1: IT ALL STARTS HERE
‘If you can make it in New York,baby, you can make it...’
How to turn your knowledge and expertise into profits
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
— Steve Jobs
It was an assault on all my senses.
Jet-lagged and almost delirious after the long flight from Australia, I found myself in Times Square, in the heart of New York City, with 35 kilos of luggage in tow and no idea where I was staying.
It had just turned 9 pm on a Saturday night in October 2012, and the crowds were teeming under the bright city lights, as they do night after night. P. Diddy gazed down from a skyscraper-high billboard, flaunting his latest eau de toilette — that's French for ‘I don't give a damn'. I had more immediate things to worry about than smelling great, like getting on the Net and locating my accommodation for the next four weeks in a city I'd never been to before.
After 22 hours breathing in the fug of other people's air (and, dare I say, other vapours), I was disoriented, and the lights were blinding. My business partner at the time had given me the general location of where I was to stay, but the idea was that on my arrival I'd check my email … and voilà, I'd look up and be right there.
But my phone wouldn't connect … and that's when things quickly unravelled.
Into the vortex
Being new to the city, I was convinced I was going to get mugged. Clearly the two painful minutes of Law & Order I once watched were too much. That annoying sound they play at the start of every episode was on repeat in my head. According to IMDb.com, it ‘was created by combining close to a dozen sounds, including that of a group of monks stamping on a floor'. Keep it down, monks!
After dragging my luggage around for a couple of hours, hauling it out of the countless subway grates that lined every street, while I searched for a wifi connection, I finally found a Starbucks.
It was packed, with a lineup like you'd find at a Justin Bieber concert. I stood outside and attempted to connect through the glass.
What I didn't know then was that a little over a week later I'd find myself back in front of the very same Starbucks, on the same mission, but by then joined by many other visitors and New Yorkers looking for new accommodation after Hurricane Sandy had come barrelling down on the city. Great!
After ten minutes of trying I finally got a signal. I opened my email … to find that my accommodation had been cancelled in transit. Aaghh! Thankfully my (now ex) business partner had booked me in somewhere else, but only for one night.
You see, in two days' time I was booked to pitch to more than 70 of the world's top TV and radio producers. During my four-week stay I would conduct media interviews, sell truckloads of books and online products, shape the world we live in and then make my way back to Australia with a smile on my face after a massively successful media campaign. Not.
You try to create a tipping point in your life and career, and however hard you try destiny has a different plan for you at that moment in time. And you get sucked up into this vortex that won't let you go. It could be a job, a relationship, or office cubicle walls that seem to be constantly closing in on you. You get paid peanuts to share your expertise and knowledge and it goes completely unappreciated and unnoticed. In fact, your stapler gets more attention than you do, and it's probably handled better too.
I had been sucked up into a vortex of massive proportions — and not in a good way! I was working my butt off 24/7 and wasn't being rewarded for it. Just before leaving for NYC, I'd come off an Australian speaking tour in which I'd spent more than eight hours on stage in all of the major cities over the course of two weeks, entertaining and educating. It's hard staying perky on stage when you've had only a few hours of broken sleep!
I was exhausted … and now, within less than 72 hours, I had to find a place to stay, print off all of my media material and prepare for a series of pitches — all with a big smile on my face, while fighting through some serious jetlag — along with keeping my business running and making money back home.
I felt like my eyes were going to roll back in my head at any second and I'd slow-motion fall onto my arse, Matrix style, at the most inopportune time.
These included:
- Was I going to continue down a path that clearly wasn't rewarding me financially or emotionally? I was constantly exhausted and was ageing horribly! The cash flow question was always knocking on the back door of my mind, and it was getting louder and louder.
- How was I going to dramatically increase my income and decrease my debt, both of which tasks seemed completely impossible within the required time frame?
- And when was I going to grow a pair and finally do what I wanted to do: make an impact on this world; create the legacy only I could; make more money; travel; have more fun; and hop, skip and jump right off this treadmill without falling on my face?
I've known from the age of ten that I was meant for something bigger than I knew was possible at the time. I just didn't know what. I knew I was meant to impact others' lives in ways that were emotionally rewarding for me and life changing for them. I wanted to share my stories and experiences with the world to help shape it in my own unique way with my own unique ability.
Maybe you've had a life-changing experience in business or life that you would love to share with others — an experience, or knowledge and expertise, that could have a profound impact on other people's lives, by solving a problem they have been struggling with for years, or making it easier for them in some way or another in business, career, love or life.
Or maybe you're a business or life coach, social media expert, personal trainer, health practitioner, psychologist, marketer, publicist, chiropractor, graphic designer, photographer, stylist, designer, copywriter, spiritual healer, project manager, architect, personal assistant, human resources manager, virtual assistant or organiser, website developer … or you're in sales.
Whatever your area of expertise or newfound interest, without a shadow of a doubt you already know in your heart of hearts that being an agent of influence and change, an author, speaker, coach, consultant or entrepreneur, is a path to creating meaning within your own and others' lives. A person who shapes others' opinions and empowers them to make better decisions in their lives because of the experience and knowledge you bring to the table.
But how can you have this profound impact in the world when now the very idea seems unfathomable? How can you share your own stories, experiences, knowledge and expertise with the world in a way that has real reach and meaning? And how do you find your own confident voice and create a platform from which you can successfully package, market and monetise your message?
Turning your knowledge and expertise into profits: why my story is critical to your success
For years I was in the ‘expert' business. I started out as an accredited life coach and then transitioned to business coaching, engaging with various mentors along the way while adding layer upon layer to my skillset, including personal branding, marketing, social media, publicity, business growth and styling. I learned by putting my money where my mouth was. I didn't go to university. I entered the school of hard knocks.
I set my own curriculum based on the life I wanted to lead and my creative yearning to keep pushing myself further.
But with no real mentors to look up to and to model how I could market and monetise my message and share my stories and techniques in a profitable and automated way, I became incredibly frustrated.
I'd spent so much time helping my clients make millions when I could have been doing that myself. I was sick and tired of making other people money at my own expense. I knew I could be doing things a lot smarter with a lot less stress and a much bigger payoff. I could develop the flexibility and freedom to choose when I wanted to work and on what.
Does this sound familiar?
My clients' results weren't run of the mill, and they still aren't today … One of them became a best-selling author; another pulled in an extra $300 000 in revenue within the first three months; another took their database from 200 new opt-ins per week to more than 2000 per week, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in added revenue; for another I helped secure international media coverage, from Vogue to CLEO to major newspapers and online blogs all around the world, turning an unknown brand into one the world was suddenly following with bated breath.
But there was a problem. Their success was coming at my expense.
We're all great at what we do and most of us work our tails off to get results for others — at what always seems like a cost to our own success. For me, it was a matter of prioritising. My success had to rival or better that of my clients. The mantra ‘Their success is your success' is only relevant when helping others isn't sending you broke!
And that was what was happening to me. I'd landed in New York City, ready to share my expertise and knowledge and finally make some serious money, when everything fell to pieces … later to be reborn in a new and more profitable way.
It only took a hurricane and a series of unfortunate events to create a serious tipping point in my life. That tipping point sparked something magnificent.
The total transformation took less than six months and included selling online digital products worth more than $100 000, paying off $50 000 in debt that the business had accrued due to poor management, taking back full control of the business and reinventing it from the bottom up, securing an expert role on a new TV show called Manscape that aired six times a week, and landing a cameo role on The Real Housewives of Melbourne (part of the massively successful reality TV franchise from Arena).
Within a few short months I'd turned a struggling business into one that was suddenly pulling in six figures — without employing a massive team to do it.
And that was only the start …
So what happened in those six months that made such a profound difference to my life, my income and the way I thought about making money? It was simple. I had worked out the formula to turn my knowledge and expertise into profits.
I found a way that worked for me, my lifestyle and my clients that was profitable, exciting and rewarding, simply by leveraging, packaging, marketing and monetising what I already knew into books and products that sold online on autopilot. It's an approach that can work for anyone, in any industry for any product or service — and yes, that includes you, even if you are starting from scratch!
But before I delve into how you can dramatically transform your life, let's just stop for a minute and think about the way you're living right now.
I mean, really think about it. Could your life be better? Could you be making more money and doing more of what you love? Could you be experiencing greater recognition and having a greater impact that has true meaning for you and for others?
If you're currently feeling the way I did — that is, that you're making your clients or employer richer than you through your expertise and knowledge — and if you're ready to change your life and embark on an extraordinary journey, and you want to do it quickly, as I did (without making the same mistakes I made), read this book closely.
As we share this journey together I'll reveal to you lessons that will fundamentally shift the way you think about the story you have to share with the world, how you make money and how you spend your time.
I will share with you my own journey of fleeing 9 to 5, a struggling business and overwhelming debt to get paid five figures monthly and to build a business on autopilot that has the potential to make millions within a year.
This book will not only show you how to do it, but will show you how to leverage your time, money and resources to free you up to travel where and when you want and to create the life that you want to live.
I'll share with you my journey to New York and how it changed my life, and how it could relate to your future as an ‘agent of influence and change' in the company of the new rich who have fled the rat race.
I have more than ten years' experience working with thousands of businesses in industries as diverse as beauty, automotive, expert, wellbeing, pharmaceuticals, celebrity and fashion, among others. As you'll soon discover, my journey wasn't always an easy one. Unlike other books out there, I won't try to sell you unrealistic ideas or create unrealistic expectations of how you can be successful with next to no effort. What I will do, however, is step you through the quickest and most honest route to profiting from your expertise and knowledge and creating new and unbelievable opportunities for yourself.
Together we will focus on three fundamental points of view:
- We are each here to shape the world we live in — on both a local and a global scale, whether you believe it right now or not. The best and most profound and leveraged way to do this is by sharing your knowledge and expertise (on any topic of interest in any field) in a way that reaches out to the rest of the world.
- We are each gifted with a story that relates how we came to be who we are today — and the various factors that shaped this journey. This journey has very real market value and importance to others.
- We can be paid incredibly well for sharing our message and story with the rest of the world — helping people to reach their goals while at the same time building a profitable business and having a true impact on thousands, even millions, of others, especially on our home turf.
Ideas, development, production, distribution and growth: the winning sequence
Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea … and ideas are bulletproof.
— Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
As you dive deeper into these pages, you'll uncover a logical and clear sequence of steps to creating, marketing and launching products that package your expertise and knowledge. I'll take you through various exercises to help you define your life's mission, from uncovering your idea and developing, producing and distributing it, to finally profiting from it and growing an online or offline business that has the potential to yield you millions.
To make the most out of this process, here are three powerful tips to multiply and magnify your results:
- Use a notebook to capture your ideas. Inspiration can strike at any time and you need to be able to capture these ideas quickly. I recommend the online notebook Evernote, available for Mac or Android (because you may like to set up a lifestyle in which you get to travel to cool and exotic places). You want easy access to your information, ideas, plans and strategies on the go. Securing your ideas will help you take control of the process and lay a solid foundation for future success, no matter what your plans might be. Sync it on your laptop, mobile phone and other devices so you can make notes and develop ideas on the move, no matter where you are.
- Complete the recommended exercises. I'll be asking you to complete exercises to get some real skin in the game so you can begin your journey today. Set aside some time each day so it becomes a daily routine — a ritual that will truly help you create a life you only ever imagined.
- Planning vs completion. It is my experience that 95 per cent of your time initially will go into the planning and research phases rather than the actual delivery and completion phases. Trust the process and the process will support you.
It doesn't matter what industry you work in, what your specialty is or what product or service you want to create and sell, I will inspire you and guide you through the entire process. And I'll introduce you to powerful techniques to carry you through those times when it doesn't feel so great or you hit a bump in the road.
That's what I'm here for. It all begins with you and the reason you're here — the unique outlook you have to offer the world. It's an outlook that has evolved through your upbringing and education, whether formal, through university, or in the school of hard knocks like me — all the years of experience and the energy and time you've put into building up your knowledge and expertise.
It's shaped by the reasons why you do what you do, and it's uniquely yours. You own the delivery, the style and the personal brand that goes with it — all the bankable elements that move beyond the knowledge and skills you possess and allow you to separate yourself from other experts within your current industry or one you're about to enter as a brand-new start-up business.
It's not just about your skillset either. Our world is built on stories, and stories generate outcomes. Turn on your smart phone, TV or computer now to see what I mean. Whether you're logged into Facebook or Twitter, listening to music, watching YouTube, Googling for how-to advice, reading a book or watching a movie, the one common denominator that connects all of these platforms is the story the content shares with the audience. Content that is designed to educate, entertain and inspire.
Music, web and print all belong to this billion-dollar industry, and with the huge amount of content being uploaded to the Net daily it's easy for us to believe we've reached a new stage in the information age — excess. The massively popular blogging site Tumblr now hosts more than 100 million blogs, with an average of 72 million blog posts being added every single day. That's a lot of people wanting to share their opinions and ‘how-to' advice, and yet only a tiny fraction of them make serious money, or even any at all.
Why? This new age we've entered has created a new economy that few yet have a handle on. They simply don't know how to monetise the intangible asset — knowledge, the world's most valuable resource.
Any question or problem you need answering has a solution online, which means either:
- you won't make any money because others already have it covered, or
- you must find a way to be part of the top 1 to 2 per cent of people who know how.
Business, career, love and life: what people are really paying for
People are overloaded with information but what they haven't worked out is how to consolidate it using a logical sequence of steps that will help them achieve specific outcomes — from finding a partner, building their wealth, growing their business, advancing their career, managing their team or becoming an effective leader, right through to losing weight, learning how to knit or getting rid of nits!
Every day millions of online searches are performed by individuals ready to buy solutions that will help them advance in one of the four major profit categories that today's agents of influence and change are tapping into: business, career, love and life.
Millions of consumers are seeking practical, step-by-step how-to advice that will transform their lives and help them reach their desired outcomes in these categories, and in each there are profitable niches within profitable niches. When you extract this magic and package it up into marketable products such as books, DVDs, online courses, audio programs, articles and blogs that people can experience and enjoy, you'll be able to transform your life in three crucial ways:
Maximise your time and resources
If you find yourself on repeat, sharing the same information over and over again, it's time to create a product or service that you can sell on autopilot. This allows for greater flexibility in where you work, how you work and what you work on. As I write this I find myself in a funky little Melbourne coffee shop with the smell of freshly ground coffee beans wafting through the air and the buzz of customers all around me. With my laptop, I can work in a cafe, on a plane, on a beach or in my home office. In fact, I did three trips to New Zealand while writing this book — and still making money online. Why don't I have a formal office? Why would I waste time commuting every day when I could spend it socialising, keeping fit or working on projects I love?
Part of my first book, Sleeping Your Way to The Top in Business (for a free copy, visit www.benangel.com.au), was written on Ko Phi Phi Don in Thailand, the island opposite Ko Phi Phi Leh, where the movie The Beach was filmed, while sipping on banana daiquiris and taking in the breathtaking view of crystal-blue water. Did someone say it was happy hour?
Monetise your knowledge and expertise
One of the biggest traps in life is trading time for money. Trading one-to-one, instead of one-to-many, means you'll find yourself forever on the treadmill at the mercy of everyone else's schedule instead of defining your own. When you are well positioned within your market with a well-defined product offering, you gain credibility, which you can turn into a bankable personal brand with the capacity to generate income for years to come with little effort.
Once this brand is successfully established you'll find that opportunities suddenly appear from unexpected directions, such as TV, radio, newspapers, speaking opportunities and high-paid consulting work, all of which can propel your business to a tipping point that will see its value spiral upwards.
Simplify your life
Selling one-to-many, or leveraging, frees you from the need to answer countless emails or waste your time in meeting after meeting. It takes the headache out of business and life when systems are put in place that free you to focus on other exciting projects or simply to take more time out for yourself and your family. Achieving this is not a complicated process; you need only employ a specific sequence of strategies to attain your goal.
When you discover how to create a business that supports your lifestyle you'll find that suddenly things shift in every area of your life, and you'll begin to see things in a completely new light. Why? Because you'll be making a difference in other people's lives too, and there isn't a feeling in the world to beat that.
You can reinvent your life and create a profitable business by leveraging, packaging, marketing and monetising your own unique knowledge and expertise. By marketing your particular skillset, and with the application of certain tools, strategies and techniques, you can transform lives and inspire change in others on a global scale. Leverage your time, money and resources to free you up to travel and to create the life that you want to live.