Factory Installed

Bedros here

I just got back from Las Vegas where Craig Ballantyne and I ran our Fitness Info Mastermind meeting on Friday and Saturday and then rocked Fitness Info Blueprint LIVE workshop on Sunday (then wrapped it all up with a private party for the mastermind members at "The Bank" night club.

I’m gonna do a post later this week about the big take-a-ways from this weekend. But in the mean time here’s a killer guest blog post by my good pal, mastermind member, and all around cool dude Josh Carter.

Hey there, Joshua Carter here…

I am not a “Vegas Guy”.  I don’t drink, smoke or gamble.

So Vegas is not really my kind of town- it does not come “Factory Installed” (more on that in a second) in my genetic code.

I still manage to enjoy  myself while I am there- the shows are amazing, the food is good and the company I keep kicks ass (awesome, successful people from whom I can steal ideas learn from.)

So this past weekend I spent 3 days with some of our industry’s top (and soon to be top) info marketers at the 100K Info Product Mastermind.  I could not have had a better (or more productive time.)

There were some big dogs in attendance including our hosts for the weekend:  “The Man” Bedros Keuilian and Turbulence Training guru Craig Ballantyne.

These two guys each have 7 figure incomes from info marketing alone, so the room hung on every word.

One of the very cool things is both Craig and Bedros utilize very different tactics for online success.  Both are very successful, both just use different methods.  But as the saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat. (Ya know, that is just a gross saying, I mean why would you need to skin a cat? For that matter why would you need multiple methods to skin the aforementioned cat? Yuck.  But I digest…)

Another guy who exemplifies that there is more than one way for online success was guest speaker Paul Redick. He actually does hardly any of the stuff that many info marketers consider “must do strategies”  yet his income: 7 figures plus.

Paul is a baseball guy.  His market is baseball players and more specifically he markets to pitchers.  His most basic product / service addresses a specific problem that all pitchers have (FYI any good product either solves a problem or prevents one, stick that in your pocket for later).  You see every pitcher wants to throw faster.  What does a pitcher who throws 105 mph fast ball want?  To throw 106.

Enter Paul Redick.

I’ll be honest and say I had never heard of him which is in a way good because I am not a baseball player or pitcher and if I had seen his ads then his ad words targeting would really suck.

While his whole presentation was really strong and got me thinking (not an easy thing to do) one point he made was echoed throughout the entire weekend.  Play to your strengths, or in his words do what is “Factory Installed”.

We all have a set of skills that can be considered ‘”factory installed” and ones that are not.  I have some very awesome factory installed talents that make me successful in my business:

• I am a tech geek and good photographer (click here for more pix from the weekend)
• I’m insanely good at selling training, both in person and online
• I can write compelling sales copy that absolutely kicks ass
• I am hysterically funny
• I’m pretty damn smart and a fast learner

And that is just the short list of my awesomeness.

But there is another list that is decidedly un-awesome that holds me back in my business:

• I am lazy
• I am an unorganized mess / not detail oriented
• I can’t spell for crap
• I have a VERY short attention span (what was I talking about again?)
• I procrastinate like a mo fo

And that too is just the short list.

But based on this information I can make some intelligent decisions on the best use of my time.  For instance,  one of the many great tips we learned this weekend is that we should study sales copy by some of the greats like Dan Kennedy to become better copy writers.

Bedros said to really learn good sales copy we should get a piece of paper and copy down one of Dan’s sales pages by hand.  BY HAND for crapsake.

Thanks, I’ll pass.

That is not how I learn.

That is how I get pissed – and fast.

So writing out a sales page by hand would not be a factory installed task that I should even attempt.  My handwriting sucks and I am painfully slow when writing by hand. But for some people that might be a great use of their time and teach them the ins and outs of sales copy, but for me not so much.  Any lessons learned about copywriting would be lost in the infernal fires of frustration and contempt.

That is why it is imperative that we stick to what we are good at – play to our strengths and outsource the rest.  We must discover what is factory installed.

Here is an exercise that you should do that will help you not only figure out what is factory installed, but will make you more productive and most likely more profitable.  Bedros calls this figuring out your 5%.

You see you should be doing about 5% of the total tasks in your business, and the other 95% should be outsourced.

Here’s how you figure out your 5%:  Make a list of everything that is done in your business. From buying paper towels to emailing to training clients to cleaning the toilets –everything. (You can even keep a running tally over 7 days to make sure you get EVERYTHING)

Now put an “X” next to the thing ONLY YOU can do.  For me that would be writing emails, creating programs, creating blog posts, figuring out promotions, going to Vegas for masterminds etc.  These are thing that ONLY I can do. The rest can be outsourced (mark these with an “O”.)

• I do not train clients (unless I want to)
• I do not do my bookkeeping or pay my bills (tried it once, big mistake)
• I do not clean the toilets (tried it once, got complaints)
• I do not handle billing my clients

Those things are not in my 5% and are not factory installed. As a matter of fact with the exception of the first one I suck at all of them. So why should I spend ANY of my time doing those things?

Answer:  I shouldn’t (and neither should you.)

One funny analogy that Paul brought up was actually a joke by Chris Rock.  In one of his bits Chris tells the story of how that tiger attacked Roy of Siegfried & Roy a while back (that part of the story is not all that funny, especially to Roy).  Chris says that everyone talks about how that the tiger went crazy.  Then he corrects them:  That tiger didn’t go crazy.  That tiger went tiger. (much funnier went told by Paul with his Chris Rock impression.)

But he (Chris and Paul for that matter) has a point: The tiger was just being a tiger.  You should be a tiger too, as frequently as possible.

Figure out what is factory installed.  Figure out your 5% and outsource the rest. Play to your strengths and your success is guaranteed.

Be a tiger.

Roar!

PS:  One of my Factory Installed Super Strengths- my complete and total domination of Facebook (the tech geek in me stumbled upon the secret to BOATLOADS of cheap and qualified leads).

You will definitely want this to be in your 5% (if you want 7-9 new clients per day that is.)

Bedros talked me into giving away my Fitness Facebook Funnel for HALF OFF (to his readers only) – but only for the next 48 hours. This is the only system designed especially for trainers and guaranteed to deliver qualified client leads to your email inbox.

Click HERE===>>> YES!, I want 7-9 new leads per day for HALF OFF

 

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