by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Startup |
Key takeaways:
- The GAP between the #1 and the rest of the spots is Super big. Be #1 or don’t be in business. Don’t be mediocre. Be great!
- #1 spot is not something that everyone can achieve. The one who reaches #1 will go through the Dip.
- “In a free market, we reward the exceptional.”
- Each micro market (niche) still has a best…best in that world…
- There is surprising value in being #1. Of all of the various ice cream flavors, vanilla is the top-seller, and its sales are drastically higher than even the second most popular flavor, chocolate.
- You need to decide when you need to quit. Quitting is good for various reasons. People who reach #1 have quit many things strategically over time.
- To understand Dip, Seth has illustrated 3 different curves. 1. The Dip, 2. The Cul-de-Sac, 3. The Cliff
- Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.
- The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery…that’s essentially a shortcut.
- Scarcity, as we’ve seen, is the secret to value. If there wasn’t a Dip, there’d be no scarcity among the best.
The Cliff (starts with high excitement and ends terribly) and The Cul-de-Sac (the dead end in French) leads you to failure over time. The other name of staying in Cul-De-Sac is staying mediocre. 
The Cliff like the bubble will bust over time. It’s like a gold rush or the stock market which keeps going higher and higher and busts at one time. 
This is the Dip Curve. You don’t become a success without going through The Dip. You will always need to go through the Dip before you achieve success. This principle applies to every part of life. When you lose weight, you need to go through the period where nothing works. When you stay in a career, you need to go through the period where you are not moving forward Nor moving backward. When you build a business, you need to go through the period where you need to sustain the business by taking risks and overcoming fear and anxiety. Seth says, this is what makes companies great and takes them to #1. 
Example of the Dip. This graph shows the number of people who quit the Boston Marathon. Nobody quits at mile 25. Most quit at the mile 20. Nobody quits when the finish line is in view. They quit during the chaos. People who sustain mile 20 are the ones who complete the marathon / eventually succeed. 
How vanilla (the #1 flavor) outnumbers its competition by being the #1 flavor.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Marketing |
The customers you have now are giving money to someone else for something else.
There is something your customers aren’t buying from you.
What they buy would make sense for them to have because it makes the experience of what you sold to them even better.
Even if you don’t make or own something that your customer is buying, this is something you could make money from.
^^ this is a paraphrased wisdom from Dan Kennedy
When you look at real-world examples, you can see that toysrus “a toy store” carries kids diapers and mom’s breast pumps. Why? Their customers are parents…
Although they come there with their kids – they could buy other things that they would need. Thus it makes sense for toysrus to sell.
A couple of years back, I noticed Tom And Stefanie – a kids clothing store carrying kitchen utensils.
Although from the outside it doesn’t make sense for a clothing store to carry kitchen utensils, Think from the angle that it’s mostly moms who go to buy clothes for their kids.
This is called cross promoting or cross-selling. A different version from up selling.
When it comes to online business, think about your audience what they are buying outside of your arena?
What software do they buy, what subscriptions do they get, what other product would add value to what you are selling your customer?
You could then do one of the following two things:
-> Become an affiliate of that product/software and promote to your peeps
-> Negotiate on a mutual partnership – where you agree to promote their product/service to your audience and they agree to promote your product/service to their audience.
This can instantly boost your revenue without spending loads of time and money.
If it’s highly lucrative then you could consider to make your own version of the same product and add it to your product line.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Marketing |
Warning: Unethical marketing ahead
- They introduced free flow drinks for $2
- They have introduced combo meals on all the outlets. Now the outlets are offering $2 discount the next time they buy a meal if they bought the drink.
Essentially the coke is free!
Now, this is what a layman notices…
Here’s the marketing mind in it:
- Until this goes on, people will buy coke combo for getting the free $2 voucher next time
- This can go for more than a month’s time
- After a month, the people who were buying coke are going to continue buying coke coz of the sugar and caffeine-induced addiction.
- Coke just made more than 500 lifetime customers!
Lesson! Don’t think about instant profits. Think about lifetime customer value. They lost money in the front end. But they made a killing in the backend.
The only thing that makes this case unethical is because it is going to hurt their customer’s health by a ton! Well played Coke!
by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Startup |
- Have more Self Awareness – Learn what you do the best. Stay within your strengths and genius zone, find someone to do the stuff which is off your strengths zone. Outsource/Delegate those tasks that aren’t within your strengths zone. What’s your genius zone? Take the following tests to learn more about yourself and to figure out your genius zone and stuff you need to stop doing:
- Take the Genius Test at geniusu.com(FREE)
- Take the Gallup Top 5 Strengths Test ($) If you can afford to spend a little more, then take the 34 Strengths Test.
- Take the Gallup EP10 ($) – Special test for Entrepreneurs.
- Take the DISC assessment (FREE)
- Take the Myers-Briggs Assessment (FREE)
- Set Clear Goals – Get down to the minute details as possible. Clarity gives you better brain connections to give you better ideas to achieve them. Write down goals, break them down to smaller goals and objectives to be achieved over the next year, month, and week. Or if they are tasks, write down tasks, sub-tasks, and sub-sub-tasks.
- Visualize The Results of Your Goals – Run through the results of your goals as a movie in your mind’s visual stage. Feel as if you are achieving those goals in reality and feel every emotion that would ideally be experienced when you actually achieve those.
This is like a dress rehearsal for your goals. Makes you feel ready for the achievements to come. And builds connections in your brain. And tames your subconscious. You need to do this for 30-mins every day for at least 21 days to see results. (Reference: The New Psychocybernetics by Dan Kennedy & Dr. Maxwell Maltz)
- Start your day with intentions, and a small win instead of with a todo list. Your day should be planned with a lot of small wins. Such as starting an easy task like making your bed when you wake up or doing 3 situps when you wake up. It’s a mundane task for many of them, But when you start your day with a simple and easy win. A win releases a chemical called Endorphins in our body. Endorphins give us a positive feeling and keep us in peak performance. Overall your day should be a win if you succeed in managing your intentions. Nevertheless of whether you complete your todo list or not. Your to-do list shouldn’t be the factor that decides whether your day was a success or not.
E.g. I want to be cheerful, and show my best self in everything for today. If you were successful thoroughout the day in being cheerful and showing your best self, you’ve had a successful day. If you focus on finishing your to-do list, it’s hard to have a successful day and it could become a stressful day.
- Set goals for a 12 week period instead of a 12 month period. Effectiveness is a process. You should do things you could do within your control zone (circle of influence) that can move you towards your goals. And not do one off stuff. Time block the process activities in your calendar. (Reference: The 12 week year by Michael Masterson)
Eg. Going to the gym once in a blue moon is not going to help you lose weight. Consistency and regularity is key. You need to go at-least thrice a week. Time block those days and hours.
- Move / Walk / Cycle / Run More or do something that pumps your heart beat to the max for at-least 15 mins a day.
- Take breaks and recharge yourself. Learn to relax your body and mind. Time block your holidays. Time block your “me” time during the weekend. Do something for yourself, a disconnected time from your phone, emails, WhatsApp, SMS, etc. and recharge yourself. (Reference: The power of full engagement by Tony Schwartz)
- Bust your Fears. Primarily the Fear of Failure. Make decisions quickly. To Move forward, the only way is to make quick decisions. If it fails, then you Course correct. (Reference: Feel the fear and Do it anyway by Susan Jeffers)
- Sleep as much as you need. Everybody has a sweet spot. There is no standard because each of our bodies is different. Effective sleep time varies from 4 hours to 8 hours. Find your sweet spot and ensure that you get that much sleep. Sleep is a very important aspect to become successful in achieving our goals. (Reference: Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod)
- Eat good food & Drink lots of water. Avoid sugar and carbs filled junk food. Drink 4 to 6 litres of water every day. Start your day with warm lemon water.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Startup |
- Be a go-giver. Impact a million people, give a ton value to people, you will make a million dollars.
- The Law of Effection: the more you affect people’s lives (# of people affected), the richer you will become. It’s all about scale and magnitude.
More Value + More People = More Money
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The 5 Laws of Effection:
- Commandment of Need: Don’t invest in businesses that don’t solve problem or fulfil needs
- Commandment of Entry: Have something unique or an unfair advantage that prevents your competitors from entering the same market/niche.
- Commandment of Control: Don’t relinquish control. Be in full control of your business. If you depend on one manufacturer, one customer, one franchiser, an affiliate program, or another business that gives you business. You don’t have control. If you don’t have control in your business, you don’t have control over your finances. The one person that you depend on has all the control over your business and your finances.
- Commandment of Scale: Don’t trade time for money. Don’t operate on a small scale. Create something that can scale.
- Commandment of Time: Don’t let the startup be an event instead of a process.
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- If you’re not getting wealthy, then STOP doing what you’ve been doing.
- Don’t wait for 40 years, draw one paycheck, and become wealthy, to not being able to enjoy at 60. Do what makes you wealthy now. You won’t have the energy that you have now to enjoy or do good to others with the wealth that you will get in the future rather than if you get it now.
- Wealth is a process. Not an event. Wealth, like fitness, requires hard work, discipline, and delayed gratification. You have to keep trying and doing stuff even if it doesn’t pay off immediately. PATIENCE is the keyword. Being risk averse, quitting early, not putting in the hard work is not the way towards wealth.
- “By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day” — Robert Frost
- Create a money tree. i.e. Build a business system. Not just a business. e.g. Rentals, Software Products, Video Content, Distribution Systems, Franchise Systems. A system that makes money while you sleep.
- If you want extraordinary results, you need extraordinary thinking. Have a decision-making process for everything. Use the Worst Case Analysis (WCA) or the Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM) [Google them]
- Your time is finite and always decreasing — treat it as such. Focus on the right things.
- Focus on one thing at a time. One business at a time.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Aug 7, 2017 | Business, Marketing, Startup |
The 5Ws to build a successful consulting business. This should get you until making 6 figures in income from your business.
You don’t need to be the greatest consultant!
You don’t need to be the greatest coach!
You don’t need to be a great writer!
You don’t need to be a great sales person!
You don’t need to be the greatest marketer!
You don’t need the next biggest tool out there in the market.
You don’t need to have a WEBSITE or a FUNNEL!
Nobody is born with all those skills, tools, and talent. You will learn those along the way.
What you need is clarity on what you want to do and why you want to do it. You just need to sit down and do the work that DELIVERS VALUE to others.
Good Enough is the new greatness! Coz most people don’t even create anything as they are perfectionists and end up not making anything.
DELIVERING VALUE could be just taking part in conversations on online forums, Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or any other platform. Sharing content, tools that help people.
What’s important is that you know the answers to the following questions to have the clarity necessary to do business:
- Do you have a reason WHY you are in business?
- Do you know WHAT is the problem you want to solve?
- Do you know WHO you want to solve the problem for?
- Do you know WHERE they hang out?
- Do you have a product/service that you are going to solve the problem WITH?
That’s it! That’s it!!! That’s all you need to be in the consulting business. Whether you are ONLINE or OFFLINE.
Here’s mine:
- WHY – Because I want to provide better for my family. Because I want to be happy and love what I do. Because I want to contribute better to the world and the people. Because I want to go to Jannah (heaven in Islam). Because I want to leave a legacy for my children and community.
- WHAT – Help people maximise their productivity, effectiveness, happiness, and fulfilment in their lives, business, and contribution. Help them become financially free, and contribute back to the society.
- WHO – I want to help people who want more out of their lives and achieve greatness. People who don’t want to be mediocre. People who hate their current situation and want it to be better. People who want to serve their family better, and contribute back to society.
- WHERE – Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, Meetups, Seminars, Workshops, Summits.
- WITH – Strategies and Systems, Books, Workshops, Seminars, Webinars, Products, Events, Summits, Services, Coaching, and Consulting.
Think about yours, and comment below…
