First published 30 September 2019 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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Nigel got the first dig in. It had been about eight weeks since we'd recorded the last one (it's a week for you, listening), and he reckoned the hair I'd lost off my head had slid down and joined my face. Fair. There was a beard that wasn't there before. He'd also got a married son since we last spoke, who he calls his L'Oréal son. Because he's worth it.
That line sent us somewhere I hadn't planned. Self-esteem. Nigel's view is that people with high self-esteem take risks, and people who take risks have high self-esteem. He brought up his book The Magic of Masterminding (now called 10 Heads Are Better Than One) and the place everyone goes on holiday, Someday Isle. Someday I'll do it, once I feel good enough. Then we got onto people waiting for likes on Facebook and thinking they're not good enough when the likes don't come. Nigel's got over 4,000 friends on there and says he couldn't see every post if he tried. My bit was that most of us are comparing our real life with somebody else's highlight reel.
I gave some credit to Jason Vale, the Juice Master, who I spent some time with back in 2012. Everyone else tells his godchild to take care. He tells them to take risks. Calculated ones, I said, and Nigel told me I was going a bit elephant on him and reckoned we were heading for our second fight.
Then came his £2.50 maths. Say you earn £10 a book and one in four people you ring buys one (he said four people first, I had to check). That makes every call worth £2.50, yes or no. So when someone says no, you say thank you for £2.50. I've run teams doing cold calling, and by the end of the day the phone gets heavy. But if you know your numbers, even 24 nos out of 25 calls is just normal.
Oh, and I turned up on time. Nigel did point out we'd pushed the start back two hours, but he still promised me an on time award next week.
The short version
- Stop waiting until you feel good enough. Someday Isle isn't a real place.
- Likes on a post don't tell you whether you're good enough. Half the time people just haven't seen it.
- Small risks that come off give you the confidence for bigger ones. Think the downside through first.
- Work out what each call is worth whatever the answer. In Nigel's book example every no is £2.50.
The problem is, we think we need the sale to make the money.
Nigel Risner
So many people when it comes to judging themselves, they're comparing their real life with somebody else's highlight reel.
Neil Martin
