I recently listened to the audiobook of 6 Months to 6 Figures by Peter Voogd, and his perspective really resonated with me. And not just because we have a shared past of door-to-door sales (I sold vacuum cleaners, he sold Cutco knives). Voogd went from broke to a game changer who practically defines the word “hustle.” In his book, and in this interview, he shares keys to success for fellow entrepreneurs.
“You only know how strong you really are until being strong is the only option you have. ”
-Peter Voogd, Author of the Best Seller 6 Months to 6 Figure
Watch the full interview with Peter Voogd:
On the go? Listen to the whole interview here:
Inspiration vs. Habits.
A lot of us entrepreneurs are inspired, which helps us drive action, but Voogd emphasized the importance of productive habits: “Inspiration is short-term and feels good in the moment, but it’s hard to sustain because you don’t have the habits.” One recipe for success he described was the habit of asking himself “What did I do well? What can I do better?” after every single meeting or presentation.
Circle of Influence.
Voogd further explained how taking it upon yourself to figure out these effective habits is unnecessary: “It takes people so much longer to get to an end result than they would’ve got if they actually reached out to people that are already playing the game at a higher level. They will tell you what the best habits are.” Identify the top five people in your industry and reach out to them. Stop making excuses and, as Nike advises, just do it. You’ll probably be surprised by how easy it is to get a hold of even famous people, who can then help you drastically shorten your learning curve. Watch Voogd explain his circle of influence epiphany →
“You have to realize that everyone who has a network now once didn’t. The first step is increasing your level of certainty that you can connect with people like that, whether you have anything to offer or not.”
-Peter Voogd, Author of the Best Seller 6 Months to 6 Figures
“The Unrequired Things.”
Along with establishing effective habits, Voogd spoke about how going above and beyond is the key. One way to go the extra mile is having utter confidence in selling yourself: “You have to believe wholeheartedly that the product is better for [your customer], and they are better off having it than if they don’t.”
The second unrequired thing is writing down the internal reasons that drive you to do what you do. You might come up with 20 to 30 reasons, then boil them down to four or five core ones. Voogd underscored that reasons come first, results come second: “Too many people just go after results, without having strong enough reasons, and if they go through challenges, they don’t have any reasons to pull them through the challenge.”
The Million Dollar Question.
A great story Voogd shared was from when he was a sales manager in his early 20s, striving to hit a $1 million sales goal that was thought to be unattainable. You can probably guess the outcome, but don’t miss how he did it →
“Anything is possible to those who value their goals, their dreams, and their visions over their current excuses or reality.”
-Peter Voogd, Author of the Best Seller 6 Months to 6 Figure
The One-Page Productivity Planner
Voogd shared the details of his one-page productivity planner. The exercise here is to simplify and focus on what really matters. Get the gist below, download his template here, or watch him explain it →
- Brief vision-statement. What’s your ideal outcome in six months?
- Your BIG 5 Goals for the next 12 months.
- Your Top Five Reasons, the most powerful ones that drive you the most.
- Your Key Values, to connect to what’s most important to you. For example, a few of Voogd’s are are flexibility, autonomy, and impact.
Download the 1-Page Productivity Sheet >>
Talk about impact! The Game Changers Academy Voogd founded has trained and inspired over 4,500 entrepreneurs, and his podcasts, videos, websites and social media reach over 200,000 people monthly.
Want to learn even more from outstanding young entrepreneurs?
On July 30th, I’ll take the stage with Santiago Jaramillo, one of Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” for a special launch event in the brand new offices of his growing mobile tech company, Bluebridge. Get your tickets now!→
Peter Voogd Interview Transcript [spoiler]
Matt: I am so excited because I have author of the new bestseller, Six Months to Six Figures, Peter Voogd, and he’s here. Peter, thanks for being here.
Peter: Oh, thanks for having me, Matt. I’m excited and ready to roll, man. I’m energized, as always.
Matt: I want to tell these guys a little bit about your backstory, so then we can jump right into the meat. I mean, you help entrepreneurs maximize their resources, while at the same time, really maximizing their network to reach their goals, both in their business and in their lives. What you’re doing right now with The Game Changers Academy, with hundreds of entrepreneurs in your very selective academy, as you’re bringing new entrepreneurs in, helping them reach not just six figures, but seven figures, eight figures.
And then also, of course, the Young Entrepreneurs Lifestyle podcast, which you have now tens of thousands of listeners as you’ve launched that. I had a chance to listen to some of that as well. I had over 20 hours in the car last week, so I took some of your advice to heart, and listened to your entire audiobook, which I think is still in the top five on Audible right now.
Peter: Are you sick of my voice or not?
Matt: Not at all, man, especially since I listen to all my audiobooks on 1.5 speed. It’s nice to hear your actual voice that is a couple options lower. Your story really struck a chord with me because, at age 15, you were doing a manual labor job for your dad’s business, and you’re like, “Hey, this is not the life for me. I want to go and figure out how to make money like entrepreneurs make.” You had a couple different businesses; you had an eBay business, where you made $91 in a day, when your friend who had the same job you previously had, made only $63. It kind of changed your perspective on things.
And then, you even got into doing direct selling with Cutco knives, and that resonated with me, being a former vacuum cleaner salesman, doing the direct sales door-to-door. Talk to me a little bit about that experience selling Cutco knives. How old were you at the time?
Peter: I was 20 or 21 when I started, and I went… It’s funny, the eBay business I did well and I was making money. I always had money in high school, and kind of created my own income. But, because so many people around me, Matt, were like, “No, you’ve got to get a normal job. You’ve got to try the normal job. Everyone does it,” and everything inside me was like, “I’m not doing that,” but then I’m just like, “I’ve got to try it.” I almost got pressured by society, which of course now, doesn’t even make sense for me. So I tried it, I lasted two months, got out. I wanted a job or an opportunity where they… I got to choose what I was worth, and I got to create my schedule based on what I wanted versus other people saying, “Hey, this is exactly what I think you’re worth today, and this is exactly when you need to show up and when you could leave,” and I couldn’t stand that.
So I got in direct sales and realized that it was endless possibilities for me, because I could sell as much or as little as I want. I could be consistent, I could take days off. But the reality is, it’s a double-edged sword, because you have to be disciplined, and you have to make sure you know how to plan your schedule. So I got in, super excited, and one of my mistakes was, Matt, I don’t know if you’ve experienced this, I had a lot of drive and ambition and energy, but that’s not enough these days – so does everybody else. The key is doing the unrequired things that most people don’t do, which is why most people are struggling right now. So I had the energy, but I didn’t know how to manage my schedule, I didn’t know how to be consistent. Go ahead.
Matt: Talk to me about that “unrequired.” You talk about the unrequired thing in order to be successful. What’s an example for that, maybe that you used there when you were at Cutco?
Peter: Yeah. So I got into it, and the first thing for me was, I had to sell myself on the opportunity and the product. I think most people, they don’t go this far where they just try things, they hear you make money, or the just go to the shiny object to the shiny object, and that’s sadly a lot of people’s mistake. So for me, I had to sell myself. The unrequired work was, I had to really, really get clear on who I was, what I wanted, was this the product I wanted to sell, was it something I could fully believe in. Because if you don’t sell yourself on it, you’re going to validate or make excuses, and you’re not going to fully be confident, and if you don’t have confidence, you’re always going to find a way to lose.
So, I kept selling myself on the A. opportunity and B. the product. I think the first key to sales is, you have to believe wholeheartedly that the product is better for them and they are better off having it than if they don’t. I don’t care if it’s one grand, 10 grand, 100 grand, or 10 million dollars, the best salespeople, the sales elite, they A. know how to sell themselves on their product and B. they know how to connect with people. So that’s the unrequired work.
Second thing I did was, I stacked a lot of reasons on why I was working there. So, reasons come first, results come second. Too many people just go after results, without having strong enough reasons, and if they go through challenges, they don’t have any reasons to pull them through the challenge. I’m sure you’ve experienced that. If you don’t have reasons, you’re screwed. So I had to stack a lot of reasons.
And the reality is, I came up with 20-30 reasons, and four or five of them, Matt, are real internal that are going to drive me. I say if people are sleeping in, they’re not driven, they’re complacent, they don’t have strong enough reasons. They need to write down the five to 20 reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing and sell themselves on it consistently before they take action, that way when they do take action, they have the best chance to succeed. Does that make sense?
Matt: So much sense. When you’re talking about working with the people in The Game Changers Academy, and on your podcast, I know that a lot of this advice can kind of be applied in a general sense, but you also do a lot of personal coaching with people that are making seven, eight figures. Give me an example of someone, an entrepreneur preferably, where you went in and you said, “Hey, listen, we’ve got to get clear on your reasons why, or your reasons to believe that this is the thing you should be selling.” Or, an example of when maybe someone was fully bought into their product, but should’ve been.
Peter: Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of examples. I have a guy in my academy who was selling a specific type of insurance, pretty high-level for a niche market, and didn’t know why he was doing it. He was a little bit older, and he was doing it because that’s what he thought he had to do, because he’s been doing it for so long and he didn’t want to switch out. I really got clear on what his strengths were, and I asked him, “What do you see yourself doing that’s going to keep you fascinated and engaged for the next five or 10 years?” That’s a really good question. He said, “Well, I see myself doing this, but right now, I’m complacent. I’m doing the same thing over and over again.”
So, I really asked him deep questions on why he was doing it and why he believes in it. What’s the product? What’s it do? What are some of the best testimonials you’ve gotten from customers? And he got this new spark, but he really, really… The big key is, he wrote down what was important to him, what his values were, and what he wanted in the next five or 10 years. He wanted flexibility, he wanted financial freedom for his family, and he wanted to be more effective. So he needed to be disciplined instead of working all the time.
Once he got clear on these things, literally two months later, Matt, he made, I think, an extra 50 grand on top of his normal commission extra that was scaled every month. So he made an extra couple hundred grand for the year just from that shift in mindset, from getting more intentional with his schedule, and from reselling himself on A. the product and B. the opportunity. And then it’s just the tactics, right?
So I had him reach out to three or four of the best of the best of the best in his industry, so he elevated his circle of influence and he cut his learning curve in half by asking them what they did differently. So that was one of the biggest keys, and there’s many more, but I think the key is reselling yourself on if what you’re doing connects to your values and connects to what’s most important to you. So for me, my values are flexibility and autonomy.
More than income, I will turn down a speech for five or $10,000 if it doesn’t match my values. I will give a free speech if it matches my values and I’m speaking to a thousand entrepreneurs. So, you have to define that. And here’s the deal most people don’t realize – I want to get into this because it’s so crucial for millennials – when you’re following people that you’re inspired by, role models, whether it’s a Donald Trump, or a Tim Ferriss, or a Tony Robbins, or an Elon Musk, they have different values, so make sure their values are congruent with yours.
I’m going to follow someone and respect someone like Tim Ferriss, because he’s all about lifestyle; he scales his business, he loves what he does, and money is his value, but it’s three or four. Donald Trump’s value, money is probably up there, right? I’m not that into making billions, although, obviously when you’re talking to people that are studying Forbes and all these different publications, yes, they want money, it’s great, but don’t do it at the sacrifice of what’s most important to you. So that’s a huge key, is defining.
Another value of mine is influence and impact, which is why I’m doing this interview. Another value is family, financial freedom as well. So once I get an opportunity thrown at me, which happens all the time, I go through, “Do these match my values?” If they don’t, I don’t do it. Does that make sense? So it keeps me grounded, keeps me at peace of mind, and it keeps me effective as well.
Matt: And just that sort of process of prioritizing is something that people could implement today, and I heard you mention the circle of influence and I want to talk about that in just a second. I want to jump back, even to the selling side of things, because I think it is sort of the ultimate entrepreneurial skill. If you can’t sell yourself, if you can’t sell a product, if you can’t sell an idea, you’re dead in the water.
So as we’re talking here to entrepreneurs in the Verge community, what are a couple of qualities that you think a good salesperson has that’s translatable to entrepreneurship, but also as an entrepreneur selling the business, “I’ve got to find this sales guy who can now help me lead my sales operation, because I’ve got to be focused on raising money, bringing on the right talent, figuring out partnerships.”
Peter: Find out what their strengths are. I like that, and I do want to hit on this because you hit it perfectly. Sadly, I know a lot of broke geniuses. They know everything about this, whether it’s tech space or whether it’s a different industry; they are brilliant, but they can’t sell themselves out of a paper bag. So they’re broke. You have to sell to get the idea and product out there to translate into value and make money.
So I think the first thing is resilience. What that means is, they have to have a big bounce back from failure or back from rejection. So the perspective of failure and rejection needs to be in the right state of mind; for example, when you fail as a salesperson, every time you get told no, you’re getting closer to a yes.
Matt: True.
Peter: Someone that’s new in sales thinks no is a hit on them. They take it personal and they say, “Oh, they said no! Man, I’m not that good.” No, no, no, no. It’s a numbers game, so you need to respect the process more than the result. So for example, you need to make sure that you’re consistent. When you’re making your phone calls or when you’re selling something, set the numbers goals, not the results goals, because you can’t really control the results. So I would say, “Okay, you’re going to do 10 appointments, and you’re going to make 50 calls this week, no matter what happens.” And keeping an even keel, Matt, is one of the biggest skills you can have as a sales professional.
You have a huge day; you sell a million dollars’ worth of stuff, or you sell $5,000 worth of stuff, great. Quick celebration, short recoveries is key. You have a day where you have no sales, even keel. If you keep the same mindset and the same confidence no matter what happens, that’s a big way to be consistent and to be, I guess, thriving in that industry.
Another key is making sure you focus on habits versus just inspiration. I see a lot of salespeople, in the tech space, out of the tech space, whether it’s direct sales or door-to-door, they’re always motivating themselves and they’re getting inspired, but they’re not creating sustained habits. Now, inspiration is needed to create action, but you need the habits. They’re really going to define what you’re doing, because inspiration is short-term and it feels good in the moment, but the reality is, it’s hard to sustain because you don’t have the habits. And habits are what really define what you do every single day, if that makes sense.
So habits over inspiration. I think maybe sure you have three or four people in your rolodex that you can connect with after or before your demos, or before your appointments, or before your sales calls, to get you in the right state of mind. So getting in the right state of mind before your sales presentation is a huge key. And what I always did, from 2005 and 2006 on to now, after every single appointment, presentation, whatever you’re doing sales-wise, I say, “What did I do well? What can I do better?”
Now if you do this, you’re not going to have that many bad appointments in a row. People don’t invest their past mistakes into their future preparation. So if people can just say, “Okay, what did I do well? I did well building rapport. I didn’t do well being confident in the closing. That’s what I need to do work on next.” So I think the action of trial and error and asking the right questions, before and after the appointment, is a huge key, and you mix that with repetition and practice and making sure you have a rolodex of people that are already in your industry crushing it. You can’t help but succeed, because you’re going to be around those people that have already succeeded and been where you want to go. Does that make sense?
Matt: Yeah, I was with you 100 percent, except this whole rolodex thing. I don’t know what that is.
Peter: It’s…
Matt: No, I’m totally messing with you, man.
Peter: You scared me for a second.
Matt: But, to translate for the millennials, rolodex equals CRM, or LinkedIn, or some sort of contact information.
Peter: In your network. Yeah, having a network around you.
Matt: I’m giving you a hard time, man. I 100 percent love what you had to say in your book. You have a lot of great habits that people can dive into and almost take your exact recipes. I love that you drew so much information from so many great people, and all the books that I’ve read, too, over the years, and kind of made that story your own and did a really great job of making those tried-and-true principles relevant again. One of which is increasing your circle of influence. So, can you talk to me a little bit more about that particular habit and what you’re doing currently to continue increasing your circle of influence?
Peter: Yeah, good question. That was the biggest turning point for me in my entire life, when I was broke and stressed and struggling and discouraged and I felt hopeless. I was living in a one-bedroom apartment in a pretty rough area in the Seattle area and I didn’t have furniture. I had a mattress and that’s it, and all my savings was spent. To be honest, Matt, not a lot of people know this – I talk about it in my book – but I didn’t even have money to go to the drive-thru, and it’s hard to come from a place of confidence when you’re lacking the resources and the funds. But the reality is, one lesson – side note – a bonus lesson… Is it okay if I give you a little bonus lesson sometimes.
Matt: Always.
Peter: So, your confidence needs to never waiver, regardless of what your accounts look like. A lot of people, their confidence goes higher when they have more money and lower when they don’t – that’s horrible. You have to keep the confidence. So anyways, I was at home and I was studying all the notes I had from a recent event, and a quote stuck out that I’ll never forget, and you probably remember this from the book, “If you want to be a millionaire, who do you talk to?” And I’m thinking, “Well, millionaires,” but the answer is billionaires, so you can get there a lot quicker and speed up your learning curve. And at that moment, I don’t know what it was, but it clicked.
I didn’t have any other option; I had to make it work, and I realized that you only know how strong you really are until being strong is the only option you have. So the reality is, you’ll never know how strong you are until your back is against the wall. So for me, I realized everyone I was connecting with, Matt, wasn’t where I wanted to be. They were okay with mediocrity. They weren’t making much money, but they were okay with that. So I immediately evaluated my circle of influence and I was able to write down who I was hanging out with that was effecting my mindset, who were my maintenance friends, and who were my growth friends. I wrote down a list of the top five in my industry that I wanted to connect with and I immediately went to them. And talk about cutting your learning curve in half.
I wanted to do millions in sales, so I only connected with people that were already doing millions in sales. It totally shifted my mindset, it transformed my energy, my thought process; subconsciously, it gave me a lot more confidence and it inspired me daily. So the question people need to ask is, who do you spend the most time with and how are they affecting you? The reality is, if you hang out with five intelligent people, you’ll be the sixth, right? You hang out with five millionaires, you’ll eventually be the sixth. But if you hang out with five idiots, you tell me what’s going to happen. It’s inevitable. I’m not going to say I was hanging out with idiots, but I’m saying I was hanging out with people that had low standards that did not mind mediocrity, when I couldn’t stand mediocrity.
So I identified the top five, and I consistently reached out to them, built relationships with them. I was relentless in reaching out. I found out that there’s no one you can’t get a hold of if you’re focused enough. I remember transitioning out of direct sales, getting into another part of entrepreneurship, and I reached out to Gary Vaynerchuk. We had a 45-minute conversation while he was at the airport. And I’m thinking in my head, “How did I just get a hold of this guy? I mean, he’s so famous, right?” But, every single person I’ve connected with, whether it’s Arianna Huffington, whether it’s Eric Thomas, whether Brian Tracy, the reality is, they’re not that hard to get a hold of. So now, I just consistently am networking. I’m consistently reaching out, adding value. I find the best of the best at what I want to do and who I want to emulate and connect with, and I reach out to them.
Luckily now, I have a following where I can add value; I can share their articles; I can share their products, programs, or what they’re doing to the millions that I impact. So we have leverage now, and we can mutually, beneficially help each other. So I’m just consistently reaching out, and I’m consistently buying books of people that I admire, reading them, writing reviews, and helping them out. I’m getting them on my academy to speak, and I’m having…
That’s one of the big ones is, we have a new multimillionaire every month speak to our academy members, and when they speak, I ask them to promote what they’re doing, and a lot of my academy members will go buy it, share it, or influence them in some way, whether it’s write a review on Amazon for them, or buy their book, or get them booked for a speech in their industry. So I’m just consistently adding value and trying to reach out to people that I know inspire me and raise my standards and take my game up a notch.
So there’s not really a specific tactic, it’s just something that every single week, Matt, is in my schedule – to reach out people playing the game at a higher level than me. So, I’ll show you my schedule right here if you want to get authentic, if I can find it. So here’s my schedule. This is something that I do every week. At the bottom, “People you’re going to reach out to.” I’m connecting with Chris Ducker, I don’t know if you know who that is. I’ve reached out to Grant Cardone, and then Jairek Robbins, Tony Robbins’ son; we connected last week. Also, Jay Papasan. Every week, I’m reaching out to people that I believe are playing the game at a higher level.
Now, you have to be intentional and congruent here, to where you need to focus on mastery versus overload, and not just reach out to random people. If I’m writing a book and I want to get my book out there, guess who I’m reaching out to those couple months? Authors. Bestselling authors. New York Times bestselling authors. If I’m launching a program, or I’m creating a masterclass or an academy, I’m going to reach out to the best of the best who have created academies or launched programs at the highest level.
I’m working on a masterclass focused on productivity, and David Siteman Garland – if you’ve heard of him – is best at that. So we connected for an hour while I was in Tahoe a couple weeks ago. So I’m congruent and I’m intentional with who I connect with, I’m not just random, like most people. So you have to be intentional, if that makes sense.
Matt: That makes a ton of sense. A lot of entrepreneurs know that they need to do this and make this a habit, but it’s very hard sometimes, because our brains want to protect themselves, so they create excuses that stand in the way of that. You know, not entrepreneurs in the Verge group obviously, but other entrepreneurs out there might make excuses and say, “Well, I don’t have the network that Peter has, and I don’t have the level of influence. Arianna Huffington isn’t going to take an interview with me.” Can you take me back to before you had this big network and this big influence and that first or second big connection that you made? How did you make that connection and what was your approach like?
Peter: Good question. So, you have to realize that everyone who has a network now once didn’t. So you have to change your perspective. And a lot of times, it’s a personal issue, it’s an insecurity, and you don’t have any certainty that you can connect with these people. So the first step, let’s just back up, is increasing your level of certainty that you can connect with people like that, whether you have anything to offer or not. These people that you’re connecting with once were in your situation. They needed people to help them and inspire them, so they reached out. So they always want to give back. Of course some of them are extremely busy. It’s hard to email Tim Ferriss and then get a response the same hour.
So people have these skewed and weird expectations. But the reality is, once you increase your certainty level and your confidence, which means do your due diligence, research and study, figure out how the best people network. In my book, I give the exact script, Matt, of how I reached out to high-level people. So people can literally take… It’s worked. I’ve probably got 50 plus emails in the last six months on people that have actually connected with high-level people from that script, which is great. Hopefully, some of these people are like, “Hey, this is the same script. Are you getting this from a certain book?” But the reality is, I increased my certainty that I could connect with them by researching, and once I researched and I realized, “Wow, all these people that are successful once weren’t, and they were able to reach out.”
So I was increasing my awareness and that’s really it. Once I realized that it was possible and that failure was a good thing. So it’s funny you ask that, because when I was in sales, I realized that rejection wasn’t bad. So I took that into my entrepreneur ventures and realized that if I reached out to 50 people and I got rejected 48 times, it’s not bad, it just means I’m closer to connecting with a successful entrepreneur and multimillionaire. So, I think it goes hand-in-hand for me. People that have never been in sales, you have to get around other people that have connected with high-level people, figure out how they did, and you have to do whatever you can to increase your confidence to take that action.
When you said they make excuses, here’s what I say to that: Yes, they don’t have strong enough reasons, but if people are making excuses, they have to be okay with mediocrity, or okay with being broke. What I can’t stand is someone complaining or bitching about not getting there to where it needs to be, but then also making excuses. How can you do that? You’re putting yourself in this situation where you’re not thriving. So if you’re going to make excuses, be okay with struggling. Right? If you’re not okay with struggling, don’t make excuses. Does that make sense?
People want this level 10 success, Matt, but they have level three habits, or they want level 10 income, but they have a level one money mindset. So the perspective has to be there, where they need to be aware of how to do it, they need to try, and they need to test. And if it doesn’t happen, just keep working until it does. Then once you get that first wind, like when I connected with Gary, it was over, where I was like, “Oh, this is awesome! I can connect with more people now.” So I needed that little confidence boost as well, if that makes sense.
Matt: Sure. Well, it seems like, for you, a lot of these things kind of link back to mastery of the emotions and how emotions play in the business. Can you tell me maybe one of the main insights you had with yourself over the years, where it was kind of like you just changed your perspective on things? And going back, can you look at a former version of yourself and be like, “I can’t believe I was even that person at one point in time that would make an excuse, or procrastinate something, or take something personally”? Was there one particular thing for you, an experience, that made you make that change?
Peter: Yep, good question. 2009, we all set goals. I was a manager running a whole organization up in the Seattle area, and I was running a sales team. Every year, they had the manager say their goals for the year. The biggest, craziest goals was doing a million dollars for the year, and probably less than .01 percent of people did it. So, everyone says that would be their goal and then go over their goal from the year before, and of course, Matt, everyone’s like, “That’s my goal last year. What was your goal last year?” “Same thing.” “Did you hit it?” “No.”
And I was young, I was 22 or 23, and I was so sick of people just not following through on their word. I’m like, “I’m doing a million this year no matter what it takes.” I would’ve been the quickest manager in the history of the company to do a million, so it wasn’t easy. So there was four months left, and I wasn’t on track. I had to do some absurd, crazy, insane number. But, two things; one, I had a mentor that told me exactly what to do so I didn’t have to think about it. Two, I was reading Brian Tracy’s Maximum Achievement. Every single page of that book, I swear, is like the only limitations are in your own mind. The only limitations are in your own mind – that’s it. So I was like, “Geez, all these limitations are in my mind.” And then I put my excuse meter up and I said, “Has someone else with the same months to go as me done this much sales?” and I’m like, “Yes, it’s been done, so I know it’s possible.”
So the reality is, every single morning, I got up at five and I reprogrammed my mind. I wrote down my strongest reasons and I focused on exactly how I was going to feel when I completed it. Then I realized that the person with the most confidence always wins. So I would block my insecurities by writing down new ways to act versus old ways to act, and I did that for four straight months, Matt. I kept writing down my goals, my reasons, my schedule; I kept my focus on the priorities that are most important that yielded the most results. And the biggest key is, I kept faith until the last second.
We were able to hit that goal, and from that moment, I realized that anything is possible to those who value their goals, their dreams, and their visions over their current excuses or reality. So, I don’t know if that answered your question, but that was the turning point for me, where I realized that was possible. I remember a week where I was like, “If I ever did $40,000 in one week as a manger, it would be unbelievable.” Well, fast-forward, I did $132,000 in a week. So I think you have to hit the milestones, and then you have to be connecting with people that have already done that to pull your confidence through. And then, make sure every day you’re looking at, I call it the one-page productivity planner, where you have your goals, you have your reasons, you have the key habits you need that are congruent to your goals, and you have your top five things you want to focus on for the next six months.
I look at that thing daily and that guides my decisions versus my feelings, or my current circumstances, or my emotions. And that was the turning point where I realized, “Geez, anything is possible.” I did break the record. That was, I think, my turning point as an entrepreneur, seeing the results from my hard work and dedication. I missed weekends. I missed some things with family. But you have to sacrifice and be willing to give up some things to go up. People want everything – they want to be able to relax with family AND they want big results. You only can do that if you have the right infrastructure and you’ve been doing the right thing long enough. So that was my turning point, is seeing what was possible.
Matt: You talked about the one-page productivity planner. Do you have a template of that?
Peter: Yeah, I actually could link it down below. I have it for you. So the biggest key is, you have to have a simple vision statement, like a short vision statement. What’s your ideal outcome in the next six months? Then you have to put your big five for the next six months – what’s your big five? Finish your book. Get a hundred sales. Create six figures. Underneath it, that’s where you have your top five most powerful internal reasons and ambitions that are going to drive you. And then below that, you put your values – what are my key values? You always want to remember your values.
And then right below that, I put the key behaviors and habits that you have to develop and consistently display that are congruent with those big fives. You don’t need to figure those out, you talk to people that are already playing the game at a higher level. They will tell you what the best habits are. People try to do all these things themselves, Matt, and figure everything out themselves and their ego gets in the way and they end up banging their head against the wall. It takes them so much longer to get to an end result than they would’ve got if they actually reached out to people. So I look at that thing daily and I let it guide me versus whatever is happening in the moment. Do you know what I mean?
Matt: I absolutely know what you mean. I have the same habit – probably a different template with a lot of similarities. So I’m excited to see what you’ve got and add it to mine.
Peter: Is yours one page? That’s the key, you have to simplify. Get rid of all the noise in your head and all the overwhelm and simplify into what really matters. And most of the things don’t matter. Do you know what I mean? Doing something unimportant well doesn’t make it way more important. Right? Do what’s important at the highest level. Keep doing it and you’ll be able to see big results.
Matt: Well, I appreciate you sharing your experience and what you’re doing right now. Obviously people can follow you @petervoogd23 on Twitter. We’ll link it up here. Obviously, check out Game Changers Academy. Is there anywhere else you want to send people who are currently tuning into this?
Peter: Yeah, The Entrepreneur Breakthrough. I’m giving away some free resources there as well. I know you’ve got a great audience. I’m giving away my actual blueprint. I have a productivity mastery blueprint I teach at my academy, and I did a very deep-dive 45-minute call for them on just my best productivity practices. I want to give as much value as possible just to help people, so I’m giving all that away for free. So, theentrepreneurbreakthrough.com; they can check it out.
I’m active on Twitter. They can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Do you do Periscope? Periscope’s fun now, too. I like doing that. I travel a lot so it’s cool to bring it everywhere. Whether I’m on the lake or the beach or I’m doing a speech, I love doing Periscope, it’s fun.
Matt: Well, we’ll have to compare notes. I’ve been tuning into Chris’s Periscopes lately, and we’ve been doing a lot of them at the Verge events.
Peter: Oh, wow!
Matt: It’ll be cool to see how that expands. Yeah, we had over 1,200 people live last week when we were launching Verge in North Carolina, which was cool.
Peter: That would be fun. Periscope would be fun to do live events and stuff.
Matt: Absolutely.
Peter: And to shake up the speaking industry a little bit, which I like.
Matt: For sure. I think it already is.
Peter: Love it. Cool, man. Well, once again, I appreciate the impact you’re making as well. Thanks for reaching out.
Matt: Yeah, thanks.
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CATEGORY: Entrepreneurship, Sales