So at the start of this month, August 2023, I clicked on a FaceBook Ad for a course by Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi. I’ve already read a couple of books by Tony Robbins and I have a friend who had raved about the Tony Robbins courses.

The ad claimed that you could now do a course worth thousands for free called “Own Your Own Future“.

These are my personal notes that I took from attending that course. Throughout I’m going to try and add my own thoughts on how they could relate to my own projects. The course obviously came with a big up-sell. They wanted you to purchase an additional course for $1000. I’m from Yorkshire and am way too tight to pay that much money for a course! However, they did convince me to purchase a monthly subscription to their other set of courses called Mastermind.com for $1 and they also said that my $1 would go to feeding homeless people in the US.

So the course began with a common quote or phrase about advising you to not row a boat harder in the wrong direction and then went on to get you to think about what you might advise your 20-year-old self.

The whole idea behind the course is that your life skills and knowledge can be a saleable asset. You can build a course that teaches your skills and knowledge to others who aren’t as experienced in your skills and would be willing to pay to learn what you’ve already experienced.

So here goes my scribbled-down notes from what I ultimately think was a very useful course that I highly recommend others to join or subscribe to Dean and Tony’s mastermind course – and I’m not on commission!! 🙂

My Personal Life Skills / Knowledge or Niche Areas I Could Focus On

Ok, so first I thought I might try and list possible topics that I have knowledge, skills, or interest in that I might be able to create a course about at some later time. I might make this into a page of its own at some point.

You need to be thinking about what problem you can solve for others. What are you good at? Who’s dream could you expedite? What do you love to talk about?

What is fun for you? What do you like to talk about even if no one is paying you?

What is so easy for you? What do people ask for advice on?

Do people spend money in that category?

Find your triangle of genius

Know your bullseye, and gain confidence by niching down as small as you can go.

What do you already do or know that people come to you for? Computer advice.

Think of something that you are excited about and want to share with the world.

Out of the talents and skills that you have and enjoy, what do people need? Who could you help specifically that you know?

  1. Beginner guide to programming 
  2. Object-oriented programming
  3. Creating applications
  4. Help with relocating to Canada
  5. How to play squash better
  6. How to play racketball better
  7. How to build and maintain a WordPress website
  8. How to trade on the stock markets
  9. How to lead or manage people
  10. How to be more creative or innovative
  11. How to trade crypto coins
  12. Understanding crypto
  13. How to lose weight without calorie counting
  14. How to do online marketing
  15. How to not lose so much Gambling 
  16. Lean / Six Sigma
  17. Project Management
  18. Coping with an aplastic anaemia
  19. Creating a life journal that helps people achieve their life goals, use the book my son had as an example

Drill it down by thinking more about your passions. So let’s try and list my possible passions, which I think may have changed a little over the years, and comment out loud on each one…

  • Self-development – love reading about this, but is it a passion? It’s possibly not something that I could talk passionately about
  • Motivating – I like reading about motivation and I feel I could be pretty good at motivating others
  • Racketball/Squash – My knees won’t cope with squash anymore, but I love Racketball which has now replaced squash for me and I already have a court booking system that makes a small amount of monthly income. This could definitely be something that I revisit.
  • Marketing – I have had quite an interest in this too as I have attempted to learn more in order to better push my software-as-a-service products.
  • Trading shares/crypto. I am quite interested in this, but was it out of necessity in order to earn some more money from our savings? Possibly not something that I would want to sell a product related to it
  • Telling funny stories. I like telling my funny life stories in front of people usually after a few drinks. I enjoy this and often make people laugh with them, but I’m not sure where I would make money from it without writing an autobiography, and given my lack of fame that might be quite a hard sell.
  • Coding/App creation – This is possibly my best starting point as I have a number of SAAS (Software As A Service) application products that I need to sell more of…
    • PlanIt-BookIt – Court Booking
      • Includes (which all could almost be separate apps in their own right)
        • Events
        • Rankings
        • Gym/Class bookings
        • Communication portal
    • Executive car chauffeur booking system
    • A Survey creation tool
    • A kitchen costing tool
    • A reminder system for anyone chasing customers for regular orders
    • Love This – a rewards/promotion app
    • PubOrder – a pub ordering system
    • SpeedyTakeaway – A takeaway ordering system

More Note Taking

There was some advice to split your page into two columns when taking notes from a course or a book. On the left column take your notes, but on the right-hand side try and think of ways you could apply those notes to your own life, projects, or challenges.

There was a lot of motivational speak and general advice…

  • You’re responsible for yourself, so take action
  • Don’t complain, make things better.
  • Picture your end day, what did you want to achieve? 3 things personally, 3 things professionally. 
  • First, you create habits, and then habits create you.
  • When learning use spaced repetition to help enforce what you have learned.
  • Read regularly, how can you apply it?
  • Schedule your time and your learning
  • Instruct, try and teach what you learn – helps to learn with intention.
  • Make things a must instead of a should
  • Have a clear vision of where you want to be
  • Being normal is boring try and be freaky or creative
  • The 3 C’s are Coaching, Consistency and Community

Thinking About My Own Goals

What two goals would you want to achieve in the next 6 to 12 months? For me, I think that would be to fully launch my speedytakeaway.com idea and to make my free mini leagues app number one on Google.

Why are they a must? Speedytakeaway could bring in more revenue by charging customers a small order fee of between 25p and 50p. Free mini leagues would be a promotion for my squash booking system which could also end up bringing in more revenue.

What’s kept you from changing in the past? Not being focused enough on my core goals

What needs to change now? Need to start making definite steps towards progressing my goals.

** What are 1 or 2 actionable steps that will immediately move you forward? Mini Leagues – Take notes from the current Google number one position. SpeedyTakeaway – launch a promotional website. **

More motivational notes

  • What and why is more important than how
  • Where focus goes energy flows
  • Write down a limiting belief and then write a new empowering story to replace it: I’m not comfortable selling my products TO: My products are excellent and I need to tell as many people as possible so that they can get all the great value from them.
  • Big journeys begin with a single step.
  • Don’t live in the past
  • Don’t try and please everyone.
  • Where are you now and where do you want to get to? What is your purpose? Your impact? Doing what?
  • Do fewer things that take your confidence and more things that build your confidence.
    • e.g. don’t watch the news, it’s negative
  • Self-education is the answer, get great by trial and error
  • Human emotion is the most important thing, learn to direct it.
  • You will never be ready, so if you say you can’t do this then act upon it immediately. Do the uncomfortable even if you say you can’t
  • Focus on where you want to go, not what you’re afraid of
  • Everything is about increasing your probabilities
  • Get uncomfortable, and put yourself on the line.
  • Schedule what you need to do.
  • Whatever moves the needle most in your wider niche, then start there
    • I’m going to show you how to…
    • Here are the seven steps…
  • Decide what you want and then make it your reality
  • Ignore imposter syndrome, i.e. who wants to listen to me
  • 10 years from now you will surely arrive, the question is where
  • “Succesful people hang on when everyone else has let go.”
  • “The biggest regret people have is not changing what they still have the opportunity to change” – Krista Mashore
  • “I will persist until I succeed” – Possibly a quote by Og Mandino – If you persist then you will eventually reach your goal, try and follow someone else who is doing it well.

Some Motivational Advice From Tony Robbins

Pillar 1: Get laser-focused on what you want and when you want it – “Where focus goes, energy flows” Clarity is power. The purpose of what you want is the most important as that’s where the drive is.

Pillar 2: Follow a proven path, tools, map, or coaching

Pillar 3: Eliminate inner conflicts

Keep A Journal

  • Keep a journal and log what you want and what you make happen
  • Be intentional about what you want to make happen
    • Decide what you want. Set yourself a challenge and write a new story. Declare what it is you want to make happen.
      • e.g. “I’m going to go on an adventure to see what’s possible. I’m going to open myself up to building the business of my dreams and creating the success that I want.”
      • “I’m here for more success, more joy, more abundance, more freedom, more peace.
      • “I’m here to make more impact, to be of the highest service, and share my ideas, knowledge & experiences with the world”
      • “I’m ready for the world to see more, To shine my light”
  • What do you want? Sign and date it

Journal Prompts

Write about your journey. What’s happening, the progress that you are making, the challenges that you are facing, and the things that you are grateful for. Acknowledge the wins.

Document the people who have helped you, and the tools and resources that have helped you. The lessons that you are learning and the tips you have to share.

Document the names of your first subscriber, follower, customer, and then also the 100th.

Write down your goals over and over again. Pour your heart, soul, sweat, and tears into your journal.

In your journal, get really clear on what you want, and then set yourself a fun challenge. Look at it as an adventure, then take tiny steps in the right direction. Because success is a set of tiny, messy, imperfect steps that you take over and over again.

One example step would be to start to build an email list – follow someone else’s blueprint.

Write down what your next step is in your journal and then take action.

Decide who you need to be. How would the person I’d like to be, do the things I’m about to do? E.g. you want to be International Sales Person of the Year. If you were already in that position then you wouldn’t be turning up to work in scruffy clothes. You’d be organized. Show up as if you already were that person.

Write in your journal why 12 months from now you didn’t achieve your goals, now go and do the exact opposite to make the goals happen.

Examples Of People Who Have Successfully Launched Courses for Sale

A Feng Shui Expert

Cruciate Injury Assistance For Dogs

Rebuilding Relationships after Betrayal

Guide to a Good Divorce

Broadcast like a badass

Anyone can invest

Nikki Sinclair Financial Fitness

Sales & Marketing

  • Who needs what you are selling? Ask AI who your ideal clients would be.
  • Remember that you are doing people a disservice by not sharing your knowledge with them
  • Turn selling into a service
    • Step up the love, be nice, friendly, and helpful
    • Fall in love with your prospect or client
    • Fall in love with your product
      • Give them the screws to turn in all your course modules
    • Fall in love with the outcome
    • Visualize your customers being successful with your product
    • *** Fall in love so much with what you do that you feel bad if you don’t sell ***
    • Make it a true win-win
  • Who are you letting down by not putting yourself out there?
  • You need to think in terms of wanting someone to experience your product.
  • Serve people

Social Media

  • Leverage social media, it’s free!
  • Think about Supply & Demand
    • Demand: Interest & time available to consume the content
    • Supply: The available inventory of social media, type of posts, and variety of platforms
  • We’re in a social media recession, as demand is low and supply is high, so your content needs to be interesting & valuable. Something that you would want to read, save, and or share.
  • Don’t get freaked out about your niche on social media as it will change. You don’t have to pick a dot for the rest of your life. Pick a niche to focus on for now and pick just one social media platform to focus on.
  • Master one platform at a time. Instagram can be a good starting point. Ensure you have a great bio
  • Bio Framework:
    • I used to…
    • Until I discovered…
    • Ever since then I…
    • And now I…
    • On Instagram
      • Get a decent pic of yourself and remove the background using Canva
      • Crop it close as you need to see your face
      • Put a color behind your face in a circle so that you stand out, for example, the color could be yellow.
      • Remember that on Instagram your name is the only searchable area take a look at @chalenejohnson on Instagram. She uses terms that people might search for who need her help.
      • Think about why people need to follow you.
      • Think about what’s in it for them, and, how and who you help.
        • For example: Quick makeup tips. 5-minute all-natural makeup tutorials for moms over 40. Helping women look like they have it all together in 5 minutes or less
      • Have a CTA – Call To Action. For example, schedule your Zoom consultation now with a link to the scheduler. Or, it could be an offer or an email list, etc.
      • In one sentence you need to be able to tell people if you are worth a follow or not.
  • You must post what you say you do in your bio
  • Put in big text over the reel what the video is about
  • Build trust and engagement by using stories
  • You basically have got 4 seconds to get people to like you.
  • Your audience will help you refine your niche for you
  • Look at your content, what gets the most likes?
  • You have to post a lot of content consistently
  • What actions are you going to take? How consistent can you be about the action?
  • Don’t just talk about your service or product. Talk about other things that add value too. For example, other great products or how to get a good deal on say AirBnB.
  • Talk about what you love, but also about what you don’t love.
  • Do you have this problem? Yes, then let me show you what I found to solve it.
  • Identify the problem and then provide the solution. That is how you sell.
    • So taking my, soon-to-be-released speedytakeaway.com product…
      • Just Eats, Uber Eats is too expensive for a small family takeaway such as a fish and chip shop. Here’s our product that enables your customers to order online, and apart from a minimal charge to your customer there is no charge to you.
    • Or another, provided example
      • 1. Identify the problem with say a poll sticker
        • Do you do this? Yes 91%, No 9%
      • 2. Relate to the problem, share your story
      • 3. Reveal your solution
      • 4. Use a sticker when you reveal your solution. Ask if it was helpful.
      • 5. Put a link to a product in your Amazon store
      • 6. Put 3 link stickers
        • 1. Comment
        • 2. Shop Amazon
        • 3. And I will send a link to my Amazon Favs
  • Shout out about anything that makes your life better or easier.
  • Invite people to comment as it improves your engagement and your connection with your followers.
  • Build one follower at a time.
  • Chalene then gave an example of curiosity:
    • One glass of wine used to give me a headache
    • She moved from normal wine to natural wine
      • Think about the before and after
      • Focus on the benefits
      • Every question is an opportunity to connect with a real follower
  • Show up consistently

In summary in order to monetise you need:

  1. a Niche and an audience that has been defined
  2. One social media platform mastered
  3. Optimized bio and content
  4. Build trust & engagement

You build trust from consistency, reliability, expertise, and credibility. You need to be generally good for it, someone that always delivers.

Why You Should Have a Newsletter

  • To sell your current products
  • To sell recurring subscriptions
  • It is an owned vs. rented platform (e.g. Facebook or LinkedIn page)
  • Early market with less competition
  • Can set up for free on something like Beehiiv in 10 minutes

When Creating Your Own Course For Others

  • Try and enter conversations that are going on in their minds
  • Think about conversations that people are already having
  • Your ideal client is someone who is where you were when you were embarking on whatever thing it was that you have mastered and are now passionate about and good at.
  • Solve problems that you know they have
    • Get to the point
    • Get to the end result quicker
    • You have the map to guide them
  • Share a path to their goals
    • For example, “Let me tell you what it’s like to be able to invest on your own”
  • Love people and help them solve their problems much faster
  • What do they want vs. what do they need
    • Sell them what they need
    • Sell people what they want and deliver to them what they need
  • People buy from you when they feel understood. Not when they understand you.
  • Let your future clients know that you understand them
  • Fall in love with them by saying YES
  • *** Create an Irresistible Offer ***
    • An irresistible offer is meeting people where they are in the process and delivering them a product or service that gets them the outcome and results they desire.
  • What results you can get them is what matters
  • Consider the fact that:
    • Your customer is worried that they can’t do it or that they will think someone will think of them as crazy for trying.
  • It’s the kind of advice that you would love to give to a friend
    • So just do it but for 1000 friends
  • Build their confidence and help them take action, you have to give your clients the confidence.
  • Give them the framework and where to start.
    • They need to know where to start.
    • What processes and systems did you use?
  • Overcome their objections so they can see the path and keep moving forward.
  • You don’t need a huge following or be perfect on camera
  • Create value at a price that people will find hard to say no to.
  • Create what you wished you had when you started out
    • Think “God I wish I had that when I started out”
  • It’s the art of caring about people, you get to share your bullseye (niche) with them.
  • Realize:
    • That you are enough and you can do this
    • The hardest part is getting started
    • Make it real
    • If you stay the course and do the work the results will follow
  • Confidently launch yourself  – your business – your product
    • Start the journey today! You can do it!!
  • 1) Make it possible
  • 2) Make it simple
  • 3) Make it yours
  • 4) Make it last
  • Think about the modules that you would offer in a course for example:
    • 1. Building your coaching confidence
    • 2. What to create and who to create it for
    • 3. Creating a world-class offer
    • 4. Getting your first sale
    • 5. Getting consistent sales
    • 6. Real-world implementation
  • Make sure that you have clarity and confidence to boldly move forward.
  • Think about using AI to overcome your obstacles or fears. For example, use the following prompt:
    • I am afraid to sell my product, how do I get over my fear
  • Do it messy
  • Do it imperfect
  • Do it anyway
  • Have passion and purpose
  • Be proud of what you have to offer, so for example I might say, would you like to try it, it’s the best booking system in the world.
  • “Be in your own spotlight”
  • Perfect is overrated
  • If you took the uncomfortable action, what would your life look like a year from now?
  • The tool you provide is the action step
    • You have to get someone to take an action
    • When you take an uncomfortable action you move forward
  • Action steps can be
    • A written tool
    • A video
    • A list
  • Make a decision that carries you forward
  • What is it like for someone to start with what you learned but for them not already having that knowledge?
  • What do people need to be made aware of? What will help them cross that bridge to use an analogy?
  • What’s it like at rock bottom? What does it look like to begin from zero?
  • Put together a photo or a video to use as your conversation starter and the start of your content plan.
  • Think about all of the things that you struggled with when you started out.
  • Mix and match the type of content that you post.

What Are The Components Of Your Course

Think of three major buckets. Dean gave an example of his selling cars course:

Bucket 1: How to find cars

Bucket 2: How to make the cars better

Bucket 3: How to sell the cars

Work backward with the end in mind. Think of the headlines and the topics.

You need a course name that grabs attention.

What Is Your Ideal Client?

Live inside the mind of your ideal client…

  • What is their age range?
  • Geographic area?
  • Education?
  • Gender?
  • Income range?
  • Hobbies?
  • Current financial situations?
  • Relationship status?
  • Family status?
  • What 3 things keep your ideal client up at night?
  • What is a compelling future/vision or goal of theirs?
  • What do you need to teach them so that they get results?
  • Where do they hang out? Live in those groups & pay attention
  • What are they afraid of?
  • Their dreams?
  • Their name?

Marketing is leaning into and teaching the exact person how to get from where they are now to where they want to go.

What is your ideal outcome for your client after working with you for a year? 

Someone needs you right now, but who is it?

Use AI To Help You

For example:

“I want to create a coaching program that will teach yoga, breathwork, and meditation. I’ve been doing yoga for 10 years after being a bit of a partygoer when I was younger. Stepping out of that lifestyle into a Yoga lifestyle saved my life.

I want to help others change their life too. If I were to break this down into a 3-week coaching program, what would that look like?

Idea:

Ask an AI bot for three products or tools that I could potentially share with my students to help them make what I have learned a reality. Do it for your chosen niche or passion.

List Things That You Did That Made Your Life Better (At Least 5)

  1. Karate
  2. Learning to invest and trade from candle charts
  3. Playing squash/racketball
  4. Relocating to Canada and getting Canadian Citizenship, before moving back to the UK
  5. Learning about Keto, low-carb diets, and more recently carnivore diets
  6. Getting married to my beautiful wife

Tell Your Story

A story is a scene in your life that is going to set up what you are about to teach. So, using my Extreme Angler website as an example, a project that I started and never really finished… I could tell the story of my friend Nik and how he became a passionate fisherman, from fishing pike as a kid through to fishing big game fish for England, worldwide.

What is the story that initiates your goal?

The teaching is what you learned from that experience – that story.

To Create a Book

  1. Write down your chapters – what do you love to talk about in no particular order
  2. What did you learn from your experiences? – they are your teaching points.

My Ideas For Books

  1. My life and the sometimes quite comical events that I have experienced
    1. Market trading
    2. Homemade waltzer
    3. Saturday job as a train driver
    4. The tambourine bar job
    5. Fishing for cod and haddock off Whitby
  2. Gambling and gambling  bot creation
  3. Trading
  4. Karate
  5. Squash
  6. Racketball

Sales Funnel

(Note, I think I actually took these notes from a YouTube video about Justin Welsh)

Thing of an inverted triangle (wide part of the triangle at the top, point at the bottom)…

  1. At the top of the funnel you have Discovery this is social media e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn
  2. In the middle of the funnel, you gain your Trust, Authority, and Expertise via a long-form newsletter
  3. At the bottom of the funnel is your Offer. Buy from me

Take Action

Use the success sprint technique:

  1. Plan your tasks. How many sprints will you need?
  2. Do one success sprint. Set the timer for 30 minutes and then take a break for 15 minutes
  3. Repeat x4 success sprints, then take a longer break, say 30 minutes

Be laser-focused on that one task for 30 minutes

Then in the breaks, show THRIVE…

T  – Thanks, show gratitude

H – Happy – make yourself laugh out loud

R – Resourceful – You have everything that you need to be successful

I – Immediate – take immediate action

V – Visualize – See it as if you already have it because you do

E – Expect – be enthusiastic about it, tell yourself that you already have the energy.

Use I can, I am, I will, I must -> Not I can’t

Tools

Use the seven-levels deep method, which I believe is basically a version of the Lean/Six Sigma 7 Whys. Your why needs to be deep enough to not let anyone down.