Influence School

Have you ever dreamt of changing the world like heroes do? What does it take for one to do so? There are three steps that you can do and you're about the find out what those are. Check out today's episode with Nate Woodbury and Devin Thorpe, masters of influence.

Welcome back. We've got another topic on influence. And so of course, I brought in Devin Thorpe. But this one is a pretty awesome way to look at it. How can an individual change the world? We got some real steps that you can take to do that. So, I'm excited to have this conversation Devin. Thanks for being here again. So as we were talking about kind of reviewing the content before the video, there are 3 steps to take that you can actually as an individual, change the world. Which that's a pretty big deal. For somebody like me who wants to make a difference or leave a legacy, understanding these 3 stuff. So I'm excited to hear we have to share there. And to lay a foundation for that. It looks like that there's there's kind of a mindset or a way of looking at things or a perspective that we need to have. And you've got kind of three different ideas there. So we'll cover those 3 ideas and then we'll get into the 3 steps and how we can change the world as an individual. -Yeah. So, you know, fundamentally, the first thing I think we need is a deep sense of optimism. -Okay. -Because you know, the world's problems are big. You know, I don't want to gloss over that or minimize it as we speak. You know, during the... During our conversation as we're recording this 10-15 minute video, you know, there are people dying in Yemen of starvation, there are people who are... You know, at risk of dying in in conflicts around the world but especially in Afghanistan and Yemen and elsewhere. Yeah, there are really serious problems. 2 and a half, 3 million people will die of infectious diseases this year. For which we have good preventions, right? And yet they will die anyway. Because we're not getting the water to the end of the road. So, I don't want to minimize the problems. But it takes a deep sense of optimism to tackle one of those problems, right? We're not talking about rounding the edge of the corners on a rectangle anymore. We're talking about real problems that need real solutions. And so, that deep sense of optimism is required. And I've seen that throughout my career in an interesting group of people. And you probably seen this too. You probably are this way. The people I've seen with the greatest sense of optimism are entrepreneurs, right? You know, we often talk about whether someone is a glass is half full glasses half empty kind of person, right? Entrepreneurs are, in my experience, very different. Not universally, but pretty consistently. There are the sorts of people that can look at an empty glass and say, "Oh, yeah. That's basically full." And maybe that's not the language they would use. It's not that they really see the glass is full. It's that they know where to get the water, right? They don't care that it's empty because they know what to do to solve that problem. And so, they have a deep abiding sense of an optimism that will carry them through all kinds of challenges. And so, especially when we're talking about really you know big social changes, we need to channel that entrepreneurial optimism that says, "I know where to get the water and I'm going to go get it and deliver that water. You know, come hell or high water. That's what I'm going to do." -So, that... That is a true principle that I really resonate with. And I'm glad you made the connection. Because I believe it 100% in business and entrepreneurship. I've been you know 100% entrepreneur for about almost 9 years. And and I've had... I've had some rough... Rough finances this whole time until you know, this last year, I've been very, very blessed. And it's not that I haven't had successes in the past. But it's it's been rough and it's... If I would not have been optimistic and been able to really not get flustered by them, the thousands of mistakes that I've made, the thousands of obstacles I've run into, so that was huge.

So, carrying over we're talking about. If I as an individual want to change the world, optimism. And the first thing that actually came to my mind even before thinking about my experience with business, I recently was... It was at a marketing conference but we we got to hear a keynote from the founder of this of this nonprofit at charity water. I was trying to struggling to find a name. But as I heard his story and what he's done and where his passion comes the things he's been able to do but he... He did put a neighbor story. He put in perspective on how great the need is and how small of an impact they've made so far in comparison. -Mm-hmm. -Like we could get overwhelmed with that and we couldn't feel pessimistic about that because it's like you know, the needs seems to be growing bigger than that the the impact we're making. But then, again, on filling this emotion that I felt when I spoke. But then, you look at the difference that they have made and you focus on that and... -Yeah -...and I was really impressed with his optimism that even though he shared some of these stats, the impact that he made, I loved it. loved it. -There's no doubt about it. And it is exciting. If we look at the you know long span of history. Not the last 10 years, the last 20 years. But look at the last 50 years. What we see is that vast numbers of people have had their lives improved dramatically. And water is accessible to more people now than ever. And yes, there are 700 million people who still need water. Who don't have a consistent source and they're more than 2 billion who don't have a toilet. I mean, these are huge populations of problems. But bear in mind, there are 5 billion people who have toilets. There are 6 billion people plus who do know where their water comes from now. These are great times to be alive. Real great reasons for optimism and it is exciting to see organizations and people like charity water going after this problem to solve it, So yeah, yeah. These are that optimism in the face of daunting challenges is important. And you see the power but with charity water. -Okay, so if you've got that foundation of optimism. Now, let's get into the 3 steps. -Yeah. -What's step 1? -Well, step 1 is almost... I don't want to say it's a repudiation of that principle. But in a way it builds on it, right? But it is that action is more important than attitude. And so, the first thing to do is to start doing something. And that's how charity water got started. It's a perfect example for this. You know, he was out clubbing and wanted to start doing some good and he just started doing good. And eventually, as he developed his passion for doing good and wanted to leverage his skills being very socially connected. And he built this organization that funds water projects and he really... You know, we've talked about some of these things in our other videos but you know he was very mindful not only the people he was serving but very mindful of the people who wanted to give. And he really innovated some great things in terms of the way he created organizational transparency. Donor transparency so that if you give to charity water, they will use that money for a specific project and you can go on. And 2 years from now see how that project is doing. And how much water has been delivered how many people. And that kind of transparency, some precedent. -When I saw that and I realized that 100% of the donation would go to the project because other donors have funded the charity, the nonprofit organization itself. I'm just like, "That's a cool way of doing it." Even though it might it have... You know, say I were to donate a dollar amount and 10% or that would go to fund, the run the nonprofit. For me, it just... It made me feel a lot better to know 100%... (Getting emotional here.) ...is going to help these people that need water and that there's other people that are making sure that the organization runs. Yeah, I love that. I love that transparency. So, but in that... In that example, we're talking about it here because of really actions are more important than the attitude. And yeah, he was... He was just... You know what? I've done so much that's been self centered focused on myself. I've got this life that you know what? I want to completely change things and he went out and just started serving even paying his own way to join that... That medical ship or whatever. -And on the mercy ship. -Just like, "I'm going to get out there and just start doing. I don't..." Yeah, I like that. -And so, yeah. It built. He that... His path sort of evolved but it started with him saying, "I will do something good today." And we'll see where it goes, right? And a lot of us have a clearer sense of direction than he had at that point. Not to be critical of him. He's obviously done amazing things. -So he had no idea how far it take. -Yeah, yeah. He didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to change his life. And kudos to him. As we start out with that intent to change the world, there is nothing as powerful as actually doing something to make that change happen. Even... Even though it will be small when we first start out. You know, we're not going to start out with something big. You know, there's a great analogy to the to your approach with the videos. You know, answering a simple question that 10 people want answered, right? It won't feel big when you answer that for 10 people. But eventually when you ask answer a lot of questions, the whole thing changes. The whole dynamic changes and it begins to snowball. -That's... I'm glad you made that connection because that's a lot of what I teach is focusing on the videos that are real specific and have a low search volume because you'll get such great results with it. But that is an interesting point that... Yeah, just focus on acting. You know, helping out in the small way. -And it builds. It will build, right? You... As you start doing, right? You learn, right? And that's how you become the master of YouTube as you started making YouTube videos. And you experimented and you learned. And now, you know it's mushroomed into a huge thing for you. And for other people that you're helping, right? So, it's the same in almost every area. Now, in some areas, there's going to be more friction. Less tailwind. But those principles still apply. So yeah. -What's step number 2? -So step number 2 is to collaborate. -Okay. And when I say collaborate, I really am talking about massive collaboration. It's tempting and relatively easy to collaborate with a peer. And there's no question that is helpful, right? So, if I am shoveling muck and mud off a beach, you know, after an oil spill. If I got a friend to help me, that would cut my work in half. -Alright. -If I got a Rotary Club with 20 people to help me, that would cut my work by 80, 95 percent right? If I got a high school with 3,000 students to come help me, I no longer am shoveling muck and mud at all. I'm organizing the process, right? So, you see how collaboration... You want to scale it up. It may be impossible. You know, if the optimal partner for you on day one is the W-H-O, the World Health Organization. With all of its... You know, resources all around the world. Well, you may not be able to partner with them on day 1. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't identify and start working toward that goal, right? To engage them in dialogue. Because you never know when they're going to say, "We need your expertise. Let's figure out how to replicate your model, your idea across our 12,000 employees in 184 countries. And suddenly, your idea is no longer you delivering you know maternal child care in Cambodia. Now, it's the W-H-O delivering improve maternal child care and you know, around the world. -That's huge. -So, that's the mindset I think we have to have. -Okay. -That massive collaboration opportunity. -And I like thinking about it with our conversations of using influence for good and in this case, you know, if we want to really make a difference in the world or change the world, then yeah, we can collaborate and we can partner with friends and bring others in with us. But if we can use our own influence and our own you know, ideas to find those you know, larger organizations, larger groups then that's really just about leverage. And finding a... Finding a way... To find that lever to make a bigger impact with more and more... More and more hands like this. Yeah. -Yeah. -

Okay. So, that... That's a helpful point to note. -Yeah. -What's point number 3? -So point number 3. And I observed... I really gathered these principles from the polio eradication effort that is an ongoing global effort. 30 years ago, there were 350 to 400 thousand cases a year of polio. Last year, there were 22. Not 22,000. 22. And we are almost done with polio eradication. Now, not quite, And that's kind of the point here. What got the Polio Eradication Initiative to... Through you know, 99% of the way. They figured out it was not going to get them the rest of the way. They actually got the number of polio cases in the world down below a thousand. 15 years ago. -Hmm. -And they still haven't got it to zero. It's really a challenge. And it was only about 5 or 6 years ago they realized, "We need an end game strategy." They call it. And I think, it's a brilliant name, right? There's got to be a way to bring this to its conclusion. And in some cases, you know, if you're not working toward eradication of something, the goal might be expressed a different way. But for you, for instance, when your YouTube world. The goal may be, "How do I get on network television? How do I take this from being YouTube famous to being network television famous? Or truly Hollywood famous?" Because there's an order of magnitude, more eyeballs there than on YouTube. As big as your audience is on YouTube, right? And so, to make that leap, you need an end game strategy. Because what got you famous on YouTube won't make you Hollywood famous. Won't make you network TV famous. What gets you successful in one village or one country may not be successful everywhere. And so, you need to have an endgame strategy that takes you for that last... That last measure. And in the polio eradication effort, what we're finding is it's way harder than we thought it would be. And it's really shocking how difficult it is to get the last piece. But I am confident that we will see that done. I always say it's, you know, the last 5 years have been saying, "It'll be this year, next year." I still believe that even though this is now the fifth year in a row I've been saying, "This year or next year will be the last year with polio cases." But it has taken a massive effort. But I think we're we're now spending on the order of 3 or 4 times per year what we were spending 10 years ago. -As I'm... Because I'm thinking about this, seems like this is a tough step but to really have clarity on what the end goal really is... -Yeap. -So, we can achieve... You know, if we're talking about YouTube. By the way, the goal isn't to go to corporate television. (Both Laughs) But I understand. I understand the case as it is a complete... It would be a complete different strategy. -Yeah. -But yeah. So, It's really know... "Okay, if I want to change the world, what is that end goal?" And with with polio, its to completely 100% eradicate that disease than to have some flexibility and kind of understanding that the methods are going to need to change. -Yeah. -I mean how... How do you know how do you figure out because I guess it hasn't been figured out fully with the  polio case. -Right. -How do you figure out that in-game strategy? -I liken it to a marathon. You know, we do a lot of training for a marathon. You have bee to marathon or 2, I think. -Yeah. Just one full but I found that I like half marathon. -Yeah. -But I've run 3 marathons. And all that training, we do in advance is really for the last mile. It's not so we can run the first mile fast. -Yeah. You know, it's relatively easy to train for a 5k. That first 3 miles is just not that hard once you've trained for a marathon. All that training is so that you can stagger through that last mile. And I think that's kind of a helpful analogy to recognize there's just a massive amount of work required. The reason you and I like half marathons instead of full marathons is there is less training. -Mm-hmm. -I met the... -That's exactly it. -And because training for a full marathon takes a lot of time. You got to put in the miles or you're just not going to have a successful outcome. And so, yeah. I think you know, figuring out the work required. It clearly is a higher order, right? So, with polio, the easy measure is you know, we're spending 3 or 4 times as much money as we once were. And of course, we're concentrating on fewer cases of polio. So it in thumb boys, you expect it to be easier. But what we're finding with polio? And specifically is that... That there are conflict areas in Afghanistan where it's difficult to go. The Taliban works with the polio people some days. Some Taliban tribes are more accommodating than others. But you know, that's... That's the reality, right? It's trying to get into Taliban control areas. And then if you're not in an area and polio is still thriving in an area, people occasionally leave, right? So, they leave and they go other places. So all around Pakistan and Afghanistan, you have cases popping up all the time. Because people leave the areas where they're really flourishing and then they drop that virus all around those 2 countries. And so it's really, really hard to get it. And I could go on and on about why it's difficult. But clearly, greater effort is required and you need to be preparing for that greater effort down the line. To get over that next hurdle. -A lot of times when when I think about... We'll just say YouTube goals of where we want to take our channel. We think about it you know opposite terms of it gets easier. So, we say like the first hundred subscribers is the hardest. Or the first 1000 is the hardest. But then you know go to go from 1,000 to 2,000 or even 1,000 to 10,000. Might be equal or even less difficult than the first thousand. And it just built a momentum from there. But... So, but if I'm thinking about YouTube as a stepping stone towards my you know, a bigger goal. Meaning, getting 10 million subscribers, that's that's a great tool and a great platform. But that's not the goal. So the... If I understand more clearly what the goal is... Okay and then what would be the step when I get to 10 million subscribers? But then what will I do? And what will the steps be then? This might be the easy step actually compared to you know, if I really want to change the role, I really want to make an impact. Knowing what that is and... At least preparing for in advance knowing that the game is going to change there all times along the way. Okay. -Yeah. So, that's... That's how you change the world right there. Anyone can do it. And you know the great thing about changing the world you know, we we often get discouraged. 2 final thoughts. May I share a couple of thoughts? 1 is everyone who ever changed the world was a person who decided to change the world. -Very true. -So that's... So you know, never, never discount your ability to change the world because you're just like a person. Because everyone who did, was. Second key thing. It takes an audacity that borders on crazy to change the world. And what I see is that many of the people who are having the most impact are extraordinarily ordinary. Except for the crazy idea that they actually could change the world. That one key belief motivates them to take the action and do all these things I'm talking about. And they do change the world. So somebody... If you have an idea and somebody tells you, "That's crazy." That... -That's a good sign. -Might be a good sign (Both laughs) You're awesome. Thanks so much. Now we know how to change the world. I really feel that... I really feel that your points are helpful. So, thank you much. You want to find out more about Devin Thorpe and what he's doing, I'll put a link down below. Make sure you subscribe and we'll see you tomorrow.

Influence is powerful, and if used the right way, can make better lives for people. In today's episode, we've got Devin Thorpe with us as he explains why influence is significant and how you could be a good influence on others. Tune in!

Welcome back. Today, we're talking about influence again and how to be a good influence on others. Stick around for this one. Alright. So, I've got Devin Thorpe with me again. He's demanded to bring into the conversation about influence and social influence. So, on the conversation, we've got several points that we talked private or we talked previously about you know, how to be that good influence. But I thought it would be good to kind of set the the foundation first of why. Because I feel so deeply that influence is important. I believe that it's kind of my pursuit in life to gain more and more influence. But to use that, there's also obviously a big responsibility to use that influence in a good good way. And I want to get your take on it. Why... You focus a lot of your life in your career around influence. So. why do you feel influence is so important? -In order to create good, influence is the tool. At least for people like you and me, right? That influence is our commodity, if you will. And so to use that and definitely we need to be mindful about using that for good. I guess everyone... Virtually everyone thinks they're using influence for good who uses influence. I mean, even the Taliban, when they're making videos and Isis, they think they're doing good. I mean, I really think they do as tragic as that is. And they think they're fighting for a good cause and so, I would acknowledge that without even you know, going to the extreme of weighing what the Taliban thinks that there are a lot of people who like disagree about what good is. Still I encourage people to be thoughtful about that. -Yeah. -To put their best selves forward. -Yeah. So, maybe in another video, we'll cover what is good and what is bad. -Yeah. -I think anything that involves love and kindness? Anyway. -Yes. -Those are... Those are good words, right? -Good. -Murder, bad. -Yeah. Stealing or dishonesty, bad. -Yeah, yeah. -You know, I think about the life that I'm living and I want to make a difference. I want to make an impact, I want to leave a legacy and it all stems back to influence. I think, you know how many people have I been able to you know the impact or to touch their lives and whatnot. So... Alright, so we've got that down. If everyone watching this video has that same goal of growing influence and being able to influence others for good, what are some of the the key things that can help us do that? -Well, I think one of the things that's important is kind of a integrity, right? And when I talk about integrity for an influencer, I think we need to focus on walking our talk, right? We need to focus on doing the things we tell others to do. Because if we're not doing that, there are a couple of problems that will come up. First off and I question whether any of us can really know the impact of doing a thing, we're not doing.

Right? So, telling people to do something that we're not is risky business. -And we see that a lot actually. -Yeah. And then of course, there's the fact that people will eventually figure out you're not doing what you're telling others to do, if you're not. And so then you you run the list good risk of really losing your audience. -Yeah, I think that's really important to talk about. Because that we see it a lot and if I were to make a... You know, a Fitness channel and I were to start making a video about how important it is to do push-ups every day or you know... And yet, I wasn't doing that or something like that. How would I be able to position myself as that expert of that Authority? Another example is at a YouTube conference. There was a person's... Like their credibility on the stage was diminished so much in my eyes when they were giving advice. Yeah, I've heard you know, somebody asked a question and they say well yeah, "I've heard this, so I think that you should do this, this and this." You know. But he then clearly admitted, "Yeah, I haven't even tried that." And he's showing that that's important to me. So like, "Wait a minute." If you just said, "I really don't know." -Yeah -So... -I remember hearing a woman give a training once on how to do a podcast. Because she had been studying how to do a podcast. And I was literally livid with the organizers of that event. With all the people in the world who do podcasts. That they had brought in and given 20 minutes of my time to a woman who had yet to record her first podcast. I literally was crawling out of my skin. I was so upset that they had wasted my time. And so, yes. That integrity of walking your talk is just an incredibly important. -One other example. And then we'll move on to some positive examples. But a lot of people go through business school to learn how to operate business but they become employees of a business. Which maybe that's their plan and their intention. But I always found it ironic that a lot of the professor's teaching principles of entrepreneurship and about business are oftentimes not entrepreneurs are successful in business themselves. They're not executives and yet they're... So, it's kind of a weird you know, but there are... There are people that are very successful that come in and they'll teach a specific course. That's the type of professor I would want. -Sure. -You know, somebody that's been in the trenches versus an academic that hasn't done it. -Yeah. -So, okay. So, you're saying to really make an influence you've got to walk your talk. So if you're teaching something, it's important that you're doing that yourself? -Yes. Absolutely. And then there's a corollary. And it's... It's obviously highly related and... But not quite redundant to say we also have to be authentic and talk about our walk. -Does it include mistakes? -I hope it does because you know, you or your channel is highly polished. My channel is not. You know, it's Awards on all kind of channel. And so, I hope that authenticity comes through and is valuable in a way that's different in value from the polish that you have on your channel. But yeah. I think authenticity requires us to talk about what we do and create harmony in it. So, it's a little different angle on this integrity is walking your talk. Authenticity in my mind is talking your walk. Something that comes to mind is LinkedIn. I've actually made videos and I've made training courses on LinkedIn. But it's been on a very specific area where I've had great results in great success. But as we talked in a previous episode, I haven't ever tried anything with LinkedIn video. And so, imagine, I could easily... Just because of the position I have with YouTube and in video, I could easily you know, on stage start talking about LinkedIn and have people listen and LinkedIn video specifically. But yet, that would be... I'd be inappropriate because I haven't... I haven't done it yet. In a lot of my episodes, I bring in experts like you... -Mm-hmm. -...that some of the things that I think my audience would like to hear but I'm not the expert on. -Right. -Now, I can bring in that. -Well, and a great example of authenticity in my mind would be to share on your YouTube channel your experiment including the data and everything you learned with LinkedIn video, right? So, as you're beginning to test that and see what works what are the tricks and tweaks. And you can tell them all the things you try and your YouTube followers would eat that up. -Mm-hmm. Would you guys? Comment below if you like to document that as I'm doing these experiments. -I think that I think people would love that. And that but that's a great example of authenticity, right? Where you're not saying I know everything. I'm sharing with you what I learned. And so, yeah. I think that would be a great example.

-All right. So, we talked about integrity being that we do what we say. And the authenticity is even sharing our mistakes and and not you know painting facade that's different than what's real. Is there is there one that's more important? Are actions are more important or words are more important? And obviously, they have to be in sync. What would you... Would you say? -Well, I think we have to... What what we do is more important than what we say. And... -Why is that? -And it's a blurry line for influencers. Because what we do is talk. But still, I think we need to be focused on and be aware of the things that we're doing so that we're doing them with integrity and authenticity. So, that we're leading lives that are above reproach. As much as possible. Everyone's human but it's Matt Lauer can tell you, "What what you do off camera is just as important and ultimately more important than what you do on camera." -Yeah, I like that. So, I've got a... I've got an example or kind of a illustration in my mind of how real this is. So, I was filming with a client and this guy's got great expertise, great experiences and he's picked several topics that were going to film on their "How to style videos." And in his points, he had prepared several points. But one of them really emphasized his expertise and the others were just kind of like, yeah that's a good principle. I kind of... Like everyone knows that those things are important. But he didn't have a really experience with it enough to go into depth. And so, as we started the video, I said, "You know, let's... Let's go back to the beginning on this video and let's put really the focus right here on this point we have expertise." And I asked him, "Do you have a story that you could share that not only could you teach and talk about the principles of that point but then really illustrated through a story?" And he did. He had a great story. And so, we restarted that video. We went back and kind of skipped over some of the other points that were good points. But that he didn't really have a story to back up or have a lot of experience with. It made the video so much better. From you know, my perspective and filming it but putting myself in the shoes of all the people are going to be watching. And it's like, "This video is now going to be really helpful sort for them." Because it's not just a regurgitation of things that he's taught and kind of knows his right and good that he that they're probably going to see in lots of other videos. But this is the unique piece of that topic that only he can share that's really valuable. He went back and shared his experience and then it made it a lot more applicable. As like, "Ah, that makes a lot of sense." And that and it really positioned him wel as an expert. And so, in terms of being able to influence, if I were to watch that video versus how we were almost going to film it, I would definitely be much more influenced or I am much more influenced because I I was able to get that story out of him. So that makes a lot of sense that the actions. And so, kind of my take away of you know, actions kind of speak louder than the words. If we can in our words talk about our actions. Maybe talk about stories. Include stories as where we're teaching these principles. -Yeah.  Absolutely. Stories are so powerful. And it's much more difficult than people want to admit. Fundamentally, you know, telling a story about our own life experience is relatively easy. -Okay. -But when we're creating a crowdfunding video for instance. There's a lot of information that needs to be delivered. But to convey that in a... To give that a story arc so that people are compelled to listen to the whole thing. They want to know how it ends, right? That is very difficult. But it's hugely powerful. If you can do that, right? So, yeah it's that art of the story is super powerful. And you know, I try to do it in my writing for Forbes. And it's really hard to actually create that arc of a story when I'm telling people you know, relating a news event or writing about a person. It's remarkably difficult to create tension that draws people in to want to... You know, hear the end of what you're telling them. But that is the goal on everything you do and say. -Definitely applies to video because even in the the beginning of the video, we try and put in a hook. That lets them know why they need to watch it, what they're going to get at the end. Something like that. -Yeah. -Alright. So, I cheated and I looked at Devin's notes. So one of your points are something that I certainly agree with it's that you need to share a message that improves the lives of others. You know, that should be obvious but a lot of people that have helpful messages  don't realize how much of an impact that can make. So, maybe I'll turn that around. Because I think everyone has an expertise in something. They've had experiences and by simply making a how-to video, that shares that experience that answers a question that somebody might have and people then watch that video. You're helping them out. You've really in that moment, you're you've positioned yourself as the hero to them. You've helped them. But I want to hear your perspective. -Yeah. Well, I... You're right. No one's creating videos I think with the intention of being bad. But I think there are some that don't have the intention of being good. And there's an opportunity for everyone to do that to some extent. Everyone has life experience that they can share everyone has value that they can add. And go beyond just entertaining. I think there's a lot of stuff that's on YouTube that's purely entertaining. But like I think about your client and my friend. Our friend Paul Jenkins than you you helped him with his channel. And you know, the content he's providing for parents to help them deal with the challenges of parenting. My gosh! It's hugely helpful, right? I mean, the value there are potentially life saving, right? Because one of the most common ways for kids to die is suicide. And if he's helping parents to parent better, he's reducing that risk. Every time he... Someone watches one of those videos, so yeah. I mean, he's he's out there making a different, saving lives with that message. It's a great example of you know, what I'm talking about. You know, that that share a message that improves other people's lives. -See, growing up, when I thought about an influencer or a celebrity, my... I always looked to NBA players or definitely the actors and you know, Harrison Ford or something like that. And the ones that to this day that I admire the most are those who have taken that position of influence and actually used it to influence for good. Because when you're when you're a celebrity, people are looking to you, they admire you and whatever you say, they take that as advice. They take that as, "Ooh, I want to be like you so I got a..." And when I've seen a celebrity that shown respect, even if it's just simple things. Like showing respect or showing kindness, showing appreciation for fans. You know, one of them my favorite celebrities that I follow is Will Smith. And I don't know everything about him. But I've seen a lot of good come from him. I've seen a lot of good messages come from him. And that's what I'm talking about is taking your position of influence or celebrity and using it to really do good. And so there's kind of a mixture. It's like I have a message to share, I'm definitely going to start creating these how-to videos. And if I happen to have a cute cat video that goes viral, then I'll just take advantage of that in a good way to help get my message out to more people. -Sure. -Okay, your last point. I'm curious about. Because I don't know what it means. So, what does be other minded? What does that mean? -Yeah, I think in this context, I'm thinking about this in a couple of different ways. But one is to be really focused on the audience, right? Instead of being focused on yourself, we focused on the audience. What do they want, what do they want to learn, how... What are the problems in their lives that we can help them solve. -That's actually hard to do. -It is. Like, because you get on stage, you're just thinking about... You're thinking about what to say and whatnot. So, how do you do that? -Yeah, so it's tricky and... Certainly, listening to your feedback is important. Especially from the viewers, right? The people who are you know, in our case with YouTube channels. You know, watching our content we need to be attuned to what people are telling us. We need to interact with people so that they feel safe giving us feedback too.

So, I try to make a point of interacting with people on all of my channels. So, that when they have feedback for me they feel comfortable providing it. But then being other minded, I think is also about trying to put ourselves not just in the shoes of our audience but in the shoes of people who are really differently situated to try as best we can. To understand the life experience of a goat herder in Kenya or a woman who is a midwife in a village in Nepal, right? Their human experience is very different than ours. But just as legitimate. And so having a... Trying to have a mindset where we are mindful of others and their legitimacy. In spite of their differences. -Yeah. I like that. I mean, there's a lot that I have to learn in that regard as the first example you brought up was this is speaking. You know, speaking to an audience which is an area that I'm brand new to. I've only... And so there's... Majority of the times that I've, I've taken the stage or walked to the front of the room, I'm just fully consumed with making sure I cover my points. And but it... There's been other times where I've set that aside a little bit and I've been less polished. But I've just focused on the group and trying to you know, really think about them and what would help them the most and kind of gone complete different direction. And I have mixed feelings about that. Because it's... I don't... I don't know if I would have been more helpful to be more organized. But it that's kind of the goal that I have. What I... What I have experience is on YouTube. The videos that are the most... The word I was going to say was successful but I also believe influential or impactful. Are those that we really connect with just the one person who's watching the episode. And if we make a video on how to blank, if I can really think about, "Okay, what is the person that just typed in that search question? What do they really need help with?" And just thinking about, "Okay." From your perspective. So, if it is somebody that's you know, if there's a topic that's really doing well in India or in Argentina or something like that, maybe I just bring that up because it's somewhere that's foreign to me. Trying to put myself in their their shoes and think, "Okay, what advice could I share from my experience that would really help them." Because I've, you know, maybe I shouldn't make a lot of videos about YouTube or video and my experience. I've had a lot of experience with it. And so a lot of my my thinking is at a different level than somebody that's never picked up a camera before. And so, to kind of put myself in their shoes, it's like, "Okay, if you push the power button like this..." -Yeah. No, you make a great point is that this approach helps us to remember... And I struggle with this too, right? I... This is something I have to work on constantly but to try to remember that your audience isn't just made up of your loyal fans who get the preamble but also includes people who are completely new and are really just crying out for basic information. -Yeah, I brought to mind another channel on real estate investing. When we started making videos that really went back to the basics on what is the mortgage. You know, just videos like that. "What is equity?" Those videos have been some of the most popular and well-received so really makes a lot of sense. -Yeah. -Well then, I really appreciate you joining me in this episode. I felt that it was valuable and I hope you guys felt it was valuable. If you liked it, make sure you give it a thumbs-up. If you've watched this far in the episode, then you should probably subscribe so you'll come back tomorrow we'll see then.

Is social influence measured by followers, likes, and fans? What is social influence? What makes someone an influencer? What is the real focus of social influence? Let's talk about that with Devin Thorpe in today's episode on influence. Tune in!

Well, welcome back. We've got a fun topic today. You know I like to talk a lot about influence. So we've got Devin Thorpe here to talk all about social influence. What it is and why it's important? Alright. Welcome, Devin. It's so excited to have you here. Been actually wanting to have you on my channel for quite a long time. Devin Thorpe talks a lot about social entrepreneurship and he's done a lot of great things on Twitter. We're going to talk about that in another episode. But talking about social influence. Let's just talk about what is social influence, first of all? -Well, you know I think for me, one of the first things to point out is what it isn't. Certainly don't measure it in followers or fans and likes. -So, it's not important. -Not irrelevant. -But that isn't the way to focus, right? The... In my mind, when I think about social, I'm thinking about social goods, social impact. And so, I'm thinking about how am i changing lives? How am i making someone's life better? -So, if you have a big number, that might not be an indicator if you've done that or not? -Yeah. And those are easy to manipulate. It's easy to manipulate them and then believe that you have achieved something. I mean, it's so... It's... Yeah, the focus should be on you know, are you changing lives? And that can come from a variety of ways, right? From the simple enabling someone to do something with a how-to video. To the profound motivating someone to go from focusing on petty, small, things to changing the world. In some meaningful way. And suddenly... It, you know, that. You know, moving someone from one to the other. -Mmhmm. -You know, that's a profound change. You've helped someone make and you... You know, had a huge ripple. But all of those are forms of social impact. It's a little social influence. -So I like a lot of things that you said. They're really resonate with me. The type of channels that I create. I'm about to to start filming on our tenth daily YouTube channel. -Wow. -In the coming not next week with the week after. We create a lot of content, right? And there's a big temptation to create the cute kitten video or something like that. Because they'll get so many views. You know, that can be helpful in a certain way. But as far as really making difference, really making an influence, not so much. You get the big numbers but I love, you know, all my clients are influencers. And we'll make those how to style videos where you can answer a question. And it brings to mind a story that the Paul Jenkins shared. he made a video on parenting and he got a comment and he gets these all the time. and I'm thinking of one specifically was from a lady in India that thanked him for the advice that he shared on on parenting that it helps so much. something that she was struggling with and he just you know, it's kind of the first one of the first comments he got like that that really hit him. It's like, "Wow! I I just helped a mother on the other side of the planet." -Right. -And that's... That really is the power of of what I see on YouTube. Is this real, real ability to build that influence and to to really do it in a meaningful way to really impact for good.

-Yeah. -So, I like that. So, a question I have for you is kind of what's... I know that you talk a lot about social entrepreneurship. How does social entrepreneurship relate to social influence? -Social entrepreneurship in is in essence is a form of social influence, right? Using business. Entrepreneurship to have a social impact. To make a difference in the world. And in a way, I am a social entrepreneur. You know, my business, it looks similar to yours in some ways, right? I have a YouTube channel and I annoy people on social media all the time. So, I have a presence. But every social entrepreneur finds a way to build a business that is creating some sort of baked-in-designed good in some way. You know, some famous examples are like Warby Parker with the eyeglasses where they sell them not only cheap to everyone but they give away a pair to someone can't afford to buy a pair. TOMS shoes giving away shoes. One-for-one. They kind of created the one-for-one model. But there are all kinds of examples of people and social entrepreneurship out there changing the world with a business model. Not necessarily for profit. We... Most of us in the social entrepreneurship world will include people who are running nonprofits. Especially if they run launch a new nonprofit with an innovative approach to solving a social problem. -Okay. So I like that. I like that connection. It's... It takes the social influence component but it matches it with the business side of things too and nonprofit side of things. Okay. So, a back to influence and using social media, we talk a lot here definitely about YouTube. So, what are some other... Other ways that you can really make an impact or influence others and other social platforms? -Well, I think regardless of the platform, the key is to figure out how to communicate with your audience. And it's always tricky, right? Because all of the social media platforms are constantly tweaking the algorithm. So, what works on LinkedIn one week may not work two weeks ago or you know two weeks later. You know there... There was a fairly significant algorithm change in the last year on LinkedIn. And for a while, you know, a really authentic 300 word story as a post would just crush it. And thousands and thousands of people would get to see it. Six months later, that same content didn't generate nearly the same number of use. The algorithm had changed. And in fact, I remember at the peak of that frenzy, people were starting to mock the fact that this style of post was getting so much attention and then it... -Got you. -...it you know, link didn't got rid of that algorithm or whatever it was. But yeah, you've constantly got to be figuring out how to connect with your audience and that's partly a game of working the algorithms and partly an authentic quest to deliver value to your audience and to connect with them in meaningful ways. And you know, that's tricky. That's tricky. But that's... That's the quest. -Well, so it's interesting that you mentioned that about LinkedIn. The reason I was at a YouTube conference, I presented there you know, sharing my expertise on in my areas of YouTube. But I I Network twith a lady who's done some amazing things in the last 6 or 8 months on LinkedIn through video. So I wonder if that was a big part of the change is going away from written content. A little bit more towards video. -Yeah. -Because that with the type of content we create for YouTube. A lot of its in the b2b space and so, I think LinkedIn is... LinkedIn is one of the places that I'm... -I was pretty stunned. I posted a video. First time I posted a native video in a long time on LinkedIn rather than just sharing a YouTube video which I've done a few thousand times. We got a surprising number of views on LinkedIn. Of course, it's tough to know from their data. They don't provide a lot of data. Whether that's a lot of three second views and what, you know, how many people watched a minute. How many people watched the whole two minute video. You know, it's tough to know sometimes. -So we... We understand that the numbers are just kind of steps to try and help us gauge if we are really making the influence that we want. YouTube.... YouTube, it has great analytics. And so we look at an issue. "Ohh! this one's got a million views or this one only got a hundred views." You know, and but it's... When we have a video that's really impactful, really has a message that... That the world needs to hear and it gets a million views and then we can go back and see, "Oh, this is the demographics, this is the geography, this is where the traffic came from." Really helpful. So you're saying LinkedIn doesn't quite provide you that those things... -Not great. Not great analytics, no. And so that's a trick, right? To measure you know, what kind of impact you're getting. One sign that... That in a way, supersedes all the analytics for me is real feedback, right? Because if a person tells you something about the video, especially something if they pull a comment right from the video, "I loved this observation about or I'm going to try that." Or you know, if they're being specific about the content then clearly, they watched it. That is really helpful. That... That's probably in a way more meaningful than any of the analytics. It means you're reaching at least some people. And I'll give you an example. I... Forbes contributor as you know. And so, I wrote a Forbes piece a couple of weeks ago. Well, just this week. Interesting thing. Almost no one read it on... On Forbes. And you know, so I think... Literally, like 200 people. Which for me is really, really, bad. -Yeah. -But the interesting thing was when I shared it on Facebook, people started sharing it and talking about it. So even though very few people read it, what was interesting is a lot of people in my circle read it. The... You know, the people closest to me we're really interested in that particular content and really kind of devoured it even while people who didn't know me didn't care. It was... It was really an interesting phenomenon. But... But you can have influence, impact, make a difference sometimes without big numbers. Anyway, it was an interesting observation. -Well then I... So comments on YouTube. That... That's a great, great, feature. The thing that I... That I don't like about it though is they can become pretty vile on YouTube because it's not really a good social network. People really don't create a profile there and poke publish who they are. They just create their... Their YouTube name and they can comment. And ...And I know that LinkedIn is... Is a much better social... Social network, social platform. And so, as you post a comment there, a lot of that garbage is probably filtered out but it's it's a lot more engaging as well. I'm sure you're going to get a lot more share. You can't share if you're on YouTube. You can't share. It's like, how do you share a YouTube video? You text it to somebody or you email it or you post it on a different social platform. So, that's one big disadvantage.

So, I'm excited to... To kind of test an experiment with the same type of content we're creating on YouTube for Linedln. Now, question for you in your experience on LinkedIn. Have you seen videos as square in shape versus the wide, you know, landscape? That's just a question that I'm... -Yeah, I am... What have I seen? I don't know. What I'm doing is the traditional. -The traditional, okay. I'll have to I've got to look into that because I... The lady that I talked to, she was doing square videos I'm like, "Hmm, I wonder if that's just her style or if that's a...." -Yeah. -Okay. -And I think I'm playing now to experiment with Twitter. I have... My biggest following is on Twitter. But I struggle a little bit with engagement there even though it's my biggest audience. And so I'm... I'm... But you have to have to upload videos there. I think they have to be less than 45 seconds. -Now, that one I having a struggle catching. I understand the strengths of it in terms of communication and networking and especially communicating with... With a large audience but... I haven't figured that one out yet. -Yeah. -The last one that I want to bring up is podcasts. Tell me, are you a small time podcast? You've been podcasting a long time? -Yeah. I have been podcasting a long time. I've done about a thousand episodes of my show. And the first 300 were only on YouTube. After 300 episodes, I thought you know, all these have an audio track. I'm going to start publishing them on my podcast. -And if you have you've gotten some of those, not necessarily the stats of how many downloads. But have you've gotten feedback from podcast listeners that show that that's a good platform for influence? -Yes. And what really humbles me about that is most often, when I run into someone I really respect who mentions my content. It's the podcast they're listening to. That's the most common among the people I really respect the most. I don't mean to insult the people who watch the YouTube stuff. But a lot of the YouTube Watchers are not people who are following my every episode. there're people who are interested in one. Or interested in two. But the podcast listeners are different. They subscribe and they listen to most of the episodes. They may skip through one or two but they're you know, they're subscribing, they're listening. -That's a big deal. So, if you didn't catch the Golden Nugget he just shared there, at least the part of it that the Golden Nugget for me is the people that I might really want to hear this message or really want to have an impact on that they're more likely actually to be listening on a podcast and through watching a YouTube episode. -I  think so. -Which I've seen that as I've recently listened to several audiobooks about podcasting and any exploring ways of doing that, that same thing. So... Well thanks Devin so much. As we wrap up this video, I'll... Be sure to subscribe. Now, if they want to check you out, how do they find you on YouTube? youtube.com/ DevinThorpe. D-E-V-I-N-T-H-O-R-P-E. -So, we'll put that link in our description below or somewhere on the screen here so you can do that. And be sure to watch our next video. We'll see you tomorrow.

Disney has a way of keeping the magic alive and the best part is that it leaves a mark on people who have been part of it. Rob Ferre is one of the lucky people who have worked for Disney. And in today's episode, he shares with us his experiences in working for Disney and what he has learned from it.

Welcome back. So, if you're like me, you're probably a big fan of Disney and I've always wondered what it would be like to work for Disney. Well we've got Mr. Rob Ferre. -Yeah. -Who actually not only worked for Disney but you've told a lot of stories... -Yeah. -...about working for Disney. It's kind of made a big impact in your career. So... -Yes. -That's what going to be talking about today. Alright. So, let's dive right in. First of all, how were you able to get a job working for Disney in the first place? -Well, I graduated from college in 2003 from Southern Utah University, okay? And... -With a degree in Disney? -No, I did not. No, I did not have a degree in that. Does a degree in broadcast communications. And I wanted to go into TV and radio. And I was... I didn't quite find the job I was looking for. I'd still had this opportunity. I still had the small window to do what is called the college... The Disney College Internship. Now, there's 2 different internships out there. There's a college program and the there's a professional internship. The professional internship is actually really good for those who have a focus on where they want to go or what they want to do. I just took the general one which was the college program internship. And that is actually really good for college program... For college students who are in their freshman, sophomore, junior year. -So, how did you how... Do you even know that these programs existed? -So, they have recruiters that come to your college campus. And so I remember meeting somebody and saying, "Hey, I did this. You should try it." And so they have college recruiters at every campus. I wish... -A career fair type thing, work... -Yeah. And some just set up a kiosk in the Student Union. So it just depends.

So, somewhere I the career fairs. This particular person I believe I met at just... They had a kiosk and the student union. The one thing I do wish... I wish my recruiter would have told me to take the professional internship. I just did the college program. And so, the college program puts you on the front lines. The professional internship puts you in more of an office setting where you are working within your degree. So, if you're in hospitality, you'll maybe work a front desk job. If you're in communication, you work behind the scenes. So, those type of things. I did the college program and I got a job working at the parking lot and MGM studios. So, it wasn't quite the dream job I wanted. But I was still working at Disney World and working in Disney. Gorgeous. -So, you heard about that when you're in southern Utah but you went out to Orlando. -Yep. And that was in 2004 and I went out there and I worked. And so I did my college program. And once I finished that college program, I applied for a different job. I didn't want to be in the parking lot the entire time and so I applied for a job at the Jungle Cruise which was an awesome job as what a dream job for me. And then I was able to be cross-trained, as we call it to the Haunted Mansion. Because the Jungle Cruise in the Haunted Mansion in the same work area. And I really, really, really, really loved my job at The Haunted Mansion. when it was indoors and 2 you get to be a brooding kind of character. Jungle Cruise I got to be a character. but you're spilling a lot as we call it. you're constantly going around the river, spilling, spilling, spilling. and so I like the variety of being able to work at the Jungle Cruise or at the Haunted Mansion. but when you work there, you know, there's a few jobs that are called Universal jobs where you can work at all the different parks. And that's usually an entertainment. So once you have a job, you work at that one location and that was the location... -So is it... Is it a grueling schedule? Was it enjoyable? -It depends. Depends. You know, certain jobs can be grueling especially if you're outdoors in the heat. I was part-time. I never went full-time. I was only full-time when I would do my college program. And I had different jobs that I dabbled in. But I learned so many great things about the Disney way and what they do in their training process. Their training process was really cool. They do what is called traditions. -Let's talk about... I'm very curious about their training process. -Yeah. So, they have what is called Disney University which is behind the Magic Kingdom. In Disney University, they have courses for continuing education. But when you start, you do you take what is called traditions. It's a day-long class where you learn about Walt Disney and what he instilled and his values and the history. And then the second day of traditions, you take a tour of the park that you're going to be working at. So when I first got my job at MGM Studios, we took a tour of that. And then when I cross transferred or started working over at the Magic Kingdom, I had to do a whole new traditions there. So I did traditions and I did a day at Magic Kingdom. Where I learned all about the Magic Kingdom. Which is really cool because they go down the street, in the mainstream like, "Okay, did you know about this window over here? Now this window has this person's name in it and this is dedicated to the man that did this for Walt." You know? They all have different things that they tell you about the little nuances. They show you the Hidden Mickeys around the park. So, they show you some fun stuff, they give you some history but they also talk about show. Disney is all about the show, okay? Their employees are called what? Do you know this? -Cast members? -Yes, they are called cast members. We are cast in a show. And then when we go out to our job or to our workplace, we are on stage, okay? Yeah, backstage and we have front stage.

So, the idea is you are constantly on you know, on stage. You are in front of an audience. You are a cast member as people are coming into this theme park. Because Disney was like the first theme park where people could experience something different. It's not just going on ride. Alright, get on the ride, give me a ticket. They create a different experience. And I don't know if you notice that when you go to different theme parks. But the thing about it is, they have led the way. And a lot of people are emulating what they're doing. And I've been to... I worked at Universal Studios, I've also worked at SeaWorld. And I've been to all these different theme parks and I can see the difference between Disney cast members and other employees or team members of different types of theme parks. It just brings a story to my mind a few months ago. My family went to Disneyland. -Yeah. -Evil Queen was walking by and my son wanted an autograph. So he walks up, "Can I get an autograph?" And you know, she's supposed to be a mean lady, right? So, it's like, "Oh sure." She didn't do that. Just like, "Walk with me peasant." And I thought, "That is so cool." How... Anyway. -Right, she stayed in character but she still did not demean the kid. You know, she kept a little level of consistency in psych, "Yes, I guess I'll done you with this." And so, that's what I loved about being in the Jungle Cruise. I was able to create a character and interact with the guests in a fun engaging way as at the Haunted Mansion. But they want people to to remember that. Now, she has a very special role where she is an entertainment. Also, think about the people that you interact with when you get onto a ride or when you're at a retail shop or even people that are selling you food. Now, that one of the coolest jobs and it's not the most glamorous jobs. But I think it's really cool what they do and how they frame it are the custodial janitorial staff. They're not called that, they're called show keepers. Which I love. Because they've shifted that... And I now want to call anybody that helps clean up a show keeper. They are helping preserve this show. And so they are constantly around cleaning up and they're free agents. They they can go from any place to anywhere. And the cool thing about them is often the show keepers, know the most about the park. So, whenever you're in a park and you see somebody sweeping something up and you need information, show keepers are the best people to talk to you. Because they know that part, they oftentimes have a times guide in their pocket. "What time's the three o'clock parade?" That's a good question. I say a three o'clock parade today is that 2 o'clock. So, but those show keepers are the people that are the glue. But here's the thing, they don't do that job alone. This is something that they've taught Disney cast members. It's called the Disney scoop. So for example, let's say, I'm going from one location to the other and I see a piece of trash on the ground. Do I let the show keeper come by and pick it up? No. In-stride, I pick it up and I find the closest receptacle and I throw it away. I am also keeping the show. So that is something that they train you to do in traditions and also in your training it when you go to the park. Always keep the show. We are working together to keep this atmosphere, this theme park as clean as we can. Also working together to help people. You know, if we see a crying kid, somebody drops at an ice-cream cone, we need to help them have a better experience.

And so, oftentimes people will be like, "Oh, I'm sorry that happened. Sad for you." But at Disney, they'll give them a card or they'll replace it for them. And so, Disney does a really good job of keeping their customers happy, keeping their guests happy. -So, are there things from these lessons that you've learned or things that you you saw and admired or the things that you've been able to apply in your own business? -Yes. For sure. I think the customer service aspect is just treating everybody that comes under your umbrella the same way. A friend of mine, his name is Jason Hewlett. He talks about the promise. Keeping your promise to your audience. And it's the same thing. Disney keeps their promise to the audience. And so for me, when it comes to customer service, am I going to give the same show to a group of 20 kids as I give to a group of 200 kids? You know, when I perform for them? Or when I DJ for ten people, am I going to give that same energy for that 10 people as a gift for a thousand people? So, you want to be able to be consistent with your brand and consistent with your services. And I think Disney is the same way. They are very consistent and they want to make sure that everybody feels important and valued. -My wife and I are big Disney fans. -Yeah. -we've read lots of books and found little like, "I had no idea." Is there any anything cool that you don't think our audience would know about Disney? -Well, the Hidden Mickeys. If you don't know what Hidden Mickeys are, there there are books on it. And this will change your experience as when you go to the parks. Having those experiences where you are now searching for the Hidden Mickeys while you're waiting in line. This is another part of their engagement experience. -How many are we talking about here? -I don't know, thousands. I mean, when you go to ride, most rides have maybe at least 3 to 4 in a ride. -So, is it... Are we talking just the symbol of the Mickey ears yeah or the full Mickey Mouse? -No, it's just the Mickey ears. So Circle, Circle, Circle. So, for example when you're on the Haunted Mansion ride and you go into the ballroom scene, where the ghosts are dancing and then the guys are on top shooting each other. If you look down at the table, there's some... There's a lady blowing candles out and there's a guy on the other end. I know this is that while Disney World. I'm not too sure if it's at the other parks. But if you look at the plates, there's a plate with one circle and then two small you know, coffee cups or tea cups. Saucers right around the top. So that is an example of a Hidden Mickey. And so you'll see it all over the place. You'll even see it in the signs. And so that's just another fun way to engage your Disney experiences through the Hidden Mickeys. -Cool. -Yeah. -Well, thanks for telling us your experience working in with Disney. If you have any other questions or if you get to know any Disney secrets, share them in the comments below and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Welcome back. In this episode, I'm going

to share several different ways that you

can make money on YouTube. Carolyn

Norris's here with me. She asked me this

question so I thought it'd be great to

kind of teach you in this video and to

teach you at the same time. -I mean don't

you want to know? I want to know. How do

you do it? -Alright. So, I'm curious what

how do you think people make money on

YouTube?

-Okay, so I have these different things

going on in my brain about it because I

don't even know if they're real. Okay. So,

you consistently are you making your

videos and everything. You could either...

You're either making money because you

have some kind of program that you're

basically pitching to them eventually

after they get to know you... And so

there's that. And then I think some

people do make money through ads but I

don't really... I don't know that's really

real. -Okay. -I'm not sure.

-Good questions. So, we'll cover both of

those plus we'll throw in a bonus.

-Okay. -So, first let's talk about the ads.

YouTube has an amazing program called

a partner program. -Okay. -So, when

advertisers pay money to YouTube to show

their ads, YouTube gives 55% of

that ad spend to you as the creator of

the video. -Okay. -That's pretty cool. -That's

great. -It amounts to like a little bit

less than a cent per view. -Okay. -But it

adds up if you're getting millions of

views, you're making thousands of dollars which is pretty cool. I'm to a point now

where I am making 5 figures monthly

from YouTube ad revenue. But

that's after like 4 and a half years

of getting to that point. -Okay. -And so

that is significant. We're making

way more money from the other. So...

When you have a business

behind your YouTube channel. So, but one

thing I want to... Let's actually switch

gears for a minute because we could talk

a lot more about the ads. You really need

to be consistent and put in so much time,

effort and money into growing your

YouTube channel and your

they're not going to make a return on it

for years. And so just with

the ad revenue... Right? And so I think

that when you can have a business behind

it, you can make a return on your

investment away quicker. -Right. So the

ad part

eventually will come as you're

consistent and you grow it but

it's kind of the gravy on top sort of

things. -Yeah. I like the gravy on top. -Yeah.

Because if you're only

hanging on for that, it's going to take a

long time to get there. And it's really

hard to stay consistent and focus when

there's not some revenue coming in. -It

reminds me... Have you heard of an event

called VidCon? I've never been... It's

a huge event in California. Just

thousands and thousands of people come.

It's really a lot of fans of

YouTubers. So, there was... There's this

performer, singer on stage that she had

on her channel 500,000 subscribers. Her

only source of revenue was from ads. And

she told somebody afterwards that wrote

up an article. She performed onstage at

VidCon. Screaming fans. They loved her.

They're big fans. But she admitted

afterwards "You know what? I don't have

food in my fridge at home." And she was

worried about what am I going to eat when I

go home? So... -She's like this big

YouTube star and then she's not even

making any money really? -Yeah. I mean not...

Yeah, not enough. Right? So, imagine if she

put on her own concerts. Hello?? Right?

Imagine if she had merchandise. -Right. But...

Yeah, all she would need to do is just

have a little... Some little things with

their name on or something. Her fans

probably like... Right? -In a more

traditional business, whether it's...

Whether it's real estate, whether it's

you know, you're a fitness coach or

whether you're selling up a product, the

key on YouTube is not to make promo

videos. So, that the video itself because

the strategy that we talk a lot about on

my channel is that you can use YouTube

to really build a following. And

build influence. Right? -Right. -Build

a tribe. And so to do that, you can't just

sell stuff. -Right. And and you know... like

I said, I have

reviewing a bunch of just different

channels to see what I like. And there

was... There's one that I really... Because

some of the other ones, it almost

seems like they're doing great, they're

giving great content but it kind of

seems like that singer like, I don't even

feel like they're making any money. And

then there's other ones that you're like,

"No, I'm not buying your stuff." Or

whatever. But there's this one that she's

like the perfect mix. Like she gives you

tons and tons of real value that you

just feel so extremely grateful for. And

then just very subtly, you know, just very

subtly, she'll just encourage you to do

her program. But it's a natural... It's

a natural flow with the fact that she's

trying to help you. Like she's already

helped you a ton and here would be their

next step in getting more help. -That's

exactly... That's exactly what we do and

what works. And so, the key is to

really give value to really... You don't

hold back. You don't hold back your

secrets. Like there's no reason to hold

back your secrets. But give them away.

People will really value that and then

at the end of your episode, at that point,

people know that you're training, your

education or the video is done. And now,

you can give them a small sales pitch.

And now and if they don't want it,

they're done with the video, they leave

but a lot of people will want to hear it.

Another thing that we'll do is we'll

give them away something for free. So,

we'll just say, "Hey, if you really valued

what we taught in this video, I've got a

book that I want to give you for free.

That will go into a lot more depth. Go

ahead and just click the link

below." And that enters them into your

sales funnel. -And you give something else for

free? Real value there. What about... Because that's a

really great idea. And what about...? I've

noticed a lot of them offer like you

could be part of their Facebook group or

you know, that's another thing for free. I...

-Yeah. Well, there. When you

mentioned Facebook, there are some

challenges because YouTube and Facebook

are enemies.

-Oh, I see. -If you have a link to Facebook

on YouTube and people click on it,

YouTube will show your video to less

people. -Oh, wow. That's good to know.

Thank you. -Same thing

on Facebook. If you post your YouTube

video there and and Facebook notices

people are leaving and going to YouTube,

Facebook will bury your post. And it's

not just those 2. It's like all the

major social media platforms do that. But with YouTube, you can get

your own website approved. Once you're a

part of their partner program,

you can submit your own domain name to

be approved. And so any penalty that you

would normally get for linking somebody

to go elsewhere, it's like really

minimized because it's an approved

website. So, you can you can just tell

people, "Yeah, I've got a free book. Click

on this link and go there." Or "Hey, I'm

putting on an event if you'd like to

know about it, go here." And you just link

to your own website. I mean even if there

is a little penalty, it's worth it.

Because you're taking somebody from the

public page or the page that

YouTube controls. Not only shows your

video but shows everyone else's around

it. Now, they're going to your website and

that's where you can put a promo video.

-Oh, right. Because they'd be expecting it.

I mean, you know, that's appropriate.

-That's the key. People are expecting it.

-So, that's the thing. You want to do things in the

right order and in the right spaces

where it's... It feels like you're giving

the proper value in the proper content

what people like are expecting. -So, the

amazing opportunity on YouTube is people

are searching. And in a previous video,

that we filmed with Carolyn we talked

about keyword research. You can link to

that one right up here. -It was awesome.

-Yeah. -So, because people around the world

are now searching for you, they find

these videos that teach them and are

helpful in our educational. Now, they've

become fans of yours. And at the end, you

can put a little call to action that

sends them to your website so that you

can grow your business and do well a lot

better than that that performer.

-Yeah because once they're on your

website then they can check out things

that you actually have for sale and

that's all appropriate and fine. And

that's not... Yeah. -So, the bonus that I

wanted to share is there's actually a

website called patreon. And patreon is

where you can sign up as a patron or a

fan or a contributor to someone's

channel or like that you can do it for

podcast too. But it's really popular for

YouTubers. So, if somebody liked the videos

that you were creating. And if they

wanted to donate $1 for every episode

you created just because they want you

to encourage you to keep creating videos...

-Oh, I see... Like at a literal fan

club that's like supporting you? -And so, what a lot

of YouTubers have done is they've

created their own patreon you know,

subscribers system where it's hey if you

at least donate one dollar per episode,

we'll give you these additional perks.

We'll send you videos early. Or we'll

do meetups and let you come and

participate with us. There's... -Like you're

kind of a VIP YouTube channel watcher.

-Yeah. -They'll give... Exactly. They'll give

them swag with their logo on it. There's...

So, there's a channel that I follow. It's

called Sailing La Vagabonde. That's the

name of their yacht. They travel around

the world. They live on this yacht. And

they just blog about it. They post a

couple of us once a week. They are getting

paid about $12,000 per episode from

their fans. -Oh my goodness. -They're making ad

revenue. -Right. And they're making this

huge petreon revenue. -Okay. So, they don't necessarily

have a business per se behind it as far

as like being on the... But the fans

love it. They want to see... -They want to go

on the adventures with them. -Right. From their

cubicle, right. -So, that's kind of a

bonus strategy that's really linked with

the advertising side. Not so much the

business side. -Okay. -But you have... You had

one more question on this. -Okay. So... Well,

this question is just more like... When

you're when you're helping somebody in

your videoing and all of that... You

kind of help them you know... Kind of

sequence the right

proper way to like fit that in, like

this check the subscribe... Because

you know, how many videos have you

watched on YouTube where it's really

uncomfortable? Like that's a really

awkward moment where they're like saying,

I mean some of them do it really great.

And it's all fine. But some of them are

like, "I don't know where that

is. But wherever it..." -Right. So, all of my

clients are really good at their content.

So, when they're presenting, they're

teaching, they're really comfortable with

that. But what they're... What they

typically need help with is the intro.

How do you start a video. So, I'll just

share some bonus tips here. You want to

tell people what the video is about. And

then give them kind of a reason why they

should watch it. Maybe its credibility. So,

if it's like... You know, I'm going to teach

you about how to make money on YouTube.

And I could just end it there. Or I could

say, "You know... And I found three different

ways to make money on YouTube. So I'm

going to teach you that." And they're like,

"Okay, I wonder what the 3 are." So, it

gives them reason to actually watch

the episode. And then at the end, really

want to focus on one main call to action.

When you can send somebody to your

website and have them join your list,

that's such a valuable outcome, that's

the main thing that I recommend people

focus on. Secondary to that would be to

encourage new visitors to subscribe to

the channel. -Okay. But we just... We practice.

And the great thing about video is... If

you... If you say it and it just comes

across awkward uncomfortable, it's like... Just take a step backward so we record that. But you do

notice that on a lot of channels like...

Even... My kids love to watch Studio C. -Oh...

Their outros or the clothes

where they invite you to subscribe to, it's

just really awkward. Like they're

great actors this whole time doing these skits. And then in the end,

it's like... "Well, this part's off. I don't really

want to watch this because they're

awkward there." -Well and have you

noticed because... And maybe it's

just me. But I don't...

I personally don't... I'm not a person that

actually does subscriber hits the like

button. Even if they tell me to. But if

it's somebody that I have grown to

really like, I might buy their program. So,

but I'm probably not gonna subscribe and

I'm probably not... -Yes. Some people are,

some people aren't. If you're a person

that... I think the real take away is

just because you say subscribe doesn't

mean that they will. But if you really

give them value, that's going to be more

likely that they'll actually subscribe.

-Right, that's true. And I guess if

you start realizing, "Oh, hey. Well that is

supporting them

doing more videos." If you get... If you get

attached to them enough so that at that

point then maybe you would. -So, to tie in

that question to the topic of the video

about how to make money on YouTube,

subscribers doesn't directly link to

making more money. But the more

subscribers you have, the more initial

views and engagement you get on your

channel and the more views you get, the

more ad revenue you might get. But also,

the more your channel grows, the more new

traffic you're getting to your channel

which leads into your sales funnel. And

that's what's going to make. -Right. Now, when

they subscribe, it's not like you have

their name or their email or anything? Or

do you? -No, you don't have that. When

they subscribe, another button can appear

that's a shape of a bell. And if they

click that, they'll get email alerts from

YouTube every time you upload. -Oh. -But you

never get their contact info. So, that's

what you want them to go to your website? -And just to... Just to give you an

idea,

my biggest channel with one of my

clients is making $600,000

per month just from organic YouTube

traffic. So, they're going from YouTube to

their clickfunnels website and they're

making $600,000 a month in

sales on the website just from that

traffic. So, that's... -Well, dang! You can

make money on YouTube. -So, I often talk

about keyword research that I do to pull

in that traffic. So, I'd like to offer

everyone that's watching a free gift. I

have a keyword research guide. Alright

so I'll try to remember to put this down

in the description but if you text the

number 415-528-7403 and text Hero1 to

that number, you'll get my free keyword

research guide. It goes all through all the steps on how to do that.

-That's cool.

Learning how to influence people at work makes your experience better. In today's episode, we have a special guest who will be discussing influencing people at work. If you want to step up your influence game, tune in to learn what influence means and how to put it into action.

Welcome back. Would you like to know how to increase your influence at work? Well today that's we're going to be talking about. We got somebody who's a master of this topic. So stay tuned. Alright. So, Rob Ferre, welcome back to the show. -Thank you. -I know that one of the things that you, you speak on stage about is how to increase your influence at work. So let's just jump right in. How did you get into into speaking on that topic? -Well, the thing is I actually came to it by accident. I didn't realize what influence was a couple of years ago. And here in Utah, there's a lot of people use that term "influence" or "influencer". But basically, I came into it by business networking and trying to find my way within my own community. I work in the wedding business, I work with wedding professionals. And about 8 years ago, I was invited to an event. It was called women and weddings. And some guys too, okay? And I was one of the some guys who was invited to this event. And it was at a restaurant and we get there. And I walk into the room and sure enough there were women everywhere. A couple of guys. Some men. And I sat down at a table with another photographer, a florist and event planner and we started chatting and we started talking. And I didn't know what this was. Apparently this is called networking. -Hmm. I didn't know what this was at the time. And it was a great event for me to learn from other people, exchange cards and gain relationships. And I think the most important thing about influences gaining relationships but authentic relationships. Oftentimes we're trying to gain influence by trying to see at how many cards we can gather, how many people we can know. How many people we can work in the room. Influence can be through the relationships that you create. The people that you take home with you. I went on a flight back in 1996 to Israel. And I remember this flight because there was a man on the plane that I sat next to. And oftentimes, we don't engage with people on a plane. We say, you know, "I'm just going to keep to myself but this man." Engaged a conversation with me. I was in high school and this guy was a business professional. And we came... We had this conversation. He got my email address and we started keeping contact. And I'm still in contact with him today. But I remember... The most thing I remember most about that conversation is what he said at the very end. I collect people. I collect friends. And I want to stay friends. And we had been friends. And I loved what he said about that. And I collect people too. But the thing is, once I collect a person, I want to be able to give them value. I think that's the most important thing as an influencer is giving people value. People don't just want to be sold to. Have you ever been on LinkedIn and somebody sends you a message and they say, "Hey Nate, looking good today. By the way, have you ever thought about this, this and this?" I want to be a friend with you before I want to buy from you. People like to work with people they know like and trust, okay? And so, it's taken us a couple of times to be able to get to know each other. Maybe there have been times where he said, "Hey Rob, let's do this thing. Do you want to buy this thing?" And I didn't quite know you yet. But now that we have created that relationship, now that we've been together, I feel more comfortable. Nate has a reputation that I trust. Nate has worked with other friends. You know, you work with my friend Dr. Paul. -Mm-hmm. -And Dr. Paul's is very successful. And so I say to myself, "Nate's doing some good things. But the thing is you wanted to cultivate that relationship before you wanted to sell to me." And so I think that's the most important thing.

And so, sometimes we're being sold to. But let's say we're in a workplace and we just need to work with these people. We don't need to buy from them, we need to just work with them. We want to be able to have a relationship that is authentic. Because that's one of the hardest things is having authentic relationship with people. And breaking down our walls, breaking down our barriers. How often are you interacting with people at the workplace or in general? And people are just, "Hi, good to meet you." They're just on the surface. There's nothing below that. -So, I like what  I'm hearing here. A lot of times when we... At least when I think about influence I'm thinking about the persuasion part of it. -Yeah. -But you're talking about connection. And a word that's come to my mind is as you've been explaining this as impact. -Yes. -And so if I went... At least for me, when I think about influence in terms of impact, I am thinking about connection, I am thinking about building relationship, how I concert' them, making an impact versus the persuasion part of it. Which I think that's once you have a connection and you have a message to share, I think that persuasion is an important part of influence. But I like I like the direction you're going with that. -Yeah an influence for me is people that inspire others to do more, to be more. And often influencers are looking to sell, right? We need to make a living. And so if you're a professional influencer, you have something to sell. But you don't want to push that on somebody. Influencers that I've worked with have never tried to sell me. They sell them on themselves as a person, as a relationship. And people we want to work with somebody that we want to be... We want to be a part of their world. And I often work with DJ's within my circle of influence and people within the wedding industry. And the thing is DJ's now approached me about coaching and training. They want to talk to me like, "How did you learn this? What are you doing? How can I learn from you?" Instead of me saying, "You know Nate? Your emcee skills, they could little do brushing up. You know what? Here's my card," Give me a call. No. It's them looking at me for inspiration. And the thing is if you give value, if you inspire people, you're an influencer. You may not see the monetary gain. But why are you doing this? Think about it too. Be authentic to what your motivations are. And if your motivations are to get paid then I don't think that's going to work. But if your motivation is to help people, to become more, to become better, I can help with that. Let's talk about that. So, are you...? Are you saying then that influence is not a tactic? -Uh, there can be strategy behind it. And I think there is. But I think the most important thing is being yourself and being somebody that people want to be around. And I... I'm trying my hardest to up my Instagram rating and getting people to watch my Instagram videos. But also in the same regard, I think about it and I say, "Well, what what value am i giving people on Instagram right now?" I'm entertaining, they're seeing some fun parts of my life. But I'm not out there going giving them inspiration. And I look at my friends who have high Instagram followers. And the reason they have high Instagram followers because people are finding value from what they're putting out into the universe. So what are you putting out into the universe that is giving people value and inspiration to do more, to be more? And so, there's different ways to become influential to give influence. But I think it also comes from that word. Once again, impact. Inspiration.

-So, a question that people ask a lot. There's a lot of online searches for influence at work. -Hmm. -What are some ideas or tips that you can share for people who are in the work place and they want to want to have more of the impact? So, one thing I talk about is creating a movement, right? How do we get people to follow? How do we get people to be a part of something bigger than ourselves? And I think one thing that people aren't doing enough of in the workplace is gratitude. Giving gratitude. Saying thank you. If you could be that person in your workplace where you are the gratitude fairy, the gratitude giver. You can shift your company culture. Imagine if people now are saying "thank you" instead of saying "what can you give to me? Where is that paper? Where is that report?" Thank you so much Nate for your paper the other day. Thank you so much Nate for that video. Thank you so much for this. And if you just start being that gratitude giver, that's one way I believe you can increase influence. Now, don't be a pushover. Don't say yes to everything. You can say no. So gratitude does not be equal saying yes to everything. But being grateful and thankful. And here's the thing I think the most influential people at the work are not necessary. The managers or the people in charge. It can be your.. The peers. How do you treat your fellow peers. And if you are manager, do you treat your people like up here? Because they want to be... They want that human connection. And then there's some people who just show up and do their job and leave. Figure out how you can reach them. And sometimes it may not be a pat on the back. It may not be a "Go get'em." It may not be some motivation. It could simply just be a card, an email saying, "I've noticed what you have done. Thank you so much." And talk about what they're doing. People like to be complimented, people like to be noticed. People want to know that they have meaning in the workplace. How can you influence it that way? By just noticing and giving gratitude. -So for one... One final tip. But I maybe I'll frame it up in a specific way. Let's say that there's an employee man or woman that's... They like their workplace but they don't really feel like they have a voice and they want their voice to be heard. They want their employer to take more notice of their ideas. What can they do? I mean so you've shared some good tips already. Showing gratitude. -Yeah. -How can...? Yeah. -That's a... That's a tough one. And I think you know, sometimes people go about it the wrong way. Back doors by saying, "You know Nate, I don't know what I need to do to get the boss to notice me. The boss is a tool. I hate the guy or whatever." If you start backbiting and start stabbing on the back and start creating rumors and start not going to the direct source, there's a problem. -So, kind of choosing what type of... What type of person do I want to be here. How do I want to create this, okay? -Be direct because the thing is you won't know until you ask. If you want things to change, be direct. I always look to my wife as a... As an inspiration. About what happened to her in the workplace and what is she doing now. You know, she quit her job because she felt like people were attacking her. Once she got Employee of the Year. This is a crazy thing. She got employed the year. People were now gunning for her because, "Oh, she thinks she's the queen of the world now." Which she didn't. But people now started gunning for her job. And so, it would took such a toll on her, she decided to leave. And so what she wished she could have done is told people, told direct people who were in the level of management how to change, what was going on. And so now, she is in the Performing world. And she is now direct and what she wants. And she tells people what her goals are. And I see this with my friends all the time. I have a goal to do this. If you tell people your goals and where you want to be, people either want to help and help you be more. So be direct with where you want to go, what your goals are because if you're not, you're just going to be spinning your wheels. And that's what happened to me. I used to live in Orlando Florida. Used to work at the Nickelodeon hotel. And I had a goal to do, to be the top host at that that hotel. But I didn't tell anybody other than my manager who had left. And so by the time, I felt disillusioned with the job. Nobody really knew where I want it to be, what my goals were. They were just in my head. So, but you direct, write down your goals, tell somebody. You know, I've also heard about business coaches, life coaches. These are great people to bounce ideas off of. You know? -Yeah, maybe they can help you. -Exactly. -Speak your voice or... -Right. And I think it's always good to have somebody. If you don't have a spouse, if you don't have a partner, if you don't have somebody you can bounce ideas off of. "Nate, that sounds a little too harsh. Have you thought about saying it this way." Because maybe you don't know what your voice sounds like to others. Either your speaking voice, your writing voice. Whatever it may be when you want to communicate with somebody. Have somebody else to bounce those ideas off of. And let's say you are writing an email where you are being direct. Let it sit. Let somebody else read it before you send it out into that universe. Before you tell your manager, "This is how I feel." Because nothing's going to happen if you just sit there and think about it and Stu. You know? And one of the my biggest regrets is go not taking that step in telling people, "This is what I want to do." They be like, "I'm just going to will it to happen." And you can will it to happen but it might take a lot longer. -Mm-hmm. -So being direct, letting people know where you want to go what your goals are can definitely propel you to where you want to be. -Cool. Alright. Thanks Mr. Rob. Be sure to subscribe of course. If you watch this part of the video. Rob, how do they find you if they want to connect? -Yeah. My website robferre.com -Spent a lot of time on Instagram? -I'm a lot on Instagram at Rob Ferre. R-O-B, F-E-R-R-E. I'm also on LinkedIn. If we want to connect on LinkedIn, I love that too. Just don't try and sell me anything. Good advice. So one... One quick bonus tip just because I've done some experiments on LinkedIn. -Yes. -I sent a hundred messages. -Yeah. -They're group of people and this message was, "Hey these are the services that I offer are you interested?" -Yes. -Okay. I didn't get a very good response. Yeah Second message I sent up to another group of a hundred people. -Yeah. -And the message was, "Hey, here's a resource that might help you." So instead of trying to sell them, I was like I'm just sharing my YouTube video that will help them. -Yeah. -Terrible response. -Hmm. -The third message though. I took myself out of the equation. They didn't know me. Why would I want to help them and why would they want help for me. But instead, I sent them a message of compliment. Saying, "Hey, I took a look at your profile and you're doing some really amazing things. I'm impressed by this and this. Keep up the good work." That's all I said. -Yeah. -I got between a 65 and a 70% reply rate. -Yeah. -Where they were to reply to me saying, "Thank you." Or they would say, "Hey, thank you. I also checked out your profile. It looks like you're doing some amazing things and I went to your website." So anyway, if you want more details on that, you can find I'll put that video up here

Life is so much easier when you have better time management skills and it can benefit others around you as well. In today's episode, we're going to talk about the 10 ways you can manage your time better with Michelle McCullough.

Alright. Time is something that we would all like to have more of. So we're going to talk about 10 ways to manage your time better. Okay, so we've got Michelle McCullough here who is kind of time management guru. -Junkie. -Junkie? -Guru sounds a lot more. -(Making meditation sounds.) -There we go. So, we've got we've got 10 tips that we're going to talk about. But we're going to give them in a reverse order. We're going to save the best for it for last here. So, let's... Let's get into... Let's get into the nitty-gritty here of how can we use time more effectively? -Okay, number 10 is to get a good night's sleep. And it sounds silly but we are so much more energetic and so much better able to accomplish the tasks that we need to accomplish when we've taken care of our sleep. And a lot of high achievers and productivity people think they need to sacrifice that sleep to get more done or like while everyone's quiet and asleep that they should do more. But the reality is is that you can be better with your awake time if you give yourself permission to get 8 hours of sleep. -That does make a lot of sense. Can we talk about when wake up in the morning, if you have that as another pointer can I throw in? -You can throw it in. -So, this is just for me. But I find, if I go to bed early and then wake up early, like 4:00 A-M, man, I get so much done. Like my brain just works so good at that time. In the morning, it's so quiet. Have space to myself just to think. -And I'm a night owl. I'm going to stay up until midnight and work and then get up at 8:00. And take on the day. -So find the time then that works for you. -Mm-hmm. -Okay, what's number 9? Number 9 is figure out when you're most energetic time of the day is. Now, it sounds like for you right when you wake up is the most energetic time of your day. That's not for me. My most energetic time is either right before lunch or right after lunch. And so, just figure out when do you feel the most energetic? By 3:00 p.m. I am done so. By 8:00 p.m. my brain is crazy. But sometimes, I can get like a rush of energy at 9:00 o'clock. When the kids are in bed and I'm like feeling Footloose and fancy-free. And so I get another rush again about nine o'clock. Which is one reason why I'm a night owl. But discover when your most energetic time is and do your hardest brain tasks at that time. So, if you attach the energy that you have with the brainpower that you need. You can accomplish more and get the hardest things done than trying to plug on through one times you're really just not there mentally. -Let's go to number 8. Number 8 is to think about things that you do on a regular basis. So, a lot of our to-do list items, we continue to put on the to-do list every single week. Like grocery shopping or laundry or in your business, it could be making calls. Or sending out emails. And so figure out the things that you do daily weekly and monthly and schedule those and remove them from your to-do list. Because then, you're more likely to do them on routine and it won't be something where if there's an emergency it doesn't get done. But it's something that you already have planned in your schedule. Number 7 is always figuring out ways to do things faster. Now... -Efficiency. -I love the word efficient and I'm glad that you said that because it's not always about speed. Because we don't want to sacrifice quality. But be willing to look at new ways you can do some of the same things over and over but in quicker ways. So, whether that's doing some research or asking friends, "Hey, how do you get this done?" And your business or at home. And then being willing to try things in a different way. I think that we should always be learning and being willing to apply that to our time as well. Yeah, I love that I love efficiency. I call myself the Master of Efficiency. Because that's just how my brain works. I like finding something you know, I want to get something done and I just think what's going to be the quickest way for me to accomplish that result not worrying about you know, the traditions or what I'm used to to get it done. -And a lot of times, one of the ways you can do things faster, isn't not to allow distractions to come in.

So, one of the things that I like to remember on this point is sometimes it's not about hopping from this thing to that thing to this thing to that thing but it's saying, "Okay, I'm going to get this one thing done." That takes a long time and not going to answer my phone and I'm going to turn things things off. It could be but it's not in my list. -That you got a bonus here. -That was a bonus tip. -To find a way of removing distractions. -Yes, yes. Time traps, like I call them. -Okay, number 6 is blocking out time. A lot of people put their to-do lists out there and they think, "When I have time, I'm going to check things off of my to-do list." But if you break your main tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks you can schedule them and block out times to get them done. Or if you still have the onesie, twosie tasks or the one-off things. Scheduled time and your week, every single week to work on your to-do list. Don't allow it to be something if you have time, that you'll get it done. Because we all know you're going to run out of time. Number 5 is one of my ninja tricks, okay? I'm all about batching like items together. This works personally at home. Like when I am in my green smoothie. Work time, I will make a whole week's worth of green smoothies and freeze them. So, instead of every single day getting out the blender and washing the blender. I will make a whole week's worth. Freeze them and let that task be done. In my business, that will look like getting all of my invoicing done once a week or doing all of my statistics reviews once a week. Instead of looking at him every single day and really not giving them a good judge, I'll pick a specific time to batch those like items and put them together. -So perhaps instead of filming an episode every day, you spent 20 episodes in one day. -Fantastic advice. I should do that. Number 4. 4, one of my favorite subjects which I wish we could do a whole show on this. And maybe we should in some time, is delegation. Being willing to delegate the tasks that are (A) not in your zone of genius or (B) could be done by someone else. In a business frame of mind, this looks like of the book with The 1 Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard. He says everything in your organization needs to be done at the lowest possible pay level. That doesn't mean you don't value what getting done. But it means that the CEO should not be taking out the trash. And not because he's too cool for that but because he has other revenue generating activities. That if he is taking out the trash, he's being distracted from that .Likewise. if you're the trash take her outer, you can know that that is part of the company's big profits pattern to begin with. And that your responsibility is just as important to someone else's because we need all of those pieces to get done. And here's the thing, if you are a stay-at-home mom or even a stay-at-home dad, I highly recommend outsourcing things you don't love doing. Bring in a neighbor kid from across the street to fold your laundry for you. I mean, some people love that. And if you love folding your laundry, continue to do it. It is not my favorite thing. And so, I can pay a neighbor, a neighbor kid 10 bucks an hour to fold all the laundry in my house. They can get it done in an hour. And it would probably take me 3 hours because I'm going to get distracted with the kids or distracted with a phone call or distracted with my business. And it's not an effective use of my time. So, if you can think about the tasks that you can outsource, even for just a small amount, you'll find yourself that you'll have more time because you're doing the things that you really rock at. Like parenting or running your business. -So, I like that. Obviously I talk about outsourcing all the time and I like that you used the word delegation... -Yes -...to introduce this. Just because it brings on another perspective. You can use it for personal things. Not necessarily business. And I talked about outsourcing all the time. So, my team will choose one of my amazing outsourcing videos and put it right up there. And if if you want to find out more how I hire people in the Philippines, full-time for between 4 to 6 hundred dollars a month then I'll put a link in the description below for virtualassistanttool.com. Alright, let's move on to tip number 3. -Tip number 3 is once you've put all of these things in place you need to honor your calendar. I tell my clients that time is either your greatest asset or your greatest liability in your business. I've seen companies with millions of dollars. Squander it away because their CEO, did not know how to spend their time. And I've also seen scrappy CEOs with 10 cents to their names, build multi-million dollar businesses. And the difference is how they honor and use their time for an investment in their life and in their business. Same thing can be said for your personal time too. If you're spending a ton of time wasting time online, playing games, those are fine to like recharge. But if they become to take over, that's... That's difficult. But if you spend all this effort to batch like activities and to do daily weekly and monthly tasks, give yourself permission to honor the calendar. So when a friend calls and says, "Hey, can you go to lunch tomorrow?" But you are planning to do videos all day long. Even though you love your friend, it's okay to say, "Hey, I'm booked. But does this time work?" And to treat even your tasks that you do at home or at the office just as important as you would a meeting with a client or lunch with a friend because honoring that calendar will help you feel more in control of your life than just being reactive about everything. -Let's move on to number 2. -Okay. -Were you peeking? -I was peeking. Number 2 is it's still okay to make it to-do list and make sure you write things down. So, while we talked about batching activities and doing like things together and creating dailies weeklies and monthlies, whether you're a digital person or you're a physical writing things down person, have one place where you keep to-do lists. Many people that are busy will write things on the back of receipts or on sticky notes or on something that they have in their car. But be committed to having one place. Whether you have a to-do list on your phone or you take a book with you everywhere you go. Having one place to keep track of the things that need to get done is really important. That's actually a big deal because I'm a big to-do list-er. I do both scheduling in to do this. But a lot of times, I'll have my notepad on my desk and I'll just write a list and I'll check out some of those. But then I'll flip the page over and I'll write a new list. I'll have to go back. -Right? -So recently, I've got an online tool that I'm using that syncs with my phone and everything in it. Yeah. -Awesome. -It is good, good.

Alright. So, you saved the best for last. -Saved the best for last. -I've heard you talk about this number 1 tip all the time. So, let's dive in. What's the number 1 tip? -Okay, the number 1 tip is going to shock you. And that is make a plan. Just if you want to get things done, make a plan to make it happen. I am make-it-happen girl but it all starts with creating a plan. And people don't like that. Because I work with a lot of creatives, And part of me is creative too. And I'll say, "How's that working out for you?" Just flying by the seat of your pants. Like, I really would like to get more done. I think plan is the 4-letter word for success. And while it may make you swear  internally, remember that if you can... I love the old adage that it says, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Because really we are in control. And part of making peace with the clock is realizing that at the end of the day, yes some things can go crazy but more often than not, if you're specific and consistent about your plans, sitting down and reviewing your weeks, then you will be a time management rockstar. And you'll be an accomplishment rockstar because you're getting things done. -Yeah. I mean, it's so true. I think about... My wife and I are the same on this. When there's a day, maybe there's a Saturday. And we don't have a specific plan. We get to the end of the day and we just look back like, we're not happy... We're not happy with the day. It's like where did the time go? But you know especially, if we're... Our challenge is managing our time and we have some goals we want to get done, yeah, we just we make a plan. We plan for it. It makes sense. And it works in your relationships too. I scheduled time with my kids, I scheduled time with my husband. Weekly date night is just as important to me as the meetings that I have with the client. And sometimes I get criticized. I actually had somebody when I was speaking telling about this from a stage. Like, "I can't believe you have to spend schedule time to spend with your kids." And you should just do that. And I said, "Yes. And I do. I let some things happen by happenstance. And of course, I see my kids and I interact with them and of course I spend time with my employees." But if I can make an appointment to spend present, non-distracted time with the people that I care about, then I'm making sure that they fit. Instead of becoming an afterthought. -You know and I've... I've started doing that recently too. And my kids... So whether it's a daddy-daughter date that I've got scheduled with with my 13 year old or if it's a date with my wife, we're looking forward to it. -Absolutely. And... And it's also a great, great motivation for my son to get his homework done. -Sure. -Because we... We know we've got this activity plan that we're going to go do. You know what? I'm a busy guy. -Sure. -I'm a real busy guy. I've got a busy schedule and planning it make sure that the important things get fit in. But even though I call that an important thing, it also it gives me a break. It allows for... We're going to end the video here because we're going away too long. Thanks so much. Be sure to subscribe. Alright. Any final words of wisdom? -No, I just think that... I think it's a misnomer that some people are good at time and some people aren't when the reality is it's just a decision that you have to make. -We all have the same amount of time each day. -We do. Just depends on how you invest it. -Alright. If you've got additional tips that you want to add, be sure to comment below. Add to the discussion. We will see you tomorrow.

Having a relationship with your audience creates a bigger impact on your brand more than you think. That's why delivering your core message is crucial. This video is all about what core message is and why you should care about it. Tune in and discover why it is important for your and your business.

So, if you're watching this video then you have the same question of what is a core message? And why do I care? So, whether that's the language you use they're not of calling it a core message this really is an important topic if you want to succeed in business. So, definitely stick around for this one. Michelle McCullough. Good friend, expert speaker, author. How do you define a core message? -Well, if you're looking at it from a business standpoint, your core message is what do you want to be crystal clear to your audience about who you are as an organization and what you do. And the best way to get clear on that is to think through how you want people to describe you. So, how would you want someone to describe your business? How would you want to someone to describe your product or service? -Sounds a lot like we're talking about brand here. -It is a lot of your brand and some people will consider their brand to just be their logo or their colors or their design. But really, your brand is your promise. It's your commitment. It's the things that you offer. And the ways that people know how you can solve a problem for them. -By talking about it in terms of a core message, it takes the conversation of logo or brand to where it really needs to be to kind of be an impactful or to be a real a real brand. -Sometimes people will think about a core message being a mission statement. That can be part of your core message. But chances are people aren't going to describe your business with your mission statement. Now. your mission statement is probably really valuable for your team. It's good for the your employees, people who that you work with so that they know the kind of traits and values that you want them to display. But I also think that it's really important to go beyond your mission statement and think about things about how you want customers to feel when they come into your store. How do you want customers to feel when they interact with you or how do you want them to feel as a result of your product or service. While feeling words can seem like not very valuable. At the end of the day, people make decisions to buy based off of feelings. And so, you have to help them understand what kinds of things you want them to feel. And almost adjust your logo or your colors based off of your core message and your foundational messaging as an organization. -Okay. So, can we jump into some examples? -Sure. -I mean maybe we'll pick some big, prominent, well-known companies. What would you say Apple's core message is? -This is like a quiz. Uh-huh. Apple's core message is simple, chic technology. So it doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be difficult. It doesn't have to be detailed but it's simple but it's cool and they want to be known for innovative technology that is... -I definite think innovation is it... Yeah. Okay. what's the... What about Nike? -Just do it is their tagline, right? But at the core of that is going in and accomplishing the things that you really want. Like, if exercise is important for you, get past all of the crap in your head and just do it and hopefully use their products to do it. -So, how does a small business owner or a solopreneur really defined their core message.

-So, I think one of the best gifts you can give your business every single year is sitting down at the end of the year and asking yourself, "What worked? What didn't work? And what needs to change?" So you do a little bit of evaluation. You see, you check your messages, you look at your social media. Look at your blog posts and see if you feel like those messages matched what your core messages as a business. And in most cases, you're going to look at it and say, "It didn't. It didn't really match what I want." And maybe you haven't really thought about your core message this strategic in this way. So, now, as it after you've asked yourself those three questions, you say, "Okay, what do I want to be known for? How do I want people to describe me?" And the trick is you only can pick about 7 things. So, the mind can only remember 7 things but the reality is is that your audience will probably only remember you for one. But it gives you the opportunity as a business to list 7 things so that you can share different messages in each of those places. So for example, I have a collision company that is a good friend of mine it was a previous client. They're local in Utah. Obviously, their messaging isn't going to go far. But their tagline is getting a car in a car accident could be traumatic. Getting your car fixed shouldn't be. And that's one of their core messages that while you might have had this traumatic experience and we're going to take care of you. And we're going to make getting your car fixed to be super easy. And we're going to make you feel cared about in the process. And I think that's really great messaging. They also have a tagline that they use that is exceptional care collision repair. But again, it kind of goes back to that core message that we're going to fix your car but we care about customer service. Or not just gearheads who are going to be punking out your car and passing you the keys. We really care about the service part of that. And so, I like the way that they thought through even on that small level, how do they want people to feel working with them. And they put taglines out there that supported those messages. And so at the end of the day, when people are describing robear's collision, they're like, "Oh my gosh, those people were so nice. They took really good care of me." And that's what they want people to know. And to come back to. So, think about those core messages, think about 6 or 7 things that you can put out into the world that hopefully people would use to describe you. And then give yourself 12 months. Give yourself 12 months to put out there the messages that you really care about and see if you start to get the kind of feedback that you want. And that people are describing you in the ways that you care about. -So, I have a thought that I want to get your take on. Once a core message is established, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it seems that that's a hard thing to change. There's one brand of car that is known for safety. -Sure. -And yet... And this was put in... This was not my research. This was somebody else's research that I saw presentation. But it comes to my mind that this car that's known for safety, they then started doing some marketing as a luxury car. And it just seemed a little off. The car might totally be luxurious that they're promoting but it's like... "But that's of is? You know, that's this brand of car? Wait a minute." And it just kind of opened my eyes to wonder. Do you agree that it's pretty important to figure out your core message early on. Well at the same time, we can re-evaluate and see what sticks and what not but if we if we're not conscious of it early on then it can be hard to change. -Absolutely. So, but I will also tell you there is hope. So, if there are people sitting out there thinking, "Oh, wait. I think people are describing me in a bad way." I'm going to tell you a process that we use that helps people transition to that. But if you're just getting started, it's really good to begin as you mean to go on. And it's interesting because there are a lot of people who have created their own monopolies, if you will. So, like even back in the 80's, MTV got started and they didn't want competition so they created Vh1. MTV and Vh1 were the same organization. The same parent company. And... But then they made each of them their own unique brand. And that car company, should they have just created a different line would have been easier to promote that because they were trying to make a market shift. Your brand lasts long beyond what you want it to sometimes.

And so, it's really hard to make... Because we're meaning making machines and we want to describe things and we want to label. We want to say that's a flower and that's a tree and that's a frame. You know, we want to be able to describe things. And so, it's hard for humans to make that transition. But you can do that. And here... This is a personal example. But my background is in marketing and advertising. I've done marketing consulting and marketing speaking for almost 2 decades. But 3 or 4 years ago, I really wanted to produce a motivational book. In my background, I love motivational speaking. I love motivational self-help books. That's a piece of who I was and my interests. But it wasn't something I had done professionally. And so, to launch that book, I I needed to shift my audience from "Michelle McCullough, the startup princess. Marketing... Coordinator marketing speaker extraordinaire" to "Michelle McCullough, motivational speaker." And I can do both but my audience really didn't want me to do both. They knew me as Michelle the marketing person. And so what I did is I sat down into this exact same exercise. What I call the clarity exercise. And I said, "What 7 things...? What 7 ways do I want people to describe me?" And the truth is, is while they seem different, they're very similar. Marketing is telling a story to get people to take action. Motivation is telling a story to get people to change. And so, they're very similar and I had to do some of that messaging. But I also had to say you know what? The things that you love about me but people liked that I was a systems girl. People liked that I knew how to message things. People liked the approach and positivity. But I could use those same principles to share this. But then for a whole year, even before I launched my book, I shared more of this part of me. And I was quick to say and easy to say, "Hey, you might know me for this. But did you know that I got my first wrinkle in day planner when I was 12? And did you know that I was the first person to ever go through the Franklin Covey, what matters most training?" People needed to know that it wasn't just me making us a quick decision or that I was completely shifting my business. They needed to know that that was a part of me they didn't know yet. And so, you can do that with your business too. Not, just an expert business but even if you're shifting, figuring out how to say, "Hey listen, we've always cared about X. But did you know that we love Y too?" And you can tell that story but you have to be strategic and sharing those messages through social media, through your blog posts, through your advertising. And make sure that it's clear that people understand that you haven't changed. It's just a side of you they haven't seen yet. And businesses that are successful with that like in the beginning, Coke and Pepsi couldn't have anything else but Coke and Pepsi. But they were like, "Hey, we're not Coke and Pepsi people. Were soda people." And so now, they can have full lines of sodas and have different sodas in different countries because the story came, became about soda. Not about coke. And so, you can think about that and you can expand your business in your line. And in some cases, it's going to need its own advertising. But as long as you tell the story, people will come with you as long as they don't feel like you're abandoning them. And going a different direction. It was a long answer but I hope that was helpful. -Yes. So, I think are hoping that you get a sense that there's a lot here. That there's a great importance of having a core message. It's really what takes a brand from just a logo to being something that will really make a difference that that people will really remember. So, if anything, I hopefully this conversation has given you some tips of being able to recognize first, what is a core message and why are we even talking about it. And and how to... How to define what yours is. So, make sure you subscribe. Look up Michele McCulloug. I'll put speakmichelle.com. Her website down below in the description.

When you are in a business, knowing your target market is very important. When you know who you are marketing to, selling becomes easier! How do you define your target market? Listen in as we discuss how to define a target market in today's episode.

Alright. How to define your target market? This is actually a really important question. Like extremely important question. If you know the answer to this, kind of leads to a lot of other amazing things. It took me a while to figure it out and I'm hoping that with watching this video, you'll be able to do it a lot quicker than I did. You know I want to tell a story. So, years ago I had a web design company and there were two different types of web design clients that I would talk with on the phone. Those that I enjoyed talking to on the phone and those that were miserable. Like I'd be on the phone for 5 minutes and I mean look I don't wear watches but I'd be looking at the clock thinking, "It's only about 5 minutes, this is torture."But then there are other clients that I would literally be on the phone for over an hour and I was totally loving just helping them and I couldn't figure out what it was. What it took was I really needed to find who my target market was. Who my ideal client was and for me, it ended up being I love working with influencers, coaches, speakers, mentors. Those who have a message. And there were plenty of clients that I just really didn't enjoy their business and whatnot. And so I introduced it that way because it made such a huge difference for me knowing who my target audience was. But I know that there's so many people that have a real difficult time like I did. Figuring it out. So how do you define our target market and what are some tips that you can share on how we can do that to really hone in on this the best market to work with? -Well, it's interesting because I started taking my first marketing classes almost 20 years ago and this is the first thing they teach you. -Aren't you...? So, when you're 2 years old? -Thank you so much I'll pay for that later. But this is the first part. In order to be able to market appropriately, you have to know who your audience is and they call that a target market. And you figure out your target market by 3 things. Geographics, demographics and psychographics. Geographics obviously our location whether you're a local small, brick-and-mortar business or whether you're an international company because you're doing things online. Those... That's the first step. The second piece of it is your demographics. Things that most people consider like what whether you're best fit for males and females, what age range, whether people are with their marital statuses, their income level, their education level. All of those things make up the demographics. And over time, we've realized that that's not quite enough and we need that third, the psychographic. So what are people's interests? What are their hobbies? But then leading to what you are talking about. What types of people do you tend to work with best? And a lot of people will say well, my product is great for everyone. But that's not a great target market. The adage in the industry is if you market to everyone you'll reach no one. Because you have to figure out how to speak the language of your audience. And the more you can niche and narrow your target market, the better you'll be able to communicate the messages that resonate with just them. -Now, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, a big struggle that I also had was I had lots of web design clients that were dentists. -Hmm. -And I couldn't find anything wrong with a dentist because their credit cards didn't decline. They were low maintenance. -Right. -Their websites were pretty straightforward. I knew quickly how to design them. I just did not enjoy having Dentist's clients. Which is something... Originally, if you know my background, I thought I wanted to be a dentist when I grew up. Logically, it might have made sense from... I rank down the front page of Google for a dentist website designer. Dental website design. I was ranking on the front page of Google. And yet when I really went internal about you know, who do I want to work with, where do I get the most fulfillment, where are my... And this was a big part to the things that I really wanted to offer my clients. The dentist didn't want those services.

So, it was... That was a big challenge for me. It's like logically, it made sense. I rank for it already. I had his clients there were low maintenance. Easy to... Easy to make happy type clients and you know, make profitable. What advice would you give somebody like me back in that scenario where I couldn't... Couldn't figure it out. -So, I think the weirdness that you had was really great that there are some clients you want to talk to and some clients that you avoid. And I think that part of our target market comes from figuring out who we interact with best. And that's part of the psychographics of figuring out who people are. And even if you're good at something, it doesn't mean necessarily mean that it's the right fit for you. And so I encourage clients to go back and look at their last 10, 20, 30 clients and look at the ones that brought them the most revenue and that they enjoyed. And so part of your target market can niche into other places and hopefully you enjoy working with expert speakers and authors now and that they're not the kind of people that you're looking at your watch at part at the time. But some of our target market comes from experience and comes from going down a path and realizing that's not what we want. On paper, it can look like this is the perfect target market. They've got money, their credit cards, don't decline, they need websites, they're easy to do. But at the end of the day, there's still a personal element. And so, it's okay to have that awareness and then make an adjustment so that you can position yourself in the right way. You could say I could do dentists and I could do experts. But the more you position yourself for a specific industry, the more those people will feel like you are best equipped to meet their needs because you're not trying to be everything to all different types. -Alright. So, I have an idea here. The idea is that if you're starting brand new, you're just going to have to take your best guess. -Yep. -Because over time, it's through that experience in knowing what works, what doesn't knowing what you like and don't like. And so, you know, I am a perfectionist and I like to... I like to start things right from the beginning. But I've had to come to understand that the tweaks and adjustments just need to be made over time, mistakes are going to happen and learn from those mistakes. So, for those of you watching who are wanting to like, "Okay, I'm starting this business, I'm going to you know, start in the speaking space or this YouTube space." Where I'm going to start this business. Who are my... Who's my target audience in the very, very beginning. That... It's especially hard to answer that. We can take our best guesses. "Oh, I want people to make this amount of income. You know, in this age range." But... So do you agree with the advice that we could be flexible over time because it is really important to hone in but we might... We might start going the wrong direction. -I absolutely recommend for beginners in some cases to choose two audiences. Now, get clear... -It's like a split test. -Yes, exactly. It's exactly it. Choose 2 audiences that you can effectively message. One of the things that I tell my clients is that I define marketing as getting the right messages to the right masses through the right mediums. And sometimes, we only focus on that those masses but also that messaging is a really important part. So, if you can define your target market and say can I message to these people appropriately? And can I message to these people? The biggest mistake that I see new entrepreneurs make and new business owners and marketers is they make their audience so broad that they don't have a good understanding of if their marketing is working. Where if you go in instead of saying, "I'll go broad by default." And you say, "Okay, I'm going to pick dentist and experts and try that and see what works and what doesn't." Even though there are two very different audiences, you can speak specific to the dental market, you can speak specific to the expert market and then from that, make decisions about which ones you like better and which ones you have more success in. But even if, hypothetically speaking, you are better with dentists than you were with experts, (And I you're great with experts so this is just hypothetical, of course.) figuring out what you like better can be part of that process. But in those both of those cases, some people for example in the health and wellness space will choose a target market for women or moms and then they'll choose something like athletic. People who might have sports in injuries or athletic performance for races. 2 entirely different audiences. And if they can keep both of those happy... But they're still entirely different messages. And so, in some cases you'll get to a place where, "Yeah, both of these work." And then 6 months, 12 months down the road, you to specialize because you really are meeting the needs of one. And even though you could do both, you can be better at just really rocking out one target market and expand that area. People are afraid that if they niche they're losing income. But I found that if you niche, you can charge more. And so, it's a lot better to test and try to see what works instead of trying to be for everyone because then you don't really have a good indication of what is and isn't working. -Yeah, I feel like just really emphasizing... You've actually you said it earlier. You just repeated it now that you know, this time you worded it if you niche that you're losing out on money. Meaning, if you go if you narrow down your audience too much, look at all the other people you're not able to help and what if that person needs my help. But I just feel like emphasizing that because there's so many... Maybe that is true. Maybe if you narrow down you, miss out on this person over here. Maybe that's true but there's so... The the benefits of narrowing down to a more specific target audience so far outweigh.... You mentioned... You mentioned one, let's see if we can list off several. One, that you mentioned is you can charge more because you are more specialized. I think a huge one is that you can relate more. You can you can hone your message or hone your your services or your products better to a niche audience. I mean, something I talk about a lot on this channel is YouTube. And you know, YouTube videos and I talked so much about keyword research. -Yes. -And how we want to go for the leaf topics. If you haven't seen those videos, click up here. I've got several videos where I talked about going to the leaf you know instead of a branch or a trunk that's broad, go clear out to the leaf topics. Because an example I share a lot. You know on how to... Instead of how to do push ups, I might make a video on how to do push ups correctly for beginners. You know, I'm just going way more specific. So now, I know exactly who I'm talking to and I know exactly that I need to go back to the basics. I'm not the push up training expert. But if I were, that would be the specific title. Anyway, just relating back the more specific my audience is, then the more specific I can talk to them and I mean, when I'm making a video or and I'm helping them as a client or when I make a service, they know that that service is really meant just for them. -Absolutely. And as the customer, you know you're making you the right choice because they're speaking your language. And so, if it feels like it's for everyone, you're like, "Well, is that really for me?' But if they're talking to your specific needs, your specific challenges, it's a lot easier to purchase because... And also, something that you didn't mention there is the expertise is there. You can build expertise around a really solid small target market. And from that expertise, like I said, be able to charge more money. Speak the language of the people and help them to know that you truly are the go-to source for even this really small tiny but valuable audience. -Okay, so hopefully that helped emphasize why it's so important to narrow down your target audience. Are there any other final tips that you can think of Michelle on how to do that? -Yeah. So, I would say let's look at those 3 again. The Geographics, the demographics and the psychographics. The first question to ask in the geographic space is how much... Where... How big is your audience geographically? Local businesses may be only served 2 or 3 cities. Regional businesses like publications and other groups that have like restrictions on travel for some way shape or form might choose just a state or even just a series of states that are close by where people can get to them. And then there's obviously, the national and the international business. And it's okay to pick one to start. It's okay to pick local. And even if you intend to go international in the end, I always say start small and then go big because you can use that experience to grow. Because it's hard to go big and then go back down. So... But you can pick one and obviously, some businesses are truly international. But knowing that will change the way that you market. So, that'll cover the geographics. -I want to throw in just... Just the kind of to add to the conversation, YouTube. So, if we're making a YouTube channel, YouTube channels can be great for local businesses but you have to... You have to be strategic about it because YouTube is not a local thing. -Right. You'll make a video and if you use the right keyword strategy, you're answering somebody's question no matter where they are. And so oftentimes... You know, we've got lots of followers in India because I talk a lot about outsourcing to the Philippines. They've got a lot of a lot of followers in the Philippines that watch watch this channel. On some of our other channels will get you know, big followings in Europe and whatnot. Knowing the geography of your target audience will really play a big part in your marketing strategy as well. Or because YouTube's also a really a long-term play. So if you think, "Well, you know, right now I want to start locally. But I could see myself, it doesn't have to be confined locally."

And so, let's start with YouTube knowing that one day YouTube might be the tool that will help take us nationally or internationally. -Right. And sometimes if the geographic question is a gray area for now, you can always default to the demographics. And then ask yourself, "Okay. Well, maybe I'm international or maybe I'm regional or maybe I'm national. But who are my people? Am I more suited for males or more suited for females?" What is their age range?" And again, this is one of those things where you're like, "Okay, I can do males and I'm going to do 18 to 64." Well, that's an entirely different range of audience and a different wage of messages that will reach those people. Are you really talking to Millennials? Are you talking to empty nesters and retirees. They have different challenges, different problems. So, get as narrow as you can on the age. I tell people to consider income level to based off of if they're selling products and services. Obviously, it's hard to sell homes to people who are still going to school because they don't have an income yet. So, it doesn't necessarily have to be... It just is a way for you to have more information about your buyer to make those decisions. And then if you are looking for kids, obviously maybe marital status and kids. Make a difference but also know that kids are not a target market. Kids might have money but they're not the ones that you go after. You go after the one who buys. And so, those demographics can help you really narrow your messages as well. So, maybe a question to ask to wrap up this video is a lot of times we might have an idea of a product or or of a service of a need that we perceive and so, as I've got this great way. And so then, we then create... The temptation is to create a target audience. -Sure -...For our product. Instead of finding a group that has a need. Do you see pitfalls in that? -Well, it's hard because innovation and people creating products usually create them for their own personal need. And in some cases, they create them because they know there's an audience for them and that other people will purchase. But if you do it reverse, that's fine. Sometimes you can look at a group and know their demographics and their psychographics and their geographical some go, "Oh, they really need X." Speakers who really need lighting or microphones or something versus moms who might have a unique challenge the thing to take care of. But if you do it where you create the product first, just make sure there is an audience and I encourage people to go through this process. You know, woman who wanted to sell hair bows. Lots and lots of hair bows which is great. And her target market was obviously moms that had girls. But in order to be able to make the kind of money she wanted, she'd have to make 5,000 hair bows a month and she didn't want to do that. And so sometimes, you have to think through the circumstance and your audience and the income that you want above and beyond, "Is this product awesome? And Who am I going to get to buy it?" You have to consider all of those aspects before you go to market. -Awesome. Well hopefully, got some good tips in this video. If you have any ideas of especially how to shortcut the process of honing in on your target audience or different things that you can add, definitely leave them in the comments below. I do read those. Be sure to subscribe and we'll see you tomorrow.

Michelle is an author and an expert on motivation that's why we are lucky to share this episode with her because she's giving us 5 tips on how to motivate others to achieve a goal. If you want to learn more about motivation and how to get others motivated, check this out!

Okay. Motivation. It's one of those things where it's like I want to motivate people but like, are we just getting them excited or are we actually motivating them for a purpose? So, we're going to be talking about how to motivate others to achieve a goal. Alright. So, we've got Michelle McCullough here. She talks a lot about motivation and accountability in her book. I've heard her speak about it from the stage. So, and I... And I see in your notes. We've got like 5 specific things that are that are really juicy. They're going to really, really help in knowing how to help others you know, motivate others to achieve a goal. Where would you like to start? -Well, I think first and foremost, it's really good to check in. Because whether you're an accountability partner or a mentor or someone who's trying to get other people to do things, it's really good to make sure that it's something that they want and not something that you want. Look, because it's sometimes when we're searching how do you motivate others to get a goal, it's because we want somebody else to change but they haven't thought of it yet. But I think the best ways to elicit change and to encourage change within other people is to help them understand why they want something. And so, if that's not established, if somebody just says hey this new year's resolution. Or hey I want to do this. Make sure they know why they want to do it and that it really is for them because otherwise it doesn't matter the work all the work you could do would be for naught because they're not rooted and getting it done themselves. -Okay, so if I'm watching this video, I', thinking, "You know what? I need to take a gut check here. What's my motivation for wanting that person to achieve a goal? Is it Michael or is it their goal?" Okay. I'm glad we went there. -Well, and I think that as humans, we desire for the people around us to be better. And we want to cheer them on, we want them to be better and we want to motivate them for change. But the truth is is the best motivation comes from encouraging them to make the change on their own. And it's more likely to stick and more likely to be impactful for them if you can help them come to the place where they're committing for themselves. That might be why a motivational speech from the stage my fizzle Adam might not last. -Absolutely. And that's one of the hardest parts for me as a motivational speaker because I'll have people come up to me after an event and say, "Oh, my gosh. This was so great. I'm going to do this and thi this." And and then I follow up with them a week or two later and they're like, "Oh, yeah. Well, I just I got busy or I got tired or I  got something." And so, I really want to help people have the tools so that once they leave, they can say, "Oh, okay. I don't feel motivated right now. This is what I can do to help me get motivated." And the things that can help encourage them to push past it which is why I spend so much time helping people talk about their why and their greater purpose. Because if the why is big enough, people will figure out the how and the steps and the details because that is so strong and powerful.

-Okay. So, that sounds like a good first step. I don't know if these are actually like 5 steps or... Okay. Well let's call it. This is Step 1, find the why or find that motivation or for them to achieve that goal? -Mm-hmm. -Okay, what would step 2 be? -Define the plan. So, where people really get hung up in goal-setting whether it's helping other people or even helping themselves is they have an idea but not a system. And so, whatever it is that you want, whether you want to lose weight or you want to grow a business or you're trying to get your kids to listen to you the first time or whatever it is, you can't just say you want something you have to create the plan to do it. And for me, that's as simple as sitting down with a friend. You wants to get something done and saying, "That's awesome. Here's the plan." What are your dailies, weeklies and monthlies. And we sit and say, "Okay, here's your goal, here's what you want to have happen, what do you have to do every day to make that work?" What you have to do every week? Maybe not as frequently but still important. And what do you if you do every month. And so part of that planning session is helping them create the individual pieces so that if they can attack and accomplish those every single day, they're getting closer and closer to where they want to be. -I have a guest that one of your next steps might be accountability? -I do love that. -Because if you don't have a specific you know, plan or outline of what you're going to do it accomplished the goal, then accountability can't even happen. -Right. -Okay. -And some of our biggest goals are big hairy audacious goals. The ones that really motivate us the most are going to take the longest. And so it's really important to put some of those little check points in or mile markers in the middle. So that you can reach that next step instead of and get excited about that instead of waiting for the long term process. And so, part of that accountability piece is saying, "Okay, go do X Y & Z and then let's talk again." Studies have shown that if you tell someone and you... To be accountable with you on a goal, you're 65% more likely to accomplish that goal if you have an accountability partner. And that's awesome, that's huge but it goes up one more to 95% you're more likely to accomplish the goal if you have an accountability partner and you set a specific time to check in regularly. And so, just think of that, part of that is just... If you and I working together on something and I commit to you on my big goal that I'm going to get these three things done when we talk in 2 weeks, I don't want to disappoint you but I also don't want to disappoint me either. But now I have a time frame to work in to make it work. If we don't give ourselves deadlines or timeframes whether it's just that checkpoint in between or even at the end, then we can allow those goals and wishes to go on for days, weeks, months, even years because we haven't set the right timelines to get us to actually take action. -Alright. So, just thinking about how this might play out. Let's say that 5% that don't take action or don't achieve that step or that mark of their goal, what do you do then? -So, as an accountability partner or a mentor even just a really good friend, you have to know we have to pick one of 2 things. When to push and when to console. So sometimes in great accountability partnerships, I have had great friends who said, "Michelle, you didn't do it. That's okay. But now you have one week to get all those things done instead of 2 and I need you to come back with me." And other times when they've said, "You know what? I get that you had something big going on but this goal is still important to you. When would you like to set that date?" And so sometimes as a good partner, you want to push them to say, "No, I'm calling your crap on this. You could have done it. But you were just scared." And so, you push them to get that accomplished in that time or you can choose to console but then allow them to give you a new timeline. But either way, the best part about goals is that usually there's not a consequence for not getting it except for what you actually want. And so, setting a new timeline is okay as long as you're still pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and even doing some of the things to make sure you get the results you want. -What if they do keep their commitment or they do accomplish the goal? -I'm a huge fan of celebrations. So whatever that is... And sometimes you can even work that into your appointment. So in 2 weeks, if you get XY & Z done, how are you going to celebrate or how are we going to celebrate? Whether we go out to do something or something big like a massage, if it's a big thing. Or something little like just getting together and sharing some ice cream, whatever that looks like. Creating some celebrations and sometimes the best things you can give yourself is just time alone and time away. But figure out what the motivations are. I'm a huge fan of celebrating. Even the milestones, as well as the next thing. Because for many of us, we have a series of broken goals that we've had in the past. Whether that's New Year's resolutions or something else and we have failed many other times. And so, it's really good. It's like confidence and goal-setting is like a muscle that the more you do it the more excited you can get. You can retrain your brain for success. And so, getting to the place where you can celebrate can really be powerful and helping people take that next step. -That is awesome. I like that you gave specific examples because when you said celebrate, I'm like, "Yeah, good job!" But I didn't think about go for ice cream or... -Do something more fun, right? -Very cool. -Or cheer your friend on socially or put something out there. It doesn't always have to cost money. But something bigger than a congratulations can help you get really excited. I really believe that success is not the destination, it's the practice. And so as we continue to practice habits that make us more and more successful than once this one goal is done, that it makes it a lot easier for us to set another goal. And if you can be an awesome cheerleader for somebody and motivate them to accomplish their goal then they want you to be along for all of those other pieces. So part of this is establishing just a really great spirit of celebration and encouragement. -Do you ever do a celebration at more of a milestone at... If you've got a big goal and you've got five steps to get there. -Sure, -Yeah? -You can do that but here's another study that they've done where they found that they were just motivating people to exercise and they told them to get a calendar just put a sticker up for every single day that they exercised. It was a visual reminder and they wanted to put the sticker up. So it doesn't even have to be a big milestone like you lost the weight or something. Though I'm encouraged... I encouraged things like that too. But sometimes just as simple as doing the thing that you needed to do. Doing the habit and rewarding yourself is really valuable. My mom to this day still puts a smiley face on a calendar every day that she exercises and she's been doing it for 3 or 4 years. But just that visual and the satisfaction, like a star from when you were in kindergarten can be just the motivation you need to celebrate even the simple little things. -Okay. Very cool.

So, we've we've covered 5 things. The first one was finding the why behind the goal. Making sure it's their goal. -Yep. Second one, was that plan? -Mm-hmm. -Okay, make sure you have a plan. Third one is accountability. Fourth one? To either put... No... Kind of judge. Whether you need to get them that extra push or like consult. Okay. And then number 5 is to celebrate. -Yes. Awesome. I think those things will work. What do you guys think? Comment below. Let us know if you have any additional tips on how to motivate someone to achieve their goals. Be sure to subscribe. I'll put a resource or a link to Michelle's website if you want to look her up down in the description below and we'll see you tomorrow.