Intro: He used to be an out of work, drowning in debt, actor. Who was so broke he passed out chocolates as a job in New York Times Square. Now, he is a financially fit husband and dad living a kick ass life of travel and fun, and will never have to punch a time clock again. Delivering only the best business tips to the pros. Buckle your chin strap, you just stepped into training camp with Coach Jimmy.
Jimmy: Welcome to another episode of training camp, I am your host coach Jimmy. We bring you the secret home business tips from the pros. Today, I have the pros of pros for you. When I decided to launch this show, Christine was one of the first people to pop in my head. I am going to brag on her a little bit before I let her go and let her teach you some of the things she has taught me.
About Christine
In multiple businesses she has gotten into, she has become the top of the top, if there was a rank to get to, a title to achieve, this girl goes and gets it is what I love. It is all about results with her. In under four years in her business, a multimillion. And what I love, it is not just the Christine Dwyer show. The Christine Dwyer show is very entertaining. What I love most about it, she has multiple millionaires that she has helped train, and they have been able to produce as well. I have always loved bringing people on the show that can teach. It is one thing to have just an innate skill set and sometimes you can just lean on your own tricks and talents. But it really just takes a great leader and a great teacher to teach somebody else to do that as well. Christine Dwyer thanks you so much for being on the show today.
Christine: Hey Jimmy, thank so much for having me. I am really excited to talk to you.
Jimmy: I love this because that is exactly what this, just us sitting together chit chatting. We have had so many talks like this, might as well record it and let some other people peek in on our chit chats. But as we were prepping for the show, the thing that I wanted to touch on the most, was why is it that so many people want to start a business, or create a different life, or maybe they are trapped in their career. They jump in, and the same person with the same maybe talents, skill sets, whatever. One rises to the top; one becomes the next Christine Dwyer and does amazing things. And one never gets off the ground, and I am so excited to hear from you what is is that you think that separates those two individuals.
Christine: Well, like you said, these conversations that we have are one of the most valuable times I think that you can with any other entrepreneur who is working to be better and to learn more. I appreciate that we have that opportunity to grow together. But it is not one typical skill set, or attribute or characteristic to them that actually is going to make that person succeed over another person. There are multiple other little factors of course. When it comes right down to it, when you look at growing and building in the business, or whatever you are trying to build. What does it come down to every day?
It comes down to the consistency. The consistency to do what you should be doing every day to make that forward motion. A lot of times people put into their bag of tricks excuses. You know, oh I am busy, or I am just going on vacation this week, or the kids got this soccer thing and this birthday party and there is no way I can do it today. So they let life, kind of take over and they fail to follow through and what their goals were and their actions they have to do to make their goals happen. So, where the problem is and the underlying problem, they haven’t created the habit that they need to actually do their business, or do the effort they need to for what they are growing, every day. They look at it as a task on their to do list. Rather than, it just happens every day. So it is a habit really.
Jimmy: I like that because I don’t know, you know as you were talking about that I started thinking about what are some inherent habits that I have or other people have. I think of things like taking a shower, brushing my teeth even. I don’t think of those as tasks; I don’t put them on a to do list. They just become inherent habits. So is that kind of along the same lines of what you are talking about that has allowed you to create a team of over 100,000 people so obviously this is something that is learnable, and people can put into action, right?
Christine: Totally, and that exactly what it is. So every day, you are doing stuff that you don’t have to think about. When you wake up, and the alarm is going off, you immediately turn it off, you don’t just get up and let it keep ringing. There is a habit of action. So everything is an action, even to the point of when you go take a shower. Is there a process that you always do in the shower. Have you ever gotten out of order of when you taken a shower and then you forget, did I wash that arm or did I wash my hair? Did you forget? Have you done that?
Jimmy: No, because it is the same thing over and over again, right?
Christine: Right, well usually, for instance, if I am in the shower and I say oh no I am out of soap, and then you have to run and get soap. You kind of derailed your routine in the shower, now you forget where you left off. Usually that is a habit. We have created this habit of the order in our lives that we don’t have to think about it. If we put that onto that daily life order, an action that will help us move forward in our business, even the little small tiny step it will start to train you to actually do your business without even thinking about it.
Jimmy: I love that. OK, so let’s get to the nuts and bolts of this. Where do we start, how do we take this from being overwhelmed, that is a word I hear a lot from people trying to start their own business or start something from home in addition to life that is always going on. They have this oh I am overwhelmed thing. So where do you start with somebody when you are working with them to take it from tasks to creating these habits.
First Step: Identifying Goals.
Christine: Well One thing you have to think about is, what is your goals. We are going to have different goals that we are going to want to achieve in life. So, what you want first to think about, someone that is a new entrepreneur and they are trying to get in the habit of actually doing their business or doing the necessary steps to grow their business. They have to start create a different habit that they have not normally in their lives. So, if you are looking at the action of, how do we start establish that. It is broken down into three areas that are actually going to start to make you create this habit. Anchor it, and start to reap the rewards. So those are the three actual steps. So the first is identifying, the very tiniest, smallest step that you can do to help you run your business. That would be the first step.
The second is to find where you are going to anchor it within your day where there is a kind of no matter what, it is going to happen because you anchored it to that habit that you do already. And then the third is to find a way to celebrate that you did it. Those three areas when you can nail them down, that is when you really start to see changes, and then you just keep building on a new habit, and it progressively mounts on itself and that is where you start to see results.
Jimmy: I think that is great, I love that you have broken it into three. So starting with that first thing, how challenging do you feel like it is to actually identify what those tasks are that move you forward because I hear a lot again, 9 times out of 10 somebody who is trying to do a business of their own of any kind, it is usually in addition they are trying to build it on the side while they have a full time job. So what do you do to help people realize what are those tasks that are productive and not just busy.
Christine: Yea, well we first have to identify what it is their immediate goal. So a lot of the times when people think of that word goal, they really kind of draw like big pie in the sky goal that they are working towards. I may use the term goal, but I don’t really use it as such as a strong focus because I got different things I want to achieve in my life. I can’t achieve my pie in the sky goal this week or this month. So you have to have those mini goals that are along the way in the process. So, if we are looking at someone that is brand new, and they are trying to build their business, and they understand that there is a certain activity that they are suppose to do to take it to the next level. Whatever that is you know. Sell their big product or bring on new team mates or whatever they are trying to build for their business. They’re certain action items that are not revolutionary I mean we are doing basics of business building. That you have to do to be able to do it.
So, the first step I would always recommend for someone to do is to actually create three columns. The first actual homework assignment I would give someone is to get a piece of paper out, and I am a pen and paper kind of girl. And write out three different columns. So the first column is where you are going to identify the goal that you really are working towards. So, say it is someone that who is in the business, and they are trying to increase the amount of volume produced in their business so they can start to make more money. If that is one of their goals. They will put that down in the first column. And on the second column, what are all the actions that you will have to do to to increase the volume in your business. So it comes down to really diving deep, break it down super simple. Every simple step, so it can’t be a generality of you know, sell more products. Because obviously that increases volume. Really what it comes down to is, even the smallest step of talking to one person, you know friending a new person on social media. It breaks down to that littlest, smallest step. Because it comes down to finding more people who need what you have. So, you break down all the action items you would have to do to get that goal. Now on the third column what you are going to do is look at your second column and decide which one out of there is a serious, simple , I would be insane if this didn’t happen everyday task. That is the one you would focus on to create that new habit.
Now I do need to say this, a lot of times when people are trying to create a new habit or really starting to move their business. They really start to focus too big, so they pick a task; that is still too big for them. And they won’t do it. So I have to give this little analogy because it makes sense. When you go to the dentist, and you know they always ask you, do you brush three times a day? Because I am honest, and I tell them no I only brushed one time a day because they are going to know, they are going to look in my mouth, and if I have something going on, they are going to tell me liar! I know you are not brushing that many times a day. So I am honest, and I tell them, even when it comes down to that question of are you flossing every day? Yikes! I mean, no I would love to and I get in those habits, I am going to start flossing every time. And you start doing it and then that last for like a week or two and then it falls off. You know, because you started to get in a rush, you had to take your kids to school, you don’t have time to floss this morning. And then you just broke that little pattern you had and then you forgot about that little habit. It is not a habit. So my little analogy is, stop trying to floss all 32 of your teeth, or how many you have. Just focus on one. One. Like seriously? Can’t you floss one tooth? That is what it comes down to.
So, where we are going to be pulling into the second item, which is the anchor, is the action of brushing your teeth. I would say more people brush their teeth at least one time per day. At least hopefully. So that is an anchor that is something you do in your normal routine that if you tied on something super simple silly, like I am just going to do one tooth. And just tie it to that. The action of just doing one tooth you are going to feel successful about it. And you will start to build onto that habit.
Second Step: Setting the Anchor.
So let’s move into the second point. The second point is the anchor. So the anchor is what are you currently doing in your life every day. If you look at your week if it is Monday through Friday. Or are you looking at a Monday through Sunday. Look at each day and if you have to write it down but what are you doing that it is an automatic process and actually don’t think about it, it is just always apart of your routine. There is a system; there is a routine of everything that we are doing. So, what you want to do is, is start to look at all of those areas and sometimes people don’t even think about these little areas as part of a routine. Try them, like that, is part of your routine. You have to drive to get to somewhere. Like if you have a job, you are driving to that job. That is part of your routine; you actually have to do that action item. Something super simple. So identifying where in your day is there an anchor. Something that you are doing every day that you don’t have to think about. So that is the second step. So when you have identified it, you now just really kind of need to go back to the first step, pick out that insanely simple tiny step.
It is called a baby step. People usually balk at taking baby steps in their business; they think they are already doing that. Well, it is not about taking baby steps in your business like growing it slowly, it is actually just about creating super silly insanely tiny steps that you want to anchor in your business that you will not forget and do every day. So that is really where we are going with it. So if I go back to that column and I pick out that crazy thing that I cannot do every day, and anchor it to something I didn’t do every day, then I will start to build a habit. So it can be something that doesn’t match. So you take a shower, and you come out of the shower, what do you do, do you brush your teeth in the shower or out of the shower?
Jimmy: No, out of the shower.
Christine: OK, so for instance, you have an anchor of brushing your teeth. That is what we are using. Would it make sense to friend one person on social media at the tooth brushing anchor?
Jimmy: No, probably not. That would get confusing trying to brush with this hand and friend on my phone with the other.
Christine: Right, it doesn’t make sense. So, you have to look at what is the action item that you say you need to start to do. The super simple one, and match that to the best anchor of your current day so that it makes sense.
Jimmy: So, for example, and this may be where you are going with this, so as my brain starts thinking, if we staying with the tooth brushing thing, man I could learn something new about my business, I could listen to audio or have my iPad up or my iPhone or my laptop on my sink that out of the shower if I am brushing my teeth or shaving or whatever, that can be learning time or I am being super productive both ways. I am obviously getting ready for the day, but I am also learning something that will take my business to the next level skills set way.
Christine: Exactly! So you know obviously, you are huge with constantly learning, you are like a sponge. You want to learn from so many different people, and reading and audios, I know that about you. That is why you and I get along because I love people who love to learn. But, I also learn you so much because you never feel like you are done yet. You know, there is always a way to get better. And that is exactly the case. I found that I don’t make time for personal development. You know reading books, or audios, or podcasts or any training where I am sitting here at my desk, and I just don’t do it because I will find something to do. So what I have anchored is I will get on the treadmill and that is always when I am putting a podcast in or some other audio that I am training so I am constantly in a motion I won’t forget to do it. Now I like that, for instance, when you are getting ready in the morning, that can be a perfect time to do some personal development. If that person doesn’t focus on putting that a part of their training because you know full well, if they want to increase volume in their business, they can’t unless they are learning to be a better leader, a better salesperson, how to be better in general and that comes a lot from personal development as well.
Jimmy: I think that is great because you know because I know you and I are both fitness oriented people. But I know that there is that person that is going, man just getting on the treadmill, that would be a whole another habit to create in the first place. But for some people that isn’t, maybe you are already a runner or I know people that have done a lot of their training while they are working out. I know in the past I have done something like that. Listening to something while I am lifting weights instead of my playlist. What is another example of an anchor to a task, like maybe it is reaching out and connecting with new people on social media. That you know, in any business, we always have to expand our circle of influence. Or just who we know. So what type of anchors that you have found to be successful for those habits and tasks.
Christine: Well it really comes down to again, identifying the different areas in your life. So even the action of walking the dog, so when you said, maybe these people are not fitness oriented. Some people walk their dogs. Me? I am bad; I don’t do that all the time. Again, I should probably start to build that habit myself. But walking the dog, you could totally put on an audio if that were the case. So start to break down the day, even points where you are not even recognizing it. If you have kids, do you put them to bed? Yes, you do! That is an anchor! So right after you put your kids to bed, you then do that action. That is an anchor, every time you put the kids to bed, no matter what, you are going to do that insanely simple tiny step, right there.
Jimmy: I love this because you are not trying to create something new; it is just a matter of identifying these things that are already mindless in your day, and connecting something to get you to your goals to it. It is kind of like hitching your wagon, to something that already exorcists.
Christine: That’s it! So then once it starts to establish itself, it starts to increase. So, after a period of time, you are going to start to do that simple habit, so, for example, when you are doing laundry, your habit when you are doing laundry might be to, when you put the clothes in your dryer, that is when you are doing to do five push ups, or one push up! Just one push up! You are going to progressively keep adding on. So once that little tiny action became a habit, you do it without even thinking about it now, you feel silly because people now catch you dropping down to do a push up. You will be like oh; I forgot that I even did that because I always do it. Then you start to kind of make it a little more. Your goal is to do five push ups, Now you do ten. So start progressively adding on. Just add on.
Jimmy: That is so great, so even if you took that to expanding your business, let’s use the laundry analogy, I know after this load of laundry, that is when I am going to do the follow up calls I need to do today. Or that is when I am going to friend three more people, or I am going to make that sales call. Whatever it is that particular person’s business is that you tie it to. Because, at the end of the day, you know some many different businesses, they all go down to, it is not the big grand ideas that move things forward, it is the little non sexy, tiny things that we just struggle to be consistent with. So I love this concept Christine. So, once somebody identified the task, they identified the anchor, is there some special sauce, in helping that, you know maybe done in two or three days in a row, how do you concrete lock that in,so it becomes a long term situation.
Christine: Yea, so this actually really sounds silly, but it really is an important part of the step to the step. To make it become a habit where they actually look forward to doing it. And to give a couple more ideas, that popped in my mind about different habits that, for instance, that I do as it has kind of grown, is when I call people I always do it when I am in the car driving. I schedule my appointments to call people to present whatever I am presenting to them when I know I am going to drive for ten minutes. For me, I don’t want to be on the phone selling someone for a long period of time. All I want to do is talk to them for a short moment and to give them an idea and direction and then I need to get out of the car, so I do my calls in the car, and even if it is something as simple when I get my kids to karate, and I get them all geared up, and they go into class and I sit down to watch, I then anchor to go friend 5 people immediately and then watch class. So it takes me two seconds to add people to my network because I anchored that I dropped them off at karate, I sit down I immediately open up a social media platform and I friend new people.
Third Step: The Celebration.
So, as you start to build that anchor, what you really want to do is tie in that third step that I mentioned earlier is actually a celebration. So you are going to be looking at it like, celebration, which is weird why would they be celebrating my flossing of one tooth. It comes down to people do it all the time but we don’t usually call it a celebration. A lot of the times people will call it a reward, like good dog, you get a reward. You can’t look at it that way because obviously every time you floss one tooth you can’t go buy a new outfit. You have to be realistic. So you really have to break down to think about what you may already know or what is already out there that you have seen people do that is a part of what they just do. And one that pops up in my head is when Tiger Woods, when he makes his hole in one, when he hits that hole, what does he always do?
Jimmy: The fist pump
Christine: That’s it! That is his anchor, every time he does it; he does a fist pump. Even something as silly as this and I know you are a sports guy. The football games, you know, some guys have these underwear that they have to wear, of their team will lose, or you can’t go to the bathroom during this play because they will mess up this play.
Jimmy: Right, you got to have your mojo, it is a little superstition, but any true sports fan will tell you that it works, most of the time.
Christine: You got those little celebrations, and you got to tie those into something where you want to really kind of remember that you are doing it. So, it can come down to something as simple as this. If you are in the car, and your goal is to call one person, soon as you are done with that person on the phone, you look in the mirror, and you give yourself a thumbs up. That is a celebration. You did it! Or even going Woo! You know, just like yelling out woo! When you did your anchor, because you are tying it in, you are celebrating that you did it. You know, there is one area that a lot of people actually struggle with, is making conversation with people. A little technique on this, to create conversations, to be ok to talk to people, to open up the door for conversation, is just getting in the habit of just looking someone in the eyes and saying Hi, And that is it! So if your passing, you know when you are passing someone and you got that little awkward feeling of, who is going to say hi first? Why don’t you be that person that looks them in the eyes, say Hi and as soon as you pass, you do the fist pump or whatever. You did it! You are anchoring yourself to move into more conversation, because then you can move your conversation into Hi, how are you? Hi, What do you do? So you start to kind of build those little conversations too, and then you celebrate with a wink to yourself in the mirror, or a yell, or fist pump, or a jump, or whatever you want to do that makes you feel good.
Jimmy: I love this concept, because you know so many people look at, I gave the analogy, look at the wall, look at a gigantic wall, and if you just concentrate on laying that next brick down perfectly, you are going to get your wall or you are going to get to where you are wanting to go in this business. For somebody that has had as much success as you are have, not only personally, but the size of the team, the success that other people have had within your organization that have been able to work with you. What I love about this is that anything as an entrepreneur, or as a business owner, or somebody that wants to do something. If it is something I can control, you know that it is not luck, that it is not “Was I blessed with this talent?”, these are simple things that anybody if they will make it a priority and put it into actual do that they control over, and I think that is going to be really empowering for somebody.
Christine: Yea, I mean if you think about;this whole concept is not a matter of just to build your business, this could be for someone that wants to start exercising or even to quit smoking. For instance, a lot of times people have that habit of when they get in the car and drive to work, they light up. And that is an anchor, and that is why a lot of times it is hard for people to quit smoking because they have anchored that cigarette into habits of their day. They have tied that into that is what they have to do, and they can’t possibly quit. If they just switch that one moment, not saying you have to switch your entire day with a cigarette, I mean obviously that would be awesome, but if they just switched just one of their connections to something different, it is going to start to domino and they will start to do it in other places where they have that connection come into play.
The Wrap-Up
Jimmy: That is so fantastic. This is awesome. I love that this is just a simple concept that I think so many people think being successful is very complicated at times. It is really not; it is about simplifying things that Christine does such a great job with it. It is the reason I wanted to have her on. So, think about that for just a moment in your own business. What are those tasks that are going to move things forward? Identify, take the next day and just kind of watch yourself, you know that third person view of watching yourself, and figure out where those anchors are. And then how do you celebrate as well. So Christine, so that is so fantastic.
I always ask this question when wrapping up. Have there been resources that you have plugged into that has helped you when becoming more consistent or being a better leader, where it is a book, or something that has helped you with growing your business maybe you can share with those checking out Training Camp today.
Christine: Yea, I am a big fan of personal development and growth that I don’t find in just one source. I really look to many different sources, and I just see who I connect with. So, first I like to figure out podcasts, which ones I really follow, my mentor being Chalene Johnson. I love Chalene Johnson’s podcast. As well Brandon Reshard, I follow him. I love Dave Ramsey, with entreleadership, I love his programming. But I love books too. So behind me I have a bunch of books that I love and I really just try to find out which ones are the critical piece that is just one small area that if I could fix, I might be able to help more people. It could be something as simple as speaking on stage, or making a video, and that is usually what I like to find. I am constantly in learning mode, there is no one stop shop, I am on Facebook, social media examiner, constantly watching youtube, there is a lot of free stuff out there, you just have to decide that you want to get better, and go find it.
Jimmy: I think that is fantastic. It really is, it has never been easier to learn things and what I love right now, is kind of in this entrepreneurial space, everybody is willing to share their answers. Also because, we want to see other people succeed. So, Christine, this stuff has been awesome. So obviously I know people are checking out the show right now that need more of Christine. How do I connect with her? So if there are people that want to find you or want to learn more about working with you, or learn from you, how would they find you?
Connect with Christine
Christine: Well easy way to find me is of course, a lot of us live on facebook. So you can just find me on facebook.com/coachdwyer and I will be there and I would be able to share some information with you, and I would love to hear from you too.
Jimmy: That is awesome, in the show notes and the description of this video we are going to have links to any of the books and programs that Christine talked about. Obviously the way you can connect with her. Christine Thank you so much, and this has been amazing and I have ideas and notes that are running through my head that I am going to jot down real quick after this as well. Gang, this is another Training Camp, I hope that you enjoyed it, I am loving making these videos and this podcast for you as well. If this is something that you are really finding a lot of value you, make sure to subscribe, do me a favor and share it with a few friends. Until next time, we will see you next time in Training Camp.