Execute your ideas

Execution is a subset of ideas. ~ James Altucher

Ideas alone are worthless…you must execute on those ideas.

Had I not executed on the idea of The Sales Life Podcast, I’d have nothing more than a folder full of ideas. And I did! My Evernote was full of ideas, recordings, clippings, book notes-all kinds of good material for a podcast that didn’t even exist.

It was all worthless until I put those ideas into action. I had to take one idea, hit record, put it out there, and find the next one.

Ideas executed upon give you options.

“But what if it’s bad?” You don’t want to start your page, blog, podcast, mastermind group, nor put that video out there until it’s perfect, right?

Execute. Even if you think it’s perfect, you’ll look back on it years from now embarrassed at how bad it was.  Actually, I hope you’re embarrassed years from now because it’ll show you just how far you’ve come.

How many CEO 6 month old babies do you know? Uh, none! They have to execute their 6 month old selves in order to evolve.

JT McCormick said on a recent podcast that the lottery winner isn’t lucky. She executed. She had the idea, bought the ticket, and won. That’s execution!

It’s in the execution that you’ll get even more ideas through spawned creativity.

How many ways are there to catch a football? Probably hundreds, but none if my hands are tied by my side. It’s in the action that I’ll learn more ways.

But I’ll drop some balls too…

This is why you don’t execute. You don’t want to drop the ball.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos said everyone would leap at something that promised a 100x return, but it’s in the doing that you’ll fail 9 out of 10 times…and you’ll feel bad 9 out of 10 times too, but that 10th time is where you’ll begin to amass the returns.

A decision executed is a good decision because even if you fail, a loss today is a win in the process because you closed a channel that you realized is no longer needed.

That’s called refinement. The excess is shed and your results are sculpted.

Here’s your TSL Bullets today:

1. What one thing will you execute on today before you go to bed? Just take the first step, the second is easier…and the millionth is manageable.
2. If you have already executed, what looks like a loss, but is a win in the process?

Hear this post in a podcast! Click to hear (& subscribe 🙂

First, be average…

…because average is the base of great.

Right now you’re not even average…

because all you talk about is how you once looked and lived.

I don’t care about what you once were…I care about once more. Today is your chance to make things better, first by being average.

But you’ve got to stop talking about past successes and present failures. You’re comparing today to your yesterday’s and each subsequent failure, you’re affirming the regretful narrative of how far you’ve fallen.

Stop looking at great. Looking at how well other people are doing and trying to match their results will only make you quit. Because where you are today-as bad as it is, is hard enough so getting “there,” seems damn near impossible.

The first thing you have to do is stop the bleeding. If you’re rushed into the emergency room, the doctor is not going to talk about how many calories you consume in a day-the only thing he’s going to focus on is stopping the bleeding so that you don’t die.

Your success is dying because you’re focused on a great plan instead of averaged effort. I didn’t say average effort, I said averaged effort meaning you show up, put in the work, consistently.

Average is the base camp of great and you have to get from a negative 1 to a zero, meaning you don’t do anything to make your situation worse.

This is your line in the sand. For me, as bad as I wanted the 34″ waist, I had to first draw the line in the sand and say no cheat days because I had to lose the taste and urge for fried foods. When I started, when food came into the office, I would leave so that I wouldn’t start rabidly shoveling food into my mouth saying “I’ll work it off tonight!” (not).

As the emotions died down, then I could sit in the smells and say no & as I learned to sit in the smells, I could then work without being distracted. Now that I’d proven to myself that I could sit and not smash the plate lunch, I developed confidence to build from there.

In other words, I wasn’t adding to the negatives. I didn’t have to worry about eating something and then beating myself up for hours afterwords and doing extra workouts just to negate the already negatives!

Saying no to the fried foods and busting a sweat every day (even if it was for 15 minutes), added wins instead of worrying about covering the losses. Each win got me closer to zero-where I was neutral to the distractions allowing me to place my focus on looking for the next win. In other words, I was building the averages.

If you don’t stop the bleeding, then you have no reason to be consistent, but once you’re not doing anything to make things worse, then you can focus on doing things to make things better…on the way to being great.

And just think. I started with the goal of average.

Average is awesome because great is at the summit.

Your noun needs a new verb

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Today was great show on recovering from emotional or physical injury.

Here are a few excerpts from today’s episode. I urge to to check out the full episode of The Sales Life Podcast on iTunes (or your favorite podcast app) and YouTube.(Hit the subscribe button on both to not miss a single daily episode.)

• We all have injuries.
  • I’d just starting getting into my workout program and got injured.
  • My business was rolling, but the pandemic wiped me out. 
  • My divorce is pulling at me hard.

• Your recovery has everything to do with what comes AFTER your injury. 

• Injury is a noun & a noun functions as the main element of the verb. So the verb (the action) is controlled by the noun.
• If your injury is followed by the past tenses of was, should’ve, or couldn’t, then you’ll always have past tense results. 
• “I was doing so good, but” (injury)
  • “I should’ve stayed where I was…: (injury)
  • “I thought I could push it, but…” (injury)
• Past tense = past results = a dead future. 
• When you’re injured: bankruptcy, divorce, fired, torn, broken, sentenced, or discovered, your noun (injury) needs a verb-not a constant reminder of what’s already happened.
• What’s your verb? Your noun needs an antonym.
  • The opposite of injury is leverage, advantage, gain, position, improve, return…
  • & also blessing. Some injuries are blessings in disguise but won’t be revealed until you put your injury to work.
• “Due to my injury I’m leveraging…”
• “Due to my injury I’m gaining control of…”
• “Due to my injury I’m positioning myself to train differently or take on bigger territories.”
• “Due to my injury I’m returning to the disciplines that I got away from.”
• “Due to my injury I’m improving my skill set.”
• Give your injury new direction

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• TSL action item:
  • What is your noun (injury)?
  • What’s your new verb? (None of that I need to…was gonna, bs either)

Check out the full episode and  SUBSCRIBE  on iTunes and YouTube. 

 

Play to the image that you want to see

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Hear the full episode>  The Sales Life Podcast. 

Ever talk to someone on the phone who you’ve never met and create a whole image of what you think that person looks like? The only thing you had were their words and tone of voice, but that was enough to create an avatar-from their race to their height, weight, and level of success.

But when you meet them in person, they look NOTHING like you envisioned!

If your mind is powerful enough to create a person, how instrumental do you think it is in creating an image of success (or lack thereof)?

Know it or not, you’re playing to an image.

One of the hardest things for me to change was the image that I’d been playing to for decades of not belonging or never being good. Unknowingly I played to that image so much so that if I achieved any success outside of that image, I would in some way sabotage myself to fit back into that poor image.

Creating a new image is hard-sometimes you have to forcefully play to a new image by repeatedly feeding yourself new images. (Which is why I say you have to be careful what images you are feeding yourself.)

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I have an image of stepping on stage and speaking in front of thousands of people.  I can see the color of the curtains; I can feel the warmth of the lights;  and I can even see of the audience… but I can’t see me. That’s because I have to fight through millions of distorted old images- I can feel & sense it, but can’t all the way see it.

Yet…

I’m playing to an image.

The Sales Life Podcast is a workable image for me. Every morning I’ve written over 500 episodes and with each stroke of the pen, I’m closer to my image becoming a reality.

In 2017, each episode of The Sales Life Podcast only got handful of downloads (2 were from me!), but I played to an image and today thousands make it a part of their daily ritual.  My YouTube Channel (Subscribe today!) has hundreds of videos and some have no views…but I’m playing to an image of 500k subscribers.

I’d rather play to an image of my future than accept an image of my past.

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Here’s your TSL action item today:

1. What image will you play to?
2. What action will you take toward that image?

Email me @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

Learn on the go by subscribing to The Sales Life Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

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It’s not your fault, but it is your responsibility

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Here are the show notes for episode 500 of The Sales Life. Special thanks to Mark Metry.

“When’s the last time you took responsibility over everything that’s happened in your life.” ~ Mark Metry author of “Screw Being Shy.”

When people hear the word responsibility they immediately equate it to fault.

It’s not your fault your parents got divorced.

It’s not your fault your dad died when you were nine.

It’s not your fault your brother ended up in jail.

It’s not your fault you had to take an early retirement because the company sold out.

It’s not your fault that you were molested.

But it is your responsibility…

Because you are responsible what your life becomes over that event. 

Response-able. The ability to make a decision and choose to act.

“Most people never get this far,” because they associate fault with responsibility and as long as you blame others you detach responsibility from your life.

This is why people experience self-sabotage and get pulled back toxic relationships and dead end situations-not because you can’t get over everything what’s happened, but because you won’t claim responsibility over everything that’s happened in your life. 

You can’t fix others…

You can’t splice the old scene with a better one…

As cold as this may seem, it’s over, so take your power back by claiming responsibility and choosing what your life becomes over that event.

Some things weren’t my fault….many were, but fault is a separate issue and the lessons I learn from my faults can only be applied once I take responsibility over everything that has happened in my life.

TSL Action Item today:

1. What specific event will you claim responsibility that’s been a fault in your life?
2. In 30,60, 90 days what will you move toward instead of falling back?

Email me @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

Hear the full episode by subscribing to The Sales Life on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.



They cut your branch not your tree

Show notes for episode #499!

On my way to work I saw a tree service cutting a huge limb that was hovering over the powerline. If that branch broke, it would fall & knock out the power in that area.

They cut the branch, but they didn’t cut the tree.

I wish I was mature enough to initiate pruning in my life, but sometimes life’s crew, called circumstances, comes along and cuts me.

In those times I have to remember they cut my branch, but they didn’t cut my tree.

Life will prune you in the form of demotions, break ups, blowups, failures, setbacks, & major disruptions.

Life actually did you a favor because as thick & fruitful as that branch seemed, you had no idea it was about to break and knock out your power.

The loss is a gain, you just haven’t realize it yet.

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I remember May 1, 2016 as if it was yesterday. When I walked into the office, my boss was to the left and the owner was seated at his desk.

I was demoted.

I was crushed-everything I worked for was wiped out.

But they cut my branch, not my tree.

It took me over a year to stop acting like a stump & rise and play like a trunk.

My trunk is where my strength lies. Everything I needed to start over was right there in my trunk, but I can’t get there acting like a stump.

You can have a tree without branches but you can’t have branches without a trunk, so you may lose a branch but you haven’t lost your trunk.

Pruning hurts and is scary because it’s definite yet so uncertain. You can’t solder a branch back together, but that’s probably a good thing, because you’re now lighter to climb higher.

They may have cut the branch…but they didn’t cut your tree.

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Your TSL Action:

1. In your life, what was a cutting of a “branch” but you saw it as a “tree?”

2. Are you acting as a stump or trunk?

3. What else needs to be pruned?

Email me @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

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This episode was recorded on Facebook Live. Connect with me and say 👋 @marshbuice on Facebook

Get show snippets on IG, LinkedIn, & TicTok

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Learn on the go by subscribing to over 500 episodes of The Sales Life Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Discipline over availabilities

Here are the show notes from episode 489 of The Sales Life Podcast. Get the juicy details here.

I pass by several gas stations and grocery stores on my way one from work & every one of them make a buying a case of beer available to me.

To cap off the night, seafood platters & Popeyes fried chicken are available to me.

But I don’t stop because I choose discipline over availabilities.

Just because something’s available doesn’t mean it’s good for me.

I bring this up because we recently adjusted our salespeople’s schedule where they’re off half of the month. During the Covid crisis we saw our guys worked less time but were more impactful. They loved that they could come in, deliver a vehicle and go home for the rest of the day if they wanted to.

So today half of the month is available to them to do as they choose.

And for some, it’s going to be one of the worst options because they’ll choose availabilities over discipline.

You can either work to a schedule or you can work to an opportunity.

Think of availabilities as snacks in your house. Do you remember when mama would come home from the grocery store and load up the pantry with snacks?

Which ones did you choose? All of them! You got big-eyed and stuffed as many in your mouth and in your nightstand as possible.

That’s what availabilities are to you. To your demise, you choose all of the options of laying up…binge watching…& not working out.

Choose discipline over availabilities.

I’ve always pushed back from the word discipline, because of how I thought of discipline. The image of discipline for me is the super regimented military guy who never fades to fatigue.

But that’s not what discipline is…

Discipline is simply doing something that improves you.

Availabilities left unchecked are minuses; discipline are pluses.

Joe Rogan said that the worst mistake a man can do is be comfortable.

Rogan earns his comfort so that when he chooses to lay up on the couch and watch tv, he’s earned it.

But it’s rare that he chooses the couch even though it’s available because there’s so much to do, see, & learn.

I’ve had to work through my days off & give up vacation days because I chose availability over discipline. Instead of working I played on my phone, took long lunches, & hid until it was time to go home.

I had to cancel outings with my family- I told them that I was behind at work but in truth I hadn’t earned my comfort.

Just because it’s available doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

I’m all for off time (I’m off tomorrow 🙌) as long as you’ve earned it. Use that time to lay up, & chill with your family…but also get some mental and physical workouts in too.

This is where you have to know your tendencies because tendencies will take you down. (Go back and listen to episode 489)

If you have the tendency to come back to work sluggish & fearful because you’re behind then adjust your disciplines to work half days on the days that you’re off until you can practice the discipline of working when at work.

Top producers always see the opportunity first. They like the flexibility of coming and going but they’re coming more than they’re going! They don’t choose all of their availabilities because they’re always looking for the opportunity from those who choose all of their availabilities.

Some look in amazement at a buffet of choices others prefer to hunt and kill what they eat, That’s what creates that hunger.

Here’s your TSL action items.

1) What disciplines will you put in front of availability today?

2) What are your tendencies & how will You curtail those tendencies.

Email me @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

Hear the full, juicy details of this episode here.

Measure your activities, not their results

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*Note: Here are the show notes for episode 497 of The Sales Life Podcast. Click the link to hear the juicy details 🙂

It’s human nature to want to compare yourself to someone else-we all do it, but when you’re comparing in the wrong way, it’ll cause you to give up and quit. A friend of mine’s advice to others is, “Measure yourself against other’s activities and not their results,” because their results will make you want to quit, but their activities will push you to level up.

For instance, if I’m new or newly committed to sales and see a guy who’s pushing out 40 units compared to my 10,  if I finish the month at 12, even though I did better, it pales in comparison to his King Kong month. Twenty eight units away might as well be 2800 units when you’re chasing the results and because you gave it your all and only eeked out 2 more units, it seems like you’ll never reach the Promised Land of 40 units.

So you quit.

And then you blame…

Saying that if you had the advantages Mr. 40 had, you could do it too. Instead of jealously pointing to their advantages, why not measure yourself to their activities and double down.

What are they doing and you’re not? Measuring your activities to the other person’s is tough because it forces you to be honest with yourself. Think about how easy it is to let yourself off the hook looking only at their results versus studying their activities.

Become a student of their activities and not a spectator of their results. 

You know your tendencies…now look at theirs. (Listen to episode #489 about tendencies.)

How do they work?

What do they do once they show up? (Often you’re just getting outworked. Period)

After a sale what do they do?

How do they market themselves?

How do they get leads through the door?

How do they handle multiple deals at once?

Put your ego aside and ask them how they do what they do. AND THEN DO IT! Keep in mind, you’re doing all you know to do…and that’s the problem…go find some don’t know. 

If you study their activity you’ll incrementally raise your results. I’d get crapped out real quick if I measure my results of The Sales Life in comparison to another podcast  that’s getting 100k downloads per episode. But I’m still in the game, if I measure their activities compared to mine and double down.

Don’t get overwhelmed. Layer in a few activities-get consistent at it and then layer in a couple more.

Here’s your TSL action item today:

1. Who’s activity will you study?
2. Why are you studying that person?
3. What are no more than 2 activities you will layer in NOW.
4. Email me your list @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

Hear the full, juicy episode right here. 

Change happens 3 degrees at a time.

**Here are the quick takeaways from episode 495 of The Sales Life Podcast. Subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast app to hear the juicy details.

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You can’t drive an aircraft carrier in the moment; you have to steer it 3 degrees at a time, making tiny course corrections along the way.

If you get to a point where you have to make a 30 degree turn, it’s not because of the moment, it’s because you hadn’t been-making the 3 degree course corrections for the last five miles.

Think of life like an aircraft carrier. You can’t change it all at once, but you can initiate change at once…3 degrees at a time.

When I hear the word change, it feels overwhelming because with the change comes all of the baggage of regrets & missed opportunities along with it.

Instead I like ticks because a tick seems doable. Today I can nudge my way 3 degrees at a time.

A tick to kick my obsessive drinking & get my life together was to not drink before 5 PM on my off days. (Listen to the podcast where I spill the tea 🍵 .)

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Put a cadence into your life. (I’m your drill instructor)

What is your dominant leg? Mine is my right. So imagine you’re walking down the road. Think in the cadence of “Right, Left, Road.”

Your right leg is “Action.”

Your left leg is “Decision.”

Your road is “Commitment.”

Sooo…Action, Decision, Commitment. (Right, left, road, get it?)

Act: 3 degrees, act now. (None of that, “But Marsh…..)

Decision: Re-up. Add a layer today.

Commitment: Result

For me: Act: Bust a sweat today. Decision: No drinks before 5. Commitment: Lose 40 lbs by the time I was 40.

And when you mess up, stick to your cadence. Quickly act to cauterize those feelings of screwing up. Take action, renew your decision, committed to your results.

Hear the full podcast (and 500 more).

Never settle keep selling your way through life no matter what.

Get down…but don’t let it take you down

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If you find yourself wising you’d started sooner or done differently you’ll want to check out yesterday’s post & podcast 

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There’s no question we all have our down moments. Hip hop artist Jeezy was supposed to be on Beyonce’s song, Drunk in Love. Jeezy normally prepares for studio sessions, but when he got the call, he just showed up and freestyled his lyrics.

When the song was released, he wasn’t on it. “Sorry, I couldn’t use it, ” came the words from Jay Z.

“I missed my shot,” thought Jeezy.

Did he get down? “No. Actually it woke me up,” he said.

Jeezy realized he’d gotten comfortable and gotten away from the techniques that created his success. He wasn’t taking it as serious as he once did and because he was hanging out with the legends of the industry, he’d thought he’d arrived and could just wing it.

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Negative moments can get you down…or they can wake you up.

You can get down…just don’t let them weigh you down.

Because what starts off as a moment of failing becomes a monument of failure.

The down moments should be mile markers in your life-checkpoints to adjust your pace, not millstones to weigh you down.

Things are going to get you down, but don’t let them take you down.

In reality the moments are doing you a favor-they call you out, wake you & shake you up.

When the customer-the one you’ve sold their whole family to comes back in and buys, but it’s not from you-as a matter of fact, they didn’t even ask for you. You can get mad, pissed off, throw things, burn off, and threaten to quit…

Or you can use it as a wake up call because you deep down you know you haven’t been maintaining the relationship and staying top of mind. It’s not  your customers’ job to remember you, it’s your job to make sure they never forget you.

These moments are trying to wake you up to say that you’ve got to tighten up.

When you look how far you’ve slipped it can get overwhelming. “Where do I start,” you ask.

You start.

Instead of wasting days to trying to get over it, use the moments to learn and grow through it.

Heart attacks are wake up calls. \

Injuries are wake up calls.

Bankruptcy is a wake up call.

A breakup from BooBoo is wake up call.

COVID-19, demotion, and termination are all wake up calls.

I had a buddy of mine swing by my office the other day. Come to find out, he’d been terminated due to the COVID crises. Initially he was pissed off, but after he cooled down, he used the moment as a wake up call. The owner did him a favor. No longer was he stuck, he could pursue something he’d been delaying for years.

Down moments are a part of life.

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Do you want to win or succeed? Most say they want to win, but I’d rather succeed. Because winning is one outcome, but what happens when I pour my all into something and I don’t win? If my only option was to win, then I’d probably quit.

I’d rather succeed because success has multiple scenarios. In those scenarios are wins, losses, blow ups, near misses wake ups, and shakeups, but collectively I’ll succeed.

See, I won’t always win, but I can ultimately succeed.

Here’s your TSL action item of the day.

1. Name a moment that was very tough for you. Maybe you haven’t even gotten over it.
2. How will you use it as a wake up call? This is tough because it takes ownership, but it’s necessary to grow forward.
3. Email me @ thesaleslife1@gmail.com

You can get down, just don’t let it take you down.

**Note these are the show notes, but I riff more on the podcast. Check it out by searching The Sales Life Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.