The 30-Day "Bigger Than You" Challenge

[Kak]

This thread has been a long time coming and I am going to make a claim that might be uncomfortable for some, but not untrue.

Before we get there, I preface this with the fact that I have a belief in the entrepreneur as a force for good. Despite the world vilifying them, the world needs value creators more than any other kind of person. I have a belief that everyone, and particularly the types of people that sought out a forum like this one, have greatness in them. Call it limiting beliefs, call it mindset, whatever, some people rise to a bigger challenge and others simply toil away hoping something good will come of their toil.

By greatness, I am talking multi-millionaire entrepreneurship and beyond. This isn't just billionaire ambition stuff, which I indeed have. No, this is about building something bigger than just you and your efforts. Not having to settle for a shitty website anymore. Not having to do your own books. Not having to work harder just because your business is bigger. I could go on and on for days. This is about making the most effective self possible and shedding beliefs about business that are holding us back.

Something bigger isn't JUST FOR OTHER PEOPLE... It can also be FOR YOU... If you are willing to accept it of course. There is a mindset that the greats in this world are great because "they just are." That is patently false and really what's left of many of our external locus beliefs. Remember locus of control is a spectrum, not binary. It may be thinking on an order of magnitude higher than we are used to, but the fact remains the same. It's not luck, it's not genius, and it is not a skill they were born with.

Elon Musk wasn't born with the innate ability to build marketable electric cars and land rockets on barges. Steve Jobs wasn't born with plans for the iPhone. Sam Walton wasn't born with the skills to build the world's largest retailer.

These skills were universally discovered by the greats as first, SOMETHING THEY NEEDED, and then DEVELOPED into what LATER became greatness.

There is another claim many will make... "I am just going to do this (insert something super small and easy) for a while and then, when I have enough (insert skills, resources, whatever they believe they don't have enough of yet), I will go after my big idea" as if this little business will somehow prepare them for something cooler by osmosis. Ladies and gentlemen, there are young multi-millionaires and billionaires in this world. They didn't wait, and it wasn't osmosis.

What was it?

So as a foundation... If you want to change something.... If you want to make a difference.... If you want to make progress that truly matters in your entrepreneurial journey.... You need to accept the following: THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES, SKILLS, PEOPLE, WHATEVER... IS AVAILABLE TO ME, IF I CAN ORGANIZE THEM TO MY END.

Every single great in the history of entrepreneurship operated under some form of this assumption. They may not have ever put words to it, but THAT is how they built. THAT is how their businesses became bigger than them.

Nitpickers may try to prove that wrong, but they can't... So we are moving on.

Ok so... "BIGGER THAN YOU" is the point of the exercise here. I had a KBRS show called "The 1000 Hour Workweek," it was a jab at the 4 Hour Workweek... Basically the notion is that the truly wealthy businesspeople of the world have full-time hours worked, to their end, by hundreds or thousands of people... Willingly.

I have had other shows where I talked about how there are two kinds of wealth. Monetary, of course, and INFLUENCE. Influence is the focus here, because many entrepreneurs have NONE and none of us have enough.

The belief that with business growth comes more work for you is also false. How could it not be? How could ANYONE grow a business to tens of millions of dollars per year if EVERYONE has the same 24 hours in a day? The answer is this very force at play. Their businesses are bigger than them.

It works with any business...

Who works harder?
A.) Someone that owns and operates a small plumbing company He has a receptionist and one truck. He goes out on 5-6 calls per day, orders new inventory, keeps the books, makes sure the website is updated, and finally goes home.
OR
B.) Someone that owns a plumbing company, doesn't go out on any calls, and LEADS an organization of 20 trucks and 25 plumbers EACH going out on 5-6 calls per day.

I know who...

The theory is solid. Bigger than you means PEOPLE!

OK, we are done with theory. What about practice?

Now comes the challenge. @Mathuin posted a bang up thread the other day that inspired one of my newest radio show episodes. His thread detailed how one entrepreneur got the ball rolling and eventually built the kind of business we are talking about here. The baby step that made the next stuff happen. The first revolution of the snowball.

EXECUTION - The Cold Email that started a $500m - $1B Company

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search. **Post begins** Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security. He now faced the challenge...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Based on this, I believe there is immense power here and it works with any business... It also works for anyone at any stage in their business...

I know how amazingly some of my contacts have worked out in my entrepreneurial journey... We could all use more.

MY IDEA: THOUGHTFULLY choose, research, and contact one new person per day with some kind of goal in mind.

It could be getting them on the phone and picking their brain. It could be working some kind of strategic partnership. It could be putting some kind of deal together. It could be to make a new friend in the industry. It could be to learn pain points, discovering needs. Whatever.

The most effective entrepreneurs in the world have great people in their network.

There's a chance that 2/3 of the people you contact don't answer or even tell you to F*ck off. That's ok... The people that you do meet could change everything.

So my personal goal is this: 1 new outreach per day, 5 days a week, for a month. Not some canned sales email, no, something individualistic. Something singled out for them and a good reason to contact them.

This is quality 100x higher than quantity. Make every outreach count and give every single one your very best effort.

This is probably a 30 minute per day task. Everyone can find 30 minutes in a day. Given the thread above, there is a chance that someone you meet along the way could change absolutely everything for your business. If this doesn't get results for many of you that choose to join me, I will be SHOCKED.

Furthermore, I intend to make this into a lifelong habit if the power I think is there, truly is. I can see this being 30 minutes we can't afford not to spend this way. It is also FREE.

Who is with me?

Accompanying KBRS episode to come shortly.

 

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[The-J]

Screw it, I'm with you.

I've been using automated sales tools (LinkedIn) for six months. Hired an outsourced team to do it for me. Got connected with over 2000 people, ended up scheduling a few dozen phone calls out of it. I got some clients out of it and got in touch with some cool people doing cool things, but overall? It sucked. It pissed people off. It didn't help my reputation. And now that LinkedIn changed its policy, it's no longer possible to do things like that anymore.

I know my business is bigger than some no-name marketing services provider spamming people on LinkedIn but I haven't acted like it, and my bank account shows it.

After contacting almost 20,000 people and connecting with ~2000 people, the number of quality relationships I started that turned into bigger deals/partnerships was 3. F*cking 3. In six F*cking months! Sure, I got more clients than that, but only 3 meaningful relationships that turned into bigger deals? I think I can do better than that by not using some braindead cold outreach tactic and actually spending 30-60 minutes a day researching a single person who could take my business to the next level, rather than sending out thousands of messages just for "leads".

I'm still going to do outbound sales, but I think I can spare some time looking for real strategic partners that result in big value creation, rather than me just getting another $1k a month or whatever having to prove why we're better than the 100,000 other businesses doing the same thing.

This sucked to write lol, thanks KAK

 

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[Kak]

Ok so I got my contact of the day…

Get this…

The owner of the local Woodlands area magazine. I thought this would be a good bet with the new generator business. Was a fantastic phone call, very nice lady.

Have a meeting on the books for next Tuesday to discuss advertising opportunities and a profile on the new business. They have a really great readership in the area so it should go fantastic.

She is also close friends with the wife of the CEO of a massive oil company. So, I will definitely mention my capabilities as a chemical company to serve them and cut her in somehow.

That’s day 3 folks. A meeting on the books. A likely profile written on me and my company. An advertising opportunity. And… a potential multi-million dollar chemical customer one person away from my new contact, who clearly already likes me.

 

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[MTF]

This is sort of different but also sort of the same as it still fits the "bigger than you" philosophy.

I will never build or own a big enterprise because I don't want to but this can also work for solopreneurs and/or in your personal life in general.

How?

Find teachers for every aspect of your life that you want to improve. At any given time, I work with at least 3 coaches for three different skills. Instead of trying to figure out these things by myself, I trust their expertise.

I prefer depth (a deep relationship with a few key coaches) over breadth (many coaches but no deep relationships). This way, you're not only learning but actually building a network because capable teachers are often excellent performers and know other excellent people.

Over the next 30 days, try to find three coaches for three different, specific, valuable skills you want to learn. I'm 100% sure it'll change these aspects of your life because learning from someone is usually way faster than learning by yourself.

 

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[Bekit]

Ran into this story just now of how one strategic connection led to a $30 million deal... pretty cool!

View: https://youtu.be/jKQ7uOd0U_M?t=582


(Watch from 9:41 through 12:26)

 

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[The-J]

(i'm not gonna use this thread as a diary but I just wanted to talk about my day 1 experience)

Took about an hour to find one guy that I think could be an excellent partner. A local guy doing some cool stuff, working with some of the biggest companies in the country. I want him to be a part of this thing I'm building, provide content, maybe courses, maybe speaking, idk. Didn't answer his phone, and neither did his sales guy (wtf lol). So I sent him a LinkedIn InMail and will probably try to call him again later.

I'll be surprised if I remember him past the first follow-up unless he's legitimately interested. Anyway, onto the next person.

I came up with these rules:

1) No sales pitches. I'm not fishing for leads, I'm trying to make deals. I want partnerships that could lead to all sorts of growth later down the line, not some one-and-done sale. Plus, this keeps it separate from my outbound sales efforts.
2) No looking for services that are ready for sale. That's too easy.
3) Since this deal isn't my last deal, I'm looking for people who can play a pivotal role in my business career in general.
4) Prioritize contact methods as such: phone, email, LinkedIn message. Phone is obviously best, and if you can get a direct line even better (you won't always get one though). But lots of people are allergic to their phones so any other method will do if you got to.

Oh and I'm keeping a spreadsheet of it because why tf wouldn't you? I might just slap these into my CRM but they're not really customers

 

[Kak]

Libsyn Directory

directory.libsyn.com

It is also headed to all the podcast apps!

 

[Kak]

A tip I got from another podcast (The Jordan Harbinger Show) is to use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to maintain regular connections with your network. You add your contacts, keep notes on their life (this helps with figuring out how to give your messages a personalized touch) and can set up recurring reminders (e.g. every four months) to reach out to them to keep the connection fresh. Of course, you could also use the sales-related features of the CRM to track people as leads, set goals, and get hard statistics on your conversion rates between people you reach out to and people that return your messages.

I use Streak CRM to do exactly the same thing. It is an amazing tool, and something that’s even cooler, I’m still on the free version somehow!

They offer a TON of features for the free accounts.

 

[Jon L]

I've been doing this kind of thing for a bit now. I met a guy just today that is looking for a multi-million dollar software system to be built for him. I have no idea if I can put together a team to accomplish his goal, but I'm going to try.

Another contact offered me a CIO position for his new company a couple weeks ago.

Yet another has turned into a friend and mentor.

That is that I've probably done this on average of 1 every week or two. I go in spurts. Imagine if I did this once a day?

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

I’m in.

I am calling tackle shops and distributors for wholesale deals with my fishing product.

I hate talking on the phone but it’s something I am working on.

Anyway, this is my whole mindset too.

Employees, distributors, sales reps, and multiple channels - that’s the end goal.

 

[mdot]

Oh and I'm keeping a spreadsheet of it because why tf wouldn't you?

"The only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down"
- Alex Jason (via Adam Savage)

 

[Kak]

The challenge should be over at this point for many of us, but I certainly have results that remain. Like I said earlier in this thread, I want to make this a lifelong habit because it is that good.

Over the last 30 days, because of the challenge, I have:

-Arranged an advertising deal for one of my companies.

-Landed Nord VPN as a KKRS sponsor.

- Got someone promising on board with on a profit sharing arrangement with one of my companies.

-Met a new supplier of something related to what I sell, and they seem to have a very competitive price.

-Was featured on the Frank Speech platform live-streamed to 2.5 million people, several times.

-Got the privilege to meet executives from Salem communications and Newsmax and will still potentially work a deal with them.

-And the absolute GEM of the month: Met, in person, and became friends with the guy responsible for syndicating a popular radio show to over 300 radio stations. The wisdom I have gotten from our discussions is like leaping a year worth of research into the future.

 

[mdot]

A tip I got from another podcast (The Jordan Harbinger Show) is to use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to maintain regular connections with your network. You add your contacts, keep notes on their life (this helps with figuring out how to give your messages a personalized touch) and can set up recurring reminders (e.g. every four months) to reach out to them to keep the connection fresh. Of course, you could also use the sales-related features of the CRM to track people as leads, set goals, and get hard statistics on your conversion rates between people you reach out to and people that return your messages.

 

[GPM]

Damn brother. Way to light a fire under my a$$ again. I've been a bit out of the loop due to family stuff and traveling, but the family stuff ends in a few days and it will hopefully just be the wife and kids and me for a few more weeks where we are at. The perfect opportunity to get an Internet connection and jam out some stuff down here.

 

[Ing]

In former days, I had an app called sheet of paper. I had it on my pocket and wrote a name and info about every person I was interested in.
I hadn’t hat that for decades now. But a good idea, I will do that again. With a new app.

 

[Kak]

I'm joining in next week. Any recommendations on what type of person to contact for accounting business?
Love the thread

Hmm… Maybe complementary services from another related but noncompetitive firm?

What if you, with one deal, and little additional work, were able to offer HR services as well?

What about insurance? Could you make that deal?

Crafty, outside of the box, advertising deal?

Industry association directors? Imagine being the go to guy for accounting for (insert industry) companies?

The world is full of people that have businesses and no leads… Be the lead bringer and you will reign supreme.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Upgraded to NOTABLE, no matter how many people participate. Definitely a great exercise.

 

[Antifragile]

Thanks for this thread @Kak

This is the kind of challenge that must reset every 30 days and start anew.

I’ll share with you that I feel quite tired from the massive effort over the past 12 months. It’s been relentless pursuit in 30 day increments. To do bigger deals I needed new investors, better relationships, more staff. I’ve met some very powerful people, one billionaire and @Kak knows the story. I just asked for an introduction, then asked for a lunch and then we hit it off and had another lunch 6 months later.

I met another investor in the mid 9 figure net worth, used to be friends with Steve Jobs, honestly, I felt a bit star struck. The most shocking thing for me was the fact that these people actually met me. I mean they gave me their time, which is the most valuable commodity!

Unfortunately with one very promising investor, it didn’t work out - in fact, it ended with… let’s just call it “fireworks” type of meeting. I didn’t initiate it, but that’s where it went. It became a low point for me, because effort I‘ve put was relentless and basically I rejected an investor who otherwise was willing to put in solid 8 figures! I rejected him when I had immense need for capital because of deals I had under contract - timing was horrible. Try that on for size if you feel down. But I did it because my gut said to do it and that I’d be OK. Just double the effort, get better at your pitch, meet new people etc.

Similar to the challenge of this thread, I’ve had my eye on the ball. It took 12 months and last week it finally came together, paperwork signed and all. We’ve partnered with two family offices which basically 10x my reach in our industry. It has been a lot of effort and of course I am tired. Some of you may have noticed more rants or prickly posts from me as I vented here… but I am not taking any breaks, this is not the end. This is the beginning! In fact, now is when the really hard work begins. When you have 10x capital, you have to be smart and add value - or you lose more than just capital, far more - your reputation!

That’s how I see this challenge too, it is like taking stairs in a high rise building. It’s hard but each floor has better views

With that, @Kak - what’s on your agenda for the next 30? And who’s joining?

 

[Boogie]

Ran into this story just now of how one strategic connection led to a $30 million deal... pretty cool!

View: https://youtu.be/jKQ7uOd0U_M?t=582


(Watch from 9:41 through 12:26)

Great video. Not just the segment mentioned. Thanks for that.

 

[The-J]

Didn't take long to get a response lol. Reachout #2 wants to schedule a call next week to discuss.

The nice thing about this is that it doesn't have to be all serious, like you don't have to have a full on proposal or anything like that, just hit them up with a question or an idea and see if they're willing to talk about it.

Businesspeople know that other people are the key to success, so if they think that you have something interesting and relevant to bring to the table they're generally all ears. You might not run into them again... or they might become key assets.

You never know, which is why it's worth it.

@Kak maybe you should talk about this at the next summit, I have a feeling that this is going to change people's lives

 

[The-J]

Challenge isn't over for me yet because I took a vacation in the middle of it, however in the meantime I've already got someone who is not only interested in providing his services for me to sell with my new project, but has also linked me up with a person who invests in companies similar to what I'm working on.

Most of the rest have ignored me or said no, but that's not a bad thing because it showed me that I need to improve my pitch deck.

So far I've kept the focus singular but KAK seems to have looked for multiple opportunities to help solve problems in his businesses. I'm not sure which is better but I think it might have to do with what stage your business is in.

 

[Kak]

I'm in! Although I don't have a real business, I've been freelancing and want to start "Killing Bigger".

I feel I have a developed a good relationship with a client who's launching a cool new product. Should I use this challenge to start talking to big players in the industry on his behalf? I feel I could bring him a lot of value if I connect him with the right person, versus just introducing myself.

Might be a deal there!

The beautiful part is that this could work for someone like you, or a seasoned CEO.

 

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[Move the chains]

This thread has been a long time coming and I am going to make a claim that might be uncomfortable for some, but not untrue.

Before we get there, I preface this with the fact that I have a belief in the entrepreneur as a force for good. Despite the world vilifying them, the world needs value creators more than any other kind of person. I have a belief that everyone, and particularly the types of people that sought out a forum like this one, have greatness in them. Call it limiting beliefs, call it mindset, whatever, some people rise to a bigger challenge and others simply toil away hoping something good will come of their toil.

By greatness, I am talking multi-millionaire entrepreneurship and beyond. This isn't just billionaire ambition stuff, which I indeed have. No, this is about building something bigger than just you and your efforts. Not having to settle for a shitty website anymore. Not having to do your own books. Not having to work harder just because your business is bigger. I could go on and on for days. This is about making the most effective self possible and shedding beliefs about business that are holding us back.

Something bigger isn't JUST FOR OTHER PEOPLE... It can also be FOR YOU... If you are willing to accept it of course. There is a mindset that the greats in this world are great because "they just are." That is patently false and really what's left of many of our external locus beliefs. Remember locus of control is a spectrum, not binary. It may be thinking on an order of magnitude higher than we are used to, but the fact remains the same. It's not luck, it's not genius, and it is not a skill they were born with.

Elon Musk wasn't born with the innate ability to build marketable electric cars and land rockets on barges. Steve Jobs wasn't born with plans for the iPhone. Sam Walton wasn't born with the skills to build the world's largest retailer.

These skills were universally discovered by the greats as first, SOMETHING THEY NEEDED, and then DEVELOPED into what LATER became greatness.

There is another claim many will make... "I am just going to do this (insert something super small and easy) for a while and then, when I have enough (insert skills, resources, whatever they believe they don't have enough of yet), I will go after my big idea" as if this little business will somehow prepare them for something cooler by osmosis. Ladies and gentlemen, there are young multi-millionaires and billionaires in this world. They didn't wait, and it wasn't osmosis.

What was it?

So as a foundation... If you want to change something.... If you want to make a difference.... If you want to make progress that truly matters in your entrepreneurial journey.... You need to accept the following: THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES, SKILLS, PEOPLE, WHATEVER... IS AVAILABLE TO ME, IF I CAN ORGANIZE THEM TO MY END.

Every single great in the history of entrepreneurship operated under some form of this assumption. They may not have ever put words to it, but THAT is how they built. THAT is how their businesses became bigger than them.

Nitpickers may try to prove that wrong, but they can't... So we are moving on.

Ok so... "BIGGER THAN YOU" is the point of the exercise here. I had a KBRS show called "The 1000 Hour Workweek," it was a jab at the 4 Hour Workweek... Basically the notion is that the truly wealthy businesspeople of the world have full-time hours worked, to their end, by hundreds or thousands of people... Willingly.

I have had other shows where I talked about how there are two kinds of wealth. Monetary, of course, and INFLUENCE. Influence is the focus here, because many entrepreneurs have NONE and none of us have enough.

The belief that with business growth comes more work for you is also false. How could it not be? How could ANYONE grow a business to tens of millions of dollars per year if EVERYONE has the same 24 hours in a day? The answer is this very force at play. Their businesses are bigger than them.

It works with any business...

Who works harder?
A.) Someone that owns and operates a small plumbing company He has a receptionist and one truck. He goes out on 5-6 calls per day, orders new inventory, keeps the books, makes sure the website is updated, and finally goes home.
OR
B.) Someone that owns a plumbing company, doesn't go out on any calls, and LEADS an organization of 20 trucks and 25 plumbers EACH going out on 5-6 calls per day.

I know who...

The theory is solid. Bigger than you means PEOPLE!

OK, we are done with theory. What about practice?

Now comes the challenge. @Mathuin posted a bang up thread the other day that inspired one of my newest radio show episodes. His thread detailed how one entrepreneur got the ball rolling and eventually built the kind of business we are talking about here. The baby step that made the next stuff happen. The first revolution of the snowball.

EXECUTION - The Cold Email that started a $500m - $1B Company

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search. **Post begins** Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security. He now faced the challenge...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Based on this, I believe there is immense power here and it works with any business... It also works for anyone at any stage in their business...

I know how amazingly some of my contacts have worked out in my entrepreneurial journey... We could all use more.

MY IDEA: THOUGHTFULLY choose, research, and contact one new person per day with some kind of goal in mind.

It could be getting them on the phone and picking their brain. It could be working some kind of strategic partnership. It could be putting some kind of deal together. It could be to make a new friend in the industry. It could be to learn pain points, discovering needs. Whatever.

The most effective entrepreneurs in the world have great people in their network.

There's a chance that 2/3 of the people you contact don't answer or even tell you to f*ck off. That's ok... The people that you do meet could change everything.

So my personal goal is this: 1 new outreach per day, 5 days a week, for a month. Not some canned sales email, no, something individualistic. Something singled out for them and a good reason to contact them.

This is quality 100x higher than quantity. Make every outreach count and give every single one your very best effort.

This is probably a 30 minute per day task. Everyone can find 30 minutes in a day. Given the thread above, there is a chance that someone you meet along the way could change absolutely everything for your business. If this doesn't get results for many of you that choose to join me, I will be SHOCKED.

Furthermore, I intend to make this into a lifelong habit if the power I think is there, truly is. I can see this being 30 minutes we can't afford not to spend this way. It is also FREE.

Who is with me?

Accompanying KBRS episode to come shortly.

I'm a bit late to the party. This sounds like a great idea and I'm in.

 

[Pero123]

Hmm… Maybe complementary services from another related but noncompetitive firm?

What if you, with one deal, and little additional work, were able to offer HR services as well?

What about insurance? Could you make that deal?

The world is full of people that have businesses and no leads… Be the lead bringer and you will reign supreme.

That was on my mind already. Might team up with lawyers or public notaries etc so we can exchange customers.

 

[jdm667]

THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES, SKILLS, PEOPLE, WHATEVER... IS AVAILABLE TO ME, IF I CAN ORGANIZE THEM TO MY END.

Nitpickers may try to prove that wrong, but they can't... So we are moving on.

I agree 100%. Even if all you have is a simple Wordpress website, there are still lots of people working for you to make it "bigger than you" (even if you don't realize it):

• the hosting company employees monitoring uptime and keeping your website online
• Wordpress theme/plugin developers keeping things secure and operational
• ad or affiliate program managers tracking and optimizing things for you

Almost nobody could do all of that alone.

In response to your challenge: I will pick 30 people's brains in my industry. I will ask what they perceive to be the biggest challenge facing our industry and how they would turn it into an opportunity.

This is a good challenge because it forces you to get out of your comfort zone and take action. As a bonus, there is a good chance it will give you some insight into your industry - no matter how experienced you are.

 

[Private Witt]

I've been doing this kind of thing for a bit now. I met a guy just today that is looking for a multi-million dollar software system to be built for him. I have no idea if I can put together a team to accomplish his goal, but I'm going to try.

Another contact offered me a CIO position for his new company a couple weeks ago.

Yet another has turned into a friend and mentor.

That is that I've probably done this on average of 1 every week or two. I go in spurts. Imagine if I did this once a day?

Great to hear this news! I remember clearly when I was up in Seattle when Covid first hit and we both had rough circumstances. Hope the weather is great up there and you are getting the glorious Puget Sound summer, I sure miss it already but things are forming up nicely as well so no regrets, just hit it every day and point it forward.

 

[Jon L]

Great to hear this news! I remember clearly when I was up in Seattle when Covid first hit and we both had rough circumstances. Hope the weather is great up there and you are getting the glorious Puget Sound summer, I sure miss it already but things are forming up nicely as well so no regrets, just hit it every day and point it forward.

where'd you move to? Get tired of the rain?

 

[Private Witt]

where'd you move to? Get tired of the rain?

Im in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I actually miss the weather there, I'd take no sun, rain and cold over this 95+ pure humidity everyday and its just begin, but April and May in Oklahoma can have amazing days. The cannabis business environment in Oklahoma is a zillion times better than Washington state. Hope to be back to the Puget Sound as still doing biz there by November for a visit.

How the East side?

 

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[AnnAng]

I love the challenge. Just saw it today (Jun 19), so I'll start it next week.

I'm also thinking of modifying it a bit. Since I'm just starting my business on the side, I'll begin the challenge with 1 new person a week. This will allow me to build confidence and see what works.

I also want to turn it into a habit and continue connecting with new people regularly. I see myself moving to 5 people a week (1 a day for 5 days) soon. I will keep you updated on my progress and findings.

Great idea, @Kak. Thanks for starting the thread and sharing this with all of us!

 

[ArmanK]

This thread has been a long time coming and I am going to make a claim that might be uncomfortable for some, but not untrue.

Before we get there, I preface this with the fact that I have a belief in the entrepreneur as a force for good. Despite the world vilifying them, the world needs value creators more than any other kind of person. I have a belief that everyone, and particularly the types of people that sought out a forum like this one, have greatness in them. Call it limiting beliefs, call it mindset, whatever, some people rise to a bigger challenge and others simply toil away hoping something good will come of their toil.

By greatness, I am talking multi-millionaire entrepreneurship and beyond. This isn't just billionaire ambition stuff, which I indeed have. No, this is about building something bigger than just you and your efforts. Not having to settle for a shitty website anymore. Not having to do your own books. Not having to work harder just because your business is bigger. I could go on and on for days. This is about making the most effective self possible and shedding beliefs about business that are holding us back.

Something bigger isn't JUST FOR OTHER PEOPLE... It can also be FOR YOU... If you are willing to accept it of course. There is a mindset that the greats in this world are great because "they just are." That is patently false and really what's left of many of our external locus beliefs. Remember locus of control is a spectrum, not binary. It may be thinking on an order of magnitude higher than we are used to, but the fact remains the same. It's not luck, it's not genius, and it is not a skill they were born with.

Elon Musk wasn't born with the innate ability to build marketable electric cars and land rockets on barges. Steve Jobs wasn't born with plans for the iPhone. Sam Walton wasn't born with the skills to build the world's largest retailer.

These skills were universally discovered by the greats as first, SOMETHING THEY NEEDED, and then DEVELOPED into what LATER became greatness.

There is another claim many will make... "I am just going to do this (insert something super small and easy) for a while and then, when I have enough (insert skills, resources, whatever they believe they don't have enough of yet), I will go after my big idea" as if this little business will somehow prepare them for something cooler by osmosis. Ladies and gentlemen, there are young multi-millionaires and billionaires in this world. They didn't wait, and it wasn't osmosis.

What was it?

So as a foundation... If you want to change something.... If you want to make a difference.... If you want to make progress that truly matters in your entrepreneurial journey.... You need to accept the following: THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD'S RESOURCES, SKILLS, PEOPLE, WHATEVER... IS AVAILABLE TO ME, IF I CAN ORGANIZE THEM TO MY END.

Every single great in the history of entrepreneurship operated under some form of this assumption. They may not have ever put words to it, but THAT is how they built. THAT is how their businesses became bigger than them.

Nitpickers may try to prove that wrong, but they can't... So we are moving on.

Ok so... "BIGGER THAN YOU" is the point of the exercise here. I had a KBRS show called "The 1000 Hour Workweek," it was a jab at the 4 Hour Workweek... Basically the notion is that the truly wealthy businesspeople of the world have full-time hours worked, to their end, by hundreds or thousands of people... Willingly.

I have had other shows where I talked about how there are two kinds of wealth. Monetary, of course, and INFLUENCE. Influence is the focus here, because many entrepreneurs have NONE and none of us have enough.

The belief that with business growth comes more work for you is also false. How could it not be? How could ANYONE grow a business to tens of millions of dollars per year if EVERYONE has the same 24 hours in a day? The answer is this very force at play. Their businesses are bigger than them.

It works with any business...

Who works harder?
A.) Someone that owns and operates a small plumbing company He has a receptionist and one truck. He goes out on 5-6 calls per day, orders new inventory, keeps the books, makes sure the website is updated, and finally goes home.
OR
B.) Someone that owns a plumbing company, doesn't go out on any calls, and LEADS an organization of 20 trucks and 25 plumbers EACH going out on 5-6 calls per day.

I know who...

The theory is solid. Bigger than you means PEOPLE!

OK, we are done with theory. What about practice?

Now comes the challenge. @Mathuin posted a bang up thread the other day that inspired one of my newest radio show episodes. His thread detailed how one entrepreneur got the ball rolling and eventually built the kind of business we are talking about here. The baby step that made the next stuff happen. The first revolution of the snowball.

EXECUTION - The Cold Email that started a $500m - $1B Company

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search. **Post begins** Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security. He now faced the challenge...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Based on this, I believe there is immense power here and it works with any business... It also works for anyone at any stage in their business...

I know how amazingly some of my contacts have worked out in my entrepreneurial journey... We could all use more.

MY IDEA: THOUGHTFULLY choose, research, and contact one new person per day with some kind of goal in mind.

It could be getting them on the phone and picking their brain. It could be working some kind of strategic partnership. It could be putting some kind of deal together. It could be to make a new friend in the industry. It could be to learn pain points, discovering needs. Whatever.

The most effective entrepreneurs in the world have great people in their network.

There's a chance that 2/3 of the people you contact don't answer or even tell you to F*ck off. That's ok... The people that you do meet could change everything.

So my personal goal is this: 1 new outreach per day, 5 days a week, for a month. Not some canned sales email, no, something individualistic. Something singled out for them and a good reason to contact them.

This is quality 100x higher than quantity. Make every outreach count and give every single one your very best effort.

This is probably a 30 minute per day task. Everyone can find 30 minutes in a day. Given the thread above, there is a chance that someone you meet along the way could change absolutely everything for your business. If this doesn't get results for many of you that choose to join me, I will be SHOCKED.

Furthermore, I intend to make this into a lifelong habit if the power I think is there, truly is. I can see this being 30 minutes we can't afford not to spend this way. It is also FREE.

Who is with me?

Accompanying KBRS episode to come shortly.

LOVE this idea @Kak !!! also just started binging your podcast. I know I am late to the game but looking forward to it.

I work in BD and have worked in sales for 5+ years so I have seen the power of highly personalized outreach.

I have gotten dozens of positive email/LinkedIn replies from CEOs, VPs, and C-suite execs of small startups to unicorn tech companies and everything in between.

There are probably many formats that work and I am sure this is nothing ground breaking but I typically follow this kind of framework:

compliment on something meaningful you found about them (interview they did, new product they launched, became a parent, etc.) which is usually pretty easy after doing 5 minutes of research.

explain (briefly) who you are and the one reason why they should care or could benefit from this.

then ask a personalized question that shows you have done your homework.

and most importantly end with this (feel free to use word for word or don't):

"I understand you have tremendous demands on your time. And if you don't have time to respond, no problem. But if you do, even a sentence would mean a lot to me."

Happy outreaching!

 

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