This is the second part of a series I’m doing about how to change your life by becoming a Deal-Maker. If you want to start at the beginning, click here and read this post first.
If you want to create change in your life and business, you need to become a Deal-Maker. In this post, you’ll read about the 10 strategies that can create powerful, life-changing transformation and growth, giving you everything you need to achieve your goals and dreams.
Deal-Makers Fly Private So They Can Keep Doing Deals In The Sky!
How To Be A Deal-Maker
Being a Deal-Maker in business and life means that you adopt and master 10 basic strategies. Adopt these 10 strategies, apply them to your life every minute, every hour, every day, and every decade! Keep all 10 of these as a checklist through which you make every decision and interaction. No matter what, always apply and take massive action. The strategies are simple, the execution is what separates the wannabes from the real Deal-Makers!
#1. Create A Vision
Many people go through life and just deal with each day as it comes. They don’t really know the direction they are headed. (Sure they might have a vague idea but not a concrete one.)
Create a vision for what you want in life. Then revisit that vision daily. The reason why many people fall into a life of mediocrity is because they have a vision for a great life when they are children and teens, but by college graduation they have student loans and bills to pay and the reality of life hits. So the vision is put on a shelf and they end up falling into a 9-5 routine.
#2. Get Off Your Ass
Too many people are caught up in the life of the “wannabe,” the “wantrepreneur,” the perpetual student, the “7-year newbie,” and too few people take the next step of getting off their ass and taking massive action.
Once you have a vision, you need to decide to make it happen. Decisions, followed by massive relentless action, is the only way to get things done. You don’t get where you want to go by just dreaming about it. You need a clear vision but then you need to stand up and make it happen.
The DM… Still Doing Deals Even On The Beach
#3. Pick Something And Become Amazing
A lot of people end up on a default setting of life, just doing whatever falls into their laps. And those who want more can sometimes jump from one thing to another like a hummingbird on crack. You can rise above simply by picking something and becoming amazing at it. Maybe you LOVE your job. Well, don’t just show up for work; become amazing at it. Maybe you want to start a business. Well, don’t just dream about it; start it and become amazing at it.
Pick something (very few actually do) and then never settle for anything less than amazing (even fewer do this!) Guess what: a lot of people think that a janitorial job is more lowly than a doctor but I think the better person is the one who chooses to become truly amazing at their job, so if you’re a janitor, become the most amazing janitor the world has ever seen. You will create more opportunities for yourself this way than you realize.
#4. Solve Problems
It’s so easy to be beat down by problems. Problems will appear in life no matter what. The secret is not to avoid problems or create a life that is free from them (because that’s impossible) but to learn to solve them for yourself and others.
There are a lot of problems in the world. Everyone has problems. (Worse yet, many people have problems that they don’t even know they had!) The true Deal-Maker solves these problems and that changes peoples’ lives. The problems you solve may be related to your job or business, that’s the obvious way to solve problems, but it goes deeper than that: want to be an amazing spouse? Solve your spouse’s problems. Want to be an amazing parent? Solve your children’s problems. (Note to my critics: I’m not saying that you need to fight your children’s battles for them; that doesn’t solve anything. I’m saying you should equip your children to fight their own battles.) You will do more amazing deals in the most memorable life if you simply solve more problems.
#5. Serve Others
I meet a lot of people who aren’t sure how to start and grow a business. Here’s the good news: it’s simpler than you think…
This is related to the above but comes at it from a slightly different angle. Figure out how to help other people and create win/win scenarios where you both benefit. I think the great Zig Ziglar said it best when he said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” That’s how you serve others and this is truly the central principle of being a Deal-Maker. (However, it may be the central principle but if you don’t do #1 through #4, you won’t achieve your goals. So, make sure you follow Deal-Maker principles #1 through #4, and then this one becomes simple and obvious and fun and beneficial.)
#6. Be Resilient
If it was easy, everyone would do it. But life is not easy and neither is being a Deal-Maker. There are so many obstacles and so many competing opportunities that it’s easy to become beat down by the world. I meet a lot of people who start a business, struggle at the first sign of hardship, and then shut it down and “go get a real job” just because they couldn’t push through.
Resilience is one of the best skills that any Deal-Maker can have. You rarely know when I’m having a bad day; even on a webinar or a friendly call with someone, very few people know about the challenges and stresses of running my businesses. I’m resilient. I love the saying, “get knocked down 7 times; get up 8 times.” THAT is the resilience of a Deal-Maker.
#7. Be Persistent
The most successful people in the world do not necessarily have some special luck that others don’t have. They are resilient. They keep going no matter what.
Resilience and persistence go hand-in-hand. If resilience is flexibility, persistence is focus. And you need both—flexibility and focus. Think of a drop of water. One drop of water splashes against a rock and rolls off harmlessly. But thousands of drops of water day after day, millennia after millennia, will carve a hole right through that rock. That’s the power of persistence. When you are frustrated and thinking about giving up in your business, or when you’ve started your tenth business and are wondering where the customers are, it’s usually persistence that is the real problem.
#8. Work Hard, Play Hard
The work doesn’t get done by itself. It takes action. You need to roll up your sleeves and Do. The. Work. Sure, you see pictures of me sitting on the beach, or in my Rolls, or on the back of an elephant. There are a few things going on there: First, I’m up at 4:00 a.m. almost every day, working hard to crank through emails and phone calls, and am usually done that piece of my day before most people’s alarms go off. And the rest of my day? It’s mine. Second, I’m still working when I’m in those places—I’m thinking about my vision, about how I can solve problems, about how I can serve others. Heck, I walked the Santiago de Camino a couple of years ago and my business GREW while I was walking because I built a business that could do that. We live in a day and age when people are told they should work hard and it’s celebrated, but that usually means hours-spend-at-a-desk rather than the quality of work done, and on top of that, we live in a world where play is frowned upon. Where the best that people can look forward to is a few hours of Netflix at night. Deal-Makers hate both of those things—the quality and quantity of your work have NOTHING to do with time spent, and the quality and quantity of your play should be an inspiring reward for your work, not an exhausted binge-watching while eating junk food. LIVE LIFE because life is short!!!
#9. Always Level Up
Want to know what frustrates me the most? People who say they want a better life, and dream about it, but never do anything about it. They become so risk averse and content to remain in their mediocrity that they don’t challenge themselves to push higher, harder, and farther. Think about all the things in your life—family, friends, job, business, hobbies, health, wealth, etc.—and figure out what level you’re at now and how to improve it.
There are many tools you can use to improve any of these things, from systems to a team. But it all starts with education. You should always be learning, and then deploying that education into action. Read books, read this blog, get a mentor, actively seek out education every day on everything you want to improve. Want a great place to start? Read this blog post again. Then bookmark it and read it every day for a month. Another smart thing to do: start flying first class. That concept was a game-changer for me, and for a lot of people who took action with what I shared. I hope you start flying first class too.
#10. Tap Into A Deeper Purpose
When I was kid, raised in a blue collar household, I dreamed of being a millionaire like those depicted on The Lifestyle Of The Rich And Famous. And to be honest, I achieved that. I had the mansion in Georgia, I had the white Rolls Royce. But I realized there was more to life than that, and that’s when I tapped into a deeper purpose (which was always there but came to the surface when I sought it out).
Today, I still live a comfortable life but I have new purpose: I want to create a legacy for my family and for others around the world. I want to help people live their best lives. I do this through my businesses, through my blog, through my books and trainings, through my events, through my DM Family Mastermind, and more.
The DM With The DM Family
Deal-Makers… BEGIN!
You’ve read through these strategies. Now the choice is yours.
Is there an aspect of your life that you’re not happy with? Maybe it’s one small thing that could improve. Maybe it’s a lot of things.
Maybe, like some people, there’s something you wished was different.
Or maybe, like many people, you’re stuck in the rut of a 9-5 job and mortgage payments and you remember back to when you dreamed of adventure.
Well, this is the line in the sand. This is your opportunity to DECIDE now, once and for all, to make the changes you want in life and to become a Deal-Maker to create the life you want to live. Will your future self thank you for becoming a Deal-Maker today?
Mark III is a Deal-Maker and he thinks YOU should be one too!
Summary
You now have the tools (the mindset shift and the 10 strategies) to change your life forever, starting today. Will you take up these assets and invest in your life by coming a Deal-Maker?
Get more in life. Have more in life. Be more in life? Become a Deal-Maker. Follow these 10 strategies to start becoming a Deal-Maker in everything you do.
From every business you start to every interaction you have; from every drop of sweat in your workout to every dollar you earn… you can be a Deal-Maker with these 10 Deal-Maker strategies.
Your friend and fellow Deal-Maker,
Mark Evans DM, DN
PS, Are you a Deal-Maker? In the comments below, share how you are progressing on your journey to become a Deal-Maker. What do you want to change? What commitment are you making to yourself and to the world? Put it in the comments below… make today a line in the sand for you!
PS, want to draw a line an even bigger line in the sand? Make sure you’re following me on Facebook, and share this post (be sure to tag me). It’s a great way to tell others that you are becoming a Deal-Maker and to get started changing other peoples’ lives too.