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A Glimpse of “The Big Picture”

This week in XAU #4

What’s your Motivation? 

When most people get into the business, they only focus on one thing. While there are a few different reasons why you would want to be in our industry, there is always ONE specific thing that made you join.

What was your reason for joining? Why did you say yes when that person took you out on that interview? Why do you continue to show up to work, even after getting paid so little, after working so much?

There has to be a reason. The reason why you started is always going to be the reason why you continue, so always keep it close to you.

People usually start for one of three reasons. We assume you started in this business for one of those as well, in fact, we hope you did. Understanding these three core motivations is the secret to you succeeding in this business.

If you lose sight of these motivations at any time, you are doomed to immediate failure. Never forget that.

Reason Number 1: Money

The first reason people join a business is the most obvious. They want to make money. The opportunity we present allows people to make a decent living provided they are willing to put in the effort. 

You always have to keep the money in mind when making decisions, but it should never be the primary focus.

The issue with joining a business solely to make money is that money by itself is an extremely weak motivator. 

It's easy to lose sight of the money when you have a bad day in the field. Lord forbid you to have a bad week or bad month, most people who do, never make back from the dead. They run into the smallest hardships and quit. 

Stick around our office, and you'll see people come and go. People quitting is unavoidable. Usually, the people who quit left the business for the same reason they started.

It was never a lack of money, but rather a lack of an emotional connection. 

What were they going to do with the money? Why did they want to make money so bad?

People are never motivated by money directly. Money is indeed a gift, but we must remember that money on its own is worthless.

It's about the things money can buy. Rather than focusing on the money, we should focus on what our actions will be once we have, and our intentions for amassing specific amounts. 

We should never talk about money in vague terms, always in specifics.

Here's an example:

Person 1:  "I want to make money" or "I want to make money to buy a nice car."

They won't last a week. 

Here's another example:

"I want to make money because I want to buy a Lamborghini. Now, while I would be happy with any Lamborghini, I would prefer either a Lamborghini Huracan, Lamborghini Diablo, or both. While the Diablo is the more affordable of the two, it still costs $150,000. The Huracan, being a more modern car, retails a whopping $260,000. Neither of these cars is affordable with the average person's salary.

I want a Lamborghini for so many reasons. They are beautiful cars and master craftworks in the automotive industry. They are sleek, stylish, and extremely fast. They have become symbols of success and class, and to own one is a luxury that most people never get to experience. Even if you just wanted to rent one, it would cost you about $1500 a day, so it's no surprise that most people don't even know what it's like to drive one.

I always imagine what it would be like, cruising the hills on a sunny day, the convertible top down, basking in both the glorious sun and the majestic sounds of the car. I am on my way to a date with the love of my life, my flower's ready, and when she sees me, the car behind me, and the bright bouquet of daisies, I'm sure she will be left speechless.

We'll get dressed up, and the world will be ours. We'll start by taking over the city, and when we show up to the party in a car as exotic, as rare and commanding as a Lamborghini, no one will be able to take their eyes off us. The butterfly doors go up, and I exit first. The first thing I do upon exiting the vehicle is buttoning the jacket of my tuxedo, and the second thing I do is open the door for her. When she steps out, I take her hand and help her out of the car. I close the door behind her, then, taking her hand to lead her to the entranceway: a red carpet. I casually toss the keys to the valet and tell him to be careful. The only thing that takes the valet's eyes off the car is the sheer radiance and beauty of my lover. She is glowing tonight, and the night is all about her. We have a good time, a night filled with joy and laughter. I take her home, to extend the night with passion, and when the night is over, she's begging me not to go. I kiss her goodbye, tell her I love her, and I hit the road again.

That night, I'll drive through the hills once more. I'll be playing music of low fidelity, if not just enjoying the silence and the sounds of the machine. The roads are empty and winding, a complete joy to drive on. I'm still wearing my tuxedo, driving the car on this night becomes an event of its own. The drive becomes the most relaxing thing I've ever done, and the longer I drive, the more a singular feeling invades my thoughts. "I am so happy and grateful that I can drive this car, on a night like this" I firmly realize that my whole life had been leading up to this moment.”

That's the story I want to tell. If I don't have an opportunity to make at the very least, millions of dollars, then I'll never be able to turn my dream into a reality. To die, without experiencing what I've described, fills me with a nameless dread. I will do whatever it takes to bring my vision to fruition.”

How did you feel after reading the first example? Did you feel different after reading the second example?

There is no guarantee that the second person will make it any further than the first person. He does, however, have a much better chance at enduring the hardships that come with being in sales or in being an entrepreneur.

Think of the feeling you had when you read the first example and compare it to the feeling you had when reading the second.

If your motivation doesn't fill you with a similar feeling as the second example, or if you can't describe it as clearly as written above, then you should take some time to think about the things you want, and how much money you need to get them.

Whether the car you want is a Lamborghini or a 1998 hatchback Honda Civic, it's going to cost money to get it, so it's important to be money motivated if you want to get the things you want in life.

Maybe you don't want a car at all, but you still have to get around. Whether you travel by foot, by boat, by plane, you're always going to need money. The most important thing to remember when being motivated by money is that it's not the money itself, but the stuff you buy with it, and the way you'll feel once you have those things.

The secret to getting results is extreme clarity on what you want and why you want to accomplish what it is you set out to do.

Your reason for starting is your reason for continuing, and it will be your reason for quitting if you don't believe in it strongly enough.

Most people who leave our business, do so only after losing sight of why they joined, or after deciding that if they were to stay in our business, then they wouldn't get what it is they want.

If you are building a team, and you want to minimize the number of people who quit on you, then you need to find out their why. Once you've found out someone's why you need to go deeper. Find their emotional connection to it, and do everything you can to help them achieve it.

Helping other people get what they want is the key to success in business. It can't just be about you. Whether you are selling a product, service, or opportunity, your ability to relate it to someone else's desired outcome is going to determine whether or not you'll be successful in the long run.

If you aren't getting the results you want, it's because you aren't helping enough people to get the things that they want. 

Help others and they'll help you, be sure to take the time to become genuinely interested in the goals of the people around you.

Stay Gold. 

[xaumagazine]

8 Weeks of Greatness

This Week in XAU #3 - Week Ending 11/9 (2019)

Today we hosted our Fall Leaders Conference, a business seminar where people from different nearby sales offices come for a day of knowledge, training, and networking.

These things are always a blast, but today's event hit a little differently.

The message seemed more relevant. It shook us to the core. Today something woke up and resonated with us on an emotional level.

Today we have decided to raise our standards further than we ever have before. We're going to do whatever it takes. We are going to do everything in our power to take our business to the next level.

We won't do this because we want to, but because we realize we have to.

We want to be the change we expect to see. We want to be the absolute leaders in the industries of sales, marketing, and advertising.

It's time to stop playing and starting producing the stories that we want to highlight. It's time to control the narrative.

Welcome to the 8 Weeks of Greatness.

We believe that if you are the best version of yourself for eight consecutive weeks, you will make it to the next level.

For us, that means going from leadership to assistant management.

The next few weeks are going to be extremely calculated.

We will commit to doing a blog post for eight consecutive Wednesdays featuring leaders who qualify, provided they have met the following targets. Moving forward, these are going to be the standards we have to feature anyone in our weekly blog post, newsletter, or print magazine.

Our metrics for success as a leader is as follows:

Minimum $500 in weekly sales (ring the bell!!!)

Established Crew Vision: Why would someone want to join your team?

Out of Office Time with Everyone (including new starts)

Never Absent - No excuses

First Rep to Arrive in the Morning (arrive the same time as owner)

Weekly Goal Sheets (with Team Stats)

Must Participate and Keep up with Book Club

With these metrics in mind, we are also updating our schedule. We are going to starting posting twice a week.

Our first post, which will be every Wednesday, is going to be more anecdotal, highlighting our favorite stories of the week. We'll also go over last week's results and the lessons we can learn from reviewing our performance.

Our second post, which will be every Thursday, is going to be our workshop post. It's going to consist of mostly lessons about life, business, and or entrepreneurship.

Moving forward, we are going to do our best to release this blog every Wednesday and Thursday Morning at around 6:00 am

In our environment, the workweek starts on Thursday and ends on Monday. Our blog post is going to be your new way to start the week.

Click the link below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date with all our articles.

http://bit.ly/xaunewsletter

Remember to share our blog with people who you think would find value in the stories we tell and the content we share. Be sure to follow us on social media, too.

Stay Gold.

[xaumagazine]

Getting to Know Each Other

This week in XAU #2 - Week Ending 11/2 (2019)

If you want to increase both sales and retention in your business, the first thing you must do is improve your ability to create personal relationships. You have to know your market.

Take the time to get to know your people. You must master the ability to turn business partners into friends.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to be able to turn friends into business partners.

People tend to neglect building relationships when they are new to the worlds of sales and marketing.

They instead worry about things like persuasion. They focus on learning cheap sales tactics and marketing strategies. The strategies may get them some success in the short term, but they will never allow your business to grow.

This principle is why we chose to make our Leadership Development Program the core of our business.

We've made it our responsibility to give individuals the tools they need to become the best versions of themselves.

Think of this magazine as your new study guide. We started this magazine to help people learn. Businesses only fail for two reasons:

Lack of Knowledge

Lack of Money

Money comes and goes, but the lessons you learn will stay with you.

Knowledge must always come first. You can make money doing anything, but without the right knowledge, you will not be able to keep the money, much less grow it.

The easiest way to gain knowledge is to ask the right people the right questions.

Ask the people who've accomplished the things you want, how exactly did they achieve it? What challenges did they face? What character traits allowed them to be successful in those situations?

Try to be as specific as possible with your line of questioning. Get as many details as possible. Ask for names, dates, locations, anything that helps to paint a clearer picture.

The same scrutiny goes for screening potential business partners. You want to learn their story. Learn where they are from and what brought them here. You should do your best to find out what strengths they have, and what weaknesses they would like to work on, as well as why they think they would be a good fit for your team.

Find out what's important to them, then see if that aligns with your vision for the future.

Next, take the time to find a common interest.

You should have similar goals. Be on the same page.

The things we are most passionate about are often the things that best connect us. Our passion for learning is what drove us to create this magazine. We wanted to not only learn more about our business but more about the people who give our business life. It's all about the leaders in the field, the entrepreneurs building their first few firms, people who work extremely hard and yet go largely unnoticed by the general public.

We hope you are as interested in these people as we are. We hope that you share our enthusiasm towards personal growth, and follow us through our professional journey.

Click the link below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date with all our articles.

http://bit.ly/xaunewsletter

Remember to share our blog with people who you think would find value in the stories we tell and the content we share. Be sure to follow us on social media, too.

Stay Gold.

[xaumagazine]

Introductions are in Order

This week in XAU #1 - Week Ending 10/26 (2019)

Business is all about relationships, and the first step to building any relationship is the introduction. There are a lot of factors that go into your intro; your smile, your overall appearance, the words you use. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to anyone and everyone. Dress Well and Smile. You never get a second chance at a first impression.

Hi, Welcome to XAU Magazine.

XAU (pronounced "gold") is a Digital Magazine for people who work in the industries of sales, marketing, or advertising.

XAU is for people who want to improve their lives. It's your new blueprint for success.

It's for the ambitious young individual who wants to get into sales but doesn't know where to start.

It's for that leader in the field who is starting to build their team.

It's for that entrepreneur launching their first company.

It's for that business consultant who wants to learn more about the future leaders of the world, and the people whose lives they've changed.

XAU is for the people who dream big and aren't afraid to dream bigger.

It's for the boy who wants to meet the girl. It's for the girl who wants the dance. It's for the man who wants to buy the ring. It's for the woman who wants the world. It's for the father who wants to give his family home. It's for the mother who wants to give her children the tools to succeed.

XAU is for everyone who knows there is more to life than what they have now.

Of course, XAU is not for everyone.

If you think an "average" life is a good life, or that mediocrity is acceptable, then XAU is not for you.

If you are the kind of person who hates work, loves being lazy, and enjoys being a victim, then there might be other magazines that are a better fit for you.

XAU is Gold because that is our standard.

We aim to be the best. To set a record and then break it. To strive to make the impossible possible, and do it with style and grace.

We hope that you follow our journey as we follow the journey of people inside our industry. We hope you enjoy our stories. We want our stories to make you laugh, to make you smile, or maybe even make you cry. We want them to resonate with you.

We want our stories to inspire you to do better and be better. We hope you follow us on this adventure and that you manage to become a transformational reader as you follow along.

Don't be the kind of person who reads something and doesn't do anything. Be the kind of person who is hungry for knowledge and takes control. At the end of every article, we are going to wrap up with a lesson. Make sure you take action. To achieve more, you must do more.

Procrastination is the little brother of regret.

If you want to succeed in business, the first thing you must to do is put yourself out there. Master your introduction. Take care of the way you look and be aware of the way you appear to others. Invest in yourself. Take pride in who you are. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to anyone.

Don't forget to smile. (:

Click the link below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date with all our articles.

http://bit.ly/xaunewsletter

Remember to share our blog with people who you think would find value in the stories we tell and the content we share. Be sure to follow us on social media, too.

Stay Gold.