#3 Talking to People: Overcoming the Fear of Making Calls

Talking to People
[Speaker 2] (0:02 - 0:47)
Welcome to another episode of business building tips and I'm joined with my good friend Anil and today what we're going to discuss is the fear of making calls because when you have a side hustle like we discussed in the previous episode you're trying to get your information out there and for me it's no problem because I've done newspapers, I called every house, I cut grass, I called 100 houses. The way I used to play it is like the more no's I get the closer to a yes, everything's good and I talk to people, adults and they're like afraid to pick up the phone and with all your experience, incredible experience and the people that you've helped, I mean I've contact with people that you have helped that become millionaires, multi-millionaires, you understand this more than anybody.

[Speaker 1] (0:49 - 6:01)
Yeah, very good question and hello everyone. It's really simple if we keep it simple in our mind and I'll tell you my story. When I was transitioning from being an employee having a job to a business owner, what I simply did is I spoke to my existing contacts to tell them what I'm up to so they can support me.

So I spoke to my mechanic, my dry cleaner, I spoke to my doctor, my dentist, my chiropractor, the mailman, the people at the grocery checkout that knew me. So the people that knew me in my life, I shared it with some friends and family of course but you don't want to focus on friends and family when building a business because they can be the toughest, some can be very supportive and then some families are not. So what I suggest is just notify people in your life, hey I just want to let you know I'm starting a little side hustle and let's just say the side hustle is you're painting houses.

So you have a job, you're working in the factory and now a few hours a week you're taking on side jobs to paint houses because you love painting and you want to be known as ABC painting in your community. What you do is you tell everybody in the community that knows you, hey I'm doing a little side hustle doing painting now, if I could paint anything for you let me know if you know anybody that I can reach out to. So ask for referrals, ask people to introduce you to people in the community and that's how you build your network right because you can start from 10 people that can become 100 by asking for referrals but the key thing is you got to tell people what you're up to.

You got to tell people you can't be hidden and secret and private about your entrepreneurialism and side hustle. When I was building my side hustle which was my Apple computer business from transitioning from a job I told all my contacts, hey look if you need an Apple computer, if you need a printer, you need anything or you know anybody setting up an office or anyone in the school district I'm becoming an Apple computer distributor, do you mind introducing me and I got people were introducing me to people and go yeah no problem I'll help you out man and pretty soon I had an entire school district in Toronto as I was their supplier for Apple computers for their labs and it was a referral someone gave me a contact and my dry cleaner introduced me to someone my chiropractor he got some computers from me and a printer my doctor they supported me because here's the conversation I had with them right hey I come to you and spend money don't I and they go yeah well all I'm asking for you is to do that for me I'm becoming an entrepreneur do you can you support my business please and they got the conversation I didn't say to make them feel guilty I said it to remind them look at I drive by a hundred garages to come to you and I don't even know if you're the if you're cheaper and if you do good work on my car my car is working fine but I drive by a hundred garages why do I come to you because I want to support you in your little business all I'm asking is you support my is that fair now here's what I did Roy I ended up with five mechanics I used to go to one for my for a different job one I did for tires one I did for engine one I did for body one I did for electrical because I drove high-end vehicles so I had five mechanics so I also expanded my database so and I used to go to one gym I ended up going to four gyms I went to one gym for cardio one gym for weights one gym for for equipment one gym for the yoga class because there's a lot of hot chicks you know I went to another gym for spin class so I split up my routine so I'm giving you the listener tips as an entrepreneur and how you can expand your database and your network because sometimes people go to me well Anil I don't know anybody yes you do by the time you're 24 statistically you know 2100 people by name you do you just can't think of them look at your phone who do you talk to the most who was at your wedding who was at your christening who was at your bar mitzvah who was at your birthday parties right you know a lot of people so also put those people down on paper take that off your phone and put it on a paper on a spreadsheet or a notepad or put names down and I promise you you're going to have fun building your business so in harmony with your question Roy people don't have to cold call they don't have to pick up the phone and talk to anybody they can start right within their own network to to build what they're building as an

[Speaker 2] (6:01 - 6:33)
entrepreneur because you said it to start and I've seen that a few times that you think your family and your friends will be your first customers and sometimes your family are trying to talk you out of it and other times friends are jealous because they've got a job and they don't want you to succeed and you think your friends and you start learning about that as well and people sometimes they decide they're trolling the toll on the side hustle and just get on the job because they think oh this isn't going to work but they're just talking to the wrong people yeah well and there's

[Speaker 1] (6:33 - 15:18)
an actual reality to that I learned years into it being an entrepreneur because I used to ask myself what is people's problems why won't they support me in my business and it's not that they they are jealous or they don't like me or they don't want me to succeed here's the reality okay and this is very very important for those of you listening if you get what I'm about to say you're going to thrive as an entrepreneur okay you're ready the school system I don't care where you live in the world has trained us to be employees because the government's want us having jobs paying taxes so when you become an entrepreneur it's a weird thing it's weird it's like someone who drives to work on the same route every day or the same route every day and someone suggests to them why don't you take this route and they're like no why should I take that route I'm used to this route I stop at Starbucks I stop at Krispy Kreme you know I stop and say hi to my girlfriend why why am I taking this other route I don't know what this other route is it's the same when you become an entrepreneur from from having a job it's weird it's like putting on brand new shoes you ever put on brand new shoes or your feet hurt for for for a short while and eventually your shoe the shoe adjusts to the shape of your feet and all that it's being an entrepreneur so it's not that people are jealous or they don't want you to succeed it's because it's weird it's weird for them because you're part of the job club with all of them and when you got together and you had beers and at the barbecue or you know at the pool party you would talk about your job right and the promotion now you're an entrepreneur they don't know how to be with you they don't know what to say with you or say to you it's weird so put yourself in their shoes how they feel especially if you call them and talk to them about your new gig and you're making money and you're building your business it's weird for them because they're like yeah but you have a job why are you an entrepreneur and here's another thing you need to understand which is very very important it's something i had to learn when you step out and you do something different don't expect people to support you in your family and close friends because you're being different you're being different it's confusing for them it's not that they don't want to support you and they don't appreciate you it's confusing because they don't see themselves doing it and so they don't see themselves doing it why are you doing it because what ends up happening is and this is something all of you need to really really understand your friends and family have an opinion of you they have a judgment of you and i'll give you a joke when you used to hang out with them when you were younger and a teenager they remember you drunk at the party with the lampshade on your head or smoking a joint or throwing up in the pool right that's all they remember from you and here you are mr entrepreneur you're miss entrepreneur you're gonna go build a multi-million dollar business they only think about you running around naked with a lampshade on your head at the party that's all they remember roy roy's building is my mother talking to you and him yeah roy's a podcaster he has the authority alliance he has 22 companies yeah but i remember roy not being that person i remember him setting the barn on fire i remember him crashing the car right i remember him stealing chickens from the neighbor because when when we were young and teenagers we did stupid things so the people in our life our friends and family they that's all they remember so you gotta be loving you gotta be understanding you gotta be patient with them it's not that they don't support you and they're jealous and they don't care they don't get it they don't get it so here's what i suggest go build it anyways go be an entrepreneur anyways do what what you want to do and later on i promise you they'll come around once they see you sticking to it and making it happen and even if they don't come around do you really care if you make a million dollars being an entrepreneur do you really care who approves of you or not no you don't and i'll give you i'll give you i'll give you one little joke and i'll pass it back to you right when i became an entrepreneur i said hang on i had a big crowd we used to go to clubs we used to go to mexico on trips we used to do house parties my house parties were 300 people and i was a dj and i paid for everything booze food we had steaks the works right i paid for everything my parties were off the hook even cops had to come and tell us to keep it down and we used to say come grab a steak and they said okay so um the reason i'm bringing that up why did i bring that up um i brought i brought that up for a reason oh yeah so when i was becoming an entrepreneur i was hanging out with a bunch of my buddies and and girls and one of my buddies go anil what do you mean being an entrepreneur man stick to your job you're not going to succeed as an entrepreneur because again they have an opinion of me right and his name was darren i said darren oh he goes how much money you're making and i go well darren i just started like i'm like three four months into it i'm still learning man but i still have my job i'm still learning how to be an entrepreneur with my with my apple computer business and he goes yeah that's not gonna work and i stood up in the room because here's here's something you need to understand being an entrepreneur you cannot allow people to knock it you gotta stand your ground so i stood up in the room and i go darren look at bro i love you but remind us again what do you do he goes i work at the car wash you know that and this is in front of all my friends it was like 30 of us hanging out having drinks and talking i go you work at the car wash and do i bring my car to you he goes yeah you support me you come and do the full works and you send customers to me i go awesome so i support your your job right your business he goes yeah so i go here's the deal i'm becoming an entrepreneur with my apple business right and i don't expect you to support it but you're not going to knock it and you're not going to knock me and try and embarrass me in front of everybody here you vacuum farts out of car seats for a living yes and everybody lost it for it i started laughing they go yeah he's he's a fart guy he vacuums farts out of car seats i go and i don't knock what you do i support you yes and i've sent clients to yes so don't knock what i do so one of the things right people need to realize as they become an entrepreneur is not to allow their friends and family to quote-unquote steal their dream you got to stand your ground because the minute people start making fun of you and knocking you then you start believing in their bs and their story and these are people with jobs as well the very thing you're trying to get out of and you're you're listening to their opinion and they're struggling paycheck to paycheck or they may be broke and they're giving you their opinion on entrepreneurialism so as i came up the ranks as an entrepreneur growing i said it straight with my friends and family when i'm around you you are not allowed to knock what i do because i don't knock what you do and i support what you do i don't make fun of the fact that you work at walmart i don't make fun of the fact that you work in a factory i don't make fun of the fact that you work in construction and have to shovel a ditch in a snowstorm and i don't make fun of you because you work in a car wash and you have to vacuum farts out of car seats so because i don't do that to you you're not allowed to do that to me and what i did roar is right out of the gates i said that rule and this was back in the 80s and up to today none of my friends and family knock what i do none of them none of them because they know i'm serious about what i do and i've helped a lot of them too who eventually joined me in my businesses because i stuck to it make a lot of money buy homes buy exotic cars put their kids through college pay for medical bills and have a lot of money coming in i've helped a lot of them along the way but i set the rules at the beginning you're not allowed to knock what i do because i don't make fun of what you do so i just wanted to say that excellent that's all fantastic

[Speaker 2] (15:18 - 15:55)
advice and just finally because i think this is an important one as well because you know you've touched on you know people can go to their dentist talk to their dentist talk to there's loads of people there but i've come across people then as well and they have the fear of actually talking to them or just picking up the phone or just explaining what they're doing there's people that have decided i'm doing a side hustle and when i talk to them and they're like i feel kind of bad about ringing them so or talking to them about it it's strange because you're not going to make money if you're just kind of acting like that but it's a psychological thing so

[Speaker 1] (15:57 - 19:51)
what advice would you give for that here's how you deal with it you're gonna have to go through it you're gonna have to go through it just like putting on the brand new shoes you're gonna have to go through the pain till the shoe breaks in or the shoe you know adjusts to the size of and how you walk you're gonna have to go through it but here's something to understand and i've said this to tens of thousands of people i've even inserted on stages in front in stadiums in front of people when you go to work every day for your boss and you make him millions of dollars and you're okay with it why are you not okay asking or talking to someone about your business about what you're doing you see you need to make that shift because you're willing to get up in the morning leave your family get in traffic drive in a blizzard snow blizzard and go work for 20 30 40 dollars an hour whatever that is and then pay 30 40 percent of that in taxes at the end of the year and you don't question it 40 50 60 hours a week for 40 years you don't question it yet to become an entrepreneur and to build something for yourself you get in a kerfuffle about it and you get caught up in what do i say and how do i look and i don't know what to do here's what i suggest work through it and i'll give you one one tip treat your business or the side hustle you're going to be doing as though it's a job and you're the boss and if you don't do it you're going to get fired you're going to fire yourself because if you don't do your job your job at your job you're going to get fired right unless you're sleeping with the boss right you're going to get fired right so treat your entrepreneurialism like you're the boss and if if you don't figure it out you're going to get fired you're going to fire yourself and go through it because i promise you every time you pick up the phone or every time you talk to someone and make a call it gets easier it gets easier it gets easier it gets easier it's like dating it's like dating i promise you the first girl or guy you talk to didn't stay with you or didn't get together with you and you're not with them today right you have to go through a few conversations go on a few dates with a with a bunch of people and all you're with that person or married to that person yes well it's the same with entrepreneurialism you're going to have to go through the conversations and the yes and the no's and the yes and the no's and the yes and you know look look for the yeses look for the no's expect the no's expect the yeses it's a part of the process because every everyone or anyone who has built anything as an entrepreneur have to start with their first conversation second conversation third conversation and eventually they had 100 200 300 conversations your boss and his company had to do it elon musk had to do it you think jeff bezos setting up amazon he thought anybody was going to buy off him no no but where is he now you think amazon had to get their first customer yeah and it i promise you the system amazon has now is not the system they started when you know what they had when they started i promise you because that's that's what the internet was starting to really boom and we had dial-up internet right it wasn't high speed right so think about that as an entrepreneur that you're going to have to work through it you're going to have to go through the yes and the no's the yes and the no's yes and you know but you know what they're going to be yeses and those yeses are going to be clients and those are the people you're going to do business with for a long long time so just understand you're going to have to go through the process and that's what i got to say about that all right no excellent well listen

[Speaker 2] (19:51 - 20:05)
another totally enjoyable episode and i look forward to the next one you'll find all the links about anneal and myself in the show notes until the next episode it's my pleasure rory thank you for having me thank you thank you until the next episode take care