Joey Ragona, the entrepreneur life
Spark Entrepreneurship

How to get things in life done NOW!

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Every single day someone is telling me how they are overwhelmed with stuff to do.. so many things coming at them.. right life gets in the way and you know what were all like that there's so much going on in our lives, there’s so many distractions in our lives that we really can’t get things done we really want to.

And you know I'm a lot like you cannot bet that I'm probably even worse than you are because there's so many things that I want to get done.

I'm a natural entrepreneur… my mind is everywhere

there’s so many big things that I want to do an I’ll tell you something; the secret is that the way I get things done is by focusing.

Now you probably heard that before and this is not a rah-rah pat me on the back that I'm better than you are type a podcast this is admitting that you know what sometimes I sit here all day long clicking Facebook and Twitter and Google Plus and LinkedIn and just looking around for other things to distract me so I don't have to get to whatever it is.

Or, maybe subconsciously I'm doing that but not consciously that I'm looking for distractions right?

There’s so many things I want to get done.

The secret is that you have to get done what is the most important thing.

Yea, it's common sense “I know that Joey, I’ve heard it before so many things… so many people told me this before”

I’ve listened to the gurus I've read the books I know!!! Prioritize! What’s the most important thing?

Well hey, are you doing that?

I know that I don’t! And I’m the one who’s teaching it to all my clients too and I sit here and I still procrastinate; and it’s because I haven't really connected with what is the most important thing and when I do then that's when things get done!

And you know with the most important thing is… don't you?

If you have your list right now if I asked you write down the top 10 things that you have to do today or this week or this month or this year… you know what the most important thing is!

For me…last year only there was five years worth of taxes that I had to get done and that was from 2008 so every single year out of five years with the tax to get done it was always compounding on top of each other I always had the taxes to get done.

Well last year I just had to sit down and focus and doing it.

It was the most important thing.

You know the thing is…when we have so many things on her mind and we try to sit down and focus we give ourselves the excuse of well there’s so many of the things I want to do; this got in the way; that got in the way…

It's because the one thing the biggest thing that you have to do is sitting in the back of your mind and you’re just pushing it back.

Look at me, for five years it was always about the taxes and I go into it and do a little bit of it, do a little bit more the bookkeeping and something would always come back to the old “I don't want to do this…there’s something else that I need to get done.”

Or I'd update my Facebook status or something silly like that.

There's always something better that I could be doing but in the back of my mind I knew what was most important which was doing the taxes.

Whatever it is for you you know every single day every single week there's something that is the most important thing and that's what you need to get done you know it's there!

For me in the last couple weeks it's been the same thing you know…I still go through these peaks and valleys of being the most focus person to the most unfocused person and not getting stuff done now it's not as critical as my taxes were but still there's things that I still need to get done and I’m still pushing them back.

Why is that?

Because I have not actually sat down and focused only on the one thing and believe me that one thing that I need to get done is really only going to take me half a day and it’s done – it's out of my head and I can do all these other things that I'm doing half-assed right?

I'm not doing them to the full capacity that I should be doing them because I'm just trying to fit everything on my calendar; everything that I want to do and doing things just to get it done really quickly and get it out so I could be proud of myself that I've done everything that I wanted to do.

Well it's not to the best of my ability.

Now again I don't want to say that you should be a perfectionist all the time because then you'll never get things done.

But there is a level of perfectionism that you have. There's a level of standard that you want to put out isn’t there?

So why don’t we look back and see exactly what it is that you have to get done and do that one thing get it out of your head.

You know it's there.

It's always nagging on you.

You’d be really surprised at how long it actually takes you because I think that we overestimate how long it's going to take.

Get rid of the distractions.

Shut off Facebook. Shut off our iPhones and do everything get rid of everything in our visions put on the blinders.

Turn off the Internet. Put on the headphones, listen to some music whatever it is that makes you focus and just get it done

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marketing your product
Entrepreneurial Mindset

What I learned from the digital marketing industry

Here's the transcript from my podcast about what I learned from the digital marketing industry

~ begin transcript ~

For the past two years, I’ve been learning & ramping up my online marketing.

I’ve taken almost every course out there (in the digital marketing industry).

I’ve studied with the best in the world.

I’ve sat in highly paid masterminds with some of them.

In other words, I’ve been able to get inside their heads to see how they think.

Then I deployed everything I learned.

And just like my real estate investment business…I had to tweak things.

And I’m still tweaking things.

Is that new?

To anyone who is an entrepreneur … the answer is no.

But the point is, I’m still learning. Even though I’m teaching marketing, business development and so on to the masses.

Here’s what I ***learned*** from the digital marketing industry

  1. The market is always right. We are not. We THINK we’re right…but until the market votes with their money / approval, we have no clue.
  2. SPEND MONEY to find the answer to #1. That means unless you are putting your stuff in front of the people who will potentially buy it, you have no idea if your marketing is working. Asking your buddy or spouse if it’s a “good product or service” doesn’t do you any good.
  3. Do you have the right audience to test #2 with in the first place? For a LOT of entrepreneurs, the answer really is NO – even though they think they do. So how do you FIND that market? Refine your search…narrow it down to a specific problem. And then go looking for data. Google Analytics, Alexa, etc…And yes…PAY for the data.

I can’t tell you how important it is to invest some money into your business. Because otherwise you’re just guessing your way through.

Here’s an example: for a niche I was targeting to advertise on Facebook, I THOUGHT it was a male dominated market and had an age range from 25 – 55. For the record, that’s a big range.

After I spent some money on ads, without any response, I finally took my own advice and paid for research.

I was COMPLETELY WRONG. The market was dominated by women aged 18-24 and 34-44. BIG difference right? So you can see why an ad needs to be VERY specific to talk to the market you want to target.

The point of all this is to encourage you to do your homework and put some money into your business. In my early years of business that’s exactly what I did and it worked.

In today’s day and age with “free” internet, Facebook, twitter, linked in and so on…entrepreneurs are growing up in a world where they believe they can market for free.

Even though some of that may be true, for the most part, you STILL have to invest time, energy and money into your business to grow it 10x.

Otherwise all you have is a cool little self-made job.

– Joey

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Spark Entrepreneurship

Business High Performance Behaviours

Here's the business high performance transcript from the podcast:

~ Begin Transcript ~

What is your day like?

Are you in reaction? Distraction?

Are you constantly pulled in every direction feeling like you’ve got nothing done?

Well today I want to talk about your routine…

Do you HAVE routine?

I’m just back from spending a week with my coach & mentor Brendon Burchard and a room of more than 500 high performers working on our own daily chess game.

Because that’s what it is isn’t it?

A chess game.

What is the right piece to move – to where – at the right time?

What makes us perform at high levels? There are a few things…like your mindset and the productivity routines you have of course…

But I was also very aware that all of the speakers, the millionaires and billionaires talked about diet and routine physiology.

It’s not a ‘SHOCK’ per sa…

But it’s not common practice for a lot of us. Me included.

I think our daily routines either fuel us or “F” us up.

The reason we are unmotivated or don’t get things done as we want is that we haven’t set up our day from the moment we wake up to be productive.

most people wake up, turn their phone on (if it was off), check email and the messages they missed “trying” to get some sleep. Because let’s face it, MOST people even have trouble sleeping because they’re juggling things in their minds all night long.

They are not giving themselves a break-even at night, let alone the day.

 

Here's a related post BTW: You're making life choices in ONE of these 3 ways – GUARANTEED

 

So the morning starts with distraction – with PANIC to deal with the incoming noise from others.

And God help us if we haven’t had a good nights sleep.

We grab a double latte or something and pump the caffeine through our veins hoping it will get us moving.

These high producers GENERATE their energy – they get up and DECIDE to get moving. They stretch, they drink water to start their day, they meditate and work out…

In other words, they are spending QUALITY TIME with themselves.

They haven’t yet let the world in.

For the most part, I’ve been doing a solid “me time” routine for a few years now. So this wasn’t ‘news’ to me.

But I didn’t ‘shut down’ and not listen thinking “yea I already know that”

Uh uh…

Because the moment we do that, we miss the Gold.

Arianna Huffington said one thing that stuck with me “Sometimes, You can FINISH a project just by dropping it”

Think about that.

It’s brilliant because most entrepreneurs like you and me _ and you’d be lying if you don’t agree with me (laugh)…have too many projects on the go.

And we feel GUILTY or that we’re cheated somehow if we don’t finish it. EVEN if that means the project does nothing for us in the end.

Have you ever read a book you hated?

WHY?

Because you PAID money for it? OR you felt you were so far into it you may as well finish it?

WHY?

High performers take on what they know they can finish – and when they can’t or when it’s no longer serving them, they have no problem dropping it.

But I digress, I’m getting totally off track here..

The point I want to make is that YOUR routine is the most important strategy you can employ in your day. It will make or break you.

Take 5 minutes and literally WRITE DOWN what you do every day on a consistent basis.

As a coach, this is what I would be asking you to do. And then look at it. How much of it is actually benefitting you?

How much of it can you move to another time slot or even eliminate?

And more importantly, what can you ADD to your daily routine that will positively impact your life?

~ End Transcript ~

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understand audience
Market Your Product

Understanding your audience

~ begin transcript ~

Todays' episode of the Entrepreneur Life asks the question:

Are you in ‘touch' with your audience?

I spend every week talking with and coaching business owners / entrepreneurs just like you.

They are SO caught up in their business – stuff to do – emails to answer – bills to pay. Well, you know what I'm talking about.

I find they begin to drift away from their audience…they lose ‘touch' with them and soon resort to ‘convincing' new people to buy from them.

They try to ‘sell' their product or service…and try to ‘convince' the customer WHY they need it.

WHY it's better than anything else out there.

Here's a secret…if you're customers – that is, potential customers don't have a specific problem and are going out there looking for the solution, you're in trouble.

You want to avoid ‘building something' that nobody wants to buy in the end.

So how do you fix that problem?

It's as simple as asking your audience what they WANT.

What do they truly care about?

What is it they really DON'T care about even though you've been promoting it as a huge benefit?

You see, the value you are selling has to be relevant to your audience…if they don't believe it's value, there's nothing you can do to convince them it is.

Does that make sense?

This is where I see so many of my consulting clients banging their heads against the wall trying to invent new ways to convince the customer to buy their product.

It ain't gonna happen.

Stop it.

go out and TALK to your prospects.

Find out what their REAL problem is.

And then it's time to reflect on your business or product…

DOES is truly solve that problem?

And what if you can't IDENTIFY a problem?

That's even more trouble, right?

Because all you're doing is pushing a product into the market they haven't asked for.

“But Joey, they don't KNOW they want it until I SHOW them…”

Hmm, maybe that works sometimes…and I would think it's VERY RARE…and you STILL have to have deep pockets like Apple or Coca Cola to market and advertise something to “show” the market.

In marketing there is a LOT to deal with – but when it really boils down to it, it's NOT that hard to figure out…

Does my audience have a problem – what is that specific problem and DO I have a specific solution?

Do they CARE about the solution and are they WILLING to pay for it?

Because you could have a bad-ass solution, but there are thousands of other similar products or services out there you have to compete with.

That's not a great place to be either.

Because if you're selling a bag a rice – what makes your rice better than the rice that's 10 cents cheaper?

And, Do people really care about that feature?

We have to think in a reverse way – ‘how will this benefit my customer AFTER they've used it?'

Is your product ‘better'?

HOW is it better – WHAT will happen when the customer finishes using it?

HOW will their life change as a result of using your product or service?

– That's the question of the day my friend!

~ End transcript ~

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commitment vs sacrifice
Spark Entrepreneurship

Commitment vs Sacrifice

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I have to say, that after so many years of being a workaholic and spending countless hours building my businesses, I totally would argue there is a difference between sacrifice and commitment.

Malcolm Gladwell says we need 10,000 hours to perfect our craft – believe me…I've put in 5 times that.

Think about it – 12 hour days – entrepreneurs can EASILY put in 12 hour days and not blink an eye.

So I've committed. I've put hours in.

But when I lost my dad in 2001 – I started to see sacrifice and commitment in different ways.

My work ethic and drive comes from being inside an entrepreneurial family…I lived and breathed the blood sweat and tears.

Watched both my parents build a business from literally nothing.

My father was dedicated – committed – driven – whatever you want to call it.

He would do – as ANY entrepreneur would do … ANYTHING to make his business successful.

Sometimes it took extra nights and some weekends.

There's a popular saying among entrepreneurs that goes something like “do what others are not willing to do for a few years and you'll get the things others will never have”…

I may have messed up the quote there, but I'm sure you get the meaning..

I lived by that rule for my whole life. Well, most of it.

Trouble is, those ‘few years' turn into decades. And those decades turn into their lives.

I know because I was headed down the same path.

We keep sacrificing things.

I did it. My dad did it. And there's tens of thousands out there right now doing it.

Look, commitment is one thing – but sacrifice is another.

IF you are like all of the entrepreneurs I've talked with who are willing to do anything for your business…

My question is – what are you WILLING to give up?

For how long?

“As long as it takes” really doesn't fly with me anymore.

My dad taught me things he never knew he did. Because he was committed. He was driven and passionate.

He believed. Even when there was no structure, pathway or strategy to get him to where he wanted to go.

He just pushed forward.

He taught me what commitment REALLY is. Because we lived it every day of our lives.

Entrepreneurship never stopped at our house. It was a constant in our lives.

At the dinner table, at the office, on a trip to Niagara Falls…

It's how I grew up – and I'm so grateful to have that same ‘belief system' he had.

But my dad also taught me something else…

That he DIDNT' have a life.

Because he was willing to do whatever it took for “a few years”. And he ended up sacrificing his life for his business.

Literally.

Because when Cancer told him in 1998 that he had three years left to live his life, he scrambled to put everything he pushed aside up front as priority.

Vacation – “me” time – family time – and so on.

When I lost my dad, I kept pressin' on – I told everyone that would listen how I was working for my family.

I began to see the pattern of sacrificing my life.

Holidays, weekends, you name it, I put the hours in to be successful.

And it wasn't until about five years ago – almost ten years since I lost my dad that it hit me…that we DON'T have to sacrifice our lives.

We are entrepreneurs and we DO have to commit. But we DON'T have to sacrifice.

And I'll go one step further – commitment is not good enough – to truly live a balanced life without your business taking away your life, you must STRATEGICALLY commit.

And that means you have to know WHY you're doing what you do.

And all of the rest falls into place.

There's many things I wish I could tell my dad – and this is one of 'em – to strategically commit – knowing exactly Why and What so you can LIVE today – and not wait for tomorrow.

~ end transcript ~

If you like this, please let me know below!

Talk later!

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