AndyTalks with @Vilox about Cold Calling & Getting Over Yourself

[Andy Black]

AndyTalks with @Vilox about Cold Calling & Getting Over Yourself

@Vilox has a great thread where he gets started with cold calling:

• GOLD - Getting Rid of Cold Calling Anxiety Using Brute Force

In this call we have a chat about his experience.

For the first half of the call we chat a little bit about cold-calling and a lot about getting out of your own way and just starting already.

For the second half of the call we talk more about productivity, including how using the forum and social media can be a form of procastination, how we can be "busy" to avoid the work that will make the difference, and lots of other ramblings.

@Vilox seems very self-aware and courageous - not fearless in that he has no fears, but that he faces them head on and has the persistence to beat all challenges in front of him.

> Click here to access the recording <

What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?


(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

 

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[The-J]

Some takeaways:

• Starting the cold calling made @Vilox literally physically ill the first time, and even after the first day he was not feeling good about it. Even depriving himself of food didn't get him to start. What it took was typing an initial 'giving up' post and realizing the pain of submitting that would be greater than the pain of not completing his goal (lucrative or not).
• There were people who said 'Don't do it, it's a waste of time, you're gonna crash and burn' (my words!) on the thread. He did it anyway, got help from those same people that said 'don't do it', and made some money (damn decent money for an affair that takes a half a day and no prior preparation) doing it.
• 30 days took @Vilox from 'complete noob' to 'the cold calling guy'. 30 F*cking days, 1000 calls, maybe 100 total hours. Nowhere near the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell's dumb a$$ touts. Is he the best 'cold caller' out there? Is he a master? No, far from it; but he's moving and that's nothing to apologize for, in fact it's to be respected. People might expect that they gotta be Jordan F*cking Belfort to get somewhere but all you really need is just to start and keep movin.
• There are better days than others and every day is a new day; for better and for worse.
• The anxiety eventually goes away but the resistance continues.
• Good enough IS good enough. Don't worry about being perfect. Does it work? Go on! Get into it and then it becomes real.
• If you ask people for help, people LIKE to help! Just ask. For whatever. The sale, the minute of their time, the commitment.
• There's value in Internet and social media, but it's also dangerous. Use it intentionally and with purpose, and take breaks with purpose.
• Being busy != being productive. Being efficient != being effective. (This one hurts, I'm relatively 'busy' but am not where I wanna be.)
• You're most likely your biggest enemy.
• Should you be doing it? There's only one priority. (Four D's: Dump, Delegate, Defer, Do)
  
• Don't know where to start? Pick a direction and start!
• Is it really necessary to be under stress for so long for a goal like financial independence, especially when it's not guaranteed? "If you could do anything and money was no object, what would you do?"

Great call. Definitely inspiring. Still retains the 'just do it' general message of Andy Talks calls.

 

[Andy Black]

Some takeaways:

• Starting the cold calling made @Vilox literally physically ill the first time, and even after the first day he was not feeling good about it. Even depriving himself of food didn't get him to start. What it took was typing an initial 'giving up' post and realizing the pain of submitting that would be greater than the pain of not completing his goal (lucrative or not).
• There were people who said 'Don't do it, it's a waste of time, you're gonna crash and burn' (my words!) on the thread. He did it anyway, got help from those same people that said 'don't do it', and made some money (damn decent money for an affair that takes a half a day and no prior preparation) doing it.
• 30 days took @Vilox from 'complete noob' to 'the cold calling guy'. 30 F*cking days, 1000 calls, maybe 100 total hours. Nowhere near the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell's dumb a$$ touts. Is he the best 'cold caller' out there? Is he a master? No, far from it; but he's moving and that's nothing to apologize for, in fact it's to be respected. People might expect that they gotta be Jordan F*cking Belfort to get somewhere but all you really need is just to start and keep movin.
• There are better days than others and every day is a new day; for better and for worse.
• The anxiety eventually goes away but the resistance continues.
• Good enough IS good enough. Don't worry about being perfect. Does it work? Go on! Get into it and then it becomes real.
• If you ask people for help, people LIKE to help! Just ask. For whatever. The sale, the minute of their time, the commitment.
• There's value in Internet and social media, but it's also dangerous. Use it intentionally and with purpose, and take breaks with purpose.
• Being busy != being productive. Being efficient != being effective. (This one hurts, I'm relatively 'busy' but am not where I wanna be.)
• You're most likely your biggest enemy.
• Should you be doing it? There's only one priority. (Four D's: Dump, Delegate, Defer, Do)
  
• Don't know where to start? Pick a direction and start!
• Is it really necessary to be under stress for so long for a goal like financial independence, especially when it's not guaranteed? "If you could do anything and money was no object, what would you do?"

Great call. Definitely inspiring. Still retains the 'just do it' general message of Andy Talks calls.

Great write up. Thanks @The-J. Rep+

TL;DR?
Pick a direction. Get started. Keep going.

 

[Vilox]

Great call. Definitely inspiring.

Thank you!

Then again, it's not hard to have a great call when you talk to such a talented host as @Andy Black. Andy's incredible at stringing information together and setting the right tone for an interesting conversation in a relaxed atmosphere. If you told me that he was a famous radio personality, I'd believe it in a second.

Andy, thanks for having me on. It was a blast!

And thanks again to all the people who generously provided their expertise and read the original thread. I wouldn't be here without you!

 

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[Ubermensch]

AndyTalks with @Vilox about Cold Calling & Getting Over Yourself

@Vilox has a great thread where he gets started with cold calling:

• GOLD - Getting Rid of Cold Calling Anxiety Using Brute Force

In this call we have a chat about his experience.

For the first half of the call we chat a little bit about cold-calling and a lot about getting out of your own way and just starting already.

For the second half of the call we talk more about productivity, including how using the forum and social media can be a form of procastination, how we can be "busy" to avoid the work that will make the difference, and lots of other ramblings.

@Vilox seems very self-aware and courageous - not fearless in that he has no fears, but that he faces them head on and has the persistence to beat all challenges in front of him.

> Click here to access the recording <

What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?


(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

Great talk @Vilox

Big takeaway for me was the quote @Andy Black shared from his late brother: Sometimes, it doesn't get easier - you get stronger.

It's always a grind, just like working out. It's never easy, it just becomes a habit - and the success (the "reward," to use @Vilox's term) makes it all worth it in the end.

 

[Andy Black]

Another line that might help @Vilox comprehend why people are following him when he doesn't see himself as an expert:

"People listen to experts, they follow leaders." (Doberman Dan)

 

[Andy Black]

Aha... I knew I'd talked and written about the 4 Ds somewhere:

I think I talked about processes in one of my AndyTalks videos. I was a process improvement guy when I was in IT. The process lifecycle I had was to take processes through this series of stages:

1) Ad-hoc (never done it before).

2) Defined (oh, I've done that before a few times. This seems to be a process I need to get my head round. *adds to list of processes to improve*)

3) Documented (wrote up the steps. For what I did I'd have copious notes of what to do and why, plus screenshots showing the exact steps how. Think of my The AdWords Jumpstart PDF.)

4) Repeatable (your document is rarely repeatable by anyone else the first time you create it. Consider your document repeatable when you can give it to someone who's never seen it but has enough technical skills to follow it. Can they get the same results as you now?)

4) Automated (this isn't always possible, but sometimes tools can be created to help or perform the whole process).

5) Optimised (again, the process might not be one that can be automated, but the final stage is optimising it so it takes less time and other resources).


The most important step is step 0) Does it even need to be done?

I've mentioned this filtering process before:
1) Dump it
2) Delegate it
3) Defer it
4) Do it

 

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[MakeItHappen]

Great interview @Andy Black & @Vilox
What suprised me was the fact that you really had a great challenge getting started. Wouldn't have expected that. Your progress thread made it look like it was a rather easy thing to do for you. But that just adds to the respect I have for your accomplishments. If it was that hard for you I guess there is still hope for me lol. Maybe I should do a progress thread as well to get some accountability pressure.

 

[Vilox]

Maybe I should do a progress thread as well to get some accountability pressure.

The critical thing is to start, so it's important to rig the game in a way that you can win it. I think I mentioned it in the interview, but nowadays I would give a friend 1000 bucks and tell him to give me a dollar every time I make a call. I'd also tell him to burn whatever amount is left after a month. For some reason people work harder to avoid losing money than they do to earn it.

Generally speaking, I think that a reward / punishment system needs to be in place in order to get started. For me it was accountability. Put yourself in a situation where the more painful alternative is to not make the calls.

 

[Andy Black]

Whatever works for you.

The critical thing is to start, so it's important to rig the game in a way that you can win it. I think I mentioned it in the interview, but nowadays I would give a friend 1000 bucks and tell him to give me a dollar every time I make a call. I'd also tell him to burn whatever amount is left after a month. For some reason people work harder to avoid losing money than they do to earn it.

Generally speaking, I think that a reward / punishment system needs to be in place in order to get started. For me it was accountability. Put yourself in a situation where the more painful alternative is to not make the calls.

It's interesting... and I didn't bring it up in the call.

Horses for courses. Try different strategies. Use whatever hack works for you.

Personally I don't care one jot about "accountability" to friends or forum members. I don't write about what I'm going to do, I prefer to write about what I've done. (YMMV obviously... I'm just talking about my own mindset.)

Clients paid me? I'd better deliver.

Want to spend time with my kids? I'd better work out how to pay the mortgage without having a 9-5.

Want to move that podcast from SoundCloud? I'll do it when it's painful enough to be a priority.

Just look at threads by @Fox, @SinisterLex, and @IceCreamKid. They don't gaf about what the reader thinks. They just charge off and do their thing, regardless of whether there's an audience or not.

Maybe there's something to be learned from watching how those guys do things?

Hope that helps! Please don't take this as knocking any hack you need to get started. Get started by whatever hack works for you. Keep going by whatever works for you.

Once you're in motion and you still need to "hack" it, then maybe it's worth analysing your why. Why isn't it strong enough for you to do the work without "accountability"?

Why aren't you doing the things you can't help but not do?

 

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[surfer92]

Great call, I really enjoyed it. It gave me a motivational boost to keep working on my current projects!
I have never heard of the 4 D's concept before but I am definitely going to write it down and stick it up on my wall!

 

[FastNAwesome]

Great call.

@Vilox is surely gonna make it, with his attitude and work ethics. Oh, and man I never even noticed that you stutter in the call, except for one brief moment after you brought it to attention.

Some of the takeaways for me were:

- Once you start paying, you move from academic exercise to a real business case. Things get real, potential reward and loss get real, and that can be very motivating for you to also get real.

- Great lesson on one of the reasons why you're wasting time on your mobile. It's somewhere in there after 30:00 but listen to the whole call

- Overthinking is solving problems you don't have.

- @Vilox says that in 100 years nobody will remember him, so no need to be anxious about the call. I have a different take on it. In 100 seconds they won't remember your call, so really no need to stress about it. And what you're doing is a very normal business practice, which quite possibly they engaged in as well, at some point or another.

I found that for me, what worked best to get over the anxiety of the cold call (including my accent, English not my first language) was to simply pick up the phone and make calls. Really. And I'd learn right then and there. I'd see how people react and adjust my approach, my tonality, all of it. And actually most were quite polite and nice.

And when they weren't, it stops as soon as you end the call. They don't call you back to yell at you

- @Vilox A day spent unhappy is a day wasted - totally agreed on that

- @Andy Black Enjoy the journey, smell the roses, spot a castle - yep, that's what I call living. We're doing it already

 

[FastNAwesome]

PS. I think there's also been mention of time management, various techniques and how we all get the same amount of time each day.

This made me realize something.

I tried various techniques, taking breaks, sticky notes, having a quiet spot where I can focus, working at the beach (trying to work & enjoy at the same time) - lots and lots of stuff. Tried having a tidy room or living in a "creative mess". Tried using breaks to do some workout or stretching. Tried sipping on beer and listening to good music while I work.

For me personally, all of it had zero effect.

The only thing that has ever worked for me is pure determination, and a decision to "Let's effing do this!"

And when I'm decisive like that and don't give a f*** and just doing my thing, other stuff would become irrelevant. Did I sit 20 minutes or 2 hours, couldn't notice. Am I drinking water or beer? It's all good. If anything, I'd get "in the zone" and forget all but work in front of me.

And this determination only appeared in me when:

- Being pressured by an actual deadline, where there's an actual reason why it must be done by certain date
- Having a "f*** this way of living" moment and doing the work to get me from where I am to where I want to be
- Having a strong enough desire for something which requires said work, this allows me to focus and I couldn't care less if they say "we don't need your s***ty product" and hang up on me.

 

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[Nicoknowsbest]

"I just bang my head against the wall until it cracks. If it doesn't crack, I just move to another spot on the wall and try again." - @Vilox

Seriously a great call. So many lessons for people at all stages of their cycles. It personally resonated with my quite well, because I could see many similarities in @Vilox's stories.

Let's see... What did I write down?

• While I believe in intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation to be unprecedentedly successful, I do know from personal experience that sometimes, you have to trick yourself into doing certain things. That's where reward/punishment systems come in handy. I was really impressed by the seriousness of your experiment - I mean, not eating for 48 hours, wow!
• I loved the story about you getting uncomfortable every day. We are naturally shy or out-going, but we can train yourselves.
• @Vilox, you mentioned you got lucky to be able to get in touch with some pretty successful guys. I disagree. You didn't get lucky. You forced your own luck. @Andy Black mention that people in motion create some sort of vacuum that sucks people in - which is what you did.
• You said it was unintentional that you ignored the nay-sayers in your thread. This is super interesting, because it seemed as if you did it on purpose. So what would have happened if you had listened to them? It's super important to learn when and how to follow your own nose along the way.
• @Andy Black once again reminded me of something I should do more of - document what I am already doing. Ideally, you spend 50% of your time doing it, and 50% of your time talking about it.
• Something interesting came to mind, when @Vilox said he doesn't consider himself an expert. It's what @Andy Black mentioned a couple of times already - You don't need to be an expert.
• Action matters. Speed of action matters even more. If you want real learning, take some money and do it, practice it, get results.
• I agree with @Vilox that smartphones made us awkward when it comes to social interaction. We shouldn't demonize technology though - it's brought too many advantages. I believe it is the way we use technology that should be demonized. We are lucky enough to know how to talk to a stranger, ask for directions, open up a conversation, engage in small talk. What will our kids' kids learn though? @Andy Black brought up an important point - sometimes, we don't want to get phone calls. I know from myself that once I am in the flow, wired into work, the worst thing that could happen is a phone call. That's why I usually put my phone on silent, before a working session.
• As @Andy Black said, Social Media is a similar subject like technology and smartphones. We all got lost in it before, but isn't this our problem? TV ads also only work because there are loads of TVs and even more people staring at them for hours. Social Media is a tool and as long as you have "producer > consumer" in mind, you can use it to your advantage.
• "Kids play with sand." - This was a great reminder to not be busy all the time, but to be effective and to get done what needs to be done.
• Don't say you'd do things, do them, do them at pace and see what happens.
• "The future is not guaranteed." - Very powerful thought. I made it a goal to be happy every day, to enjoy the wind blowing the leaves, the stars in the sky, and to just be aware that I am lucky enough to be alive, be able to do what I want to do.
• "If money was no object, what would you be doing?" - If it was something different than you are doing right now, you might need to re-consider.

Thanks for the call guys, loads of learning and fun!

 

[Vilox]

You said it was unintentional that you ignored the nay-sayers in your thread. This is super interesting, because it seemed as if you did it on purpose.

My bad for being ambiguous on the call.

I knew that initial reactions would be skeptical. The first setup was shaky at best, after all. But it was just meant as an experiment, a personal challenge to myself. Even if the whole thing had gone terribly wrong, nothing would have changed. So I made a commitment to myself to just get going and not let other people add fuel to the fire.

Unfortunately, the fire turned out to be a blazing inferno. I was too busy beating my instincts into submission to consciously register what other people were saying.

In short: I made the decision to not let other people discourage me beforehand, but didn't need to enforce it once the train got rolling. And that last part was unintentional.

Thanks for the excellent write-up, and for taking the time to listen!