Welcome to Build Your Tribe with your host Chalene Johnson.
Chalene: Hey! What’s up? Welcome to Build Your Tribe. I am Chalene Johnson, and today, is kind of a different type of episode. I’ve changed Build Your Tribe to really benefit you the listener. I know you have questions about building a business, creating a better business, techniques if you are already a veteran at business but you’re trying to take this stuff online and create a simple more simplistic, passive way of making income. I’m just letting you ask me whatever question you want and I’ve been giving you the answers. So take a look at some of those previous episodes I think you’ll find them chock full of great ideas.
Today’s episode I’ve invited my friend Jimmy onto the show. And here’s why, you’re going to love Jimmy. Anytime I do a seminar or a live training, I always feel it’s a benefit if Jimmy is in the audience because he is the best question asker. Now, Jimmy’s been a part of many of my live seminars my online academies, my private Facebook groups, my private mentor ships, and my private coaching groups. I really feel like he is a bonus to everybody who’s involved because he’s not afraid to ask a stupid question. He knows there isn’t a stupid question. He’ll just put it out there even if it feels like: “you know I don’t know if everyone’s going to judge me or if I’m not supposed to ask this question, I’m just going to ask it.” And so he came to me recently and he’s like Chalene there’s a lot of people who just don’t even feel comfortable asking certain questions. So if you’re new to Build Your Tribe, you can ask me your own question. You can go to chalenejohnson.com/askchalene and I’ll answer your questions.
For More Motivational Interviews with Successful Self-Made Business Owners, Check Out:
Coach Jimmy’s Training CampI’m Ready!
Now, I do give priority to those asking the question who are part of my academies, but if you’ve got a great question I’m going to answer it. Jimmy has been collecting questions from people who are on his team as well as members of our academy who haven’t mustered up the courage to ask fair questions because I thought “what better guest than Jimmy?” Ladies and Gentlemen meet my dear friend: an awesome question asker, a phenomenal business owner, a man who’s lost and kept off over 100 lbs, an amazing husband, a super cool dad, and just a great business builder. He goes by The Coach Jimmy, I know him as my friend, Jimmy Hayes Nelson.
Chalene: Now that’s actually a pretty good. Now just a little test so I can check your levels.
Jimmy: Microphone check, test, test.
Chalene: Yeah that’s good. It’s perfect. Awesome! So, Jimmy what kind of questions do you have for me today?
Jimmy: I want to start with one from our friend Kelly C. who asks: “How did you overcome the fear of failure from moving from the fitness world to what you’re doing now with business coaching and consulting?”
Chalene: That’s a good question. I have the fear so I think that means I must be courageous. We all must be courageous if we have fear and we do something anyways. You know the best answer I can give you is I just did it you know? And I knew it wouldn’t kill me. I just told myself “Yeah, people might judge me, people might think I don’t belong or I don’t look like the type or maybe I don’t have the expertise or credentials as someone else does.” But, I just knew in my heart, my soul that’s what I wanted to do. It’s kind of like when they first started teaching fitness classes, I was really bad, like couldn’t get a job and I knew I sucked. But, I also knew that I loved it enough to go like well I don’t care if I suck right now, I know I’ll get better at this. And so I think to be honest I would say that my fear of not doing it was greater than my fear of being judged and not doing it well.
Jimmy: That’s a great point because sometimes it’s the devil you know better or worse than the devil you don’t know. And it kind of leads to our next question, this theme of fear that’s kind of coming up here Brandy M. asks: “When or how do you know when it’s the right time to leave your full-time job?” She says she’s been building a business on the side; she wants to know how she is supposed to know when you make that leap.
Chalene: Okay Jimmy. I just have to guess that as a leader, as someone who is helping people to do that, build their own businesses, and make that leap I bet you get this question all the time.
Jimmy: All the time.
Chalene: Okay, let’s see if my answer matches up with your answer. And my answer is: do it before you’re certain it the right thing to do. You just feel in you should that it’s going to make you happier and it’s going to make you more fulfilled and I know everyone wants a specific number and they want a date, and they want a formula, and they want a mathematical equation. But, I think it’s different for every single person. For example, I spoke to Steve Cam the founder of Nerd Fitness recently and he told me that he just knew he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing and he quit his job. With no backup plan other than a blog and he just…, that was the catalyst for him to say okay I’ve gotta do this and he produced his first ebook within a very short period of time because there was no cushion there. And for others they’ve got kids and a family or child support or other responsibilities that he just can’t quit. but I personally know that when you are passionate and you wake up every day on fire to do something, its heads above what you can do when you’re trying to do multiple things at once and you don’t have your full heart and soul and intention and focus centered around one thing
” Maybe the income drops a little bit, but if your quality of life when you wake up without that heavy feeling of “Oh I gotta go to this job every day.” I think that’s a form of currency sometimes. ” – Jimmy
Jimmy: Absolutely and I totally agree because it goes back to a quality of life thing. Maybe the income drops a little bit, but if your quality of life when you wake up without that heavy feeling of “Oh I gotta go to this job every day.” I think that’s a form of currency sometimes.
Chalene: Heck yeah! Like and how do you put a price on that?
Jimmy: Absolutely. So hopefully that answer helps Brandy. We’re going to shift gears here just a little bit so hopefully you’re cool with this.
Chalene: Mm hmm.
Jimmy: A very interesting question from Diana L. she wants to know were you raised with a strong spiritual base or is that something you have found in your adult life? And kind of a backend of that question is: “Did you and Brett have the same background when it came to your spiritual life, or is that something you guys have developed as a couple?
Chalene: Super cool. I’m so glad that this question came up and new listeners might wonder “what does this have to do with building your business?” It has everything to do with building your business. No. 1 because, Jimmy that question brings up some important pieces, number on is like foundation and spiritually and then of course being in alignment with your partner, whether that’s a business partner or your life partner. In my case my business partner and my life partner happen to be the same thing, my husband Brett and so to answer your question we grew up, my family, going to church until my 7th grade and we lived in a really small town. I’m not sure the year that we stopped going to church but we lived in a really small town and we lived walking distance to our congregation. It was an important part of our life growing up and then there was this major scandal in the church where our pastor, this is a true story, our pastor was accused of raping and murdering the church secretary.
Now, I was a kid when all this happened, I just knew all of a sudden I was like woo. We didn’t go to the church our pastor didn’t come over to have dinner at our house anymore and you know I was a kid I never asked questions because I didn’t love church as a kid. I was like oh boy its Sunday morning you know? So it was a part of our upbringing to go to church. I wouldn’t say we were terribly spiritual. It was just one of those things like I always considered myself a Christian, I think my family we all considered ourselves Christians but I just, I really don’t remember ever really going back to church to a particular church after that happened.
My husband’s background, his childhood was completely different, had never been, never in his life gone to church other than like for a funeral or wedding. Had never been exposed to the Bible had never learned anything about it. Now it wasn’t that his parents were against it, it just want one of those things they didn’t do and so he felt a little… You know like when everyone has read a book or seen a great movie and you feel a little lost because you haven’t? And so I think he always kind of avoided it and we talked about it and I would go to church with my friends et cetera and it was in that kind of transition when Brett and I realized we had to turn our lives around.
We were so stressed and consumed by the next thing and getting ahead and doing more and it was never enough. When we made that transition a big part of that was reconnecting with my faith and Brett was very opened to going to church with me and learning more about the Bible and now his faith is so strong it’s so cool it’s almost like being with a little kid. He’s like “did you know?” He read the stories and he’s like “you’re not even going to believe what happened” and it’s so exciting to him and he’ll go “that’s crazy you’ve always said that” and I’m like it’s not like I invented it. You know? Like certain little things which have always been a foundation the way that I think and believe in my principles which, until he was 43 years old it just wasn’t a part of his life. Now, I will say it has made our business stronger, it has made our commitment to each other stronger, it has attracted better, when I say better I mean better-suited customers to us because if it bothers you that I talk about my Christianity or my faith then we’re probably not meant for each other. If you can handle it even if your faith is different than mine that’s cool I respect that other people have different faiths and that some people may have none. Everyone’s on their own journey. But I think if it bothers you that I talk about it, we’re probably not meant for each other.
Jimmy: That’s awesome and that’s cool that is something that you can build together and you get to share and teach to him. And kudos to him for being open, to want to grow in that area even if it wasn’t comfortable for him growing up.
Chalene: Yeah. Yeah and I think as an adult learners were afraid to do things where we think that we might look ignorant. And so I think it was very courageous of him to just even to go to church he was like I don’t even know. Do we kneel or do we pray, like all those things are like new, brand new.
Jimmy: That’s awesome, that’s cool. Thank you for sharing that’s very cool.
Chalene: Thanks for asking.
Jimmy: Okay so I have a little hypothetical for you here. So come on a journey with me, Chalene are you down for that?
Chalene: I’m down.
Jimmy: Okay cool. So here’s the situation, you wake up tomorrow everything you’ve built is gone. Nobody knows who you are. You are starting from scratch to rebuild your brand, your business, everything. What are the first steps that you take?
Chalene: Oooh. This is so good. It would be if I had like no money, basically no name, but I have my expertise or my knowledge or something and I want to help people with I would begin by getting an opt-in page, like either lead pages or megaphone or one of those services where I don’t necessarily need a website, but I can deliver to people content and in doing so build an email list and a community and that would be my first step. And I’m so glad you asked that because that should be everyone’s first step.
Jimmy: I kinda figured that was going to be your answer, but I just want to hear from you. But I just thought it was a great question.
Chalene: Hey let me ask you a question.
Jimmy: Okay
Chalene: Because you know you coach a lot of entrepreneurs and you’ve been very successful in your network marketing business. Because it’s network marketing, I assume from my own experience in talking to a great many people who are in a variety of different network marketing organizations that they kind of have a difficult time understanding the “hey you’re the entrepreneur, it’s your business you don’t have to do it like everyone else has done it, it’s yours” and that it’s a select few who really understand the importance of building your own personal brand within that and what is it that keeps so many people from realizing that they should be building their email list, that you are not your product or your service. That people aren’t coming to you necessarily just because the product or service because they could go to any other coach or distributor or representative of that product brand, but they go to you they go to you because of you. So what is it that keeps people from building their own email list who happened to be in your industry.
Jimmy: That most people don’t realize that they have, and for lack of a better word, they have permission to make the business whatever they want it to. That whatever network marketing company you align with, normally you align with them because you either fell in love, at least for me, it was the products and I really believe in that because I know that I wouldn’t have gotten into network marketing if I really didn’t believe in the products at a service that the company provided. But that it’s not up to…. it’s not up to corporate or the corporate structure to let you know how to deliver that. That at the end of the day it’s your business and the way you deliver those products and services are very unique and that’s what’s gonna attract people to you. Not because you’re attached to the greatest product and service it’s your unique spin on it or your unique story with how it’s impacted you that really is going to attract the most people. But I agree with you, most people are so scared to make it their own thing because they feel like they need to get permission from their corporate structure to do something on their own. But I like it because I get to use my creativity in it.
Chalene: Yeah, and do you have an email list?
Jimmy: I do. I started one early, early on.
Chalene: Okay perfect. So then let me ask you this, you’ve got your company the business that you represent that you obviously love, you have a passion about the products the services. Its nutrition and exercise and its life coaching, but what people come to you for is something special and what people are becoming members of your email list, subscribing to your website, checking you out on YouTube, you know you’re not just talking about your products or services you’re giving them something special. So what is it that you deliver to people? What is it that
you give people that’s a unique experience?
Jimmy: I deliver motivation and that sounds a little generic but I’m gonna get really specific for just a second. What I find is most people are waiting for some external force to give them motivation. And what people that opt-in to my list, I teach them how to create their own motivation not only to get them started but to keep going anytime they hit one of those down areas or a bit of a lull, they can go back to the steps and reactivate immediately.
For More Motivational Interviews with Successful Self-Made Business Owners, Check Out:
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Chalene: Do you find that your most successful team members have an entrepreneurial mindset or is it perseverance like which is more important when it comes to being successful as somebody in your organization?
Jimmy: I think it’s perseverance.
Chalene: Mmm. Good
Jimmy: And I don’t know that I would have answered that way until just then when you asked me the question. But it is. There’s a lot of people that I work with that have come in and have worked with me and my team that may not look at themselves as entrepreneurs. But they were already hard workers. They were busy people; they were people that a lot of times probably didn’t think they had time to build something on their own. But I find that I enjoy working with busy people the most because they already had that work ethic.
Chalene: Yeah, that’s good and that’s an honest answer you know because the average person might have said: “well, it’s an entrepreneurial spirit or an entrepreneurial mindset” but you limit people who are well like: “I don’t even know what it means to be an entrepreneur so this isn’t right for me, but I do have persistence.” I think persistence pays off no matter what you’re doing. It just pays off even if you don’t — eventually you’ll have the skin and ensure you have the knowledge eventually you will out persist your competition.
Jimmy: Absolutely and so many people don’t realize those things that have served them well in the traditional corporate structure, they can use those exact same skills to create a business of their own. And they never realized it before so they may not have a look at themselves as an entrepreneur because they didn’t realize they already had that skill set they just needed someone to come along and say “hey, this stuff you’re already doing for corporation XYZ let me show you can take those exact same skills and build something of your very own”
Chalene: Okay. Let me ask you one more question, I know this is you supposed to be asking me questions. But it’s fun for me and because I know you’ll be straight with me. There are those who say “Oh well I don’t want to align myself with a MLN because I hate selling and I love this and I love that, I’m just not a salesperson I don’t like pushing stuff on people” and I hear that like over and over again. I know you do too. But yet the people I know who are just freaking killing it in multi-level marketing organizations like yourself. Like my sister, for example, dude she’s the furthest thing I can think of from a salesperson. Like I’m the pushy one. I’m the one who’s going to get up in your face and say “you need to buy this, this is going to make your life better.” But you know she’s just kind of like, you know, she’s very patient, very quiet, she’s very passionate but I guess you just can’t let her life speak for itself and, I mean, if I can brag on my little sister for a second.
She’s like the number one earner in the entire organization and most people don’t even necessarily know who she is. She’s not always on the stage for winning contests, she ain’t about that life. She doesn’t like to be pushy. She would never sell someone into something and I don’t mean to make this sound simple I should have run the show and interview her about her techniques but all I can tell you is that she lives her life by helping others. She doesn’t push anything, she doesn’t sell anything. She lives her life and lets people ask her how they can join her team and that works for her. It might not work for other people, but it works for her. I mean Natalie Jill; she’s also one of the top earners in her network marketing organization, which is different from my sister’s. Again, you never hear her talk about that. People just take notice of the way she and they want to be a part of her team and so… I mean, I guess there’s this stigma associated with multi-level marketing or sales or direct sales or for that matter internet marketing, or social media marketing, or selling of anything.
Whether it’s an ebook or an online course or joining your organization like there’s such a stigma attached to a selling. They’re just very passionate about what it is they do when they believe in it so much that they can’t help sometimes but talk about it. Let me give you another example. My friend Luis House and we became friends really because he’s a fellow podcast and we just kinda connect and we talk about everything. Like from book writing to our podcast, to our businesses, to our relationships, fitness, sports. He has become a really good friend to both Brett and I. When I was sharing with him kind of the struggle in having to do a video launch, he just was like “Chalene, please, please believe me, you have to do webinars.” Now he wasn’t going to charge me for his amazing webinar academy.
” …it’s not sales. It’s being passionate about something, anything.” – Chalene
I mean we’re good friends. I’ve given him access to my academies; he’s given me access to his webinar academies, that’s not selling me. But he definitely worked very hard to persuade me to try webinars because he knew it actually works. You’ll love it, it’s so up your alley. You love talking, it’s not as difficult as having to do a big production video for your launches, just try it. I don’t consider that selling, I consider that being persuasive and passionate when you know something is going to make life easier. But that’s the thing the people say “oh no no no I don’t want to do this or that because I hate sales. so if it’s not selling, why is it people like yourself and the other people come to mind who are really successful. What is it and why do people associated with sales.
Jimmy: You know what’s funny? The people that I find that say that the most when I look at their personal life, in some way, shape, or form they’re already a major influence on the people in their network or their friends, their family. They’re those people who say “yeah I’m not a good sales person” but everybody has the exact same blender, they do. Or everybody wears the exact same shoes or whatever. But they don’t – they’ve attached to this stigma this negative stigma of sales to what we do like they’re you know pushing, you know, used cars on people or they’re either pitching snake oil and really I don’t know that I would have gotten into- I didn’t look at it as sales. When I got in I had a very life changing experience with the product and you couldn’t shut me up about it and so I was doing that before I ever got paid for it so I always just try to share stories. I just ask them is there something you know a movie, a restaurant, a product something that you use that have had a huge impact on you and I watched them like talk for a good 5 minutes without taking a breath. And I just smile at them and I go “I know you’re right you are totally terrible at sales.” They kind of get what I mean by then.
Chalene: That’s a great way to flip the switch on people and help them to understand it’s not sales. It’s being passionate about something, anything. And you know what it is sales when you are paid a commission to talk about and persuade people to do something that you’re not personally passionate about. So you know, I would never suggest anybody to get into that kind of sales, but I think most of use. if you have an opinion that’s changed you life, it’s hard not to be passionate about it. It’s hard not to want to have other people improve their lives with it. Jimmy, this has been really fun can we do it again soon?
Jimmy: Let’s. Let’s do this I’m having a blast.
Chalene: Awesome, And where can people find out more about the Coach Jimmy?
Jimmy: You can either go to: TheCoachJimmy.com or you can learn more about my ways that I help you create your own motivation by going to http://5daysfire.com.
Chalene: 5daysfire.com Awesome. Thank you so much, Jimmy. We’ll talk to you soon.
Jimmy: Take care Chalene.