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You may not have the title of a salesperson, but you’ve been selling your whole life. Parents spend countless hours trying to sell their kids on making their bed, doing their chores, and studying for tests. Entrepreneurs spend significant time trying to convince the right people to believe in their idea, so they can gain traction and advance their business. The bottom line is, all of us, regardless of your job or influence, do some type of sales almost every day. And here’s the catch – “every sale is the same.” At least in the words of Jordan Belfort. And after reading his book "The Way of the Wolf- Straight Line Selling", I believe he’s on to something.  Now, obviously there’s a difference between a million-dollar sale and a one-dollar sale. I would be ecstatic if I landed a seven-figure deal for my business and would be extremely disappointed if someone were to offer me an old, scrunched up dollar for my service. However, what Jordan wants us to learn in his book is that the process of selling, not the end result, is always the same. From the opening to the close, the order which we sell should be the same if we want to take our sales success to a new level. This pertains to everyone, from the 40-year-old Mom of three to the starry-eyed young entrepreneur.
Jordan’s Straight Line Method is easy to learn and easy to use. The system emphasizes goal-oriented communication where the end goal is always the same: raise your prospect’s certainty to a high enough level where they will want to buy from you. Here are the steps you need:
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 Enjoying my tea after Sergio and I's debate. So this morning I met with a buddy of mine named Sergio. We met this last Tuesday at a Minnesota Chatbot Meet-Up where the group debated the current and future prospects of bots, IoT, and automation. Sergio and I ended up exchanging contact info the good ol' fashion way, and we made tentative plans to meet at a coffee shop or tea bar that coming Friday at 8:00 AM to network further. Fast forward to Friday (2 hours ago as of this writing), with his steaming Sencha Tea in hand, Sergio started off the conversation with, "So I've done a ton of research on you and your company this last week so I knew what questions to ask you and what I could learn from you." Good start! As Sergio recapped everything he learned about me and Online Growth Systems, I sipped my honey infused black tea. He then proceeded with asking his first question: "why?" Wow. Heavy hitter! Not an easy question to answer (sorry Simon Sinek). As the discussion progressed we dove deeper and deeper into rabbit holes and diverged further and further into tangents. My personal favorite kind of conversations- ones that can't stay on the same subject for long... a rather good indication of a fun dialog! :) Success as a definition.What is your definition of success? I think that everyone's definition is different. It's customized to their goals, their viewpoints, and their perspective. This isn't, or shouldn't be, a dictionary defined term. It's like trying to categorize things that fit the word "cool." Isn't that your personal opinion? Sergio's definition: Doing what makes you happy. Passion. My Definition: How many people's lives have you made a difference in? How deep? Impact. Neither is right or wrong, its just how we prioritize what makes us feel successful. I hope that your's is different too. Success as a metric.How do you measure success? If everyone's definition for success is different, that means everyone's metric for measuring that success is different too. If you're running a marathon, you measure distance. If you're in a hot dog eating contest, you measure # of hotdogs eaten. Sergio's measurement: How happy do you feel? Passion. Emotionally driven. Dick's Measurement: How many lives have you impacted? Impact. Numbers driven. Then comes the debate. Doesn't being successful by your own terms mean you'll be happy? Maybe. I don't know. We dove a lot into psychology, philosophy, and even ethics. It depends what your definition of success is. For Sergio, he wants to do what he feels most passionate about. That is what derives him happiness, and that is what makes him feel successful. For myself, I want to impact people. It's a numbers game for me. Yes, my definition also corresponds with my happiness gauge, but that's irrelevant. It's worth mentioning that I think the most successful Mother in the world might impact only her two children in a positive massive way, compared to a mother who impacts 7 children in an average way. Another example might be a meme. Let's say it impacts 1,000,000+ people if it goes viral on Instagram. Compared to an inspirational video of a military vet coming home to see his kids for the first time in over a year, it reaches 50,000 people. Which is more successful? I think it depends on what you're definition is. If your goal was to get views, the meme is more successful. If your goal was to make people support military vets, the meme impact is worthless and veteran video is more successful. How do you measure success? Case Study: Albert EinsteinSergio and I used a mutual hero of our's, Albert Einstein to compare what we deemed as successful. Einstein was the famous mathematician and physicist who came up with the e=mc2 equation and the father of nuclear energy. Einstein is also know as drafting a letter to President FDR which prompted the development of the world's first atomic bomb. He is also know for his love of the pastry bagels. The comparison is almost humorous! :) I wanted to use the atomic bomb for an example of measuring his success. (THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR DEBATE PURPOSE ONLY, NOT HISTORIC ACCURACY. ETHICS ARE ALSO NOT PART OF THIS DEBATE, JUST MATH.) Let's say that when the USA used the nuclear bomb, it killed one million people. Bad impact, right? But let's say your definition of success was lives saved. A number. I want to think that Einstein's biggest success was the number of lives he saved and impacted. Let's say that if Einstein didn't prompt the development of the atomic bomb and it wasn't used to end WW2, another three million lives would have been lost throughout the remainder of the war. Let's do some math... Einstein wrote letter to build bomb: 1 million lives lost Einstein didn't write letter to build bomb: 3 million lives lost. = Einstein saved 2 million lives by writing the letter to build the first atomic bomb. AGAIN, we are just using this for math purposes, not ethical or historic purposes. It's also worth mentioning that after Einstein learned the Germans wouldn't have developed an atom bomb to use on the Allied Forces (the reason he wrote the letter was to warm the President), he regretted ever writing the letter in the first place. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, he said that "had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing." Since this didn't provide Einstein happiness, by Sergio's definition, this made Einstein unsuccessful. Sergio argued that he would have been more successful being a professional bagel critic, assuming that would have provided Einstein the most happiness out of any other career path. The Debate: Passion VS ImpactI believe that you should try as many things as possible so that you can find what you're good at. What you're the best at. So you can find what industry you can dominate and impact the most people's lives. Or for Sergio, find what makes you happy. What if Picasso never picked up a paint brush? What if he pursued something he found himself enjoying before he learned to paint? Yes, he would have been happy and by Sergio's definition a success, but he surely would have impacted less people and perhaps we would have never known his name.
What if Michael Jordan never dribbled a basket ball? Few people know that he also played professional baseball in addition to basketball. He is arguably known as the best basketball player of all time, but just an average baseball player. Both made him happy- but only one sport left him in history books. Basketball left a greater impact on more people's lives. Let's say that a career in Baseball would have built up more of a passion and love of the sport for Michael- Sergio would say that would have been the more successful route. I disagree. Where do you stand? Passion or Impact? Thanks for reading. Sincerely, Dick Polipnick PS. I read every comment. Please join the conversation below by leaving your opinion of this blog/argument, and perhaps discuss what you think drives success.  Being an entrepreneur means you need blaze your own trail. You will get no career guidelines, counselors or maps to guide you from one step to the next. You’ll have to make it up as you go. But if there was a set of guidelines, here are our tips to make your journey easier as an entrepreneur.
1. Keep the big vision in sight. - Stay focused 2. Fuel your vision with perseverance - Be motivated 3. Make a plan, but be flexible - Adapt to survive 4. Embrace your expertise - Know yourself 5. Don’t reinvent the wheel - Start new, don’t start over 6. Don’t burn out - Pace yourself 7. Leverage everything - Find a need 8. Keep your sense of humor - Laugh more, stress less This is a special blog from our Millionaire Mentor series, The Entrepreneur's Mindset (Interview with Dominik Lipinski). Read our highlights from this several hour interview below, or go ahead and find your own golden nuggets by watching the video or listening to the podcast.  Without a proper strategy on YouTube, your videos are not going to reach the full potential of viewers. Whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, YouTuber, content creator or social media marketing strategist, you have been searching for ways to get your targeted views on YouTube. But how can you crack the goal in your competitive sector?
YouTube Marketing is a tool among the most-talked subjects in social media and entrepreneur circles right now. One of the main questions we get most is how to get started on YouTube. But let’s get real!  When was the last time you read a book? If you’re one of those countless people who doesn’t have a habit of reading regularly, you might be missing out a significant number of benefits. There is no reason why a person should read more books. First let’s talk about two advantages that anyone can derive from reading books, 🤯 Sharpens Your Mind:
For some, reading can be a bit boring, but it benefits mental health in the form of understanding and thinking. It stimulates your brain by concentrating on words and story-line. It also develops communication, language and grammatical skills. 😌 Lowers Your Stress: Most people know from experiences that reading can help lower stress level. Reading and focusing on written words can relieve your mind from the pressures of the day. In the meantime, it helps you to get some knowledge and information. Once you start reading a book you will start to focus on the message of the book not on your stress. In that time, it lowers your stress level, makes you feel better mentally and physically.  Monitoring analytics and reports can make the difference between the success or failure of your online business presence. Kevan lee said in his one of his blog post that how you will let your brand or boss know all the great stuff you’re up to? He mentioned in his article, “Creating a social media report can be key to explaining your progress on social media”.
In an online business, keeping reports are also important to grow. What are your top performing posts? What time of the day get the most engagements? If you’re not keeping analytics and reports, you’ll probably have a hard time answering these questions.  Brands nowadays trying to find more ways to connect with their audiences using social media platforms. But it’s really unpredictable to say how the social media marketing will change over the year with new trends. Each and everyday user scroll through 300 feet of content and in this small window brands need to grab user attention. So, how a brand starts building social media ideas the make the user a valuable reader or a customer towards the brand. Here are our strategies, online growth system believes these strategies will impact your business via social media.
 Starting your own small business is the number one step to achieving the American dream in our world today. However, there are a lot of people, especially young people, with the business mind, but they lack the skills of starting and launching the business. Are you that person?
When launching a business, expectations are it will grow and become successful. This can take years of hard work and struggle, but by using the right skills and following the right steps you can be on the right track to making your business the next Apple. For the success of the business, the following steps are essential to be observed.
It's all over the news. The Net Neutrality Laws have been repealed by the Federal Communications Commission. We all know that this poses a threat to open internet and freedom of speech online, but the question that keeps circulating in my mind is... will net neutrality affect bitcoin?
1. Will net Neutrality Affect Your Bitcoin Wallet and Portfolio?
Will Net Neutrality Affect Bitcoin?
When the FCC repealed the Net Neutrality laws, this granted internet service providers power to pick and choose which websites, apps, news, and even emails you can have access to. Do you like to use Google Search? Too bad! You might have Verizon Wireless as your internet or phone data provider, and Verizon owns large shares of Yahoo which they might only allow their Verizon customers to use.
I for one have invested in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin all using my mobile phone via cryptocurrency wallets that I opened on brokerage apps. What if Verizon (my internet provider) gets large sums of money from Wells Fargo Bank (cryptocurrency's competitor, which stands to be put out of business by blockchain technology)? Wells Fargo's website will be put at the top of the list as far as speed and accessibility goes, but Verizon might even block cryptocurrency exchange apps altogether!  Owning a business is a dream many people have some from a young age, middle age or even old age, all looking to start a life where they will grow fast and start reaping benefits.
Three years ago, I was among those finishing college. Every graduate that year was happy to have finished college and eager to find their dream job with a good salary, but my friend Martin had greater ambitions of starting his own small business immediately. Well, most of us would love the same idea but the notion was that it was too early to start thinking about business immediately after college. However, Martin claimed to have one big problem which was that he didn’t have enough capital to start the business venture despite having a great business plan. He was moving around asking for advice from friends and I am glad I was able to give my piece of advice before we left college. The last time I heard about him, he was sourcing for funds from banks which I am not sure if he succeeded. We just met in a mall last week and I was eager to know how his business was performing. He told me he got a job and had to postpone his business plan for some time though he was still thinking about it. We talked for a few minutes then he left. I realized that his job had already given him enough capital to start his business but he was still reluctant to do it. After that I did some research on why people fear starting a business and to be honest lack of funds is not actually the most limiting factor. Continue reading below to find out what factors limit people from starting a business and how to overcome them. "There are so many opportunities... I don't know how anyone can sleep!" |
 | Trick #1Isolate Yourself to a Few Minutes of Thinking Time Each Day |
I have come up with some of my best ideas this way. This can be done in a variety of ways. Some of my personal favorites are committing myself to writing in my journal every evening, spending 20 minutes in the morning praying and meditating, or going for a walk without headphones in.
The reason this is so effective is because we live in a society where there is constant action. Constant noise. Constant distractions. No wonder silence seems foreign to us! You would be surprised how many great people attribute their success to this one trick. As Tim Ferriss says, "99% of the successful people I know habitually spend at least 20 minutes a day to some form of quite time or meditation."
If you find it hard to carve out a specific time each day, use a figurative time instead of a "clock" time. Although "7PM Meditation" is the better approach, "After Dinner Meditation" works too. Don't skip this step if you have issues with time commitments. Find a way!
The reason this is so effective is because we live in a society where there is constant action. Constant noise. Constant distractions. No wonder silence seems foreign to us! You would be surprised how many great people attribute their success to this one trick. As Tim Ferriss says, "99% of the successful people I know habitually spend at least 20 minutes a day to some form of quite time or meditation."
If you find it hard to carve out a specific time each day, use a figurative time instead of a "clock" time. Although "7PM Meditation" is the better approach, "After Dinner Meditation" works too. Don't skip this step if you have issues with time commitments. Find a way!
Trick #2 |
Dick Polipnick
Serial Entrepreneur
Host of the Online Growth Systems Show
Speaker, Investor, and Author
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