe Learn Professional Speaking' (co-owned by Mind Valley) and Ambassador of 'The Institute for Professional Speakers'. Nominee of the 2015 Telstra Business Awards. Sarah is an author, Trainer, thought leader, professional keynote speaker and workshop host in entrepreneurship, efficacy and education."

Sarah's purpose in life is to plague the world with change-makers, impact-creators and and educators. To enable entrepreneurs and infopreneurs to effectively inspire, grow and inform others with their knowledge, expertise and passion - whilst doing so in a profitable manner.

01:11 – Meet Sarah Cordiner, Managing Director at MainTraining, winner of the Influential 100 Awards 2015, and Ambassador for ‘The Institute for Professional Speakers’. At the very start of her episode, she wants the listeners to understand that the life – and freedom – she’s enjoying now didn’t stem from nothing. Before she became a successful entrepreneur and speaker, she was stuck in the typical 9-to-5, trading time for money, effort equals productivity. The main thing she wants to get out today is that it doesn’t have to be that way.

01:47 – Learn a little more background on this Superwoman; where did she grow up, when did she start business, and what did she learn along the way? What is MainTraining? What services do they offer? When did she start this flourishing company?

02:54 – To all business owners, one of Sarah’s messages is: the new way of doing business – of sales, of marketing, of generating leads, of getting exposure for yourself, of gaining credibility and authority positioning in your industry – is to share your expertise in a way that a) you get paid for it, and b) in a way that actually leaves your audience thanking you that they paid for your services

04:08 – With all the things Sarah’s currently doing, what’s the most exciting for her? What is she currently loving? She shares that the most exciting thing in business is to know that you will never stop evolving; if you do, you will rapidly find yourself going stale. You need to always be changing and evolving and adapting.  According to her, the most successful millionaires always have an average of 7 income streams. She specializes in education – education services, writing, training, etc., -- and she tries to apply that to the world in many different ways

06:45 – Three years ago, Sarah was “washed up on the shores of Western Australia,” where she describes herself then as “completely broke, alone, and homeless.” She had no home, no phone, nothing to her name; she didn’t know what to do. Within eighteen months of that day, she did a complete 180 and started a new business. So one of the things she does now is teach other business owners how she did that.

08:24 – Sarah decides to share a little bit more with the audience – how did she turn her life around? Fortunately for her, she says, she already had prior experience of starting from nothing. At the age of 19, she had a wonderful job as an educator in the welfare to work industry. She was writing and delivering training in a whole range of professional topics for the unemployed. She loved the work, she had a passion for education, and she was very good at what she did. Most importantly, it made her feel like she was worth something. Unfortunately, she walked into work one day and learned that the government had changed – she was going to lose her job.

10:30 – For anyone out there starting with nothing, Sarah says that the most important thing is to just build a database. “You’re nobody. You are absolutely nothing. No one knows who you are – and you will remain that way unless you start getting in front of people.”

14:28 – How can you become a celebrity in your chosen field?

1. Go ask some of your mates; “Hey, what do I do?”
2. Broaden your field; start asking your network what you do
3. Keep expanding

Your job over the next 12 months is to try to make sure the whole world knows precisely what you do.

16:59 – For the budding entrepreneur, Sarah shares some tips and advice on how to grow your business. Her biggest takeaway is the Myth of the Epiphany – “I see so many businesses and so many dreams never happen because people think that this epiphany is going to happen to them, when in this one miraculous moment of glory … this idea is going to come to them and all of a sudden their questions will be answered. There is never, ever going to be a moment where you just suddenly know exactly what you’re supposed to do, how you’re supposed to do it, and what’s going to happen.” Epiphanies are lies. Stop waiting for that day.

18:19 – Every single thing you know how to do today, you have been in training for your entire life. You can possibly be more prepared than you are today for where you’re at today. Everything you’ve learnt formally, informally, through experience, you have been learning that your whole life – so just start using it, because every time you start doing something, you learn something else. Every door leads unto another door. Yes, you’re going to fall over. Yes, you’re going to stuff up. Yes, you’re going to have moments where you go ‘I have no idea what the hell I’m doing’. But unless you give it a go, you won’t know how to figure out the next step anyway. Thank of everything like a progressive evolution. That is how business works.

19:29 – Her biggest piece of advice: “Just go with the flow and enjoy the journey because there is no end point to being a business. There isn’t just a day when you wake up and go ‘Oh, well that’s it, I’ve made it.’

20:36 – What are some of the biggest challenges Sarah’s ever come up against in her business? What are some of the hurdles? Some of the obvious ones is cashflow – can’t do this unless I have this amount. But perhaps the hardest part for her is when people tell her it’s easy for her because she’s confident and self-assured. She wants people to understand that she’s human, she’s worked hard to be in the place she’s at today, and even now, her biggest problems are her self-belief. Whatever you’re selling, she says, whether it’s a product or service, there’s this expectation that you have to be perfect at it. That sort of self-questioning – the fear of getting it wrong, the fear of failure – is something all entrepreneurs share – even the successful ones! What’s imprortant is just to remember that that same fear can kill dreams.

23:55 – To reiterate who we’re all human and we all make mistakes, Sarah shares how earlier in this year, she made a fatal mistake that cost her dearly. The good that came out of this was sharing this disaster to other people. People realizing that she was real, she could also make mistakes and have problems and not know how to deal with them made her more relatable. More human.

27:34 – Start of QuickFire Questions

27:45 – What’s the best piece of advice for your industry you’ve ever received?

27:59 – A surprise giveaway! Sarah’s gift for all of you listening to the Total Freedom Podcast: a huge 50% discount on all of her courses. Grab them here:

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28:14 – What’s one personal habit you strongly believe contributes to your success?

28:37 – What book would you recommend? Tim Ferris’s 4-Hour Workweek and Daniel Priestley’s Oversubscribed

To get more from Sarah, visit her official website http://www.sarahcordiner.com/ or her official blog http://sarahcordiner.blogspot.com/. You can also visit MainTraining’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/maintraining or the website http://maintraining.com.au/

To grab Sarah’s AMAZING 50% DISCOUNTED training courses, click on the links below:

50% OFF "How To Become The Go-To Authority In Your Industry": http://bit.ly/1Z1EUzH

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50% OFF: "What Is Your Professional Purpose?": http://bit.ly/1KsjgcQ

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Henare is best known as a guide rather than a coach. He has been known to help people remember the source of their power and love in their-self.  He has worked with people at many levels to help them see the joy in creating and roots of their suffering. He helps people look into the layers of who they think they are and expand them.  To help them see beyond what they think they know (intellectual) to their emerging wisdom (experiential) and to help guide them from a head-to-heart place of BEING (beingness).

He does not have an elevator speech or care much for name tags. When people ask what he does he will commonly talk about being a father and husband first. After seeing great pain in his own life he realized that there was more to life than what he thought he knew so he went on an external search to find answers that kept pointing him in the same direction…within.

00:43 – Meet Henare O’Brien, a self-development coach – although he finds the term “guide” more accurate – who Chris describes as the most humble example of a father and a human part of the spiritual and transformational community. He and his wife Kate always share personal experiences with extreme vulnerability – an admirable trait. He’s also been mentored and coached by the likes of Jack Canfield and Donald Welsh.  

03:11 – Henare’s story; who is he, where did he come from, and what did he have to go through to be where he is today? He also takes a moment to dedicate this interview to John – a man who represents power and grace and humbleness for Henara, and who – when he was alive – reminded all of us that we can live a big life. Henare comes from an interesting background. Growing up, he witnessed and was part of a lot of tough situations. He played professional basketball for 10 years and was a school teacher for 8. Afterwards, he decided to step into the arena of personal development.

07:26 – Henare shares his turning point. Or, as Chris puts it, the moment he found himself sitting there thinking; “Is this it? What’s next?” Henare shares that he was playing pro-basketball at 25, he was flying to places, and he had the money and the means. Everything he thought he knew had been achieved. However, sitting on the beach, he realized something was missing in this equation. He managed to ignore it but, over the years, it kept coming back to him, and the curiosity over the “missing piece” accumulated, causing him anxiety and depression. It reached the point where he was sitting at the side of the road at 28, calling his mother and asking her to pick him up. He didn’t know what was going on, but he couldn’t drive. She picked him up, put him to bed, and nursed him back to health in three days. Henare shares his thoughts during that time. “Okay,” he says. “There’s something missing in my life, and I need to find out what … it is.”

09:49 – For the people listening to his who have gone through or are going through a similar experience, Henare has some advice. When we create an idea, we unconsciously set up an opposition to that idea in the form of a concern or a complaint. “95 percent of thoughts are reoccurring dialogues or monologues in our mind that generate conversations about what we need to do rather than actions and what we need to say.”

12:00 – So what was the missing component in Henare’s life equation? What was he doing wrong that he no longer felt complete or “whole”?

12:46 – “When we are whole … we start to generate ‘future’ futures.” What is a future-future?

14:54 – Henare sums up his concept of wholeness: “whatever you’re doing in your life, where you’re performing at some level, the missing piece is the other side – the polarity. Life is a polarity of ups and downs, lefts and rights, backwards and forwards. The brain works in the same way. It sees what to create but it sees the … other side of what would happen if we did create this.”

23:15 – Time Travel Moment: If Henare were to go back to that time where he was 28 and sitting by the side of the road, waiting for his mother to pick him up, what advice would he tell his younger self? “Hey, you’re doing the best you can with what you know.”

24:28 – Time Travel Moment, Part Two: If he was starting over from scratch today with nothing but experience, what’s one of the first things Henare would do? “I would have found support faster.”

26:48 – If you want more from Henare, you can visit http://henareandkateobrien.com/ or visit his Facebook https://www.facebook.com/henare.obrien and feel free to add him as a friend!

27:53 – For the person who just knows there’s more, Henare has some advice: “if you know there’s more, what’s the concern about being more [than what you are]?” Bring a wholeness to your inspiration.

00:45 – Meet Brandon Lucero, a YouTube Marketing Expert. Who is he and what does he do? In a nutshell (01:20), he taps into YouTube and uses it to funnel product sales, new customers, traffic, and leads on a daily basis – and he teaches others how to do the same! Over the years, he and his team have learned and developed specific formulas to boost ratings, return high conversions, and more. Brandon says that what he essentially does is help people turn passion into profit

02:21 – Brandon shares some of his success stories. He’s built a list of over 20,000 people – for free! Roughly over $700,000 in digital product sales over the last twelve months. Last month, they had a soft launch for a new product and did about $30,000 in sales in a two-week span.

03:40 – Brandon shares his story: left college (never graduated) and started working for low-end video production company – his first introduction to video. Living paycheck to paycheck, he started struggling when the company started struggling; clients were going to the competition, poor management – eventually, the paychecks stopped coming in. It was a rough point for him. In his spare time, he had to learn how to rank websites. Left the company, went on his own. Took him two years to finally have the breakthrough he needed.

06:57 – What was the turning point? There was no secret formula, but the answer is ridiculously simple. Brandon’s turning point happened when he reached out for help. He knew that he had the delivery and service part down pat. What he lacked was a sales process.

07:23 – “I used to think I could do it all on my own. I used to think I could figure it all out, I could do it, I used to think I knew what I was doing … and it was two years of struggle when I realized “Hey. Maybe you don’t know what you’re doing.”

08:08 – “The Sales is the backbone of your business. You don’t have a business unless you have sales coming in.”

08:54 – Brandon shares some tips and advice he has for people who are looking to achieve breakthrough via YouTube. “One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they try to sell on YouTube,” Brandon says. “The trick to getting sales on YouTube is to not actually sell on YouTube.” The flow should be helping people via YouTube, getting them on an email list, and then directing them to a webinar. Always give value first.

12:33 – “I would recommend YouTube because it’s absolutely free,” Brandon says. “I guarantee you that if you just add value, you’ll get to that point in your videos [where] you offer more relatable value that they have to opt-in for and then once you start building a list, you run them to a webinar … you’re going to make sales.”

13:39 – Time Travel Moment, Part 1: If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be? Do not be stubborn. You don’t know it all. Ask for help. Invest in training that you need.

14:42 – Time Travel Moment, Part 2: If you were starting over from scratch today, with nothing but your experience, what would you do to create success? Utilize YouTube. Create a product on something that I’m passionate about and just go crazy with YouTube videos.

15:57 – Start of the QuickFire Questions: What’s the best piece of advice in your industry you’ve ever received?

16:23 – What’s one of your personal habits that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

16:44 – What’s one tech, app, or piece of equipment that you can’t live without?

17:00 – On a side note, Brandon gives his opinion on the kind of equipment you need to shoot good-quality videos. Do you have to go out and buy a fancy camera, or is an iPhone good enough?

17:21 – What book would you recommend? The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by M.J. DeMarco

17:56 – Who’s your public hero?

20:56 – Brandon leaves the audience with this: just don’t give up. Keep going. Keep learning. Eventually you’ll break through.

If you’d like to get more, visit Brandon’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/soldwithvideo for tons of free training videos, or go to his official website http://soldwithvideo.com/ for more details on the things they offer.

00:31 – Meet Elyse Anne, founder of the Spiritual Entrepreneur Facebook and hailed as one of Singapore’s best and most well-known female entrepreneurs. In this episode (00:58), she and Chris will be talking about Facebook groups, how to be both spiritual and also make money

01:22 – Who is Elyse and what does she do? A young woman from Singapore (where “it takes 45 minutes to get from one end to the other”) with dreams so BIG, she admits to wondering why God placed her in such a small country. She used to have very low self-esteem until she became a mother. Becoming a mother, Elyse shares, was one of the most beautiful things that could have happened to her. It taught her to be relentless, get out of survival mode, and really become the woman she was born to be because of her three daughters. “If you want them to live their life,” she says, “Then you’ve gotta set a good example for them.” She is deeply spiritual but has denied that part of her for so long because of other’s telling her ‘you can’t be spiritual and do business -- it just doesn’t mix.’ It hit a point where she was all in it for the money – and it brought her no sense of fulfilment whatsoever.

02:48 – “Here I am now with a different purpose,” Elyse says proudly. “I now know that making money is one thing, accumulating wealth is another, [and] allowing money to define you is also another thing … so here I am, teaching spiritual entrepreneurs how to live life with money…”

03:40 – The most exciting thing in Elyse’s business right now: who is she helping, and why is it exciting/fulfilling for her? She’s working on “The Change Makers: Coaches on a Mission.” In her community, coaching has become a lifestyle. It’s directed to help coaches start another business. For Elyse, being a coach with a successful business doesn’t automatically make you an entrepreneur; it makes you a business owner. She wants to help coaches leverage on their money, have more purpose in life, start a social enterprise, and solve a social-economical issue – rather than just sitting back and sipping drinks. It’s a nice way to live, she says, but it’s not accurately presenting what coaching is all about. Coaching is about helping and transforming people.

06:13 – Elyse-Anne’s story: where did she come from, what did she have to do to get to where she is today, and what are some of the challenges she faced along the way? She admits that she doesn’t have a “money story.” Growing up, life was good for her. There was enough money for her to have whatever she wanted. It wasn’t until she was a little older that life suddenly took a turn for the worse. Her grandfather’s business went down, as well as her mother’s.

Watching her mother struggle to save the business made her realize what it meant to struggle. Despite the hardships, her mother still gave her what she wanted. Even when Elyse-Anne wanted to quit her job, her mother paid for her 24-Hour Termination Fee – and Elyse-Ann was 29 at that time! She admits that she didn’t gain her full financial freedom until she was thirty, when she’d had enough of depending on her mother. Through the roller-coaster ride of financial dependence and independence, she’s learned the value of money. She started a business as a stay-at home mom and made decent monthly income until she realized she wanted passive income. She tried MLM for 8 months before realizing that it wasn’t what she was looking for either.

She remembers crying in a corner of her room, questioning God. It hit a point where her anger clouded her judgment. When it cleared, she realized something; God doesn’t play favorites. She remembers her realization that every person is given the same equal opportunity. The same opportunity that people like Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, and Donal Trump had, she had them to. And that’s when she made the decision to do whatever it took. She hired a coach and followed her advice to the letter, and the rest is history.

09:22 – “That was just the turning point,” Elyse-Ann shares. “I made that decision. I was in debt for ten years, tolerating one-dollar days, and I just thought it was okay, [up] until I decided it wasn’t okay.”

10:14 – For the people who are in the same position Elyse-Ann was five years ago, she has some big tips. The biggest of them being: “Understand that nobody’s going to save you. It’s only you, and you, and your higher power … you’ve basically got to be prepared to get your hands dirty.” You also don’t have to wait until everything is perfect, she adds. Just do it. “When you take one step, the other step is unlocked.”

11:06 – During her first networking session, Elyse-Ann used this mantra to stay calm: “Successful people feel their fear, but they do it anyway.”

11:43 – “Reading is knowledge, but experience comes from taking action. And once you take action, there is no right or wrong. You course-correct as you go along.”

13:41 – Time Travel Moment, Part 1: If you could go back five-ten years, what’s one piece of advice you’d tell your old self? Elyse-Ann says she’d tell her old self: Just Do It. No matter what others tell you or think of you, just do it.

14:18 – Time Travel Moment, Part 2: If you were starting over from scratch today, how would you start your business? I would start from Facebook, Elyse-Ann says. Her Facebook Group, The Spiritual Entrepreneurs, hosts almost 13,000 spiritual entrepreneurs from around the world.

15:10 – Elyse-Ann shares some tips on starting a successful Facebook group.

17:05 – For those who want more, Elyse-Ann actually offers a course on staring, using, and leveraging on Facebook groups. It’s called The Facebook Group Marketing Course, where she teaches everything she’s learned over the past 9 months. It’s a fairly new course that’s yielding excellent results, with one of her clients earing a 4-figure client in her first week into the course. You can access a FREE three-part video training series at http://www.elyse-anne.com/v2/fbgroupmarketing

18:31 – Start of the QuickFire Questions: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

18:43 – What’s one personal habit that you believe strongly contributes to your success?

18:59 – What’s one tech, app, or piece of equipment that you or your business can’t do without? Facebook

19:07 – What book would you recommend? Think and Grow Rich

19:11 – Who’s your public hero? Oprah

19:15 – Who would you recommend that we should have on this podcast?

19:53 – To all listeners, Elyse-Ann leaves this piece of advice: Do something that makes you leap out of bead – something that feeds your soul – on a day-to-day basis.

If you’d like to learn more, visit Elyse’s site http://www.elyse-anne.com/. You can also check out her book: Facebook Group Marketing: How to Attract FREE Leads and Enroll Clients Through Facebook Group Marketing here: http://www.elyse-anne.com/v2/fbgroupmarketing. Visit her main Facebook Group, The Spiritual Entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/thespiritualentrepreneurs or connect with her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/theelyseanne or Twitter https://twitter.com/theelyseanne

Gideon Shalwick is an Online Video Marketer and entrepreneur who has achieved success in the world of Video Blogging and Advertising. One of his first brands, Become A Blogger, hit over 10,000 subscribers within the first 2 weeks of launching. It's now at 40,000 subscribers and is considered one of the top blogging training brands. His latest book, Rapid Video Blogging, has over 38,000 downloads from people all over the world.

00:51 – Meet Gideon Shalwick, an Online Video Marketer who teaches people how to leverage YouTube – or video-hosting platforms in general – for tons of traffic, leads, and sales for your business. His journey started about ten years ago, when he came to three major realizations that bothered him.

1. He was working for someone else
2. He was building an asset for someone else
3. In his situation, he couldn’t make a difference to the world in the way he wanted to make a difference

Together with his wife, he took the chance, quit his job, move to Australia, and started a business there

02:29 – Recently, he’s been focusing on Video Advertising and helping businesses grow with paid video advertising – YouTube Video Ads, Facebook Video Ads, and etcetera

03:08 – Right now, Gideon admits he’s excited with the sudden rise of trends in online marketing and media – two trends, in particular, that have also intersected: Mobile and Live Streaming/Video; think Meerkat and Periscope.

05:44 – Gideon’s Story: what did he have to do to become who he is today, and what are some of the challenges he encountered along the way on his entrepreneurial journey? Gideon shares that his turning point actually started with books; particularly Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. He shares that it was incredibly inspiring for him. Two years after he read that book, he reached that point where he was ready to make a move. “I guess I got to a point where the pain of staying in that same situation was greater than the perceived pain of making a change,” Gideon shares. “What can I lose?”

08:42 – Gideon also wanted to have that freedom to follow his calling. He believes that everyone has a unique calling; something that only they can do for this planet. Gideon shares how he felt the inexplicable pull to follow his calling and make a difference to this planet on his terms

09:55 – Gideon shares some tips and advice for people out there looking to start exploring the world of video advertising or video blogging. For those who want to use video as a way to reach out and build their audience, Gideon urges you to ask yourself: Where can I serve best? Where can you, personally, make the biggest difference? And how does that relate to your natural abilities? Rediscover that gift you have, use that as your starting point. You need to define three things: What you’re passionate about, what you’re good at, and how do you make money from it. (Recommendation: Jim Collins discusses it in his book, Good to Great)

15:07 – Time Travel Moment, Part 1: If you could go back twenty years, what advice would you give your younger self? Start a business much, much sooner. Drop out of whatever system you’re in and rediscover your inner childhood dreams – and just go for it.

16:34 – What is freedom for you? For Gideon, Freedom means being able to look back at your life and say that yes, I am happy. Yes, I helped people. Yes, I made a difference. One way to look at true freedom, Gideon says, is the freedom to serve. The freedom to make the world a better place.

19:23 – Time Travel Moment, Part 2: If you were starting over from scratch today, with nothing but your experience, what would you do? It doesn’t matter where I’d start, Gideon says. What’s important is that I start. What’s important is taking that first step

23:51 – What’s one of your personal habits that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

24:06 – What’s one piece of tech, app, or equipment that your business can’t live without?

25:37 – What book would you recommend? A few classics that are, in Gideon’s opinion, must-reads: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons, by the same author

27:58 – Who is your public hero?

To get more from Gideon, visit http://gideonshalwick.com/

Paul Holland is Australia’s VideoPreneur™ and the founder of VideoTise. Paul is on a mission to get the message of business owners out to the market through the power of online video while helping them monetise their videos for greater profits at the same time.

1:13 – Meet Paul Holland, a videographer and blogger whose passion lies in helping people get their message out. Learn a little more about who he is and what he does

02:45 – Out everything he’s currently doing, the most exciting thing right now in Paul’s life is switching their focus over to video blogging. He’s also worked alongside a good friend of his, Wez Hone (who’s niche lies in the Christian community) to produce an online video-based show, much like the e’s working with a good friend of his, Wez Hone, who works with the Christian community. An online video-based show, much like the “Ask Gary Vee” show

04:06 – What is a video blog? According to Paul, a video blog is basically a video version of a written blog where you’re putting yourself out there; essentially creating your personal brand and identity in an almost personal face-to-face way with your audience. It’s basically you presenting your content in a way that your audience can easily absorb and engage with

05:42 – Paul’s Story; where did he start, what was his turning point, and what did he have to go through to get to where he is today? Growing up, Paul was no stranger to getting up on stage. Both his parents had a love for musical theatre. As a teenager, he shied away from the spotlight and went behind the scenes, dabbling more into the technical and lighting aspect of stage plays. He started working as a lighting technician for art festivals and professional theatre, eventually transitioning into the film industry in New Zealand for about fifteen years. After the golden years of film, Paul found himself working on reality television, which he found utterly destroying. He got out of the TV industry, moved from New Zealand to Australia, bought an importing business, and started his entrepreneurial career. After four years of struggling as a new business owner, he learned the value of getting a coach and was able to turn his business around. After selling the first business, he got involved in the personal development community. Coaches aware of his background started asking him to make videos for them, and the rest is history.

11:11 – “Business without challenges is unheard of. If you’re being challenged, that’s great, because it means you’re moving forward. If there’s no challenges or no obstacles, then you’re not going anywhere.”

11:25 – Some advice Paul would have given himself twenty years ago: get into business sooner

13:21 – Paul shares some advice he has for people looking to make a great video blog or to get fantastic video content out there. The biggest tip, he says, is; Just Do It. So many people get tied up with technology or how they’ll look on camera – minor details. You’ve just got to start, Paul says. If you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket, you can start video blogging today. Content is king. Use the free platforms available to you. Get it out there.

16:05 – Paul shares some tips for getting the best audio and visual quality possible – even if you’re just using a Smartphone!

19:57 – Time Travel Moment: If you were starting over from scratch today, with nothing but your experience, how would you build your business? What’s the first thing you would do? Paul says he would find Networking functions and get himself out in front of people

21:52 – QuickFire Questions: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

22:09 – What’s one of your personal habits that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

22:22 – What book would you recommend? Ricardo Themler’s Maverick

23:22 – Paul’s parting advice for all the entrepreneurs out there: “The World needs to hear your message. If you’ve got a business and you’ve got a service and you can help people, you’ve got an obligation to help more people.”

To get in touch with Paul, visit www.videotise.com.au and check out the Contact Us page. You can also connect with him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/paulholland

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Rob Archangel is the co-founder and CEO of Archangel Ink, a publishing company founded by authors for authors. In 2012, Rob spearheaded his co-founder Matt's entry into the eBook, print-on-demand paperback and audiobook world, and realized that these acquired skills carry value for other content creators. The publishing landscape in the 21st century makes it possible for authors anywhere to release and upload their work to a global audience. But while the barriers to entry are low, putting your best foot forward is tough.

Thus Archangel Ink was born. The company's goal is to help writers and entrepreneurs everywhere easily reach their audience, share their message and build their brand.  From cover design and editing, to eBook and paperback formatting, to audiobook production and ghostwriting, his team is designed to make the self-publishing process as simple and turnkey as possible for authors and businesses to professionalize their work and focus their energies on whatever it is they do best. Rob is happy to help any way he can, and you can reach him at www.archangelink.com

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

01:28 – Meet Rob Archangel, co-founder and CEO of Archangel Ink, a publishing company that goes by the tagline “Founded by authors for authors.” He shares a bit more about how he got started, how he met his co-founder Matt Stone, and what it is he does to help people spread their message and reach the right audience

05:15 – Rob delves into the background of his partnership with Matt Stone. He shares the kinds of books and texts Matt had out under his name, the topics he usually wrote about, and what he wrote specifically that sparked Rob’s interest and encouraged him to reach out to him

07:51 – It’s Rob’s turn at a backstory; how did he start out in the world of publishing and writing, what was his turning point, and what did he have to go through to become who he is today? Growing up in New York, he developed an interest in the beginning of agriculture and the gradual transition from forager and hunter-gatherer to agriculture. He studied anthropology and ended up working on a permaculture farm, and a new interest in diet and nutrition stemmed from that. After a few twists and turns, he met Matt. “It really was just following one thing after another,” Rob shares. “I didn’t have a background in publishing, I never pictured myself as a publisher, but it just turned out really well.”

11:09 – Rob shares some of the biggest challenges aspiring authors face – from his experience – in getting their manuscript polished and published for general consumption. With the tremendous opportunities to self-publish a book comes an increased chance to slip-up or commit a mistake. Without the guidance of an experience publisher, editor, proof-reader, and so on, self-publishing could end up a disaster

14:38 – Rob shares some tips and advice for aspiring authors out there in getting your book published. He shares the steps you should take and the requirements you can expect for shaping your manuscript. But the number one recommendation he gives all listeners is to just get clear on your goals as a writer. If you’re interested in creating a passion project or a steady stream of passive income, you need to be clear on what you want from publishing your book

16:30 – there are good free resources out there, Rob shares, such as the SnashWords Style Guide – a document that outlines the eBook formatting process and step-by-step instructions

18:21 – What are some of the reasons people want their book published? What do they hope to gain, or what’s the common driving force behind getting their manuscript out there?

21:50 – As an entrepreneur, Rob has another bit of advice for the listeners, and that’s to figure out what you do really effectively and focus on that.

24:40 – Time Travel Moment: If you were starting over from scratch today, what is the first thing you would do to build your business? Rob shares that he would learn to anticipate and expect adversity and think laterally about it, see it as a way to build and grow

28:32 – What does freedom mean, for Rob? What matters most to him?

If you want to know more about Rob and Matt and the company they run, visit http://archangelink.com/ for more information. You can connect with Rob and Matt there for questions and clarifications of their services.

About Our Guest:

Luis Congdon is no stranger to struggle. Growing up without a father in the middle of the cocaine cartel in Medellin, Colombia, he was subjected to chaos and confusion from an early age. When he was five, his mother was murdered, leaving him orphaned and homeless. He was adopted into the United State at the age of 8. He earned his degree in English Literature, graduated top of his class, and taught Marriage Education for several years after. When that job ended, he got a taste of being an entrepreneur.

“I’d like to say it’s all roses and wonderful,” he says, on the subject of entrepreneurship. “But I would be a liar if I didn’t tell you that being an entrepreneur is scary.”

He is now a successful entrepreneur and one of the best podcasters around. His passion for helping others achieve success in their business is one of his main driving points to constantly grow and do better.

Podcast Transcription:

01:21 – Meet Luis Congdon – a master podcaster and man of many talents. He explains what he does, who he helps, and what he’s all about. He helps business owners – both current and aspiring – to create a robust network that will catapult their business to the next level of success. He helps people find “partner bait”

02:17 – What is partner bait? It’s a measure of your ability to bring in partners to help you promote yourself. Why is it necessary? Even if you have an amazing product, if no one knows about it or you don’t get your stuff out there, you’re not going to sell. If you don’t have the right market, nothing’s going to happen

03:49 – Chris further illustrates the meaning of “partner bait” through the lesson behind sliced bread

04:37 – Luis tells his story – who he is, where he came from, and what he had to go through to be who he is today. He was born during the height of the cocaine cartel in Colombia – a place that was highly impoverished and heavily chaotic, and Luis was born in the middle of it. He was adopted in the United State at the age of 8. He went off, got a degree in English Literate, graduated top of his class, and taught Marriage Education courses for several years after. That was his dream job, and it ended. When it did, he had the choice to either further his education or start a business. He chose the latter despite not having any formal training for it.

06:38 – Talking about being a business owner: “I want the freedom of this. I don’t want to wake up on someone else’s schedule and I don’t want to be uninspired.”

06:51 – He was at his low point, wanting to start an online business but having no idea how, when someone suggested he start his own podcast. That’s when he realized that he could interview the best people in his industry. He could pick their brains, ask questions, and hopefully leverage his relationship with them. Maybe they can teach me how to run a business, Luis says.

07:47 – Luis mentioned inspiration earlier. So what’s truly inspiring him right now? People, Luis says. “People inspire me. The idea that I have the possibility of influencing other people’s lives and changing the course of their life for the better inspires the heck out of me.” Being paid well for it, taking that money, and lavishing my friends and family through it.

08:50 – “When you’re inspired, discipline comes naturally.”

10:59 – As a successful business owner who started out with no prior experience and no formal training, Luis shares some of the biggest insights he’s learned along the way. I don’t have to do it all

11:41 – “I’d like to say it’s all roses and wonderful, but I would be a liar if I didn’t tell you that being an entrepreneur is scary.”

12:45 – “I know that at first, it’s a lot of hard work. You’re going against gravity. You’re going against conditioned training that you have to do things a certain way. When you become an entrepreneur, you do it your way.”

14:50 – Luis shares how to build and nurture your relationships – and monetize them. What most people don’t seem to realize that getting paid for your relationships is not only possible, it’s also lucrative. He uses Tim Ferriss’s rise to fame as a way to define what network and networking is. Nurturing your relationships and striving to help other people is the best way to win trust, respect, and recognition. The more people like you, as Luis puts it, the more they’re willing to work with you.

17:58 – Luis shares some tips for people who want to start a podcast. Partner bait is your ability to bait someone into speaking with you and then from there you can transition into offering to help them. “If you provide value before it’s asked and you do that consistently with as many people as possible … you’ve got yourself a winning formula.” The bigger you get, the more careful you have to be with building your network. Podcasting is the best partner bait so far, in Luis’s opinion.

21:19 – Luis shares how starting conversations can make or break your network. “Through our conversations we have the capacity and capability of creating.” Get into powerful conversations with people, and a podcast is one way to do that.

22:57 – Time Travel Moment, Part 1: If you could go back in time, what’s one piece of advice you would tell yourself?

23:22 – Time Travel Moment, Part 2: If you were starting over from scratch today – particularly with your podcast – what would your first moves be? What would you do to get started if you had nothing but your experience? Reach out to the biggest names in the places you want to be aligned with. Start with a compliment. Research on them.

25:00 – Start of the QuickFire Questions: What’s the best piece of advice in your industry you ever received?

26:26 – What’s one of your personal habits that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

26:46 – What book would you recommend? “Conscious Loving” by Dr. Gay Hendricks

27:23 – Who’s your public hero?

28:11 – What’s the world missing? What do you think it needs?

29:38 – Luis leaves the listener’s with this: If you want to succeed in lfe, stay close to people like Chris and Luis

You can get more from Luis at http://podcasterssecretweapon.com/ if you’re interested in starting a podcast. You can also check out his other website, http://www.lastingloveconnection.com/.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Robert Coorey is the #1 Best-Selling Author of the book “Feed a Starving Crowd”. He is also a Keynote Speaker, TV Pilot Host and wildly successful marketer. Recently listed by Startup Australia as one of Australia's Top 50 Entrepreneurs, Robert enjoys regular media appearances, delivers engaging keynote speeches and has been featured on TV and Radio for expert commentary on business and marketing. He is also the co-creator and lead presenter of the upcoming Reality TV Pilot called "The Fixers."​ The TV Pilot takes struggling companies through a maze of marketing challenges over 30 days.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

01:01 – Meet Robert Coorey, author of Number 1 Bestseller “Feed A Starving Crowd” – learn what he does, what he’s doing now, and what’s in store for him; namely a TV Show pilot with Hollywood

02:26 – Robert shares his advice for business owners who are just starting out with no clue how to go about it and not enough budget. The single biggest tip he can give is simply to go back to your database. Many people, he says, make the mistake of going out and spending money on advertisements and boosting posts. The fastest way and most effective way to launch is to go back to your existing people. It’s simple, it’s quick, and it doesn’t cost much.

03:27 – Another big tip is to go out to partners. Having great partners is another easy solution that is often overlooked

04:38 – While Content Marketing is a popular strategy right now, it’s always better to garner views and attention through someone else’s audience. For those looking into Content Marketing, Robert suggests getting featured on someone else’s YouTube channel or Blog before breaking out on your own. It’s a great way to make sure you already have a following before posting anything

07:43 – Robert’s story: what shaped him to be the man he is now? How did he get to where he is today, and what challenges did he face getting there? He started his own business at 16. While his friends were stocking supermarket shelves at $5 an hour, Robert – who decided that was not the life for him – was getting paid $300 to $400 a night, 5 hours a night, to play music at events. “Even from that young an age,” Robert says, “I’ve always tried to do things a bit different than normal.” He finished school, graduated, got a degree in computer science, and worked in corporate for about ten years. His first business was a video business, which ran for twelve months and garnered no money whatsoever. He then joined a marketing agency, ran some great campaigns, made his own division in that agency. We were turning over a million dollars, Robert says. That experience is what launched him to write his book.

11:16 – So what advertising strategies work for Robert? Where is he putting his money? Robert shares that he’s very active on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. His Facebook strategy is to build a group and continuously interact and contribute to that group so that he’s on the top of people’s minds when they log in. He spends money on Facebook ads for events and such. He’s also quite active in creating connections on LinkedIn. Although a LinkedIn user for eight years, Robert admits that he’s only now realized the importance of nurturing his relationship with all his connections.

13:54 – For all listener’s interested, Robert’s Facebook group is “Feed A Starving Crowd”, which you can easily search

14:07 – Where does Robert think Marketing is headed? He sees it as a process that’s getting slower and slower, taking longer for an aspiring marketer to make that first sale. Ten years ago, things were as simple as a funnel squeeze page where people would enter their email and you could hard sell them. With today’s technology and advancement in platforms, the process is not as clear-cut as it used to be. He sees it as a process that is slowly relying more on personal human touches rather than automation. He also mentions the importance of stories in marketing. Nowadays, people are not impressed with pitches. But everyone loves a good story.

16:16 – Robert shares his opinion on livestreaming platforms such as Periscope, Blab, and Meerkat – is it something that’s going to grow? How does he see it fitting in?

17:59 – Aside from “Feed A Starving Crowd”, Robert’s recommended reading is “Ask” by Ryan Levesque – it’s all about using survey’s in a way that generates more revenue for your business

18:30 – The tech, app, or piece of equipment Robert can’t live without right now is Evernote

If you want to learn more about Robert, visit his site https://feedastarvingcrowd.com/. You can also connect with him via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcoorey. Check out his Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/feedastarvingcrowd/

01:09 – Meet Martha Edith Hernandez, a Start-up Life Coach with an M&M (Method & Mindset) System and a love for helping people. She shares how Start-up Life Coach came to be, and what she experienced in terms of the entrepreneurs she’s helped along the way and their surprisingly limited belief in themselves. She’s learned through years of coaching that people are their own worst critic, and it’s their own failure to believe in themselves that cripple their business, and she makes it her goal to coach people through this self-destructive stage.

 03:07 – What the listeners will be learning today: the M&M Approach Lean Startup approach that will really get you moving

03:32 – Martha’s story – who is she, where did she start, and what did she have to go through to arrive at where she is today? The daughter of two Mexican immigrants who never finished elementary school, Martha is the first generation to be born in the US. She’s learned the value of working up the rank having worked since she was 14 years old. She’s gone from selling jewellery to selling subway sandwiches, and these odd jobs have helped her learn the power of excellent customer service. She considers herself one of the few lucky ones to get out of the ghettos of LA and attend school in UC Berkeley. Her obsession with social psychology started there. She went through multiple roles and multiple jobs just trying to find herself. Her turning point came one day when she decided to send a LinkedIn message to the Director of Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley. Four years later, she was handling a three million dollar program for him.

09:11 – The takeaway: Chris wants all listeners to realize the power of just doing something, and to draw inspiration from Martha’s story. It doesn’t matter if it’s imperfect action – it’s still action. As Martha puts it “perfection is a disease.”

10:14 – Martha shares with us what she learned doing the innovation at places like Berkely and Stamford. No matter how brilliant are or how high your IQ, if there is no market for your product or concept, you’re not going to make a difference. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been working on it for 10 or 15 years. It was heartbreaking, Martha shares, to see scientists who had worked on their project for 12 years realize after 2 months of working with her that their products were just not marketable.

12:36 – Martha shares some big start-up tips for the entrepreneurs who want to get moving.

1. Download the Business Model Canvas for free (http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/downloads/business_model_canvas_poster.pdf) – along with the PowerPoint template (you can search this for Google Just know that when you’re starting out for the first time, everything you’re going to write in that Business Model Canvas is, at best, a hypothesis – an educated guess
2. Focus on the Customer Segment (the people who actually purchase your product) and Value Propositions. These two together become what she calls the Product Market Fit
3. When you’re starting out, your two big concerns are: ‘who’s my customer?’ and ‘what do they care about?’
4. What is Value Proposition? View Martha’s video called “Feature’s Versus Benefit”. A Value Proposition is a benefit. It basically answers the question; ‘Who cares? If your product does x,y,z … who cares?’

19:24 – “There’s a difference between ‘Never Giving Up’ and ‘Never Quitting’” … Always, always, always stick to your dream. However, to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to quit – constantly.”

20:45 – It’s an artform learning when to quit and when you just need to carry on. How do you decide what to do?  Martha’s rule of thumb; if you’re not profitable within the first two years, it’s time to move on.

22:47 – Time Travel Moment, Part 1: If you could go back to when you started, what’s one thing you’d tell yourself? Martha admits that she’d tell herself to relax more

24:43 – Time Travel Moment, Part 2: If you’re starting over from scratch today with nothing but your experience, how would you start your business? Martha says she’d go out and start networking – building new contacts and making new friends.

26:00 – Start of QuickFire Questions – What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

26:47 – Can you share one of your personal habits that you strongly believe contributes to your success?

27:20 – What’s one tech, app, or piece of equipment that you or your business can’t live without?

27:34 – What book would you recommend? Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

28:18 – Martha leaves the listeners with this piece of advice: “You can’t get it wrong. Any decision  that is based from the heart, just know that it’s part of your path, it’s part of your journey, and no one else can tell you what it is or what it isn’t. Every decision that you make, you cannot get it wrong.”

 If you’d like to get more from Martha, visit http://www.startuplifecoach.com/. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthaedithhernandez