Twelve days ago, on June 11, 2014, I landed in Cleveland, Ohio for Dan Kennedy’s Advanced Wealth Academy, an event I gladly forked over $3,197 plus hotel and airfare to attend.
The two days I spent with 200 other entrepreneurs locked in a room with Dan, were, simply, incredible.
I’ve been to intimate training sessions with Gary Halbert, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, and others ... but nothing compared to this event for the sheer number of light bulb moments I experienced. It was like fireworks in my brain.
And you missed out.
Or did you?
You see, I’m a copywriter. I have to type fast and take excellent notes to do my job. And I took excellent notes at Dan’s Advanced Wealth Academy -- 17 single-spaced pages of notes, to be exact.
Now, I can’t share my entire set of notes with you, out of respect for Dan’s intellectual property (and fear of his attorneys). However, I can share what I believe to be ...
The Top 5 Things Dan Kennedy Said That Can Make You Rich
#1: Money is attracted to enthusiasm.
Sincere, passionate interest in what you do causes money to come to you. If you lose track of time and forget to eat, you’re enthusiastic about what you do. MOST people are in a business they don’t love, selling to people they don’t love; this cannot turn out well
#2: Money loves shameless promoters, self-promoters and salesmen.
There’s a little PT Barnum in all the wealthiest people. Trump and Buffett do things differently, but both are Barnum-esque. Peers hate rich promoters. Money tends to flow to the people who get things sold
#3: Money is attracted to speed demons.
You can’t get any traction while you’re parked. A HUGE difference between poor and rich people is a sense of urgency. When Dan was broke, it was an urgent matter for him not to be broke tomorrow, not someday. For maximum speed to wealth, invent less and implement more
#4: Money favors the rogues and renegades.
A LOT of money is made by recognizing that rules are for other people. Disregard rules, disrupt established order, and leap-frog up the ladder
#5: Monetize EVERYTHING.
By monetizing only the “now” buyer, you waste 50-90% of your money. Understand this: Your marketing dollars don’t just pay for every buyer; you pay for every website visitor, caller, walk-in, email, and contact. You need aggressive lead capture, follow-up, and schemes to get money from unconverted leads. There is often more money in what you’re not monetizing now than in the buyers you’re getting now
Pretty good stuff, eh?
Action Step: Which idea will you implement first? I’d love to hear how you plan to do it!
Example from my own business -- just 3 days ago, I helped a client rake in $115,000 (and counting) from a webinar that we promoted via email and other methods. Today I’ll write him another email to monetize his unconverted leads; if we don’t bring in an extra $10,000, I’ll be disappointed. This, along with better lead capture, conversion, “lost” client reactivation, and systematic follow-up, is how you monetize EVERYTHING (Dan’s idea #5).
Why not give me a call today to brainstorm how these ideas can work for you? Even though I can’t show you any more notes from Dan’s Advanced Wealth Academy, I can share at least 3 more money-making tips with you. Give me a call today at (800) 723-1503 or send me an email.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
James and the Lawn Mower: The Power of Being Specific
Nearly every Sunday morning since last fall, I’ve had a short conversation with a man named James. He stands next to an exit off I-35W with a sign asking for help, so I stop on the way to church, give him a few dollars, and wish him well. He seems like a good guy who’s down on his luck.
Last Sunday was the end of a bad week. In my morning meditation, I decided that the problem was my selfish attitude. So I said a little prayer asking God to make me useful to other people that day. Being useful is a sure-fire way to forget myself and fix my attitude. Did it work? Well ...
Driving to church, there was James. But instead of saying good morning, he said, “Hey, do you know where I can get a lawn mower? I want to cut grass for people to bring in some money.” I replied, “I-I-I ... don’t know. But I’ll find out. Stick around, okay? I’ll be back in an hour!” James shook his head yes.
Pulling away, I thought, “What the heck did I just get myself into?” But I was confident I would find a lawn mower ... somewhere.
Now, I’m a lector at church, so I give the announcements at the end of mass. I told the priest about James and asked if I could ask the congregation for a lawn mower during announcements. He agreed. So here’s what I said ...
“I need your help. A resident of our parish has fallen on hard times. To make ends meet, he wants to mow lawns for money. He needs only one thing: a lawn mower. I would give him mine, but I don’t have one. So I’m asking you -- if you have access to a good, working lawn mower and you’re willing to donate or sell it to me, please meet me out front. I know you’re out there and I hope this message moves you.”
Not one, but two people were waiting for me outside.
A woman named Lucia had a more suitable mower, so I chose her. After getting her address, I ran to my car. A few minutes later, I pulled up at his corner and there was James. “I got you a mower, man -- let’s go!” I said. He jumped in and we sped off.
So far, this was turning out to be a good morning for James. But it got better.
At her house, Lucia told us, “My boys are off at college and I have a lawn service now. I don’t need this mower or this gas can. Would you like the can, too?”
“Yes ma’am. Thank you!” said James.
“How about this edger. Would you like that, too?” asked Lucia.
“Yes ma’am. Thank you very much!” said James.
James now had a built-in upsell (“Would you like edging with that?”) for his new lawn-mowing business. How cool was that?
Thanking Lucia one final time, James and I loaded his new equipment into my SUV and drove to his apartment. On the way I asked, “Have you ever asked anyone for a lawn mower before?”
“No, never,” he said. “I just got the idea this morning.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” I said. “I just decided to be useful this morning. Somehow this all turned into a new business for you. And you know what? If you’d asked me for $250 to buy a lawn mower, I would have turned you down flat. But because you asked for a lawn mower, you got it!”
Now, James and I talked about a lot of other things that are private to him and to me, about how Someone put us together to help each other ...
... but here’s what I took away from this: There’s great power in knowing exactly what you want, in your business and your life. Unless you know what you want, you’ll never know what to ask for. And you’ll never get it. But knowing and asking specifically can make a big difference. It did for James.
One last thing. I’ve never shared a story like this with a business reader like you, so I hope you found it useful and not too personal. Let me know what you think!
Meanwhile, if you want to grow your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. It's not some cheapo download -- this is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands.
Grab your free copy now, while they last.
Last Sunday was the end of a bad week. In my morning meditation, I decided that the problem was my selfish attitude. So I said a little prayer asking God to make me useful to other people that day. Being useful is a sure-fire way to forget myself and fix my attitude. Did it work? Well ...
Driving to church, there was James. But instead of saying good morning, he said, “Hey, do you know where I can get a lawn mower? I want to cut grass for people to bring in some money.” I replied, “I-I-I ... don’t know. But I’ll find out. Stick around, okay? I’ll be back in an hour!” James shook his head yes.
Pulling away, I thought, “What the heck did I just get myself into?” But I was confident I would find a lawn mower ... somewhere.
Now, I’m a lector at church, so I give the announcements at the end of mass. I told the priest about James and asked if I could ask the congregation for a lawn mower during announcements. He agreed. So here’s what I said ...
“I need your help. A resident of our parish has fallen on hard times. To make ends meet, he wants to mow lawns for money. He needs only one thing: a lawn mower. I would give him mine, but I don’t have one. So I’m asking you -- if you have access to a good, working lawn mower and you’re willing to donate or sell it to me, please meet me out front. I know you’re out there and I hope this message moves you.”
Not one, but two people were waiting for me outside.
A woman named Lucia had a more suitable mower, so I chose her. After getting her address, I ran to my car. A few minutes later, I pulled up at his corner and there was James. “I got you a mower, man -- let’s go!” I said. He jumped in and we sped off.
So far, this was turning out to be a good morning for James. But it got better.
At her house, Lucia told us, “My boys are off at college and I have a lawn service now. I don’t need this mower or this gas can. Would you like the can, too?”
“Yes ma’am. Thank you!” said James.
“How about this edger. Would you like that, too?” asked Lucia.
“Yes ma’am. Thank you very much!” said James.
James now had a built-in upsell (“Would you like edging with that?”) for his new lawn-mowing business. How cool was that?
Thanking Lucia one final time, James and I loaded his new equipment into my SUV and drove to his apartment. On the way I asked, “Have you ever asked anyone for a lawn mower before?”
“No, never,” he said. “I just got the idea this morning.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” I said. “I just decided to be useful this morning. Somehow this all turned into a new business for you. And you know what? If you’d asked me for $250 to buy a lawn mower, I would have turned you down flat. But because you asked for a lawn mower, you got it!”
Now, James and I talked about a lot of other things that are private to him and to me, about how Someone put us together to help each other ...
... but here’s what I took away from this: There’s great power in knowing exactly what you want, in your business and your life. Unless you know what you want, you’ll never know what to ask for. And you’ll never get it. But knowing and asking specifically can make a big difference. It did for James.
One last thing. I’ve never shared a story like this with a business reader like you, so I hope you found it useful and not too personal. Let me know what you think!
Meanwhile, if you want to grow your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. It's not some cheapo download -- this is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands.
Grab your free copy now, while they last.
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