First Post: Frameworks For Your Success

Hey guys,

I've been around the forums for a while but never registered until now. I wanted to start of my posting with some lessons I've learned over the last ~5 years doing IM related stuff.

I'm for SURE not the richest / smartest person here, but I have done some pretty worthwhile shit like starting and growing a company to $1mil / year rev, selling a company, doubling my salary when I had a job, I work from wherever I want when I want (currently in South America) etc.

Here's are my lessons learned for being successful:

1. Decide what you're going to do and stick with it
AT least until you fail... HARD. One of the hardest things to do is DECIDING what to do. A lot of people will flounder, go from this to that, always thinking that they have a better idea, or there is a perfect solution out there. There isn't. You must accept that there are better ideas out there, but you need to execute on something. Executing on something will teach you much much more than reading all day long.

Execute until you fail. Expect to fail. Then get up and do it again. I promise if you keep doing that, something will work.

2. Fail harder and faster
I've been really, really afraid of failure before. I've also been very risk averse. I've realized that you don't have to take crazy risks, but if you're completely risk averse and avoid doing anything that costs money, you're not going to get anywhere.

Start something and be OK with it failing. Remember you're not a heart surgeon. Tim Ferriss has a cool exercise where he has you write down the worst possible thing that could happen. Usually you find out it's not actually that bad. You can always bounce back. Read how James Altucher made millions and lost it all over and over again.

Spending $100 on starting a project is NOT going to kill you. In fact, the potential upside is huge. Check out millionaire math by Billy Foreverjobless.

I don't actually want you to fail, but I want you to take action so that it's possible to fail. "If you aren't failing you aren't trying"... Don't fail over a long period of time by half-assing. Fail fast and quick so you can move on when you realize what you did wrong.

The most successful people I know go big and try something, and by the time they figure out if it failed or not they have already figured out a bigger plan. So if it works, then awesome, if not, they didn't dwell on it for any more time than necessary.

3. Put A Buy Now Button On It
You have to create some way in the universe for people to give you money and you have to ask for it. It could be anything. It could be a shitty website with an affiliate link on it, a link in the BST forum of this board, a service on a website with a paypal button, whatever, but you have to

1) Have something to sell
2) Have a way for someone to buy it from you

There is absolutely no way that someone is going to give you any money without this. (OK, maybe you're grandma will mail you $20 for your birthday but that's about it). This applies in other facets of life too. A Buy now button could be anything, it's a CTA (call to action). You have to tell people what you want them to do. "You should give me your phone number" "You should buy this course" "I recommend you buy this service" "I would like a raise, Will you give it to me"? Tell people what you want them to do.

4. Start Thinking Bigger
When I was growing up, I had no idea how much money people made. I thoght that you were either poor or you are rich, somehow. When someone told me that they made $50k out of college, I was blown away. Then I met friends that made 90k, and 300k. Then I saw my previous boss who was basically an idiot run a $2MM / year company. Then when I moved jobs I saw my other boss (who runs an internet marketing company), had 188million in stock, AND HE ONLY TYPES WITH 2 FINGERS.

You will only actually achieve how much your mind will let you, so you have to think bigger than you are right now. This type of mentality helped me double my salary (when I had a job) and also helped us grow the startup that I worked at to over 100 people. I would have never dreamed about that, I was just trying to make $100 a day. You have to start dreaming bigger.

5. Feel The FEAR And Bust Through It
This comes up A LOT when you're trying new things. When you're going to hit that buy it now button on a course that you really want to take... When you are setting up your first blog network... When you are going up to talk to that guy or girl in the bar... About 100000000 reasons will come up that will make you want to stall, not do it, re-read instructions, basically piss away time that you could be out there gettin the shit done, messing it up and making things happen.

There is something called Cold Shower Therapy you can do that teaches you exactly how to get over this. You can step straight into the cold shower and every part of you will not want to do it. And then you do it and it REALLY sucks. It's cold as hell. But then something magic happens after about a minute... your body starts to normalize. Your body heats up and you get used to it. Doesn't mean it doesn't still suck, but you're used to it and you realize you can do it.

Just like everything you've done in your life that's been scary the first time. The first time you applied for a job... that was scary, but you did it and you could probably do it again with no fear. The first date you ever went on might have been weird, but now it's nothing. The first time you went to meet up with a friend you didn't know well, or went to a party or tried something new... Now it's like nothing to you.

Realize that in business, there will be LOTS of these situations. The first time you ask for a sale. The first time you hire someone. It's going to be weird a shit, but just put on your confident face, get throught it and it will be 10000X easier the next time.

6. Keep Making Progress At All Costs
There are ALWAYS going to be people that are better / faster / smarter than you. Do you know that only 28% of millionaires think they are rich? You know why? Because once you start making millions, you make friends with millionaires and they are making 10's of millions. When you make 10million, your friends are making 50million.

The only person you can compare yourself to is yourself. Be better than the person you were yesterday. If you're not, figure out how you can make progress. You'll start to get better at this over time and you'll get faster and faster.

Figure out what you need to make progress and take that risk. Is it buying another domain? Is it dropping $500 bucks on a personal blog network? Is it asking your boss for a raise so you have more money to test strategies online? Do whatever it takes to make progress.
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OK, that's it for now. What are your frameworks that have helped you be successful in what you're doing?

 

As I just mentioned someplace else a moment ago: If you're not making real, tangible cash - all that self-talk and seeming progress is meaningless.

As Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank says: "Show me the money!"

If you get something good going, you won't need to convince yourself that it is good. I know a few people who refuse to close their businesses down simply because they read and believed some crap in some book about perseverance. I am all about perseverance, but if that perseverance hasn't made you any money, I think it is time to move on. Otherwise, you will end up broke, living on the streets.

A good rule of thumb: If your business has not made any income in the last 6 months, it's time to move onto something new. Like a part-/full-time job or another business venture (if you have the means to afford it).