I’m assuming since you’ve opened my third email of the day, you know the drill.  Let’s get started. 

Lesson 15: Write in a Journal

Source: About a dozen people that I respect and admire

My Viewpoint:  The Stoic Philosopher Marcus Aureliues has a book called Meditations, much of what you know and read about personal development and success is in this book. 

The book is a series of journal entries from a very long time ago that is read daily by millions of people today.  Talk about a legacy.  You never know if your journal will be the next meditations 500 years from now.  

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  Journaling requires you to record your life, your thoughts, your ideas and your struggles.  It enables you to reflect about your life and from there make progress.

If nothing else it serves as an emptying mechanism.  It empties your brain from all the thoughts that are pinging around your head…which feels good.  A good journaling session is close to a great therapy session.  Use it..you’ve got too much going on not to.

Bonus Tip:  Write in Cursive…Trust me on this one. Your brain will thank you for it. 

Lesson 16: Become Fascinated with the Best in the World 

Source:  Adele, Bruce Springsten, Tony Robbins and Michael Jordan

My Viewpoint:  What does it take to become the best in the world at what you do?  I saw Adele live and she’s incredible.  I saw the Boss Live on Broadway.  Like his politics or not, he’s the best in the world. I’ve seen Tony Robbins live for 7 days straight in Florida and witnessed human performance.  I watched Micheal Jordan play hoops growing up and re-watched him in the documentary, The Last Dance…no one better. 

These people are talented…no doubt.  But they have an additional gear, an additional amount of focus, an additional amount of drive. 

The lesson is to watch them.  See the best in the world in any category, LIVE.  So you can witness their greatness and learn from them. 

Lesson 17: Raise Your Prices

Source: The several members of my Mastermind that have done this recently. 

My Viewpoint:  I’ve been teaching this for years.  It’s the fastest way to drive pure profit that will pad your checking account, which is good for you, your team and your members. 

One of our top members recently paid for all 3 of his kids’ college tuition with one price increase.  Another colleague of mine asked for my advice about improving profitability. I told him to raise his prices by $3 a session.  The increase in monthly revenue covered his monthly rent, which was VERY expensive. 

Hell, if COVID-19 didn’t take your business down, a price increase sure won’t either…but most people can’t stomach it.  I’d rather have a stomach ache than a flat business. 

Lesson 18: Find Your Highest and Best Value to Your Business…and Do That as Much as Possible 

Source: Darren Hardy, who I’m not fan of but his book, The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster, was very good 

My Viewpoint: There is some stuff as the owner of your business that you should do.  Preferably the stuff that brings in the money…which at the end of the day is your job description.  There’s a LOT you shouldn’t be touching with a 10 foot pole. 

Putting a value on your time will help tremendously.  If you value your time at $100 per hour then you could argue you have no business training sessions where you can get a trainer to do it for $25. 

You’ll see massive growth when you focus on doing the highest value work for your business and delegate the rest. 

Lesson 19: Learn How to tell good stories

Source: Devin Gage, an SPF Mastermind member who asked me to teach him how to tell better stories.

My Viewpoint:  I never learned how to tell good stories.  One day people started asking me to help them tell better stories.  I asked why they were asking me…they said because I was good at telling stories. 

That was news to me.  After reflecting, I realized I have done a 90- minute Zoom call with the SPF Mastermind every Wednesday for 3 years, have spoken on stage dozens of times and have written thousands of emails.  I also remembered the thousands of hours of podcasts, CDs, audio books and seminars I’ve listened to.  Only after that did I become a good story teller.  The best advice to get better at telling stores is listen to good story tellers for thousands of hours and put yourself in a situation where you have to tell lots of stores

But at the end of the day if you want to influence people follow this: Facts Tell, Stories Sell. 

Ok that’s for now, Fire Pit Friday with the family is about to start.

Be back tonight unless I drink too much Bourbon!

Vince Gabriele

P.S. What’s the one business or life lesson you’ve learned over the years that stands out to you most?