This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Ted Thomas. Ted is a real estate expert, especially in the tax lien and tax deed areas. In fact, Ted’s organization is the single largest “SOURCE” of Tax Lien & Tax Deed Information Products in the world. He’s written over 30 books and helped over 75,000 clients learn to invest in tax liens.

On top of that, Ted is an internationally sought after speaker and has created sales systems and selling processes that many of the of top gurus pay Ted to teach them. He’s shared the stage with everyone from Donald Trump to Tony Robbins. I am really excited to have Ted on to talk about his experience in real estate and get his wisdom on business in general.

www.TedThomas.com

Ted’s first career was as an airline pilot. He traveled the world. After a while, he decided to move on and get into business. He moved to California and started into real estate. He did very well and hit things at the right time and right place and amassed it to over $200 million in property in 6 years. But, then the 80’s savings and loan crises hit and he lost everything.

He then had to start over again and decided he didn’t want to put himself in situation with as much risk. This led him to the business he is in today.

As Ted says, “Crisis are good, because you learn a lot more on the way down than you do on the way up.”

What did you learn through your business crashing?

• You need to get advisers around you that are other than the business early on.
• You have to build a good foundation of finance, marketing, sales, operations, etc. processes that will ensure you can consistently succeed.
• Think ahead. When you “need money” the bank is probably not going to give it to you, but when you have money and are doing well they will. The best time to get money is when you don’t need it.
• Troubled times in real estate can be almost permanent, so planning and having a plan B, C, etc. for when things go wrong is vital.
• Beware of growing too fast in any business. If you don’t have the right things in place, you can collapse yourself. You need good systems, processes, staff that can keep up, etc.

Explain tax liens and how you invest in them…

• Every property in a state is going to have property tax.
• There will always be people that have some difficulty and don’t pay their property taxes and get behind.
• The local government needs the tax money to pay for schools, fire, police, etc.
• The state has rules. They can either take the property or file a tax lien.
• Taking the house is a “tax deed auction.” But, the government doesn’t want to own houses, so they auction it off.
• The other thing that the state can do is file a tax lien certificate. People can then come in and pay those tax and assume the lien certificate.
• These certificates have interest payments due on them.
• When you buy one, you wait – and when the homeowner comes in to pay their taxes and pay the interest penalty, you as the invest get paid back and get the interest.
• 90% of people will come in and pay the tax. If they don’t pay, you can get the property without a mortgage.
• It’s different in every state, some states have higher interest rates, some lower.

What are the risks of investing in tax liens?

• The risk is that you don’t know what you bought when you buy it.
• You need to learn how to do the research to look at the property and understand what you have invested in because if the owner doesn’t end up paying, you will own the property.
• The other side of things is “tax defaulted property” where you get the property at an extremely low price, but it needs a lot of work to fix up and either rent or sell.
• You want to buy low and sell low. Don’t spend the time or capital to fix places up. Get the house incredibly cheap and turn around and sell it for $20k or so more.

How is it possible to create a 6-figure income in less than a year doing this?

Ted starts with an example of doing something different…

• Every auction will have 15-20% residential lots that people planned to build on.
• Many times they don’t build and when the auction happens, they don’t get bid up as much.
• You need to check the value online to see what it is worth.
• You can pick up lots cheap ($1500-2000) and turn around and sell them for a good markup.
• You can sell them on Craig’s list and use an ad like “Lot value $30,000. Must sell. $15,000.”
• You have to learn a little bit about marketing to set yourself apart.

Anything else we should know about tax liens and deeds?

• Spend the time to learn it.
• The laws will be different by each area.
• Become a student of the business.
• If you are not willing to learn about marketing and finance, then you might lose your “assets”

What are the principles you teach on how to sell?

• Take the word sell and put a big X through it. You don’t want to sell. You want to solve people problems. Show them how you can help them solve their problems.
• Focus on the benefit to the client. What is the special thing? Or things?
• When people don’t sell well, it’s because they don’t get the audience participation. You must engage and help your audience become engaged. You can do this by asking simple questions and bringing people into the presentation.
• Ask questions, “Can this work for you? How would it help your family? How can it help your business? Do you see how this can make a different for you?”

Is there a format or steps that should be followed to present well?

• No.
• People need to stay in their natural style.
• If people try to force things in a way that is not them, it will not work.
• Use your natural style and then improve it.
• Focus on educating and solving problems.
• Use story, but the key is when you finish the story, you need to make sure you make the point and trial close on the point. Get some agreement in a gentle way.
• Also remember, each medium/platform is different. There is an art to each one. Live events are different than being on stage, or 1:1, and so on.
• At the end of the day, you have to be genuine and people have to know you, like you, and trust you.

What is your best advice to succeed as an entrepreneur and what would you tell a new entrepreneur starting out today?

• New entrepreneurs need to focus on the business, but thinking ahead about how they will have the capital ready they will need to really grow. Plan.
• There is no such thing as a 40 hour week for the entrepreneur.
• If you are not willing to learn about marketing, then don’t become an entrepreneur.

Where do you see thing going in real estate? What is the trend and are we getting close to another downturn?

Ted talks about Schiller and his book on the history of real estate as well as the Case-Schiller index.

• When it comes to real estate, you have to create value. Buy the real estate where it has value upside such as the example before with buying a residential lot.
• Good marketing is an upside. It is how you create value.
• Real estate is not complicated. It has averaged 1% a year growth historically.
• You have to focus on being the right kind of buyer and making sure you have a good margin to the upside on any property.

Best Quote: Crisis are good, because you learn a lot more on the way down than you do on the ways up.

Ted's Misfit 3:

1. Get off your butt and do something.
2. Don’t be afraid to seek out and ask for advice from advisers around you.
3. Learn about finance and learn about marketing and be prepared for when the market shifts because it will.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Jonathan Levi. Jonathan is a serial entrepreneur and lifehacker born and raised in Silicon Valley. He’s the author of the blockbuster “Become a Super Learner series,” founder of Superhuman Academy, and host of the top rated podcast, Becoming Superhuman.

And he’s just released his latest book, The Only Skill That Matters.

Jonathan has taught hundreds of thousands of students what it means to be superhuman and live richer, fuller, healthier, and happier lives. ​

And it all stems from asking one simple question, “How do you know how to learn?” I can’t wait to explore this with him and have him share what he has learned along his entrepreneurial journey. ​

www.SuperhumanAcademy.com/book

Free 7-Day Trial ​ www.SuperhumanAcademy.com/squad

Jonathan has always felt like a misfit. When he was young, he was the quirky kid in class and had ADD. His parents didn’t want to medicate him and things worked out ok until he got into his early teens. He had trouble keeping up and learning and keeping up socially. Even some of his friends turned on him and made him the butt of their jokes. He went through several years of depression and contemplated suicide. He felt worthless.

Then he discovered entrepreneurship. His first stab at it was as a DJ for parties. He then started doing web design. He realized that through entrepreneurship he could develop and improve himself. It helped to understand that if he can be good at entrepreneurship, he could be good at other things and develop into the person he wanted to be.

The way he got our of depression was through accomplishment – but also learning about being the type of person he wanted to be. He realized his self-esteem was based on who he was, not what he wanted to achieve. Learning and the ability to learn is what made the difference. After graduating college and selling his business, he went to an accelerated MBA program where he met some individuals that were experts in accelerated learning. Jonathan immersed himself in learning this skill.

What does it mean to be superhuman?

• It is our generations renaissance man or woman.
• These are well rounded people that have it all dialed in and have control through all aspects of their lives.
• They are solid financially, in their relationships, in great health, etc. Beware of the word “average.”
• Being superhuman is as simple as beating the average. ​

At the 10 min mark, Jonathan and I talk about how being superhuman is also about the standards you have in all areas of your life…

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Explain Pneumonic Training…

• Memory is a ticky challenging thing. We all know what it is like to forget things.
• There is no learning without memory.
• There are essentially “cheat codes” to the human brain.
• We are a product of millions of years of evolution and the brain spends a certain of energy on certain things.
• For example, 70% of your sensory processing is visual.
• Our brains have a huge capacity to memorize certain things – specifically smell and taste – and then visual.
• Pneumonic training is creating visual symbols that they remember and organizing them in their minds

At the 17 min mark, Jonathan goes through an example with me on how to use pneumonic training to learn a different language.

• The key is to creative a vivid picture in your mind and association what you want to remember with it. The picture can almost be absurd and outlandish, so it is easier to remember.
• But memories can get cloudy the more we access them. Each time, we take them out, they can change.
• But the first step to memorize is to listen intently and be focused and present.

What can people do to read and comprehend at a higher level?

• Improve your memory capability first.
• If you move your eyes less, you can read faster.
• Understand and learn how to minimize subvocalizing.

Tell us about the “slipstream technique…”

• Jonathan tells the story of how it started…
• Slipstreaming is figuring out a way to work with someone who is doing what you want to be doing.
• It is finding very unique, standout ways of getting in the door, getting buy in, finding opportunities, and learning from the top mentors in the space you want to be in.

Tell us about the Only Skill That Matters…

• The only skill that matters is improving the ability to learn.
• By learning to learn better, you can open any door you want to.

What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in building your businesses?

• Jonathan sold his first business after he turned 24 – an INC 5000 business.
• He took away a lot of scars and realized one thing he did not want to do is “be in a business where he shipped “widgets” all over the world.”
• He took everything he learned about learning and figured out to build great online courses.
• He was very weary of going for big for the sake of going for big.
• He started Superhuman Academy as side business to bring in some income and as things do with entrepreneurs, it has taken on a bigger mission and thus has become a much bigger business.
• To build anything you will have to sacrifice things to make it succeed.

At the 43-minute mark, Jonathan and I have a discussion about what it is like to have our eyes opened up to bigger possibilities and be shown by others what can happen in this world.

• Imagine if you could have no constraints, what would it take to be able to fund that? How would you change your business to be able to do that?
• The trick of getting around incredible successful people that can help you level up is not to compare yourself to them, but learn from them, and if possible seek their help.

Best advice for an entrepreneur starting out?

• Understand your market.
• Understand your customer.
• Have your customer lined up before you create your product! Have interested parties ready to go.

At the 47 min mark, Jonathan talks about Brain health….

• First, your brain is indistinguishable from you. You are the summary of your memories, thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc.
• If you don’t take care of it, you are losing a part of yourself.
• Additionally, your brain is the only organ you neither replace of live without. You can transplant other organs, even your heart, but not your brain.
• The brain is an incredibly sensitive organ, so your sleep, earing habits, exercise, etc. all help it to be its best.

Jonathan’s favorite quote: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

Jonathan's Misfit 3:

1. Life is not prefix, it’s a la carte. You can choose your life the way you want and arrange the parts however you want.
2. Happiness is a choice. You choose how you perceive the events of your life, how you respond, and how you frame them in your life.
3. No matter what you want to do or achieve in life, the only thing standing between you and getting it is learning and that is why learning is the only skill that matters.

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!"

In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah, I recently hosted our 3rd annual Grow Thrive Revive event with my business partner in the venture, Evan Money. Yes, that is his real name. Each time we do the event, it gets better and stronger. It is a unique event in that we keep it small – 15 to 20 people. Our goal is to not only provide an amazing experience, but to really focus with our guests to help them have real breakthroughs both personally and professionally and get the tools they need to double their business or more over the next year.

It is always interesting as people are not sure what to expect when they come in and then we start teaching and doing our focused sessions, and at some point it clicks for each attendee.

One of the best parts of the event – and where we see some of biggest breakthroughs, is when Evan takes everyone through an exercise in ROF. The Return on Forgiveness.

Think about that for a second, the Return on Forgiveness. In fact, Evan will tell you that the best return you will ever get is the return on forgiveness. But, what does that mean?

It means that the more you forgive in your life, the bigger benefits you will get. How does that work? Well, a lot of us carry around some very heavy burdens and loads in our lives due to anger, resentment, and apathy to negative events or those that have wronged us in the past. These burdens weigh us down, eat at us, and act like a dead weight holding us back. They occupy our thoughts and keep us from thinking about the more important things in life – like what we need to be doing to find higher levels of success and deeper relationships with the ones we care about.

And don’t get me wrong, most of the time, people have every right to feel this way. In fact, many people, including our guests at Grow Thrive Revive, have been through some really bad times which I won’t go into detail on.

But, if or when they ever get to a point where they can truly forgive those for their wrongdoings – the results are incredible. It is like the giant albatross is lifted from their back. They see life differently. They shake off the things that have held them back. They leave their old self behind and almost renewed in a lot of ways.

There are so many stories of this. One that Evan tells is about a young man living in the inner city, who was abused by his father. The young boy named Emmitt was very good at writing. So good, that his friends told him he should put on a play. So, he did. He failed. In fact, he failed several times over and over. All the while, he carried this major anger toward his father. It ate at him almost daily. He got to a point where was ready to give up. But, before he did, he decided he would do one last show and that before he did it, he would just forgive his dad. He did it for himself. He just wasn’t going to carry the burden any longer. After he did so, he had an inspiration and re-wrote the whole show. It was a success. In fact, over the next year, his income went up over 1000% and he had successful show after successful show on his way to bigger stardom. And he credits the thing that changed…that made the real difference was when he finally forgave his father. Who is Emmit? His full name is Emmit Perry Jr. You know him as Tyler Perry, one of the most successful directors, producers, and actors of our time. Imagine that. Just by forgiving someone, a whole life can change.

Yours will too if you practice Return on Forgiveness in your life.

In fact, sometimes the biggest return on forgiveness is when you forgive yourself. It may not always be outside influences that affect us – but a guilt or burden that we carry from our own actions that eats at us and weighs us down. At some point, you have to come to terms with it. At some point, you must not push it aside any further and confront it head on in your life. I know, because the person I had to forgive in my life years ago was me. I carried some guilt and regret from actions in my past that I kept buried. They made me feel like an impostor at times, a fake. But, it was all in my head the whole time. Finally, I had a enough and had two choices. I could let these things continue to pull me down and let them win, or I could shed them and move on. I chose the latter. I truly forgave myself. I wrote a letter to myself forgiving me for those few things out of an otherwise incredible life that I had done and that were holding me back.

As soon as I finished the letter, I instantly felt different. I felt better. I felt like I could see things more clearly and I felt a new level of energy.

Hannah, and for those of you listening, forgiveness is the answer to many of the biggest issues we have in our lives. Write a letter to those you want to forgive. Drop the dead weight and the negative feelings that are holding you back. And remember, the person that you may need to forgive the most in your life, is yourself.

Resolve to practice forgiveness and learn the true power that it holds for you and watch the difference in makes in all areas in your life.

Hannah, I promise that if you make it habit to forgive, it will be one of the greatest things you can do to live at your true potential. ​

I love you,

Daddy

Best Quote: Resolve to practice forgiveness and learn the true power that it holds for you and watch the difference in makes in all areas in your life.

Misfit 3:

1. The best return you will ever get is the return on forgiveness.
2. Write a letter to those you want to forgive. Drop the dead weight and the negative feelings that are holding you back.
3. Sometimes the biggest return on forgiveness is when you forgive yourself.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Tori Dunlap. Tori is the millennial founder of HerFirst100k.com – a company dedicated to giving millennial women financial and career advice to help them succeed…and sock away their first 100k. And Tori is proof that it is possible, she’s not even 25 and is on track to save more than $100k before then. Tori’s been featured everywhere from CNBC, MarketWatch, Business Insider, to Yahoo Finance. She started her first business at 9, no joke – a vending machine business that she grew to over 15 vending machines which taught her how to save, invest, and negotiate.

What I love about Tori is that she has built this business, while at the same time working a full-time position as head of marketing at a global security company – because she likes what she does. She is a great example of how to build your business or side hustle while still succeeding in the corporate space – and that is just one of the things I want to speak with her about in this episode.

www.HerFirst100k.com

Tori says she was lucky to have a great financial education growing up. Her father came home one day with a vending machine he had got from one of his clients and asked her if she wanted to start a business. She said yes. She learned how to run a business, P&L, checking and savings, writing checks, how to pitch herself, starting at 9 years old. She used the profits from her vending business to fund her college.

Tori ran the business and grew it to 15 vending machines by the time she was a junior in college and ended up selling it to a 10-year like her that wanted to do the same things.

Tori has a degree in organization communication and theatre. She works in marketing, but never thought she would be teaching and promoting financial literacy to millennial women.

She thought everyone had at least some base financial knowledge. It wasn’t the case. In fact, Tori was the one all of her friends came to for money advice. So she started a blog in late 2016 on how to manage your money and career for millennials. This led to HerFirst100k.com

• What are the biggest lessons you learned in building the vending machine business that you use to succeed today?
• How to pitch yourself.
• We cannot wait for people or customers to come to us.
• Every opportunity needs to be sought out and you have to go after it.
• You have to be able to not only sell yourself, but sell your story.
• You have to get comfortable with no and being vulnerable…and keep going.

At the 14 min mark, Tori talks about building her business while working full time…

• It is hard. Period.
• Tori doesn’t “time block.” Instead, she follows her energy and takes advantage of it. Whenever she has the energy, she puts it into the business.
• You are your business. You are your product. You must take care of yourself first– sleep, exercise, good nutrition, etc.
• You must be self-aware as to how you best operate and how to take the best care of yourself.

Tell us about HerFirst100k.com

• It is less of a blog now. It is a business.
• She ran it for 2 years under another name.
• It was inspired by her goal to save $100k by the time she was 25 and to help bring about financial equality.
• On average women make less money, invest it at slower rates of growth, but live 7 years longer than men. Tori’s mission is to help women prepare, make more money, grow it at higher rates and set themselves up for success in retirement.

Why don’t we teach financial education in schools?

• Rich people want to stay rich.
• Things have been made more complicated than they need to be.
• There is a lack of understanding of how much it really matters in the real world.
• Because of that, there is lack of awareness of what is needed to financially succeed.

Tell us about your unique budgeting method…

• We have made it harder than it needs to be.
• Your budget should be working for you instead of you working for it.
• Tori teaches the “3 Bucket Budget”
• Bucket 1 are your expenses to eat, sleep, breath, and live. The things you cannot cut.
• Bucket 2 is your goals. Things like saving for retirement, a house, giving, etc.
• Bucket 3 is everything fun. There should be 3 value categories where your money gives the best ROI in this area. Maybe it’s travel or dining out, etc.
• Using this method, you can customize things to your own life and how you operate instead of it being the other way around.

Best negotiating tips?

• Negotiations are collaborations, not conflicts.
• Most people walk in to a negotiation thinking it is a battle.
• You need to have your points backed by data or real information that you can point to.
• Realize that you are going to compromise, so what you ask for more than where you want to be.
• You can negotiate other things like a better title in your salary negotiations. Stock, other perks, etc.
• Women do better in negotiations when they think they are doing it on behalf of someone else. This has been proven. So, putting yourself in the right state is important to help you succeed.
• At the minimum, ask for what you want.

One of the best places you can negotiate is on your recurring bills. Phone, insurance, credit card, cable, etc. can all be negotiated.

• At the 37 min mark, Tori shares how she gets clients without spending anything on paid advertising..
• Tori spent two years serving before she sold. She spent time giving value and figuring out the needs for her clients.
• She primarily gets clients from Instagram – over 90%.
• She puts her energy into Instagram and doesn’t spend as much time on other platforms.
• The key is to be on the platform where your market is most.
• Consistency and being genuine is a must.
• You have to give a ton of value to stand out.

Other marketing secrets?

• Reporters are on twitter
• You can create twitter lists for those you want to connect with.

Best Quote: You need to find your “why.” You do this by following your passion and your curiosity. You must have a personal stake in what you are doing. You must deeply care about the mission.

Tori's Misfit 3:

1. Serve before you sell...
2. Take a stance. Be a little controversial. Don’t try and serve everybody.
3. Quit your 9-5 when YOU are ready.

Gino took his entrepreneurial leap at 21 years old. At 25 he took over the family business and brought it out of debt and got it growing again. He ran it for 7 years and then successfully sold it. Through the experience, he got involved in the young entrepreneur’s organization or EO. It was there that he had his “light-bulb moment.” He felt that his calling was to help these other entrepreneurs. Over 5 years, he developed the Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS) and over 15 years, he built it up to thousands of companies as clients around the world. He then sold a majority stake in EOS in 2018 and started his newest project, LEAP.

LEAP is all about helping entrepreneur’s in the making get a huge jump-start on making the entrepreneurial leap.

Of everything you’ve learned, taught, and done in your career, what is the single most important lesson you’ve learned?

• Passion
• The ones that really know their passion and set out to pursue that passion succeed.
• The best lesson is to discover, pursue, and stay focused on your passion.

Define an entrepreneur…

• An entrepreneur is someone who sees a need or opportunity and then takes a risk to start a business to fulfill that need or opportunity by either creating something or improving upon something that already exists.

What is an EIM?

• It’s an entrepreneur in the making.
• It’s anyone that exhibits the traits defined as an entrepreneur that has not yet made the leap.

Your book and methodology LEAP is broken into 3 parts: Confirm, Glimpse, and Path. Explain what confirm is and the 6 essential traits you speak about.

• Confirm is about confirming that you are really a true entrepreneur
• An entrepreneur has 6 essential traits
  • Visionary
  • Passionate
  • Problem Solver
  • Driven
  • Risk Taker
  • Responsible
• There is no easy business. Being an entrepreneur is hard. Those 6 traits are needed to succeed over the long term and endure.

At the 12 min mark, we discuss the “long game and 10 year thinking…”

Let’s break down the 6 traits….

• Visionary: A person who has a lot of ideas. They see the world different than most people. Someone either is visionary per the definition or is not.
• Passionate: Passion for the product or service. You have a strong belief and no one can take it away from you. Passion is vital to the success of an entrepreneur. It is almost irrational and that is why entrepreneurs are different.
• Problem Solver: People that lean into problems and are optimists by nature and see opportunities in every setback. They are energized by problems.
• Driven: Driven has nothing to do with the business or product or service. It is something that has been in you as long as you can remember. It is a fire, self-motivation, a will to win. A sense of urgency.
• Risk Taker: People that are willing to take risks and don’t freeze when it is time to make the decision. They are willing to fail and know it is part of the process.
• Responsible: You blame no one. You look in the mirror and take ownership for your problems and for your life and your business.

If someone starts a business for the sole purpose to make money and don’t have the passion, they are missing the ridiculous obsessive passion that is needed to truly succeed.

Gino explains Glimpse in more detail….

• Seeing clearly what life looks like as an entrepreneur
• Understanding what the day in the life of an entrepreneur looks like
• It is also understanding the options for what type of business may be the best fit for them.
• Every entrepreneur cannot succeed in every business. You have to know the best business for your skill set and passion.

What are the 8 critical mistakes entrepreneurs make?

• Not having a vision.  You need to have a clear vision of the outcome.
• Hiring the wrong people. Throwing people at problems that are not a good fit.
• Not spending time with your people and communicating consistently.
• Not knowing who your customer really is. Trying to be all things to all people.
• Not charging enough.
• Not staying true to your core.
• Not knowing your numbers
• Not crystalizing roles and responsibilities.

The last area of LEAP is Path and covers the 9 stages of building a business. Can you walk us through them?

• Generating cash. You have to generate cash first and foremost. Nothing is more important.
• Hiring an integrator. Every entrepreneur needs to be counterbalance with an integrator who runs the day to day of the business.
• Discovering your core values. You have to know who you are at your core to hire your first employee as you will want to hire those with those values.
• Holding yourself accountable. Know your most important 3 numbers. Typically sales and marketing oriented.
• Communicating frequently with your employees. Weekly, quarterly. 1:1 if needed and give feedback.
• Have a plan B, C, and D.
• Staying in your personal sweet spot. Entrepreneurs are visionaries. Delegate and elevate and stay focused as the entrepreneur.
• Preventing your business from getting away from you. The more successful you are, the more the business can get away from you. Make sure the business is what you want.
• Capitalize on coaching, training, mentoring.

Free assessment to help confirm you have entrepreneur DNA: www.E-Leap.com

Best Quote: “Don’t forget about the other people in your life. Your time is shared, if you realize it or not – and it is important to not lose sight of that.”

Gino's Misfit 3:

• Find and discover your true passion. Where the needs of the world and your passion cross, there you will find your calling.
• Be you. Be real. Be authentic. Be what your soul wants you to be.
• Save 15% of everything you earn

Sarah grew up in Tasmania. And after finishing school, she knew she wanted to go into business. She studied HR and Business Psychology. She took the standard path, got a good job, and started to climb the corporate ladder. She had some great success. She had a family, a good job, etc. She realized that everything she had done in work had really stemmed from her head and not her heart and this put her on the path to open a new chapter for herself which lead to everything she has done and helping other people find their purpose in life. Steve had the exact opposite journey.

Steve grew up in New Zealand and moved early to the Cook Islands. Steve’s parents pushed him to be an academic, but he was more content climbing trees. He was always intrigued with what was possible and at 15 had a goal to one day write himself a million dollar check. He also was a star athlete and even go to compete for his country. He had 4 successful exits before 30 years old. He had a family, 3 kids, but, he was not fulfilled at all and at one point, he hit rock bottom. Picking himself up and getting out of this was how he and Sarah realized what it truly means to wonder and wander in life.

Steve, you went through a time or burnout in your entrepreneur and athletic journey that you overcame. What was your biggest lesson that you took from the experience?

• We all try and push through it vs. taking the time to go through and even grieve.
• Most people never sit with it and process it – spending time to learn and move forward in a healthier way.
• The 4 F’s – Fear Failure, Forgiveness, Freedom. Forgiveness being the most important and the one needed to gain freedom. You will have to forgive yourself to grow.
• Sarah experienced burnout in her corporate days. Learning from that and taking it to when she went into being an entrepreneur has helped her to create a better path as an entrepreneur.
• Focus on the little wins – they add up. Make them daily priorities.

How do you put the practice of little wins into your daily life? Is there a system or set of principles you’ve developed?

• We get too focused on the big milestones.
• The little wins do add up and you need to celebrate them.
• Every day, Steve and Sarah start the day with 5 deep breaths face to face or over the phone.
• Meditation is important.
• Every day, they set intention – it is not always the same, but the intentions are sent.
• Do a “to done” list and when it is accomplished – don’t go looking for more. Find a way to stop.
• Don’t forget about the other people in your life. Your time is shared, if you realize it or not – and it is important to not lose sight of that.

What have you learned about how to work well together as a couple in business?

• Marriage comes before work
• You must built boundaries between what is work and what is play
• Planning is very important.
• Clear communication is important.
• You have to learn to work through things together.
• You must also take the time to really understand each other using tools like DISC, the Love Languages, etc.
• Be willing to have conscious, courageous, conversations.

At the 23 min mark, we talk in depth about self-awareness…

• Self-awareness is the most powerful frontier that most have not explored.
• When you are aware and can take responsibility, you are in the pilot seat.
• You go from things happening to you, to things happening for you and with you – and through you and by you.
• Asking “why” in your life, your conversations helps lead to self-discovery and better understanding. Go 10 levels deep on why…
• The real work is, once you’ve asked why and learned why you do what you do, to make the changes to go to your next level.
• As humans, we have the ability to upgrade ourselves, but also help others upgrade themselves.

What are the keys to building a great a business?

• Understanding your superpower.
• Finding the best people to compliment your superpower.
• Great partnerships are important to success.
• Infect people with your vision.

What is one thing that you believe every entrepreneur should know, but most don’t?

• Lean into curiosity. Beware of having fixed mindset.
• Take time to wonder and wander.
• Every business should be innovating every day.
• The numbers are one thing, but the energy is another. Make sure you have the energy and fortitude to go forward and the numbers will come.

At the 38 min mark, we have a great discussion on what happens when you play the long game… What should people know about how to create an amazing event?

• Listen to the calling if you have one.
• Try not to make it commercial too quickly.
• Start small. Host a gathering and go from there.
• Give yourself extra runway to account for any issues or mistakes.
• Understand what type of business you are in.

Tips to get the word out?

• Create sizzle with videos and imagery.
• Your event needs an identity.
• Make sure people know what they will get out of it.
• You need a good intention for the event.
• Share it with 10 or so others early on and infect them with the vision.

Sarah, can you explain what a Mompreneur is?

• Entrepreneurship is a way or working and way of life.
• The mom piece has to come first
• Mompreneurs involve their loved ones and make them part of the journey. ​

Steve, what is your favorite place you’ve traveled to?

• The journey to the destination is the favorite part. Not the destination.

Best Quote:  "Don't forget about the other people in your life.  Your time is shared, if you realize it or not - and it is important to not lose sight of that.

Steve and Sarah's Misfit 3:

Steve

1. Fear – Understand if you are living in a state of being fearless or fearful
2. Failure – Failure is inevitable and part of the journey. Hold a space for it to learn and grow with it.
3. Forgiveness and Freedom – Forgive yourself and others. On the other side of forgiveness is freedom

Sarah

1. When to comes to work, life, love – do all the stuff you love. Don’t wait for dessert.
2. Wonder. If you live with wonder, you will find more
3. If there is only one thing you can focus on in your day, every day – choose love. It is one of the most powerful energies that you can bring

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Jason Pohl. Jason is a former wealth management entrepreneur turned professional athlete, specifically Ironman Racing. As many of you know, I race Ironmans and have a real love for the sport and what it takes just to finish one of these races.

But, Jason takes it to a whole other level. He races internationally all over the world and has been featured everywhere from Running Magazine to Impact Magazine. He trains 7 days a week for 7-8 hours per day and has finished Top 5 in many Ironmans around the world, as well as qualifying for the world championships in Kona. Additionally, he coaches other athletes on training and nutritional programs.

There are so many parallels between Ironman racing and entrepreneurship and I wanted to have Jason on to share his thoughts and what it was like to take the leap of faith and sell everything to pursue his dream.

Instagram @jason.pohl

www.Jason-Pohl.com

Jason was an elite hockey player for 16 years into college. After school he was looking for the next challenge and got into triathlon. He thought because he was an elite hockey player, he would be good, but was quickly humbled by the sport and what it takes to really compete.

2014 was his first amateur season for Ironman at 22 years old. After his first Ironman, he found out that he qualified for the world championships in Kona, HI. He still didn’t know much about what he was doing. He raced Kona and ended up in the hospital because he didn’t understand nutrition and did not take care of his body during the race. It was in the hospital that he made the decision to go after it as a career.

2015 was his first year going toward pro and after 2 years, became a pro with 2017 as his first season.

Tell us what it was like to make the leap and leave your business and become a pro…

• It is scary.
• You can’t serve two masters
• Jason was training 30+ hours a week and running his business
• It was a hard decision that took a lot of deep soul searching and brutal honesty.
• Ultimately, he had to go with what was truly aligned with his purpose and his heart which was racing.
• He sold off everything and took the leap.
• It’s been a year and things are starting to click with his sponsors, speaking, and racing.

What advice would you give people that are in the position you were in to help them make their leap?

• Take time for a lot of reflection.
• Be completely honest with yourself which is hard to do.
• The opportunity lies in the toughness of being honest to your core. That is where breakthroughs happen.
• The hardest thing to do is to be really honest with yourself.

Can you explain Ironman and what it takes for you to do what you do at your level?

• Ironman is the world’s most challenging single day endurance sports. It is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and then a full marathon.
• At the professional level is takes between 8-8.5 hours
• Jason trains for 35 hours a week and the has different therapies
• On top of that is the business with sponsors, marketing, etc.
• Its 70+ hours a week, 7 days a week.

Tell us more about the business around being a professional athlete…

• A lot of it is on the performance side with prize money and bonuses.
• Then you have sponsors which is no different than client acquisitions and really pay for the travel and gear needed to compete.
• You treat sponsors as your price possession. They are your clients.
• It is not an easy road and no different than building a business – you try things, adjust, put processes in place, and never stop working on it.
• You must have a dream and a goal to push you.

How do you get and hold onto sponsors?

• First, you have to get your mindset right.
• High energy, high passion, and knowing your why is very important.
• Be present when meeting with anyone you are trying to do business with – listen intently and really understand how you can help them succeed.
• Ultimately, it is a relationship and you both are impacting each other.

How does training and competing in Ironman’s relate to business and entrepreneurship?

• It can be presented as very glamorous and glorious, but it is no different than building a business.
• It is hard work that you have to grind out.
• You have days where don’t have it and are tired and don’t want to train or get rejections from sponsors.
• With any success in life it boils down to the consistency and discipline.
• If you take a day off, your competitors are out working you and it will impact you in races – just like in the business world. You have to do the mundane things you don’t want to do every day.
• You have show up every day.

At the 27-minute mark, Jason talks about persistence and his hardest time in Ironman…

• Get clear on your dream and real life and commitments, it is easier to persistent.
• This comes through in your business interactions as well.
• His hardest time was going into his second season as he came off a great first season. He got mano and when he was recovered, got into a bike crash, got a concussion, then had to drop out of the next race because wasn’t healed enough. Later in the season, he go into another bike crash. He ended up 3 races out of the top 10 with an unfinished race.
  • He made very little money as he did not place and went through self-doubt.
  • His coach helped him get through it.

Talk to us about the power and importance of mindset and the mental game…

• It is everything. It is the difference between being world class and not.
• What you believe is a direct reflection in your outer life.
• It all comes down to your inner belief and mindset.
• The first thing to know is that you can define the feelings you have. For example, you can redefine anxiety as your power to be ready to go.
• You can change you mind in an instant. It is hard in a low energy state where negative thoughts creep in. But you can change it. You can use a phrase or something that changes your physiological state – a trigger.
• At the 39:30 mark, Jason talks about “anchors”
  • Anchors are movements or power phrases

Best Quote: “Get clear on your goals and commitments. When you get clear on why you are doing what you are doing, everything will fall into place as you connect into your purpose."

Jason's Misfit 3:

1. You are the author of your external life which is a direct reflection of your internal life.
2. Enjoy the journey. Live your life backwards.
3. Connect to your mortality. Reflect on the last day of your life and ask how you want to be remembered? Who do you need to become to be this person?

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

"Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah, You’re getting a little older now. You’ve recently turned 7 years old and have entered first grade. As you start to grow more, build relationships, and be accountable for things like your grades and other things in your life, I’d like to talk to you about respect.

What is respect? The dictionary defines respect as due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others or a deep admiration of someone, their abilities, talents, etc. For example, I have deep respect in regard to both these areas for your mother. I respect her feelings, wishes, rights, etc. but I also greatly respect her amazing mind, beauty, talent, and capacity for love.

It’s important that you learn to understand respect, and might I say, learn to honor those you have in your life. At home, it is your mom, dad, family, friends, other parents, etc. At school, it is your teachers and other students.

Everyone you interact with deserves your respect. This can be tough because some people are hard to be around. They may have a bad attitude. They may not like you. They may not respect you. But, you must be the best version of yourself and show respect to them. Why, because it will make you a better person and it will allow you to have a bigger impact in your life – as well as have a deep respect for yourself.

I think this is part of the essence of what Jesus was saying when said, “Love your enemy.” Even your enemies or detractors in life deserve respect – even if they are lacking it themselves.

You see, I believe a lot of times, the people that have the bad attitude or disrespect others, or treat them poorly, do so because they don’t respect themselves. They don’t see the greatness in themselves or how truly amazing they are. Every individual has something, that as dictionary says about respect, that you can admire or show due regard for. But, if they can’t see it in themselves and respect themselves, it’s easy to understand why they cannot respect others.

Hannah, you have so much talent, ability, goodness, intelligence, and amazing attributes. Learn to respect them. Be humble about them. But respect them. Understand that they were given to you to make a difference in this world – and you can make a difference. Every day.

I love you,

Daddy Best

Quote: ​“I believe a lot of times, the people that have the bad attitude or disrespect others, or treat them poorly, do so because they don’t respect themselves”

Misfit 3:

1. It’s important that you learn to understand respect and honor those in your life.
2. Everyone you interact with deserves your respect, even if they do not respect you.
3. Learn to respect yourself, your talents, and abilities, as once you respect yourself, you can truly respect others.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is William De Temple. William is a serial entrepreneur, author of Raise Capital Quickly, and has taken multiple companies to over $100 million. He is the founder and CEO of 9 Figure Company which teaches entrepreneurs a system to scale their company to $100 million or more in 3-7 years. And this isn’t just theory, William has proven this system doing it with his own companies and now a number of clients.

I don’t know about you, but if someone was going to sit down and teach me a process to grow a company to over $100 million, I’d sit up and listen very quickly – and that is what I’ve asked William to do in this episode for you. To share his system, experience, and knowledge gained through an incredible Misfit Entrepreneur career!

www.9FigureCompany.com

William grew up on a ranch and they were always stretched for cash. At 11 years old, he got a paper route which quadrupled through some innovative ways to sell. He even delivered papers on the winter on horseback.

After he graduated college, he got a job, but very quickly discovered that having a job was not for him. He decided to start his first company. It was the early 70’s. It went from $0 to over $12 million in annual revenues in about 7 years. A buyer came along and offered an amazing offer, so he sold it.

He then went on to build companies in everything from tech, which he took through an IPO to service and manufacturing. Each of them growing to over $100 million each.

He then got recruited by venture capital to be a turnaround expert. Things were great, but William’s father in-law got very sick and it required he and his wife to move to Florida to help him. This was a culture shock for William compared to Silicon Valley.

After a little while and some discussions with friends, he decided to start helping companies grow and learn and put into effect the strategies he used to grow companies over $100 million.

What did you learn from growing up on a ranch that helped you most in your career?

• There is no problem that is not surmountable. There is always a solution to every problem.
• When you run into a problem and you are worried. Stop, step back. Identify the problem. Then identify the solution. Then execute it.

At the 9:30 mark, William tells us about his system for 9-Figures…

• There is always a system for everything.
• William used the strategy of building a house.
• Most people jump in and don’t think the process through.
• You have to know the right order to build a house to do it right.
• It’s the same thing when building a company.
• There are 8 internal practices in building a company.

Every business is in business to solve a problem…Most entrepreneurs when they start a business think that all they need to do is market and sell. And if that is all you do, you will never achieve great success.

Let’s go through each of the 8 areas. Explain them to us and give us something that in each area that an entrepreneur can do to succeed in each area.

First, it all begins with the founder.

• First, as a founder, do some true market research. Get some help if needed but verify there is really a market out there.
• Get the book, “How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt on how they scaled Google.

The 2nd area is Marketing

• Don’t just start marketing.
• Do the market research and find the “low-hanging fruit”
• Look for those niche pockets of easy to sell customers
• The big companies cannot serve every market, so there is a ton of opportunity out there.
• A lot of people think $100 million is a big number. By 2040, the Global economy will be over $200 TRILLION dollars. $100 million is a spec of dust in that bucket.
• You need to open your mind to selling on a global basis.

The 3rd area is sales

• The disciplines for marketing and sales are totally different.
• If possible, you should not one person doing both areas.
• Get a marketing person to do marketing.
• Get a sales leader to lead sales.
• It will create better synergy and better results to have focused individuals.

The 4th area is operations

• There are two types of operations. One is a manufacturing type. A service entity is a different type.
• They are different, but in many ways the same.
• Management is agnostic across the board.
• You need to track everything and know everything around your real costs and what your cost of goods sold is.
• A lot of companies are not charging enough for their product or service, because they don’t know the true cost.

The 5th area is finance

• The financial side of the business is very important.
• The founder needs to understand finance and/or work closely with the financial side of the business to learn and understand the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements.
• Most people just want to see “profit,” but there is so much more that goes into it which understanding will help you do projections correctly.
• Your goal should be to get as close to or greater than 20% net profit. This gives you the buffer in case something doesn’t go well. It also put you in the “investment grade” category.

What else is needed to be considered investment grade?

• Founder needs good credit
• Need to have the 8 areas well dialed in.
• Need a solid plan and good financial projections
• Be careful with assumptions to make sure they align well with the financial projections – the investor needs to see the correlation and clearly understand how you are getting from point A to B to C and so on….

The 6th area is human resources

• HR’s primary job is not about hiring and firing.
• HR’s biggest job is helping to team to work in synergy, especially with good training and investing in the success of employees.

The 7th area is IT

• It is important to have a very good ERP system in place as it can help you in planning and growing your company in all areas.
• A lot of businesses can’t start with a full on ERP, but can start with modules and grow from there.

The 8th area is quality control

• Quality control also included quality assurance
• Quality control ensures the end user is getting what they are buying in the right way.
• Quality control will also help to find and fix process and human errors to make the company better.

You’ve spent time with everyone from Les Brown to Richard Branson – what have been your biggest takeaways? What have you seen most consistent across these people?

• Their passion is most consistent.
• Richard is the epitome of passion. He is so passionate about what he is doing for the people.
• All of the founders that have grown $100+ million companies have deep passion and 50% didn’t go to college and 50% did.

Best Quote: “Every business is in business to solve a problem…Most entrepreneurs when they start a business think that all they need to do is market and sell. And if that is all you do, you will never achieve great success.”

William's Misfit 3:

1. Make sure you give back however you can. Find a way.
2. Get involved. Network, join organizations where you can participate and help and meet others like you.
3. Always appreciate your customers. Treat them with great respect and treat them well – even when they don’t treat you the same.

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Brendon Kane. Brendan is the business and digital growth strategist to the stars and the guy who generated over a million Facebook followers in less than 30 days. In fact, he has over a million followers on Facebook and a million followers on Instagram alone.

Brendan works with Fortune 500 corporations, brands, and celebrity clients such as Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Xzibit, Charles Barkley, Michael Strahan, supermodel Adriana Lima, and pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler. He also served as vice president of digital for Paramount Pictures and helped scale one of the largest social optimization firms in the world, working with brands such as Disney, Fox, NBC, Xbox, LinkedIn, and many other notable Fortune 100 companies.

He is the author of the best-seller, One Million Followers, and that strategy is just one of the many things we are going to talk about in this episode.

www.BrendanJKane.com

@BrendanKane

Brendan initially went to film school to learn how be a producer and the business of movies. He quickly learned that they don’t teach much about it. So, he decided the best way to learn was to create his own business. He started a few internet companies and then moved to LA after the Dotcom bust. He started to work with producers and directors to leverage how to grow brands and get more reach for their projects.

He began to help craft strategies for films from $15 mil to $100 mil budgets. In order to be more efficient as he grew, in 2006/2007, he built one of the first influencer marketing platforms for Myspace. He continued building technology and setting up partnerships with companies like MTV, Paramount, Lionsgate, and others. The JV partnerships with Viacom and MTV opened the doors to work with celebrities like Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and others.

He then got into the paid media space with a company that was managing paid spend on social networks. Brendan helped them craft their growth strategy from $1 million a year in spend to over $100 million. A lot of money was being wasted by these companies as they didn’t have a way to really tell if they were advertising in the right ways.

That is when Brendan decided to create a system of testing methodologies on top of social media that allowed to test content at scale and see which audiences really resonated, etc.

Over 3 years, he optimized the process working with the top people and brands.

But, he had the idea that “What if you took someone from scratch, who didn’t have the start power or anything – could you grow their following like you can the others?” And that is where the 1 million followers in 100 countries in 30 days experiment came from.

How did you create 1 million followers in 30 days?

• First is the mindset of it. You need to understand why you are doing, what return on investment looks like, etc.
• People underestimate the work it takes to do it.
• Brendan’s system was built on top of the Facebook advertising platform – but Brendan uses it as a tool for market research and then push people into action.
• Brendan test 5000 pieces of content
• Every night at midnight, he would test 150 different variations of content.
• He would then measure to results in the morning and use what he learned to make the next set at midnight better and so on…
  • o It’s kind of like the “Double a Penny” experiment. If you double a penny every day for 30 days, how much do you have? Over $5 million dollars!
• It’s not as daunting as it sounds. He spent 1.5 hours a day on it when he did it.
  • There are 5 keys elements to a variation:
  • The content itself: Video, image, text, etc. o The description: Above/Below
  • The demographics: Male, female, age group, etc.
  • The interest level: What are they interested in? Products they use? Etc.
  • Geolocation: Targeting to zip code
• All of them are interchangeable – you can take 1 piece of content and create tons of variations by changing one thing in 20-30 mins.
• The key is testing content at scale and rapidly iterating.

What did you learn about content to consistently generating the most interaction? What should people do in their posts?

• Look at the content like an advertisement for your brand. Like a TV spot. It must be captivating. What would make them click the follow button?
• You must be very strategic in your approach to inspire and motivate people to say – “I have to follow this account…”
• Videos are more powerful and effective but are harder to pull off.
• The track Brendan took was image based content to quote based content, and then video-based content – but still used all 3.
• Video will get higher opt-in overall

What other things should people know to maximize their footprint?

• You need to separate which category you are in
• Are you looking to drive leads, sales, and conversions or are you looking to build a brand that you will eventually leverage?
• If you are E-commerce or want to market a product, build revenue first, then invest it into follower growth.
• If you are creating campaigns for follower growth, make sure you are focusing on changing content to be different than the way you normally post. It needs to stand out and make people click follow.
  • The algorithms lend to the virality of it and the engagement of people clicking to follow.
• • Instagram has shifted. It is not about hitting the explore page and driving growth. The best way is to distribute content out onto other channels and drive that content that back in.

At the 20 min mark, Brendan gives an example of different types of posts and how they work and grow following.

Other platforms?

• • Don’t do much with Twitter
• • LinkedIn is huge – cold outreach has generated over $20 million in deals from LinkedIn.
  • Success has come from focusing on targeting very specific people in organizations and being all about value to them.
  • What is going to make their life easier? What is going to make them look like a Rockstar?
  • You must test messages, but always have the intent to utilize your product to bring the most value to them – not “sell” them.
• • Use engagement groups, use video, and be active.
• • YouTube has 2 primary ways – collaborations, search and thumbnail game.

$20 million on LinkedIn? Is there a process you use? How are you doing this?

• It depends on the deal size.
• When you are going after million-dollar deals, it is a much different hook point than a smaller deal. A free report doesn’t work.
• Think in terms of headlines. What is a headline that will grab them and bring them in. Get 5-10 or more of them.
• What will differentiate you from all the other clutter and messages.
• For example – We can save you up to 60% on your paid campaigns and increase your performance 3-4X
• You must have good hook points that are specific to the individual you are targeting.
• Create enormous curiosity! You 3-5 seconds max to show how you solve their problem.

Posting guidelines for platforms?

• Quality not frequency for Facebook and Instagram.
• There is a ton of ways to grow – not just one.
• Invest more in each piece of content to increase engagement and virality.
• Brendan posts early in the AM pacific time once a day.
• You also need to post in the way that resonated best with your style. There really is no right or wrong way…

Paid advertising? What should we know?

• It is a tremendous asset to every entrepreneur.
• The biggest organic entrepreneurs on the planet used paid as well.
• Learn as much about paid to fuel your growth.
• The biggest mistake people make it to put a ton of money behind a few pieces of content and “hope” that it works.
• It is better to put smaller amounts of money into a bunch of different tests

Where do you put your dollars?

• Facebook and Instagram are colder traffic. You need to warm it up in some way, re: retargeting, etc.
• Search engine traffic is warmer because they are looking or interested.
• Search engine costs more, but it being warmer makes it worth it.
• LinkedIn advertising is better for deal sizes that are $10k or more.

Any tools that you recommend people use?

• Facebook Advertising Platforms
• Upwork for creative work

What is the most important lesson you have learned for entrepreneurship?

• The first question is “Are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?”
• You must learn patience and play the long game. It is hard, but so important. What is one thing you wished you knew when you first got started?
• Being naïve is a benefit. If people know everything they need to know to do it, they may not.
• Be a naïve optimist!
• Entrepreneurs go through crazy amounts of pain and stress to get to success.
• You have the highest highs and the lowest lows, but it is worth it.
• As you get through each issue, problem, or setback – it makes it easier the next time, etc.

Anything you’ve learned from working with top stars, pro-athletes, etc.?

• Taylor Swift is a great example
• The important learning lesson is that she grew her fanbase one by one. She understood the power of foster and relationship with fans and turn them into brand advocates.
• Growth comes from people sharing your message at the highest possible velocity. Taylor has done very well because it is genuine, real, and that is what matters to people.

Best Quote: The thing that really separates the successful is that they will find the answers. They know how to find answers and create solutions and they will not give up.

Brendan's Misfit 3:

1. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. What is the purpose behind it? Take time to really understand it as it drives your decisions.
2. Constantly be learning and testing. Never get complacent.
3. Do not give up.