I had a huge shift in my business a few months ago. It
wasn’t anything difficult or groundbreaking. In fact, it was rather easy and
started yielding HUGE results. My friends on Facebook noticed immediately.
“Are you on Prozac?”
“I don’t know what you are doing but keep it up”
“This is who you always should have been”
All I did was get a “Degree in Nice.”
Taking a cue from a few friends, I modified behaviors and
focused on helping others.
*I stopped venting on Facebook
*I stopped posting divisive things that isolate people into
groups. No more memes about pit bulls, gun control, politics, Monsanto,
religion, or gay rights.
*Started showcasing my friends and recommending them to
people that would hire them
*Reduced my online profanity by 95%
People that hadn’t contacted me in YEARS started quietly
sending messages supporting this new me. Business owners started recommending
me to clients. I got invited to podcasts and FB business groups.
We have forgotten the fundamental qualities of being nice
and selfless. It took three people to bring me back. I want to publicly thank
them. They pulled me back from a dark precipice and let the real Dr. Rob out.
The guy that smiles at people during his morning run. The guy that pets cats and
waves at kids. The guy that sees someone struggling to lift something into
their car and helps them. That’s the guy I like being.
Lewis Howes is the host of the School of Greatness
podcast. He is a bestselling author and makes his living helping people and
connecting them. When he is not interviewing celebrities, he gets involved in
companies like Pencils of Promise and travels to places like Ghana to help
build schools for impoverished children. He is the epitome of nice and the kind
of guy that you want as a friend.
Dennis Langlais is the host of Five Minute Bark, a video
podcast in La Jolla, California. He is a former professional BMX
rider turned media giant and gives hundreds of hours a year helping to promote
others. He uses his high aptitude video skills to help other people reach their
dreams and is a top level connector. The great thing about Dennis is that he
will IMMEDIATELY help you and never ask for payment, he just does it to see you
succeed. He is the epitome of selfless and I am grateful for meeting him. You can find him at www.codiedog.com.
Steve Simeone is a comedian that has been referred to as
“The Nicest Guy in Hollywood.”
I have met Steve three times in person and this is definitely an
understatement. Steve is generous, has traveled overseas to entertain the troops.
raises blood for hospitals and reaches out to sick children. Steve GENUINELY
loves everyone in his life and his podcast, “Good Times With Steve Simeone”
takes you back to the good memories of childhood, funny relatives, and the
dynamics of hilarious family interaction. I cannot recommend it enough. You can
find Steve at www.awesomesteve.com.
In closing, I just wanted to say thank you guys for teaching
me far more about succeeding in business than I learned from a graduate degree.
Being nice is already paying huge rewards and I can’t thank you three enough.
We lost an icon today. Prince was one of the most talented and versatile performers in musical history. He was literally at the level of Madonna, Springsteen or Michael Jackson.
If you tried to explain Prince to someone in 1984, it was just, well..................different.
"Yeah, he's a short black man dressed in white ruffled pirate shirts, a purple crushed velvet jacket and high heeled boots riding a purple motorcycle around Minneapolis.............and playing rock."
The universal appeal of Prince was that he represented all of us that felt alienated by society. Purple Rain hit SUCH a chord with most people because it was about his struggle as a musician while enduring an abusive family situation and resistance from everyone around him.
As his fame grew, he changed his look, he evolved, but he was still in essence, the same guy we all loved and adored. A musical genius that never got too arrogant, that still LOVED performing and reaching out to fans.
Here are three things I LOVED about Prince.
1. He Walked His Own Path
Prince never let the opinions of others sway what he was going to do. He set out to write sexy, intriguing music that captivated people. He took huge risks including changing his name and leaving a major record label. He never doubted himself because he realized a fundamental truth. His true fans would follow him NO MATTER WHAT. The critics would complain as usual, and Prince would just ride his motorcycle up Sunset laughing in the wind.
2. He EMBRACED His Creativity
Prince experimented with many musical sounds. "Let's Go Crazy" sounds VERY different from "7." Prince wasn't scared to write songs about deep intense love and passion and ballads then turn around and write something SHOCKING like "P Control" or a party jam like "1999."
3. He Kept His Humility
I have to be really honest. I never met Prince. But I heard plenty of stories. He would embrace his Jehovah's Witness roots and go door knocking to try and save others. He would show up in a dimly lit club unannounced in Hollywood and play for hours. He would have meaningful and deep conversations with fans. He kept it together and despite being larger than life, never became arrogant or brash.
I loved Prince. I always will. Because he's a part of all of us. We will always have Purple Rain, his amazing albums and some very odd posters. We should all try and emulate him by being bold, by taking chances and going out of our way to be..................... abundant.
Thanks guys, do me a favor and share this post if you love Prince. Let's keep his memory alive.
I read tonight about a story that broke my heart. 12 year old Evan Ziemniak hung himself after months of bullying. His family reported these incidents and school officials did little to nothing to deter it.
I see a lot of myself in this young man. I was subject to years of bullying and a lot more harassment than most kids are subject to. I wanted to take my own life in 9th grade often because EVERY. SINGLE. DAY there was a group of people waiting to make fun of me or treat me like garbage.
I had a rough family. I didn't have a lot of money growing up. 90% of my family members were drug addicts or alcoholics. It wasn't a fun time.
I wish I could talk to Evan, to tell him that it gets better. I wish I could give him a hug and reassure him that one day, he's going to grow up and lift weights and no one will DARE harass him. That he would go to college and those assholes, those cowards will get what they deserve, because LIFE catches up to people.
I grew up. I lifted weights. I took martial arts. I became a teacher and I protected my kids. When I saw bullying in my class, Mr Garcia would have a very direct and very unpleasant convo, explaining in great detail what a weekend surprise home visit would be like.
I wrote a teen book called Teen Juggernaut and included a chapter on bullying and how to deal with it. I made it free online here: http://www.bluedragonent.com/books.html
But its not enough. Because this shit still is happening.
Evan, you were a great kid. You were probably just like me, quiet, polite, and didn't want to bother anyone, just finish school with some awkwardness and see what the future held. I read that you liked
collecting coins and you had pet rabbits and cats.
But that's what bullies do. They find quiet kids that cant defend themselves. They act in a revolting and cowardly fashion. I would give anything ANYTHING to catch someone doing this to you. To catch them harassing you on the bus. I wish I could have been your big brother Evan. Because you had a big heart. You had a lot of spirit. I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, because you were so close to my own life. I'm sorry for your pain, I'm sorry that there are bad people out there.
And I'm sorry that you suffered alone. But you'll never be truly gone. We will remember you. And Amanda Todd. And every teen that decided they couldn't take the pain anymore.
I'll keep speaking in schools, Ill keep writing and Ill keep mentoring. I'll do it for kids out there, just like you. That need my help. Your story really moved me. And I hope you're at peace.
*Don't Forget to Enter Your Email For a Chance to Win Donald Trump's Toupee---> It's the ceiling that gets me. Every time.
I take a nap around 2pm every day. Since I usually wake up at 3-430am daily, I need a mid day power nap to recharge. When I wake up, this is what I see:
I smile every time. You know why? Because the same three thoughts enter my head:
1. Rob, you live in a cool apartment in a great part of town. No more wolf cot, no more dark studio.
2. You are done with your Ed.D, DOCTOR.
3. You are your own boss.
Seriously, for 7 years, I lived in a tiny studio. From age 30-37. I BARELY remember any of it because it was doctoral research, reserves, day job, sleep on wolf cot, repeat.
"Do not envy my decadence"
Once I moved, I started developing business tactics that DRASTICALLY improved my life coaching company and helped me to evolve. I'd like to share my best four to help you in your journey.
1. Learn to court influencers and offer a 3:1 value ratio
An influencer is someone that can create serious waves for you. They either have a major media platform, thousands of social media contacts, are well known in business, or have some type of high value "hook." Reach out to them and offer to promote them, ask for mentorship, or have an offer of value. Remember, they DO NOT need you, so be interesting and focus on the giving, not the taking, Greedo.
"Not so fast, Solo, Jabba wants ALL your Facebook friends"
2. Celebrate Your Friends/A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships
If you are lucky enough to have an inner circle as I do, focus on THEM first. Every week, I try and do something that directly helps my team. I pay attention if they are having a bad day and I write them internal memos that remind them how awesome they are. In return, they promote our group project, reach out to me, recommend people to me for business, and we all share the wealth as our businesses grow.
3. Develop Resources
There are SO many tools out there that can shave off HOURS off your schedule. Hootsuite lets you auto-post to your social media. Canva helps you create graphic design related material. Skype can help you coach clients even overseas. Youtube, Blogger and Lulu help you create material so that you can sell content online. Get in the habit of exploring and cataloging whats out there. The more resources you can offer clients, the better you look.
4. Develop a Fitness/Nutrition Plan
This one is crucial. Fitness will help you have better moods, raise your self esteem and give you a better quality of life. If you exercise a few times a week, cut down on flour and processed foods while eating more veggies and proteins, you will see HUGE changes. Take it to another level and start intermittent fasting (only eating 8 hours in a day) and REALLY see drastic change.
That about wraps it up for this week, guys, have a great week and get hustling.
(look to the right, that's where you can subscribe and join the hundreds of people that are ROCKETING to success)
We have all been there as entrepreneurs. That "OMG, my fears are TAKING OVER MY MIND" moment.
"OMG, My guidance counselor was right"
It's perfectly normal. We all hit that point where the stupid ass comments from friends and family get in our head:
"Why don't you just get a 9 to 5?"
"You do WHAT?"
"That's ok for a hobby, I guess"
I hit this moment two weeks ago. I had several projects that were coming up, I had a LONG string of failed launches to draw from and I seriously considered just searching for a job and quitting my dreams of being a top life coach in San Diego.
Here is how I kicked that shit right in the face. I went to Starbucks and wrote down my top five fears. The exact mental scripts that were causing anxiety. Then I wrote down what the scenario ACTUALLY looks like. I'll share the results at the bottom of this post.
"STOP BEING AFRAID"
1. My new book, The Next Level: Supercharged, will flop BADLY.
Rationale of Fear: My last 7 books had low sales, barely any media, and are self published. I am on a failure train headed to homelessville.
Reverse Engineering to Success: My teen book, Teen Juggernaut GOT ME ON THE NEWS. My original version of the Next Level helped a guy learn Mandarin Chinese, who went on to hire me for a year. My book Charter X has helped me CRUSH when pitching schools. Just because they aren't well known books doesn't mean that clients don't LOVE them. Great writer/bad marketer. I can live with that.
2. My online digital product store, Genius Lab, will tank.
Rationale of Fear: After being laid off from my day job, I spent WEEKS creating well designed PDFs teaching everything from weight loss to speed learning. I hired professional graphic designers to make them and set up an automated system for payment. Zero sales. Not one.
Reverse Engineering to Success: How many Facebook ads have you run? Zero. How many times have you promoted Genius Lab when speaking? None. How many mass email campaigns have you run in support of it? None. They cant buy if they don't see it.
3. There isn't much interest in Blue Dragon.
Rationale of Fear: My company has been around for ten years. We have yet to have a high profit year. Its not a good company, I should see if Wendy's is hiring because I suck as a life coach.
Reverse Engineering to Success: Since being on my own with no day job (3 months), I have been on radio four times, have been on two podcasts, and have had 4 speaking engagements, I wrote a book, created a magazine in just over a month with 10 writers around the country, released a clothing line, signed up for affiliate marketing, and redid both my website and blog. I am having days of 200% productivity and my clients are amazed at what I am teaching them.
4. Schools don't care about my educational consulting services.
Rationale of Fear: No schools return my voicemails, faculty is always in meetings, and I cant just show up at a school site. Its impossible to make money as an ed consultant.
Reverse Engineering to Success: I wrote down the results of the last seven schools that I dealt with,
School 1 had me speak 3 times and brief staff, plus hired me for a student Pre ASVAB prep
School 2 booked me for three gigs this summer
School 3 brought me in for two lectures
School 4 had me give 2 seminars
School 5 immediately wanted a follow up and a possible permanent consultant job
School 6 had me give a seminar
School 7 offered me a partner radio gig, MY OWN SATELLITE SCHOOL and free marketing
HOW MUCH MORE VALIDATION DO YOU NEED, STUPID? YOU'RE GOOD AT THIS!!!
5. My online magazine for life coaches, SHIFT, will go nowhere.
Rationale of Fear: Just like all my projects, SHIFT is a stupid idea and will get possibly 10 readers. (friends and sympathetic family members)
Reverse Engineering to Success: Um, don't you have the support of one of the top podcasters in the COUNTRY helping you? (Can't mention him but he's known for lighting a FIRE). You have a potential audience of vets, coaches, and business owners, PLUS THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE> Its going to be AWESOME!!!
"I AM FILLED WITH POWER......AND TONY ROBBINS..."
So there you have it, A DEADLY effective method of assuaging your fears and building up your self confidence. Oh, and I promised you results:
1. By changing my school strategy, I connected with three huge influencers and got follow up meetings that strongly look like future contracts.
2. By using my books as promotional items, I had three speaking engagements, THIS WEEK ALONE.
3. The magazine is getting very close to being done. It will change the game for life coaching resources.
Still having trouble building your confidence? I am now offering image and confidence calls that can help you realize your true inner strength.
Welcome readers! Do me a quick favor and subscribe on the right. Do it for America.
Q. What’s the difference between Common Core and ISIS?
A. One is a destructive ideology created by fundamentalist
zealots that want to destroy the foundation of America.
The other is a terrorist group in the Middle
East.
I have
tried to be really objective about Common Core. I have read both sides of the
argument, watched videos with both positive and negative slants, and have even
bought Common Core workbooks so that I could see it used firsthand.
My determination
remains the same:
Common Core is an utterly worthless educational platform that will
create a domino effect of failure in America’s schools.
I am not
some crackpot that thinks he’s the next Arne Duncan because he saw an education report on Fox News. I am a former high school teacher that ran an Academy of Engineering and taught business classes
at the college level. I have a Doctorate in Education and have written 7 books
on advanced life development.
More
importantly, my 9th grade report card was straight Ds and Fs. I
failed out of high school in 12th grade. I can honestly say that if
we had Common Core, I would have easily failed in 7th grade instead.
I would
probably be washing dishes in a bowling alley today, having never launched my
own company, appearing on TV, radio, and podcasts, and starting my own
magazine. Common Core is marvelously effective at getting students and parents
to hate learning.
Without
further ado, here is my take on why Common Core is a far bigger threat to America than the largest purchaser of white
Toyotas in Syria known as ISIS.
1. We have a plan to neutralize ISIS, but not for Common Core
Despite what most political
pundits will tell you, our armed forces have taken massive steps in eliminating
the ISIS threat. Our Green Berets are training
indigenous forces to rise up against terrorism, the CIA is conducting joint air
strikes against ISIS controlled strongholds, and Intel specialists from all
branches of service are constantly tracking the movement of ISIS forces.
We are actively pursuing military options to rid the world of the existence of ISIS forever.
Common Core has no plan in site
for its pending elimination.
Textbook and educational software companies
continue to get rich off of our schools mandatory and expensive implementation. Administrators continue to tout it
as an amazing gateway to “expansive and critical thought.” The Dept of
Education refuses to admit that possibly, JUST POSSIBLY, it could be the
biggest failure in educational policy since the infamous No Child Left Behind.
Remember that bag of crap? The infamous promise that by 2014, ALL students
would test “proficient” in math and English?
Well it didn’t quite go that way.
An article from the NPR website sums it up best: “According to the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, the
"Nation's Report Card," "proficiency" rates last
year were below 50 percent for every racial and ethnic group, in both reading
and math, in both 4th and 8th grade. The exceptions? Asians, in all
subjects (51-64 percent) and whites in 4th grade math only (54 percent).”
That’s a lot of kids left behind.
Well, unless you’re Asian, but I’m not going there. People are a bit sensitive
these days, even when you say they are good at math.
Since no one is stepping up and saying,
“COMMON CORE IS GARBAGE AND I AM NOT STANDING FOR IT” I will. I have started a
petition to have the Obama Adminstration repeal it. This is how progress is
made. I have YET to talk to one parent, student, or teacher that supports this
plan. It is 100 percent hated across the board.
2. Isis has a minimal impact on America,
Common Core will have a HUGE impact on America
In the last 10 years, domestic terrorism has claimed roughly
71 lives. 71. That’s a horrible loss of life, but in comparison, lightning
kills 47 people every year. Compare that with Common Core which has infiltrated
40 states like cancer with its indecipherable problems, crying children that
can’t understand why the hell 3x5 = 15 is now wrong, and parents that are
already at the end of their patience.
Common Core left unchecked, will add to our embarrassingly
high dropout rate, increase the academic divide for minorities and females, AND
CREATE FOUR TIMES AS MUCH WORK FOR STUDENTS.
Think I am joking? Watch this video. It’s infuriating.
You wonder why high school students despise school? This is
a great reason why.
3.ISIS opposes higher education for females.
Common Core DECIMATES the value of higher education for females
One thing that ISIS really
hates is females going to school. They go out of their way to make sure that
women are strongly dissuaded from attending institutions of higher learning
through intimidation, scare tactics, or strongly written letters.
Common Core takes it one step further by TRAINING
FEMALES HOW TO HAVE A MISMATCHED AND WORTHLESS EDUCATION. Before Gloria
Allred calls again, here is what I mean. The stats for women pursuing degrees in
STEM fields are hardly encouraging. This graphic from the Washington Post shows
that over a 10 year span, the rate of completion for women in STEM degree
programs dropped across EVERY field. the notorious 80/20 divide for Engineering
degrees still lingers as well.
How does Common Core factor into this information? With its
implementation, MORE girls will be dissuaded from taking math based courses.
This in turn diverts them into lesser paying, menial careers that hinder them
from reaching their full potential.
Women are already choosing fields that pay less than men,
complete more Master’s degrees overall, but outside of Nursing, do not nearly
go into as many math based careers. Consider this data from www.collegeatlas.org.
Most
Popular Bachelor’s Degrees for Men
Total number of Bachelor’s Degrees earned
by Men (2011-’12): 685,381
Degree
# of Degrees
% of Total
Business Administration and
Management
66,190
%
Finance
22,931
3.3
Biology/Biological Sciences
21,906
3.2
Political Science and
Government
20,947
3.2
Accounting
20,446
3
Psychology
20,432
3
History
20,088
2.9
Economics
17,756
2.6
Mechanical Engineering
15,424
2.3
Marketing/Marketing
Management
14,613
2.1
Most
Popular Bachelor’s Degrees for Women
Total number of Bachelor’s Degrees earned
by Women (2011-’12): 915,986
Degree
# of Degrees
% of Total
Psychology
68,808
7.5
Business Administration and
Management
64,405
6.7
Nursing (RN,ASN,BSN,MSN)
61,405
6.7
Elementary Education and
Teaching
36,358
4
Biology/Biological Sciences
33,950
3.7
English Language and
Literature
28,945
3.2
Accounting
24,068
2.6
Communication
Studies/Speech Communication
22,000
2.4
Sociology
20,064
2.2
Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
19,396
2.1
You can clearly see that women choose to pursue education in
fields that are more “social” in nature. Men choose fields that are more
analytical. From a qualitative standpoint, I personally witnessed this as a 9th
grade Engineering teacher. The girls didn’t find Engineering fun because:
They
thought it was “nerdy.”
They
didn’t know any young female engineers.
Their
fathers didn’t want them to go to college, they wanted them to get married
and have kids by 19. (I’m dead serious on this one. It was heart
breaking.)
They
thought the math would be too hard and they were intimidated.
Now I want to share something that the dean of a college
told me that hit me harder than an elbow from Macho Man Randy Savage.
Common Core is not used in college math.
Common Core is used in middle school and high school math
DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE A PROBLEM?
What the heck happens when Common Core trained female
students that gutted out their math classes get to college and EVERY METHOD
THEY LEARNED is useless in college?
Mind=blown
4. ISIS creates jobs for our troops. Common
Core has ZERO real world relevance
Because of the emergence of ISIS and other nutcase groups, America has a
strong demand for Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen. This
in turn also creates a demand for security personnel, contractors, and
intelligence specialists at the
“alphabet companies”, CIA, NSA, FBI, DOD. So in a way, every
time those idiots release a beheading video, America responds by creating jobs,
prosperity, and exporting what we dominate at: Freedom.
This is why they hate us. Because America is awesome.
Common Core has absolutely zero real world relevance. This
alone should TERRIFY every person in America. There is NOT ONE RECORDED
INSTANCE where someone has used Common Core in any natural work based scenario.
There is ZERO need to further diagram and expand number theory. There is NO JOB
in which you figure out how to estimate how many triangles fit into a
rectangle. (I know there will be one mouth breather that will write and say,
“Hey man, I’m a carpenter and I have to estimate carpet samples, jerk”) Awesome.
Congrats on being the .0001 percent that actually can use this in a meaningful
fashion.
You know how you learn carpentry estimating? BECOMING A
CARPENTER AND DOING ESTIMATING. The entire high school population in America
does not need to learn this.
In summary, there are 3 very flimsy reasons that Common Core
supporters use to justify its existence:
It
promotes school standardization across the United States.
So did state-run education in Communist Russia. I don’t think that worked
out well, either. Communist Core has got to go.
It
teaches students deeper level of thought and deconstruction of math
problems.
So can creatively written math problems that incorporate actual things
that students will see in the real world (video games, Facebook, race cars,
pirates, computers, movies). Why does every Common Core math problem have to
read like an accounting manual from 1947?
This is a lesson plan I created in 20 minutes covering the same material . It's fun and interesting. No wonder I was laid off from teaching.
This is an actual Common Core Workbook on Circle Theory. Great if you have trouble sleeping.
Common
Core prepares students for real life.
HA HA HA HA HA. Oh, you are being serious. I think I explained above
that Common Core has NO relevance to a student’s future career, whether they
are a CEO, lawyer, or a hot dog vendor on 42nd St.
So there you have it. My take on why Common Core is a black
hole of worthless pedagogical theory. Feel free to sign the petition if you
agree. If you support Common Core and want to tell me about how wonderful it
is, feel free to write a long, detailed diatribe in the comments section. After
I am done openly mocking you, I’ll hit that wonderful “delete” button so you
cannot expose others to your silliness.
PS: I am available for hire as one of the awesomest educational consultants in the country. Hit me up at www.bluedragonent.com for details. I have these really weird ideas that learning should be fun and engaging. Crazy, huh?
