Transcript:

[00:00:14] Stephen:  Hey guys, Stephen Esketzis here from Marketing on the Move and it’s a beautiful morning heading to the office.  And I wanted to share this idea with you that I came across this morning.  And that is, building your business in the concept of time.  So one of the most interesting things I think is the way people build their business and how they go about doing it.  We all have the same set of 24 hours.  We’ve all got the same amount of time.  We’ve all got the same resources at our disposal.  It’s just about how we can use it, right?  So, the question that I’ve got is, what type of business are you growing?  Are you growing a business that’s going to be around and it’s a fad and it’s something that you’ve just seen through a webinar or something that you’ve just seen online, or are you growing a business which is long-term, profitable, something that’s going to grow into something huge in the next five to ten years.  That’s the question I’ve got.

[00:00:59] So what I was thinking was, the other night, I was thinking about this and I was like, well, hang on a minute.  I was looking at a couple of people on my Facebook newsfeed, a lot of them are pretty much entrepreneurs and business owners.  And one of my friends actually, he grew his business, he grew it off the back of Instagram.  So, Instagram was a really big — well, it was pretty much everything he had.  That’s where he grew his leads, that’s where he catches information, so he started growing all these accounts off Instagram and now has millions of followers on Instagram, millions.  So I’m talking about the traffic potential there, it’s huge.  So he’s positioned himself as an influencer on Instagram and now he’s spoken and he’s met with a whole lot of other Instagram content creators and people who have massive account networks and followings and things like that.

[00:01:43] And you know, one thing leads to another, you click on his account and then you look at where he’s been and he’s tagged with all these other people.  I got a little bit jealous, I’m not going to lie.  A couple of his friends over there, a couple of people that he networked with had some crazy sized level accounts on Instagram.  And it just got me thinking, I’m like, man, I would kill to have that, like millions of people at your disposal who you can reach regularly.  But then I thought to myself, I’m like, right, that’s cool.  I just saw that in my newsfeed, a little bit jealous, I wish I had that.  But then you go to other websites and other people and other businesses and you look at their models and you think, well, what type of a model is this?  Is this something that’s going to be sustainable?  Is this something which is going to last?  Is this something which — the risk factor on this, you know, if Instagram changes their algorithm or for all of a sudden decides to start cracking down accounts that do paid advertising, whatever it might be.  Are you building your business on rented land?  All of these things need to come into account when you’re building a business.

[00:02:42] So that was one thing that got me thinking about this.  The other was — so, over the next — it was quite actually sent out to my email list, so if you’re in my email list, you probably got this.  The quote was from Bill Gates.  It went along the lines of, most people overestimate what they can do in the next two to three years, but underestimate what they can do in the next 10 to 15 years.  And I found that really interesting.  I think that was a massive, massive quote which affected me and my business.  It really makes you want to plan not the next two to three years, your next business idea, your next sales panel, anything like that, but your next 10 to 15 years.  So if you start and focus on one business, one idea, one concept, one model for the next 10 to 15 years and you keep growing that relentlessly, you don’t jump and jive from one thing to another, I think that’s where the real profit is to be made.  Facebook, Instagram, all these things, they are all kind of social network and they’ll change.  So, building your business off just one of those things is not sustainable, but building something which is going to last for 10 to 15 years, that’s where you’re actually growing your business.  I think where a lot of people get caught up and they don’t think about that 10 to 15-year period where you’ve got all this time.  It does sound like a long time and it’s not a quick easy fix.  It’s not like you’re going to find a traffic hack which is going to get you to send clicks on Facebook and convert for you, but at the end of the day you want sustainability.  You don’t want that quick win.  You don’t want the quick money.  You want the sustainability.  You want the systems in place to allow you to grow.  You want to bring on the right employees, the right team.

[00:04:20] It’s that 10 to 15-year period which makes you think, wonder to yourself, look, if I have 10 to 15 years to make something work, 10 or 15 years is a long time and you can pretty much make anything work in that period.  Whether it’s a software, you can start up a whole new social network.  You can really make anything work in 10 to 15 years if you just focus and you put your mind on it and you get all y our resource together and you focus on what you want to achieve in that 10 to 15-year period, you can really do anything.  So, ask yourself today, what do you want to achieve in the next 10 to 15 years?  Don’t look at your newsfeed, don’t look at the tactics, don’t look at the strategies that people are selling.  What do you want to achieve over the next 10 to 15 years?  Where do you want to be?  So if you’re 20 now, where do you want to be when you’re 35?  If you’re 30, where do you want to be when you’re 45?  If you’re 40, where do you want to be when you’re 60 — 55, 60 years old?  They’re the sort of questions you could ask yourself.  And it’s something I asked myself last year.

[00:05:16] So, think about it, guys.  I know it’s definitely something which I’ve been thinking about and it’s something which I think a lot of other people need to start thinking about as well because it really, really does make an impact on your business and makes you reevaluate where you are and where you’re heading.  I think it’s one of the most important parts of your goal setting, is to actually think about, all right, where am I, what am I doing, reevaluate and just stick to that task.  It’s so easy to jump around.  I’ve seen some of the most successful businesses recently and everyone, all marketers that I know, all the entrepreneurs that I know, everyone starts out in the way looking for that quick win for the quick buck, for the website that’s just going to work, but at the end of the day, everyone moves towards sustainability.  And that’s where the key is.  It’s that sustainability where you’ve really got to focus on what you’re doing.

[00:06:05] So that’s my two cents for today, guys.  I hope you guys are really focused on building a business that’s going to last.  Like I said — or like Bill Gates said, to be honest, most people overestimate the two to three years.  Most people underestimate the 10 to 15 years.  So, don’t cut yourself too thin.  Don’t call yourself too short over the next 10 to 15 years.  you’ve got so much potential.  There’s so much time.  There’s so many resources available.  It’s just a matter of choosing one thing and sticking to it, having the discipline to stay with one thing.  Another quote which I really like is, saying no to opportunities is being disciplined enough to follow your goals, something along the lines of that as well.  I’ll have to get you the exact quote.  As you can tell, I’m not really good at reciting quotes, but I’m working on that as well.

[00:06:56] So guys, what I’m going to say with you today is pick that one business, find that model that you want to dominate and just stick to it.  There’s always going to be shiny objects around, as entrepreneurs we all suffer from it, some worse than others.  I’m very bad when it comes to it.  I love seeing new strategies, tricks and hacks, but at the end of the day, you want to build something that’s going to last, something that you can wake up everyday, be excited about, be super pumped about, but it’s also going to last and be there for 10 years, 15 years to come.  And I mean when I say that, it doesn’t mean you can’t sell your company.  It doesn’t mean you have to work everyday and if you get bored of it, just ask yourself, why did I start?  Why did I do that?  It’s the same as a diet.  Think about it.  If you jump from diet to diet, then you’re not going to end up getting the results you want.  You’ll get short-term results and then the weight goes back on.  Same thing works in business.  If you jump from business to business, you’ll see a short-term goal.  You might make a few thousand dollars, but then eventually you’ll lose that money when you try something else that won’t work.

[00:07:50] So it’s really the same.  It’s consistent across all areas of your life, not just business, and I think that that’s key, I mean exact same thing.  If I compare that actually to weight loss again, with what Bill Gates said, he is basically saying that you underestimate what you can lose weight in the next 10 to 15 years rather than the next two to three.  Most people do that as well.

[00:08:14] So anyway, I’m kind of babbling on here a bit and I want to cut this pretty short, almost at the office, but guys, reevaluate, think about it, write down exactly where you want to go.  Try to clear your mind for a day.  Walk around outside.  Get some fresh air.  Get away from the computer and think about which direction you want to head for the next 10 to 15 years.  You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll see a massive growth in your business.  So take care guys, have an awesome one, and I’ll speak to you soon.