AMY PORTERFIELD: Well hey there, welcome back to another episode of The Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I’m your host, Amy Porterfield. Today’s mini training is all about the questions we ask ourselves when it comes to our business success or lack thereof.
This entire episode is modeled after one of my very favorite quotes from, surprise surprise, Tony Robbins. Here’s the quote. You’ve got to listen up here, “Successful people ask better questions and as a result they get better answers.”
I don’t know about you but I have to really check myself when it comes to negative self talk. Sometimes that negative self talk is secretly disguised as these questions I ask myself. It turns out the questions are actually soul sucking and sometimes you don’t even know it.
I have to admit in my early days of growing my business these questions and the negative self talk was even louder, especially when I took the leap and went out on my own.
I’m guessing that some of you can totally relate to what we’re going to dive into today.
To help me tackle this ultra important topic I’ve asked my own mentor and former business coach, Marie Forleo, to help me make this into something extremely tangible, something really actionable.
Let me tell you, she delivered ten fold so you’re in for an entrepreneurial mindset makeover. That’s what I think today is all about.
Hear me out here. I believe being a successful entrepreneur is mostly about managing your mindset. That’s why I feel today’s episode is such a must listen to episode.
Here’s my philosophy and this is what I know to be true in my world. I know many ultra successful online entrepreneurs who are not necessarily the smartest in their market or niche.
They don’t have the best content, they’re not even amazing teachers of the content they have created, but they are incredibly popular, respected by the masses, and incredibly profitable. They’re not the best of the best but they have amazing success and really do make an impact in their audience’s lives.
How is this to be true? Because, and I paid close attention to this, these people have mastered the mindset of an entrepreneur. Although it might seem crazy, often how you think is sometimes even more important than all of the other strategies you’re hustling to do in your business.
When you have the right mindset anything’s possible. You become incredibly resourceful, incredibly connected because you’re likeable and people want to be around you, and things start to happen. I’ve seen it over and over again.
Here’s how today’s episode’s going to break down. I’ve spent some time going through all of my Facebook groups that many of you were in and I went through tons of emails that I’ve gotten over the last year or so.
I came up with five questions I felt were low-value questions we often ask ourselves. I have definitely asked these questions. I call them low-value questions because they really equate to negative self talk and you might not even know it.
I often say these questions are soul sucking and they make us feel we’re not cut out for this entrepreneurial life. There’s nothing good about these five questions we often ask ourselves as we’re growing our business.
Then I put these five questions in front of Marie and asked her to make them over. I asked her to turn them into what will literally lead us down the road to bigger results and successes in our business; give me better questions to ask. That’s the challenge I put in front of her.
At this point you might be asking yourself if a question really determines your success. In many cases it does. Wait until we dive in and I think it will paint a really clear picture of how we need to change some of the self talk.
Before we dive into the details with Marie I want to share three announcements with you. I’ll make this quick.
Today’s training with Marie is for everyone or anyone that is working their buns off to build a business online. There’s something for all of my listeners today and that includes you.
In addition to this mindset makeover you are about to hear I wanted to tell you that just today Marie released a free video training. If you missed the free video training last year I highly recommend you don’t miss out on it this year.
I definitely think Marie’s free video training that she just released answers a question I get asked all the time. Since we’re talking about questions today this is a perfect alignment.
The question I get asked all the time is, “How do I know I’m working on the right strategies and focusing on the right things in my business?” Her video series answers this question in detail.
I think it’s important to know what’s working right now, what’s worth your time and focus, and how to get things moving in the right direction. So, Marie’s three-part free video series is literally going to give you specifics about online marketing and I highly encourage you to check it out.
It’s only available for a short time. There is no hyper there, really, it’s coming down soon. All you need to do is go to http://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/Marie. If you’re listening to this and it’s already been taken down, don’t worry, it will come around next year.
For those of you who are listening now, don’t miss it because I promise it’s worth every minute of your time.
The second thing I wanted to let you know is that I fully acknowledge that over the next few weeks as Marie talks about her free video series and then begins to talk about her acclaimed, very popular online training program, B-School, that you’re going to be hearing a lot about it.
There are a lot of people that start to talk about B-School. They’ve been through it, they love it, and I just want to let you know that I acknowledge there’s going to be a lot of chatter around it.
Here’s the deal as it relates to me and why I talk about. Marie was my very first mentor. She was the one that actually helped me take the leap from leaving Tony Robbins, leaving corporate, and going out on my own.
She was also there when I needed encouragement to take the leap and end my one- on-one consulting clients and move into this online training model that I have amazing success with those. I have a lot of admiration for the guidance and training that Marie gave me to make these two huge leaps in my business. I am directly connected to her in that way.
As I mentioned, today’s the first day she is releasing this free video series and you’re going to hear a lot about B-School. It’s quite a thing. If you’ve never experienced it before, get ready.
What I want to say to you is if you watch the video series and maybe you check out B- School when Marie opens her program in a few weeks and it’s not for you, great. Just ignore the chatter and just don’t pay attention anymore.
If you’re curious then come on this journey with us. I just wanted to put that out there.
The final thing I wanted to tell you before I bring on Marie is that because I’m going to share a bunch of personal business-building stories related to how I’ve used B-School to create the business I have today, I want to share those stories with people that genuinely want to hear about them and people who are genuinely curious about B- School.
I’d hate to be talking about B-School all over the web to many of you who might not have any interest at all. So I’m very aware of that. I asked myself the best way to attract the right audience for those curious about B–School and also feel really comfortable freely sharing my stories, insights, and feedback.
You know it feels good when you’re sharing with people that genuinely want to hear it. So I decided to open a pop-up Facebook group. I talked about this last week so you might have heard me mention it if you caught last week’s episode.
For those of you who don’t know what a pop-up group is, it’s basically a temporary Facebook group that is laser focused in on one topic and is usually live for a certain period of time. In this case I’m going to laser focus on my experience and knowledge of B-School.
I’m going to share a lot of training and a lot of insights that I think, whether you buy B-School or not, you will find really valuable if you’re curious about the whole program and the free videos she’s putting out. If you’re curious about the content I think you’re going to love my pop-up group.
The group is called B-School Breakthroughs: 30-Days of Diving Into The Details with Amy Porterfield. That’s the official name. If you want to join me there all you need to do is request an invite. Go to http://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/popup and it will take you to the Facebook group.
Just request to join and pretty soon, within that day, my team will get you into the group. It’s only for those that are curious about B-School, who want to hear my stories, who want to see how I’ve applied the strategies before they even venture into thinking about joining B-School. That’s what it’s all about.
Here’s the cool thing, and then I’m going to get right to Marie, I’m doing tons of live video. Now that I feel more comfortable on live video I’m a little bit addicted. You’ll see me on live video a few times a week in the special pop-up group.
I’ll be sharing, like I said, feedback and insight and details related to my own story and B-School. I am also an affiliate partner, obviously, so I’ll share the bonus package I put together that’s always extra special every year. It’s brand new this year.
I’ve also invited some of the alumni of B-School who went through my bonus experience tied to the whole B-School program because I want them to share what their journey looked like and how they used B-School, what successes they’ve had.
Because this is going to be a smaller group, I feel a lot of people will be seen and heard and you’ll get that value you’re looking for. Again, go to http:// amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/popup. If you want to join the group it’s only for 30 days and then it totally goes away.
I hope to see you there because if I’m going to do live video I want to do it for people that genuinely want to hear about this topic.
Are you ready to dive in? Let’s bring on Marie.
Amy: Marie Forleo! Thanks so much for coming back on the show!
Marie: Amy Porterfield, thank you for having me.
Amy: I am so excited about today. I’ve been looking forward to it all weekend because this topic is so, so freaking good. I can’t wait to dive into it. But before we even get into it I want you to talk about the “why”.
Why do you think Tony’s insight about asking better questions is crucial to radically improving your business?
Marie: This is important to talk about because, I’ll tell you, questions really are everything. The first reason it’s so important is because our brains are really like computers. If you give your brain a question, any question, it has got to come up with an answer because our brains just hate open loops.
If you really pay attention to how you think, you’ll know this to be true whether you’re sitting there watching the news and they give you some great hook about learning XYZ, “Do you have the right things in your kitchen or not?”
Your brain starts to see that you didn’t want to watch but now you have to watch because there’s an open loop and you want to close the loop. Just like a computer our brains are like this, if you put garbage in (meaning low-value, crappy questions and disempowering questions) you’re going to get garbage out (meaning low-value, crappy answers and disempowering answers).
The second reason questions are so vital, because questions really are the root of our entire lives, the questions we ask ourselves on a moment-to-moment basis really determine what we focus on. And what we focus on determines how we feel. Very often, how we feel determines what we do.
I have an example of this. Just yesterday I was trying to catch a flight and trying to get back to Los Angeles from the East Coast. I usually don’t have connecting flights because I don’t like them. They can create a lot of havoc and stress and chaos.
But I had to because it was the only flight available. Of course, my connecting flight, the first leg of it, was going to be late because there was a mechanical problem. So I knew it was going to create a cascading effect of me probably not getting home and taking 12 hours when it should have been a six-hour trip.
I called the airline and asked what was happening and whether they could help me out. I asked if I needed to change my connecting flight because it looked like we weren’t going to make it.
The advisor said I could be booked on the next flight. There was only one seat left so she helped me get it arranged. I was disappointed because it was going to extend the trip but when a flight is delayed and there is a mechanical error you just don’t know what you don’t know.
I finally got on the first leg of the plane and we were heading to the second destination. I realized we were making up time. I thought, “Darn it. I bet you I could have caught that first gate and it would have saved me five or six hours.”
The way I’ve wired myself, Amy, and this is how I operate in every area of my life, I start asking how I could get back on the original flight. What could I possibly do? You have to get that I’m 30,000 feet up in the air. You can’t call customer service from 30,000 feet in the air.
I got online and started texting everyone I knew to see who was around and who could pick up the phone for me to call customer service on my behalf and get my butt back on the first plane so I could get home sooner.
The question I was asking was “How can I get home as fast as possible? What do I need to do right now despite these circumstances to get home?”
My brain started coming up with answers. That’s how I figured out if I could just get in touch with someone…the gentleman next to me was freaking out. All he was doing was looking at his phone saying he couldn’t do anything.
He was getting a little angry with the stewardesses/flight attendants to ask if they could help him or call ahead. I was like, “Listen dud, can you just get in touch with someone on the outside? They can call for you.”
I know that’s a simple example but the more you train yourself to start asking better, more empowering, smarter questions it has an impact on every area of your life.
If you start with disempowering questions about your business you’re going to take disempowering actions and develop disempowering habits.
The last thing I want to say about this, Amy, this isn’t just something you notice once. I’m so happy folks are listening today and perhaps are saying to themselves, “Yeah, that’s right,” or, “That kind of makes sense.” You can’t just expect change to happen from listening to this podcast once.
It does not work that way. You’ve got to get into the habit of asking yourself better, smarter questions about your business on a consistent basis. If you take what Amy and I are going to talk about today and make it a ritual I guarantee you, before you know it, you will have a completely different business and a completely different life.
Amy: That’s so very true. When you were talking about being on the plane and what you did I thought that when you start asking yourself better questions and get better answers you become a whole lot more resourceful.
That’s another thing I learned from Tony. I know we have that connection, but being resourceful in your business puts you way ahead of the competition. Most people, surprisingly, are not. I feel this leads right into being more resourceful.
We are going to jump into these questions. Marie and I did research in advance. It was really fun going back and forth and talking about what we know a lot of our students and community are struggling with and we put those into these disempowering and empowering questions.
We’re kind of going to do a facelift or makeover of some of the questions you typically are asking yourself. We’ve been right there with you so we get it.
The first low-value question is: What if no one buys what I’m selling?
I’ve been there, especially in the early years. What if no one buys what I’m selling? When I put that in front of Marie she came back to me with what I call Marie’s high- value question. Give it to us.
Marie: Rather than asking, “What if no one buys what I’m selling” you have to change that question to, “What can I offer that will truly serve the market I’m focused on serving?”
Let me say that one more time in case you want to write it down, “What can I offer that will truly serve the market I’m focused on serving?”
The big mistake that many of us make, Amy again I’ve made this many times in my life so I’m not Moses coming down from the mountain here, I just learn from experience. The big mistake that we all can make is to fall in love with our product or service rather than falling in love with our customer.
Amy: Oh, that’s so good. I’ve so been there. I get it.
Marie: We get so excited about what we’re creating and that’s completely understandable. We want to do a good job and we start thinking about all the features and how it’s going to look and feel and all of those things like the price. But we kind of let our customer and who they are and how we can truly make a difference to them almost fall to the background.
There’s one great story I love to tell about how you can start to think about this and not only will this help you think about an offer that will truly serve the market you’re focused on serving.
By the way, there’s a distinction there because another sub mistake/subtext is that a lot of people, especially when they’re first starting out and are asking what if no one buys what I’m selling, they are thinking about too broad of a market. They’re trying to reach everybody.
I love to teach people that if you’re talking to everybody you’re talking to nobody. The story I’m about to tell will help you see how focusing in on a specific market helps you get further faster.
There’s a legendary story about an entrepreneur that I think most of us know and love, Richard Branson. It goes back to the origin of Virgin Airlines. If anyone listening has ever had the pleasure of being on Virgin Airlines and experiencing their customer service, it’s extraordinary.
Amy: It is, truly.
Marie: When those guys were just getting started he and his team thought about what the typical airline experience and what the typical airline customer goes through. In other words, these guys were their own market.
These men and women flew airplanes all the time and started asking themselves a high-value question, with a little spin on it, “What about commercial air travel these days frustrates and irritates us?”
They asked what really pisses us off. What could we do differently and better than anyone else? How could we create an airline that we would truly love to fly?
They literally sat down and started making a list of everything about air travel at that time in history that just completely irritated them and that they couldn’t stand. It was things like when they got on an airplane some of the flight attendants were kind of cranky.
They didn’t have particularly pulled together outfits. When you went on the airplane the seats weren’t very comfortable. They were tiny and small. The entertainment systems were either nonexistent or of low quality. And you kind of had to wait to get snacks until the little cart came down the aisle to give you a snack.
The lighting was kind of poor. There was no vibe in there. So what they did was take a list of all of those things that irritated them about the airline service and what really got airline customers upset and asked how they could change it.
They just started ticking down the list. They created nice, comfortable leather seats. If you’ve ever been on Virgin you know they have really cool lighting and fog that comes out. Their flight attendants are always happy.
Some of the in-flight videos they play at the beginning.
Amy: They are good. They are so good there.
Marie: They are super fun. And you can get snacks on demand. There’s good music and good vibes.
Amy: The headphones are amazing.
Marie: Exactly! So rather than thinking, “What if no one buys our airline tickets,” all they did was focus on how they could offer something that would truly serve the market they were focused on serving.
They happened to be a member of that market and that’s another key tip that gives you a huge advantage.
Amy: For sure. So I love what you said. When we put this back into our own businesses you want to ask the question, “What can I offer that will truly serve the market I’m focusing on?”
I also love this other thing, kind of to mix it up again, what pisses us off about this industry or the product or service and the way it’s usually done? That made me think about a product I created and actually now kind of how I do all of my products.
I started to hear early on that people got into “so and so” course and they teach the whole concept but still don’t know “how” to do it. They don’t know the steps they need to take to make the technology work or to make it work inside their email service provider.
Now all of my courses have a tech library where I walk them through how to do it and not just what to do. I feel that’s really set me apart from other people and I do think that asking this question differently has shaped my business so I’m so glad you brought it up.
We’re moving on because we’ve got five of these to go for. The low-value question that we see pop up a lot is so good…What if they think I’m a fraud?
This one comes up so much, especially for those that are ditching their nine-to-five and are starting something new or have a side hustle so they’re not totally all in yet. But it also comes up for people that have been in the business a few years and are still feeling like they’re not making traction because there is a confidence issue.
Again, they are starting to wonder if people will think they are a fraud. When I put this in front of you, Marie, tell us your high-value question instead.
Marie: Here we go, are you ready guys?
Amy: I’m ready.
Marie: How can I focus all of my attention on serving my customers’ deepest needs, wants, and desires? In other words, there’s another way to say it, how can I direct all of my attention on increasing the quality of life for my customers?
Let’s break this down. Every single creator I know, and now I have had the honor of working with over 30,000 small business owners through B-School and reaching millions through our show, Marie TV, I see this all the time and I will tell you every single creator who consistently takes risks, shares their ideas, people who produce work feel fear and self doubt.
I feel fear and self doubt on a daily basis and I’ve done this for almost two decades.
Amy: Right.
Marie: Reality check here. These daily battles don’t go away with time or experience or even massive fame. There is an incredible story about Adele who most of us know is a Grammy award-winning artist. She has talked publicly about projectile vomiting on someone in Brussels.
There was another time she was in Amsterdam when she got so terrified and there was so much fear in her that she actually left out the fire exit. She escaped.
Amy: Oh my gosh, I’ve never heard that.
Marie: Yeah. Again, she’s talked publicly about this. It’s just really important for all of us to understand that when we’re having those ideas we’re not alone and it’s not necessarily true. There is a fix and we’re going to talk about that.
I want you to think about your attention, your mental, emotional, and spiritual energy. Think about it like a flashlight. That flashlight can only shine in one direction.
In any given moment that flashlight is either shining in on your and how insecure you are, how afraid you are that you’re a fraud, how afraid you are that people are going to think you’re either disingenuous or pompous or not qualified enough or whatever the language is that happens inside your mind.
Or, you are shining that flashlight out on your customer. You are looking to how to better take care of their needs. Or you are simply completely engaged with doing the work that is in service to your customer.
Here’s the thing, when you shine that flashlight in on you all of your focus goes to your thoughts and that probably sounds something like, “Gosh, if I put this out there, if I share this, if I promote this, if I all this person I’m going to look like an idiot and no one’s going to like this. I’m not good enough. My stuff is crap.”
Then all of the sudden an hour or two hours go by and you probably look at some competitor site and down the rabbit hole you go. However, when your light is shining out, all of your attention is on your customer and what they feel and what they want, what they need, and most importantly how you can help them, you’re totally in flow and making progress.
Here’s the thing, no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. Another way to say that is: When your flashlight is focused out on them you have zero light focused in on yourself. That means all of the fears and self doubts and ideas about being a fraud are virtually nonexistent. They fade and recede so far into the background that you don’t even feel them.
Obviously Amy, this is not a one-time event. This is something you have to practice and you have to come back to everyday on a moment to moment basis. If you ever catch yourself asking a low-value question you become aware of it, “What if they think I’m a fraud,” or “what if people hate it,” catch yourself in that moment and ask where you are shining your light.
It is either on you or it’s on your customer. It is either on you or it is on actually doing the work. Most importantly, it’s either on you or making a difference to others.
Amy: That’s so good. Where am I shining the light? I like that. It’s like a stop gap question to turn things around. It’s so good.
Marie: Instantly.
Amy: Instantly, yep. I love it. I’m hijacking/interrupting this interview because when Marie was live with me I had a thought but didn’t want to interrupt the whole flow so I decided to come back with it.
As Marie was going through the made over questions it came to me that it would be really cool if you had a cheat sheet where every single low-value and high-value question was on one sheet right in front of you.
I asked my designer, Jess, to put it all into a one pager, and make it look really good; something that you could print out and put in front of you and as you go down to negative town with low-value questions you would see Marie’s made over questions right in front of you.
I think resources like that keep us on track. So if you want this one-page cheat sheet with all the low-value and high-value questions as a reminder for you I’ve put it into the pop-up group I talked about in the intro. You don’t have to opt in for it or anything like that.
If you’re in the pop-up group I’m going to pin it to the top. You can click a link and download it instantly, print it out, and have it in front of you. If you want those it’s in the pop-up group at http://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/popup.
Let’s go ahead and jump back in. We’re moving on to our low-value question #3. I say this on all of them, but they are so good because they are so true for so many of us.
I don’t have enough {blank} so how could I possibly compete against others in my market? Just fill in the blank. I don’t have enough experience, I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough money, I don’t have enough know how, I don’t have enough exposure. Whatever it is we’ve all said it one time or another.
I don’t have enough whatever so how can I possibly compete? What is your high-value question to make over this low-value question?
Marie: Amy, this is one of my favorite questions.
Amy: Right, I knew it would be.
Marie: It’s the one you can ask and I’ll tell you it applies not only to a business but to every area of you life, your relationships, your health, your family, your kids, everything.
Here’s the question. Definitely write this one down. Tattoo it on yourself if you need to. How would I behave if I was the best in the world at what I did?
Before we unpack this question I just want to talk for a second about another very disempowering, low-value mental habit that so many of us have. I have had to curb this in my own life and it’s most prevalent in the beginning but it can also rear its ugly head as you continue on your journey and reach different levels of success.
We’re just going to dive into this for a moment. It’s about comparing yourself to others. This is what I call, Amy, doing shots of compare schlager.
Amy: I’ve taken a few of those shots.
Marie: Most of us have. I went to college in New Jersey at a little small Catholic school, Seton Hall University, back in the day. I remember there was a horrible liquor that basically had gold flecks in it and it was cinnamon flavored. It was disgusting.
Amy: Horrible. I don’t even know why we would have ever even tried it. It was horrible.
Marie: These are the things that some of us do when we are in our early 20s. It was called Goldschlager. I just remember back in those days, I was one of those people in high school that was a clean, good girl. I didn’t do anything so when I got to college that was my experience.
I was like, “Alcohol! This is new,” and I remember just doing way too many shots of this disgusting gold stuff and then, of course, having my little throw up session in the bushes. It wasn’t pretty and wasn’t cute but, again, many of us had to have that experience in our life and thankfully we have maybe grown out of it.
I’ll tell you, what happens if you’ve ever done too many shots of anything you feel horrible. You are off your game for days. You are always losing time. You’re damaging your body and all that kind of stuff.
Doing shots of compare schlager, which is what happens when you go down the rabbit hole of looking at other people whether they are your peers or people you consider mentors or folks you admire, people you consider competitors you are off your game for days.
You lose time, you lose energy, you lose respect for yourself, you’re not moving anything forward. And, it’s just a losing proposition. Just to be fair, there are people that thrive on competition. I will tell you I think those are rare birds. I haven’t met anyone who thrives in that kind of zone long term.
I will tell you, even if you do thrive on competition I will still make the argument that a high-value question is, “How would I behave if I was the best in the world with what I did?” I think that will give you superior, more creative, more innovative results because instead of being reactive to someone else you’re going to be bettering your best.
If we really look at that question, “How would I behave if I was the best in the world at what I did,” let’s break it down and make it really simple. What time would you wake up in the morning? Would you look at your phone as the first thing and go into your email or social media feeds or would you get up and meditate, exercise, eat something healthy, or go for a walk outside?
How would you schedule your days if you were the best in the world at what you did? How would you determine what you say “yes” to or say “no” to? What would you feed your body in terms of the food you eat? Who would be the people you would associate with? What’s the kind of energy you would allow in your space?
You can just take this question anywhere you want to go and it will inform so much that will help you reach new levels of excellence that you can’t even imagine just from this one question.
Amy: That’s so good. I feel that might be my favorite one of all time, of all five of them, because I probably struggle with it the most and I definitely did in the early days. I’m so glad you brought that up. And I think most people can relate to puking in the bushes in the college days. Let’s be honest.
Let’s move on to the next one. This is the low-value question #4. This is taking way too long. Why am I not finding success more quickly? I feel this one comes really quickly after you take the shot of compare schlager because you compare yourself and then ask why you aren’t finding success like “they” are? It took them two days but it’s taking you forever.
So, when I put it in front of you how did you transform this one?
Marie: Here’s your high-value question to replace that one. How can I add more value and help increase the quality of someone’s life today?
There are a couple of little nuances I want to unpack. How can I add more value and help increase the quality of someone’s life today? What often happens when we
compare ourselves is we are seeing someone with huge reach or someone that has enormous numbers.
Especially when you’re trying to get traction and you want to get yourself good moment, no matter where you are in your business, you have to realize business is person to person. Increasing the quality of someone’s life today means you are asking who on your potential customer list or in your world in terms of partners or vendors or affiliates or whomever you can just reach out to and increase the quality of their life.
Maybe you are sending them a beautiful text. Maybe it is sending them a hand- written card. Maybe it’s checking in with a customer to see if they need anything else. You don’t necessarily always have to think, “Oh my goodness, how do I change 100 million people’s lives?”
That can sometimes be fun. If you want to keep it simple and get yourself some momentum, which is exactly what you need rather than feeling it is taking way too long, you have to get yourself into action right now.
Here’s the thing, Amy, there is no set timeline for success and there’s no such thing as overnight success.
Amy: Amen.
Marie: From what I’ve seen I think people expect way too much from themselves and their business in the first year or two or, in my case, it was more like five or six years. They give up way before it gets really good.
I will tell you I had five jobs for seven years before I felt confident enough to go full time with my business. Actually, over the weekend I was just reading an email from a B-Schooler, one of our clients and customers, who joined the program three years ago.
About a year and a half in she was about to give up. She went into the community and was posting that she was about to give up. She knew she was onto something but started to lose hope.
Myself, along with the community, all kind of supported her to dig in deeper and she got a lot of support from other business owners. All of the sudden she started to keep going and her business started to take off.
This woman went from having no list, no business, no presence, no clue what she was doing to now doing her first $60,000 month. It completely transformed her entire world.
That didn’t happen in two weeks. That happened after three years and of her being on the verge of quitting. Now, can you imagine, just think about this Amy, if she quit? What if she had given up?
Amy: That’s what I was just thinking. Let’s say one year in she is like, “This is taking too long. Why is it taking too long?” What if her answer was that she couldn’t do it and wasn’t cut out for it and needed to go back to her 9-to-5. It could have been so bad.
Marie: Right. Think about that. Can you believe how many people don’t have patience? They wind up quitting before things start to really click. I think it’s devastating.
I don’t believe people realize how close they are to having wealth and happiness and the fulfillment they want because they let their impatience dominate their discipline.
Here’s the thing, when you focus on how you can add more value to help increase the quality of people’s lives today what you’re really doing is shifting your focus to an area of business you can control versus one you can’t.
Here’s the truth, none of us can predict how long success, however we define that word, is going to take. We all know this. The moment you kind of have one goal in front of you and start making progress towards it that horizon line shifts. It moves back. It’s always going to move back.
That’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing. That keeps us growing. So yes, we can work hard. We can stay disciplined. But we cannot control when thing will take off, whatever that means to you.
We can control when we begin to reach that critical mass of customers and our business starts to take on a life of its own. Trying to control something like that, Amy, is like trying to control the weather. I don’t if any of you have tried to predict the weather but good luck on that one.
Amy: Right.
Marie: The only outcome, really, that we can control and the place where I believe we will find the most satisfaction, the most growth, the most fulfillment, and ironically it’s actually the fastest route to success, is if we stay focused every single day one day at a time on adding value to our customers and changing their lives.
Simple actions are an area of life that we’re always in control of. We can always look for a way to get to know our customers better, to demonstrate we care, to reach out, ask for referrals, do something that will surprise and delight them.
If those activities, the things you can control, remain your number one focus and that’s where all of your energy goes let me tell you something, you are not going to be able to stop success from coming to you in every definition of that word.
You are going to find it financially, you are going to feel it emotionally, and you’re going to emanate it spiritually.
Amy: Okay. When I was looking over my notes I was thinking this one question, “This is taking too long. Why am I not finding success more quickly,” definitely relates back to comparing.
On top of that question, something else that comes about really quickly after is, “Why didn’t I get into this online marketing game earlier?” This is such a specific question but it really does come up for so many people because the whole thing with online marketing, there are so many moving parts and you don’t know where to start so it gets really confusing.
When people start to beat themselves up they start asking why they didn’t get into it sooner because it would have been so much easier. This is our final low-value question that really doesn’t serve us.
When I put this in front of you what did you come up with?
Marie: Here is a belief I live my life by. It served me from when I was a tiny little girl and I hope it will serve me until my last breath. How can I make ongoing education a non- negotiable habit so I’m constantly improving my business and my life?
Amy, this is so, so important. We know this to be true. We know it instinctively. Sometimes we don’t practice it. If you’re not growing your…
Amy: Dying.
Marie: Dying. This is true in our health. This is true in our most important relationships and it is especially true in our business. When I look back it feels like marketing has changed more in the past five years than it has in the past 50. I don’t know if you see that too.
Amy: That’s so true, very true.
Marie: The only way you’re going to be able to keep your business growing and thriving and evolving is if you really make a commitment to constant and never- ending improvement.
The key to thriving right now and in the future as it relates to marketing and every aspect of your business, you’ve got to make ongoing education a habit. It’s that simple. Do not make it anymore complicated than that.
It’s not just about education though. Lots of people can go take a workshop or put themselves in some kind of course. They will sign up for something online. They expect to learn by osmosis. That’s not going to happen.
I also want to say that I love that people are listening to this podcast right now. This is a form of online education. This is a form of really feeding your mind. But you have to do more than that. You’ve got to go further.
You’ve got to either get training from a strong coach or a strong teacher. You have to really learn or challenge yourself to integrate it into your life. You can’t just passively absorb it. You’ve got to take action and apply it so that it will work for you.
Just to reveal a little bit about our business, man, I can’t stop learning. I spend such an enormous amount of time and effort and money every single year to try to learn new things.
I’m always going to conferences. If I can’t get there in person I sign up to get the videos. I am talking with people and learning from others any which way that I can. We’re always experimenting with new strategies and ideas in our business. We do a lot behind the scenes.
Some things work and some things don’t. Great. Just learn something. I think one of the keys that has really helped me and I want to pass this along is that you have to find a handful of people you trust who are really a match for your learning style and energy.
I consider you one of the most clear, inspiring, on-point teachers our there today.
Amy: Oh my gosh.
Marie: It really is the truth. When I speak with folks, and I have a chance to connect with a lot of people, that’s one of the beautiful things about what I do, the reviews that come in about you are just extraordinary. It’s like, “That’s my girl! That’s Amy. I love her.”
My point is this. So many people respond to you and they love you because of your energy and style and clarity. Obviously not everybody in the world loves you and not everyone in the world loves me. But that’s beautiful. There are more than seven billion people on the planet.
You have to find some coaches and teachers and trainers who just, for whatever reason, their energy matches yours and they get you fired up and get you in action. Always try and find those people.
For me, no matter what thing I sign up for, even if the entire experience is something you’re hoping to get 100% out of it and some of the things don’t apply, I will tell you I always get value. There is usually one little nugget or one insight or one something that leads me on a new path to growth.
The final thing I will say about this one, I think it’s more true than ever, change is a constant in business and life. Telling yourself you are too far behind and asking why you didn’t get into the online marketing game earlier is irrelevant.
You don’t even have to worry about it. Things that were going on ten years ago or six years ago have changed. You don’t even have to learn them. Asking that low-value question of why you didn’t start sooner is honestly just a cop out to say safe.
You want to think about this way, the bottom line is you never want to give up on a business dream because of the time you think it’s going to get caught up or get going. The time is going to pass anyway.
Amy: That’s so true. As you were going through this one it reminded me of something years ago that happened with us. I think I must have been at home and I called you about something.
I’m talking about a lot of years ago. Even five or six years ago I looked at you as having it all together in your business. You knew exactly what you were doing. Things were growing quickly and you were running on all cylinders.
That’s how I saw you in your business. I called you up to ask you a question and asked what you were doing. You were being really silly and having so much fun that I thought you were maybe having a party or something.
You said, “Well, I’m drinking Coronas with Laura Roeder and we’re watching Frank Kerns training videos.” Do you remember that?
Marie: Yes, I do.
Amy: I’m thinking, first of all, I love that we’re pairing drinking some good beer with watching marketing training videos. I think that’s the way to go. But I also thought, “Wait, you’re still teaching yourself stuff? You’re still learning?
Of course you were. But in my mind I wondered why you would need that.
Marie: Oh my goodness, Amy, I think I am a more voracious learner now even than I was back in those days. You have got to see where I live. You have got to see my computer.
Josh usually says to me (John is my man, my partner in life, technically my husband. Actually, not technically, but basically he is)…
Amy: Basically, yes.
Marie: He’s like, “Another book? Another thing?” It’s like, oh my goodness. You have to get Amy, in the rest of my life I’m pretty minimalist. I don’t like a lot of things. I don’t like clutter. I live things very, very simple. I wear the same clothes a lot. I wear the same shoes. I wear the same everything a lot.
When it comes to books and learning I can never get enough. I have things on my computer on my to-do list a little bit later today. They are things I want to learn and improve; even from you.
Remember, we’ve talked about webinars. I realize I have not done a webinar since 2009. I’m like, girl, what are you doing? Why have you not done a webinar since 2009? Of course I’m going to call you up because you are extraordinary at them.
That’s the thing. When you get excited about learning and recognize there are always new things to try and always new things to do you have no attention on why you didn’t get started sooner.
You just look out into this whole big, incredible world of things that will feed your brain and allow you to make a bigger difference and then it just gets awesome. It gets exciting and you get motivated and go forward.
Amy: That’s so true. Now I’m going to put you on the spot because at the time of this recording you have just released a free video training. Talking about immersing yourself in a training that really could move you forward, to me this is it.
Will you talk about the free training that just released today?
Marie: Yes. We created a free business-building workshop. It is kind of like an inspiring get-you-started workshop that is completely free and introduces you to the ideas and concepts and strategies we teach in B-School.
In this free series, if you’re one of those people who just has a ton of ideas and you have so many ideas but you feel you need structure, guidance, and a plan to follow through, you need someone to keep it tight, lean, and streamlined to help you get things done this is for you.
First we walk you through the six pillars of building an online business so that you can take all of those ideas and really understand what you need to focus on first, what you need to focus on second, and so on so that you can start to make some progress and build momentum.
It also helps you do a self diagnostic. You can see that you are really strong in the second pillar but that pillar #3 really needs some work. We include worksheets so you
can really get an understanding of where you are, where you want to go, and start to see that gap so you can start to close it.
Then, in the second video of the series we start to really unpack what I believe is some of the crucial tools that will help people, especially big-hearted people. When I say big hearted, Amy, I mean people who care, not just about making a financial profit, but also want to make a difference. They want their business to be a force of good.
In the second video we start to unpack what I believe are the underpinnings of modern marketing, how to really influence people in a way that is full of integrity, full of transparence, full of heart and soul, and that really brings out the best in you.
I know most of the folks listening to this recording right now are definitely open to marketing but I will tell you I’ve even seen people that are excited about marketing and sales still have a lot of limiting beliefs. They are almost on a subconscious level that holds them back from going full out and making a difference they are born to make.
In that second video we start to really unwire some of those limiting beliefs to help people super charge what they’re doing in a way that feels in complete alignment with their values and who they want to be in the world.
Then, in the third video of the series we start to look at some of the common excuses that all of us can use to hold ourselves back. It’s a great build off of what we did here today in terms of disempowering and empowering questions.
We start to take a look at some of the things we assume to be true that hold us back. We debunk all of that. It’s a really fun, empowering series. What I love about it is I think people get such tremendous value.
Do you want to join us for B-School after that? That’s great but if you don’t that’s great too and I think you’ll really have a framework to move your business ahead no matter what.
Amy: That’s what I think is so cool about the free video series. It truly is this framework once you get through the videos week by week. I absolutely love them and recommend them to everybody. And they are free.
All you need to do is go to http://amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/marie to sign up and start watching. It is something I want you to do right away.
Marie, this has been such an awesome interview. I think it is so valuable for everybody who is building a business online. Thank you so much for being here with me today.
Marie: Oh, thank you, Amy. It was an honor and pleasure.
Amy: There you have it. I hope you loved this interview as much as I have. A lot of research and time went into it so my hope is that you’re going to walk away thinking you’ve got some mindset tools you can play with and really start to implement inside your mind so that you can be the entrepreneur you want to be.
One more thing I thought of after I did the interview with Marie is that I have another business coach, Mary Hyatt. Mary and I work on personal stuff together and business stuff. She taught me something I thought was so valuable that I wanted to share it with you.
Whenever I have a negative thought or ask myself a negative question and answer it with a negative response Mary says, “Ask yourself if you want this to be true.”
For example, let’s say I was asking why content creation takes so long. That’s something I would ask myself because I do take a long time with this stuff. Why does it take me so long?
I then answer it with, “I’m just not as good as everybody else out there.” Things just take me too long because I just can’t think fast enough. Then right away I think about what Mary taught me. Do I want this to be true?
No. So let’s change it. In that moment I flip it and ask myself a better question. If you need a stop gap, Marie talked about a stop gap in her interview with me just a minute ago, but I also love this one, “Do I want this to be true?”
Anytime you think anything negative you should ask if you want this to be true. No? Great. Flip it. That has really served me so I wanted to share it with you.
A few final house keeping things . You know if you go to http:// amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/marie you will get access to her three-part video series. If you’ve never watched it or want a refresher, because she’s done it for a few years, go
sign up right away. This year it’s going to be live for the shortest amount of time ever. So it is going away.
The second thing, if you want to hear me talk about B-School for the next few weeks and you want to be in on the conversation with me and want to experience my live videos and my live real-time chats all about my B-School experiences and bonuses and all that good stuff, come into my pop-up group at http:// amyporterdev.wpenginepowered.com/popup. That way we can continue the conversation.
Thank you so very much for being here. I hope you loved this interview. I absolutely did and I cannot wait to talk to you again next week. Next week we are getting into Facebook ads and targeting even more so than I ever have before. I’m doing it with Rick Mulready so I hope to see you here. Bye for now.
