Launch

by Jeff Walker

  Creating a Business You Love

  Chapter 12

  A natural part of my business is that I get an inside peek into the workings of many businesses, and the entrepreneurs who create and run them. And that’s what the next two chapters are about. It’s one thing to build a business—but quite another to build a business and a life that you truly love. And I’ve noticed that a lot of people end up with a business they just tolerate. Worse are the people who build businesses they really don’t like, or even hate. Either way, it’s not a great situation.

  It’s understandable. Lots of people are like I was when I started out . . . desperate to get the business going and get their head above water. Any profitable business looks great when you’re struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table.

  But for most people, once they start to get the money figured out, the business becomes about more than just profits. That’s when most people might ask, “Is this all there is?”

  The way I look at it, if you’re going to pour your heart and soul into a business, then you might as well create a business you love. One of the best things about having your own business is that you get to largely make up your own rules for the business, within legal and ethical boundaries, of course. So why not make up a set of rules that you can win by? Why not stack the odds in your favor?

  And at the risk of my sounding like the carpenter who has only a hammer in his toolbox so everything looks like a nail, Product Launch Formula is the tool that will get you the business you love. But the first step is to figure out what you want your business to look like . . .

  Your “Big Why”

  To get to a business you love, the first thing you need to figure out is the “why” behind your business.

  If it’s just to get rich, that’s fine. Making a lot of money is great. I like to think of money as stored up freedom and energy, and I love having lots of freedom and energy. As the saying goes, there are problems with having too little money and problems with having a lot of money. I like the problems that come from having money better.

  What I’ve noticed about money is that once people get to a certain level of monetary success, they usually start looking for other things in their life. For example, a huge driver in my life is making a positive impact in the world, primarily through helping entrepreneurs. I know others who are driven to build a great team—to provide jobs and plenty of room for their employees to grow. Some people might be about creating great technologies. Or training people. Or reducing suffering.

  I could go on, but you get the idea. At some point, there’s usually a higher purpose than acquiring more money and stuff.

  The thing is, it doesn’t so much matter what your specific “why”actually is. The important thing is that you figure it out. As the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

  In my PLF Live workshops, I have a process to get my clients to their “Big Why,” and this is one of the most powerful exercises in the entire event. Once you get your “why” figured out, you become eminently more powerful.

  Attract the Clients You Want

  The reality is that not all people are created equal, and that’s doubly true when it comes to clients. Some people will make great clients for you, and some won’t. There will be people who resonate with your work, your products, your offers . . . and others who won’t.

  I’m not passing judgment on those people. I know some people will like me and my style, others won’t. Some will think I’m not formal enough, that I’m too relaxed, that I should wear different clothing or be younger or older or whatever. That’s okay, because I know that during my launch process I’ll naturally attract clients who will end up being the kind of people that relate well to me.

  In fact, I have this deep-rooted belief that I continually attract amazing people into my life.

  Now I guarantee that some people will roll their eyes at that last sentence. Or they’ll think that it’s a silly conceit. But that’s okay, because the odds are very strong that those are people who do NOT resonate with me. They won’t be a good fit for me and my business. See how that works?

  It will be the same for your business. All of us have people we connect with better than others. In fact, that’s one of the jobs of good marketing—you want to attract the right people and repel the rest.

  That word “repel” might turn off some people, but the last thing you want is a lot of prospects and clients who aren’t a good fit for you. I’ve learned this lesson over and over. It was drilled into my head most recently when I spoke at two conferences. Both were large conferences with many hundreds of attendees. And on the surface, they seemed like they would have similar audiences who would be very receptive to my training.

  The first group was wildly enthusiastic—and they hung on every word I said. They participated when I asked something of them. They were full of questions. The energy in the room was palpable. I loved every minute I was on stage, and when I finally stepped down I was swarmed by people asking questions for more than two hours.

  I was on fire after that talk and looking forward to the second conference. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a very different room. The second group was attentive and respectful, but that was about it. I couldn’t get them to participate. There were few questions. The room felt dead.

  As I suffered through my presentation at that second conference, it couldn’t have been more clear—the people in the first audience were “my people.” Even though most of them had never heard of me before I walked on stage, they were a perfect fit for my message. On the other hand, the people in the second audience were clearly not my people. They were lovely people, but on the whole we just didn’t fit each other.

  The difference in those conferences was the marketing that put the people in the room. For the first conference, the marketing was very congruent with my approach to business. And, in retrospect, the opposite was true of that second conference. The marketing and messaging that put that second group in their seats was a pure hard sell—which is very different from the way I talk to my clients.

  And the differences didn’t stop in the conference room, because I tracked the people who became clients after those talks. The ones who came from the first conference were simply better clients. They required less customer support, they had a lower refund rate, they participated in the PLF community more, they got better results, they made better Case Studies, and they ended up joining my elite coaching groups at a higher rate.

  The point of this story is this: You want to be sure you attract YOUR people into your business. Fortunately, you already have the tool you need to attract those people—the Product Launch Formula. When you follow the formula and authentically tell your story through your Prelaunch Content, you will attract your ideal clients. It’s part of the process.

  Look through the Corners

  When my son first started racing mountain bikes, he learned an important lesson from his coach that he brought home and shared with me. He told me to “look through the corners.” In other words, when you’re on a bike hurtling down a steep mountain singletrack, you don’t want to look at the trail directly in front of your wheel. That’s a recipe for disaster. It means you’ll always be reacting at the last second. Sooner or later you’ll come to an obstacle where you won’t be able to react quickly enough.

  Instead, you need to extend your vision further down the trail. Move your horizon line as far out as you can. As you enter a corner, look through that corner to see where you’re going to exit the turn. Even if the trees are blocking your view, focus intently and try to see through them for a clue to what’s coming next. Look beyond the corner.

  Business is the same way—you need to be looking further ahead than the next day or week or month. Don’t chase every shiny object, don’t be distracted by every new tactic. If you’re going to change course or pursue a new direction, make sure you’re doing so for a sound strategic reason.

  I see t
oo many people continually compromise their positioning, their brand, and their reputation by chasing after the latest tactic or the last dollar. It’s downright sad to see people throwing away all the work they put into a business by focusing on the short term. The good news is that if you take the long view (and these days, the long view seems to be anything past the next three months), then you’ll instantly stand apart in your market.

  The Mastermind Principle

  The idea of the “mastermind” is something Napoleon Hill wrote about in Think and Grow Rich all the way back in 1937, and it’s an incredibly powerful concept. In fact, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if I hadn’t actively engaged in several mastermind groups since the early days of my first business.

  The way a mastermind works is simple: You get together with a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and you support each other in growing your business. This isn’t a “networking group,” although there is often some networking that naturally occurs as a byproduct of being in the group. It’s all about sharing, brainstorming, and holding each other accountable.

  Often there will be “hot seats,” and if you haven’t ever been through something like that, it’s pretty wild. Basically, one person presents an idea or problem they have in their business, and then the entire group does a big brainstorm about the idea.

  If you have the right people in the group, the hot seat usually ends up being like a massive shark feeding frenzy. When you put 20 or 30 creative entrepreneurs into a room and then throw a business problem in front of them, well, that’s like putting blood in the water. And don’t accidentally leave any arms dangling over the edge of the boat!

  (And we all know it’s much more fun to solve other people’s problems than working on our own issues.)

  I’ve been in a variety of formal mastermind groups over the years, starting in 1999. Some were paid memberships that are professionally facilitated. Others were groups of friends without a central facilitator. The formats varied—some were primarily email-based, others phone-based. And the most powerful revolved around in-person meetings.

  I’ve also created high-end paid masterminds for small groups of my clients, which has given me deep insight into what it takes to create a great mastermind. (And my Platinum Mastermind has become a band of brothers and sisters to me. I’ve never experienced a more powerful, tighter community.)

  What I’ve learned over the years (both from being a participant and an organizer) is that not all groups are created equal. There is no inherent magic in putting together a group of random people. It’s all about the quality of the people and the level of community in the group.

  A great mastermind has great people who are givers. These are people who focus on creating value for others before they look to take value. This is the very essence of a mastermind; everyone is there to focus on helping their fellow members, and they know their rewards will naturally come as part of the process.

  However, being a giver isn’t enough. You also need members who have the mental horsepower and the emotional intelligence to be able to contribute to the group at a high level. You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room.

  And the best masterminds have a strong ethos and an almost tangible sense of community. The group has a powerful sense of identity, and there’s a feeling of “we’re all in this together.” I’ve been in groups where I feel a real sense of loss if I miss a meeting. If I’m offline for several days, the emails from the group will be the very first thing I look at when I get back to my computer.

  When you get the right people and a great community, it’s pure magic. As the saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” And that’s exactly what happens in a great mastermind. As each member focuses on helping the others in the group, they can’t help but benefit. They end up getting the ideas, connection, and accountability that drives their business and life forward.

  So here’s my advice: Get in a strong mastermind. Ask other entrepreneurs you know for a recommendation of a group. There are some free (or nearly free) groups you can join, though they can be tough to find. They’re almost always underground to some extent. The paid groups are usually easier to find (and they usually have a more formal structure). Or you can form a group yourself. You might have to try out a few groups before you find the one that’s right for you. But the payoff is enormous when you find the right fit.

  The Most Important Thing in Business

  At a recent PLF Live workshop, I had an attendee come up and ask me what the single most important thing in business was, the one thing that has meant all the difference for me and my success, the one thing he should focus on as his business grows.

  That’s a really tough question! What’s the one most important thing to focus on in your business? The one thing that makes all the difference?

  My answer was this: opportunity cost.

  Wikipedia says that opportunity cost is “the cost related to the next-best choice available to someone who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices.”

  That’s a bit difficult to understand, in my opinion. I just think of it as “what you have to give up when you choose between two or more different choices.”

  And the cost is NOT restricted to financial cost. For an entrepreneur, the biggest opportunity cost is often time.

  When you first start out, you will likely have limited capital. And since you’ll be doing most everything yourself, you’ll definitely have limited time. Picking the right opportunity is HUGELY important. Making the wrong choice can set you back weeks, months, or even years.

  That’s what opportunity cost is all about. You have to realize that chasing an opportunity has a greater cost than any financial expense it requires. I don’t want to scare you into inaction, because taking no action has a HUGE opportunity cost. I just want you to realize that when you decide to go down one road, there are several other roads that you won’t be able to go down.

  And once you start to have success, then the issue of opportunity cost becomes even greater.

  This is the deal. The more successful you become, the more “opportunities” you will have. This is what we call “deal flow.” You start to have success, you build up a series of assets, you prove your worth—and all of a sudden everyone wants to do a deal with you.

  And deal flow is a good thing. That’s how the rich get richer. That’s one of the reasons why it’s easier to go from $100,000 to $1,000,000 than it is to go from zero to $1,000.

  But as you get into the deal flow, it’s easy to get distracted. You have only so much time, energy, attention, assets, etc., and every time you make a choice to pursue an opportunity, you are giving up something.

  Usually, for entrepreneurs, that something is time.

  I just heard my friend Dean Graziosi use this analogy to explain opportunity cost: It’s like having a bookshelf that’s completely full. If he finds another beautiful book he wants to buy . . . well, he can. But that means he has to get rid of one of the other books already on his shelf.

  So remember . . . having choices in your business is great. But those choices have an opportunity cost. Making the right decisions around that opportunity cost is one of the biggest factors in the success of your business.

  Don’t Be Too Cool for School

  If you’re going to be in business, and you’re going to have long-term success, then you need to be a perpetual student. Your market, clients, and competitors aren’t going to stand still, and you can’t afford to either.

  In my business, I’ve gotten to know a lot of super-successful business owners, and I can tell you this: Everyone at the top is a constant learner. You can’t be too cool for school.

  Now that might sound self-serving since I’m in the business of teaching people about growing their business, but it’s the truth. And the reality is that I spend a ton of time and money on my own education. I have to. It’s my job. The payoffs in business are enormous, but one of the costs for great success is that you have to stay on top of y
our game.

  You have to go to school. And you’re going to have to keep going back to school.

  No One Can Be an Island

  This one is simple—you need to build strong relationships in your industry. In fact, even though I used the word “competitor” in that last section, I don’t really use that word in my business. I think in terms of “partners” and “future partners.”

  I know there are some businesses where there truly is competition. For instance, if you own a gym, the odds are very strong that your clients are going to belong to only one gym. In that case, that would make the other gyms in your local area direct competitors.

  But in the current market, with more and more people becoming knowledge workers, and more and more businesses becoming knowledge businesses, there are far more opportunities to cooperate than to compete.

  My current business has literally been created by doing promotional partnerships with businesses that might be considered direct competition. But instead of competing, we support each other. The end result is that we don’t have to worry about splitting up the pie. Instead we work together and grow a much bigger pie.

  I suggest you start thinking of ways your competitors can become your partners. Try it out for a while, because your network is your net worth.

  You Need to Be in the Information Business

  In this book, almost all of the examples I’ve used have been “information businesses”—businesses that deliver a product that teaches or trains people about something. It could be dog training or tennis or juggling.

  But not every business will be an information business. After all, someone needs to sell cars or real estate or clean people’s carpets.

  However, in our current world, nearly everyone needs to be in the information business to some degree. And adding an information component to a business—either as part of the selling process or as part of the product—will become a huge part of almost every successful business.