8 Minute Mastermind

Marina is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture. She opened her office in Encinitas four months ago. She's grateful for the transformation it's given her. She's making enough to cover her costs, and her clients are referring even more clients.   01:42 Challenge: I still don't feel solid, stable, secure. I would like to create safety, but I know it takes time. I need to trust the process. I tend to be harsh on myself.  02:52 Brad: The feeling doesn't go away, there will always be swings, but you will get better at dealing with it. Life is inherently unstable, it's about your ability to cope with that.  03:15 Question: What does security and safety look like for you?  03:20 Marina: I want to be booked a month in advance. At this moment, people come, but it's unstable.  03:42 Question: What can you do to ensure you have more bookings?  03:51 Marina: I just realized that I need help. I've been feeling alone in this process. I'm doing it all myself. I don't have any support, and I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my creative vision.  04:18 Marina: I recognize that I cannot have a business coach because I have a lot of resistance to that. But I need help. So I'm trying to find the right solution, for me. 04:46 Marina: I need someone to keep me in check, to give me homework to do. 04:48 Brad: You said you're resisting getting a business coach, and you want to hire somebody from the Phillipines to market your local businesses. Can you walk us through some of these decisions?  05:05 Marina: All my marketing can be done from anywhere. 05:05 Brad: Theoretically. It doesn't mean people are good at it. It just means it's cheaper. 05:09 Question: What's the resistance around hiring a business coach?  05:12 Marina: It's ego. That I know better. 05:18 You gotta laugh at that, because we all do it, right? 05:23 Marina: I just know that I'm going to be resistant the whole time. So I do need a different approach.  05:29 I would challenge you on that.  05:32 Question: How long has this been an issue? 05:34 Marina: Since I was a child.  05:38 Question: How long have you not had a booked calendar?  05:42 Marina: I just opened in February, so it's been on and off for four months.  05:48 Brad: I just want to acknowledge that you were so scared to even make the investment originally. Now you're at a different level. You can pay your rent. But you want more. So why not double or triple down what you're already doing, then from that space of clarity - my intuition is that when you get to that place you'll find something wrong, too, but, for now, while you're here in this place, to get to that place double or triple down on your investment and energy. What you're doing seems to be working. 06:43 Marina: I'm considering taking a business loan, so I can go the next level in my marketing. But I don't have a clear vision on what that looks like. 06:50 Brad: Are you profitable right now? 06:52 Marina: I'm covering my costs and personal costs. I'm not saving anything. 07:08 Brad: So you're breaking even. How many business owners took years to get to break-even, let alone profitable? I know did. I burnt cash like crazy at first, because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. So, congratulations!  07:45 I heard something about you wanting to book people out a month in advance. Are you doing anything to make that happen now?    07:52 Marina: Yes, I sell packages. I recently increased my prices again. And it's been good, people still buy it.  08:02 But what about telling people to book a month in advance? Like, I'm booked out for the next month; start there. The first restaurant I opened in Napa, we told people we were fully booked for the first two weeks we were open. We were not fully booked. But it built a want and need to get in there. Then we couldn't even handle the demand.  08:28 Brad: Yeah, create scarcity. 08:29 It might take a month or so to build that momentum, but if you make it seem like you're so busy that you can't book somebody, people will want in.  08:42 Brad: Provided you actually deliver. If they had shown up to your restaurant, and nobody's there -  08:54 Brad: But the way you did it actually worked, because you knew you had a great product. People did show up. 09:00 Even if we're really good and we think we know what we're doing, there are blind spots that we have that other people can see. That's what a good business coach does, is helps you see your blind spots, helps you work through them, and holds you accountable. I think it's the accountability more than anything, is having somebody to report to.  09:15 You know probably 5-7 things that you need to do that you're probably not doing. It's true for all of us. The benefit of having a coach is having somebody that you're realistically rely on.  09:45 It's about accountability and it's about you doing things that you know you need to do. You can't do that for yourself. We're all incapable of hold ourselves to the standard that we really should be.  09:57 Brad: And our best thinking has only gotten us where we are. It won't get us were we want to go.  10:14 Marina: My whole life I've been disciplined. I don't understand why I'm not disciplined at this moment.  10:24 Marina: I should be strong. I should know what I'm doing. There's a resistance.    Three key points:  Your best thinking has only gotten you where you are. It won't get you where you want to be.  A coach will hold you accountable.  Create scarcity. If you want people to book a month out, tell them they have to.

Ben is a health and nutrition coach for entrepreneurs and thought-leaders. He's grateful for his health. He's celebrating setting up a live talk at Eve.    01:07 Challenge: I don't know if I should charge people for the talk or not. 01:20 Question: What are the pros and cons for not charging, and the pros and for charging? 01:27 Ben: Pros for not charging: I'd feel less pressure. I'm new to the community, so it would be a good way to share with people what I'm all about.  01:45 Question: What's your overhead? 01:47 Ben: $350. 01:51 Question: Could you get a few clients out of this? 01:52 Yeah. 01:59 Brad: You'd get more people to come it it's free. But the people who are more likely to come to a paid event are more likely to be willing to spend.  02:09 Brad: What if you did a free one and then a follow-up paid one, once you get all the kinks worked out?  02:14 Ben: Definitely. 02:25 Question: You said you felt like there was no pressure if you do it for free, but more pressure if you do it for paid. Is that really true? 02:30 Ben: I feel it. I think a lot of that comes from my past experience working as a chef, and working at a level that I felt on the fence of whether I had my job or not. Getting paid as a celebrity chef was insane  03:05 Question: Is that value of what you'll deliver, if they pay you or not?  03:06 Ben: No.  03:18 Question: Are you going to have a follow-up offer? 03:25 Ben: After? Yes.  03:40 Stacy: Recently I made the decision to do Circus for Entrepreneurs for free. Or refundable. Because I wanted to get comfortable with a new process for myself. But I found that there was not less pressure. I still wanted to deliver the value. 04:12 Stacy: But if you feel like there will be less pressure, and you can promote another offer, that could be a good way to do it.  04:17 Ben: There's something deeper in there for me, around pay and money. I'm also looking at being new to an area, and it seeming aggressive.  04:38 For me, a transformation happens when a transaction occurs. When people invest in themselves they expect transformation. But when they go to a free event, a lot of times there is already a feeling that it won't be valuable.  05:08 I think it's the worthiness, the belief that people want to pay for what you have to offer.  05:22 Question: How are you getting them to the event?  05:24 Ben: Online marketing and Eve. 05:32 So it's really about you bridging the belief that people want to pay. 05:41 Ben: There's another part of me that knows that what I'm going to bring is super high-value. 05:46 Do you think they're really going to receive it if they're there for free?  06:00 Like attracts like. Free events are huge red flags for me, unless I know the person. 06:30 It's more energetic than anything. You just need to believe in it.  06:43 If you really want to do it for free, then at least get something out of it. Get a boat-load of customer research out of it.  06:58 Ben: I'll get a ton of content out of it - there will be people filming it, I'll get more people on my email list, etc.    07:25 Question: You can deliver a transformation in that free event? 07:28 Ben: Oh, yeah. 07:32 Have everyone write their story for you. Then you'll have even more content and customer research.  07:57 Ben: How do I get that content from them? I'm imagining they'll be writing that in a journal, that I wouldn't receive. 08:06 In order to come to this event you have to fill out this survey. Or, at the event, here's 30 minutes and the worksheets.  08:14 Brad: You can use carbon copies.  08:33 There are ways to get the worksheets, don't get too overwhelmed by that.  08:37 Brad: I say charge.  08:39 What's the worst thing that could happen, if you bomb?  08:45 Question: How much are you thinking of charging? 08:48 Ben: Maybe like $30? 08:49 Stop! That's nothing. Just charge.  08:55 You're worth it. They're worth it. They need to feel worth it, too. You're doing them a disservice by expecting that they don't want to pay, because you're putting it out there that they're not worth it to pay that much money for the transformation that you're giving them. So you're actually disempowering them, stealing away all their value. 09:15 Ben: Which is disempowering myself, too.  09:29 I also wonder if there's a degree of trying to "get that perfect bun" with trying to get that material out there. They're not there to get the perfect material. They're there to get results. It can all be simplified. There's maybe a confidence issue? Needing to be perfect? I don't know. Does that resonate with you at all, that you're trying to make the perfect bun?  10:06 Brad: Gordon Ramsay is not going to kick the door open if you don't get it right.  10:12 You're not doing the chef thing anymore. You're working with people who don't know what the perfect bun even is.  10:25 Over the weekend I went to a 3-day, free event. Different people got different things out of it. Because there was so much material, there was a lot of good that I got out of it, there were other parts I didn't care for as much, but I can discard them.  10:55 So here's this free event, that demanded a lot of effort from the organizers. This is an argument for doing it for free: If you have a ready-made follow-up, here are the plans where I can work with you individually, and the prices. If you're ready to follow up, that might be an argument for doing it for free.  11:26 Did you buy it? 11:27 No, I didn't. Others did. I did not. I signed up for free. There were so few people that I got as much out of it as people who paid. It was good.  12:04 Let's bounce off that - for that free event there were one-time offer upgrades. That could be useful for you, Ben. So you could offer it for free, then have the next page in your funnel be, if you'd like to receive this extra benefit, one on one time with me, then there's a price.  12:29 That's how he sold it. And there were people there who paid for the added level of exposure.  13:15 There were VIP-like activities at the event, but there were also follow-up items, upgrades.  13:23 If you can pitch a follow-up at the end of your free event, that might be worth it.    Three Key Points: What have you got to lose? Charge them. You're worth it. They're worth it. They need to feel worth it, too.  If you really want to do it for free, then at least get something out of it. Get a boat-load of customer research out of it.

Stacy has two businesses; an online gardening business and adventures for entrepreneurs. She's grateful for the certainty and support she gets from the group.   01:39 She has an amazing opportunity to be more resourceful. But as she dives deeper into that she keeps going under.  01:50 She's in a familiar situation; cash flow is taking a dip; she has a bunch of projects that she needs to focus on to bring in revenue. But she's feeling uncertainty.  02:01 Challenge: I want to go deeper.  02:15 Stacy: When I'm aligned and feel grateful, things show up.  02:26 Stacy: But there's a story around being called an ungrateful wretch. 02:38 Stacy: Sometimes when I hear the word grateful, manipulation and obligation comes up. When I find myself in uncertain places, these words start showing.  03:12 Stacy: There's some truth to the "ungrateful wretch" name. When I was a child, the love I was shown wasn't given in the way I wanted it, so I was unappreciative.  03:36 Challenge: I'm trying to understand, for myself, the heart of it all. I've been journaling. Forgiveness might be at the core - of myself and my family.  04:12 Stacy: I believe this is the work that will help me in these moments, when things are uncertain, to feel more connected to myself, and the universe.  04:46 Suggestion: So what you said is true, but you can have two simultaneous truths.  04:54 Question: For the forgiveness thing, are you familiar with Hoʻoponopono?  05:05 Suggestion: It's super important, when you do it, you're always doing it to the aspect of you that created the distortion. A lot of times we think we need to forgive other people - that's fine - but you're creating your version of them. You're creating the story, and you're perpetuating the story. To get to the root of it is to really - you're dissolving the whole thought platform.  05:36 Suggestion: When you're saying, "I'm sorry, please forgive me," you're saying it to the aspect of you that created that experience for you.  05:44 Question: But what is it that you want more than anything from feeling? You want to sit in the uncertainty. What is it that you really want?  05:58 Stacy: Certainty doesn't feel safe for some reason. 05:58 Challenge: Why? 06:07 Stacy: When I am grateful, or when I am sharing love, that was used against me in my family. So when I am certain, when I am sharing, it can be turned against me. I know that's just a story. 06:28 But it doesn't take away the effect. 06:28 Brad: It was real for you. 06:35 Question: Are there times in your life when you felt like you were able to fully and freely love, and you weren't being turned on? 06:42 Stacy: Yes.  06:45 And you felt safe doing it, and you've been able to create that experience for yourself.  06:51 So now that you have new stories that have come out of that old story, then you don't have to live the old story anymore. It's just about trusting in yourself rather than trusting in other people. When you trust in yourself, it's irrelevant whether they reflect the love back to you or not.  07:05 You're a lover because you're a lover, not because of what anyone else needs to give back to you.  07:14 How many of us have had that experience when we felt like we were turned on. We gave someone love and then it bit us back pretty badly. 07:25 The gift is learning that it doesn't matter; it still feels better to love than to withhold love.  07:44 Let's dive into the manipulation. You said if you're grateful and love loving then the universe will yield back to you. Can you share more on that? 07:53 Stacy: A lot of the time when I was called an ungrateful wretch growing up, it was because somebody I didn't even know gave me something. Then I was obligated to give something back, and sometimes things I didn't want to give. So sometimes when a gift is given it feels like there are strings attached, or an obligation to do something.  08:24 Stacy: In my family, it feels like people do things to get something.  08:32 It feels like an uneven point system, right? 08:34 Stacy: I hate the point system! 08:36 How many of us have experienced that? We can all relate to that. 08:47 Question: So in Stacy's ideal world, what do you want? Would you be willing to claim for yourself that you're only giving when it feels right for you? And you're willing to receive only when it feels right for you?  09:05 Stacy: The thing I want to understand is trusting the receiving.  09:20 The degree to which you're willing to love and respect yourself is in direct proportion to what you're willing to allow for yourself.  09:30 As much as you love yourself, that's as much as you allow for yourself. The trusting part is loving yourself so much that you know it and you don't waver or question it.  09:48 Question: How many people do you know that you're almost sicked by how much they get with such little effort? It looks like they're blessed with abundance and good looks and great relationships, but they don't do anything?  10:00 Stacy: I actually love those people. 10:02 So what's the difference? It's just that they expect it. They know their worth.  10:14 Question: So what would help you expect that for yourself? What would it take? 10:20 Stacy: The words unlimited love come in.  10:23 Question: As a daily practice, how do you think you can get there every day? 10:45 Stacy: It feels like I'm doing all the things. I'm journaling, eating well, working out.  10:55 Question: What about doing the action to instill the belief?  11:09 Stacy: I guess I don't know what that looks like.  11:17 I want to revisit that time that created this emotional response for you. Have you considered revisiting that memory and rewriting from the perspective of, you were actually providing a gift to them, in that interaction, because your value is so high.  11:56 If you could look back at it and change your perspective of how you see yourself in that interaction, maybe you can rewrite it.  12:02 Stacy: I've rewritten all of them in different ways. It's in the nervous system. It's preverbal.  12:20 Brad: EMDR is good for preverbal stuff. But don't try too much at once. It can be very emotionally overwhelming. I did too much too soon, and it led me to have one of the biggest breakdowns I've ever had. Maybe try a session, wait a few weeks, and do another session.  13:03 Brad: The basic idea is that your brain has two sides, and that by adding stimulus or tapping to either side of your body, it helps your adaptive memory network come online. So when you think about a troubling memory, it allows your brain to think about it as if it was happening right now, without all of the trauma and stuck stuff attached.  13:45 Brad: I want to acknowledge you for sharing! Who else has been through something - stuff you can't even get to that's so traumatic, that you're still plagued by it as an adult? There are ways to get through it. 14:04 Brad: Try EMDR. Or Hoʻoponopono. I didn't realize how easily I could heal so much, in just a few minutes a day. I do it every night now.  14:36 Brad: There's a 45 minute version that I might recommend. It will go through the whole family. I like Dr. Matt James.  14:59 I'd like to applaud you for having the courage to come talk about this. It's deeply painful. All of us have stories like this. My story was so intense that I actually wrote a book about events in my childhood and what I learned from them.  15:29 When I started the book, I didn't intend on writing about that, but it kept coming up.  16:01 Bringing my terrible experiences into the light helped enormously. It helped me realize I'm not responsible for these things that I was led to believe I was responsible for, as a six year old child.  16:26 Then I learned the enormous positive effect these events had on me. I learned lessons - courage, compassion, integrity, and trusting people.  16:45 That helped me become a better leader.  16:55 It gets better! 16:59 Stacy: This is not the first step.  17:06 Question: Have you allowed yourself to go to a place of anger?  17:10 Stacy: That's the hardest emotion for me.  17:16 I think, on your part, there needs to be a release of anger and resentment. Maybe that looks like finding a punching bag. 17:23 Stacy: The tears are a mask. It's actually anger.  17:29 When you can fully express that then you'll be able to move on and clear it. The anger needs to be expressed.  17:39 Maybe some bad-ass martial arts classes.  17:43 Stacy: I like kickboxing.    Three Key Points: You are not alone; we've all been through hell. Talk about it. The gift is learning that it doesn't matter; it still feels better to love than to withhold love.  Try EMDR. Or Hoʻoponopono. You can work through a lot, relatively easily. 

Charity is a middle and high school teacher. She thinks it's time to pursue entrepreneurship. She's celebrating a family reunion for the first time in six years.    01:40 Challenge: I know I'm interested in being an entrepreneur, but I have no idea what I want to do.  02:00 Opportunities have presented themselves, that sound great. But I have reservations. I think I'm still stuck in my teacher mindset. 02:18 Question: Why can't you be a teacher? Why can't you do that as an entrepreneur? 02:26 Charity: I still want to teach, regardless of what I do. 02:29 Question: What do you love to teach?  02:37 Psychology. 02:42 Suggestion: So that's like information; you could sell that all day long!  02:48 Question: What format do you want to teach to? Courses? Online? Events? 02:55 Charity: I'd like to do it in-person.  03:03 Suggestion: You have a great presence about you. You'd easily sell tickets.  03:12 Suggestion: You look like an expert. You're eloquent - your energy, the way you carry yourself.  03:17 Question: What's the fear? 03:20 Charity: I don't know where to start. I've had some opportunities come up in network marketing and trading. My question is, do I go after something that I know works?  03:48 Brad: Both of those have a steep learning curve, and a lot of risk. Trading especially.  04:02 Suggestion: It's funny that you're asking if you should go after something that "works" after you just said that teaching works. Being a teacher is in your bones. It's about shifting that to a different format.  04:31 Question: If you could have it all your way, what would that look like? 04:38 Charity: I love the age group that I teach, but I'd be teaching lots of different things related to psychology, with young adults or adults. Mostly young adults, college age.  04:58 Question: Is there a specific reason why you like teaching young adults about psychology? 05:05 Charity: I want them to know themselves. I didn't when I was that age. I've learned a lot, so I want to give that back. 05:15 Question: What results will they get from knowing themselves at that age?  05:22 Charity: Not going after things that they're told to do. Looking at the world differently. Being confident. 05:36 So you want to create a generation of critical thinkers who living lives that create for themselves, as opposed to fitting into a mould? That's pretty powerful! 05:47 Brad: Are you worried that you won't make enough money?  05:53 Charity: Yeah. 05:54 Brad: The self-education industry, which is essentially what you're talking about, is $355 million a day industry that's poised to triple in the next five years, to $1 billion a day? That's 1,000 $1 million a day! 06:13 Question: What's your bare minimum that you would want to make? That would make it okay to leave your job? 06:24 Charity: I've thought about this a lot. $250,000. I don't know why. That's what makes sense to me.  06:43 This is a beautiful vision. I know motivational speakers that travel to high schools around the world, and they get paid big bucks, because the school has the money. They change 1,000s of lives at a time, in person. And they get an exciting life. I also know people who are deep in with small groups.  07:48 It can look a lot of different ways. 07:55 Or it could be online, teaching homeschoolers or other teachers.  08:06 Question: What other fears do you have? If you hold on to the vision, it will pull you to it. It's the fears that you have that are blocking you. 08:22 Charity: I guess just believing that I'm worth that. I'm so stuck in my path, that I know and is comfortable, that it's hard to look outside that, and believe that I can do it.  08:50 So before you learn how to ride a bike it was unknown. It was probably scary. But as you do it, it becomes second nature. It's the same for every big decision we make. There's always a learning curve. We all struggle with worthiness.  09:50 There's also maybe a fear of how people will look at you. Let's talk about that.  10:12 What I'm getting intuitively is that you're not willing to even announce that this is something that you want, because you're afraid that it might not work out. Oh, you just got brighter, what vision did you just have? 10:43 Charity: Just doing this. Seeing myself doing that.  10:59 Charity: It's not being worried about what people will think. It's just being stuck in the security and allowing myself to be limited, not stepping into who I know that I am. 11:15 It's not about what other people think, maybe. It's about you for yourself. You need to own the vision and speak it out to the universe. Say, "I own this. I'm committed."  11:36 Question: What are the other fears? So we can make them seem silly and small and trivial. This is the time.  11:45 Charity: It's just about owning that for myself.  11:51: Let's own it for you. How does it feel to own it? 12:02 Let's say, a year from now. Asking what it would look like is focusing the energy, and giving it a path to flow toward. So in your ideal situation, what does that look like? How would you be expressing this beautiful talent that you have? 12:24 Charity: Having a small group of people that I work with. Either a small group like this, or a small classroom. Just being really personal with the people I'm working with. 12:41 Question: How long would the program be? 12:43 I haven't thought that far yet. 12:52 The more you think about this vision, the more space you create for yourself to give yourself what's possible. If you paralyze at every decision, you're not allowing it to flow. But you're worthy of having what you want.  13:35 Get really specific about your vision: what is it, and how do you want it to unfold. Then it takes on a mind of its own.  13:53 Question: The little girl in you, who doesn't know limitations, who doesn't know unworthiness, it just in total play and total fun, what would she say she wants with this? 14:00 Charity: She really just wants to help people.  14:05 Question: What's the biggest she could dream it, and what's the biggest she could dream you to be? 14:07 Charity: Knowing that she has a whole team of support that will be right there to help her every step of the way. She doesn't' have to do it alone. 14:13 Question: Where does she live inside you?  14:16 Charity: Right here. 14:22 Question: When she answers from there, that playful, joyful, worthy, happy place. Just take any fears or anything - it's just play, it's just fun - what does she say? It doesn't' have to be real. What would say in a make-believe world? 14:37 Charity: I feel super blocked right now.  14:45 That's okay, just take a deep breath. 14:54 You don't have know right now. But that little girl - she's pretty intelligent, and she has lots to say. I'm sure when she's ready she'll say it. And you'll be ready to hear and acknowledge her. You'll be the genie that's going to help her grant her wish.  15:16 So really, you're her support. That little girl is the one that wants to talk the other little kids that you want to talk to. We all have an innocent child in us, that hasn't dealt with the programming or the beliefs and fears. They don't' have restrictions because they know their worth and value.  15:41 If you can keep connecting to her, and letting her guide you, then the fears won't even exist. Fear doesn't' exist in her reality. 15:50 Brad: Don't expect to get it all in day one. Or even day 100. It's a journey; you're just committing to a different path. That path will show up as quickly as you can take it in.  16:05 Brad: It's insane to think you could eat the whole elephant in one bite. So don't' even start there. What feels good now? Do something good towards it. What feels good tomorrow, do something towards it. Pick up momentum. Use little failures as fuel.  16:32 The best thing that Daenerys said was, "How do you learn how to ride a dragon? You ride a dragon."  16:46 We get to choose our identity all the time. Right now I'm in a similar situation and have a similar block. This process that we go through is good for all of life. Keep reimagining what you want.  17:04 I do a lot of journaling when I feel blocked.  17:35 I see like 17 different parallel universe of you, and all of them are extraordinary.  17:54 Suggestion: Hiring a coach is a good move when you know you want to step out and create your own business, but you're not sure how.    Three Key Points: Hiring a coach is a good move when you know you want to step out and create your own business, but you're not sure how. You're worthy! Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Kit Volcano runs The Little Volcano with his wife, Rosy. They train coaches. Their business has been compared to running a mystery school and a sacred funhouse of mirrors. He's celebrating completing his first talk. He opened for Kyle Seaspin. And he nailed it.   04:11 Challenge: We only have one entry-point to working with our business. So it can only grow as big as our challenges can be. So we don't know how to get more people into the events, which is the thing I really love doing.  05:19 Question: Who comes to your events? 05:24 The people who do the week-long challenge.  05:32 Question: What is your current funnel?  05:35 Every single person in the challenge comes from a referral when we teach our coaches how to do enrollment.  05:53 Rosy: Or it's people who've seen us on stage.  05:57 Question: Why don't you do paid advertising? 06:00 I paid a guy once, he was totally optimistic at first, then he came back and said we have too much of a culty vibe and it'll never work. No results, then he bailed.  06:33 Question: Who's ever hired a shitty service provider? Who's still been successful despite hiring a shitty service provider?  06:40 Brad: You who else is is culty? Every other major successful brand on the planet. 06:59 Suggestion: So that guy's an idiot. Go hire somebody else.  07:16 Kit: We've been through 3 marketers. There's no trust there anymore.  07:20 Rosy: We hired someone to fix our website. It was a bust. We hired someone to transform our campaign; he just transferred all of our contacts and then ghosted.  07:33 Question: Are you getting referrals from trusted second paties? 07:36 Yes.  07:56 Question: Are you not spending enough for the right people? Let's nail down the problem. You're either not investing enough to get the right people or the leadership or communication is mismatched.  08:15 It's probably both. 08:28 Suggestion: You've got to be about to suss out someone's value. I've seen talented people way undervalued and terrible people way overvalued. You need to learn how to structure deals so that you won't get hurt if they produce nothing. Walk the deal toward having everybody win.  10:10 Suggestion: But these relationships take time to build. Give them a month or two to see how they do, then start giving them more. Make sure you're getting what you're paying for. Think of "if this, then that."  10:35 Suggestion: Be slow to hire and quick to fire.  10:48 Suggestion: You've also got to be reasonably competent with all of the tools; clickfunnels, Bitly, spreadsheets, etc. I get nervous if I don't understand a process. If there's an emergency, I need to know what to do.  11:33 Suggestion: Have them make videos of themselves doing what they're doing, so you can learn it, too. And make that contingent upon them getting paid.  12:15 Suggestion: Being an emotional buyer ends up fucking everybody.  12:52 Suggestion: Ads are just science; use the scientific method. 13:14 Suggestion: Spend enough money to teach Facebook to send you the leads that you want. This will probably be more than you think you need to spend. They're called conversion events, and you need to send at least 50 in order for Facebook to learn.    14:24 Suggestion: Split-test your pages and copy. The ads, the images, everything. You don't know what will work, so you need a lot of options. You get closer and closer with every iteration.  15:28 Suggestion: When you're advertising for a location-dependent event, it's the trickiest ad. Try having an opt-in. Try 3-month lead-ups.  17:19 Suggestion: Is extremely difficult and expensive to get somebody to commit to showing up to a thing in person. It's extremely easy to get somebody's email, by offering them some free virtual value. If you're targeting within 50 miles and getting an email, you know that you can continue to market to them consistently, without having to pay again. You have the ability to get them to come, once you've warmed up to them. You have the ability to retarget them with more ads. Ultimately, you have the ability to build a relationship with them ahead of time.  18:14 Suggestion: You might need 1,000 opt-ins to fill a 50-person event.  18:25 Suggestion: With no name recognition, a cold audience just won't commit. But if they're been warmed up for a few months, they're much more likely. 18:38 Question: How many people are you trying to fill? 18:46 I would like to be able to scale these events so that I'm not leading every single one of them - one a month - if we can literally just show up, run the event, go home, I'd love one per month, 50 people.  19:23 Phase 1: So let's say 75, on the high end. You need at least 1,500 or 2,000 opt-ins to get those butts in the seats, that are in your area. Realistically, you'll need to spend $2.50 to $5.00/ lead to get there. $5.00 X 2,000 = $10,000 in ad costs. But it doesn't stop at the ad. You need to be continually dripping on them, developing a relationship.  19:55 Phase 2: Try to get some low-ticket offers on the front-end of the funnel. Maybe a $7 upsale, a $37 upsale, a $97 upsale kind of thing, so you can recoup some of your ad costs. That's what we're working on in our business, but it's successful.  20:13 Suggestion: To create the relationship, they want to know that if they invest their money they're going to get the return. So if they do a small investment and feel successful, you reinforce the relationship and then you give them an opportunity to do a higher level of commitment with you. More transformation. Building them up to that stage is a process. It's a long-term, stepping stone type relationship. You get their information, and then you nurture them. It's a life-long relationship.  21:02 Question: You only have one entry-point. How can you create 3, 5, 7? Do you have any automated funnels? What else can you do?  21:22 Kit: Our systems are such rats' nests, they require so much manpower, so we need to clean it all up and streamline. 21:35 Suggestion: Eliminate anything that doesn't serve you. What's left, simplify and streamline.  21:46 Kit: We do have an automated program, but I question it because I'm afraid it's like every other course on the Internet.  21:54 Rosy: We never released it. We've only done some beta testing for it.  22:25 Kit: We have so much that we're doing, that we don't finish things.  22:30 Brad: It sounds like you guys need to simplify, streamline, and scale. In that order. 22:38 Suggestion: My best hack for multiple entry-points, fast is to come up with an eBook that's the Top 10 Something, then you have ten leadpages and each leadpage is one of those things. Then you can send ads to that one thing, so your Facebook ad is Here's the One Trick to XYZ" it goes to the leadpage, which goes to the eBook. But it's 10X. There's one lead magnet, but ten ways into it. 23:08 Brad: That's interesting. Do you cut the ones that aren't tracking? 23:16 Suggestion: The trick is that they're in the book.    23:24 Brad: Say #2 isn't going anywhere, but #8 is killing it, wouldn't you just double down on #8? 23:26 Yeah. But that's the quickest way to get ten entry points to one thing. Mistakes work best; people like to know what not to do. Or myths. But a top 10 list in an ad can be overwhelming, so just say, "Here's the one thing that's going to help you do XYZ." When they show up it's ten things. 24:15 Suggestion: I just did a bad-ass video with an opt-in at the end. 24:30 Brad: $500 price point, time and money. It's like have this Mastermind, but there's no stairs to the top floor. Unless they're really committed, they're not going to jump. 24:46 Kit: We have people go from $47 to $5,000 with nothing in between. We're doing already. But we could have an automated $500 program. 24:55 Brad: Or you could just have stairs.  25:06 Question: Have you thought about an automated webinar? 25:08 Kit: I created one with the Facebook guy then he didn't put it out.  25:14 Question: What  are the top-5 things that you're going to work on for the next week? 25:28 Kit: Rat's nest. Launch the course.  25:43 Kit: Delegate and SOP for all the stuff we don't want to do.  26:34 Kit: Scaling consultant, should be #1. 27:24 Rosy: Putting our energy into the next programs.  27:38 Kit: Getting people into the programs.   Three Key Points: Get organized. Think about hiring someone to help you. Make a to-do list. You'll need to spend money on advertising, probably more than you realize. Outsourcing and delegating is good, but you've got to understand all of your systems. Create SOPs. 

Rosy Volcano is a transformational coach and a new mom. She and her partner Kit incorporate yoga, shamanic training, and body work into a coaching training course. She is celebrating her baby boy, and another big launch coming up. Their challenge is figuring out how to scale their business without losing the intimacy, or making it feel watered down. They want to pass the current program over to on of their current coaches, and create a new, more advanced course. How do they multiply themselves?    03:58 Question: What are you responsible for with these protegees of yours? Are you giving them leads, or teaching them how to market and sell for themselves?  04:08 Rosy: We teach them how to market and sell for themselves, and the actual techniques of coaching. 04:12 So they're self-sustaining business owners after they graduate? 04:16 Rosy: Yes. 04:21 Question: You have like 5 or 6 of those people running this for you after?  04:22 Kit: Those people are the ones that work for us, and what we're responsible for them is they provide some leads, and we provide some leads. It's kind of a co-creative situation. 04:39 Rosy: When we do a launch, we have so much demand we couldn't handle it all. So the overflow goes to them, as well. 04:42 Question: So if you 10X the number of people you're working with right now, overnight, what would break first? What would be over capacity? 04:53 Rosy: Kit and I still lead group coaching calls for everyone. We wear so many hats, and I have a 3-month old. I feel that our time would - it would be too much.  05:14 Question: Can somebody else do those things, or a capacity of those things, that you do now that are currently finite? 05:23 Rosy: Yes. We're creating the role of coaching director for one of our employees.  05:31 Question: What else would break? Or what else could be automated, eliminated?  05:42 Kit: We don't have enough coaches right, who are working for us. Their loads would be overdone, too.  05:58 Brad: It feels like the model is self-limiting. Maybe rethink your model. How could we serve 2,500 people with the same amount of energy and time, or even less energy and time, that we currently serve 250? I like the hybrid evergreen model. I borrowed it from a mentor of mine, Sam Evans. Your next level of iteration is deciding what type of business you want to be, and how to deliver that value in a more automated, streamlined way.  07:03 Suggestion: What are your non-negotiatbles? Jeff Locker is great at this, he writes down his non-negotiables. You wouldn't believe how little he does for his business. And you wouldn't believe how much his audience appreciates him for not doing much. The community agrees to his non-negotiables. So figure out why you want to replace yourselves, and what your non-negotiables are what's important to you. 08:05 Rosy: We are too available for the people at that level. It's one of our main challenges. We spend time personally replying to messages. But then the next round of people comes in.  08:37 Brad: There's no reason why you can't hire a community manager or something at that level. You can still provide the same level of service. Now that the revenue is there to hire people. start investing in things that take time off your plate. Ultimately, the things that got you here are not going to get you there. Uplevel your thinking. 09:14 Suggestion: This business is your baby. At first you nurture the baby, but after a while you don't always need to be there, coddling it. Let the nanny come in sometimes. Let go of some control.  10:24 Question: What levels of engagement do you currently have with your clients?  10:47 Rosy: We have a Mastermind, the leadership program,  10:53 Kit: We have this coaching training program, and we have scaled ourselves out of the one-to-one, then we jumped a little too far into a high level Mastermind-thing that was triple what our coaching program was. We didn't get too many sign-ups, then we realized there was probably a step in-between we need to put more energy into. I think we should take ourselves out of the intimacy. I think we need to give up replying to Facebook threads and emails. It's just our boundary and that's it.  11:52 Brad: Maybe all of your communication is funneled to one email box. Then one person is trained to reply to those at regular intervals. Train your public to know they'll get replies twice a day.  12:21 Question: What's the low level of engagement? 12:27 Rosy: Group-coaching that is once a week, that's $100/month. Not very many people have signed up for that. Like, 10. 12:47 Brad: It needs to be reassuringly expensive. I would never invest in $100 coaching. There are too many low-balled offers out there.  13:04 Suggestion: It probably doesn't feel worth it because there's only 10 people and it's a huge time investment. They would be better served it it was once a month. There's another level that would make it more worth it for all of you. They're probably not really investing in it, either.  13:41 Rosy: When I created it I was thinking it could be a step from the free Facebook group to the bigger program.  14:10 Suggestion: If it's worth it to you, great. But it seems like maybe you could start to resent it, because it's not worth your time.  14:13 Kit: The idea is the next level will be a $5,000 3-module program, on leadership. We're teaching them how to facilitate the events that we do. They come as paid-volunteers and we educated them a little more. So for part of their training, they do the group calls. Then people are paying for their free work.  15:15 Brad: Tony has an army of volunteers, but they have to have gone to his events before. They go through Leadership Academy. You could do that, but make it robust.  15:50 Suggestion: Delegation is important, you know. But there's something in the middle, too, that will serve them and give them great value, but is less of a time commitment.  16:19 Kit: I actually think our issue is not completely time freedom, it's scalability. We want more money. But we're afraid that we'll have to work more to get more money. So I think we're holding back on relaxing. 16:45 Suggestion: Time old limiting belief! But you know what to do now.  16:52 Brad: Have you considered hiring a scaling or growth consultant?  16:53 Rosy: No! We got as far as buying the book Scaling Up. Haven't read it.  17:08 Brad: It's scary because what's been working for you so far is both lucrative, but also handcuffs. It's too specific. Zoom out, and look at what other people are doing.  17:32 Kit: Yeah, I just want to do the things that I love to do.  17:55 Brad: I've helped companies in your position. We should talk. 17:59 Kit: All of our online systems are the Winchester Mystery of Click Funnels. It's a mess. 18:20 Suggestion: I write down a list of everything I do that day and I record screencasts of it. Then the first job of my assistant is to transfer that into an SOP, and create a PDF of my video, using screenshots and arrows, etc. My assistant has created a library of SOPs. All it took was me, the last time I wanted to do that job, was just record a screencast.  18:55 Rosy: That's amazing! We have an assistant would be awesome at that. 19:05 Brad: Something you do more than twice per month can be an SOP, and delegated. That makes the business bus-proof. When you hire somebody, tell them, if you ever leave, you need to train your replacement.  19:36 Question: What do you love doing?  19:37 Rosy: I love being a mom. I also still love doing shamanic healing work and incorporating that into my coaching. And I also creating the bond between out leadership team and strengthening that. I'm planning our first retreat.  20:06 Question: So how could you do more of that?  20:09 Rosy: I need to figure out the time balance between being a mom and doing the things I love. The retreat is in two weeks, and it will be my first weekend away from the baby.  20:29 Brad: You'll know better after it actually happens. 20:36 Rosy: I love these events, but they're exhausting.  20:45 Rosy: Sometimes we go to other countries. That would mean baby care for like a whole week. It's a lot. Figuring out how to make money off the events now is a whole other thing.  21:03 Brad: True freedom is choice. We can do it, we want to do it, great. Or not. There's a difference between running a business and having a bunch of jobs. Maybe right now you have a bunch of jobs.  21:53 Suggestion: Think about your son when you're making decisions. He'll learn from your model.    Three Key Points: Ask yourself what you love doing, then find the ways to be able to do more of that Create SOPs and delegate to your employees There's a difference between running a business and doing a lot of jobs

Stacy has two businesses: a digital online gardening business which helps people around the world grow herbs and vegetables; and life changing adventures for entrepreneurs. She's grateful for her beta on Circus of Entrepreneurs and the help from this group. It was an extraordinary experience.    01:49 Challenge: We have our big garden summit coming up this year for the garden business. This year we want 100,000 sign-ups. That will change lives, and the revenue from that will mean the business can be done for the year, so I can focus on the circus. What I need to get there: I have a lot of affiliates already, but want to ramp up the affiliate-wheel now. The event is in July. We have a great line and theme. And we knew if we hit our targets, we're golden. We're looking for more affiliates in health and wellness, gardening, podcasts, influencers in those fields to connect with. So, names, or what questions do you ask yourselves when you're finding the influencers that you're looking for?  03:10 Question: Your event is in July. You're looking for ways to get the information out there, or to connect with people who are able to support that event? 03:29 Yeah, any avenues. It's an online event. Could be anywhere in the world. So it could be influencers, podcasts, blogs, whoever has the most pull. 03:41 Question: Have you done your Dream 100 list?  03:43 I think we have a Dream 30 right now.  03:47 Question: Of those 30, how many have you contacted? 03:48 All 30. 03:52 Question: How many affiliates do you normally get? 03:56 We have about 600 affiliates, but we have 20 that are solid. 04:01 Question: How many sign-ups do you normally get?  04:03 In the past it's been much lower. We have all new affiliates. From our affiliates, we got 15,000 last year.  04:26 Question: What if you might already be at 100K signups, and you're questioning yourself? 04:31 That's a possibility. 04:38 Question: How many total leads do you need to be able to mail to, to get 100K based on your current conversion? 04:47 Page conversion is usually 67%. I think we worked it out; if I have 9 affiliates who have 250,000 people, then we reach 100,000. 05:09 Question: So the affiliates you're already after, what are you asking them? 05:20 No no, my question was what questions do you ask yourself when you're looking for your Dream 100? 05:28 Suggestion: Who are the biggest people in the space? The easiest way find that is to ask all the affiliate managers that have run big launches, who their top performers were. Even if they're not in your niche.  06:13 I save the leaderboard from all the launches and then I reach out to those folks with a 10% commission to the affiliate who connects us to a second affiliate. 06:19 That's standard. But are you reaching outside the garden space, as well?  06:23 Health and wellness. 06:25 Suggestion: Think about entrepreneurship, too. 06:30 Suggestion: Who here doesn't want superfood? That already resonates with me. Most people have some interest in improving their health.  06:46 Suggestion: This is an offer that might be surprising well out of your lists, because you've never pitched it before.  06:54 Question: Have you considered reaching out to mom influencers? The mom-bloggers? They're big.  07:02 I'm trying with Wellness Mama.  07:18 Question: So back to, what are you asking them, how are you approaching them? What is the strategy. 07:24 We try to find somebody in common and we get an introduction. If not, then we talk about the mission and how it supports their mission. Then the financials, how they benefit.  07:49 Suggestion: That seems like the golden nugget for you. Find a connection. Find a way to enhance your approach. Who already has an amazing ability to get affiliates?  08:29 I found the reverse, I'm trying to find this.  08:35 Suggestion: There's value in figuring out what they're doing; what they're saying and how they're saying it.  08:46 They all come to me for this.  08:56 Question: Have you looked at your clients? Their connections? All of our marketing comes from within. How many people have you worked with? 09:08 Tens, hundreds of thousands.  09:12 Question: How many of those people might have a connection to an influencer? Who have loved your program? 09:25 Brad: But that's why you've gotta bring it up. You can't presume anything. Get more into your Dream 100, and start connecting. Look at your top launches. You just need one big one. Have you tried clickbank and JVZoo?  09:52 I don't use those. What's the benefit? Everytime I try it just looks like garbage.  10:01 Brad: Yeah, but there are a lot of people who can promote. And they do billions of dollars in sales.  10:10 But they can change your price. But it's a good question, I don't know.  10:19 Brad: If anything you can field other top affiliates, and reach out to them. There's a huge underground industry of people. 10:36 I think that's my limiting belief; that I've always been at the top of the game and people come to me for advice. 10:46 Suggestion: Start thinking of the biggest badass you could reach out to to be on their show. Like Melissa DeMercini. Just one mention could get you 1,000 people.  11:02 Suggestion: The affiliates who are knocking it out of the park, who do they know who's also hitting it out of the park?  11:16 Brad: Look up Rebecca Wynn. She has 300,000 - 500,000 people in her Facebook group, Wymsical Gardens. I helped her get a book deal. Three Key Points:  Think outside your niche Find, then use, connection Write out your Dream 100, then start reaching out

Sharleen is an intuitive strategist. She just had one of the most synchronous weekends of her entire life, with her good friend Courtney.   01:23 Challenge: I'm creating my Facebook group and I'm struggling with the name. My marketing guy says it needs to be about intuition, that's my focus. He says it's about improving intuition. But improving points to the fact that it needs help, that it needs to be fixed. So I don't like that word. Expand your intuition is okay. But I don't quite have it yet. 01:47 Question: Who's it for? Who's the avatar? 01:55 Spiritually-driven entrepreneurs.  02:02 Brad: So why not like Intuition for Entrepreneurs? 02:02 That's what he said. 02:17 Brad: It works, it hits; people are looking for that keyword. You don't want a super long title.  02:25 Are people really searching for intuition for entrepreneurs, though? 02:28 Brad: Or how about The Intuitive Entrepreneur?  02:43 That's true, I can always change it later. But I want it to feel good. You just helped me make it feel good. So that works. 02:51 Secondary challenge: So I'm a healer, and I've done amazing healings, but I'm not able to heal myself. I have a bone growth, and I can only get it to 23% improvement. So I know I need surgery, and I'm asking for support. If anyone wants to help walk my dogs, I'd appreciate it. I can't be up doing anything for days.  04:00 Question: Are you open to having a house guest who could wait on your hand and foot, and also walk your dogs? 04:01 I am. It's hard, but I am.   Three Key Points: It's okay to ask for help. Ask for help. Using keywords in your name is okay. People are looking for keywords. You don't want a long name.

Paul is sale marketing specialist. He builds chat bots. He's starting a business in Southern California that offers discounted travel, tourist tickets, and activities, and incentivizes people who do good in the world, whether it be recycling, mindfulness, or other do-good challenges. He's celebrating a move, and streamlining his budget. He's 14 days sober from caffeine.    02:24 Challenge: Making money while continuing to refine my business, make it more profitable, and get some seed investment. I need to expand; that feels good. It's not currently paying the bills; that doesn't feel good. How do I pitch myself as a valuable asset and not somebody who will just jump ship after I get seed funding or if I get a better job? 03:26 Question: So you don't want to be read as somebody who would jump ship, but is that what would happen? 03:39 So with the personal assistant thing, that is not my desire. I wouldn't want to do that for too long. There are other jobs, though, if it's in alignment with sales, I could see myself doing that even with 100K seed investment to grow my business. But if I get 3 million, then yeah, I'll jump ship.  04:15 Question: Is it any of your employer's business what you do with your time when you're not there? Do they care about results and outcomes?  04:38 I have a stacked resume. I think maybe I should tone it down?  04:49 Question: How many months runway do you have? Could you use the seed funding as a loan that you repay yourself? 05:18 I have 55% growth, but it's still not paying the bills. I'm not far enough in seed stages to ask for a loan. I have interested parties, and good mentors, but I'm not quite there yet. 05:48 Question: How many interviews have you been on, and how much more do you need to grow to pay your bills? 06:00 I need maybe 3X or 4X. If I'm riskier with my advertising, then my income is even further diminished.  06:19 Question: What's the leapfrog? What gets you the most exposure possible in the least amount of time? What's an exponential strategy? 06:27 Influencer. But I wanted more activities to offer, and higher profit margins.  06:50 Question: Why not reach out to your influencer friends now?  06:59 Some parts of the platform aren't there yet. It's still very beta.  07:13 Question: You introduced yourself as a chatbot person, marketing. But you have this business that you're getting seed funding for, the travel business. But you also want another job as a personal assistant or something just for income.  07:41 Probably more like ad management or marketing/sales for a side hustle. I'm stuck now because I focused on getting a good run-rate, rather than seed-funding.  08:00 What's a good run rate? 08:03 Sales.  08:10 Question: Out of all the outcomes, which one gives you the most fuel, the most passion, energy, that you really believe is possible?  08:27 Getting seed funding in the next 60 days will be challenging. 08:36 Question: Is that really true? 08:39 Maybe not.  08:42 So how does it serve you to make it challenging when you know it's possible? What are you afraid of, if you were ultimately really successful?  08:52 Probably that I'd have to show up.  08:59 Suggestion: You like the freedom that you have right now. Maybe look at that. The only thing keeping you from getting funding is your fear of success. Can't you delegate?  09:26 Yes. 09:31 Question: So that story about you having to show up, is that really true? 09:32 No. It's encouraging and exciting to up my level. I already tapped into my 401K, the now-money is blinding. 09:51 Question: So what's keeping you from getting the seed-funding tomorrow?  09:55 My belief.  10:00 Question: So when are you willing to trade the belief that it's not working for the belief that it will work? They take the same amount of effort and focus. You're probably actually afraid of more freedom that you'll actually have in the end. Be deliberate with asking. Be ready for the no. A no isn't a failure.   Three Key Points: The only thing keeping you from getting funding is your fear of success. Go to work; be deliberate with your asking, but also prepare yourself for the no. A no is not a failure. 

Stacy has two businesses. She helps people grow vegetables and herbs and she provides adventures for entrepreneurs. Her first event is Friday. She's grateful that the details are coming together beautifully.    01:46 Challenge: I'm thinking about long term wealth. I want to invest in something, real estate, shipping container, etc. Any advice? 02:22 Question: When you say shipping container, what do you mean? 02:24 Or storage unit. I've heard that people can buy storage facilities. Or shipping containers.  02:40 Question: So you're looking for a long-term investment with cash flow that you could either grow or maintain and then maybe sell for profit? What's your capital entry point? 03:00 I'm thinking ahead. Is it possible at around $10K?  03:05 Totall. Buy a gumball machine. Or arcade machine. Or an ATM that dispenses bitcoins. It depends on your risk-tolerance, how much capital you have. Do you want to diversify, or just do one thing? How do you envision this going? Let's talk it out.  03:47 Typically I like diversity, but in this case I might want to nail one thing, and make it easy. I'm all about making my life easier lately. I want it to have a good management already.  04:09 Question: So buying into a model? Who do you know who's been successful at this?  04:17 That's why I'm asking.  04:22 Do you know Pat Flynn? He's a great resource. He's thought about it from every angle and has a ton of students. He has a podcast and following. That being said, there are so many things you could do. Laundromats, car washes, real estate. It's a question of scale. Shy away from food. It's highly competitive, margins are thin. Figure out what you don't want to do, that will help narrow it down. 05:14 Suggestion: I have an investor who buys properties out of state, in good school districts, buy-ins are lower than in California, maybe $18-20K, paid off within 8-10 years, then you cashflow. But then you own real estate.  05:52 Question: Have you owned real estate before? 05:51 Yes. 06:03 Suggestion: Do you know anybody who's doing something that excites you?  06:06 No, nobody. 06:08 Question: Have you read Money Master The Game? Start with Unshakable. My only thought with try one thing and nail it is then you put all your eggs in one basket. Leverage the Redalio Principle, 8-10 unrelated things. You want low-risk when you're just starting out.  07:22 Suggestion: My own investing strategy has changed a lot. From nothing, to stocks, to trading options, to running a hedge fund, now I'm super risk-averse and I only buy with the intent to hold things forever. Ultimately I realized I don't have the patience to figure out too many things. It's not just the money; it's the time, energy, and attention. There are no real handoff asset investments. There's always some maintenance and upkeep.  08:34 That might be the way to go.  08:43 Suggestion: Build your next business ready to sell.  08:52 Suggestion: Listen to your intuition telling you to diversify.  09:21 Suggestion: The people who tend to do really well at this are typically really quiet. Otherwise there's no edge. A lot of people pretend to be good at it and teach everybody else, but they're not really that good. But they're making money because they're selling the dream. The quiet operators really make the money. I don't have that kind of discipline.   Three Key Points: As a first-time investor, think about diversification The best investors are quiet about their secrets; be wary of someone selling ideas There's no such thing as a totally hands-off investment; everything will require at least some form of maintenance.