Getting the cream to rise to the top, how to and why you must

Posted in: Blog by scott_manning on June 29, 2011

Actually, last week we were churning butter, in the form of one giant event, the biggest-ever in Indianapolis in terms of diversity of a entrepreneurs and business owners.

441 people (including 307 people who have never seen, heard, or been a part of our Group and/or exposed to Dan Kennedy) gathered into a room to receive “10 Ways to Double Their Income in 29 Days!”

And the feedback has been relentless and the ideas life changing.

For example the day after the event I held one of our all day Mastermind Groups with 24 of my best and sharpest members who gather every month to work on their business and ‘mastermind’ with one another. They have all previously been influenced by Dan Kennedy and myself, and still, they were blown away by the value, content, and specific take-action strategies that Dan gave to them.

I reminded them that it does not matter what you “heard” then or before, but what you can check off your list as ACTUALLY DOING!!!

In addition to an incredibly valuable event where people drove from 5 and 6 hours away to meet Dan Kennedy for the first time, it served to raise the cream to the top of the Entrepreneurial Barrel in Indianapolis, and helped to introduce the smartest, most assertive, and serious-about-success entrepreneurs to our secret society of like-minded people that gather each and every month to go to work on their business, learning, implementing, leveraging their way to MORE, BETTER, FASTER success.

Of course, as could be expected, there were all walks of life.  There were a “mix breed of dog” as Dan likes to say.

And yes, there were WINNERS and LOSERS.

And rule number one in this business and any business with customers (that’s every one of them by the way)

YOU CAN’T FIX LOSERS!!!

Nope, not a chance, a losing proposition, like trying to save the Titanic, swimming in front of it trying to lift it up with one hand. It’s not going to happen.

So, sure, there were people grumbling about “being sold to” and over looking the fact that

1 – you would be stupid to not want and expect resources to be offered (As if Dan could give you all of his knowledge in just 4 hours)

2 – people actually thought for $49 and Free Guests that we were doing the event purely for their entertainment.

3 – what’s funny is that the “pitch” was about 12 minutes in total length, the content and ideas, and strategies from Dan that other members in the country pay $1,000s each year to attend events where he speaks for 45 minutes, they got 3 hours and 18 minutes of pure marketing and money making information.

I tell you this only to prove a point -

You’ve got to put things in place in your business that allows the Winners to win and the Losers to lose. That allows the best customers to prosper and identify themselves.

You must sift and sort the ones who are serious from the ones just pretending.

You know why…

Because just like a bunch of employees, the good ones don’t want to be around the bad ones.

Winners don’t want to be around losers.

And it’s the leaders job to sort them out.

You were all part of history, and as I promised it will change the face and environment of business owners in Indianapolis.

You will be part of the movement that lifts up the economy, because better, smarter marketing (Dan Kennedy style marketing), is catalyst for business growth, and giving you the ability to…

CREATE AND MAKE your own economy – your own success.

Our July Chapter Event which is a hands-on WORKShop where you get me and others working directly on your business, no pitch, no product, no 100s of guests in the room.

Our once-a-month members-only meeting, where you’ll achieve more in 3 hours than in the 30 other days, will be on July 8th.

You should register now to avoid seating limitations

http://www.NoBSIndy.com/chaptermeeting

It’s all about the most important part of any business, marketing, sales, and strategy.

That is PRICE!

We’ll be covering the 4 P’s that put you in control of your customer and dictate the only thing that ultimately matters – PROFITS!!!

Every month Winners WIN and Losers LOSE and there is nothing we can do to change that or to convince one to become the other.

The only I do and You must do for your customers is to create and provide an environment that supports and facilitates success for the Winners and deters the Losers from trying to get in.

Win with me on July 8th and experience the ultimate Entrepreneurial Success Environment

By registering: http://www.NoBSIndy.com/chaptermeeting

I always say, it’s worth you hanging around just to watch what we do.  I promise the most insightful explanation on ‘price’ and ‘profit’ for your business, and a complete makeover and question answer session for You live, on July 8th.

Winners will be there, will you?

http://www.NoBSIndy.com/chaptermeeting

Scott

P.S. A big thanks to all of you and to all of our members who supported, helped with, and promoted the Dan Kennedy Live in Indianapolis Event. The numbers speak for themselves and I thank YOU! Rising tides lifts all boats, and if not before, it’s obvious, you’d better get your boat in our waters, because we are that rising tide that will be a difference maker for you and your business, and everyone around You!

Thanks – lots more to come, and oh by the way, if you know me, you know it only gets better, bigger, and more exciting and fun. You’re smart to be here, hanging around THE Place for Prosperity in Indianapolis!

Enjoy and Profit! http://www.NoBSIndy.com/chaptermeeting

Regrets… living without them

Posted in: Blog by scott_manning on June 22, 2011

“Treat each day as if it were your last”

Really just never made any sense to me.  If we’re being honest about it all, it’s just not possible, not for the Entrepreneur, not for anyone, with Say…

Responsibilities.

That’s said, I do believe in treating people as if you’ll never see them again.

I’ve not had a close personal family member, such as my parents pass away yet and I’m thankful for that.  I realize I can’t type into words what others feel when this happens.

I do know this – I have no regrets with anyone in my life.

If and when they ever creep up, I fix them.  Deal with them. And move on from them.

So…as much as a person can be, I’m prepared for whatever, because I live it out everyday.

When it comes to business and making money, I think the same mentality and philosophy is also essential for success.

I’m a “seize the day” kind of guy.

And, it’s crazy to me that others do not operate like this, but then, still, wonder why they are not successful, why others don’t seek them out to help them, why money, and/or anything positive never finds them.

They say at the end of our lives it won’t be about the things we did, but the things we did NOT do that we’ll think back and regret.

Feels like a pretty pathetic feeling, even this far in advance, at least for me.

I think about that.  And do more with it, every year.

How does one make that happen, the “living without regrets” type of thing.

I believe it comes down to be

DECISIVE

ACTION ORIENTED

RUTHLESS

And always striving for the best and the maximum in all situations and opportunities.

“of course”, is the answer.

That’s why your commitment to your goals and objectives is so important.

Your obsession over getting all you can out of everything you do, have, try, and experience.

Life without regrets is about DOING.

Not thinking, contemplating, planning, pretending.

DOING.

And only sure ways I know to do more is are

• Be around others that do more
• Leverage ways that force you to do more
• Learn from others who do more

I’ve written another message about regrets and about seeing Dan Kennedy live in Indianapolis for his one time 4-hour Seminar, “10 Ways to double your income in 29 days”

I’m not going to say more about it here.

(although, you can get one of the last remaining tickets by clicking here, http://www.DanKennedyLive.com)

What I will say is this –

There is no reason to live with regrets…

Simply follow these steps –

• Be committed
• Maximize opportunity
• Appreciate life
• Live respectfully
• Take responsibility

One of the movies that had a great impact on me was “The Dead Poet’s Society”.

Robin Williams said, “Carpe Diem” and “suck the marrow out of life”

And that’s exactly what I do in all areas…including business and being an entrepreneur.

It pays off, believe me…

Scott

Trading Up and My ‘10 Rules’ Cheat Sheet on How to do it Right

Posted in: Blog by scott_manning on June 15, 2011

I know you’ve heard the saying

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got”

Or

“Doing the same thing, expecting different results” as the definition of insanity.

Yet so many people do exactly this in their business and expect to grow and get rich.

Well, picking up from where we left off last week, I want to talk with you about one of the secrets to my success.

I call it – TRADING UP.

Now, before you read into it, as the name attempts to give away the concept, let me give you a couple other explanations.

The biggest problem and challenge I see with other business people and entrepreneurs on why they do not find ‘bigger’ success and really gain ground financially is because of this reason:

They think they can find an opportunity and figure out what works, then continue doing that over and over again until they finally add up enough money, customers, success to achieve their goals.

It doesn’t happen that way.

Now, you may have a really good business, but, if you want to achieve any type of growth, then you have to be CHANGING along the way, maybe a better word is improving.

Also, people lock themselves into opportunities that cannot, ever, possibly, not a chance, to provide them with the success and income they are hoping for.

That’s why you must always be looking for a ‘trading up opportunity’.

Understand, I did not say a Bright Shiny Object opportunity.  Sometimes those are needed to facilitate growth, but I’m talking about something bigger than a “thing.”

It could be trading up the quality of your customers, staff, website.

It could be trading up your price points.

It could be trading up your services and expanded the things you offer.

It could be trading up your business and breaking out of a low level opportunity and moving into a higher potential opportunity.

It could be making connections with people who can move you into bigger income opportunities, or speed up your results for accomplishment.

Here’s the deal, you only have so much time in a day.

The one thing that makes us all equal…24 hours.

The single greatest difference between the haves and have-nots is the opportunities they invest their time in on a daily basis.

Working hard will make you more money, not working will make you no money.

BUT –

If two people both work hard, both work smart, both do everything the same…

What determines their level of success –

THE SIZE OF THE OPPORTUNITY!

I call the act, behavior, discipline, and approach to choosing opportunities, and growing your business, and increasing the potential in your life – TRADING UP.

If you’ve got a sales letter that you send to poor neighborhoods or rich neighborhoods where you can sell at higher prices, you traded up your opportunity.

If you take all of your no-buyers and put them in a seminar instead of doing nothing or sending emails only, you traded up your opportunity.

If you look for bigger, better, higher quality joint venture partners, you traded up your opportunity.

If you hang out in a room full of entrepreneurs every month and get new ideas and strategies and take more action because of it, you are trading up your opportunity.

You must put yourself in an environment and in the mindset that forces you to consider bigger opportunities, more valuable opportunities.

Ryan and I have been doubling our business just about every six months for the past 4 sets of ‘em, and it is attributed directly to this concept and philosophy.

One of my closest friends and private clients, right now, currently, has about 6 different “trading up” opportunities any one of which would double (that’s right DOUBLE) his business in 30 to 60 days.

Our expectation is that over the next 6-12 months every one of them will happen and we’ll be on to another 6.

That my friends is how you grow a business.

This is really what I do for my clients and private coaching members.

Look, it’s a simply concept, I just spent two days with Bill Glazer and 12 awesome entrepreneurs where Bill and I put them through an Extreme Marketing Makeover.

In about 60 minutes we re-worked their business.  We established a foundation for better marketing for them.  Now, suppose someone takes that marketing and sits on it, doing nothing more for 12 months…will their business be any better, of course not, will it reach it’s potential, not a chance.

Because once you have a foundation in place it’s now about trading up the opportunities.

I talk with my clients and coaching members on a monthly basis, and there is not a single month where we have nothing to talk about, even though we fixed all the problems and challenges last month.

So, why and what do we have to discuss.

THIS!  That’s what.
We discuss WHAT’S NEXT

We discuss and decide upon our “Trading up” opportunities…each and every month.

Because that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about.

Are you trading up?

I don’t have the time to make a complete list or go into more detail, but here’s a fast 10 step checklist to open your mind to more opportunity and to condition yourself to always be expanding the potential.

My Rule’s for Trading Up

1. Evaluate your life and business (at least) every 6 months  (that requires that you are doing enough stuff to begin with)
2. Saying “yes” to something means saying “no” to something else
3. Always be aware of your opportunity cost
4. You must have guidelines for what you accept, not based on emotion
5. Invest time and have strategies in place to facilitate new opportunities
6. At the end of the day, you can’t buy our way to bigger opportunities (many times investment is required, but not by itself) you will find “trading up” opportunities through relationships
7. Attitude, Reputation, Performance, Work Ethic attracts opportunity
8. Commit to a “trading up” opportunity and set yourself up to make it happen
9. Eyes on the lookout for what’s next and antennas up for opportunity
10. Once you take an opportunity, make the most of it, expand on it, leverage it for “what’s next”, and always bring people along with you for the ride

Hope you make some use out of that list and get focused on what being an entrepreneur is really all about.

Scott

The Constant Struggle

Posted in: Blog by scott_manning on June 8, 2011

This month I have 2 major events (in time, preparation, and opportunity), 3 consulting days, 4 new clients, a launch of a new program of national scale and significant future implications, and a longer waiting list than ever before.  That’s just the stuff that’s new.

I won’t clog up your email reading time with the long list of ‘everything’ that I do that repeats and recurs every single month, including the revenue from it all.

It now takes me longer every week to handle communications and correspondence (which I limit exclusively to Mondays, even if it doesn’t all get done) than it used to take in a month, probably at one point, a year.

Heck, I know it sounds boastful and arrogant, but it takes me longer to account for my royalty checks from clients than it used to take me to add up all the money in my life.  That’s good news for them too by the way, means they are making money.

Anybody that tells you being successful is a parttime job…is unemployed.

I’m going to surprise you here, with what I say next, then, if you keep reading, I’m going to tell you how all of this came to be…

I run down the list of “stuff” that takes up my time absolutely NOT to impress you, rather to make a point:

I fight like hell to stay on top of it every single day.  Most days I win, but not all.

Dan Kennedy has said many times the only difference between the rich and want to or trying to (get the distinction) be rich, other than money, is the size of their problems!

And the amount of effort required to outlast the daily struggle.

We struggle from the time, opportunity, frustration, fatigue, just as anyone else does.

More so, because we work harder.

Bigger than that, we struggle against all the people, places, and things trying to get in our way and push their agendas upon us.

We struggle with ourselves.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a private coaching member and good friend to get through this very thing.

And I told them to remember, as the entrepreneur, they are sailing their own ship.  You are the captain – you must take control.

Think of it this way, when you are climbing up the mountain, it’s rough out there.

Rocks falling. Wind blowing. Weather changing. Losing your grip. Slipping backwards. Struggling to hang on.

The climb is never easy, nor is staying on top.

Here’s what you’ve got to do, something I once heard Zig Ziglar say a long time ago.

ENJOY The Price.

That’s right – ENJOY.

Not Pay the Price.

ENJOY.

You must embrace your struggles, be motivated by them.

You have to be obsessed with challenge, with results, with success.

We had one of the best Chapter Events of all time last Friday.

I say that because it’s what everyone told me.

The reason is because it was about SPEED and IMPLEMENTATION.

It was about overcoming struggle, after struggle, after struggle.

One of my close friends and clients once said to me, he believed “the degree of success a person achieves in their life is in direct proportion to the degree and amount of difficult circumstances they overcome.”

Meaning that you have to step-up.  Meet life head on.  Prepare for battle.

EXPECT To Win – but also

EXPECT TO FIGHT!

Let me give you some quick tips on how I prepare for battle everyday.

1. Never go to bed without a list for tomorrow, the battle plan
2. Always prioritize the list based on time and money
3. Create WORK days where they are void of everything else, phone, email, bullshit, people, whatever – days where you simply WORK
4. Control your environment, control others, control everything
5. Get very clear that bootcamp and war are two different things, you can’t “practice” your way rich, you must put yourself in harms way, be OUT THERE if you want to win
6. Be clear on your objectives, your agenda, be the captain of your ship, know where it’s going, and set sail to get there every single day
7. Reward yourself and punish yourself depending on what’s warranted

And my biggest secret of all, TRADE UP,

Time, people, opportunity, fight bigger battles, take bigger risks.

More on that one next week.

Here’s the thing I want you to take away from my message.

Do NOT Expect to achieve ANYTHING without a struggle.

You will be severely disappointed and live a depressed and suppressed life.

You are not alone, ever, in this.  Don’t think that you are.

Here’s the formula that I live by, that once I agreed to accept it, everything else changed.

SUCCESS = Responsibility / Responsibility = SUCCESS

You can’t have one without the other.

Take more (I say, take all) Responsibility

And

Achieve more Success –

And Enjoy everything that comes with it…

Including the struggle!

June 2011 Marketer of the Month

Posted in: Blog by admin on June 6, 2011

Coming Full Circle, and the 3 Books that Changed My Life

Posted in: Blog by scott_manning on June 1, 2011

I believe it was about 7 years ago, maybe 8.  I was still heavily involved in my martial arts schools working with a consultant in that Industry named Stephen Oliver.  Who is still on top of that industry, at least his part of it.

To this day, there is no other person who was catalyst for my success and where I am now, than this man.  Although it started with Martial Arts, it had nothing to do with that.

Nope.

What I owe him the greatest “thank you” for is introducing me (and the Martial Arts industry) to Dan Kennedy.

I flew out to Denver Colorado to participate in his Mastermind Program, which at the time was giant leap of faith for me because I had been through many cycles of success in the martial arts business but just wasn’t making it as big as I knew I could.

On the very first day he mentioned the name Dan Kennedy as the person he studied, followed, and participated in his Mastermind, throughout the day he continually referenced this Dan Kennedy fellow and I said to myself, geez, why do I not know who this guy is?

Then, I did what every shy, not wanting to meet strangers, much younger person that I was at the time, would do – I skipped Dinner and stuck to myself, but I didn’t just sit in the Hotel Room, I found the nearest book store and tracked down this Dan Kennedy guy and for the rest of the trip and the entire plane ride back I read all three of Dan’s original No BS Books.

I faxed in the little form at the end of the book called “The Most Incredible Free Gift Ever” and I took the plunge or catapult, or blast off, whatever you want to call it and I landed on Planet Dan.

And, I’ve never looked back.

Now, 7, 8 years later, I’ve got my own little planet where I’m highly paid, highly sought after, and work with hundreds of Entrepreneurs from around the country helping them do what Dan Kennedy did for me.

The reason I share this story with you is two fold.

First – you simply never know when and where you will find LIFE CHANGING Opportunity.

You always must must must be looking for it, atuned to it, and ready to grab it and run.

You have to expose yourself to as many things, environments, and opportunities as possible.

This is a large part of the game of the ultra successful.

Second –

My life has come full circle and now I’m personally, officially, and immediately offering you the very same opportunity and life changing event that I was presented with 7 short years ago.

But, I’m going to do it with more than a reference, more than a “meet the Author” through a book, I’m going to do it first class and I’m going to do it right here in Indianapolis.

I’m talking about, for the first time and only time, I’m bringing Dan Kennedy, himself, LIVE and IN PERSON to Indianapolis in 22 short days from right now.

The man who opened my mind to the possibilities of entrepreneurship.

The man who has shown me the way to become in control of my own time, business, customers, and income.

The man who has allowed me to create a life of opportunity and the business of my dreams.

The man who (other than me, of course) is the biggest reason I’m living rich today.

Regardless of where you are at in your life, your business, your journey to achieving your grandest ambitions – Dan will take you to new levels of success.

You have the opportunity that I wish I would have had 7 years ago.

To spend 4 hours with Dan Kennedy teaching me one very simple thing…

Well, 10 things actually.

10 Ways to Double Your Income in 29 Days Or less.

It will happen on June 23rd and get this –

Because bringing Dan to Indianapolis, truly brings this phase of my entrepreneurial life full circle, I’m looking to expose as many of my closest friends and followers to Dan on this one day.

So, the fee, well let’s just say, it’s less than I paid for those 3 books that changed my life in that Denver Bookstore 7 years ago.

I hope you don’t take this opportunity lightly, do what I did, grab this opportunity, and change your life, alter your income, and reach new levels of success you’ve never thought possible.

I have and am still.

Scott.