by Jeff Walker
For instance, Joe Polish initially grew his carpet cleaning business by offering a free report that educated consumers on the fraudulent selling techniques that many carpet cleaning businesses used. That report ended up generating a huge amount of exposure and sales for his business. He didn’t have an information business, but he used a knowledge product to build his offline service business.
We live in a connected, information-rich world. People expect to be connected and to have information at their fingertips. And in that environment, nearly every business should be in the publishing business at some level . . . either as part of their marketing or as part of their offer.
The Human Touch
This is something I stumbled onto when I started my first business back in 1996—it’s a lot easier to sell with the human touch. I’ve always been happy just being me and not pretending to be some big corporation. I never referred to myself as “we” in my emails, and that set me apart from the very beginning. Back in the early days, everyone was trying to sound like some big important company, but I wrote my emails to the people on my list in the same voice I would use when writing to my friends. It worked.
People want to connect with people, not faceless corporations. They don’t want to get an email written in what I call “the corporate voice” or “airline speak.” You know what I’m talking about: “The aircraft door is now closing. Please read the safety card that has been placed in the seat pocket in front of you.” This sounds cold, impersonal, officious. Sure, there are rare exceptions; if you’re in a mission-critical situation, your clients will want to know that you have the resources to back up your services. But even then, they’ll still want to interact with a human.
That “corporate voice” is death to sales. People want to buy from people. Forget the royal “we” when speaking to your clients. Talk to them one on one. This will make it easier to sell your stuff, and running your business will be a lot more enjoyable. Again, the PLF process is all about creating a connection and a conversation with your prospects, and communicating in a way that builds a relationship with your new clients.
Playing by Your Rules
Having a great business starts with realizing that you’re in control. This might sound obvious, but so many people create a business that’s modeled on other businesses they see. Or what they think a business is supposed to look like.
Remember, you get to make up the rules. You don’t have to do business the way the other people in your market do business. You don’t have to do business with clients you don’t like. You can create a business you love.
And it all starts with getting clear on what that business looks like and what your life would look like if you had that business. That’s what the next chapter is all about . . .
A Recipe for a Big Life
Chapter 13
After I graduated from Michigan State University with a business degree, I landed a job with Motorola in Tempe, Arizona. I had a couple different job offers, but I picked Motorola mostly because I liked the location. I grew up in the Detroit area, and I had never been west of the Mississippi River, but I had always felt a pull to move out West.
It’s a long drive from Michigan to Arizona. It took me four days. On the third night, I stayed in a tiny hotel in a town I’d never heard of—Durango, Colorado. I had never seen mountains like that in my life, and I was impressed. In the morning I called my parents to tell them about my trip so far, and I couldn’t stop talking about Durango.
After a few minutes, my dad said, “Wow, it sounds like you just want to stay in Durango and not go any further.” After all these years, I still remember him saying that, because it struck me as such a ludicrous idea at the time. The idea of my living in Durango seemed about as likely as me walking on the moon.
I grew up in a wonderful, supportive family. My parents did a great job raising my siblings and me. They gave us a good start in life and made sure we went to college. And the pattern for my life seemed to be set: get an education, find a “good job,” and then work at that job for the rest of your life. That’s what all my extended family did. That’s what all my friends’ families did. That’s what everyone in my middle-class suburban neighborhood did.
For some reason, though, I’d always had a yearning to own a business. I have no idea where that came from, but I remember having that strong desire even when I was 10 years old. But I had no role models for starting and building a business. I had no frame of reference. I didn’t know how people actually did something like that. It went against everything I saw in my life. So off I went to Tempe to follow that familiar pattern for the rest of my life.
But once I got to Tempe and I started my job at Motorola, I quickly learned I didn’t fit in the corporate world. I was a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. It just didn’t work. And that’s a big reason why, just a few years later, I found myself quitting my job, walking away from the corporate world, and staying at home to take care of a couple of young children. I had washed out of the corporate world, never to go back.
Moving to Durango
I’m typing this to you from my hometown of Durango, Colorado. My wife and I moved our family here 14 years ago. My dad was right all those years ago when he said it sounded like I wanted to live in Durango. I live here because I can live anywhere in the world that I want.
My business is 100% online, and my team is virtual, so that effectively uncouples my business from the constraints of geography. I can work anywhere I have an Internet connection.
Durango might not be most people’s first choice, but I love it. The most beautiful mountains in Colorado are almost in my backyard, and the great deserts of the American Southwest are just a couple hours away. I have easy access to great skiing, incredible mountain biking, and beautiful river trips. I love the people who choose to live in Durango, and it’s been a fantastic place to raise our kids.
Each morning, I get up when I wake up. The only time I set an alarm is when I want to get up to the mountain early on a ski day. Or if I need to catch an early flight. (I travel only when I want to—if it’s for business, I’m on my way to meet some amazing people or go to a world-class training.)
Part of the joy of living in Colorado is sharing my passion for the outdoors with my kids. Both of them are great mountain bikers and skiers, and they’ve been down some of the greatest wilderness rivers in the world.
I don’t tell you any of this to brag—I just want you to understand what’s truly possible in your life. I’ve got a business that’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs, I’ve got a great team that enables me to run the business, we’ve got raving fans for clients, I have an income beyond anything I could have dreamed of, I get to live where I want . . . and I still have the time to enjoy the beautiful outdoors just outside my door.
Of course, sometimes when people hear this, they think it’s just that I’m truly special. Or maybe I’ve got some magical powers. Or I had some insider connections. Or I got inordinately lucky.
Unfortunately, I have no magic powers. And when I started this business I had no connections whatsoever. And I certainly didn’t start with any advantage or any money.
So how did I go from a simple Midwestern boy, corporate failure, Mr. Mom, to having the life of my dreams?
It’s because of the business I created with the Product Launch Formula. Sure, there’s been plenty of hard work and more than a few lucky breaks, but it’s all in the formula.
And here’s the thing—I’m not the only one who’s done it. Many of my students and clients have achieved similar results. You’ve already read about several of them in this book.
So how do you build a business and a life where you can live where you want, work when you want, have the lifestyle that you want?
Start with the Vision
When I was about to start my first business, I went through an exercise where I created my ideal life in my mind. I read about this exercise in a training product, and I think this is what set up all my succ
ess. It didn’t take long and was easy to do. I wrote down everything I wanted—income, lifestyle, material things, travel experiences. The list wasn’t very long because I had no idea of the possibilities back then. Compared to my lifestyle now, my vision was very modest, but that list gave me the direction I needed.
The funny thing is, as soon as I finished the exercise, I tucked the list away in the back pocket of my journal and forgot about it. Then a couple of years later I stumbled across the list—and realized I had achieved nearly every single goal I’d written down. That’s when I became a real believer in creating that future vision of my life in my mind . . . and writing it down.
Once my business started growing, I rapidly revised and added to the list. I wrote down everything I wanted in my future: my target income, the amount of time I could be away from my business, how I’d spend my free time, the state of my finances, what I’d be doing in my business, the impact I’d make with my business, the type of people I’d work with, etc.
If you choose to go deeper, you can write down what you want in your future relationships, physical and emotional health, education, home, family, etc.
It’s important to understand that there is no right or wrong answers when you go through this exercise. And what you write down is not forever; you can change it at any time—and you most definitely will. This is your ideal vision of your future life right now. You can do this exercise for any time frame you want, but I usually use three years or five years from the present. Remember, this list is a work in progress. I’m continually updating my vision for my future life, and you should do the same.
So go ahead and do it. Turn off your phone, your email, your instant messenger. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to just turn off your Internet connection. Trust me, everything will still be there when you turn them back on in 30 minutes. Close the door, or get out of your home and go to a coffee shop or library. Use paper and pencil or open up a blank document on your computer. Write down what your ideal life will look like in three years:
What your income will be
What kind of car you will drive
Where you will live and in what kind of home
Who your clients will be and how you will serve them
What your physical and mental health will be like
What your relationships will be like—with your friends, partner, kids, parents, coworkers, etc.
What your spiritual life will be like
What trips and experiences you will have
What you will have accomplished personally and professionally
One more hint: This is more powerful if you write everything down as if you’ve already achieved it.
Don’t underestimate this process. Everything significant you create will first be created in your mind’s eye.
Now that you’re clear on where you’re going, let’s talk about some specifics of how to get there . . .
The Security of Being an Entrepreneur
To create the life of your dreams, the first thing you need is security. Lots of people who are thinking of starting a business worry about leaving the security of the paycheck world.
Unfortunately, there is no longer any security in a paycheck. I’m sure you know of people who worked loyally for a company for many years, only to be laid off or have the business close its doors and shut down.
The world has changed, and the only true security is your ability to create value and get paid for that value. Once you create your own business, you understand what security truly is. Even after I lost my first business to a partnership breakup, it took me a matter of weeks until I was back on my feet and had started a new business.
The greatest investment you will ever make is the investment in your business skills. When you can create a new business from the ether, then you control your destiny. And of all the business skills you can have, the one skill that pays off better than any other is the ability to market and sell yourself and your business.
And it should come as no surprise that I think PLF is the best way to sell in this day and age.
Sharpen the Saw
This was one of Stephen Covey’s seven habits for personal success—you need to take time away from work to recharge and refresh. You can’t continually operate at a high level if you’re working 100% of the time. No one can always be operating at peak efficiency and creativity. Unfortunately, I see lots of entrepreneurs creating a life where they do nothing but work. They literally never take a day off.
There’s an old joke among entrepreneurs about the biggest benefit of owning your own business. The punch line is that you only have to work half-time—any twelve hours of the day that you want.
That’s not healthy. In the long run, your business and your life will suffer for it. And it’s not a recipe for living a big life.
Sure, there are always going to be some long days—especially when you’re starting out. But if you never have time away from your business, then you’re doing something wrong.
My friend Joe Polish uses the analogy of a race horse. If you owned a million-dollar racehorse, you would exercise great care in how you treated that horse. You would feed it well, make sure it was well-rested, carefully monitor its workouts, give it a clean, comfortable stable, and schedule regular checkups with a vet.
In your life and your business, your body is your million-dollar racehorse. Don’t you deserve the same care?
I don’t want to get into belief systems, but most of us would agree that we only get one shot at this life . . . at least in our current form. So how are you going to spend that one precious life? Are you going to take care of your multimillion dollar body and mind?
Will you make sure you eat healthy, nutritious food? Get enough sleep? Get outside? How about exercise? Meditation? Stretching or yoga? Regular health checkups?
Working more hours is not the answer to your problems. You need to work better and smarter, and one of the keys to doing that is continually refreshing your mind and body. You need to sharpen the saw.
We’re in the Himalayas
One thing you can’t avoid when you become an entrepreneur are the highs and lows in your business. Of course, that happens to everyone whether or not they have their own business, but for most people the highs will get higher and the lows will get lower when they become an entrepreneur.
Most of us wouldn’t trade this life for anything—we love the control we have over our destiny. We love not answering to anyone. We love being able to create. We love the big wins. But we know that we won’t win every time; there are going to be some lows.
My friend Lisa Sasevich likes to say we live in the Himalayas—as entrepreneurs, the peaks and valleys are bigger than they are for other people. When we strap on our entrepreneur super hero outfit, life is different for us than it is for normal civilians.
That means we have to be careful to manage our mental states. It’s one thing to have a bad week or two if we’ve got a paycheck job—in most cases, the paycheck will keep coming in. But if we’re running our own business, and especially if we have a team that’s depending on us, we need to be able to pull ourselves out of the funk.
And, of course, I’m no different than anyone else. I have my share of ups and downs. But what I’ve done is create a process for this. I keep a list of things that will pull me up when I’m not in peak state. Everyone will have their own list, but after comparing my list with those of many of my students and colleagues, I’ve noticed there’s often a lot of overlap.
Here’s a partial list of the stuff that works for me. Take what works for you, leave the rest:
Exercise: This is at the top of the list. Nothing changes my state for the better more quickly than getting my heart rate up. It’s even better if it’s outside (as opposed to being in a gym).
Meditate: This is a close second to exercise. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just close your eyes and focus on your breath. Five minutes is all you need, but twenty minutes is even better.
G
et outside: Few things will lift me up faster than being outside in nature.
Have an adventure: Go on a big mountain bike ride, have a big ski day or surfing day. Go for a hike. Visit a museum. Travel.
Serve or give: Do something good for someone else. I think it’s impossible to feel sorry for yourself when you’re acting selflessly and helping other people.
Be grateful: Few things will lift you up faster than recognizing and feeling gratitude for all the many good things in your life, which are sometimes easy to overlook. Take time to sit down and list all your blessings. You might want to start with your breath and your life . . . they’re not something to take for granted.
That’s my list, or at least part of it. Yours will probably be different. I’m an introvert. If you’re an extrovert your list will probably look quite different. What’s important is that you recognize when you’re in a funk, and you have a strategy for lifting yourself out of it.
Stay in Your Genius Zone
My coach Dan Sullivan (of Strategic Coach®) talks about the concept of Unique Ability®. What’s the one thing (or two or three) you were put on earth to do? What can you do so well that time seems to disappear when you’re doing it?
What do you do that other people find exceptional but comes so easily you can’t understand why they’re so amazed?
Those are the things in your genius zone, or your Unique Ability®.
In your business, you want to work on those things at which you’re great. Don’t spend your time on the stuff that’s difficult for you. Work on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Hire people to do the things that are not in your genius zone.
Once you get rid of activities you aren’t good at, the next thing to eliminate are the things you are proficient at but still aren’t in your genius zone. Again, other people are better than you at those jobs, so hire them. Eventually, you will eliminate the tasks you are excellent at—because even though you’re excellent at them, they still aren’t in your genius zone. Doing those things takes you away from doing your genius activities.