Onward Nation

Morag Barrett is founder and CEO of leading HR consultancy SkyeTeam (which was just named one of HR.com's Top 15 Small Leadership Partners and Providers for the third year running) and author of CULTIVATE: The Power of Winning Relationships (a second edition of which launched on January 5th, 2016 with Greenleaf Book Group). With 25+ years experience in senior executive coaching and developing high-impact teams and leadership development programs across Europe, America, and Asia, Morag intimately understands the challenges of running a business and managing people. In case you were wondering, her name is Scottish, and means great.

Morag is a night owl and not a morning person -- she checks her email, reads the newspaper, writes a to-do list -- it's okay if it takes time to get going. ONWARD!

Move forward in spite of fear. -- Brené Brown

Success is having fun.

Morag believes in being fearless and doing it anyway -- and Morag tells the reasons why here.

An "A player" is someone who has the passion and sense of humor to have fun and see fun in what they do.

1. Have a mentor yourself

1. Who knows you is different from who do you know
2. Look for opportunities to find your opinion

1. Define what it is that you're trying to achieve

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: skyeteam.com

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner. Just wanted to start off today’s solocast with a big thank you.

I appreciate all of the feedback — thoughts — recommendations — and encouragement following last week’s solocast.

I love hearing when our work is helping to make a difference for you — to create an impact for you, Onward Nation — and perhaps this may sound odd — but I also love hearing when we have missed the mark. If and when we underdeliver — because knowing that — helps us get better! All of your feedback helps us move onward to that next level.

So thank you, Onward Nation.

I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you sharing some of you invaluable time with me today. Please continue letting us know what you think.

Thumbs up or thumbs down. We appreciate you so very much.

So for today’s solocast…I am going to take one of the themes from last week and go an inch wide and a mile deep.

You may recall, that last week’s solocast, I addressed the slippery slope — the mental trap — that is so easy for any business owner to fall into. It is the trap of thinking that becoming an overnight success is possible — and — comparing your back-of-stage with another company’s front-of-stage. It’s a tempting thought — it can be so intoxicating to hope for — or to do those comparisons — but there is no such thing as an overnight success, Onward Nation.

The insights I learned directly from Verne Harnish, founder of EO and Gazelles — duringepisode 205 speak directly to this point. Verne took me behind the green curtain at Apple to discuss how they struggled for their first 25 years — 25 years, Onward Nation. And finally in 2001, they began to rapidly scale following the introduction of the iPod. But it took 25 years of struggle — and nearly going broke several times — in order to get there.

Verne also shared the story of Peter Drucker, the godfather of modern day management…and how Peter reached his most creative and productive point in his career after the age of 65. Peter wrote twice the number of books after his 65th birthday than he did when he was younger. It takes a long time Onward Nation to curate that level of content and develop that depth of expertise.

Verne then shared insights regarding Picasso and the number of masterpieces he produced after turning 50 years old. Picasso created the majority of his most famous works after he had turned 50!

And then the insights I learned from Linda Kaplan Thaler — our guest in episode 226, which will air on Monday, May 2nd — and the story she shared about the acclaimed novelist, James Patterson. Thanks to Linda — we now know James had been hard at work perfecting his craft for 21 years before his first bestseller. Honing his skills, day in and day out. Every day — hours and hours — working on his craft from 4:00 in the morning until 8:00 — and then going off to his day job at one of New York City’s leading advertising agencies, where he worked with Linda for over 17 years. An amazing story of grit, tenacity, persistence, and never giving up.

So for today’s solocast…I am going to share some additional perspective and lessons I began to share last week regarding what I have learned from spending time with Gary Vaynerchuk. I will share those lessons deeper — and then connect them to what I want to share with you today, which is how and why you should build a platform to grow revenue for your business. But again — this too, Onward Nation is a long term play. Building a platform is not an overnight thing as you will see with Gary’s story.

There are no shortcuts. It takes hard work and disciplined effort. But your hard work will create distinction for you — because the majority of your competitors will not want to work that hard.

And grounded in that reality, Onward Nation, is your major opportunity. IF — you are willing to seize it. Just like Gary Vee did. He recognized it and then capitalized by being willing to work his guts out to make his vision a reality. I have a lot of respect for Gary — and anyone — who is willing to do that.

My guess is you are already familiar with Gary Vee — but just in case you’re not — Gary is the founder of Vaynermedia and one of today’s foremost social media experts. He is the bestselling author of four books. In my opinion, his social media book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” is the best social media book ever written. It is outstanding. And it is just as relevant today as it was when it was released in November 2013. The consumer behavior and platform strategy Gary sets forth within the book is still spot on.

But “Gary Vee” has not always been “Gary Vee.”

In fact, just a mere 10 years ago, Gary was largely unknown on the social media scene. Gary was the director of operations at his family’s liquor store in New Jersey. He didn’t have 1.2 million Twitter followers then. Vaynermedia didn’t exist. YouTube was just getting underway, same with Twitter, and nearly zero companies were investing in building out video blogs or becoming their own “media channel”.

But Gary was different. He could see that he needed to create a “platform” by sharing valuable content via the social Internet. And he decided to do just that.

Before we go much further — let’s have a quick definition — what’s a “platform?”

At its core — a platform is what you stand for — your ideals — your vision — your purpose inside your business or in your life. But, platform has also morphed into meaning your audience, or followers, your tribe, your community, or sometimes even the size of your audience.

So from a business perspective, building a platform, depending on your industry, can make all of the difference.

During episode 42 of Onward Nation, you will hear Gary and I talk about the early days of Wine Library and his strategy behind it.

Gary said to me, “I started Wine Library TV because I was worried about the vulnerability of us and wineries selling direct to consumers. And I figured if I became influential, that me as a curator would protect me against wineries selling direct to consumers.” — Gary Vaynerchuk, episode 42 of Onward Nation.

You can also find the video interview Gary and I did at Vaynermedia here:

Gary launched Wine Library TV on May 17, 2006. Very few businesses had a video blog — and no one in the wine industry did. Yet he did it anyway.

And for the first year or so — each episode reached more and more people — but slowly. Wine Library TV was not an overnight success.

To Gary’s credit — and one of the things I admire most about him — he looks for opportunity in business — where are the untapped “wells” — and then he plants his flag — he puts up his drilling rig — and he drills and inch wide and a mile deep — and doesn’t stop.

Now, truth be told, Gary might be the only person in the field drilling — and sometimes, Onward Nation — being the early adopter, can be a very lonely feeling. But when Gary is convinced the strategy will work — he commits the necessary resources to learn all that is necessary and then make it work.

Does that mean Gary is successful 100 percent of the time?

No, no one ever is. But success and failure are all part of the process — the ying and the yang to it all.

But he was willing to stake his claim and then make improvements along the way. To illustrate my point…if you go to the show notes for this episode — we have embedded the videos for Gary’s Episode 1 and Episode 1,001 so you can see how the Wine Library TV evolved over time. Take some time to compare the on-screen graphics, Gary’s comfort level in front of the camera, the background, and the lighting between the two episodes.

Both episodes are off-the-charts for content — and this may surprise you a bit — but I actually prefer Episode 1 over Episode 1,001. But it isn’t because Episode 1,001 under delivers — it doesn’t. I like Episode 1 so much because it is the start of something amazing, something inspiring. It is the first edition of something that went on to change the wine industry and to propel the success of Gary’s family business. Wine Library TV — and Gary’s talent of discerning opportunities from the clutter — thrust him into the social media spotlight.

Episode 1:

Episode 1001:

I like Episode 1 because of the guts it took Gary to produce it — and then — the commitment to produce an excellent show fives times a week. That is how you build a platform, Onward Nation. Not overnight. Gary knew he could win over the long term if he was willing and disciplined enough to play for long term wins…and not to try and create an overnight success.

So what was the resulting outcome of Wine Library TV? Gary and his family grew their business from $3 million to over $60 million a year in sales as a direct result of Wine Library TV.

Wow, Onward Nation. 20x growth for their business. And they did it because of Gary’s unwavering long-term commitment to this philosophy. “Creating content for the social Internet is literally the cost of relevance in today’s society.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

Well done, my friend.

Now, if you are thinking about Gary’s success — his long-term commitment — and then thinking to yourself, “Yeah, but I could never do that.” And you are starting to feel some hesitation right now as you question yourself on whether you could follow in Gary’s footsteps and apply his recipe and strategy to your industry. The answer is yes you can…but…I want you to take a moment to consciously realize something here.

I want you to realize that any hesitancy you may be feeling right now about building your platform is the Imposter Syndrome attempting to hold you back!

That voice you may be hearing inside your head asking you the painful question of, “Who do you think you are? To launch a podcast — who would listen to you — what do you have to say that is worthy of sharing?”

Those are tough questions to listen to, Onward Nation. Very tough. Aren’t they?

And I will tell you that I hear the voices and those questions every day. And whoa…the voices really kick into overdrive every time I sit down at my desk to write out my thoughts for each and every weekly solocast.

But…and this is really important…I push through the fears, the doubts, the struggles with myself because my conviction behind the purpose of Onward Nation is drilled deep into the Earth.

My team and I are fully committed to being outstanding — delivering our best to you every day, no matter how long it takes us to build what we are focused on building. This is a long-term strategy for us just like Wine Library TV was as it has been for Gary.

So, Onward Nation — for you to build a rockin’ awesome platform that creates distinction for you in your marketplace or industry, you need that same time of long-term commitment. No matter what the tech is — doesn’t matter if you create a podcast, an awesome YouTube channel, an insightful blog as a resource for your customers and prospects, or if your customers are on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter in droves — then be there with them to have a conversation.

Or, if your customers are on Instagram — then be there.

If they are on Snapchat — then be there.

Or, if you have a decent connection with customers via email — then strengthen your relationships via email and provide deep, deep, deep value.

To help guide you on this path — I outlined 5 key steps in a brief action plan that I think will be helpful as you consider the type of platform you want to build. But one final word of caution before I share the steps. And that is — in the wise words of Ty Bennett, “Just pick one platform — master it — go deep — and then maybe add a second. But first — master one.” Wise words that Ty shared during our recent encore interview…episode 212.

So here are the action steps, Onward Nation. A business building — platform building recipe for you. My hope for you is that you will put these steps into practice with relentless action and execution:

1. Find out where your customers hang out. Do they listen to podcasts? Are they on Twitter? Are they on LinkedIn? Are they on YouTube? Find out. How? Ask them. Take a survey. Send an email. Make some phone calls. Post on Facebook, post on Twitter…pick a path and create a conversation and ask your customers and prospects questions. Have the courage to ask and learn — even if the answers make you uncomfortable. Think of it this way…if the answers make you uncomfortable — wouldn’t you rather have that information sooner rather than later so you can make changes and deliver more value to your customers instead of them leaving and doing business with a competitor who they believe is more influential and delivers more value than you do? I know…ouch, right? But you can’t fix it if you ignore there’s a problem or an untapped opportunity, Onward Nation.
2. Create a content strategy. And your strategy should accomplish two things: 1) deliver massive value to your customers and prospects. MASSIVE VALUE. Don’t skimp. And 2) ensure that what you are delivering will position you as a thought leader and influencer just like Gary Vee accomplished with Wine Library TV. And by doing so — you will create distinctiveness for your business — just like Scott McKain recommends, our guest duringepisodes 1 and 136 of Onward Nation.
3. Ignore the Imposter Syndrome. Push past it and begin building your content, building your platform, and prepare for launch. Don’t let the questions in your head derail your success. I encourage you to go back and re-listen to episode 158 — which I dedicated toward defeating the Imposter Syndrome — it will be a great resource for you. Because Onward Nation…you are more talented, more wonderful, more gifted, more incredible than you can possibly imagine. You are a child of the highest God and were blessed with an abundance of talent — don’t give in — build the content and it will get easier over time.
4. Execute your strategy — push the launch button! Will your podcast, videos, or blog be perfect on day 1? No! Will you be embarrassed at first? Maybe. But as Reid Hoffman the founder of LinkedIn said, “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” Does that mean you just launch something that is half-baked? No, it doesn’t. But it does mean that your podcast will never be perfect…you will learn along the path…your listeners will help you get better…and until you have the courage to put yourself out there…you will never receive that valuable feedback. So have the guts — build something great — realize that perfection is not attainable — and that part of the fun is to improve along the way. It’s the journey, Onward Nation — it is valuable to your growth and really fun for your listeners to watch how you evolve and change because of their comments and recommendations.
5. Don’t stop. Never give up, Onward Nation. Keeping moving forward — success is there for you — just not overnight. It will take time — but it is funny how quality eventually rises to the top. It is a struggle — you will feel the pressure but pressure is a necessary force of nature — and pressure creates an astonishing result outcomes. For example…how is a diamond formed? By placing coal under intense pressure for a very long time. Or, how is oil formed? By placing organic material under extreme pressure and heat for a long period of time. Or, say you turn your garden hose on without any sort of nozzle at the end. What happens? Right, you get a steady stream of water coming out the end of the hose. But what happens when you place your thumb over the end of the hose and apply pressure to the water? The water shoots out the hose, doesn’t it? See? That is how pressure transforms and creates a fun and exciting result outcome. So don’t run from the pressure in your business or the pressure you might be feeling as you consider a podcast or some other platform building strategy. That pressure is your guiding force and it will direct you toward big result outcomes if you let it. So don’t ever give up — just remember — when you are feeling the pressure — you are likely to soon experience massive growth and your business is about to jettison forward into something amazing. Keep the faith, Onward Nation and never give up.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. My direct email address is [email protected] — and yes — that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible encore interview with Morag Barrett, founder and CEO of leading HR consultancy SkyeTeam. You will love her message about the imposter syndrome and how she believes we are all making it up, every day. She’s amazing. You will not want to miss this discussion, Onward Nation!

Until then, onward with gusto!

Justin Christianson is a 14-year digital marketing veteran and #1 bestselling author of “Conversion Fanatic: How to double your customers, sales and profits with A/B testing.” He is also the co-founder and President of Conversion Fanatics, a full-service conversion rate optimization company helping companies get more out of their advertising through data-driven optimization and testing services.

Justin reviews his calendar and email at his desk -- not on his phone -- and then sets his plan for the day -- delegate the tasks you don't need to accomplish yourself. ONWARD!

Exercise and meditate -- Justin believes business is easier when he works on his mind and body.

Justin was in a lawsuit that he couldn't afford to fight -- and Justin tells the whole story here.

"Stick-to-it-iveness."

"Live your best life daily."

I would have focused more on developing a business development process.

Work on increasing your conversion rate.

An individual would have open, responsive communication skills.

1. Don't try to do it all yourself
2. Put the right the people in the right places
3. Hire slow and fire fast
4. Make sure you process everything out

• Website: conversionfanatics.com
• Social: clyxo.com/justinchristianson

Kara Ronin is an Australian entrepreneur, social skills expert, and founder of Executive Impressions. Passionate about teaching people the social skills to thrive in any business or social situation, and in any country, Kara created Executive Impressions, an online education platform that receives thousands of visits every month. Kara has spent over 10-years living an international life in Japan, the United States, and Europe including Tokyo, New York, and Lyon, and speaks Japanese as well as French. At one stage, Kara moved countries or cities every year for 10 years straight. Now she lives in France, just two hours from the French Alps, where she took a leap of faith and created her own business.

Kara is the first one to get up every morning, and she eats breakfast, checks her email, and goes for a run three times a week -- take care of yourself in your morning. ONWARD!

"What doesn't work gets you one step closer to success." -- J.K. Rowling

Success is the amount of impact that you have somebody else's life.

Kara uses visualization techniques -- and Kara tells the reasons why here.

An "A player" is someone who has the same vision as you -- and they have perseverance and the willingness to move forward.

1. Share articles that you enjoy with your community

1. Choose just two or three platforms and become really, really good at those platforms
2. Create a free enticement on your website that is connected to your newsletter

1. Utilize visualization at this stage of business
2. Be okay with taking risks
3. Get a mentor -- they can help you see things you can't see yourself

• Website: www.executive-impressions.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kararonin
• Twitter: @execimpressions

Kim Ades is the president and founder of Frame of Mind Coaching and Journal Engine Software. Author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mother of five, Kim is recognized as one of North America's foremost experts on performance through thought mastery. By using her unique process of integrating online journaling in her coaching, Kim helps her highly-driven clients to examine and shift their thinking in order to yield extraordinary results.

Kim tries to be completely present wherever she is -- be exactly where you are. ONWARD!

Journal every single day -- Kim believes this allows you to focus, brainstorm, and overall just get your mind in the right spot.

Kim had her integrity challenged by someone she was thinking of partnering with -- and Kim tells the whole story here.

"Master the art of getting back up."

"Conflict is not something that should be avoided."

I would have really, really honed in on a niche.

Increase your awareness of the way your thinking influences your team.

An individual would be accountable without my interference -- and they would keep me accountable.

1. Challenge your own thinking
2. Focus on what you want
3. Leverage your resources

• Website: frameofmindcoaching.com

Jordan Goodman is America's Money Answers Man who has been answering American's questions about personal finance for over 35 years. He was the Wall Street Correspondent at MONEY Magazine for 18 years, financial commentator on NBC News for 9 years, on Marketplace radio for 6 years and he is a regular on many radio and TV programs around the country. He has written 14 books on personal financial topics including Fast Profits in Hard Times, The Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms and The Ultimate Guide to Student Loans. His website is moneyanswers.com.

Jordan figures out what will give him the biggest payoff -- write those things down and make those your priorities. ONWARD!

You need someone to hold you accountable -- Jordan hires a trainer to make sure he gets his physical activity in.

The person who was on the cover of Jordan's book was extradited by the FBI -- and Jordan tells the whole story here.

"Leverage -- you can only do so much yourself."

"When speaking, get the people out of their room and into your room."

I would have had "captured the heat" sooner -- be prepared to get people interested in your products.

1. You need an area of specialty
2. Create a persona
3. Continuously work on your brand

• Website: www.moneyanswers.com

Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.

Good Morning Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner. Have you ever noticed how most people only pay attention to the final product of a successful business owner.

They say things like…“I can never be like them.” or “They got lucky.”

What most people don’t see is what the business owner overcame on their path to becoming successful.

All of the struggles.

All of the daily rejections. The heartaches. The betrayals. The rumors. The criticism.

Even the empty bank accounts.

And all of those lonely nights while they worked hard to make their vision become a reality.

You see, Onward Nation, the only difference between the one who quits, and the one who doesn’t, is that the successful owner showed up every day.

The successful owner worked hard every day.

They hustled every day.

They learned from a proven mentor every day. They worked hard to improve every day.

They did all this even though they felt like quitting every day. And eventually, they became who they are today…a successful business owner, Onward Nation.

All of this is a very powerful lesson that I learned from Patrick Bet-David, founder of PHP Agency, an insurance marketing organization, and is the host of the popular YouTube channel,ValueTainment.

Onward Nation, if you haven’t already subscribed to Patrick’s YouTube channel, I highly recommend it. Patrick is exceptional at delivering impactful education, success principles, and business lessons any business owner can apply immediately in order to move onward to that next level.

And during this solocast, we are going to dig deep into one of the fundamental – yet underlying principles that I just shared from Patrick. The principle is fundamental to success — but Onward Nation — it is also easy to miss, overlook, or to take for granted.

The principle is that there is no such thing as an overnight success. There isn’t. No matter what industry — no matter what sector — the companies that have achieved sustainable success reached their pinnacle after years and years of perfecting their craft.

So I am going to share some examples with you over the next several minutes to illustrate this powerful principle.

Why?

Because I think it is important to realize that success takes time. That success requires your full attention. That success requires failure, making adjustments, repositioning, trying again, failing again, reintroducing products, and maybe even being on the brink of collapse as was the case with Apple, before you finally “make it”.

I want you to rest easy today — and to celebrate the challenges and obstacles that are in your way right now. They are a gift — they are making you stronger — if you let them — they are forcing you to think differently — they are testing your commitment to your vital priorities, vital function, and your wherewithal.

Will you push forward — or will you quit, Onward Nation? My hope is that you will always push forward and never quit.

Back when I was a sophomore in high school, I decided that I wanted to play football. Now, truth be told, I didn’t know the first thing about football…literally…I didn’t even know the positions on the field. I knew zero plays…nothing. And to make matters worse, I was 6 feet tall and about 150 pounds, slow, lanky, without any skill at all.

In fact, I was so bad — and I am honestly not exaggerating at all — I was so bad, Onward Nation, that I actually sat on the bench during practice. As a young kid in high school, I thought my coaches were disrespecting me by not letting me practice.

Now that I am older — I can only imagine the coaches meetings — they probably went something like this. “Ahem, okay gentlemen, we need to make some adjustments here in practice…has anyone seen that Woessner kid, yeah, he’s really bad. He has no talent on the field. Let’s let him stay on the team but we need to keep him busy on the sidelines because he is so bad that he will get destroyed even in practice.”

Which was likely followed by lots of agreement and laughing. I distinctly remember talking with my dad one night when I felt like quitting because I was frustrating with my lack of opportunity — again — I didn’t realize the coaches were helping me, they weren’t trying to hold me back — they were actually ensuring I could move up just not in football — and my dad told me it would be okay if I quit.

And that took me back a little bit. Quit?

After the call, I thought long and hard about what he said — and I later decided that it was not okay if I quit.

Quitting was not okay — and even if I never played another down on the team — I would not quit. I would attend every practice — every game — and root on the guys who were much better than me.

But I would never quit. I wasn’t going to be successful in football but quitting to me felt like I would be given up on a lot more than just 10th grade football. So I finished the season no matter how embarrassed I was to be riding the pine bench.

I think about those lessons often because they still fuel me today, Onward Nation, and my hope is that the lessons fuel you, too. Don’t ever give up. Remain committed to your vital priorities — and eventually — you will succeed.

There is no overnight success — it takes persistence and tenacity over the long haul.

To that point, I encourage you to go back and relisten to my interview with Verne Harnish in episode 205 and listen carefully to how Verne introduces himself to you, Onward Nation.

Verne says this is his 34th year of doing just one thing — helpful companies scale up. His organizations and companies are devoted to this “one thing”…his books are dedicated to this “one thing” and even his family and friends are dedicated to supporting him be successful with this “one thing.”

The discussion with Verne is so compelling because he takes some time to dispel the overnight success myth by sharing some interesting data points and stories. One of those data points is that there are over 11,000 new companies launched every hour all over the world today.

Just think of that, Onward Nation…11,000 new companies an hour.

However, the vast majority of those companies will not be successful — they will lack the fortitude — the staying power to effectively scale their business. For example, Verne went on to share that of the 28 million businesses in the United States, about 24 million of the total are solopreneurs and will never scale up.

Why?

Most lack the resources — and I don’t mean just financial. Often times, as Verne shared, it is not a question of “how much do I need to scale?” but typically a question of who do I need to be in association with in order to scale up over the long haul.

Verne cited Apple and how the company had slowly moved along with their 25 year timeline — nearly collapsed — until Steve Jobs came back. At the time Jobs returned, they had 9,800 employees and were nearly broke.

And likely all of us know what happened following the iPod’s release in 2001 — but it didn’t succeed right away…in fact…the iPod floundered a bit for a couple of years.

But in 2003, it got some traction and now Apple has scaled to over 110,000 employees during the last 13 years. It would be very easy to forget about those first 25 years of trial, error, struggle, losing millions of dollars, nearly going broke, and then focusing on just one thing and doing it with excellence in the iPod — and then traction takes hold.

Success requires a disciplined effort over a long period of time.

Some people look at Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vaynermedia in New York City, as this guy who came out of nowhere to leap in front of the social media space and is now super popular with a massive following. Couldn’t be further from the truth — and Gary would be the first one to tell you. His story is one of grit, tenacity, outworking the competition, and playing to win for the long term.

When Gary launched Wine Library TV — his daily show — for about the first year, his audience was really small…almost discouragingly small…but Gary didn’t quit. Then year two…then year three…then year four…then year five, and then year six.

Six years, Onward Nation! Six years of producing a high-quality show of 20 to 30-minutes of engaging video content — every day — that’s what it took for Gary Vee to win.

Just think about that for a minute. The magnitude of content he produced. It is really easy to look at Vaynermedia and get impressed with the success — heck — 500 employees on Park Avenue in NYC — and that is darn impressive.

But, to me, because I have had an opportunity to be Gary’s guest at Vaynermedia, to go behind the green curtain to interview him, and to learn from him, I know that one of the things he is most proud of — and he should be — is all of the hard work, the struggle, the determination to make something out of nothing — he truly enjoys the journey to success — and he would be another one to tell you there are no shortcuts to success.

And just because someone gets paid $50,000 to deliver a speech today — like Gary does — there is all kinds of back story there — and it’s the back story that is so interesting.

Let’s take a look at the late Peter Drucker, arguably the godfather of modern day management…Verne Harnish shared with me during our interview that of Peter’s 39 groundbreaking books, only 13 of them were written before Peter’s 65th birthday. Peter wrote twice the number of books after he turned 65. What?

It takes a long time, Onward Nation, to collect, curate, and share the wisdom that is deep and impactful enough to matter and add value to a lot of people, like Peter did.

Or, how about Picasso?

Of his top 10 paintings — six of them were painted after he had turned 50. And four of the of 10 paintings were completed when Picasso was 51.

Again…it’s the long term commitment to your vital priorities and vital functions…perfecting your craft with years, and years, and years of disciplined effort.

I have mentioned vital priorities and vital functions a couple of times this morning — so if you want a refresher on terminology — just go back and listen to episode 203. I dedicated an entire solocast to the topic of the vitals in your business and the lessons I learned from one of my mentors, Darren Hardy.

So let’s move onto another example of long term success. It would be very easy to look at James Patterson, one of the most successful novelists in history, and think — wow — here’s a guy who has it made. How amazing to be that lucky — to just write all day — what a joy. Again, let’s go behind the green curtain.

Last week, I had an opportunity to interview the incomparable Linda Kaplan Thaler — oh my word, Onward Nation — Linda is brilliant. She was the creator of the AFLAC duck and so many ad campaigns that I know you will recognize when you hear our interview.

Cannot wait to share our discussion — we will air it as episode 226 on Monday, May 2nd — so stay tuned for that.

But during our conversation, Linda told me about how she used to work for James Patterson when James was the creative director of the agency where Linda worked. James and Linda worked together for 17 years and became great friends. As Linda shared with me, James did not become a great novelist by accident or luck. Instead, to perfect his craft, James would get up every morning at 4:00 and would write for four hours until 8:00 when he would leave his home for the agency.

He would then put in a full day — go home — and be in bed by 8:30 every night. And he rinsed and repeated this process for 21 years, Onward Nation. Staggering. 21 years!

Just think about how many times during those 21 years that he would have second guessed himself, called himself bat crazy, how much criticism he received from friends and family encouraging him to just quit and to give up on his dream, and so much more.

But he didn’t.

He remained committed to his vital priority — and after 21 years — he became the successful James Patterson we know today.

Or how about Henry Ford…he was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company with the help of friends, family, and several investors who collectively helped him raise $28,000 in capital in 1903.

And if you look through Mr. Ford’s timeline…you will see trials, tribulations, blood, sweat, tears, heartache, success, followed by disappointment, followed by triumph, followed by obstacles.

So, let’s put all of these stories and principles into context by remembering the excellent lesson taught to me by Cody Foster, founder of Advisors Excel and my guest on episode 81 of Onward Nation. Cody said to me, “Stephen, don’t compare someone else’s front-of-stage with your back-of-stage.”

Meaning…if you only look at someone’s front of stage — what you see in the public eye — you miss all of the struggles, the obstacles, the pain, the suffering, the courage, and their zig-zagged journey to where they are are now.

And the last example I want to leave you with is Napoleon Hill. If you have been listening to Onward Nation for a while now — you know I love Napoleon’s book, “Think & Grow Rich.” I have such high regard for this book — it is, in my opinion — the ultimate guide to achieving success.

But, most people don’t know the story behind the book’s success — and how the first edition, per se, was a great book but not well-received by the American public. Why? Several factors. First, it was published in 1928 — just one year before the Great Depression.

The American public was not looking for — or ready for — a success manuscript at that time. And second, the book was huge and it was under a different title. It was the 612-page “Law of Success” — wow. I own the book — it is sitting on my desk right now — and it is amazing.

It is essentially a more comprehensive version of “Think & Grow Rich.”

Smartly, Napoleon decided to revise and repackage the Laws of Success by trimming it down — making it more concise — and then publishing it as “Think & Grow Rich” in 1937, nearly 10 years later, following the Depression.

“Think & Grow Rich” then went on to sell 70 million copies worldwide. Again, no such thing as an overnight success.

So don’t give up, Onward Nation!

I hope you realize that the struggles you are facing — perhaps the abyss you are staring into right now — is all part of the master plan. You are more talented, more wonderful, more gifted, more incredible than you can possibly imagine. You are a child of the highest God and were blessed with an abundance of talent — so don’t quit — don’t give in — don’t stop. Keeping moving forward — success is there for you — just not overnight.

So with that…I want to thank you again for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today’s top business owners.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation…good or bad…I always want your feedback. My direct email address is [email protected] — and yes — that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview with Jordan Goodman, America’s Money Answers Man. You will not want to miss this discussion, Onward Nation!

Until then, onward with gusto!

When Ty was 21 years old, he and his brother Scott started a business in direct sales, which they built to over $20 million in annual revenue while still in their twenties. Since that time, he has developed over 500 sales managers globally with sales and leadership in 37 countries. As a young entrepreneur, Ty continues to engage his team's focus in growing sales. He uses the power of influence and storytelling to get buy-in to the vision of growing their multimillion-dollar sales organization.

With a natural ability to engage and empower others, Ty draws on his experience in the trenches to share real and tangible techniques about the principles of leadership that continue to create his success. The founder of Leadership Inc., who has been featured as one of the Top 40 Under 40, Ty is a young fresh voice providing interactive presentations that are engaging, dynamic and inspiring.

His clients include some of the most recognizable brands in the world such as Coca-Cola, Subway, Wounded Warrior Project, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Remax. Ty has shared the stage with celebrities, Olympians and world-renowned thought leaders such as President Bush and President Clinton.

Ty's best-selling books The Power of Influence and The Power of Storytelling: The Art of Influential Communication are used in graduate courses at multiple universities including MIT, as today's version of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

In June 2014, Ty Bennett received the CSP Designation. At just 32 years of age, he is one of the youngest ever to receive the award in the shortest amount of time. Less than 5% of speakers earn the CSP honor.

Ty lives in Utah with his wife Sarah, daughters Andie and Lizzy and sons Tanner and Drew.

Ty schedule changes drastically based on whether he's at home or on the road -- but every morning begins with prayer and study, exercise, and listening to audios for getting the mind right. ONWARD!

"If you're interested, you do what's convenient; if you're committed, you do what it takes."

An "A player" has the right attitude -- they're committed, authentic, trustworthy, and hard-working.

1. Identify the key people you need to keep mentoring
2. Find the consistent timeframe for meeting
3. Set mentor-mentee expectations

1. Give consistent value
2. Figure out the specific platforms that you want to use

1. Focus on what you are amazing at
2. Never get too busy to work on yourself

• Website: tybennett.com

Kerry Heaps is the host of Strictly Marketing Talk Radio and publisher of Strictly Marketing Magazine. The magazine has recently spun off an online community for Strictly Women in Marketing, for Women looking to gain more media exposure. Her passion is to help other Entrepreneurs with their marketing efforts to continue their dream of running a successful business. Kerry has interviewed celebrities such as Co-Host of Shark Tank, Barbara Corcoran; Authors Larry Winget and Jeffrey Hayzlett; and many more successful business entrepreneurs. Kerry is also the founder and president of Kerry’s Network, Inc., a marketing organization that provides business-to-business marketing services.

Kerry ends her day by making to-do lists for tomorrow -- keep things organized in a way that is comfortable for you. ONWARD!

Take action every day -- Kerry schedules 3-4 hour blocks for making phone calls.

Kerry was forced to change the name of her business -- and Kerry tells the whole story here.

"You have to learn to promote yourself."

1. You need to stay focused
2. Find a mentor -- not a coach
3. Get an accountability partner
4. Learn to have fun -- and take a break
5. Develop a sense of humor

• Website: strictlymarketingmagazine.com

Brad is the founder of Baldridge College Solutions, a Certified Financial Planner, and a member of the Financial Planning Association. He helps parents of high school students plan and pay for college using strategies such as merit aid, need-based aid, tax planning, savings and investing for college, negotiating with colleges, scholarships, and loans. Brad has helped hundreds of families plan and pay for college. He has provided in-depth college plans resulting in increased financial aid, scholarships, identification of the right schools at the right price, and better loans. Brad’s expertise is also featured weekly on his podcast, Taming The High Cost of College.

Brad spends his time working directly with his clients -- spend your time on what's important for you to do and delegate everything else. ONWARD!

If you're on top of your industry, you can take advantage of its changes -- Brad reads to stay on top of the constantly changing financial industry.

Brad and his college planning program were being turned away by high schools -- and Brad tells the whole story here.

"Be able to communicate your value to people that don't know they need you."

"Understand a niche -- if you do everything, you do nothing."

I would have understood and gotten involved with social media sooner.

Recognize when something is repetitive, and then build a system.

An individual would both plug into systems and be able to build new ones.

1. Be able to communicate your value
2. When the going gets tough -- keep going

• Website: www.tamingthehighcostofcollege.com