Shotcallers #39 - October 2022

Marketing Calendar

Plan your marketing messages around these upcoming holidays and proclamations.

October

Adopt A Dog Month

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Bullying Prevention Month

Fall Car Care Month

Dental Hygiene Month

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Emotional Wellness Month

National Pasta Month

Oct 10th - Columbus Day (U.S.)

Oct 31st - Halloween

1st - International Coffee Day 1st - Homemade Cookies Day 3rd - Child Health Day

3rd - Techies Day 4th - Cinnamon Roll Day 4th - Golf Lovers Day 4th - Taco Day 4th - Vodka Day 4th - World Animal Day 5th - Do Something Nice Day

COPD Awareness Month

American Diabetes Month

Veterans & Military Families Month

Adopt A Senior Pet Month

National Adoption Awareness Month

Native American Heritage Month Epilepsy Awareness Month

Alzheimer’s Disease Month

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

November 8 - Election Day

November 11 - Veteran’s Day

November 24 - Thanksgiving November 25 - Black Friday

November 26 - Small Business Saturday

1st - World Vegan Day

1st - Author’s Day 1st - Cinnamon Day 1st - Day of the Dead

2nd - Stress Awareness Day

6th - Noodle Day 9th - Beer & Pizza Day 9th - Father-Daughter Day 10th - World Mental Health Day 10th - World Homeless Day 12th - Savings Day 12th - Stop Bullying Day 12th - World Arthritis Day 14th - Dessert Day 15th - Global Handwashing Day 16th - Boss’s Day 17th - Pasta Day 18th - Chocolate Cupcake Day 19th - Medical Assistants Day 20th - Get to Know Your Customers Day 21st - Back to the Future Day 22nd - Make A Difference Day 26th - Pumpkin Day 28th - Chocolate Day 30th - Candy Corn Day 31st - Knock-Knock Jokes Day

November

2nd - All Souls’ Day 3rd - International Stout Day 4th - Candy Day 5th - American Football Day 6th - Nachos Day 6th - Daylight Saving Time Ends 10th - Marine Corps Birthday 11th - Sundae Day 13th - World Kindness Day 14th - Pickle Day 14th - World Diabetes Day 15th - Recycling Day 15th - Entrepreneur’s Day 16th - Fast Food Day 17th - Hiking Day 18th - Apple Cider Day 18th - Mickey Mouse’s Birthday 19th - Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 19th - National Adoption Day 26th - Cake Day 28th - French Toast Day

11 Instagram Story Ideas That Will Increase Engagement

Are you using Instagram Stories on your brand’s social media accounts? If not, you’re probably missing a great opportunity to engage with your customers. Instagram stories are one of the easiest and most popular ways to increase engagement, build a community, and hopefully sell some more products. Here are 11 ideas to help you make the most of the platform.

1. Give a behind-the-scenes peek

Rather than posting the same old photos and videos, take a step back and show your audience the people behind the brand.

Here are some ways to use Instagram Stories to give an inside look at what’s happening in your company and create a connection with your followers:

• Take them on a tour of your office.

• Show what goes into making your product.

• Let them see how much fun you have as a team.

2. Use Instagram Stories for customer service

One way to increase engagement with your audience is by providing customer service via Instagram. If your customers have questions or need help navigating the purchasing process, you can answer them through Instagram’s direct messaging feature.

If your business has a large following and regularly receives a lot of questions, consider hosting an Instagram Live Q&A session once a week or once a month. You could also create polls to find out what features customers are interested in and which products they’d like to see available next.

3. Mention your team members in Stories

You might be afraid that no one will pay attention to your Instagram Stories, but this is not the case. The more you show yourself as a person, and not just a brand, the more likely your audience will like and follow you.

Showing your team members is also an excellent way to increase engagement with your followers. By doing this, you give them a glimpse behind the scenes of what happens when they interact with your social media accounts or visit your website.

This is especially important if you have multiple team members because it shows that there are real people behind the brand and gives them more incentive to follow along.

4. Share user-generated content in your Stories

Engage with your followers by sharing user-generated content. User-generated content (UGC) is any form of content created by users for an online brand or community. It’s highly effective because it helps

build brand loyalty, trust, and engagement. It’s also authentic and credible, plus it’s easy to create and post; making the process cost effective for you!

5. Host a Q&A with your followers

Hosting a Q&A session is a fantastic way to engage with your audience. It’s easy to do -- just create an Instagram Story asking your followers to submit questions, and then record yourself answering them! Here are some suggestions on how to use the format:

• Get feedback. Ask for suggestions about future content -- what would your followers like to see more of? What topics do they feel need more coverage?

• Get ideas. Ask for advice about something that has been bothering you or that you need help with! Your followers will be happy to help.

• Promote new products/services: Use this opportunity to introduce a new product or service and answer any questions potential customers might have about it.

• Promote new content:

If you’re going live with a longer piece of content (such as an eBook), ask your followers if they’ve had time to read it yet and what they think!

6. Share a sneak peek of upcoming product or event details

Showing a behind-thescenes look at your products or services is an excellent way to get your audience excited about what’s to come. For example, if you have a new product launching soon, you can give them a sneak peek of the design, packaging, or even the name. If you have an event coming up, share the speakers and some of their talking points.

If you want to keep your followers intrigued and engaged with your brand in between launches or events, don’t give them all the information at once. Instead, offer up small bits of information on social media as they lead up to your big reveal. This will keep people interested and excited without giving away any secrets too early.

Here are some great ways to do this:

Share photos of upcoming products still in development or almost ready to launch. Hype up future events by sharing speaker bios and headshots with their topic descriptions on Instagram Stories. Let people know when tickets go on sale but save even more details for later updates!

7. Post an unboxing video or live demo product

Your product is probably easy to use and looks great on the screen of your computer. But how does it look in real life? And how do people use it? You can answer these questions by making an unboxing video or live demo.

Instagram stories are limited to 15 seconds, so you’ll need to be quick. The best way to do this

is by creating a storyboard for your video, which will help keep you focused on showing off the best parts of your product.

Showing reallife uses of your product helps build trust with potential customers in a way that photographs alone can’t match.

8. Share stories from customers and feature them on your feed

Instagram stories are the perfect way to share the awesome things that customers say and do with your products. You can boost credibility by showing off use cases. Also, encourage people to share their own stories by featuring them in your profile. This idea is a winwin for both you and your followers!

A “Customer of the Week” feature is a great way to highlight how real people use your products or services. It’s also a prime opportunity for fans to be featured on your page, which can help encourage other followers to share their own experiences.

Ask the right questions. Whether you’re considering a new product or service, making changes to your content, brand, or advertising strategy, or looking for feedback on how to improve your website; don’t be afraid to ask your followers what they think.

Consider asking these questions: “What are you struggling with?”, “What type of information do you want to see more of?” and “What would you like me to share more of?” You may be surprised by the responses you get!

10. Have a weekly poll to engage your audience and learn more about them.

Have a weekly poll to engage your audience and learn more about them. Start a poll that asks something like “What is your favorite thing about the site?” or “How do you feel about the new look?” The answers you get will provide insight into how many people visit your

profile each day, which can give you an idea of what content types to push to increase traffic.

11. Catch their eye by using filters Filters give Instagram an extra dimension of visual appeal when trying to catch people’s eye and make them stop scrolling through their feed and read your story. Experiment with filters like vintage without borders (usually shown as #vntb), dreamy borderless (#dreamyborderless), film grain (#filmgrain), sepia (#sepia), or holiday lights (#holidaylights), as they tend not only to be visually appealing but also create an aesthetic atmosphere around the photo. Anything you can do to make your visuals stand out is helpful.

Using Instagram Stories to its full potential can be a great way to keep up with your follower engagement and get some new followers on board in the process. Just remember that none of what works today will work forever, so you must keep your content fresh and engaging.

9. Ask your followers their opinion on something new you’re considering or something you’re changing up.

7 Benefits of Email Marketing for Small Businesses

Email marketing is an effective way of communicating directly with your customers and prospects in an easy-to-use, efficient format. It’s an excellent way to build rap port with your customers and allows some flexibility in what information you send them so that you’re not constantly bombarding them with the same message.

Here are 7 benefits of email marketing that will help you make the most of this powerful marketing strategy:

1. It’s affordable

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business. You can set up an email campaign for free with most major email providers (including Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft), or use a third-party service like MailChimp or Constant Contact that offers a free plan for small businesses. If you want more advanced features, there are plenty of paid plans available as well.

2. It is easy to set up and use

Email marketing makes it easy for anyone with basic computer skills to create customized content and send out emails to lists of contacts -- no design experience needed! Plus, there are plenty of free templates available, so even if you don’t want to design your own emails from scratch, there are likely ones that will work well for your business.

3. Create personalized content

You can target specific recipients based on their interests, demographics, or other factors that make them more likely to buy your product or service.

You can also create unique messages for individual recipients based on their previous purchases. For example, if they made a purchase recently, they might receive a coupon code or free shipping offer in addition to their regular emails from your company.

4. Generate leads

Email marketing is an effective way to generate leads for your business because it allows you to build a list of potential customers who have voluntarily added their email addresses. You can then market to them over time through different types of emails, including newsletters and email blasts.

If you’re using an autoresponder service, which automatically sends out scheduled emails based on subscriber preferences, you can also use this method to start building your list quickly by including a link at the end of every message that prompts people to sign up for more information or products.

5. Increase brand awareness

If people don’t know who you are, they can’t trust

you or buy from you. Email marketing helps get the word out about who you are and what makes your business great by sending out newsletters or other important information that customers might not otherwise see on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

You can also use email marketing as an opportunity to reach out directly to potential new clients who may not have heard about your company yet but would love to learn more about what makes it special. The more people see your name and logo, the more likely they are to remember it when they’re ready to buy something.

6. Improve customer loyalty

Email is one of the most effective ways for small businesses to stay in contact with their customers and build loyalty. It gives you an opportunity to engage directly with your audience, share interesting content, and offer discounts on future purchases. The more personal your emails feel, the more likely it is that people will open them

and interact with them. This helps establish trust between you and your customers, which leads to increased sales in the long run.

7. Track your performance and make changes based on the data

Email providers offer all

sorts of metrics that can help you track how well your campaigns are doing. You can set goals for how many people should open, click or unsubscribe from your list, as well as what percentage of people should do each of those things. Use these metrics to evaluate how well each campaign is doing and make adjustments based

on that information.

Email marketing is a fantastic way for small businesses to interact with their target consumers on a personal level, and it’s a tactic that is highly cost-effective. As long as it is used as intended, email marketing is sure to provide all the benefits listed above.

7

Effective Tips for Handling Demanding Customers

If you’ve ever had a customer who was demanding and uncooperative, you know what a headache it can be. For example, the one who becomes irate when you can’t fix a problem right away. How about the person who berates you for a lack of solution, even though you are working on their issue at the moment?

Working with difficult or demanding customers is always challenging, but with a few simple tips and tricks under your belt, you’ll find it easier to handle even the most demanding customers like a pro.

Don’t get defensive.

As much as you’d like to think that customers will always be polite, kind, and respectful, the fact is that this isn’t always the case. Some customers can be demanding, aggressive and rude.

The key here is not to take it personally. People are angry and frustrated with a problem they need to solve--not with you personally! Don’t get defensive or aggressive back, rude, or patronizing either. Rather than react negatively, remain calm and collected, so you can handle the situation

without escalating it.

Don’t get angry. Your job is to handle customer complaints and questions with a cool head. Don’t get riled up by what your customer is saying or doing. Always be polite and professional, even if they aren’t doing the same themselves!

Ask questions.

Ask questions that show you understand where they’re coming from. One way to show empathy for a difficult situation is to ask questions like “What do you think would be a good solution?” or “How else might we resolve this issue?” By asking these kinds of questions instead of offering solutions or advice up front, you can better understand what needs fixing. This will help you find a better solution together.

Listen, then respond.

Once you’ve asked questions, listen. It’s simple in theory but sometimes challenging. If you focus too much on what you want to say next, or if you interrupt the customer before they finish speaking, you won’t hear what they have to say or have a

complete picture of what they want.

Also, don’t jump to conclusions about what they will say next before they tell you. If you do, you’re likely to respond in a way that escalates the situation - and that rarely turns out well.

Pay attention to their body language.

In non-verbal communication, body language communicates emotions and feelings. Pay attention to body language because it will tell you how customers feel about the services your business provided. In many cases, body language speaks louder than words.

Disapproval doesn’t have to be glaring or obvious. Some people can show disapproval by simply turning their head away or crossing their arms and legs. Other signs of displeasure include:

• A frowning mouth shows disapproval or concern about something being said.

• Furrowed eyebrows show there may be a conflict between what you’re saying and what they’re thinking or

• feeling. They may also be confused by what you’re saying or might not understand the point you’re trying to make.

• If someone avoids eye contact then it’s likely they’re not comfortable around you or what you’re doing. If someone does make eye contact but only briefly before looking away again, they want to leave the situation but don’t want to appear rude by doing so.

Learn to recognize body language to get a better idea of what customers are trying to say.

Use language that shows you’re on their side.

When a customer is upset, it’s easy to become defensive. You may feel like they’re attacking you personally, or they don’t understand the situation. The customer has a reason

for being upset--and this reason is probably valid (even if it seems like an overreaction).

One way to deal with this situation is by using language that shows empathy for the customer. For example: “I understand how frustrated you must be,” or “I feel the same way when I’m waiting on hold. By using this type of phrasing, you show customers that their feelings are valid and worthy of respect.

Give them something they don’t expect.

The next time you’re faced with a difficult customer, give them more than they expect and surprise them with an innovative approach. This way, the customer won’t feel like you’re selling them something they don’t need. Give them more than they ask for.

For example, if a customer asks for just 5 units of product A, give them 10 instead or upgrade their service to a higher level without charging more. You’ll be amazed at how effective this is at changing people’s minds. (and making sure they stay loyal customers).

Be empathetic, but don’t forget your boundaries.

You can be empathetic, but don’t forget your boundaries. Empathy demonstrates you care about the customer’s feelings and needs.

Empathy does not mean sympathy or that you are responsible for making them happy. If a customer is demanding and rude, focus on remaining calm while communicating clearly and maintaining your boundaries.

Keep this in mind. You can’t win them all and you can’t please everyone. It’s okay to lose a customer now and then. Do the best you can and maintain your composure, but also hold up to your end of the bargain. If you promise something, like a call later in the day, follow up on that promise, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t make things work out.

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. They’re the reason you’re in business, and they allow you to grow and succeed. You’ll eventually encounter demanding ones. See this as a challenge and an opportunity to grow but don’t let them break your spirit!

How to Make Your Brand More Relatable

Your brand is you. It’s the foundation of your business, the face of your products and services, and the voice that tells people who you are. But how can you ensure your brand is relatable to a wide range of people? A survey found that 46% of consumers will pay more for a product or service when it comes to a brand they trust and can relate to. Let’s look at some powerful ways to make your brand more relatable to your customers.

1. Showcase Your Personality

The best brands have a personality all their own. They’re unique, authentic, and engaging -- just like their creators. When customers feel like they know you, they’ll be more inclined to do business with you. The most successful brands have a distinct personality that reflects their mission and vision. They know who they are, what they stand for, and why they do it.

How can you showcase your brand’s personality? Step away from traditional marketing messages and tell stories instead. These can be short anecdotes about real people who use or love your product

or service that don’t have anything to do with price or features. Here’s another approach. Instead of talking about what makes your product unique, talk about how it makes people feel when they use it (e.g., “This is not just another fitness tracker -- it’s a fitness tracker that helps me stay motivated”). People relate better to stories than facts and figures anyway!

2. Use Social Media Channels Appropriately

Social media has become an important part of modern marketing strategies for many businesses, but it’s not easy to use these channels effectively. It’s important to know which types of social media posts will resonate most with your audience and what types of content they want from you. This will take consistent posting and monitoring the response you get to each one. You’ll notice patterns with what people respond to. Once you do, start to produce more of it!

3. Be Helpful and Available

Be helpful. If someone asks for information

about your products or services, give them all the information they need to decide based on facts and not just hype or fluff that may or may not be true. People like interacting with other people -- not faceless corporations or faceless brands. Be sure there are real people behind your brand, so that customers can relate to them on a personal level. For example, if someone has a question about your product or service and reach out via email or phone, they should find someone who can help them immediately. They shouldn’t have to go through layers of automated customer service first.

4. Be Transparent and Human

People love brands that they can relate to because they know what to expect from them. If you’re honest about your mistakes and weaknesses, it shows you are human, which makes people more likely to trust you because they know you’re not trying to deceive them or hide anything from them.

If something goes wrong, don’t try to sweep it under the rug. Instead, be honest

about what happened and why. In most cases, people will respect that honesty more than if you tried to hide something from them. Don’t be afraid to share the real you with your audience. It will help them connect with your brand on an emotional level and make them feel like they are part of the story.

5. Add a Little Humor

Humor is a great way for brands to connect with their audience because it allows people who may not have anything in common other than their love of the product or service to get closer through shared experiences and interests. The more humorous your content is, the more likely people will engage with it and share it on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, so other people can enjoy it! Be careful though. Humor can be tricky, and you risk offending someone if you don’t hit the mark. Avoid posting political humor too.

6. Be Authentic

Be authentic with everything you do -- even if it means sharing some

less-thanperfect moments in life (e.g., pictures from vacations gone wrong). People love

authenticity! Authenticity is about being transparent, open, and honest about who you are, what you do, and why you do it. It’s about showing that side of your personality that makes you human, not just another business owner looking to make money from his passion project.

You can’t fake authenticity.

If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one. And if you try too hard or try to be something other than who you are, people will see through it -- and they won’t trust you.

7. Build a Sense of Community Around Your Brand

The best brands are ones that make you feel like you’re part of a community, even if you’ve never met them before.

One way to do this is

to showcase customer stories. When customers share their experiences with your products or services, they’re helping tell the story of who you are as a business. You can showcase these stories in blog posts or videos on social media. Be sure to get their permission first! This will give people insight into what makes your business unique, which helps build trust between them and your company.

A brand can make or break a business, but it’s not just about what you say. It’s how you say it. The way you present your brand to the world reflects who you are, and it sets the tone for how people perceive your company. Don’t underestimate the power of good branding: it’s an essential part of any successful business, no matter how small or large. Make sure your brand is relatable!

D O W N L O A D T O D A Y o n A m a z o n

The Keys to Achieving “Unreachable” Goals:

Advice From Ray Higdon

This month, we spoke with Ray Higdon, a bestselling author, coach, philanthropist and entrepreneur. He and his wife run Rankmakers, an event dedicated to teaching people how to achieve their goals.

Dennis Postema: What does your career timeline look like?

Ray Higdon: I have done a lot of things and have had a lot of failures. I worked my way up in the corporate world to a pretty high-paying salary, and eventually, I realized that really wasn’t freedom. I was miserable, and I didn’t want to stay there.

In 2004, I saw some friends making money in real estate and figured, “If those knuckleheads can do it, I can too.”

I live in Florida, so I jumped right into real estate and did well until the 2008 market crash. I didn’t understand how to pivot from there and didn’t know what to do, so I got completely wiped out.

My career went in an unlikely direction from there. My credit was shot, and no one was hiring. I went into foreclosure and didn’t know what I was going to do.

A friend invited me to a network marketing meeting, which I had sworn off after some bad experiences in the past, but I thought, “You know what? I don’t know what

else I’m going to do. I’m going to figure this out,” and so I did. I went on to make millions of dollars for that company.

I was on social media before most people were. People started asking me, “How do you do that?” So I started creating courses. Pretty soon, that business was generating millions of dollars.

In 2016, I decided to focus on the coaching and training business, and now we’re an Inc. 5000 company.

There are two worlds I live in: one in which I help people create information products based on their expertise or their niche; and the second in which I work with a lot of network marketing companies and network marketing leaders. I have worked with leaders who have 750,000 people on their team. I have worked with multiple people that make $1 million a month in their company. I work with people in real estate and insurance. We love the information marketing game. I also do a lot of public speaking.

Dennis: What advice would you give to somebody who is trying to recruit employees for their company in this economy?

Ray: Oftentimes, people hire someone to do a particular job, but they don’t fully get into their shoes and understand what the job entails and how to inspire someone.

We’ve never had a problem with that. I do a weekly huddle with my employees where I paint my vision of the company. A lot of times, business owners have a vision in their head of where they want to take the company and how they want to serve, impact and help people, but they don’t share that with everyone. They expect people to do their job and they’ll say, “You be over there,” but they need to paint a vision for them too. Inspire your employees to work with you.

When everyone was in quarantine during the pandemic, four of my employees reached out to me, unprompted, and said, “Hey, if you need to reduce our salaries, we totally understand. We want to make sure you’re OK.”

Like, when does that happen? They said they knew things were weird, and if I needed to delay or reduce their payments, they were OK with it. It was unbelievable. It’s because they bought into our mission. They bought into where we, as a company, are going.

When you lack that, when everyone in your company lacks that vision of where you’re going, you have what’s called “operational drag.” Operational drag is where you’re trying to get to this place, and just everyone is saying, “Eh, we’ll get to it whenever.”

When recruiting, it’s important for you to have a vision and to convey that vision. How does this person fit into that vision? Is there a growth plan? If someone isn’t interested in a growth plan, I’m probably not going to hire them. I want people that are hungry, people that are learners, that want to improve their skill set, and make more money.

The one-two punch is to paint the vision of where you’re going and how they’re going to fit into it, how it applies to them, and don’t get the cheapest person. My

father-in-law built a steel foundry company that created all kinds of things for the military and big companies. It sold very well. One thing he taught me was that the most expensive thing in the world is cheap labor. When you get someone for the cheapest, they know they’re the cheapest and that’s the effort they’re going to put in.

I incorporate something from Grant Cardone and his team. I do PPFs with my key people. PPF stands for Personal, Professional, Financial. I meet with those employees once every quarter and go over their personal, professional and financial goals. Many of their goals have nothing to do with my company. For example, if someone’s goal is to lose weight, I will help them with a game plan on how to do that, even though it has nothing to do with me or the company.

It’s important that your employees know you care. It’s more important for long-term employees, because you can’t really convey that you care and have them believe it during the interview, but you can paint that vision and pay them what they’re worth.

Dennis: What are some keys to bouncing back from failure?

Ray: The biggest thing is learning to catch your thoughts. Neuroscience and research teaches us that most of our thoughts are the same as the day before, so it’s very common to get into this rut of noticing how bad things are, that things aren’t going the way that you want, and comparing your current situation to how things used to be.

One of the most powerful things you can do is catch those thoughts before you’re on autopilot. I learned from Dr. Joe Dispenza, who is one of the speakers at our event next month, that we have neurological networks in the neocortex part of our brain for everything we know. Every person, every place, every thing— your cell phone, your coworkers, your boss, your computer—whatever it is, you have a neurological network for it.

As these neurological networks start firing and you start having these thoughts, eventually you have enough of these thoughts that you believe and accept them, and

that sends signals to the limbic brain—which handles emotions and memories—and that starts communicating through your spine to your adrenal glands and creates emotions. Those emotions are saying, “Here is what we’re thinking, now let’s feel this way too.”

The adrenal glands then create the emotion in your body and distribute it throughout all of your cells. Then, it gets communicated back to your neocortex and reinforces those thoughts and feelings. Pretty soon, you’re on autopilot.

This cycle is difficult to get out of, especially when you aren’t aware of it. You’re just sitting there, thinking about bad things, and all of this stuff is happening.

The first step is to catch those thoughts. Tell yourself, “Hey, you know what? I don’t want to think about how life is tough right now, I don’t want to think about how much money I lost, I don’t want to think about how bad stuff is or why she left me,” or whatever. When you can catch them, you can shift your focus to what you do want. It takes

awareness and energy.

I listened to the “Master Course” by Napoleon Hill. He said that when he notices a negative thought in his mind, he quickly writes down ten things that he wants in his life to interrupt the pattern.

When he said that, he didn’t know about neuroscience, but he knew enough to interrupt the process.

When I was in foreclosure, I went through depression for about a year. I drank heavily. Any time I thought about how bad life was, I would take a drink or a shot. Obviously, that wasn’t a good idea.

I created a different trigger. When I started thinking about how bad life was, I made myself prospect someone, or send a message, or do some profit-producing activity. Within five months, I was earning $10,000 a month; within seven months, $40,000 a month; and ten months into doing this, I was earning $50,000 a month. A lot of that was simply because I didn’t dwell on the bad stuff. I didn’t dwell on how good life used to be.

A lot of people will say, “Just do the work, grind, hustle,” but if people maintain that negative mindset, they’re going to greatly reduce their results. It’s all about intercepting those thoughts and saying, “Hey, I don’t want to think that way. I don’t want that to dominate my thinking. Let me shift to something I do want.”

Dennis: How do you hit unreasonable goals?

Ray: There are a lot of ways you can do it. I use a fourstep process.

#1: Have a clearly defined goal. What do you actually want? What does it look like? How will you know it’s true?

#2: Do the work. You might be thinking, “Oh, wow, this is really mindblowing, Higdon. Who would’ve thought that?”

Well, it’s not the only component, but if you don’t do the work, most people are not going to be able to logically convince themselves that they should have what they want. This is where you have to look at, “What is my daily routine, and if I execute that daily routine, will that make success

inevitable?”

If you say yes to that, then you’re accomplishing a major part here, because you’d logically believe that you should hit that goal.

Now, this is unconventional, but I’m not a fan of setting a date to reach a goal. I know some people will think, “Oh my God, don’t set a date?” The reason I don’t like setting a date for a goal is you are vibrationally saying you don’t have it. If it works for you, great, keep doing it. For a lot of people, this creates pressure, which changes the way they show up, because there is an attachment to their intention. When you have an intention and an attachment, it creates an imbalance in the brain and the body, and it can actually thwart you from achieving your goal.

#3: This is the hardest step: Stop dwelling on your missteps. Stop spending so much time noticing all of the things that you don’t have, noticing how you’re not getting the results you wish you had, noticing that Sally is doing much better than you or Joe is doing much better

than you. Like Dr. Joe says, you have to live more in memories of your future than memories of your past or present.

A lot of people say affirmations don’t work, and the reason they don’t work for them is that those people spend five minutes in the morning saying affirmations, and then they spend eight hours in a negative vibration, negative energy and negative attitude. They don’t cancel each other out. You’re negative. You’re more negative than positive. You’re going to have more negative results than positive. That’s the toughest step, because people say, “Hey, man, I’m just telling it like it is.”

Telling it like it is keeps it like it is. Justifying where you are keeps you where you are.

#4: This is the speed quotient. The first three steps are critical, but this one is optional. It’s what will absolutely speed up everything that you want. It’s called mental rehearsal.

Are you mentally rehearsing yourself at this level? Are you mentally rehearsing what it would feel like, what would it be like, what would it look like if you were the person that you wish you were, if you had that thing you wish you had?

How would you know it’s true? This is extremely

powerful. You actually use your imagination, use that frontal lobe, to see yourself in that role, to see yourself at the top of your comp plan, or the top sales rep, or being on stage, shaking hands with whoever, or having people thank you. You actually see your boss or your fellow entrepreneurs saying good things to you. You see people edifying you on social media. You see people asking you for podcast interviews. You see people featuring you in magazines.

Most people don’t do that. They mentally rehearse life getting worse and then they’re shocked when that continues to happen.

Those are the four steps that I absolutely believe and have proven over and over are the fastest way to achieve unreasonable goals.

Dennis: Should people include their daily disciplines in their mental rehearsals?

Will that help them be consistent in these activities in everyday life?

Ray: I would not suggest mentally rehearsing the day-to-day activities that

will get you there. I would suggest rehearsing the day-to-day activities as though you are already there. This isn’t about wishing “for” somewhere, it’s about wishing “from” somewhere. You’re mentally rehearsing being that person.

That kind of training comes from Neville Goddard. In the 1950s, he was rocking it out in New York, doing all kinds of amazing stuff, working with presidents and religious leaders all over the world.

The best time to do this is before bed, because whatever emotion you’re holding before bed is communicating to your subconscious, which is what’s running the show while you’re sleeping. The subconscious is a nonjudgmental partner. It doesn’t know that you don’t know how powerful you are.

When you go to bed angry or jealous or whatever, then you are telling your subconscious, “This is what I want more of,” and so it is going to help you notice more things and verify more reasons to be angry or jealous. It’s very important to master

your emotions, especially before bed.

To give a personal example, about a year and a half ago, my wife and I started doing ballroom dance lessons together twice a week. I knew I wasn’t great at dancing, but I figured we would spend time together.

I was terrible at it.

They asked me, “Ray, do you hear the rhythm? It goes doom-duh-da-doom, it’s a downbeat. Do you hear that?”

I was just like Frankenstein’s monster, stomping around, and they even asked me if I’d been in an accident. “Do your hips move? Are you able to do this?”

I was like, it’s very insulting, you know? I said, “No, I wasn’t, why do you ask?”

And they said, “Oh, oh, OK, that’s fine.”

I know how bad I was. I didn’t want to go, but I went, twice a week. I really wanted to get good at it.

Four months in, a new student came in early and he was watching us. Afterwards, he rushed over

to us and said, “I’m so glad I came early, I feel so much better.”

And I was like, “Thanks. Thanks for that, buddy.”

That was exactly what I needed. Walt Disney said, “Sometimes a kick in the teeth is exactly what you need.”

I went home and I thought, “I’m not using anything that I know about achieving. I’m not using any of my mental powers. I’m just going in there and saying, ‘I’m not good at dancing, I don’t remember, oh man, that sucks,’ and I’m just living in my current situation, I’m letting my senses define my reality, which is lazy. It’s just mental laziness.”

That night, I started mentally rehearsing. I started seeing myself as a good dancer. I didn’t see myself practicing, I saw myself as a good dancer. I glided across the floor—it was just amazing. I asked myself, “How would I feel?”

I’d feel confident, I’d feel proud, I’d be a good representation for my wife.

I asked, “How would I know it’s true?”

Well, if it was true, then

people would compliment me. I would dance and people would say, “Dang, Higdon, that’s good,” right? And so I started rehearsing people giving me different compliments.

I spent probably two minutes every night, for many months, mentally rehearsing.

Fast forward six months, my wife and I came in first place at an international competition in Miami. We were first place in our division in two different dances.

My instructor said to me, “Man, I’ve got to be honest, you really weren’t getting any better, but then one day, you skyrocketed, like everything changed. All of a sudden, you started getting really good really fast,” and they said, “That must’ve been the day you started practicing at home.”

I said, “Well, not really.”

I didn’t actually increase my pipeline, I didn’t actually increase my work, I was still doing two classes a week. I didn’t go to three or four. I didn’t start practicing at home. All I did was a couple minutes of mental

rehearsals before I went to bed.

I stopped noticing my missteps—I didn’t show up the next day, and all of a sudden I’m killing it—I still made missteps, I just didn’t dwell on them and I didn’t notice them as much, didn’t feel bad about them. I just didn’t harp on them and share about them, and so that little two-step tweak is what totally changed the game. After that, I was like, “Man, what else can I do?” Because this was incredible.

I’ve since applied this set of processes into other areas of my life. It’s been incredible. It worked for me, and I know it works for others because we have taught it to a lot of clients, and it’s a powerful process.

Dennis: Tell us about Rank Makers.

Ray: My wife and I have a private community called Rank Makers. We have just over 10,000 people paying $27 a month. I make a video for them every day, ranging from about five minutes to eight minutes long, where I do an action step and a training short.

We run an annual event called Rank Makers Live.

Anyone can buy a ticket, member or not. It’s in Orlando, Florida, on October 27th through the 29th. There is a virtual component and an inperson component.

Our goal is to help you get out of being held hostage by your fears and become an action-taker. We help people show up in implementation mode and completely change the game.

There are two sets of processes. There’s the mindset piece, getting over your fears, stopping self-sabotage, and then there’s the business strategy piece, where we teach you what’s working right now on social media, how to generate more traffic, and so on.

We have amazing speakers. Dr. Joe Dispenza, ClickFunnels co-founder Russel Brunson, Stormy Wellington, Justin Prince, Gloria Mayfield Banks, and

a bunch of people that are really good at using TikTok, Instagram Reels, branding, generating leads, and making money online.

This event is powerful, and we’re really excited about it.

To learn more about the event, go to rankmakerslive.com.

Anyone can purchase a ticket, but there is limited seating, so check it out soon!

Ray dives into detail on negativity:

The biggest problem with negative thoughts is that they limit the choices that you see. You go from possibility to probability. When you’re in that mindset, you’re only going to see certain choices, which will dictate your actions and behaviors, and that dictates your experience, which will dictate your emotion.

Catching negative thoughts is key.

When you start traveling down that path and really paying attention to what you’re thinking, you will find that you think negatively all the time.

I was shocked. I started this practice just two years ago, and I realized, “Dang, I think negatively all of the time.”

Learning to catch those thoughts changed my life. Practicing it changed me as an entrepreneur, as a husband, and as a dad.

5 Leadership Tips That Can Help Your Business Grow

Leadership is an essential skill for any business owner. Whether you’re the CEO or a middle manager, there will come a time when you need to lead. You may be leading your team or perhaps even your customers.

The key to effective leadership is strong leadership skills. This means you can motivate others while inspiring them to perform at their best. Strong leaders can serve as role models, which helps motivate others and encourage them to improve their performance. They also possess excellent

communication skills, which allow them to effectively convey their vision.

Even if you aren’t a naturalborn leader, you can develop the skills you need to lead and help your business grow. Here are some leadership tips you can start implementing now to help your business grow faster.

Foster Innovation and Creativity

Innovation and creativity are not just buzzwords. They’re the foundation for success in any business.

Innovation is the process

of creating new ideas, products, or methods. It can also be defined as an idea that has been implemented in a practical form. Creativity involves using one’s imagination to come up with unique ideas or images.

Entrepreneurs need both innovation and creativity to drive their businesses forward. Here are some ways to foster these two important qualities:

• Encourage a culture of innovation.

• Set up a creative environment where employees feel safe to share ideas and

suggestions.

Encourage brainstorming sessions by providing a space where people can talk openly about their ideas without fear of judgment or ridicule from others.

• Provide training programs that teach employees how to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to the company’s problems.

• Reward those who have come up with great ideas that have led to improvements in productivity or helped reduce costs for the organization.

Listen to your team

Listening is the most important skill a leader can have. It’s a skill that will help you and your team succeed, as well as your business. Listening is a skill that can be learned and improved on. It may seem like something you’re not good at, but with practice and persistence, anyone can get better at listening to others.

Being a good listener is one of the most important skills you can develop in your business. A good listener will help you

build better relationships with employees, clients, and customers. It also will help you retain more information and identify opportunities more effectively. With that in mind, here are six ways listening can help your business grow:

• You can connect with people better.

• You’ll identify problems earlier in the process.

• You’ll gain deeper insight into what your customers want.

• You’ll build trust between you and your customers, making them more likely to buy from you again in the future.

• You’ll identify problems before they happen, so you can jump on them before they become bigger.

• It will help you better serve those who already do business with you by learning what they expect from their interactions with your company and its employees.

Listening is a powerful tool in business. It can help you understand what’s important to your customers, and it can help you grow your business by solving their problems.

It’s not just about listening to what they say -- it’s also about listening to how they say it. And that means paying attention to the spoken language and body language people use to describe their problems and how they want to solve them.

Maintain a work-life balance

In today’s world, it’s easy to overlook the importance of setting boundaries in your life. Setting boundaries means creating a healthy environment for yourself and those around you, by taking care of yourself emotionally (and sometimes physically). It also involves knowing when to ask for help, so that others don’t take advantage of you -- or vice versa.

It’s hard to be an effective leader when you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and chronically sleepdeprived. Your employees will notice if they don’t see evidence that their boss cares enough to prioritize rest over work. Plus, they may find it hard to make time for their own needs unless their leaders set an example by doing so themselves.

The following are some tips from leaders who have found ways to take care of themselves:

• Set a timer for 15 minutes every day and use that time for yourself. You can meditate, read, or do whatever is most relaxing for you.

• Set up blocks of time on your schedule for activities that will help rejuvenate your energy levels. Whether that means taking a walk around the block or having lunch with a friend, ensure these times are protected so they don’t get eaten up by other tasks.

• Make sure you get enough sleep each night -- at least seven hours if possible.

Get comfortable with making mistakes

You might think that if you make a mistake, you’re doomed. But mistakes are a normal part of learning. If someone else made a mistake and learned from it, perhaps you can learn from their experience. Sometimes, by making your own mistakes, you learn things that other people have already figured out.

Sometimes the best way to get better at something is by screwing up. Why not embrace the potential for failure? Your mistakes may lead to great discoveries or teach valuable lessons -- just look at Thomas Edison’s failed experiments with filament materials for his light bulb invention. He tried over 1,000 different filaments before finally finding one that worked (and then patented it).

Businesses aren’t built in a day, but you can start seeing results quickly

When you start a new business, you want to see results quickly. But it’s important to remember that businesses aren’t built in a day. You need patience, perseverance, and understanding of how long it takes for things to come together.

If you’re feeling discouraged because your business isn’t taking off as quickly as expected, don’t panic. It could just be that there are some things within your control and some things outside of it -and sometimes those two things don’t mesh well.

For example, maybe your marketing plan works perfectly, but the

economy isn’t cooperating with what you’re trying to do (or vice versa). Maybe another company has taken a similar approach before yours did, or maybe there was simply bad timing on their part (or yours). Therefore, patience and perseverance are so vital when starting out -- because no matter how hard you try or how much research you do beforehand, sometimes luck plays into the equation too... and that’s okay.

The point is this: if something goes wrong (i.e., if nothing happens), don’t worry too much, because chances are good everything will work out eventually. Just remember that not everything works out exactly according to plan all at once -- it might take years before everything falls into place perfectly without fail each time around, but until then keep trying different approaches until one clicks!

Being a leader takes a lot of practice, but it’s something you can learn and become better at over time. The most important thing is to be patient with yourself and enjoy the process.

October is the tenth month in the Gregorian calendar, received its name from the Latin numeral octo meaning “eight”, because in the original Roman calendar it was the eighth month.

October Milestones:

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October 1st 1971 - Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida.

• October 4th 1957 - The USSR launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth

• October 5th, 1962 - The Beatles’ first single, Love Me Do backed with P.S. I Love You, is released in the United Kingdom

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October 10th, 1971 - Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopened in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

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October 14th 1926 - Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne, was first published.

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October 22nd 1966 – The Supremes become the first allfemale music group to attain a No. 1 selling album: The Supremes A’ Go-Go

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October 30th 1938 – Orson Welles broadcast his radio play of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds