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sandra bellamy

Sandra Bellamy: How to Embrace Your Quirky to Be Your Own Authentic Self (AoL 050)

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Society in general teaches us to not only care what other people think, but that we have to conform to those thoughts. For many people, that’s not a problem. But for us creatives it can be really hard. And often times we find ourselves asking two questions:

Am I living the life that I’ve seen for myself? And “Who am I going to live my life for?”

The answer to those two questions often times leads to the formation of one’s own passion based business.

In fact, that’s what happened to today’s guest, Sandra Bellamy.

Not only did Sandra come to this realization back in 2012, but she’s made it her mission to help other people figure out for themselves that they’re connected to a Matrix that has no interest in their personal desires. She calls it “Embracing Your Quirky”.

The truth is that once we unplug, we have to start believing in ourselves and take a big leap of faith – because no one else is going to on our behalf.

In this chat, we talk about how she learned to embrace her quirky, how you can do so in your daily life, and we also dive a bit into her experiences as a writer and why she believes that anyone can be a writer.

It’s a practical and exceptionally helpful episode. Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How can someone tell if they’re not embracing who they are enough? 22:23
  • Why she loves “the lifestyle of a teenager” to empower how she see’s herself. 23:14
  • How someone can “embrace their own quirky” more. 26:30
  • What are some of the experiences that she’s had working with others. 30:06
  • Why she has a wide spread of book topics and where each one came from. 34:42
  • How she’s able to write so much and why she believes that anyone can be a writer. 46:39
  • What she’s looking forward to in the not too distant future. 51:38
  • What are three thought leaders she recommends to other people the most. 54:13
  • One thing that’s under $100 that has changed her life. 55:15
  • One gift she likes giving others. 55:50
  • 3 truths that she would share with others. 56:06
  • Something she believed when she was 24 but now thinks is bogus. 58:00
  • When she thinks of the word success, who comes to mind and why? 1:00:31
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Stop Worrying, Start Living:

5 Lessons from Launching a Amazon Kindle Book:

Free Book and Review Opportunity from Red Door Publishing:

Andy Harrington’s story of how Tony Robbins Changed his Life:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

brilliance and business

AoL 049: From Homeless in High School to Expert Enabler and Community Builder with Mellissa Rempfer

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There’s so many things we have to do as an entrepreneur. Either we do it ourselves or we pay someone else to do it.

If you’re just starting out on your path, you might not have the resources to pay for all the help you need.

How do you get things done if you need help on graphics or grammar checking? Maybe you need help getting through a mental block or getting a new perspective on your business? Do you have the resources to pay for all of that?

Probably not. Perhaps bartering is the answer. But where online can you do that?

That’s what today’s guest, Mellissa Rempfer has been able to foster in her group, Brilliance and Business.

In this chat, we talk about where the idea of the group came from and more about what sets it apart. We also get into how she got her start in doing big things early on, and the three instincts of the human condition and how those apply in life and business.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How Mellissa didn’t even realize she had hit the bottom even though she was homeless in high school. 11:05
  • How she moved from being homeless to going to college 16:19
  • Why she decided that she wanted to be a pediatric trauma surgeon. 18:41
  • Where the idea of a student center came from and how she was able to put all the pieces together to get it built on her campus. 21:17
  • What she did immediately after graduating. 29:33
  • When she felt it was time to start a business. 34:24
  • Her initial experience in coaching and how Brilliance and Business originally came about. 38:30
  • What Brilliance and Business is all about. 47:09
  • How she feels has helped her grow the group as well as it has? 53:55
  • How do the three instincts of the human condition play into what she does? 57:57
  • More about the implementation of these instincts in the group 1:05:55
  • What are some of the things that’s she’s looking forward to in the future 1:07:30
  • What three things she would like people to remember her by? 1:10:21
  • Three truths she wants to share with others? 1:10:36
  • Where she would run a non promotional ad and what would it say? 1:11:37
  • 3 Favorite Podcasts 1:14:04
  • What she would say to her 25 year old self? 1:17:40
  • When she thinks of success, who does she think of and why? 1:18:37
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Tapping into and Embracing Your Brilliance:

Kim Eldredge and Mellissa talk about Mellissa’s book:

How to Communicate on Facebook:

Introduction to the Enneagram:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

building a long term business

AoL 048: Building a Long Term Business through Relationships, Metrics, and Family with Brandon Northwick

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It’s no secret that the way we run our business is based on how we approach the world. Is our business about us helping others with what we think they need help with, without hesitation, or do we see it more as a way of helping others in any way they actually need help? Meaning, we find those problems that they’re actually having and help them there.

To me, this latter method is, I think, how you build true relationships. Not necessarily trying to force what you do on people, but just making yourself available if they need help implementing a particular strategy or tool into their business.

In this rare episode, I dig down into the nuts and bolts of how Brandon Northwick runs his business. I find out how his wife Sara functions in the business, how he uses attraction marketing to get his clients, and how he builds trust with people through that process before getting the sale.

If you’re having problems with closing your service based sales, then you should definitely check out this straight-talk chat.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why you should careful when you using applications like Crowdfire 30:45
  • How do you standardize what people pay you for your services? 34:30
  • Why should people interested in their metrics and when? 36:51
  • How was Brandon’s wife Sara brought into the business world? 38:43
  • What does Sara do in the family business? 40:19
  • How does Brandon’s video strategy enter into his traffic strategy? 41:24
  • What you should do if you feel that your work life isn’t interesting enough to make videos for your business. 43:20
  • How does he generate leads from traffic? 47:09
  • What’s an example of a good opt-in? (The answer is not what you expect!) 49:26
  • What Brandon thinks about having to build trust with a customer before they buy. 52:32
  • How he uses attraction marketing to get his clients. 56:14
  • What kind of people have influenced Brandon’s ability to help people. 57:16
  • What he’s excited for in the future. 58:18
  • Three truths that he would share with others. 1:00:07
  • Three favorite podcasts 1:00:36
  • Something he believed when he was 20 years old, but thinks is bogus now. 1:00:57
  • When he thinks of success, who comes to mind? 1:02:42
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Business for Breakfast – #1 Myth in Building a Lasting Business:


How to Get More Engagement with Social Media

How to Know Where to Sit at a Poker Table (I didn’t know this was a thing…):

Business for Breakfast – Being Guru Centric VS Client Centric:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Why I Started Using Email Marketing in 2016 (and Why It Still Works)

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Today, more than ever, we’re pressed for time and energy. Each day we start with so many minutes and energy to pay attention to all of the things that we need to deal with.

Many things in our lives distract us from what we want to actually get done. Email checking is one of the biggest pet peeves to most of us – me included. It feels like such a drag.

After swearing to myself that I’d never use email to reach people on a regular basis because of how unresponsive I personally am to it and how overused it seems, I realized that I was leaving a legitimate way to engage and connect with people on the table. Some people actually want to hear from me. 🙂

In fact, there’s some people (again me not being one of them) that actually pay more attention to their email than they do social media. So much so that in the past couple of weeks that I’ve been sending emails, I’ve already had a couple of unsubscribes! Personally I hardly ever unsubscribe from people unless they send too much – (usually those are daily senders and my junk mail tends to grab those after a while anyway).

So what made me realize that this was a good way for me to engage with folks if I’m not the most receptive of it myself? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s why:

There are some people who really only get their notifications from the web via emails.

Seriously. They don’t have Facebook, Twitter, or another social media constantly open. Nope, instead, they go to their online email web portal, check to see if anything is going on and if it’s not, then it’s not anything they need to worry about. Larry King recently put it this way on his interview with Lewis Howes when it came to having a phone that can text – “There’s a reason I don’t text. If I need to know it, I’m sure you or someone else will tell me.”

The same is true with social media. My dad is this kind of person as well.

Every cell phone, even flip phones, has email capability.

Unless you know someone that’s carrying a Zack Morris brick or something from the late 90’s or early 2000’s, all phones have email capability. (I don’t even know if those phones can actually use today’s signals or not though, so…)

While there are some people like Larry King who use their flip phone only as a phone, most cell phone users opt to use it for as much as possible. More than 50% (56% of this writing) of all traffic on the web is from mobile devices. People are connected, true, but not everyone has the same apps or use the same social media platforms. Email is “universal”.

People rely on emails for digests of what’s going on from their favorite brands.

When you’re looking to check and see if there’s a sale at a favorite store, are you going to do that via social media, their website, or check for an email if you subscribed to them?

You’ll probably check their website.

However… you probably wouldn’t even think to check their website if it wasn’t the fact that you had been notified by an email of theirs in the past about a sale.

Personally, I know for me that I bought two new Colts hats in the last couple of years because I saw them featured in emails. Had I not gotten those emails, I probably would not have gotten the hats that I wear pretty regularly.

It’s easier for the one doing the marketing to integrate emailing into other marketing systems making them seem more personalized.

Truth be told, I tend to pay attention to emails that start with this: “Hey, Jc!”

Why is that? Because it makes my subconscious feel important. Even though I know that I had to have had put my name in a form somewhere for it come out that way (I go by JC not Jc), I still have more of an interest in that particular email – because I obviously actively signed up for it.

On that same point, 31.5% of US online retailers use the customer’s name and/or a unique welcome message. However, nearly half of US online retailers use personalized product recommendations (44.9% – read marketing funnels) and a quarter of them report adding shopping cart reminders (27.6%) to cover all of their personalization bases.

It’s inexpensive.

Currently, right now with MailChimp, I’m not paying anything to email my email list. I think that this is a great option for anyone that might not have a huge budget to spend on tools when they’re first getting started.

Also, I’ve used other tools like Constant Contact and aWeber, and frankly, I wasn’t too impressed with their functionality. MailChimp has gotten way better over the last couple of years.

However, there’s one cavot that I’m pretty sure using MailChimp has – it has issues getting through spam filters. Not sure why that is.

If you’re using MailChimp and you start hearing about your subscribers ending up with your email in their spam folders a bit much, you might want to consider other options.

The least expensive one that I can think of is ActiveCampaign which seems to have a reasonable price point.

That said, if you already have a course or two and you’re bringing some money in to cover your expenditures, you might want to take a look at ConvertKit – which seems it’s quickly becoming the best platform for online business folks.

Love it or hate it, it’s still effective.

So there you have it. Even though I’m not the first one to use the medium by far (I went a whole year without using it), I’ve realized that even within the few weeks that I have used it that I get more engagement. In the end, if we’re trying to get our message out there as people who want to change lives, then I’ll concede that email is a tool that you might want to reconsider using in the foreseeable future.

Let me know below what your experience has been with email marketing. Did you hate it at first and eventually give in like me?

personal freedom

5 Obstacles in Achieving True Personal Freedom

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No matter who you are or what you’re doing, those of us who are leading (or trying to lead) passion filled lives and businesses are doing so because we feel that we can be ourselves better than what a boss can prescribe for us. We’re trying to gain our Personal Independence, or as most call it, Personal Freedom. Most people don’t like being bossed around, right? (Obviously there’s an exception. But I have yet to meet that person…!)

Until you have personal freedom, you’re always going to have that as a possibility in your life.

In the last post, I spoke of 4 common problems that people have when trying to start a business. These problems are part of a larger list of obstacles that I want to point out in today’s post. Without overcoming these obstacles through actively working on them, or simply through understanding them, a person can never have true Personal Freedom.

Health

The first thing everyone should be able to maintain at an optimum level is their health – both physical and mental. This is the first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Due to this, many of us who are thinking about building a business take this part for granted. However, ignoring it can have a very negative impact on everything else we do.

In fact, if a person doesn’t have their sanity or the energy to do the activities that need to be done in a certain day, then they won’t get very far.

For many people this is a daily struggle. These people are living a Caged Life. Combined with the potential of not having shelter (the second level of Maslow’s), these folks might not ever think about starting their own business.

That said, one good thing that comes from having to struggle daily is a natural tenacity for “Hustle”. And, ironically, that’s an important ingredient to building a business.

Community

The third level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Love and Belonging. Once we have ourselves taken care of, we naturally want to start reaching out to others. Our need to engage with others is part of what it means to be human. We want to feel connected to people who are interested in the same things we are. I like to think of this as a need for us to feel that we have social proof. That we’re not alone.

As mentioned in the 6 Cornerstones eBook, a tribe is a very good thing to have when we’re aiming for higher success – it gives us support for when the going gets tough!

If this is done with authenticity, it gives us a feeling of esteem (Maslow’s fourth level) because we know that people appreciate the true us!

Once we have our health and know our role in our community, you could say that we’re experiencing a Comfortable Life. Life is good, but it’s not great. And funny enough, it’s been said numerous times that Good is, in fact, the enemy of Great. It’s really hard to give up Comfortable for what’s coming next…

Knowledge and Skills

On the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Self Actualization. This is where we start realizing who we are. That we do have passions, particular strengths, and know where we fit in life. It’s when we have this understanding, that we can master our knowledge and build other skills that will supplement what we already know about ourselves and how we interact with the world.

Because we can always keep learning about ourselves and the world around us, this journey never ends. And if you were looking for a label for someone that’s here…  this is called living a Charged Life.

As a side note, our current school system doesn’t work in our favor when it comes to this obstacle. In fact, it makes it worse. Formal education makes us great soldiers who fit like cogs in a larger machine (society) where we don’t question if we’re in the right place.

So to be free in our knowledge and skill building, we typically have to go outside of the formal school system because it isn’t in their best interest to teach us about who we are as individuals.

One way of gaining more knowledge is by actively going out there and seeing it for yourself. That’s why so many millennials would rather have experiences than having things.

Financial

This factor and the next are not necessarily ascending levels like the past three are. But it’s something that I need to discuss in further detail because they’re not discussed hardly at all in formal education in a way that everyone can understand.

As you probably know, the better our finances are, the more options we have in life. What do I mean by this? In our current world, having financial freedom is what gets rid of living a life where you have a boss giving you orders all the time. Obviously, you can buy more expensive things, travel and see the world, but another benefit of having your finances taken care of is that YOU have the ability to help others out in times of need. Have a family member or friend who’s struggling? You don’t have to think twice about helping them out.

What’s interesting is that financial freedom isn’t really as far away as you might think. In fact, it’s  up to you to determine what that means. To me, I think it’s about living the life you want to live while staying within your means. If your cost of living is lower than what your business (or other income) earns you, then you can technically call yourself financially independent.

The whole point of opting for a business versus having a job is becoming financially free. When you’re financially free, you don’t answer for anyone other than yourself and potential clients – but that’s the same even if you have a job.

Just remember, if you don’t tell yourself what to do, the world will gladly put someone next to you will. There’s leaders and followers. Make yourself a leader.

(Just a note: I watched The Wolf of Wall Street over the weekend. Really interesting movie if you can stomach lots of skin, drug use, and swearing. I found it incredible in how quickly he was able to capitalize on penny stocks and quickly start his own firm. In case you already saw it, here’s a list of other movies you can check out as well if you want to learn more about what being an entrepreneur is all about.)

Government – Know the Rules

We should have a clear understanding of how the rules work in our country so that we can know how we can play the game of life within the rules that are set up.

In other words, I like to think of a government as being the entity that makes the rules for it’s people. Which is true, right?

If you think of great sports players, they know how to use the rules to their advantage when needed.

Take Peyton Manning, for example. One of the best, if not the best player that ever played the quarterback position in football.

Up until the past couple of years when they changed the rule, occasionally, he’d hurry his team up to the ball and take the snap as quickly as possible. Why? Because he wanted to get the other team sleeping with too many people on the field.

The other team would get penalized which would in turn gain him a few additional yards… getting him closer to his goal.

Knowing little ins and outs of how the rules work, can really help your game.

Action Steps

So, that about does it! On that last note, if you do have any feedback you’d love to send my way, please do. I’d love to hear it!

As for this post, I wanted to dedicate some time to open up about what personal freedom is all about and let you in on my brain a little bit. These topics are important to me, and I hope you find that they’re cool with you too. My hope is that maybe what I’ve said here will help you prepare for what’s coming… not just in your business (because again I believe it’s the only way to have Financial Freedom) but also help you navigate the waters of life in general.

Supplemental: My Perspective on the Current Political Scene

If you’re not following me on Facebook, you’re missing out on some good postings recently. Currently, the election cycle is in full swing and as many of you know, I’m what many might call a Conservative Libertarian.

In my mind, the simple description of a Conservative Libertarian who believes that the government is in charge of the basics for everyone. These basics are expressed through the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. These are the rulebooks for our government. They say what the government CAN’T do.

Somehow, people have gotten this perspective that they’re about what the government CAN do, which is why they might also think that the rules are out of date. However, when you change the rulebook and what it can do, you’re changing how the game is played.

People generally don’t understand the rules – and again, it’s at the fault of “Formal Education”.

Where Things Stand Currently

Currently, many people rely on the government for one program or another. Typically these are the same people who are stuck in the first few levels of hierarchy of needs. They don’t see past tomorrow because they can’t. So why should they care about what comes after it?

While these programs seem like they’re doing good, they’re actually weakening us as a country. Why would anyone work for something if they’re going to get it for free? Principle? Sure. But for how long?

The problem is that there’s so many people out there that don’t care that what they rely on to get to the next day is coming off the hard work of others. It’s not even that they don’t care. It’s that they’re indifferent to it. They don’t know how things work.

As more and more people take “advantage” of these programs or rely on the government to make big decisions for the people and make everything easier, the more those who have made working for government a career gain more power. Not just power for themselves, but power over you, the individual. This is called Progressivism.

Currently, we have two people who, in their personal history, have shown that they are Statists. A Statist is someone who believes that the state should control either economic and/or social policy to some degree.

One is from Big Money and the other is from Big Government. Many people don’t realize that Big Money folk pay Government members to make legislation that will help them out. The more that these people make laws together, the more the little guy (you and I) get pushed out.

A Growing Oligarchy

As we continue to ask the government for favors because we “deserve it”, we move closer and closer to what’s called an oligarchy. (Here’s one of most referenced videos that describes what that is and more.) The more favors they provide, the more people that need to be in control of those favors. The larger the government (or ruling class) gets.

If the United States ever becomes an oligarchy, we will have became the opposite of what the country was originally founded on. A place where we can never have the opportunity for Personal Freedom. It won’t matter how much you tried to do what you wanted, at this point you have a society which has a specific purpose for you, and you’re going to do that specific job.

So this is why I harp on politics as much as I do. Right now I realize how much we have to lose if the rules are changed completely. While I’m fairly new to this whole personal freedom chase myself, I want to at least have a shot.

With the government adding more and more rules in how people function together, it gets harder and harder for EVERYONE to be more and achieve more in life.

Melinda Enfinger

AoL 045: Helping Veterans find Real Estate, Mentoring, and Business Success with Melinda Enfinger

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Taking a passion and making money from it takes the form of many types of careers.

For me, you guys know I love helping people do actually that. That’s why my focus in grad school was entrepreneurship. I love discussing and thinking about it… turning around and helping someone else out through the process.

This session’s guest is no different. Melinda Enfinger is a veteran of the Marines who found herself in the reality industry afterwards, and now finds herself helping veterans find their own property – plus other benefits that they might not know about.

In this session, Laila and I talk with Melinda and find out about her years of service (especially being a female Marine in the 90’s), how she got into working with veterans, and some of the commonly missed benefits that veterans might not be aware of when it comes to reality.

If you are veteran (or know one) and you don’t have a great relationship with the Veterans Services Office, then you should definitely listen to this and see if knowing Melinda might be worth your while!!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why Melinda joined the Marines and what her experience was like during her tenure. 9:00
  • How she got into reality upon leaving the Marines. 14:11
  • How the transition went from being in Marines to being a civilian 15:47
  • Why she liked being involved with reality for as long as she’s been in it. 17:15
  • What some of her favorite stories are when it comes to helping veterans with reality. 21:25
  • How she found herself doing copywriting work. 22:43
  • What she belives makes for good copy. 28:30
  • When it’s better to use “we” vs “you” when writing blog posts. 32:49
  • How she feels being in the military pushed her into coaching and consulting 35:05
  • What kind of people does she like working with the most? 37:53
  • What some of her favorite wins are in her coaching. 42:02
  • What are some things that married military couples should pay attention to when thinking about buying a new house. 50:07
  • Why Melinda believes that veterans need to take advantage of their local Veteran Service Centers 52:58
  • What are some influencers in Melinda’s life 55:37
  • 3 Truths she’s learned that she’d share with others 56:08
  • What ad would she put out into the world? 56:47
  • What would Melinda say to her 30 year old self? 58:27
  • Who comes to mind when she thinks of the word success? 1:02:10
  • …and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Interview with Shawn Mahdavi of Realbies:

How to be Authentic Online:

Mecklenburg County, NC Veterans Services Office (Just Google your county for yours or Use this link):

22Kill and the Honor Rings:

22kill

22Kill Intro:

Excerpt of the Glenn Beck Program featuring Jacob Schick of 22kill (Part 1):

Jacob Schick of 22kill (Part 2):

Entirety of the Glenn Beck Program for that day.

Additional interview with Jacob Schick:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

10 Entrepreneur Movies that will Give you Peace of Mind and Help you Share what You’re Doing with Others

/by

Many of us solopreneurs start our entrepreneurial careers in some sort of MLM. Whether or not we succeed in that MLM, isn’t so much the point. More often than not, a lot of us come away with some pretty good experiences from being it in.

In fact, last night I was watching a movie with Maria where a small part of it at the beginning reminded her and I both of an MLM-like motivational speech at a convention. Sure, the commentary was a little more colorful than I remember, but it was interesting how close they got it. Surely, whoever came up with the scene had to have been at an event at some point in their life!

As I was thinking about that, I started remembering how when I was active in Amway and LTD, we would watch movies in a way that I hadn’t watched them before.

I started watching them not necessarily for entertainment but to also see if I could use them to help me define my why. In other words, I started using them to not only use as motivation for building a business but to see myself in the protagonist’s shoes.

The Breakdown

So, getting to the point of this week’s post. I want to highlight a few movies that you can use as model of what you could do with your own passion based business, and maybe help you combat the questioning of friends and loved ones as you get started.

I’ve broken the list up into various subgroups.

The first group are movies that will help you fine tune why you’d be interested in starting your own business. Knowing your why helps you persevere when times get tough.

The second group consists of movies that will help you define what taking action in your business looks like. It’s always nice to have an idea of what someone else did to climb the ladder of success – even if it is fiction.

And the third group is of movies that discuss big names in the business world. Everyone has heard of these names and if you can express that you feel a need in yourself to do something similar to what they did but with your own signature, they might have a better understanding of what you’re attempting to do.

Why Builders

I’m Fine, Thanks:

One of my favorite documentaries to date about unplugging from culture and seeing the world differently. Back in 2012, Pat Flynn mentioned that he had been interviewed for this movie. Again, being a fan of his since 2010, I figured that he knew what was up and that I should definitely check it out on Kickstarter. It’s a movie about being tired of the same thing over and over – day in and day out. But so many of us feel powerless to get out of the rat race.

As you guys know, in 2015 I made the leap to finally start my journey with building New Inceptions. I hope this movie inspires you to do something similar.

As a note, I did end up pledging enough that I got Maria and I into the credits BEFORE we were married in 2013. Needless to say she liked that present and I think you’ll really get a lot from seeing this movie

 

The Abundance Code:

This documentary just came out just a couple of weeks ago and I was lucky enough to get noticed about it’s pre-launch where it was viewable by everyone and anyone for free!

Yes, just like many books are starting to be introduced for free so they can drive up the reader reviews on Amazon, so are these grassroot movies.

This particular piece touches on why people are fearful to leave the caged or comfortable life that society programs us with and some ideas to help us combat that fear.

The one tactic I think I’ll use for the foreseeable future is thinking about what I loved to do as a kid and use that as a vital part of my business.

If you’re struggling to figure out why you think that many entrepreneurs treat life as a game, then maybe you should check this one out.

 

Office Space:

This one is a classic. I really think that this is one of the movies that woke me up to entrepreneurship when I first started learning about it. I had this movie in the back of my head and it had always struck me how I was going to get out of a life like the characters had in it.

Doing my own thing was the answer.

This is a mainstream movie that starred many celebrities when it was released in 1999 including Jennifer Aniston and John C. McGinley (who is actually in the next mentioned movie, too!).

 

Examples of Taking Action

Get a Job:

This recent mainstream movie didn’t get great praise by critics, but what does these days? It stars a whole bunch of well known entertainers playing the main roles all the way down to the owner of a shady motel.

The protagonists are young millennials with the world in front of them but they’re just squandering it playing video games and smoking weed. Well, life hits them quite suddenly when they lose their TV and are forced to go out into the world and “make it happen”.

If you’re a younger millennial or just out of college and wondering if you got what it takes to start your own business, then you might want to give this a look.

 

The Intern:

Two age ranges are dealt with here. The Baby Boomer and the older millennial / Gen X’er. I particularly loved this one because it shows that anyone at any age can learn something from someone else regardless of age.

While I really appreciate Anne Hathaway’s character’s tenacity for running her business, I love how they show the in’s and out’s of the life that she leads. While it isn’t perfect, it definitely is a sign of the new norm for professional women – including stay-at-home dads.

Robert DeNiro’s character does a really great job of helping hers find her center and, in the end, having a happier and more balanced life.

 

Chef:

If you’ve ever thought about starting a restaurant or maybe you’ve had a career taken away from you and you’re having to start from scratch, this is a great example of how virally things can grow for you if you just go out of your comfort zone.

It’s important to note that your results will vary – you don’t have the reach that a world renowned chef has. However, I want people to notice how they had ideas and then implemented them fairly quickly that they made due with what they had available. Sometimes that’s what you have to do! It can’t all be perfect!

 

The Pursuit of Happyness:

Another one of my all-time favorite movies AND it stars Will Smith at the peak of his popularity. In this “inspired by actual events” movie, Will plays the part of Chris Gardner who went from being homeless at one point with his kid to getting a job at one of the biggest financial firms in the country.

It’s pure Hustle.

Sometimes you have to hit bottom to truly be able to reach for the stars. When you hit bottom, there’s no other options than up. This movie (and book) are for people who think they have it bad and don’t see a way out.

 

Inspirational Stories of People Who Made It:

The Aviator

The story of Howard Hughes is pretty mysterious. But one thing is definitely true is that he completely subscribed to the theory of “Whatever the Mind of man can Conceive and  Believe, it will Achieve”.

His vision was second to none and his OCD really helped him in carrying these visions to fruition. Purely remarkable guy.

Moneyball:

Visionaries come in all forms and from all industries. If it wasn’t for Billy Beane and how he introduced the idea of using stats to put together a team, major league sports would not look anything like it does today.

This movie is a great example in understanding how metrics can be just as beneficial if not more so than instinct when we’re building something.

The Social Network:

Ever wonder how Facebook got started? How it went from the idea of a kid at Harvard to being the hub of online communication that it is today? This movie does a pretty good representation of how it all went down. However, it isn’t completely dead on with the facts. (But none of these movies are. So take it in stride.)

Bonus: Pirates of Silicon Valley:

Before there was Facebook and the internet, there were actually still computers. They just did a lot less than their modern descendants and not everyone in the world relied on them as much as they do today.

That said, if it wasn’t for those old relics we wouldn’t have the connected world that we do today.

I saw this movie for the first time right around the time that I saw Office Space. I was blown away by the stories of the founding of Apple and Microsoft. Here you had two huge companies that essentially start out in people’s garages with a ragtag group of geeks. It was always my goal in college to meet people like that and learn hacking a bit more.

I never did meet my hacker community, but it did inspire me to Think Different.

Action Steps:

If you’ve heard of a few of these and haven’t seen them yet, I’d highly recommend checking them out. Once you’ve seen one of them, ask yourself afterwards, what are some takeaways that I got from watching this? How can I apply them to my business?

Also, I’d like to hear about movies you’ve seen that you believe have added value to your business. Let me know in the comments below.