No sales for six months...this is what I'm doing now.

[AndrewNC]

No sales for six months...this is what I'm doing now.​

The other night I was at a leadership conference.

Surrounded by 15 leaders from various organizations that are changing the world. They handed out a worksheet with different questions on it. Out of all the pages and questions, one stood out to me the most.

"Am I planning with an eye on the next month or the next 100 years?"

Where will your business be in 100 years?

I've been doing a lot of client calls lately where they face the problem of chasing money. They jump on board with businesses that don't have any purpose - other than to make money.

When your purpose is to make money, you don't give a fu*k how you get it. You jump from the idea you decided on three days ago to the next one because you see someone else already making money doing it. You cut corners and do unethical things to get there.

For my first business, I found a way to easily market my product to millions of people, and exploited that for the money. The product I sold? It came secondary. Many instances, I hired writers without industry experience to write about topics, just because the work sounded nice.

But I was focused on the sales and the marketing.

From a short-term personal perspective, the make money goal was accomplished.

I began earning $500 per month, $4,000 per month, then up to 5 figures per month.

And when I reached my purpose of $10,000+ per month in passive income, I stopped working. When you fulfill your purpose, you stop working.

• What's your 100 year goal?
• What's your 40 year goal?

For the non-profit organizations that I attended this conference with. They are changing the world, and the 40-year goal is their purpose. The purpose is beyond them.

One organization (Direct Action Everywhere - a Vegan Activist group) has a 40 year goal to amend the constitution of the United States to make it illegal to eat animals for food. And for everyone reading this now who says that is ridiculous and opposes it, they won't stop until you feel the same way they do.

Sound's impossible, right?

That's their 40 year goal, and they won't stop until they get it. It's their purpose.

For this forum, I think that's getting head of ourselves, unless you're a visionary entrepreneur like Elon Musk.

What's your three year goal?

What brand can you build that will continue to grow in 3-5 years time? What purpose are you serving in the marketplace over the long-run?

• I want to sell T shirts on Facebook because it'll make me $1,000 per month.
• I want to help non-profits with their marketing because they are struggling to fulfill their mission with their lack of marketing knowledge.

What happens when I don't make $1,000 the first month of selling T shirts? I jump to the next thing.
What happens when I don't make $1,000 per month selling copywriting services? I jump to the next thing.

Why is that? Because the purpose is the money.

But what happens if my purpose is helping non-profits improve their marketing, and I don't succeed in the first month? I keep going until I fulfill my purpose of helping non-profits improve their marketing.

When your purpose is the task you accomplish, instead of the results it will give you....you keep going until your purpose is done.

• Through my for-profit venture, Limitless - I want to help start 10,000 businesses that change the world by the year 2020. This will include the non-profits on top of the for-profit businesses.

That's the mission and purpose of my company.

I've been doing that since 2014-2015. In those years, I've had friends go on to make $50,000-$200,000 per month selling on Amazon. I didn't jump ship. I've had months where I did nothing, and I still didn't ever feel the desire to jump ship. When the bitcoin craze came out, I never once wanted to jump on it; despite the ROI it is giving.

I'm focusing on my 5+ year goal, which I know will lead to my 20-40 year goal, of creating businesses, leaders, and organizations that have no obstacles that get in the way of creating the changes they want to make in the market and the world.

What about you?

"Am I planning with an eye on the next month or the next 100 years?"

What's your Purpose? What's your Why?​

For the animal rights activists.

If/When they fulfill their purpose, the motivation would be gone. All animals are liberated and living a happy and healthy with humans.

So they stop working on it.

From my experience, there is Your Purpose and Your Why

Your Why is your motivational driver. It's the motivation that comes from the deepest level of your being, and it should be something so bullet-proof that nobody could stop you. Your parents tell you you're crazy and going down the wrong path? Who cares. Hell comes to earth and fire reigns down from the sky? Who cares. You are driven to do it anyway.

Deep down, I have my Why, my passion, my driver; where every single person in my life lectures me for an hour at a time trying to take it away (with good intent on their part), but they are wasting their breath. Because nothing will break this connection to my Why.

So it's motivational.

My Why has very little to do with business/money/non-profit help/etc. But I see the purpose being the vehicle to get there. The important thing about your Why is that it should be unbreakable. Nothing should take it away.

Friends and family don't support you? Nod you head and smile, and go do it anyway.

Your Purpose is what you do for others. What changes do you want to make in the market? In the world? What industry do you see problems in, that you wish were fixed? In this instance, for me, it's the marketing, influence, and transformation abilities within a specific growing market. For the marketing I do on this forum, it's to help first-time entrepreneurs build businesses quicker and faster than it took me. For my local services, it's to help people clear out the emotional blockages that prevent them from experiencing life the way they want to experience it.

After helping one client find the business model he is doing, and helping him narrow down the problems he is solving for the market, we had to make an easy, but life-altering adjustment in his mindset, which led to motivation.

What is the purpose of your business?

• To make sales for you?
• To help business owners in the _______ sector improve their marketing through your ________ marketing services?

When it was the first one, he spent the first week doing nothing because he doubted that it would make money. He didn't think he could close a client this month, next month, etc. - so his purpose of making money was not fulfilled right away.

But when he realized his purpose in the market is to help ________ improve their marketing through _______ services; He began working on helping business owners in that area for free.

The purpose of his business is to help them - the purpose of him is to help them - so he is helping some of them...for free.

Nothing in this life is free.

I chose two businesses to connect him to who I know will be successful, and the owners will be more than willing to provide real-life success stories and testimonials, which will naturally attract other clients. Both those business owners are from this forum. So he helps them, and they help him attract future paying clients.

Which might not come for a few more months.

Can you start a business strictly with the motivation of sales? Of course.

But what purpose are you serving for others? Switch away from the having to the doing. What changes are you making in the market?

From a Motivation Perspective on the 'I want to make money from a business': Is this really a type of business you can wake up and get excited to work on every day? Is this really a business you'll put in that extra effort to work on every day?

There's a clear distinction between blindly following your passion into a market that will never be receptive to what you're selling, and building a business with purpose and meaning.

During that meeting, I uncovered multiple pain points in a large, growing market.

It led to three different solutions that I'm qualified to provide them:

• Marketing & Sales Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations
• Writing a book on Influence for Activists
• Writing a different book to help the people they are influencing.

I'm spending six hours today writing a long, detailed guide to Alexis, the events coordinator for one of the non-profits. My goal is to help her get more people in the door of her organization (marketing) , and then when the get in the door, to help her and her staff influence people to do something specific (sales).

Over the next six months, I'll be writing one chapter at a time on the topic of influence for the Activists.

Over the next six months, I'll be writing one chapter at a time on the topic of the other problem I notice in the market.

Where's the money coming in?

It's not.

Idk. Maybe I'll really help this one non-profit and the word will spread throughout the others, and I could have my business do marketing consulting for them; for a fee. This could happen next month. It could happen in 7 months.

Or it could never happen.

Yesterday, I got off a client call with one particular Fastlaner who just discovered his 'business idea'. He knows what market he is targeting, he knows their pain points, he knows the solutions to their problems, he is training himself in the skills to solve the problem, and he knows how to go out and make sales.

But he is doubting himself.

"Is this really the right idea? Will I be wasting time?", he asked me, "I have all these doubts going through my head whether it will or won't make me money in the long run."

The thing that stood out to me in my mind...

He hired me as a consultant from my past experience, but in terms of this new market I'm entering - I'm in the same exact position as him.

At the logical level, I have no clue if the work I'm doing will lead to sales. I didn't do any keyword research. I didn't check trends, other than the trends that this is a growing movement in a specific niche.

But I know I'm solving problems in the market.

• I know for a fact that the non-profits need more people attracted to their brand.
• I know for a face that these activists suffer pain and frustration when their message doesn't get through to people.
• I know for a face that my transformational psychology experience will help the people they influence make the transition easier.

So I asked my client, "What about you? Do you know for a fact that you're solving problems for the market?"

Being in the same exact position as him with the new market I'm entering - I noticed that there was only one difference between him and myself: Those doubts in his mind.

I shared my story with him, and slowly, but surely, those doubts began seeming more and more irrelevant every day.

There are three phases to this:

1. You have the doubts, but you let them stop you from making progress.
2. You have the doubts, but you stop letting them stop you from making progress, and you run forward blindly into the darkness anyway.
3. You gain some experience, and the doubts are gone. You reach the point where logically, you won't know if something will or won't pay off. But deep down, you know from your reference experience that it'll work out anyway.

For many people who I've spoken to in regards to their first business idea over the past week, it's this transition from the first stage to the second, where it makes all the difference.

• When you know you are serving a purpose that is helping the market improve...that's enough to make me run forward.
• In my mind, I can connect the dots in how it could turn into sales, and that's enough for me to run forward from a business (and not just a philanthropy perspective)

When I built my first internet business, I went on for six months blindly running into the darkness, almost expecting that six months of my life would be wasted, and nothing would work out.

And it was only after I stopped letting the doubts stop me, before I saw results. And before the doubts went away; I did it anyway. A lot of my motivation back then came externally from my accountability group.

For me, this thread marks the turning point and the official entering into this journey of letting the help I can provide in this specific market flow out of me, without any blockages slowing me down or holding me back.

Going into this new venture, assuming that I won't get any sales for six months, and may never get any after that...

I'll come back to update this thread in six months, and report back where it led me.​

What is the Purpose of Your Business?​

"Am I planning with an eye on the next month or the next 100 years?"

For my business, my eyes is on the prize for 5 years. Not 5 days.

 

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[BD64]

Thanks for posting this @AndrewNC .

It's an interesting take, to ask yourself about where your business will be in 100 years. Hell, by that time chances are you'll be buried 10 feet deep, living next to the worms... But, will your life's work still be creating a lasting impact? Will the systems and value you have put into the world still be creating value in peoples lives?

This ties back to the concept of money-chasing vs. attracting it through creating value. Thinking about 100 years in the future basically eliminates money-chasing altogether. Nobody thinks to themselves "How will my business be generating money for me 100 years from now?" By nature money-chasing is a short term approach to life. You don't chase things you don't want. Which means that you are chasing money it is because you are preoccupied with having it NOW.

Shift your focus to solving issues in the long-term. Adjust your everyday efforts to doing so. Like Andrew, in the next 6 months you make not make money doing this but you will be creating value, and ultimately the money will come.

That's just my take on it.

 

[AndrewNC]

Thanks for posting this @AndrewNC .

It's an interesting take, to ask yourself about where your business will be in 100 years. Hell, by that time chances are you'll be buried 10 feet deep, living next to the worms... But, will your life's work still be creating a lasting impact? Will the systems and value you have put into the world still be creating value in peoples lives?

This ties back to the concept of money-chasing vs. attracting it through creating value. Thinking about 100 years in the future basically eliminates money-chasing altogether. Nobody thinks to themselves "How will my business be generating money for me 100 years from now?" By nature money-chasing is a short term approach to life. You don't chase things you don't want. Which means that you are chasing money it is because you are preoccupied with having it NOW.

Shift your focus to solving issues in the long-term. Adjust your everyday efforts to doing so. Like Andrew, in the next 6 months you make not make money doing this but you will be creating value, and ultimately the money will come.

That's just my take on it.

Speaking of, I was hiking Mount Sanitas yesterday and met a women who was struggling from Anxiety. I wanted to send her to a website to sell that product to help with her anxiety...but the website I would sent her to still isn't great, and I'm not sure if it even works.

How's the progress on your first client's site coming along?

 

[BD64]

Speaking of, I was hiking Mount Sanitas yesterday and met a women who was struggling from Anxiety. I wanted to send her to a website to sell that product to help with her anxiety...but the website I would sent her to still isn't great, and I'm not sure if it even works.

How's the progress on your first client's site coming along?

Ahh, slower than expected (got midterms past couple weeks and my roomate's girlfriend got us all sick). This weekend though, i'll be hustling.

Oh and your like on my above post just got me the speedway pass =p thanks brotha.

 

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[BucketHolly]

This is a good info. I actually needed this to keep motivated on working on my funnels for my relaunch of membership coaching program.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Great post Andrew, very similar with what I try to preach... meaning and problems over money. The money eventually comes.

One organization (Direct Action Everywhere - a Vegan Activist group) has a 40 year goal to amend the constitution of the United States to make it illegal to eat animals for food.

Lofty goal. A few years ago I would have laughed at this as anyone who knows me, I enjoy a good steak. However with technological advances (think Star Trek meat replicator) to general awareness into factory farming, something so radical as this would have to occur slow and steady. For that to happen, awareness has to grow and money has to shift. Just to give you an example, I stopped drinking milk 25 years ago. I don't know a single soul in my life who drinks milk. That kind of shift changes industries, and yea, it's a slow grind.

Unfortunately I'm not sure the U.S. (and its constitution) will survive as an entity. Half of DC should be in prison.

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks for the post @AndrewNC

I updated my own progress thread with the following earlier this week:

...

I was asked an important question a couple of years ago and didn't really have a satisfactory answer. I was asked this question again last week and my own answer surprised me. I woke up the day after with a spring in my step because it feels right.

The question?

"If money was no object, what work would you be doing?"

My answer?

"I'd help local businesses, schools, and colleges in my town and county.

I'd help them get online and help them make sales online.

I'd try to improve the local economy and prospects for local youngsters.

I'd do workshops and presentations.

Maybe I'd even go so far as to create free starter websites for businesses.

I've taken on local students occasionally for internships. Maybe I do that every year? Maybe I even train or hire some of them?"

...

It reminds me of my favourite business quote of all time:

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person closest to you.” (Mother Theresa)

 

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[Shepherd]

Great post Andrew, very similar with what I try to preach... meaning and problems over money. The money eventually comes.



Lofty goal. A few years ago I would have laughed at this as anyone who knows me, I enjoy a good steak. However with technological advances (think Star Trek meat replicator) to general awareness into factory farming, something so radical as this would have to occur slow and steady. For that to happen, awareness has to grow and money has to shift. Just to give you an example, I stopped drinking milk 25 years ago. I don't know a single soul in my life who drinks milk. That kind of shift changes industries, and yea, it's a slow grind.

Unfortunately I'm not sure the U.S. (and its constitution) will survive as an entity. Half of DC should be in prison.

I work in the Agriculture business for my day job and my growing side business involves raising livestock for meat consumption (not a factory farm). I have companies like Memphis Meats on my radar (who Cargill just invested in) and think constantly on how to deal with that change once it happens. I grew up farming and I know both my day job and side business could be eliminated in the next 10-20 years. My way of life may drastically change, but that's the market.

Just as an aside, every conference I go to in my industry has frequent discussions about animal welfare. Why? Because the market has demanded it, just as it demanded the cheap protein that created "factory farms". I think it's awesome when city folk want to know more about farming and there is an honest dialogue, but a lot of farmers get defensive when in their mind they were just giving the consumers what they wanted.