Wednesday, March 08, 2023
I Almost Paid $25,000 For Her Services
November 22, 2022 Newsletter.
If you need the quick version this week, skip to the ‘Key Takeaways’ and ‘Six Bullet Summary’ below.
I had a corporate career with the same company for 21 years which would indicate sticktoitiveness and staying power. But I constantly looked for other roles within my career and I don’t think I held a position for more than 2-3 years ever! Owning my own business and time means I’ve been unchecked in my natural shiny object syndrome. Until this week! I feel like I finally had an epiphany moment that I hope helps you as you begin your transition to entrepreneurship.
MY STATED FOCUS
Since leaving my job, I’ve sustained myself with multiple income streams but I have always stated that I have one focus. To build my brand to a large, affinity based business to maximize the impact I feel I can make … and want to make! It’s been slow and steady compared to my own expectations, but there are clear reasons for that.
THE PATTERN
Here’s the norm for me. I get excited about a project and rally around it completely. I invest time, money, energy to get momentum and then it goes! And that’s gotten me success. I’ve been able to launch several successful endeavors in my past both inside and outside my W2 that were impactful and fulfilling. But then I see the butterfly. I get the idea. I feel the draw to something BIGGER and maybe BETTER! Then, I create logic around my shift citing how it synergizes with all that I’ve been doing. I know internally that the thing I was doing still needs my attention and time, but this NEW thing .. THAT’S what it really needs!! And I shift. I buy the next course or take the next action or meet the next person that’s going to get the new thing running to support the old thing. It doesn’t work. Ever.
ALMOST DID IT AGAIN…
When you look at what I am and what I’ve built as a lifestyle business, it is pretty clear. I create content via social sites, my podcast, this newsletter, other podcast interviews, etc. Then people join me with Emerge Supercharged. Many become millionaires and join Gobundance and I get paid an affiliate fee for that. Those that I’ve been there with as they develop build trust for me and invest in deals I have with Quantum Capital. So the top of the funnel being robust is still the number one thing and I’ve come back to that as my focus. Build my brand. Create content. Get out of the operations.
Truthfully, my team is SCREAMING at me for this. They don’t want me involved in the business. They don’t even want me on team calls we have each week. They just want me to create content, show up in Emerge Supercharged and let them handle the rest.
To do this, I went out and hired a rock star branding and marketing guru. I’m paying $55,000 to get a 7 or 8 figure funnel built complete with sales and marketing systems that can and will take us to the next level! That ain’t cheap - it requires a lot of work with this consultant and will drive our business as long as I stay committed to the process.
But then - my favorite influencer Vanessa Lau introduced a mastermind for creator CEO’s – JUST … LIKE … ME! The offer was to get on a call and see if it’s a fit for both of us and the enrollment was limited. I signed up for the call immediately!
The mastermind would surround me with other creator CEO’s and provide weekly training on brand building and focusing in on YouTube - that’s what I need! It also gives me proximity to Vanessa who was doing the exact thing I was just a few years ago, and who’s now doing exactly what I want to do - also exactly what I need!!! It’s $25,000 to join and I said ‘I’m in’.
She sent over the link for me to join later in the day and I was excited. I could see how this would SUPPLEMENT the consultant, not distract me from him! How it would benefit my team. It all synergized!! 🤦
THE PATTERN INTERRUPT
I talked to everyone I trust just looking for ONE of them to validate my thinking. None of them did. All of them said ‘why don’t you just focus on the consultant - you’re paying a lot of money for him’. Something in me obviously unsure which made me reach out to them in the first place. I just needed one person to say ‘this is absolutely what you need to do - both at the same time’.
So I was convinced that I shouldn’t do the mastermind - at least not right now. My next problem was I verbally committed to my favorite influencer who’s proximity I would value because I’M THE GUY WHO VALUES PROXIMITY. Now I have to tell her no? There was a small part of me that was saying ‘it’s worth the $25k just to be in her sphere’ but ironically, it was proximity to my trusted inner circle that got my mind right. It would be too much and I do need to focus. Throwing money at as many groups as I can doesn’t mean success. Doing the work means success.
I said no. She was very gracious. I do see a place for me to join in the future to surround myself with creators. One thing I’ve learned from Gobundance is when I wanted to get serious about real estate investing and entrepreneurship, being around others in that space accelerated my results. Where Gobundance doesn’t serve me is in the creator CEO space. Not that it doesn’t exist in Gobundance, but it’s simply not the focus. Being in a mastermind group that represents my business and focus makes sense - but not right now. Even Gobundance came after I invested in multifamily education - not necessarily along with it.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
#1: You HAVE To Invest In Your Success
I observe the best entrepreneurs in the world. All of them say the same thing - you need to invest in your team. David Osborn hires people he doesn’t even have a job for simply because they’re talented and driven and he’d rather have those types of people around him then let them go elsewhere. It’s how he developed Matt King. Matt started as low paid assistant who David simply told to watch him work and see where he can add value. As Matt figured out where he could add value, David started to take notice and elevate him. For me, I have a team consisting of editors, social media managers, operations managers and an admin staff. They’ve all added tons of value and I want to continue to invest in them. Paying $55,000 for a consultant is not a small decision but it’s the same consultant that has built Jordan Belfort’s brand, helped launch Ed Mylett’s brand, works with Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson’s brand. For $55,000 I get his full attention on my brand, business and funnel and access to his rolodex, systems and scrutiny. Proximity is absolute power and I’ll always invest in it.
#2: Sleep On It
If you’re anything like me, you get excited. There are times that excitement is fully aligned with your desires and needs and you should take action. I didn’t sleep on Gobundance. I knew it was going to take work to engage. That it was going to take time to become a part of it. But at the end of the day, I knew it would serve me and that I could and would make the time for it. So I joined on sight. Hiring this consultant was me reaching out, having one phone call and I was a full body go. But the Vanessa Lau Mastermind felt like a ‘right fit wrong time’ hora surrounded it. I committed because I made my mind up before I got on the call that I would do ‘whatever it took’. But when the uncertainty crept in, sleeping on it was the right move for me. I got clarity and made the right decision.
#3: Nothing Replaces the Work
I truly wish I could hire out everything, go away for a little bit and come back to a fully functioning profitable business. If I’m being honest, there’s a laziness to me that doesn’t want to learn the nitty-gritty details it takes to build something significant. That’s why I was ready to join the mastermind and hire the consultant at the same time. But I recently talked to a major influencer on YouTube with millions and millions of subscribers and millions more in followers across platforms. He makes a TON of money on his brand and loves what he does. What was clear to me was that he’s in the thick of the production every day. It’s not as if he just shows up, they film him and he walks away. He’s part of the ideation, filming, editing and analytics portion - end to end. I don’t think you have to be that involved with everything but he loves it. More to the point, it showed me that at some level, I need to engage with the work rather than try to simply get results by osmosis (my preferred way).
CALL TO ACTION: Screenshot the key takeaway that landed for you and tag me in a story on Instagram so I can see what’s working for you.
SIX BULLET SUMMARY
(If you’re thinking ‘too long, didn’t read’ - TLDR -here’s a quick summary. You should check out the key takeaways too!)
- My focus since leaving my job has been to build my brand and following to create a thriving lifestyle business focused on changing lives
- My typical pattern, though, is to get excited about the next project and justify for myself and others how this new shiny thing will actually serve the last thing - even though the last thing isn’t done yet
- I hired a $55,000 consultant to build my funnel and brand and then got an invite to join my favorite influencers mastermind for $25,000 and committed verbally to it - because it made sense on how it would serve the consultant who I hadn’t even started with yet!
- After thinking about it and discussing with those I have proximity to now (which I highly value) I opted not to do the mastermind - interrupting the normal pattern of ADD for me
- I had to tell my favorite influencer ‘no’ for now so that I can focus on the task at hand which will require a lot of work for me and my team under the guidance of this consultant
- Doing the work is more important than the next thing for now - that’s my pattern interrupt
QUICK HITS
Tribe of Millionaires Podcast Episode
✯ Mark Lack is a branding expert that I’ve been a fan of and was proud to have on the podcast. His episode is quickly becoming one of the most listened to that we’ve ever had. If you didn’t figure it out above, he’s the consultant I’ve hired to structure my business and funnel. #EXCITED
A Podcast/Book I Love
✯ I read a book called Big Money Energy by Ryan Serhant in preparation for an interview I did with him on Tribe of Millionaires. Last week’s edition of the newsletter talked about the collective ‘pucker’ I’m seeing out there given the financial news we’re hearing every day. I think this is a good time to engage with a book like Big Money Energy to keep you moving forward vs. standing in place or regressing because of a news cycle. Listen, the layoffs you’re seeing are all tech! Not that there won’t be a ripple effect, but the news simply says ‘layoffs’ - meanwhile insurance companies, service businesses, and so many others are starving for talent. Don’t become a victim to headlines!
Lesson from Living Abroad
✯ Good luck finding a lower body workout machine that’s available at the gym here in the DominicanRepublic. Women of the DR focus a LOT on building their naturally round booties and lower bodies overall. I tried to get a rare lower body workout in (I hate legs) and found it comical that I could get any lat pulldown, seated row or tricep/bicep machine I wanted - but EVERY lower body machine and station had a line at it!! Even the squat racks were overflowing with Dominican women trying to get that extra pump (my wife included haha).
Shit I Find Funny
✯ I love Jordan Peterson. Anyone that has access to him, he’d be an absolute dream podcast guest!! The interview that launched him into the spotlight was over 4 years ago with a British journalist named Cathy Newman and there was a moment where she was in more of an activist mode than journalist and Jordan literally stumped her with his response and it took him all of 30 seconds to do so! It has nothing to do with politics or even the title of the video - it’s satisfying when someone can intellectually stop an attack from someone who was obviously hell bent on making an example of him. You can see the whole interview here.
Picture of the Week
✯ We have a beach tradition every Sunday here in the DR. This is our local beach as you enter through the restaurant. The white sand and blue water are as perfect as this photo shows!! It was 88 degrees this past weekend. I searched around - Michigan (with wind chill) was 8, Tampa was 56, Miami was 70 and even Cuba was only 77. The weather here is uniquely beautiful! .
If you’re not already in Emerge and Ascend and want to be part of our Emerge Supercharged relaunch in 2023, join the waitlist here!! The objective is to get you unstuck, clear on vision and goals, and provide a concierge level experience to introduce you to your future self!
Until next week
-Jamie
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