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Strategic Commitment in Business ~begin transcript: strategic commitment in business~ I talk a lot about “strategic commitment” rather than plain ‘ol commitment because I’ve found over the years coaching and talking to so many entrepreneurs…that they are WILLING to sacrifice a LOT in order to “commit”. The way I look at it is you and me DON’T have to sacrifice anything… Maybe ten, twenty years ago things were different… In fact, I can admit they WERE different. But the world has opened up to us. We have so many possibilities to delegate, have virtual teams and so on. Ten years ago it was a dream to “only do what we do best” and leave everything else to the rest. Today, that’s not so crazy..is it? The first thing I would suggest in your “Strategic Commitment” is to have achievable goals. It’s cool to “dream big” - but at the same time, let’s get realistic and just focus on building a block at a time. I’m not suggesting you LIMIT your mindset, but if you need to make $10,000 a month, shoot for 15 or 20 rather than 50… The ONLY reason I’m saying that is because if you put a high expectation on yourself to deliver those results…and you don’t come anywhere close…that’s the point where I see a lot of people jumping off and chasing another opportunity elsewhere. But hey…IF you’re one of those entrepreneurs that wants to really go for it and can stay focused and true to building that business goal…don’t let anyone stop you. Key though, is FOCUS! Next, DEFINE THE RIGHT OUTCOME This comes down to saying “no” way more often than “yes”. Here’s the thing - we tend to over-estimate what we can do in 12 months. So if you have a big goal, focus on that and nothing else. Problem with a lot of us entrepreneurs (me included) is we have too many ideas and don’t block out the time to get one of ‘em completely done before moving on to the next one. Lastly - CHANGE HABITS Establish new positive habits. Eliminate old negative / destructive habits. Yea. I know. You’ve heard it before. But are you actively DOING THAT? And what I mean by actively doing that is measuring and focusing on the one or two good habits you want to insert in your life as well as completely eliminating another 1 or 2 bad habits. It’s not easy - I’ll admit it. From all the dudes I know who are brain experts, I would say the average time it takes f

Habitual Procrastination Facts [PODCAST episode] ~ begin transcript~ I find a lot of people are habitual procrastinators… not taking action right away on the info they learn at a seminar or from an online training course they’ve purchased. They second guess themselves and what it really comes down to is they are afraid to fail… But it goes deeper than that… Afraid of failing is just the TOP level fear, there’s another one beneath it - which has to do with RECOVERY TIME. We all know that time is NOT on our side… So we make try to make sure we’re not making a HUGE mistake that will set us back years… For the average entrepreneur or even someone who has not started a business yet, most of them are still working somewhere else… And they want to build a business to first supplement their income… And then finally replace their job’s income with their business. And that’s the reason they’re out there trying to figure out what’s going to help them do that. Todays’ broadcast is not about “WHAT” do to, we can save that for later shows… But instead, to cure the procrastination that is doing you no good whatsoever. Because if you’re working part time and want to build your wealth within the ‘boundaries’ of your life… Your job, your spouse, kids and so on… Procrastination Facts One of the reasons you’re procrastinating is BECAUSE you have very little time to work with… Which brings us back to the underlying fear of failure…RECOVERY time. And that’s what most people are doing when they do not believe in themselves enough to TRY and TEST what they’re learning. This is a VERY COMMON thing believe it or not… And if you’re in this ‘boat’, you’re not alone. In fact I go through these cycles… My high end coaching clients go through them… EVERYONE I meet goes through it. The trick is to identify that you’re going through the procrastination cycle as quickly as possible so you can stop it and get to work. The question comes back to what you’re willing to do to get what you want. If you’re procrastinating on trying something ‘new’ taught in a seminar… the answer is not “I’m willing to do anything to get what I want” because you’re NOT DOING IT. “Well, Joey  , I don’t know if it will WORK” Guess what, THAT’S doing ANYTHING to get what

Do You Want A Better Life? ~ begin transcript~ Everyone “wants” something…right? I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t “want” a better life, or a new toy or more time and money, or whatever it is… Here’s the thing - wanting is NOT enough. Sure, you may have heard it before but I want to share three levels of “want” with you so you can start “getting” what you want. The first level is just the idea…it’s where you are basically saying “yea, IF that [thing] fell into my lap, I’d take it.” It means we’re doing nothing about it. And THIS level is where most of the world lives. Which brings us to… …The Second Level Where we actually CHOOSE to do something… This is where a lot of us choose to sit in seminar rooms… And when we leave, never take a second look at all the notes and promises we’ve made to ourselves and others again. It’s where we buy a business or self improvement program… Read the first chapter or watch the first video… And fall back into our routine… With the excuse there’s “no time for this right now.” Come on, we’ve all done it - I can turn around right now and easily pick out 25 books I’ve never read. I look at the business improvement programs on my hard drive I’ve never completed… Because I need to… COMMIT Which is the BEST level. When we decide to commit to what we want, it means we’ll do anything to get it. We don’t hold back on anything. We step into the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown and the excitement of success. The reason we are unsuccessful is the result of what is happening INSIDE, not outside. And that means we have to change our internal programming… How we think, feel and act. And THAT simply means tuning into what we REALLY want and how we FEEL about NOT having it. Now here’s a small side note: I would advise you NOT to focus on what it is you DON’T want… Whether you believe in the power of thought and how the universe reacts or not… What have you got to lose by following the advice of so many successful people who choose and commit to ONLY focusing on what they WANT? I think it was T. Harv Ecker who said “your way has gotten you where you are today” These are the type of simple quotes I never forget and have allowed me to change my life as well as my business. So which level are you at right now? The want, choose or commit level?

[PODCAST]  Magic Customer Attraction Strategies ~  begin transcript ~ Have you ever wondered why it’s difficult to ‘convince’ customers to buy from you? Or maybe you’re just having challenges attracting new customers in the first place… How much of your life would change if you didn’t have to ‘convince’ or ‘sell’ anyone anymore? Well in today’s podcast I’m going to share customer attraction strategies that work like MAGIC - and I really think you’re gonna love it! Before we dive in, I’d really love it if you gave this podcast a little boost with a cool rating on iTunes and share it with your friends… This way we can impact the world together in a positive way so we help each other live the lifestyle of our dreams! So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!! Here’s a question… How much of your business would change if people were automatically, magically, drawn to you… Your products… Your services? Without any real effort on your part? Sounds like I’m sprinkling fairy dust and about to sell you the “magical how-to” formula right? We’ve heard it all before from speakers on stage… Or some dude on a marketing video… Who goes through all the steps of ‘selling from stage’… They say all the right things… They move the right way… They ask for audience participation… They dress for success… Yet for some reason, we don’t buy their stuff… We have that little feeling that something’s off. The reason is this: Our subconscious is picking up something we can’t really pin-point or make a concrete judgement from… There’s just something that is not right. What’s not right is the person doing the talking / selling… They are NOT who they truly are. Now that might sound a bit odd, but hear me out… Because recently, I proved this theory by being something I’m not… ON PURPOSE. I figured - well, if THIS is how it’s (supposedly) done, then I’ll give it a try… I’m talking about doing a presentation talk and then ‘selling from stage’ It’s not like I’ve never sold from stage before… But I’ve NEVER followed the protocol of “how you’re supposed to do it” So I ventured out and designed my presentation in the way it’s supposed to influence people to buy… The results were disasterous - IT WAS A COMPLETE BOMB. How do I know “it” bombed and not the “p

At some point, we ALL worry about something going wrong…how do we deal with that constant “what if, and how do we conquer fear of failure?” In this episode, high performance business breakthrough & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares how the highest achievers get past the negativity and keep moving. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. ~ begin transcript ~ Every one of us worries at some point in our business.  What follows is collection of ideas from sources of information relating to how executives deal with it. Many entrepreneurs are filled with worry and anxiety communicating they can’t focus, or make decisions; they feel their lives are in a standstill. One of the worst things about worry and fear is that it destroys our ability to concentrate. The first step is: Ask in the most honest and fearless way: “what is the worst that could possibly happen as a result of this?” The second step is: Conditioning you to accept the worst that can possibly happen if necessary It sounds like a cliché but so many people avoid ‘dealing’ with their circumstances and wallow in worry day in, day out.  Once you accept the worst that can possibly happen, then you’ll immediately feel a sense of peace because NOTHING is worse than what you’re now willing to accept. People are caught up in the ‘what if’ avoiding the worst scenario so it makes their lives a living hell.  To me, that’s worse than accepting a possible outcome based on the facts. I can only begin to tell you how many coaching clients I’ve helped using just THOSE TWO steps. I ask what do you want? And then, after listening to what they want, followed by the “what if’s”… I asked “what’s the WORST that can happen?” When they identify what that “worst” is… My next question is “can you handle that?” Third Step – which is most important Begin calmly devoting your energy to improving on the worst possible scenario. When you’ve accepted the worst, there’s nothing more to lose.   Fear and worries are very real and there are 3 basic steps you take in order to solve them: 1.    Get the facts 2.    Analyze the facts 3.    Make a decision – and then act on that decision It’s very obvious but why is it that so many people go through their lives without solving their problems?

Is a business a failure if it has to resort to low prices? In this episode, entrepreneur business & high performance coach Joey Ragona talks about separating your business from all the others so you don’t have to compete on price. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of students & coaching clients. Get free e-Coaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

~ begin transcript ~ Every single day someone is telling me how they are overwhelmed with stuff to do.. so many things coming at them.. right life gets in the way and you know what were all like that there's so much going on in our lives, there’s so many distractions in our lives that we really can’t get things done we really want to. And you know I'm a lot like you cannot bet that I'm probably even worse than you are because there's so many things that I want to get done. I'm a natural entrepreneur… my mind is everywhere there’s so many big things that I want to do an I’ll tell you something; the secret is that the way I get things done is by focusing. Now you probably heard that before and this is not a rah-rah pat me on the back that I'm better than you are type a podcast this is admitting that you know what sometimes I sit here all day long clicking Facebook and Twitter and Google Plus and LinkedIn and just looking around for other things to distract me so I don't have to get to whatever it is. Or, maybe subconsciously I'm doing that but not consciously that I'm looking for distractions right? There’s so many things I want to get done. The secret is that you have to get done what is the most important thing. Yea, it's common sense "I know that Joey, I’ve heard it before so many things… so many people told me this before" I’ve listened to the gurus I've read the books I know!!! Prioritize! What’s the most important thing? Well hey, are you doing that? I know that I don’t! And I’m the one who’s teaching it to all my clients too and I sit here and I still procrastinate; and it’s because I haven't really connected with what is the most important thing and when I do then that's when things get done! And you know with the most important thing is… don't you? If you have your list right now if I asked you write down the top 10 things that you have to do today or this week or this month or this year… you know what the most important thing is! For me…last year only there was five years worth of taxes that I had to get done and that was from 2008 so every single year out of five years with the tax to get done it was always compounding on top of each other I always had the taxes to get done. Well last year I just had to sit down and focus and doing it. It was the most important thing. You know the thing is…when we have so many things on her mind and we try to sit down and focus we give o

~ begin transcript ~ For the past two years, I’ve been learning & ramping up my online marketing. I’ve taken almost every course out there. I’ve studied with the best in the world. I’ve sat in highly paid masterminds with some of them. In other words, I’ve been able to get inside their heads to see how they think. Then I deployed everything I learned. And just like my real estate investment business…I had to tweak things. And I’m still tweaking things. Is that new? To anyone who is an entrepreneur … the answer is no. But the point is, I’m still learning. Even though I’m teaching marketing, business development and so on to the masses. Here’s what I’ve ***learned*** * The market is always right. We are not. We THINK we’re right…but until the market votes with their money / approval, we have no clue. * SPEND MONEY to find the answer to #1. That means unless you are putting your stuff in front of the people who will potentially buy it, you have no idea if your marketing is working. Asking your buddy or spouse if it’s a “good product or service” doesn’t do you any good. * Do you have the right audience to test #2 with in the first place? For a LOT of entrepreneurs, the answer really is NO - even though they think they do. So how do you FIND that market? Refine your search…narrow it down to a specific problem. And then go looking for data. Google Analytics, Alexa, etc…And yes…PAY for the data. I can’t tell you how important it is to invest some money into your business. Because otherwise you’re just guessing your way through. Here’s an example: for a niche I was targeting to advertise on Facebook, I THOUGHT it was a male dominated market and had an age range from 25 - 55. For the record, that’s a big range. After I spent some money on ads, without any response, I finally took my own advice and paid for research. I was COMPLETELY WRONG. The market was dominated by women aged 18-24 and 34-44. BIG difference right? So you can see why an ad needs to be VERY specific to talk to the market you want to target. The point of all this is to encourage you to do your homework and put some money into your business. In my early years of business that’s exactly what I did and it worked. In today’s day and age with “free” internet, Facebook, twitter, linked in and so on…entrepreneurs are growing up in a world whe

~ Begin Transcript ~ What is your day like? Are you in reaction? Distraction? Are you constantly pulled in every direction feeling like you’ve got nothing done? Well today I want to talk about your routine… Do you HAVE routine? I’m just back from spending a week with my coach & mentor Brendon Burchard and a room of more than 500 high performers working on our own daily chess game. Because that’s what it is isn’t it? A chess game. What is the right piece to move - to where - at the right time? What makes us perform at high levels? There are a few things…like your mindset and the productivity routines you have of course… But I was also very aware that all of the speakers, the millionaires and billionaires talked about diet and routine physiology. It’s not a ‘SHOCK’ per sa… But it’s not common practice for a lot of us. Me included. I think our daily routines either fuel us or “F” us up. The reason we are unmotivated or don’t get things done like we want is because we haven’t set up our day from the moment we wake up to be productive. most people wake up, turn their phone on (if it was off), check email and the messages they missed “trying” to get some sleep. Because let’s face it, MOST people even have trouble sleeping because they’re juggling things in their minds all night long. They are not giving themselves a break even at night, let alone the day. So the morning starts with distraction - with PANIC to deal with the incoming noise from others. And God help us if we haven’t had a good nights sleep. We grab a double latte or something and pump the caffeine through our veins hoping it will get us moving. These high producers GENERATE their energy - they get up and DECIDE to get moving. They stretch, they drink water to start their day, they meditate and work out… In other words, they are spending QUALITY TIME with themselves. They haven’t yet let the world in. For the most part, I’ve been doing a solid “me time” routine for a few years now. So this wasn’t ‘news’ to me. But I didn’t ‘shut down’ and not listen thinking “yea I already know that” Uh uh… Because the moment we do that, we miss the Gold. Arianna Huffington said one thing that stuck with me “Sometimes, You can FINISH a project just by dropping it” Think about that. It’s brilliant because most entrepreneurs like you and me _ and you’d

~ begin transcript ~ Todays' episode of the Entrepreneur Life asks the question: Are you in 'touch' with your audience? I spend every week talking with and coaching business owners / entrepreneurs just like you. They are SO caught up in their business - stuff to do - emails to answer - bills to pay. Well, you know what I'm talking about. I find they begin to drift away from their audience...they lose 'touch' with them and soon resort to 'convincing' new people to buy from them. They try to 'sell' their product or service...and try to 'convince' the customer WHY they need it. WHY it's better than anything else out there. Here's a secret...if you're customers - that is, potential customers don't have a specific problem and are going out there looking for the solution, you're in trouble. You want to avoid 'building something' that nobody wants to buy in the end. So how do you fix that problem? It's as simple as asking your audience what they WANT. What do they truly care about? What is it they really DON'T care about even though you've been promoting it as a huge benefit? You see, the value you are selling has to be relevant to your audience...if they don't believe it's value, there's nothing you can do to convince them it is. Does that make sense? This is where I see so many of my consulting clients banging their heads against the wall trying to invent new ways to convince the customer to buy their product. It ain't gonna happen. Stop it. go out and TALK to your prospects. Find out what their REAL problem is. And then it's time to reflect on your business or product... DOES is truly solve that problem? And what if you can't IDENTIFY a problem? That's even more trouble, right? Because all you're doing is pushing a product into the market they haven't asked for. "But Joey, they don't KNOW they want it until I SHOW them..." Hmm, maybe that works sometimes...and I would think it's VERY RARE...and you STILL have to have deep pockets like Apple or Coca Cola to market and advertise something to "show" the market. In marketing there is a LOT to deal with - but when it really boils down to it, it's NOT that hard to figure out... Does my audience have a problem - what is that specific problem and DO I have a specific solution? Do they CARE about the solution and are they WILLING to pay for it? Because you could have a bad-ass solution, but there are thousands of other similar

Entrepreneurs will do anything for their business - they'll put in 12 hour days and not blink and eye. In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares his view on commitment versus sacrifice and how we can live today rather than waiting for tomorrow. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

Freedom Friday is something I began almost two years ago and today, I originally inserted this one day into my week so I could deal with the 'chaos' that comes at us every day. In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona explains how to defer the chaos rather than deferring the IMPORTANT stuff we have to do. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

So I'm talking to some entrepreneurs about marketing and they were asking me how to 'convince' more people. They told me "people just don't understand me" And I really wasn't surprised because people tell me this all the time. If you're thinking: "They don't understand me" It's probably the other way around my friend - In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares the reason you need to understand the customer's pain and desires more than having to convince them of anything. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

For the longest time I was a victim - someone who blamed the world, blamed people & my circumstances. In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona explains people are self-victimized by "living with it" and using the excuse of being "stuck". This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

At dinner my very successful friend and long time colleague said he needed to spend some "coaching" time with me to help him get clearer about performing better and reducing the time constraints in his life... In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares an insightful conversation about what we're really fighting to keep as entrepreneurs. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of students & coaching clients. Get free e-Coaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

Why are some people luckier than others? Why does success follow the same people all the time? Why is most of the world struggling with success, confidence, happiness and freedom? In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares a common trait that successful people have. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of students & coaching clients. Get free e-Coaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares why fear is GOOD for you helping you perform better and make choices to move you forward. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and training from working with hundreds of students & coaching clients. Get free e-Coaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

People say to me all the time "Joey, all I want is more time, more money and more freedom". Is THAT all? In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona shares the reason you need "specificity" in your life to get what you really want. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com

Everyone I meet wants some form of 'life balance'. In this episode, entrepreneur performance & lifestyle coach Joey Ragona explains how the parts of our lives are interconnected and ultimately affects our business. This is Joey Ragona talking from personal experience and sharing ideas and experiences from working with hundreds of coaching clients. Get free eCoaching & training at www.StrategicBusinessAcademy.com