mindset

Myth Busting: It’s Too Late For Me

March 9, 2016 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

It’s easy to see other people who are successful on platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook and think, “It’s too late for me.”

With numerous options available already, how could I even compete with the leaders within my niche?

This myth dissuades people from trying the already established platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. However, regardless of how late you join the party, you can become successful on any platform.

The same goes for opportunities that still bring in a lot of results.

In this video, you will learn what it takes to become successful on a platform, just released or well-established, regardless of how late you join the party.

What To Do When You Get Discouraged

December 7, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Is it worth it?

When I started out, I found myself asking myself this question too often. My confidence wasn’t what it is now.

Was it worth it to start a blog and put in that much effort? Is all of the time I am spending on Twitter amounting to anything? Does my age put me at a disadvantage?

The transition from hobby to business was stressful in the short-term. In the long-term, it was a great decision.

Regardless of what I got discouraged about, I knew it was essential to shake off the discouragement as quickly as possible.

It’s easier said than done. But the doing part isn’t as hard as most people think. It usually takes me 5-10 minutes to shake off any discouragement.

I’m not a superhuman. I just know my ideal response to discouragement. Creating responses to challenges makes it easier for you to conquer those challenges.

Once I shake off the discouragement, I go back to my work feeling more reinvigorated than ever.

The way I respond to any type of discouragement can be replicated by any individual. Here’s my three step process:

#1: Listen To Motivational Songs

Music plays a big role in our culture. It’s also played a big role in cultures that existed thousands of years before our current culture.

One truth about music is that some of the songs we listen to impact the way we feel. Some songs automatically make us feel happy while other songs automatically make us feel sad.

Listen to the songs that make you feel motivated. Put an entire playlist together if you have to. The right songs can give you enough motivation for you to shake off the discouragement.

Certain songs are guaranteed to motivate you based on the way you interpret them. These are the songs you need to listen to the most.

There is one song that I always listen to when I feel discouraged. The song I choose to listen to doesn’t matter for the purposes of this blog post (but I promise it’s clean).

The way I interpret the song may be different from how you would interpret the song, so you may not get as motivated by it.

Anyway, there is a song you’ve heard for years that holds a deep meaning in your heart. That’s the song you need to listen to…not the song that I listen to.

#2: Take Some Type Of Action

Every type of motivation you receive is just temporary motivation. It eventually fades away and must then be replaced with another form of motivation.

Idle around after listening to the song, and then that song loses its effectiveness.

Listening to the song is meant to provide you with motivation to take action. Regardless of how significant or minuscule your action looks, take action.

If you are in the middle of writing a book, and you take a break to listen to your favorite song, make it a point to write more content for your book.

Regardless of whether the song motivates you to write an extra 500 words or an extra 5,000 words, you need to take some form of action.

Taking a small action will make you feel better about the task ahead of you. Back when I would get discouraged from doing videos, I would listen to a motivational song.

Then I would go back to creating videos. Each time I listened to the motivational song, I made more progress.

#3: Plan For Next Time

You’ll have to write more words for that book the following day. You will have to put in the work tomorrow just as you did today.

At this stage of the three step process, your motivation is at a high point. When your motivation is at a high point, you do everything you can while your motivation is at its high point.

After I take some type of action, I plan out how I will take my next action. The night before, I will always identify what I must do the following day.

That way, I’m not thinking about what I must do. I already know what I must do.

The more prepared you are for what lay ahead, the more motivated you will feel to tackle the big challenges. Then, discouragement gets washed away.

Continue To Believe

This three step process helps you shake off discouragement. We get discouraged during challenging situations. This discouragement happens to be a part of the hero’s cycle.

It’s natural to feel discouraged in the middle of a challenge. The people we admire felt discouraged at some point in their lives.

They wondered if what they were doing was worth it. They wondered if they could fulfill their dreams. They wondered if they could.

It turns out they could. And we can. The amount of belief you have for yourself determines how far you go in life.

We are all like Ferraris. We have potential to do great things in our lives. Not believing in yourself is like hoping the Ferrari with an empty tank will provide an epic driving experience.

The Ferrari can provide an epic driving experience. Without any gas, it’s no better than a used car from the 1990s.

Choose to believe in yourself throughout your journey. You’ll be glad you did.

In Conclusion

Discouragement hinders our progress. It makes us doubt and wonder if what we are doing is worth the effort.

The way to beat discouragement is with overwhelming motivation. Motivation isn’t challenging to acquire. Listening to the right songs is a quick way to get an instant boost in motivation.

With that instant boost in motivation, you can then take more action and plan out how you will take even more action in the future.

Motivation will take you far, but motivation isn’t permanent. We must motivate ourselves throughout the day (and often in the simplest ways imaginable) to be our best.

What are your thoughts about this three step process? Do you have any other tips to beat discouragement? Sound off in the comments section below.

The Right Way To Explore A New Opportunity

November 2, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Business opportunities are interesting, and exploring them is not nearly as easy as it sounds. Not all of them are created equal and business opportunities don’t produce the same results for everyone. Entrepreneurs get exposed to numerous opportunities through their own research, word-of-mouth, or any other method imaginable.

I recently got exposed to three opportunities which have greatly paid off for my business:

Outsourcing
Facebook Ads
AdWords

I’ve heard about other opportunities for my business which I will explore eventually. Instagram, Periscope, and affiliate marketing are the next three opportunities I am going to devote more time towards in the near future.

There is a reason why I am waiting before I start exploring Instagram, Periscope, and affiliate marketing in-depth. This reason is related to what causes most people to lose out on opportunities.

The truth about opportunities is that there are so many of them around us. There are numerous ways to make money. It is possible to create training courses on Udemy, but it is just as possible to take online surveys and get the quick $1 after the survey if you get lucky.

For a long time, I did not know how to explore opportunities the right way. For some of the time I spent online, I did anything from clicking on advertisements to completing surveys just to make a few dollars. It was nothing impressive.

Just a few years later, I am an entrepreneur making more revenue in my sleep than I would have ever made taking annoying surveys. The change is a result of a series of factors that I don’t fully know yet. But one of them stands out the most.

I discovered how to properly approach opportunities.

Most people approach an opportunities by giving those opportunities all of the time in that one day. One day these people spend hours of their time on Twitter and on the next day, these people are trying to master Facebook ads. When immediate results don’t come, these people look for the next big thing.

That’s why, for a while, surveys were attractive to me. After completing a survey, I would immediately get my money. No waiting. Most of the greatest opportunities require patience and constant experimentation.

So far, outsourcing has transformed my business, but I’m not done experimenting with that. I often ask myself how many of my tasks I can possibly outsource. I want to make it as easy as possible for me to focus on the work that matters the most.

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. The way to approach opportunities is to focus on ONE opportunity and do a little work each day. This one approach is the reason I have over 250,000 Twitter followers. I exclusively focused on Twitter. After I mastered Twitter, I started building my audience on other social networks. That’s why my Pinterest account and Facebook Page are behind but gradually catching up.

Choose the one opportunity that you believe will produce the most significant results. Then forget about all of the other potential opportunities for now. The quicker you get comfortable with one opportunity, the quicker you can move onto the next opportunity.

I started outsourcing parts of my business in August 2015. By the middle of the month, I was comfortable enough with outsourcing to begin Facebook advertising. I got comfortable with Facebook ads and began to pay attention to AdWords in September 2015. Now I am focusing on AdWords. Once I get comfortable there, I will continue utilizing it while exploring more opportunities.

Basically, I didn’t try to learn all of them at the same time. I learned them one at a time. I only looked at other opportunities once I became comfortable with the opportunity I strived to master.

Once you choose the ONE opportunity that you want to pursue, here’s how you pursue it.

#1: Do SOME Research

Conducting research is an art form (not a joke). How you conduct your research is important. The best way to conduct research about a new opportunity is to get as many small nuggets of information as possible.

I read a few short articles and watched a few short videos about AdWords before I created my first campaign. I took notes on what I believed was important. All of this research took me less than an hour. That’s all of the knowledge I needed to create my first successful campaign.

Some people conduct days of research towards AdWords before their create their first campaign. I only needed an hour. So does that make me super smart or super lazy?

The answer is neither. The people who conducted days of research probably know more than what I knew before I created my first campaign. However, there is a problem with conducting too much research. That problem is analysis paralysis.

The knowledge people obtain from extensive research tells them to do 10 different things that may produce better results. Which of the 10 different things should be done first? Which one produces the best results? Which one can be done in the most efficient manner? All of these questions result in more pondering and less action.

My research tells me the 1-3 different things that may produce better results. There are hundreds of ways to get better results from AdWords. Right now, I only know a small handful of tactics, and I am not embarrassed to say that. I am still learning but also taking action.

#2: Implement In Small Steps

When you have a decent amount of knowledge about an opportunity, it is time to take action. Analysis paralysis makes it more difficult to take action which is why too much research can actually be a bad thing.

But does that also mean too much knowledge about an opportunity is bad? What about “Knowledge is power”?

Here’s my take. Implemented knowledge is power. Knowledge that does not get implemented is worthless. Once you conduct enough research, you have to implement in small steps.

You are not trying to build Rome in a day. You are building one skyscraper at a time. That’s how you get your empire.

When I started outsourcing, I didn’t hire all of my freelancers in one day. I hired a freelancer every other day until I felt I had a strong team behind me. For any type of online advertising, I always start off with a $2/day budget. Even if I got zero results, losing $2 per day wouldn’t threaten my way of life. Keeping the budget low lets me see what works. Once I know what works, I slowly begin raising the budget and experimenting with other options.

#3: Analyze The Results

When you start implementing something new, expect mishaps. This admittedly pessimistic view makes all of the great results feel even better. It also prepares you for the challenges. When I first started hiring freelancers, almost all of my new freelancers and I were not on the same page until a few days after I hired them.

These freelancers were not bad freelancers. In fact, they all still work for me. It was a new skill I had to learn by doing, so my expectations were not 100% clear. I also didn’t spend as much time communicating to the freelancers before I hired them as I do now.

Mistakes are a part of the process. The only way you can catch your mistakes is by analyzing the results. I knew certain freelancers and I weren’t on the same page when I didn’t like the results I was seeing. I learned the hard way why it’s a bad idea to create a Facebook ad in the middle of the night (if you create an ad at 11:30 pm, Facebook will do everything in its power to go through your budget within the next 30 minutes. This typically results in a lot of impressions but little to no likes to show for it. If you decide to create a Facebook ad, create it in the morning).

Luckily, I set the budget to $2 per day so I didn’t lose much on that first day.

Don’t give up on an opportunity if the results look bad on the first day. That’s part of the learning process. You aren’t supposed to feel comfortable in the beginning because utilizing a game-changing opportunity isn’t supposed to be easy.

#4: Adjust Based On The Results

Once you start getting results—good or bad—it’s time to make adjustments. Making adjustments to your strategy will allow you to learn more about an opportunity and see which actions yield the best results. You could be getting good results now, but you may just be one small change away from massive results.

At this point, you should be comfortable with the opportunity and ready to explore new ones. However, no matter how much exploration you do, it is always important to experiment with the opportunities you currently utilize.

In Conclusion

We have many opportunities in front of us. The results we get isn’t a matter of how many opportunities we explore. It’s a matter of how we explore the opportunities that we explore. When entrepreneurs explore opportunities the right way, big results are bound to occur.

How do you explore opportunities? Which opportunities have you explored recently? What opportunity do you believe more entrepreneurs should focus on? Sound off in the comments section below.

Five Ways To Get Your Joy Back

September 28, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Entrepreneurship has its ups and downs. On some days, you will feel invincible. On other days, you will struggle. It’s the nature of the game. Just ask any entrepreneur.

Successful entrepreneurs have two things in common. The first thing they all have in common is persistence. It has been a well-known fact that entrepreneurs need to have persistence. You’ve heard stories about Dr. Seuss getting denied by dozens of publishers, Steve Jobs getting kicked out of Apple, and Mark Cuban hunting for any job he could find before he became a full-time entrepreneur.

The other thing successful entrepreneurs have in common doesn’t get as much attention. Some people refer to this second thing as following your passion. To be more specific, it’s joy. Entrepreneurs enjoy what they do.

Successful entrepreneurs enjoy their work so much that they couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Asked whether they want to do their work today or hang out with Taylor Swift, all entrepreneurs choose their work (okay fine, that one was a big stretch. I’m shutting down my computer if I had the option).

At some point, the road to success will challenge our foundation. Our enjoyment will be put to the test. For some entrepreneurs in the thick of the road, work that was enjoyable for several weeks may suddenly appear as dull and boring.

The work doesn’t suddenly look dull and boring. The problem is a lack of joy that once existed. Each time you reclaim your joy, you’ll love your work again. Throughout my journey, I discovered that I perform at my best over a long period of time when my joy does not elude me.

With joy, there’s no reason to feel bad about yourself and focus on the shortcomings. Regardless of whether you feel joyful now or disappointed with where you are, you need a bullet-proof system that ensures joy.

Here’s what I have been able to come up with:

#1: Write Down All Of The Things You Accomplished In The Past Five Years

One of the biggest reasons people lose their joy is because they look into the ideal future too much. We focus more on the next milestone than the recently surpassed milestone.

For a long time, that was me. When I got my first 100,000 Twitter followers, I was ecstatic. When I surpassed 110,000 Twitter followers, I focused on surpassing 200,000 Twitter followers some day.

It’s good to set big goals for yourself. However, we rarely stop and take some time to acknowledge what we have already accomplished. We rarely take the time to stop and smell the roses. Maybe we should listen to the Travelocity gnome more often!

The first time I did this activity, I realized how much I had accomplished in the past five years. Writing all of the accomplishments between my 12th birthday and a few months after my 17th birthday allowed me to realize what I had accomplished.

I stopped and smelled the roses. And it was enjoyable. Every day, I look at this list of accomplishments, and it reminds me to enjoy my work. On this list, I did not write any of my shortcomings. I only focused on my accomplishments.

#2: Listen To A Favorite Song

There are certain songs, that no matter how many times I listen to them, I still enjoy them. And they make me happy. I’ve listened to some of these songs at the end of rough days. After listening to those songs, I always go to bed happy.

You need to create a list of songs that you would play to get you through a rough patch. The problem with rough patches is that when they are unattended, those patches turn into ditches. When you feel your joy slowly slipping away, play some of your favorite songs.

And don’t rely on the radio to play your favorite song. I look for the YouTube videos of my favorite songs and listen to them that way. Listening to your favorite songs will also help you during workouts. Speaking of workouts…

#3: Workout Every Day

Before I talk about working out, I want to clear one major point of concern. You don’t have to work as hard as LeBron James to get your joy back. Both a simple 5-10 minutes of stretching and shooting a basketball for a few hours will boost your joy. If you want to become a basketball player though, opt for the latter.

I make it a point to run for an hour on most days. If I don’t run, I am shooting the basketball around and chasing my rebounds with the occasional hot streak. When I return from a workout, I feel happier and more energized. Numerous scientific studies confirm that working out releases chemicals within our bodies that make us happier.

When we lose the joy of working, the last thing you should do at that moment is continue working. Many people decide to trudge through the work just to get it done. This is the worst way to approach your work. The work that matters is more than a task on your to-do list.

In my experience, the best way to release stress is by working out. When I run, I’ll take my iPhone with me so I can listen to my favorite songs.

#4: Break Loose From The Workload

Working out is a temporary fix to breaking loose from the workload. Breaking loose from the workload requires you taking a vacation from your work (minimum of one week). Entrepreneurs don’t become successful because they work 24/7.

And yet most people believe working 24/7 is an integral part of the process. You’ll hear entrepreneurs joke that they were working 25/8 or that we give up the 40 hour/week job so we can work 80 hours every week.

While it’s true entrepreneurs need to put in a lot of work, too much work can hurt. If you put in too much work, your productivity will diminish over time. If you work too long, you become less productive.

Even the super humans need breaks. Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo!, is one of the most productive people on the planet. When she worked for Google, she worked for close to 130 hours every week. That’s not a typo. It comes to a little over 18 and a half hours per day. She’s a super human.

But even Marissa Mayer believes in occasionally breaking loose from the workload. Every four months, she will take a one week vacation and get away from the workload. You should do the same. Just take a week off. Start outsourcing some of the work so your business can function without you.

You need to break loose every once in a while. You deserve it.

#5: Eat Salmon (Or Any Meal Proven To Increase Happiness)

The food we eat impacts our happiness. For the carnivores reading this blog post, do you feel happier eating a giant piece of steak or a bowl of peas? Unless you are a vegetarian, you’d probably opt for the steak.

According to science, eating some foods make us feel happier than eating other foods. There are several articles that talk about this topic and list different foods that make us happier. After reading a bunch of these articles, I discovered to my delight that one meal found its way on virtually every list.

SALMON!

I am the only person in my family who likes salmon. All of the salmon that enters my house is guaranteed to end up on my plate. Thinking about it now makes me salivate the taste and the (in my opinion) fresh smell.

I know if I said this at an event, some people would stand up, say salmon tastes disgusting, and complain about the smell.

Luckily, salmon isn’t the only food that boosts happiness. Fruits, vegetables, and green tea are some of the other options. Being more conscious of what ends up on your plate will allow you to live a happier, healthier life.

In Conclusion

Entrepreneurship is a challenging road filled with twists and turns. Some twists and turns will lead to dead ends and detours. However, at the end of the road is a massive treasure chest waiting for you. Going on the right path requires constant joy in what you do. When you find yourself going off-track, pause and reflect. Bring the joy back. Then continue on the right path.

Which of these tips did you like the most? Have any additional tips for boosting and preserving joy? Sound off in the comments section now!

Case Study: How I Get My Daily Goals Accomplished

July 3, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Get Daily Goals Accomplished

In our busy worlds of goal setting and getting things done are many distractions that impact the amount of work we accomplish. Not only are there more distractions than ever, but not all of the work we do gets us closer to our dreams. To some, being productive seems impossible while other people do it effortlessly.

Since I am a high school student, I am technically considered a part-time writer and entrepreneur even though I have committed myself to those two areas. My productivity is one of the biggest factors of my success because it allows me to properly juggle being a high school student with being a writer and entrepreneur. In the summer, when I get more control over how long I can work on my brand, my productivity skyrockets primarily because of all of the extra time available. Right now, I will provide a case study on how I get my daily goals accomplished. Accomplishing the daily goals allows me to accomplish my goals for the week, month, and year. How am I this productive? Find out now.

Always Have Significant Things To Do Throughout The Day

If you are not taking the time to build your brand throughout the day, then you need to put in more work. I can’t remember a time I got to bed before 11 pm because I always do work for my brand throughout the day. Even during the summer, I am putting in the work for my brand past 11 pm. Of course, if I see the value of my work suffer as the day continues, I stop putting in the work. When I am not working, I am doing research or reading a book to learn more about my niche. If you don’t give yourself many goals, you may find yourself surfing the web or your television. Surfing the web and your television are two methods of escaping boredom.

Many people see procrastination as a temporary way to escape work and boredom. For many people, watching television is more entertaining and less boring than putting in the work. However, if you appreciate your work and give yourself enough work for yourself to do throughout the day, you’ll find less time to procrastinate.

Do I Really Get Everything Accomplished?

I get many goals accomplished in a given month, but in reality, I don’t get everything accomplished. However, the reason I don’t get everything accomplished is different from most reasons. When I don’t get a series of goals accomplished, that is because I give myself so much to do in a given week that even if I work non-stop for long periods of time, I would only get some of my goals accomplished.

I tend to give myself challenging goals to complete in one week that most people would give themselves an entire month to complete. For instance, I gave myself one week to publish a training course that I didn’t even start (I didn’t even have notes), proofread and publish a book, write five blog posts, outline my next course, complete five YouTube videos, and do a few other things. Right now, I am aiming to launch one new training course every week. I may launch three training courses in a month. I may launch five. By raising the bar so high and sincerely believing in my ability to accomplish everything on that raised bar, I get close or even exceed my expectations and do in one week what most people would do in one month.

Wake Up Early

Not only is it challenging for me to remember a time I got to bed before 11 pm, but it is also challenging for me to remember a time I woke up after 8:30 am. I like to sleep for 7.5 hours every day because 7.5 hours is my optimal sleeping time for productivity and high performance. Waking up early is very important because we have more willpower in the beginning of the day to get our goals accomplished. If you sleep too long, try waking up an hour earlier. Then try waking up two hours earlier. If you wake up an hour earlier and go to sleep at the normal time you go to sleep at, then you gain an extra hour that can be used to get your work done. Of course, sleep is important and not getting enough sleep will negatively impact your work, but getting too much sleep isn’t good for your health either.

Attack The Work Right Away

One of the worst things to do is to know that you have work but not do anything about it. People are fearful of starting their work partly because they don’t want to do the work and partly because the work may be complicated. This fear is caused by the uncertainty of not knowing the amplitude of the work being put in. The only way to attack this fear is to start the work NOW so the cloud of uncertainty slowly clears up until the sun of certainty shines through it and eliminates that particular cloud of uncertainty for good.

Small Achievements Lead To The Big One

When I give myself daily goals, I typically give myself 1-2 big goals and a wide range of smaller goals. I tend to get the smaller (easier but still impactful) goals accomplished first so I have the right mindset for that day. Getting the smaller goals accomplished are the equivalent of small wins, and a string of small wins put together will give you the mindset firepower to accomplish all of the more challenging goals for the day. Giving yourself a series of smaller goals and getting them accomplished will boost your self-esteem which is important to being more productive and producing valuable work.

In Conclusion

We all want to be more productive, but going through the same motions we went through yesterday and the day before won’t make us more productive. Being more productive requires a gradual shift that impacts the way we view our work, and possibly, our lives. Investing the time now to be more productive later will allow you to get your goals accomplished in record-breaking time.

What were your thoughts on the case study? Do you have any tips to be more productive? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

25 Motivational Quotes To Keep By Your Desk

May 13, 2015 by Marc Guberti 1 Comment

motivational quotes

Motivation does not last forever. We need it day by day to build upon the momentum that we already have. I like to leave motivational quotes and messages by my desk so I can look at them when I feel discouraged. Here are 25 motivational quotes that are all worthy of some space on your desk. Maybe one day, one of these motivational quotes will land on Forbes’ inspirational quotes page.

#1: Critics are the people who say bad things about other people. Champions are the ones who rise above that criticism and prove the critics wrong.

#2: Instead of wishing to be someone else, strive to turn yourself into someone who others would wish to be.

#3: Our lives are temporary, but our legacies are permanent.

#4: Anything we post on social media stays up there forever. Anything we do becomes a part of who we are forever.

#5: Anyone can do anything.

#6: Leaders always emerge to the front of the stage from behind the scenes.

#7: There are no barriers to success except the ones that we create.

#8: When you find a passion that you want to pursue, then don’t let anything hold you back. You know what you want, so go after it!

#9: Entrepreneurs don’t get power by focusing on it.

#10: The only thing worth putting in effort towards are the projects you want to put effort in.

#11: Success and failure are both temporary.

#12: Everything happens for a reason.

#13: Some denials are good denials.

#14: The winners in life are the ones who sincerely believe they can win every single day.

#15: No matter where you are now, you can always get better.

#16: You are too important to stay on the sidelines.

#17: There is no output without an input.

#18: You are in full control over everything that you do.

#19: You can live the normal course of life, but it is much better to live the way you want to live.

#20: Success isn’t a sprint. That’s been established. But success is more than a marathon. It is a marathon of hustling.

#21: Life is too short to not be the person you were meant to be.

#22: Your live is an adventure and you write the story.

#23: You can’t expect to get helped unless you are willing to help others.

#24: No one dictates your life unless you let them.

#25: Doing something for a good reason is better than doing something just for the sake of doing it.

Which motivational quote did you like the most? Did any of them receive a special place on your desk? Do you have any other motivational quotes for us? Please share your thoughts and motivational quotes below.