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Golden Nuggets- Tips, processes, & How To's

Ajay2390

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cash is the lowest common denominator. if you only rely on cash to get things done, your just not creative enough :)

Z

This is One Lesson I Will Always Practice Consistently. Finding New Angles! Thanks @zen*******
 
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D

DeletedUser2

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I get PM's from time to time. and sometimes I need to share them.

I dont share WHO, I just share WHAT.

here is one I got the other day, and then MY RESPONSE (see below)


THE PM
Hello Mr. zen*******. I'm writing this message in hopes to actually have it read by you. One of the leading members on the site. I know you might get tens or hundreds of messages a day, but I would really like you to read my situation and my plea. I'll first start by who I am. I'm a nobody, I recently wasn't able to attend my spring semester of college because of my financial problems. I'm also someone that's lucky enough to have a supportive girlfriend that is with through all of this. I currently live at her off-campus apartment with two of her roommates. That's how I have internet connection and that's how I came to be on this site. I also left my parents' house because they have pounded my head with ideas of becoming a doctor, getting a 3 figure salary, and marrying into another Korean family. I've had many scars, emotionally and physically, because my family is a traditional family. So this left me in the most depressing and confusing part of my life so far. I can't attend college anymore, all I have is 300 dollars in my bank account, and I have a girlfriend that supports me with food, internet, and a roof over my head. Recently my mom tried to contact me through the phone that I have, but I left it off for about 1 month now. The reason being is that I know 100% that my family will inhibit me from following my dreams and pursuing roads that she does not even know about.


Recently, my girlfriend and I were extremely worried that I won't have a place to go for 2 weeks because the apartment will go to another person during the summer. But luckily things worked out. We found a place where both of us can live for two weeks and move in after that to her apartment for next year.


I'm really happy and glad to say that I have a place to stay for the next year. But at the same time, I'm really unhappy over the fact that my girlfriend is giving me all of this support and I have nothing to show for it. Every time she swipes her debit card, it breaks my heart that I can't return the favor. She always says it's not a big deal. She always says that it's okay. But to me it's not okay. It always pains me to see her spend so much money just for two people. I would really like to pay her back and show her that my dreams aren't just dreams, but a reality at the same time.


I recently lost interest in cars, games, and money flying in the air. Those were just fantasies that everyone has. Few can actually make it happen, but even fewer know that they don't need those things. Not saying that one should buy those things like cars and games, but for me in my situation, those things aren't necessary. I ultimately want to marry my girlfriend and live in the city close to her parents. I just dream about how I can live in the city, be a business owner, and at the same time return the kindness that my girlfriend provided me with. I don't even know what to do or where to start.


Mr. zen*******, I really thank you for your posts that you've posted, and I was truly inspired when you said that you had real estate all over the country. It showed me how wide your network of real estate was. Honestly speaking, I wished that was me. I wished I knew how to get there. I wished I can just have money to be a man and provide for my girlfriend.


I'm saying this again, but you probably get 10's or 100's of people message you and ask you to mentor them. You might be asking yourself what the difference is between what I'm sending you and what they sent you. The difference, in my opinion, is that I've hit rock bottom, I'm not lazy, and if you tell me to go read 1000 books in order gain the knowledge I will do that. Thank you for reading this if you have, and I ask you for your consideration to learn under you. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening.


MY RESPONSE
get a job. don't go to school, GET A JOB. one that is a shit job, but gives you a few bucks. don't be a leach to your girlfriend. get a job now.

THEN when you have one, THEN you start thinking, what next, what skills, what focus do you need.

F*ck being a doctor. they give me money to invest, because they don't know how.

just because you hit rock bottom doesn't mean shit. we all do it. it strengthens your character. if your not dead, yet, then it isn't as bad as it could be.

Go get a job. wait tables, be a janitor, be something besides a F*cking leach dreaming of hitting it big in a lottery fashion. your going to have to suffer alot for YEARS to make it big.
even a small biz is usually not very or profitable at all in the first 4-5 yrs.

the fact that you have to sponge off your girlfriend and beg me for magical mentor help is just indicative that your not ready yet, to even be a biz owner.

first problem to solve? yours.


PS> pick up the phone and call your parents.
tell them you fine, your growing and you have to figure this out on your own. if and if they try to tell you what to do, remind them, that pushing you right now, results in no phone calls.
letting you figure it out, will mean you will keep in touch, even if to just let them know your ok.

that's BEING A MAN. right now. your a boy.

GROW A PAIR and help your girlfriend, your parents, and then yourself. when you have a job. take every other hour that they are not sucking up, and use it to explore businesses, opportunities, and pain points of those around you.

when you can do that, business will become easier, and more apparent to you.
till then. you will F*ck up anything I could hand your or you could touch anyway.

you have a long way to go. don't drag everyone along in a muddy mess, while you figure this shit out. becoming a man, is what your doing, THEN it all makes sense. also, the whole Asian parent thing... ya, I know it sucks. but its your choice on how to deal with it. becoming a man is part of that process (here is the secret) all our parents do the same things. and we all have to find our way.

your not ready for mentorship. I would blow you outta the water. and it would be a waste of my time.

get your shit together and in a couple years. MAYBE.

good luck. don't waste time, go get it done

Z
 

snowbank

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left my parents' house because they have pounded my head with ideas of becoming a doctor, getting a 3 figure salary

a $100 doctor! i'd want to leave too

your not ready for mentorship. I would blow you outta the water. and it would be a waste of my time

this is a big lesson i've learned. i took on someone in the past who wanted to do calls about nothing and just wanted handholding/cuddling to do the work. Instead of working on things that would have made them a lot of money, they spent their time debating whether or not what i suggested would work, and when they could tell i thought i was wasting my time would always send me lots of "im the hardest worker ever", "this will be the best decision you've ever made" messages— month or two later they were out, having done nothing, and wasted a lot of my time. i'm too much of a softie. it should have ended right away.

"hire slow, fire fast"

jumping into mentee or mentor relationship unless both parties have the time, and are on the same exact page are the biggest time waste ever. a mentee who attempts to be a mentee too early and says they're up for it, actually hurts themselves more than helping themselves unless they actually are ready. they burn connections, and they don't really understand what those are worth at all.
 
D

DeletedUser2

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jumping into mentee or mentor relationship unless both parties have the time, and are on the same exact page are the biggest time waste ever. a mentee who attempts to be a mentee too early and says they're up for it, actually hurts themselves more than helping themselves unless they actually are ready. they burn connections, and they don't really understand what those are worth at all.

my mentee mentor relationships are a process,
takes time. and I test the shit outta them. they dont always understand the tests. but they are crucial.

just asking, and saying, ill work harder than anyone.... nope.

Z
 
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Stephanos83

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I think you gave him good advice Zen. He needs to hold himself accountable before he can expect any kind of assistance from anyone else.
 

Jak

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Just another Nugget

So here is another question I get.
How do i know if the product will be successful.

While it was talked about in the 4 hr workweek, some people needed to see it in action.

This is an actual test we ran on a product Idea a friend of mine had. While I said, it may not be worth it, she vehemently disagreed, so I showed her how to run this test, and we did it pretty quick

in the end she saved months of work, for a product that would not have made her enough money.

she ended up focusing on something that would and that's why you test. To kill bad ideas fast.
so you can really work on ones that are truly great.

The Test...
2011-05-19_2157 - xendolphin's library

This right here - Brilliant. Haven't finished the thread yet, but just had to make a note. Makes me excited for what's to come :D
 

Claouse

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Zen, not stroking your ego, but this has helped me in my understanding of alot of things, especially your comment about if you had to do it again. Well done. You'ze a boss by choice.
 
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TheUltimateWarrior

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Some one pinged me recently and here is my reply, I thought I would share it since I had a blast writing it.
Enjoy


Background a 17 yr old asked if I could mentor him....
here is my response.




so, your in high school. great. you want some real quick advice? dont got to collage. that's just my experienced opinion. Go start a business instead. You will learn more, faster.

your young yet, so to be honest, I usually wait until someone is in their mid 20's to begin mentoring them.

why?

because at your age, you dont even know what you dont know. and I have tried mentoring younger guys, but really, they are so busy trying to tell me how the world works, they they dont seem to have time to listen to what I have done, and what I know.

So, I let them talk, and several years later they apologize and ask again.

what you need at your age is a coach. someone who can kick your a$$ a little bit, and can help you focus. not really a mentor.

a coach can say, you want to do biz? go do this and this and this. let me know how it goes.

mentoring is a whole nother level.
the people I mentor are people who
1. are ready for a mentor,
2. have a burning desire to succeed, (and will probably succeed even with out my help)
3. are in the industry or sector that I am already in.
4. have a symbiotic relationship, with what ever I am doing at the time, adding value to me and my time. (example, if im buying apartments, then the people I mentor are usually in real estate, if im selling shit online, then they are online focused, if i am investing in companies then they have the resources to do so as well, or know others who can)


now, good on you for contacting me. most people are just to chicken shit to reach out to someone they want to meet with. dont know why. but there ya have it.


so what I'm going to do for you is give you some advice. then, you can come back to me and let me know what advice you took, and more importantly what advice you didn't take, and why.

if there is a synergy, well, maybe we can chat from time to time. but to be honest, I get alot of people pinging me asking for the short cut.

so here is the short cuts. funny part is, few people actually believe it, or use it. :)


short cut.

Skip collage. go start a business. any business. fail at it. start another.

if you want to learn, (and you need to on a damm near daily basis) look up classes, or weekend workshops for what ever skill or info you are looking for

learn to be discerning about people who you learn from. find them. track them down, ask high quality questions and then act on it.

DO IT. what ever needs to be done, dont think about it, dont worry forever about it. just do it. regardless what others say. failure is the best lesson, and 1 good failure is worth 10,000 opinions from other people. F*ck em. they are not you, so get over what ever they say. they just dont know.

Take action. every day, towards your goals. get out of the chair get off the couch. get it done.

if you have an xbox, a ps3 or if you do pc games. Kill it for the next few years. seriously give that shit away. and read instead.

Discover your why. why the hell do you want to work that hard to make money? its 2-10x harder than a job. why work so hard? if you dont have a good why. your F*cked. find it. and use it as leverage on yourself to get shit done.

if you need someone to kick your a$$ to get shit done. pay them.
Give 10 checks for 100 bucks each to someone, and then promise to get it done, or they get to cash the check. believe me, that has worked for years.

Do it. get shit done.

dont be a pussy. stop being afraid. quit dicking around. what the hell are you afraid of? GO. DO IT.

Do things that scare the shit out of yourself. do massive things. make big plans and then push past them.

you will learn on the way. you dont need to know everything right now. you just need to find someone who needs something, and go get it for them.

you are seriously not too good to make coffee, fetch things, or do shit work. that's part of the price you pay of not having money get over yourself.

Help people for free. help those that are in a position to pay you well, and do it for free. it will come back to you in ways you never would have imagined. seriously.

leap, and the net will appear. sometimes the net will look alot like the ground. that's ok, its there to break your fall. :)

you will fail, you will suck, and it will take a while for that shit to stop happening on a regular basis. TRUST THAT THIS IS TRUE and life will be easier for you. (the upside is, at some point you stop sucking, and start really shining! )

ignore your friends. they will go out and get jobs, get nicer cars. go out partying, and shit like that. the parties they do now, will be epic for them later, when all they have is the memory of the parties, and the mortgages they pay. while you will be able to party for the rest of your life, with no mortgage, if you just learn to not suck :)
they say it takes 10,000 hrs to really master something. focus on that, and F*cking master something. and no, its not call of duty or the latest assassins creed.

learn to network with the best and brightest people in the world, and you will have all the resources you ever need only a phone call away.

Hire people smarter than you, and fire yourself as fast as possible

make your "list" of must have skills then focus on getting them. take a class, take a weekend seminar, watch youtube vids on the topic, look up open source education, and learn stuff. Learn how to learn. you will never be behind if you do that.

ok, good luck, and have at it. when you get out of school ping me again, see where your at, and we may chat then.

Z

I'm 18 years old, and after completing my freshman year, I have quit college. The above post was incredibly inspirational. Leaving is something I have been thinking about for months, but until this post I was not 100% certain. I was raised by my parents that a college degree is one of the most important steps to take, however I am thankful that I will not waste another three years of my life chasing down a single piece of paper. Life is too short. Instead, I will chase down a lot of paper ($$).

What skills do I want need to acquire (and how will I go about achieving this)?
1. Copywriting + marketing (following the 30 day copywriting challenge)
2. Weight training (gym... daily - physical activity leads to mental clarity)
3. Social media (interviewing 100 experts)

Most importantly, what are my potential income streams?
1. Starting a business in social media management
2. Starting a website that will turn into a business (credit to @IceCreamKid... interviewing 100 experts)
3. Buying items on eBay and reselling them for a higher price.
4. Buying tickets and reselling them for a higher price.
5. Paid job as a freelance writer for local publications.

Eventually the goal is to start cutting out 3-5, and focus primarily on 1 & 2.

I'm not writing this because I want you to mentor me or to brag. I'm hoping that at least one person reading this is inspired enough - as I was by this thread - to get off their a$$ and start working. It's never too early... it's never too late. Now is the right time.

Thank you @zen******* for your contributions to this forum and to my life. I only recently found this forum, but I have a tremendous drive to spread love in this world. I'm hoping quitting college will allow me to do this.
 
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Nadia

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I've jumped in and out of this thread and literally taken pics of Zen's posts on my phone, printed them out and highlighted the stuff relevant to me in the next 3 years. People keep asking people for direct mentorship not realising this FREE WISDOM IS mentorship.

Thank you! :D
 

HarryR

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9. Publisher model ( mine)
a. Create a single deep funnel
i. Over achiever method
b. Create additional funnel in similar but different space with different expert.
c. Create additional products to cross sell between funnels
d. Seek out and find top experts in their field, as it relates to you.
e. Pros- multiple deep funnels can provide deep profits
f. Cons-must be able to handle manage larger organization, must be able to provide clear goals and directions to group. Must know how to best integrate various funnels
I had a question about step D. Would you do this after you have a profitable funnel to make it better, or upfront and build your funnel around someone?
 

Dicky Dee

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my mentee mentor relationships are a process,
takes time. and I test the shit outta them. they dont always understand the tests. but they are crucial.

just asking, and saying, ill work harder than anyone.... nope.

Z

Since no one has asked in this thread, what exactly are you looking for in a mentee? That way I don't need to pm you with paragraphs of emo shit and I can decide for myself if I were up to par with your specifications.
 

JAJT

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vinisterz

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ok, Another quick process.

Got Dropbox?

Got 10 Gigs on dropbox Free?

Dont have that many friends who signed up for you yet?

here is a quick process someone shared with me after we discussed it. Since I already had drobox maxed, I haven't used it but he did and went from 2Gigs of free space to 4.5 in less than an hr after posting this, I thought I would share it.

I posted the whole "mini process" here on my google docs where I keep these things.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q7rNWqA7iQ5FS2mzCgHxdtJzAJAXQfnkKl1s_ves5iM/edit

you can go there and read the process.
basically he went and posted on odesk this process, and got to his full10Gig in less than a day.

it was cool enough to watch, that I wanted to share.
:)
Z

I did exactly this today to test the process and got up to 3.5gb of dropbox storage today :)
 

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ddall

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I did exactly this today to test the process and got up to 3.5gb of dropbox storage today :)

Why not use copy.com instead, or Google drive for that matter? Copy.com gives you 15gb, and a download folder etc as well. Here is a ref link https://copy.com?r=ezGlAW for an extra 5gb (gives me an extra 5gb as well - feel free to just go to the site I dont need the space). I prefer the interface over Gdrive
 

FastlaneTiger

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BEST. THREAD. EVER. It's not a gold thread it's a PLATINUM thread.
Thank you zen*******!
 

stairclimber

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How To Find People Talking About Your Niche

Cool a$$ tip I just learned for finding people ACTIVELY talking about your niche/product/whatev:

1.) Google a word or subject. Like “wantrepreneur”.
2.) Under “More” in Google search bar, select “Discussions”.
3.) Under “search tools” select “past 24 hours”.

BAM. List of everyone talking about wantrepreneurs in last 24 hours.

You can chime into these discussions, see what they’re saying, use their language for your marketing, get ideas. Whatever.

Source: http://www.nevblog.com/cool-a$$-trick-to-find-people-talking-about-your-niche
This discussion trick does not work in Google any more.

Any alternative?

Thanks a million.
 
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GieItLaldy

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This discussion trick does not work in Google any more.

Any alternative?

Thanks a million.

Hey

not the same but check the attached image, from the "more" dropdown menu shown click "search tools" and a new line of options appears allowing you to select the time period.
 

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Justin.p

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stairclimber

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Search term + "forum"

This is the closest replacement I can find so far.

Any other idea?

Tawqer, the World talking in real time
http://tawqer.com/
Explore live opinions behind the news. See what's trending.



Yes, makes me wonder what Google is doing with its overpaid army of engineers and marketing people.


May be they are now only working 1 day a week?


And customers be damned?
 

Brentnal

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I'm 18 years old, and after completing my freshman year, I have quit college. The above post was incredibly inspirational. Leaving is something I have been thinking about for months, but until this post I was not 100% certain. I was raised by my parents that a college degree is one of the most important steps to take, however I am thankful that I will not waste another three years of my life chasing down a single piece of paper. Life is too short. Instead, I will chase down a lot of paper ($$).

What skills do I want need to acquire (and how will I go about achieving this)?
1. Copywriting + marketing (following the 30 day copywriting challenge)
2. Weight training (gym... daily - physical activity leads to mental clarity)
3. Social media (interviewing 100 experts)

Most importantly, what are my potential income streams?
1. Starting a business in social media management
2. Starting a website that will turn into a business (credit to @IceCreamKid... interviewing 100 experts)
3. Buying items on eBay and reselling them for a higher price.
4. Buying tickets and reselling them for a higher price.
5. Paid job as a freelance writer for local publications.

Eventually the goal is to start cutting out 3-5, and focus primarily on 1 & 2.

I'm not writing this because I want you to mentor me or to brag. I'm hoping that at least one person reading this is inspired enough - as I was by this thread - to get off their a$$ and start working. It's never too early... it's never too late. Now is the right time.

Thank you @zen******* for your contributions to this forum and to my life. I only recently found this forum, but I have a tremendous drive to spread love in this world. I'm hoping quitting college will allow me to do this.

For now it is all words, i talk alot to and ain't doing shit until recently but i haven't posted it yet.
Do first talk later.
 
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