Accountability Matters

In 2006 I started hiring coaches.

I did about 80% of what they said…

And I got some decent results because of it.

But for some reason I wasn’t going as hard as possible with the advice I was given.

It wasn’t until I met Bedros Keuilian in 2009 and joined his Mastermind that I finally gave my coach everything I had.

The reason…

I looked up to Bedros like a big brother.

I didn’t want to disappoint him… I didn’t want to fail him and get the Armenian Death Stare. 

Accountability to Bedros changed my life… help me overcome my introverted ways… stopped me from taking the path of least resistance and the easy way out when challenges came my way.

He helped me Man-Up. He taught me a lot about being a good father and husband.

Years ago, he and I did over 200 episodes of a podcast called The Empire Show.

But none of those podcasts were as good as the one we recorded last week.

It was raw… emotional… and it’ll instill an 11/10 attitude in you…

Building that Operator Mindset of personal responsibility and massive action.

Watch for that coming out in a couple of weeks.

Until then, a few nuggets from Bedros…

Blast From the Past – Making Money Online

In preparing for our podcast, I went through the oldest emails between me and B.

One of the oldest ones I had saved contains amazing money-making lessons that still hold true today.

#3 is the BIG one!

Here’s what Bedros wrote to me:

Craiggy, here’s what I’ve discovered about making lots of money fast… and for a long time.

1. Create products that people want… not what you think they want.

The most successful products are usually done for you, ready to use, make you feel good, and give you hope, and are often NEW and / or improved.

[CB notes… a 2024 real-world example of that is Magic Spoon cereal… Michelle has been buying this grain-free version of Fruit Loops for Isabella…. It has “cutting edge” ingredients and is new and improved over the old version full of sugar and chemical.

Another real world example is Skool.com … the latest online community / video portal that many marketers are moving towards. It’s a ready-to-use platform that is also easy to use.]

How do you create products people want?

You put yourself in your customers shoes.

You identify what they value …

And then you fill that desire.

The biggest mistake is trying to something you’ve already made “just because you have it”.

That’s the “Garage Sale” way of thinking… and it doesn’t work.

Interview your customers. Find out their problems. Deliver the solutions.

2. Create Continuity / Recurring Revenue for Stability

Continuity comes in many forms – rent, memberships, subscriptions to services, licensing, multiple payments for high ticket products…

Identify what your customers would be willing to pay for on a regular basis.

I was once a subscriber to the peanut butter of the month club…just shows you that anything can be made into a recurring revenue stream.

3. Don’t just be the authority, be the guy they WANT TO BE LIKE.

Anyone will buy from authority once, BUT they’ll buy from the person they greatly admire (their hero) repeatedly.

Position yourself (through others (social proof and EXPERT proof) rather than simply saying you are the authority. Help THEM come to that natural conclusion on their own.

Today people see Bedros as super successful… but he wrote a book about his early failures and how he learned to become a better man and leader. It’s called Man-Up.

Like ol’ CB, Bedros has made a lot of mistakes along the way in life.

Here’s a list of dumb moves that he made so you never make these mistakes.

Big Bad Mistakes to Avoid

By Bedros Keuilian

DUMB MOVE #1) Never tolerate mediocre employees who don’t meet your expectations or share your core values.

When you as a leader tolerate a substandard employee you’re telling your other team members that you accept a lower standard of work. 

Soon two things will happen…

First your employees will begin to lose respect for you for tolerating a substandard employee.

Second, they’ll lower their performance levels. This is one of the fastest ways to destroy your business.

Look, in all of life you get what you tolerate.

So if you’re tolerating mediocrity in your business then you’ll begin to lose customers, profits and the respect of others. 

DUMB MOVE #2) Don’t try to do too many things at once.

This is a rookie mistake that I made and I see a ton of business owners making. 

New entrepreneurs will try to have too many programs, too many services, too many offerings and too many businesses. 

Look, there’s nothing wrong with having many businesses, products, offerings and income streams.

Today I have a ton of businesses and income streams. 

But before you spread yourself too thin you’ve got to get your core business dialed in before kicking off the next one. 

I call this having entrepreneurial discipline. 

And that means having singularity of focus on ONE THING until you have a healthy and profitable business that has strong systems in place and competent people running it so that you can create the next business, product or offer. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen business owners try to create multiple things at once and then they find themselves stressed, overwhelmed, and broke. 

DUMB MOVE #3) Poor marketing leads to poor profits.

Once you have a winning product or service that’s profitable, it’s time to scale it. 

There’s nothing wrong with organic traffic from social media.

But if you want to take your business to the next level then you’ve got to scale it by running paid ads on social media platforms where you can reach more of the right audience at a MUCH faster rate. 

However, here’s the thing with paid ads and traffic – it doesn’t work at first. 

You can’t think that you’re going to run your first ad and it’s going to magically get you great leads who will buy your stuff. 

It’s going to take some experimenting with the right ad, right offer and sending them to the right sales site until you find the formula that delivers the highest ROAS (return on ad spend). 

I’ve got coaching clients who run all types of paid traffic, everything from social media ads, to paid email drops, to radio and TV spots. 

In fact in my businesses I spend about $300K a month in various ad spend to help us generate millions in sales each month. 

DUMB MOVE #4) Bad leadership is the kiss of death.

The biggest blind spot that most entrepreneurs have is not realizing that they lack good leadership. 

Truth is, for most of us leadership is not factory installed.

And if you’re not an effective leader then you’re not going to be able to attract great team members. 

I always say that leadership is the problem, leadership is the solution. 

Effective leadership is this: 

Having a clear vision for what you want for your business and being able to communicate to your team.

It’s being a good problem solver and fast decision maker.

It’s being emotionally disciplined and having the ability to make everyone around you better. 

But as I said, leadership is not factory-installed for all of us. It’s like a muscle, and like any muscle, you have to train and develop it. 

When I started investing in becoming a better leader I saw a massive shift in my people and profits. Hands down, it was one of the biggest needle movers of all. 

***

Later this year Bedros turns 50…

We talk about his big birthday plans…

The stupid mistakes he made as a teenage gang member…

And how he turned his life around in our upcoming podcast – stay tuned!