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Make your own luck, not excuses

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As someone reading this blog you are very likely to be a long time follower of ours. How do I know that? Well, we see it in the numbers, we see it in your comments and we see it on our Insider’s Club training sessions when you ask questions, etc… We recognize the names and each and every one of them means a lot to us.

These days there are a lot more “names” than there used to be. The free Thursday webinar trainings fill up and lock the lines out almost every week now and your participation and enthusiasm is what fuels us. Hopefully that passion that we have comes through in our webinars, our products and even our blog. If not, then we’re screwing something up!

We have truly been blessed in creating a 7 figure business in just a couple of years online. We made a lot of mistakes along the way and the truth is we continue to make them as well, but we surly have been blessed. One thing we have NOT been, however, is LUCKY!

I don’t like that word and you shouldn’t either. You see, we (all of us), make our own “luck”. Those that “get it” get it and those that don’t probably will argue with me till the cows come home on this topic. So be it.

Unfortunately today most live in this instant gratification lottery winning society and have been drinking the kool aide so much that they actually believe their own bullshit anymore. We’re “told” that as Americans we’re “lucky” to live in such a great country. I say bullshit. I’m former Military and so are many of my relatives as well. I know very well that “luck” had very little to do with the strength of the United States.

My great uncle served on Iwo Jima – was there when the flag was raised. He lied about his age, said he was 18 when he was 17, and nearly died from enemy fire protecting our “lucky” country before he was old enough to have a beer. His best friend did the same, only he was on Iwo Jima at the ripe age of 15 – just a boy – but with the courage of a man willing to die for what he believed in. We all owe our grandfathers generation a debt that can never be paid – they were the last true American heros.

Luck is made – where’s yours?

Every action you take – every sales phone call you make, every speaking engagement you volunteer for, every single blog post you write exposing yourself, your fears, your strengths, your successes and, yes, your failures, every video you put out on YouTube to market your business – every single action you take “creates” the opportunity for your luck to arrive.

Unlike the BS we’re told by all of the slick sales copy, the fact is that success is just accumulation as Andrew talks about on his blog. I read this post a long time ago and it is one that has stuck with me through the years – it’s spot on. Mike and I didn’t strike it rich overnight – hell no. We bust our asses for every bit of the business we create – no one is handing out SEO contracts on the corner!

At first it came slowly – so slowly that it almost was imperceptible. But over time, it gradually began to build and grow quicker. You see, success is just accumulation. You accumulate small successes and they build up gradually and turn into a larger one. Your first $50 sale online becomes a $50 daily income, which grows to $250 a day and next thing you know you’ve hit $1k a day, $5k a day and beyond. Two years ago I could not have imagined making in a month what used to take almost a year to achieve. Now six figure months are leading to larger goals and, yes, MORE ACTION (are you getting the vibe here?).

Success starts small…

Learn to embrace the small successes – they are signs of things to come. Don’t brow-beat yourself over small successes when you desire bigger ones, simply make more small ones happen – they will accumulate. But the key here is that you must “make your luck” – you must take action and you must give luck a chance to find you.

I just got back from Utah – yeah, Utah. LOL… Hardly the “vacation spot” for someone who makes his residence in Brazil, but it wasn’t a vacation. In fact, the trip was a bit of a nightmare for me. I rarely travel internationally unless I stay at least two weeks – that’s my “rule”. It’s just too exhausting to do less. But this time I made an exception and flew in just for about five days, why?

Action – that’s why. I wanted to be a part of what my friend Ryan Lee is building – the momentum that he’s fueled – and I didn’t want to miss his event. It wasn’t convenient. The 14 hour flight (without layovers, airport checkin time and all of that other crap that stretched that number to more like 24 hours) sucked. The weather wasn’t exactly “my thing” coming from Brazil. It certainly wasn’t cheap for me to attend when you factor in my travel costs, etc… Etc… etc… etc… In other words, I could have created with negative self-talk and self-righteous justification a thousand excuses as to why it wasn’t the most “prudent” thing to do.

But I’m an action taker – that’s what I do. It was great seeing Ryan again and his event was awesome. I enjoy these events – but generally for different reasons than most. Generally I attend not for the speakers or the presentations but rather for the ability to meet people and make business connections. So far I’ve spent tens of thousands attending events and I can tell you that it has paid off every time – this time included.

There are very few marketers that I “seek out” – that I look to spend time with. Ryan Lee is one of them and for good reason – he’s an action taker. He makes shit happen and I like that – it’s inspiring and it gets me going for the “next round”. Hell, Ryan’s even launched his own TV show now with Andrew Locke and Chris Farrell – both of whom I enjoyed meeting this past week and am looking forward to working with. Great stuff.

Don’t fear success or envy the successful – model them instead!

So many people say that they want to be successful online, but is it genuine? Is that a real burning desire? Or just a “someday” or a “when I get a round to it”… because very few actually take the action necessary to MAKE THEIR LUCK. Having a 250,000 subscriber list like Ryan Lee has doesn’t just “happen” – it takes action, lots of it! Building a 7 figure business like ours in 2 years doesn’t just happen either (though we’re a long way from Ryan’s 7 figure a MONTH business, that’s okay, we’ll get there).

So step back a bit, put things in perspective. Don’t focus on huge numbers or “the dream”. Instead embrace the small successes and keep putting in the action necessary to “grow” them. If you do, they will. But most of all, don’t “fear” success – don’t let the “fear of failure” just become a self-fulfilling prophecy through paralysis.

Lastly, don’t let yourself become “envious” and throw out the “oh they’re just lucky” statement. Embrace the success of people like Ryan and others that have created tremendous success online and done so with ethics, with candor and the respect that would make our grandparents proud. Embrace their success because if you dismiss it, you’re dismissing yourself as well. If you just dismiss it as “luck” then you’re just saying that everything you do is futile and that you’ll only succeed if you’re “lucky” too. Bullshit. Don’t fall into that trap.

Instead, model them. By that I mean, learn from them, analyze them, look at why they’re successful, look at how you can follow in their lead – quit trying to go it all alone and instead let others show you the way. There are lots of successful entrepreneurs worth of that respect.

Go out TODAY – not tomorrow, not next week – TODAY – and create a small list of the top 3 things that you know you should be doing NOW to create more income in your business. Forget about procrastination (don’t give it the power to run your business). Forget about fear (break through that next wall). Just strip away the BS and list the 3 things that you fear most but know could make a big difference in your bottom line and then simply “make it happen”.

TIP: Turn off the damn TV already! I can’t tell you how much I believe that a lot of my success comes from the fact that I rarely watch TV. Living in Brazil it’s just not “relaxing” for me because I have to think in Portuguese and “pay attention” when what I really want is to just “veg out”… so I just don’t watch TV. I have no idea of the depressing depths of the economy, because for me, it doesn’t exist. Think about that for a bit and let it settle in. If you just didn’t give the negativity a chance to “grab hold” of you, how much better off would you be?

Your business growth will follow your personal development

One thing that I have learned over the past few years – probably the most cherished lesson – is that your business growth will follow your personal development. No, this is not some hyped Tony Robins kind of moment here (though I do like Tony) – it is just a simple “law of business”. Remember, as I’ve said many times before, a “law” is true whether you believe it or not. Gravity is a “law” and it really doesn’t care about your positive mental thinking or your disbelief – it’s gonna break that plate when it falls to the floor every time regardless.

So what do I mean about personal growth governing your business? Well, if you are honest and you look at what is holding you back in your business – whether it’s procrastination, poor time management, fear of trying something new, fear of making sales calls, fear of public speaking, etc… – they are all “personal” traits. Your business is a “reflection” of you and until you conquer some of your own fears, tear down some of your own walls, take action, and, most importantly, stop making excuses and hold the “man in the mirror” accountable – well, the reflection will be weak. You, however, can change all of that…

Some resources to help…

Our Insider’s Club is your chance to work with us on a very direct and candid level, including monthly private “insider only” access webinars where you can ask us anything you like about SEO, Internet Marketing or just how to take your business to the next level. You’ll also get full access to our training vault of over 25 hours of quality content, videos and business guidance. If you’re looking for dating advice, we’re probably not the guys to ask, but I can recommend a great country to vacation to!

Ryan Lee has a great course out right now called $1k a day – and yes, he’s qualified to talk about it at that level and yes, we own it. It’s going to be doubling in price in the next few days (not exactly sure when) so you should check it out. There is an 84 minute free training that is included whether you purchase or not, just for checking it out.

Here’s a video from one of his students that is making $1k per day after going through his course.

 

Tags: growing your business online, no more excuses, what to do to make your business grow