Developing Warrior/Self-Improvement Brand

[Vigilante]

You're 21. Who the F*ck are you going to "coach?" 16 year olds? They don't have any money.

I spent four minutes on your site, and your grammar is terrible, as is your use of apostrophes. At a minimum, please put your copy through a spell checker and grammar editor. Nobody should take this seriously if you can't use English in proper context.

Donate? You want people to just F*cking GIVE YOU MONEY? Your 53 email subscribers are your friends and family.

Come on, man. You have nothing to offer people yet. You're a wanna be guru with no substance.

No doubt the people nearest to you told you this stuff was gold. They're blowing sunshine up your a$$. We don't.

This is 100% bullshit. Go get a job, get some life experience, accomplish something, and build something based on value.

You're wasting your time on this. If you stick with this, you might find a more receptive audience at the Warrior Forum.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

or my "coaching option" which nobody has bought yet.

You want to coach people when it appears you can't coach yourself?

Are we being trolled?

Nope, we aren't.

Turns out, this is becoming a disturbing pattern for 20-somethings. We see it here. Young people marketing themselves as experts when they haven't put forth any effort worthy of an expert. No life experience, no wins, no failures; nothing but a slick website with empty claims and vague credentials.

I commend you on the effort but IMO, it's a little cart before the horse. Rack up some wins, some life experience, and then see if you still want to be a guru afterward. I'm guessing you won't. Good luck.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I've been hesitant to respond and you may have already left the building... but please take Gary V's advice and go start a product or service based business.

In order to become a worth-while coach... you need to do something worth-while.

Even then it's an uphill battle.

I've had 3 fairly successful businesses, traveled the world, read over 1200 books in the areas of personal development, leadership, sales, marketing, psychology, health, nutrition, fitness, etc. etc. -- I've attended over 200 seminars, got certified in 2 different forms of psychology, 2 coaching certifications, 3 personal training certifications, 2 nutrition certifications, the list really goes on and on... I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in a short time...

But I've spent the last 13 years trying to be good enough to be a coach.

And every single day I struggle to convince people some of the distinctions I've learned and used from my mentor could dramatically change the quality of their life.

On one side, I can appreciate your drive and desire to help people -- I love it. On the other, dabbling pisses me off.

Everyone with a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Blog now calls themselves an "inspirational speaker", "motivator", or "life coach"...

Don't be that guy.

If you're serious about this here's what I suggest:

Take the next year to flesh out a plan for a big business. Work, enjoy, party, and then for the next 10 years take massive action to make that plan a reality. Don't teach others what you think life should be like. Don't coach people on stuff you don't know how to do. Don't position yourself as a brand. Just work. Work your a$$ off until someone asks how you did it.

Then, and only then, should you become a coach.

Good luck

 

[Thiago Machado]

Is this you?

• Pay attention from 3:40 to 4:32
• The solution to your problem is at 4:10
• The solution your problem again at 7:10 to 8:18
• Ideas at 12:28 to 15:00

 

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[ZCP]

Backup and ask yourself what 'value' you provide? What 'problem' do you solve?

Read your first sentence. That tells all. Come at this from the customers side.

 

[Scot]

I'll be honest, I got halfway through this thread and my brain hurt, so I figured I'd drop my $.02 in.

First, what is this obsession with "entrepreneurs" and coaching? Every podcast I find is how to coach others in xyz. Every post on entrepreneur pages on FB are the usual guru crap. And honestly a lot of posts we see here from newbies are coaching related.

It all boils down to this. Credibility. When Biophase or Andy say, "hey I'm starting a coaching service" I'll listen, because they have credibility. When Joe blow "parked" new guy says it, what credibility does he have.

That's the thing here, I'm confused how a 21 year old wants to teach me how to be a warrior. Do I know 21 year olds who are qualified to do that? Absolutely. I know guys who had been on their 3rd combat tour by 21. But I'm almost certain that our fellow here isn't one (we stopped heavy combat operations while he was in highschool).

What I'm trying to say is, coaching and mentorship type businesses should be done as a consultant AFTER you create your fastlane business.
If OP had created a successful workout program, trained The Rock to get jacked for his role in a new movie about killing dragons, then done seminars for Navy SEALs on tomohawk techniques, then launched a successful gym clothing brand, yes, he can mentor on living the warrior lifestyle.

Stop focusing on teaching others because you read some blogs and you think you're an expert. Become an actual expert first, then teach later. This isn't 4 hour work week, you can just call yourself an expert. That's a title you earn over years by DOING.

 

[mikey3times]

You "don't really sell anything", but you are confused about why you aren't getting sales?

I don't think most people go to a website, read a few free articles from an unknown guy, then spend a big chunk of change on personal coaching.

Start smaller:

Free article >> inexpensive ebook >> interactive course >> personal coaching.

Build up your offerings (funnel) as you build up your skills. I would never hire a 21 year old coach with no track record...you still don't know ANYTHING.

Also, find out where your potential customers hang out and start interacting with them. Build your brand. Get practice coaching.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

What do you mean by being a dabbler? Am I showing signs of being one? If so, how so?

It can come across as harsh but I'm assuming you want to coach people who can pay you money to coach them, yes? Then you're looking to coach business people like me. What reason do I have to believe YOU can help me? Look again at the very small list of my "qualifications" (and I know it's not everything) but I have results to back it all up.

I've spent 13 years preparing (i.e. learning, reading, trying, failing, succeeding, doing) for what you're trying to leap into right now.

Do you think that I should start a product/service business related to my brand or do you think that it doesn't matter what the product is and to simply do business for the sake of business?

I hate to say it, man... but you have no brand. There isn't one. Don't pretend there is one. Don't buy into the guru-speak of building your personal brand. It's a joke. Nobody cares about you -- they only care what you can do for them.

I know. It's a harsh, rough world. Ain't all sunshine and rainbows. So for your sake, get over yourself and put a business together. Something that will make you money. Usually that means putting the product or service FIRST. It's not about this special guy who's got a random product... it's about a special product some random guy (you) is selling.

The product is the hero because it solves a problem. Right now -- you cannot solve any problems. And don't take that as a put down, take it as a lesson in self-awareness. Until you can solve real problems, you are not a product.

Does that make sense? I'm trying not to be esoteric here.

And never, ever, ever get into a business for the sake of doing business.

It's too hard, painful, discouraging -- you'll never make it. My suggestion is to come up with strong enough reasons why you want to be in business and what kind of an impact you want to make on yourself, your bank account, your lifestyle, your family, with a business.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Besides working on my personal brand, my step-dad is running a pretty successful company. I can tell that he wants me to get involved and he's willing to have me take over. Which presents a great opportunity especially considering the fact that it's being very poorly run and they barely do anything when it comes to marketing.

Another tough-love question:

How do you know it's very poorly run? Do you know anything about successful launching marketing campaigns? Local advertising? International advertising? Do you know how to create advertisements and enticing offers to attract new customers?

Do you know the only 3 ways to grow a business -- and where the leverage truly is?

Is the business making money? I'd be very careful when talking about someone's baby and how ugly you think it is -- especially if it's walking.

Does that make sense?

The problem is that I don't have any passion whatsoever for the product he sells.

I'd listen to some Mike Rowe and MJ DeMarco. Making money isn't always about pursuing a passion. It's about solving a problem. You will have to learn to create passion for solving the problem. My guess is if you aren't passionate about the product, you may not understand it, or it truly does suck -- if that's the case it's time to improve it!

And I know it would take a lot of work to flip the company from where it's at to a more profitable situation. Plus, I really don't enjoy the people in the company and feel like they are mediocre.

Those problems we were just talking about? This is real life right here. People suck. They are a pain in the a$$. But if you were to ever build a business you'll need to learn how to hire, fire, train, replace, and then deal with the day-to-day shit of getting them to show up on time (sober), getting them to follow the guidelines you set for them (even though they "know better"), etc.

However, I could see the opportunity because my stepdad is willing to put me in charge, there's a learning experience and the potential monetary reward is big. (maybe millions down the line)

It sounds like you have a massive opportunity sitting right in front of you. What's the hold up?

Is it worth getting involved or is it better to stick to doing something that I feel connected to?

When the older guys bitch about millenials' attitude -- this is a sentence they are complaining about. They might say something along the lines of "Connected to!? Are you kidding me!? Connected to my FOOT IN YOUR a$$! GET TO WORK! Just mop the damn floor and clean the toilets like I told you 80 times! Connected... connected to what!? An emotional journey of stocking shelves? Get to it!"

Hehehe... okay I'm having too much fun and visualizing my father saying these exact words....

If so, is it worth putting a time-limit for how long I should stay in? It might be soul sucking to stay in some business that doesn't make me very enthusiastic.

The time limit is simple: until you succeed.

 

[Ninjakid]

The site is www.spartanownership.com
I don't have huge amounts credibility so I need to figure out a way to work around that...

In essence the existence of your business is to manipulate variables to give you a predetermined sum of money which you decided is good enough.

But what actually value to provide people if you're you're trying to appear authentic, but you're just merely baiting subscribers?

You could run a gig like this for a while, but your business will crash and burn once it's true nature is revealed.

My advice is to email your subscribers, tell them this marks the end, cancel your hosting, and work on a business where you provide genuine value.

 

[Raoul Duke]

You're 21. Who the F*ck are you going to "coach?" 16 year olds? They don't have any money.

I spent four minutes on your site, and your grammar is terrible, as is your use of apostrophes. At a minimum, please put your copy through a spell checker and grammar editor. Nobody should take this seriously if you can't use English in proper context.

Donate? You want people to just F*cking GIVE YOU MONEY? Your 53 email subscribers are your friends and family.

Come on, man. You have nothing to offer people yet. You're a wanna be guru with no substance.

No doubt the people nearest to you told you this stuff was gold. They're blowing sunshine up your a$$. We don't.

This is 100% bullshit. Go get a job, get some life experience, accomplish something, and build something based on value.

You're wasting your time on this. If you stick with this, you might find a more receptive audience at the Warrior Forum.

 

[Ninjakid]

Hey guys, I just read through all of your replies. Matter of fact I read through them a few days ago. I gotta admit your responses got me thinking. Im 21 afterall. Who the F*ck am I to be giving advice on being a warrior? It's true that a lot of my subs are friends. And it's true that people might be blowing sunshine up my a$$. In the past few days I've been thinking a whole lot. I even seriously considered joining the French Foreign Legion to gain some experience in the armed forces to have more credibility (Mark Divine is a Navy Seal who writes a lot of books on self-development which inspire me).I dont want to do it though because it would suck really badly. My passion is to learn how to evolve to be the best man I could be and then serve other men to master their lives. I don't know any other way to do so other than creating my brand. Does anybody have any legitimate advice on how I could continue with my purpose? Because advice such as "get a job" or "research workout clothes" has it's truth but at the end of the day I would much rather make Spartan Ownership successful. The other paths don't contain "evolving and helping other men evolve". Either way, I'll consider everything you guys wrote but I figured it was worth elaborating my position further.

You need to do some serious soul searching, and educate yourself before you're ready give anyone advice.

I took a quick look at your website, and I found nothing but new-age hegemonic masculinity mumbo-jumbo; the kind that's prevalent in blogs written by sexual-frustrated basement-dwellers.

Your article, "How to master women and seduction" made me want to kill me myself more than I wrote a thread here saying I actually wanted to kill myself.

I'm not sure where you're learning this shit, but judging by the kind of content you post it sounds like you've never read a book in your life. My advice, READ SOMETHING! Start small. Maybe you can start with Green Eggs and Ham.

Learn about actual science before you start going on about how men are "scientifically superior to women."

Become successful in your own life first before you start trying to tell others how to do it.

Develop your own voice instead of regurgitating what other more successful blogs have done before you.

Become an empty cup so you can learn, rather than assume you already know the truth.

Take a step back and look at your own beliefs. Ask yourself why you hold the beliefs you do.

If you can't understand this, then I'm sorry, there's no point in trying to help you.

 

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[Andy Black]

I've skimmed through this thread and there's been great advice given. Thanks, I've learned a quite a few things, and ways of explaining things!


Also, kudos to @SpartanWarrior77 for taking it all on his chin and being open to feedback. Well done sir.




Here's a GREAT Gary Vaynerchuk video that perfectly sums up what most seem to think:

• How to build a personal brand

(Go watch it and come back... we'll wait!)

When Biophase or Andy say, "hey I'm starting a coaching service" I'll listen, because they have credibility.

@Scot says he'd listen up if biophase or I were to announce we'd do a coaching course.

Well biophase announced that last week, and people have bitten his hand off. Apparently he's been asked many many times to do coaching.


Why does Scot say we both have credibility?

Are there plenty of other people in the forum who are also walking the walk?

Of course there are, but they've maybe not been "documenting" it as much as we have and gained the same credibility, and trust.

Why don't you develop yourself first and document your journey every step of the way?

People listen to experts, they FOLLOW leaders.

(I did a wee video on that here.)

If you want followers, then lead.

Do it, document it, and people may just follow, as @Thiago Machado said.



But really, you shouldn't be trying to create a following or audience anyway.

Read this great Article by Justin Jackson:

• Quit trying to attract a crowd and just help people

An example of me documenting a journey and not giving a rats arse about "building a following" would be this Progress Thread. In fact, the whole point of the thread was to encourage others to just start already:

• AndyTalks Progress Thread

Sheesh, the first video in that thread is all you need, and it's only 2 minutes long.




Personally, I LOVE coaching people - it's in my DNA.

But at this moment in time I have ZERO intention of doing coaching or creating a course.

This extract from my INSIDERS Progress Thread explains why:

Spoiler

Why I'm not creating courses

I've been told quite a lot that I should create AdWords courses.

Recently I explained to someone that I was developing a process by which I will generate leads for service businesses and use those leads to signup services business.

He thought that sounded like a J.O.B. Oops... I didn't explain it very well then.

Below was my clarification:


I don't intend to be the person to contact blacksmiths (<--example vertical!). The intention is to develop the process and then have other people do it for me... a call centre or a sales person, maybe on commission.

I also don't consider myself a pro at AdWords anymore. I'm a business owner, and I'm building a business that will have value without me being present.

A repeatable and scalable customer acquisition process that doesn't rely on me is a necessary part of that business.

If I can build a business that doesn't have Andy Black attached to it in ANY way, then all the merrier!

...

The specific audience for AdWords tutorials are other people who want to be AdWords specialists or Affiliate marketers - ask me how I know!

They're just not my target market. They're employees, other marketing freelancers, or guys trying to make money pushing electrons about.

My best clients for my service business recognise I know my stuff, then hire me to do it.

I worked out that people who want to learn how to do something are just NOT my ideal client. They don't value their time properly, and they've taken their eye off the ball. Instead of learning how to do what I do, they should engage me and focus on growing their business.

In fact, I see a lead generation service as the ultimate business networking machine. I get to find true business operators, and get to become their new best buddy. These true business operators have visions and plans and are already executing on it (which is why they can afford to hire me). They also hang around with other operators with visions and plans who can execute.

...

There's also plenty of AdWords tutorials out there. I just don't see a big need for me to create another one.

I DID see a need for me to create that Maths video for kids about to sit an extremely important exam, who've not been given the best chance to get the best result. I spent a while retaking that and then editing it so it was a short and to the point as possible.

I DO see a possible need to explain AdWords such that the typical business owner "gets" it... and I'll get that honed down naturally over time as I ramble and keep talking to people.

To be honest, I'd rather just make their phones ring - by using the skillset I have, not by teaching others the skillset I have. They just won't do as good a job. They can't - they're not full-time at it, and I've too many advantages over them from 15 years in IT, 6 years doing hardcore AdWords, and 13 of those years being self-employed.

...

AdWords "How-To" content isn't ever-green (direct response marketing stuff is of course). Mindset stuff and ways to live your life are ever-green.

The reason I'm doing the videos now is to leave bread-crumbs for others to help them live a better life, and that includes my sons and future generations.

It's also so I can point people to them, and not have to keep repeating myself.

...

Currently my content has done a great job of helping me build a service business with clients. It wasn't my intention - mostly it was so I didn't have to keep repeating myself to clients.

...

TL;DR?

Rigidly planned (AdWords) videos just don't appeal to me (I've done personality profiling and I do best live and not knowing what I'll say next).

AdWords videos appeal to the wrong market.

Doing tutorials doesn't leverage the ability I have to generate leads for business that don't care where the leads come from.

TL;DR?

Why sell shovels when you can sell GOLD?​

 

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[Choate]

SpartanOwnership is a cool concept and I don't think this market is overcrowded. Your main concern is how to differentiate yourself from the big dogs like bold and determined, rsdnation, and danger and play. Hell maybe even bodybuilding.com. This is the wrong approach. Before you can worry about competitor differentiation, you need to have a valid value add.

A comparison to what you're doing is shipping golf balls from China, dropping them in blue paint, and selling blue golf balls on Amazon because they are different. There is no value here, its just different for the sake of being different.

You're basically trying to make money off of people and your only concern is yourself. Your view on business is immature as there is a complete lack of focus on them, and all the focus is on you. How can I make 5k per month? How can I make them donate to me? Do I write more content in order to possibly get a coaching client?

Do you even have a legitimate offering set up if someone were to buy coaching?

Here's what I would do: scrap the entire concept. And we're going to go back to that concept of pivoting. Research, research, and research more until you get to understand your target audience. Or go out in the field. Find out what pain point they have and figure out how you can provide a solution and solve it. Instead, you are putting together random articles on health, fitness, "being a man" and throwing shit at a wall hoping it sticks...with someone, with anyone.

A legitimate pivot is that after your research, you find that 18-22 year old college males in Colorado are lacking in "cool", comfortable workout clothes. And with the climate changing so rapidly there, you find some material that makes it so its comfortable to workout in whether hot or cold. So now you develop a badass brand around this concept, which fulfills a need, and you can still make blog, videos, etc around this concept. And after you dominate the market in Colorado so that word of mouth spreads it, you can arc out into similar markets across the country, because you have a legitimate product which you tested with your target audience, found out it works, and have a cool brand and back story to back it up.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Im starting to think that the best route for me will be to make a few changes, maybe with my content, and give more of a "this is my journey" instead of "here's what you should do" type advice. Or at least be less "guru" about it all. Any feedback on that?

I like that because then you're being authentic instead of just another cheap guru feigning gurudom.

 

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[Thiago Machado]

Man,

I agree with almost everything you said. The only part that I don't understand is the second one: where you mention picking something else and pursuing it. I would do that but why would I settle to be a salesman instead of really pursuing my dream of building a big brand out of my blog?

The reason why I wouldn't focus 100% of my energy on building a personal brand is because it isn't scalable.

Gary Vaynerchuk has said it himself. He uses his personal brand as a means, not an end. It's just a publicity tool for him and Vayner Media.

The reason why I dislike this as a "business" model is because once you reach "success", you still need to put out content. To make things worse, if you're documenting yourself through video, then that becomes even harder (you can't clone someone and make them work for you.)

By picking up a skill, mastering it, and then applying it to build a business, you can have money coming in fairly quickly to pay your bills and to re-invest it into your business venture.

Finally, business happens when a sale takes place. When you build a personal brand, you are a building a communication channel. You're building the medium. An audience. And you are only going to get paid once somebody has identified your channel as something valuable. You'll most likely get paid for guest posting, advertising, affiliate sales, etc. It's long-term, but I think there are better things to do for the long-term.

So think about it for a second:

Guy #1 - Learns web design fair enough to start building websites for local businesses ($500 - $1000 each.)
Time: Less than one month.

Guy #2 - Builds blog about documenting his journey. When will he get paid? Who knows.
Time: Years (It's a journey. It doesn't happen overnight.)

Another problem I see with this method is that everybody is doing it. It's saturated. What makes it worthwhile for me to read your blog out of the millions on the internet about the same thing? Especially with blogs such as bold and determined?

Anyways... since you seem to have made up your mind already, what exactly are you going to help people with?

Whatever it is that you do, I hope you learn and lead by example.

 

[nradam123]

Yo. I know someone who achieved this feat and he is 21 years old.
And he is from TFF.

Check: http://dareandconquer.com/

I think he got featured in Victor Pride. And he has a Fiverr mastery course and all that.

And a great resource that I recommend you for your journey is https://www.udemy.com/building-a-personal-brand-by-gary-vaynerchuk/
Its a paid course by Gary Vee.

I have the course. The first thing he mentions in his video is .... "I laugh at people who think they can growth hack and do social media and become a personal brand. What I did to build a personal brand is to shut up for the first 10 to 15 years of my career. During those 15 years I was building the businesses that gave me the audacity to create Gary Vaynerchuck brand. Everyone who thinks he can growth hack and become personal super star, I laugh at them"

When I first heard him say it I did not agree with him as well. And so I started my first online course to "Teach people how to start businesses"
It was a scam.
I failed.
5 months went down the toilet.

Lesson leaned.

 

[Ninjakid]

If despite all the criticism, you're still totally committed to making your website work, I admire your resolve.

I'll just say this: when you take the stance of someone who's going to be giving other people advice, be conscious that there are people who will take it seriously and follow it. There's a lot of bloggers and gurus who come across as being very knowledgable and they're great at attracting followers, but what they preach is toxic, and it creates more negativity in the world.

Especially the case with these type of hyper masculine and power focused self-improvement circles. There's a lot of anger, and a lot of bitterness being spread, and it negatively effects the young and impressionable.

I myself have held some very cynical beliefs in the past, some of which I've shared with others. On close inspection, I've seen that a lot of these attitudes don't really make anyone's lives better, and just add to their suffering more.

So with that said, I hope you use this role to inspire positivity and enhance people's lives.

It would be worthwhile to work on improving your grammar as well, and articulation with concepts as well.

 

[Envision]

if you cant do it better than boldanddetermined.com and dangerandplay.com then I would encourage you to move on and find something else.

This type of thing is beaten to death and there isnt much new to it

 

[ZCP]

So this is a blog w/ some affiliate marketing / ads and if someone wants you to coach them you'll take their money??

Seems like the market has let you know already.

Might be time to pivot....

 

[devine]

Hey guys, I just read through all of your replies. Matter of fact I read through them a few days ago. I gotta admit your responses got me thinking. Im 21 afterall. Who the F*ck am I to be giving advice on being a warrior? It's true that a lot of my subs are friends. And it's true that people might be blowing sunshine up my a$$. In the past few days I've been thinking a whole lot. I even seriously considered joining the French Foreign Legion to gain some experience in the armed forces to have more credibility (Mark Divine is a Navy Seal who writes a lot of books on self-development which inspire me).I dont want to do it though because it would suck really badly. My passion is to learn how to evolve to be the best man I could be and then serve other men to master their lives. I don't know any other way to do so other than creating my brand. Does anybody have any legitimate advice on how I could continue with my purpose? Because advice such as "get a job" or "research workout clothes" has it's truth but at the end of the day I would much rather make Spartan Ownership successful. The other paths don't contain "evolving and helping other men evolve". Either way, I'll consider everything you guys wrote but I figured it was worth elaborating my position further.

You seem to miss the whole point.

You're 21 years old. Does it mean that you can't coach other men on, let's say, how to pick up women? It depends on how well you do it yourself.
Does it mean that you can't coach other men on how to look better? It depends on your own appearance.
Does it mean that you can't coach other men on how to form relationships with other people? If you're excellent at this - you can.
The point is, you don't need to look more credible, you need to be more credible. When I was 21 years old I was coaching local politicians how to speak. I was credible enough, because when I opened my mouth I was my own best testimonial. Be a representation of what you preach.

What can you really offer?

 

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[Fox]

There are several guys mid twenties on this forum that I would put a lot of value on coaching me. They are the real version of what you are trying to front. From reading their stories most of them got there in 3-5 years. They built successful businesses (plural) and could now easily turn around and do what you want to do. They wouldn't have to prove themselves, would offer real value and could genuinely help others.

You can try set this up or you can change direct and focus on yourself first for a few years. Set yourself up financially, mentally and whatever other ways you define success. Then see if you want to coach it to others. It will come natural since you have been in the trenches and got the results. The brand will build itself.

I would recommend The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. You are young and need to solidify yourself first before you turn to coaching.

 

[Thiago Machado]

I even seriously considered joining the French Foreign Legion to gain some experience in the armed forces to have more credibility (Mark Divine is a Navy Seal who writes a lot of books on self-development which inspire me).

Please don't do that...

There are better ways to gain credibility.

Remember: before you master other people, you must master yourself.

Try this: http://superdrivepublishing.com/30-days-of-discipline/

And also, here's some food for thought:

Why don't you develop yourself first and document your journey every step of the way?

Pick a niche:

Example: Let's say you want to achieve a certain weight, with a certain bodyfat percentage.
Why not do a snapchat, blog, or w.e. and show people what goes on behind the scenes?

• You waking up at 5 in the morning.
• You in the gym.
• The look on your face after eating the same foods for a week.
• You showcasing your desire to quit.
• Showing people your internal struggles.

Here, look at ths -

Gurus always make it look easy. I have yet to see more people showicasing what success looks like backstage.
People love an underdog story / documentaries.

Also, why don't you develop some people first at no cost and let them be your walking, talking, testimonial?

If you can show proof that you took someone from point A to point B with your methods, they will refer you, they will talk good about you, and you will have proof and credibility.

Just my two cents.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

However, this is the fastlane forum at the end of the day right?

"Fastlane" begins and ends in your head.

 

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[Vigilante]

I've been hesitant to respond and you may have already left the building... but please take Gary V's advice and go start a product or service based business.

In order to become a worth-while coach... you need to do something worth-while.

Even then it's an uphill battle.

I've had 3 fairly successful businesses, traveled the world, read over 1200 books in the areas of personal development, leadership, sales, marketing, psychology, health, nutrition, fitness, etc. etc. -- I've attended over 200 seminars, got certified in 2 different forms of psychology, 2 coaching certifications, 3 personal training certifications, 2 nutrition certifications, the list really goes on and on... I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in a short time...

But I've spent the last 13 years trying to be good enough to be a coach.

And every single day I struggle to convince people some of the distinctions I've learned and used from my mentor could dramatically change the quality of their life.

On one side, I can appreciate your drive and desire to help people -- I love it. On the other, dabbling pisses me off.

Everyone with a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Blog now calls themselves an "inspirational speaker", "motivator", or "life coach"...

Don't be that guy.

If you're serious about this here's what I suggest:

Take the next year to flesh out a plan for a big business. Work, enjoy, party, and then for the next 10 years take massive action to make that plan a reality. Don't teach others what you think life should be like. Don't coach people on stuff you don't know how to do. Don't position yourself as a brand. Just work. Work your a$$ off until someone asks how you did it.

Then, and only then, should you become a coach.

Good luck

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I hate to be a dick....

But it's somewhat amusing to me both of you are using the same theme on your blogs...

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Thanks man. Once again I feel like your response is very insightful.

However, I think it's worth mentioning that I did say I changed my content creation strategy from a less "coachey" perspective and into a more "documentary" style approach. Therefore, I could add tons of value through my experiences, gain traffic and sell affiliate products.
I feel like I've got the drive to do all that.

I'm only speaking from experience. You and I share the same passion and I've been trying to make something very similar work for years. I've just recently got to the point where I'm happy with my results in this industry... but once again it's been 13 years in the making.

But...I also know that working for my step-dad is definitely a good opportunity because he's not putting a lot of work to keep it running. Trust me, I know what Im talking about when I say "he's not running it well". I know i can improve the company because I read a lot on marketing and am genuinely interested in business a lot more than most employees here

I'm not saying you don't know -- I'm only suggesting you might not fully comprehend the emotional struggles that come with running a business just yet. As you already mentioned how do you push forward when your product just isn't sexy? How do you deal with employees that show up late or drunk? How do you deal with an absentee owner?

Knowing what to do is easy... doing what you know is the challenge!

I definitely believe you because the level of information that's available these days is outstanding. The stuff you can get for free that was developed on the back (and wallets) of giants in business could easily make you millions and millions of dollars.

You could easily read two books: E-Myth Revisited and The Ultimate Sales Machine and have a handle on any small business within a week or two. If you simply applied those strategies with an attitude of consistent and never-ending improvement -- you really could take that business (or any business) to success.

But now you have to prove it.

So from what you're saying it seems like you're saying that I should take advantage of the opportunity I have here with my step dad. To be honest, I agree that it might be a great choice especially since my stepdad is generous and would allow me to keep my share of the profits if I show I can make them.

Why not? Don't step over dollars to try and earn pennies. You're so young (and I don't mean that as an insult) it's exciting that you have so many possibilities. You literally could do it all. Once again, the trouble is most people dramatically overestimate what they can do in a year, and VASTLY underestimate what they can do in 10.

Plus, I could always put in a few hours to document my journey/come out with content on my blog. I could even do some affiliate marketing and make a few bucks on the side with it. (like a little passion project) which might get bigger in the long run...

People love to read the journey. Just write it down. Don't try to sell anything. Don't try affiliate programs. Don't try any silly stuff like that. If you MUST record it -- JUST record it. If people read it, great. If they don't, you would have tried.

I really want you to hear me when I say I understand your need to create this and make an impact on the world. But do not do it now if you want to be successful at it later.

Leave it to me to come up with a martial arts reference but if you're in the ring, there is a good time to punch and a bad time to punch. If you punch at the wrong time -- there's a great chance you are going to be knocked on your a$$.

If you put anything less than 100% energy into a business you are going to fail. If you try to split your focus 50/50 or even 99/1 you are going to fail at both.

Here's (what I think) is a way you can judge it by:

At the end of the night you should be so tired and exhausted from working on and growing your step-dad's business that you don't have the physical energy and mental ability to work on a blog.

That's how you know you're leaving it all on the court. And if you DO that -- if you trust me enough (even though you don't know me from squat) -- I promise you you're going to be happy with the results.

To conclude: I want to start taking action. What do you think about the following decision:

"I take action" should be the mantra.

Accept the fact that I'm not extremely passionate about the product but learn to enjoy building business and taking action.

The more you say that, the more it will become true. The funny thing I think you'll learn is in business it really doesn't matter what the product or service is -- business is business. Your job is to create a machine that solves a need. This takes creating processes of consistent lead generation, scripts, operational procedures, etc. etc.

Business is much more than a product or a service. Sure it's the hero -- but there's a lot of shitty products and services out there with AMAZING customer service that become huge companies.

Get excited about growing a business. Commit.

Invest majority of time/energy on step-dad's business. Develop it. Market it.

ALL of your time and energy. ALL of it. In life you're either 100% committed or you're not committed at all.

If you want to grow in the personal development field you NEED this success under your belt. You MUST make it work. If you don't you'll never fulfill your dream.

End Game: Make money and learn as much as I can about management of people and profits, etc. This could be a great decision that may very well lead to tons of experience and money.

The experience at this point is much more valuable than the money -- but with that being said, the money is the scoreboard.

I don't know what the business is, but how many millions can you get it up to? 1 million? 2 million? How badass would you be if you can say that by 25 you've grown a failing company into a multi-million dollar empire?

GET FREAKING EXCITED and GET FOCUSED!

Side goal: Work on blog and content creation and treat as a passion project on the side. But don't make it center-focus with the understanding that progress will be slow, I don't have very much authority, and it's not very scallable.

No, no, no, no, no, and no!!!!!

With time and experience, I can revisit this project and choose to pursue more intensely. But for now to focus on the massive opportunity at hand.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and YES!!!

Does this sound fair?

P.S. Never negotiate with me or anybody else about your life and your future.

Life doesn't pay the price you ask of it, it only pays the price you demand of it.

If you want to take the island, you burn the boats. I'm telling you to burn this blog boat, take the island, and then build a new boat.

 

[SpartanWarrior77]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for ways to scale up my brand to the point where I'm making 5K per month.

I've been working on my brand recently. I've bought a domain, got a nice looking blog running, along with a Youtube channel. So far I've built up a small content base off: 28 articles for my website, 25 videos for my Youtube channel, and sent out 22 newsletters to my 53 Email-subscribers.

I'm currently on Facebook, twitter and Instagram as well. And recently started promoting a product I like on my website in order to get affiliate commissions. However, I haven't gotten any sales yet and I'm looking for ways to scale it up.

So far the only ideas I came up with are to increase traffic by coming out with more content. That way more people go on my site, subscribe and potentially buy the affiliate package or donate.

Does anybody have any experience with scaling up a business like this? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Ps. I'm pretty passionate about this project and feel the drive necessary to put in the extra mile.

Thanks!

 

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[Envision]

Whats the website?

You need to ask yourself why someone would pay you for coaching or products in regards to strategy and warrior mentality when your 21 years old and havent really done anything yet

 

[lowtek]

The site is www.spartanownership.com

And true that! I don't have huge amounts credibility so I need to figure out a way to work around that...

The way to "work around that" is to build credibility by demonstrating you can produce results.

Do you have any friends you could coach for free, in exchange for a case study?

 

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