This little guy is my nephew Ben Richman…who’s playing Carnegie Hall on January 19th!
My whole family is amazed because he’s only ELEVEN YEARS OLD. (Not in this picture of course)
But Ben’s not so amazed with himself. In fact, he’s kind of taking the whole thing in stride. ”Oh yeah, Uncle Glenn… I won a competition. It’s no big deal” Yeah, right!
Except he really means it. To him, it’s a natural outcome of the routines he’s adopted, the mentors he’s sought out, and the daily practice he’s lived for the last six years.
Ben EXPECTED this to happen, he just didn’t know when.
See, my sister discovered his talent and passion when he was five. And because of our family history she decided to ACT on this discovery in a BIG way.
Let’s go back to 1969 for a moment so I can explain: Viet Nam was in full force. Free love was all the rage, and my parents embraced the movement as much as any good hippie could…
(“Oh wow, man, like, look at the pretty colors, man! Like, OH WOW, MAN!”)
Because of the chaotic household environment this created, I never really got to maximize my own musical talents. I had a penchant for piano when I was five and took a few lessons, but mostly my parents just encouraged me to grow my hair long, put on a tie-died shirt, and hang out with rock n’ rollers. I got good enough to impress teenage girls, but that was pretty much where it began and ended for me.
But my sister went the OPPOSITE direction…
She shopped around for a real grand (not baby-grand but GRAND) piano she could afford, found the best conservatory in the area, got him lesson after lesson, encouraged him to practice every day, and took him to performance after performance.
All of which he absolutely LOVED! It became “his thing”
To give you an idea of the level of immersion, consider how he reacted when, while having a particularly good time at my house, I asked Ben if he’d like to sleep over. He got REALLY nervous. Not because I’m such a weirdo (he likes that)… but because sleeping over would mean he’d wake up in a house with a barely-functional upright piano…
Ben wouldn’t be able to do his morning practice… and this was LITERALLY UNTHINKABLE.
Practice is a 100% required part of his daily morning routine. His reaction to the thought of skipping his regular practice was SO strong, you’d think I had threatened to pee on his toothbrush. Simply NOT an acceptable way start to the day!
See, Ben practices first thing when he wakes up. Then again when he gets home from school…and again after dinner. He LOVES that Piano… it doesn’t feel like work to him at all.
And so Carnegie Hall is just something he EXPECTS to happen. It had to happen…he just didn’t know when. And he didn’t particularly CARE when either. All Ben really cares about is learning, practicing, and performing…
It’s a part of his soul.
So here’s the point…
What looks like a kid with a genetic gift who found himself in the right place at the right time is actually anything but! Sure, he’s got passion and talent. But he’s thoroughly embraced daily routines to shape that passion and talent into it’s finest expression…
He 100% accepts and does whatever it takes to achieve his goals…
And eagerly looks forward to the daily work.
As a result, he never frets or complains about “When will I play Carnegie Hall? When will it happen for ME?”…
He practices, learns, and plays until his heart is content.
So it occurs to me as I reflect upon various resolutions I might want you all to consider for New Years this year, the most significant one I can think of is to apply this insight to YOUR business and/or personal life:
Marketing is hard…
Internet marketing is harder…
And internet marketing in a brutally competitive niche is about the hardest business challenge you’ll ever face.
But so is getting to play in Carnegie Hall.
Couldn’t we all take a lesson from Ben, identify and nurture our best talents, find the top mentors, and gracefully do whatever it takes each and every day to make “Carnegie Hall” (the lucrative, meaningful, fun internet business you’ve been dreaming about) inevitable?
Start by listing the core competencies you need to practice every day to REALLY build your business… the things you’re SURE of, not the maybes. Limit it to five simple things you KNOW always improve your business, but take some time, energy, and/or money to implement. Then resolve to embrace those with your soul, whatever it takes!
Here’s MY personal list:
Writing and installing good follow up content. I had a mentor who once told me “Glenn, if you want to make more money, write some more follow ups” Which totally makes sense if you think about it, because it doesn’t cost anything to send another GOOD follow up, and a percentage (however small) always respond.
Applying the Golden Glove of Persuasion Test to anything I want to improve, then exhaustively implementing the findings. Whenever something’s not working as well as I want it to, I analyze it using the Golden Glove principles: (1) How well have I identified a desperate problem and called out to the appropriate audience so they’re SURE they’re in the right place to solve this particular issue?; (2) Am I making a truly unique promise they can’t find anywhere else in the market? Something almost magical, but still 100% TRUE? (3) Have I presented overwhelming, incontrovertible PROOF that I can deliver on the promise I’ve made, specifically for this audience: (4) Is there a truly irresistible, absolutely no-brainer offer? (Note: On a personal note, if there’s a problem this is where I’ve usually fallen down. That’s because it takes the most time, energy, and money to create so human nature wants to THINK it’s irresistible when it’s really not); (5) Is there a reason to act NOW or have I just left the offer “out there” for people to buy whenever they “get around to it”. (As an exercise, see if you can identify all five elements of the Golden Glove here. I’ll make it interesting by offering a free 20 minute one on one consultation to the best analysis left in my comments section below within the next week’s time. My judgment of what’s best is the sole determinant)
Developing a new product or service for existing lists in enthusiast market: I find my list’s capacity to consume far outstrips my ability to produce. Simply put, there’s more demand than I can put out for, so there’s ALWAYS money in developing more products and services. Just not enough time to do it, and not enough good, proven people to joint venture with.
Researching what’s stopping people from buying a particular product or service, and listing out those objections in exquisite detail. You’ve gotta be brave to hear what’s wrong with your stuff. But this definitely IS an area where what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
Generating audio testimonials to overcome specific objections I’ve identified in my research: Here’s an excellent interview and cheat sheet about how to generate testimonials that sell! (Interview links are inside the cheat sheet)
Testing and optimizing new advertising in a system which is already producing an ROI: It’s kind of like shooting a rocket into space. It takes a ridiculous amount of fuel to achieve escape velocity, but once you have it, fine tuning things to hit their target is an incredibly high pay off activity. But sometimes I forget to make the time to do it. Stop that Glenn! (Note: There ARE times when you’ve reached a point of diminishing returns and the best thing you can do is focus on getting more money from the same customer rather than optimizing the conversion rate on the front end. Keep that in mind)
Recording and distributing interviews with Sharon to my list. About pretty much anything even remotely related to psychology or business. People WANT to hear her perspective on my thoughts. They actually want to hear from her period. Heck I want to hear from her! (The other day in an audio testimonial interview one of our Certified Professional Coaches said something particularly revealing to Sharon “Hey Sharon, you know what? I think sometimes Glenn TRIES to be funny, but you’re the real NATURAL!” I must say I’ve got to reluctantly agree!)
Systematizing and delegating things I’ve already figured out are profitable and which I have already mastered on my own.
Now, most of these things are easy to say but hard to remember to do. But what if we all made these lists and made them as much a part of our routines going forward as practicing Chopin and brushing his teeth are for Ben? Dare I say we’d all become confident in our “Carnegie Hall” debut?
Happy New Year!
Dr. G 
PS – I meant to refer to Ben brushing his own teeth above, not Chopin’s teeth of course. (That would be “just wrong!”)
PPS – Seriously, the best Golden Glove analysis of my Coach Certification Academy’s front end gets a free 20 minute one on one consultation with me (otherwise sold at the very real rate of $1,000/hr)