This little guy is my nephew Ben Richman…who’s playing Carnegie Hall on January 19th!   

My whole family is amazed because he’s only ELEVEN YEARS OLD.   (Not in this picture of course)  

But Ben’s not so amazed with himself.  In fact, he’s kind of taking the whole thing in stride.  “Oh yeah, Uncle Glenn… I won a competition.  It’s no big deal”  Yeah, right!

Except he really means it.  To him, it’s a natural outcome of the routines he’s adopted, the mentors he’s sought out, and the daily practice he’s lived for the last six years.

Ben EXPECTED this to happen, he just didn’t know when.

See, my sister discovered his talent and passion when he was five.  And because of our family history she decided to ACT on this discovery in a BIG way.

Let’s go back to 1969 for a moment so I can explain:  Viet Nam was in full force.  Free love was all the rage, and my parents embraced the movement as much as any good hippie could…

(“Oh wow, man, like, look at the pretty colors, man! Like, OH WOW, MAN!”)

Because of the chaotic household environment this created, I never really got to maximize my own musical talents.  I had a penchant for piano when I was five and took a few lessons, but mostly my parents just encouraged me to grow my hair long, put on a tie-died shirt, and hang out with rock n’ rollers.  I got good enough to impress teenage girls, but that was pretty much where it began and ended for me.

But my sister went the OPPOSITE direction…

She shopped around for a real grand (not baby-grand but GRAND) piano she could afford, found the best conservatory in the area, got him lesson after lesson, encouraged him to practice every day, and took him to performance after performance.

All of which he absolutely LOVED!  It became “his thing”

To give you an idea of the level of immersion, consider how he reacted when, while having a particularly good time at my house, I asked Ben if he’d like to sleep over.  He got REALLY nervous.  Not because I’m such a weirdo (he likes that)… but because sleeping over would mean he’d wake up in a house with a barely-functional upright piano…

Ben wouldn’t be able to do his morning practice… and this was LITERALLY UNTHINKABLE.

Practice is a 100% required part of his daily morning routine.  His reaction to the thought of skipping his regular practice was SO strong, you’d think I had threatened to pee on his toothbrush.   Simply NOT an acceptable way start to the day!

See, Ben practices first thing when he wakes up.  Then again when he gets home from school…and again after dinner.  He LOVES that Piano… it doesn’t feel like work to him at all.

And so Carnegie Hall is just something he EXPECTS to happen.  It had to happen…he just didn’t know when.  And he didn’t particularly CARE when either.  All Ben really cares about is learning, practicing, and performing…  

It’s a part of his soul.

So here’s the point…

What looks like a kid with a genetic gift who found himself in the right place at the right time is actually anything but!  Sure, he’s got passion and talent.  But he’s thoroughly embraced daily routines to shape that passion and talent into it’s finest expression…

He 100% accepts and does whatever it takes to achieve his goals…

And eagerly looks forward to the daily work.

As a result, he never frets or complains about “When will I play Carnegie Hall?  When will it happen for ME?”…

He practices, learns, and plays until his heart is content.

So it occurs to me as I reflect upon various resolutions I might want you all to consider for New Years this year, the most significant one I can think of is to apply this insight to YOUR business and/or personal life:

Marketing is hard…

Internet marketing is harder…

And internet marketing in a brutally competitive niche is about the hardest business challenge you’ll ever face.

But so is getting to play in Carnegie Hall.

Couldn’t we all take a lesson from Ben, identify and nurture our best talents, find the top mentors, and gracefully do whatever it takes each and every day to make “Carnegie Hall” (the lucrative, meaningful, fun internet business you’ve been dreaming about) inevitable?

Start by listing the core competencies you need to practice every day to REALLY build your business… the things you’re SURE of, not the maybes.  Limit it to five simple things you KNOW always improve your business, but take some time, energy, and/or money to implement.  Then resolve to embrace those with your soul, whatever it takes!

Here’s MY personal list:

• Writing and installing good follow up content.   I had a mentor who once told me “Glenn, if you want to make more money, write some more follow ups”  Which totally makes sense if you think about it, because it doesn’t cost anything to send another GOOD follow up, and a percentage (however small) always respond.
• Applying the Golden Glove of Persuasion Test to anything I want to improve, then exhaustively implementing the findings.   Whenever something’s not working as well as I want it to, I analyze it using the Golden Glove principles: (1) How well have I identified a desperate problem and called out to the appropriate audience so they’re SURE they’re in the right place to solve this particular issue?; (2)  Am I making a truly unique promise they can’t find anywhere else in the market? Something almost magical, but still 100% TRUE? (3) Have I presented overwhelming, incontrovertible PROOF that I can deliver on the promise I’ve made, specifically for this audience: (4) Is there a truly irresistible, absolutely no-brainer offer?  (Note: On a personal note, if there’s a problem this is where I’ve usually fallen down.  That’s because it takes the most time, energy, and money to create so human nature wants to THINK it’s irresistible when it’s really not); (5)  Is there a reason to act NOW or have I just left the offer “out there” for people to buy whenever they “get around to it”.  (As an exercise, see if you can identify all five elements of the Golden Glove here.  I’ll make it interesting by offering a free 20 minute one on one consultation to the best analysis left in my comments section below within the next week’s time.  My judgment of what’s best is the sole determinant)
• Developing a new product or service for existing lists in enthusiast market:  I find my list’s capacity to consume far outstrips my ability to produce.  Simply put, there’s more demand than I can put out for, so there’s ALWAYS money in developing more products and services.  Just not enough time to do it, and not enough good, proven people to joint venture with.
• Researching what’s stopping people from buying a particular product or service, and listing out those objections in exquisite detail.  You’ve gotta be brave to hear what’s wrong with your stuff.  But this definitely IS an area where what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
• Generating audio testimonials to overcome specific objections I’ve identified in my research:  Here’s an excellent interview and cheat sheet about how to generate testimonials that sell!  (Interview links are inside the cheat sheet)
• Testing and optimizing new advertising in a system which is already producing an ROI:  It’s kind of like shooting a rocket into space.  It takes a ridiculous amount of fuel to achieve escape velocity, but once you have it, fine tuning things to hit their target is an incredibly high pay off activity.   But sometimes I forget to make the time to do it.  Stop that Glenn!  (Note: There ARE times when you’ve reached a point of diminishing returns and the best thing you can do is focus on getting more money from the same customer rather than optimizing the conversion rate on the front end.  Keep that in mind)
• Recording and distributing interviews with Sharon to my list.  About pretty much anything even remotely related to psychology or business.  People WANT to hear her perspective on my thoughts.  They actually want to hear from her period.  Heck I want to hear from her!  (The other day in an audio testimonial interview one of our Certified Professional Coaches said something particularly revealing to Sharon “Hey Sharon, you know what?  I think sometimes Glenn TRIES to be funny, but you’re the real NATURAL!”  I must say I’ve got to reluctantly agree!)
• Systematizing and delegating things I’ve already figured out are profitable and which I have already mastered on my own.  

Now, most of these things are easy to say but hard to remember to do.  But what if we all made these lists and made them as much a part of our routines going forward as practicing Chopin and brushing his teeth are for Ben?   Dare I say we’d all become confident in our “Carnegie Hall” debut?

Happy New Year!

Dr. G 🙂

PS – I meant to refer to Ben brushing his own teeth above, not Chopin’s teeth of course.  (That would be “just wrong!”)

PPS – Seriously, the best Golden Glove analysis of my Coach Certification Academy’s front end gets a free 20 minute one on one consultation with me (otherwise sold at the very real rate of $1,000/hr)

Here’s a little something you can profit from which my wife felt inspired to write the other day after an intriguing interaction with our 9 year old niece…

I have to tell you a story about my adorable niece Sarah. She’s 9 and very active, bright, fun, but whenever you ask her what she wants to do she says, “I dunno.” Or if you ask her what she wants for her birthday, she says “I dunno.” Or if you ask her where she wants to go, she says “I dunno.” AND, she’s been doing this since she was 2.

It was her birthday a few weeks ago and she and I got to spend the day together. I took her to my favorite place for a mani/pedi. We went to pottery place and painted pottery and then I asked her what she’d like to do next – what was I thinking – and she told me to call her Mother [my sister in law] and ask her what we should do. Of course, Sis, said, “whatever the two of you want to do!” Now we know where she got that from.

So, I’ve been strategizing how to help Sarah tell me what she wants. Last week Glenn and I were scheduled to babysit Sarah and her 11 yr old Brother Ben. Before we went over, I again asked Sarah what she’d like to do. Duh! She said, “I dunno.” Well, at least she’s consistent.

Then I had a brainstorm. Sarah, on a scale of 1 – 10, where 10 is something you’d really like to do and 1 is something you really wouldn’t want to do, how much would you like to stare at a bowl of goldfish? She said, 2. Woo hoo!! I got an opinion. Then I asked her, and how much would you like to go to the movies? She said “9” OMG!!! Could this be working? And, how much would you like to stay home and work on a puzzle? “10” Wow!!! And how much would you like to go play miniature golf? “9”

We stayed home and made a puzzle, as well as danced, read Harry Potter outloud [again] and watched the Mets lose in the background.

So, research techniques REALLY do work!!! What took me so long to figure it out!!!

Then last night, Glenn and I and Laurie and the kids went to Good Karma Cafe for dinner in Exeter. Dad Sam was busy with his buds. We ordered our organic vegan fare and were about to sit down. Glenn and I like to drink a fizzy probiotic Kombucha. I got two bottles, Strawberry Serenity and Passion Fruit. I asked Glenn which he preferred. He said “either one” I said “really?” On a scale of 1- 10 where 10 is the highest and 1 the lowest what number would you give Strawberry. “6” And, Passion Fruit? “9” Ha! It works in lots of places I’ll bet.

===============

So how can we profit from this as marketers?

• First of all, remember that consumers HATE to make decisions, so don’t make them think!  (“Thinking is the hardest work there is, that’s why hardly anyone ever does it” – Henry Ford)   I see website all over the place which require customers to “do the math”, but nobody wants to do math when they’re in a buying mood.  They’re (hopefully) entranced by your emotional appeal and swept away in their impulses.  If you make them think, they’re probably gonna say NO!
• Second, and this might be obvious but I’ll say it anyway, when you’re doing surveys and opinion polls and you DO want your research participants (prospects and customers) to think, don’t force them into excruciating choices.  Give them an “out” by letting them express LEVELS of interest or concern.   “Which would you prefer?”, asked on it’s own, is kind of the equivalent of playing those torturous games we all used to in college where you ask someone to choose between two impossible alternatives.  (“Which would you prefer, drowning in a pool of camel urine or being repeatedly poked in the eye by an oaf with dirty finger nails?”  The answer, of course is “Neither, I’ll just slap YOU, thank you very much!”)
• Third, don’t force yourself to write three major points for every significant essay.  If there are only two, say there are only two.  Otherwise you’ll just look silly 🙂

That’s it!

Dr. G 🙂

PS – Just a few hours until the price goes up on the Coach Certification Academy.  (Sharon and I are STILL personally teaching at this price, but not for much longer)

No, that’s NOT a turtle you’re looking at… It’s ME, about 6 weeks ago, a few hours after I ACCIDENTALLY shaved off my beard. Now, I’m not a guy who shouldn’t have a beard.  I’ve had one literally since I was 23 years old. (26 years ago, by the way, as I just turned 49).  The day before my 23rd birthday my wife told me she REALLY wanted me to grow it, so I told her I wasn’t going to shave anymore, uhm… ever.

And I kept my word… Until just a few weeks ago, when I literally did shave my beard by accident. Here’s what happened… Things have been happening for me very quickly this year since launching the Coaching Certification Academy.  VERY quickly.

The only time I ever remember being busier than I am now was during my last year of graduate school during which I (a) finished my dissertation; (b) published three scholarly papers in professional journals; (c) ran the finances for what was then Sharon’s company; (d) worked full time as an intern at Nassau County Medical Center; (e) ran several reasonably intense corporate consulting jobs and (f) occasionally went to the bathroom.  All simultaneously, in one year!

You know the saying “If you want something done, ask a busy man”… I’ve really found that’s true over the course of my career, and I’ve also come to believe that when you find yourself on a train you really want to be on and things start moving FAST, you do your best to keep up. But there IS such a thing as going too fast… And you have to remember there’s really NO such thing as multi-tasking, only sequential tasking really fast.  (If you disagree, please read “The Myth of Multitasking”, and then come back to tell me if you still think I’m wrong).

I’ve also learned the hard way (when I started Rocket Clicks with Jeff 5 years ago), that putting too many clients into a new company too quickly is a REALLY bad idea, no matter how intoxicating it can be to see the sales funnel working the way it’s supposed to work. So this time around I THOUGHT I had things under control.  I set up no more than 5 classes to get things moving.  I’m teaching them all my self (with Sharon) for now so we can ensure quality, make sure the clients are happy, and really nail the system that helps them become successful.

But I apparently HAD fallen into the multi-tasking “corporate jet-set” mindset again.  And I only figured it out when, while simultaneously “trimming” my beard (like I’d done 1,000 times before), responding to yes/no emails on my iPhone, AND brushing my teeth (I kid no you not!), I happened to look up to say “Holy F____… where’s the left half of my beard?” Turns out I left the guide completely off after trimming my mustache.  (The guide is the top piece that determines the amount of hair you want to LEAVE on your face)

There, staring me in the mirror was the blatant result of getting intoxicated by growth, doing too much at once, and not being fully “present” for my life as it happened. It was a ruthless example of letting my life go by in ways I swore off of twenty years ago.

Because I really DO try to live by the dictum “If somethings not worth being present for, then just don’t do it” (Which, if you follow to it’s natural conclusion, completely preempts the multi-tasking mentality.  And by the way, it includes appointments, people, places, things, etc… everything)

Of course, with my beard half gone I said to myself “no point in looking like HALF a turtle!”…

At that point, the only sane thing to do was shave the other half off, unless I was going for that “completely psychotic” image.  (Which, I suppose, one could make an argument for) Thankfully, I have the genetics of a mountain gorilla, so today the beard is back in full swing! But as a psychologist in business, I’ve learned to pay very close attention to tiny disasters, because I’ve come to know they often foreshadow of really big ones in the making…

That’s the moment when I proactively decided to move up the date when I get other very experienced coaches to teach FOR me… When I realized I had to get out of the “Superman” mentality, because I really wasn’t invulnerable, couldn’t be everywhere at once, and, well, wasn’t 25 years old anymore. And wouldn’t you know it, all I really had to do was ask, and it hasn’t been very hard at all to find them.

Not only experienced coaches, but many very qualified, talented people who’ve really been clamoring for a chance to work with me (copywriters, programmers, sales people, facebook managers, Infusion experts, etc) Slowly but surely, it’s turning into a real business.  Not a lifestyle business, but the “Real McCoy”…

Am I still tempted to run around in a million directions like an Octopus on Roller Skates?  Sure. But I love my beard (and my business) too much to let that happen!

For what it’s worth…

Glenn 🙂

PS – Unfortunately, I did NOT accidentally shave off half of my hair line… it really is receding.  (I wish I could find the comedian who said “it’s no longer a forehead, now it’s a five-head”, because that’s what I think every time I look in the mirror)

PS – Tomorrow is the LAST day you can get into the Coach Training and Certification program before the price goes up.  And because I’ll be slowly backing away from teaching myself, the classes posted on the schedule are likely to be some of the last where we can work together directly.  (These are small, intimate groups of no more than 15 people, so unlike some of my earlier programs this is a chance to get personal attention.  About 1/2 the course is coaching skills focused while the other half is marketing)