Podcast

029 – Steve Sims: The Art Of Making Things Happen

By November 20, 2020December 2nd, 2020No Comments

BCS 29 | Making Things Happen

 

A lot of things aren’t happening in 2020 because people are just sticking their heads in the sand because of fear. We all need to figure out ways to make things happen as it becomes clear that this crisis isn’t going away easily. Luckily, today’s guest is all about making things happen. In this episode, Brian Covey talks to speaker, author, podcast host, and coach, Steve Sims. Dubbed as “The Real Life Wizard of Oz,” Steve is the bestselling author of BLUEFISHING – The Art of Making Things Happen. Do you know anyone that’s worked with Sir Elton John or Elon Musk, sent people down to see the wreck of the Titanic on the sea bed or closed museums in Florence for a private dinner party and then had Andrea Bocelli serenade them while they eat their pasta?  Steve is that person and much more. Join in on this wide-ranging conversation that will give you the jolt you need to start making something happen before the year ends.

Connect with Steve:

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Listen to the podcast here:

Steve Sims: The Art Of Making Things Happen

BCS 29 | Making Things Happen

BLUEFISHING – The Art of Making Things Happen

This is going to be an epic episode. I’ve been working to get Steve Sims on the show. Many of you know who he is. I’ll introduce him here. It’s one of those where you wait long enough, you schedule it, you get the calendars coordinated and now is going to be fantastic. Before we jump into that, I want to remind you that we’ve had great feedback. We had Barry Habib and Dave Savage on. You probably saw that Barry released his book, Money in the Streets. I want to make sure you follow up on that opportunity. Dave Savage also had his national Modern Mortgage Originator Mastermind, which was fantastic as well. You want to make sure you tune into that. Every week, we’re bringing you value and adding things that can help you learn and grow, whether you’re an entrepreneur, you’re part of a team, you’re a team leader or you’re somebody that’s wanting to make a difference in the world yourself.

This episode is going to be fabulous. If you haven’t heard of Steve, he is the concierge to the stars and celebrities among celebrities. He’s been featured in things like Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times, Forbes and CNBC. His book came out a few years ago was Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen has been one that has changed me because I started reading into it when I found out who Steve was. We talked about in 2020, we all need to figure out ways to make things happen. I know that’s going to be relevant now. He travels quite a bit. He’s a keynote speaker. He did a speakeasy in Nashville, Tennessee. He had coach Michael Burt, who many of you know that tune in here. He’s a guy that’s well-connected. He did an event for us and our West Coast crew out with LoanDepot and did a fantastic job. Steve, I’m sure I could go on and on. Your resume is impressive but more importantly than that, it’s cool and fun. You’re living life to the fullest.

Is there any other way?

No. I saw a picture the other day and this epitomize. I saw you’ve got your motorcycle collection. I think it was you and your son was heading out to ride. I thought, “That’s a picture of somebody that’s figured out priorities, what’s important, how to live life, to enjoy while we’re here, and getting to do things.”

It sounds all woo-woo, but I realized probably many years ago, shock or surprise that we’re all going to die. I thought to myself that when we do, there’s this myth that your life flashes before your eyes and I thought, “I want mine to be full that there’s an intermission for popcorn.” That’s how I try to live my life now.

You can see it as you’ve gone through. What I love about your story is, going back through as I was prepping for our show, you’ve had quite the life. I think a lot of people look at where Steve is now. I’d love to take some time and go backwards. Prior to doing all these cool things, opening your company, and you’re setting up all these amazing experiences for people. What was life like before you got in and started to see some success?

It was the same as you, Alec, Coach Burt, Barry and all of these other entrepreneurs. I spent most of my life being aggravated. Entrepreneurs are aggravated oysters. As Joe Polish said, “It’s those aggravated oysters that make pearls.” As a youngster, I was a ‘60s baby, but I did my growing up in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. There was no such thing as an entrepreneur. I remember, if you were an entrepreneur, then that was because you couldn’t get a real job. I remember being at school, I got in trouble with the headmaster and the headmaster was screaming at me that I’m nothing more than a hustler. I remember at the time thinking, “Is that a bad thing?”

When you hit rock bottom, there is nowhere else to go but up. Click To Tweet

If someone walks into your company and said, “Stop your advertising for a new recruit. I’m the best hustler you’ll ever meet.” You’re going to recruit them on the spot. I came from a period where entrepreneur and hustler were a bad thing. We’re in a situation where we’ve got to find yourself. I didn’t know I was an entrepreneur like most entrepreneurs, but I knew I was aggravated. I knew there had to be something better. I grew up in East London to a construction family, my mom and dad. I ended up working for them a little bit. There’s a cool story about how I left them. As all entrepreneurs, we jumped out of the frying pan into the volcano. We take a 40-hour steady job with health benefits and go screw down.

I’m going to work 200 hours a week and rely on myself. There’s no reason behind it other than it’s the spots that we carry in the shrubs we all to make sure we are. I was in East London, I traveled the world. I did many different jobs from door-to-door salesman, car salesman, and truck driver. The strange thing is it was the worst job that I got that propelled me into the world I am now. The doll thing is people always go, “If you could go back in time, what would you do now?” The funny thing is, if I was smart, I’d go, “I would’ve stopped myself getting that terrible job.” I noticed early on that success doesn’t come from success. As success comes from failures and the education on what not to do to quadruple the success we would have had. Had I not been in that dark place for that shitty job, I wouldn’t be sitting here texting Elton John, as simple as that.

I look back at the periods of my life that I had the most adversity, you hit rock bottom. You don’t think you can go any further and then you do. You look back and you realize that was a time there was a gut check, “Am I going to step forward, or am I going to be the person that retreats and gets completely off the path?” There are jobs and things that we’ve all had to do. All of us where we are that we didn’t want to do them. I’m with you. I look back and go, “I don’t know that I’d want to do that again but in that season, it’s what was required.” I love how you talk about some of this and you’re talking about even in your book of making things happen. In 2020, what I’ve seen is these two camps dividing. There are people that are waiting for the cure, the vaccine, things to get better, and to go back to normal, whatever that is. There’s this other group that’s experimenting, trying, and doing whatever they can but they’re taking action. Over your exposure, what’s separating them? Why are people not taking action? Why are people taking action? I see that it’s a divide.

Fear creates two triggers and it’s always fear. I’ve done this speaking event before. If you went onto the stage and you go, “Everyone runs out the back door. There are five beautiful models and they’ve each got a briefcase with $500,000 in them. Whoever gets to the briefcase first can keep the money.” How many people would you think would run out of that room?

All.

Truthfully, most people would sit there and go, “That can’t be.” They’re doubtful, “That can’t happen.” Even though I’ve explained everything. You may get a couple of looky-loos in the back, they’re leaning up against the door that would open it but most people would sit, they’re going, “That can’t be real. He’s not giving us $500,000. If I run onto the stage, grabbed the mic, and shout with one word, “Fire.” How many people would you think would leave the room?

That would be the group that would go.

The bottom line is fear creates a trigger. The trigger is up to you to how do you respond. A lot of people at the moment are heavily fear-based. We’re seeing a divide in the world because of politics. We’ve seen a divide, distraction, and distortion because of COVID. We’ve got all of this fear, oppression pushing some people down. In the other case, you’ve got that fear that propels people forward. I’m terrified of not being able to support my family. I am terrified of being in the same place without having tried things, experience things, failed at things and educated. I’m terrified that I’m not going to go forward because fear creates stagnant. It creates a time when things stand still for long enough, they die. At the moment, people are in those two camps. Do you decide that fear is going to make you sit down and binge-watch everything on Netflix? Do you decide that fear is going to propel you to make the most of this moment? You’re not getting 2020 back. It’s not going to be a case of, “The vaccine’s gone. We’re going to attack another year when the end of your life.” It’s done. You’ve got to make sure you live it.

That was what motivates certain people. Some of us are similar in that not being able to provide for my family and not being able to do certain things for them motivates me. It’s like, “I need to get up, show up, and put my best in.” That fear of loss or not having some things that you’ve worked for. You’re right that you can turn fear into a motivator instead of sitting back. I love how you’ve gone out and you’ve spoken about these things in your speakeasy. You had me thinking because my first reaction is, “What would Brian do?” If Steve got up there, somebody said, “There are models outback with briefcases of money.” I’m going because it could be true and it could not be true. I’m going because chances are, I lose nothing if I go.

That’s a differentiator. There are entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs. Every business owner whether they want to admit it or not has been laughed at and ridiculed. They’ve gone broke, may have bankrupt, been sued, and all of those things. The bottom line of it is you’re not an entrepreneur unless most of those things have happened because the wantrepreneur gets one of those elements and goes, “I’m going to go and get a job at Target,” and went away. There’s a massive difference between the entrepreneur and a wantrepreneur. The downside about pre-COVID was that Instagram was there to show you how inadequate your life was. Also, to show off all of these influences leaning up against cars that they don’t own going, “If you want this, buy my course at $12.99.” There was too much of that life going on. Do you know they’re not around anymore? They don’t exist. We’re back into a substance economy. We’re back into credibility, “What do you do? How can you help me? I don’t have time for the fluff.” I’m hoping that COVID is going to be a great wash of that.

It’s going to flush people out. Your point, you got to have substance behind it now because you could show up before. You’re right. You could have all the cool cars or the setup and make it look like you are doing all these things. Sell your course on how to do it, but you’ve never done it.

I posted something that, “Isn’t it amazing how many influences talk about other people’s achievements?” I got a well-known influencer, a guy contacts me. A 53-year-old British guy and he called me dude. He’s like, “We’re all in the same sand pimp. We shouldn’t be crapping where we sleep. That stuff isn’t good for our market.” I thought to myself, “I’m going to screenshot that and post that because this is a guy that talked about other people’s achievements, but it never achieved anything himself.” I’m still amazed at how many experts there are out there and they learn about it from the book they read.

I saw that post you put out there and I was almost fascinated by the comments that were made and you could tell. That’s what differentiated guys like you. It was a real talk. I think people will relate to that. Let’s call it like it is and 2020 has been that year. You can’t hide it. We’ve all had struggles. We’ve all had things happen whatever those might be. If you didn’t have them in 2020, you weren’t trying. You were hiding out in your house and living in the basement or you avoided the world. For guys like us, you’re doing live events again, which is incredible. You were one of the first I saw to get back out and say, “We’re going to start doing these.” That loss of connectivity I know for me, I don’t get to go see my teams like I used to. Not being in person has changed everything we do with how we grow, remarket and do things. You started to get back into it. You made some shifts that you couldn’t do live events, but now I know you’re doing some again. What have you seen around that shift and people not being a connecting person?

BCS 29 | Making Things Happen

Making Things Happen: We didn’t create social distancing in 2020. We started moving away from connectivity 20 years ago when MySpace appeared.

 

You’ll laugh at this because COVID came along and said, “You can’t go out to restaurants, you can’t mingle, you can’t go to your office, and you’ve got to stay away from people.” What was the first thing that happened? Everyone started going on about how horrible this was going to be, how they couldn’t go out, how they couldn’t be with our friends, and how we would now under the keyword social distancing. Social distancing has become a normal word in any conversation in 2020.

I’m going to call out bullshit because we started social distancing in about 2001 when Myspace appeared. We started outsourcing our baby photographs to Twitter and Facebook. We started moving away from connectivity many years ago and we’re bitching about it. I hate to bring it to you, you did it. It was you. I’m hoping that COVID was the full stop. I’m hoping that COVID has been the dramatic end that has made you go, “My life isn’t on Facebook. My life is having a barbecue with friends. My life is getting into a room and having a collective idea.” How bored do we get when we’re on Zoom? We’re having the same conversations, but there’s no energy because you can’t get that energy from a screen. The dumb thing is we’re all yearning for it but we’re the culprits that walked away from it. No COVID, we were already social distancing. This has been one of the first nails in the coffin and it’s not too late.

The dark thing is now that we realized and we miss it, the fool would be the people that didn’t do something about it. We’re all yearning to connect, chat, get in touch with each other again, share opinions and views, get away from this distraction, and have a conversation. I’m hoping that people are going to do more of it. People are desperate for weep. Why wait until when COVID is over? I know FaceTime isn’t as good. I know doing virtual isn’t as good, but it’s an okay filler. It’s an okay stopgap to when you can get in front of someone. We were talking about Nashville. I’d love to have been in the bar with you, had a longer chat, drag too many old fashions, and tell bad jokes. I want to do that but until then, this will do. How many people aren’t even doing this? That’s a bad thing.

You hit on something that I’ve been watching because let’s call it what it is. We’re many months into this since March 2020 where it’s like, “If you were going to do something, you would have done it by now.” The late adopters miss the bandwagon. I’ve noticed this and you’ve talked about it too. It was like, “Marketing and branding, trying to generate customers and serve customers that exist now. They have a problem and I can help solve their problem, but yet I’m too afraid to get out there and say or do anything because I don’t want to get on video. I don’t want to have the extra effort that it requires to change my business model.” I think people are going look up 2021 and they’re going to realize 2020 was the year that they could have solved problems, figured out new ways to be creative, and help their customers.

They’re going through the same thing we’re going through. Most of them are having the same experiences. You’ve been able to shift though. I’ve noticed this maybe it’s because I’ve been engaging with your content, which as a sidebar has been one of the best things that 2020 is engaging with the people I wanted to engage with and learn from. You’re shifting doing live events. Did you notice there was different energy when you did the Nashville speakeasy? Could you tell the pent-up energy like, “Thank you, God, we are in person?”

There are a few things. I want to tell you about a story which I loved. I live in Los Angeles. Every time you come to a highway junction, there’s a Mexican family on the corner selling flowers or selling T-shirts. A few nights were a Dodgers’ game selling Dodgers’ T-shirts, all this kind of stuff. I remember when COVID came across that there was this family that I’d always gone past and they had cuddling toys, teddy bears and flowers on this intersection. They’ve been here ever since I’ve been here. About a month in, it was facemasks. A month in, this family who probably didn’t have a lot of money and didn’t have a lot of job future on the side of an interstate pivoted. Where’s your excuse? I remember when COVID came in every Friday night, what I like to do is to reflect.

Friday night, I’ll sit in the garden with my family, we’re poor and old-fashioned and we’ll chat about the week, “What bothered you? What upset you? What are you going to change?” We’ll then go out for dinner somewhere. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think there was any intelligence behind it. Anyone that knows me that there’s not much in any case. You don’t have to overthink things, you have to overdo them. I thought to myself, “I’m going to have a drink Friday.” COVID is not going to change that. Maybe I can’t invite a couple of friends over.

I remember going onto my Facebook group and I’ve got a community called An Entrepreneur’s Advantage. It’s free of charge, there’s no pitching. I said, “I’m going to have a drink Friday night. Who wants to join me?” All we do is I’ll open up the laptop and we’ll jump on a Zoom call. We’ll have a drink, no pitching, no selling, no promotion, and no negativity. Grab your favorite drink. I don’t care if it’s a coffee or a cocktail. The only thing you got to do is if picked on, you’ve got to come out with a dad joke. The worst of better. I thought to myself, “Who’s going to like this. I’m going to turn up on Friday, there’s going to be me staring at me and I’m going to be the only attendee.” We ended up with about 60 people on the first Friday.

We’re like, “This is incredible.” I said, “This was cool. Should we do it again?” It is our 21st time that we’ve done it. We had a little break. When everyone said that we were coming out of COVID and then we went back in again. This will be the 21st virtual happy hour that we’ve done on Friday. We noticed the people wanted it. We can’t give in to it. We’ll get different people turning up, but you could do this for your job. You could easily do it with your community and arrange a virtual get together. All of these people to turn on go, “I don’t like being on Zoom.” I didn’t ask. You need to do it. The bottom line is you need to be doing the effort.

Jay Abraham sensed me as an idiot that sharpens his knife on the battlefield. You’re wasting time. If you think you’re going to get a badge of honor because you’ve managed to binge-watch your favorite episode on Netflix, you are not getting that medal anytime soon. Focus on what can make you more impactful, stronger, and fiercer. When I put the event in Nashville, I never tell anybody who’s going to turn up. I never tell anybody what they’re going to learn. At this event, I could have given them crayons and some paper. They were happy to be in a room with other mischievous creators. They were like, “We’re here.” I remember leading up to it.

I’ll tell you about my traffic lights. I was concerned about COVID. There were all these like, “If you turn up, you’ve got to hold me. I’m not liable. We’re going to try it. See how we did.” We had two people that couldn’t make it because there was a lockdown on the Canadian border and they couldn’t get in. What I did was I got these three stickers and it was red, amber, and green. I gave everyone the stickers and I said, “If you’re cautious and concerned about COVID, put the red sticker on, everyone will give you your distance. Everyone will stay away and we will separate the room.” We separated them and I said, “If you have amber on it, that means you will connect with people you choose to connect with.”

If the person has got amber, we’ll wait for them to come to you to give you a handshake, fist bump, hug or whatever if you know them. If you don’t know them, maybe they don’t want to stay. If it was green and we joked, we said, “This is full-on.” You can stick your keys in the bowl and you can wife swap all night. We made this joke about green was all go anything’s open. When we got there, we had a few people put amber and stuff like that, and then within then minutes, they were like, “I need green, give me green.” We add all these chairs on the outside where people could space and everyone was huddled on the sofas that we had out front. Everyone wanted to be tied together. They were happy that they could connect with other misfits that they didn’t care.

You’re not getting 2020 back. Make sure you live it. Click To Tweet

I would expect that especially the group that you attract, they’re yearning for some connection and they’re like, “How can I be around people?” You said you can transfer energy so much better in person. As much as we love Zoom, we’re figuring all this stuff out and we’re not going to use that as an excuse, in-person the energy is real. It’s a different vibration. I know some of the guests would love to hear from you. You talked about sharpening the saw. I’m a big believer in that. I love how you said that you can’t do it on the battlefield. You got to do it now. What are some of the skills you’re saying that people aren’t thinking of or that you’re like, “These are the skills you need to be sharpening your saw now. You need to be preparing off the battlefield in training to make sure you’ve got it.” New skills or things that it’s not working on enough and you see a deficiency in people.

I will go on record and upset people here. I know that there has been some anguish, there have been deaths and I’m not trying to trivialize anything like that. COVID is a gift. I might upset people. If you want to unfriend me, fine, knock yourself out. How you use it, it can be a gift. For me, I travel once a month somewhere around the world. My wife said to me that this is the first year, 2020, that in a month to a month I haven’t traveled. For the last several years, every month I was on a plane or driving somewhere. I’ve been able to spend more time with my family. I’ve been able to sit down and you’ve been able to stare at your feet.

In 2019, 2018 and 2017, this was cracking, we were going crazy and we were shoeing along. It’s given us the chance to stand still and go, “Let me ask myself a question. Am I where I wanted to be five years ago if I had gone off track? Is my messaging in sync to the solution that I can provide to your problem? Am I showing myself in the continuity I should be across all digital platforms? Am I focused on my future? If so, is it being shown in what I’ve been doing over the last few years?” The bottom line of it is even a ship or a race car has to correct itself constantly to stay on track. As we’re getting into business, we would sometimes go off like a deer in the headlights and we can get off track easily.

Now is the time you’ve got to look inwards and go, “Is my messaging clear?” They always say, “There’s a difference between being easy to understand and impossible to misunderstand.” Is my message impossible to misunderstand? Am I the solution to someone’s problem? How do I get more of those people that have those problems? Here’s the dumb thing. COVID’s here and it hasn’t gotten rid of those problems in the real estate world, loan world and financial world. They’ve still got the goals. They’ve been put on pause or we can use them. The interest rates are lower than they’ve ever been. People can still sit at home and go, “If COVID is over, I can’t wait to do this.” Why don’t you install it now that when the time’s right, you’re the person that creates that?

We want that communication. We want it to be fine-tuned. Now is the time you need to be able to sit down. Everyone’s in the same boat, been put on pause, and can go out and do as many live things as they want to. Use that time to impact you as much as you can. People are going to be looking for more substance and credibility. We’re done with the time of the flashes. I know some powerful people. A friend of mine owns five jets. I remember wanting to go somewhere once and he was having a hard time deciding which jet we would go on. That was that guy’s problem. When we go on this jet, he said, “I don’t know anyone that owns a jet that’s ever taken a selfie of themselves on one.” It’s true. Everyone is taking a selfie of themselves on a plane that doesn’t own the plane. It’s always made me laugh. We’re going to see a big change in that.

That’s going to be the differentiator of the people that have acquired the skills, sharpened the saw, gotten better. Despite COVID, all of us are like, “I’m with you.” The gift was I got to spend time with my five-year-old. My oldest is thirteen and our middle is about to be twelve. I have missed out. My wife and I joke about this, “I didn’t know many things happened. I got to see it and be part of it that this will be a snapshot in time that we’re creating memories and they will be at remember that dad was around and being there.” It’s going to help in my personal growth and development, but I’m also aware of, “What are the skills I’m going to need as a leader? What is the team need from me?” I can’t be the leader that was several years ago to lead them through what we have in 2020, 2021 and going forward. I’ve got to elevate.

Don’t you think COVID has been an amplifier? If you’re in a bad mood and you drink, it puts you in a worse mood. If you’re happy and you drink, it puts you in a happy mood. Business isn’t going broke at the moment. They’re already weak. COVID came across and amplify it and pulled it forward a few years. I started a company years ago and was teetering around about pushing out there, COVID exposed many floors are shutting down. If you’ve got weaknesses with your group because you can’t connect with it, now is the chance that it has been revealed to you. You could do something about it. You can see the holes in your group, business, life and relationships. As you say, “I’m at home with my 15-year-old, 23-year-old and my wife. I’m happy about that.” I’ve got to connect more with my kids during this period.

It’s the idiots that are going to come out of this and go, “That was good. It’s brilliant. Thanks, kids. I’m off.” Now is a brilliant time for you to benefit from it. TV is rubbish because there are no new programs. TV’s gone by at the moment. I can spend time each night sitting around the fireplace or dining table and chatting with the kids like, “What do you want to do?” I spent talking to my fifteen-year-old about a car that when he gets your driving license, he wants to put on and that. I know nothing about cars, but I never would have had that conversation had we all not been receptive to wanting to have that conversation. It’s been a glorious time.

You were talking about the Friday night chats and how your week went and all that. We do this called Rose, Bud, Thorn with the kids at night. Rose is the best part of your day. The thorn is something that didn’t go well that day and recognize, “That’s okay too.” The bud is, “What are you hopeful for tomorrow? What do you want to happen tomorrow?” I’ll give my wife 100% credit and that has been more impactful having those conversations because you slow down and you listen. You’re like, “What did they experience now?” I’m getting to find that out. I’m excited because as we move forward, there’s much learning. I feel I was compressed.

BCS 29 | Making Things Happen

Making Things Happen: You’re not going to get a badge of honor because you’ve managed to binge-watch your favorite show on Netflix. Focus on what can make you more impactful, what can make you stronger, what can make you fierce.

 

Connecting with guys like yourself and some others that have put themselves out there. I feel people have started to amplify who they are and some have, some haven’t. It’s been cool to get to know people. In turn, you get to know yourself, “There’s a little bit of me, that guy, or that person.” What’s interesting is what do people do with that information? It’s one thing that takes all the info in. You can go to YouTube and Google. You talk about this a lot is like, “When you’re going to make things happen, you’ve got to take action.” I know people can learn from you. What are you looking at from what you’ve learned now that you’ll take into the next year? They’re those big lessons that’ll catapult and you’re like, “I can do this. I’m prepared to take that next step.”

When two people meet for the first time, the first thing they have to do is find a common ground that they can relate to. We’ve known that for years. When your kids turn up, you’re both in a playground and both kids have got a met jacket on and like, “We both got met jackets on.” There’s a connection. COVID has given us that connection. For the first time in your life and many others, you could be dropped on an island, in the middle of Pakistan, Rome, Russia, and you have some element of connectivity right off the bat. That’s been provided that to you. Thank you to Mr. COVID or Mrs. We have the ability to relate. We have a common ground. We can start conversations easier because of that. You can walk up on someone and say, “How are you doing, Brian? How is life treating you? How are the family during this time?” You can never have said that another time. Many people are waiting until COVID is over to start those conversations. Why? We’re yearning for connectivity. America and the planet are telling us we’ve got to socially distance. Socially distance doesn’t end a phone call. There’s no safer way than to phone someone. Every week, Apple has this thing whereas releases how much time you spent on the phone. Have you ever noticed that it’d be twenty hours on Wi-Fi, so-and-so on FaceTime, and three minutes on a phone call?

The phones are the least thing you use these things for now. We find it also a bit intrusive. How nice is it when we get a phone call and it’s like, “Brian, how are you? There’s no reason for me to call. I wanted to check in on you.” Why are we avoiding that? I will spend each week print off a new element of my data. I printed off the Ts out of my database. I’m working my way through the Ts. “Trevor, we haven’t spoken for a while. These are funny times. How are you doing?” Reach out to people. You’ll be amazed at how many people I’m working with. I’m doing a branding contract for an event that’s coming out in 2023 because of a phone call that I made to the Cs that that came up, we ended up getting into the conversation. I’m doing a product launch where a friend of mine in Australia that’s planning that. I don’t know when that one’s going to be. We can still be busy, create, disrupt and connect. Why are we choosing not to do it?

For those of you that are reading, read back. I was going through Facebook giving everybody a happy birthday and all that stuff that pops up. You don’t have some fancy software or CRM. You’re taking the names and you’re laying out a game plan. You’re like, “I’m going to call the people in the Ts. I’m calling the Cs.” Imagine how cool that would feel. I know beyond the receiving end on my birthday, the people that called, sent videos and send things over. It was that quick connection of like, “I miss them.” It’s instantaneous like, “I’m building something with them and we’re not distant anymore.” That’s pure gold and costs you nothing.

Let me give you a shortcut on this. Everyone always looks at the big tree. Everyone is going to be like, “I’ve got 4,000 contacts in my database. I can’t phone them all up.” What else you got to do? Friends are now off Netflix. There’s nothing else you can do. An easy little cheat for you. Pick up this thing. Everyone’s got one and video yourself. Do a little video saying, “Sorry for interrupting your day. We haven’t spoken for a while. I wanted to find out how you’re doing. I’m wishing you the best. I’d love to have the time to have a chat with you. If you’re up for that, let me know a good time and I’ll give you a call.” With that video, text it to everybody. You’ll get a lot of people that will go, “Thanks, Steve.”

It’s the same video. You don’t need to introduce yourself. I don’t have to do a video going, “How are you doing, Brian? This is Steve Sims.” You already know Steve Sims. Friends don’t go up to each other going, “Good afternoon, Brian. How are you?” We don’t address each other. Texts can be a lot more casual. If you do that generic video, you’ll get a lot of people got off, “Thanks. I’m doing well. Let’s catch up in the future.” You’ll get other people going, “That’s brilliant. Are you available?”

We can still be busy. We can still create. We can still disrupt. We can still connect. Why are we choosing not to? Click To Tweet

It’s a natural filter process, but you made the effort. You sent out that video. You got in front of people. You triggered a response. We’re dealing with a lot of triggers at the moment. If I say to you, Trump straight away. I don’t care about your political view. I’ve got no dog in a fight. I’m British. I can’t vote. People are going to the spot. People are going, “He’s going to talk about Trump.” There’s going to be other people out there going, “Great.” It created a trigger. Triggers are things that without you realizing creates a reaction in you. When we’re at a COVID that going to remember your video and that’s going to remember that in a tough time, you reached out. When we got the green light and reach out again, you send your next video going, “I am thrilled that’s over. What are you dreaming of doing? How can I be a solution for you?” You start sending that video out. He cared then. He made himself known. How much does it cost? If you click Wi-Fi texting on your phone, it costs you nothing other than your time and you not being able to watch Netflix for a couple of hours.

I love how simply you put that because that’s something that we overthink. There are people reading and they’re like, “That won’t seem authentic or genuine.” It’s like, “Let’s call it what it is. I don’t agree with that.” Personally, if someone sent me that to the point that we don’t greet each other the way that people would think and start using their names over and over. Why not try it? That’s the difference between the wantrepreneurs and the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are going to take action and say, “Why not? I’m going to try this.” You have been one of the people I followed. There’s never been a better time in our life that we have attention and tools at which we can make things viral. I’m not talking about nationwide but your community whether it’s 20 people or 20,000 people. You can get their attention and you can get to people. In the world of branding, would you encourage people to lean into to make sure that they’re taking advantage of the time to be branding themselves and start to grow their personal brand?

I have a polar opposite idea of what branding is. I grew my business and then I’ve worked with some of the greatest events on the planet, marketing, and branding from the Grammy’s to Sir Elton John’s Oscar party. You shouldn’t focus on branding. Branding is what someone else says about you when you’ve left the room. Don’t worry about polishing your website. Make sure you’ve got continuity, but focus on being the solution to someone’s problem. That’s what you should focus on. If you’ve got crazy hair, don’t wear a wig or a hat, be you. We spoke about triggers. I guarantee you, there are people within your group that are reading this and going, “I don’t like that guy.” We’ll be fine. There are the others that are going, “That guy is great.” That’d be few that are on the fence. I’m not trying to do a fishing net capture all scenarios. What you’ve got to do is be in sync with your message. Whatever your message is, repeat it. Look at people like Apple. Apple made his products that looked good and we’ll go into Apple because of how they looked originally. If you look at Nike, “Just Do It.” They made it impossible for you to get that slogan wrong. It’s not what they make. They made sneakers. People talk about LeBron. They talk about the Lakers.

BCS 29 | Making Things Happen

Making Things Happen: Branding is what someone else says about you when you’ve left the room. Don’t worry about polishing your website. Focus on being the solution to someone’s problem.

 

The bottom line of it is to make sure that what you provide is the solution to somebody else and then get them to talk about you. Focus on what’s your solution. If you’re a realtor and you’re selling great homes in Birmingham, Alabama, then why are you the best of doing it? Make it crystal clear why people need to come to you for that. If you’re a loan officer in Miami, then why are you the best one in Miami? You solved the problems or you didn’t even know what’s that. They say the client’s always right, wrong. The client doesn’t know what they don’t know. That’s your job. Focus on being the solution, then focus on making sure that there’s clarity and continuity so that everyone knows what the solution you are to someone’s problem. That’s the branding.

No one ever got me involved because they thought I was gorgeous or they wanted to do anything like that. I didn’t even have a website and most of my websites don’t even have phone numbers. You can’t contact me and wait for me to sell you one of my super skills. I made it clear that everybody I solved the problem for whether it be billionaires giving them great cocktail stories or whether it be my coaching programs teaching people how to be fine-tuned. I let them do the branding for me. Focus on what is the problem that you are the solution to and then let everyone else talk about it.

I would encourage if you’re reading in and as you catch the replay on this and think about what Steve sharing there about getting clear on why you are that go-to person in your market. Think about our loan officers, real estate agents we work with, and getting clear on that. Being able to message and communicate that effectively is a game-changer. I think about people that I know, I know why they’re the best because I hear it over and over. It’s simple and easy to remember. We could continue to go on. This has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for your time. I want to make sure people know where they can find you after the show on social or places to catch up with Steve so they can follow along and learn more from you.

I’ve got a free group for a bunch of misfits to get in there and ask questions called An Entrepreneur’s Advantage with Steve Sims. It’s free of charge and it’s there to support you. I’m in SteveDSims.com and you can find out about Sims Distillery, which is my inner circle or you can find out about my speakeasies and how little information I give you on these wonderful events. It is hilarious how I will share but I’d be happy to charge you on.

This has been a joy and I know people are going to find value. That’s why we started the show and everything we’re doing. I wanted to be a connector and a light for people to find opportunities, to learn and grow and hear from some of the people that are not only sharing information, but they’re doing it. They’re out there living what they talk about and Steve’s one of those guys you got to follow along. I jumped into a couple of those groups that he mentioned. If you want any references, let me know. Make sure you like, subscribe, and leave us comments and feedback. Many of you have sent us guests that you want to have on the show. That’s incredible as well. There are people that I’m not aware of, but I should. We want to bring on here. Make sure you tune in for the next episodes. Catch some of the ones I shared with you that we’ve done and make sure you’re learning and growing. Take advantage of every day you have and make sure it’s your best day on the Earth.

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About Steve Sims

BCS 29 | Making Things HappenI speak at the highest-level events teaching entrepreneurs the art of communication in every sector of business. I offer limited spots for 1-on-1 consulting and specific courses to aid you in making the next step to a more efficient and profitable career.

I make use of MY connections to help you in whatever it is that YOU may need through my exclusive Speakeasy membership.

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