The Foundation Review Day 7

Lack of Direction, Overwhelmed. Lack of Motivation.... New Day, Forget about Yesterday

I know I said that I would be writing everyday, if not, every second day, which is why I'm more excited to share this post with you.. because I am human and so are you.

Having gone through some of the foundation material, I realised that many members in the foundation, including myself, were looking at this whole SaaS (Software as a Solution) Concept as some sort of a race. I HATE racing, but tugged along like everyone else. I got overwhelmed and if I'm honest hugely demotivated. I even openly posted about this in the facebook group us Foundation members are a part of. Here is what I wrote:

"I need some advice.. a lil off topic but somewhat related at the same time. I have an issue that I have only started to really understand through listening to the mp3's and videos. All my life I have been good, if not great at certain things, like judo for example. All Ireland champion at one stage... then for no reason I decided to quit.. I was a great rugby player.. Quit that too. I was a National Sales manager for a multinational company... quit that to start my own business, which did okay but could have done much much better.... Now I feel a lack of motivation to do this. I feel like I have developed quitting and lack of motivation tenancies and It is killing me as I am energetic and really really want to do this. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this. I do not want to quit this and need to change my internal belief system... Its something i really struggle with."
 
I am tired of getting to that point, to the tipping point and then quitting. It even happens to stupid stuff at home. Case in point... Only today I had some dishes and cutlery in the sink that needed to be washed. I washed them and left 3 forks unwashed. WTF... It takes 2 seconds to do it, but the I left it.

This Stops Now!! 

I wanted to understand what was making me not want to finish and below you will see what I have come up with.

• I did not want to be successful enough. 
• I did not want to complete the task presented to me enough
• I did not want it enough.
• I did not want to separate myself from the crowd.
• I was scared of success. 

I heard a great quote today from a motivational speaker today, a guy called Eric Thomas.. Check him out on Youtube, he is Awesome. Anyway the quote is this..

"When you get to the point where you want to be succesful as bad as you want to breathe you will be successful"

I am tired of defeat, aren't you, tired of not finishing something...

P.U.S.H............ Push Until Something Happens. 

My success is not just determined by what I say, It must be something I live. That means completely changing the way I do everything.

Most people talk talk talk about the things that happen in their life, stuff that happens to them not something that they control. I want to be in control and this blog post is all about reaffirming that belief system for me and you.

I get overwhlmed because I always look at the big picture. I look at the goal and not the journey. If you are like me, then today is the last day that you are ever going to do that and we will help each other out to change this belief system

1. Write down your end goal.
But Clark, you just said that you shouldn't look at the bigger picture. Yes, but in order to live the journey, you must see the goal. Go ahead, write it down somewhere you can see it every day.
2. If you are like me, and are disorganised, write down in baby steps, literally like you would do for a child, what you should do for each hour of just that day. You see if you do not do this, you will not understand the process involved in reaching your goal and in turn you will not understand the daily journey.
3. Tick off each little goal that you achieve that day and you will feel motivated and empowered.
4. Rinse and repeat.

When I think about all the procrastination I have done over the last year I get so angry with myself, but you know what I am now understanding to embrace that. Why? Because it the the yesterday me. I do not have the power to change the yesterday me, only the tomorrow me.

The tomorrow me, is a person who will do ANYTHING to succeed. The tomorrow me, will laugh at the yesterday me, the me who held back.

How bad do you want it, how motivated do you feel right now?

I would love to hear from you if you felt the same way and if this helped you in any way.

Peace

Clark

The Foundation Review Day 6

Limiting Beliefs and how to overcome them

Alriiiight.. here we go with Day 6.. This is Awesome

The Foundation Review Day 5

 

 What I have Done Today

As you already know, I am, along with hundreds others, including many of my blog readers,  beginning an awesome journey into the unknown, to build a Profitable Software Business in 6 months or less through a program called The Foundation. Those who have joined, like Barney Stinson, thought, "Challenge Accepted" when we saw Dane Maxwells first video about the foundation. Even though it does not officially begin until Monday 15th October, there are people already who, having seen the videos for the launch page for the foundation, have taken SERIOUS action and are the ones who will succeed.

Having a blueprint to success is amazing and I wish this program was available 5 years ago, but taking action is the Number 1 thing that you can do to ensure success.

So the question remains, what exactly have I done today. Where to start??

So I got into serious mode today, and I have been seeing little miracles happen all day. I have picked 2 niches so far that I think have the following attributes.

1. They are turning over between 500,000 - 1 Million per Year
2. Have 10 employees or under
3. Have software solutions in place currently
4. They are easily accessible.

For those of you who are not part of the foundation, there are 4 things that I am excited about with regards to software businesses:

1. No Accounts receivable
2. Monthly revenue continually with little or no input
3. Automated Sales
4. Selling Tools instead of digging for gold 

These are all the things that lead to one thing, and its a commodity that you can't buy or sell and for you, there is a limited amount of it. Time. Having the gift of time is what motivates me ahead of everything else, above money, above creating a business, in fact the business is just the mode of transport that takes me to more freedom and more time to do whatever the hell I want.

So getting back to what I did today, Lets talk about measurable metrics as opposed to vanity metrics.

I have contacted a list of 200 car dealerships in Ireland and have focused on asking the 2 questions that Dane had suggested in his videos

1. What is the most important task you do on a daily basis?
2. Is there any pain associated with that task?

Now, if I am going to be honest and transparent I should actually tell you that this is my second email to some car dealers. About 2 weeks ago I sent a mail, to different dealers that went like this

"Attn Dealership Owner,
I am doing some research on the car industry trying to improve the lives of those within it and was hoping you could kindly answer the following 2 questions.

Before That please let me share with you the reason behind the question. I know that there are many many sites that you have to place cars online to sell them nowadays, for obvious reasons. However there is no one solution to let you post to all of these sites in one place. This means your teams are spending less time on the ground selling and more time behind desks posting pictures.

So now the questions...

Question 1: If I were to be able to offer a solution giving you an opportunity to post your cars to All these sites in one place, would you be willing to pay for that solution?

Question 2: Are there any other features that would make your life easier with the software?

 The software has not been built yet as I am testing the market to see its reaction before I spend a cent creating it.
Thanks for responding to this and if you have any further questions please contact me on 085 xxxxxxx

Clark Hetherington"

Needless to say, I got some responses, one was this....
"Hi Clark

Thanks for your email.  I'm quite happy to upload my photos and script separately per website, as it means I can cater each car to its website's target audience, so am not looking for any solutions as such to this, but I do appreciate what you are intending to do, so best of luck with it.

I suggest you target bigger dealers with above 50 used cars in stock.

Regards "

I also got one like this
"As a dealer. I WOULD BE GREATLY interested in this software. It would reduce the time spent in the office up loading adds..

Regards Don"

Little did I know, that software like this already existed in Ireland, however, I also discovered from talking to a dealer that some of the sites did not allow the software to be used on them, so it is become more and more defunct.

So now I have moved on from my terrible pre-conceived email, and back to basics as I stated above.
I spoke to one influential dealer who gave me his pain and said he,  and others would pay €500 per month to have that pain taken away via software. I nearly fell off my chair, so in order to validate it, I sent the mail above with the 2 questions and am waiting to see who says what and what exciting things they will tell me.

So that  is it for this week. I look forward to seeing the results on Monday and will let you all know how it goes.

Clark

The Foundation Review Day 4

 

Hustling

I wanted to really talk about this topic today and share what I think about hustling.

What I mean by hustling really is more about action taking than anything else. As I am writing this, I am listening to fascinating interviews between Dane Maxwell and previous Foundation Students and I am hearing a common theme between them all, and I am taking notes.

The one thing that each student has in common is something I like to call, the hustle. They work their asses off to make sure that they have changed their limiting beliefs and have mastered the art of listening, and then have worked their asses off taking action.

It was Sam Ovens (not originally haha) who said "Its better to have a rubbish plan but to take action, than a perfect plan with zero action". You can get all your ducks in a row, have the perfect notepad with colour coded pages, have the perfect colour coded Excel spreadsheet and even have the perfect tie on that morning, but if you do not pick up that phone, send that email, then your tie or colour coded pages mean Nothing.

Everybody has some degree of nervousness when it comes to taking action, and the thought of doing it is what can really hurt you. The idea that a business owner may laugh at you, hang up on you or ........... Oh wait, that is really all that they can do right. I have done many many many many cold calls in the past for a company I worked for, and you know what, a lot of business owners in the end were THANKING me for calling them.

I want to do a little exercise with you right now, and if you are easily offended please do not read on.... this is for the ones who are not afraid.

YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE BITCH WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN CALLING ME YOU FUCKING FUCKNUT...

That is THE WORST thing that the business owner can (BUT NEVER WILL) say to you. How fearful are you now. I am very serious about this... No business owner will EVER say that to you.

Our thoughts can stop us from being action takers and go getters and will try everything to stop you from doing what you truly need to do, and if you think about it, its a little crazy.

Here is the way that I try and look about each day that I wake up ready to make some phone calls or take some action and some questions I ask myself to stop limiting beliefs...

• What is the Best thing that can happen from me calling xyz
• I am 29 years old and want to make something of myself, I need to go OUTSIDE of my comfort zone to make things happen. They say nothing changes if nothing changes, so I try and change myself a little each day for the better. 
• How would my life improve by the action that I take today ( write it down )

By its very essence, hustling will very much challenge your limiting beliefs on a daily basis, and only you have the power to overcome them, however by taking that first step, by making that first phone call, sending that first email or making that presentation You have taken more action than 99.999% of this world and you will feel amazingly empowered by doing so. 

Until Later

Clark

The Foundation Review Day 3

Distractions

How many distractions are keeping you off track on a day to day basis. My head gets wrecked with email after email trying to sell me another WSO ( or BSO ) as I like to call them, or emails from friends and family trying to show you a cool video of a dog dancing. What about your favourite tv show being on just as you are about to make that first phone call, oh yeah, TIVO or Sky +, or you know what... skip it :)

Okay so there are these and many many more things that can distract you on a day to day basis and keeping on track through the foundation is the only way that we are going to get through it, or even if you are not in the foundation, this post will help you clear your life of clutter.

I am a victim of my own lack of focus. I leave my email open all day just so I can see what comes in or if there is going to be anything funny or interesting for me to do, to distract myself from doing the things I need to do.

Its frustrating for me right now to think about how much time I have wasted doing a repetitive exercise to STOP me from becoming successful and it is time to put a stop to it right now.

Here is what I have done

Okay, i wrote a list of distractions down on a notepad and came up with the following things:

1. Email clutter... I get too many emails from marketers, so I have unsubscribed from them all aside from Dan Kennedy. I keep those for a swipe file of sales letters.

2. My Phone... I get phone calls about silly stuff that keeps me from my goal, so I have now informed friends and family that for the next 6 months I am unavailable on the phone until after 5pm.

3. Skype... Turn off Skype, it is a distraction that you don't need. I have mine switched off until 6pm now and if people really need to contact me, they can do so then.

4. TV... I know this is not a huge issue for me as I don't watch too much of it, but it could be for you. Keep it off, do not be in the same room as somebody who has it turned on and learn to enjoy the peace of silence. It does wonders for me and will for you too.

5. Facebook/Twitter in fact any social media... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE facebook, but it is seriously addictive and seriously distracting. We all want to know about Dave's party last nite, or if Laura got that new job today, but again ask yourself this. Is this helping me to reach my goal of having a software business within 6 months? I think not, so, sorry Zuckerberg, you may have a few less users during the day.

I hate to say no to the people I love. Even if its about giving them some time during the day, but, saying no is something I have to become more comfortable with, and will continue to become better at. People don't always like that I cannot be there when they need to talk about the night out, during the day, but I have one goal and one goal only.

Please let me know below what distractions you may have and how you are going to overcome them below. I really look forward to hearing from you.

To your foundation success and to making a difference.

Look out for Day 4 when I am going to be talking about idea extraction and what I have done so far even before the foundation has begun.

YOU CAN DO THIS, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU ARE FROM

Clark

The Foundation Review Day 2

Okay, so today is the big day and I am super excited. Now there are many people who may be skeptical about the foundation and the values that it instills. I ask those people one thing.

1. Over your lifetime, how much money have you spent on the next big thing, the quick money scheme and the bright shiny objects; and if you have spent all that money, what was your return on investment ?

If you look at what the foundation brings to the table, it runs much deeper than any product you will have purchased in the past. The foundation does not tell you it will make you $1,000,000 working 5 minutes per day and spending the rest of the day drinking mojitos by the beach. It does not fool you into making a quick emotion based purchase, well maybe a little. What it does offer you is, a structured work your ass off way of creating a sustainable business that will be around for years if done correctly.

What I like about the foundations model is, that you are held accountable and have others vying to become the best at whatever market they choose to enter. Now if that doesn't make you want to better yourself by becoming better than everybody else, then the foundation is not for you.

So what have I done to date that constitutes taking action and allows me to believe that the foundation is a good fit for me.

When I first heard Dane talking about idea extraction, this notion blew me away. I had, for years, watched shows like Dragons Den, or Shark Tank or any other show that showed entrepreneurs pitching what they thought would be the next big thing that would make the investors even more money. So the thought of turning this on its head was fascinating. Many of the people that you see on these shows mentioned above, have done very little, if any at all, market research before spending thousands of euro or dollars creating their product.

Imagine this then, going to a market, talking to some business owners within that market and letting THEM TELL YOU what they need. It is remarkable how simple it is, and how most people do not do it. In fact Dane was the first person I have ever heard even talking about it.

So what have I done thus far?

I have emailed almost 200 car dealers in Ireland asking a couple of questions about their biggest pain points. I have been blown away by the responses, although not a huge amount, VERY insightful. I have a meeting with a car dealer who has a huge dealership in Ireland and he has already given me the idea for this product. It has a huge market both here and the UK and is a very painful problem both here and there.

Alright, I'm out for now. Please leave a comment below letting me know what you think or if there is anything I can do to help you on your journey. Remember one thing.

Everything is scary the first time you did, but you learned to ride your bike right

For Now

Clark

The Foundation Day 1 Review

The Foundation Review Day 1

I want this blog to be a no holes barred look into my progression through The Foundation. I will be posting Videos on the ups and downs and focus on the challenges set by myself daily and if I have achieved them or not, of course only if I am accepted in. Ill know on Tuesday.. fingers crossed. 

For me The Foundation is not just about building a software company. It runs much deeper than that. Ill tell you my story and some of you may be able to relate to it in some way.

My name is Clark Hetherington. I am 29 years  and I come from a small town called Drogheda in Ireland. I have been there and done it all, to the point where I ended up working as a Sales Manager for a National Company, and it plain ass sucked.

Thankfully I left that position and began a small offline consulting business which is doing okay, but I am ready now to take it to the next level and I hope you will have as much fun as I will on this crazy ride.

Take a look at the video above and let me know what you think below

Look out for Day 2 coming up