EP 518 – Sales Success Champions With Donnie Boivin

NCS 518 | Sales Success

NCS 518 | Sales Success

 

In order to become successful, you must learn to embrace screw-ups and learn to enjoy all the mess-ups. In this episode, host Scott Carson talks with Donnie Boivin from Success Champions about some tips for entrepreneurs when overcoming their fear of sales and how Donnie overcame his fears and is now helping other business owners succeed. Join Scott and Donnie on today’s show and learn to become the champion of your success.

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Sales Success Champions With Donnie Boivin

I’m excited to be here with a very special guest, a guy that I met a few months back. Hitting it off on the same mentality, no bull crap, no smoke blowing up your skirt or pants kind of guy and he’s absolutely doing an amazing job Not only on his podcast but also being a real leader. I’m talking about my buddy Donnie Boivin joining us all the way from up into the Fort Worth Texas, Dallas area. It’s rare because most of the people we have are outside of Texas. For those who don’t know Donnie, first of all, he is a former Marine. We have to give him big kudos. Donnie’s doing a great job after changing the game of business development. He’s over two decades of sales and business expertise under his belt and one of the top podcasts in the world. I’m excited. I don’t know about you guys but I’m ready to get my fire lit for this episode. Welcome to the show, Donnie.

I appreciate you having me here. I’ve been looking forward to this, we met at that conference with the same vibe, the same thing. I love it when I get around my people who are larger than life. When we walk into a room everyone knows we’re there. I love that because once they get up, I get up then we feed off each other and cool things happen. I’m looking forward to this and I promise I won’t make you cry as we go through this, at least I’ll do the best I can.

To everybody that has weak skin, you’ll probably want to log off. Get yourself some tissue or call up your cuddling partner to cuddle with you. Let’s talk about your background a little bit, Don. Let’s talk about the things that led to where you’re at now.

I was in the Marines. I got out of the Marine Corps and luckily found a job quickly with my best friend and his dad in heating and air conditioning in Texas, which was the most stupid thing in the world. I was the guy who crawled under the house in the attics in the summers of Texas and I hated it. I was getting ready to quit and my best friend’s dad told me, “Before you quit, try sales.” I said “No, I’m not a sales guy.” He said, “Give it a go.” Long story short, I took that company from a residential HVAC to a multimillion-dollar commercial HVAC company. It wasn’t the natural knack, it’s because I didn’t give a crap. I didn’t care what people thought. I got pulled up to a company in Saint Louise to sell franchises. We were bought out by a Fortune Five and I got corporate downsize because I didn’t play the corporate politics game. I’m never the guy that fits in well. I was called a black sheep when it came to the sales type of things because you’re not going to manage me. It’s one of the things where you point me in a direction and see where I go. I came back home and I thought to be a stud in the sales-type arena doing all this stuff that was going to find a job. I couldn’t find a job because I was a too young punk kid with a chip on my shoulder.

I was blowing interviews not doing well that all my friends from high school were bartending and waiting tables so I became a bartender. I enjoyed the life that comes with being a bartender too much. I was hired out from behind the bar from one of my lunchtime regulars. They didn’t drink in their lunch because they were proper, but they got to know me and my story. I always kept my resume underneath the bar top. This was after a couple of years of bartending. I didn’t want them to think that I got in and got out quick. I worked for her company. She was the vice president of the company doing commercial printing, took that division to a $6 million from zero and then the economy crashed. All of that stuff happened. The company went from a $40 million company to right about $11 million when I left. I lost almost $5 million in my book of business.

I was flipping through LinkedIn trying to figure out what my next move was, I saw this thing came up that said a sales training company needed a sales guy and I felt like I could sell anything. I called the guy up and I said, “I don’t want to be a sales trainer, I want to go sell.” He says, “Good. I don’t want a sales trainer. I want somebody who will sell.” A year in the company he pulled me aside and said, “You have to start training because I can’t handle how much work we have.” I became the trainer and sales guy. I was on the verge of buying that company out. Do a seven-figure deal over a few years and buy him out. He said a great phrase to me that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. What he said was, “I’m so glad you’re my retirement plan.” It was for the first time in my life, 40 years old, that I realized I’ve been living somebody else’s dreams. I, at that point said, “I appreciate it.” Several days later, I walked away from it all.

It’s not a real game plan. I thought I was going to be this Tony Robbins type of thing. I launched my company, which was September of 2017 and the skinny of it is that I ran my business straight to the ground because I had no idea how to be a business owner, then I found podcasting. In April of 2018, a guy heard me speak on stage and said, “I love your energy, vibe and what you’re doing. Come and talk to me on my podcast.” I said, “What the hell is a podcast?” I went to the show. I picked up a client from being a guest on the show, I went like, “I could go on other people’s podcast and pick up a business? Hold my beer and watch this.” I crashed it and launched my show now the Success Champions has been born and word transforming lives. Helping people do what I did. Quit living other people’s dreams, grab life by the horn, chase your own crap, make your own money, get messed up a lot and get punched in the face then wake up and do it again. That’s how we got here.

That’s a beautiful thing. This life is never straight and narrow when it comes to being an entrepreneur, you get all the ups and downs, backward, retracts, backtracking, getting off the map and going that route. Everybody has a different story and some of the ones that I know, the most successful people out there. The ones that are going through the most upheaval and turmoil, the reason that they are the most successful is that they made a lot of mistakes the way.

I can tell you that out the gate I hated the trials and tribulations, all the screw-ups, all the backtracking because my thing was always selling my way out of this. That’s not that easy when you’re the full business owner. There are so many moving parts. I had to learn to embrace these screw-ups, I had to enjoy all the mess-ups and everything else that happens. Because if you don’t embrace those and chuck them up as a cool way to learn something, you‘re out in your butt. If there are no challenges going on your business then you’re not going for it. If you don’t suck it up and go after it. This world will eat you up very quickly.

Let’s talk about more of that Success Champions, because you have a great movement going, you have a great Facebook group and a lot of people doing great things. For our readers, we have people in the real estate industry, we have people in the some in the known industry, we have entrepreneurs reading this. People are working on their 40-year plan. Some people enjoy their job, that’s great. Some people are not cut out for what’s meant to be for a variety of reasons. With all the people you’ve helped over the past few years, the people that you’ve talked to and their feedback on your podcast. What would you say are the two or three biggest hurdles or mental blocks that you see with entrepreneurs or wantrepreneurs?

They should be the champions of their own success. The number one reason that people don’t find success is that they’re not betting on themselves. They’re taking that same mentality they had as an employee and they’re trying to run a business with that same mindset. I love telling people when I became an entrepreneur, I got to enjoy some amazing freedom. Choose my own schedule as long as I picked the 90 hours a week that I wanted to work. I can do whatever I want as long as I get those 90 hours. It’s not that extreme but what most people don’t do is that they don’t flip the script and become a business owner. Jim Rohn, who was a motivational speaker, was a mentor to Tony Robbins. The guy Tony stole all the crap from, what I loved that Jim said, “If I were to hand you $1 million right now, what’s the first thing you have to do with it?” Maybe in your case, if I hand you $100 million, what the first thing you have to do is?

NCS 518 | Sales Success

Sales Success: Quit living other people’s dreams. Chase your own dream, make your own money, get messed up a lot, and then wake up and do it again.

 

I have to put it somewhere.

That’s where everybody goes. They get a lawyer, CPA, put it in. The answer is you mentally have to become a millionaire. Because if you don’t change your mindset then you take all those bad habits and all that crap that you have been doing. The best way he said it is, “If you were an alcoholic before you became a millionaire, you’re still going to be an alcoholic. You’re only going to drink more expensive crap.” I know that most people when they’re launching their business, be it real estate or whatever else. If you don’t mentally become a business owner, settle visions, do milestone settings, have a purpose, have a process, systems, teams, people and place to run it. All you’re going to do is continue trying to work a job. The job mentality is very task-oriented, meaning this is what needs to get done, and let me get it done. Where the business owner goes, “This needs to get done. Who can I find? What’s the process or system I can put in place so I’m not the guy doing it.”

That’s what I see at most times. These people, because they never run a business, and this is why I ran my business into the ground. The buck stopped with me so I had to do everything. What I found is that if you’re in that mentality you’re not out doing sales and business development. You’re constantly in the muck of doing all the, “Let me get my website right. Let me get my LinkedIn profile right. Let me do all these stuff versus out and growing the business.”

The second thing I see is their flat out not making sales. They’re not doing business development, not getting the brand out there and becoming a household name. I tell everybody if you’re running your own business then you better become a celebrity. You better become and work towards a household name. Because whatever you sell, when that deal comes to that table that you don’t know about, your name better comes up first. Whatever it is you’ve got to be top online in all points, and I learned this when I did sales training. In my town of Fort Worth, if you talked about sales training, my name was coming up first because of all the local speaking. All these events I went to and all the sales and companies I worked with. Those are the two biggest things I see for people is they’re not running a business; they’re trying to recreate a job from themselves in which never allows them to go out in sales and do business development.

I don’t want to stop your roll here, but one of the things that I’m a big promoter is that while everybody needs to be in sales. You realized this when you got your sale off the podcast. We’re all in a media space. You have to be famous, niche famous a lot of times. If a deal comes up or something comes up you want people to think of you first and foremost which is huge. A very powerful point that I want people to read that again is the fact that you got to set yourself aside apart from everybody else and be yourself. You can’t be the Scott Carsons, Donnies out there. Be yourself and be proud of that.

I want people to understand, if you’re not in a niche, if I don’t know down to that minute thing that you do, I can’t refer you. I can’t open that door for you. Let’s say you’re a lawyer, if you don’t tell me your specialty. That you do a particular type of law, I won’t know how to refer you because I’m not going to send somebody who needs to set up a business to a divorce attorney. When you’re picking your niche it’s not about you getting laser-focused on your business. It’s also about you being able to be referred business to. You’re top of mind for that specific thing for individuals. Everybody wants to serve everybody which is the most stupid thing you can say or do in business. If you’re a master of all, that jack of all trades guy, you suck. You don’t have anything because nobody knows, one, how to do business with you. It’s a sure-fire way to close your business down. If nobody knows what you do, you’re out. Two, nobody can refer you because they don’t know how to tell others what you specifically do.

We see that happen in real estate all the time. People run from fix and flip events, to wholesale events, to owner finance events, to notes events. Trying to do all and I say, “You can’t do that. Pick a lane and stick to it and you’ll find success a whole lot faster.” It’s like the Pareto Principle, 80% of your success comes from 20% of your activities, whilst you can make your 20% to 100% of that one activity, you’ll make quadruple to five times the amount of money.

I tell a lot of business owners that made the leap and they’re trying to figure out how to scale the business. Take one product, one service, one thing, and take it to $100,000. The reason I want to take it to $100,000 is that you’re going to break so many things along the way, you’re going to be forced how to run a business. Once you get to $100,000, take it to $500,000. Once you get to $500,00 let’s take it to $1 million. All along the way, what you’re learning is that it may not be the product and service that you get your rocks off on. That may not be the thing you’re passionate about and want to continue doing, but you’re going to learn so much about running that business that even if you walk away it’s still revenue stream in your business. Take a path, take a lane and freaking go after it and mess things up.

It’s because once you put the things in place now, you’re able to replicate that a lot faster and a lot more streamlined. Your system’s in place, you know what to avoid, you know the landmines and can rock and roll and go from there.

That’s how you see all these successful guys that are household names from Bezos, Jobs. All these guys have screwed up so many things. They ran their businesses that didn’t work. All they did is apply those principles they learned along the way until the business finally took off for them. That’s what a lot of people aren’t looking at. They’re looking at, “I got to pay my bills versus let me go see how big I can take this so I can learn all the things I can do so I build what I want to build along the way.” It’s wild to watch people but I was the same way, I didn’t know any better when I launched the business.

I was a yes man, so if somebody asked me to do something, before they can even say what it was, I would say, “Absolutely, I can do that.” The problem with that mentality is your business becomes so diverse because you’re in different directions that you never become an expert in that thing. You never give people that level of business. Here’s a theory of mine, I don’t think that deal is closed until you’ve delivered everything you said you were going to deliver. They open a door and introduce them to somebody else. If you can get to that level of relationship with somebody, you’re going to have one badass business.

NCS 518 | Sales Success

Sales Success: Successful guys that are household names like Bezos and Jobs have screwed up so many things. All they did is apply those principles they learned along the way until their business finally took off.

 

That’s a big sign people will refer your business. People will say, “Talk to this person.” That’s a great sign. It gets people to deliver the bare minimum to get by, it ends up in a lot of people’s business. What’s the minimum that I have to do to be successful? If somebody has that mindset, because we get that a lot like, “No offense, this is not for you.” People get upset. If you’re trying to do the bare minimum to get by do something else, don’t waste my time.

Sometimes people don’t recognize that’s what they’re doing because that’s their ceiling belief system kicking off, that’s as high as they can go. What I want people to do is understand that without risk there is no reward. If you’re not going in, you’re not going big, then you’re going to lose in this game. Because there are too many people that are a lot hungrier than you are. If you’re not going after it, you’re going to get your lunch torn up. This is not an easy game. Being a business owner’s by far the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. You’re talking to a guy that spent a few years in the Marine Corps and many years as a straight commission sales guy. Running a business is ten times tougher than all that because it’s you. Until you get to that point when you can start bringing on teams and everything else, it’s 100% on you.

You better be good at taking it on the chin. The best quote in the world, Rocky Balboa, “It’s not how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can take a hit and keep moving forward.” That’s what it is to be a business owner. If you’re not creating that business relationship for people who want to open doors for you, you’re going to that good enough. Get out of the game because all that you’re going to do is create this transactional sale. Any sales gain that is transactional, you’ll lose. Especially in the real estate games, if you’ve burned a relationship, it’s not that relationship that you burned, it’s all the relationships that could have come with that business deal making it right.

That’s a very valid point so I agree with all of that. For everybody out there, you can tell he’s not spewing bull crap. One of the things that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with is that as they’re going down those paths, they’re making decisions and they’re growing into that $100,000 or growing into that millionaire mind. I saw an article where a couple was arrested for breaking into five or six homes and years ago, they won the lottery and they spent it all. One of the biggest things people struggle with is as they’re doing things, they’re marketing out or getting their things, getting a lot of positive feedbacks. A lot of people will have friends or family members tell you that, “You can’t do that. What are you doing? You’re not a sales guy or girl. You’re not a marketing guy or girl.” A lot of people tend to listen to those minority voices, not color skin, but that small number of a database of people that is like the first shade.

That’s the reason why we formed the Success Champions and this group because being a business owner, entrepreneur, or anything like that is tough. In my family there’s nobody I can go talk to, there’s nobody in the generation that launched their own business. I don’t have anybody to lean on and say, “This is what I’m facing as a business owner.” I didn’t find a community of people that I could lean on, so I created it. What I know is if you’re taking advice from people who have never done what you’re trying to do. It’s going to be bad advice because it’s all based on theory and not practical application. When we created Success Champions, what I wanted to do was teach people how to be the champion of their success. I also wanted to create that community where people felt safe to come in and ask the questions, “I’m doing this, I’m working on this,” and get other people’s advice and opinions.

I wanted an environment where people could level up their game and celebrate those wins together. Often times, we forget to celebrate wins and for not celebrating the wins we don’t start stacking wins. That’s where big money comes, from stacking those wins. Instead of listening to all the people that are around you that don’t know what they’re talking about because they’ve never had the guts to do what you’re trying to do. Find a family of people that are all in the same game and going for it. Find a couple of people that have carved a path for you and then go follow what they did. I love telling people, “Don’t listen to Gary Vee now. Go back to when Gary Vee was starting out in the grind. Go listen to that crap because that’s where you need to be listening to. Not the levels of success he’s got to now because you’ll get in a comparison game. Go back and listen to the things that he was talking about when he was first getting in the game.” Find those people that are going to lift you up, push you up, and push you forward. Not the people that didn’t have the courage to do what you’re doing in the first place.

You’re a great council. Advice is like buttholes, everybody has one. What you want to seek is council. My buddy’s words, Greg Reid, who’s the author of Three Feet From Gold, with Napoleon Hill Foundation, in his account for saying, “Don’t seek advice, seek counsel.” Council comes from people that have walked in your shoes and been down on that road before. Where you want to be, can give you the best council to truly help you avoid those mines? The people that are in those fields that are ahead of us, most of the time is willing to help you give that council. Saying, “Don’t do this and this is why.” They want you to avoid that because a lot of people have gone through this crap and they don’t want you to be there.

One thing I want people to realize is there’s a difference between finding somebody who has gotten to where you want to go and have that conversation. Compared with somebody walking up to you and say, “If you pay me $10,000, I’ll get you to where you want to go.” A lot of times guys have already carved the path and trail they’ll reach out and say, “Ask me a couple of questions. I don’t mind, I’ll help you out.” Something very leery of the guy who stands in front of you and says, “I will make you into something.” Most times it’s bull crap because they want you to buy their course, their plan, and other stuff that are out there. Instead seek out the guys that you know who is doing it and here’s my favorite thing, this is how I learned a lot about my business. I start buying these guys’ lunch. I would call up these guys, these mentors who have done the things I want to do, I’m like, “Can I pick your brain? I’ll buy you lunch. I’ll buy you cocktails. It’s on me. I want a few minutes of your time.” I learned that in the sales game when I started with a new company, I always go to the top sales dog and go, “How did you get here? Hold on to your butt, I’m coming for you.”

There’s only one guy I have never outsold and it pisses me off till this day. He’s a great dude but that jerk can sell his butt off. It’s about giving up your time to get them to give up their time and you’re asking for advice. Buy them a simple lunch because those guys are busy as heck. They’re running and gunning. Sitting down and having lunch then somebody else picks up the tab, not wanting anything from them. Not trying to sell them anything but merely pick their advice, they love giving back to that. Be wary of the guys that want to turn you into an influencer or whatever else, it’s nothing but trouble.

They’re not doing it themselves. That’s the biggest thing. You want to learn from people that have been there and have been through it. They’ll save you countless hours and time to save you a lot of money too, but coaching is not free. People’s time is valuable especially if they’ve done it for years. Lunch is a great way to get that force start. Build a mentorship or peer you can reach out to on a regular basis and even an accountability partner.

Even funding a badass mastermind, they’re very powerful. Sitting with a group of individuals that basically come together as a board of directors is a freaking killer and will help catapult you into the stratosphere. For me, it always makes them put their money where their mouth is. If they’re telling me that they can get me somewhere let them prove it, have them show the skins in the wall of what they’ve done. I’m tired of the Instagram millionaires that are out there that drives me nuts.

NCS 518 | Sales Success

Three Feet From Gold: Turn Your Obstacles Into Opportunities!

I don’t see anybody who’s making money doing that. I don’t know if you’re a boxing fan, but Floyd Mayweather likes to show his table stacked even when he’s reading in the back. I’m like, “You have $20 million but you got punched in the face.”

My favorite thing is when he fought Conor McGregor and he was throwing the bills. All they were are dollar bills. He wasn’t throwing big bills. Anybody that’s got the flash to show off their crap, odds are they don’t have it. They’re trying to get validated by showing it off. At least Conor McGregor had the balls to go punch some random dude out in a bar.

He knows how to work the media for sure.

That’s the game though, I’m not telling people to go punch people’s eyes out or throw a chair through a freaking window. If you can get exposure, it sure opens the world to more opportunities. In this day and age, if you’re not trying to start a podcast or get on them, you’re playing the game wrong. It is such an easy thing to get into. It’s a lot of damn work, don’t get me wrong. This is why Scott and I both got our team behind us to make these things successful. It is a great platform to get your message and brand out there. There are 700,000 shows in the market place right now, but only 200,000 produced an episode in the previous months.

It’s less than that. 18% have produced an episode in 2018. It doesn’t surprise me because when we teach a workshop or class, less than 10% are going to take action to make it happen.

I had a guy, one of my mentors explained a cool rule to me that I didn’t know, and it’s the 85-10-5 Rule. Whatever you put out there, 85% of the people want to buy your crap. They’re never going to do anything with it. They just want to buy it. 10% of the people will go halfway through it. They’re going to try it halfway through. Less than 5% or that 5% are the ones that are going to apply, do what you’re trying to teach them. They take it and run with it. What he told me that blew me away, “Make the crap for the 85%, the 5% will rise to the top.” It was a game-changer in my business because I was focused on how to get to 5%. I only wanted 5% and I was losing out the revenue in my business by not making something with the 85% combined.

Think about it in your business is what’s that thing people who are into you, your story, your vibe, your thing and everything else? What’s that low-hanging thing that they can be buying off you? What you’re going to find are people who self-qualify through the process and come up to be your 5%, that 5 % are glad to pay your high-price ticket items. The things that cost them a fortune of money because they’ve already applied everything you’ve put out there. It’s worked and now they want more. You grow an amazing business by building up that kind of model.

What’s the middle 10%?

It’s the people that go halfway through it. They’ll start it and then they give up halfway through. Those are usually the people that badmouth your things because they didn’t go all the way through to make it work. If people hate on you then you’re not going for it but those ones are going saying, “This system doesn’t work.” They’re the ones that never put on the time in the first place.

Those that put their time in are the ones that are making the extra bet. They’re doing the 5%, the extra 1% each day to get the extra sales, phone call, write one more email blast. Recording one more video and doing it on a daily basis to rise to the top. What you’re doing in your business is going to evolve. Markets are going to change, so you have to constantly move on that rocking ship to stay on top of what’s going on. You can’t do the same things that you did years ago. You and I both see that a lot in people, teaching other people what they did years ago and it doesn’t work in the market anymore.

There are two thoughts that popped in my head when you were talking through that. One, the person you are right now is not the person you’ve become to get where you need to go. You’ve got to be evolving on a daily basis which means you’re trying new and try new things. The second I’ve learned from the only guy that I was in the company that outsold me. I finally got pissed off one day and I walked up to him and said, “How do you continue to beat me? I’m putting the time, doing everything that I’m supposed to do.” He laughed, his response was, “There’s always time for one more.” I said, “What the hell does that even mean?” He goes, “I see when you leave. You leave here at 8:00, 9:00 at night. You’re crushing it. When do I leave?” I said, “You’re usually right out the door behind me.” He goes, “What do I do before I leave?” I go, “You’re always at the darn phone.” He says, “There’s always time for one more. The reason that I continue to beat you is that I always put in the time for one more.”

NCS 518 | Sales Success

Sales Success: There’s always time for one more email, outreach, phone call, or interview. Those one mores will stack up and help you find the wins.

 

I then made it a game that I’m not going to leave until he leaves the place. I doubled my sales that year trying to beat this guy. He almost doubled his sales too to stay ahead of me. That’s why I always tell somebody, “Find your freaking mustang. Find your person that is crushing it that you can chase and follow to see how far it will take you.” For most people do the one more, there’s always time for one more email, outreach, phone call, interview, one more. Those one mores will stack up and help you find the wins.

It doesn’t take too much to see the bell curve of what you do. 1% more than the other person adds up over time to the point you look back 30 to 60 days. It’s a whole lot more stuff in your pipeline, almost more stuff closed. There’s a bigger audience. That’s the thing, you never know who you’re going to talk to. We’re all at one conversation, one phone call away from something major happening in our businesses.

What’s funny is people don’t take that into account and the third thing that destroys people that popped in my head is the word patience. You’re building an empire, you’re building a legacy if you will, and that crap’s not going to happen overnight. There’s no such thing as an overnight success. A buddy of mine named Cody Jinks is coming in big in the country music world. We bartended back in the day. I love telling this story, if anybody saw the other Walker Texas Ranger with the Chuck Norris in it, there was a bar and it was called CD’s. That’s the wide-open saloon in the stockyards.

I bartended and bounced thereafter I came back from Saint Louise. Cody was a bartender there with me and that’s where he started his whole music career. Cody’s trying to break a list and people are now saying, “Cody’s an overnight success.” That dude’s been setting up bar stools for a number of years, dive bars and crap all places and he’s now coming loose. For a lot of people don’t have the patience in what they’re trying to create because I know when I launch my business, I’m like, “Why am I not in front of a crowd with 10,000 people telling my stories.” I’m like, “I have some badass things here.” I’ll be in San Antonio soon doing a keynote in front of 1,500 and I’m stoked about it because I’m finally starting to break into those bigger arenas but that’s taken me a couple of years to pull that off.

It’s taken me that much time to screw up enough to where that particular event, I didn’t even need to fill up paperwork to get down there. One of my clients is attending this event saw that they were looking for a keynote speaker, she went to my website. Pulled all my stuff up, uploaded everything, submitted a video of mine, talked to them to get me on there via keynote. I didn’t know I got the keynote from the event until they sent an email telling congratulations, you’re the keynote. I hoped I had time on my calendar if not I’m moving some things but that’s the kind of things that’ll happen when you have the patience to continue to push forward. A friend of mine said it this way, “The people that make it are the ones who are too freaking dumb to quit.” I don’t know how you were, but when I was launching my business, there were a lot of times I’ve been stacked up against going, “What’s my next move here? How do I keep this thing pushing forward?” It’s those times that I know at some point that I’m going to look back on it and the reason that I’m still here is that I hung on through that.

You did a lot of that especially with what we’re doing with what our distressed debt stuff, buying with borrowers and trying to work with them. I was in that way in 2009. I sold everything I owned in Austin Texas, jumped in a truck and hit the road. What I thought would be 30 weeks turned into three-plus years of traveling and that’s what launched me. I was willing to do something nobody else was willing to do. What you’ve got to do is do that extra phone call and give half patience, celebrate the victories. No matter how small they are and celebrate those. A lot of times many people get, “I didn’t hit my big number.” Did you exceed your numbers from last month? That’s great. Did you have something happen that you can celebrate? It’s a tough road as an entrepreneur.

The stupid phrase that always gets turned around that says, “If it’s easy, anybody will do it.” The truth in the matter is you’re trying to create that freedom lifestyle for you, whatever freedom means to you. Success should be defined as getting to freedom and if you’re trying to get to that level of freedom, that level of success, then you have to go bet on you. Get in the game and stay in the game. Those who handled going through this crap in the muck are all those people that held on through the tough times. When their friends and their family told them, “Get a job. Get out of this. Do something else.” It’s those that have the ability to hold on until it starts to break loose. Make sure all systems and processes are in place to keep it moving forward and diversified enough in their business. There’s a ton of mistakes that I did early on, I was trying to do one thing and then that one thing went away. I was like, “What do I do now?” You got to keep pushing forward and keep moving forward. Take the hits and keep moving forward.

I watched Rocky and you mentioned a quote about taking a hit and keep on moving forward, you can get off on that. We can use all sorts of testimonials or quotes, but it comes down to you because everybody has that. Even the most successful people have hits. A lot of people think about Warren Buffett or Steve Jobs, you think about the number of big hits that would cripple most people starting off. When you start building up, your hits get a little bit bigger. You got to keep rock and rolling.

I was doing a Facebook Live and this is a great point that I was telling people. During the live, a 70-year-old lady that happened to be tuning in to my stuff reached out to me and she goes, “Donnie, I’ve launched my own company but wondering if I’m too late to the game.” I paused everything I was fixing at work. I said, “Darling, look at this for me. What I want you to understand is you’re not too late, you’re just getting started.” We went back and forth. We were typing in the chats back and forth and I brought up guys like Ray Kroc and these other guys. Here’s what I want everybody to read. If you have that desire to jump in and run your own business to do your own thing, start, get in the game.

There are two great times to plant a tree, one was many years ago and one’s now. Get in the game and start, I’m not telling you to walk away completely from whatever you’re doing. Start as a side hustle. Get in and start betting on you because a factor I learned when I did sales training is I will get guys to come up to me that we’re on the street looking for sales jobs. I’ll ask, “Why would somebody hire you?” They’re like, “I have many years of sales experience.” There’re two things I know. A great sales guy is never on the street because a great sales guy is always taking names. If he feels like something’s going south with his company he’s going to have another job and take a book of business with him. The second thing I know is if you’re on the street and you have many years of experience, what you have is year one repeated twenty times. You never evolved, you never leveled up, and you never fully bet on yourself.

Take a chance and business ownership is hard, it is tough, it is not easy. The biggest thing I was not prepared for when I launched my business was how much I was going to discover about myself running this business. I have spent more time diving into what makes me tick. Finding my own strengths and building me up, that’s the beauty of running and owning your own business because it’s all on you. This is your baby, this is your dream, and nobody’s ever going to find passion about what you’re creating as passionately as you are. They maybe want to be part of your team, they might want to come along for the ride but at the end of the day this is your baby and you‘re going to have to make it work, which means you set the visions, the goals, the milestones. You created it all and then you help people come along and help you on that ride. Go for it, jump in and have some fun. Watch what happens when you fully unleash and blow up this darn world by going for it.

NCS 518 | Sales Success

Sales Success: The beauty of running and owning your own business is it’s all on you. Nobody’s ever going to have the passion about what you’re creating as you are.

 

No truer words were ever spoken, my friend. What’s the best way for people to plug into more of what you’re doing, Donnie? What’s the best way to reach out to you?

If they send a text to (817) 318-6030, send the word SUCCESS. I’m going to send them a free download for five major tips to get a work-life balance. Because one of the struggles that I had early on was I was spending family time working on the business and not spending time with the family. I came up with this whole program to teach people how they find this work-life balance ratio. How do they spend family time so they can work and continue to run the business that they’ve been trying to run? That’s the easiest way to get in touch with me on everything.

What’s the name of the podcast for those that can plug into you?

Come find me at Success Champions wherever you listen to podcasts. I have fun interviewing some of the household names. I get my rocks off in interviewing the up-and-comers that are in the trenches going through it and I enjoy being the guy that introduces them to the world. That’s a lot of fun. If you’re in the trenches and you’re going for it and you’re trying to find the people to come to hang out with. Come hang out with us in the Success Champions Facebook group. Go to Facebook, go up to the top in the search box, type in Success Champions, click on groups, we’ll be the first one that pops up. That group has almost 700 members, 90% engagement. I’m so freaking proud of that group and there’s a lot of things coming out of it. It’s a collaboration family of people that will be rooting you on and cheering you on to success. Reach out, I love meeting people and hearing their stories, so come say hi.

Check it out. It’s a great interactive group. Donnie, I want to thank you for being here and giving your heart, giving some great knowledge bombs and great council to people out there. Not everything is easy, not everything is a piece of chocolate cake. You got to go out bake it, sometimes you got to make the flour to go along with it. Donnie said something big and I want you to think about it. Bet on yourself, bet on you because nobody else is going to. You have to be the person that drives it and take whatever your goals are and you got to grow into that person, self-development and reading things like that. It’s taking things to the next level.

It’s been my honor. It’s been a hell of a show. I love what you’re doing. I love your brand and I love everything about you. If you don’t understand, he’s over 500 episodes. That is patience, that is drive and that’s a beautiful thing that somebody can stay in the game that long. It shows dedication and passion for what they do. Do me a favor, if you get any value out of this show, the bloodline of a show is reviews and shares. Tell one person to come to listen to this show because it does everything to be a game-changer. I promise you that if you leave a review, it helps other people come to find this show because all the platforms they want to show more people. Go get other people into this show, it’s a great thing. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

Thanks, Don. Go out and make something happen. I will see you around. Go check out Success Champions. Shoot him a text message at his number so you can get his Top Five Points On Having A Work-Life Balance aspect of things. Check out his podcast too. He brings it all the time. He does a great job. Go out, take some action and we’ll see you at the top.

Important Links:

About Donnie Boivin

NCS 518 | Sales SuccessDonnie Boivin is changing the game of business development. With over two decades of sales and business expertise under his belt, and one of the top podcasts in the world, get ready to have your fire lit.

Donnie enjoys life on his small farm in Texas while running his international business. He knows how to help you change your mindset and up your game. His story about being a Success Champion in his own life has inspired thousands to get out of their own way and go for it.


Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!
Join the Note Closers Show community today:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.