Andy Black
Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
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EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
LEGACY MEMBER
If you're just getting started, haven't made a sale, or feel you're spinning your wheels then this 8 minute video should help.
It's pulled out of a longer call (also linked below).
Curious what your main takeaways are, and what you'll do different going forward.
PS: If that helped, then this will too:
The original call:
TRANSCRIPTION:
Business is so different from the way you are taught.
Our education system has taught us to approach things in a certain way, and it is not the way that works best for business.
You are taught to get all the traffic lights green before you start.
Whereas what's best in business is to learn by actually doing stuff. You do something, you get feedback on it, you do something else. You get feedback on it.
You are trained to one, go away and study and do the best studying you can. Get all the material together, then knock it into shape, then write it all out. Make it perfect. Get all the spelling correct, all the punctuation correct.
And you might have four weeks to do it, you hand it in once and then get a mark, you don't have a chance to redo it. that is what you're trained to do and that's what you're good at. in some professions that's perfect and in some jobs that's perfect. I'd say a lot of jobs. That is perfect. You are given a task. You're to go away, figure out how to do it, come back.and your bosses will look at the end result. Yeah. And you've got one chance to get it right.
When it comes to business. That can be a hindrance. That can be your Achilles heel. And that's why a lot of you guys,
all your emphasis is on learning learning is good, but the whole thing about learning for business is that ideally, you go out and do stuff, it fails, it works. You, you tweak it. That's your learning. You learn from having taken action. So if you liken that to handing an essay in school, you just hand in the, title and they go, oh, that's great, or no, and then you get it back, you change it, hand it in, change it, hand it in.
Do the outline, hand it in, get it back. Imagine that you're doing that with your teacher, they couldn't cope with that from 30 kids in a class, right?
As soon as you come across something you haven't done, folks will often go, what course should I take to be able to do this now? And that makes perfect sense because if you're in school or university or even just come out, that is what you've been trained to do, is trained to take courses, to get upskill, to be able to go and do something.
And then some people will say, what certifications do I need to do to be able to do, like, for instance, Google Ads. That's what I do for businesses. What certifications do I need to do to do Google ads? You don't need to do any, you don't even need to have opened a book, which seems so weird to people who are in school.
It's like, hold on, I need to do a course, I need to read up on it. I need to go and watch the YouTube videos. Literally all you have to do is decide you're gonna help somebody with it and they go find somebody who needs that help. Right.
If you wanted to do web design, my advice would be just tell people, I'm gonna do web design.
Let everybody you know, know that. Family, friends, social media whatever. Oh, I'm doing this. Just post it in a very conversational way. And at the end of it, you ask, Do you know anybody who needs any help with this?
You're not putting anyone on the spot saying, do you need help with this? Do you know anyone who needs help with this? A lot of people are gonna be, oh yes, actually I do know somebody who needs a website and they're also thinking, how can they help you get going? Yes. it's good for them to do that little introduction, they get some brownie points and feel great about it.
and boosts their, perceived value in the community, just by introducing people. So people will do that. So if you think how different that is from the way a lot of people are approaching that I suspect it's because of school. You've been trained to do things a certain way.
You need to have got a certification, done some courses, read some books, listened to podcasts, all these things to get yourself to the level where you can go and do that. You've been trained that way. The other thing that's probably related, a lot of it is a confidence thing as well.
A lot of people think they're not good enough to be able to just go and do it without having done a course first. Or I can't create websites for other people until I create one for myself first, figure it out. Or I can't create Google ads for other people until I create campaigns for myself.
Some would call that imposter syndrome. I'll just say that's you thinking, I'm not good enough. I'm not fast enough, I'm not young enough, I'm not old enough, whatever it is.
You don't think you're enough. And that feeling of not thinking you're enough is what causes people to do lots of great things. It's caused the human race to go out and explore and expand and, and get into all these different places in the world and into space and underwater, etc But that can also cause you to not do things because you don't think you're ready, you don't think you're good enough, you don't think you're tall enough, fast enough, all this sort of stuff. Whenever you think you are not doing something because of that I'm not good enough gene.
Then just say to yourself, I am enough because I say I am. That's it. whenever I find myself going, oh, I better do a course on this, or I need some help with that. And I think it's something I can just go and do. I literally just, I am enough because I say I am and just get on with it.
When you're in school, you're taught to do it certain way. That is how you are judged and you, don't know any different. Bless you,how could you know different? How you've been taught to approach problems is to hit the books, take courses, ask tons of people, really, you know, get it all written down the best you can.
Tons of research every book under the sun. Then you go, right, this is my solution. Guess what happens when you put that business plan out into the market? First thing that happens is, tumbleweeds market doesn't care. And you're like, whoa.
So that's why I just try to ask one simple little question that maybe just gets people pointing in a different way.
and often my question is how can you make a sale this week? How can you make a sale this week? You'll find a lot of people are building things. They're busy in their bat cave. I need to build a website. It's gonna take three months to do that. Then I need to get the backend done, all the orders and all of this. and then they're asking questions. What happens if I get too many orders? Like, what software do you use to manage customer service? You know, help desk. And they're like, have you had any sales yet?
Have you spoke to anyone? They're like, no, I haven't, but I need to get all this sorted in case it's like, well, that's you solving problems you haven't got yet.
Overthinking is the art of solving problems you don't have. We're all great at it.
Do the first things first. Just do the thing that needs to be done, thing that's right in front of your face.
and start as close to the end as possible, right? So if you are, trying to get into conversation with people to maybe sell your, video editing service to people, and you wanna do it by getting into conversation.
Then if you're in a Facebook group or on LinkedIn or whatever, just get into conversation with people. Figure out how to do it in a way it's not spammy, but if that's your goal and that's how you make sales by actually messaging, hopping on a zoom and having a call. Then don't create a website with a page where people sign up to get a lead magnet about how video is great for your business.
And they get on your email list and then you put through like an order responder series of like 10 days. You create a page, create a lead magnet, setting all that up just to get into a conversation with 'em. Just go and get into conversation with people in the first place. Yeah. So I, I dunno why.
Hmm. I do know why partly that is because people are telling you that you should be doing this, should be doing that. This is the way to do it. Okay.
Be careful of you saying, I need to do this, I should do that, I must, cause often that precedes a limiting belief.
I need a website to do X, Y, Z. Well, do you really need a website? is there anyone in the world who's done that thing you're trying to do without a website? That's one thing. And then be careful of the people who say, you need to do this, you need to do that.
Often that's preceding their own limiting belief that they're putting onto you. Or they're pushing their way of, doing things onto you subconsciously or consciously, whatever, maybe trying to sell you something. So a lot of reasons why people will set up, oh, I need a landing page and a lead magnet, and in order to respond to series and et cetera, et cetera.
It's because that marketing expert, that's what they do. for clients or whatever, and they want you to do the same thing.
You are enough. Just say it yourself. I am enough because I say, uh, you can just go off and do it. Yeah. But all those like self-doubts don't need them. Yeah. Just go off and do it.
It's pulled out of a longer call (also linked below).
Curious what your main takeaways are, and what you'll do different going forward.
PS: If that helped, then this will too:
The original call:
TRANSCRIPTION:
Business is so different from the way you are taught.
Our education system has taught us to approach things in a certain way, and it is not the way that works best for business.
You are taught to get all the traffic lights green before you start.
Whereas what's best in business is to learn by actually doing stuff. You do something, you get feedback on it, you do something else. You get feedback on it.
You are trained to one, go away and study and do the best studying you can. Get all the material together, then knock it into shape, then write it all out. Make it perfect. Get all the spelling correct, all the punctuation correct.
And you might have four weeks to do it, you hand it in once and then get a mark, you don't have a chance to redo it. that is what you're trained to do and that's what you're good at. in some professions that's perfect and in some jobs that's perfect. I'd say a lot of jobs. That is perfect. You are given a task. You're to go away, figure out how to do it, come back.and your bosses will look at the end result. Yeah. And you've got one chance to get it right.
When it comes to business. That can be a hindrance. That can be your Achilles heel. And that's why a lot of you guys,
all your emphasis is on learning learning is good, but the whole thing about learning for business is that ideally, you go out and do stuff, it fails, it works. You, you tweak it. That's your learning. You learn from having taken action. So if you liken that to handing an essay in school, you just hand in the, title and they go, oh, that's great, or no, and then you get it back, you change it, hand it in, change it, hand it in.
Do the outline, hand it in, get it back. Imagine that you're doing that with your teacher, they couldn't cope with that from 30 kids in a class, right?
As soon as you come across something you haven't done, folks will often go, what course should I take to be able to do this now? And that makes perfect sense because if you're in school or university or even just come out, that is what you've been trained to do, is trained to take courses, to get upskill, to be able to go and do something.
And then some people will say, what certifications do I need to do to be able to do, like, for instance, Google Ads. That's what I do for businesses. What certifications do I need to do to do Google ads? You don't need to do any, you don't even need to have opened a book, which seems so weird to people who are in school.
It's like, hold on, I need to do a course, I need to read up on it. I need to go and watch the YouTube videos. Literally all you have to do is decide you're gonna help somebody with it and they go find somebody who needs that help. Right.
If you wanted to do web design, my advice would be just tell people, I'm gonna do web design.
Let everybody you know, know that. Family, friends, social media whatever. Oh, I'm doing this. Just post it in a very conversational way. And at the end of it, you ask, Do you know anybody who needs any help with this?
You're not putting anyone on the spot saying, do you need help with this? Do you know anyone who needs help with this? A lot of people are gonna be, oh yes, actually I do know somebody who needs a website and they're also thinking, how can they help you get going? Yes. it's good for them to do that little introduction, they get some brownie points and feel great about it.
and boosts their, perceived value in the community, just by introducing people. So people will do that. So if you think how different that is from the way a lot of people are approaching that I suspect it's because of school. You've been trained to do things a certain way.
You need to have got a certification, done some courses, read some books, listened to podcasts, all these things to get yourself to the level where you can go and do that. You've been trained that way. The other thing that's probably related, a lot of it is a confidence thing as well.
A lot of people think they're not good enough to be able to just go and do it without having done a course first. Or I can't create websites for other people until I create one for myself first, figure it out. Or I can't create Google ads for other people until I create campaigns for myself.
Some would call that imposter syndrome. I'll just say that's you thinking, I'm not good enough. I'm not fast enough, I'm not young enough, I'm not old enough, whatever it is.
You don't think you're enough. And that feeling of not thinking you're enough is what causes people to do lots of great things. It's caused the human race to go out and explore and expand and, and get into all these different places in the world and into space and underwater, etc But that can also cause you to not do things because you don't think you're ready, you don't think you're good enough, you don't think you're tall enough, fast enough, all this sort of stuff. Whenever you think you are not doing something because of that I'm not good enough gene.
Then just say to yourself, I am enough because I say I am. That's it. whenever I find myself going, oh, I better do a course on this, or I need some help with that. And I think it's something I can just go and do. I literally just, I am enough because I say I am and just get on with it.
When you're in school, you're taught to do it certain way. That is how you are judged and you, don't know any different. Bless you,how could you know different? How you've been taught to approach problems is to hit the books, take courses, ask tons of people, really, you know, get it all written down the best you can.
Tons of research every book under the sun. Then you go, right, this is my solution. Guess what happens when you put that business plan out into the market? First thing that happens is, tumbleweeds market doesn't care. And you're like, whoa.
So that's why I just try to ask one simple little question that maybe just gets people pointing in a different way.
and often my question is how can you make a sale this week? How can you make a sale this week? You'll find a lot of people are building things. They're busy in their bat cave. I need to build a website. It's gonna take three months to do that. Then I need to get the backend done, all the orders and all of this. and then they're asking questions. What happens if I get too many orders? Like, what software do you use to manage customer service? You know, help desk. And they're like, have you had any sales yet?
Have you spoke to anyone? They're like, no, I haven't, but I need to get all this sorted in case it's like, well, that's you solving problems you haven't got yet.
Overthinking is the art of solving problems you don't have. We're all great at it.
Do the first things first. Just do the thing that needs to be done, thing that's right in front of your face.
and start as close to the end as possible, right? So if you are, trying to get into conversation with people to maybe sell your, video editing service to people, and you wanna do it by getting into conversation.
Then if you're in a Facebook group or on LinkedIn or whatever, just get into conversation with people. Figure out how to do it in a way it's not spammy, but if that's your goal and that's how you make sales by actually messaging, hopping on a zoom and having a call. Then don't create a website with a page where people sign up to get a lead magnet about how video is great for your business.
And they get on your email list and then you put through like an order responder series of like 10 days. You create a page, create a lead magnet, setting all that up just to get into a conversation with 'em. Just go and get into conversation with people in the first place. Yeah. So I, I dunno why.
Hmm. I do know why partly that is because people are telling you that you should be doing this, should be doing that. This is the way to do it. Okay.
Be careful of you saying, I need to do this, I should do that, I must, cause often that precedes a limiting belief.
I need a website to do X, Y, Z. Well, do you really need a website? is there anyone in the world who's done that thing you're trying to do without a website? That's one thing. And then be careful of the people who say, you need to do this, you need to do that.
Often that's preceding their own limiting belief that they're putting onto you. Or they're pushing their way of, doing things onto you subconsciously or consciously, whatever, maybe trying to sell you something. So a lot of reasons why people will set up, oh, I need a landing page and a lead magnet, and in order to respond to series and et cetera, et cetera.
It's because that marketing expert, that's what they do. for clients or whatever, and they want you to do the same thing.
You are enough. Just say it yourself. I am enough because I say, uh, you can just go off and do it. Yeah. But all those like self-doubts don't need them. Yeah. Just go off and do it.
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