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The "Astonishing Secrets" Thread

Andy Black

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^^^ I read that as "put your own oxygen mask on first".

Our most important client is our own business.

If we go out of business then we're no longer be able to serve our market, and we're no longer able to help people.

I'm also knee deep in 5 different client acquisition strategies. The sales process is different from 99% of the competitors in the space because while everyone is saying, "I offer XYZ Service. Let me know if you're interested" I'm having the services performed upfront for free(without their permission btw) to bring results to the clients in advance so they know I'm not BSing them. I think MJ did something like that with Limos.com.

The easiest sale is to perform services in advance for free so they can see with their own eyes that what you're offering can actually help them.

Yes. I'm working on this too.

No need to get permission. Just add value.



"Hi. I generate leads for blacksmiths. Are you interested in buying any?"

vs

"Hi. Are you a blacksmith? Are you based in Dublin? We have a referral of someone who wants 200 swords made. Is this something you can deal with?"
 
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Lex DeVille

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No need to get permission from people to be able to add value.

I built this liquor store owner a website last year. He bit my head off lol.

(Though he said it was wayyy better than his current site)

Offered it to him for free as a portfolio builder and I even paid for hosting for a year.

Instead of working with me he told me to get lost.

Can't win em' all I suppose. I think a lot of people are suspicious of value.

Too many people trying to burn em' with b.s. all the time.

Not saying it's a bad idea by the way. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. When it works, it works really well. :D
 

Andy Black

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Hey IceCreamKid I´ve been reading your posts for some time. Amazing Journey. This is the first time I ask a question because I´m just in that same point right now.

I have a business idea and I´m interviewing many different people in order to gather feedback. However what amazes me is how difficult it is to get someone to give you their time. I´ve worked in sales and sometimes I find this somewhat more difficult.

As a matter of fact I haven´t landed a single in person interview, just by telephone.

I am currently landing interviews:

1. Cold calling
2. Cold mailing
3. Referrals (the best method by far)

What did you to land interviews?

Thanks!!!
Best!
For me...

Referrals.

I concentrate on doing what I'm hired to do so well that it generates word-of-mouth.

Then I spend my money on diesel and coffee.
 

Andy Black

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I built this liquor store owner a website last year. He bit my head off lol.

(Though he said it was wayyy better than his current site)

Offered it to him for free as a portfolio builder and I even paid for hosting for a year.

Instead of working with me he told me to get lost.

Can't win em' all I suppose. I think a lot of people are suspicious of value.

Too many people trying to burn em' with b.s. all the time.

Not saying it's a bad idea by the way. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. When it works, it works really well. :D
It's a screening process.

You're trying to find the ones who'll bite your hand off, not bite your head off.

I don't subscribe to "always be closing".

I'm trying to find clients worth "partnering" with.



I live by:

"The first purchase is a test."



(Hope we're not derailing @IceCreamKid.)



Also, who wants a website anyway? They just want sales. ;)
 
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First i would like to thank ICK and any other fellow members that taking their precious time helping other member to find the real 'monster' inside them.

Fear & hurt imprison the heart. Kick them out of the door & go get your ice cream

However, i have a point to remind: Don't forget where we come from !

Pick 'The Millionaire Fastlane ' book and READ it again and again and again then APPLY it again and again and again. Guys who read the book, forum articles, but who are still asking stupid questions usually don't know the fundamentals in the book well enough. They interest not commitment

Come on guys, where is commitment that Mr MJ referred to ? Interest reads a book, commitment applies the book 50 times. Keeping doing it till it become a part of who you are : a Fastlander

Ice cream is calling my name, pedal to the metal i go yehhhh
 
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Reading through the entire thread, I’ve noticed over the last two years IceCreamKid’s replies have been less frequent and less enthusiastic. Yes, of course he is probably much busier with his own businesses to keep dishing out free GOLDEN advice on a silver platter but if you pay attention you’ll notice he tells exactly why his enthusiasm has decreased.

NO ONE IS TAKING ACTION!

The majority of the thread is filled with: Thank you, you changed my whole mindset, thanks I will go out and love everyone, thank you I am going to look for needs instead of money. All that is just fine and dandy but ICK didn’t spend his valuable time creating posts for people to thank him. He created those posts for people to go out and better themselves and their lives. Not just sit around and think about it.
Do I get an "AMEN"....?
 

SteveO

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At the heart of everything, my posts have been less frequent because I read a book called The Art of Selfishness. That book should be mandatory reading because it explains the psychology behind MJ's story of getting into Chuma mode.

The book mainly focuses on how we need to be "selfish" in order to maximize how we add value to the world. You become a bit more selfish with giving out your time and resources so that you can focus on building your fastlane systems. By doing that, you are able to quickly build vehicles that give value to the marketplace. So in a weird sense you're not being selfish at all. You're leveraging your impact on the world.
In our little world that is built on belief systems, we think that being selfish is a selfish thing to be. In all reality, your "self" is the only thing that you have complete control over. It is what we SHOULD be focused on.
 
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Pacman385

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I've only gotten to page 6- but I am officially a firm believer in the juju that comes from just helping people.

I sell items on ebay but I've never taken the time to reach out to any of the customers and follow up to see how everything went.

Today, I did just that. Not only did I learn some valuable things about the issues they were having that I could solve, but after a 3 day stint of not selling anything- chaching! Item is sold.

Help people. Listen to @IceCreamKid. Listen to @Andy Black
 

Fredyisgold

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She started out broke just working menial jobs. Chick pinched her pennies hard to get through those times.

After saving up some money, she took a shot at just rehabbing single family homes to pile up the cash. She called them "lipstick jobs" because all she did was put on a fresh coat of paint on the exterior/interior, new carpets, and maybe a few other minor things.

She got bored of that and started buying underperforming apartment complexes, fixing them up and filling the vacancies then selling them once they're stabilized. She pooled money from other investors to buy the apartments. THAT PART WAS NOT EASY. Do not get into that business unless you're good at selling and are willing to work your a$$ off.

She got burned out from working so hard and started buying shitty old homes in California then completely tearing them down and building nice homes in their place. At this point she was doing very little of the work. She would just hire that out. For the area she was building homes in, most of the buyers were out of state investors so she decided to start a property management company to manage the properties for them after the sale.

Property management is a dope business because in a sense you're borrowing someone's asset and getting a piece of their cashflow without putting any money down. I tried starting a property management company a few years back, but it failed because I didn't have the Dolphin mindset yet. I'm pretty sure if I tried it again it would be successful. Once you have the right mindset, everything seems to fall into place. The problem is that the mindset doesn't come by just reading books and posts on here...you'll get a basic idea of it from reading, but it really gets solidified in your mind when you experience it firsthand in the trenches.

She's pretty much retired now. I love her soooo much and have the highest admiration for her. But yea, not all millionaires these days are created online. I really like offline business. Actually I like both haha damnit I like diving into everything, it's fun.

Let me tell you something though...Success doesn't necessarily lead to happiness. Happiness is the definition of success. She's so bored right now and trying to find purpose in her life. Shoot, sometimes I feel the same. I think that's why I post here...we all want meaning, you feel me?

Your Writing gets me going. Thank you for all this. I'm really grateful. <3
 

Fredyisgold

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just described one way of doing things, Im dont know about other methods..so..
I Think I May Have Misled A Bunch of People Here

As I browse the posts in other threads on this forum, I am now seeing a small army of people talking about how excited and liberated they feel to be learning copywriting. They don't talk about anything else...just copywriting. Copywriting is not some magic pill that will automatically make you millions after you copy down a few pages of a sales letter. Stop looking for the event. Believe me, I'm not trying to discourage you here. I'm trying to expand your mind.

Guys, there are 2 types of action in this world: passive action and active action.

Passive action is doing stuff like mindless paperwork, watching movies to get inspired, checking your email every half hour, spending a ridiculous amount of time learning to code a website when you should be hiring a programmer, buying business cards, designing a logo, etc.

Active action is doing stuff that drives customers to buy. Stuff like picking up the phone, talking to people, getting out there and pounding the pavement. You'd be shocked at what having some guts and hard work gets you. It gets you the ice cream. It's what gets you the Lambo so you can finally hang out with the cool kids from high school, gain respect from your neighbors that you secretly hate, and finally gets you those 3 mistresses that you always dreamed about(reverse the scenario for female entrepreneurs please!).

Listen here! I'm glad that all of you are feeling inspired and motivated, but I want more for you. Feeling warm and fuzzy inside doesn't pay the bills. I want you to take ACTIVE ACTION so that not only are you inspired, but you also have buckets of ice cream. In all seriousness, I want you to get rich so that you can give back to society.

This thread has now hit 7k views yet the number of posts are few. Even fewer are taking active action.

Tell me, what are you struggling with? What is preventing you from taking active action? I need to know so that I can tweak my advice to shift your mindset to be able to break through that barrier.

You already have all the tools you need. You got the CENTS formula. You got the copywriting formula to sell your goods with. You got the mindset to get you through the tough times. All you need is commitment to yourself. Why haven't you committed?

I'm too busy. I don't have time. I don't have the discipline. I'm too young. I don't have money. I don't have an idea. I'll never succeed. I'm not pretty enough, tall enough, savvy enough, confident enough. Rich people are greedy. Money is bad.

What's your excuse?

Off to work. Gotta keep the ice cream machines running. Peace out, my drunken ice cream addicted maniacs.

Move fast. Take active action.

You describe learning to code to be passive action. What if you're learning it to provide value to businesses. Wouldn't that lead to active action. Picking up the phone and providing value via solving shitty website? Love the Thread <3
 
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Marquin Brewer

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The greatest lesson of all...

LOVE THE HELL OUT OF OTHERS AND YOU WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU CAN EAT.

The hell? This is a @z********* secret? It is, and let me prove to you why.

When you love others with a genuine heart, you become more present to their feelings which include their pains and needs. You approach them from the position of, “How can I improve this person’s life? How can I add value to this person’s life?” as opposed to, “Where can I get money? COME ON GIVE ME THE MONEY!”.

This is the mindset I see a lot of people have: “The XYZ market is a $50B market and is about to explode 30% within the next 2 years. I’m going to get into that and get a piece of the pie!”. The ice cream shop has the right to refuse service to anyone and does not serve those with that mindset. We only serve ice cream to those who love others and solve their pains. Well, maybe we’ll offer plain vanilla to the 99% who don’t.

Do you think someone will tell you their pains and needs if you genuinely show them that you want to help improve their lives? Or are they more likely to tell you their pains if you approach them from the angle of, “Hey would you buy this product from me? Come on, buy it!”

When you love the hell out of others, you begin building a brand with a noticeable heart. Customers WILL notice this and you will develop a loyal following. They will tell their friends and post it all over Facebook. You notice how In n’ Out Burger has a loyal following of fans? That’s because they show love for their employees and love for their customers by striving to always satisfy everyone’s needs. It’s a hamburger joint with a friggin’ culture. I love it. The employees are always joyful as hell. The company has HEART and SOUL. Compare that to the majority of other fast food joints who are just a cold cash taker.

Sometimes it’s not always about profit. Love others first and the ice cream will come.

I’ve never met z********* in person but his whole vibe OOZES of love, heart, honor, and integrity. He wants to help you better your life. He doesn’t fear the success of those he mentors. I would trust that guy with a $100,000 personal loan. He obviously doesn’t need my money, but you get my point. I bet you a bunch of people bring him deals and opportunities to partner up simply because of his vibe of love and integrity.

Love others. Drop the greed because it will blind you to opportunities for more ice cream around you. When you harness this mindset for a long enough amount of time, you will see the abundance of possibilities and realize the ice cream is everywhere. Fear and scarcity WILL be replaced by confidence and abundance.

@JackEdwards wasn't lying when he said, "The moment you stop caring about money is the moment you start making money". Respect to you, good sir.
Thanx ICK for dropping mad knowledge and insight this is pure gold. I have in the past like everyone struggled with greed it's the LF8 in us all to desire our own wants and needs but if we can shift our mindset and become servants of other's selfishness fades away and selflessness sets in then we look to help from a genuine perspective. Then we can all go to the ice cream shop. I'm also studying copy right now. Any advice sir?
 

Spicymemer45

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What’s up guys. Some of you may remember me from my thread in which I thanked z********* for dropping wisdom bombs all over the world. If you haven’t checked that thread out, please take a look at it and get moving with learning copywriting so you can learn how to print your own money(legally).

I’m starting this thread because Z told me to share the ice cream with others. I have mad respect for the guy so naturally it had to be done. By golly, all I used to have was a little pint of ice cream for myself and now I have an ice cream factory for everybody to eat from! There is a seat reserved for you at the table of abundance, but it’s up to you to work for it.

I will be explaining the secret Zen side of the Dolphin that he never speaks of, but has become glaringly obvious to those who study the WHY and HOW behind his posts.

But before I dive into giving you some ice cream, a little bit about myself…

27 years old. Was a wantrepreneur for a long time, but didn’t even know it. Yup, I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Started a bunch of different businesses for all the wrong reasons so I ultimately failed at each one. A few years into it, I finally hit the bottom and got sick of the shit life I was living so I wrote into my journal and started reflecting. It went something like, “I’m tired of who I am. Tired of the life I’m living. Tired of seeing all my friends get ahead in their corporate job while I’m here trying to figure things out. Just sick of my life in general”. Bottom line, I was at my lowest point and the fire under my a$$ was burning so hot that I had no other choice but to take some dedicated immediate action to get real results…or risk being forever frustrated in the hamster wheel of the 9-5.

Studied z*********’s posts very closely and began to read in between the lines of what he was saying. I wasn’t looking for business strategies. I wanted to know and understand the mindset behind the madman. Why was he doing X? How was he doing Y?

Started learning copy. I read some books and copied some sales letters by hand for a few months. My day looked something like this: Work the 9-5. Go home pissed as hell at my boss. Drink, write copy, drink, write copy, pass out drunk. Repeat for a long time until I got a good grasp of writing copy. I don’t recommend drinking to learn copy…ice cream seems to work pretty well too. Drinking is fun though…I’d rather burn as bright as a 1,000 watt bulb and burn out in 10-minutes than live life like a 10-watt bulb for the next 40 years.

Armed with my new knowledge of copy, I set forth to start a software business. While interviewing many different people in many different industries, I discovered a real need that couldn’t be solved online but could be taken care of offline…I prefer offline businesses anyway so I jumped into it head first. You can start an offline business faster because you don’t have to spend months on software development.

30 days later my sales were in the low 5-figure range. Let me tell you…when you go from making crap money and barely scraping to get by, to suddenly making 5-figures a month the feeling is sweeter than a gallon of ice cream.

That’s my story in a nutshell. I left out a lot of the details of the mental struggle: broken heart, angry parents, isolated friends, etc.

I will respectfully decline any requests to disclose what my business is. This forum was once a close knit group of homies, but with the success of MJ’s book there are now tons of new members and a few took the liberty of stealing from some of the greatest contributors here. The mindset is 80% of the game anyway and that’s what I’m trying to teach here.

On to the lessons…

I dropped my milk reading this toward the end. Felt like the curtain had been lifted and the audience saw me naked.

It makes sense now! Great post!
 

IceCreamKid

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I'm also studying copy right now. Any advice sir?

1. Don't buy any guru courses. I despise all the gurus who charge $5k for some digital course whose content doesn't even work. I don't mind spending $5k if the info actually works, but you rarely see a course being sold with quality info that works when executed in the real world.

2. Grab some books from the library. Don't get stuck in the learning loop though.

Reality in advertising, scientific advertising, pre-suasian, human hacking, influence, dotcom secrets, ask, trusted advertising methods, breakthrough advertising.

3. I'm going to take some heat for this, but get into affiliate marketing for a bit just to learn the ropes of driving traffic. Then once you've gotten a decent grasp of that, start your own line of products. You want to ultimately own the asset so you can one day have a liquidation event.

4. Try to have at least 5 lines in your product offering. One of them should be your dirt cheap/freebie product. For example, in my carpet cleaning biz we offer 1 free room cleaning without any obligation to buy. The other lines are scotchguard, pet urine treatment, deodorizer, specialty stain removal(red wine, coffee, blood, etc), tile, and upholstery.

It's much easier to sell your way up to an expensive product than it is to offer it straight from the beginning. It's also much easier to start a conversation and gain trust by first offering a freebie.

If you're looking to become a copywriting freelancer, read the threads by @SinisterLex and @Fox

Don't dabble. No drama or pointless conversations. Just focus. Make some moves to help your fellow man and profit for doing so. We're young as hell. Work hard today so we can party like maniacs later.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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3. I'm going to take some heat for this, but get into affiliate marketing for a bit just to learn the ropes of driving traffic. Then once you've gotten a decent grasp of that, start your own line of products. You want to ultimately own the asset so you can one day have a liquidation event.

No heat man, great advice as it's short-game to give better odds for long-game. ;)
 

Andy Black

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3. I'm going to take some heat for this, but get into affiliate marketing for a bit just to learn the ropes of driving traffic. Then once you've gotten a decent grasp of that, start your own line of products. You want to ultimately own the asset so you can one day have a liquidation event.
I went down the route of learning to drive "traffic" by providing lead generation as a service to business owners.

I dabbled with affiliate marketing years ago for exactly the reason you mention, but much prefer the freelancer/agency route. Here's why:

1) I'm building direct relationships with business owners - rather than with affiliate networks.

2) I get to find out what is and isn't working direct from the business owner's mouth.

3) I spend a lot of time talking to, selling to, and brainstorming with business owners. These are the type of people I like to surround myself with. No need for paid "mentors" either.

4) I manage *their* ad spend. I'm not buying the visitors with my own ad spend.

5) I get paid a flat monthly fee even if the campaigns aren't profitable. (Obviously this can only last long before the business will cut the chord.)

6) I'm likely the only person running campaigns in particular channels for each business owner. They might have other freelancers working on other channels, but that's a chance to collaborate and learn from them - rather than compete with other affiliates in the same channel for the same client.

7) If I get positive ROI for the business owner, then they often want more services.

8) There's a lot material out there to help freelancers move to outsourcing and then productised services and then platforms. (i.e. there's well documented paths out of the time for money freelance stage.)

9) You learn to sell directly to business owners. And it can be a tough sell since so many spammers have shut the doors for you. This is a good thing.



Just thought I'd throw that in there since so many people immediately discount freelancing or agency work as it's so obviously tied to your time.
 

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This is my second time reading through the entire thread. IceCreamKid, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for shattering the myth that the world of true business/entrepreneurship is not about trickery and deception but about genuine love for the other by solving problems. I was born into a family who was part of a very powerful cult-like Christian denomination where for the first 21 years of my life most of the friends and people I know were in the church. The people 'outside' were regarded as 'them' who needed salvation by joining our group.

A few years ago the leaders of the movement whom we highly revered were caught for misappropriating large donation funds into their own accounts and buying themselves resorts and assets. And by large funds it's documented to be more than 400 million USD. I'll save talking about how mindset exercises got rid of depression and changed my life(thanks to you, Mike Cernovich, Tony Robbins, BoldandDetermined, hundreds of books and many others) after leaving the cult which is still a work in progress. To stick to the thread. The notion that money as the root of evil reinforced in my mind because anyone especially a 'Holy' leader doing so made it easier for me to have less faith in humanity. But that mindset was the past. It was only a small circle of people I was part of among millions of other circles of people in the world so it would be a huge mistake were i to generalize people based on a small sample of people in a cult.


Anyways I don't want to waste your time by giving you some life story since I learned the rules for posting comments in this forum is to provide value.
The idea of achieving financial freedom never crossed my mind after 22 so I'm a total novice student to the game. I've been living in Japan (raised in Japan and Korea from age 11 to 21) working as a day laborer, assistant to sushi chef, and baker at that time and was taught to 'love suffering in minimal possessions' which is invaluable in its way.

At 21 our family moved to the US I've been working as a assistant to chef and line cook. You guys helped me improve my outlook and attitude and that helped me get hired on the spot by a owner of a James Beard Award winning Thai restaurant and another Indian restaurant that was rated by USATODAY's as number one in its cuisine. I've been working 60-75 hours weeks regularly standing all day and cooking under pressures for orders to be made fast and prepping until I got injuries last week preventing me from working on doctor recommendations for the next 2 months. Rather than 'resting' I'll take this opportunity to take classes at the local college. Also realized that being a line cook will not lead to riches and freedom. Not trying to defeat talk myself but I'm not yet like the many fearless and brave entrepreneurs here who can launch on their own.

Looking at my own standing, I feel to lack the basic professional skills such as writing and effective communication. I'm not taking classes toward a major but to acquire basic skill sets I feel necessary now; Intro to web design, college composition, elements of marketing, and intro to logic. I'm living entirely on my savings for next six months while living frugally and learning at the same time.
It's only a start and a long run up the road.

What I learned from everyone here is that it's not how bad your circumstance is right now but taking the practical measures to improve life circumstances that really matters and this forum provides countless numbers of what practical measures there are. Thank you Mj De Marco for creating this forum for everyone . Thank you IceCreamKid for your empowering Mindset training.
 
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Marquin Brewer

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1. Don't buy any guru courses. I despise all the gurus who charge $5k for some digital course whose content doesn't even work. I don't mind spending $5k if the info actually works, but you rarely see a course being sold with quality info that works when executed in the real world.

2. Grab some books from the library. Don't get stuck in the learning loop though.

Reality in advertising, scientific advertising, pre-suasian, human hacking, influence, dotcom secrets, ask, trusted advertising methods, breakthrough advertising.

3. I'm going to take some heat for this, but get into affiliate marketing for a bit just to learn the ropes of driving traffic. Then once you've gotten a decent grasp of that, start your own line of products. You want to ultimately own the asset so you can one day have a liquidation event.

4. Try to have at least 5 lines in your product offering. One of them should be your dirt cheap/freebie product. For example, in my carpet cleaning biz we offer 1 free room cleaning without any obligation to buy. The other lines are scotchguard, pet urine treatment, deodorizer, specialty stain removal(red wine, coffee, blood, etc), tile, and upholstery.

It's much easier to sell your way up to an expensive product than it is to offer it straight from the beginning. It's also much easier to start a conversation and gain trust by first offering a freebie.

If you're looking to become a copywriting freelancer, read the threads by @SinisterLex and @Fox

Don't dabble. No drama or pointless conversations. Just focus. Make some moves to help your fellow man and profit for doing so. We're young as hell. Work hard today so we can party like maniacs later.
Thanks for the advice bro....I'm on it....Putting a funnel together....I'll give some feedback when I ran a couple of test.
 

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I'm not yet like the many fearless and brave entrepreneurs here
No one is Fearless. Brave is being afraid, and doing it anyway.

Sounds like you are on a good path and have a solid foundation to build on.
 
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Marquin Brewer

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This is my second time reading through the entire thread. IceCreamKid, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for shattering the myth that the world of true business/entrepreneurship is not about trickery and deception but about genuine love for the other by solving problems. I was born into a family who was part of a very powerful cult-like Christian denomination where for the first 21 years of my life most of the friends and people I know were in the church. The people 'outside' were regarded as 'them' who needed salvation by joining our group.

A few years ago the leaders of the movement whom we highly revered were caught for misappropriating large donation funds into their own accounts and buying themselves resorts and assets. And by large funds it's documented to be more than 400 million USD. I'll save talking about how mindset exercises got rid of depression and changed my life(thanks to you, Mike Cernovich, Tony Robbins, BoldandDetermined, hundreds of books and many others) after leaving the cult which is still a work in progress. To stick to the thread. The notion that money as the root of evil reinforced in my mind because anyone especially a 'Holy' leader doing so made it easier for me to have less faith in humanity. But that mindset was the past. It was only a small circle of people I was part of among millions of other circles of people in the world so it would be a huge mistake were i to generalize people based on a small sample of people in a cult.


Anyways I don't want to waste your time by giving you some life story since I learned the rules for posting comments in this forum is to provide value.
The idea of achieving financial freedom never crossed my mind after 22 so I'm a total novice student to the game. I've been living in Japan (raised in Japan and Korea from age 11 to 21) working as a day laborer, assistant to sushi chef, and baker at that time and was taught to 'love suffering in minimal possessions' which is invaluable in its way.

At 21 our family moved to the US I've been working as a assistant to chef and line cook. You guys helped me improve my outlook and attitude and that helped me get hired on the spot by a owner of a James Beard Award winning Thai restaurant and another Indian restaurant that was rated by USATODAY's as number one in its cuisine. I've been working 60-75 hours weeks regularly standing all day and cooking under pressures for orders to be made fast and prepping until I got injuries last week preventing me from working on doctor recommendations for the next 2 months. Rather than 'resting' I'll take this opportunity to take classes at the local college. Also realized that being a line cook will not lead to riches and freedom. Not trying to defeat talk myself but I'm not yet like the many fearless and brave entrepreneurs here who can launch on their own.

Looking at my own standing, I feel to lack the basic professional skills such as writing and effective communication. I'm not taking classes toward a major but to acquire basic skill sets I feel necessary now; Intro to web design, college composition, elements of marketing, and intro to logic. I'm living entirely on my savings for next six months while living frugally and learning at the same time.
It's only a start and a long run up the road.

What I learned from everyone here is that it's not how bad your circumstance is right now but taking the practical measures to improve life circumstances that really matters and this forum provides countless numbers of what practical measures there are. Thank you Mj De Marco for creating this forum for everyone . Thank you IceCreamKid for your empowering Mindset training.
No matter where you start at you have it in your heart to make progress and better your future. Its true what you mentioned earlier that being involved in church can sometimes blind you to the outside world. I'm not in a cultist environment but I see how that mindset can be adopted by following the opinions of your leader and not the word of God.

I'm not going into a sermon but here me out..I do see how church leaders don't emphasize material progress but they live a better lifestyle than you but emphasize spiritual progress....Also, to concentrate on God but struggle through life and get by on the little you have and trust God.

I have always had an entrepreneurs mindset from my youth, even now, it has not changed although I lacked direction on how to put it together. To keep the direction of the thread people must free themselves from the opinions of others and you must have a clear picture of your own future.
 

anurag

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Hey @IceCreamKid , first of all i am deeply grateful to you for opening my mind to this mind shift change. I like many was blinded by "me me me" driven attitude towards life. I knew there was something wrong with it and after taking in the dolphin mindset and acting upon it I feel that I am on the right path now, all because of you.

Whilst I was reading your posts dated 2013, I was wishing in my mind to dear IceCreamGods that you have not left the forum. Its been four plus years since you wrote the first post and the words are still valuable as ever.

It is my humble request to you to please take some time out of your day once in a while and keep checking back on this forum, there are many IceCreamMen like me who will benefit from your advice.

Hope to meet you at the IceCreamShop some day.
Cheers!
 
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IceCreamKid

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It is my humble request to you to please take some time out of your day and once in a while and keep checking back on this forum, there are many IceCreamMen like me who will benefit from your advice.
Thank you for the comments, brother. It's quite humbling to check in here once in a while and see so many young guns pushing for their dreams. I'm 31 now and often wonder where I'd be if I had started sooner.

I never really left the forum and probably never will. I just don't post as often because I'm in full fledged growth mode right now which requires an incredible amount of energy and time.

Need tools and resources to get you to the next level? Just ask and I'll give you a list of what has worked for me. I no longer have the time to jump on phone calls, but I always make it a point to respond to 99% of the PM's I get on here. The only ones that I don't respond to are those who are trying to sell me something without at least trying to develop rapport first.

There are still many amazing members here that post far more regularly than me. Just make sure that you're still pulling the trigger daily and don't be so obsessed with perfection. Perfection will only delay progress. So just do your best, stay in the fight for the long haul, and believe in yourself.

If you don't know where to start, grab some books on the following:

1. Mindset(how to handle pressure, how to focus, etc)
2. Sales(how to network, communicate effectively, handle objections, etc)
3. Direct response marketing and copywriting
4. Business strategy<-Spend the bulk of your time on this. Focus especially on how to differentiate yourself from the competition AND how to communicate that to your audience.

Do your best to get your first customer ASAP. The reason why I always stress this is because once you get that first customer, the psychological hurdle literally disappears and a lot of the "what if's" disappear instantly because you now have proven your concept.

Learn how to package things because you'll be able to get bigger profit margins with packaged goods/services. A head of lettuce at the grocery store is $1 while the packaged salads are $5. Go for premium and package everything beautifully to make the experience for the customer amazing.

Every little detail counts...all the way down to the nitty gritty like what colors/fonts work best.
 
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arfadugus

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Thank you for the comments, brother. It's quite humbling to check in here once in a while and see so many young guns pushing for their dreams. I'm 31 now and often wonder where I'd be if I had started sooner.

I never really left the forum and probably never will. I just don't post as often because I'm in full fledged growth mode right now which requires an incredible amount of energy and time.

Need tools and resources to get you to the next level? Just ask and I'll give you a list of what has worked for me. I no longer have the time to jump on phone calls, but I always make it a point to respond to 99% of the PM's I get on here. The only ones that I don't respond to are those who are trying to sell me something without at least trying to develop rapport first.

There are still many amazing members here that post far more regularly than me. Just make sure that you're still pulling the trigger daily and don't be so obsessed with perfection. Perfection will only delay progress. So just do your best, stay in the fight for the long haul, and believe in yourself.

If you don't know where to start, grab some books on the following:

1. Mindset(how to handle pressure, how to focus, etc)
2. Sales(how to network, communicate effectively, handle objections, etc)
3. Direct response marketing and copywriting
4. Business strategy<-Spend the bulk of your time on this. Focus especially on how to differentiate yourself from the competition AND how to communicate that to your audience.

Do your best to get your first customer ASAP. The reason why I always stress this is because once you get that first customer, the psychological hurdle literally disappears and a lot of the "what if's" disappear instantly because you now have proven your concept.

Learn how to package things because you'll be able to get bigger profit margins with packaged goods/services. A head of lettuce at the grocery store is $1 while the packaged salads are $5. Go for premium and package everything beautifully to make the experience for the customer amazing.

Every little detail counts...all the way down to the nitty gritty like what colors/fonts work best.
List of tools/ resources would be great!
 

amp0193

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Do your best to get your first customer ASAP. The reason why I always stress this is because once you get that first customer, the psychological hurdle literally disappears and a lot of the "what if's" disappear instantly because you now have proven your concept.

Thanks for saying this.

This business is taking a while to develop the products, and the longer I go without a customer, the bigger the psychological resistance seems to be.

I need to prove the concept with customer $$$ asap.

I wouldn't be where I am today without your insistence that I take daily action.
 

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WinTheDay

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Thank you for the comments, brother. It's quite humbling to check in here once in a while and see so many young guns pushing for their dreams. I'm 31 now and often wonder where I'd be if I had started sooner.

I never really left the forum and probably never will. I just don't post as often because I'm in full fledged growth mode right now which requires an incredible amount of energy and time.

Need tools and resources to get you to the next level? Just ask and I'll give you a list of what has worked for me. I no longer have the time to jump on phone calls, but I always make it a point to respond to 99% of the PM's I get on here. The only ones that I don't respond to are those who are trying to sell me something without at least trying to develop rapport first.

There are still many amazing members here that post far more regularly than me. Just make sure that you're still pulling the trigger daily and don't be so obsessed with perfection. Perfection will only delay progress. So just do your best, stay in the fight for the long haul, and believe in yourself.

If you don't know where to start, grab some books on the following:

1. Mindset(how to handle pressure, how to focus, etc)
2. Sales(how to network, communicate effectively, handle objections, etc)
3. Direct response marketing and copywriting
4. Business strategy<-Spend the bulk of your time on this. Focus especially on how to differentiate yourself from the competition AND how to communicate that to your audience.

Do your best to get your first customer ASAP. The reason why I always stress this is because once you get that first customer, the psychological hurdle literally disappears and a lot of the "what if's" disappear instantly because you now have proven your concept.

Learn how to package things because you'll be able to get bigger profit margins with packaged goods/services. A head of lettuce at the grocery store is $1 while the packaged salads are $5. Go for premium and package everything beautifully to make the experience for the customer amazing.

Every little detail counts...all the way down to the nitty gritty like what colors/fonts work best.

Thank you for coming back and dropping some knowledge. All of your posts are one of the main reasons I finally stared taking action and once I do reach all my goals I will always know that it was your posts that caused me to take the most action and stop sitting around scrolling all damn day. You are greatly appreciated.

I would also love those tools and resources if you don't mind
 

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If you don't know where to start, grab some books on the following:

1. Mindset(how to handle pressure, how to focus, etc)
2. Sales(how to network, communicate effectively, handle objections, etc)
3. Direct response marketing and copywriting
4. Business strategy<-Spend the bulk of your time on this. Focus especially on how to differentiate yourself from the competition AND how to communicate that to your audience.

Any recommendations here, bookwise?
 

IceCreamKid

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Any recommendations here, bookwise?
Mindset:

Skip the mindset books and just read this post. Your main focus really should be customer acquisition…reading books for months about positive thinking won’t get the cash register to ring.

There are no magic pills. You’ll be challenged like never before and you will need to leave your comfort zone if you want to see major shifts in your life.

No excuses. Your business and your life is exactly how you have designed it. If your current situation sucks then it’s YOUR fault. I know that’s a tough thing to hear, but the beauty of it is that YOU are in control and can go stick-shift with your life at any moment. No victim mentality in the fastlane.

Embrace resistance. By choosing the fastlane, you’re choosing to play at a new level and you WILL have resistance. Embrace that and commit to doing what it takes to get results.

Do the work. There is no substitute. If you don’t put the effort in then nothing will change for you.

How To Become A Failure


· Blaming others for your results

· Not reaching out to others for help when you get stuck

· Not rolling the dice and taking a chance on yourself

· Wasting time on BS. Essentially fooling yourself that you’re being productive i.e. creating a logo for weeks, filing for an LLC before you even validated your idea, reading this thread and not taking any action that gets data for you. You want data, data, data.

· Taking forever to accomplish a task. Take massive imperfect action. Done is better than perfect.

· Being afraid to fail. Everything is part of your learning and getting closer to your goals.

· Not being willing to do whatever it takes. Gotta be willing to go ALL IN. If you don’t then the process becomes 1,000x more exhausting because you’ll always be questioning yourself. Now here's the catch: I'd say 95% of people cannot WILL their way to success. They must experience a series of events that lead them to say wow my life sucks so much right now that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get my freedom. Freedom is the ultimate goal here.

Grow a pair and pull the trigger. We have a tendency to overcomplicate things in our head when at the heart of everything, it’s quite simple.


Sales: Spin Selling. My favorite sales book of all time.

Direct response marketing and copywriting: Dot Com Secrets. I don’t have any book recommendations for copywriting. Just hand copy the writing from your favorite landing pages and you’ll start seeing things differently.

Fantastic courses for direct response marketing: Mike Dillard’s e-mail course and Ezra Firestone’s stuff. If you’re broke then you can find them online for free if you search hard enough, but please support them if you have the capability to do so. Their courses cost a couple thousand dollars, but the ROI will come back 10-fold if you actually execute on what they teach in their courses.

Make sure to test ALL assumptions. It’s been my experience that courses offering FB advertising modules don’t really work and sometimes I’ve found more success by actually doing the opposite of what the guru teaches. Watch what the gurus do, not what they teach.

Business strategy: I don’t really have a specific recommendation on this one because all of the books I’ve gotten were tailored for a specific need. I’m a big advocate of learning on demand. So that means if I need to learn a specific skill, only then will I search for a book on that topic. I find that learning on demand is far more efficient. Jump in and make a mess then learn as you go.
 
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Andy Black

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Mindset:

Skip the mindset books and just read this post. Your main focus really should be customer acquisition…reading books for months about positive thinking won’t get the cash register to ring.

There are no magic pills. You’ll be challenged like never before and you will need to leave your comfort zone if you want to see major shifts in your life.

No excuses. Your business and your life is exactly how you have designed it. If your current situation sucks then it’s YOUR fault. I know that’s a tough thing to hear, but the beauty of it is that YOU are in control and can go stick-shift with your life at any moment. No victim mentality in the fastlane.

Embrace resistance. By choosing the fastlane, you’re choosing to play at a new level and you WILL have resistance. Embrace that and commit to doing what it takes to get results.

Do the work. There is no substitute. If you don’t put the effort in then nothing will change for you.

How To Become A Failure


· Blaming others for your results

· Not reaching out to others for help when you get stuck

· Not rolling the dice and taking a chance on yourself

· Wasting time on BS. Essentially fooling yourself that you’re being productive i.e. creating a logo for weeks, filing for an LLC before you even validated your idea, reading this thread and not taking any action that gets data for you. You want data, data, data.

· Taking forever to accomplish a task. Take massive imperfect action. Done is better than perfect.

· Being afraid to fail. Everything is part of your learning and getting closer to your goals.

· Not being willing to do whatever it takes. Gotta be willing to go ALL IN. If you don’t then the process becomes 1,000x more exhausting because you’ll always be questioning yourself. Now here's the catch: I'd say 95% of people cannot WILL their way to success. They must experience a series of events that lead them to say wow my life sucks so much right now that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get my freedom. Freedom is the ultimate goal here.

Grow a pair and pull the trigger. We have a tendency to overcomplicate things in our head when at the heart of everything, it’s quite simple.


Sales: Spin Selling. My favorite sales book of all time.

Direct response marketing and copywriting: Dot Com Secrets. I don’t have any book recommendations for copywriting. Just hand copy the writing from your favorite landing pages and you’ll start seeing things differently.

Fantastic courses for direct response marketing: Mike Dillard’s e-mail course and Ezra Firestone’s stuff. If you’re broke then you can find them online for free if you search hard enough, but please support them if you have the capability to do so. Their courses cost a couple thousand dollars, but the ROI will come back 10-fold if you actually execute on what they teach in their courses.

Make sure to test ALL assumptions. It’s been my experience that courses offering FB advertising modules don’t really work and sometimes I’ve found more success by actually doing the opposite of what the guru teaches. Watch what the gurus do, not what they teach.

Business strategy: I don’t really have a specific recommendation on this one because all of the books I’ve gotten were tailored for a specific need. I’m a big advocate of learning on demand. So that means if I need to learn a specific skill, only then will I search for a book on that topic. I find that learning on demand is far more efficient. Jump in and make a mess then learn as you go.
There's that learning on demand again. MJ's advice on the best book to read is whatever you need right now.

Dot Com Secrets is a great book. Russell is brilliant.

And dayum... what a great video clip. Thanks for sharing that.

The answers are often already within us. There's people out there who deliberately make it seem more complicated - it keeps us a consumer, and within the script.
 

lazaralex

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@IceCreamKid and @frieden70

I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. IceCreamKid, your thread made this possible, and your post inspired me immensely. Frieden70, the book you recommended, "The Go-Giver", was awesome. It really went into detail with the "love others more than yourself" idea.

You two changed my life and my way of thinking. I think you set me on a right course. You inspired me to try blogging once more, and to focus on GIVING.

http://www.lazaralex.com/give-before-you-ask/

I wrote about you in this post. You don't have to click it. I just thanked you in there once more, and directed people to this thread and to the book.

Thank you once more, I am forever in your debt.
 

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