54: Make It Happen

I'm taking audible here, double audible, so hopefully y'all doing all right today. So I have technical difficulties. Zoom looks like they're changing a lot of their settings here. Zoom, I'm not thrilled with that. The past few times I haven't been able to send to groups and I haven't been able to do it online, so we have to talk. I'm annoyed with that. But anyways, another audible here. I was supposed to have an awesome conversation with my boy Chris Orb from Gong today, but needless to say, he was at a conference and the audio was so bad, the Wi-Fi was really bad, so the audio was terrible. And because a lot of this stuff is going to be podcast-oriented type stuff, I didn't want to subject the audience to that awful audio.

So we are rescheduling with Chris Orb, which is a downer because I had some great questions that I had to ask him about cold calling and those type of things. So audible today is going to be on Make It Happen. The reason is, is because last week I actually wrote a blog post on Make It Happen, where it came from, and put a challenge out there to everybody to share their most memorable Make It Happen moments. Because I just feel like we're in a period right now where a lot of people are waiting for things to happen. You know, you hear a lot of times where people are just, they want this, they want that, but they're not really willing to break the norm or they're a little worried to get out there.

I mean, Morgan and I talk about this all the time. You know, people who say, hey, I want to get out there on video, I want to start sharing stuff, but I'm worried about it because I don't know what to share. I don't know, you know, what people think of me. Fuck it, just do it, right? Just make it happen. So, last week's blog post was really around that theme, which was how can, you know, I wanted to share the background of where I came up with it, but also try to get some examples from the audience of ways they've made it happen, right? So that hopefully we can inspire other people to get out there and do something about their situation. So, my Make It Happen, I mean, I was really trying to think it through of where it originally came from.

Because, you know, a lot of people say make it happen, those type of things, but for me, it really became a theme a little while ago. And I think it started back with my first startup. So, my first startup, Thrive Networks, I remember, you know, I was 25 years old. We were self-funded. I had absolutely no, we had absolutely no money. So, I had zero money for budget for marketing and sales and anything like that. And so, I was it, right? And thankfully, at that time, I didn't have a wife and kid or anything like that. So, I could put in the effort, you know, off hours and really not have to worry about, you know, being home or wanting to be home to be with my wife and daughter. So, I really, what I did was, I knew I couldn't control anything, you know, the quality per se.

At that point in my career, 23, 24, 25 years old. But, what I did know I could control was my effort. So, I decided I was just going to work harder than everybody else, right? I was just going to make more cold calls. I was going to go on more meetings. I was going to go to more events and all that stuff than everybody else. And so, networking events were a huge part of my lead gen strategy, right? Networking events because I thought, you know, especially here in Boston, it's a very small community and you get around, you start sharing business, that type of thing. You can build your brand pretty fast. And so, I decided to go to every networking event I could possibly get my hands on. And by the way, for those of you out there who are trying to figure out, you know, how to get to that next stage or that next level in your career, especially if you're inside sales and you ever want to get to field sales or account management or something like that, networking events are one of the best things you can do for your career to really give you that exposure and that experience.

Because, you know, it's the great middle ground between, you know, going to just a random event where nobody's really there. You know, it's a social thing, so it's a little bit awkward just to bump into conversations. And then the full-blown meeting with, you know, clients and that type of thing. It's a nice little safe middle ground because you can go and practice, right? So, you know, everybody's there for a reason. I'm going to put the lighting there. Everybody's there for a reason. Everybody's there to network. So, it's not as awkward to go introduce yourself. And so, that's why I really recommend for those of you out there who are looking for that, how do I get to that next stage of my career?

Go to events. And I got a networking guide that we'll post in this. They can take a look at on how to get the most out of networking events. So, I'll make sure it's in there. For those of you who listen to the podcast here, just Google Jay Barrow's networking guide. You'll find it. But anyways, since events were such a big part of my lead gen strategy, I, you know, I wanted to go as many as I could. And then during the summer times, it always, the events always would dry up. Like, I'd look in the papers. I'd look at the event calendars for all these different places. And I'm sitting there going, wait a minute, why are there no events going on during the summertime? And the excuse I always got from people was, well, it's the summer.

Everybody's on vacation and that type of stuff. So, I was like, what the fuck? Like, does business stop in the summer? Does everybody just accept that? And unfortunately, a lot of people did. And that's why numbers are always down in the summer, that type of thing. So, I said, you know what? If nobody else is going to put on an event, I'm putting on an event. Fuck it. And so, I decided to throw an event. I went down to Tia's on the waterfront here in Boston, which is right on the waterfront. It's got a sick-ass deck and everything else. And I convinced the manager to let me rent it out for a Tuesday. Or, I'm sorry, a Thursday night. And, you know, Thursday happy hour type of thing, even though there's no happy hours here in Boston.

But anyways, I decided to talk to the guy. And I didn't have any money. So, I was like, look, I'll pay you. I'll guarantee a certain amount of revenue coming in, right? But I can't pay you beforehand. I'll pay you afterwards. So, we went back and forth a little bit and he agreed to it. And so, what I did was I invented every single person I knew. And all my friends, business colleagues, everything like that. And it just so happened that the weather was perfect. So, it was a Thursday in Boston. The weather was absolutely perfect. And we had the outdoor deck. So, obviously, it was a draw anyways. But over 200 people showed up to this thing, all right? And there was a line. I remember there was a line around the corner of people wanting to get into this.

And still to this day, it is one of the best events. I mean, even people around Boston still, when I see them, they'll ask me, hey, man, you're putting on one of those events even though it was like 20 years ago. But it's still that memorable. And my point was I just said, fucking, I'm going to make this happen. Like, I'm not going to go by what everybody else was thinking or going along for the ride just like everybody else was. And I said, no, I'm going to do this myself. And so, that's really where the make it happen theme came from. And ever since then, I've started to kind of push the envelope a little bit more and more and more about making it happen, right? I had to have two wake-up calls in my career, actually in my personal life and my business life, to help me along this way.

You know, my personal life, I was engaged. My first engagement didn't end well. She ended up breaking it up with me. Even though I knew it was bad, I was going along and doing what I was supposed to do, right? If you're with somebody for seven years, you're supposed to get engaged. Then you're supposed to get married. Then you're supposed to buy a house. Then you're supposed to, you know, have kids. And so, I was going through those motions. Thankfully, she's the one who broke up with me and woke me up a little bit to realize, whoa. And then I met my wife and thank God for that because that other one would have been disastrous. I love you anyways, but that wouldn't have been good. And then the other, from a business standpoint, for those who've been following me, you know, when I got, when my company got acquired by Staples, I knew it wasn't right.

I knew I wasn't the right fit for the business, right? Because, you know, I think people are good at certain stages of organizations. And so, I knew it wasn't a good fit for me, but I kept fighting it and they ended up having to fire me. Again, woke me up a little bit to realize, man, I got to stop going through the motions and doing what I'm supposed to do. I think so many people are stuck in that mentality. I'm supposed to, you know, spend two years doing this and supposed to do that. So, that's why I think that make it happen mentality is such an important one. You know, to really say, you know what, instead of asking for permission or instead of trying to figure out what to do and have somebody else tell me what to do, I'm just going to go say fuck it and make it happen.

So, that's why I wrote the post last week. And because I really wanted to see and get examples from everybody else out there of how they've made it happen, personally or professionally, so that we can start sharing some of those examples with our audience and with the public, if you will, to maybe, just maybe, inspire one person to stop just sitting around, you know, waiting for something to happen to them. You know, I have a real good friend here. I don't know if he's listening or not, but, you know, he's in his business and he feels kind of stuck, right? Because he's got some allegiances to the people that he's working for, but he also has a family to feed and he also has some bigger ideas for that business.

And, you know, I had a conversation with him the other night because he keeps saying, like, God, you know, but, but, but, but, but. And I just said to him, dude, you know, I got to ask you, what's the risk? You know, what's the risk of pushing the envelope a little bit here and bringing this idea or what you want to do for the business to the people that are employing you? And he's got such a tight relationship with him that they're not going to fire him. They're absolutely not going to fire him. And as long as he's doing it with the right intentions, right, it's not just to get his or so he can just get paid, but it's so that everybody can get paid and you can take the business to the next level.

If that's really the true intention, if your intentions are genuine, then what's the risk, right? What's the risk of taking that chance? You never know what's going to happen. A lot of times I'm a big believer that a lot of stuff happens for a reason, not all of it. I don't believe all things happen for a reason because I believe there's some crappy shit out there that has no reasons. But I do believe that a lot of stuff happens for a reason. I got fired for a reason so that I could really be woken up to realize what I am truly passionate about. You know, my fiance broke up with me for a reason so I could find the woman that I truly love, right? So, you know, but those examples to help people wake up, I really appreciate it from you.

So today's a pretty short episode here because, again, I apologize. This was supposed to be on cold calling. Chris feels really bad about this, and so he's not going to be able to join us here. But he'll be able to join us on another session where we're going to dive into the details of cold calling and metrics and the science behind cold calling and why it's important. But really for this one, take a look at my blog post that I shared out last week on the Make It Happen story. And look, write a little post on LinkedIn, okay? Hashtag Make It Happen and tag me on it or do a video. A video would be fantastic. And if you want to get your brand built, I'll help you build your brand by sharing out whatever you post there, right?

Or even just send me a direct message. If you don't want me to post it, send me a direct message to John at Jay Barrows or DM me or whatever it is on any one of these channels. And just share, you know, an example of when you personally decided to stop going through the motions or stop doing what you were supposed to do. And an example of how you made it happen that hopefully people can learn from, right? Try to include some tactical stuff in there so that people can say, oh, shit, I can see that. Or the decision process you had to get to that point. Because, again, I'm a big Gary Vee fan, you know, Gary Vaynerchuk. And he's, I love his, one of his recent posts that I saw on Facebook is, stop scrolling through Facebook.

You've been inspired, now go execute. And the whole, and that catches me almost every time. Like as I'm scrolling through Facebook or whatever it is, just checking out all the crap that everybody's putting on there. And all of a sudden that post comes up and he does it on Instagram and he does it on Facebook. And every time I'm like, yep, all right, I'm going to stop digging around here and actually start doing something and making it happen. So, anyways, like I said, I don't want to belabor this. There's plenty of examples that I have of making it happen. That's why I work for myself and I try not to make too many excuses of what's going on these days. But I'd much rather hear from you, right?

So, like I said, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, whatever it is, video, text, you name it. Send it out there. I'm actually giving away, like I said, my favorite make it happen story. So, my favorite make it happen story by this Friday. I'm going to be giving a whole bunch of make it happen gear, t-shirt, book, you know, those type of things. And also full access to my online portal. So, it has all my fill in the funnel and drive in a close on it. So, you get a license to go through all that content. And you also get my time. So, if there's anything I can do to help you make it happen, I'm going to give that person whoever gets the best story out there. I'm going to give my time, all right? So, with that, again, sorry for the kind of screwy situation here today with the bad shit going on with Zoom here and them changing their settings.

And also my guest kind of flaking on me. But it's all good. Hopefully, you all have a great day. I'll give you about 10 minutes of your time back. And make it a great week. All right, everybody? Let's try to make somebody smile this week or try to inspire somebody this week. Do something a little bit different to get people out there. I think we're in a world right now where we need a little bit more positivity and inspiration, okay? All right, everybody. Make it happen. Thanks. Later. Later. Later. Later.