Start With A Win

In this episode of Start With A Win, producer Mark asks Adam a series of business development questions that might change your perspective on some aspects of your business.

1. What is more important: maintaining your current clients or growing your business? – In classic CEO-form, Adam converts this either/or question into a both/and question, specifying that you need to strike a balance between investing in your existing customers while also marketing yourself to prospects. The best way to do this is by providing products, services, or thought leadership that is of value to people, which will cause your business to be top-of-mind for them.
2. What is the best strategy for converting a “no” into a “yes”? – Adam will have a lot to say on this topic in his upcoming book, but his main piece of advice is to know the no. Understand that some people will default to “no” out of fear – either of the unknown or of missing out on something else – so your best bet is to give value to them in love.
3. If you were dropped off in an unfamiliar city and told to start a business, what kind of business would it be, and how would you grow it? – The key to starting any business is to talk to the people, to get to know what is working for them, what isn’t working for them, what they need, and how they need to receive it. You won’t be successful without customers, and you won’t have customers if you aren’t providing them with a product or service that solves a problem for them. The same concept applies to real estate; talk to people, get to know local business owners, start telling the stories of the community, and watch as clients come your way.
4. What is your best advice for getting unstuck in business growth? – Adam points out that stagnation or issues in business typically reflect personal struggles, so before you can work on your business, you have to work on yourself. Think and journal through the various aspects of your life and gauge how you are doing. Only when you get your life back on track will your business start to grow again. 

Links mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/Living-Your-Best-Year-Ever/dp/1733513345 

Connect with Adam:

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In this episode of Start With A Win, Adam and Mark pick up the conversation from last week, discussing Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. The first episode highlighted an overview of the six principles that help to win people over as friends. Adam sets the stage for this episode, which focuses on how to win people over to your thinking. So how do we influence people?

The first of these points surrounds argument. Adam advises not to argue with people. Instead, simply appreciate that they have an opinion on the issue at all. He calls on martial arts wisdom when he says, “the best fight one is the one not fought at all.” In other words, avoiding fighting with someone is better than winning an argument. 

And this can be magnified by the next point, which is to respect differences in opinion. If you can appreciate the fact that someone thinks differently than you, you humanize them and humble yourself. Admitting when you’re wrong can only make this effect stronger. Apologize for mistakes to show that you need grace, too.

Another trick is to begin in a friendly way, which can be as simple as responding enthusiastically from the first interaction. Building on this positivity, another tip is to simply get people to say yes. But instead of thinking about these yesses as finalizing sales (or some formal agreement), think about them like micro yesses, as Mark says. The sheer act of saying yes—even to a simple fact—gets them agreeing with you early, which can help set the tone of the conversation moving forward.

To influence people, you need to first be aligned. We want people to feel that our opinions are valued. And the reality is that no one will care about your thoughts unless you care about theirs. “And someone has to take that first step,” Adam says. When you don’t have mutual trust and understanding, it is virtually impossible to get them to care about what you have to say. You can also call praise and appreciation to their efforts, which can be framed so as not to blame. If you can suggest a change without saying that it’s their fault, you’re that much closer to winning them over to your own thinking.

To avoid feelings of condemnation, try to avoid giving orders. Instead, try asking questions. No one likes being told what to do, but asking questions opens up creative problem-solving. This allows you to sacrifice your own ego to let the other person’s ideas shine. “When you sacrifice your ego, you maintain control of your emotions, and emotions drive behavior,” Adam says. So much of this hinges on emotional control, so offer praise if you want to see motivation.

Finally, this framework of influence is based on building an emotional connection to establish a common team. Influencing is about establishing a framework to work together. And at the end of it all, be sure to reward them. Everyone likes a pat on the back and feeling like they are appreciated. These tips will only help you to succeed. And as always—start with a win.

Connect with Adam:

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Connect with Adam:

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In this solocast of Start With A Win, Adam and Producer Mark talk about some of the key insights in Dale Carnegie’s 1936 classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Adam calls it one of the best books for showing how we should treat each other. Although the book is nearly a century old, its lessons on understanding the intrinsic desires of human beings resonate even today.

One of the first tips they explore is the idea that “if you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.” In short: don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. Usually, this is because it’s human nature to react when someone criticizes you. So try to be nice to people, even when it doesn’t necessarily serve you to do so. People don’t want to help you if you’re beating on them. It takes a specific maturity to consider external forces unfolding when a situation doesn’t go the way you want. 

Another principle they discuss is that you should show honest and sincere appreciation. Adam shares a story of a time that he and his family were in the drive-thru at a coffee shop. Seeing that the barista had spent a lot of time on what you’d say was a unique face of makeup, Adam’s daughter, Ashley, tells her that she loved her makeup. Her eyes lit up, Adam recalls, and it changed the entire tone of their interaction. It was remarkable how an honest and sincere compliment elevated a routine coffee run into a memory.

The book also suggests that the only way to influence people is to arouse their “want.” As often as he can, Mark sets an example for his children to intentionally say the names of people he interacts with while in stores. He shares a story about how he once left a grocery store with his children, and they asked him how he knew everyone’s names. He took it as an opportunity to teach them about acknowledging people in service positions and how valuable it can be.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you should seek to elevate others’ interests. Show that you are interested in them rather than in yourself. Think about how you can help others rather than yourself, and see how many people you can make smile.

Connect with Adam:

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In this episode of Start With A Win, we hear from Molly Fletcher, a speaker, author, and former top sports agent. In her professional career, she spent two decades as one of the world’s only female sports agents and negotiated over 500 million dollars of contracts. 

Molly shares a bit about her career, including key points she has learned over the years of negotiating contracts and working with people. She notes that negotiation is simply a conversation, and the better the relationship, the better the outcome will be. Understanding where the other person is coming from is vital, as are good preparation and communication.

On the other hand, Molly lists two of the top mistakes people make in negotiating: not asking the tough questions early on and not taking the time to pause. To wrap up, we learn about the idea behind Molly’s new book, “The Energy Clock” — that the linchpin for performance for athletes, coaches, and business people alike is not time management but energy management. Show up for your big moments with the energy you need! 

Connect with Molly:

https://Mollyfletcher.com   

https://Training.mollyfletcher.com
Discount code: WIN

Connect with Adam:

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Our guest on this episode of Start With A Win is Ben Saunders, a polar explorer and motivational speaker who has excellent nuggets of wisdom for listeners on the show. Growing up in a rural area of the UK, Ben spent much of his childhood outside, learning about the world around him and struggling to sit still in school. After high school, Ben worked with John Ridgway, who had rowed across the Atlantic in a wooden boat in 93 days, and was inspired by Ridgway’s fortitude and accomplishments. Ben decided to stay beyond his gap year to teach at Ridgway’s adventure school, where he also spent a lot of time reading about adventurers.

In 2001, Ben and his friend spent 59 days skiing to the North Pole, but they were unprepared and didn’t complete their goal. A few weeks later, Ben got a bill in the mail for his portion of the trip expenses – close to $50,000 – and he decided to plan a second trip and fundraise for the trip and cover his debts. This trip was a success and his first solo venture. In 2004, he completed his solo trip from Russia to the North Pole, and then in 2014, Ben and his partner completed the 1800-mile journey to the South Pole, retracing the steps of Scott in 1912.

Through all of Ben’s experiences, he has learned that self-belief is essential to overcoming challenges. This human quality must essentially develop because confidence follows courage. Ben says that either you are winning or you are learning, and no experience is a waste. He also discusses the importance of being intentional. Be intentional about how you are focusing your time and energy, not dwelling on things that are outside of your control. To that end, Ben jumped into entrepreneurship in 2020, creating Scroll Bands that help people be aware of the time they are spending on their phones.

Connect with Ben:

https://scrollband.com/password 

https://bensaunders.com/

https://twitter.com/polarben?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.ted.com/speakers/ben_saunders 

Connect with Adam:

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Adam shares his insights on leadership and emotional mastery in this episode of Start With A Win. He says many people neglect emotional intelligence and emotional maturity, pursuing financial- or performance-based goals. However, pushing your people to reach those KPIs without establishing a foundation of emotional mastery is counterproductive. The two aspects of emotional mastery—the ability to control your emotions—are emotional intelligence and emotional maturity.

Emotional intelligence boils down to empathy, being aware of your own feelings, the feelings of others, and how they fit together. It is vital to understand that there are only two core emotions: fear and love. Fear is the default emotion and often accompanied by the word "but" or the phrase, "I’m busy." When you operate through fear, you can not master your emotions. Love, on the other hand, requires intentionality and leads to unconditional giving.

Emotional maturity is essentially choice management, Adam says. Your choices will determine your results, so it is best to create your own good choices to get the results you want. Love and fear come to play here, too, because the ego enters into the arena to fight back when you make a bad choice because it has an inherent fear of failure. Adam’s mantra, which fits in well here, is “stay hungry, stay humble.” It is essential to learn from others constantly and to own your choices. Leaders control their emotions while demonstrating an example to others.

Connect with Adam:

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Whether you are fully aware that fonts are more than just options in your word processing software, or you had no idea that there is a company called Monotype that creates and distributes licenses for typefaces, this interview with Scott Landers, the company’s CEO, is just for you. In this episode of Start With a Win, Scott expands the understanding of how typefaces fuel creativity and help brands establish themselves in the market. 

Monotype is the world’s leading provider of typefaces, and their offerings and product reach are consistently expanding as technology continues to grow onward and upward. Scott provides a helpful illustration of everything you could have interacted with on a typical morning that contains a typeface created by Monotype. This example helps listeners recognize how influential Monotype is and all of the ways they have to adapt to innovations. When Monotype started, fonts were strictly for print. Eventually, they had to grow into typefaces for screens linked to printers, and in recent years they have grown to create fonts solely to be used and consumed on screens. This growth curve over the past several decades is quite steep. Despite this growth curve, they have excelled amidst the challenges. This success resulted due to close communication with their customers every step of the way. As a result, they remain ready to help individuals and brands express themselves through creativity centered around typefaces.

Scott’s sage advice to creators trying to choose the right fonts—if the font is executed right, you won’t notice it. The font provides the body language and the tone of voice for the words on the page, so regard this process as half art and half science. Monotype has consultants on staff available to help businesses choose the right typefaces for their brand.  They recognize how integral this part of the process is to the brand’s identity for years to come. When it comes to leading through change, Scott says that the most important thing is to keep the customer at the center and give your employees more authority because if they know that you trust them to do the right thing, they will do the right thing.

Connect with Scott:

https://monotype.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-landers-96b3614 

Connect with Adam:

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