Author: aa9884394

From $300 million to $3.4 billion—in just 5 years.

My friend Sharran Srivatsaa did that. He 10x’ed, and you can too.

Why settle at $500,000, $5 million, or $500 million when your business has plenty of room to grow? You just need two things: the right mindset and the right game plan.

Today I want to dive into what makes Sharran a top-tier entrepreneur—and the strategies you can use to achieve the success he has.

 

Make Your “Why” Urgent

Simple question: why are you in business?

That answer will tell you a lot about where your business is headed.

As a kid in India, Sharran was told that his future depended on getting to the United States. But he had a problem: he needed to get good at something in order for his passport to process.

So he resorted to tennis. Mind you, he’d never played tennis before, and now he had to get good enough to earn a college scholarship.

Sharran knew that tennis could open the doors to financially secure his family, so he made it a priority. He ended up getting so good that he actually went pro!

The lesson? As Sharran says, sometimes your “why” needs to be bigger than yourself. He played tennis for his future and for his family.

Do you want to succeed in business so you can support your family? Or to retire at an early age? Or to buy that car you’ve wanted since you were a kid?

Well, you’ll work your ass off to get it when your “why” is meaningful enough.

It’s ok to feel like quitting—but it’s not ok to actually quit.

 

10x the Low-Hanging Fruit

Getting wins is so important. Your success in one area of your life bleeds into everything else, including your business.

Succeed in something you do well. Sharran likes to call this “hacking your way to 10x”.

Having a slump in sales? Go get in a great workout to remind yourself what it feels like to win.

It’s amazing how much of a mindset boost you get by simply succeeding, even if it’s at something trivial.

 

Have Singularity of Focus

Sharran and his team faced their fair share of issues 10x’ing. They lost market share, they experienced issues between partners, etc…

But they relentlessly zoned in on their goal of 10x’ing. In fact, they broke that goal down into achievable chunks so they would know what they needed to get done every day, every week, every month, every quarter, and every year.

Identify your goal and cut it up into manageable deadlines. Get coaching to keep you accountable for those deadlines too so you can stay on track.

You can find that immediately in our Empire Mastermind—click here to apply.

 

Position Yourself to Sell Your Business

Say you’re ready to sell your business. What do you need to do to secure the best sale possible?

Sharran boils it down to two things.

First, you need to act as if you don’t need to sell. Don’t come off as desperate, but make sure you communicate that you have options.

Second, you need to get in the head of the buyer.

By the time Sharran sold his business, he knew his buyer’s value proposition better than they did. That’s because he took the time to understand where they were coming from and why it benefitted them to buy his company.

Know the terms of the deal better than even the buyer does.

 

Know Everything About Your Business 

I know entrepreneurs that love to go to conferences and summits just to look cool on Instagram. I know even more that actually go to these conferences to learn, yet never apply any of it to their businesses.

Then there’s people like Sharran that know their business like the back of their hand. When they learn something, they immediately use it to their advantage.

That’s the secret. The knowledge you gain is only valuable to the extent you can apply it to your business.

Once you learn a new tip or strategy, figure out how to use it to boost your profit margins and maximize your success. How can you specifically change your systems or services to 10x your income?

 

Want to hear more 10x talk? Click here to listen to the full-length Empire Podcast that Sharrand and I shot—it’s a good one!

The greatest empires are built in the morning.

If you want to grow your business to massive success, you have to focus on the stuff that matters. And you have to do it when no one is around to bother you.

My man Craig Ballantyne is a master of the morning. We recently chatted about crushing your morning routine and winning the day before it begins. Here are a few of the takeaways you can use to do just that.

 

Environmental Exposure

That sounds funky, right? Really it just means you should hang out with people who are already where you want to be.

When my morning habits sucked, I hung around Craig. I learned his high-performance tactics firsthand and elevated my routine as a result.

But had I never met Craig, it would have taken me much longer to break out of my old ways: eating dinner late, working late, and struggling to wake up early.

Find a friend or a mentor who  has their morning routine dialed in. They’ll help you recognize exactly what you need to fix in your life to level up.

 

Prepare the Night Before

What you do at night affects how productive your morning will be.

Craig has this trick he calls the “reverse alarm”. He turns off all electronics by 10 PM, so he doesn’t have to deal with any Debby Downer emails or texts before he falls asleep.

You have to protect your sleep. All you have to do is shut your phone off before anyone can bug you. You’ll get better sleep and wake up ready to crush your to-do list.

That’s another thing: I map out my to-do list ahead of my mornings. Put the most important things you need to get done on the top of that list. That’s what you want to use your deep work time for—the stuff that will move your business forward.

 

Don’t Hit Snooze

You know what hitting the snooze tells the world? It tells everyone that that person values 10 minutes of extra sleep—low-quality sleep, at that—over accomplishing and surpassing their business’s mission.

But when you wake up and ignore the snooze, you start off your day with a big win.

So find that setting in your phone where you can disable the snooze button. Don’t tempt yourself one bit.

And if you still have trouble getting up and into the zone, do something to wake yourself up. For me, it’s taking a shower, drinking an egg white protein shake with coffee and water, and playing fetch in the backyard with my dog, Cookie.

Figure out the activities and resources you need to be alert and focused and form a routine around those things.

 

Silence Your Phone

Phones can trick people into thinking they’re doing productive work. when in reality, all they’re doing is scrolling their Instagram feed.

Before you start your deep work in the morning, put your phone away. That takes a lot of discipline, but you’re capable of doing it.

If you want to build an empire, you have to go extreme in everything you do. So if you need to put your phone in a locked drawer on the other side of the house, do it.

Don’t let anything get in the way of your vision.

 

Want to learn more? Click here to listen to the full-length episode that Craig Ballantyne and I shot about honing in your morning routine.

How do you turn your business into an empire?

Matt Wilber certainly knows how. He runs 5 Fit Body Boot Camp franchises in Michigan, and several of those locations make a million dollars a year.

What makes your business scalable? Let’s see what he does differently—and what you can steal for your business.

(more…)

You can become a self-made millionaire right now (if you want to).

You don’t have to come from a rich family or have a fancy degree to make seven figures. I didn’t have either of those things when I started my first business.

But it’s also not just about hustle and grind either. You need to take the right action steps to get there.

If you can master a few new entrepreneurial habits, you’ll see your income explode like never before.

 

Be Relentless

This is when you operate from that fire-in-the-belly, chip-on-the-shoulder mindset.

There is no “What if I fail?” It’s just, “I’m gonna make it, it’s just a matter of when, or I’m gonna die trying.”

Make it your life’s mission to become a multi-millionaire. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Take responsibility. Follow the clues to success.

You’ll either become a multi-millionaire or you’ll die. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll hit seven figures.

 

Believe in Yourself

You know, I can talk to an entrepreneur and immediately tell you if they’ll make it or not.

Self-made millionaires believe in their vision even when others don’t. They see path to success unfold before it actually happens for them.

In fact, I see these people get angry when they’re NOT where they want to be! When I only had 3 Fit Body locations, I was angry that  wasn’t already a massive franchise. That’s what drove me to make it happen.

 

Follow the Clues

Success leaves behind clues.

There are people in your industry that have made the money and achieved what you want to achieve. They’ve already made the mistakes so you can learn from them.

Don’t reinvent the wheel—study the people who have been there, done that. Hire a coach who knows the blueprint to success in your industry.

You’ll realize that reaching seven figures is a lot easier than you think.

 

Provide a Solution

I used to waste time doing stuff that was out of my zone of genius. Building personal trainer software, constructing a billing service for personal trainers—that wasn’t in my 5%.

Then I asked myself, “Well, what am I good at?” That’s when it hit me: “I know how to start and systematize personal training gyms!”

Isolate your solution. Use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube—use it all to build a following of people that will benefit from your solution. Once those people are on your email list, make them an offer they can’t refuse.

 

Turn Your Followers into Leads

Look, it feels great to get all those social media likes, loves, follows, and comments. But why stop there?

Why only focus on followers when you can get followers AND make money?

In fact, it’s not even about your follower count. It’s about how successfully you can turn those followers into paying clients.

Every like and follower is a lead that you can monetize on. That happens when you add value and deliver content to your followers.

 

Want to learn more? Click here to listen to the full-length episode that Craig Ballantyne and I shot about millionaire habits.

 

You might not think you were meant for money.

That’s because the media and the people conditioned you to believe that money was only for the white collar worker—the engineer, the architect, the college grad.

But when your mindset flips to one of abundance, you started to see bigger and better things for yourself. Today I’m going to show you how you can do that.

Don’t Be Afraid to Spend

Back when I was a personal trainer, I trained some pretty affluent people. One of those people was a guy named Jim Franco, who would become a business partner of mine.

One night, Jim took me out to dinner at this really nice restaurant. I practically had a heart attack when I saw the crazy prices on the menu…

The lesson? I had a “millionaire experience”, even though I was nowhere near rich at the time. But that one meal made me want more, so I worked even harder and smarter than I would have otherwise.

When you have those “millionaire experiences”, this psychological switch flips inside your head and you realize exactly how high you should set your goals.

Money = Freedom and Lifestyle

Money doesn’t care if you grew up poor, if you’re black or white, or if you’re a hundred years old.

When you solve people’s problems for them, they pay you.

Now you might think, “Well, sounds great, but why would I need all that money anyway?”

Because money is your vehicle to freedom and lifestyle. When you have it, you can serve more people and live a more comfortable life.

Don’t Let Others Weigh You Down

You’ve probably already heard it before, but you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. But what if those five people all hold you back?

Maybe you tell them you want to make seven figures but they think that’s unrealistic. Maybe you tell them you want to be the CEO of multiple businesses but they think it’s unfeasible.

These people usually mean well, but their insecurity is what leads them to drag others down. They want you to be good, but not too good.

So how do you handle the pessimists—the people I call “crabs”? You edit your relationships with them. Never get into deep talks with them. Protect your dreams from them. If it gets bad enough, you can cut them from your life.

Surround yourself with positive people who will support your biggest pursuits. If you want to make money, read books written by the people who’ done it, or even get coaching from them.

The Gratitude Attitude

You don’t want any crabs in your life. Worse, you DEFINITELY don’t want to become a crab yourself.

So instead of wondering why “so-and-so has to be that ambitious”, be grateful for everything you already have. Gratitude safeguards you from jealousy and mediocrity.

When you show gratitude, chemical changes take place in your head that help you think bigger and more clearly. As an entrepreneur, that’s the kind of mindset you need to grow your income, because it enables you to focus on the stuff that moves the needle for your business.

Want to learn more about opening up your money mindset? Ready to learn the essentials of entrepreneurial dominance? Click here to watch the latest episode of the Empire Podcast Show and discover more lessons like these!

In the last 12 months, Subway has lost over 900 stores, which is the largest loss in company history! And yet, I’m sure you can still remember a time when Subway was completely dominating the fast food sandwich market. Heck, they managed to shove out Quiznos even though Quiznos had higher quality ingredients!

So what happened? Why is the Subway empire crumbling? How can you learn from their mistakes and protect the future of your own empire?

Well, I’ve been studying Subway for years and today I’m going to give you the top three lessons I’ve learned from my research.

Lesson 1: You Must Evolve

Take a look at the fast food landscape right now. Even if you narrow it down to just sandwich shops, Subway is losing ground to more innovative brands like Which Wich that offer better ingredients, even more customization, and a more modern look and feel.

And if you zoom out to the fast food giants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, they are working on creating a look unlike anything we’ve seen in fast food before. They look more and more like modernized lounges where someone could actually sit and hang out.

The market wants to see change. Overtime, anything that stays the same literally becomes invisible. Your eyes scan right over it and look for the thing that’s new and different.

In the middle of all of this, Subway has barely updated their visuals, and they’re still clinging to their $5 Footlong. They haven’t done anything to surprise us, which is why they’re losing our business.

Lesson 2: Scandal Won’t Kill You

The situation with Jared Fogle is a perfect case study in how business leaders should handle a public scandal. Ironically, this is one of the biggest things Subway got right.

As soon as Jared Fogle’s crimes came to light, Subway immediately denounced him and cut all ties with him. Because of that, the public understood that they couldn’t hold Subway accountable for what Jared did behind closed doors.

So really, the Jared Fogle situation didn’t do much to change Subway’s long-term trajectory.

But…

Lesson 3: Lack of Leadership WILL Kill You

Think about this for a moment: there are thousands of people who work at Subway, everyone from the sandwich makers to the CEO. What are the odds that none of those people have ever had an idea that could save the business?

Almost impossible, right? People are natural problem-solving machines. All those people must be noticing process improvements and product improvements left and right that could potentially turn things around.

So why aren’t those ideas being implemented? I can almost guarantee you that it’s a lack of leadership.

When a business has leaders who are communicate their vision clearly and lead by example, good ideas win. Team members are eager to share their good ideas and implement them quickly.

With poor leadership, good ideas get lost in the noise. Instead of working together to implement good ideas, the team gets distracted by personal drama and confusing instructions.

Subway is Not the Only One…

Our economy and our culture are going through a massive shift, and the truth is we’ve only witnessed the beginning of that shift. Other empires like Subway are crumbling. Other empires that you might think are un-killable will start to die out over the next five years.

We are moving away from an economy where businesses can get away with suitable products and services delivered in an impersonal way. The empires of tomorrow (maybe yours?) are being built by entrepreneurs who deliver excellent products and services with a personal connection.

Want to learn more lessons like these from the empires crumbling today? Want to build a legacy that will stand the test of time by avoiding their fatal mistakes? Click here to watch the latest episode of the Empire Podcast Show and discover more lessons like these!

Today, I want to share with you a case study of an entrepreneur who found huge success in my Empire Mastermind group. If you’ve ever spent any time in the bodybuilding world, you’ve probably heard of him: Vince Del Monte.

Today, Vince has a six-figure generating mastermind group that is still growing rapidly, and he’s making more money than ever before by working smarter, not harder.

Pay close attention here, because you can apply these principles to your own life and business right now, even if you’re just starting out and you can’t afford the Empire Mastermind yet.

Vince 1.0

When Craig Ballantyne and I first started working with Vince, he wasn’t a bad entrepreneur. He was a smart, hard-working dude who clearly had a lot of potential. He was passionate about bodybuilding and he had a talent for mentoring others in that world.

The only problem was that he kept getting visits from the Idea Fairy. Instead of focusing on the two or three things that really worked in his business, he kept running off to try out new things.

At one point he had some “marketing expert” sell him on a twelve-way split test. Twelve?! How are you supposed to learn anything from that? The whole point of split testing is to try to beat the control and understand exactly what works and what doesn’t. If you have twelve different versions of your ad, it’s just a huge guessing game.

We even asked Vince if this twelve-way split test was making him any more money and he said no. He just thought it sounded impressive.

Now look, one of Vince’s greatest strengths is that he’s an optimist and he’s open to new ideas. That’s not the issue here. If you enjoy experimenting with new ideas, that’s a good thing too.

However, you have to develop the discipline to measure what you implement, see what creates the best results, and then ruthlessly cut out everything else.

How Vince Upgraded

I had a phone call with Vince and we looked all the different projects he had going on or that he was daydreaming about. Then I asked him a very simple question:

“Out of everything you have going on here, what’s the lowest hanging fruit? What will give you the most income and create the biggest impact?”

After going down the list, we discovered that Vince could make the most money and impact by creating his own mastermind group. In fact, I told him he could charge $1,500 a month from 50 guys in muscle building and create a six-figure business very quickly.

By the way, I should mention here that this conversation happened BEFORE Vince had payed me to join the Empire Mastermind. I was already giving him this solid-gold info and strategy and I probably should’ve been charging him already.

Instead, I took it once step further. I wanted to give him “results in advance” so that when he joined the Empire Mastermind it would be his decision, not just mine. So, I told him exactly when and how to pitch his Mastermind at his next live workshop, then I role-played the entire pitch with him there on the phone.

Sure enough, Vince went and closed 80% of the people in the room on his Mastermind and immediately established a massive new income stream.

And by the way, when you use my formula, Mastermind groups produce 80-90% profits for about 9 months out of the year. The only time that dips down slightly is when you host your live workshops and put on a big show.

Can you see the big lesson here? Would you like to hear more about Vince’s success story? Then click here to watch the latest episode of the Empire Podcast Show!

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Take it from me. I used to hang around with bozos and clowns. Even though I knew I wanted to own a seven figure business empire, those people were dragging me down and limiting my potential.

Then I decided to man up and surround myself with mentors and people who could level up my game.

When you make that change yourself, your circle will fill up with positive people, like-minded individuals, and people who will challenge you to become a better person and professional.

Work on Yourself

Who you are is who you’ll attract. Therefore your first step is to become the person you’re meant to be.

This is when you have to take a hard look at yourself in the mirror and find out who you are.

If I have lowlife dudes with no passion, no purpose hanging around me, that’s probably because I’m giving off an asshole vibe.

But you’ll be stunned at how much you can grow if you eliminate negative self-talk, if you’re grateful for the positive people already in your life, and if you pay it forward.

 

Know Who and What You Want Around You

Craig gave me this really great exercise that you can try:

Think of a positive person that you’d love to emulate. Better yet, think of the type of people you’d want in your circle.

Now write down the characteristics and values that make that type of person who they are.

Those are the same traits that you want to teach yourself. This will help you be more positive, and the quality of the people in your life will go way up.

Be clear on who you want in your life and don’t settle.

Give Without Expectations

You know what people love more than anything? Free stuff. And the universe has a funny way of rewarding you when you give without expectations.

If you want a mentor to keep you accountable but don’t know how to kick off the conversation, being kind and offering them something free is a great place to start.

This guy, Amar, reached out to me a while ago. He said he could make my social media following explode.

Of course, I have my guard up. What is this guy after?

Nothing. He just wanted to connect with me.

Lo and behold, he handled our Fit Body Boot Camp social media like a pro…

You know what Amar did right? His thought was, “How can I help this person.” Not, “How will this person help me?”

Know Your Worth

“Wait, B, but what if I have nothing to offer people like you?”

My answer? Look harder.

Everyone has something to give. YOU have something to give. And if you can’t think of anything to offer, you can always ask this magic question:

“What can I do for you?”

Even if they don’t need anything from you, they’ll at least appreciate your willingness to serve them. That can open the doors to a relationship and another positive person to add to your circle.

Want More?

Click here to check out this week’s podcast episode that Craig and I recorded together.

Being an entrepreneur comes with adversity. There’s no way around that.

You will have to bleed for your purpose and your mission at some point. You will have to push beyond what you are comfortable with now to make a bigger impact tomorrow.

But…

There are certain traps that entrepreneurs fall into that cost them loads of money, energy, and time. Craig and I know because, between the two of us, we’ve fallen into almost all of them at some point.

And the crazy thing is, a lot of these traps are 100% avoidable if you pay attention and listen carefully to those of us who have walked the path before.

That’s why this week I want to share with you the traps you want to avoid in your entrepreneurial journey.

Embrace the Suck Factor

Yes, I’m going to repeat myself here.

You are going to have problems in your business. You are going to feel uncomfortable, unprepared, and “not ready.”

You must develop the discipline of charging into those problems as soon as they come up and of putting yourself in situations where you are uncomfortable and forced to create new solutions.

Understand that those problems are there to serve you and make you stronger. If you run away and hide, you are literally neutering your own potential. You’re setting fire to the money in your own wallet and saying “NO” to the people who need your help.

Embrace the suck factor. Marry it, settle down with it, and have two beautiful children with it.

There is No Man on the White Horse

There’s a very important difference between hiring a coach or mentor to guide you vs. hiring a consultant or expert to solve your problems for you.

I used to make that mistake all the time, and I wasted a lot of money on consultants and experts who had great track records, but ultimately didn’t understand my business or my industry.

Even worse, I robbed myself of the opportunity to learn and grow through problem solving.

I call this “waiting for the man on the white horse.” It’s just another form of hiding or running away. It’s when you throw up your hands and expect someone else to clean up the problem for you.

Do seek out help and advice. You need help and advice. Just remember that you are the ultimate decision maker and your destiny is in your own hands—not anyone else’s.

Stay Committed to the Outcome

Understanding your ultimate outcome gives you the power to say “NO” to distractions, bad habits, and good but great opportunities that will try to pull you off the path.

For example, I used to have a huge problem with stress eating. It caused me to put on extra weight, which I then had to hide from the camera and hide when I got up on stage.

I had a turning point when I realized that carrying this extra weight was completely out of line with my vision of being a leader in the fitness industry. That’s why now, when I get stressed out, I just add in extra workouts instead of extra snacks.

Seriously, I’d rather go for two or even three workouts a day and put up with injuries than sacrifice my vision for my fitness franchise.

Don’t be “The Boss”

“The Boss” is the guy who tells everyone exactly what to do, never lets anyone question his authority, and doesn’t show respect for anyone else while demanding that they show respect for him.

The ego loves the idea of being the boss. It’s especially tempting when you feel stressed out or insecure.

But here’s the thing: the market doesn’t give a crap about “The Boss”.  It cares about whoever solves their problems and does it with outstanding service.

To build a business that solves problems and delivers outstanding service, you need a team of fighter jets who all contribute their best ideas and their best effort. That means you need to be the servant leader—the one who leads by example and helps everyone on the team grow to their full potential.

One Last Thing…

Craig taught me a really cool new phrase this week: “exponential learning.” It’s the idea that if you learn from someone who has read 10 books on a subject, you can get 10 books worth of knowledge all at once just by working with that person.

Make sure you take advantage of the exponential learning Craig and I are offering you by watching our podcast here [LINK] and subscribing wherever you get your podcasts!