Virtual Assistant Expert Joe Rare is a serial entrepreneur, marketing strategist, business coach, and venue owner/partner. To this date, he owns four digital companies, a wedding venue, an association for event venues and invests in real estate.

His first business was a door-to-door product sales company that grew from 2 to 40 employees in 19 months, then he sold it after 27 months.

His passion for sales never dimmed, but he discovered what his life’s work would be - building digital businesses. The road was never easy for him.

The first digital agency he built and the succeeding ones didn’t make it, but he was then able to successfully win the race of having multiple 7-figure a year businesses.

How The Dots Joined Up For Joe

Since then, his businesses have been generating a continuous and substantial flow of income and he focuses on helping small- to medium-sized businesses around the world, while working from the comfort of his home in Montana and enjoying the presence of his wife and two girls.

All of his companies are fully being run by his virtual assistants:

Now that is the key element to the story which is so fascinating. He has managed to separate himself from the day to day running of the business by hiring virtual assistants?

So how did he manage to find the right ones that he could trust and didn't have to micro manage?

And where do the ideas come from that gets him excited and ready to build?

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Joe Rare

Chester Santos is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

He is better known as the International Man Of Memory, but you we know him as a memory expert and motivational speaker best known for winning the USA Memory Championship.

With his unparalleled ability to not only demonstrate extraordinary feats of the mind, but also educate others to do the same, this U.S. Memory Champion is widely regarded to be the world’s leading memory skills expert.

Through his entertaining and educational television appearances, professional seminars, and renowned presentations, Chester has helped millions of people around the world to realize the benefits of improved memory and a sharper mind.

He is also highly sought-after by the media for his exceptional skills and expertise. CNN, ABC, PBS, NBC, CBS, and the Science Channel have all featured Chester and his memory building tips for viewers.

Lisa Song Sutton is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots business podcast. She is an entrepreneur, real estate investor and former Miss Nevada.

She started her business career working in a top Las Vegas law firm and then went on to create multiple companies of her own.  Lisa started her first business, Sin City Cupcakes in 2012. Today it is an iconic Las Vegas treat that delights tens of thousands of locals and visitors each year. 

Lisa is a highly successful entrepreneur and also co-founder of Ship Las Vegas, Elite Homes - Christie’s International Real Estate. As well as Liquid & Lace swimwear. ​

In addition to her work as a successful entrepreneur and real estate investor, Lisa is highly sought after as a speaker, coach and expert in the business world.

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success.

Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life. Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be.

In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all. You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will. Its down to you. Ready?

In todays episode of Join Up Dots we reflect back on the last seven years of struggle, success and achievement.

The reason for this reflection is quite simply 30th April 2021 is the seventh birthday of the launch of Join Up Dots.

Throughout those years many things have occurred, some amazing, some terrible and some truly terrible.

But did we learn anything from this period of online meandering?

Did we discover anything that we can bring onto the show to help others in their own journeys?

Well of course we did as that is what we are all about on Join Up Dots.

Noa Shaw is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots Podcast Now 14 years sober, Noa Shaw has truly turned his life around.

One things for sure his life hasn't been easy, with a drugs and alcohol dependency taking grip at an early age.

Throughout his teens and the majority of his adult life his daily routine revolved around selling or taking drugs.

But eight years ago his life took a turn for the better when he wandered into a SoulCycle studio that was just opening up in Los Angeles.

SoulCycle is a fitness company that is the gold standard in cycling workouts.

After his first workout, he was hooked. How The Dots Joined Up For Noa For three months, he attended every day – sometimes two workouts per day.

He lost 100 pounds and got himself into shape both physically and mentally. The team at SoulCycle saw something in Noa and they invited him to audition as a fitness instructor.

Now at 57 years old, he is the oldest SoulCycle instructor on the planet. And here in New York City, Noa has built a dedicated following of riders that are inspired by him on a regular basis.

Today, he’s one of Soul Cycle’s most popular instructors and teaches sold-out classes in NYC multiple times a week.

As a certified life coach, he guides his clients to become better versions of themselves by helping them identify and understand their purpose in order to achieve what they want in life.

But it took many twists, turns, and trips to rehab for Noa to discover his calling: to help and be of service to others.

In caring for others, Noa found healing for himself. So does everyone have the opportunity to find something that works for them, or does life need to say "Ok now its your turn to make it work"

And where does he see the biggest issues with making a difference to other people.

Their mindset or who they surround themselves with? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Noa Shaw.

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success. Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life. Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be.

Alex Caragiannides is our guest today, on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.

This is a man whose has overcome many obstacles on the way to where he is today. He first came to America as an immigrant and grew up in a North Side Greek community in Chicago.

Alex learned early on that if you work hard and make yourself invaluable to others, you’ll never go hungry. This spirit continues to drive Alex’s work ethic to this day!

However as the majority of people realise, it is great to understand you need to make yourself invaluable but where do you position yourself?

Success is something that most people are craving in their lives, but few realise that they have it already.

Why is it that we can sit at our pc's starting at our tablets, and grabbing a Starbucks and not consider that for most people across the world we have won the lottery?

In todays episode of Join Up Dots we break down one mans email, who clearly feels a failure but actually has success all around him.

Now its time for us all to feel the same way.

Susan Fennema is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

Susan is the Chaos Eradicating Officer (CEO) of Beyond the Chaos, a consultancy helping small business owners to simplify their operations and manage their projects so they can grow their businesses and get their lives back.

With 30+ years of operations/project management experience in professional service industries, Susan is on a mission to improve American society exponentially.

When not making multi-course dinners, she enjoys Texas A&M football games and Blackhawks hockey. She lives and works from her home in McKinney, Texas, with her husband, dog, and cat. But how did she create a life that seems like everything is in place and functioning like a well oiled machine? 

What Are The Benefits Of Drinking Water?

Look we get it. We all know the benefits of drinking water, at least we should do. 

From grass, to plants, to our beloved pets to, well everything - it all needs water to flourish, grow and become healthy. So why as humans do we struggle with bringing potentially the easiest health hack into our lives everyday?

The answer is simple, water is a bit boring and lacks taste. Coco-Cola, coffee, wine, tea, juices will always win the day against a cool glass of water straight from the tap

Benefits Of Drinking Water In The Morning

Your body has been starved off liquid throughout the night, as you slept with your mouth wide open.

Your mouth will feel dry when you awake, but actually your whole body is crying out for a glass of refreshing water.

So lets kick start your day with reaching out to the pint of water that you took to bed the night before and glugging it down before you switch on the kettle.

Leaving a glass of water by the side of your bed overnight is a brilliant way of  getting a glass of watery oxygen into your body straight away.

Your water will be full of little bubbles that it has collected during the night - oxygen!

So dont miss out on this quick win to your health as its the easiest thing to do, and will get you focused on benefits of drinking water straight away.

What Does Drinking Water Do To Your Body?

I guess its more to say what doesn't drinking water do to you body?

From alleviating constipation by making your poo softer, to making your skin youthful and glowing the wins come quick and fast.

If you want better digestion, movement, and look and feel sexier then the following list will surely get you to see the benefits of drinking water. The benefits of drinking water for skin can not be underestimated.

Honestly, if you dont see that your skin becomes clearer and blemish free by comprehensively increasing your water intake i will eat my hat.

And believe me a hat is not my favourite food substance for sure.

carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells

flushing bacteria from your bladder

cushioning joints

Helping digestion

preventing constipation

normalizing blood pressure

stabilizing the heartbeat

maintaining electrolyte (sodium) balance.

protecting organs and tissues 

regulating body temperature

So What Does Drinking Water Do That Is Bad

Nothing....i cant think of anything that is bad for your body .

Yes for a short time you will be popping to the loo a bit more, but this then will pass and you will be back to normal.

Except you will feel better, not eat as much, have more focus and energy and look sexier too. Brilliant!

Introducing Josh Kemp

Josh Kemp is our guest today joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.

He  is a man who quite simply has powered his way through many obstacles that would stop most in their tracks.

As he says "I love creating online courses that teach a specific side hustle and how to make money with it in the shortest amount of time possible!

I am the author of No Degree, No Problem.

Originally I was a Blacksmith / Farrier for 8 years but then had to switch careers after getting kicked by a horse.

I self taught myself how to code and landed a Junior Software Development position 9 months later making $ 70K.

I currently live in Raleigh, North Carolina with my wife, three kids, two goats and a gecko.

Now most interestingly for a show called Join Up Dots, which follows loosely the words or the late Steve Jobs, our guest did a similar thing when it came to getting a college qualification.

How The Dots Joined Up For Josh

He goes on to say "I remember when I was 16 my Mom had me take Business Law classes at the local community college.

My Mom was big on making sure ALL her kids went to college and got a degree.

After barely failing the first class, I decided college wasn't for me, it wasn't until I was 18 that I broke my parents’ hearts and told them I wouldn't be going to college.

Over the years I have had to switch careers and have had over a dozen different side hustles in my life.

My Mom no longer worries about me becoming destitute, l have used the power of side hustles all my life ( except for a 1 year period ) to provide better for myself and family, as well as learn more about what things are a good fit for me."

So does he feel he is still working towards the big thing that will define his life, or is that not important anymore?

And why do people struggle so much to make a living online, when all the clues are already there to follow the success of others?

Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Josh Kemp

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Josh Kemp such as:

How culturally we have lost the ability to get down and dirty and work for a living, even if its an online venture. A dream life doesn't come easily.

Josh shares why you should always go where the money is.  Look for who has it and then decide what you can do for them.

Always look for the problem that can be solved for as many people as possible you can then scale scale scale.

And lastly...........

Josh tells us a great story of a snow blower, inspiration and hustle that almost ended his marriage but became amazing motivation.

Getting bogged down in your business is a common problem that most people have.

Especially at the beginning when you arent making any money and you are doing it all yourself.

In todays episode of Join Up Dots we look at five ways that you can seperate yourself from THE business and instead start looking at what more ON the business time and time again.

Ready to start building success?

Tristan Bond is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots business podcast.

He is an entrepreneur, business owner, consultant and marketing specialist, who began his career as a physiotherapist. From the outside looking in, he had a really profitable physiotherapy business.

As he says "On paper things looked great and i was making more money than ever. I was getting really strong growth in my business....but I was doing it all the wrong way. That's when my life came crashing down around me. I had lost myself in the process of building my business.

I was miserable, i was burnout. I worked insane hours and i couldn't sleep. I was fuelled by caffeine and my business was always on my mind.

How The Dots Joined Up For Tristan

When he realised he had an issue, he started to see that business owners everywhere were struggling to keep up with their workload, chaos and poor cash flow too.

And through that process of redefining his business and building The Practice Acceleration Method, various business owners started asking for his advice on how to be successful.

What he found was many companies were missing the following: 1) Lead generation – bringing in new customers 2) Conversion and retention – convert a lead to a sale 3) Management and leadership And that is the perfect place to start todays episode of Join Up Dots. So its easy enough to realise that you have an issue and totally different to do something about it. So what was the first step that he took to tackle those three headline grabbing business issues? And how did he feel when his overworked dad feel ill whilst he was talking to him, knowing that he was on the same track? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Tristan Bond. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weight subjects with Tristan Bond such as:......... We talk openly about the emotional rollercoaster that starting a business Why thinking that the process of building our own business often has unreasonable expectations right from the very first start. Why the marketing message should be polarising to keep someone thinking about you, even if they dont always agree with you. and lastly....... Tristan shares his belief that working from home needs a fixed structure in place right from the start to prevent the feeling of isolatio

Design Hill Founder Rahul Aggarwal is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

He was recognised and awarded as the Rising Entrepreneur of the year 2019 and Entrepreneur 35 under 35 in 2020 Since 2013. he founded Designhill.com, which is an online custom design marketplace that allows businesses to source high quality graphic designs at affordable prices.

Currently the website has 23500 registered designers from around the globe. What it means in a nutshell is instead of going to freelance sites, or low quality outputs like Fiverr you can go where the designers are.

Need a new logo for your business?

How about full rebranding and design of your business?

Todays episode of Join Up Dots is a coaching session brought to you by the lovely listeners of Join Up Dots.

Every week we receive many many emails into the show from people who are struggling with turning their lives around and making a difference to their families and their futures.

In todays show we have grouped a few together based around the theme of overwhelm, stress and lack of motivation.

Lets start with the first question of the day.

Question One

Hi David, thanks for everything you do and speaking to me a few months ago. Well i took your advice and undertook the Freedom Starter course and have started working on a small business in my town, providing small jobs to wives around my town. I am making half my current jobs income from this side hustle, but i am struggling to fit everything into my life, what with family commitments being added into the mix too. I know you spin many different plates so do you have any advice as to how to keep them all spinning?

Your friend and padawan

Buck Mitchell

Question Two

Hi David, long time listener of the show and have a quick question.  I have been following your advice and now I am about to launch my first business. 

I wont say what it is at the moment, but i am pleased and excited with how its going.  My issue is, what should i do next. There seems to be so much that is needed as i can see where its headed. Any suggestions?

Question Three

Hi Join Up Dots, i would love to start my own business, but i already know that i am stressed with everything going on in my life. I also know that not everybody that takes control of their own life is in the perfect place so why am i different? I would love to hear any advice that you can give on the show, keep up the great work.

Janinne, Arkansas

Question Four

Hi David, i lack motivation and find it very hard to get things going in my life and at work. How do you get pumped up ready to go when you dont feel like it? Would love to know. Maz Vinoya, Bucaramanga, Peru

Jyotsna Ramachandran is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

She is a lady who contacted me several years ago and appeared on the show after saying “I think that I should be on your show, because I am flexing the old hustle muscle everyday and doing it on my own terms too”

Well, she didn’t quite say that, but it doesn’t take much more for me to think, this is the kind of guest I want to talk to, so she came on the show.

This is a lady that like most of us got to a point in her life, when she looked at her job, and her personal situation and thought “I never want to be an employee again” Which can be one of the greatest realisations for self development, and the worst.

You have the focus to take your life to where you want to be, but more often than not, you don’t have any idea how to do it. And that is the case with todays guest who then tried out various businesses to find her thing. She started a staff recruitment agency, became a franchisee of a chocolate brand, did freelance web designing, and none really hit the spot.

How The Dots Joined Up For Jyotsna

And interestingly from that point she is has transitioned again and is a now a bestselling author, book publisher, TEDx speaker, and is an international Author Success Coach who helps coaches, trainers, speakers, and experts to build a super-profitable author funnel with the help of their book. She has since the first appearance on the show founded Happy Self Publishing to help overwhelmed, yet purpose-driven authors experience a transformative journey of self-discovery through the process of publishing their book and amplifying their message. So far, Jyotsna has helped over 400 authors from 35 different countries through her global publishing agency, Happy Self Publishing. So is this now the thing that she has been looking for since first starting her entrepreneurial journey? And secondly why is a book such a powerful statement for building authority of  your personal brand? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Jyotsna Ramachandran

Taoism is the focus of todays episode of  the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business coaching podcast.

Now if you haven't heard of Taoism before then this show will be an eye opener for you for sure.

This is a principle that has been taking the world to storm, since first being created in China back around 2000 BC In fact other than the Bible, the Dao De Ching (the basis of the Taoist principles) is the most widely translated book the world has ever seen.

83 short poems that once deciphered can bring about huge changes in your life and your business. These were all brought to us by the founder of Taoism, a gentleman called Lao Tzu who although nobody is really sure if he existed or not has taken credited for this words.

So lets start breaking things down to tie them into a business masterclass that all of us can learn from.

Isha Uppalapati is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

She is an inspirational go getting young lady who not only has the passion to become a top entrepreneur, but also has the desire to drag others along for the ride too.

She is the founder of A Girls Frontier, an organisation founded in 2018, whilst a senior at Walton High School in Atlanta, GA. She started A Girl’s Frontier to provide opportunities for young girls all over Metro Atlanta and the whole world

As she says proudly "No matter where they may be, our organization makes sure that we can provide them with the necessary support for them to achieve their goals in life. Our programs focus on education, mentorship, and outreach.

The goal of our non-profit organization in Atlanta, Georgia, is to empower young girls by helping them financially through their education, as well as teaching them important entrepreneurial skills.

We want girls to know that they can be leaders in the business world, regardless of the challenges in their way."

How The Dots Joined Up For Isha

Now this isn't something that just occurred over night as her entrepreneurial story started almost at the start of her life due to the loving support of her dad.

She says "Ever since I was young, my dad and I would brainstorm different tools that we could produce. We tried to create little trinkets that would make life easier. We also wrote small children’s books.

Over time, my desire to create new things has not faded. I want to create something that can create a change.

This is why I want to create opportunities for girls who have similar dreams that I do, but don’t have the support to do it on their own."

So does this dream make it doubly difficult to achieve the success that she quite obviously is going to get? Or in fact does it become easier by surrounding herself with so many similar ladies driven and focused on a bright future? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Isha Uppalapati

Show Highlights

During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Isha Uppalapati Isha shares how her father has started several companies in his life, which was so inspirational to her by his desire to never give up.

We talk openly about the slow progress that all businesses go through right at the very beginning and how to build momentum. and lastly.......

Isha shares her view that the girls of the world are often the diamonds that are ready to be polished.

The Steps To Success Episode 7

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again. It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success.

Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life. Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life.

Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be.

In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all. You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will. Its down to you.

Ready?

Shaa Wasmund is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast.

She is a lady who has built her life around taking action and making things happen.

As she says "I’m an entrepreneur, public speaker and the author of #1 bestselling books ‘Stop Talking, Start Doing’ and ‘Do Less, Get More’. In 2015 I was awarded an MBE for ‘Services to Business and Entrepreneurship’ and was recently named one of the UK’s Top 20 Influential Entrepreneurs by The Sunday Times.

Born in California to an English mother and Italian father, Ms Wasmund and her mother settled permanently in the UK when she was 10.

After winning a scholarship to the prestigious City of London School for Girls, she studied international relations at the London School of Economics. How The Dots Joined Up For Shaa It was while at the LSE that Ms Wasmund, then 21, won a competition to interview Chris Eubank, then a middleweight world champion boxer. Eubank was so impressed with her confidence or "front" that he offered her the job of becoming his assistant.

Ms Wasmund said yes, and so she started her business career in the competitive world of boxing. She  became the only female boxing promoter in the UK, representing World Champion Chris Eubank and working with the infamous Don King before starting my own PR company helping grow the Dyson brand from around Sir James Dyson’s kitchen table.

From that point more and more hustle and success came her way, which isn't a surprise as he also says "I believe that we all have the ability to live the lives we dream of. We just don’t always know how.

The greatest courage is to follow your own path even through the roughest terrain, rather than the path of least resistance. Nothing great is ever created in your comfort zone. I believe it’s OK to not know the answers, to feel stuck and frustrated; it happens to all of us.

What’s not OK is to stay stuck." So when the big punches in the mouth occurred in her business, how did she dust herself down and get back up? And why is her number one piece of business advice "Hire A Cleaner" Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the only and only Shaa Wasmund MBE. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Shaa Wasmund MBE such as We talk about the difficulties that youngsters now deal with from coming from entitlement.  Shaa shares the lucky breaks that she has had in her life, especially in regards to working with the Genius James Dyson. Why a business becomes more and more successful the more you focus on the value you offer others. Its all about giving. and lastly........ Shaa tells us all why we have to visualise what we want in life and why it so important to get those images in my mind to make them happen.

Squircle author Francis Cholle, is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

He is the best-selling author of The Intuitive Compass and challenger of the status quo, he has also launched his new best seller SQUIRCLE to emphasise this thinking. SQUIRCLE offers a revolutionary way of thinking that’s especially relevant to anyone looking for ways to thrive in a climate of crisis.

Cholle delivers a very simple approach to problem-solving, decision-making, and relationships that defies how culture has taught us to think. And SQUIRCLE is now a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon best seller. How The Dots Joined Up For SQUIRCLE As he says "Our culture has taught us that linear, rational thinking is the norm...and look where this got us. We’re in a pandemic with global warming, a recession, and threatening divisions in global politics and economies. We need a better way to think. SQUIRCLE recognizes the importance of our rational minds (SQUARE) while honouring the natural insights from our intuition (CIRCLE) — unlocking our capacity to find creative solutions and adapt to change.

He has has taught and tested the SQUIRCLE model with his international consultant clients for over 15 years. This thinking has brought innovation and improved decision-making globally to over 250,000 people including graduate students from USC, Wharton and HEC, Paris, and corporate leaders at L’Oreal, J. P. Morgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson. So how can we all start today looking at our own squircles to make progress when times are tough? And how did this concept come to him. laying in the bath "eureka time" or simply through trial and error over many years. Well let's find out as we bring her onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Francis Cholle

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Francis Cholle such as:

Why Francis decided to make his home base Los Angeles and the reasons why he never wanted to live on the beach and the ocean. Francis talks openly about his youth and how he always chose things that he enjoyed and would fill him up with passion. We share the principles of Chinese philosophies of tai chi and Taoism and how to bring it into your life and business. and lastly...... Why the words of Steve Jobs spoken at Stamford University plays perfectly into the methodology of squircle.

Todays episode of Join Up Dots will be a solo show answering several business questions that listeners of the show have been sending to us over the last few weeks.

Most of them, that we receive into the Join Up Dots office are in connection with those first fledging moments of building an online business.

It could be that they are unsure of the direction, concept or simply whether they should start.

So with no more further ado The Questions

Hi David, this might be a stupid question but what is the true difference in your view of having and offline and online business. I know one will be cheaper but is there anything else?    Marcel Hadden. Israel

David i have been hearing more and more that blogs are dead. If that is the case how can i start my own online business. I'm not comfortable with showing myself on video or on a podcast. Kind regards and keep rocking Marjorie Triffin, Yorkshire

Hi David and the Join Up Dots team, what makes you keep on doing what you do? Its a simple question but one that I ponder, as so many other podcasters stop it seems. Barnaby Jacks 

Yo David my man, loving the content fella (as you UK dudes say). I'm going to launch my first billion dollar business and want the world to know. You say it on air, and ill make it happen....no retreating its failure beating time. JJ M. Crompton, Los Angeles.

Introducing JT Mccormick

Today's guest is JT Mccormick, who serves as the President and CEO of Scribe Media, a publishing company that helps you write, publish and market your book. The company has worked with more than 1,500 authors and Entrepreneur Magazine recently ranked Scribe as having the #1 Top Company Culture in America. Previously, JT served as the President of Headspring Software, which he helped grow to a multi-million dollar, 100-plus person company that was repeatedly ranked as one of the best places to work in all of Texas.  JT is also the author of I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Achieve the American Dream.

His book tells the story of how he worked his way out of poverty, starting with his career cleaning toilets and eventually becoming the President of multiple companies. In addition to his role at Scribe Media, JT has mentored at-risk youth in the juvenile justice system, as well as youth in low economic communities. JT’s work has been featured on CNBC, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc, and many others. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Megan, and their four children Ava, Jaxon, Elle and Jace. So was it purely down to mindset and commitment that got him to where he is today? And where can we start today, if we have just one chance to move to the next level and change our mindset forever? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only JT Mccormick

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep subjects with JT Mccormick such as: Why you have to define happiness and success for yourself, and when you dont have much you can then define your own success. JT shares how he doesn't believe in work life balance but he does believe in five key pillars that he bases his life around. JT openly discusses how he has created a company culture that is life changing and that is by recognising the true workers before anyone else. And lastly........... We talk about how his father, although in an unusal job became the best at what he did, and was proud to see his son go the same way.

Lisa Cummings is the Clifton Strengths Finder Strength Coach, who 100% believes that it's a lot better to become great at what you are good at and leave behind the poor stuff.

She has built an amazing coaching business all around the work done by Gallup as we discovered the last time she appeared on the show back on episode 510 .

As she says "I sometimes call myself the Chief Strengths Sleuth because I spend my days uncovering hidden talents on your teams. Remember that song "It's Your Thing" by the Isley Brothers?

I use those lyrics like a spotlight glass to amplify people's differentiators. It's how I help you and your team figure out "your thang" so you can be more productive at work. Starting her career as a Sales Executive for Business To Business back in 1998, it appears that the path best trodden for her actually started when moving into staff development.

Like myself she has spent most of her working life, building the strengths of individuals in corporations to make better, higher functioning teams. Getting people to feel inspired by the working day instead of dreading that ringing sound by the side of the bed. How The Dots Joined Up For Lisa But what interests me is what personally was driving her back in the day.

As with a career strewn with employment lasting a couple of years at each time, it is clear to me that her ambition, was equally matched with a desire to find her thing too. And now as a podcaster herself, or as she calls herself the Chief Strengths Sleuth: Host of the “Lead Through Strengths”​ Podcast: she helps people find and leverage their strengths at work. Complimenting her workshops, keynote speaking and by performing a role of StrengthsFinder Performance Coach, which as you know is a publication that I have recommended many times on the show she is busier than ever..

So what is it about keynote strengths that lit her up inside and made her want to build a business around it? And with all the issues that the world has seen in the last year, has she found more personal strengths that she didn't have. So lets bring her onto the show to start joining up even more dots with the one and only Lisa Cummings

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Lisa Cummings such as: How Lisa and I both share how we both went through the dark times of entrepreneurship and the steps we took to climb back into the light.

Why you should only do the things that fill you up with energy and not depletes you.

and lastly......

Why your strengths can be so powerful in every area, but can also be used for evil and work against you if you are not careful.

Happiness Expert Becky Morrison is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

She is a UC Berkeley Certified Executive Coach with a passion for helping people live happy, priority-aligned lives.

After a successful career in financial services, as a litigator and then in law firm administration, managing several hundred attorneys and staff at one of the country’s premier litigation firms, she was looking for a new challenge and transitioned to a small investment firm where she was COO.

This transition helped her recognize that her true passion was people, she started her own coaching practice. Now through this process as she says "Many entrepreneurs and business leaders struggle to find happiness whilst balancing work and life.

My advice is simple, “Do more of what matters and let go of the rest”, but of course it isn’t that easy to implement. I love to share my formula that has helped many high potential leaders overcome their happiness gaps.

The formula consists of understanding what truly matters, believing that you deserve to be happy, introducing new and healthy habits and being diligent when saying no to those distractions, pulling you away from true happiness.  So is it possible to find true happiness and of course maintain it, or is contentment a better aim to have?

And when she started her own business was it instant happiness or like most of us, it took a while to find the smile?

So lets bring him onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Becky Morrison Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Becky Morrison such as: Why happiness is not being up all the time, but it is being aware of the emotions that you are feeling at that time.

Why everybody should focus more on their to dont list, instead of going for the to do list every single time. 

How to reframe things to find the positives in your life even if its something like paying bills and taxes. and lastly......

Why knowing and understanding the seasons of life and business and being aware of the changes will happen.

Making Things Harder Than They Need To Be seems to be a problem in todays day and age.

It should be be the case for sure, as we have more and more devices and instruments to make things much simpler.

But is this true?

By being given things that should be the answer to all our problems, are we actually losing ourselves in the weeds?

Well in todays episode of Join Up Dots, we are going to ask the question Are We Making Things Harder Than They Need To Be" in our businesses and life.

And best of all what we can do about it.

The Steps To Success Episode 6

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success. Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life. Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be. In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all.

You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will. Its down to you.

Ready?

Sales Coaching Expert Diane Helbig is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

Last joining us in the first year of Join Up Dots on episode 304, 1700 shows ago. She could have been taken straight from that classic movie “Dead Poets Society” as her mantra in life and her company name is “Seize This Day” “Carpe Diem” is the way forward if you want to have a kick ass life, both personally and professionally.

And our guest has demonstrated that everyday as after a successful 20 years in sales and business development she took the experience that she has gained and took the leap of faith. In early 2006, she launched her coaching practice where she helps individuals and small business to see the opportunities all around them, and bound over the obstacles that they may see as game stoppers. In her book, Lemonade Stand Selling, she offers a straightforward, common sense and clear guide to the sales process.

She reminds her readers that selling is as easy as when you had that lemonade stand as a child. So if selling is so easy who do people struggle so badly, especially when building an online business. And is there one thing that people can do straight away to simplify the process and start seeing rewards? So lets bring him onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Diane Helbig

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Diane Helbig such as:

We link the dating process to the sales process and learn how to get past the big no's

How Donald Trump managed to get himself to the top by knowing his followers and market first and foremost.

Diane shares why she feels that most business owners have to go through different versions of themselves to find success.

and lastly......

Why Matthew McConaughey is the perfect example to study for real sales coaching success.

Mindset Expert Christopher Dedeyan joins us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business coaching podcast today.

He is a public speaker, entrepreneur and energy boosting productivity guy which wasn't the case just a few years ago. Diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of eight, he was faced with many failures along the way.

Because of his relentless attitude of never giving up, the failures taught him how to succeed. He attributes a huge part of his success as an entrepreneur to the lessons he learned growing up in the schooling system as a dyslexic. Stepping away from school he then developed his entrepreneurial skills and communication skills during the five years he built and ran his real estate brokerage company.

During that time, Christopher noticed that he could help his colleagues with self-development by incorporating new rituals and habits in their lives that help them not only in their business but in their personal lives as well.

How The Dots Joined Up For Christopher

As he says "If you’re living the feast or famine lifestyle and you’re always stressed about money, you need to get off that rollercoaster fast. The lack of structure in your business and unorganized agenda is not only the culprit, but also a symptom of an even greater problem that you must first address, before the rest of these puzzle pieces can fall into place. But what can you do about this? The answer lies in mindfulness about everything you do.

The way you do anything is the way you do EVERYTHING. So, starting with the details of how you wake up, how you fuel yourself, and the intentional actions you bring to your daily routine, you can begin to perform at peak levels. While most driven entrepreneurs want to skip all the work involved with the details, if you look closely you’ll see that the most successful sales professionals are diligent about consistently following systems that drive results.

So as the old song says "its not what you do, its the way that you do it and that's what gets results" SO what is the main mistake that people have when building their businesses, focusing in on everything except the money making activities?

And what would he do differently if he could back and change one or two of the dots that have lead him to where he is today. So lets bring him onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mindset Expert Mr Christopher Dedeyan

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success.

Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life.

Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be. In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all.

You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will.

Its down to you. Ready?

Finding meaning in life is the undercurrent for todays episode of Join Up Dots business podcast.

We will be answering some questions from listeners across the world who have dropped us a line asking for help in their businesses and life.

One thing for sure is nobody can get success in their lives if they do not focus in on personal and business balance.

Now we aren't talking about the classic work life balance myth, whereby everything sits in a neat little area and doesn't over power anything else.

No, believe me when I say that work life balance is a complete myth as at its core it doesn't make sense.

We have one life and have to lead it in a way that by the end of the day everything that we wanted to achieve gets done.

Business is just part of our life, so how can we separate it and make it seem like its something separate - it's own entity.

We cant and its madness.

But what we can do is say that we are going to look after ourselves, physically, spiritually and mentally before we ever start tackling the income production side of things.

But before that lets start looking at some of the questions that we have received this week from listeners and do our best to give them the depth that they need.

And of course you can listen to the show for all the reasons.

Perry Marshall is my guest today for the second time, on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.

He is an a man who Entrepreneur Magazine states, “This guy is the #1 author and world’s most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising.

But that was years ago, one thing for sure is Perry loves nothing more than to tackle new projects and author new books. In fact the last time he was on the show he was discussing the works of Charles Darwin and how they also applied to business. His newest book, Detox, Declutter, Dominate: How to Excel by Elimination (co-authored with Robert Skrob) reveals how readers can grow their business 4X faster by eliminating 80% of wasted effort. 

Step 1: Use renaissance time to gain discernment and clarity. Perry shares how to establish mindfulness habits to maximize your creative and productive space

Step 2: Make your business 2x more profitable with 80/20 focus. How to stop “jumping over dollars to get the quarters” and optimize your efficiency!

Step 3: Managing your time is all about subtraction, not doing more! Step 3 teaches you how to Earn $1,000 per hour at least one hour per day with 80/20 time.

Step 4: Create an irresistible product that’s easy to use by simplifying. Learn how to keep it simple for the customer in order to create a product that is valuable and not easily replicable.

Step 5: You’re not doing yourself any favors by trying to be cheaper and better in a saturated market. The Star Principle reveals why 80% of the profit comes from 20% of companies in the stock market. Use the Star Principle to carve out a niche where you’re number one!

Step 6: Build an impenetrable moat around your business. Perry shares sure-fire ways to insulate your business from competition.

Step 7: There are two kinds of entrepreneurs: business builders and artistic entrepreneurs. If you’re an artist but work like a business builder, you will burn out your inner artist. Freedom is a lifestyle choice, and step 7 will show you how to enjoy the freedom to create and reinvent every single day.

So how can someone starting in business today bring such clarity into their business and life, when most people simply makes things up as they go a long.

And out of the Seven steps, which was the one that he actually thought "you know I could actually be a little bit better at this one myself"

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Perry Marshall.

Why have we all stopped laughing nowadays? You may say we haven't, but i look around the world and I dont see an awful lot of people throwing their heads back and screaming with laughter.

Do you know when a baby comes into the world, very quickly it will start giggling.

They estimate that will be somewhere around 300 times a day. By the time that baby has grown to 13 it will laugh around 50 times a day, and then the shocking fact.

A thirty year old will only laugh around 3 times per day if that. In todays episode we try to discover why that is, and most importantly what we can do about it.

Brian Gregory is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast interview.

He is the Founder and CEO of ADMANITY.com and creator of the breakthrough algorithm behind The ADMANITY Protocol. ADMANITY® is the first company to create an online test and predictive emotional algorithm to determine the best emotional advertising strategy for any business - in any niche.

The 5-minute, simple ADMANITY® Test isolates one of 15 emotional archetypes best suited for the business. The ADMANITY® Protocol is the only algorithm that can identify a company’s emotional archetype and then identify the advertising strategies, tactics, formulas - even copywriting tactics.

It gives agency-level recommendations that the brand can use for years to come. How The Dots Joined Up For Brian As they say "ADMANITY's mission is to support and grow small businesses by helping them better understand how and why advertising works for their particular brand.

The knowledge they will gain from our product will result in the business gaining greater success. Most business owners, managers, and even those responsible for communication outreach do not understand advertising other than on a basic level. They are simply too busy to learn it, go to school, or become experts. Most fail miserably at creating messaging and advertising. Only the largest or more successful companies or those with the financial ability to invest can afford professional agency help. The other 98% simply do without proper guidance or the knowledge to implement their outreach effort, and they struggle.

This equates to a market of approximately 30 million small businesses in the U.S." Brian is a former 20-year owner/publisher of large, citywide magazines in the Phoenix market as well as an expert in direct selling. In addition to creating ADMANITY’s algorithm for The ADMANITY® Protocol and its testing platform, he has written over 2,000 pages of ADMANITY® curriculum and training materials as well as being the author of the book Sheep Don’t Eat Complicated Grass! Brian is considered an expert on the topic of emotional marketing and advertising tactics and is a skilled, entertaining public speaker.

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Brian Gregory. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Brian Gregory such as: Why Brian loves the statements that prove all branding is showing the true strength of storytelling. Why Brian finds the minutia of what we think our brand is to be truly fascinating and more often wrong. and lastly…. Brian shares the principles of sales and explains why everything works faster when you bring emotional aspects into things.

Todays show is a coaching based episode whereby David Ralph, the host of Join Up Dots, and founder of Dream Starters Academy Coaching answers listeners questions directly. He will also spend time reflecting on what occured in his show in 2016, and his plans going forward, This is a no holds bared version of the show, that will cover the following subjects sent in by listeners of Join Up Dots I am hearing a lot of people talking about sales funnels. Do you think that this is ethical or not David, and also what do you prefer for creating Sales Funnels? - Isabel Grazzi New York Hi David, i a have a huge problem that i struggle with all the time. I am a constant worrier and its making me ill. You dont seem to have a worry or care in the world. Any tips that you can share with me as I would like to be more like you - Jamelia Branch, Liverpool I am thinking of doing a podcast do you think I should do an interview show or solo, as i have deliberated over this for a year now. I see that you do mostly interviews but have started this coaching shows (which are super useful thank you) - Lin Pai, Phillipines My colleague started a business that failed after six months. He now wants to do another one with me helping him this time. Do you think that this is wise after his initial failure? - Ray Coulter.....Australia I have heard you talk about providing value first and foremost, but how do I do this? I dont have anything to offer anyone who might be able to help me - Claire Edmonds What music do you like most David? - Leah Bowls, Jackson Country Florida If you want to get your question answered on the show then simply drop us a line to: Email: joinupdots@gmail.com Facebook 

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again. It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success. Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life. Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life. Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be. In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all. You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will. Its down to you. Ready? Excuses Situations Perfect Conditions.

Fabienne Raphael is our guest today, on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview. And that isn't the first time that I have muttered these words over the last eight years as last appeared back in 2017. What can we tell you about her, well this a lady who has been creating her success from the ground up in amazing effect. Starting her journey around the same time that Join Up Dots launched, she has been out there every day, hustling, upskilling and sharing her talents with the world She was the last time we spoke to hers the President & CEO of Marketing to Crush Your Competitors, also an Online Business Strategist, Professional Speaker, Author and Podcaster. She works with entrepreneurs, coaches and start-up's to build their online platform so they can be seen as an authority, connect with influencers and cash in on their knowledge. She has published 3 books (one a best seller!), been featured on Forbes and The Huffington Post. How The Dots Joined Up For Fabienne As a former elite athlete, including playing in the PanAm games, and a former physiotherapist helping her clients get to their optimum health, she is a genius at mapping out a strategic path to victory. But to be honest, you can throw all the big words in the world in her direction and it will never show the simple fact, that she cares. She cares about her business. She cares massively about her clients. She cares about making the most of each day. And that is part of what we will talk about today....loving something so much that your bring into the world something that you couldn't imagine at the beginning So is her business where it is because of the struggles she has overcome or the successes that came easily? And what is the biggest issue that her clients bring to her, stopping them from achieving the same success? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Fabienne Raphael

The backwards Law is a very interesting concept brought to the world by the late philosopher Allan Watts. Now you may not have heard of the backwards law, but in its simplest form its a focus on what we haven't got in our lives which brings more of the same into our lives. You see we all have positions where we would like to move to something better and so focus in what we need to do to get that thing. You can call this goal setting, ambition, dream chasing.....whatever you wish to call it. Which is all totally acceptable as this is what humans do in life and should be encouraged by all means. However, when we carry a sense of unhappiness with ourselves whilst working towards the goal we get rooted to the spot and lose track of what we need to be doing. Allan Watts, the late modern philosopher described this feeling of staying where we are when he made his famous backwards law speech. Allan Watts The Backwards Law The modern philosopher Alan Watts referred to this as “the backwards law” which is “the idea that the more you pursue feeling better all the time, the less satisfied you become, as pursuing something only reinforces the fact that you lack it in the first place. As he says "The more you desperately want to be rich, the more poor and unworthy you feel, regardless of how much money you actually make. The more desperately you want to be sexy and desired, the uglier you come to see yourself, regardless of your actual physical appearance. The more you desperately want to be happy and loved, the lonelier and more afraid you become, regardless of those who surround you.”  Its a fine line to walk at the best of times. What he is saying is "be grateful for what you already have, but also feel free to want more" which of course goes against many of the rules set in todays self-development age. Be better, be slimmer, be more focused, be more, be more, be more. Im not personally sure that its a path that i can walk all the time, as the backwards law i'm sure will hold me back from my goals. Do You Feel You Are In A World Of Lacking? If you do feel that more often than not the world is dealing you a bad set of cards then perhaps a change of outlook is required. Perhaps you are operating 100% within the rules of the backwards law and focusing in on the wrong things. Its funny when you think that life is giving you everything you need but you are missing it as you are looking the wrong way. And the right way isnt where you think you should be looking at all. The right way is always within yourself and accepting the gifts that you already have in your life. Thats the backwards law for you in its backwards glory.....you already have what you need and truly require. So now its time to accept and build from that point.

Rana Vig is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast interview.

Rana is a seasoned entrepreneurial professional with five successful start-ups in different verticals and a diverse 35-year business career under his belt.

Having transitioned to the capital markets in 2010, Rana took two companies public, and these were the biggest Canadian venture deals of 2018. Curaleaf raised $520 million and was a near billion reverse takeover (RTO).

While Harvest Health and Recreation was yet another impressive billion RTO. But our guest wasnt just going to sit back and rest on his laurels. How The Dots Joined Up For Rana Instead he started digging into the trends and started searching for a new market, which for many was seemed as old hat.

Gold and mining came to the fore and Rana also took Blue Lagoon Resources, the gold-focused company of which he is the current CEO and which had one of the top-performing stocks for 2019, public in the following year.

Outside of business, Rana is a well-known philanthropist and in November 2017, the Canadian Senate invited him to receive the Senate 150th Anniversary Medal for those who make their communities a better place to live through generosity and dedication.

So why do so many businesses fail in the first five years of creation in his view? And looking back over his years is it obvious why he has built success, or is it simply being in the right place at the right time? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Rana Vig. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Rana Vig such as: Why the biggest mistake all businesses make is being focused on creating income instead of looking for the biggest problem that they can solve.

We reveal the truth behind the statement "Amateurs invent, whilst professionals steal" which can save you years of effort and expense. Rana shares his belief that most people spend more time trying to improve their weaknesses than simply focusing in on their strengths. and lastly…. How the most powerful computer the world has ever seen was built by something more powerful and underused.

Sometimes Pain Occurs In Life

There is no doubt in life that sometimes things wont go your way no matter how hard you have worked.

You might have decided you wanted something, or i guess been promised something and at the last minute it gets taken away from you. Guess what? That's life, and within the circle of life there are only two certainty's for sure.: Death and Taxes Away from those no one can control how life is going to be and what will happen to us.

What an adventure eh?

Just imagine climbing out of bed and knowing like Indiana Jones setting out on a mission, you are up against it from the very start. Punches will be thrown in your direction without notice, and its your job to take a few on the chin and then fight back to keep on going. Traps will be set, that like exploding death traps will force you to leap out of their way with a smile as you once again keep moving forward. You are the hero of your own life, and everyday gives you the opportunity to write your own story of excitement and daring do. Why Do We Think We Can Control Things? This is a very good question and one that humans have struggled with since the beginning of time. How can we make our environments as controlled as possible, so we dont feel any discomfort? Yes we can add central heating to a stony and cold house to make the winter nights more bearable. Yes, we can buy air conditioning units to chill the hottest of summer days. But these are all ways that we control environment and not life. Time cant be controlled and will forever be lost and never gained again. Family and loved ones will come and go, leaving us with broken hearts and fond memories of happy times. But in the great scheme of things we cant do anything other than go for the ride Sometimes You Have To Take It Up The Bum In todays podcast episode your hose David Ralph, shares a painful experience that he had and looks for the positives to change it in his heart and head. He wants to take the phrase of Sometimes You Have To Take It Up The Bum, and convert it into "ok, you might have to, but it doesnt have to be too painful. If you have had similar experiences and struggled with things that are occurring in your life then drop us a line at joinupdots@gmail.com We are here to help.

In todays episode of Join Up Dots we reveal two brand new businesses that have launched this week.

Why are we doing this?

Well quite simply nowdays you can almost have too many opportunities which can paralyse you before you ever get anything done and out to the world.

In todays show we share a new business from a guy called Brian, and then another one by a buy called David who you might have heard off?

Jeffrey Madoff is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is the founder of Madoff Productions, based in New York City and is considered a storyteller and incisive interviewer. Now you may think that is a strange couple of facts to just throw into the introduction, but there is a reason for mentioning them. He has used those talents to help position major brands such as Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, Radio City Music Hall, and the Harvard School for Public Health. But this is just a fraction of the dots that have joined up to where he is today. Jeff began his career as a fashion designer. He was chosen one of the top 10 designers in the U.S. then switched careers to film and video production. He has since expanded his reach to include teaching, book and playwriting, and theatrical producing. How The Dots Joined Up For Jeffrey  Now the reason we wanted to have him on the show was to share his passion for teaching people how to make a living with their ideas. He believes that most of us have it in us to really change our futures and shine a light on ourselves simply by having more faith in our ideas. As he says “Most of us have had the feeling of ‘I could’ve done that,’ whether at an art gallery, watching a performance, or finding a new product or even a new business idea. What’s the difference between you and them? They actually did it. You didn’t.” With his new book "Creative Careers, you will learn how to do it, too: use your creativity; have a sustainable, profitable career; and do what you love. Creative Careers pulls from interviews with more than forty experts–notable entrepreneurs, artists, and business leaders–as well as from Madoff’s own decades of experience to supercharge your career. Creativity can often feel sporadic and unfocused, coming in bursts and peaks. That’s why Madoff focuses your professional path by asking vital questions that will ultimately help you: Determine your value Be smart about your hustle Ruthlessly edit down your creative projects Overcome fear and doubt Create a successful, long-lasting career on your own terms Well there is a hell of a lot that we can talk about today, so can an idea quite simply be mad, or is everyone worth looking at and digesting? And where does he see the biggest issue with todays entrepreneurs, who seem to have 100% attention deficit when getting the creativity to start flowing? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Jeffrey Madoff

Today’s guest, joining us today on the Join Up Dots entrepreneur podcast interview is Alfie Best, a man who has made a huge success of finding the potential in areas he has knowledge in and then working really hard to make it all come together. He is a successful entrepreneur driven by tenacity. With humble origins, born and raised in a Romany Gypsy family, this self-made man studied at “University of Life” and started his professional path totally from scratch. However, coming from a poor background and a minority group only gave him even more desire to succeed. As a gypsy, he had to face many obstacles and prejudices but he has never allowed those to ruin his dreams and ambitions or to disrupt his investments into the businesses he operates. Instead, he has taken those negative prejudices and turned them into positives by surrounding himself with a diverse and multicultural team. As he says "My philosophy for good business is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration; my sole focus is to drive the businesses forward without losing sight of the goal. Park homes were my upbringing so it was a natural progression to purchase a mobile home park; from 1 park to more than 40, Wyldecrest Parks has now become the No.1 Park Home Operator in the UK for the retired and semi-retired wishing to enjoy the quiet life and community spirit.  And when it  comes to seeing the potential in an idea, Alfie Best has a very up and positive outlook for sure.  "In my view" he says "there is no such thing as a bad idea, just the ability to drive it forward with a realistic approach." So if there is no such thing as a bad idea, why do so many people fail when it comes to starting a business? And if he looks back at his life has he learnt more from the knocks he has endured or from the  Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Alfie Best Show Highlights During the entrepreneur podcast show we had deep hitting conversations with Alfie Best around subjects such as: Alfie shares how the competition inspires him everyday to raise his own standards and that of his team. It truly is what lights his fire to find more and more value. We discuss how Jeff Bezos has created Amazon, and why it was nothing spectacular in the beginning but how he of course has hit it out of the park. Alfie Best talks openly regarding why he considers himself to be 99% stupid, and what it has done for his decision making. And lastly We discuss his plans for his business moving forward, and why Alfie Best cant wait to see what is possible in Europe And America.

John Paragon is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He joins us with a fascinating story of struggle, achievement and ultimately clarity as to where his life is heading. As he says "As an aspiring business owner and Entrepreneur, even as a young child, I have always been a believer that EVERYONE should have their own “Side-Hustle” either as a hobby or with the intention of eventually replacing your Primary Income (usually a Day Job) In this day and age, it’s easier than ever to replace your Primary Income within a short period of time by creating a business opportunity closely related to what you already love. We ALL have the ability to change lives and create our own freedom. Sometimes we just need a little direction… How The Dots Joined Up For John Paragon And he certainly needed help to find his direction as barely scraping by, he eventually got his income slightly improved to a comfortable level. But still felt like I hadn’t made as much progress as he should have done by that point. As he says "Things really changed when I started building what is now my new “Primary Income” and I learned how to SERVE others and the money came gradually. I turned less than £10k into a 7 figure company in less than 3 years! And of course as I am a HUGE advocate of multiple streams of income and for everyone to have a “Side-Hustle”, here I am building my next empire from the ground, UP! I have managed to reach a place where I can manage my time and priorities so I only work an average of 15 hours per week. Yes, sometimes that’s slightly more but everything I do I enjoy so it’s easy to find the energy! And I want this for you too… Not only is it very possible, it’s almost a CERTAINTY if you follow what I show you. So how do we all get to this point if for so many people they fail to even get started. And where do people go wrong when they are focusing their efforts onto the new future they deserve. Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only John Paragon Show Highlights During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with John Paragon How John now loves being able to come to an external business and see things that his clients just cant, due to his expanding experience. Why its so important to find people in your environment that are ahead of your and start learning from their mindsets. John shares his process of how he got his successful business off the group. and lastly....... Why it is so important for people to outsource to preserve your energy as soon as you can

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success.

Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life.

Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be.

In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all.

You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will.

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again. It doesn’t matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success. Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life. Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life. Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be. In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all. You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will. In todays episode we look at one of the hardest things in life and that is believing in yourself. Creating that amazing mindset that starts things working on your behalf. So are you ready to start truly believing in yourself?

Michael F Schein is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He has a story that will resonate with so many of our listeners and also inspire a new way of thinking. He is the author behind "The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists" As he says "Your success depends on getting people to think of you first. But with so much competition in the marketplace, it has become increasingly difficult to attract anyone’s attention. In a perfect world, ideas would rise and fall on their own merits. But it’s not a perfect world. If you want your message to reach a big audience, you need a presence and a platform that shines. It’s hard to do, but some people (and companies) always seem to be able to make it happen. They’re the ones who are always in demand as speakers, sources for articles, and interview subjects. They’re the ones who can always find new business opportunities without effort.

Throughout the last 2000 episodes of Join Up Dots, it has become clear to me that certain traits are demonstrated time and time again.

It doesn't matter if it is from an Online Marketer, an astronaut, athlete, or entrepreneur you can find that within the person being interviewed, they all display the same attributes that build success.

Over the next few months we are going to bring you The Join Up Dots: Definitive Guide To Success series, highlighting those developed strengths which your can duplicate in your own life.

Take the learnings and struggles of the super achievers and work on each and everyone as you bring them into your own life.

Use their skills to shine the light on your own success, and take you to wherever you dream to be.

In todays episode we are going to discuss the most important of them all.

You have to realise that if you dont start to take the actions needed to create your own life nobody else will.

Nate Turner is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. Nate is the co-founder of Ten Speed, a tech-enabled content optimization company focused on helping companies get more results from the content they already have on their site. He is a marketing expert with over 12+ years in the trenches, with his sole purpose helping companies acquire more customers the easiest way possible. Along with his business partner Kevin, he started in SEO in 2008 when he joined Sprout Social as the first marketer in 2011 and brought Kevin on to lead SEO in 2013. For over 5 years, they worked together building the inbound engine and evolving the organic growth and content strategies to accelerate traffic and revenue growth. In 2018, Kevin left Sprout Social to become head of marketing for Review Trackers where he helped double organic traffic and build out the marketing team. In 2019, Nate left Sprout Social to focus on growth marketing consulting for companies like Help Scout, Zylo, and Hologram. How The Dots Joined Up For Nate As Nate and Kevin kept in touch and frequently discussed the latest in marketing, they kept coming back to how well content optimization works, how many companies don't do it well, and their overall passion for content & SEO. After defining a tech-enabled process that they felt would add tremendous value to companies without all of the headaches of trying to hire for these skill sets or evaluate big, bloated agencies, Ten Speed was born. There is a specific feeling of excitement and optimism when you see organic performance go up and to the right and seeing their customers experience this feeling is what fuels the Ten Speed team. So why do most business fail miserably at content marketing when there are so many avenues to get your brand out there? And how can we start the right way if we are entering into the online world today? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Nate Turner Show Highlights During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Nate Turner: How to decide the best route to working on the right opportunities within a business so you aren't spinning too many plates. Why it is such a powerful strategy to go over your old content and renew to please Google as much as possible. Nate shares the issues that it takes to create a new company and why he is focused on not making the mistakes that he has seen elsewhere. and lastly....... Why its such a powerful statement of intent to reengineer your online business inline with the growth.

Joseph Fung is the CEO of Uvaro, a tech sales career accelerator, and of Kiite, a sales enablement platform purpose-built to provide sales teams with the information they need when they need it. As he says "We started Uvaro because the old approach to tech hiring is broken. The fastest-growing segment of our economy needs 250,000 new sales professionals. Our colleges and universities aren’t training them. Worse yet, when tech companies want to hire diverse talent, established interview practices and company cultures put up barriers. Marginalized people who do accept job offers are often left to flounder by businesses that don’t have effective sales training programs. At Uvaro, we’ve created a better way to grow careers. How The Dots Joined Up For Joseph Instead of preventing access to fulfilling work, we provide accessible training, on-demand support resources, and best-in-class tools that teach participants how to build on their successes. Uvaro is not just a lecture: A graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Computer Engineering program, Joseph’s a repeat Founder & CEO, and with multiple successful exits, and speaks frequently on the topics of sales leadership, diversity, and corporate social responsibility. He is an active early-stage investor who ensures that the majority of his investments are into women-led companies. Joseph also sits on the boards of Communitech, the Golden Triangle Angel Network, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. So was this idea born out of a personal frustration with the tech industry or a clever insight to what was happening elsewhere? And and even better questions, why Uvaro? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Joseph Fung Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Joseph Fung such as: Joseph shares how they picked the name of his business and why they want away from basic domain picking rules. We discuss how feedback is a gift and the reasons why you should listen to everyone's opinion no matter what they say, or who is saying it. Why creating a job that you love is not always the case no matter how much you try. You have to accept that sometimes the love leaves you for awhile. And lastly….. Joseph shares vocally the awe he feels every time that his students reveal to the world just how special his training centre is to them.

Introducing Matthew Ralph Matthew Ralph is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is a children’s book author from the UK  and not just that but an an award winning and number one best selling children’s book author. He knows how to write a children's picture book and now helps the world to do the same. He actually wrote his first book on a plane, and turned it into a bestseller, with little to no money. As he says "I've always wanted to be a writer, even as a child I loved writing little stories and dreamt of having my own book published- a dream I'm still pursuing now at 25! I recently started writing a Young Adult (YA) fiction novel, which I am currently trying to finish and then (hopefully) get published! My ultimate dream is to be the next J K Rowling! Well with many books available in all good bookstores, and perhaps not very good ones too, he has achieved his aim and looks like the dream is coming true. So with so many unread manuscripts laying on publishers desks across the world, how did he bring his words to life? And was the hardest thing the doubts that parade in all our heads, or simply understanding the publishing progress> Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Matthew Ralph. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Matthew Ralph such as: How he had managed to get his first book up and running purely as an activity to see how it all works. Why so many families are quite willing to critique "dreams" and be less supportive of the people closest to them. Matt shares how he muddled through and learnt the steps to publishing his own book. And lastly...... We talk about the process of developing yourself and positioning yourself to expert level where your value and prices grow exponentially.

Lacking motivation is something that everybody suffers from.

I dont care who they are, Branson, Musk, Bill Gates...whatever high achiever you can think off will have days when they feel Blah! Its normal and in most cases is simply an indication of something be wrong in your life or business. In todays episode of Join Up Dots we look at the five ways that you can over come days when lacking motivation is a problem. Most importantly keeping it at a few days instead of it dragging on and on becoming a problem that stops all progress. Why Do You Start Lacking Motivation? My wife always says to  me "Listen to your body as it knows the answer" and most often this is the perfect solution to your issues. We all know when we are excited and bouncy and full of beans, and generally its because something is fun and new and invigorating to us. Ever been to Disneyworld or any of the theme parks, and been aware of that feeling of dread, excitement and anticipation as you are walking towards the entrance gate. Our body is never lacking motivation on these days, as our whole day is full of new challenges that we are not sure we will like or not. Our body gets ready for the battle and subsequently we feel more alive than we do on a normal work or school day. Whilst we are on the subject of work, and school, think about your first days in the office and how you would wake up a little earlier and feel nervousness and anticipation that quickly disappears once the job becomes your job. How do you bring new challenges into your life that can be the spark to build more and more motivation ? Finding Fun New Challenges To Build Motivation Now most people struggle with this concept as they think that they have to find huge challenges that are an amazing undertaking. This is so wrong, and actually nobody achieves the big stuff without tackling the small things first. I remember back in the day, going into board meetings and trying to speak the lyrics of Beatles songs without nobody realising i was doing it? Stupid? Yeah a bit, but it gave me something to focus on in an environment that was a bit huumdrum. It could be simple things like "How quickly can I have a shower in the morning?", "How can I read a book a week?" "How can i cut back on sugar in the food that i am eating" Not one of them on their own will be lifechanging except perhaps the cutting out sugar, but they are little games to play with yourself. And games as we all know are fun, and fun is...well fun, and never leads to lacking motivation. So our first tip to start beating the issue of lacking motivation is try to find fun where fun might not be visible. Get Rid Of Overwhelm This is a problem that i have a lot and one that i have had to learn the skills to beat...and beat it i do. When things are moving along nicely in a business then you never struggle to find the motivation to make things happen. You get to your desk, start working and before you know it a day has passed and success is yours. How about those times however when you have too much on your plate, and everywhere you look there is something to be done. You plough on throughout the day until you get to bed with the feeling off "I haven't really achieved anything at all"? You wake up the next morning and the first signs of lacking motivation are appearing. "I cant bear the thought of another day like yesterday....i think ill watch Netflix for a bit" When this occurs you have to stop thinking of everything you need to do and just choose something. Think of something you fancy doing and brings about some kind of reward. It could be another customer, some income, another part of your business....but do something. The key to not lacking motivation is to find ways of feeling good about your efforts. So find something that brings the rewards and make things happen. The People Pleasing Trap That Kills Us All Do you feel that you spend most of your time doing stuff for other people. Certainly any parent will feel that they spend the bulk of their days taking the kids around to multiple activities. Which has been one of the good things about the pandemic in my view. A lot of the extra stuff that we do for people has been taken away from us for a bit. So this is your chance to reset and stop offering up your time and energies on being their for people that dont really deserve it. Stop trying to please others all the time, and block out some ME TIME, which is non negotiable. Through Join Up Dots I wont allow anyone to break into most of my week, and I'm always looking for ways that I can focus in on myself first. Is this selfish and a bad things? No not at all, it just means that i have more energy for the people that do need my help and that is where my efforts are better placed. As they say on the planes "Make sure you put your mask on first" and that has never been more important when trying to stop lacking motivation. Simply say NO. Happiness And Achievement Killers Of Motivation Yeah it seems a strange thing to admit as Join Up Dots is all about working on achieving your goals. But there are times when you achieve everything you wanted to achieve and then laziness and contentment creeps in. I think at our hearts everybody is lazy to some degree. We would all rather just sit around doing a few things here and there than driving forward everyday. So what do you do when lacking motivation is linked to huge success and achievement? Well i think that you should set a timescale to rest and bask in your glory before getting going again. Say to yourself "Man you have done well, give yourself three months off to rest, enjoy yourself but think of something new to do" As humans are creative, inspirational, higher functioning beings when we have something to challenge us. And coming full circle those challenges, no matter how small will lead to you never lacking motivation again.

Bob Wheeler is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. Bob Wheeler, a financial expert and motivator, book author, and founder of The Money Nerve? As a man of true integrity with infectious energy, Bob Wheeler’s crusade for personal growth has cross-pollinated with his accounting practice to create a new approach to personal finances. His passion is to help others gain insights about how their emotions trigger financial decisions. Combining finances with behaviors, Bob explores his personal concept of creating a healthy relationship with money in his recent book, The Money Nerve. While strengthening his accounting practice, Bob has simultaneously pursued his love of satire and ventured into the realm of standup comedy. How The Dots Joined Up For Bob From his thirty years of helping clients, Bob has distilled a concoction of warmth, humour, information, motivation and budgeting directives that he offers to anyone with financial concerns. He is also currently the CFO for The World Famous Comedy Store. Now if that's not enough for you, then he has also an adventurous spirit in abundance too, with world travels that have led him to high altitudes. He has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, ascended to the Mount Everest Base Camp, and hiked several smaller mountains in between. With charm and humor, his experiences on the road, in the office, or running a Greek marathon, feed his wit as a stand-up comic and financial motivator. Bob Wheeler helps listeners conquer their money shame and avoid making poor financial decisions by teaching how emotions can dictate our choices. So is it all about our attitude to money that directs the riches that we bring into our lives? And what happened in Africa that changed his beliefs around money? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Bob Wheeler

What does your business need to start moving forward into 2021 with all the confidence in the world? Well just like you would set personal resolutions of losing weight, getting fitter, self development. Running a successful business more often not requires you to do as much clearing up, getting rid, and pruning the dead parts as always going for the new. In this podcast we look at the four things that you can start doing today to make your tomorrow so much brighter. Clear Friends and Acquaintances   We all know how it is nowadays. You are working on your pc, or phone a friend request comes through from somebody you dont know, you do a quick check and boom, they are connected to you. But why do we do this online, operating in a totally different way to how we would live our lives in real life? You wouldn't be at a bus stop and a random stranger asks to see your family photos, but in an instant you can give your life way online. Its madness. On the other side, you can easily find your focus lost with so many other people lives being part of your daily routine even if you dont know them? So our number one, resolution each year is take a good look at each of them and if they aren't relevant or useful, or actually been in contact get rid of them. You will find it so much easier to build a powerful network that works for you, instead of one that works against you. Clear Outstanding and Half Finished Entries When you are building a business you will start work with all the passion in the world. This is going to be the big thing, that kick starts everything for me. This will be my golden ticket. But in all honesty 80% of it really doesn't go anywhere and just fills up your Google Drives and desktop with clutter. Now this is a hard one to do, as like most of us you will think "Yeah, that is important...must keep that" So our little tip is change the search criteria to see when it was last modified on your computer, and if it was more than 3 months then bin it. You dont really need it, or you would have gone back and finished it off. A clean workspace free of distractions and clutter is the way towards a successful online business. Make Small Monthly Targets In our view a yearly or quarterly targets is not achievable, as you never know what is going to come out of the woodwork and send you off track. Being an entrepreneur is about being flexible and agile and finding your way around obstacles. Which is why in our view targets too far in the future aren't feasible and wont lead to success. Think about it, if life is about joining up the dots to get the success you want then just four big bulky dots per year wont get you far. 365 small, bouncy and perky dots....well that could get you round the world and back. UNDERSTAND YOUR PROFIT AND LOSS OF YOUR BUSINESS When you create a business from scratch you feel that the initial expenses are going to remain the same. Its an easy equation to work out, what i earn from the business against what i spend is what i need to do. However this is a simple mistake that will keep in you in the same position financially for much longer than you need to be in. To create a business that grows you must bring in another 20% to the equation that can then be reinvested back into the business. This could be for outside support and help. This could be for automated systems  that help drive more traffic through your business. It helps you to grow, and without surplus funds that are specifically allocated for growth you journey will be so much harder. So lets look at the equation again as it should look something like PROFIT IN - MINUS EXPENSES - MINUS 20% = EARNINGS. Every year its a good idea to start reviewing your financials and building upon the success of your business. You cant be boot strapping it forever.

Happy New Year 2021, we all cry in unison across the world. Is it as much to say goodbye to 2020, which started off as normal and ended up in such a weird way nobody was untouched? Who knows, but one things we do know is a Happy New Year 2021, means a lot more than most years to a lot more people. In todays podcast we give a brief overview of the changes that have occurred in our business over the last six months or so. Also we talk about how to start building online success, by breaking down financial goals into small easy to achieve targets. You want £200 per month of additional income, then how do you want to get it? Do you want £200 from one customer or do you want £200 from 200 customers paying you a £1 each. Its all up to you to decide and make it happen. Our Goals For 2021 We love shouting out Happy New Year 2021 with gusto, as quite frankly we like drawing a line under previous challenges and starting all over again. Through Join Up Dots journey over the last seven years we have never had a year where we haven't set firm and achievable goals right from the start. In 2021 we have decided that we want to increase the value and profitability of the business, whilst freeing ourselves more and more from the the day to day running of the operation. Its quite easy to get caught up in the weeds and find yourself restricted by the challenges and workload that it takes to run a business. So its time to reassess and start delegating more and more to the over day to day operations by building teams . Whats the point in having a business when quite frankly it doesn't give you what you wanted in the first place. More Goals For 2021 Over the last ten years or so, we feel that the major thing that we have done, that let's our work down, is getting you guy to believe. We need you to believe in the system of online business more than ever, by tipping the iceberg upside down. We are going to make things clearer and clearer to you all, so by listening to Join Up Dots you will gain total clarity of the steps that you need to take. Through the three times a week podcast episode, and videos sent directly to your email inbox we are going to let you peer behind the curtain. Is there anywhere else that does this for you in such consistent ways? We dont think so, so lets set the bar as high as possible to make the biggest difference that we can. Big goals, big focus and a big delivery from us to you, but we will make it happen. So from everyone at Join Up Dots, there is nothing left for us to say than scream "Happy new Year 2021" its going to be the best one ever.

What does it take to start a new business that brings you the lifestyle that you want?

Well it all starts with setting a firm and consistent goal that brings us closer everyday to the life we want.

On todays show we reveal an email that one listener sent to us that really shows that they have got the mindset fix that they need.

Sell Yourself To Us: Hi David. I would like to invite myself to be a guest on your show in 809 days. I have no business, no idea what that could be and I had been failing at online money making since about 2008. Not that I actually really truly tried! I thought I did. Yes, cliche, that 809 days is my 40th birthday, but I had to pick a goal and a date so here it is. I am not quitting my job, I do not even have a lot of time. I had never been very creative and I am super shy. I have zero hobbies and passions, and never had, and I do not even have a decent career to share knowledge online. I have no reasons to believe that this time will be any different than any other of the past times I bought online course and was motivated and inspired and achieved nothing other than feeling I am really stupid. But they say you gotta do sth different to have different results. Well, publicly committing to a goal and inviting myself to talk to someone is like the most insane thing I had done in a decade. Yes, I am a bit ashamed on how boring my life is. Smart people seem to be saying that failure is how you learn so either way this has to be a win. Either I make good progress and some $$$ or I am going to learn some stuff. I did step one of your free course and figure out what is my roof-over-my-head-$-number and was shocked on how small it is. It has to be possible! You seem like a nice guy who likes to help people. I mean, I might be wrong, you could be an asshole, I only listened to 3 episodes so far, but I was told I am a good judge of character so I am going to stick to the helpful guy for now.... Sooooo how about this: I am going to make half of my current roof-$-amount between 03/2022 and 03/2023 and make notes on the way and we can talk about it. Seems like a good episode to me. OK, I will be honest I wrote the whole amount and than thought that it is stupid to focus on money because I cannot control it. I can only control the process and do not want to feel like a failure if I make less. BUt than I feel like I am not aiming high enough and setting low goals afraid of failing. So clearly, I have not figure that part out yet. But I am a super honest person. And super self-critical. I do not lie to myself. I think that doing is the whole goal here. I will tell you if I did not give it my best even if I made x2 the roof dollars. Social Media Links: nothing here either

Todd Miller is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He Experienced Money Coach with a demonstrated history of working in the professional training & coaching industry.  Skilled in budgeting, cash flow management, and goal setting. Strong finance professional, graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Finance from the University of Florida.  And now since April 2020 - he is the owner of TightwadTodd As he says "I became Financially Independent at 35. Now, I want to help YOU achieve YOUR financial goals! Throughout my journey, I've made mistakes and had setbacks. But have had even more wins and achievements.  Learn from my mistakes, save yourself the time and money! My goal is to help YOU achieve yours! Here YOU will learn about YOUR money and where it goes. YOU will build good financial habits and save more each month! I have helped countless others, now it’s YOUR turn! The sooner YOU start the quicker YOU can live the life of YOUR dreams! How The Dots Joined Up For Todd However if this seems like an easy step to living the life that he wanted, think again. As after graduating with a degree in finance from the University of Florida, Todd started working for a Fortune Global 500 company. Less than a year later, he got laid off due to the Great Recession. During this difficult period, he committed to living on his terms and becoming financially independent. Todd dreamed of working less, experiencing more, and spending time with the most important people in his life. For the next 11 years, he worked in financial services, guiding thousands of people through the mortgage approval process. All the while, he saved, invested, and built passive income for the future. Then, at 35, Todd accomplished his goal and became F.I.! He went on bucket list adventures around the world and eventually started Tightwad Todd.com. This coaching business is a way for him to follow another passion, helping others. Its mission is financial education, so everyone can achieve their goals faster, live free, and have more fulfilled lives.  So what can people do starting today if they wish to be financially independent but dont have much cash to spare? And where do people go wrong, not paying themselves first, or simply losing track of expenditure? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Todd Miller Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Todd Miller such as: Todd shares his journey through the four quadrants of financial advice from Rich Dad Poor Dad. Todd reveals why he feels operating in stocks and shares is the reliable method of operating your finances. And lastly.... Why so many of us fail to make the most of our money options due to fear or risk concerns.

Well thats another year over, and new one just begun, as John Lennon sang.

But what has the year been like for all of us, and does this make it more xmasy or less in 2020

Well Join Up Dots is moving from strength to strength and its a delight to say "Happy Xmas To You All" once more.

Dear David, thank you for all your amazing podcasts that you release constantly. It is without a doubt the show that i tell people to listen to, Its not preachy and i really get the feeling that you have shared the insides, outsides and downsides of what you have created. I would like to ask a question around the burnout you mention often on the show, I can totally understand why you keep on referencing it, as I have seen many people fall apart over the last few years and most of it was simply down to taking on too much all the time. Is there anything that you do now, which you didn't do then which has made all the difference? And secondly, if you would be kind enough to talk about what you do on a daily basis in regards to your health. The reason that I am asking this is I would to start my own business, but im quite fragile healthwise at the best of times so I am reluctant to cause more issues to myself. Extremely kind regards Joan SMith (Not my real name), Australia (Not My Real Country)

Financial Consciousness Expert Leisa Peterson is our guest today joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast for the second time. When we last met our guest on today's episode of the Join Up Dots free podcast interview, she was in the middle of experiencing some massive growth, Yes, in both her business life and her personal life she was smashing through the barriers. Kicking over her self limiting doubts And creating an amazing future for herself. She has done this by asking great questions to her clients that flock to her like moths to a flame. She asks “Are you someone who is burned out from working hard for many years yet afraid to step back out of fear of losing all you’ve gained? Are your work obligations keeping you from having deeply meaningful relationships with your family and friends? Do you feel stuck in a situation that takes everything you've got yet know there has to be more to life…an ultimate state of joy, satisfaction, and fulfilment." How The Dots Joined Up For Leisa Now the interesting thing about her and what I want to discuss in this show, is whether she truly believed it when she first said it? Did she fully embrace the power that an individual possesses in their day to day lives to create one that is remarkable. Was it by doing the work, and seeing the results in her clients that she fully embraced the possibilities that she could create? You see she has had three stages of success from working  22+ years n the world of finance, pouring herself into earning a high salary, collecting great bonuses and moving up the ladder. Then after facing a major life crisis followed by several tragedies, she moved towards answering the question of could She ever have both inner fulfilment and outer wealth.” And now after creating a successful coaching business, she has sold her long time home, moved to Hawaii, and now come back to Arizona and started something new. So is financial consciousness as much about financial confidence as anything else? And where do her clients struggle most in their journey towards a mindful millionaire? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Leisa Peterson

Dr. James F Richardson is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is the founder of Premium Growth Solutions, a strategic planning consultancy for early-stage consumer-packaged goods brands. As a professionally trained cultural anthropologist turned business strategist, he has helped more than 75 CPG brands (which stands for Consumer Packaged Goods) with their strategic planning, including brands owned by Coca-Cola Venturing and Emerging Brands, The Hershey Company, General Mills, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Brands, and Frito-Lay as well as emerging brands such as Once Upon a Farm, Peatos, Ithaca Hummus, Mother Kombucha, Rebel Creamery, zaca recovery, and others. James is the author of Ramping Your Brand: How to Ride the Killer CPG Growth Curve, the #1 Best-seller in Business Consulting on Amazon. He also hosts his own podcast—Startup Confidential, and his thoughts appear regularly in industry publications such as Foodnavigator. Now if that all sounds very impressive it is, but not what a show like Join Up Dots normally delivers, then listen to this You can plan exponential growth.

Siddharth Rajsekar is today's guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast. He has a fascinating story that has taken him across the world and back to where he is now. On a mission to create 1,000,000 digital leaders. He is the founder of The Freedom Business Model For the last seven years, Sidz has been running a digital agency that has represented clients like Robert Kiyosaki, Jack Canfield, Tony Robbins and many more. He currently nurtures one of India’s largest tribe of coaches and experts who are building their own digital ecosystems too. But like most of the stories in Join Up Dots, where the guest has ended up is often nowhere near where they started. How The Dots Joined Up For Sidz The same is true with today's guest, and as he says "I was an outstanding student in school. Always standing outside class.  I was truly passionate about music and cricket and played right thru my schooling years. I could never remember a time I would sit in one place. I could not sit in boring classrooms. And that’s why I ended up dropping out of college. I flunked my 12th grade. Scored just 28% in mathematics." However this didn't stop him,  so he started to re-educate himself, he pawned his wife’s gold jewellery and started to invest in many internet marketing courses. He spent around $10,000 on courses and by the end of that year, he was able to set up my small little digital agency along with his cousin and business partner. Which is where we should start today's episode of Join Up Dots. So where do people get hung up in starting their business? Investing in themselves or simply coming up with the right idea. And with the world in turmoil at the moment, is this the right time to start a business or hold off? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Siddharth Rajsekar Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Siddharth Rajsekar such as: Be fixed on the goal, but not how you are going to get there. Be flexible with your approach and enjoy the journey. Be very clear on what you want to be known, mission statement, community around it, elevator pitch Why you should always look for the best mentorship you can on the way to greatness. and lastly........ There are six areas of need that a business can be created: Business Growth, Career Growth, Health & Wellness, Make Money, Relationships, Arts and Crafts.  Passion, Problem (The passion has to be able to solve a problem that someone will pay for), the Persona, Potential in the market, people need to pay you for it.

Comedy Central founder Art Bell, is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is a former media executive known for creating, building, and managing successful cable television channels. In 1988, When a young, mid-level employee he pitched a novel concept—a television channel focused 100% on just one thing: comedy—to the chairman of HBO. The pitch went well and he not only got the greenlight for his project, he also went on to hold senior executive positions in both programming and marketing at Comedy Central. During that time, he also co-authored a humor book entitled Web Sightings: A Collection of Websites We’d Like to See. After leaving Comedy Central, Art became president of Court TV, where he was a guiding force behind one of the most successful brand evolutions in cable television. How The Comedy Dots Joined Up For Art As he says “Ever since the idea had first occurred to me while writing and performing with the Wharton Follies, I kept thinking about how great an all-comedy television channel would be. New cable channels were launching all the time and I expected someone would announce an all-comedy channel any minute, but nobody did.” He know has brought all his lessons and experience together in one best selling memoir Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor From disastrous pitch meetings with comedians to the discovery of talents like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, this intimate and laugh-out-loud funny memoir peers behind the curtain and reveals what it’s really like to work, struggle, and ultimately succeed at the cutting edge of show business. So when comedy is so subjective what made him think that he could bring this into the mainstream and out of the clubs? And how did he get the momentum building until it became a household name across the world. Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Art Bell Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Art Bell such as: Art shares the first few weeks of the launch of Comedy Central, when he got many phone calls from people telling him "It just isn't funny". We think about the concepts across the generations that parents everywhere hated, which was a turning point to careers and industries across the world Art discusses the failure rate of new business across America, and why it is such a shocking statistic to him. And lastly….. How he got fired from the very business that he set up, which then lead him onto a new path which he feels is so exciting.

Zuzana Dobro is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. She is a lady who really has travelled the world, experiencing not just culture but I imagine terrible weather, and returned with a plan As she says "I am Slovakian, born in the former Czechoslovakia. As a kid, I was told I’d never be able to leave my country and see the world or have the freedom to be whoever I wanted to be. After the Iron Curtain came down, I moved to England, speaking very little English with only £200 in my pocket. I gradually made my way through working in the creative industry and got an offer to join a big corporation. I had my “dream job” as an interaction and UX designer, but still, something felt odd... I had this unstoppable desire to fulfil my childhood dream to travel around the world, so I quit the “security”, travelled solo for 2 years, and even backpacked to Antarctica. How The Dots Joined Up For Zuzana After my trip, I merged my passion for adventure travel and human evolution with my design and creative problem-solving Expertise, and I embarked on the journey of entrepreneurship. I've created The WHO Method to help entrepreneurs, coaches, authors, experts and agencies to get to know their customers deeply and to avoid the pitfalls of attracting the wrong people. As she goes on to say "Many Entrepreneurs struggle in their business until they discover how crucial it is to have crystal-clear audience targeting, which means to run a company that is aligned with a dream customer. Another missing part is understanding that the wants and desires of your customers will change because people's values shift. So how do people use THE WHO method to maximise marketing and customer attraction? And does she still find that no matter how well she gets to know her own customer she is still surprised  Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Zuzana Dobro Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Zuzana Dobro such as: How the ability to learn different languages has really helped her to understand peoples mentality and desires across the world. When you launch a product to market to your customer, you have to start with your "Who" first and foremost. Why you have to be careful about trying to create perfection in your business at the beginning...just get something out there. And lastly….. Zuzana shares the internal truth of her life and the simplicity of it is so astonishing to everyone....or it should be!

When it comes to going for success its true that most people only have a glimpse of what it is by viewing other peoples lives.

So why do we compare, review and envy others, when quite frankly they might not be happy with it anyway?

This podcast was inspired by the following email from a listener who asked...

Dear David, i listened to your podcast episode about creating success. In fact most of them touch on this. But what can you do if you dont know what success should be like? I cant think of anything worse than working in a powerful finance position. I wouldnt want to be flying across the world for meetings like some of my friends do. I just like the simple things in life, which makes pub chat very difficult as it seems to others i dont have ambition. Just musing, and thought my favourite podcaster might have some ideas Senita Latral, Vienna, Austria

Todays show is a harrowing story, that shows how through one terrible incident a persons life can spiral out of control, until hitting rock bottom and fighting their way back.

When our guest today was just fourteen, she was raped, she lost her virginity and her life changed forever.

Unable to make sense of what had happened to her, still a very young girl, she turned to drugs, quit school four times, and became very promiscuous.

At age 16, she fell pregnant with a child that she was unable to keep, and feel deeper from the path that could have show itself at anytime.

After the abortion, she got involved with prostitution and at the age of 18 gave birth to her son.

Now at that time, she made a decision to start fighting back and to make a difference in her and her own sons life.

She went back to school, graduated via a program for single moms, received scholarships and awards, until after attending university for 5 years, and became a high school math and English teacher.

Where she worked for 3.5 years, teaching in a small town, until and we will discuss this on the show, she made what seems a bizarre decision and quit to move back to her hometown, where she returned to prostitution and drugs because the money was better.

Her self-esteem was in tatters. Sucidical thoughts running through her days, and an accident where she nearly lost her right leg.

If that sounds to depressing to consider, she was just about to enter into the worst time of her life was during this period.

Her son moved out when he turned 19 and didn't speak to her for three years. She ended up smoking crack for ten months during this time and then it happened.

She nearly died when her appendix burst, and realized she didn't want to die without saying "good-bye" to her son.

As she says "I had already started to turn my life around about two years before this event occurred, and so when I finally re-connected with my son, my life always back on track.

Re-uniting with Julian changed my life in a very positive way. I decided to pursue a writing career.

I now own a business, Wording Well, and am an author. I live a clean life, and spend a lot of it helping others. My books are in my local library, and my business is thriving.

I'm living proof that a person can hit rock bottom and rise to the top despite all odds against them.

My son is proud of me again, too. :)"

So lets take her on the journey of her life again, as we show everyone of you, that life is a series of choices good and bad, and we can all improve our lives by simply deciding to do so.

It's with great delight that I get to bring onto Join Up Dots, the one and only Lorraine Reguly

Beating Your Competitors in business is actually one of the easiest things you can do. Most people get fearful of who they are up against when starting a new business, and quite often will pivot and dilute their offering. This is a huge mistake as competition is actually a great thing, especially when operating online. You see most of these people who are out there doing what you want to do have solved a lot of the issues already. They have gone through the daily grind and trial and error phase to find out what works. So in this episode we take a look at hacking the competition and beating your competitors by putting your own spin onto what is already working. Ready? Well lets start. Step One: Start Looking At What Your Competitors Are Doing There are a million questions that you should be asking when building your business and most of them have been answered already. Start Googling your business idea, and start jotting down the url of your competitors that keep on appearing whenever you search. Take a look at the colour schemes, their images, their menu bar, their offerings, and make detailed notes on everything. Do they deal with customers directly? Are their systems automated with chatbots and autoresponders? What are their downloads that they offer? Do they get you onto an email marketing system? How are they going out of their way to make their offer clear and precise and easy to find on their site. Beating Your Competitors is about doing what they do better than they do it themselves so take detailed notes and then try to improve on them all. Step Two: Make A List Of How Long They Have Been In Business By Domain Checking One of the things that we like to do when working out a way of beating your competitors is find out the long players. What we mean by this is do some digging around to see which of the businesses that you are up against have been around for the longest You can zip over to https://websiteseochecker.com/and place in the URL of the company that you are checking and find instantly a ton of very useful information. For example if you placed Join Up Dots into the URL checker, you will see the age listed, the domain authority, the backlinks...everything you need in one simple search. So why do we do this when working on finding ways to start beating your competitors? Quite simply, if someone has been in business for a long time, they should be making money, in profit and being efficient with customer acquisition. Otherwise why go to the expense to keep things up online. We always want to get a list of companies five years and older to really start digging around for the gold. Step Three: Beating Your Competitors Means Understanding Your Customers It is always amazing to us when we ask our clients "Who are your ideal customers"? and we get a loose answer of "Men, over 40, with a steady job" How can this really tell us anything that can be useful for our business? Remember, your business is going all out to start beating your customers so the more intelligence that we can have in regard to who is buying the better. Remember the list of well established businesses that we have written the URL of on our list? Well if you haven't then its time to go back and do the work again, but if you have we now want to take those URLS and start mining Google for the good stuff it will tell us. We need to go over to Google Trends and start clicking around to see what type of traffic our competitors are getting. We can find out what sex, where they live, what age they are, what are their interests, almost everything we need to start building a detailed profile. The same can be said for joining FaceBook Groups, and seeing what questions are being asked by people and clicking through onto their profiles to see details about them. Are there consistent questions and similar profiles asking those questions? Yeah, we are sure there will be and you will want to make as many notes about these people as you can. That is how you start beating your competitors quicker than ever. Step Four: Compare Your Competitors Offers With Your Real Life Intelligence Now you have a detailed pack of information, of real life data, how does this compare to what your competitors are doing. When you look at their offerings, does there seem to be a synergy as to what you now know and what they are selling? Quite often a business will get itself into a position of power and then rest on it's laurels forgetting what got it there in the first place. That is a bad idea and one of the key rules to beating your competitors is knowing what they are doing and staying in front of them. So now is the time to up the anti, and really add another one or two elements to everything that they offer. If they are taking 48 hours to deliver, can you half that time? If they are offering a package of items to groom your beloved pooch, can you add additional items and still get it to the customer faster. When you think of the power of Amazon, it is mainly down to the ease of buying and the quickness of getting those items. There isn't much more to their business model, but they know that they have this part nailed down and can beat most other businesses easily. Step Five: Beating Your Competitors Means Ease As we just discussed, Amazon has dominated the world by the customer ease factor. We all know it will only take minutes to find something we want, buy it, and then sit back and wait for it to be delivered. Never has that been more important than nowadays, so how do you make things easy for your customer to find understand and buy. If you are selling a product how do you make the customer journey through your website as easy as possible to navigate. This is one thing that online businesses are really bad at. Signposting their offers to increase conversions. Get your friends to try to buy from you, and if they cant do it quickly then make the changes. Ask them to tell you within 3 seconds what your underlining offering is, that brings everything together...for example Join Up Dots is Business Made Easy. So if we haven't brought that element into everything we do then we are failing in our overall branding. Ease is king to the success of your business and beating your competitors will come down to this as much as anything else.

Introducing Getting Bored With Your Business

Getting bored with your business is something that everyone has to deal with over time. You start a business full of passion to achieve, change your life or simply make oodles of cash. It's exciting times for sure. You come home from work and can't wait to turn on the laptop, check your emails, and discover todays progress. But what do you do when you have been doing the same thing for years, and that excitement is gone? Well that is what we are going to discuss in todays podcast focusing in on "Getting Bored With Your Business". Step One Be Aware Of Your Feelings And Ask Why? Most things in life and business can be nipped in the bud in the early stages of development. That is most certainly the case with boredom, and the feeling of getting stale within your business. Our first tip is to start noticing how you are feeling, and really focus in on trying to find the meaning behind those feelings. Could it be that you have a nagging doubt that this isn't the business for you, and your inner spirit is trying to tell you? Could it be that you have actually achieved what you set out to do, and now it's maintenance time? This is a common stage that many entrepreneurs go through when they finally get to where they hoped to get to. They are start-up people, visionaries, activators, call them what you want, but they like to make new things happen, and not to be doing the same day in day out. So why are you getting bored with your business? Those feelings are a great clue as to potential pivoting times. Step Two Be Realistic That The Grind Is Part Of The Game Nowadays you can see people everywhere showing you how wonderful their lives are, and what fun they are getting up to. But there is a backstory that you have to delve into, to truly understand how they got there, and that's the grind. The day in day out, turning up, doing their best when they didn't want to do it type of grind. Think about professional sportsmen and women at the highest levels of their games. We all see them winning Wimbledon, or the FA Cup in soccer and think "Wow, i would love to be doing what they are doing!" But we don't ever really consider the years and years of sacrifice that has gone into those highest moments of sporting achievement. We don't think of the tennis player travelling on their own to another tournament in another town. Spending nights on their own in hotel rooms, whilst they struggle with jet lag. We don't think of the terrible bars and pubs whenever nobody was listening, or actually turning up to listen, for famous bands and artists. We just consider their headline performance at Glastonbury and feel envious to their achievements. Get real people. If you are getting bored with your business, you have to accept and relish the drudgery and commitment that it takes. You have to say to yourself "I'm not getting bored with my business, this is where success is truly made" Behind the scenes, when nobody is looking at you, or actually cares what you are doing. Step Three Stop Getting Bored With Your Business By Delegating Once again, everybody will be dealing with things in their business that are boring to deal with. It could be sending out invoices to new and existing clients. It could be dealing with your tax returns, and accounting for your business. All businesses will have parts to them that are really boring, and aren't in your skill set, so think about delegating. Can you hire someone to do these for you whilst you focus on the things that bring value into your business? The fun things that play to your strengths and make the biggest impact on your bottom line? There are companies around the world offering freelancers who are looking to work for people like you. As someone said to me once "It might be a boring job to you, but it could change someone else's life." Getting bored with your business is as much losing track of where you sit within the business as everything else. Step Four Understand What Really Makes A Difference To Your Customer All businesses need customers, whether they are online automated sales, or one to one clients. It doesn't matter, without customers buying your products and services your business will be dead in the water. So it's our jobs as entrepreneurs to think long and hard about what our customers want and then continue to improve upon it. And that is where most people start getting bored with your business, they forget the creative side of things that was so prevalent at the start of their business. When it was fledging enterprise focused on getting the foundations correct and making that first sale, its all we do everyday. Does the customers want this? How can i position it so they can find it easier? Creative, blue-sky thinking that makes things happen until we start making money and then give up on the improvements. So if you are getting bored with your business, imagine its a new business again and review, tweak and make more cash than ever. I promise you the excitement will start to come back into your very quickly.

Lee LeFever is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

He has a belief similar to us at Join Up Dots, whereby he believes that more often than not big enough is good enough when it comes to online business.

He’s inspiring entrepreneurs to rethink business success and design businesses to be intentionally small, scalable, and focused on a healthy quality of life.

As he says "I’m fortunate that doing something I love has become my career.

In 2003, I founded Common Craft, which is recognized worldwide as starting the “explainer movie” movement, and it has employed me as a media maker ever since.

More than anything, I am a writer.

Sometimes my words become scripts for Common Craft videos, chapters in a book or issues of a newsletter.

Other times, they’re used for mediocre attempts at humor in text messages.

I wield my words with great care and benefit from having my wife, Sachi, as my editor.

How The Dots Joined Up For Lee

Most people consider me personable and easy-going. I smile a lot, maybe too much.

My natural setting is optimistic and generally happy, with a side of anxiety.

If we met in person, I would ask you a lot of questions.

I try to live my life with great intention and a focus on quality.

To me, this means remaining in control of my time and being willing to take risks and accept trade-offs in order to craft the life I want.

Isnt that what everyone wants in life and in business.

Get away from the ego driven, how big is it all movement, and focus on building a business that supports the life that you love.

So did he start with this mantra to life, or was it the same as most of us, when the monster we create starts squeezing the life out of the reasons we wanted to build it in the first place?

And what would be the simplest way of creating this in our lives?

Focus on the business or the life that we want to lead?

Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Lee LeFever

Introducing Nola Crystals

Nola Crystals is the main focus for todays Join Up Dots business coaching podcast episode. This is a brand new business recently started by a listener of Join Up Dots, which is going to do very well for itself. The reason as you will hear on the show is mainly it has started, and also it is providing something that people already want and buy in numbers. This is always a great business to get into, where you can already see others having success in your field. So without further ado, lets begin with Nola Crystals and also answering a few other questions too. Question One - Nola Crystals Review Hey David! Let’s start with how quickly “Join Up Dots” can work. One very small example in my life: Last Friday I watched a film about Steve Jobs (I love him) Saturday: I simply typed in “Steve jobs” into Apple podcasts. All I wanted to listen to was inspirational information from the genius himself Saturday: I found your podcast Saturday - Monday (today): I’m eight episodes deep into your show and I’ve learned so much VALUABLE information that I didn’t know in relation to tips I could apply to my own business that I’ve started last month I typed “VALUABLE” in all caps because the common denominator I have heard from you and Steve Jobs (amongst other sources) is that value is key in relation to your customers So, over the course of a few days I’ve joined up the dots and I’m already richer in knowledge so thank you! It would mean the world to me if you would head over to my website and tell me what you think. I won’t tell you anything about the business because I’d like to see from an average consumers point of view what their first impression is and if they can navigate the website with ease and get to a “money page” in “one click.” I started the business the first week of October this year. I’ve had two sales and started SEO the beginning of October. I understand SEO is a longer process. Thanks David! Ps: I’m typing this whilst on a treadmill so if there are any spelling mistakes let’s just blame the treadmill and not me! :) Question Two - Does Confidence Make A Difference David, loving the show. I have a question for you, which i think I am picking up through your content. It seems to me that online success comes as much from your own confidence and belief than the business itself? Would this be true, as I think if it is, i have discovered potentially what might be going wrong with my ventures. I dont think that i truly believe in myself enough, so keep on pivoting to start something new? Thanks for your answer if you have the time and all the best for your future plans Paul Samuels, St George Utah Question Three - Passion or Boring Business? Hi David, i would love you to do a show on finding ideas for businesses as this is something that i struggle with. Do you think that a boring business, functional but needed is better than one that fills the passion zone that people talk about. Jim Rhapsody Question Four - Should I Start A Podcast Hi Join Up Dots...What would be your advice for starting a podcast nowadays. It seems that everyone has a podcast. Celebrities have podcasts. Celebrities have audiences. Do you think that you can start one in 2021 and still get an audience that I can monetize as successfully as you have? Melanie Ferrell, Ashton-in-Makerfield

Introducing Internet Mastery With Ian Pribyl

Ian Pribyl is the internet master is the discussion of the day with , who is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast. He is a man who quite simply has mastered and can fully explain how to start cracking it online. The reason I know this? Well he was recently on the show and so good was he that i thought "Lets go again" and get him on the show once more. As we heard on the last show he recently published a book called From Nothing which breaks down the mystery of making a living online. It was born out of being in an industry full of scammers who were cleaning out consumers’ life savings under the promise of “getting rich quick” I created FIMP to empower online business seekers and save them from having to purchase any more “make money online” products. FIMP teaches everything a person needs to know — from absolutely zero knowledge to building a successful, profitable internet business. Now with a history that started a a bartender, and meandered through a series of sales and customer service roles he has taken what works offline and detailed it brilliantly as an online resource. Get your idea, do your market research, define the product the list goes on and on. So is it possible to start a business and get it up and running without any of the problems that people struggle with? Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Ian Pribyl Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Ian Pribyl such as: Why so many people struggle with the negative dialogue that runs in peoples mind keeping them stuck in their position. Ian talks about why we should be able to find data to discover the profitability of a new business idea before launching. Why it is so much easier to earn a lot of money online instead of a small amount...as long as you have the value and the belief. And lastly….. Why Sausage dogs and their welfare could be an amazing little business to enter into for any listener across the world.

Introducing Michael Nemeroff from RushOrderTees

RushOrderTees founder Michael Nemeroff is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is the CEO and co-founder of the technology-driven eCommerce custom apparel company. Founded in 2002 when Michael was only 17 with his brother and sister, RushOrderTees specializes in industry-leading turnaround times for everyone from teams to small businesses to Fortune 500 companies for a bit of merch, as the kids say. If you want a branded hoodie, t-shirt, bag, whatever, then zip over to his company, design it yourself easily, and bang its on its way to you asap Now this wasn't an easy success, as with all start-ups there is the big push to get it to where you want it to be, and this was no different with todays guest As he says "We were bringing in about $30K a month in revenue after three very hard, long, exhausting years of working 7 days a week.  The three of us were doing the selling, marketing, printing, designing, purchasing, shipping, cleaning, accounting and everything else all on our own. It had taken us a lot of energy and sacrifice to get there and we did our best to squeeze out every bit of profit — only to find at the end of every year we either lost money or were flat on the year. That kind of effort was unsustainable and there was no future in continuing to stay in this business without results. How The Dots Joined Up For RushOrderTees We were all exhausted. I was 20 at the time, and decided I was ready to move on. But my brother forced me to keep working on it. I promised him I’d stay for a few more months, and that’s when we doubled down on our marketing efforts. Within a month, we went from bringing in $30K per month to $200K per month in revenue.  Game changer. All the sudden, we were a million-dollar company. The growth was extremely challenging, but there was finally light at the end of the tunnel. The next phase wasn’t any easier to be honest, but it had a future and I’m really happy we stuck with it. Now over the past 18 years, the company has focused o he customer experience by streamlining the entire process with its innovative design studio, incredible service and the quickest delivers in the industry. They help people express themselves, feel united and connect more deeply to their communities and causes. So what were the steps that changed things, instead of simply ploughing on everyday? And where does he see most people making the mistakes that stop their own success from ever occurring? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Michael Nemeroff Show Highlights During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Michael Nemeroff: Michael shares the story of how his parents dealt with their early business struggles, and the impact it had on him.  Why so many business owners find it hard to break free from the routines they have built around themselves when growing the business. Michael talks openly about finding the niche within the business, that was the most stretching for them, but also the most valuable. and lastly....... We discuss the moment when he and his brother came to blows, and why it was perhaps the best thing to happen.

Introducing Priyanka Gupta Priyanka Gupta is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. She is a lady from a small town in Uttar Pradesh, North India, who was once a software engineer by education, and also once an investment banker. But now she is a writer, solo traveller, and art lover and also the founder and editor-in-chief of On My Canvas — a personal growth and travel blog. Now the key to this lady is her story is about breaking boundaries in conventional India to follow her passion. As she says "I was neither a writer(blogger) nor an avid traveller until 2016. In my small hometown, education and work opportunities are limited. To make a good career, I left my home to study in Rajasthan, a desert state of India. The year was 2003, and I was just 15. How The Dots Joined Up For Priyanka In Rajasthan, I prepared to compete in a national-level exam which guarantees a merit-based course in the best engineering institute of India - The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). I studied hard for three years and scored an all-India rank of 78, out of half a million students who competed in the exam. In 2006, I joined the Computer Science and Engineering B.Tech course in IIT Delhi. I graduated in 2010. Then I worked in software and investment banking jobs and lived around India in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Bangalore. Throughout my corporate career, I never enjoyed my work. Mostly I was fixing the nuts and bolts of old software or was making the rich richer. Now I could have worked harder to develop the skills to get more innovation-centered jobs, but I didn’t like the work related to computer science. Why did I study it then? Because for a girl from a small patriarchal town, IIT and CS were the only way to opportunities. (A lot of Indians first become engineers and then figure out what they want to do.) The disappointment from my professional life bled into my personal life, too. I was mostly morose. And that is the perfect place to start todays episode. So why do few people really give their passions ago, when the story of others following their dreams are all around them? And would todays guest have moments still when she thinks "ok, this is a sticky time. Should i go back and get a job? It would be easier" Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Priyanka Gupta Show Highlights During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Priyanka Gupta: Priyanka talks openly about her belief that there was no going back once she decided that she was going to be a writer and traveller. Why you don't have to lose the skills that you have developed throughout jobs that you perhaps were eager to escape from. We discuss the path to finding the dream business, and why more often than not the dream doesn't come to you until much later. and lastly....... Priyanka reveals the steps that she took to get her first teaching position in Chile, after first taking the leap.

What Are Backlinks?

What are backlinks and why they are so important for an online business is one of the main questions that we get asked. Followed on by "How do i get backlinks to my business?" i suppose. So in this podcast episode we will focus on the key elements that make a great backlink, and why for most online businesses they should form part of your monthly strategy. Lets start with explaining in the simplest terms what a backlink is as the success of your business could depend on them. The Simplest Concept For Understanding Backlinks Imagine that you have been given a balloon by a friend to blow up for a birthday party. You take the balloon with all the enthusiasm you can muster and start to blow with all your might. No matter what you do the balloon won't inflate more than a fraction. It stays lifeless and limp in your hand, whilst you are red faced and defeated by the effort. Well when we start building an online business our fledgling enterprise is just like that balloon. It wont be getting much traffic, sales, customers, eyes whatever, as it will be bouncing along the Google ranks two inches off the floor. Now imagine you got a hundred other businesses to blow into your balloon. Suddenly you have momentum and your business will gain from the SEO boost that they have given you. You take off because those other sites have linked to you, and through that link Google says "Ok. these other sites think this business is worth talking about...lets push it up the rankings" Its the backlinks or inlinks that have made all the difference. Or said in another way, every time someone links your URL to theirs, your balloon will start to rise and reap the rewards. What Types of Backlinks are Valuable? Now back in the day this question would never have been worth answering as it was a numbers game. Get as many people linking to your business and it's game on. So business owners would ignore building quality backlinks into their strategies, and instead went to as many spammy sites as they can. Whenever you could leave a comment or review where there was a chance to add their URL, people would bash out as many as they could and do very well. However, Google started thinking about their definition of "what are backlinks" and decided that it should be all about relevance and authority. Now we are getting into the nuts and bolts building a backlink strategy and there is no getting away from the fact that Google are right. By looking at how established a website is, by scoring it from 1 - 100 you are well on your way to only having to get a few top quality backlinks to make a big difference to your success. Lets give you an example to make things easier. Trait #1: Authority Sites Are The One To Go For At the time of writing this article Join Up Dots has a domain authority of around 49 from a possible 100, which for a podcast is pretty good. The BBC has a domain authority of 95, almost a perfect score. So it would make sense that we should try to get a programme, article or radio show to do a piece on podcasting whilst mentioning us as a reputable source of information. They are saying to the world "Join Up Dots are highly recommended" and Google takes notice of the powerful backlink they have given us. So when you are sitting thinking What are backlinks, then you have to think reputable, high ranking businesses, that add to my authority. Don't go spammy and aim for quantity, instead be strategic and work on approaching other top sites for potential linking opportunities Why Are Backlinks Important? Now by this time you should have understood why understanding in links or incoming links as they are also called is very important for your success. They are a big tick in the box from other peoples businesses that they want to tell the world about your own through their businesses. But we can go deeper than this and tell you why some backlinks can actually harm your business, whilst others are amazingly important. So we already mentioned the authority sites, and why they should be aimed for whenever possible. But what if that site keeps on linking to you? Trait #2: New Links Are Better Than From The Same Site Time And Time Again Imagine when you are working on your what are backlinks to my business strategy, you try to get the BBC to keep on linking to you? That would be amazing as they are high in the rankings and have super powerful linking potential. Well you will see that this can cause the initial boost of SEO power that you gained to get less and less important for you. In fact the more you get from the same website the worse it is for you. It is better to aim for a few, more than loads of backlinks, no matter what the site is. Even if your mate works for the perfect business and is part of the editorial team....don't abuse that connection. Think what one of my pages would be great to gain a boost for and stick to that only. Trait #3: Your Target Keyword Should Be In The Anchor Text Once again, lets picture the fact that you are building content on Indoor Fireworks and you approach a company for a linking opportunity. They say yes to you, and then on their page link to your website with the words "Fireworks" instead. You are still getting the link back to your business so what would be the issue with them omitting this one word? Dependant on the amount of traffic and the winnable aspect of that traffic that mistake could well be fine. However more often than not, you will have done your keyword research and found the keyword "Fireworks" is highly competitive and needs a huge push to get to the top of the ranks. Whilst indoor fireworks, with less traffic and competition could be the winner you should be aiming for. Try to get the right keywords in your backlinks from other people as the more you get the more you will rise to the top of the Google rankings for those hard to win words. Sit down, work out where the buying customer is heading to find people like you, and analyse the search times. Grasping the power of anchor text, when you are working on your business can really take the effort away from everything I promise you. Trait #4: If The Backlink Isn't Relevant To Your Business Then What's The point? We could go on about this all day for sure, but you have to get into the head of Google and understand what Googles prime business model is to understand "What are backlinks?" Googles business model is nothing much more than bringing the greatest, most accurate information to us when we want it. They dont want us to be spending hours searching for "Dog Training" when everything we type in brings back results about Cats and Mice. They want reputable, accurate, honest, trustworthy information to appear to make us stay longer on Google (which means more money for them). Therefore, by getting you business linked to by a site that has nothing to do with your own you would be better off to have a clean up. Spend sometime going through your links and pruning them by contacting the relevant owner or webmaster and asking for changes and removals to be made to the content. Once again this is an ongoing business and should be looked at every few months to maintain the authority and relevance of your own site. Dont be let down by what other people are doing. Keep it clean, mean and make sure backlinks are doing what they should be doing for your business. Giving you a huge boost in ranking, traffic and of course sales, and isnt that you want after all?

Introducing Scaling A Business

Scaling a business is what everybody talk about across the world. You can dip into any podcast, blog, or business radio show and someone will be talking about scaling a business But in this podcast episode we start with discussing whether this is actually a requirement of every business. Is it better to sometimes stay small, and not scale your business at all? Well, we will find out as we go, and like all things we do in Join Up Dots we will leave it up to you to decide what route is best for you. Ready, then lets proceed in with the first steps you need to take when deciding if scaling a business is right for you. What Is Scaling A Business Actually? In its simplest form, scaling a business is having the right processes in place to cope with an increased level of sales, whilst maintaining the equilibrium of your business. Ok, lets make it even simpler for you to get your head around. Imagine that you are a one person business owner who has started a side hustle business that is now at the tipping point. You have built the foundations to your new business, done the work, and now you are getting a trickle of customers into your life. Do you increase that trickle of customers into a torrent of customers? A tsunami of eager to buy customers would be great for your bottom line, and that is how do you cope with that increase? Well certainly you can hire more staff, but that will of course take away some of your profits and bring a level of hassle that having staff will always bring to your business. Perhaps you dont want to be dealing with training, sickness, unexplained absentees when you actually started your business to give you a freedom type liftsyle. Well then if that is the case, you will need to build in systems and processes that can help you deal with the sales influx without it taking a toll on your personal health. That is scaling a business in a nutshell. It's allowing for more sales, more customers, more profit whilst operating lean, smart and the way that you want your business to run. Sound good, or a monster? Why Perhaps You Dont Want To Scale A Business Many business decide that they dont want to get into a scaling a business and quite happy the way things are. You might have a Personal Brand type business, whereby you are expected to be part of the process. Take the host of Join Up Dots for example, who is front and centre of everything he does throughout his business. Does he want to have hundreds of one to one clients leaving him with no time to live the life that he wants? Or does he decide that instead of personal interaction he is more than happy to create courses and content that can be sold time and time again. Well we can tell you that a blended approach works well for sure, and if the sales of the pre-recorded content exceed the one to one then its decision time. But we can also tell you that he knows that the true value is by working with people hand in hand to get them the results that they want. So once again, what are your personal values as to how your business operates and its important to keep to theses. Step One To Business Scaling - Identify Your Personal And Business Values Throughout your business you will have core values that you should without a doubt stick firm too. Some people call this a mission statement, but you have to go deeper than that to create a blueprint of what a business needs to give you, For example, do you want to have the ability of switching off the business and going on long vacations when you want them? Free from distraction and beeps and notifications every five minutes? Well if you do, then you definitely need to bring in processes or staff to help you do this without letting down potential or long standing customers. What if your business supply is selling more to existing customers than new ones? How would you operate in that regard, added to the fact that you would like to take long no interrupted vacations? Get detailed and start looking at all the possible situations that could be keeping you in your current position financially and freedom wise. Get uber detailed, and dont expect this to just come flowing out of you like magic, as more often than not this will take time. Every time you come up with an idea that hadn't occurred to you when thinking about scaling a business jot it down quickly before it disappears again. Step Two To Scaling A Business - Automate What You Can As Much As Possible Now that you have your list of situations that might derail you getting your business into six figures and beyond its re-engineering time. You need to go through your list and look at what you have written, and start working backwards to find solutions to your problems. For example, you might have thought about customers contacting you when you are in the bath, bed, or away on vacation. What do you need to do to make this no longer a problem that you need to deal with? Should you simply place a sequence of automated responses in place that will direct your customer to the right sales page or product? Perhaps your business is a high-end concierge type of operation, when scaling a business definitely needs personal help and assistance twenty four hours a day. Then the auto response may not be for you, and a team of virtual assistants scatted around with the world working at different times is the key. You need to know your business and your customers requirements inside out and start making plans to automate or delegate whenever possible, whilst maintaining the quality of your connection. Step Three - Commit To Growth Everything that we are talking about here is long term, professional business thinking and not to be done on a whim. You know the kind of things, when you hear them on a podcast and then think "Ooh i better be doing this is guess" Bad idea on all levels. You have to truly want to be focused on scaling a business as if you haven't planned to do this from the start then you will encounter pain in the transition. You will need to break a lot of things, and then rebuild stronger and that isn't easy for sure. So ask yourself and keep on asking yourself "Why do i want to grow and scale my business?" Is this an ego metric whereby you feel that you aren't a success as you only need ten clients per year, and spend most of your time walking the dog, or sitting in pubs. We refer you back to earlier in the content whereby you have to define your personal values as to what you want to get out of your business. If you are perfectly happy with where you are financially and lifestyle wise then keep thing as they are and ignore the scaling a business urge. However if that isn't you set it as your major goal and focus of the next few months and i promise you you will never look back. Step Four - Never Stop Asking Are You Doing Enough For The Customer? Many business make the mistake of getting to a certain point and then resting on their laurels. Remember Blockbusters and its massive decline when streaming came into force. Most kids nowadays cant imagine why anyone would have driven to the video stores, spent ages choosing a film, only to then watch it, rewind it and then drive it back to the store. Yeah, even for me who was well versed in the back and forth of video consumption wonders why we put up with it. But put up with it we did, until we didn't have to. The same is with your business, are you operating like you always have done and aren't interested in changing as it has always worked well for you. Well i can promise you that when it comes to businesses and organisations who are amazing at scaling a business the key element to them is their willingness to change. You need to be keeping one eye on the consumer, one eye on the market place and one eye on the changing tides of technology otherwise scaling a business wont be required anymore. You simply wont have a business to scale as that ship has sailed, and it has taken all your customers with it too. Thanks for reading or listening to the Join Up Dots podcast giving you the first four steps to scaling a business. Remember everything takes time, but having a plan in front of you is so much easier than simply trying to make things up as you go along.

Introducing Carson Tate Carson Tate is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. She is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies. Working Simply has served leading global brands, including AbbVie, Delta Airlines, Deloitte, FedEx, Wells Fargo, Chick-fil-A, and Lowe’s.  The author of the best-selling,, Carson Tate Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style [Penguin Portfolio, 2015], her newest title, Own It. Love It. Make It Work. [McGraw-Hill] and its companion workbook of the same name, was released in October 2020.  Carson’s views have been included in top-tier media including Bloomberg Businessweek, Business Insider, CBS Money Watch, Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review blog, The New York Times, USA Today, Working Mother and more. How The Dots Joined Up For Carson As she says "For the past 15 years, I have worked with organizations of all sizes around the world to help them improve the engagement of their employees, the productivity of their workforces, and the efficacy of their leadership. Based on everything I’ve learned from the thousands of people I’ve taught and trained, mentored and coached, I know in my heart that one thing is true: Our work is meant to be a full expression of who we are. It is meant to make us happy. Make our hearts sing. Challenge and empower us, and expand our intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives. So why is it that when jobs in essence should be who we are and what we do best, do so many people struggle to see what's right in front of them? And where does she see the office environment heading as move forward and out of the pandemic issues of 2020? Back to how they were or simply a connection of remote workers sitting behind technology? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Carson Tate Show Highlights During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Carson Tate: Why so many people are unwilling to allow the world to take over the boring though meaningful tasks every business has.  Carson talks openly about the "bumpy " ground that business endure unless you have solid processes in place. Carson shares how the quickest way to change a business is simply to master the whole inbox terror we all deal with. and lastly....... Why it is so good to work for a free at the beginning to get proof of concept but dont make it last too long.

Introducing Setting Boundaries At Work

Setting boundaries at work when you are in corporate land is hard. When you are an entrepreneur building your own business from scratch it is almost impossible. The reason being is mainly everything that comes your way could be the big opportunity that can take your ventures to the next level. The simple request to connect on Zoom from a complete stranger,  might be the golden ticket to all your dreams coming true. But as you will hear in todays podcast setting boundaries at work is one of the most, if not the most important things that you can do to get success. Don't ever think that you are missing out if you say "No" to something. This is simply your mind being 100% set on a scarcity mode. Setting boundaries at work as an entrepreneur will give you the time you need to be proactive, instead of being reactive which makes all the difference. So if you are ready let's start breaking down the Join Up Dots Top Five Tips to Setting Boundaries At Work Tip One - Understand What The Business Needs To Give You We all want a business that delivers so much money that we don't ever have to worry again. However, most businesses take time to get to this stage of amazing freedom and financial success. That is why it is so important to understand what the business needs to give you at all stages of its growth. At the very beginning if its simply a side hustle, then it may not have to give you much income support so things are easy. Moving onwards, you may need staff, property, office space as other expenses start creeping into you. This is where setting boundaries at work starts to become an issue and people say "Yes" to everything to pay for these increasing expenses. Dont say "Yes" to everything, instead give yourself breathing space to really think and understand your own business and it's current requirements. Set free time to look at your path to this point, and of course your future trajectory. You will have started making the right decisions that leads to the business that you want, instead of creating a monster. Tip Two - Setting Boundaries At Work Means Delay Are you constantly chasing to respond to all those messages and emails that come into your inboxes everyday. Communication with customers and potential customers is one of the pains (but necessary pains) of most businesses. Set boundaries and start telling your customers not to expect a response back instantly. Can you respond within 3 days instead of as soon as the message comes to you? At Join Up Dots we spend a day responding to all emails and messages every two weeks, and it has never caused us any issue at all. Can you do the same, and advise your customers that they will get a response "On Friday this week"? You will be surprised at how easily customers will buy into the way that you are setting boundaries at work, and actually respect you for it too. Delay is the key to being in control, and you advise the other party of how you are going to respond and you will never look back. Tip Three Focus In On Parkinsons Law There is an amazing law that has been a big part of the Join Up Dots success story over the last few years. This is the discovery of Parkinsons Law, which simply states "The work you do will always expand to the amount of time you allow it" A perfect example of this would be looking back at school days and the homework that you were set. It didn't matter if you had six weeks to do the homework, you would leave it till the very last minute and have it hanging over you for the full time. Everyday you would be thinking "I must get that piece of homework done or I am in big trouble" The same applies in your own work life, and especially as an entrepreneur due to the amount of tasks you need to juggle each day. Setting boundaries at work means that you have to decide to only take a fixed amount of time to get that bit of work done, and no matter what get the work done in that time. You will of course say "But what if i dont deliver the quality that I want?" You will, that focus on the task and the time focus too gets you into the zone like nothing else you will experience. Parkinsons Law is the key to having a business that you love and one that is never ending. Don't make the mistake of being in the job all the time. Tip Four - Just Say No And Stick To It It doesn't make you a bad person to say No, to people when they are asking for something. Yes, i know we are all programmed basically to try not to upset people or let them down, but you are now a business owner. No matter what you do you will let people down if you don't make one of your key elements to setting boundaries at work saying No. And worst of all, the people you let down the most will be your family and loved ones. So when someone connects with you out of the blue, think to yourself "Would I have made this happen myself ?" If the answer is No, then guess what you do, come on it's really really easy, you just say No. It's up to you direct your ship where it's heading or you wont get anywhere, if you never leave the shore because you are just reacting to things you are stuck. Say No as much as possible, unless its something that you would have sought out, and then jump all over it. Tip Five - Pushing Back Is The Easiest Way Of Setting Boundaries At Work Everyday you will be asked to do things by people across the world, and more often than not its because its part of their plan not yours. We learnt this early in the game at Join Up Dots, where just because someone asks you to meet up, connect virtually or anything else you should always ask for a Why? Why do you think that this will benefit me like you are suggesting in your message? Could you provide more information about your request? Fine, we can meet up but it has to be at the time that is convenient for me? Once again, as you will have heard throughout this episode of Join Up Dots, its not being rude, or stand offish. Its simply making sure that you are in control of your time, your energies and the direction of your business in the time you have available each day. If you lose track of the control element, you will find that the work grows and grows until you are in the job 24 7. Make sure you start setting boundaries at work as the most important thing that you can do, and we promise you you will never look back.

Start Ups is the name of the game with Mark Grimes, todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast. He is a man who over the last few months has taken more action than most people, not least himself have done over the last 18 years. You see over nearly two decades our guest today created a list of  businesses that he thought would be proven winners. Or at least those that were worth reviewing and developing to see if they bore fruit. Now since August 1, 2020, he is a man on fire. As he says "Since August 2020 I launched one new startup every day for 31 days in a row. Yep, 31 brand spanking new companies. No business plans drawn up. No money raised. No teams assembled. No website created—nothing done ahead of time. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Lean and mean. 100% transparent. 100% open. How The Start Ups Dots Joined Up For Mark Grimes One new idea was selected each day from 350+ business ideas scribbled down over the last 18 years, aka the Dunning Kruger Project. Is this for real? Yes. Am I joking? No. Am I nuts? We’ll see. Why am I doing this? Well, there are 55 million newly unemployed people in the US alone. There is continuing economic upheaval. There are tense racial, political, and personal divisions among us. There is a global pandemic. Is this the worst possible time to launch and grow a startup? Yes Could it be the best possible time? Yes. Which of course makes him a perfect guest for a show like Join Up Dots So where can people start first with so many ideas flooding around us all everyday? And of course how does he remain organised and focused on developing every single one. Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mark Grimes

What Is The Quickest Way To Make Money?

"What is the quickest way to make money" is one of the questions that we get time and time again at Join Up Dots. Back in the day, we might have said "There isn't anyway that you can or should make money fast online". We were all about building things with proper foundations that build and build and build. A proper online business that provides for you and your family for years. Nowadays however we have a very different view on what is the quickest way to make money as you will hear in todays show.

Is It The Right Time To Start A Business is part of the discussion throughout todays podcast episode. During every week we get countless emails all asking about business ideas, content and business worries. As you will hear on todays show one of the major ones that we see time and time again is the "Is It The Right Time To Start A Business" one. But actually does this question ever need to be really asked if you do the work before you launch a business? If you sit and plan the business, find the traffic sources, develop your offer and then make it easy for the customer you are ahead of everyone long before you start a business. So as you will hear on the show, in our honest opinion there is no such thing as a bad time to start your own business with the right plan.   Question One Dear David and everyone at Join Up Dots, Loving the podcast and all the different conversations you have everyday. What with everything going on at the moment with the pandemic, are you concerned about the future at all. Do you worry about what you have constructed failing? I keep on listening to shows like yours and would love to start my own venture, but i keep on thinking "Is this the right time what with everything going on?" Im not sure that you will put your mind at ease, but would at the minimum be excited to hear my name mentioned on your podcast. Gillian Salazar, Mykonos, Greece Question Two Good morning David, i have been going though your archives listening to your backdated content, and keep on hearing a theme appearing time and time again. Overwork, burnout and exhaustion. I work in corporate for a major pharmaceutical company and have never experienced anything like this, which makes me wonder wether you regret creating Join Up Dots and all it spin off? Wouldn't it be more sensible to leave it all at work each night and switch off, and from what I am hearing you struggled to do this. Best regards Conejito Sibilia, Mexico City Question Three Hello David, it would be wonderful if you got to see this email and respond, but i know how busy you are. I heard on a recent podcast episode that you have bought a shop. Why? Surely, what you wanted to create was enough for you...simply intrigued as to why you added more work when most people talk about walking on beaches, meditation and being free from life hassles. I used to own a brick and mortar business and it was nothing but trouble. John Baker, Perth Western Australia

Introducing Dalton Skach Dalton Skach is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is a 26-year-old real estate globetrotter who is on a mission to disrupt the commercial real estate investing industry by providing investors the chance to invest in commercial real estate through digital security offerings. In 2017, Dalton started Gold Gate, a Commercial Real Estate Consulting Firm that sourced over $300M in off-market transactions and had an average deal size of $25M. To make Dalton’s story even more unique, he brokered these deals while travelling to over 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Central America, and South America. How The Dots Joined Up For Dalton Now this is the part of the story that intrigued us at Join Up Dots, how do you broker deals if your are nowhere near the properties? How do you know that the real estate you are interested in is reputable and ok to invest your cash into? Now, Dalton is on to his next big project. He has developed an investment portal where accredited investors can invest in commercial real estate just like they would a stock or a bond! You can start living a life on your own terms just like our guest today has. So when did the idea come to him, and what steps were required to get it off the ground? And where have been the obstacles that could well have derailed him without the right mindset and persistence? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Dalton Skach Show Highlights During the show we touched on such weighty subjects with Dalton Skach such as: Dalton opens up about his time at Colorado University and why it gave him so much confidence to move forward into ventures unknown We share how Dalton took his idea, and then canvassed opinion to make sure it was an idea with legs. Great idea! And lastly.... Finding good people to work with you is so important to scale, and using Upwork is the gold resource for all of us. If you can find the gold.

Blake D Bauer is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. He is the author of the international bestselling book You Were Not Born To Suffer. Each year he helps thousands of people who cannot find effective support from conventional psychology, medicine, or religion. As we see time and time again in Join Up Dots, the life that you are leading will always head you to the life that you will lead. For the dots become experiences and those can either shape you and drive you to huge success, or for many be weights around their necks. Today's guest is someone quite different. How The Dots Joined Up For Blake As he says "I was not aware of it at the time built as a young man I suffered very deeply in myself, mostly mentally and emotionally, but also physically at times. In my attempts to run from both my internal struggles and the challenging situations around me, I unintentionally created a great deal of suffering for myself. By the time i was 18 years old I had set in motion a domino effect that caused my already unstable world to crumble. I had been suspended from high school on three different occasions.  I was selling drugs and had been arrested for drug possession multiple times. Things were not in a good place for sure, but now Blake is a world-renowned teacher and speaker with an extensive background in psychology, alternative medicine, nutrition, traditional healing, and mindfulness meditation. Based on both his personal experience overcoming deep suffering, addiction, and adversity, as well as his professional success with over 100,000 people worldwide. His pioneering work integrates what he’s found to be the most effective approaches to optimal mental, emotional, and physical health. So how does someone find themselves in such a sticky point in life, but still have the courage and focus to change track so dramatically? And with all the thousands of people that he has worked with. is there a common theme that we can nip in the bud on today's show? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Blake D Bauer

How to respond when someone asks you how things are going is a problem that most entrepreneur have everyday. You see we all want to be in a position where we respond with "Yeah amazing, earning a squillion pound a second and only working an hour a day" But of course that isn't going to be the case for the majority of us. Most entrepreneurs will either be somewhere within "Things are going great, but I haven't got a clue what to do next" or "Ok, things arent going so great so how do i solve them" Our lives are one of pushing, developing and aiming for targets and goals that we have never achieved before. We have to exist in a world of confusion punctuated with moments and periods of success and fulfilment. These are the moments that put wind in our sails and allow us to recharge our batteries before the urge to go again hits us. But that of course isn't what someone wants to know when they ask "How things are going" They dont want the answer of "well actually i'm in a bit of confused state at the moment. The first quarters targets were going fine but we have now seen a 50% deduction on expected profits due to the increase in steel manufacturing costs in Iceland" Expect the blank stare and a touch of dribble to come out the side of their mouths When someone asks you anything about your business, the truth is except for one or two very special individuals they dont really care how things are going for you. They are just being polite and showing an interest in your progress as they feel that they should ask you, so it doesn't really matter what you answer. This leads onto the ego state of business, and the core message behind why we struggle to know how to respond when someone asks you how things are going. We dont want to be seen as someone who is making things up as they go along. We dont want to be seen as someone who hasn't got all the answers, so we respond with "Yeah couldn't be better, things are going amazingly well" Get over yourself. There is nothing wrong with saying to anyone "To be honest im in a bit of a funk at the moment with what i am trying to create" Or perhaps you simply say "Well, if i knew what i know now before i started then im sure i would be further ahead of the game. But hey it is what it is and i keep on moving forward" Being an entrepreneur is about being truthful with yourself, your situation, your time restraints, family commitments. It's about knowing what things you can do well and those things that you will always struggle with. Its about knowing when superman needs a break, and an afternoon watching Netflix with a pack of chocloate digestives is more important. The bottom line, is if you always come out with the stock response of "Brilliant times are being had by all. I should have done this years ago" then you will be walking a difficult path. You will be working in an environment where your expectations of progress are higher than your actual situation and attainment. You will find your mind tripping you up as the fake "present" shows it to yourself in its honest glory. Unshaven, smelly and not the groomed presentation of success you want for yourself. Now how do i know this? Well this is the life I lead everyday, through every business venture I operate. After they successful financially? Yes, no problem there. Do i have totally clarity of the next steps to be taken....no not at all. Do i wake every morning with passion flooding out of every pore of my body...definitely not. Do i sometimes feel like i should just quit and go and do something else......every now and again I do. That is the beauty of running a podcast and online business coaching platform for so many years, you learn what works and what doesnt. You understand the confusion that business owners are in everyday. And you know how to respond when someone asks you how things are going with a "Yeah great, but a ton of work still to do. But getting there little by little everyday" Go out and enjoy the process of building success and safety for you and your family, and just accept that your efforts will get you there. You just need to be honest with yourself.

Introducing Profit first Expert Rocky Lalvani Profit first expert Rocky Lalvani is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast. He is a man who believes that the money issues that cause most businesses and people to struggle can be resolved with minimum fuss As he says "If you're wondering how any small business owner could possibly say they have leftover cash, you're not alone. Many small business owners see profit as an afterthought - it’s whatever you see on your tax return after your accountant works their magic. But what if there was a way to turn a profit without completely changing how you run your business? How The Dots Joined Up For Rocky Lalvani As a Profit First Professional, I empower business owners like you to understand and systematize your numbers so that you can spend more time doing what you love. Rather than spending loads of money to hire someone to handle the financials, I help YOU to take control of your profit and your business in a way that makes sense. No financial jargon or advanced excel functions here! Together, we’ll create processes that are simple. I’m not going to ask you to change your mission as a business or fire half of your employees – we’re going to leverage the good habits you already have and put systems in place so it’s easier for you to focus on the work that matters. So where can people start first, if they are in the pulling their hair out and screaming at the numbers phase? And of course, has he ever been in the situation that his clients are and now has seen the light? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Rocky Lalvani Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Rocky Lalvani such as: Why it is so important to look at both the pounds and the penny's when building your businesses. Dont miss the small stuff. Rocky shares why it is so important to build your financial runway before you start to launch a new business. Be careful how the world perceive you, as if you are thinking too small, you will never gain the income that your talents deserve. And lastly........... If you make a hundred dollars, then you need to look at what you are left with after your costs are taken. How To Connect With Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani Website Facebook Twitter Linkedin Return To The Top Of Rocky Lalvani If you enjoyed this episode of  Rocky Lalvani why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Nick Ruiz,  Sarah Caltieri or the amazing Living The Dream Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from. Full Transcription Of Rocky Lalvani / Profit First Interview Intro 0:00 When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host, live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph. David Ralph 0:25 Yes, have a good morning to you. Good morning to you. Good morning to you and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for being here. We're gonna have a good show today. And we're gonna get straight into it. Because this is something that is fundamental to business success. And it's not just fundamental to business success, it's fundamental to life success, money and money issues and how to make sure that you've got enough of it at the end of the month, so that you're not sort of screaming around saying I can't save, I can't save, I've got never got anything left. Well, today's guest is a man who believes that the money issues that cause most businesses and people to struggle can be resolved with minimum fuss. As he says, if you're wondering how any small business owner could possibly say they had leftover cash, you're not alone. Many small business owners see profit as an afterthought. It's whatever you see on your tax return RP, your accountant works their magic. But what if there was a way to turn a profit without completely changing how you run your business. Now, as a profit first professional, he empowers business owners, like you and me to understand and systematise their numbers so that you can spend more time doing what you love. Now, rather than spending loads of money to hire someone to handle the financials, he actually helps you take control of your profit and your business in a way that makes sense. No financial jargon or advanced Excel functions here. I love that advanced Excel function. Now together, we're create processes that are simple. And I'm not going to ask you to change your mission, he says, as a business or fire half of your employees, we're going to leverage the good habits you already have, and put systems in place. So it's easier for you to focus on the work that matters. So where can people start first if they pulling their hair out and screaming at the numbers phase? And of course, has he ever been in the situation that his clients are, and now has seen the light? Well, let's find out as we bring onto the show, to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Rocky Lalvani. Good morning, Rocky, how are you? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 2:28 I am awesome. David, thank you so much for having me join you on the show today. David Ralph 2:33 I've got to get it out. It's a brain blister. How many people show Adrian Adrian at you have it must be three times a day is it? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 2:41 It does, it happens a lot. Not as much these days as in the past, but it still does happen. David Ralph 2:47 I'll tell you why. I'm glad you don't work with me. I'd be doing it all the time, I just would not be able to stop myself. Now I'm gonna get straight into it. Because I was blown away when I was doing the research. And I put it in the intro. And I've highlighted it. So it can be my first question. But many small businesses and owners see profit as an art default. Why need Yeah. And they you know an idiot? I don't I don't get that. Tell me what's your thinking there because I run multiple businesses, some online, some brick and mortar and profits key to me, I just don't understand that thinking, tell me about it. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 3:26 most business owners don't go into business to do the business of business. They're not accountants, and they don't want to be they have whatever it is that they love, that they want to bring into the world. And more often than not what they love to do, has nothing to do with accounting and the profit side. And so they struggle with it. On top of that. We're not taught money. I have a Bachelor of Science in economics and an MBA. We weren't taught how to build wealth. They don't, you know, you go to school for all these years for what to get a job. But do they teach you money in those years of school? I don't know what it's like in England, but in the United States, we don't teach money in school very often. And so I think that is the underlying problem. It's a taboo subject. David Ralph 4:16 But profit. It's key, isn't it? You look at your overheads you look at your expenses. You know, for example, I run a brick and mortar business, I bought it. It's been going about 40 years, and I bought it about a year and a half ago. And literally every day I look at it, and I'm paying business first. I'm taking profits out so that I can build up a nest egg. So when the taxman comes or the accountants or whatever, I know that I've got the tax return and stuff. And I look at it as a kind of a game where I think to myself like okay, I need to buy X amount of stock, can we get a different supplier so like, I can reduce the amount that I'm paying on there? can I increase that The profit margin of that 150% per item more you know it to me, it's like an amazing game of Monopoly, where you're looking at it. I've never been taught that the only business success or Money Advice I've been taught was what my mom said to me take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves. And I think that's just isn't it. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 5:24 It's true, you do have to take care of the pennies. And a lot of people don't have that attitude of being careful with the small stuff. At the same time, some people will be very good with the pennies, and they'll mess up the pounds. So you have to watch both ways that you're not making big mistakes. Because business big mistakes are what blow you up. You're a rarity. If I look at business owners, and I was shocked to learn this, when I learned this, I literally almost fell over 80% of business owners are not looking at their financials. 15% of business owners are looking at their financials, but they don't understand exactly what they're seeing. They've got some idea, but not a perfect idea. You're part of the 5% that know your numbers, look at your numbers, understand your numbers and make decisions on your numbers. And that's probably why you've had so much success. David Ralph 6:21 You know, I don't do the accountancy, I've got an accountant. And he's very good. I've had three accountants, the first one was more interested in showing me his new iPhone, that I was probably buying him. And then the second second one I just didn't trust. And then the last one is He's really good. So the accountancy side I don't get involved in he just tells me what the tax is. But the basic day to day is key. Now for somebody who's starting a business, let's take it right back to sort of basics. Somebody is thinking of starting a business and up to this point, they've been an employee, where at the end of each month, they get a wage, and it comes in, and they never query about their human resources have paid the right tax or whatever. It's just what they've got, before they even start. Is there something that I can do Aki, in your view, that can actually set out the foundations for both their personal life and their business life? But when they're sort of moving forward? What What can I actually do, which is a really good first step. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 7:21 So a first step, I think, is to make sure you're on a strong financial foundation. So if you're looking to walk out of a job and start a business, I think the first thing you need to realise is that this is a long journey. And more often than not, it's probably going to take you three years. So my question to you is, how are you going to survive for three years? How are you going to get through that period of time. And if you can't, and you don't have a plan? Well, before you leap, make sure you have a plan. I mean, you can jump out of an aeroplane anytime you want without a parachute. But you can only do it once, right? If you have a parachute, you can do it many times. So before you leap and start, make sure you've got a parachute that's going to carry you for three years. As you build your business. The second thing is put pen to paper and figure out all of the numbers, right? Nobody creates a business plan that that creates a business that's destined for bankruptcy, everyone puts together a business plan that shows success. So put together your business plan. And then really pressure test all your numbers and your costs, and go to some other business owners and show it to them that are in the same industry and say, I'm looking to start a business. Here are what my numbers look like, what am I missing? Is this realistic? And how long do you think it's going to take me to achieve that? At the bottom is the financial foundation, you go into business to make a profit? And you should be up front with that. Is this doable? And is it realistic? Too often we go in with these big wide eyes, you know, Oh, look at that guy. He's got a seven figure business. He's blowing it out. He said he only works four hours a day. Most of those people are lying. Be honest with you, right? Yeah, they're they've got a seven figure business and they're spending seven figures on it, which means at the end of the day, they're barely making any money and who wants to work hard for nothing. David Ralph 9:25 One of the things that we do in our business coaching or where we create online businesses and one of the things that probably drags my clients down a bit because I they all seem to build I get the feeling that they want to steam into building websites and the sexy stuff. And I always say to them, what should keep the lights on bigger if you take away all the luxuries of Netflix and Amazon Prime and all the things that we think that we should add in a Starbucks coffee, just pay your bills. What is that bigger and then how many clients do we need to get to pay for that? Bigger. And it's one of those things that I think is kind of common sense starting a business by thinking, what do I need to survive? And I speak to some people and they go, yeah, 12 million a month, 12 million a month. And I go, No, you don't? You don't need 12 million a month. Yeah, that's what I'm aiming for. I said, great. I am Papa, I am for 12 million a month. But what do you need to keep the lights on? And that is something that people can start working on, isn't it, where they do their personal budget, and reduce memberships and gym things and stuff that we just waste on a monthly basis to bring that bigger down, so that they got that cut and dried? I need three clients a month to pay for this? Where are those clients and start working towards them? Do you agree Rocky? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 10:47 I do agree. But I'm going to caution people. David Ralph 10:51 You say you agree, but there was I knew you weren't agree. I could see that. I've been married for 50 years. And there was that woman's vibe in your voice? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 11:03 Here is my caution. Okay, most business owners look at top line revenue, and think that's what they're going to take home. So when you say how many clients? Do I need to cover my basics? It's not, it's not okay, I have three clients that pay $1,000 a month, I have $3,000 coming in. Yeah. And my monthly costs that I need to cover 3000 your revenue in is not your revenue that you can actually spend, you're going to have to spend money to get those $3,000. So what is your net number that's coming out of those clients? And how many do you need to where does that net come out so that you can cover your monthly not? It's not I tell business owners if you have a 5% profit margin, for every additional dollar you spend, you need $20 in revenue. And I don't think that sinks in that top line revenue is not equal to spendable dollars. So that's my only caution on that is how much revenue? How much is your top line going to generate bottom line that's going to allow you to survive at home. And that's my my only caveat to that. Well, I agree David Ralph 12:17 with your caveat, I hate to say that Rocky, because I like to argue with every every guest I have on. But I do totally agree. So this is going to be like a tennis match, I'm now going to bounce it back like Phaedra to net Tao is coming back across to you. Now when somebody starts, you don't know the expenses. You know, I'm still blown away by what came out of the woodwork. But I just didn't know I needed to do and pay for on a monthly basis because I've never done it. So how does somebody out there come up with that bigger of yes, I do need this to pay the bills at home. But I also need this to pay the bills for the business. Because I don't know what bills I'm going to have because I've never done this business before. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 13:01 And that's why I said number one, come up with a business plan. And number two, go show your business plan to people who are doing the business you're doing. And ask them if it's realistic. And it's real, you know, in b2c, so business to consumer sales, prices are generally low. But if you go b2b, everything costs 10 times more. So be aware of that if you want somebody to build you a business website, they're probably going to charge you a lot of money. And go go shop around say how much does it cost to build a website, go look at all the software. These days, everyone is buying so much software, oh, I need an email programme, I need a CRM, I need all these different things that you can buy, all those things add up very, very quickly. And then credit card fees, you know, the credit card companies taking a cut off the top. If you've got an account on one of these selling platforms, what are their fees? So do the research in and then go ask people and you know, in today's world, we're so much more connected than ever before. There's online forums for business people, there's business coaches, sometimes it may just be worth it to go to a business coach upfront. And just pay them to review your plan to say is this realistic, but there's tonnes of information out there, you've got to you've got to put down your numbers. So don't just go to somebody and ask questions. Do your homework first. Create your plan and then go ask five people is my plan realistic and don't go ask your mother go as somebody doing the business that you want to do? Is this realistic? Now David Ralph 14:44 in classic Join Up Dots territory, we're gonna bounce back and move away from the content more tsl. So I was reading your about page. And one of the things that you mentioned on your about page and I do like about pages is the fact that The world changed and you didn't keep up with the changes of the world lesson learned you say, keep up with the world. Now. Tell us about the rocky before you started what you always you know, putting your hands in your pocket and bringing out mops and and shackles and trying to sort of barter your wife for services, you know, how did you actually operate? When did you actually get your money acumen. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 15:28 So, I grew up in a in a slightly different situation. We're immigrants to the United States. And my parents came here a long time ago when I was a little kid. And they were starting over for their second time. And so they had $25, in a lot of their friends came over from India around the same time. And as I was growing up, I watched them quickly move up the financial ladder. But the parents would get together and they would talk about money, they would talk about how much they were making, how much they were spending. And so I had financial conversations as a kid, and I just whatever reason, I wanted to be a millionaire as a kid. And that was my goal. And I would read the Wall Street Journal, I would go get jobs as a kid, I was very entrepreneurial, in that I would go into New York City buy stuff, bring it back, mark it up 100% and sell it to my schoolmates. So I was always flush with cash, went to college, and then and then I fell into the trap of the enemy of greatest good. And so I kind of wanted to start a business, but I didn't know how. And so I got a job. And the job went pretty well. And so I followed that for quite a few years. And then I In the meantime, I started building my site businesses, and they It took years of side businesses before I went full time. So it was a process and I'm a slow learner, unfortunately. David Ralph 17:01 And did you do the thing? Did you reach out to other people and say to them, you know, this is what I'm thinking of doing? Is my plan, right? Or is this something you've learned from experience? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 17:12 So it is, yeah, I The problem was, I was slow doing all of that, you know, looking backwards, had I done it faster, I would have had much faster success. But yeah, I did go and I would constantly read like I would get on the forums and read how other people were doing things. And when we started in our real estate business, a big part of what we did was to run the numbers down to the thing and actually do the math. But on top of doing the math, we built in risk tolerance. So we would add up and say, okay, we think it's gonna cost us $20,000. To do all of this, add another 10% to the budget, because we forgot something. So we're gonna budget for 22,000. when we'd go selling costs, we go, well, the realtor is going to take six, and it's going to be another percent. But something's going to come up. So let's make that number 10%. You know, I don't think we need to replace the roof. But let's go ahead and budget for the roof anyway, just in case we have to so we would kind of we would calculate for overspending. And then we would come in below budget. So we did do a lot of that stuff. And I did go. And that's the other problem, though. Because as you as you watch some of these things, as you listen to some people, they don't know their numbers. So when they're giving you numbers, they think they're giving you the right numbers, they don't even know they're around. So be careful who you listen to always look at who that person is, are they financially successful? Or do they look financially successful? Because that's two separate things. And and I think that's where sometimes we get caught off guard. So yeah, go pressure, test your numbers. It's a big part of it, I think. And then the other problem I had, especially in the beginning was underpricing, my services. I didn't realise how much people were willing to pay for good service. So I undervalued myself, and that is something else that I think we tend to do. David Ralph 19:16 I think everyone goes through that, you know, I know I certainly went through that. And what I offer now to people, they generally will come back later and say, gee, you know, somebody else is charging x y Zed. But, you know, it's it's one of those things that you have to grow into your own personal belief that the value that you are providing is worth the money. And I just don't think that we have that at the start. I certainly didn't. You know, I look back at some of the things that I did in the early days. I was basically bending over for $50. You know, it was it was like nothing really and the amount of value that I was providing for that. And what I found Rocky and I talk about this a lot is you get the sky customers, you get the terrible ones, the ones that just argue with you all the time, and they want more of a more of a more, when somebody actually pays you value, your life becomes easier, because they do the work, they listen to you. And they turn up on time. They just become better customers don't know. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 20:20 They do. And you know, that's one of the surprising things. And I've heard speakers talk about this a lot. If you undercharge, people don't think you're good. So the price you pay signals, how good you are at something. And I've heard many times people say, you know, especially for like corporate speakers, they wouldn't get hired because they were charging too little. And the company thought, well, we want a $20,000 speaker, you're not a $20,000 speaker, because you're only charging 5000, you're not worth it. So be careful how you how the world perceives your value. And the people who are willing to pay you more are exactly what you talk about. They are better customers. And so the harder you work, the less you make, because you're in that grind, customer, you know, the less you work, the more value it's perceived, the easier life becomes. And I think that's a lesson learned. And we don't always believe that up front. But but it's very, very true, David Ralph 21:23 is true. But they don't know the answer of how to give people that personal belief. You know, I've grown into it. I've been through the journey. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years now on and off with different things. And so I understand the mechanism, I can provide the value somebody can come along, I will give them what they deserve. But I don't think I could have just done that. Unless I'd been through the struggle and learn how it all works. I don't think that you can just have that belief. right at the beginning. Do Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 21:58 you know what, again, there are certain people who do and they just go for it. And there are others who kind of have to work through the ladder. The question is, and again, I told you that I struggled with this was moving through that ladder faster. And until you break through those barriers, it's difficult. And that's why sometimes having coaches or trainers or mentors or reading books to help you break through your barriers, is the biggest thing I tell most people, the biggest obstacle you will face is the mirror. Because it's you that's holding you back. It's not no one else in the world is holding you back except yourself. You've got to overcome yourself. And when you do that, that's when greatness happens. David Ralph 22:48 That says some words that really helped me every day. We're here again, Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey 22:52 my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love. David Ralph 23:19 Now, what interests me with view Rocky, and it interests me with so many people, but a business only has to be a simple transaction of value to somebody else. You know, I always reference there's that lady on Netflix, Marie Kondo, I think her name is my wife was obsessed with her. And all she did was teach out of throw stuff away and tidy your drawers up. And she's made millions. And I used to think it's a business, you know, do people pay for that? And then there's this other group on Netflix that my wife's interested in, but just teach you how to put your clothes in varying colour schemes. And I think myself doing all right as well, with yourself when you started your business, did you feel that you had to throw the kitchen sink at it? Did you try to provide more value and actually the customer actually requires and in many ways, confusing the customer because they didn't really totally understand what you was offering. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 24:21 That does happen, right? Because I think in the beginning, in the beginning, they'll partially you need to build raving fans. So in that sense, I think you need to deliver more value, especially up front so that you can get yourself established because your best advertising is a customer well served. They're going to go tell everyone how great their decision was to work with you or to buy from you. at the same point. The other struggle is being crystal clear on what you do in how you do it. I think too often we make our messages You too complex, you need to make your messages such that a five year old can understand what you do that grandma can understand what you do. So there's there's two nuances to that I feel between the two, by the way that Jim Carrey story, that was the driving factor behind me, from the time I was a kid, I used to read the Wall Street Journal. And I would every time we had a recession, you would see people in their 50s lose their job. They were at the height of their career. And they didn't know how to pivot, because they thought they had safety. And then they would struggle and things would go wrong for them. And I was always like, I want to be at that point, when I'm 50 years old, that I have enough financial wealth that I can tell the world go screw yourself, if you fire me, I can go do whatever I choose. And so that was actually kind of a motivating factor for me to build wealth over time, was knowing that I could get fired at the top and that I needed to make sure that I had a strong foundation under David Ralph 26:08 its I used to work with Phil Collins, the drummer from Genesis, he sister in law, Lynn, I used to work with her and I used to know his brother, remember Phil Collins in in the old days on you with me with this Rocky? Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 26:24 I am so I grew up my high school years were Phil Collins, I have all his albums, I listened to all his music. I have one of his concert CDs where it's he and Chester doing a drum duet. If David Ralph 26:40 you notice that, well, Lynne was working with me. And she was a lovely lady. She really was. And the owner of the company was really bad to a really bad. And then one day she came in and she said, Phil has given me my f off money as she called it. And she said from that moment, and she never told me how much Phil Collins gave them. But he must have given them a fair whack. Because she said from that moment, it was just liberation, I knew that no matter what happened, I could just say, screw you basically and be gone. And I always used to think about, oh, yeah, why do people not build to that, because I could never go back. If somebody offered me a job. Now I'm never going to take it Not in a million years. Because there's too much about being in control of your own destiny, which is, which is absorbing to me. It's powerful. It's It's intense, every single day. But the majority of people who are finding it out now because of the situation or we're going through, just haven't got that fpu money ever, not even a small is not even an F money. They haven't got either of it. Profit First Expert Rocky Lalvani 27:49 And and that's very true. People are not taught to build wealth. Even business owners are not taught to build wealth, they put all their eggs in that one basket. They don't they really struggle with the concept of remove money from your business, and use it to build wealth ou

When it comes to living the dream, do you ever stop and consider whether the life you are living is actually the life that you really want to be living? Do you consider that you can get bigger and bigger achievements in your life (and actually beat yourself up because your not) Well that is what's today's episode of Join Up Dots is all about as you will hear. This all came about, after I got told by a businessman that when asked "How are you doing?" and getting the reply from myself of "Yeah great living the dream" he stated. "David if you think you are living the dream it's only because you aren't dreaming big enough!" So how do you start living the dream if you are already 100% believing that you already have the dream? Is being content and happy enough or are we letting ourselves down? Well, I think that being content and happy is one of the most amazing states that you can achieve in your life. It may not seem sexy and inspirational but it is amazing. Waking up without any stresses and pressures. Knowing that you can pay all your bills with no issue at all. Feeling healthy and fit. Is that not the best way of being, or is living the dream our right to work harder and harder to gain more and more. I really don't have the right answer to this, as I suppose living the dream is so personal to each and everyone of us, we should never be told by others whether it is right or wrong. We should look deep into our hearts and know if we are being true to ourselves or not. We should look at what we have around us, and think "Is this making me happy or is it just more stuff to maintain and nurture?" Let us know by dropping us  a line, so we can see how many of our listeners are living the dream and how many of them or simply helping others to live the dream as they struggle through on their own. Thanks for reading David Ralph

Internet mastery is the discussion of the day with Ian Pribyl, who is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast. He is a man who quite simply has mastered and can fully explain how to start cracking it online. The reason I know this? I have been reading his new book "From Nothing" how to start your online business for less than $100. This book is full of quick and useful tips and advice that take you all the way through finding your idea, to making your sales flow effortlessly. As he says "FIMP  (which stands for the Free Internet Marketing Project) is a passion project of mine. How The Dots Joined Up For Ian It was born out of an industry full of scammers who were cleaning out consumers' life savings under the promise of "getting rich quick" I created FIMP to empower online business seekers and save them from having to purchase any more "make money online" products. FIMP teaches everything a person needs to know — from absolutely zero knowledge to building a successful, profitable internet business. Now with a history that started a a bartender, and meandered through a series of sales and customer service roles he has taken what works offline and detailed it brilliantly as an online resource. Get your idea, do your market research, define the product the list goes on and on. So does he have a history of online failures and successes throughout his life, or did he hit a home run straight away. And where does he see most people go wrong? Aiming for a bar that's too high, or one too narrow with no room to expand. Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Ian Pribyl Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Ian Pribyl such as: Why it is so important to understand the core essence of what makes any business such by value. Forget about metrics and financial goals and focus on goals that you can monitor and master.  Why Ian feels the level of connection has increased online. People aren't sitting behind an automation. And lastly..... Why so many people miss the opportunities that their lives have given them which can be turned into a business opportunity. 

How to make money online without paying anything was posed to us today via a question received by email. It said "Dear David and Join Up Dots, I have been listening to your show on my commute to work everyday and have a question. Is it possible to advise how to make money online without paying anything as I would love to start my own business but i dont have anything that i can invest into it. Do you think this is possible nowadays? Should I think of something else before I think of doing this? Kind Regards James, South Africa Well in todays podcast episode we start breaking down some of the things that you can do to start making online today, whilst not using much of your own. There are literally hundreds of ideas that you can utilise online to get the cash, but most of them do take a long time to make a fulltime living. You are much better to take things seriously and start building your own online business that can change your life forever. So lets start with the top five. How To Make Money Online Without Paying Anything Idea One Get offline and start working on the oldest form of business creation BEFORE you bring it online. Relationship building and word of mouth connection have been used for thousands of years to create commerce. Whilst there isnt anyway that you can really scale a business in the long term without investing into it, you can certainly start for nothing. Think about what you have in your current armoury which can be used to provide value to someone else. Or perhaps you could borrow something from somebody and share the profits with them. Lawn mowing, painting, cleaning are all service based industries that are almost free to start. Think of all the Uber drivers in the world at the momentum being paid to use their own cars to ferry customers around. It may not be what you want to do when you ask the question how to make money online without paying anything it gets you earning cash to invest back. Make Money Online Without Your Own Cash Idea Two Google has a great tool which we have used ourselves in the past, and that is BLOGGER Using this free tool you can create a website basically for nothing, to start gaining traffic into your business for free. Once you have done this, then literally the world is your oyster when it comes to building online wealth. We started an online business this way and made around $30,000 per month, linking to Ebay to gain our traffic. The key to everything online (and I guess offline) is how can you provide value to someone who would recognise that value and pay for it. If you start simply trying to make cash then you will struggle for sure...its Value all the way that really works. Do your market research to find your ideas and then build upon them to get the traffic flowing. You can use this method to add affiliate links, whereby other companies pay you for the traffic they get from you. Adsense used to amazing for this, but this method has fallen down the pecking order over the years for many different reasons. Be Careful With This One But It Works Idea Three This is one of these ideas that have been used for ages by people around the world to make free cash online. Its not something that we recommend, without a strong caveat: You have to be sure of who you are and how you operate. The idea is based around being offered free bets by gambling companies. Within the UK, you have the ability to play around with matched bets, whereby you are betting on both outcomes win or lose. The idea is you dont care what the result is, you just want to get your hands on the free cash that is on the table afterwards. As we say when you ask the question how to make money online without paying anything this maybe not what you should be doing if you cant trust yourself to stay in control. But it would have been wrong for us not to mention it at least. There is a very good guide that walks you through this step by step here Earning Free Money Online Idea Four It might sound amazing, but it is true. Nowadays companies are willing to pay you for searching on the internet. Yes, simply go over to Google (you wont be paid for this search and type in "paid for searching the web") and see the opportunities that appear for you. The idea is the companies are splitting the profits from the products that you buy, or using the data that you leave to market to other people. You are giving them access to your history and internet traces. Now this might not be everyone's cup of tea for sure, but it made us sit up and take notice as basically it is "freecash" in the simplest terms. Similar to this is the cashback sites for using when shopping online which are very popular in the UK Making Free Money Online Idea Five Ebay arbitrage is a great little thing to get into. Basically when you think about How To Make Money Online Without Paying Anything you dont really think of Ebay, but you can do it for sure. All around the world Ebay has different market places selling the same products at different prices based on the exchange rate of currency in that country. So you can do this two ways, either find some old stuff you have hanging around and then search for the sites for where your profit will be higher. Now you maybe thinking "ooh that sounds like a lot of hard work, but there are tools around that you can use to make this simpler You can try out this one here from Aribtrageinfo.com that will also help you out with the same idea on Amazon. 

Consumer behaviour theory is one of those things that puzzle so many people working online today. What makes a customer buy from you, or order your services with the minimum of effort ? Well in todays podcast we break down consumer behaviour theory into it's simplest form. Best of all, you already are an expert on this, as we all do exactly the same things. We are all consumers and spend our days searching, buying, checking reviews and making a decision before clicking the buy button. But i guess like all things, when it's stuff that we naturally do then consumer behaviour theory is a hidden secret to us. It's too close for us to see. No more, my friends. This is a very deep subject, too deep for this first dive into the subject, so let's keep to the key elements. Just understand these will maximise your chance of making a great living online.

Tosca Reno is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast. She is a lady who quite simply has powered her way to a level of success most people dream about. All the while, life was throwing at her personal and business tragedies that would have stopped most people in their tracks. She is the New York Times best-selling author of Your Best Body Now and the Eat-Clean Diet®series, and The Start Here Diet, selling more than two million copies globally. She is also the pioneer of the Eat-Clean Movement and one of North America’s most renowned health and wellness experts leading the pack in the battle against obesity. But what fascinated me and is perfect for a show like Join Up Dots was this wasn't an obvious journey. Until almost touching her 40's, our guest life was as far away from where she is today How The Dots Joined Up For Tosca Tosca’s passion for championing the Eat-Clean Lifestyle began when she took control of her life and transformed her body from overweight to strong and fit at age 40. Unfulfilled and down on herself, Tosca began a lifelong commitment to embracing a healthier, well-balanced life of Eating Clean and fitness. Driven by tenacity and fuelled by positive energy, Tosca gave herself permission to enjoy life and experience and accept a new version of herself. Since her spectacular transformation, Tosca has spent over a decade sharing her journey with others and helping them lose weight and get healthy. So throughout her journey, there was a strong lack of personal belief and understanding of what she could bring to the world. As she says "In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined this happening to me.   I was just an ordinary housewife living an ordinary life." So what made her late husband see something in her, that she couldn't see herself at the time? And where do people start feeling great about themselves if they think that its going to be hard and expensive to get going? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Tosca Reno Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Tosca Reno such as: Tosca shares how she had to find her "why" by tackling small challenges and overcoming the mindset issues that often stop progress. We discuss how the branding of "Eat-Clean" came about, and share the brilliance and clarity of the message she shares. Why it is so important to rest in between bouts of exercise to give yourself the greatest chance of peak fitness. And lastly........... The three easy steps that we can all take to make a difference in our fitness and mental health.

Tra Williams is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. As he says "I’m a former corporate executive and author with a passion for entrepreneurship, business strategy, and franchising.   I’ve been quoted or published in Forbes, Bloomberg, and Financial Markets Weekly along with more than fifty other online and print publications.  Now with most people that appear on the show they have to find a reason to ignites their passion and our guest has done that. He can see from the News and general world activity that things are moving away from the corporate world that we have lived with for generations. How The Dots Joined Up For Tra He goes onto say "The widening gap between entrepreneurship and employment in America is the largest in history. Each year, fewer and fewer people start their own business. Right now, 93% of Americans work for the other 7%. The US is one of the most entrepreneurial countries, yet self-employment in America ranks among the lowest in the world. Now i dont have the stats for the rest of the world, but certainly from the UK i would suggest it is similar So do people actually have the personal skills and strength to make a go of their own business, or has the world gone soft? And where should they start first, blindly ploughing into it all, or simply accepting that focused action with a plan is the key Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Tra Williams Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Tra Williams such as: Why so many people confuse the concept of being busy and being productive, which can often hold people back from personal achievement. Tra shares the phrase "you wont remember the times of mowing the lawn or working in an office, so start climbing that mountain". Powerful stuff. Tra tells us the fur most powerful pillars of entrepreneurship, they seem simple but can change lives.  And lastly….. Belief is reverse engineered....take tiny steps and see yourself change BEFORE your customers get to see you in the way you want them to see.

Things That Stop You From Achieving Your Goals? Things That Stop You From Achieving Your Goals is something that not many people talk about on a podcast. Most of the time its all about "Action taking, money making and success, success, success". But why is it that even when you want to change direction and make a difference in your life something inside stops you from getting there. Well in todays episode we try to break things down, so you can make a mental checklist of the ones that you might be struggling with. So that is the subject of todays episode of Join Up Dots and of course you can hear the full answer on todays episode. Things That Stop You From Achieving Your Goals Breakdown Goal Stopper 1: Seeing The Big Picture And Not The Dots Through Join Up Dots we speak to so many people who want to start their own businesses. You can see the fear in their eyes when they tell us about their dreams of what they want to achieve. The issue of course is we dont start at the dream. We start at the furthest part away from the dream, when everything is possible and nothing is achieved. If you find yourself frightened by what needs to be achieved, then write a list of the first five things that you need to do to get started. Dont even consider the end goal, just a few things to tick off to start building belief. Goal Stopper 2: Fear Of Failure One of the major things that stop you from achieving your goals is the fear of failure. It is so much easier to say "Things aren't possible" before you ever start, as of course you wont ever fail. The world is littered with the dreams of men who never ever started. What a shame, as nobody knows if they can make their dreams come true when they start. But they do start, and then keep on working towards their end goal. Dont be put off by the fear of failure as you will never ever know if you are right or not. Goal Stopper 3: Trying To Be Perfect Perfection never really occurs in life or in business. Even great works of art, revered by experts across the world are probably frowned upon by their makers. The Mona Lisa is probably not bang on what the painter wanted to achieve. I can promise you this, but no matter what you create it wont be finished. You will always look at it with longing eyes of "I need to do that, I wish I had done that" Dont get hung up on perfection. Do what you need to to get things out into the world and then polish as you go. Goal Stopper 4: Excuses Things That Stop You From Achieving Your Goals dont really exist. Or at least you dont know they exist until you come across them by doing the work. As you will hear on the episode, a lady friend threw up excuses before anything. She didnt even think, do, work, take action anything. The excuses kept on coming, to which David Ralph just smiled and walked away from them. Excuses are things that stop you from achieving your goals more than anything else. Goal Stopper 5: Expectations On of the truths in starting your own business, is it will always take twice as long as you expected. You also will spend more money than you expected too, before ever getting the results you expected. The key to success is simply "It is what it is" You will be exactly where your efforts have placed you, no matter what you are hoping and expecting. Get your head down, do the work, enjoy the celebrations that your achievements bring to you, but dont expect.

Dirk Van Reenen is today's guest on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast. He is the founder an visionary of an amazing and motivational company Bergflow. Bergflow is a company that helps other businesses tackle huge obstacles, whilst finding the least resistance. As the name says "BERG" - Mountain (in Afrikaans - South African). It's a symbol of power, magnitude and vastness. A mountain represents challenges, and challenges represent opportunities. Whilst Flow - Known as "the zone", is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, involvement, and enjoyment in the process. Dirk is an award-winning entrepreneur and sought after international business consultant and speaker. Launching and selling several startup companies and was also one of the top Brokerage CEO's for Keller Williams Realty International, leading one of the fastest growing brokerages for Keller Williams worldwide in 2016. How The Dots Joined Up For Dirk But as we see time and time again in Join Up Dots, there comes a time when the path starts going in a different direction. And this happened to our guest, as back in 2016 , Dirk discovered a deeper purpose and re-evaluated everything he was doing and the path he was on. He made some huge changes including resigning from his corporate CEO position, shutting down one of his businesses, and relocating across the United States to launch BERGflow in January of 2017. Today, Dirk has been blessed to work with companies in 13 states, 4 countries, and on 3 continents, following his purpose: Empowering Entrepreneurs, CEO's, and Leaders to build powerful and productive teams and helping them grow and scale their businesses while giving them a better quality of life with more fulfilment. And it seems that Bergflow is the legacy work that his life has been building up to. So when he decided to throw it all in the air and reinvent his life was it truly scary time, or liberation from start to finish? And looking back what could he have done differently if he had the wisdom of experience at his fingertips? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Dirk van Reenen Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Dirk van Reenen such as: Dirk shares the steps he took back in 2013 to block out distractions and change his outlook to find true passion and mastery. Why if you really want to find the true passion in your career, you simply must endure the pain that comes with starting something new. We discuss the importance of knowing yourself, and then surrounding yourself with people who make you better at being yourself. And lastly…….. When you can stop looking and comparing with others how your life can feel light and free.

What is success is one of those questions that we ask ourselves more and more nowadays. Its not surprising, as from the moment we go to school we are being pushed towards success. Teachers say to us "If you don't work hard you wont get the results you need to get that great job" Parents says to us "How are you going to afford to own your house if you dont become successful" The issue is of course, most of these visions of success aren't our own. These are what others people have in their mind is success and they dont have any right to try to push it on to us. It's just wrong. So in todays episode of Join Up Dots we answer the following listener question, and of course you can hear the full answer on todays episode. The What Is Success Listener Question Dear David, I am long time listener of Join Up Dots even though I am only seventeen years old. I started listening as I was hoping for help in finding success. My parents are very driven people, and want me to get success in my life. They worked hard for what they have in life, and want to see me do the same. But what is success? This is my problem as I am willing to work hard at something, but not if its not what I want to do or achieve. Do you think that being happy and poor is as good as rich and unhappy, as i feel my life is going in that direction. So what is success to you David? I know what is success to my parents and family, but I dont think it is the same for me. Thank you Putri, Kula Lumpa, Malaysia So Have You Defined Your Own Success? If you are inspired by todays episode of Join Up Dots and are now pondering your own definition of success then we can help you. Simply head over to the Freedom Starter course on our Free Training Resource and start doing the Love Like and Hate exercise. This can really set your direction in amazing ways and give you the clarity that you need. The second thing you can do, is head over to episode 207 of Join Up Dots and listen to the amazing AJ Leon. This is an amazing episode that reveals the step that one man took to create his own rules and find his own thing in life.

Dr Eric Cole is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. World Renowned Cybersecurity Expert with more than 30 years of network security experience, Dr. Eric Cole is a distinguished cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker who helps organizations curtail the risk of cyber threats. Many of the foundational principles of cybersecurity were developed by Dr. Cole. He has worked with a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies, to top international banks, to the CIA, for which he was a professional hacker. Yes interestingly enough this is the classic case of poacher turned gamekeeper who by breaking into systems actually became the go to person to stop others from doing the same. How The Dots Joined Up For Dr Eric Cole While he started his career on the offense, he is now fully dedicated to understanding the adversary so he can provide cost effective solutions that actually work. As a pioneer in the area of cybersecurity he has been inducted into the Infosec hall of Fame, awarded the Cyber Wingman Award from the US Air Force, received multiple accommodations from the CIA and was part of the commission on cybersecurity for President Obama. He has been the featured speaker at many security events and also has been interviewed by several chief media outlets such as CNN, CBS News, FOX New and 60 Minutes. So although he was a professional hacker, how did he actually convince people that he wasn't a bank robber or terrorist and could be trusted. And is this something that only big companies need to be concerned with, or does the wannabe entrepreneur also need to pay attention. Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Dr Eric Cole

In today's episode we start discussing the big failing that most companies and business fail with. That is the Value Ladder, that takes a customer on a journey to more and more expensive products. You see so many businesses hope the best by allowing for a huge drop off in their business through visitors disappearing from their services. They land they look around and they depart forever. So what can you do to make sure they hang around and become a potential customer somewhere down the line. You build a funnel and value ladder as you will see in today's show.   The Email That We Received Hi David, i have waited for years to drop you a line. Many times I have hovered over the keyboard with fingers twitching and yet, something held me back from typing. Isn't it funny how something so easy and simple can be so difficult. Just like you mentioned the other day when you spoke about walking up to a girl or boy and asking them on a date. Your throat closes up, Your mind goes blank, and you just turn red, and turn on your toes. Anyway, today I am feeling brave and so want to ask you about something you said the other day (i apologise I forget what show it was as I listen to several a day) You mentioned something about creating a business which is very black and white. You lose potential customers without being able to do anything about it. Is this because of the business, the products, or simply the wrong customers. I guess you can see that this comment lead to a major epiphany with me. In fact i sat back in my chair at work (yes, I do listen in the cubicle longing for a escape everyday) and thought long and hard about it. I have a business that operates at the weekend. I offer nail services for ladies, and although I post my prices and what I offer (and I know that I am cheaper than most of the other companies in my town) it is limping along. Some Saturdays are good, whilst others leave me sitting on my own in the office for eight hours waiting for any drop ins. Do you think that I have done something fundamentally wrong with the business to make this occur? Thanks so much for what you do everyday to keep us mind zombies from despair. Keep em coming and ill keep on listening Jen Felder, Kenya

Amy O'Brien is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast. She is a lady who has recently taken the plunge and left her secure and reliable wage check to start her own business A Life By Design Financial Services. As she says to her clients everyday "You deserve to live a life that reflects the values you cherish. We can help you develop a financial plan that allows you to pursue the quality of life you desire. Financial planning is a journey we take together. Establishing and pursuing goals is a dynamic, vibrant process that takes time to develop. As your advocate, our role is to advise, support, encourage and guide. When you succeed, we succeed. A true win - win situation But there was a time that this mission wasn't one that she was living herself. She most certainly didn't live a life that reflected her own personal values and like millions of people around the world found herself directed by the wishes of others. Early mornings, long commutes and late nights were the norm. How The Dots Joined Up For Amy  However unlike millions of others she didn't just accept that her life was always going to be this way and took big action.  Believe me, taking this kind of action is never easy, and this wasn't an easy plunge to take. Even though for many years the doubts surrounded her whether it was the right thing to do to stay where she was. Was this life that she had seen herself living as a younger woman? Was she providing the kind of advice and support to her clients that she knew she could if she hadn't had her hands tied behind her back? Well she took the plunge and launched her fledgling business and now is in the process of growing her client base, getting her name out there and building stability in hers, her families and her clients lives. So what finally pushed her over the edge and made her fix her mind on taking control of her life? And where has been the hardest parts of starting a business in such a regulatory industry? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Amy O'Brien Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Amy O'Brien such as: We discuss the energy levels that are we required to use when we play a role in our career and do things that aren't suitable for us. Why internally Amy struggled with finding her passions even though it was right under her nose her all the time. Amy shares her steps to attracting her first customer and how simplicity is always the way forward when starting a business. And lastly.... We share the biggest shift that we have to go through when starting our own businesses and that is truly believing in ourselves.

I'm in a funk is one of those things that most of us feel every now and again. You know that feeling of just being out of sorts and losing perspective of what is good in life? Well we received an email from a listener of Join Up Dots, who isn't just feeling the "I'm in a funk" vibe for a few days. This listener has been in this state of mind for a few years now. So lets start with the question and then of course you can listen to the show to hear the answer. Listener Question Dear David, i am reaching out to you to see if you can share some insight as to the steps I can take to change my current situation. I'm in a funk. Mentally and physically I am feel more and more lethargic everyday, and ill be honest I stopped listening to your show for about a year as your chirpiness and positivity started to make my skin crawl. I would think "Oh, just fuck off" and switch off the podcast, even though I admit i was in the wrong and knew that you were right. Now a year later, and through all the changes that have been forced upon us from powers outside of our control I want to take back the control in my life. I am sick of being the person who lets life happen to them, and want a piece of what you have. So two questions, if you have time to respond. Firstly, do you ever get into a head fuck place when you just cant shake yourself out of a slump? Do you ever think "Im in a funk" at all? And secondly what can I do to start making a difference in my life? Thank you, and sorry for switching off my your podcast as I know its the best one out there, I was just in a wrong place (and still in a wrong place) for your wisdom. J, Canada

What Is Branding In Business

The subject of What Is Branding In Business is discussed on todays podcast. This is a problem that so many people struggle with when designing an online business and spend a fortune on an expert to help them with. But they dont really need to with a little bit of thought and planning. So lets start with the question and then start breaking things down  Listener Question Dear David and everybody at Join Up Dots. Very quick question which i thought might be a good episode to do. What is branding in business? I keep on hearing it from yourself and other podcasts that i listen to, but nobody really explains it in terms that i understand. Would you be able to shed some light on this? Thank you so much Jennifer Anymore, Connecticut What Is Branding In Business Step One Branding is not an image, a logo a colour scheme or anything to do with a visual. Although it is all of those things too. Branding in business is what you do, say, react and demonstrate time and time again to your customers that makes them love and understand what you are about. From the URL of your business, through to buying a product there has to be a key simple message. What do you do that makes your customer trust you, understand you, and want to come back time and time again. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon  says this brilliantly when he says "Branding Is How Your Customer Talks About You When You Are Not In The Room" Could this be classed as integrity? Could this be classed as pure customer service? Once again it is all of these things and a lot more. What Branding Is Not Branding is not simply a logo or a colour scheme, but actually starts right from the URL of the business. Does your company name state clearly what you business is going to offer BEFORE the customer even lands on your website. For example, our business is called Join Up Dots which actually doesn't make too much sense when you first find us. How about if we called it "Online Business Made Easy"...would this make it more obvious? Yes of course it would, which is why URL's like these cost a fortune and so desired by so many businesses. Now, most of us can't afford one of these but we can get around the problem by adding an obvious slogan, and really focused images and content. Every interaction and content has to reconfirm the thing that you do that other people dont do. What Is Branding In Business - The Amazon Way When we think of Amazon do we simply think of all the goods that they sell, or do we think of the ease of buying those goods? Well for me, it is "ok, lets go to Amazon as I can have it tomorrow" Its their efficiency and ease of purchase that is the key to me using them. I dont even look at the prices as I dont care about that...i just care about getting the item quick and easily. And that is a massive part of their business and is the question that they answered with their branding. What is the customer really wanting and how can we be known for that thing more than anyone else out there. Once you get that running through your business then things become very easy indeed.

Welcome to the Join Up Dots Podcast with Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard

Subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) If you like the show, we would be so grateful if would consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio.  A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely!  Thank YOU!

Introducing Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard joins us on the Join Up Dots podcast is the Managing Director/CEO of the Napier Group, a $7M PR and marketing agency for B2B technology companies. He is a self-confessed geek who loves talking about technology. He believes that combining the measurement, accountability, and innovation that he learned as an engineer with a passion for communicating internationally means Napier can help clients achieve their marketing goals sooner. Napier is an agency that brings knowledge, experience, and insight to increase the speed prospects travel through our clients’ funnels, generating opportunities more quickly. Napier’s unique approach to campaign strategy designs-in speed to campaigns from the outset, building integrated campaigns that focus on the important tactics, whether clients need to increase awareness, generate leads or engage contacts to create opportunities. So why is there such difficulty in today's world, to market their products and services correctly through a sales funnel? And why do people simply forget to build their marketing strategy into everything that they do throughout their business? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Mike Maynard. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard such as: Why a shop is such a perfect example of how a sales funnel works. Duplicate it and make your profits soar. Why you have to be aware that people rarely buy directly from a website. They need to be nurtured through to a sale. Why solving peoples problems is the key to everything in business. People buy to move themselves from pain. And lastly……… Mike shares the steps we need to take to make a sales funnel work effectively. Gold! How To Connect With Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard Website Instagram Linkedin Twitter Return To The Top Of Mike Maynard If you enjoyed this episode with Mike Maynard, why not check out other inspirational chat with Clayton Morris, Dorie Clark, and the amazing Niall Doherty You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy Interview Transcription For Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard David Ralph 0:01 Once upon a time, there was a guy with a dream, a dream to quit his job support himself online and have a kick ass life. Little did he know that dream would lead him into a world of struggle, burnout and debt, until he found the magic ingredient and no struggles became a thing of the past. I of course, was that person. And now My dream is to make things happen for you. Welcome to Join Up Dots. Intro 0:27 When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be but somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling in Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph. David Ralph 0:52 Yes, hello man. Good morning, everybody. Good morning and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for being here is an absolute delight because If he wasn't, then I'd be a very lonely individual. But fortunately I've got another guy on the other end of the line. He's from the United Kingdom should have asked him where he's actually based, but he's got quite a posh voice. He's got quite a posh boys. So I imagine he's probably based in somewhere like heart the chair or Hampshire or something I'm guessing but we will find out. He is a guest who is the Managing Director and CEO of the Napier group as $7 million PR and marketing agency both b2b technology companies. He's also a self confessed geek who loves talking about technology. Now he believes that combining the measurement accountability and innovation, but he learned as an engineer with a passion for communicating internationally means his company Napier can help clients achieve their marketing goals sooner. Now Napier is an agency that brings knowledge, experience and insight to increase the speed prospects travel through our clients panels, generating opportunities more quickly now Napier's unique approach to capture Paint strategy today designs in speed to campaigns from the outset, building integrated campaigns that focus on the important tactics where the clients need to increase awareness, generate leads or engage contacts to create opportunities. So why is there such a difficulty in today's world to market their products and services correctly when there's all this out there for them? And why do people simply forget to build their marketing strategy into everything that they do throughout their business? Well, let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Mike Maynard. Morning Mike. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard  2:40 morning David, thank you very much for that intro. That was great. I really enjoyed it and you were you were very nice particular about my accent, David Ralph 2:48 where you are quite posh on yo yo. So I said well, I went with heart for cheer or hemisphere whereabouts are you? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 2:54 So I'm actually based in Kitchener, Chichester which is on the south coast, but my early years I actually grew up in Essex not a million miles away from where you are so David Ralph 3:05 you're an Essex boy where whereabouts were you from? Sir? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 3:09 I'm so originally from Buckers Hill. Okay, so that's more Essex into London, isn't it? More Essex into London but I spent some time in my early years you mentioned I was an engineer. I actually worked in Chelmsford, for Marconi, who was an employer. So I know the area very well. David Ralph 3:29 I used to live in Chelmsford, when I was a young scallywag, gallivanting but then my wife came along and she rained me back in my gallivanting days are no more. Now we're with you, Mike. What I want to get straight to is this kind of Mystique. And what I want to do is obviously tap into your expertise on business to business but also bring it more relevant to my audience. Because we hear all the time about sales funnels, you got to have sales funnels, and they're not that hard, are they? I think people are creating them. Have a mystique about it. Well, actually, it's all about understanding your client, understanding your clients need, and building a relationship with them so that they trust you. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 4:12 I think you're absolutely right there, David. I mean, the interesting thing is, is people talk about sales funnels or, more recently, they start calling them customer journeys. The reality is, is they are actually really simple and really straightforward sort of models of how customers decide to either work with you if you're a consultant or buy your product. And I think you know, that the main thing is just to think about how people approach buying what you're selling, which funnily enough, actually a lot of companies don't do even large companies don't really sit down and think about that they think, you know, one morning someone wakes up, sees an email and that's it, they gonna go buy, you know, a million dollar product, it just doesn't work like that. David Ralph 4:54 Now, I base everything on offline. I always think about everything and older I've kind of developed a coaching side to the business, which wasn't there in the early days, but it is there now. And I always think about a shop because I think a shop is perfect for a sales funnel strategy. You're walking down the high street, you're walking down the mall, you look at a very attractive window and you think, Oh, that's interesting are popping there. And you mosey around for a while. It's it's that kind of logic that has to be brought into the online world as well, isn't it? We've got to look appealing, but we've got to be appealing in a way that makes total sense to our ideal customer. We've got to have that shop window relevant for the right person, and not necessarily every single person that walks past. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 5:43 It. You're absolutely right. And I think you know, a shop is a is a great model. I mean, people talk about you know, a simple funnel is, you know, sort of a four step process is a really common way people model it so they talk about generating awareness, interest, desire, action and if you think about a sharp, you know, you're not even going to look in the window if you don't really know anything about the shop, you don't think it's relevant you just walk past because there's so many other things on the high street to look at. But, you know, either someone might tell you about the shop or you know, if there's a large chain, you might see adverts or promotions, you know, you don't become aware. So as you walk past you look in the window, you see something in the window that's relevant to you then interested you take a you know, a bit more of a look and maybe wander into the shop, find out a bit more and then you decide you want to buy it and then of course, you know, the shop needs to make sure you actually buy from them. And don't walk out and buy on Amazon. So that's the action stage. So that's a really simple model. It works really well with your example the shop, but it actually works really well with almost every situation. David Ralph 6:48 So as we've nailed this episode already in seven minutes, we're just gonna offer a beer and now it's only was late in the morning but wearing this week we grew up in Essex. That's what we do. So Why are there so many difficulties? Where my Why is so many difficulties where we we've explained it perfectly in seven minutes? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 7:10 Well, I think the answer is is is, sales funnels are really what I as an engineer will call a model, it's not real life. And so that there's, you know, two potential problems. One is people actually look at and go, I so much more complicated than that I'm gonna really complicate it make it really difficult. And actually know my head's now exploding, I can't really create this funnel that is a good model, because I think, you know, this customer did this and this customer, this and in other customer takes a different approach. And it's absolutely true that people you know, massively over complicate or on the other end, they actually find it you know, really hard even to think about those stages and they just go know, someone who passed up to the window and bought something and that's it and then they try and oversimplify it. So it's finding a model that fits because The truth is, with all these things, particularly in marketing, you're creating something that's kind of your perfect situation or perfect process. And the reality is is no customer actually follows that perfect process. Exactly. They all do something slightly different. So it's very hard to relate that to any individual customer, or potential customer. I think that's why people struggle with sales funnels. David Ralph 8:22 Should I tell you my sales funnel, Mike Sure, I tell you mine and I will blow your business out of the water and everyone will go Why would we go to Napier when? When David has got this? Basically what I do I podcast, that's the awareness. And then people come across to my website. And more often than not, people will email me and I say, Would you like a chat? And thats it really you know, it's not more complicated than that. And I just say, look, I can help you with this. I've got the answers. I've got the solutions. Some people buy, some people don't but I keep it as simple as that. Now about three years ago, I paid for a guy to create a sales funnel because I didn't under band. And I had v things going off the click funnel and things going off here and going off there. And it was triggering this triggering that, and I hated it because I didn't understand actually what was happening. It was like, operating in front of me. So I systematically dismantled it, to sort of find out why this PDF was going here and why these follow up emails were going there. And I thought to myself, ultimately, somebody just wants to have their mind put at rest, but you're fair. And so that's why I got rid of everything. And I always say to people, look, I'm happy to have a chat with you. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 9:35 And I think that's, that's a great example of of a situation where someone to come in as a consultant, they felt they they had to demonstrate that, you know, they had the knowledge and expertise to help you and they clearly massively overcomplicated the process. And I think it's a great example of where, where, you know, you have a situation where, frankly, the sales funnel was was not really thought through I mean, your sales funnel is, is pretty straightforward, and particularly The moment because, you know, even though the number of people podcasting is growing, you know, incredibly fast. It's still a relatively niche industry. There's not a huge number of consultants, certainly with any credibility offering podcast training like you do, for example. David Ralph 10:14 Now let's take it to Napier. Because Napier obviously does on a much older scale than this. Now, how do you actually create the panel into your business? Because I was looking at your website this morning. And I was actually thinking, Okay, this is an awareness strategy that you've got, but where was the actual funnel built into your website itself? I couldn't really see it. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 10:39 So the answer is is and I think this this relates very much to what you said, People don't buy PR agencies have a website. It's completely the wrong thing to imagine that you can automate the selling of our services, which you know, can be a significant amount of money just through website, but the sales funnel doesn't exist purely online for us. And I think it's very much the same for you, you talk about having a chat with people. You know, the reality is, is when we're working with a, you know, a large business trying to convince them to, you know, come and work with us. It's not just one chat, it can be several meetings over a period of time. I mean, quite often, you know, we start talking to someone we'd like to work with, and we think we can really help. And it could be a year or two before they actually start doing any business with us. So I think the answer is, again, it comes down to understanding how people buy and what they want. And the reality is is is where we work in marketing. They're buying advice and expertise. And again, very much like you I mean, I think, you know, you say we're different. I think we were very similar. And people are buying expertise. If they're buying expertise, they want to talk to the people who are going to give them that expertise. It's as simple as that. David Ralph 11:52 Right. So so what we I think most people out there, understand the awareness and you've got to get people to know about you now I'm actually at the moment having a 100% social media detox. I've never really been onto social media a lot. But I've been very aware due to sort of personal issues I've gone through, but my happiness levels wasn't at the right level. And I realised a lot of that was comparing my business remember people's businesses and seeing people show highlights and all that kind of stuff. So, so with my awareness, it's very much I podcast, and it comes through to me with your awareness. How do you do that? How is your marketing strategy getting people through other than appearing on people's podcasts? Of course. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 12:38 Well, this is this is a new thing, the podcast, so I'm really hoping it's going to work. I mean, like everybody in marketing, you know, the real truth is, is that you need to experiment to find out what works. And so we try lots of different things. And the primary way we actually get to work with people is we go meet them, talk to them. Sometimes the Welcome if we can't reach them, because obviously we're working with clients around the world, and then try and keep that conversation going, quite often until they feel there's a need to come and work with us. So quite often, they might be working with a competitor. And to be honest, you know, if that competitor keeps doing a good job, they're not going to switch. So we kind of needs to be the first choice if the competitor makes a mistake, but it is about going out and meeting people. And we do do some other things. We've got quite a lot of content, you know, being a marketing company, I can talk about content marketing. And actually, that drives a lot of our, our new opportunity. So, you know, to take another example, a lot of people in America who are quite hard for us to reach because they're geographically a long way away. They'll go and Google things like, you know, how do I do PR in Europe? And so we've created the answers for that and it's literally answering their questions. If we can answer the question, you know, really early on at that stage. It's quite likely there. Going to come to us and ask us all the questions. And if we keep giving them good answers, then they're going to keep talking to us and eventually become clients. So I think the answer is the answer is that there's lots of different things we do. And you know, the world is changing all the time. So actually, what we're doing is continually experimenting. You know, one interesting thing I can tell you is that Google AdWords absolutely don't work for us. It doesn't matter how much we spend on Google AdWords, we get zero inquiries and get a lot of clicks to the website. I get no business from it. And I don't know why. And we run AdWords campaigns for other clients and they work fabulously well. But for some reason, our business it doesn't work. And I think it's because of this real need to establish a personal connection fairly early on. And AdWords is a little too impersonal. I don't know. I mean, I'd be interested to hear your views. David Ralph 14:50 Well, I am very much against the majority of marketing really, because it doesn't as I say, it doesn't solve the question. People have got a question. Now, one of the things that I use a lot I don't know if you've heard of this Mike is a web site, a site called answer the public.com. and answer the public comm is a free resource to a point you can do about pipe searches. But you put in, say PR marketing, and it will bring all the questions that people are asking online, okay. And so you can really tap in to longtail keywords very accurate, which can then lead people through. Now, I always say to people that I'm working with, let's focus in on the problems. Let's focus in on the solutions. And let's do it when somebody is looking for us. Now I find with Google AdWords, you know, I'm a podcast, trainer. That's part of my being. I'm a business coach as well. Now, I used to say about page two or podcast cost, sorry, and two on page one for podcast. Cool. So if you google podcast course, I'd be pretty much at the top of Google Now there's so many ads appearing, I've dropped to the second page. But because of that, the page seems less relevant somehow. It's almost because we don't click on the ads. Any ads that come along, you've literally jumped down to about three or four down below, even if you google something. And your answer is number one, you rarely ever click on number one on Google is always like three or four. So I think with Google AdWords, I think we're just becoming blinkered, we're just seeing it as you know, perhaps not the right answer. And based on questions, questions, questions, is the way to actually solve that problem. People are searching you. Does that make sense? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 16:40 I think it's absolutely true. And I actually go back to your comment about arms to the public. were slightly different because we tend to work with large companies and they, they actually probably wouldn't appear on that particular website, but they all have questions. I mean, everyone has questions about how to do the job better. And I think solving people's problems is the Way to win business. And if I look at how we do that, that might be by some of the information we put on the website for someone. And we talked about the sales funnels at the awareness stage and the interest stage, really early on what we call top of the funnel. You know, it's solving people's problems through information, but when we talk about the bottom of the funnel, so when people are actually deciding to buy, you know, I can tell you that pretty much I can predict whether we win a pitch or not. And these pitches though, you know, big presentation, several of us going we spent, you know, days and days trying to work through it. If we can tell the potential clients something they don't know, that helps them with their business. That is the biggest indicator of whether or not we're going to win the business. Yeah. And it's all about, you know, establishing credibility. Now. I get that's different when you're selling, you know, a pure product rather than selling a service. But, you know, I suspect a lot of your listeners are actually selling a service. They're working to help people and it's really all about showing you can help people before their customers is the way to get these, you know, the people you meet to become customers. David Ralph 18:08 Now, this is only like marketplaces. You know, I talked to so many people, one of my strap lines is Jesus didn't have a Facebook account. And everyone's so online, they forget that ultimately, it's about talking to people. And if we take it back to the shop analogy, you go into a shop and if somebody comes over to you straight away and goes, can I help you? When you go no more, I'm away. That's annoying. You don't want but but if a part of that conversation, it's right. It's perfect. And I think that is where a lot of the sales funnels fail as well by jump on you. As soon as you're on the website. They don't allow you breathing space to actually make a decision. You've got to be strategic where your actual doorway to your panel occurs. And I know you know, I haven't got mine, right. I still play around with it. I'm moving on. different pages I take things off. But there's a key to when you actually enter into somebody's thought process, isn't it? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 19:08 Definitely. And I think it's really interesting. I mean, what you do to try and help people as you do the podcast, and a lot of people who are looking to build a business, whether they using podcasting or not going to listen to Join Up Dots, they're going to get a lot of information that's going to help them from both you and your guests. We have something that that's, you know, much, much simpler, much smaller in scale, but we do I mean, literally, a monthly email newsletter that talks about what's happening to journalists and publications in particular industries, is very focused, it's very niche. If you're not working the industry, it's the most boring thing in the world. But if you're doing marketing in that industry, it's absolutely vital. And you know, I've even had some of our competitors come to me say thank you for the newsletter is great. It really helps us like, we shouldn't really be sending it but it's great. You find it helpful, it's probably a good indication. So I think, I think it's providing that information so people can get a flavour of what it's like working with you is so important to, you know, encouraging people to then start thinking about actually becoming a customer or client. David Ralph 20:15 Now, isn't that interesting that you said that because you know, the fact that you shouldn't be getting that newsletter because you're a competitor. Because ultimately, I think, when we are too insular, and we hold back our business, and we don't prove our worth, even to our competition, ultimately, we hold ourselves back. I've got a guy at the moment in America, but I'm helping him and he's a business where he brings in about a million a year and he wants to take it to 5 million. And I said to him, the only way you're going to do that is actually become the king of your industry. And that is stepping out of side and becoming more and arranging conferences, but you have actually the founder and becoming the centre pointed to it. But he can't see that he still thinks that he's got to hold close to his chest or his secrets. And I say to him, you know, a chef only sells books because he shows you he can cook. So why are we holding back those secrets? And why are we not actually sharing them with our competitors? Because it shows the world but actually, we're bigger than them. We haven't got any issues we can grow because we are willing to give our secrets away. Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 21:29 I think you're absolutely right. And, you know, having having been a both a very geeky and also a bit of a hippie when it came to, you know, online back in the 80s and 90s. And, you know, I really believe in the comment that was made about, you know, in the early days, the Internet Information wants to be free. And I think what people have misunderstood is that comment was not about the price, but it was about information wants to be shared, and today with, you know, what's happening in the world. There. Very few real secrets in business. You know, I can give an example I was working in technical support for a semiconductor company. And we sold into pretty much every single Formula One team. And I put one of our chips, because it was really good for developing engine management systems if you didn't care how much they cost, and you just wanted the best performance you could possibly get. And so anyway, Ford entered, or Cosworth into the the, the Formula One market and they started building engines for Formula One. And a guy from Cosworth phoned me up and he said, Do I have to tell you what I'm calling about? And I said, No, I know exactly which product I'll send you all the information. It's all okay. It's a bit strange. And I've worked for the one supposed to be super secret, and we got this new company who's on the block who actually knows what everyone else is using. And then two years later, BMW came into Formula One, and I got almost exactly the same So, you know, it's really interesting that people imagine what they've got is some secret sauce. It's actually not really about secrets. It's about people who are prepared to put the work in and actually do. But the secret says, whether it's something you do or a product or you know anything else, it's about really, you know, executing what you're supposed to do, rather than just having this magical knowledge that no one else knows. Because, trust me a lot more people know what you think is secret than, than you'd ever imagined. David Ralph 23:28 Yeah, I agree with that. 100%. And if you take the sales funnel, we're going to get back into the sales funnel. One of the things I say to people is, generally, people are lazy. That's the first thing you've got to realise that people want to transformation. They want to go from A to B as easily as possible. Now, but in many ways is your secret sauce. Actual ingredient. That is actually what people want. They don't want all the technical stuff and they're bored Barber, all they want to do is go How can I go from here? So here in three weeks instead of trying to do it off of YouTube videos in three years, right, that's the key to it, isn't it? So on my business I at the throne, I always say, I can't even remember what it is. Now I've gone totally blank, but some of the longer we get you success without the stress, because I totally believe a lot of what we do is easy if we know what we're aiming for. We know where those people are, and we give them what they want. Simple as that. Would you agree? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 24:30 I think you should be interviewing you about sales funnels, you clearly have an awful lot. And I'm going to be honest, I think one of the reasons people have stopped talking so much about sales funnels, and they start referring to it as a customer journey is, to me the funnel is a it's really the wrong way to think of things because it kind of envisages that you've got this, this person, this potential customer who kind of fall through all these levels and they're doing the falling and all you've got to do is provide the right things at the right time. will magically happen. And I think again, that's one of the mistakes people make with sales funnels, the reality is, is that actually the customers have steps they need to take before they're going to spend money with you. And you need to help them along the way. And I love the idea of a journey rather than a folder, but basically the same thing. But to me, it's all about helping and guiding the customer on the journey, rather than being a bit more passive sitting back and just waiting for them to fall through the funnel. David Ralph 25:26 Now, can you have too few steps? Okay. And can you I know you can have too many steps, but can you have too few? Sales Funnel Expert Mike Maynard 25:34 Absolutely. You know, so, the one thing to say is, although the structure of the funnel is very similar, and most pe