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Being On Mission When No One Is Watching

Being on mission is not easy. Let's get personal. Five years ago I wrote a post about how you can really paint yourself into a corner. The subject was the possible price of success, and whether you are willing to pay it.

Back then I was a big fish in a small pond. Online marketing was still in its infancy and people looked to me for direction. Of course I was not the only person nor even one of the most prominent people in the industry, but I was a lot more visible than I am today. In the time since, the marketplace has become overrun with shouting, unskilled marketers: when the barrier to entry is the cost of a Facebook ad at pennies a click, anyone can claim expertise and draw leads into a funnel.

Let me be clear: I was around in this field when Facebook ads did not exist. I remember when advanced targeting for Facebook ads came out...and I remember because it was painful. I had just blown through $3000 in a week doing the incredibly sinful thing of sending traffic directly to a conversion tool. (Don't do that. Leadgen has never been my thing. I'm a Conversion guy and now hire smarter people to handle Traffic generation.)

At any rate having seen the 2014 article it got me wondering where my thinking about success and the price to be paid for success is at today.

megatron character price of success who are you are when no one is looking being on mission

The Evolution of Being On Mission

I have seen many "flash in the pan" marketers appear, make a splash, and then vanish back into the murk as quickly as they arrived.

I have witnessed many people become the temporary darling of the marketing world (ah, to be that individual again as I was for a time in 2012), the golden boy who is the shiny object that will fix all problems...and watched as they, too, either submerged never to appear again or instead elevated to guru status and became one of the old boys of the IM field.

I saw Frank Kern capitalize on his "surfer dude" persona...only to change it a few years later via a snazzy square haircut and suiting up, and become the President of the Internet. And good for him: while I don't slavishly follow his initiatives I do believe he generally wants to help people, and does know what works.

There are young marketers today who don't know who Frank is.

They don't recognize the name Dan Kennedy, either.

You don't have to, of course: it's not a prerequisite to have studied the past to be successful in the future.

I have become a small fish in a vast ocean.

Being On Mission and Your Definition of Success

Success to me means something different than it did five years ago. Back then it was largely about dominating the marketplace...being the go-to guy for answers on Conversion topics. Ensuring that as much of the traffic as I could get was drawn my way. I knew I was in the best position to help those folks.

A hell of a lot of "Tall Poppy Syndrome" was going on in and around that marketplace at the time. Some people just couldn't stand it that someone else was doing better than they were. Occasionally some of these individuals raise their heads and bray, unconscious of the fact that I have long since moved on and they have not. If you intend to be successful, you will have to put up with this kind of nonsense.

Which reminds me: an aside. Something I have noted about hate is that everyone squeals. When they are not the subject, they will tell you, "Be cool; water off a duck's back." But when it's their turn as the target, when the cannons are turned upon them, they squeal as loudly as everyone else.

Back to the price of success. When your personal definition of success has changed, the price to be paid changes.

Much of that price for me personally is encapsulated in this question: "Who should get my time?"

I suppose this question was hidden in the background half a decade ago as well. But it is most prominent today.

The Ongoing Results of Being On Mission And The Meaning of Success

In pursuit of answering this question I have expanded and raised the level of my circle. These decisions have forced me to stop pursuing some things I have been good at in favor of others I am not so good at...yet. And on an almost daily basis I have had to confront the "Can I really do this?" question.

As your circle of control and influence expands, you'll be running up against problems that are larger than anything you've ever tried to handle before.

My 2014 problems were centered around straightforward sales & marketing.

My 2019 problems are centered around often-undefined subjects of attention and focus.

My concept of the system I'm operating in has moved from closed to open.

The problems I see today are frequently overwhelming: considerations about the future and how human life will be, what to do about serious problems we face today, how we can use technology in ethical ways to solve those problems.

Data science and philosophy have bubbled up to the top.

It has been said that character is who you are when no one is looking.

And it goes both ways. Megatron is "on mission" regardless of whether the world is watching or not.

What does success mean to you? And what price are you willing to pay for it?

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and conversion expert. Book your session with Jason by clicking here <<

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Success Mindset: Interview with Jason Kanigan

Success Mindset is a critical factor to winning in business. If you don't believe you can do the thing—or, more clearly, don't see yourself as the person who can do the thing—you won't even try.

While I've interviewed many people over the last year, I haven't been a guest on a radio or podcast show as I was in the past. The "sales training" talk is something I've delivered enough times, and now I'm back with a message that goes straight to the core of why you will do something and why you won't. And when you know what I share in this interview with Inner Success Radio, you'll understand that, too.

success mindset jason kanigan interview

When you understand something, you can begin to work on it. That means you can begin to change your results. Instead of behaving like an automaton, forever fated to repeat the same actions and results in a loop of failure, you can break out of your previous conditioning. And that's wild. It opens entire new worlds for you.

Success Mindset Interview with Jason Kanigan

Join Chuck and Demetrius as they host the Jason Kanigan interview on Success Mindset right here:

The key to succeeding is to first imagine your success. If you can't do that, you have no chance. Over the years, I've run into many people who just couldn't conceive of a five-figure product launch, for example. Yes, that's right: I said five-figure. Not six or seven. These poor folks couldn't even imagine themselves leading a $10,000+ launch...and consequently have remained poor—despite for many years being around people doing that very thing!

Each of us is trapped in a mental prison of our own making. That is slightly unfair, given that much of our conditioning and limiting beliefs were "installed" at a young age courtesy of well-meaning but dead wrong relatives and family friends. However, we chose to accept those beliefs, so it is our responsibility to acknowledge and escape that thought prison we now find ourselves in.

Success Mindset Comes From Within

A decade ago I wrote a short story that had as its main character a person who believed he was a fallen angel. Did it matter whether he truly was a fallen angel or not? No! What mattered to the story was that he believed he was...and that lead to him having far more perceived options in any situation than a garden-variety human.

Imagine yourself so unchained. Imagine having more options then you did a moment ago. Congratulations! You now do, and I have just helped you expand your mindset and possibilities.

I talk about Shaka Zulu in the interview. He first imagined his empire in his mind...and then brought that vision into reality. His success was not an accident, or luck, or random chance. As dialogue correctly states in the TV mini-series, the empire was the result of a clear idea, supremely believed in, and consistently expected and acted upon to bring into the external world.

All success comes from within first. Not from a shiny object, or some technology. You. You are the source, and the moment you truly realize that is the moment you will finally commit.

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and conversion expert helping you maximize your personal abilities. To book a call with Jason to discuss your success mindset, click here. <<