Hey hey!

So I've got a practical one here for you (and it's about a 15 min read)

Today, I'm going to talk about a couple the major skills that have shaped most successful people out there

Success is subjective but successful people always have a few common denominators

While these skills can be monetized individually...
if you know how to stack your skills...
and present yourself in an unforgettable manner
You'll have a much happier wallet and quality of life

What I'll share with you is some of my own experiences combined with
the scenarios that I've been gifted to witness happen right before my own eyes

These skills are no joke but to acquire these skills there's a game you have to play

That game is life and the player is you...

How will your story be written?

Get some snacks and let's get into it...

Don't be overwhelmed... you're not alone

In December of 2016,
I decided that my corporate career was done...
10 years as an IT pro with long days and longer nights
Ready to close that chapter in my life

2 weeks before the New Year with only $5000 to my name
(Damn... I was really bad at managing my money not that I think about it haha)

I lived in a small town that had a population of just over 45,000 people
I think it was time for a change and move off into a bigger city

But I don't have enough money
and my company just laid off 100s of people
(including myself...)
Rent and bills are due
Just found out that my ex-girlfriend shacked up with another dude right after me
(I'm only slightly jaded still but I seem to have dodged a bullet 😂)

Anyways... well... WTF do I do now...?

What happens when you combine an out-of-work individual...
with little money but no savings,
emotional broken but not deterred from life,
no degree but the willingness to learn,
and a broken down 2006 4 door honda civic?

A recipe for complete chaos with 10 shots of tequila!

Anyway... It was a simple matter of choices

I could either choose to find a different solution to my problems or...
die right then and there to never have to think, feel, or be again 

I'm glad I took the first choice

2017 became the year that I began my own journey of living a life of freedom

These skills are the foundation of some of the most successful entrepreneurs, business people, and even artists who abide by

They will always have a Return On Investment (ROI) if you're able to understand how to properly position yourself...

I'll get into proper positioning as we go along, Cool?

Cool

1. It's not what you know, it's about who you know...

If you were anything like myself... then the statement above is definitely true to a certain extent

For the longest time, I could not figure out why people kept telling me this
and It wasn't until I was halfway into my corporate career when
I figured how this statement actually works

"You use what you know to figure out how to become the who THEY need to know to get what you really want in life..."

Allow me to explain 👇

We're taught that if you pursue better paying careering, you needed to get an education.

Go to school, get into college, obtain a degree and then you'll be able to find the love of your life
then you're able to buy a house with, have some kids and finally get that boat you've always dreamed of having

That's the framework of a happy life that was shown to me for as long as I could remember

Since dropping out college in 2009, I was determined to climb the corporate ladder without having a degree

I have the willingness to learn new things just not what was taught in school...
(I don't like organized pyramid schemes 🤣)

After having various kinds of jobs since 2006, I've developed a lot of different "The what you know"

Food server, bartender, cook, banking and finance,
pharmaceutical and medical, then ultimately being the IT guy.
(I was even a construction worker/foreman) 

There's a lot of different skills that I learned that I don't even use,
but since I've seen how it operates it allows me to talk to other people
about the things that involves those various kinds of skills

Did you catch that?

I said that its because of those skills that's allowed me to figure out how to become the who

Networking and effective communication

This is probably my #1 & #2 skills that I use most frequently because of what I do for a living.
I gotta talk to people to know how things work. Like all friggin day! (but I love it)

Here's a recent scenario that recently happened to a friend of mine
and simply by positioning himself as the obvious person to talk to
He was able to get 3 business deals in 1 weekend

How did it happen?

Well I'm glad you asked :)

My buddy (Tony is what we'll call him) and I were attending the big Bitcoin Conference that happens every year
(if there was a crypto event to go to... it would be this one to check out)
It was being held in Miami this year - so it was going to be hot af and attire meant everything

This was not the first conference I've ever attended,
but this was definitely the first crypto event I would have been to

As we're driving to venue, Tony says to me...
"So, what are you hoping that happens at this conference?"

I had a confused look on my face 🤔

I never thought about anyone asking me this question before because my objective is always the same

"To make one friend"

Notice how I didn't say make a deal, or get a bunch of followers or take a bunch of photos

I go to events to make friends because nobody likes being sold something

Let's be real...

Any kind of public event with a lot of people and you're the only person going... 

That's incredibly intimidating
but also substantially worth it

Why?

People want to see you be successful not fail
(weird I know right?)

Let's get back to Tony...

We got around the conference and listened in on some speakers but didn't really make any advancement on our goal... 
but we got the chance to observe the audience, speakers and the vendors 

Day 1... no friends made and slept early to try again tomorrow

Day 2... last chance and only 8 hours worth of opportunity

Game plan...
How to position yourself for the optimal amount of conversation conversation

I would say that the 2nd day of a conference is always the more important of the days
People tend to be more talkative on the 2nd day and now the environment is familiar

So... how did we prepare for this?

First things first... Look at the agenda for the conference and answer these questions

Who are you trying to see?
What are you wanting to know?
How do I talk to someone about what I just heard?

This framework will work no matter what level you are in business or life

It's human attention, logic, with some spice and sugar
(Spice and sugar is what allows your personality to shine)

I know, I know... well how do I talk to someone?

Super easy - compliment people on their shoes, shirt, hairstyle, or accessories
and then ask what brought them to the conference

^^^Real quick interjection^^^
People would pay a nice penny for that conversation opener
but that's not what this article is about... it's about being prepared for opportunity

Back to it 👇

Bitcoin Conference Day 2

I knew that day 1 was a bust for me because this conference... is not like any other conference

I wore a nice shirt and shoes on the first day and boy did I stick out like a sore thumb and a hot hot hot day

This is not a business conference, it was like going into EDC festival but instead of seeing Dj's... 

It was business people - who would have known???

Anyway...

Before heading out, Tony brought 2 shirts... 1 polo and 1 shirt that had FakeBusiess on it
(This is from Tim Dillon the comedian... who happened to be filming a podcast at the conference)

I told him to put the Fake Business shirt on... why?

It's a great talking point because now... instead of having to initiate conversation all the time with random strangers...
He all of a sudden had the ability to use "Attraction Marketing" to play to his benefit

Most people don't think about the things that they wear but they are always hopeful that someone compliments them on their attire

People love attention, so why not bring attention to yourself?

"ooo nooo... I don't like it when people talk to me..."

BULLLLLLLLLSHHHHHHH******TTTTTTTT

People give this loneliness thing real big hype... but the truth is... you can't actually thrive without people

You can survive by yourself 100% but if you're attempting to make money, have better health, or have sex

You need people

And so Tony put on that Fake Business shirt and before the day was done

He was able to get connected with not only some individuals who own a large collection of NFTs
but some individuals who could pay for his programming and development services

All because he wore a shirt that allowed people to open a conversation with him
and because of those conversations... he was able to increase his book of business simply by wearing a shirt that approachable

You see... the ability to network isn't difficult it just takes a little bit of thinking

I'm a thinker and socially anxious person

But that means I need to be calculated and methodical about how I operate... as a person

Not somebody who is trying to make money or always having a sneaky agenda like a snake oil salesman

Nahh fam...

Thinking about your next moves is just like playing a chess game

Life is no different

2. Think quickly and pace yourself to become proactive not reactive

This is definitely easier said than done

Most of the time, people move like it's a knee jerk reaction... 

This mean a lot of the time you may be reacting to a situation instead of thinking about your next steps

Perfect example is the dating world for guys...

Let's say you see a girl at the coffeeshop and you're not sure whether she's actually working or there for some conversation

There's never a good way to tell 

But you need to be the one to make the move right?

"F*ck... I think she's cute and I would like to talk to her but doesn't seem like it's going to work out"

This is a reacting scenario that's playing in your brain

I know it did for me

I used to be someone who never took action on anything just thought about things

But the problem with just thinking is that you have "paralysis by analysis"
How this happens is when you think about something so in depth that it's paralyzed you from taking action

This means most people always think of the worst case scenario instead of the best case

Why is that? It's because we've been programmed by environment to do so

What you should be doing is preparing for the worst case scenario but only think about what the next 2 moves are...

Taking the time to process your thoughts and emotion because taking action on something can be extremely stressful

Like asking for a girl's number, closing a deal with a business owner,
or maybe you're in a situation where people are looking to you for an answer 
You might have to fire someone, cut the budget, or even tell your mom that she's wrong

We tend to dwell on the negative things that would happen instead of thinking of the best things that could happen

How many times have you noticed when someone is look at you and then they shy away?

Why not plan to talk to that person?

In business... there's a saying that makes a lot of sense

"Speed is king and you must strike while the iron is hot"

When you know the iron is hot, you've got to take your opportunity otherwise it'll cool down and you have wait again

Or worse... you'll never have it happen again

That's where thinking fast and pacing your actions are important

• Thinking fast is quickly processing scenarios in your head on the things you want to happen
  • You've got to be able to think of all the possible outcomes 
  • Similar to the game in chess.. how many moves do you see before moving your own piece?
• Pacing your actions is pretty tough... even some of the best of the best will know that how quick you are to take action is the fastest way to gold

However... just because taking action quickly doesn't mean you'll always have a good turn out

In fact.. there have been times where my quick action taking has come to bite me the big ole behind

Why?

I didn't properly analyze my situation and take the additional steps that I needed to take for a better outcome

Here's an example of that:

I used to live in Dallas, TX and I would always attend a few Meetups during the week

There was a particular meetup that I enjoyed attending every week on Thursdays at 1 pm

Always had between 60-75 people in attendance it was 1 hour long

Everyone had to bring $2 dollars, $1 for the waitstaff and $1 for charity

You pay the fee, you get an opportunity to do a 30 second pitch on your business and services to acquire business for yourself

Well... I've been attending this meetup for about a year and I was pretty familiar with how things were going to go

This is where my taking action too quickly bit me in the butt

Around this time, the Amazon Alexa was becoming popular along with the Google Home

So... I wanted to talk online marketing, but wanted to give some value to my audience
on what I believed would be relevant to their business

I was going with how the internet was shifting towards a more voice oriented society

Pretty soon, everyone will be saying "Alexa, buy me some soap, cheetos, and a flat screen tv"

I was going to knock this out of the park...

I would say about 15 people were ahead of me
and I couldn't wait to get my chance
to speak and blow people's minds away
(With knowledge not a firearm)

Already knowing what I want to ask and say to the crowd.. I stand up, I raise my hand up high, and I said...

"Hey, my name is Phung and I'm an marketer that works in the digital field that helps businesses get online"
"Did anyone here happen to get a Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Amazon Echo for the holidays?" 

*Crickets chirpping*
Complete silence...

Holy sh*t... complete embarrassment

You would think that I just shat my pants in front of 70 people

I promptly lowered my hand and said thank you for your time and sat right back down

The only response I got was the laughter I heard from my brother in the back room...

I knew what had happened and I was kicking myself for not thinking things through

I was so ready to help these people out that they didn't have a darn clue on what I was talking about

Was I embarrassed? 100%... did I let get to me? Oh yeah it did

But I didn't want to quit

I had to think about it logically what had just happened... why did I bomb in such a disastrous way?

Well... I didn't think about the scenario I was in and didn't pace my actions to what should have been done

Instead I just winged it

Had I take the time to think that my audience was filled mostly older people who probably had no idea what I was talking about...
I would have changed my entire speech and give them the information that they would have wanted... not what I wanted

Let's recap...

Alright, I know that was pretty lengthy post, but I wanted to be able to share these 2 underrated skills

Understanding these 2 skills will take you a really long way in life

Networking is important because of just the people you would have the opportunity to meet with
You never know when there's a millionaire just sitting next to you drinking a $2 dollar coffee

You never know when there's an opportunity to meet someone you truly admire but you weren't able to because you were paralyzied

If you don't think about your preactions, actions and outcomes...
then you're forever in this loophole of getting too much in your head and not taking the appropriate amount of action

If you've got concentration problems and social anxiety like myself... 

Then really taking a deep dive on these 2 will really help you get you out of your shell and in a place where you really want to be

Thanks for reading!

Until the next time... 🤙