I love what I do!

Woohoo! I was just looking over the P&L for last financial year… and you know what?  I am so glad that I got over my stuff about earning money.  Otherwise the impact we can make would have been so small!

As many of you know Greg and I are tithers.  We don’t usually carry on about it too much-  but being reminded of what we were able to do last year I wanted to share with you a project that I’m passionate about… in the hope that you too can be as inspired as I was the first time I saw this.

It’s not about you.  It’s about who you inspire, who you love, and how many lives you change…

On a tough day…

I took my first kung fu lesson last night.  I have never worked so hard.  The instructor said that I would feel very sore today.  Oddly enough, I don’t…

Why is it that pyschic growth (for want of a better way of putting it) hurts so much more than physical growth.  I swear to God there are times in my life where I think I am totally going mad.  Am I the only one?  It forces you to consider all your assumptions and reconsider all the decisions you’ve made.

A friend of mine said today that you know when things are not right because your internal chatter goes through the roof. Monday my brain was like Toni and Guy on late night Thursday with the champagne flowing.  Talk about chatter.  Since about 1pm today it has been remarkably quiet.  Perhaps the boil has been lanced.

I guess we all go there.  Have moments off centre - we watch ourselves wandering from the path and wonder why on earth we started to ignore the signals (usually months ago).  Thank God for the tough love friends that call us on it. I personally just wish I was “enlightened” enough not to hurt them along the way.

They say in kung fu that the pain eases with training.  Maybe its the same in life-  you play at life, you will get hurt, you will feel pain, you will do things you think you can’t and in the end it’s only because you grow.  And they say growing is good.

Funny- it’s like why did the chicken cross the road… to get to the other side.

Why did the human being hurt… to get to the other side?

To all the friends I have ever hurt and all the friends who have hurt me - thank you.

(But I would prefer to get my arse kung fu’ed any day of the week- at least you can see the bruises!!)

Some thoughts on being yourself in business

Hi!

I was writing an e-class for the Secrets Of Selling From Stage Mentoring Program yesterday and I just thought this section was pertinent to us all, whether we’re speakers or not, so I thought I’d post an except on the blog for you to peruse!

“For me I endeavor to be transparent in everything I do. Now it does bite me on the bum sometimes (in negotiations from time to time etc!) but as a speaker it serves me well.

Interestingly, I could not NOT be authentic these days!

Now- the fascinating thing for me about this is that my clients perceive my authenticity as INTEGRITY. In fact I have made sales before where people have given me the direct feedback that they had no idea what it was they were buying- they just wanted the opportunity to “work with someone in business that has that much integrity!” Truly- their words, not mine!

Now I don’t say this to blow my own trumpet- but to let you in on what’s going on inside in the hope that you can learn from it. So there a few key elements to this integrity/authenticity thing.

1. Firstly, like most powerful lessons in business, I really got how important authenticity was for me when I found that through a series little compromises, and little white lies I had got myself to a position where I wasn’t comfortable with me. It wasn’t that I wasn’t being me, because who the heck else was I being? It was just that the version of me that I was being, I didn’t like. I looked around me and saw a lot of other people reflecting the same back to me, and I thought “I don’t like this”. So I changed it!

2. Next- I find it incredible that we live in a world where integrity in business is a surprise. But for those of us who are AUTHENTIC it is a boon- because we are remembered and we stand out from the crowd.

3. I would far rather work with people who I find transparent and authentic, than people who hide behind masks and who I don’t “get” – so I strive to be that for other people. I used to think that we were a rare breed and that indeed I mustn’t be a “real business” person, because being truthful mattered to me. But it turns out there are some other weirdos like me who don’t like pretending to be something they’re not.

4. A further distinction that might be useful: I am not focusing on being “in integrity” all the time. I’m a nutcase when I do!  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the Landmark Education, but I became a headcase trying to be on time to everything and be my word to everyone and clean up everything and I just about integrity-ed myself to death. I don’t want to enter an argument here about what is right or wrong- this is about my “inner world” that creates the results I get in my business and life. If I focus on integrity: I am a basket case. If I focus on acceptance of myself, and sharing that with others- that is “authenticity”, the grand irony is that people all tell me how much integrity I have!

Do you find that odd or is it just me?!

So from stage, in business, in life I strive to be more and more me. That way you know what you’re going to get and so do I!

5. I have worked with people in the field of personal developemtn before who get all strung up and tell me “I don’t even know who the real me is any more” or “what if I don’t like the real me?” or “there’s lots of versions of the real me”. To those people I say this:

*** “I don’t even know who the real me is any more” : I don’t know who the real me is either- but I see it reflected back in the faces of those around me and in my audiences.

*** “What if I don’t like the real me?”: I don’t like the real me sometimes- she is grumpy, greedy, grotty and grotesque. And boy does she throw a good tantrum. But sometimes she is also great, graceful, gracious and grand. Go figure. We change with every breath – accepting that is where to begin.

***“There’s lots of versions of the real me”: You’re right! They are all you! For further details, see previous!

So- where does that leave us? Confused perhaps? It’s always a challenge to put words to the indescribable.”

What do you think about being yourself in business?

Cheers,
Jo

Joey and Greg in Paris

Hello!

Well the exciting news is we’re over here in London and getting settled down just fine. Greg has become the Ikea ninja and has put together furniture in our new place like you wouldn’t believe. Last weekend we went to visit my sister in Paris and it was so divine.

It was so good to see her and her husband AJ. They are trying to settle into the Paris groove. Hard when he doesn’t speak a word of French. I take my hat off to them though. They have just spent 6 months in Japan, and now 6 months in Paris. There are easer places to live in I bet.

I shot this little video- you might recognise some of the scenery!! (A question- why does google always choose you in the ugliest pose to use as the freeze frame. Can programmers really make a video pick out you at your ugliest?!)

Kath and AJ took us out for a treat to this divine little patisserie which is apparently famous for its macaroons. I’d love to tell you all about it but my sister does it better justice. She’s a damn fine writer this one- perhaps a food critic waiting to happen!

Check out this article she wrote- she has photos of our breakfast even- Cafe espionage at its best!!

Love to you- wheree’r you may be!

xx

How to Get Started In Speaking

Hi troops!

I just finished a tele-training on How anyone, regardless of industry or inexperience can get started in Speaking and Make Big Money…Thought you might enjoy listening if you weren’t on the call.

I tell ya- I shared ooooooodles of tips and strategies.  I’m diligently building up my competition!  That’s the way.  Check this out - it goes for about 90 minutes I think, so you can download it and listen to it on your ipod or whatever.

http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=2653149

As you have probably noticed Helena Denley is doing a divine job of making my blog look and act appropriately!  I’m so sorry I haven’t been on here much of late.  Had been having a few teething problems with the old template - but thankfully Helena has fixed it now and I can edit and upload with ease once more.

Check her out on www.helenadenley.com

Love yas all!!

J xx

Some amusing reflections on personal development

Hi guys,

Greg’s brother sent these to me today. They certainly made me giggle, so I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Cheers!

Joey

Secrets of Selling From Stage is Launched!!

Well I warned you I was up to something. The last three days Greg and I have sequestered ourselves away on the Gold Coast putting the finishing touches on our new site.

And now its ready to go! Hooray!

We have just gone live with something we believe will shake up the entire public speaking industry. That’s because it’s going to put public speaking tools and strategies into the hands of regular business owners CHEAPER, FASTER and MORE EFFECTIVELY than ever before.

And this is your opportunity to have a sneak preview.

You see, we have been putting together an exciting step-by-step, hold your hand mentoring program that reveals everything I learnt in the last three years in the seminar game. As you probably know, in my first 12 months speaking and selling from stage, I made over $1.25 million in sales. In fact with over 3000 hours on stage, selling for my supper, I thought I might have an idea or two to share with you about how you can blow the lid on your own business by creating and delivering some killer presentations!

Anyway, here’s the exciting bit. We’re launching the site right now, and of course we’re keen to get some sales straight away! So we’re throwing in some bonuses which we hope will make the whole thing a “no-brainer” for you if you’re intending to sell your business to a group.

In addition to the great stuff you get standard as part of the program (you’ll see the list on www.SecretsOfSellingFromStage.com/signup.html), you’ll also get these things:

- Half price membership for the first 100 people. The standard price is $99 a month, but if you’re one of the first 100 people to join you get it for just $49 a month for as long as you stay a member.

- What’s more we’re running a 3-day intensive speaking workshop in May. This is not a sell-fest – I guarantee that you will walk out with a planned presentation ready to go! Tickets are $2,000 per person, but IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE FIRST FIVE PEOPLE to join the mentoring program you get one ticket to the workshop included in your membership.

- The workshop comes with 2 hours of my personal time to critique your presentation and giving you one-to-one feedback. This alone is valued at $3,500. So if you’re one of the first 5 people to join the program, you also get this great bonus.

I’m sending this offer out to my close friends and past clients first (that’s why you’re getting this!), so you get a head-start. Later today I’ll send this same offer to the rest of my list, as well as a bunch of other lists we’ve teed up. If you’re keen to lock in the charter membership price of $49 a month, please don’t wait and “think about it”.

Here’s the link to check out the site:
www.SecretsOfSellingFromStage.com

And here’s the link to join the program if you’d rather do that and read the details later!
www.SecretsOfSellingFromStage.com/signup.html

Let me know what you think.

I hope you get as much out of it as we have putting it all together!

Have fun!

Cheers,
Jo

Something Very Exciting is Happening Tomorrow

Hi guys,

This is just a quick post to let you know that something very exciting is going to be happening tomorrow. Over the last few months Greg and I have been working on something which we are really thrilled about, and we will be launching it tomorrow. Yay!!

We are on the Gold Coast at the moment, putting the finishing touches to a little something which I belive is going to be one of the best value offerings of its kind out there.

If you know me, and what I’ve done in the past you’ll be thinking :”why on earth did it take you so long Joey?!” So keep your eyes peeled.

I wanted to let all my close friends know first because there will be a limited offer that I will reveal tomorrow, and you guys deserve pole position to get the goodies.

Keep your eye on your inbox tomorrow, if I have your email… otherwise come back to the blog on Wednesday the 19th of March, Queensland time, Australia… and check out what mischief we’ve been up to!!

Love Joey

The Ultimate Lifestyle Business Step One, Part One: Define Your Ideal Lifestyle

In this post we’ll be discussing the vital step of getting clear on your ideal lifestyle first, why it is so important and how to do it. In the next post we will discuss how to take the lifestyle definition and set your business rules from that.

The thing is, most business owners I have spoken to made at best a semi-conscious decision to choose the business they now operate. Many wound up there completely by accident. For those who did think about it, it often works out that 3-5 years into the business the original reasons for going into business have fallen by the wayside, and they are now in utterly survival mode.

Two friends of ours, Andrew and Daryl Grant, have epitomised the journey to lifestyle business in my eyes. Just over 2 years ago, these guys were running a seven day a week, very successful consulting business. They were making a handsome income, but they never saw their kids who they love dearly, and in short they were working their tails off.

At that time they decided to make a change, and despite initial reservations, they launched into internet marketing. The reason was, they sat down together and planned what their ultimate lifestyle would look like. And it was nothing like the 7 day week they were experiencing. To this day, every business decision they make takes into account the impact it will have on their lifestyle. For instance, when they decided to start speaking in public to leverage their online businesses it was with very specific and clear outcomes that were defined to maximise leverage and minimise lifestyle impact.

Greg and I model Andrew and Daryl frequently in these decision making processes. But we can only do that because we have defined our own ultimate lifestyle.

So that has to be the first step. For us it was not about “setting goals” for how much income we wanted, it wasn’t about defining exactly what we wanted to have or where we would be living or any of that stuff. Essentially we sat down one wintery Sunday afternoon over a bottle of red down at the Waterfront restaurant in Port Melbourne and defined “the flavour of our lifestyle”. We were deliberately non-specific about what it looked like, and we focussed more on what we would “feel like”, and how we would “be” in this ultimate life.

The reason for this is, as I look back over the achievements I have made in my life, I have rarely set specific S.M.A.R.T or C.R.E.A.T.E goals for anything. Really I just follow my heart and do what makes me feel good. It flies in the face of convention, and seems to contradict something I used to teach, but right now Greg and I find this works best for us.

For us the sorts of things that we came up with were
• We were free to make choices every day. If we wanted to work we could, if we wanted chill out we could etc
• We were wealthy enough to travel freely, spend time with our children as they grow up and contribute in a meaningful way
• We were always learning and growing and had our finger on the pulse of business. We don’t want to retire early and do nothing.

The big thing that stood out for us was freedom.

From this we defined our “rules for business selection” that I have discussed in previous posts.

So here’s how you can do step one for yourself:

1. Make the time and space to sit down and reflect. I recommend doing this with your partner (business or life). Go somewhere neutral and make the environment a close match to the flavour of the lifestyle you dream about. (eg the beach, a nice café, on your boat, in the highlands etc)
(During the following process keep an open mind and always question your assumptions)
2. Ask yourself the question “what does my ideal lifestyle feel like?’
3. Ask who am I in this ideal lifestyle?
4. Ask what’s important to me in the context of my lifestyle?
5. Discuss your answers and make sure that you agree on the definitions of words. Greg and I took quite a while to come to a place where we both understood what “freedom” meant to each other. And this was key in defining future business decisions, so spend the time to really understand one another.
6. Aim to have less than 5 key “values” or “flavours” that will define your ideal lifestyle.

This should be a fun thing, and at the end you should be feeling inspired. If you’re feeling that you’ve defined a nightmare, you’re missing the point. You should feel like you’re walking on air, you should be able to see images clearly in your minds eye about what it might look like, and creative juices should start to flow. For me there was some tension popped up, because we were clear on what we wanted, and what we had at the time was so NOT that… don’t panic if you feel like you’re not there yet, but make sure the outcome inspires you.

Good luck with it. Next time we’ll discuss how to take your lifestyle flavour and define your business rules.

Speak then,

Love joey x

The Eight Golden Rules for a Lifestyle-centric Business Owner

Your lifestyle is ultimately your life’s work. We are all artists, whether we acknowledge that or not. And every day we are gifted with a canvas upon which to create our design. We are now operating in the Information Age, at a time of great wealth and great possibility. Yet seemingly intelligent people continue to operate under old assumptions. Too many people I know “work hard” for no other reason than they thought that’s what they were expected to do. There has never been a greater time than now to design a life the way you want it.
In this article we will look at the 7 Golden Rules for Lifestyle-centric Business Owners. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll go into each of them in more detail. But for today it’s the overview. My greatest wish for the world is that everyone lives a life of self-expression. By that I mean that one’s life is an expression of that unique identity within them. It honestly breaks my heart when I speak to business owners who describe their lifestyle as anything less than awesome. As business owners we are in pole position to craft our lives the way we want to. For heaven’s sake, if the guy or girl running the show can’t have it they way they want it, what hope is there for anyone else? I think it’s just that we get lazy. We get lazy because the truth is questioning our assumptions and making changes in the way we operate is actually harder to do than work 70 hours a week.
So let’s take a moment to break it all down into manageable pieces and digest each of them like small slices of the best brie.
1. Lifestyle First: Define Your Rules

First things first. Go back to basics. Why did you start a business in the first place? What did you want to achieve from it? Some people would say “to make a million dollars a year” or “to be my own boss”. But I would put forward that those are simply means to an end. The “end” would be what having those things gets for you. So for instance what does making a million dollars a year get for you?
Well your answer might be freedom to travel, to spend time with my kids, to build a secure future. Now the grand irony is, if you work your guts out 70 hours a week in a business in the hope that one day you’ll have “freedom to travel and spend time with the kids”, what happens to the kids and travel in the mean time?
So Greg and I decided to do it a different way around. We started by imagining our ideal lifestyle. For us that involved travel, a certain level of luxury, spending time with our children as they grew (no we don’t have any yet and we’re not pregnant for those rumour-millers out there!) and so on. We were really clear we wanted to create a lifestyle with ultimate freedom. From this vision we then created our “Non-negotiable Lifestyle Criteria”. I have written about these before. These are criteria that we created that set up a filter through which all business opportunities were run. If the opportunity didn’t fit the criteria it got trashed. It made life very simple.
So when starting out in business, or even just reviewing why you’re where you are, start by defining your rules. What will you NOT do for money!!?
2. Passion and Authenticity

Once you have defined your rules of the game, your criteria that are non-negotiable in terms of selecting your business vehicle, then you come back to your centre and find out what your passionate about. I have seen too many people follow their passion first and burn out doing it, until their passion is something they loathe, because they didn’t do step one first!
That said you’ll never stick with something long enough to be truly successful unless you are passionate about it. I have a million ways (well, maybe thats a little superlative, but many ways) to help people uncover passion, and discover the self that they want to express in the world… keep your eyes peeled for the Passion Post in the next couple of weeks!

3. The Bigger Pie Principle

Ah… how many times have I seen people (and I include myself in this), decide that 100% of something small is better that 20% of something big. Listen, it’s not that either stand is more right than the other, but be aware of it. Most entrepreneurs I know who have at least a modicum of success started out with a minimum of three people on the team. It just seems to be the number that works. It’s a good sturdy number. There are very few solo-preneurs that I speak to who honestly enjoy doing everything themselves. (I am open to comment and being proven wrong!)
So in a nutshell the Bigger Pie Principle is the old adage of “rather than squabbling over pieces of the pie, how can you create a much larger pie that we can all share in”? In fact at the moment when Greg and I appear to have found ourselves once more being inundated with opportunities (can you believe we have had 2 multimillion dollar business offers in the last 5 days. Far out, I can’t!).. any way the question I keep asking in my mind is “what’s the bigger pie here?”
4. You have to spend money to make money

OOOOh! I can hear the shudder among personal development seminar attendees thinking “No! They told me that I just had to have a good idea”. Look at some level it’s true, but I have to say you get a whole lot done a good deal quicker if you’ll just pay the right person to do the job. I’m not saying anything here about who’s money you have to spend. I’m all for Other People’s Money. But get used to creating flow… money in…. money out!
A friend of mine Daniel Priestley put it this way: “If you’re a boxer you’re gonna get hit in the face.” Greg likes to say “If you’re gonna make an omelette you have to scramble some eggs”. Basically if you’re in business, you’re going to have to spend some money! For us that’s why we are paying our writers to write, our techies to design software, our event managers to plan events and on and on. Could we have done it all ourselves? Yeah. But I have better things to do with my life (see point 1); which brings me to …
5. Stick to what you’re good at.

his is the single greatest key to effectiveness EVER! I know my time is best spent in front of people inspiring them to take action. Perhaps even in front of my computer writing to them to take action! But it sure as heck ain’t in reconciling the bank accounts or managing the team. It’s simply not my forte. I affectionately refer to my role in the team as “the Performing Monkey”. A little derogatory? Perhaps, but it keeps my ego in check and means I keep my focus in the right place. By allowing the other team members to do what they are good at our effectiveness goes through the roof. And its more fun actually. Can’t imagine doing it any other way any more!
So what are your strengths? And how quickly can you get someone to do the other stuff… and how quickly can you stop being a control freak and allow them to do it?
6. Ask better questions of new trends

OK: Facebook case in point. How many people did (or are still doing) the “Oh that stupid thing, what a waste of time”. Or “it’ll never last”. Instead of trying to find reasons why something won’t work in your business so you get to win the “I was right award”: get over yourself. Ask a better question. Ask how could this work to grow my business? Chances are many things will assist you if only you get out of your own way long enough. This is not to say take up every opportunity… always assess in terms of impact and ease, but don’t dismiss it before you’ve assessed it.
7. The Land of Missed Opportunities

My partner Greg lives in this land. Well… not that’s not the right way of putting it! Its more like his glasses are especially treated to see the missed opportunity in everything. He’s incredible at it. And according to him most businesses are huge great fountains of missed opportunity. More money to be made from existing customers, less money to be spent on telecoms, joint ventures to be tapped into left, right and centre. You name it. Get yourself a Greg in your business!
8. The Biggest and Best Golden Rule Ever: QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Whenever you hit a problem the best question you can ask yourself is “what are my assumptions here”. Just last night I was getting all in a tizz about the best course of action on a particular business opportunity we’re considering. Greg asked at that point why are we on this path?” And that started a whole barrage of assumption questioning that ultimately gained us some clarity. My favourite question is “when did we decide that…?”
So if you’re faced with a problem at any time in your lifestyle-centric business creation always question your assumption. Just because it doesn’t work in an Australian market doesn’t mean that Malaysia isn’t crying out for it. When did you decide you had to travel 3 days a week when you’d rather be at home? Who said you couldn’t afford a PA when you can hire someone for $4 an hour in India? Question your assumptions… and keep coming back to your rules.
In summary

I hope you’ve found something useful in this little article. Over the next few weeks we’ll be going into each of the steps in more detail, as well as bringing along guests who have created “Ultimate Lifestyle Businesses” and finding out what their secrets were.
Make sure you subscribe to the RSS (that means you get instant updates on your computer every time there’s a new post) or subscribe by email… or come back and visit every coupla days. There’s lots of good fun stuff coming you way!!
Love Joey.

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