I’ve never really been content with the status quo. My professional business career has included a number of twists and turns over the years; highs and lows that are almost unimaginable for those who haven’t had the pleasure of running their own business. As stressful as some of these experiences have been, I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.
As a business owner, I am continually invested in learning new ways to build and grow my business. This analytical side of the brain is something I wasn’t overly accustomed to using, being in the creative industry that I am. However, I’ve fallen in love with the processes, systems, theories, and experiences that some of the brightest business minds on the planet have to offer.
This new path started a couple years ago after listening to a radio profile on an outspoken entrepreneur by the name of Gary Vaynerchuck. Gary Vee as most loyal followers refer to him by, owns a hugely successful social marketing company called Vayner Media, with offices across the country and a staff of over 800 strong. Last year, I took part in one of his 4Ds (Daily Digital Deep Dive) events which included a day in his NYC offices with his senior management team, learning about the ins and outs of how a world-class social marketing agency operates. The knowledge I gained while there helped to drive CR Creative in a completely new direction for 2018, growing our product offerings and providing us with the opportunity to work with larger clients that we never would have had the ability to work with before.
Since that day, I’ve continued my growth by consuming all sorts of content from the minds of Simon Sinek (this video will change the way you think about business), Laura Gassner Otting (who I had the pleasure of working with exclusively through one-on-one coaching sessions – check out her website here), Scott Stratton, and quite possibly the most well-known business guru of them all, Tony Robbins.
For those of you that live in a hole and have never heard of Tony Robbins, he’s a life coach, business coach, best-selling author, master the of universe that has built and invested in some of the biggest companies in the world. By doing so, he’s part of the exclusive “3 comma club” (this reference is from the show Silicon Valley – click the link, you won’t regret it!). He’s uber successful, has worked with countless business leaders, presidents, and celebrities, and offers a one-on-one coaching session for a cost $1 million dollars – that has a multi-year wait list to join!
I’m not at that point in my business career – yet – but one of his programs definitely peaked my interest. His Business Mastery Program is a deep dive into everything that’s business and includes a “Million Dollar Guarantee”. If you feel as though you haven’t gained “a million dollars’ worth of value to create exceptional growth in your business” after the first day, you can get your enrolment fee refunded 100%. I’m attending this event this week in West Palm Beach, Florida (as long as the weather holds out and airport re-opens!) I’m trying to keep my expectations in check, but if it’s anything like the buildup and videos I’ve watched so far, as well as the testimonials I’ve received from others who have attended Robbins’ events in the past, I’m quite confident that the results will exceed my wildest expectations.
That being said, since I have a newly formed fondness of sharing just about every business thought and experience on LinkedIn and our company Blog, I plan to document and share this experience both during and after, so I can help you to determine if the “Million Dollar Guarantee” is actually worth the time and investment for your business.
Check back on this article throughout the week as I’ll be posting experiences and updates along the way.
Day 1
Well day one is in the books, and I’m not even sure where to start. Going into the day, I had absolutely no idea what to expect – only stories and videos from the net. Turns out neither of those did this thing any justice whatsoever.
After the first few hours of the day, I think I was able to perfectly sum up the event as a whole:
1 Part – Intense Business Bootcamp
1 Part – Full out RAVE
This man has more energy then I’ve ever witnessed in my life. He came on stage at 10:30am, and our first official “break” wasn’t until 8:30pm. He went full out, and was able to keep everyone inspired the entire time through incredible insight from owning 50+ companies generating over $6 billion in revenue per year, to referencing events and experiences from some of the most famous business people (and his personal friends) in history! Not to mention the consistent dance breaks, upbeat music, and overall excitement.
The people I’ve had the opportunity to meet has got to be the best part of the event so far. I’ve met everyone from a former CIA Agent who runs a consulting agency for the US Military with her former Navy Seal husband, an author from the UK, a dentist from Massachusetts, and even a partner in a major record label (they represent Pitbull, among others!).
They also did a survey of the room, and it turns out that more than 100 or so of the business owners present generate $10m or more per year in revenue in their business, and there’s supposedly someone that owns a Billion dollar company as one of the participants!
The one key component each of us have no matter what size of business is a strong desire to elevate our businesses to the next level. The first day started at 10:30am and didn’t end until nearly midnight, with a couple small “breaks” throughout the day. I mentioned above the “Million Dollar Guarantee,” but I think by 2 or 3pm, most had already exceeded gaining this amount of value.
I’ll provide much more insight on the event in the coming days, and share some of the incredible ways in which you can grow your own companies. For now though, I have to run as even though we didn’t end until midnight, day 2 starts at 8:30am today!
I’m going to need to go back to work so I can have a vacation from my vacation!
Talk soon!
Day 2
The second day of Business Mastery was much like the first – high energy for nearly every one of the 15 hours, lots of dancing and hugging, and more incredible networking opportunities.
Today though, I was able to witness for myself one of the many reasons Tony Robbins is as successful as he is. His insight and approach is life changing to millions of people around the world, including many in the room at this course. However, as insightful and thought provoking as he is, he’s definitely an equal (or slightly larger) part salesman.
I’ve noticed this from the first day I logged onto his website. The way he structures his content not only leaves you wanting more, but also provides the ability to for you to get more by providing some contact information, or even requesting a call. He’s a mastermind in human psychology, and implements the perfect recipe of free content that will encourage you to make a purchase. He takes the same approach with his seminars, which has made him an extremely wealthy man.
Fortunately I was able to resist the urge to “drink the kool-aid,” but as I looked around the room, there were many that were more than willing to sign up for “Platinum” membership at a cost similar to buying a small home. Though I’m sure they will receive an incredible amount of value, as well as many more life changing experiences, this guy from small- town Ontario just couldn’t fathom the thought of taking this sort of plunge.
Overall though, this event has been pretty incredible so far. They introduced a 10/10/10 method to grow your business anywhere from 33% – 150% over the next year, simply by implementing some VERY basic strategies. I’ll provide more info on this in the coming weeks. I also had a fairly substantial breakthrough today in terms of a future direction for CR Creative – I can’t wait to get back to reality and start building this out as well.
The next couple days promise to be better yet. Some incredible people are scheduled to talk including the CEO of Under Armour, as well as one of the founders of Sirius XM Radio.
Check back tomorrow for more!
Day 3
The third day is in the books, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, it might have been the best day yet.
It’s clear that nearly everyone is the room is looking for some sort of “breakthrough” in their business – yesterday was that day for me. I’ve been struggling with a few areas in our business lately, and it was almost like the content yesterday was curated specifically for my business. It was awesome!
We also got to hear from a guest speaker by the name of Keith Cunningham (here’s his website). Keith’s story is that he lost more than $100 million in one day back in the 80’s, which he hilariously compares to the admission fee of a University course. Everyday people pay a tuition fee to learn a new set of skills. His “tuition fee” just happened to be a lot more than most, but the things he learned from the “course” allowed him to rebuild and be more successful then ever before. He also broke down the accounting in business, outlining the “Big 3” reports that every owner should understand. His ability to relate and simplify was so incredible that everyone was cheering and dancing when he was done, shouting “WE LOVE ACCOUNTING!”
Of course, Tony’s portion of the day was outstanding, again providing his real world business experiences. He also spent a few hours walking through an extremely simple method to help grow any business using the concept of “compounding growth.” For those of you who are interested, please feel free to hit me up so I can show you how it’s done.
The day ended with a world-leading technology expert taking the stage. He explained everything from internet security to how we’re in the midst of a 50-year “Digital Transformation,” showing videos and examples of how life as we know it will be entirely different by the year 2045. Apparently the word “Centaur” is going to have a completely new meaning for us by then, mixing man and machine to create a completely new form of human being. As I looked around the room during his talk, most had their jaws on the floor as he spoke. We all were amazed by his theories, partially because we know he’s probably right!
That’s all for now. I’m going to enjoy this little bit of day light and warm weather as I make my way to the convention hall for the next 12+ hour day!
Day 4
It’s now been 4 straight days of full blown business boot-camp. It’s 11pm, I’m just getting back to my hotel room, and room service is on it’s way (no meal breaks today!)
I’m trying my best to fully paint the picture as to what this event is actually like through this Blog post, but words just simply can’t describe it. Every day I walk into the same convention centre with the same 2,500 people, not certain that it’s possible to learn anything more that I didn’t already know. Flash forward 12-17 hours later, and I find myself walking back to my hotel room with a different random stranger, comparing notes as to what sort of ground-breaking content we learned from that day. This day was no different.
The day started with Keith Cunningham (see notes above about this brilliant man), diving deeper into some simply incredible strategies to better understand your financial statements. What makes this seminar so unique is that in total now, we’ve had the ability to hear from this super successful business man for ALMOST 5 HOURS TOTAL! Most other events or videos max out at 1-1.5 hrs MAX. The ability to dive so deep into these concepts makes this event truly second to none.
Tony hit the stage at around 4pm, and maintained his un-human level of energy for nearly 7 HOURS! His theme today centered around the topic of investing, protecting, and growing the money you make within your company through asset allocation, and other seemingly other boring as hell methods. His investing talk was much different then most though (as you can imagine) as it included a world-leading financial advisor, and ended with having everyone create a “Dream Bucket” list designed to inspire us all to work harder within our businesses so we can achieve these goals, as well as give back in ways that bring true fulfillment. He even handed out two trips to his resort in Fiji to a couple guys who shared their aspirations with the group!
However, the last 20 minutes of the evening had the most impact on everyone in the room. He introduced us to one of the many organizations he supports called Operation Underground Railroad (check out their website here). The mission of this group is to recuse children from the sex trafficking trade around the world. It’s comprised of former CIA employees, Seals, and Marines who have not only saved over 1,800 children, but have also captured and prosecuted the captors. I was fortunate enough to meet one of the Marines who works for the organization and hear some of the stories. They send chills down my spine, even while I type this. To top it all off, Tony pledged to match all funds donated to this organization, up to an amount of $250K, to make a total of a half million dollars in additional funding from the event. Based on the demographics of the room, I’m quite certain that this amount will be crushed, but we’ll find out tomorrow.
Tomorrow marks the last day of this adventure, and will include some billionaire guest speakers. I look forward to one more trip around the sun, as well as the prospect of getting back to normal life again, and start to implement these new ideas.
Check back soon for the final update!
Day 5
Well, it looks like I forgot to hit “Post” after the end of Day 5 and failed to publish the last piece of this article – my apologies!
The last day of the event was definitely the highlight of the week. It started with Jonathan Cohen and Allen Morgan going through the ins and outs of Crowdfunding, providing some incredible tips and tricks on how to successfully launch and grow a crowdfunding campaign. If any of you are interested or have ever thought about trying a service like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, I have some detailed notes that will greatly increase your chances of success – drop me an email if you’re interested in learning more!
Following their presentation was the start of a number of one-on-one interviews Tony had with some of his billionaire friends. The first was Danny Meyer who owns a number of NYC Restaurants as well as the Shake Shack franchise. Danny shared his knowledge and history in the hospitality industry, including hiring techniques, and his decision to ban “tipping” from his restaurants. His justification for this was really quite interesting, as he feels as though waitresses and waiters who receive tips as part of their overall compensation are actually holding themselves back from self improvement and the desire to move up in the company. He also discussed how this practise was constantly widening the gap between servers and the cook staff, creating an unfair work environment and separation throughout the team, as opposed to growing together for a common goal.
Next up was Ellen Latham, one of the owners and creators of the Orange Theory Fitness franchise. She discussed how she started in her apartment, and launched the first of her now 1,000 + franchise locations at the age of 52 (she looks amazing for her age!) One of the revelations she shared was that she was actually a participant in the Business Mastery event with the rest of us for all of the 4 days prior, and found just as much value in the event as the rest of us in the crowd. This is a great example of how everyone constantly needs to grow in order to continue to achieve success – whether you’re a startup or a billion dollar franchise owner – you’re never done learning new skills.
The last speaker, and possibly the most impactful one of the entire week was a woman by the name of Martine Rothblatt. I guarantee that most of you have never heard her name, but she’s one of the pioneers responsible for the invention of Sirius XM Radio. Martine is a transgender woman who has an absolutely incredible story. She started by raising over $2 Billion from Wall Street to launch a satellite into space, and revolutionize the radio industry. Later in life, her young daughter was diagnosed with a very rare disease for which there was no cure. She refused to let her child die, and started down a path to find a cure (with no medical background whatsoever). Her determination not only led her to a cure, but also was the start of a $6 Billion biotechnology company. Now, this company is in the process of developing a new way to reproduce human organs, which will ultimately eliminate any and all wait lists for organ transplants in the coming years. But that’s not all. She realized that there is a heavy cost and carbon footprint left when transporting these organs, and has invested in developing an electric helicopter that will help to reduce the environmental impact of her innovation. Simply incredible. Even Tony was speechless. Her determination and will to succeed should be an inspiration to us all.
The rest of the day / evening was devoted to providing strategies and techniques that would help us to integrate the vast amount of knowledge we learned during the event. The day ended with an inspiration Muhammad Ali inspired video, lots of cheering, hugging, exchanging of business cards, and one final “gladiator” send off.
Final Thoughts
I started this post with the goal to help others determine if the “Million Dollar Guarantee” that comes with Tony Robbin’s Business Mastery Program is actually worth the time and investment for your business. After many tireless days in Florida, and now a little over a week back in reality, I can honestly say that this course isn’t for everyone.
The days were long, the room was freezing, we barely had time to eat. There was an incredible amount of content, dancing, and hugging. If you’re not truly in love and obsessed with the game of business, and open to learning new thoughts and concepts, I would caution you to think twice about the investment. However, if you’re truly inspired to take your business to the next level, and wake up every morning with a will to succeed – YOU MUST ATTEND THIS EVENT!
I work with many different business owners each and every day. Many of whom are perfectly content with their level of success and work/life balance, with no real desire to grow or do anything different. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people, and I find it hard to connect with others that share my way of thinking. This event allowed me to connect with 2,500 like-minded individuals who persevered through the long days and nights in an effort to completely change their lives and their businesses. It was incredibly energizing and inspiring to be in a room with so many people who think and act the way that I do, wanting so much more out of life then the status quo.
After being in a conference centre for 70+ hours over the course of 5 days, I then spent another 8 hours during my travel day to digest and organize my thoughts, writing and re-writing my notes multiple times. The concepts and strategies I learned, along with an entirely new way of thinking has re-energized my passion for my company, and created a number of new opportunities within the first week of being back. It’s safe to say that I’m obsessed with the content I was able to learn and am sharing these new thoughts and ideas with anyone who will listen.
You can say what you want about Tony Robbins and his methodology. I went into this event with a completely open mind, and no expectations whatsoever. I met some incredible people, gained some life-changing knowledge, and came home with a completely new passion for my business. Overall, this was more than I could have ever imagined.
… and no, I didn’t drink the cool-aid!
