Archive | May 2016
May 25, 2016  

Everyone Are Influencers

By Cheval John

One of the first advice many will hear if they are starting out their podcast would be to get a major influencer on the show.

Like this article, “How To Get Successful People To Answer Your E-mails” featured in Brazen Life and syndicated by Aol.com, showcases the step-by-step advice on how the author got a major New York Times best-selling author to answer his e-mail.

The above advice would apply to ambitious entrepreneurs who are starting out their business for the first time.

Another part of the advice is that they would have the opportunity to showcase their expertise to your audience.

The advice of reaching out to influencers would be good if you were the only one trying to get their attention.

The problem is that many newbie entrepreneurs and/or podcasters are doing the exact same thing in trying to get the attention of major influencers.

In the same way of how half of professional athletes are using steroids to be successful in their respective sports, the ones who are taking the above advice are looking for shortcuts to achieve success in their business.

In the case of podcasters, you will not achieve immediate success if you have major influencers in the initial stages of your show unless you are the first to host a seven day a week show like John Lee Dumas in your specific podcast niche.

Instead of going after the major influencers in your specific industries, do this one thing instead:

BE A GIVER

Find a way to help someone else succeed in their business if you want to succeed in life.

The person who is just starting out in their business in the same manner as you, are looking for strategies to grow their business.

If you have a podcast and are on the same level as that person who has a business, you can give the much needed boost for them to take their business to the next level and in the process build a strong and lasting friendship.

Kami Huyse of Zoetica Media, told me a story of how a late Houston area business person and community leader would ask everyone he got in contact with this question, “How Can I Help You?”

His giver’s mentality made the area a thriving community and probably led to the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament being held at the Merrell Center indirectly.

And I can say that Mrs. Huyse is a giver too because she built one of the most popular networking events with the Social Media Breakfast Houston that meets once a month and brings some of the most popular social media influencers in the city of Houston.

Now you can ignore the advice and continue to go about chasing the major influencers.

If you do keep on chasing the “major influencers”, you will come across as a person who is looking to only use them to build your business.

I can guarantee that the “major influencers” will know if you are one of the energy vampires that are taking from them because they can sense a fake from a thousand miles.

You must understand that these “major influencers” were once in your shoes and they had to work extremely hard for years in order to be successful in their business and build a strong and loyal following.

If they can build a successful business and a loyal audience, so can you because at the end of the day, everyone are influencers.

May 20, 2016  

Giving Your Fans Unique Access To Your Business

By Cheval John


The Sevilla Football Club (FC) made history a couple of days ago in Basel, Switzerland.

The Spanish club defeated Liverpool F.C. 3-1 to win their third consecutive UEFA Europa League Championship and also the only club to win the title five times.

Sevilla again qualified for the UEFA Champions League season for next year.

They also have another opportunity to play for the UEFA Super Cup against the winner of the Champions League final that is set to occur next Saturday in Milan, Italy.

Some will probably not make a big deal out of Sevilla’s dominance in the Europa League because it is not as well known to the casual fan like the Champions League.

It is comparable to the fact that North Dakota State, who became the first collegiate team to win 5 consecutive national championships, because many view their competition as inferior due to the level that they play in, the Football Championship Subdivision, (FCS).

But the thing is that Sevilla is one among the most storied soccer teams in this century because they are finding ways to win tough matches.

In this year’s championship, Sevilla was down 1-0 entering the second half.

Then they scored three goals in the second half to steal the title from Liverpool.

This matchup was widely broadcast on television stations around the world especially on Fox Sports, the spanish equivalent Fox Deportes and ESPN Deportes.

For those who wanted to watch this matchup probably did not have access to these channels because they could not afford the cable channels above.

What would have happened if these sports teams give their fans a unique access to championship matchups by using the live streaming apps like Periscope and Snapchat?

I have a feeling that these sports teams would have built a stronger and deeper following like the North Carolina State Wrestling Team.

I heard of how the NC State Wrestling used periscope to give the alumni and fans access to the NCAA Wrestling Championships from Jennifer Hoverstad, livestreamer, Operations and Project Manager for 03.

That is truly awesome because the NC State wrestling team knew that most of their fans would not be able to watch them compete on ESPN3.

Also, the team listened to what the NC State alumni wanted and were able to solve the problem by giving them access to the NCAA championships.

This is why businesses should take the time to listen to what their audience want and not just try to sell to them whenever they have a chance.

When the businesses and sports teams follow the example of the NC State wrestling team and Mrs. Hoverstad, they will be one step closer to being extremely successful in their business.

May 3, 2016  

Leicester City Proved Their Doubters Wrong

By Cheval John

Nobody believed that Leicester City was going to win the English Premier League (EPL) title when the season began.

They had every reason to believe it because the club, who are nicknamed “the foxes” barely survived regulation by finishing 14th in the EPL.

Leceister City had a 5,000 to 1 chance to win the championship and those who made a wager on the team were probably believed to be foolish.

The clubs who normally win the EPL are the top teams who have the budget to sign the elite players to help them achieve the championship.

Leicester City achieved the impossible and won the EPL title after Tottenham finished their matchup in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea F.C.

This historic win has garnered international media and social media attention.

Even if you are not a soccer fan, you have to appreciate the magnitude of this historic title run by Leicester City.

The club was founded in 1884 and have once finished second during the 1928-29 season in the English top division of football (EPL was formed in 1992).

This historic championship run also proved to be a statement for their head coach Claudio Ranieri.

Twelve years ago, Ranieri was told by the Chelsea F.C. ownership during his firing that he would never win a EPL title.

And the fact that he led Leicester City to a championship is poetic justice.

They did not complain about the “lack of resources” or the “lack of talent” that they had compared to the teams like Manchester United and Chelsea F.C.

Leicester City had the mindset to believe that they could compete in the EPL.

They were to a large degree the ultimate underdog in the EPL.

This story of Leicester City applies to us who are in business for ourselves.

We might believe that we can’t compete with the large businesses because it seems like they have all the resources to market their products or services.

Not only can we compete against the large businesses with the lack of resources, we can win too because we are creative and we understand how to build a loyal customer base through social media.

If we can share valuable content and be human in our story telling, we can win over customers and succeed for the better.

Just like Art Jones, Jed Record and Kristy Gillentine who shared with my audience on What’s The Word? about how they use snapchat to tell their stories of running their businesses.

So you don’t need money or the resources to succeed in your business or win a championship if you are a sports team.

All you need is the growth mindset to believe that you can succeed in your business and life.

When you have the unlimited belief that you can succeed in your business, you will achieve unlimited success and bring inspiration to a lot of people like Leicester City did to their fans.