Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hey we talk about it once a month, so it's very valuable.
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Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs.
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It's Brian here.
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It's Brian LaFermento and I've been taken over by AI.
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Everything you're about to hear is completely generated by AI.
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They've taken over this podcast.
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Today we're going to try something a little different.
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Yeah, let's imagine we're hijacking Brian Lofermento's One Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast and giving you a crash course in entrepreneurial thinking straight from his book.
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That's right.
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We're going to distill all the wisdom from that book into actionable insights and stories.
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Okay, okay, hold on, wait a second.
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You're probably so confused about what's happening right now.
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So here's the thing Within entrepreneurial conversations and within so many of our amazing episodes with the incredible guests that we welcome on, we inevitably end up talking about AI, and I frequently refer to the fact that I use AI to give me external perspectives.
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I love bouncing ideas off of it and just having a second brain of things that I don't necessarily think of.
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So everything that you're hearing in today's episode is truly completely generated by AI.
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There's no instructions from me.
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All I've done for today's episode is, given an AI model, the entirety of my book, wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, which I published nine years ago.
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So it's cool to revisit it, and then that's it.
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All I did was clicked, generate audio.
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So what you're hearing is this AI language model create a podcast episode out of my book.
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So, if you want to see where AI is at, this is a podcast episode completely generated and hosted and yes, today hijacked by AI.
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So you're not only going to see the power of AI, but what I'm really excited about is that we're all going to get to revisit so many of the entrepreneurial lessons that I found upon the first six years of my own entrepreneurial journey, and here we are, almost 10 years later, where I get reminded of all these things.
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So I know that the AI is going to pull out interesting things and perspectives and insights and analogies and stories, not only from my book, but pulling on do I say, their own perspectives.
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I don't really know, but whatever it may be, we're all going to get at least a few actionable ideas and really it's going to resonate in different ways for each of us, based on where we're at.
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And so, if you stick around until the end, I'm also going to tell you how you can get your hands on my book completely for free, because I'm in a very giving mood.
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The holidays are right around the corner.
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So listen to the AI, we're all going to learn some stuff.
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And then catch me back here at the end of today's episode.
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All right, so Brian kicks things off.
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Yeah.
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With this idea of starting.
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Yeah, not just daydreaming about your business, but taking that first step.
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The first step, and it can be terrifying.
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Oh, it's scary.
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He uses this analogy of quitting smoking.
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Oh, wow.
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To illustrate this point.
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Okay, you know, quitting isn't like a one-time decision, right, it's like this daily commitment until it becomes a habit.
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It is.
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So I guess applying that to starting a business Okay, it's about making the choice to take action every single day.
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That makes sense.
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Even if it's just a small step.
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It doesn't matter how small.
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Now what I thought was interesting is this concept of starting before you're ready.
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Yes, this is huge.
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Brian launched his soccer website.
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Premiership Talk.
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I love that story.
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When he was only 19, with zero experience Wait 19?
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.
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He had no clue what he was doing.
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None, I mean think about it, you know.
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Yeah.
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Think about when you were 19.
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Did you know everything?
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Heck, no, no, but you figure it out as you go along.
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That's so true.
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Right.
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I remember when I first started out.
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Yeah.
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I was a total newbie.
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I had no idea what I was doing.
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Everyone starts somewhere.
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And Brian.
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He actually got into legal trouble.
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Oh yeah.
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Early on because he posted a picture of this New England soccer jersey.
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Before it was released.
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Seriously what happened.
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Well, the company that was manufacturing the jersey.
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They were not happy about it.
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Oh no.
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But instead of panicking, he rallied all of his website's fans and stood his ground, really, yeah, and this got him more attention and put premiership talk on the map.
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Wow.
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So that's a perfect example of how a challenge can actually be a good thing.
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Yeah, like you can overcome them when you're already moving.
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You learn by doing you do Even if it means making mistakes along the way.
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Exactly.
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This actually leads perfectly into the next key takeaway Mindset Mind.
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Exactly this actually leads perfectly into the next key takeaway Mindset, mindset.
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Yes, brian says it's the ultimate factor in your success.
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Really Even more than resources or experience.
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He says so and you know he uses Sylvester Stallone as an example.
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Oh yeah, stallone.
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He wrote and starred in Rocky while facing rejection and financial hardship.
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Yeah, if that's not a testament to mindset, it's incredible.
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And you know, even when you achieve some success, yeah, that imposter syndrome can sneak in.
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Oh you know that feeling of who am I to do this?
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Oh yeah, I know that feeling.
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And Brian has some great strategies for overcoming this.
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OK.
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And it boils down to remembering that you're always at least one chapter ahead of somebody.
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You know that's such a simple but profound idea it is.
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I get so caught up comparing myself to experts in my field and feeling inadequate.
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But you have knowledge and experiences that others don't.
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Brian tells a story about helping a student launch a photography business.
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Okay.
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Even though he himself only had basic camera knowledge.
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So it's really about focusing on the value you can provide, yeah, rather than dwelling on what you don't know.
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Exactly, you can always learn and grow along the way.
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So we've talked about starting before you're ready.
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Yes.
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Cultivating a resilient mindset yes.
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What else does Brian highlight as crucial for entrepreneurial success?
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Focus, focus.
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He argues that success comes from picking one thing.
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Okay.
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And sticking with it relentlessly, even when things get tough.
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He uses the analogy of a woodpecker.
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I love this analogy.
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Pecking relentlessly at one tree, yeah, versus sporadically at many.
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So good.
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I mean, it's a great visual for the power of concentrated effort it is, and this laser focus also applies to understanding your ideal customer.
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Yes, your customer avatar.
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Getting to know their problems Right when they hang out online.
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How you can tailor your solutions to meet their needs.
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Exactly.
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He even gives an example of using Google's keyword research tool oh yeah, to find people actively searching for specific solutions.
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It's amazing how much you can learn from these online tools, right.
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It's incredible.
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Yeah.
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And here's where I think Brian flips the script.
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Okay, on traditional business advice, all right.
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I'm intrigued.
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He says there's no such thing as competition.
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What no competition?
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Only peers from whom you can learn.
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That's a really interesting perspective.
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Right, most business books tell you to analyze and outmaneuver your competition.
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Yeah, so what does he suggest instead?
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He encourages dissecting your competitors' businesses, but from afar and from within, by actually becoming a customer.
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Wait, you mean like buying their products or services?
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Yeah, Think of it as an investment in knowledge.
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By Okay, by going through their sales process, you can experience their pitch Right.
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See their pricing.
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Yeah, understand how they convert leads into customals.
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That's brilliant.
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You can reverse engineer their processes.
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You can and apply those learnings to your own business.
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Absolutely.
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He shares how he's bought countless courses and products just to see how their systems work.
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Wow, that's commitment to learning.
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He even bought a $2,000 course from a competitor $2,000?
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Yeah just to see how they structured the program.
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Did he learn anything valuable from that?
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Absolutely.
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He was able to glean insights into their marketing strategies, price and models, and even their customer service approach.
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Wow, he took those learnings and applied them to his own business, making it even stronger.
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So it's about being a student of the game, even if it means spending money to make money.
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It is.
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What else did Brian learn from dissecting his competitors' businesses?
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He highlights the importance of identifying patterns.
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Okay.
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He observed that successful entrepreneurs in his field often use similar language in their marketing materials.
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Oh, interesting.
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They had consistent branding and even dressed in a particular way.
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So he's saying instead of viewing competitors as threats, see them as valuable sources of information, yes, and potential collaborators.
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Precisely.
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It's a shift from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance.
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I like that.
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There's enough success to go around.
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Okay, so we've covered, starting before you're ready.
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Yeah.
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Cultivating a resilient mindset, uh-huh Focusing relentlessly.
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Yep.
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Learning from your peers.
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Yes, what's next on our entrepreneurial journey.
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Well, no entrepreneurial adventure is complete without encountering a few haters along the way.
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Ah yes, the inevitable haters.
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And every entrepreneur has to deal with them at some point.
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What does Brian have to say about dealing with negativity?
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He breaks down haters into three categories.
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Okay.
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Status quo haters, oh shit.
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Milestone haters, all right and success haters.
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Okay, I'm intrigued.
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Tell me more about these different types of haters.
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So let's start with the status quo haters.
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These are the people who are threatened by anyone who dares to challenge the established norms.
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Okay.
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They see your ambition as a personal attack on their comfort zone.
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So these are the folks who say things like that will never work.
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Yeah.
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Or you're crazy for even trying.
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Exactly.
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They're comfortable with the way things are, uh-huh, and they resist change, got it?
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Then you have the milestone haters.
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Okay.
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Who often emerge when you achieve your first taste of success.
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Are these the people who are supposed to be supportive?
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Yeah.
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But their reactions are surprisingly negative.
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Often yes.
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Hmm, reactions are surprisingly negative.
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Often, yes, they might downplay your accomplishments or express doubts.
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Yeah.
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And it can sting, because these are often people close to you, but their negativity usually stems from their own insecurities and fear of missing out.
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So it's more about their own internal struggles than anything you've done.
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Exactly, and then we have the success.
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Haters Okay, they appear when you, we have the success haters.
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Okay, they appear when you reach significant levels of success.
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Think of the people who try to diminish your achievements by attributing your success to luck or external factors.
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They were just in the right place at the right time.
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That's the one.
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It can be so frustrating when people refuse to acknowledge the hard work and dedication behind your success.
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It is frustrating, but Brian offers some really helpful advice for dealing with all these haters.
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Okay, I'm all ears.
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First remember that their criticism often stems from their own insecurities.
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Okay.
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It's not really about you.
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That's a helpful reminder.
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He also suggests using their doubts as fuel to prove them wrong.
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So turn that negativity into motivation.
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Exactly I like it.
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And remember you can't control what others think or say yeah, but you can control your own reactions.
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True, focus on your goals, yeah, and surround yourself with supportive people who believe in you.
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It's about protecting your energy.
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It is, and not letting the haters derail you from your mission.
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Exactly Okay.
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So we've covered starting mindset, focus, learning from peers and even dealing with those pesky haters.
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Gotta deal with them.
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What other gems does Brian offer in his book?
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Well, he also dives into the nitty gritty of building a successful business model.
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Okay, and one key concept he highlights is having a multi-tiered product mix.
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Can you break that down for us?
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Yeah.
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What exactly does that?
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mean.
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Think of it like creating different entry points for your business.
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Okay, to cater to a wider range of customer needs and budgets.
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I see Brian uses Apple as an example.
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Okay, highlighting how they offer products at various price points to appeal to different segments of the market.
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So not everyone can afford the top of the line iPhone Right, but they still offer more affordable options without compromising on quality.
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Exactly.
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And it's not just about offering cheaper versions Okay, it's about strategically designing your products or services at different levels of value and price.
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I see Brian shares his experience of creating a lower priced SEO audit service to attract clients who weren't quite ready for his higher priced monthly packages.
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That's clever.
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It was a brilliant way for him to build trust and demonstrate value to potential clients by providing a valuable service at a lower price point.
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He was able to showcase his expertise and build rapport.