Hi all, I’ve been doing some lighting, sound and background testing today. Can you give me your honest feedback on the set up and background for my videos? What works for you and what doesn’t?

I was chatting with my Dad last night and he made the most interesting (and correct) observation. "When I was in business, it was like getting into a competitive landscape." "It was everyman for himself, fighting for clients. Working against your competition." "Now business is all about helping as many people as you can." "The one who wins is the person who helped the most people." It's true. He's retired now, but he can see it too. Can you? You never need to worry about your competition. In fact you should help them win too. You never need to worry about them. You never need to look at them at all. You don't need to study their products, their messaging. It's wasted time that you could be impacting the world. You just need to help the people you can, without holding back. You only need to study your audience and what they want. Give, give, give, give. Focus on who you can help, potential clients, everyone, even the competition. That makes you the leader in the space. If you look at the competition, you're behind them, you'll hold back, you'll withhold, you'll fall behind! Instead, let them copy you, let them follow you! Innovate faster by opening up and being free with your knowledge. Move at light speed! It's OK if they copy you, word for word, what better confirmation that you're on the right track? Sometimes people DM me, "Stephen, I saw [INSERT PERSON HERE] copy your video almost word for word". I appreciate them looking out for me, I do. (thank you for letting me know) But I don't care. "Good" I think, I put it out there to help people anyway. Not just my potential clients, everyone! So I know it's working, and I've copied people too. I'm not sure humans were meant to copyright everything they touch or create. It holds us all back. Deep inside, I know I'm leading the pack. Just help as many people as you can as fast you can. Everything else will fall into place. It takes a deep faith in your own ability and insight. But it's the way modern business is done.

I think the "anti" grind culture can do people a disservice. You don't have to grind if you don't want to. But, you know, you have to sacrifice something to make your dreams come true. (I think thats why following your passions can make things a little easier because its more fun) I'm working today on a Saturday on a YouTube video. I don't want to (probably why I'm writing this post instead). But to achieve my goals, I need to do it, today, not tomorrow, not next week. TODAY. It's not a bad thing to grind, to work hard for your dreams. And it's a lot easier when you work hard on the right things and see some results. That's why I feel its so important to work on the right things. It's very overwhelming and depressing to grind away and see nothing for your work. So make sure to pick the right problem to work on. Don't listen to all the social media gurus telling you that your only problem to success is x, y or z. If you just listened to them and did this ONE thing you'd have success.... right? Naw. Not true. - What do you want? - What is the SINGLE thing right now, keeping you from that? - Double check yourself, if you solve that, will things really change? Example, you want to start a business. So you need a website, right? Well... probably not! Let's pretend you finish that website, it's beautiful. Who's going to see it? NO ONE. Your true problem is attention. My point is, being able to assess your own business, honestly, is a true business skill. Pick items that will REALLY move the needle. Play it out, when I finish this, what will happen? how will life be different? Getting 10K views on a video will move the needle. Trust me. Especially if you get those 10K views everyday. Have you noticed I don't have a website? I'll make well over $100K this month with NO WEBSITE. Take a second right now and answer this question. What is my TRUE SINGLE BIGGEST ROADBLOCK right now. Think on it for a bit. Ask yourself what changes after you're done? How is your life or business really all that different once you're done?

The jury is still out—but this is my experience from growing a Skool community to $78K/month. I've seen lists of various tactics you can use, but I think the secret to long term growth is MISSION and VISION. Moving people forward, keep their eyes on the next step. Making sure people are progressing towards THEIR goals. It's a lot harder than... - Trying to "increase engagement" to keep people from leaving - Adding a cancelation video to keep them from cancelling - Updating your about page to increase conversions - Making a smooth onboarding process These are surely all important tactics to growing your membership. But truthfully all those actions need to be seen through the lens of a strong mission and vision that is way bigger than you or your community (as it sits now). Those tactics alone are UTILITY, without meaning, without VALUE. It's vision and mission that will turn a community that provides ONLY utility into a TRUE movement. That's my take. I have a long list of improvements I could make, but for me investing in mission, vision and a roadmap seems to be my secret weapon.

Today I had a lot of reservations about the quality of my most recent video, the thumbnail, everything. I felt sick to my stomach. But I hit publish anyway. I have very high standards for my work as I'm sure you do as well. But sometimes you have to push things out and keep going. Do better the next time. You get better at making videos by making a 100 videos. Not trying to perfect 1. And keep in mind, your audience is the final judge. So they may appreciate the work a lot more than you do. And if they aren't happy with it? well the best way to address that is in the next video. Not by holding back and never making progress. Hit that publish button!!