I started my company 11 years ago and for 8 and a half of those years,
I was on a huge financial roller coaster until I changed 5 habits.
I'm going to share the 5 habits that kept me poor
and what I did to change them. Let's dive right in. For many years in my business,
the bad habit I had was not understanding what profit actually was. I thought that if I didn't go
into the negative or if I didn't increase my debt that I was a profitable business. The reality is
just getting by or just focusing on covering costs is really stressful. So, just to make ends meet,
I had to work more and more hours and this was really exhausting. So, I knew
that I had to make more money than expensive. So, if my costs were 1,000 and I charged 2,000 then I
thought that I was profitable that I was making an extra 50%. But that extra thousand went to cover
my salary needs and often that wasn't enough. So, it was still really stressful. It's crazy to look
back now and think that I thought I was profitable then I thought I had a profitable business.
But 8 and a half years later, now I had a track record of success. I had some clients that were
achieving some major results on YouTube and I had a reputation and so I raised my prices. In fact,
I quadrupled my prices. And when I started doing the math, I saw, "Okay, my costs are covered. My
salary is covered. And I've got money left over. My savings started to build." I really like that.
It gave me some security. It took a big burden off my shoulders. Yeah, I would never want to turn
back. The second habit that I was stuck in is I was really focused on receiving instead of giving
and serving. And anytime I think about this lesson that I've learned and hoping that I've changed,
I look back to my experience when I joined the national speakers association. This is about 8
years ago. An amazing group of people. And at the time, the main service that I offered was custom
website design for speakers. And so, when I found this group, I thought, "Ah, a lot of potential
customers". And I did resonate with them. I loved that they were entrepreneurial-minded
and we could have conversations and be on the same page. But I did have an eye like, "Oh,
I want this person as a client. I want this person as a client." And the energy really could be felt.
I feel that everyone could feel that I saw them as a prospect. So, back before I started my company,
I was actually an investment advisor rep. I had my securities licenses and I had my insurance
and my mortgage license. And I wouldn't have admitted it at the time but the company was
actually a multi-level marketing company. Not only did we have services that we offered but we built
teams we recruited. And we had this mindset of everyone is a recruit. Because not only could I go
and help people with their finances or with their insurance. But if I recruited somebody to join my
team then I was growing my business. And that was the goal. You'd go to conventions and you'd see
people and their incomes. You'd see people in the size of their teams and you really envied that.
So, fast forward a few years, now I'm a member of the national speakers association. And all of my
colleagues here were there because they wanted to give. None of them sold to each other. They
didn't even have services that would be a fit for each other. They were just in the same industry.
And they were colleagues and they shared advice freely. So, right before my first time visiting
the NSA, I went to a BNI meeting and that's where everyone goes to exchange business cards. And
it's kind of the same mentality and so, you know, perhaps I carried some of that with me to the NSA.
But here they had this giving environment and it was off-putting for some of the members. Now,
I've been a member of that chapter for many years. I've stuck with it even though I kind of
tainted my reputation in the beginning. But it's been a great blessing to be a part of that group
because they really are a giving group and I feel that I have changed. So, this was a habit that I
had of really looking at people and seeing them as a prospect or an ideal client. And I also had this
sense of urgency that I needed to make sales. I needed to make revenue in order to survive
and I carried that energy with me. Until I saw them as colleagues, until I offered them advice
and I wanted to help them without actually wanting to have them be a customer, my friendships, my
associations with the other members of the chapter really didn't change until I really changed that
habit. The third habit that kept me poor is I sold features instead of benefits or I sold features
instead of the outcome. So, for example, I used to put on video shoot events that I call them.
I would actually rent an arena and set up stages and I would create speaker videos for my clients
or my participants. Well, how I talked about them is I talked about the venue. I talked about the
stages and the color of the curtains on one and how many outfit changes they would have and how
there's a conference room that we're going to be able to interview them in. I talked about the
length of the video and how we were going to edit it. But I didn't talk about what that video would
do for them or how it would grow their business. I didn't talk about any of the benefits of the video
or that outcome it would deliver them. When you sell features or if you charge an hourly rate,
you can only charge so much. Because people put a limit on how much a feature is worth or how much
your time is worth. But if you package things in terms of an outcome, they can really see the value
of that outcome and they're willing to trade a lot more money or value in exchange for that
outcome. To help you really understand this let me just share another couple quick examples. So,
years ago, I had a web design service. And I would tell them how many mock-up designs they would get,
how many pages they would get. I would talk about what type of content they would get and how we
would design their logo. And any of the features or integrations that the website have. Again,
I wasn't talking about the results that the website would get them. And one more example,
I really enjoy putting on business retreats but I would sell them for the location or I
would sell them for the venue. One time I rented this 11,000 square foot amazing cabin. And so,
I post pictures of this cabin everywhere and I talk about the type of food that we'd be having.
I'd show them pictures of the lodging that they would have access to, the scenery outside. I would
talk about who else would be coming but none of that really matters. What really matters is the
outcome. How are they going to be different? How's their business going to be different by
attending. Because I didn't sell for the outcome and only the little features of the retreat,
I only charged a few hundred bucks. Just a few hundred bucks. That's all I could charge
to get people to come and have that experience. Now, a reality that I've learned since is the more
people pay something, the more they're committed to it. And because people had paid so little,
they weren't really committed to implementing what I taught. And so, none of the participants
of my retreats ever implemented my YouTube strategy. Now, in the personal development world,
you probably hear a lot about scarcity mindset and abundance mindset. And I was definitely trapped
in a scarcity mindset. I had learned about it, I had read books on how to change it. I had these
affirmations that I could say to think more of an abundant mindset. What helped me change this habit
is actually when I changed the previous 3. So, when I changed my understanding of what
profit was, when I focused on service instead of receiving. And when my services really focused on
the outcome of the individual not just on the cool features that I could sell, when I started doing
those 3 things, I became more and more confident. And as I look back and like how did I really
change this mindset from scarcity to abundance, I really attribute a lot of it to that confidence.
The fifth bad habit that really kept me poor is I paid myself last. So, I made sure all my
expenses were covered. I made sure all my staff was paid. And then if there's anything else left,
I paid myself. The phrase paying yourself first, that sounds so cliche. We hear that you got to pay
yourself first. But what does that really mean? Expenses obviously need to be paid and I totally
care about my staff. So, how could I pay myself first and justify that? I decided to trust the
coaching that I'd received. And I decided to pay myself first and then pay the expenses, and pay my
staff. So, this was a really hard change for me. I really worried like, "What if they quit? What if I
got behind?" Here's the reality. So, when I was still paying myself last, there were many times
where I had to pay my staff late. I'd have to send them a message saying, "You know what? I'm really
sorry. Paychecks are probably going to be about a week late this month." In fact, there were times
when I was 3 weeks behind and I am so blessed to have the team that I do that they didn't quit on
me. When I made the transition, I took the leap of faith or confidence and I paid myself first.
I never looked back. Somehow, it changed something in my mind. It changed my level of confidence. And
it must have changed my focus or maybe where I put the urgency in my business because when I started
paying myself first, I never had to pay my stuff late again. Now, the next stage that I took this
to, I decided to pay myself and a set aside profit first before I paid my expenses, before I paid my
team. Now, this was all an advanced budget. I knew how much money I needed to pay myself. I knew how
much money I wanted to set aside in savings. And then the pressure was on to be able to cover the
expenses and to cover my team. And the very moment I did that, my finances went through
the roof. As I think about it, paying my staff is really important. And covering my expenses,
that's also really important. But I guess I wasn't very important. And I guess putting money in
savings wasn't important. I just put that off and kind of hoped that there'd be enough left over for
that. But when I made myself a priority and I made putting money in savings which gave me stability,
I put that as a priority, everything seemed to fall into place because then I was able to upgrade
my filming equipment, I was able to buy a new studio house and I've got more money
in savings than I ever have before. So, where am I today? Well, I do feel that I've changed
those 5 habits. But I've got a lot more that I'm still working on. I mean for one,
I feel really blessed. I'm still trying to get used to being a 7-figure earner. It's kind of
an uncomfortable space for me. And the reality is I'm still in overwhelm quite a lot. I mean,
I've got a team of 30 people helping me and I still find myself working 50 to 60 hours a week.
And it's quite exhausting. So, the biggest goal that I have moving forward now is still trying
to provide a better experience for my clients and get them better results while at the same time,
I'd love to reduce my workload down to about 20 hours per week. Hopefully, those experiences
that I shared were helpful for you. And there's another video that I think you'll really value
next. I'll link to it over here. It's 5 business ideas you can start from home. Go watch that now.