Success Factors – Secrets of successful people revealed
During my entire adulthood, I’ve tracked down successful people and observed their success factors.
The difference between success (and lack of success) might surprise you:
Successful people are negative, yet optimistic
This goes against everything you’ve been taught.
There’s a clear difference between being negative and being a “downer.”
Being negative confirms your critical thinking and self-preservation skills. For example, if a guru makes available a new course, being negative… jaded… or skeptical helps you make better choices.
But being a downer is different. It saps the energy out of you.
Avoid (most) dream stealers
Let’s face it, most of the people you love are slaves to the system. They don’t understand self employment. In many cases they’ll never understand what you do for a living (no matter how hard to explain it to them). So showing your excitement to them is going to seem weird. Some might even think you’re in some sort of cult.
Instead, I simply suggest keeping your thoughts to yourself. If asked what you do for a living, lie and say you’re still looking for a job. Instead, meet up with like-minded businesspeople and share your excitement with them.
Most important, never let the people close to you talk you out of your dream (unless they have direct experience chasing the same dream).
Finally, they say you earn the average income of your five closest friends. With that said, have a hard look with who you hang out with.
Following is a surefire way to failure
Everyone started off as followers. But the most successful business owners I’ve interviewed quickly became leaders in their field. They became the “go to” guys and had people following them.
On the other end, those struggling to generate their first online buck have subscribed to every “guru” and “expert” freebie. This is incredibly time consuming and unproductive. If you must subscribe to a “guru” or “expert” ezine, make sure you get value out of it… not freebies disguised as sales pitches.
Eliminate all distractions
That includes everything from the television news to your local newspaper. The media is nothing more than our government-sponsored propaganda machine — paid to keep you in the dark about the really important stuff. They hypnotize us (literally and figuratively) with terror, fear, and distractions (like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears). Engaging in distractions should be your reward, not your way of life.
Just say no
Speaking of distractions, think about all of the time you waste talking on the phone, answering emails, and chit chatting. The most successful people refuse to answer their own phones… they check their email just once or twice per day, and chit chat only when all of their work is complete.
Say goodbye to unnecessary expenses
Think about all of the things you pay for on a monthly basis, and see if you can eliminate them.
For example, do you really need an expensive cell phone? I got rid of mine years ago — saving me almost $40 a month (and most important, saving me from wasting time chit chatting).
How about your office space? Can you work from home instead? I made the switch in 2000 and it was the best move ever. I’ve reduced my overhead to just $89 a month (and that includes hosting my website). I hardly use my car (just under 5,000 miles this year), and I don’t fret about the high cost of gas (because I hardly travel anymore).
Increase your heart rate
When I’m feeling sluggish and need a quick jolt of energy, I skip the caffeine and start a light exercise routine. I jump rope, stretch, and do a quick round of cardio. I also bring my infant son for a 85-minute powerwalk just after dropping my other son off at the bus stop. You’d be amazed how much energy you get just after your exercise routine.
Invest money wisely
Not all self-help courses are scams. Some are even quite good. Find the right course and shorten your learning curve significantly.
Most of the best courses stay well below the radar. They’re almost never cross promoted. And they never make outrageous income claims.
Stay under the radar
Successful businesspeople avoid the spotlight. They happily toil under the radar. And instead of boasting about their riches, they are instead great listeners.
Repel above-the-radar heroes
When I asked the most successful people who they admire, they always mention names you’ve never heard of. Just about every well-known expert is a charleton in disguise and won’t give you the real secrets to success. These pied pipers (a leader who entices people to follow themselves to their own doom) sell us dreams and fantasies of riches. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Avoid inventing the wheel
Dan Kennedy (the guru of the gurus) suggests dipping your toe into the water before you dive in.
In other words, instead of creating a product first then marketing it, he suggests reversing the process and selling a product first… then create the product. The idea is if your test sells well – great… rush and make the product. And if the product doesn’t sell, move on and offer refunds. This way, you don’t waste your time creating something that’s not wanted by your marketplace.
On paper, this is sound advice. But in reality, it almost always sets you up for failure. Because in the rare chance that your product sells well, you tend to slack off and enjoy your new-found rush or cash. Then your customers get angry… you in turn get angry at your customers for getting angry… and you never finish your product. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this.
Quite frankly, most of the time, your product won’t sell too well because you’re in love with your idea — not the marketplace.
Successful entrepreneurs bypass this concept and take an existing product or service that’s selling well and just make it a little bit better. Then, they apply better marketing to the sales process.
In simple speak, successful people avoid new inventions.
Avoid rushing
Insiders call this “get it out the door mode.” You quickly create a half-baked product (or service) and see if it sells.
Personally, I’ve never had any success rushing things out to the marketplace. And out of all of the successful people I’ve interviewed, neither have they.
Cap on success
Without exception, every failed marketer I’ve interviewed wanted to make as much money as possible.
This mantra is a surefire recipe for failure.
Successful business people have always have the end goal in mind and work backward to achieve it.
Fail fast
Treat mistakes as steps to your ultimate success. And make these mistakes happen as quickly as possible and get over it.
Successful businesspeople know four out of every five ideas are going to fail miserably or barely break even. But that one out of five is going to work out.
Outsource everything but these
Successful people put tremendous value on their time.
They realize everyone has just 24 hours in a day and just 7 days in a week.
It’s for this reason successful people are the masters of outsourcing.
But there are two major exceptions to this unwritten rule:
– Web design
– Copywriting
Understanding web design is easier than you’d think. But knowing how to change colors and fonts and layouts quickly is essential. And by the time you try to explain what you’re looking to accomplish to that virtual assistant in the Philippines, it’s just as easy to do it all yourself.
Writing your own ad copy is one of the most profitable skills you can possess. When you write your own email blasts and press releases and ad copy, you’re able to literally put your marketing on autopilot…
… Most professional copywriters are egotistical and charge WAY too much for their talents. They can because there’s way too much demand for their talents and not enough supply. It’s for this reason a salesletter can set you back over $10,000 plus a percentage of every sale generated. Plus copywriters are notoriously unreliable.
But when you write good copy yourself, you keep 100% of the income. And you don’t have to wait for effort (as professional copywriters are notoriously tardy).
As we see, success is not something taught in high school of college. And success is typically found by doing the opposite of what others are brainwashed into thinking is the “right thing to do.”
