Limitless

[AndrewNC]

They say we should workout our body for 20-40 minutes a day...but how often do you workout your mind? (and no, I'm not talking about reading books)

The Problem: The only thing holding us back from success is our mind

People in all areas of their life do not realize their limitless potential. They don't have the belief they can accomplish the big goals they want to accomplish in life. And they don't always seek out the tools to guide them on their journey to success. Everybody lives in their own reality, and often times that reality puts a box around them that blinds them for what is really possible.

People need help:

1. Believing that THEY can do it.
2. Removing limiting beliefs.
3. Overcoming Fears.
4. Discovering their "step by step process" to reach their goals.
5. Getting past procrastination and learning how to get motivated to take action

The Market: Myself - One year ago. (Anybody who wants more in life and needs help getting there. Fitness/Health Success, Relationships/Dating, Business, Acting/Singing/Sports, etc.)

The Solution:

1. Inspiration to make people believe it's possible so they begin walking down that road to success, and
2. The education and tools that will help them get in the right mindset to get there.

You ever have those gut feelings that scream that you should be doing something? I've been getting that for a while telling me to help other people in this area of life. I already know that this is going to be successful.

The Business Idea:
Do whatever it takes to solve the problems for my market, and learn how to deliver it to them.

The site for anyone who wants to follow along: LimitlessAcademy.com

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewNC]

11/21/2015 update -


Inc Magazine Exposure
I'm noticing close to 2,000 organic monthly visitors in the last month from the Inc Magazine article. I feel it would benefit the brand to increase my effort to do guest blogging and other writeups. I'm going to start writing more blog posts in line with major industry themes and reaching out to writers to see how I can help them with their jobs.

T.V. Commercials
I decided not to go with the infomercials through Kevin's company. The main reason is because the cost of $19,000 would be a small test before doing a larger campaign and I don't have my backend optimized for that and I don't feel it's the best use of my marketing budget now. Also, they said this is their first time doing this type of things for personal development products. I would prefer to go with someone who is more experienced.

Book
I passed my original deadline for publishing the book because I'm making sure the content is 100% there. No MVP on this one.

Udemy Courses
Less than $150 in sales from my first course, and I just submitted my second course today for review. The price point is higher and it's in a different niche, so I'll see how it goes. The interesting thing is that I see Udemy is doing remarketing ads for courses people view on there, so that should help with promotion.

Website
Conversion rate was low when the main call to action was an email opt int. Switched the homepage up to a direct sale landing page and more geared towards a specific audience. Purchased forum software to create a private mastermind community of action takers.

Products
I began taking an NLP Master Practitioner course. It's a 400ish page workbook, and 3 cases of DVDs for training. For the first time in a long time, I was really anticipating the arrival of a product. It got me to thinking of looking into upgrading the length and content of my courses and turn them into two physical products over the next year. Up until now, my courses were 100% online, but I'm thinking the manuals and physical aspect of it will make it more valuable for the customers.





Company Vision
This is where people say my dreams get a little big.

I've been really inspired by Elon Musk lately. He said something in an interview where he feels that too many entrepreneurs spend their time "entertaining consumers" and that the world would be a better place if more of us spend our focus on doing innovative things that improve the world. His values definitely align with mine right now.

So my new vision of the future is to create a network and training hub to turn people with big dreams in life into some of the most successful innovators on Earth. I'm starting to do this by helping remove the obstacles that stand between people and their goals. The training courses and community I create will help others do that, mixed with my NLP knowledge - I will create a way to get people to take action.

The ultimate vision is to use Limitless Academy as a training ground, and then I can personally invest in "the best of the best". The investment part is something I don't see coming around until at least 2017 so over the next year the main focus will be in creating a curriculum and community in innovation, and push people in the direction of creating things that help make the world a better place.

Next steps -

1. Finish the sale of my first business (minus maybe one or two of my apps).
2. Create my next two Udemy courses this week.
3. Create video sales letter for homepage of limitless.

 

[AndrewNC]

I honestly could have released this course months ago, but I hated the way my voice sounded on the screen recordings. This was one of the mental blocks I had to get over. Then one day I just F---ing did it. The first training video I did about 50 re-recordings of, and then edited it like crazy before uploading it.

After the 20th video, it was like second nature. The initial customer feedback said my voice sounded fine on the recordings...Sometimes the only thing holding us back are those imaginary fears in our minds.

Lesson #1 - The importance of getting your product into market and getting feedback

I had so many ideas of how I could structure my online course, and what information to put in it. I could have dreamed up the solutions to it and perfected it for years before I launched. But my own thoughts mean nothing, because I'm not the customer.

Initial customer feedback (name removed for privacy):

[3/18/2015 7:44:36 PM] xxxxxx: one thing you might want to consider is like a "schedule" element
[3/18/2015 7:45:26 PM] xxxxxx: lots of people, myself included, like the idea of doing specific stuff over a determined timeline
[3/18/2015 7:45:38 PM] xxxxxx: so break it into weeks or something

[3/20/2015 2:22:46 PM] xxxxxx: I am on lesson 4 now
[3/20/2015 2:22:57 PM] xxxxxx: really enjoying it too!

"Wow! Lot of changes to that training start page since Friday. I like the graphics. And it looks like a whole separate section of new content at the bottom."

Once again, no criticizing of my voice, and real - actionable feedback to improve my product. Within a few days, I created a 30-day action plan for people to follow and will continue to make changes as they come in.

Even if I waited another 6 months to launch, I wouldn't have thought up the ideas they asked for.

Something weird happened when I had customers:
I felt obligated to do everything in my power to make their purchase as worthwhile for them as possible. This provided one of the best motivations in the last month to get to work.

I also had one customer pre-order my advanced mindset training course (which I promise delivery by May 15th). You ever have those times you set a goal and a deadline and you let it drift away because there is no need to accomplish it on time? When people are trusting that I deliver something by the date I promised...I can't not deliver. I have all the information I need for the advanced course, but now I just need to put it together and deliver.

For anybody reading this: The one thing to takeaway is that your ideas are worth nothing. By getting your idea or product into market, you finally begin to learn what people really need help with.

 

[AndrewNC]

Week 1 Update - $17,528 in sales
...is me just creating a number out of thin air as my April fools joke...One sale from paid traffic so far.

I'm failing left and right
Spent over $100 on a paid traffic campaign. Turns out the targeting was way off and I was getting impressions for things completely unrelated to what I'm offering. Also, out of 42 email opt ins for my lead gen form, only 25 double opted in. (anyone good with email marketing know if that's average?).

To fix that, I had my 'redirect page' from my opt in form go to a page instructing them to double opt in (and not to sell them right away).

Just created a new campaign that is more narrowly targeted, upped the budget from $30/day to to $65/day so I can get more data quicker.

Also working on getting CPV to track exactly what target the clicks and sales come from.

Mindset shift of the week: It's really resonating that time is more valuable than money (i've heard it and understood it before, but now it's sinking in). This time last year I would be 'saving up' an extra $2,000 from my corporate job before I run ads. Now I'm just putting it on a business credit card so I can get data quicker. Riskier move...but in order to get new results in my life, i'll have to take new actions.

 

[AndrewNC]

Got my physical product into 2 retail locations and the owner of those said he may be able to wholesale to other retail stores throughout the area.

All this happened because I gave away free samples to people to see how they like it, they loved it and shared it on Facebook. This guy saw it and was immediately interested.

Time to place a larger order.

Also - found a buyer for one of my apps. This particular app has a decemt user base, but hasn't monetized too well over the last year so the sale price is fairly lower than expected.

I haven't been able to go on the computer for the last 3 days due to semi-severe eye strain - total revenue - in those 3 days - about $950.

This month has been very...."interesting" - more updates on that soon.

 

[AndrewNC]

Been making a lot of contacts in the Vegan/Fitness market lately.... not sure how this will pan out, but i have a feeling it may turn into something - somewhere somehow

Not entering the Vegan market at this point...it'll be a distraction.

I'm about to go through a major growth phase for my business and settle down some more in my life.

For the past couple of years, I've been kind of coasting on autopilot. I've been making passive income since March 2014. Quit my job in June 2014, and began traveling the country ever since then. Moving from city to city every 3-6 months. East Coast, Boulder, Scottsdale, Seattle, and taking road trips everywhere in between.

Growth Phase Update

I met with a group of Fastlaners at a bar/restaurant in Denver last night.



I've seen many of them at the conferences over the years, and now they are more like friends at this point. Haven't seen them in a while, so we met up one night to talk busienss. Talking about selling companies, traveling the world, and I naturally start talking about personal development. It's like my default topic during conversations.

One of the members works in the education industry as well, and does exactly what I'm looking to do. And he's been doing it a lot longer than me.

After we left, he talked to me for about an hour and a half, giving me mentorship on my first "real" product launch. Basically, he outlined the whole strategy, and it has worked very well for him in the past. Today, I was on a Skype call with another entrepreneur from Europe, helping him through something in his life, and after that, he gave me some more good best practices from his product launch.

I did noticed some limiting beliefs and blockages during our conversation last night, so I spent an hour working those out this morning, and I already have really high quality sales copy, and a lot of free content written up, to deliver value to my audience.

The founder of Startup week emailed me the other week, offering to sponsor my first international trip, out of the country. I have two place in mind, and let him know I would like to go to Europe in August.

So while for the past few years, I've been living a lifestyle business, I maintained, but I didn't grow. It's time to grow, so I've been quickly bumping up my workload to long days, and began cutting out all the distractions in my life, and cutting out people who are not going to help me grow my business.

Settling Down

Last Summer, I was driving up the Pacific Coast Highway from Southern California to Seattle.

I was driving up the rocky bluffs just north of San Francisco, on the coast, and I see these two surfer girls in a yellow Jeep open up the gate to some narrow, rocky road. I'm on the side of the road filming YouTube videos, like I always do.

The wind was too much to get good audio quality, but they seemed interested so we started to talk.

They say they are about to go back to college, and are spending the night on the beach having a campfire and surfing. I walk down the beach with one of them, Katie, and we share a moment together. Something inside of me shifted. I've been walking this journey, virtually alone for two years, making lots of friends, dating...but never made the time to make any deep, meaningful connections.

After we parted ways, I started to shift to wanting a woman by my side, for the next stage of my journey...

I met the perfect woman for me a few months ago, here in Boulder, Colorado, where I'm staying until August. She wanted to just be friends, so I spent 3 weeks crying to myself about it, and working my a$$ off at the gym, and doing some personal development on myself to build confidence. Now, I'm starting to attract a lot of women into my life.

One of them stands out - She is a Junior in college to become a storm chaser, and is in the process of building a drone to fly into tornadoes, gathering data that they currently can't gather, and is raising between $5 million and $10 million in government grands, forming a partnership with NASA to use their satellites to transmit real time weather data.

Then she began talking about a strategy to grow my brand from the local, to the state, and eventually to the national and international level, starting by doing presentations at schools, with the skills I've acquired over the years. I reached out to one private school who is looking to improve their curriculum, and will start there. I used to date one of the teachers there, so I reached out to her to put in a good word.

And by settle down, I mean I'm going to travel through Europe in the fall, living out of a backpack, working off of a laptop...most likely with the girl that I've kind of started dating...I'm not sure where it will lead, but I feel much more aligned with everything, now that I have her in my life.

I guess I'm starting to see @Vigilante 's side of things when it comes to relationships and business.

This woman is real supportive, and I'm supportive of her.

So yeah, been making a lot of great contacts lately, raised some capital for one of my projects, and about to go through a major growth phase of my business.

Today, I have total clarity.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[G-Man]

That's gotta be the most committed strategy to getting invited up for a nightcap I've ever seen!

 

[AndrewNC]

I just launched my first paid advertising campaign and made $30,000 overnight

...said nobody ever.

Course of Action 1 - Become one of my customers

I decided to target a very specific market that I don't think is being served to their full potential. It's time to get inside of their heads:

• What are their specific problems?
• What is going on inside of their minds?
• What current solutions are out there?
• What can I do better? What unique angle can I market from?
• What language do they speak?

Action steps so far this week:

1. Created a 7 page guide fixing one of the pain points people in this market face.
2. Created landing page on Leadpages.net
3. After they opt int, created a sales page for the online course I created
4. Launched paid marketing campaign and wasn't getting enough impressions so I upped my ad spend to fix it.
5. Wrote a 4 part email autoresponder series providing 90% value and 20% sales pitch.
6. Yes, I can do math.
7. Bought 4 books at B&N so I can learn "how to speak the language" of my market.
8. Reached out to someone in the industry with 20 years experience and will be recording a webinar with him.

Up next:

1. Read books I bought,
2. Join online forums,
3. Get target customers on skype calls to learn from them,
4. optimize paid advertising campaigns based on what I learn.

 

[theag]

Google Analytics should not be considered proper analytics in my book

For someone who just figured out that tracking is important, this is a pretty interesting statement. Because Google Analytics is widely regarded as one of the top analytics solutions by online marketing experts, especially since its free.

So, why do you think that Google Analytics isnt proper analytics?

My guess is that you confuse on-page analytics with traffic source analytics and you set up both of them wrong or at least in a way that they dont work together properly (@Andy Black seems to be confusing this, too, despite his experience ).

Its sounds like you're buying traffic on Adwords. There is nothing better out there for Adwords campaigns then Analytics because of the seamless integration. Have you set this up properly (linking accounts, importing data to adwords, making sure there are no redirects in your links, etc)?

You are partly right in regards to the usefulness of the Analytics data. Its hard to draw conclusions from the data, especially with low traffic volumes when you cant run experiments (a/b tests in analytics). But the same is true for low volume data in adwords or other traffic networks.

What really helped me in the beginning was watching how exactly customers used my site by recording their actions and watching playbacks. That way I figured out where they struggled and could improve those choke-points. I used inspectlet for this. Well worth it. http://www.inspectlet.com/

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

@AndrewNC, I have two observations that may help you:

1. I'm not sure if it's only me, but I find it straining to read your article with the template you have now (column with the content aligned to the right). It would be much easier on the eyes if the template was centered or to the left. Articles on Medium.com (e.g. https://medium.com/startups-venture...-in-over-150-startups-ad796b79502d#.q8i9156ux) are much easier to read.

2. Before I talk about it - I just want to give you honest feedback to help you. It's not my intention to offend you.

I think it would greatly help if you put more thought into how you dress for the videos. I get that you want to show the "lifestyle" aspect by showing you in regular daily situations, when traveling and so on. I know you, so I know your content is good and I don't care about your clothing.

However, put yourself in the shoes of a person who watches your videos for the first time - for instance, the last ones posted in your 10/31/2015. What is she going to think when she sees a random guy wearing an Adidas hoodie or crimson/purple/violet/whatever this color is shorts and talking about success? Clothing is also a part of the story and can either support it or make a person think "hmmm."

I'm not saying you should put on a suit for each video, because that's obviously not what your target viewer will relate to. However, consider for instance this video:

He's dressed casually, but in such a way that supports the goal of his video and makes you think "I can tell this guy is successful even by his casual clothes". Think a wealthy guy playing golf. If he wore a hoodie or shorts, would he give off the same vibe of success? I don't think so.

Another good example is Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men, Real Style. Check these two videos below:

And now compare them with this video in which he purposefully wears a t-shirt:

He looks ridiculous in this t-shirt when compared to the previous two videos. He's not even as half as charismatic as when he has a shirt or a suit on. Your videos could benefit from putting more focus not only on what you say and how you say it, but also how you look when you say it.

 

[AndrewNC]

Just went on a rampage of video recording:

Early signs that you are already successful:

Recharging your batteries when you feel overwhelmed with work:

Do you care what other people think? Are you giving up control of your happiness?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[theag]

I know CPVLab and used it. Its a completely different usecase though. CPVLab is link-tracking and Google Analytics is web analytics.

It works well for affiliates but for offer owners like you and me things are more complicated because stuff like ad attribution, time lag and cross-device tracking comes into play. And you can track stuff like that way better when using built-in tools like Google Analytics, Facebook conversion tracking, Adwords conversion tracking etc. For mediabuys outside of FB/Adwords it get more complicated but IMO GA is still your best shot there.

For real-time data CPVlab is good, but you have to be careful with that. In the beginning I optimized my ads like you do now, but it lead to sub-optimal results because I didnt let ads run long enough. Also split testing landing pages when your traffic is inconsistent wont give you accurate results. You can easily split test using GA by the way. Its called Experiments and its better because you split test all traffic, not just the traffic on that particular link.

But I get it because I have been there myself.

Once you have some stuff thats works I would recommend only optimizing your ads once a day or even only every 3-4 days to get enough data.

Btw if you arent using Adwords/FB, you probably should. Check out what Mindvalley are doing, they have a pretty similar product and strategy.

 

[AndrewNC]

My 30th Birthday: 5 years after joining this forum...

• Middle of a foreign country,
• 10:30 p.m.
• ATM card frozen due to "suspicious activity" - No money,
• No cell phone service, and
• Coming back to the place I'm staying - seeing everything I own thrown out on the street.

I flew into the United Kingdom last week to meet up with my business partner, and after a lot of coffees together earlier in the week, I've decided to take a new direction with my business.

Instead of the video training modules being the front - a service-based business offering NLP sessions to established founders and CEOs.

1-on-1 NLP Sessions - $x,xxx for 3-6 months

This is the core of the business.

When working with established business owners, a 3-month "coaching" package that I offer for $x,xxx is getting all my clients very amazing results. Their businesses are growing by 6 figures per year. I put the word coaching in quotes because what I do is not advice or typical coaching stuff- and it's still something I'm trying to explain in a way people understand.

I think @Andy Black gave me this advice well over a year ago "Help those who are already in motion." I keep trying to help early-stage entrepreneurs because I can empathize with their struggles. But I found a better way to hep them...by not targeting them.

Established founders are the demographic that is already doing all the things necessary to grow the business, they're already getting results, and by putting the skills I've acquired over the years to use with working on them via 60-minute Skype calls once a week for 12 weeks, they are attracting opportunities faster than before.

• The have the money to spend.
• I am 100% confident that my service helps them (over 158 testimonials so far from pas clients).
• They are taking action and already have the business knowledge.

And thanks @IceCreamKid for your post on Lex's marketplace thread - a lot of the things you mentioned there could be tacked on top of our offering - I'm rolling with it!

Getting Sales

That's what my business partner and I talked about mainly.

The #1 thing we are doing now is focusing on sales of our core service.

When sales come in, I can handle the rest.

I'm in the process of training another NLP Practitioner who I will eventually have handle clients for us as a contractor when my workload is full.

As for being stuck on the street with nothing in the middle of a foreign country.

I was on a Tinder date while the guy I'm staying with blew up at me for writing him a check for the 2 weeks here...instead of giving him cash. And when I lost service in the city, and didnt reply to his message, he threw all my stuff out on the street.

My date was nice enough to let me stay with her for a few days while I work things out with my bank and before my flight to Amsterdam tomorrow

She suggested I drink straight from the bottle...



Going to write up a long article about the full experience that night, but the main thing for this progress thread is the direction we are going...

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewNC]

Update - I got an email in my personal email (which I'm not sure how they got it) from one of the top magazines out there, and they said they are going to do a story with Limitless in it.

Pretty exciting email to get.

They asked for a HD picture of me - and I had to go through my facebook and hard drive to find a good one. Guess it's time to hire a photographer.

Its interesting how I used to try to chase getting featured on blogs or media outlets, with little success. But once I switched up to just putting out amazing content...people seem to come to me.

I think this is one of those lessons MJ put in his book, but took a number of years to finally sink in at a deeper level.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewNC]

Update 10/31/2015

1) Got a mention in the October 2015 issue of Inc Magazine - Already made another thread on here about lessons learned from it. The original link on their site linked to a different person's website, and I emailed them to update it on the 27th, which gave a nice bump in traffic.



2) "When the universe gives you signs....you should probably listen" - At least that's how I phrase it. I had to leave Seattle before the 3 months I planned to stay there were up, and on the way back, had a conversation with another fastlaner about uploading my courses on Udemy - since I already have the content recorded, and it would open up a nice additional revenue stream outside of my website.

Just uploaded my first course for review, and will be uploading all the content I have by the time I move to Southeast Asia in January.



3) Spent the last couple of weeks driving across the United States to record videos for my youtube channel. I'm not noticing any 'instant success' from YouTube videos, but the topics I talk about can help a lot of people so I am going to choose to continue to do it.

This one I recorded in July, after I spend a month locked in my apartment working hard on my business - I was completely 'out of the zone' during this one and it reminded me to enjoy the process on the way to my larger goal:

Main focus right now:

1. Finish the book I've been writing by November 14th.
2. Take over Udemy with personal development courses until January.
3. Flood the internet with greatness.

Also I'm in the process of cloning myself to get two heads working together on Limitless, instead of one. We'll see how that turns out in a week or so.

 

[AndrewNC]

Daily Videos: Are you lost on your journey? Don'y know what to do next?

 

[AndrewNC]

Do you know those times in your life when the person you are dating says "We need to talk?"

And you know exactly what direction that conversation is going.

That's exactly the direction I know the conversation was going when @Kung Fu Steve messages me on facebook yesterday:

"Bro I gotta talk to you about your videos"
(me) "Yay!"
"haha...you might not say that after I get done with you!"

Production Quality:

1. Windscreen for mic.
2. A lot of movement in iphone selfie videos.
3. Frame the shot - make a closed fist on top of head, top of hand should be at the top of the screen.
4. Using scenery - stand in 1/3's of the screen
5. Long sleeve dress shirt or T - black
6. No editing - film all the way through - maybe take 2 takes.
7. Getting more comfortable on camera - so act like it 100% of the time.
8. Teleprompter - so i can focus less on the content while on video - and focus more on the delivery.
9. Look at camera 99% of the time.
10. Less hand movements

Marketing:

1. Clear call to action at the end of the video.
2. Begin with the end in mind - plan out content before videos, lighting, and...
3. The message of each video/series/channel has to match the goal of the channel/brand.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewNC]

Solar Energy Investments

Today, I met with an investor who invests in green-energy projects throughout the Netherlands. Met him at a bar a few weeks earlier and we started to talk business. I showed an interest in helping clean energy companies grow, so we met up today.

He took me on a tour of his first investment, which is a series of solar panels he installed on top of a distribution center.



This week I've learned a lot about surrounding myself with the type of people I want to surround myself with. I used to help out a lot of people who were strictly getting into business for making money. As long as that product or service is great for the customer, I'm all for people's individual goals of making money.

But I'm starting to fall more into the category of helping start businesses that have a positive impact on the world as a whole.

Green energy is one of them.

While talking to him, I began learning that business is so much more than simply business. Some of my best business contacts are friends.

• If I decide to take my company offshore, I would go to @GlobalWealth - because I trust him from meeting him at the Fastlane summit and talking to him on Facebook.
• If I want to get sales copy written, I won't go to upward and hiring someone with the most reviews - I'll go with @SinisterLex because he helped me out and we chat on Skype from time to time.
• When I was alone in a dark train station after midnight in a foreign country, while intoxicated - I'm now a customer of @Vigilante 's - because @BaraQueenbee is probably sleeping right now instead of getting her app out yesterday - and also because I'd rather support him for all his posts on this forum over some random company who does the same thing

All jokes aside, I'll most likely be offering my services to his investment group, and their business contacts - not because I'm good at what I do. But because we sat around a coffee shop and talked about travel, life, and got to know each other at a deeper level.

If we don't do business together - we are still going to be great friends.

I'm sharing this post because in the past, I simply built a business to chase the money - and I realized that we can still build a business that will bring in the money - but to also keep in mind to work on businesses we enjoy doing.

I enjoy what I do.

And also, how for the first 5 years of being in business, I've been keeping a lot of my contacts as an entrepreneurs online and behind emails.

Now, I found myself today touring solar farm and a distribution center in the middle of a another country, and building deeper relationships with people who are committed to making changes in the world.

Those are the people I enjoy being around. And those are the types of businesses I want to help.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AndrewNC]

Finished creating my "Fundamentals of Internet Entrepreneurship" training course.

I have 189 page, 30,810 word workbook, and a 7 module training course to help others get the experience it took me years to get.

My eyes are bloodshot red from staring at the computer screen for the past 2 months, my legs fell asleep from sitting down too much, and I wound up in the doctor..but I know it is worthit!

This is the course that will help a lot of people on their journey, and I'm excited for the people who will take action on it.

Getting ready to write the sales copy and launch a new part of my business, which will take over 2016

 

[AndrewNC]

continue to live by example

Great post. This is the direction I'm continuing to walk every single day. I noticed in my past that leading by example is the best way to go. Kind of reminds me of that phase when I first read about entrepreneurship and preached that to my friends, before I had any success.

Actions speak louder than words.

 

[AndrewNC]

I started hanging out with a lot of people in a specific industry - not for business idea extraction, but just as friends and having fun. Went hiking with them, went to dinners with them, rock climbing.

And they are all very influential people throughout the entire industry, and they asked for my help with what I've learned about online marketing and persuasive communication.

I feel there is a very big opportunity here...

But none of this was to try to grow my business - it was just to help people and make friends.

 

[Andy Black]

For anybody looking for that big secret to success with your business:

I'm not too sure this will be my most popular video out there...no lamborghinis or mansions in the background.

What's interesting for me is that I'd like to watch it because I know it's only 52 seconds long (from the email you sent to your list), but I don't have my headphones on me and don't want to wake my wife up.

The chances of me remembering to come back to watch it are slim.

I've been getting a lot of my videos transcribed when I put them on my blog - mostly for SEO. Now I wonder how many would read but not watch...


EDIT: Also, for me, the fact that it's only 53 seconds long is a selling point - so is it worth mentioning that to get people to watch it?

I believe Twitter allows us to upload videos up to 140 seconds now too?

Can you get the transcription added to the video and post it to Facebook, natively? Then when it autoplays without sound, people can read what you're saying (I'm going to have try that soon with my own videos).

 

[AndrewNC]

Limitless Success Magazine - First Video Interview


Just finished my first video interview for Limitless Success Magazine - Did a 60 minute video interview with Nick Kho | Founder of Real Social Dynamics. The transcription of the interview/article will be in my magazine, and the interview will be on his YouTube channel.

Some background information about the interview:

• It's amazing how just a couple of years ago I used to watch YouTube videos from this company as an ordinary viewer, and now I'm interviewing the founder of the company and being featured on the same channels I used to watch. Never used to think something like this is possible.
• To be honest, I was extremely nervous going into the interview. The setup was with myself talking to Nick on skype, and then looking into, and talking into my camera the whole time, which was unique because I didn't see him via video at all during the interview. Most of the video is me staring into the camera, hearing him on headphones...but hey - gotta start somewhere .
• I noticed talking faster than normal, kind of like when I did my first YouTube videos on my own...something that I know will get more comfortable in time.
• The most important things I learned were the lessons from him, and the overall sense of his personality and perspective on business and life. He takes business seriously. I believe he said he has invested over $1 Million in his education.

Getting Started

The interview started off with me rushing to find parking in Downtown Denver on a Friday Afternoon after a traffic accident on the highway. It's 2:50 p.m. and the scheduled time to start is 3:00 p.m.

I'm carrying my camera, tripod, and duffelbag with my laptop, lighting, and some other things in there into a co-working space on Champa Street.

As soon as I get in, I message Nick via Skype on my cell phone saying we are just getting everything setup, and will be ready to go in 5 minutes. I meet up with a friend of mine who was working from the co-working space that day, and we begin to setup shop in the meeting room. My friend and the owner of the office are troubleshooting my wi-fi as I setup the tripod, camera, and lighting. Great team effort there, and great friends to count on when needed.

Nick and his cameraman do the final touches on their setup, as we begin to film. Nick jumps right into the introduction as I'm still unsure of what to expect. Before the interview, he says he is going to upload this on his channel, where each video gets about 60,000 hits.

Lessons learned: I gave myself 30 minutes leeway based on the GPS time to get to the office, and even that was cutting it close.

The Interview

It's interesting being the interviewer on this side of the interview.

For most of my YouTube videos, I'm the one who holds the frame, I'm the one who holds the conversation, and I'm the source of information based on what I've done in the past. But this is about learning someone who has build a much larger busienss than I have. From this interview, I'm the one open to listening more than I talk. At one point, I go into my experience for 30 seconds, but I immediately cut back because I wanted to keep the main focus on him - 1. it's his channel and his show. 2. I won't learn as much by talking about myself. Two ears and one mouth for one reason.

It's amazing how I always used to go around YouTube searching for answers to my specific questions. But during the interview, everything Nick was talking about is something that applies directly to my company.

His video editing team has his side of the recording, which I don't have access to yet, but one of the most powerful takeaways I took from the interview is level of thinking, and his ability to push forward regardless of what adversity he faces.

When asked what his motivation is when he has to push through tough times, the response he gave me was "I always win." Then a long pause, with me expecting more. It wasn't so much the words he said, but HOW he said it. I could hear in his voice, that he was 100% convinced without a shadow of a doubt that there is no other option, only to succeed. At one point he was sleeping in his car and using free hotel wi-fi when he was rebuilding his business. He was sleeping on the couches of students he was coaching for dating (his brand). And no matter what...he wins.

I ALWAYS WIN - is the motivation/MINDSET I'm using going forward.

I won't go all the way into the content of the interview before things get published, but the overall sense of professionalism and confidence on his part is still the main takeaway I got. His way of thinking radiated over to me going forward with my business. When shit happens like his company being banned from countries, getting ripped apart by the mainstream media, when business crashes during the recession - the level of confidence and power to charge forward through adversity is there.

When he was in the negative spotlight of the mainstream media - he hired a PR team and learned the ins and outs of PR.

When his business went down during the recession, he strategized to learn new things and make it work.

His company is always ahead of the curve, realizing that the things that worked yesterday, won't work today (example: myspace being the big social media site). He's always pushing out content on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Over 14,000 hours of content.

(this is my way of phrasing it off the top of my head - he said it different) - If everyone loves you, you're doing something wrong. A lot of his biggest haters turned into his most die-hard loyal fans. The community he created in different cities, and the community online were so loyal that they had hundreds or thousands of volunteers help out the company, simply because they wanted to learn from him.

He stays away from investments, and thinks the best way to grow the business is organically through revenue.

The company is led by him and his partner, Owen. Owen is the visionary who sees all the angles, puts things together, and he is the leader/CEO who executes on everything they need to do. I was talking to my friend after the interview the importance of having both sides covered, even in one person. The mission/vision of the future you stay true to..and then the person who does the execution of the ideas.

I always leaned towards being the visionary, and on one of my magazines - I partnered with the guy who handles the day to day tasks - which is working out well for that.

He attributes the success of his company to his community, staying true to his vision, and leading by example. Other companies in the industry preach things they read in books, but they don't lead by experience. He shares a lot of the same philosophies of the leaders of this forum such as @Vigilante @Andy Black @AllenCrawley @MJ DeMarco - and all the others. Referencing Gary Vee as one of the guys he learns from, to lead by example. Business schools and classes teach about business plans and all this other stuff..but when he had nothing, he held his first workshop for his business in a starbucks in New York City - and within 6 months, they've done over $1 Million in revenue, and he said the most important thing to do when you start a business is get your first sales.

Overall - going forward, I'm networking with a lot of highly successful entrepreneurs through running this magazine - and I'm noticing common themes about their insights on life and their personality traits. You become who you surround yourself with. Your beliefs in the past and the beliefs of most people can hold you back. And when you believe anything is possible...anything is possible.

But that belief and confidence in yourself is only the beginning. I spent a lot of my journey in entrepreneurship working on that confidence and belief in self - because I struggled with that for so long - now that it's here - it's time to execute day in and day out.

You just have to hustle every day and do it.

 

[AndrewNC]

Backpacking Through Europe

For the next 3 months (or more), I'll be working out of Europe, running my business from a laptop at coffee shops and internet cafes (if those exist here). First time out of the country. This is one of those burn the boats moments, but that's a different story...



It’s 6:15 a.m. and some random foo fighters song is playing in my earbuds as the plane is making its final approach into Madrid.

The city lights here are more of a yellow in color than I’m used to back in the United States. Back there, it’s more…white.

The landscape is dark and I’m halfway across the world from home.

This is my first time out of the country.

For years on end, I told myself that I was going to live out of a travel backpack and backpack across the world…someday.

That day is today.

The plane is about to land, and the sweet Spanish mother next to me is talking to me in some language I don’t understand….

“Lo siento, hablo un poquito Espanol” is my default phrase for the next few weeks. They say that 93% of communication is non-verbal. I’m going to do a lot of pointing.

It’s now 10:03 and I’m sitting at a starbucks in Madrid’s international airport waiting for my connecting flight to Granada, to meet up with my girlfriend.

She’s an engineering student who is studying abroad this semester, and it’s getting cold in Colorado so I bought a backpack and I’ll spend the rest of my year building my business from this Macbook I’m typing into now.

I figure coffee shops and internet cafes will be my go-to work stations for the rest of the year. Working from my girlfriend’s apartment when I have client calls and need some privacy.

Most of the flight over here was spent watching. I saw The Martian, the third movie in the divergent series, and some other movie that I honestly don’t remember what it was.

It’s bugging me that I forget what it was.

10 am here, it’s 4 in the morning in the city I left from and I didn’t get any sleep on the flight.

While we’re making final approach into the airport, I began thinking about what I’m going to do for my business. Up until now, I’ve been selling training courses online, and started doing some executive coaching.

I don’t like the word coach, because that’s not what I do…it’s different than that.

I began by coaching early-stage entrepreneurs who are the ones I feel I can help the most. Most of them are lost/confused/struggling/doubt themselves/and have no clue what to do.

After building my first internet business, I spent some time teaching this demographic how to start their businesses as well. A lot of them are grateful for my advice and help, but quite frankly…the vast majority of people I try to help are not the type of people I want to work with anymore.

They are too busy letting their ego get in the way, trying to prove themselves right, and I’ve wasted a LOT of time helping people who never take any action. One girl, I even helped setup a website for, because I saw her passion…and she gave up after the first week.

When I make a post on my blog with the intent to help them, a lot of trolls come out of the woodwork to criticize me…it’s just not worth the frustration anymore.

In the past couple months, I began working with a higher level of clientele. Founders and CEOs of companies that do over $1 Million of revenue per year, professional athletes, hedge fund managers, and the type of people who I know I can help best; who are also open to what I have to offer.

· But how do I expand my reach to get in touch and help more of them?

· How do I communicate what I offer to them?

The word “coach” is the closest thing to what I do, but it is far from that. I give absolutely zero advice (unless they ask for it), and get my clients faster results than any coach ever will.

I like to call myself a witchdoctor…but I don’t know how they would respond do that.

In quick summary, I get them into the emotional state of already having what they want, release negative emotions, create a rapid identify level shift, so they:

1. Shed those bad habits they still cling on to.
2. Act congruent with the person they want to be.
3. Attract opportunities in their life because when they are in the emotional state of having what they want…energy (emotions) attracts similar energy…

Being. Doing. Having.

I get them to be the person who does and has what they want. Most people skip that step.

Mental reprogrammer? Maybe?

Witchdoctor? Let’s go with that.

It’s 10:30 a.m. right now, the adrenaline of being in a new country with nothing but my laptop and a backpack is wearing off, and I’m getting tired.

There’s some interesting girl sitting over there who just made eye contact with me.

I didn’t say hi, but immediately stereotyped her based on how comfortable she seemed alone in an international airport by herself and her travel backpack. I just see her being the type who is free to get on a plane and travel anywhere in the world, not limited by anything to hold her back.

I don’t know if she’s an entrepreneur or not, but she seems like she lives the kind of life like my friend Jason has been living for the last couple years. He’s been telling me to leave the U.S. for quite some time now.

Within 5 minutes of landing in Spain, I don’t know why I waited so long.

I’m thinking I’m going to go get some coffee from the starbucks here (yes..the first thing I’m doing in a foreign country is drink starbucks….which happens to be right across from a mcdonalds).

After that, I’m going to hop on the flight to Granada, meet up with my girlfriend, and drink Sangrias and eat Tapas until we sleep all afternoon, and spend some time together for the rest of the night, because I haven’t seen her in over a month…

Edit: Starbucks is not the first thing I’ll have here. Sangrias and tapas with the girl….

Until next time,

Andrew

 

[AndrewNC]

Your Comfort Zone & Inner Confidence | Day 1 | Granada, Spain



Sometimes life doesn't feel real.

I'm convinced I'm in a waking dream.

Just yesterday, I was waking up in a bed that was all familiar to me, in a town that I spent many months living in, surrounded by people who I've known for most of my life.

Today, I woke up in a foreign land, thousands of miles across the ocean from the country and culture I was born into, and remained in for the first 29 years of my life.

Walking through the city with my girlfriend last night, we're hearing conversations in unknown languages surround the bubble of reality we are locked in together. The only other English I heard since I got here were two tourist girls complaining and using the F*** word when all the locals were stopping in the middle of the street.

They were probably from New York.

Everything is so...foreign...over here.

And it doesn't seem real. I've never experienced this before.

A strange thing happened after being an entrepreneur for five years now. In the past, most of my friends would say I'm lucky for being able to do this, and they would make some type of list of all the reasons holding them back. But now, I feel like I'm just catching up to where most of my friends are.

They say that if you're the smartest person in the room, it's time to go in a new room.

• I'm alone (with my g/f) in a new city.
• Making a new pivot for my business.
• Downsized from my full computer with 3 screens to a single laptop without a mouse.
• Starting over fresh, burning the boats, so they say.

But I'm not scared. I'm not worried. I'm not uncomfortable.

Last night at dinner, my girlfriend and I were talking about leaving your comfort zone.



Leaving Your Comfort Zone

I used to be scared of a lot of things.

Just the thought of doing things and making that leap into the unknown was so uncomfortable, that I would always talk myself out of it before I jumped.

Each and every time I stayed in place; my life never changed. In the moment, it was comfortable, but looking back on things; it was always a regret.

A regret not to change my life around when the opportunity came my way.

The first time I took the leap, it was driving 2,000 miles across the country to Arizona with nothing but a dream. I had no clue what I was doing when I would get there, but I found a way to make it work. The next two years of my life were like a vacation that never ended.

Palm trees, beach-resort-style apartments, high end nightlife, year-round sunny weather.

Then I took a few more leaps and the landing was rough.

Getting bruised, torn up, and knocked cold on the hard crash down, I took enough of those leaps that eventually they did lead to my worst possible fears.

But when all that unfolded, I survived.

Now, as I take that leap once again into the middle of a foreign country with no means of egress until my flight on December 15th, I'm once again in the position where I need to make things work.

But it's not uncomfortable.

My girlfriend on the other hand, is saying how she's really far out of her comfort zone with all of this, and it's getting to her.

How does one make the uncomfortable, comfortable?

Is it something that you have to prepare for?

Or is it something you have to experience for yourself?

What is uncomfort?

In my view, it's simply a set of emotions we feel. When our ancestors from 10,000 years ago lived in tribes of 150 people, and had the comfort and security of the tribe, anything outside the perimeters of what they were used to led to certain death.

I like to think our human programming is outdated, where the things we fear doing, but logically know that everything will be ok - is not going to kill us.

When we venture off into the wild, we don't die, but we face trials and tribulations that make us stronger.

I know my girlfriend is going to come back stronger. She's facing these trials and tribulations for the first time, and the first time you face them; they're scary.

But what happens when you make the uncomfortable, comfortable?

Now, instead of viewing these things as a struggle, I view them as excitement.

Because no matter what happens to us when we take this leap, in the end, it's all going to lead us to the same place.

One day you're going to die.

And so will I.

But when I look back on my life, I know that the most amazing experiences I've had in my entire life happened outside of my comfit zone, after I took that leap.

I haven no clue what then next few months have in store for me...but deep down, I do.

To the best decision I made in my entire life...

 

[AndrewNC]

FINALLYYYY got off the damn .academy extension(seemed like a good idea at the time...BAD idea) and secured the .com... Only cost $2,295

 

[AndrewNC]

Launch date March 9th, 2015 - What I've done so far:

• Setup website with wordpress.
• Created mindset information product with amember software.
• Used Ultracart, Authorize.net, and merchant account for payment processing (integrates with amember).
• Wrote some inspirational articles.
• Bought fastlane forum ad.
• Began running paid traffic on 3/24/2015
• Used leadpages for landing pages for paid traffic.

Next steps - Only take the important actions that will get more people to my website:

1. Continue to learn how to run paid ads.
2. Optimize ads and landing pages.
3. Email marketing sequence to provide value and inform prospective customers about my products.

 

[throttleforward]

Digging deeper into paid advertising...

People want the magic pill.

The formula handed to them to make a million dollars, the pill to lose 50 pounds overnight with no work, the secret opener to score the perfect 10.

What am I selling? The truth. A mindset training course that will give people everything they ever want in life...but they will have to put in the work. Starting to learn that this isn't what works with my marketing message....

Meanwhile people selling 'the dream' are making a killing.

Moral debate: Sell the quick fix dream, but then deliver them what they need?

</rant>

How many people are you going to help if no one takes action on your marketing message and learns what you are teaching?

You need to convince your customer that purchasing your training is itself the "quick fix" - that after paying and watching the very first video they'll be able to do (fill in the blank). Craft your message about what a student will be able to do after just the first video-then wow them with everything else they will learn later.

A crude example might be an EMT course- "Pay now, and after our first lesson you'll be able to save a choking baby in a restaurant that very night. By the end of the course, you'll have what it takes to bring a man back from the dead, manage a multivehicle accident, and deliver a life into this world."

 

[johnp]

Meanwhile people selling 'the dream' are making a killing.

Moral debate: Sell the quick fix dream, but then deliver them what they need?

I have been running display ads lately. So I have been studying a lot of the competition. To put things into perspective for you:

Web.com's display ads have three main offers. They are a free domain name, a free website, or an offer to build a website fast. They are selling the dream to anybody who wants/needs a website.

Click their banner ad and you get hit with a simple landing page in the standard z landing page format (I suggest looking that up if you don't know what it is is, and follow it.).

- Headline - CTA
- Image - 3 bullet points
- Lead capture or some button to continue forward

and of course, the lead is completely locked into the page with nowhere to go.

Do you really get a free domain name? Yes, only if you pay for x amount of months worth of hosting...

I'm seeing this same trend for paid offers all around the web. Get a free app (who the hell can really give that away?), Get free advice on how to lose weight, get a free credit report survey so you can find out if you're qualified to save your credit..the list goes on.

If web.com changes their offer to get a domain name for $9.99 then I bet their traffic dies.

I started following this same logic and it's working for me.

So my point is, I think that you're going to have to do whatever you can do to get the lead. Then sell them what you think is best for them. That's just my opinion though.

 

[AndrewNC]

(another) six months in Scottsdale

I notice that more and more of us are moving to Scottsdale, along with other entrepreneurs, to start online businesses. I did this for the first time back in 2013 and was able to quit my job six months later after having my first success with an online business.

After traveling for a while, I moved back for the second time in February with the intent of building up a business larger, and more meaningful than my first, giving me more freedom to travel, and allowing me to spend 3 months writing my book after I move out...

It's now six months later and I am now packing my things, getting ready for 3 months in Seattle to write my book. This "last week here" is normally around the time I reflect upon my experiences and try to help others avoid the same mistakes I made, and enjoy the journey.

These lesson will help you regardless if you move your life to Scottsdale, or stay where you are.

You can do more for your future...(this is actually the message I would have given myself 2 years ago, the first time around)
The work you are doing now is setting yourself up for your goal in six months, but is it the most productive use of your time three years down the road? Five years? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't - but it is something to think about.

One day, when you move on to the next stage of your journey, or at the end of the year when you reflect...you will realize that you accomplished a lot...but what more could you have done?

The more energy we put into ONE thing, the larger it will get. Will you still be committed to that ONE thing five years down the road?

If the answer is yes, work harder on it.
If the answer is no, it might still work out for you...but really think about WHY you're doing it and what you can learn from this, which will help you five years down the road.

That's something I learned from last time, applied to my life - and am happy with the results so far...Maybe it will work for you, maybe it's not the best choice for you..who knows!

The accomplishments of 6 months in Scottsdale...
Looking back over the last six months, I have accomplished a lot - I learned how to run paid ads on a scaleable traffic source (YouTube), built a business where I am in control (and not subject to the mercy of algorithm updates by other companies - like my first business is), made over $1,000 profit in a single day for the first time ever, my "bad days" in sales have turned into be more than the "good days" I used to dream for, and most importantly - Built something that changes other peoples lives. The emails I get of customer success stories means more to me than merchant receipts coming in from sales. Those are nice too btw

...but looking back, I could have done more on a daily basis.

We all still have those days where we sit in front of the computer and get distracted by YouTube, Skype, go out, or whatever...for 6 hours... and realize you didn't get anything done that day. While these kinds of days have been fewer, they are still there - and adding them up - a LOT more can get accomplished in the time we have to work.

Minimize time wasted, unless it's too recharge or have awesome life experiences (that's what we are working for after all, isn't it? Life experiences).

What more can you do now? Your future self will thank you.

Helping others is helping yourself
I cannot count the times somebody has asked me for help, or I had a conversation in one of my mastermind groups, and as I'm talking them through their problems, a light switch flips on in my mind realizing I can use the same advice in my life.

Listen to yourself as you help others, and you will solve your own problems.

Plan vacations to recharge, even if it's just a weekend trip.
Anybody else think about business 24/7?

In July, I took a week long road trip to The Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA, and San Diego. For the first time in a while, I didn't think about business once. When I finally came back, it gave me so much clarity of what I needed to do - because it broke the pattern of my old thought loops - and I had my best week after after that.

Contrary to the "I could have done more" comment - working less is sometimes more - if you use that time to recharge or have life experiences that you enjoy.... But not if you procrastinate.

Sometimes your failures turn out to be your greatest gifts.
In times, it may look like something happened to you that has set you back on your journey...but later on, you will realize that it only made you better. Embrace the failures, learn from it, and you will grow stronger.

And last but not least - Enjoy the journey.

The journey is the destination.

My "destination" this year is 3 months in a rental next to the coast of Seattle, and 20 feet away from a state park to write a book. I worked hard to get there, but I enjoyed the work I did. Whether it be hiking Sedona to film YouTube videos, or spending time with other fastlaners at B&P, or countless other things.

While the destination is great in itself, make NOW the destination, and learn to enjoy your time NOW. Enjoy what you do, embrace the failures as a normal part of the process, and do something your future self will thank you for.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.