These 4 KPIs Will Change Your Life Forever With Jeff Smith

 On this Chasing Financial Freedom Podcast episode, we have a special guest: Jeff Smith.

Jeff's superpower has the amazing ability to explain complex business strategies into jargon-busting plain English that everyone understands. He's the most successful author on KPI and Business Strategy. His special techniques give you a crystal clear vision of what you want to achieve, and he provides you with the precise KPI to reach your goals with laser beam accuracy.

In this episode, we're talking about four key performance indicators that will help you change your life. We'll discuss why these KPIs matter, how to use them to accomplish your goals, and how they can help redefine success in your life!

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Transcript

4 KPIs That Will Change Your Life Forever

[00:00:00] Ryan: Hey guys, Ryan DeMent from Chasing Financial Freedom Podcast. I hope you guys are having a great day this week on the podcast. We have Jeff Smith. He's the KPI guy, but even bigger is he failed in math, in English, in high school. Didn't go to university and against all odds has the most successful or the most successful author.

[00:00:28] Ryan: With a book about KPIs. How did that happen, Jeff? Welcome to the show. 

[00:00:35] Jeff: Hey Ryan, thank you very much. What an interesting introduction has a lot to live up to and explain now I 

[00:00:41] Ryan: think, but Hey, it's your life and you're proud of it. So I wanna share it. So let's dive right into, a little bit about it.

[00:00:49] Jeff: Okay, how far do we go back? I was born at a very early age. so yeah, in my childhood, I was born and raised in England, not the USA. Most people can't pick up on my accent, although I am English. What? Yeah. Do you think I have English? Yeah, 

[00:01:11] Ryan: It's not hard to, it's not hard to discern 

[00:01:16] Jeff: well, I travel worldwide, speaking at conferences.

[00:01:19] Jeff: So my accent is neutralized and it's odd that you say that because I have a couple of daughters and when they used to bring a boyfriend home, let's say, is your data English? So so some hear English, some don't. So anyway, you can understand me that's the main thing. So yeah, I was born and raised in England.

[00:01:42] Jeff: I had wonderful parents. I had a very loving childhood. Here's the interesting thing. I won't say we were poor. I think that's the state of mind. I'll say we were broke. That's the state of pocket, right? There's a difference between the two. And I did not know that we didn't have any money. I didn't know.

[00:02:02] Jeff: I had a wonderful childhood. I go to school and the first realization that I had. I was at primary school, and the teacher said, okay, kids tomorrow, we're going to do a science experiment with some ice first thing. So when you come in, bring in some ice cubes and I was born in the early 1960. We talking about 1965 now.

[00:02:25] Jeff: So every kid in the class came in with smiling with their bag of ice cubes, apart from me, you know why I didn't bring any ice cubes. Why we didn't have a fridge, we didn't have a refrige. Yeah, we didn't have a refrigerator. 

[00:02:41] Ryan: Wait I got, can we back just one second, this asks a question. Yeah. Yeah, sure.

[00:02:44] Ryan: Yeah. How did you eat? 

[00:02:47] Jeff: So there's before refrigerators were invented so ice box. No, we didn't have an ice box. So the there's a room inside the house, slow it down where you kept the coolest or to keep things. From getting hot in English, we call it a pantry. I think us call it a Lader or something like that.

[00:03:11] Jeff: Okay. So it wasn't until a few years later, so we actually had a refrigerator, so it, so I see all these kids with ice and things like that. And that was my first realization that. Okay. Maybe we're not as wealthy as other people didn't matter to me. I had one, I was a really happy kid.

[00:03:30] Jeff: And went along through school and things like that. Now, the reason I'm sharing this with you, if we fast forward a little. When I got to 18 the journey in that time, my only interest was music. So when I went to school, so you've already said I failed math. I failed English wasn't because, so was stupid is because I wasn't interested.

[00:03:55] Jeff: So my parents were very loving wonderful people. But in terms of school, They were not mentors to me, so I was allowed to be lazy. And I was and at home I used to play keyboards. That's what they'd hear. I'd play all the time. And they didn't have much interest in my school stuff. That's probably a little harsh, but that's how it was.

[00:04:21] Jeff: I was allowed to be lazy. So I was lazy. I got away with it. That's the truth of the matter. I left school became a mechanical and electrical electrician. Okay. But all I wanted to do was play music. And what happened is that it was my appearance 25th wedding anniversary. And that they hired these ballroom, they hired bands to play for them.

[00:04:46] Jeff: And there's a song that's the anniversary Wal. And what happened that the band said we're going to play the anniversary walls after the break. We're just gonna take a break. So we'll be back in a few moments time. So they went off stage and I went to the band leader and I said, My name's Jeff. It's my mom.

[00:05:04] Jeff: And dad's silver wedding anniversary. Is it okay if I play the anniversary ball for them? And I'm 17 years old and I'm small, like really this young kid and they said, really, you can play really? And I said, yeah, sure. So they said, what do you want to play? And I said I'll play the keyboards.

[00:05:25] Jeff: You already have them on the stage there. And they said, do you want the rest of us to stay on. I never played publicly before, never mind on stage or anything like that. And I said, oh no I guess the drummer can stay on. So we have the beats and keep things going so people can dance. And they said, okay, here's what we'll do.

[00:05:44] Jeff: When we go back on stage, we'll all walk on and you'll be standing in the wings, then I'm going to announce, all right, we'll get your mom and dad into the center of the dance floor. It's time for this special anniversary walls. So I'll get them there and then I'll say, but we are not going to play the anniversary.

[00:06:02] Jeff: Wal he's gonna be played by Jeff and then you walk on and then we'll all walk off. And I, oh man, I was crapping myself, as you can imagine. So then This happened. I walk onto the stage and of course, everybody looks up, goes, oh, wow. Start clapping. My mom and dad look up, not expecting it. It's wow. So the drum hits the beat.

[00:06:28] Jeff: I start playing my mom and dad are dancing. They start crying. Everybody standing around the dance floor, wonderful time was had by all. So I played that and then played another one as you. And that was it. I came off big round of applause, came down, hugged my mom and dad. It was a wonderful time, but what happened then the guy came over to me and he said, you are an amazing player.

[00:06:54] Jeff: And I said, oh, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. And he said I'm a music agent. I'd like to give you some gigs. I'm like no I just play at home. I just really enjoy playing music. I don't want to be I don't wanna be a professional musician or anything like that. And he said hold on there.

[00:07:11] Jeff: Let me explain. Now, let me put this into context for you now, Ryan, what happened as a mechanical and electrical engineer? I was an apprentice at the time and I was earning about $10 a week. Whoa, a week. Yeah. So we are going back to 1970s. So $10 a week, and this guy said, I want to offer you three gigs per week.

[00:07:41] Jeff: And for one gig, I'll pay you $40. Wow. So I'm like, Ooh, give me a nanosecond to think about that. So my dad was walking over and I said Hey dad, this is Jack. He said, yeah, I know he, he works. He works for me at the factory because my dad was the manager of the largest machine shop in Europe.

[00:08:05] Jeff: And he invited all of his workers to come along. And he said, yeah, he's the shop steward at the factory. And He's a music agent as well. He tells me, I said, yeah, he's just offered me some gigs. And he said, oh, and what are you thinking about that? And I said, oh I don't think I'm ready. And he said, okay, make sure you get your papers first as a mechanical and electrical engineer, that's a sensible fallback thing to.

[00:08:36] Jeff: And then we can talk in a few years time. So this guy Jackie said, no, no wait, you can still do that. It's no problem. So three gigs a week, you do work at nighttime. You can still integrate with your job. My son does it also I'll help you to do it. Okay. So that's what I did after a short time afterwards.

[00:08:59] Jeff: I qualified as a mechanical and electrical engineer immediately dropped. It became a professional. And what happened then during the day I used to sell organ's pianos, keyboards, guitars, and all of these things. And at nighttime, I used to work in nightclubs back in cabaret back then CD not been invented.

[00:09:19] Jeff: The only way to, to capture music was on the compact cassette, which was no good for broadcasting. That's all. So if they if the stinger wanted sting in a nightclub, you needed a live. And that was me. That's what I did. So during the day I used to work in the city at a big store selling musical instruments and stuff.

[00:09:39] Jeff: And by night jumping to my van and then a nightclub somewhere around the UK. And what happened one day in the store? A guy came in P nine, 11 pulled up outside the store. Black tiger. Oh yeah. Stunning car stunning. This guy shuts the drawer and he looks at me in the store. He nods to say hi, and he walking towards me.

[00:10:08] Jeff: I go, wow. So this guy walks. And he said, what's the best piece of equipment you have. So I took him over to this new piece of stuff and it was made by techniques, national Panasonic, and it was the first time that instruments had been recorded digitally. . So when you hit a note on the keyboard for a trumpet, for instance, it was actually a trumpet, not something that was made up to sound like it, and the same for a guitar and things like that.

[00:10:41] Jeff: So the sound was fantastic. Now, let me put in the context, the price of this and why I'm sharing this story with you. We lived, we couldn't afford to buy a house. We used to pay rent to the state and the price of the house then was about $2,000. And we couldn't afford to buy it. This keyboard I was selling was $4,000 was double the price.

[00:11:07] Jeff: Wow. The house we were living in that we could not afford. What year was this? This would be 1979. Something like that. Some, yes. I'm 19 years old at this stage, 79 80, something like that. Okay. So what happened? Long story short, this guy bought this keyboard and he said, Jeff, I have a request.

[00:11:34] Jeff: And I said, sure. And this was a Thursday. He said, I'd like you to deliver it to my home on Monday. And I'd like you to install it, play a few tunes for me, show me how to work it on all these things, which is not an unusual request, but at $4,000. You expect that, right? So I, I said, okay I'll call him Dave, because that's his name?

[00:11:59] Jeff: . I said, Dave we need we have a special request to, we need clear funds before we can deliver. I said, that's no problem. I'll call in on Saturday. So we shake hands. He goes away Saturday morning, this black Porsche nine 11 target pulls about French Baron and he walks in with a plastic supermarket bag and just tips it up on my deck desk with 4,000 folding.

[00:12:24] Jeff: There actually it was 4,000 pounds. So it's about $6,000, something like that. It was a lot, a lot of money. He said, there you are. So I called the boss, we got the money shifted and outta the way I said, great, I'll see you on Monday. So I got his address, loaded things up on the Monday evening, and I drive over to his home and wow.

[00:12:49] Jeff: So 1979, he'd got electric gates with brick built wall at the front. It was like James Bond territory. For me, there was a video thing on the wall and I had to press this button and his video cameras watching me. And the voice comes up and I like, I've never seen anything like this before says, Hey, Jeff, come on in.

[00:13:14] Jeff: So he opened the gates and I go down these driveway and I can hear the gravel crunching under the tires. And I'm creeping along nice and steady. There's a fountain at the end of this driveway with a mermaid and dolphin, and he's just, wow, big double Oak doors. And one of these doors opens and there's Dave and he waves to me.

[00:13:40] Jeff: Hey, Jeff, welcome. And I said, wow, you have a beautiful place. He said, thank you very much. Come on in. So he opened the other door. So we had the double doors open. And he said, this is where I want you to bring it through. So I, we went inside his house and I put my foot the first step into his house, my foot sank into his carpet and I've never experienced anything like it, the pile under my feet, just San.

[00:14:12] Jeff: And it was like what? It was incredible, beautiful place. And inside he got the baby grand piano in the hallway. Two stairways going up. I'm like, oh my goodness, me. So he takes me through to the east wing of his house. This was, you shaped this mansion. I was, it was, I never experienced anything like it. So we we got the kit inside there.

[00:14:40] Jeff: I played it for him. It was awesome. And then I came away and I'm, and I was in awe. And I was thinking, how is it? My dad is the manager of the largest machine shop in Europe. He's had a hand in building, lots of bridges all over the world, the Tims barrier in London bridge over the BOS Forus and all kinds of things.

[00:15:07] Jeff: And we broke. And here's a guy who was quite young. He was about 40 and he'd got a portion, nine 11 target. He got this huge mansion of the house. He just bought my dream piece of equipment from NICs. And it was like, and the guy couldn't play. That was the amazing thing he bought. He bought the best thing ever, and he just wanted to learn to play.

[00:15:35] Jeff: And I think, wow. So then my thought started, how is it that successful people become successful? What is it they do? What is it? They think, what is it? They know because whatever it was, my dad hadn't got it. And this guy had, and I wanted to know the difference. So I decided. To find out now because I'm working in nightclubs and anybody who wanted to sing needed live musician, I was exposed to some very successful and very famous people.

[00:16:13] Jeff: So what I decided to do was to find out what is this formula for success? So over the next 10 years or. I formally interviewed 325 millionaires. Wow. Successful people and high achievers to find out what they did. And as I formalized my questions I fine tune them and fine tune them and fine tune them.

[00:16:42] Jeff: And then I realized after these interviews, they all did 11 things in common. Now what's fascinating about this, Ryan is that some of these people knew these 11 steps and they knew what they were doing. Some people didn't know it was innate, but they did the same things. Anyway, some of the people knew some of the steps, but when I made them aware of.

[00:17:10] Jeff: All of the 11 steps. They said, wow, I knew I was doing some of this, but now I know the science behind it. I can now accelerate my progress to be even faster, which they did. So I then thought, if I apply these 11 steps to my own life, maybe I can be successful too and break them all that I was born into.

[00:17:35] Jeff: For my parents, because that's how we conditioned in many cases. And that's what happened. So to explain your opening on the story, I was lazy at school. I wasn't interested in school. My passion was music. I failed at math. I failed English. I applied the 11 steps of success to my own life. And now I'm on record as the most successful author in history.

[00:18:03] Jeff: On a book about mathematics. It's incredible. Right? 

[00:18:08] Ryan: It's very incredible. But we gonna get into these loving steps cuz they're just itching. I wanna hear about 

[00:18:14] Jeff: me cause 

[00:18:15] Ryan: I'm curious. I wanna see if I'm doing 

[00:18:17] Jeff: any of them. Okay. Okay. Okay. So what's fascinating. There are 11, the order doesn't matter so much, but you need the first four without the first four.

[00:18:31] Jeff: You're going nowhere after that. It's important that you know them, but let me see if I can start you off with the first four. Anyway. I don't think we'll have time for all 11. But as I have a podcast show myself called secrets of success, where you can go have a listen and maybe find out a little more there.

[00:18:50] Jeff: So step one, most people fail with step one. I would say 96 people, 96% of people fail. Maybe even 97. It's a real high percentage. Even when they know step one, they can't do it. Here it is. I can see you gone. Tell me what it come on, buddy. Come on. 

[00:19:12] Ryan: come on. 

[00:19:15] Jeff: what do you want now? What does that mean?

[00:19:19] Ryan: Wait, what do you want is step number one? 

[00:19:22] Jeff: Yep. 

[00:19:24] Ryan: And most people and 96, 96 or 97% of people don't know what they want. That's 

[00:19:29] Jeff: absolutely true. 

[00:19:31] Ryan: Okay. I'll let you dig into it. Cause I got a bunch of questions, so go for it. Yeah, 

[00:19:34] Jeff: yeah. Yeah. Let me explain. Most people don't know what they want or if they do know what they want.

[00:19:42] Jeff: It's far too vague and generic. The difference with successful people and those that are perhaps like more in the life is that successful people Mo absolutely. To the N degree. Exactly what they want. Exactly. And clarity is a hundred percent. So let me give you some examples of this I'll go with ridiculous because it makes the point.

[00:20:12] Jeff: Okay. If I'm questioned on stage, some somebody find I usually talk about business strategy, business success, key performance indicators when I'm on stage, but lots of people come along and I'll say, are there any questions? And some say, yeah, what's the 11 steps of success. I've got some of your books, I've heard your podcast, whatever.

[00:20:31] Jeff: And I'll say, okay, let's have an example then. And like you tell me what they are. Most people don't know what they want. So I'll bring someone on and they'll, I'll say, okay, step number one is what you want. Can you tell me what do you want? And they'll say, yeah. More money. So what I do, yeah, that's, I would say more than 50% of people would say more.

[00:20:56] Jeff: That's what I want in my life. 

[00:20:59] Ryan: So what just really quick. I just, so basically what it's, they're two vague one and two, they haven't put time and effort into understanding what they want outta life to get somewhere is what you're trying to tell me is that they just want to be richer, but they don't know how to become richer.

[00:21:16] Jeff: Richer is one. And I think to begin with, when we talk about success, most people associate success with money when I was 19 years old, I did too. So I said earlier, what is it that makes successful people successful? When I was 19, I didn't think that I was thinking, how does a millionaire become a millionaire because I associated money to be with success, but that's not the case.

[00:21:44] Jeff: Money's nice money just buys you time and gives you choice. That's all. Doesn't buy anything else. So what happens, people will say, okay, my dream, I want more money. And I'll say, okay, I'll put my hand in my pocket. I'll give them a dollar bill. I'll say there you are. Your dreams are fulfilled. And I go, no, that's not what I want.

[00:22:09] Jeff: And I say, Hey, you were not specific. You just said more many. So let me just imagine here. I don't want to get into religion or anything like that, but let's just say the universe. So the universe delivers. So if you ask the universe, your guard, your religion or whatever it might be, you ask. It will deliver, but you have to be specific what you ask for.

[00:22:41] Jeff: So if you ask the universe for more money and you get a dollar bill, as I give you my example, you don't want money. No, I want more than that, you know that. And I said, I don't know that all you did was to ask for more money and you got more money, your dreams were fulfilled. Now let me give you the polar opposite of that.

[00:23:03] Jeff: From someone who is successful within their goal. If you ask someone and to I'm using money now, but we, it can relate to anything. Okay. A successful people would say, okay, I want a million dollars. And the way I want that million dollars to manifest is in my bank account. And it will be on June the 12th.

[00:23:29] Jeff: 2023 and it'll be a lunchtime. I'm gonna look at my bank statement. I'm gonna see lots of transactions with money in and out, but along there, there will be a line saying 1 million at 12 noon on the 12th of June, 2023. It's very, absolutely that specific and it needs to be, so the universe can deliver on that.

[00:23:56] Jeff: If you say I want more money and you get a dollar, then you got more money. I agree. Absolutely. So when we think about success and what is it that you want,

[00:24:09] Jeff: people struggle to get the degree of clarity that's necessary. For the universe to deliver it's too generic. I want a bigger house. I want a nicer car. I want more money. I want to write a book, 

[00:24:30] Ryan: Doesn't a lot of that just come with. I'm gonna say this inexperience and this is very vague and very broad.

[00:24:37] Ryan: I got it. But let me drill down even further is yeah. Truly understanding how you as an individual function. So I'm I'll go back to a piece cuz we're talking universe and so forth. Your inner has to match your outer. And if you're just looking for money and that's all you're trying to do, you're never going to accomplish anything to that extent.

[00:24:58] Ryan: So what is your inner tell you versus your outer? And if those two don't match, you're never gonna get anywhere. And that's just something I've learned in a very short period on this earth at 48 years old, that if I'm looking to be. Rich. And I want to make, let's say $10,000 a month. How are you gonna make that $10,000 a month?

[00:25:17] Ryan: You gotta start I'm with you. You gotta get to the granular level. The challenge that I see, and this is just from my experience, my humble experience on the other side of my businesses through financial coaching. Whether you're a doctor, an attorney or a pilot that come to me for financial coaching when they're broke or an individual that has been unbankable most of their life.

[00:25:37] Ryan: And like you said, potentially poor. They all have one thing in common. They have a toxic relationship with money and they have to find that root. Of that relationship and understand why it's the way it is today, so they can get past it and move forward. And it's, it doesn't matter if you have money or you don't have money.

[00:25:55] Ryan: We all have some type of rude issue that we have to go through and that's just me simplifying it. But that's also me saying I get where you're getting at on, on step one and I can't believe. it's 97%. I thought maybe 70, 80%, but 97, that's just a huge number. 

[00:26:14] Jeff: Let me give you an example of why it is such a huge number.

[00:26:18] Jeff: So excuse me, one, I've written a book, which is Number one in its field to the extent of, if you look at the top 10 it's outsold, the collective top 10 on its own. Okay. It's that far ahead there isn't a number two. It's just so far out there. So other people who've written books come to me and say, Jeff, how do you get a number one best selling book?

[00:26:47] Jeff: And the way I did it, I knew what I wanted before I wrote a single word and I didn't just think, Hey, I want a number one book. I wanna be the best in the world. What I do, it wasn't that generic. I spent three months getting clarity, writing my goal down. Step number two is write it down what he wants and I don't mean type it on a keyboard.

[00:27:11] Jeff: There's something about taking a pen or a pencil and writing it on paper that connects us with what we're doing. It's different to typing, but a last it's hard. Yeah, sure. I struggle with it. But when you're doing your goals still, you need to write. Coming back to the specificity of the project, it took me.

[00:27:30] Jeff: Three months to get clarity on what I wanted now, by, by comparison, I did a podcast with a lady and she was on my show because she'd written a book. Okay. And she said, Jeff, I wanna ask you a question. She said, I want to write another book. Can you coach me and help me? And I said you've already written a book.

[00:27:57] Jeff: Why do you need coaching and helping? And I said were my

[00:28:04] Jeff: Yeah. She said I'm, I want to write my second book. And I said, okay. So why do you need coaching and helping to write a book if you've already done it? And she said and she's thinking, I, I said, you've already written a book, so what do you need help with? She said, I want to write a best seller.

[00:28:25] Jeff: And I said, okay, do you know what a best seller is apart from what the words mean? Do you know what best seller actually means? How many books do you have to sell to get the best seller? She says, oh, actually, no, I don't know that. So I said, all right, life is about cause and effect. And what we have to get into is you can't change the effects.

[00:28:51] Jeff: You can only change the causes. So if you don't like the effects in your life, you have to change the causes. So being a best selling author is an effect. So you have to understand the causes that make that. Now I can share with you now, what's interesting of every book that's published in the world, how many books are sold for every book that's written on average?

[00:29:19] Jeff: Now you've got the massive ones like JK rolling, who sell billions, and then you've got the vanity publishers. So on average, how many copies does a book sell? The answer is 400. That's many that's 

[00:29:35] Ryan: That's that's amazing. I thought there would be 

[00:29:37] Jeff: more. Yeah. Yeah. It's 400 now. Bear in mind. You've got the big hitters in there.

[00:29:42] Jeff: So there's some people that are selling 25. Once they've all sold their family, then mole house will buy one and then you've got others. Who've sold billions. The average is 400. So it's not many. So in order to get to, to be on the best selling list, you've got to sell a minimum. A 5,000. So very few.

[00:30:06] Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very few books actually sell more than 5,000 copies. So it doesn't sound a lot. It doesn not sound a lot, right? No, not at all. I said, so I said to this lady, if you want to be on the best seller list for starters, for. You have to sell at least 5,000 copies that doesn't make you a best seller.

[00:30:30] Jeff: That's just, okay. If you've done 5,000 copies, then you're through the gate. We can now talk to you and compare with others within your field. If you haven't sold 5,000, then you're not coming in. So I said, do you have the capacity to sell 5,000 copies? And said I hadn't really thought about that.

[00:30:52] Jeff: And I said, okay, so what we need to do that now that you've already written a book and I said, why do you want to write another one? Here's the point of the story, really? She said, I want a best selling book, which I now know I have to sell 5,000 copies just to get considered, to be moved in with the rest of the field.

[00:31:15] Jeff: She said, but I wish I'd known that when I started, because I've already written a book, but it's not selling they're in my garage. And here's the point I said, did you write a goal? She said, yeah, I said, what was your goal? She said, I want you to write a book. I said, in that case, the universe delivered, you wrote a book.

[00:31:40] Jeff: Yeah. You wrote a book you didn't ask to sell in excess of 5,000 copies, 10,000 copies, a hundred thousand copies. Your goal, your aspirations were to write a book, Ryan. She started crying. She said, I get it now I get it. I've been so stupid. And I said no. It's not about being stupid. It's that you must be very clear about what you ask for.

[00:32:14] Jeff: And then the universe can then work its magic to deliver what you are asking for. I said, if we go back and you, your goal is to write a book. You're not Sealy stupid or anything. The universe delivered and you worked hard and you wrote a book. I said, now you've written a book. Your goals have changed for that book and it doesn't sell.

[00:32:41] Jeff: And I said, here's why when you do a goal for your second book, what you, your goal is actually not to write a book. Your goal is to help people. To help them in this case, she's an expert in real estate and it was to help people to know how to buy and sell when to buy and when to sell real estate, use it as an investment and grow their portfolio and grow.

[00:33:09] Jeff: And she was amazingly successful, written the book. And I said, okay, What you want to do is write a best selling book. How many copies do you want to sell? He said 5,000. And I said, why? He said, because that then it's the best seller. And I said, no, that just qualifies you to get into the room of the best sellers.

[00:33:31] Jeff: I said, if you ask to sell 5,000 copies, you'll sell 5,000 copies. If you ask to sell a hundred thousand copies, then. You'll be helped to sell a book. That's a hundred thousand copies. Now let me tell you why that's important because if you decide my goal is to write a book, I always ask people why do you want to write a book?

[00:33:57] Jeff: Because for some people that's enough, they just want to write a book and there's nothing wrong with that. That's fine. That's enough. But for other people, they want to help people or they want to make money. So consider this. If you want to write a book and you want to make money from your book for all the right reasons, and you'll set your sites on selling a hundred thousand copies, consider this what you have to do before you start writing is to say, what kind of book do I need to write?

[00:34:34] Jeff: What will be the format of that book in order for people to want to. That book, how much do I price it at? Where is the market for it in order for me to tap into and fulfill the a hundred thousand copies. Now think about that as a concept, and then think of the goal as I want to write a book. Now, would you writing style be different for each goal?

[00:35:02] Jeff: Hell yeah, of course it would. Yeah, because the difference is in the first. She'd written and it's not selling, she'd written a book that she wanted to write as opposed to writing a book that people wanted to buy. You hear the difference between the two? 

[00:35:22] Ryan: Oh yeah. It's huge research too also. And understanding your audience.

[00:35:26] Ryan: There's just so many things that go into that, but I gotta go back to the 400. I just really did. Not under, I didn't know that and that, that's just amazing how. So many people publish books, but only sell an average of 400 copies 

[00:35:41] Jeff: an average. So there, there is, 

[00:35:44] Ryan: is it an average or a, is an average or a median?

[00:35:47] Jeff: That's an average. Okay. So every book that's written, the average sells 400 copies. 

[00:35:54] Ryan: That's a lot of time and effort for not much 

[00:35:56] Jeff: Some people are happy with that. Some people just want their name on a book. Some people just think I want a book it's in me and I want to write it. And that's fine.

[00:36:06] Jeff: That's great. I've helped people to write books and they feel wonderful afterwards. And I'll say it won't make money and say, I don't care. I just knew I had to write this book and I've written it. Wonderful sense of fulfillment, but there are others. Yeah. Yeah. There, there are others.

[00:36:22] Jeff: Who write a book to support their business, which is a fantastic thing to do. And it doesn't sell. And the reason is because they don't, they start off their journey by writing a book that they want to write, or that they think they should write, rather than designing a book that people want to buy.

[00:36:44] Jeff: And that's what I did. It took me three months to really get my goal together to, I, I knew the book that people wanted to buy and because I'd done lots of research and work beforehand, but then it's, how do I make that work? And how do I get it to be number one in the world? How do I do that? And that was what the goal was all about.

[00:37:07] Jeff: So I did all that first before I wrote a single word. So by design, it was always going to be the best selling book in the world on its subject. So therefore the, your attitude to writing and what you write and how it's written is a massive difference between that. And Hey, I wanna write a book. 

[00:37:31] Ryan: That's huge difference, but that, that also translates to life.

[00:37:35] Ryan: It does indeed, and a huge divide in difference in how people are successful in how they're not. And I see that daily and I love the story that you're telling, but it's just so apparent and so obvious, but we don't take the time to put the work in on the front end to achieve the goals that we want on the back end.

[00:37:56] Jeff: For sure. And that's why I say 97% of people do not know what they want with any degree of clarity. Now, by with any degree of clarity, because you try it now you ask people what they want. They either can't tell you or it's so wishy washy, it's generic and meaningless. And I say to people, all right, I am the universe.

[00:38:29] Jeff: Tell me what you want. You ask me and I'll give it to you. Just tell me what you want. But very few can tell me what they want. Very few. 

[00:38:38] Ryan: It's very sad, but also 

[00:38:40] Jeff: very truthful. It is indeed. So you asked earlier, is it because we don't know we are uneducated? I think that's what it is. I think if, 

[00:38:52] Ryan: yeah, go ahead.

[00:38:53] Ryan: So from the ed uneducated piece, I'm gonna dive in and then we're gonna, we're running short on time here. So I wanna be able to get a few other things in. We can always have you come back. Good conversation. The uneducated piece, is it? And I'm just gonna break it into formal education versus non-formal or just life in general education 

[00:39:14] Jeff: life in general, because nothing to do with formal education.

[00:39:20] Jeff: And I'm evidence of that. I went through school. I was lazy. I work my ass off afterwards and I've got educated afterwards to in the subjects that I wanted. But at school, I didn't get the formal education and then I've come out and found out, let me say this life education, I've gone through the university of life.

[00:39:40] Jeff: And by interviewing these 325 people, I found out the degree of clarity. Unbelievable compared with the masses, they knew what they want. So it's about life skills, not formal education. When you know how to write a goal, it's different to, just to just writing one. And I had lots of people tell me, oh yeah, I've tried writing goals.

[00:40:09] Jeff: It doesn't work well. There's two, two things there. Yeah. Goals don't work unless you do. And then the other one is yeah. and then the other one is it's funny, but it's so true. It's true. Yeah, very true. And then the other one is having a goal is not enough. It's having, it's writing it correctly in a way that the universe can deliver.

[00:40:33] Jeff: That's what I'm saying. 

[00:40:35] Ryan: I, I love that. I love that piece, cuz I believe in the secret, the universe I got all that and. Last night I felt like I needed to reconnect myself cuz I felt like I was falling off my goals. So I throw the secret on my headset and listen to it and just it gets me going back again.

[00:40:50] Ryan: But I think what I'm gonna take away. There's many things I'm gonna take away, but one of the things I'm gonna go back to, unfortunately, I haven't used pen to paper for my goals. I have a goal app on my phone. Okay. I think I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go back to pen to paper and I'm gonna try that.

[00:41:05] Ryan: Because I, I thought about it while you were talking about it. And it seems to be more real now that I think about it when I did do that, to where it's coming from my hand to that paper. And there's like that connection now, I'm just typing it on my phone and it doesn't, I don't resonate with it or it doesn't connect with.

[00:41:26] Ryan: Yeah, 

[00:41:27] Jeff: you can use your phone and your computer. I do to start the process of writing things down. And when I start, I just put words, just bullet points, not whole sentences, because what we do with sentences as we go in, we're trying to edit as we going. And go back and add this and things like that.

[00:41:49] Jeff: So I, I bypass the editing phase within us and I just think of the key points and I just drop those words into my word processor, Microsoft word, drop them, and then I try to make sense of the words I've put down. But when I'm getting close pen and paper, 

[00:42:11] Ryan: I like that. I think I'm gonna try that because I don't have a problem with goals.

[00:42:15] Ryan: I think goals are great. I too struggled probably when I first started doing goals many years ago as being more specific, I don't get down to the date. I get down to the month because that gives me better clarity. And then once I get closer to that, Then I start drilling down. I like to go back and revisit and then drill down even further.

[00:42:35] Ryan: So okay. Good example for me is, we're trying to launch four new builds in an affordable housing space. So I have things I gotta accomplish, but one of the things I want do is I want to be able to start, building the homes in the month of August and being able to have 'em finish before the end of the year.

[00:42:50] Ryan: Now I say the end of the year, I talk December. So now I've gotten more specific and I say, okay, I want to have this done by December 15th. But in that there's a bunch of sub goals that I try to put into myself in there because there's a lot of different things that go along with that. And I know I'm over complicating it, but also at the same time, goals need to be.

[00:43:11] Ryan: And I say this personalized, and they need to be res they need to resonate with you because if they don't, you're never going to accomplish them in. And when I work with individuals, coaching wise, It's amazing. How many of 'em don't actually have personalized goals? They just say, I want get outta debt.

[00:43:29] Ryan: What does getting outta debt look like? Everybody wants to have zero debt. Guess what? You gotta make it more personalized to you. Do you want to pay off your first three credit cards? That total balance of $22,000 by this date? That, that really is. That's really more personalized, but we seem to want, and this can go to a whole nother rabbit hole.

[00:43:50] Ryan: We, we don't wanna do work. We've lost the ability to put hard earned work in because of what the internet and social media has done to us for the instant gratification. And it's sad. Generations like you and like myself, because I didn't grow up on the internet. I can remember being on an apple and a Commodor, but I grew up without a computer initially, so I'm not connected to it.

[00:44:15] Ryan: But those generations that are just think that, Hey, you put it on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, wherever, and I'm gonna become a millionaire overnight and not put any work or effort into it. 

[00:44:27] Jeff: Yeah. So couple of things I'll pick up on there is the instant gratification. Yeah. One of the 11 steps is delayed gratification.

[00:44:39] Jeff: I like that. Yeah. And if I can summarize what you just said, the dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. True. Very true. Yeah. Very true. Yeah. And like I said earlier, lots of people say goals don't work. Yeah. They don't, unless you do. Yep. And they, and then it's about understanding what you need to do to deliver on what you want, understand the causes in life.

[00:45:11] Jeff: Life is about cause and effect. If you don't like the effects in your life, you have to change the causes. If you're overweight, Great. Eat less, exercise more. That's it. Calories in calories out. Count. What's going in count. What's going out. There's no, no nothing else behind it. No one else is going to do it for you.

[00:45:31] Jeff: There's that? That's it. And you can bring stuff down like that. Using key performance indicators in business, your personal life, your finance building homes. They're all. But 

[00:45:45] Ryan: you gotta put the work in on 

[00:45:46] Jeff: the front end. You gotta put the work in on the front end. But the thing is the nice thing about key performance indicators.

[00:45:52] Jeff: They're like a roadmap for your goal that says, are we moving in the right direction? That's the purpose of them, but it's important to have your goal in the first place. You don't just start up in business and see what happens. And that's the same for everything in life. And I bet now, Ryan, you're going to start using dates because 

[00:46:16] Ryan: you say I actually am.

[00:46:18] Ryan: You made me think about that and now I'm thinking, okay, now can I, and I say this, can I grind it out a little bit more and push myself a little bit harder to start hitting date? And I truly believe I can. I'm not there on time. I struggle with that because I think that might be a little bit of a letdown for me, but in the end, the date will not because as long as I accomplish it by the date check box.

[00:46:42] Ryan: I'm good. 

[00:46:43] Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. I tell you what will probably happen. You've gone for a month, so let's say we need to start this house build in June so I can finish it by December. What you'll start saying now. Because June's 30th wouldn't be any good, right? No, you'd still be in June. So already, it can't be just as vague as June.

[00:47:04] Jeff: So you'd probably say now I need to get this build started before the end of the first week in June. So if the end of the first week in June is June the seventh, for instance, your goal will probably read, I need to get this project started before the 7th of June and universe delivers. And I, yes that's what's gonna happen to you because I need to get completion on this.

[00:47:33] Jeff: Not in December, you don't only done Christmas. It's not going to get done Christmas. And I want completion on this by December 18. Yes. And I think that's, what's really going on in your head, but by the time you apply the science to it, as I said to previous, previously successful people, they start to hone things like this, they became more success.

[00:48:00] Jeff: And in a faster time too. And I think that's what happened to you. I can see you smiling now, it's right. oh yeah. 

[00:48:07] Ryan: I know it's truly right. I agree. 100%. You there's no argument zero. Yeah. I totally agree. And in my head is already, turning in my mind is going because there's so many other goals that I put out there that I, now I can start.

[00:48:20] Ryan: Okay. Can I refine those? and where I'm gonna refine them is on paper. I will. I'll still use my app for my goals, but I'll start there. Sure. And then once I get to that point pen to paper. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. I really do. Yeah. 

[00:48:36] Jeff: And then write it every day for weeks. Yes. 

[00:48:39] Ryan: Oh, I do more than that today.

[00:48:40] Ryan: I, today I commit to it every single day until I hit the goal. Yeah. 

[00:48:45] Jeff: Oh, even better. So 

[00:48:48] Ryan: I, I commit to it till I hit the goal, but it's on my phone app. So that's where the difference is gonna be is now I gotta commit how I'm gonna have to lay this out. This could be a whole nother episode. We can have you back on.

[00:48:59] Ryan: We can follow up 

[00:49:01] Jeff: and we're only on step two already. 

[00:49:04] Ryan: Yeah. And we're short on time. So we're gonna have to wrap this up and get the next, we have to do another episode. 

[00:49:10] Jeff: That's no problem. My friend, do we have any more time left or is this This 

[00:49:13] Ryan: would be a wrap cuz we're close to an hour here.

[00:49:16] Ryan: We will definitely get you back on how can people get ahold of you if they wanna reach out to you? 

[00:49:22] Jeff: Okay. There. There's a few ways. My website is Jeff hyphen smith.com. That's J E w F Jeff hyphen smith.com. There's lots of stuff on there. I'm happy to speak with people and help them with their goals.

[00:49:36] Jeff: I don't charge for that. I'm quite happy to help and give advice, but if you wanna pick some stuff up, I also do a podcast. Which is called secrets of success and what that's about. I interview successful people. Who've achieved some stuff, and again, it's designed, so I'm searching for the 11 steps of success within them.

[00:49:57] Jeff: And when we find some like you, I go whoa, hold a minute. Here's one of the steps yeah. It's a fascinating podcast. You can find it on apple secrets of success. But it's also on my website too with show notes on each of the episodes. So we have everything. Yeah. Everything from flying car.

[00:50:18] Jeff: To the STIG from BBC's top gear and all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff. So interesting. 

[00:50:26] Ryan: We will we'll link in the show notes, your website, and also your podcast. Cuz I think a lot of people get some great information out of it. Just what I got. In the matter of time we were talking I already.

[00:50:36] Ryan: The cogs are turning . 

[00:50:37] Jeff: It'd be wonderful to come back and give you step three and step four, maybe that's fascinating. And we 

[00:50:43] Ryan: maybe even go even closer to that. Get all the way down to 11. If we just get right to it. 

[00:50:47] Jeff: People say, oh, what's step four, what's step five. What's step six and say, this is not going to help you because we've, this has been a program for one hour, which is wow, that's gone.

[00:50:57] Jeff: And all we've talked about is what you want. Exactly. And equally, if not more information on all of the other steps too. So to get rid the remaining 10 or nine steps in a program, Ryan. It's not gonna work. You're gonna ask me too many questions. I know 

[00:51:15] Ryan: guess what? Maybe we make a series out of it. I don't know.

[00:51:19] Jeff: Maybe I get that series. Yeah, there we go. Maybe I get you as a guest on my show. That would be pretty cool too. I'd love to do that. 

[00:51:27] Ryan: I'll be more than willing to come on and be a Guinea pig. 

[00:51:31] Jeff: Yeah, let's do that. You wouldn't be a big Guinea pig. It's already happen. So there's already some shows in, I can, so let's get in on.

[00:51:38] Jeff: So when we finish, I'll continue talking with you and and we'll book an appointment to get you onto my show. That would be great for now, Ryan, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed talking with you. I feel absolutely blessed. Thank you so much, 

[00:51:54] Ryan: Jeff. Thank you for coming on. It's been great. And I have an eye opener on a lot of stuff.

[00:51:58] Ryan: There's a lot of nuggets in this show that our listeners will love. But I'm taking away a lot myself, so my mind's already turning, so I got some work to do. 

[00:52:07] Jeff: Ah, good for you. I'm thankful. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. 

[00:52:12] Ryan: Thank you.