How To Kick Ass During Summer as an Entrepreneur
So Summer is here, and I’m assuming you’re watching this because you want to kick some ass during the Summer season. This is an incredible time to be passing up some of your competitors, and even for some of you guys to separate from your competitors, in whatever business you’re in. A lot of people do summers; I don’t do Summers. In Germany, everybody takes 30 days off. Some of you guys may absolutely disagree with me, but I’ll tell you why I don’t do Summer, so you’ll get a better idea about it.
A lot of it has to do with how big you think, and what your vision is. There’s nothing wrong with somebody who says, “During Summer, I want to do X,Y,Z.” More power to you. The bigger you think, you have to be more focused, because momentum goes like this. If, in business, it takes you two years … I never understood when business owners do this. It takes you two years to gain momentum, and your business is about to compound and explode, you take a two week vacation. You lose your momentum. Then it takes you two more years to re-create that momentum. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to regain my momentum. I want to compound my momentum.
So if you have smaller goals in life, you can be a solopreneur. You can take two months off during Summer if you want to do that. That’s not the life I want to build. I want to build a completely different life. So you have to answer one question first. How big is your goal? What do you want to build? The bigger it is, you have to be more paranoid about losing your momentum. That’s why you need to be more focused.
Having said that, let me tell you what happens during Summer season.
#1. What pulls people away to get distracted?
The sun is out, people travel, they go to pool parties. They go to the beach. They go to the lake house. Barbecues. You saw the video I did on barbecues a couple weeks ago. Partying, exercising, vacations, concerts, hike, golf, sports. They do all those sorts of things. By the way, I’m in the life insurance industry, and I want you to be thinking about this. Most of my competitors today, they’re trying to get their golf game better. I don’t care to golf. But I’m glad they’re golfing, because the market’s wide open for someone like me that’s not planning on golfing. So what can you do during your time like this to kick ass during the Summer season? Look, I’m gonna give you a few items for you to be thinking about, that’ll help you out with this. We already know this is going to pull people away from being focused. They’re gonna be distracted because of this, no matter what. What can you do to use these things, that people are gonna do. 80% of people are going to be distracted by this.
What can you do to allow this to help grow your business? I’ll give you some ways that’s worked for me, and hopefully can work for you as well. Number one is people become overly concerned about what others are doing during the Summer. So what does this mean? “What vacation were you on?” “Oh, what are they doing?” “Oh, let me check Facebook.” People check Facebook newsfeed, social media, Snapchat, Instagram way more during Summer, because everybody is so curious about what everybody else is doing. Guess what that means? The eyeballs on you officially doubled. More people are watching everything you’re doing, which is an opportunity for you to create some solid content during that time. Increase your marketing, your advertising, your strategy, to get so edgy, because everyone’s checking their phone twice as they would in a regular time, because they’re trying to get away. So any time they’re away and their not working, check newsfeed. Check newsfeed. I’m at the pool. Check newsfeed. Instagram. Instagram. Instagram. Instagram. Instagram. Snapchat. Snapchat. Snapchat. Opportunities for you to be in their face. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Because I know 80% of the people are being casual during the Summer. You gotta have a game plan for that.
#2. Too much sun.
Okay, so everybody wants to get too much sun. They want to go out. They want to go party. They want to do all that kind of stuff.
What can you do? Well, first of all, solve for X. Let me tell you what I mean by solve for X. Who is your ideal client? You may say my ideal client is a husband and wife with kids. Perfect. If the sun is out, and everybody wants to be out with their kids, under the sun, having a good time, why don’t you put an incredible event together for kids. A super-soaker contest, like my friend is doing out here in Dallas. Put a super-soaker contest. Why don’t you put a pool party? Why don’t you put a slip and slide? Why don’t you put an event with these jumpy houses that kids come to? Why don’t you announce that? Market it. Five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, whatever, for people to come. Put ice cone, snow cone machines, all these things that you’re gonna put out there, and kids come.
If 100 kids come- that means how many people are coming? That means 300 people are coming. You know why? 100 kids, mommy, daddy, that’s three. If a brother comes, then you know it’s even more. Now you’ve got all these people are coming, and while they’re coming, you’re being intentional about it. Hey, we put this together with my business. I’m a real estate guy; I’m an insurance guy; I create websites; I design; I do this; I do that. Everyone’s coming for the sun. The sun attracted everybody, and you’re putting this incredible event together for the kids that attracted everybody, but you’re doing business. And you’re networking, and you’re building new contacts. And as you’re going around saying, “Oh my gosh. It’s so great.” You’re having fun. “So what do you do? What do you do?” Blah, blah, blah. “Oh great. So how do you know Mary? Oh, Mary and you … Okay. That’s great. Amazing. So let me tell you what I do. Here’s what we do. This is great. Awesome. Good to meet you. Maybe one of these days, we can get together for lunch, breakfast, dinner, coffee,” et cetera. Boom. There’s a contact.
You know how many of these things out there I’ve done. When the sun was out, in L.A., I would rent out a beach – private beach I would rent out. I’d invite 300 people. I’d get three jet skis. 70% of people have never been on a jet ski before. I’d tell them to go on a jet ski. For the rest of their lives, they’re gonna say, “The first time I ever went on a jet ski …” They went on a jet ski because a guy named Patrick Bet-David put this jet ski there together for them. All weekend they’re talking about it. “What were you doing this weekend?” “I was jet skiing.” “How?” ” I was with this guy named Patrick Bet-David. Man, it was amazing.” Marketing when the sun is out. Simultaneously, you’re out. You’re with the jet skis. You’re having a good time. Your kids could be there. Your wife could be there. Your boyfriend could be there. Your husband could be there. Your family could be there. You’re having a good time yourself. But you’re doing business simultaneously. That’s the key. Those who understand how to leverage times like this, they get business done. They get fun done. They get health done. They get family done. They get health done. And they get relaxation and fun done at the same time. It becomes perfect if you know how to do it the proper way.
#3. For most people, it’s off season.
What is off season? Off season: this is the time I get relaxed. This is the time when I’m kicking back. Again, it goes back to the same thing. People are too concerned about what other people are doing. Everybody else is open for you to go up and talk to them, because it’s an off season. But off season means a lot of other things. Off season, to me, means, this is a chance for me to be in season mode. This is a chance for me to add something new to my arsenal. This is a chance for me to up my game in a way where everybody else, 90 days later, saying, “Man. They just did something crazy. I don’t even know what happened here today. Man, this was a …”
Like, right now, we, at our company, we’re bringing some incredible talent to Valuetainment and PHP during the season. No one knows who we’re bringing on board. Why are we doing this? Because we want to add something to our arsenal that nobody else knows about, and Summer’s always been my favorite season. Because everybody, your entire competition gets a little bit more casual during off season. Improve your game. During off season, Kobe learned footwork from Hakeem Olajuwon. During off season, everybody else was kicking back. He was learning footwork, because Hakeem Olajuwon knew how to do footwork better than everybody else. Kobe came back, increased his game, and everyone else said, “Oh my gosh. Look at Kobe’s game this season.” LeBron used to not have the turnaround jump shot. Look at his jump shot now. LeBron today shoots better three point shooting, percentage wise, than Michael Jordan ever did, because he worked on it during the off season. Off season is a time to shock everybody if you can get better, but very few people will do that.
#4. Long vacations.
You know what’s the great thing about long vacations? People go on two, three, four week vacations. “I’m going on a two week vacation. I’m going on a three week vacation.” Let me give you some hints, some tips on vacations. Remember, bigger the goal, focused momentum. You take two week vacation. Gone. I remember. Let me give you the exact date here. The exact date here in June of 2004. Look at the dates. June of 2004 is the dates. There was a guy I’m competing with. This guy’s a beast. He’s an incredible communicator. I’m watching this guy. He’s ahead of me. He makes $51,000 in a single month. He makes $51,000 in a single month. He gets married. He goes to Cancun for one week. Then he goes to Israel for three weeks. Comes back, his business goes like this. Loses all the momentum in his business. During that time, I doubled down. I doubled down. I doubled down. Our business went like this. He never ever ever, for his entire career, could ever compete with us again. Because I learned about mini-vacations, and he took three, four week vacations, you lose your entire momentum. So that told me who thinks bigger.
It’s very simple. It’s all about who thinks bigger. Because the bigger you think, the more focused you need to stay. So during this time, one of the things I can tell you about vacations is: I like to mix company trips. For instance, we just got back. I was in Miami last week. We rented a 12 million dollar penthouse at Bal Harbour. So I invited 30 people over. Then I went and visited two offices. Then I went and did meetings with Cardone, Grant Cardone. Then I went and met with the CEO and founder of Newsmax, right? Chris Ruddy. He’s worth a hundred million dollars a year. Top line revenue is what they do. I met with clientele. I met with people in business of the insurance side. But at the same time, my kids were at Bal Harbour. I would go check on them at the pool. I’d go back to my meetings. I’d go out to the beach and make some sand castles with them. I’d cover them up with sand. Then I’d go back again. And I would do that part, but I’m also getting business done.
In six weeks, we’re taking a couple hundred people to Cancun. We’ll be staying at Moon Palace, or something like that. When we take these couple hundred agents from our company to Cancun, we’re gonna be doing business. We’re gonna be doing family time. We’re donna be doing health time. We’re gonna be doing relaxation time, all at the same time, because it’s strategic. I’m not just gonna go on a vacation by myself, and sit there and twiddle my thumb, because I can’t do that, because I have a big goal. I have big dreams. I have a big vision of what I want to do, and if you do as well, you can strategize it the same exact way because remember earlier how I said I don’t do Summers? Remember how I said I don’t do Summers? The reason why people look so forward to doing Summers, is because they don’t know how to condition their body throughout the week.
I don’t know for how long I got a massage every single week. I don’t know for how long I was on Sundays – my Sundays were a therapeutic day. My Sundays, I would go to a specific place that was relaxing for me. I would listen to the ocean. I was there for two hours. I would come back, and I would run appointments in the afternoon. But morning for me was all therapeutic. For longest time, I would take every quarter, every four months, on a Saturday afternoon, after all my appointments were done, five, six o’clock. I’d drive out to San Diego, and I’d stay at a nice hotel in San Diego for a night. Or I’d go to Santa Barbara. I’d stay at Santa Barbara for a night. Or I’d go … And so my body is being fueled the entire time. I don’t need a two week vacation during Summer, if I’m doing it properly. If I’m conditioning my body properly, I don’t need that two week vacation for Summer, or four week like some people do. I’m not saying that’s everybody. That’s what I did.
#5. Overspending.
People overspend. Why? Because Summer, people are saying, “I want to buy this clothes. I want to buy that. I want to buy this. I want to buy this. Why don’t we buy this? Why don’t we buy this?” So what happens, when you start getting in the mood of overspending, your pockets become looser. You’re open. This is a great opportunity for you to get in front of clientele, and present your opportunity. If you do present it, they are more receptive during Summer to buy from you than they are during other times. Because the other times, they’re not. They’re closed. Everything is just … So just think about Summer loosens people up to open up to you. Summer is like their alcohol. Summer comes, they’re casual. They’re loose. They’re opening up to see what you want. If you got a nice card. Summer sale. Summer spectacular. Summer this. Summer that. Use that to your advantage, to get people to come and sit in front of you so you can do business with them.
#6. Party with No Purpose.
Party with a purpose. That means a lot of people go out there, and they like to go to parties. What can you do about parties? So what can you do with parties? Well, let me put it to you this way. If you can put an insane party together, and invite, solve for X, your audience to it – you know, if it’s salespeople, executives, marketers. It doesn’t matter what it is. Money people. Network. It doesn’t matter what it is. If you can put incredible parties together, and you’re the host? Everybody wants to meet the host, and everybody remembers the host when they leave. And everybody talks about how amazing of a party you put together. It almost becomes like this. I know this is a crazy analogy to use. You know how, when you’re good in bed, everybody finds out. When you know how to put good parties together, guess what? Everybody talks.
So if you’re gonna put a good party together, you mix it up with business, and you connect everybody, you’re doing the right part. The other day I went and looked at a real estate house. Five million dollar house on sale. Watch what this real estate agent did. Brilliant. I go in there. I see the house. Right across the street from Tony Romo. I look at the house. I’m like, this is a nice house. Very small back yard. Not my taste, but when I went up there, I met Princess Diana’s chef. Okay? Somebody everybody knows about. He’s all over television. I met Princess Diana’s chef. I liked him. I’m hiring him for an event. Then I go away to this other side. I met somebody who does furniture for the house. Look how brilliant she is. Then I go down, there’s a bar, where they have all the liquor, their alcohol, sponsored by the bar, a local bar that you can go to and eat. Then outside was a Dawn. Rolls Royce Dawn parked outside. I go outside. I see the Dawn. I like the Dawn. I love the Dawn. I ended up buying the Dawn. Not that Dawn, another Dawn, a Rolls Royce Dawn.
She’s so smart for what she did. Look how much money was made. That women is brilliant because she made a simple showing of a house, by bringing a chef, a Rolls Royce car salesman, general sales manager, a person who owns a local restaurant. And what happened, every one of them now, when someone wants to buy a house, they’re gonna say what? “Go talk to her. Go talk to her.” That’s how you do it. Little bit edgy than the other guys don’t want to be doing it.
And last but not least.
#7. Being a Boss that Takes Long Vacations.
During Summer, you know, where you can kick ass. Think about how many CEOs, how many bosses take long vacations during the Summertime, where they’re gone for four weeks. Think about how many people do it. You know what happens when that happens? Let me explain it to you. There is an employee, an executive, that works for that boss, that CEO, and they say, “I am so sick and tired of making this guy look good. I’m so sick and tired of working for this guy, and he’s on vacation for four, five, six weeks, and he’s golfing every single day. I’m so sick of it.” Guess what I want. I want to recruit that guy.
So talent is available for you to recruit them, if you’re in the game. Because talent like that, wants to work with somebody that’s in the game. Talent like that doesn’t want to work with somebody who wants to golf four, five, six weeks during the Summertime. They don’t want it. And I know a lot of my competition loves to golf. I know it. I know a lot of them are so focused on vacation time, and all this other stuff. Again, it goes back to how big you think. If your goals are bigger, Summertime, you have such a big opportunity, to separate, pass up some of your competitors, and become the standard for everybody, and stay there for awhile if you constantly keep having strategies during Summertime. Because think about it. Third quarter starts July 1st, goes til September 30th. That’s Q3. That’s a solid quarter to have. We’ve gone eight quarters company, beating prior quarter revenues. It’s because we treat every quarter like a very important quarter. This is the way you gotta think during Summertime to grow your business to another level.
