Timestamp:
00:00 Introduction: Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
00:16 Tip 1: Find Your Niche & Dominate It
01:10 Tip 2: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
02:20 Tip 3: Dance with Fear
03:51 Tip 4: Focus on Systems, Not Just Goals
05:06 Tip 5: Show Up Every Day, No Matter What
06:00 Tip 6: Think Big, Execute Small
07:02 Tip 7: Build Relationships, Not Just a Customer Base
08:05 Tip 8: Master the Art of Pivoting
08:37 Tip 9: Focus on One Game-Changing Habit
09:13 Tip 10: Build Leverage, Not Just Hustle
10:26 Tip 11: Be Your Brand’s Best Storyteller
11:16 Conclusion and Upcoming Content
Ash Roy's Video Transcript (This transcript has been auto-generated. Artificial Intelligence is still in the process of perfecting itself. There may be some errors in transcription):
Ash Roy:
what if I told you that, well over 100 entrepreneurs have revealed their secrets to me, and I'm going to hand them to you on a silver platter. Today, I'm going to share 11 tips that have made many businesses thrive.
And here's the kicker. They're probably simpler than you think.
Let's do this.
Tip number one: Building a great business starts not by appealing to everyone, but by finding the smallest possible audience and solving a problem that they desperately want you to help them solve and are willing to pay you for it.
Seth Godin:
The most confident and moral way. Most reliable way for me to build something is to find a very small group of people, the smallest possible group who desperately need what I can offer them. Because if I have what they desperately need and I whisper it to them, they will beat down the door to get it.
Not very many of them, but a few that might be enough. And even if it's not enough, they will tell their friends.
Ash Roy: Joe Pulizzi is a great case in point. He started by focusing on the smallest viable audience. And he's figured out a solution that was the most useful to them at that time and deliver consistent, valuable content.
That's how he built his business and eventually sold it for $15 million.
Tip number two: Simplify, simplify, simplify. Leonardo da Vinci was believed to have said that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. And we saw Steve Jobs embrace this wholeheartedly at Apple. As entrepreneurs, we often tend to over complicate things.
But the most successful entrepreneurs I've interviewed have pointed to one common reason for their success. And that is simplify to amplify. Let's take Joe Polizzi again, as an example, he mentioned that too many businesses tend to confuse their customers with too many options, too much information, too many promises.
Pulizzi's advice was to strip down to what matters most to your customers and offer them as few choices as possible. because a confused mind doesn't buy. Brian Tracy also emphasized the importance of simplifying your goals. He says success is about developing habits, getting to the point where it's easier to do the thing than it is not to do the thing because you have established a habit around it.
Simplify your focus to one or two core habits to start with, whether it's writing your goals down every day or focusing on one specific area of business growth.
Tip number three: Dance with fear. Seth Godin talked about the importance of dancing with fear.
I like the choice of words you have you say dance with fear.
Seth Godin:
Well, if someone can tell me how to make fear go away, I would be in favor of that, but I don't know how to do. What I do know is that every time you feel like you're about to do something important, you probably feel some fear, which means that fear is a compass, which means if you're not feeling fear, you're probably not trying hard enough.
Ash Roy:
Fear is something we all feel, but all the entrepreneurs I've spoken to have explained that they have some system to act in spite of the fear they feel. And not a single one I can think of right now has told me they don't feel fear. In fact, if they feel fear in most cases, they know that means it.
They're on the right track and they need to run toward the fear rather than away from it. Because fear is usually associated with discomfort. And discomfort usually leads to opportunity, I can definitely relate to this. Leaving the security of my corporate job back in 2013 to become an entrepreneur was terrifying.
It was a constant battle with fear. Truth be told, it sometimes still is. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. You need to embrace discomfort and move beyond it and through it. So, here's my question for you. What are you afraid of right now? What decision are you delaying because of fear? I would love for you to sit down and think about that for a moment.
Maybe write about it because you know what? Your fear might be the very thing that's telling you what you need to do next to break through to the next level.
Tip number four: Focus on systems, not just goals. Don't get me wrong. Goals are great. They're your North Star. But systems are what get you there.
The most successful entrepreneurs I've spoken to have said, the same thing. They have some kind of a system that makes success inevitable over the long term.
Brian Tracy:
Success then is a matter of habit.
Ash Roy:
Brian is known for his goal setting strategies, but he emphasizes that the goals alone are not enough. You need systems.
I took this to heart by creating content production systems in my business and automating workflows to make sure that content goes out to my audience every single week. That consistency has built trust with my audience. So, my invitation to you is to think about a system in your own business that could automate or simplify a certain task, whether it's responding to leads, onboarding new clients, or marketing on social media. Systems free you from the grind of daily decisions and help you to scale efficiently.
So, my suggestion to you is write down, one thing that you can systemize in your business that will remove you from the process.
So you're no longer the bottleneck and that will free you up to do higher value tasks in your business.
Tip number five: Show up every day, no matter what.
Joe Pullizi:
If you want to really build a sustainable business, it takes time. This is a marathon and it's not a sprint, you know. You have to do this consistently every week.
Ash Roy:
Joe's journey with the Content Marketing Institute wasn't an overnight success. He showed up every single day, day-after-day, week-after-week, year-after-year, building his audience brick-by-brick, and I've learned the same lesson with my own business. You need to keep showing up even when no one is watching because that's how you build momentum.
Whether it's posting regularly on YouTube, writing regular blog posts, or sending out newsletters. Consistency is what builds trust with your audience. And trust is what turns followers into paying customers. So, here's my question. What's one area in your business where you can show up consistently?
Take a second, write it down. Share it with us in the comments below.
Tip number six: Think big, execute small.
John Mcgrath:
It's important to think big because when you think big, it drives every decision that you make.
Ash Roy:
As John McGrath says, thinking big and setting big goals changes the decisions you make at a granular level.
For example, when I started Productive Insights, I decided that I wasn't going to go after just the Australian market because it was way too limited, I decided to go after the international English-speaking market. By thinking globally, I made different decisions to those I would have made if I was just thinking locally.
I decided to make my business an online business first. I prioritized online payment systems, I made sure that I wasn't restricted to in-person transactions, and I wasn't restricted to delivering value in-person. I've built my membership site online so I can serve anybody as long as they have an internet connection.
So, what's your big vision? What decisions are you going to make today that don't just follow the status quo? Are you going to think globally or restrict yourself to thinking locally? Let me know in the comments below.
Tip number seven: Build relationships, not just a customer base. Successful entrepreneurship is about building long term relationships, not engaging in transactional behavior.
I've worked with many different entrepreneurs over the years and the ones that are the most successful and the most fulfilled are those who seek to serve in ways that are meaningful and go beyond a financial transaction. When I build relationships, I focus on what is valuable to my customer. And if it works out to be a good financial transaction, that's great, but that's not the priority.
The priority is to be of service to the customer. and over the long term to make it financially beneficial to both of us. This enables me to build relationships with my clients over the long term, and they come back to me again and again, and often refer other clients to me too. The lifetime value of my average customer is much higher than it would have been if I was very transactional in my approach.
How are you building relationships with your audience? Are you transactional in your approach, or do you look beyond the transaction just in front of you?
Tip number eight: Master the art of pivoting. Success isn't about avoiding mistakes. It's about learning from them and quickly pivoting once you've learned from them.
Seth Godin shared with me how his first ventures weren't all successes, but they did teach him invaluable lessons about what the market wanted. Personally, I've had to pivot many times, especially when launching new products or services that didn't resonate straight away. What's one thing that didn't go as planned for you that you think you can learn from and then pivot?
Share that with us in the comments below.
Tip number nine: Focus on one game changing habit.
Bryan Tracy:
It's a matter of developing the success habits so it's actually easier to do them than not to do them.
Ash Roy:
Habits form the foundation of everything we do. It's these small daily habits that have led to massive changes over time.
By writing down my goals every day, I have revisited the things that matter most to my business, and that has informed what I choose to do each day, and more importantly, what I choose not to do each day.
What's one important habit that you can build into your daily routine that will set you up for success over the long term?
Tip number 10: Build leverage, don't just hustle. Building leverage over the long-term using compounding is truly powerful. James Clear said it best, habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. Once I started leveraging my time and optimizing for the most powerful and effective habits, it freed me up to focus on higher level strategies.
That helped me grow my business. One unexpected habit that has massively helped me improve my focus is going to the gym every day. By going to the gym, I'm able to bring down my stress levels, increase my confidence and make better decisions. This means that I'm less reactive and I tend to outsource more intelligently.
I tend to delegate more effectively and I tend to focus on the things that matter most in my business. I'm also able to show up with more enthusiasm for these YouTube videos. So, my invitation to you is think outside the square. What unexpected habits do you think you can incorporate into your daily routine that will help you level up?
My tip, consider exercise. It is one of the best uses of your time because it optimizes you on every level. You sleep better, you eat better, you think better, you live better.
And finally, tip number 11, I don't have enough fingers.
Tip number 11: Be your brand's best storyteller. Stories sell. Steve Jobs was a master storyteller.
What's your origin story? What made you want to start your business? Write it down, think about it, share that with the world. And by the way, be sure to subscribe because I'm going to share my origin story with Seth Godin in a future episode, something I haven't shared before publicly. Your story is so important.
It's how we connect emotionally with each other and with brands. Your story helps you to paint a picture, a picture of your future, a picture that your audience can see themselves in. What story is your brand telling right now? How are you positioning yourself as more than just a business, but rather as a movement that other people want to be part of?
Let me know in the comments below. I promise to read every comment that gets posted below this video for the next two weeks.
Thanks for watching. Be sure to subscribe. I hope you enjoyed this and watch out for my video with Seth Godin coming up soon, where I talk about why I started Productive Insights.
Ciao for now.