Once Upon A Time As David Burkus:

* Growing up, David wanted to be a writer. He studied English and creative writing in college

* David noticed during his college career that writing about more nonfiction and business topics seemed to generate more success

* David got married right after college, and his wife wanted to go into medical school. In order to pay the bills he went into the pharmaceutical industry

* When the affordable care act passed it disrupted the pharmaceutical industry, so David started looking for an exit strategy

* He then transitioned into becoming a professor

* Soon he realized that the education industry was a great place to start a side hustle

* David’s first son came right around when his first book came out

* While he was a professor, David called himself an “accidental academic”

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* No matter the integration of social media in marketing and business, long-form writing is not dead

*

* David looked and found out which websites and social media platforms drove the most traffic, and he deleted the ones that aren’t as profitable

* Look at your business to see what to cut out and look at Google analytics in order to hire a chief of staff and expand your team

* Having an assistant helps to give you more time to focus on what you are the most skilled at

* Actually putting plans into motion is what changes an idea into business

On the Fence?

* Cut back as much as you can

* Start all sorts of side hustles with the extra time you save

* There will be time when staying where you are is the more risky path

I’m going to be asking some important questions during this podcast episode, and hopefully helping you answer them for yourself and your business.

Ready?

Who is in your “Inner Circle” that is smarter and more experienced than you at what you do? Who picks up the phone when you call for advice, and gives it away freely, and without sugar? I urge you to create an “Inner Circle” as your top priority for the coming year.

You all know that this year has been somewhat of a whirlwind…well…actually I’d call it a rocket ship! And in this time, I’ve had the pleasure to build some absolutely incredible, valuable relationships with people I truly admire.

Most of us start as solopreneurs, right? We get a grand idea, and convince ourselves that it is beyond grand…it’s actually world-changing! We dig in and get the work done, and start building this idea into an actual money- making business. Then comes a time when, if we listen, we know we need help, and the business has grown well beyond our capacity. If you haven’t had that happen yet, and your business is more than 2 years old, you are stifling yourself. Get out of your own way, and start hiring people to take on some of the tasks that do not directly have an ROI!

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get back to the growth of our businesses, shall we?

Our solo adventure has taken on a few passengers, and is growing, sometimes steadily, sometimes in fits and spurts.

Along the way, you might be feeling a bit isolated. You might be a bit shy of the possibility of competition and ulterior motives. You might have actually become your worst enemy when it comes to business growth.

You, my friend, need an “Inner Circle”. You need either a formal, or casual Board of Directors.

Through my journey this year with Messenger Funnels, I have developed just such a thing. I have been presented with an opportunity recently, and have thought long and hard about whether or not to say YES. I still don’t know if I will, but I know I’ve consulted with some of the most amazing people I know to help me determine the viability, feasibility and possibly I have before me.

My “Inner Circle” consists of a solopreneur, a dear entrepreneurial friend, a CEO and a Chief Partnership Manager.

This time last year, I would not have even thought to seek advice from other people, let alone have personal access to this caliber of entrepreneur. I’m still amazed that when I asked to chat, not one of them hesitated…even while they were on vacation.

If you are still going solo, and you feel that is where you need to be right now, I urge you to look long and hard in the mirror tonight before bed, and just imagine something with me….

Imagine, you’ve washed your face, and brushed your teeth, and written in your nightly journal (you do all that every night, right…yeah, me neither), and you’re reflecting on the previous year. Through your reflection, you realize that your business has tripled. Your team has quadrupled, and your personal draw or income from your business has doubled! You follow the thread of your life events back to the pivotal moment when the rocket boosters ignited and your business took off. You know the one message you received that was the one you were waiting for, and knew you were in the perfect place to reply.

Standing there, all clean and shiny, you are smiling. You are smiling, because you have another message you received loud and clear, but that was scary, and out of your comfort zone…hell it is out of your realm of knowledge, and you feel utterly incompetent to even contemplate it, but you know deep down in your gut that this one excites you above all others, and you need to make an informed decision.

You are smiling, because you know exactly who you will call to help you understand the ramifications, and who will tell you bluntly what they think about this parti...

Once Upon A Time As Whitney:

* Whitney was an entrepreneur first, and then she became a step mom

* She started flipping houses in ’09, and she got married in 2015

* What you see on TV is not real. Flipping houses is a much more complicated and involved than it seems to be on TV

* Whitney really put in the effort for two years to grow her business, and as a result she is able to have much more time to be retired and relax

* There are a lot of little things that weren’t necessarily scheduled but still got done because Whitney was in the area and saw the opportunities

* Whitney has seen that she loves helping women make it big in the housing industry

* She is going to help a lot of women in the near future, and soon her business goals are going to switch from real estate to helping other women achieve their goals in the business

* Now, after years of working hard in the business, Whitney knows her way around and she knows how to take her experience and wisdom to help others achieve the same thing

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* Organization is key, whether in an online world or the physical world

* In a physical business like the one Whitney has, there are many methods of how to keep things organized

* Whitney was taught to get a yes on the phone before even going out to look at the house

* This turned out to fail more times than usual, so instead she goes to the houses and develops a relationship with potential buyers

On The Fence?

* Any time that you learn something or do something new it is uncomfortable, but it ends up being amazing

* The concept is the same. Starting out, you will fumble through, but eventually you’ll develop the necessary skills

Connect With Whitney:

* Her website:

* Facebook:

 

Dan Kuschell

Jim Joseph

PEP 129: Trip to Europe

Cliff Ravenscraft

Dave Sanderson

Dori DeCarlo

Pat Flynn

Mary Lou Kayser

Julie Christine Stoian

Peter Lisoskie

Michelle Bridger

Kelly Garrett

Isaac Morehouse

Andrew Warner

Text “pep200” to 44222 to enter the drawing.

Drawing ends 12/15/17

 

Ask Yourself These Questions:

* leverage doubt, people buy because they feel understood

* are you a product or a brand that connects emotionally?

* what experience can you leverage that can’t be bought

* success leaves clues. what clues are you following?

* Don’t Give Up on your passion and experience

* What are your goals, and what vision do you have for your business?

* 5 baby steps taken consistently will get you where you want to go!

* It’s all about your network, and what you give through abundance.

* Take advantage of the opportunities presented to meet incredible

people

* Do you have a forward tilt attitude, work ethic and drive to move

forward?

* Can you figure it out quickly so that when life happens you say “Bring

It!”?

Once Upon A Time As Arvell:

* Arvell first started out as an entrepreneur when he was 9 years old

* He cut his brother’s hair, and then cut the hair of other friends

* Eventually he stopped cutting hair and got into design

* Arvell met his wife in grad school, and then two years later they had their first child

* After that he knew he needed more income

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*

* Patience is a must. You don’t have to respond immediately; you can trust and be patient

*  Assistants and others that work with you can do the majority of the work

* Arvell has one daughter who is 11 years old and into gymnastics, dance, and music!

* Speaking is one of the best ways to create business and to get people to trust you

* Gaining trust to offer someone a solution is an amazing thing

* Starting small is the best way to get started

Connect With Arvell:

* His website:

* Linkedin:

* Facebook:

This quote is the premise of this episode:

“Every person is a new door to a different world.” -Six Degrees of Separation

* I saw that on my daily quotes app for chrome, and had to use it as the starting point of this episode

* I’m going to talk again about the importance of responding to certain messages to connect with the people you want to emulate, and look up to

* This stems from the following:

* I just ended a private mastermind group where the goal was to get your first Messenger Marketing client within one month of signing up, and 80% of the students accomplished that goal, with the other 20% doing it within 6 weeks.

* I just started a Marketing Futurist Virtual Summit with Kelly Garrett where we interviewed 15+ Futurist founders, half of them I considered virtual mentors I never expected to meet, let alone two of them actually hiring me as a consultant

* I only met Kelly 8 months ago because I spoke with Andrew Warner about bots, and signed up for his course.

* All because I opened a new door to a different world by building new relationships and pushing past my fears and uncertainties.

* Abundance is a muscle that must be exercised.

* I still automatically revert to scarcity when things go wrong

* I need to stop, and remind myself that things will all work out

* I’m not stopping, or going anywhere but forward

* Daily gratitude really, and truly helps

* How are you building your abundance muscle right now?

* What do you tell yourself when you slip back into bad habits, or a negative, scarcity mindset?

* All that advice I heard for the last few years was so untouchable to me until I did one thing….

* Daily baby steps through ACTION!

* Plant your tree now, or at least fertilize the one you planted a while ago that you have neglected!

* Meditate!

* Journal

* Practice Abundance and Gratitude

* A quote from one of my favorite speakers in the summit is:

* “Either love the shit out of people, or get the F*&%# out of their way” Thanks Dan Gamito of Manychat.

* I have had more chats with people who will never pay me a dime in the last 8 months than I have had over the last 10 years, and that mindset and abundance muscle has actually brought me more revenue than I’ve ever experienced in any 8 month span of time as an entrepreneur.

* Abundance is also helping me build a true business with employees and a mission to change the world.

* It has allowed me to show my sons what is truly possible in the world when they focus, love what they do, do it well, and never give up.

* So, what doors are you opening right now that are leading you further on your path to abundance?

* Please share, and check out the summit! It’s not just about chatbots, it’s about gaining a Futurist Advantage in your marketing and business NOW!

* parententrepreneursuccess.com/futurist to get your free ticket TODAY – they’re all going into the time capsule on Friday, 11/17/17, so don’t wait!

Once Upon A Time As Amylee

* Amylee started out at a few internet startups, but when the economy crashed she was forced out of a job for a little while

* She then found out she was expecting! As a result, she wanted to stay home with her kids

* What could she do to stay home and earn a little income at the same time?

* She had a wedding related business for many years, and then she taught sign language to young children around her town, and she has gone through other stages all while homeschooling her kids

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* If you can be productive and efficient in the area of food you can really benefit the happiness of the family

* Getting your kids to help with cooking will provide them with valuable skills, and it will give you time to pursue other interests!

* Talking to your significant other about finances is a great way to stay on the same page and find unnecessary expenses

* There are many different strategies when it comes to meals and meal preparation

* Having freezer meals frees up immense amount of time to focus on other things

* You can band together with others and create your own club surrounding freezer meals and cooking; having that community would be a fun way to connect with others and get resources for meals and meal preparation

*

* Start somewhere, take that step, and the rest will follow

Connect With Amylee

* Her website:

* Linkedin:

Once Upon A Time As Brenda:

* The kids definitely came first while she was working in the pharmaceutical industry

* It was a typical hustling 9-5 jobs where you really relish the time you get to spend off

* Brenda’s husband eventually was able to get a job as a school principle, so Brenda was able to stay home with their daughter

* Brenda considers herself a positive, outgoing leader that has to be occupied

* She couldn’t just be a stay at home mom, so she dabbled in many different things

* Eventually her dabbling led to making cupcakes; she was able to turn that into a job that lasted around two years

* However, since it became her job it took the passion away. Since then she no longer enjoys baking like she once did

* Throughout a harsh winter chapped lips ran rampant, including with her kids

* Brenda didn’t want to have her kids using over the counter lip balms that had harmful chemicals in them

* So she spent time trying to find a recipe that would work for a good, natural lip balm

* When she developed her lip balm she decided to sell it, and her business has taken off with her lip balm selling well

* Brenda began selling to family businesses

* She launched right before holiday season so she was doing very well for herself

* Brenda will soon be selling on the national level, so she will be able to stop making all her products at home. That way she can finally get her house back!

*

* Brenda does not do her kids around her job, she does her job around her kids

* Brenda did not want to be known as the mom that is always on her phone, so she decided to make changes

* Having a schedule and agenda isn’t how she operates, but she was forced to schedule her work for the time until her kids got home from school, then she would spend 100% family time

* Sometimes Brenda must work during her family time, but her kids are involved in her business and understand how things are

* One day, Brenda was given the opportunity to get major notoriety. She was able to make her lip balm and sell among gifts at the Oscars! She was swarmed with press at her hometown; she went from a small town seller to someone with a product in Hollywood

* Celebrities found her product and were sharing how much they loved it, so through that advertising Brenda was able to get huge popularity

*

*

Connect With Brenda:

* Her website:

* Twitter:

* Linkedin:

Once Upon A Time As Brendan:

* Brendan started his career in selling back in college, then he moved to Southern California and started working at a sales gig

* He went back and forth between wanting to be an employee or wanting to work for himself

* In 2014 he found out he was a father, so in order to be the kind of father he wanted to be he needed to be able to work for himself

* He has other things to do with his time, so with his own business he can make money on his own time

* Brendan is finding ways to become more of a marketer instead of an independent sales rep

* He wants to do something that’s exciting for him that makes money too

*

* Sales is a process of marketing. You telling someone how great you are is sales, but if you get their friends to tell others how great you are that’s undercover persuasion

* All of these play into your greater marketing mix

* Filter through clients to find “the one”that works with your business, the courting process for a client is lengthy

* If you try to rush things you’re going to get a different result

*

* That takes away a lot of the fear surrounding rejection

*

* Get the prospective client talking about themselves, then you could find out what you can do to help and then sell them on it

*

* What would you say to a pretty girl or handsome guy to get their attention? Don’t throw everything you have at once

* Start small. If you have something to sell, meet people and try to connect with them

* Sales doesn’t happen at once, it’s an accumulation of nudges of small deals

* Talk to more people, talk to customers, and talk to other sellers. You will stumble into more opportunities than you know by talking to people

* The opportunity won’t come to you, you need to go out and find them

* Brendan get’s a lot of feedback and information from his podcast to help him in his family and business lives

* He listens to those more experienced than himself and implements the things he learns

* If they’re not going to buy the small thing they definitely won’t buy the big thing, so don’t even try

Connect With Brendan:

* StartInPhx:

* Submit questions for Brendan’s podcast and get access to the Double My Revenue 7-Day Sales Challenge

* Twitter:

* Facebook:

Next to the connections I’ve made since I started my first online business in 2003, the second and third most important changes I made in my business that have created my current success were centered around my mindset. These two mindset shifts have allowed my business to grow beyond any of my wildest expectations, and they are as follows:

* NOT expecting perfection

* Inviting people to reject me

* Perfection is the expectation in our society

* We are raised to feel ashamed and embarrassed when we make a mistake

* We are expected to already know the answers in high school and college

* Consequently, Social Media has fueled the myth that everything must be hunkey-dorey

* We only see the highest reel

* We only show the positive

* We don’t see the behind the scenes struggles so if we make a mistake, we think we’re not doing well

* We compare ourselves to the 6 figure launches, and teams of 10 not knowing the true reality

*

* When our children are learning to walk, do we chastise them for making the mistake of falling down, or tripping over their own feet?

* When they are learning to eat with utensils, do we chastise them for dropping food on their plate, or missing their mouth?

* You are probably as guilty as I am when it comes to allowing your children to make mistakes in school or around the house.

* What do we do when they get a grade of C or below?

* What do we do when they drop a glass and it shatters?

* What do we do when they burn food for the first time- either toast or eggs?

* We can’t learn effectively without making mistakes.

* How we handle mistakes will determine how successful out business will become.

* I’m hosting a private mastermind for a group of highly motivated successful bot builders, and this is where all of them get stuck

* They expect every call to go perfectly, and every conversation to run smoothly, or they must be doing something wrong

* They expect to have everything dialed in perfectly before they ever talk to anyone about the ways bots can help a prospect’s business

* Who knows Ms. Frizzle?

* What is her motto?

* Make Mistakes…Get Messy!

* Business is no different!

* And that’s nothing to how we treat rejection!

* If someone doesn’t want to hire us, they must not like us, and we must have done something wrong.

* Bull Honkey!

* This need to be liked started when we first became social creatures at out first play date, and it only grew through school and work life

* What do we do when someone we have shared inside jokes with all of the sudden is sharing jokes with some newbie staff member?

* How competitive are we with out friends making new friends?

* I still get a knot in my stomach when someone I consider on my level of business shares a huge win with a client I would have liked to have brought into Messenger Funnels (I quickly turn my thoughts to congratulatory ones, but I must admit that my first thought is envy)

* Social Media fuels this myth that rejection is bad, too!

* When I finally let go of this one, my business flourished!

* When I’m on a call with someone, I have NO EXPECTATIONS that they will buy from me

* I am only there to see if and how my company might help their company

* If they aren’t as enthusiastic and white hot about bots as I am, I invite them to move on.

* This makes room on my horizon for the clients who will LOVE what I can do for them

* I no longer feel rejected. I feel relieved that I surround myself with clients who are just as eager to experiment and grow as I am

* No judgement of those who are not.