We received a couple hundred questions in the lead up to “Prosper From Your Passion Sharing Your Knowledge Online".
Many of the questions were around marketing, so I decided to record this video answering 7 of the most frequent questions we received.
Here are the seven questions we've been asked in this video:
1. What clever marketing strategies can you do yourself that does not cost a bomb?
When we first started Authentic Education, we started only with $5,000 each, and it was on a very small budget, so I understand this question that we were looking for the most cost-effective ones, the cheapest ones, essentially, that we could possibly do.
We would do things like flyer drops, letter box drops, going to the Mind Body Spirit Festival. That had a little bit of a cost associated to it, but I just want to let you know it's not about the cheapest strategy. It's about the one that has the biggest return on investment.
I'll give you an example. If I was to give you $100 for every $10 that you gave me, so you give me $10 and I give you a $100 note straight back, is there a budget anymore? Does it matter how many $10 notes you've got and what your budget is?
No, it doesn't, because now you've got an unlimited pool of resources, an unlimited amount of $10 notes that you're willing to give me because the return on investment is there.I want to get your mind off how much it costs and more so on what the return on investment will be.
When marketing is done correctly (keyword there is "correctly") your budget is unlimited, and you just have to know and figure out the correct steps for that, which Ben is going to also cover at Prosper From Your Passion.
The formula, as clichéd as it sounds, is the formula that we've used over the last seven years.
2. Is Ben a gifted speaker? How did he take this skill and help others?
Ben is definitely not a gifted speaker. If you could have seen Ben the way I 
saw Ben about nine years ago when I first met him, he would go visibly red when he was speaking. He would stumble over his words. His jokes wouldn't land. I mean, sometimes his jokes still don't land(!), but he's definitely not the Ben you see today, so don't compare yourself to where people have finished up.
Compare yourself to where people have started from, and Ben is definitely not quote-unquote "gifted." It took hours and hours (in Ben's case thousands of hours) of practice to get to where he is today as well.
"How did you take this skill and help others?"
I remember when we first started as well, sometimes I would ask Ben, "Hey, Ben, in terms of the marketing and speaking, how many people do we need to have in the event before we actually run the event?" Ben would say this line that he got from Dr. Wayne Dyer. He said if there were two rats in a sewer, he'd go and speak to them, so his answer was, "One person. As long as one person comes to that event, then we're speaking," then Ben's speaking at it. That's how we took that skill and helped others.
Just practice, practice, practice. Doesn't matter if you're speaking to one person or even in the mirror, in your lounge room or something. It's all about the practice and helping one person at a time.
3. Are my dreams or ideas worthy and possible?
It obviously depends what they are, but the answer to that question is twofold: Your dreams or ideas are worthy if they're adding value to other people, and they are possible if they're adding value to other people. By "possible," I mean that you can make a living and a handsome income from doing it if you're solving other people's problems, and that is definitely worthy to do. Ben is going to cover that a bit more at the program Prosper From Your Passion as well.
4. How do you know which is your true passion if you have several things you really enjoy doing?
How do you know which is your true passion if you have several things? Now, people usually fall into one or two categories: too many passions, or they don't even have one. Both of those things can be answered by this diagram that you may have seen on the Prosper From Your Passion page.
It's the intersection between what you love to do, so you might love kitesurfing as an example, but it may not pay well, so it has to pay well in that it has to be adding value to other people's lives, so much that it's a fair exchange that they'll exchange their value, which is money, in exchange for your value, which is education, in most of the cases.
You have to be good at it as well. When I say "have to be good at it," that is the one that I'm more likely to relax on in that if you're not good at it, you can outlearn anyone.
You can become good at it extremely quickly. You could read three books on a topic and become more of an expert in the eyes of other people than someone who is only just going about their daily life, so we're going to cover that in more detail at Prosper From Your Passion, because in the middle is where they all intersect and all the magic happens.
5. Can an introvert be successful?
Yes, they can, and in speaking as well. I've met so many speakers, and it's a funny thing that you'd think they're extroverted, but when they get off stage, and I've met them at an after-party of the event or just speaking to them one-on-one, they're very introverted.
I would even go as far to say as Ben is an introvert, believe it or not, but everyone has a different style, and your style is going to resonate with other people, with other people that are more introverted. Not everyone has to be like this massive charismatic Tony Robbins-style figure on a platform. Just be yourself. Be authentic.
6. How do you take that leap of faith and give up a soul sucking dead end, but permanent, job to jump to your ideal career that feeds your soul?
There are actually five ways to take that leap of faith. I've actually created a webinar all about it, which is totally free.
You can access "5 Ways To Quit Your Job And Do What You Love" here.
The five ways are:
1. Dream about it but actually not do anything about it but still go to work
2. Safety first. Save enough money until you think you've got a safety net.
3. Part-time lover. Go part-time in a job which is helping you towards your end goal.
4. Stepping stone: go full-time in a job which is halfway between what you're currently doing and what you want to be doing and all or nothing, which is what Ben did.
5. Pull the ripcord and say, "I'm not doing this any longer, and I'm going to find a way."
There are the five ways, but have a look at that webinar for the full in-depth details of how that works.
7. How can I prosper from my passion?
I put this one last as an example. Obviously, we've got the event coming up called Prosper From Your Passion, but you just start taking the steps necessary by finding out, if you go back to that diagram.
What it is that you love, what you're good at, and what pays well? There are many other things. There's mindset things you've got to overcome.
There's business hurdles, like how do I attract clients? How do I package myself? How do I communicate effectively with people as well, the nine core delivery methods that we offer?
Get your questions answered at "Prosper From Your Passion"
There's all these other different things that we'd love to teach you at the upcoming Prosper From Your Passion, which, if you haven't got your ticket yet, click on the link below.
The team is going to be there to answer any of your questions, so if you've got anything related to marketing, management, systems, productivity, anything to do with business and prospering from your passion, the team are there to help you at the actual event.
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