It’s so easy to get distracted, ridiculously easy. All it takes is another Groupon offer to hit the inbox to get most people thrown off from doing actual work to booking a manicure for 50% off that they didn’t need and may not even use.
This month, we’ve had three separate meetings with people wanting to take their investing to the next level by attracting new lenders (joint venture partners) or have a business idea that they want to get off the ground. All but one of them seemed to be hesitating because they weren’t sure if the business they were choosing was really their “passion.”
We have something to share with you. Although there are countless books written about “following your passion”, the concept does more harm than good.
Yup, that’s right.
So many people hold themselves back from starting something and committing to it because they're not sure if their chosen field of business is “their passion”.
Over the last six months, we’ve spoken to at least a half dozen multi-millionaires in three different countries and each of them had lost their passion for their primary business years ago.
A couple of them admitted to never having it to begin with.
But although they weren’t passionate about their business field they were VERY passionate about building the systems, people and processes to take their businesses to the next level.
We would encourage you to think the same way.
Get passionate about building systems that produce the results you want. Ignore everything else.
We were talking with Dan Kennedy, one of our key mentors, and we asked him point blank if he was still passionate about writing books, monthly newsletters, marketing sales letters and speaking at conferences.
His answer, “Of course not.”
Passion left the building a long time ago for him.
He went on to explain that most of his peers feel the exact same way.
But what he was VERY passionate about was the lifestyle that his business affords him. The 19 horses he owns, the Disney vacations he takes, the freedom to do as he pleases and to answer to no one. These things he’s very passionate about.
Our father used to get up at 4:45 am every morning to go off and put up drywall on various Toronto area construction sites.
He got up that early so that at the crack of daylight, he would be on the job site, hammer in hand ready to nail up the first sheet of drywall. Any earlier and he would hit his thumb in the dark.
Often, before he began, he had to brush off the snow on the pile of drywall that had blown into the open houses overnight.
He did this every day, for years. Rain or shine or snow or sleet.
The neighbours were furious at our family because his drywall partner used to pull up and hammer the horn every morning at 5:00 am as he stopped in front of our house.
By getting to work early, laying up sheets of drywall every day … which is backbreaking work if you haven’t tried it … and never checking emails in the middle of the day our father taught us something.
He wasn’t passionate about drywall.
He was passionate about what installing drywall got him … a better lifestyle.
Dan Kennedy said something to us a few weeks ago that reminded us of our father. We’re paraphrasing a bit but it went something like if you just do the right things every day you can’t help but succeed.
So here are the right things that we try and focus on every single day…
First, you need to focus on acquiring new customers … every day.
We have marketing pieces running every day. Ads being run, emails going out, direct mail envelopes being sent out via Canada Post, phone calls being made and faxes being sent.
It didn’t start out as complicated.
It started with one advertisement in one paper that was run over and over again.
In the very early days, we focused on two things. Finding good properties and finding more investors … every day.
And today, when we feel grumpy about having to write another article, another advertisement, another email … we remember that our father nailed up sheets of drywall in the freezing cold all winter.
If we can’t sit in our warm and cozy offices and turn off emails and our cell phones for sixty minutes to get some real work done every day we should be embarrassed. Badly.
Next, you need to focus on keeping your customers.
Once you’ve got ‘em you should do everything in your power to keep ‘em. It’s much easier to sell an existing customer something else than acquire a new one.
Good customer retention can involve a combination of “wowing” them with your business experience, it can be consistent follow-up via interesting material sent to them in the mail, events that you hold in your office or in a rented hotel conference room.
And the secret sauce to retaining customers is to share your personality with them in as many forms as possible. Email, video, newsletter, live events, audios etc.
Third, selling more to your existing customers.
It’s infinitely easier to Joint Venture with someone on a second property than convince someone to do their first JV with you.
Getting an existing client to upgrade to your “premium” service is much easier, and more profitable, than selling them your first consultation.
If you make certain to focus on building these three pillars of business you are sure to build a business steadiness, a reliability that will produce great returns for you.
It will also allow you to live the lifestyle you want.
Customer acquisition, retention and ascension are three magical keys to business building.
Getting these three things right will create a growing business for you and you won’t be able to stop it.
Years ago, a current RSIC Member, came to a class of ours.
This class was part of our “customer/member retention” strategy.
After the class, we went out on an educational tour of properties and both of us were exhausted that week so only one of us did the class.
On the way back from the education tour this VIP member turns and says, “I want to put an offer on that property, RIGHT NOW!”
We joke about it now, but that day we were so tired from a busy week that we could barely focus long enough on the laptop to get the offer put together.
Our processes were FORCING us to do business even if we didn’t feel like it.
It was that day that we knew there was a certain business reliability that good processes create.
They create business for you whether you want it or not.
Needless to say, we’re big fans of focusing on these three magical keys to business building.
Until next time ... Your Life! Your Terms!
The first part of your article is very timely for me. Thanks!