Work Smart Business

by Jason Linett

  This method should sound familiar to you. You previously read a variation of it in the client feedback example in “Create Raving Fans.” The client was ready to complete my exit survey before I officially made the request.

  Your goal should be to provide value, give a strong benefit to continue communication, and make it easy to take the next step .

  If you’re selling, demonstrate efficacy and value, apply your product’s benefits to the potential buyer so you know it is going to help them, and only then ask for the sale.

  WORK SMART ACTION STEPS:

  ☞ Consider a sales offer or opt-in offer you’d like to make. Consider the customer’s journey that begins with visibility and then ends in profitability. Break the process down to the smallest steps from the beginning to the end of the experience. Examine the process for places you can interject “checkpoints” to ensure the potential buyer is in sync with you.

  ☞ This strategy should reinforce the wisdom in making sure your lead generation opportunity begins with value. The more market research you do to make sure your opt-in offer is something they need, the more likely your list-building will be successful.

  ☞ If you’re single and there’s someone you’d like to get to know better romantically, ask them if it’d be okay if you asked them out one day. Hey, it worked for me!

  .

  CONSCIOUS REINFORCEMENT

  What if the methods of effective advertisements and best-selling music could be your secret for success? You’re about to learn one of the simplest and most direct methods I share with people to rapidly refocus the mind to achieve a goal. This is a method to put positive hypnotic suggestions or affirmations on autopilot. The more you read this chapter, the more you’re going to realize this strategy has already worked on you. So use it!

  “Write down your goals.” This is advice I’m sure you’ve heard hundreds of times. Have you actually done it?

  Pause this chapter for a moment to actually do it. Really. Do it right now. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. For now, focus on only two or three things. Allow it to be the first draft. Back in my management days, I would sometimes employ the strategy of labeling a document “Version 1.2.” This implied to the reader and me that it was capable and likely to change. You’re allowed to edit this document later.

  Remember the pacing and leading strategy? Use this format to put an action to your result.

  “As I schedule time for personal development, my ability to grow my business increases.”

  “By attending more networking meetings, I grow my personal network to fill my office schedule.”

  “As I review my progress every other month, I set new goals to level up my success.”

  “Asking my clients for referrals helps me to scale my business year-after-year.”

  Write down your goals, and you’re activating the primary learning abilities of the mind: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. As you write down your goals, you can feel it. As you look at them, you can see them. As you read them to yourself, even if only in the privacy of your own mind, you can hear them. Rev up your conscious/unconscious engine to take action and set these goals in motion by writing down your goals.

  Let’s take it one step further. Open up some recording software on your computer, or, even better, the Voice Memo app on your phone. Read your goals over and over into a brief audio file perhaps five to ten minutes in length. You’re creating an audio loop that you’re going to use for “Conscious Reinforcement.”

  If you want to get low-tech in a high-tech way, consider burning a CD of the voice track. Compact discs. Remember those? We were so young. There’s a funny reason I suggest this. A friend of mine is an incredible storyteller. He released an album of his stories back in 2013, and, as a gift when we first met, he gave me a copy of his CD. Almost six years later, that’s the same CD still in the player in my car. Physical media is now a relic from the past, as I’m likely to stream music in my car from my phone. Burn a CD of your goals, and they’ll always be in your car.

  If any of the above recommendations are beyond your technical skill, ask a teenager for help.

  Now, as you’re commuting in your car, have the goals playing in the background. You don’t need to give it your full conscious awareness. Let it become repetition in the background. Play it in your home as you’re taking care of simple tasks like getting ready in the morning or cleaning. Whatever scenario you choose, the strategy is to have the voice recording playing in the background for a minimum of ten minutes a day.

  It’s low effort for maximum reinforcement. As you do this, you’ll be achieving the same psychological benefit that advertisers and recording artists have known for years .

  Think about it. You’ve never turned on the television with the goal of memorizing the slogans of popular products. Which breakfast cereal is magically delicious, and which one snaps, crackles, and pops? Do you know the energy drink that gives you wings? What makeup product asks you “Maybe she’s born with it?” Which shoe manufacturer encourages you to “Just do it?” If you had to buy batteries, would you be drawn to the one that just “Keeps going, and going, and going?” What credit card in your wallet is “Everywhere you want to be?”

  I would even bet that you could answer some of those questions, and you’ve never bought the product!

  There are lyrics to songs that you know, and you’ve never sat down with the intention of studying the words and committing them to memory. You know all the words.

  “So no one told you life was gonna be this way?”

  (Clap clap clap clap)

  You’ve never intentionally focused on these lyrics or advertising campaigns, yet those messages are stuck in your brain. You don’t have to listen, you pick it up unconsciously.

  As advanced as our minds are, they’re a little more low-tech than we’d like them to be. For my video projects, I had to format a four-terabyte hard drive the other day for additional storage. In less than 10 seconds, the drive was wiped clean. The brain doesn’t work that way. Think of it more like a VHS cassette tape. You couldn’t just click a button and delete a two-hour recording on a videotape. You’d have to record over the old programming.

  This “conscious reinforcement” strategy helps you do that. It helps you to overwrite patterns of negative self-talk.

  “Nothing works for me.”

  “I’m going to have a miserable time at that event.”

  “People don’t appreciate my work.”

  Write down your goals, put action to them, record them, and put them on a loop in your life. If it works so well for advertisers, make it work so well for you. Change the inner dialogue now to what you want, rather than what you don’t want.

  WORK SMART ACTION STEPS:

  ☞ Create several goals using the action/result formula. Write them down to lock in the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning.

  ☞ Use whatever level of technical skill you’re comfortable with to record at least a five-minute loop of you saying those goals in an affirmative tone. The easiest solution is to a use a Voice Memo app on your phone.

  ☞ Play it on repeat in the background frequently throughout your day. This is a hypnotic process that doesn’t require a deep state of hypnosis or eye closure, so you can do it practically anytime and anywhere.

  .

  SELF-HYPNOSIS

  You’re about to learn a self-hypnosis method I’ve shared with thousands of people. It only takes a few minutes, and you don’t need any “props.” Even better, it begins with a brief moment of hypnotic phenomenon you can safely create for yourself. I’ve received great feedback on this method from the audiences I’ve shared it with, and I’m excited for you to put it to use.

  Many people ask me what’s the difference between hypnosis and meditation. These are both what can be called “category” words. There are many forms of hypnosis, and there are various styles of meditation. I’ll share a blanket statement to which there are some exceptions: many forms of meditation s
eek the goal of clearing the mind, and hypnosis is a process of filling the mind with a specific desired outcome.

  There’s a myth that hypnosis must be a state of deep physical relaxation. Think about the volunteers in a stage hypnosis comedy program. They’re deeply hypnotized, yet some are accepting the suggestion to leap to their feet and dance at the cue of a specific song.

  The hypnotic process often begins with creating some form of mental phenomenon. This is exactly what you’re about to learn how to do for yourself. We’ll use this metaphorical “foot in the door” to open your mind, to create personal change, and to shift your business mindset. You can create a state of mind in which you’re now more receptive to a new idea, a new experience, or releasing an old unhelpful pattern.

  The formula is simple. Create a hypnotic experience; ride that into a positive outcome.

  Just like a hammer, I’d encourage you to think of this process as a tool. It’s not that it “works” or “doesn’t work” for you. The subjective experience of the process may be different from one person to another, which is why I’m going to share with you a simple process of self-hypnosis that I’ve shared with people around the world with outstanding feedback on the benefits.

  In this process, your eyelids will eventually be closed, and your body will be relaxed. This isn’t the time to be driving your car or operating a forklift.

  Read through this process first rather than trying to follow along. Process it consciously before you attempt to process it with your unconscious mind. There’s strength in the simplicity of this method. To give credit where it’s due, the opening of the process is inspired by Dave Elman, a pioneer in the hypnotic profession who lived from 1900 to 1967. Dave had a fascinating life that uniquely started as a vaudeville comedian yet led into a career of teaching doctors how to use hypnotism to benefit their medical practice.

  Before we get started, think about your hand. There’s no need to perform these actions, just think about them for now. If you really wanted to, you could squeeze your hand into a fist so tightly shut that it would seem as if you couldn’t squeeze it anymore. You could also relax your hand. You could relax your hand so thoroughly that it would seem as if you couldn’t relax it anymore.

  Assuming your hand was relaxed, realize this next statement to be true. If you wanted to take that relaxed hand and squeeze it into a fist, you’d first have to make the decision to release the relaxation. You’d have to let go of the relaxation before you could ever apply the tension necessary to make a fist. As long as you hold onto the relaxation in that hand, you make it so relaxed, it’s as if it just doesn’t want to work...

  Now, bring your attention to your eyelids. Close your eyelids and relax the muscles around your eyelids all the way down. Let them become so relaxed that it’s as if they just don’t want to work. You’d have to release the relaxation to even let them open. As you focus on that relaxation, notice that you can be the one to make them just not work. Try, and they just relax even deeper.

  Quit testing and send that relaxation down throughout your body. Send it down to your feet as if you could imagine all the relaxation that’s possible in your body collecting into your feet. Let those feet become so heavy with relaxation that even if you were to try to pick them up, they could just feel even heavier now. Not because I tell you so, but instead, because it becomes your idea and reality that you can make that happen.

  Enjoy these changing sensations in your body as you let your imagination take you into your desired outcome. Mentally associate yourself into your desired experience. Instead of watching it like a movie, go inside the experience with as many of your senses as possible. See it as if through your own eyes. Hear the sounds around you. Feel these sensations in your own body. There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to do this, however you experience this moment is what’s right for you.

  Connect with this future result as if you’re already there. Mentally rehearse your own success. Become aware of those things you will have done to create this desired result. Try on this new outcome. Notice how well it “fits.” Allow yourself to experience this change so normally, so naturally, so easily, as if this is how it’s always been.

  When you’re ready to associate into this new direction of life, with this outcome as your reality, open your eyelids, and notice how good you feel.

  It’s that simple. Create the brief mental phenomenon as if the eyelids could become so relaxed as if they don’t work. Dave Elman called this “the opening wedge.” Transfer and compound the same sensation to the feet. Now that we have the mental opening for suggestion, rely on experiences rather than just words. You could mentally repeat the phrase you created from the “Conscious Reinforcement” strategy, though I’ve received the best feedback from allowing yourself to hypnotically associate into the desired result.

  In a one-to-one coaching session, there are dozens of other strategies to more specifically deal with letting go of past events or resolving inner conflict. With a bit of repetition and mental rehearsal, you can begin to condition your mind to a much more positive outcome on your own.

  Focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want .

  WORK SMART ACTION STEPS:

  ☞ I suggest starting with one specific outcome for this strategy. Use the technique with the same goal to harness the unconscious mind’s ability to create a new mental pathway through repetition. Once you have this change in motion, only then experiment with addressing another goal.

  ☞ If you think you need to schedule time to do this, you’re overthinking it. Instead, fold it into your day in moments of transition. Do it before you get out of bed in the morning to start the day on your terms. Do it just before you start the workday. Use the method before enjoying a healthy meal to eat mindfully and with intention. Put it to use before exercise to warm up the mind as well as the body. I often do it when I get home from work to let work be work and let home be home. Use the method before you fall asleep at night. I’ve received the best feedback from those who used it as a transitional tool to refocus throughout the day.

  ☞ To get an audio version of this technique to guide you through the experience, please visit:

  https://JasonLinett.com/wsbselfhyp/

  .

  PLAY

  You can have pizza at the Chinese food buffet.

  There’s one last strategy to share with you.

  “Play.”

  Have fun it with all.

  Just like the video game mindset that came from the “Build Rituals” principle, realize that while the growth of your business is a serious process, it’s a game in which you can have some fun.

  The moment you decide it can be fun is when I often see people skyrocket their success. Get creative and realize that the journey ahead isn’t always linear. There will be ups, and there will be downs. Like a rollercoaster, savor the suspense as you climb up the track. Enjoy the excitement as it swoops downhill and flies through amazing loops. Use the principles and the strategies in this book to move to the front of the line.

  Visit a Chinese food buffet, and you’ll notice the classic favorites. Egg rolls. Sesame chicken. Mixed vegetables with those miniature pieces of corn. Perhaps even some sushi. They also cater to the picky eater, as you’ll likely find french fries, chicken fingers, and yes, there’s often pizza on the buffet.

  Is there something wrong with having the pizza at a Chinese buffet? I don’t think so. If you want the pizza, have the pizza. If you want the delicious Asian cuisine, go right ahead.

  The literal suggestion here is that there’s more than one way to build a successful business. I’ve shared my story with you to have a model of what’s worked for me. The methods have also been successful with many of my audiences, clients, and students. It’s gone through vigorous testing before I decided to teach it. Put in the appropriate effort, and you can likely do the same in your field.

  The virus to overcome is the “either-or” brick wall. Do I use Twitter or Instagram? Do I build a
general website or several specific niche websites? Do I use lead generation or just post my products online?

  The answer is both. It’s an odd phrase, but as much as I write articles, shoot videos, and create opt-in offers to drive the lead generation engine, I live by the phrase that “sometimes you just have to sell it.” With all the funnel marketing in place, the product is still on a sales page somewhere to be discovered and purchased .

  Some people are ready to make the decision right away. Why make them jump through hoops? Others need to be coached and finessed until the point they organically make the decision. Both are viable customers. Why ignore one of them?

  One of my products flatlined the first time I launched it. The initial sales at least recouped my investment. However, I’ve since sold more than $300,000 of this product. I can count at least two dozen pathways I’ve created to let people know it exists and share the value.

  Design your business to run as several systems operating in place. Just like Ron Popeil and his audience would call out, these systems can become metaphorical machines that allow you to “Set it and forget it.”

  Build the funnel sequence AND the landing page. Automate the social media content to broadcast on all the appropriate channels. Which is better than the other? You’ll never really know until you test your market. I don’t know which the best for you is either. I’m a hypnotist, not a psychic.