So, he said…
“There are only two ways to ‘get rich quick’.”
I said…
“Hmm-kay.”
I was talking to Jordan Belfort.
Recognise the name? Yup. The one and only…
The Wolf of Wall Street. *Da-da-daaaaaaa!*
Martin Scorsese made a film about him. Leonardo DiCaprio played the guy. Margot Robbie played his wife. Academy Awards were won.
Anyhoo…
This was some years back, before the movie, and we were sitting in the lobby of a Sydney hotel, sipping Diet Coke, talking about business.
He’d already done his time, after pleading guilty to fraud and related crimes, and now was in the process of reinventing himself, as a trainer.
His special skill? Cold-calling.
Can you begin to see why I was cynical?
Then…
He said something profound.
It was rich in wisdom and absolutely congruent with the experiences of just about every successful entrepreneur I have ever met.
“James,” he said. “There are only two ways to get rich quick.”
“The first option is to behave badly. Really badly. Be dishonest, tell only half truths, turn your back on consequences and maybe even break the law.”
“And you will probably end up broke, disgraced or in jail, like I did.”
Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.
As I lent forward in my chair, he hit me with the second option…
“Here’s the other way that business owners get rich quick.”
“They work really hard, they offer something of value, they get all the right systems in place, and this takes time… even years in some cases.”
“And, then, suddenly, things click into place, and they get rich quick.”
Of course, I’d seen that story play out hundreds of times. In fact, it’s the only way that I have ever seen business owners become successful.
They work hard, they often struggle, they offer something of value, they have clarity about their target audience, they get all the right systems in place, they build a marketing funnel and then… CLICK.
Everything falls into place and they get rich quick.
(For example, I once met UK multi-billionaire James Dyson and it took him 11 years to sell just one vacuum cleaner! Eleven years to make just one sale!)
But I know what you’re thinking…
“Damn James, aren’t there any shortcuts?”
And here’s my answer…
Yes, of course there are shortcuts. And the best shortcut is super simple.
Are you ready?
The surest and most reliable growth ‘trick’ that I know of is this…
Find others who have ‘been there, done that’ and have the battle scars.
Then, learn from their wins and avoid their mistakes.
The biggest impediment to rapid success is simply failing to heed the advice of others, insisting (through ignorance or pig-headedness) that you know better.
There’s a fallacy in entrepreneurship circles that the only way to get ahead is by failing repeatedly. Sure, mistakes are essential to success.
But, if you’re going to fail anyway, why set yourself up to fail needlessly!
That’s why, in the not-too-distant future, I’m hosting an online workshop…
LAUNCH MARKETING RELOADED
Proven marketing strategies used by serial entrepreneurs to… GET BIG ON A TINY BUDGET.
And what are we going to cover? Three simple strategies that separate the uber-successful from the walking dead.
It’s for established businesses that want to achieve dramatic growth by embracing unconventional yet proven digital methodologies.
It’s for startups & newbies that are seeking to understand how others have grown quickly on tiny budgets by embracing growth hacker thinking.
In fact, it’s for any business owner who is feeling stuck, who is seeking an injection of ideas and strategies proven to fuel growth.
And why me? What gives me the right to address this tricky topic?
Well…
My first real business, Anthill, never made a profit as a magazine. We broke even or brought on angel capital, for five years. (We lived in debt. Ugh.)
Then, when we went digital, it took three years to finally make real money.
But, then, third time around, two years after that, when we launched our training business, the Not-So-Freaky University, we finally cracked the code…
Within five days, we signed up our first $47 customer.
Within two months, we recorded our first $1,000 turnover day!
Within four months, we recorded our first $4,000 turnover day!
Within six months, we recorded our first $43,000 turnover day!
And we can attribute the rapid growth of the NSFU to just three things.
Furthermore, we’ve applied those strategies to numerous businesses since, both large and small, and watched them thrive. (And that makes my heart sing!)
So, here’s what I’d like you to do…
Click this link and secure your place.
I’m doing this in partnership with GotoWebinar (as their guest).
It’s a pitch-free strategy session, limited to 300 guests.
You don’t need to be a startup to attend.
You don’t need to be a captain of industry.
You just need to run a business that you want to grow. 🙂
Hope to see you online!
Here’s the link, one more time.
P.S. If you have any friends who need to see this, share this article. Friends don’t let friends keep smashing their heads against brick walls making all the same stoopid mistakes! Help them out and send them this article. 🙂
