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When I was a real-estate agent showing people houses, selling was a key part of my job. I had to show people open houses and explain to them why the house was a good fit for them. I met hundreds of people over the years, and I never had problems talking to people once I got to know them. But there was one advantage I had – Clients would come to me most of the time seeing ads for the houses, and in most cases, I would talk to them over the phone first. This circumvented my biggest fear.
You see, I’m terrified of door-knocking. Going door-to-door and pitching people the products or services you want to sell them, and getting the door slammed on your face is a crushing experience. I couldn’t process the thought of being rejected tens of times a day. This isn’t an experience unique to me. You might have heard of Jordan Belfort, “The Wolf of Wall Street”. The man has a controversial past, but he is undoubtedly a master at selling stuff. Jordan talks about how one of his first jobs was to drive a meat truck across New York, knock on every door, and sell boxes of meat to strangers. Jordan sold 250 boxes a week when his colleagues struggled to sell even 20 – but it’s not because he had a magic passphrase. He had the fortitude to get rejected 30 or 40 times and still continue to knock knowing that the next sale was different.
A few days back, my security cam caught a young man going door-to-door and I discovered that he was offering to clean windows for a fee. I was curious and caught up with him, and I learned that Tyler was making $1000 a day (maybe better than a doctor’s salary!) by just focusing on one thing – knocking on doors and offering to clean windows. I had to see this for myself, and it was also an opportunity for me to face my fear. I teamed up with Tyler to try what he did for an entire day. Walking up to a closed door, knocking on it, and offering to clean windows were nerve-wracking tasks for me, but with Tyler’s guidance, I learned a lot. We ended up making more than a thousand dollars.
This was a humbling experience for me and it also changed my perspective about facing my fear of rejection. Check it out:
The Graham Stephan Show
I just love seeing stories of enterprising youngsters. Annie Park is a 32-year old who has teamed up with her mother to sell ice cream, and they’re making over $230,000 a year! Check out my reaction to the Millennial Money episode that covers the story of Sarah’s Handmade Ice-cream in Washington DC.
The next video is the polar opposite. There’s this new show called “Princess” that follows the life of spoiled brats who have no control over their spending, while the host Gail tries to turn around their life. When the intro shows a girl in tears because she can’t stop spending, you know it’s going to be good. Here’s the story of Diana, and how she’s able to finance an extravagant lifestyle by working just one day a week.
Documenting life
It takes guts to share your most vulnerable moments online, and that’s one of the hardest parts of being a creator. But Ur Mom Ashley took it to a whole new level when she decided to document every aspect of her life and share it with her audience. As her journey evolved and she exploded in popularity, exposing the emotional parts of her life became a real challenge. In this episode, we sat down with Ashley to talk about what it takes to build a life as a creator who shares it all, how she sets her boundaries, and how she deals with the challenges of such a life:
The NELK Empire
NELK is one of the most successful YouTube channels, businesses, and brands out there – It’s a true example of how following your passion and focusing on making better content can lead to something exceptional. With over 10 million followers across platforms, NELK is a billion-dollar business, and we got a chance to talk to the man managing it all, John Shahidi. Here’s the story of NELK and how it all works behind the scenes:
So that’s it for my weekly round-up. We now have a premium plan that gets you exclusive extra content every week and priority engagement – check it out.
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