Achieve Your Number One Goal in 100 Days with John Lee Dumas

Founder and Host of EOFire – John Lee Dumas

How to plan and execute a winning Kickstarted book launch and raise $125k in just three days. The astounding conversions John got from his email list by repeatedly doing this ONE simple thing. Why most journaling fails for goal achievement and why The Freedom Journal is different.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

• TheFreedomJournal.com

Check out EOFire.comfor more info!

Thanks so much for listening!

Transcript: Download

Jaime Tardy:	Welcome to Eventual Millionaire.  I'm Jaime Tardy and I am so excited to have John Lee Dumas back on the show again today.  You might've heard of him before.  He runs Entrepreneur On Fire and he also has a brand spanking new freedom journal which you can go check out at TheFreedomJournal.com, which I didn't get in the mail yet because my P.O. Box sucks.  But pretend I'm holding it up and giving it kisses right now.  Thank you so much for coming on the show today, John.

John Lee Dumas:	I'll hold it up for both of us Jaime.  It's great to be back.  I don't know how many repeat guests you have on your show but I feel honored to be a repeat guest on the Eventual Millionaire.  It was the show that really started it off for me way back in the day because when I said, hey, I wanna start my podcasting journey, you were really the only person that I reached out to with a request to mentor me, which you happily obliged me.

	And I was your just very excited mentee for many months and we had many great sessions together.  And here we are now almost four years later chatting for the second time.  I love it.

Jaime Tardy:	That's insane that it was four - really?

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	I keep telling everyone three.

John Lee Dumas:	June 2012 so it's more like three-and-a-half years.

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, okay.  That's insane.  Okay.  So you have come a long freaking way.  It's kinda ridiculous how much you've come in a very, very short period of time, which of course we'll talk about how you did that in just a minute.  But why the heck create a freedom journal?  Just wondering.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, so it's really interesting, Jaime, because when I came to you way back in the day and said, "I wanna start a daily podcast" you said, "Well, number one, you're crazy but number two, why?  Why do you wanna start a daily podcast?"  And I said, "Well, because you've interviewed so many incredible millionaires.  And those relationships that you formed through that have been amazing and have been beneficial to you in so many ways."

	I'm starting at ground zero.  I wanna push the fast forward button.  I wanna inject some adrenaline into this because I wanna talk to, not just four entrepreneurs per month but 30.  I wanna talk to 365 successful entrepreneurs per year.  So now fast forward to where we are talking three-and-a-half years later.  I've interviewed 1200 successful entrepreneurs, which is just mind blowing to think about but it just happened one day at a time.

	And that is to me what has been so inspiring about the daily podcasts is all those relationships that I've built.  And it's really spurred a lot of questions from Fire Nation saying, John, you've interviewed 1200 successful entrepreneurs.  You've been a guest multiple times, Jaime, on the show, which thank you for that.  And they would say, what's the magic bullet to success?  What's their secret sauce?  Why are they successful entrepreneurs?

	And I would get kinda frustrated about that question.  I would say, "It's because they work hard.  Successful entrepreneurs work hard."  And that is true, Jaime, and that will always be the case.  You're a hard worker; I'm a hard worker.  My other 1199 guests have been incredibly hard workers on every way, shape and form.

	But then taking another step back I said, there is one commonality that all my guests have.  They know how to set and accomplish goals and the fact that they do so quite regularly.  And I know that my audience Fire Nation was struggling with that very thing of setting an accomplishing goal.  So I said, "You know what?  It's January, 2015," which was a year ago almost to the day when I had this idea that I wanted to create the first physical product for EO Fire that would solve this pain point, that would be the solution for this.

	And so, and unfortunately again, yours got rejected by your P.O. Box, but it's turned out to be this, TheFreedomJournal.com which is the first physical product that I've created through EO Fire.  It is a beautiful, gorgeous leather-bound, faux leather, because I am an animal lover - 

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, is that right?  I like the leather better, good.

John Lee Dumas:	 -- yeah, gold embossed, gold-leaf journal that will guide you in the setting and accomplishing of your number one goal in 100 days.  That is the sole purpose of this journal is so that you can set and accomplish your number one goal in 100 days period.

	It has been my passion for all 2016 to bring - 15 to bring this to life.  And now in 2016 we've launched it via an incredible Kickstarter campaign which, you know, as we're speaking right now and recording this, has over 2,000 backers, over $125,000 in funds raised for this Kickstarter campaign.  And the best part is, Jaime, that we're going from success to significance.

	I'm wearing my Pencils of Promise shirt right here because we've partnered with Pencils of Promise.  And every time we hit a funding goal, I'm personally writing a check for $25,000.  We love doing philanthropy for great causes.  And that's going to build a school in a developing country through Pencils of Promise.  And every time we hit another funding goal, I'm writing another $25,000 check to do just that.

	So the Freedom Journal, in a nutshell, is for you to give yourself the gift of accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days and also the gift of education to those less fortunate.  And that's why I created it.

Jaime Tardy:	Oh my gosh, the best answer ever.  Okay.  So I have a thousand questions, of course on the Freedom Journal and that sort of thing, but you just mentioned the Kickstarter.  And I just interviewed Cole Hatter in Alphline.  We're like, why did John do a Kickstarter?  I mean, he already has money so we're like marketing.  We were going over - we were talking about you behind the scenes.

	So you tell me why do the Kickstarter in general?  I get - okay.  And this is what I get, this is what we came up with, right?

John Lee Dumas:	Go, awesome.

Jaime Tardy:	Marketing, right, great buzz.

John Lee Dumas:	Yes.

Jaime Tardy:	Validation, product validation, right?  Yea.  You're like, I knew it was gonna work.

John Lee Dumas:	I didn't know if you want me to give it away, yes, yeah, or you wanna just - 

Jaime Tardy:	Wait, I'm not done.  And then, yes, I love the fact that you're giving money away too because I just sort of [inaudible] [00:12:17] it all up and you get to give, which is utterly fantastic.  So, all right, that's what we came up with so you go, tell us, were we right?

John Lee Dumas:	So you're right on all those things and there's some more things as well.  So number one, because I partner with Pencils of Promise, I want it to be a very transparent campaign.  And so you know what?  A third party Kickstarter's handling everything.  They're handling - they have the website.  Everything's gonna be visual and shown so you know exactly that our partnership is being fulfilled correctly in every way, shape and form.

	That's why I bring my accountant on for all of my income reports because I want an accountant, a CPA to say, hey - 

Jaime Tardy:	 -- I'm not lying, people.  Come on.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, I'm verifying John's income.  This is me, a CPA doing so, X, Y Z.  Because I want to be a 100 percent transparent and let people know that what I'm doing is exactly what I'm doing.  So that was one area.  All those things that you mentioned, correct, so I won't kind of dive into those things because you did a great job there.

	Another thing is, it allows me to bundle some really awesome packages together.  So now I have a you on EO Fire package where if you wanna be on my show EO Fire, which last month got 1.2 million downloads, you have a package where you can get five signed freedom journals.  And you're gonna come and appear on my show EO Fire down the line.

`	Not everybody's Jaime Tardy where the door's always open.  In fact, there's a very long - I get over 50 inbound requests per week, people wanting to be on my show so I - 

Jaime Tardy:	I feel horrible sending you intros.  I try not to send you intros because I feel like you get a thousand of them already.

John Lee Dumas:	I do.

Jaime Tardy:	I only - slightly - I've only interviewed - I mean, I've only introduced a handful of people to you.

John Lee Dumas:	Well, let me tell you, 95 percent of those intros are probably close leads or people pitching themselves.  My favorite ones are from past guests and especially past mentors, because I know that nobody knows my show like past guests.  And nobody definitely knows my show like the person who helped me create it, you.  So an intro from you, Jaime, will always be welcomed for sure.

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah [inaudible] [00:14:13] - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	But still like a package like You on EO Fire is a huge one.  It allows me to do really easy two packs, five packs, ten packs, big ones.  I had one that actually sold out in an hour and thirty minutes.  It was two available of me keynoting your event for $10,000.  And poof, that was gone.  So I was just like thank god I didn't have more of those or I wouldn't have a life in 2016.

Jaime Tardy:	You are a wanted man.  That's impressive.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	[Inaudible] awesome events, right?

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, they're gonna be pretty good events from what I can gather.  So that'll be cool.

Jaime Tardy:	This is putting yourself on the line a little bit though like, hey, I'll show up anywhere and just - I mean, yeah, yeah - 

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, just pay me $10,000 and I'll show up anywhere.  So it allows me to do those things in a really powerful way.  Plus I'm a competitive guy.  And right now Eric Reese has the biggest book launch ever.  He did $590,000.  I think number two is Seth Goden at $287.  Now, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pass Seth Goden, fingers crossed, knock on wood.  That's the goal and that $125 on day three, then of course you always have that big burst at the launch and then a little bit of a lull.  But I'm hoping to keep that - excuse me - momentum going and going and going.

	But my big goal again is to break Eric Reese's record.  So I can honestly say, hey, I have the number one ranked book in all of Kickstarter for book launches, the highest grossing book.  That's my goal, I wanna be number one.  And what's pretty cool too is that Kickstarter's a pretty popular platform.  People go every day and they search what are the most popular and highest growing launches in different categories?  And if they go to the publishing category, I want the Freedom Journal to be number one.  That'll be a huge lead source going forward.

Jaime Tardy:	Okay.  So that makes perfect sense because I expect nothing less from you, John.  You always have ridiculously huge goals.  I wanna beat the biggest guy humanly possible [inaudible] [00:16:09] Kickstarter because why not?

John Lee Dumas:	Um-hum.

Jaime Tardy:	Sorta the whole point of the Freedom Journal, right?  So tell us - I just wanna know a little bit more about the Kickstarter - how the heck do you do that?  Now I get you already have an audience.  I get you're going on shows to promote it.  I'm sure there's a whole bunch of other backend stuff promotion-wise to try and do this because day three 125 grand is ridiculously impressive.  So give me your marketing tactics for Kickstarter that have been working so far.

John Lee Dumas:	So it's been a year in the making and I really say, number one, if you're gonna start a campaign, it doesn't launch next month.  It doesn't launch in three months.  It launches in a year.  So start planning now because you wanna get these balls rolling.

	So the first thing that I did, which was great, is I got two killer bonuses with two killer rewards.  One was a 30-day PDF of the Freedom Journal fillable.  Another one was this really great PDF worksheet of how to accomplish your top three goals in a very kind of convoluted format right there and focused.

	And so that was a really big focus for me right back at the beginning because now I could put that onto my website.  I could talk about that on different shows through this entire year and say, hey, if you go to TheFreedomJournal.com you're gonna get these two guests, you're gonna be on our interest list, you're gonna get bonuses, you're gonna get updates, all behind-the-scenes stuff.

	So I built an interest list, Jaime, of over 9,800 people in the course of this year that were just saying, hey, I'm opting in for the Freedom Journal interest list.  So it was such a targeted list.  So they're on the Freedom Journal interest list.  You better believe that I'm emailing them every single day about this campaign being live now because I'm like, you're on just the Freedom Journal interest list.  So if you don't like being emailed every day about the Freedom Journal, then click the unsubscribe button because you're on the Freedom Journal interest list.  So I'm emailing that list every single day, converting massive off of that.

	So that was huge.  Building that target email list was so massive in every way, shape and form.  And then also just being able to talk about the actual event that was gonna be coming up and building up the anticipation and the excitement.  Like I've been having people for months being like, can I just get the Freedom Journal already?  Like, what's going on here, really making it - 

Jaime Tardy:	Stop teasing me, John.  Come on.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, just teasing, teasing, teasing.

Jaime Tardy:	Like Star Wars for the whole past year, my gosh.

John Lee Dumas:	This is basically the Star Wars version of journals, exactly.

Jaime Tardy:	[inaudible] [00:18:28] T-shirt but - 

John Lee Dumas:	Those are some really big things that I've been doing.  And I've been directing a lot of my different traffic like InstaGram and snapshot.  I've been continually building towards it and leaning people into that and letting them know and just be verbal about it.  Put it in the back of people's mind so that when it launches they feel like they have already been hearing about for a long time because they have.

Jaime Tardy:	Well, that's the thing, so we could've had you write a book, like an actual nonfiction book.  Why do a Freedom Journal, which is not really - you know what I mean?  It's a very different kinda category, then you could've gotten this exact same kind of launch with an actual book.  So why this instead of that?

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, so I knew, number one, that I wanted to be in control of the entire process.  I wanted to control the creation of the content within 100 percent.  I knew that I wanted to be in 100 percent control of the actual materials that went into this, like sourcing the materials.  Again, this is a very specific type of - 

[Crosstalk]

Jaime Tardy:	It's upside down [inaudible] [00:19:25] - 

John Lee Dumas:	 -- upside down - this is a very specific type of leather.  This is a faux leather but it feels great.  I wanted to make sure that the gold leaf was involved there.  I wanted to have - 

Jaime Tardy:	Bring it up, I wanna see it.

Jaime Tardy:	 -- yeah, I wanted to have my illustrator really create some killer illustrations within.  I'll get to an illustration page probably sooner than later.  Oop, right there you saw one.  And it was just like - I'll actually get to a good one right here.  And so I wanted to have full control.  So here's your - every ten days we do a ten-day spread.  So gauging your process right there is really important.

	So I wanted it to be - I wanted this - I wanted it be gold embossed.  I wanted to control every single part of that.  And then I wanted to control the production part of where it was produced.  So I used a great team called Prouduct.com by one of my past guests, Richie Norton.  It's a combination of the word proud and product Prouduct.com.  And they have a team in China that actually goes and finds the right manufacturing plant, one that has actual adults working in it, that has good practices.  And it's just good people behind it.

	And had them produce the Freedom Journal and then ship it over to the U.S.  And now it's in 20,000 copies that I paid for in a warehouse facility in L.A. and I can send them as I want to.  And that costs over $175,000 for me to put out of pocket to create what you're seeing today.  And I have 5,000 copies in Amazon.  So as soon as the Kickstart campaign's over, boom, we're turning on the Amazon store and it's gonna be out there as well.  So we have a very strategic plan set to do this and I wanted to be in control the entire process, every step of the way.  So that's why I went about it this way.

Jaime Tardy:	That's insane.  Okay.  But why not write your story and have a book on how to do this that isn't like - because yours is very - the Freedom Journal - I'm assuming - I haven't gotten it yet but I'm assuming it actually - you write in it and you actually put your stuff into it.  So it's not as though you're going, hey, here's my book, here's my story.  This is my process and we do this and we do that.  Because that's what a lot of nonfiction books are like.  So why just make it very five-minute journal-isc, right, for this?

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, pretty much for that reason exactly.  There's a lot of great journals that're out there and I like the five-minute journal.  I've used it.  It's effective.  I think it's good for anybody that uses it.  However, I saw was missing that there's no end goal in mind.  You just continue to float along doing that thing.  And by the way, you're establishing great habits and your affirmations and this, but I didn't feel like I was necessarily on a path to anywhere.  I was just continually doing the same thing every single day and kind of whatever was happening.

	And again, it's a positive but I wasn't feeling like I was getting to a destination.  So I was like - 

Jaime Tardy:	Because you are not impatient about getting to destinations [inaudible] [00:22:13] - 

John Lee Dumas:	Jaime's been in a few Ubers where I'm like, you took the wrong turn.  But for me, I'm a very goal-oriented person.  And I saw that there was a huge void in the marketplace, just like I saw the void back in 2012 with the daily podcasts.  I saw the void with the journal that actually had a starting and an ending point, setting a goal, not just any goal, a smart goal, specific measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound, and then the accomplishment of that goal in 100 days.

	And I have daily tasks, nightly recaps, ten-day sprints, quarterly reviews.  Everything is very strategic within this that you'll see when you get your copy.  It's laid out and you will accomplish that number one goal in 100 days period.  It's a guarantee from me that that will happen 100 percent.  And that's what I saw was missing in the marketplace.

	And I love what you did with your book and what Lewis has done with his book and what other people - what Pat's doing with his book that's coming up in February.  But to me when people are zigging, I'm sagging.  That's what's going on in the marketplace right now with the top entrepreneurs.  I wanted to bring something that I thought was the tool for my audience Fire Nation that they needed more than anything else.  And that is setting and accomplishing their number one goal in 100 days.

	They've heard my story on my podcast, on other podcasts.  They know my philosophies.  They know how I think, how I feel.  They're gonna continue to hear those things.  The Freedom Journal is their guide to get them to where they want and need to be in 100 days.

Jaime Tardy:	Implementation.  So wait, why 100 days?

John Lee Dumas:	So I looked back, Jaime, and it actually has a lot to do with you, as most does in my life.  I mean, am I a good poster child for you?

Jaime Tardy:	You are ridiculously amazing.  You say my name to everybody.  I don't have to do anything.  I'm gonna sit back and let John go and spread the word all about [inaudible] [00:24:00] - 

John Lee Dumas:	Have I been a good poster child for you?

Jaime Tardy:	Oh, my gosh.  When you were saying how many people you had interviewed, I was like, I have only interviewed about 300.  It's amazing.  So everybody's lesson is just train someone who can do way more than you and then therefore I have all your contacts for me that I need too.  So we're all [inaudible] - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	One hundred percent.  And that's the thing, you were so amazing with your contacts when we first launched that I'm just so happy how this interview works out.  But the 100-day thing is a great question because when I look back I said - I had my email to you sent in June of 2012 and you replied back and said, hey, let's meet for coffee and let's see if this works.  And then of course it ended up working.

	And we sat down that first day and you said, okay, when are you gonna launch?  And I said, I don't really know.  What do you think?  And we talked it through and we kind of said, a month is not enough time.  Six months is too far away.  And we kind of went back and forth a little bit and we ended up on about a three-month time period where I could set a big goal of launching a daily podcast.

	By the way, I was at square one with you.  I had no equipment, I had no interviews lined up, I had no contacts, I had no website.  So I had to do all of that.  So we kinda settled on about three months.  It was like the right time.  So I set the launch date up September of 2012 three months later.  And sure enough I was able to do all of that in that time.  So when I was coming [inaudible] [00:25:19] looking back onto my journey and said, I was able to accomplish a massive goal in 100 days.  I want people to accomplish massive goals and you can't do that in two weeks, in 30 days.  It's just not possible for most really big goals that matter.

	And I don't want a goal to be a year or six months because then it will take a year or six months to accomplish that because [inaudible] tasks will expand to the time view a lot.  So let's just draw a line in the sand, 100 days, it's clean.  We can do ten ten-dayh sprints, four quarterly reviews.  It all makes sense.  It sounds good.  People know that number 100.  It's not too big where it's daunting but it's not too small where it doesn't feel significant.  And that's where it came from.

Jaime Tardy:	So that's - but why 100 and not 90 like - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, I feel like there's - 90's been done, like everybody's just like three months.  Like Todd Herman has his 90-day year thing.  And again, I'm a zagger and for me 100's just a round number.  I just feel it's right.  It's like a century mark, a Benjamin.  I want a $100 bill.  I don't want a $90 bill.  Give me a 100.  I want that one-zero-zero, baby.  Let's make this happen.  I want three figures, not two figures.  Let's make this happen.

	So for all of those reason to me 100 was just the right number that really differentiated what I was doing and just was very memorable.

Jaime Tardy:	Do you guess on that stuff?  Do you get it in your gut?  Is it a feeling?  So this is the thing.  You're like, okay, when other people zig I zag, well, sometimes people have a problem making the decision on which zag to go with, okay.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	So what do you do?

John Lee Dumas:	I'm an intuition guy, like you nailed it the first time.  I say, hey, this feels right or this doesn't feel right.  And guess what, your intuition's not always gonna be a success.  But I'd rather fail at something that feels right than succeed at something that doesn't feel right.  So I'm a big believer in my intuition.  I do have great confidants like Kate, like Greg and Rick who are in my personal mastermind of three people, you.  Other people that I can reach out to to say, hey, how does this feel for you?  Let me hear your feedback.

	And honestly, I'm gonna ignore your advice sometimes, like I did with by not doing a daily podcast and like what Cliff said, "Don't do a daily podcast, John."  And I'm like, "Cliff, you're the podcast answer man.  Really?  Shouldn't someone be doing a twice-a-day podcast?"  And I wanna disregard some advice but I'm going to take the other 99 percent of amazing advice that you and other people have given me and implement it.  But there's just some things you gotta stick to your guns.  And for me that was the daily podcast.  For me that was the 100 days.  Although I will say the [inaudible] [00:27:50] said, hey, that sounds, that feels right.  I got mostly great feedback on that.

Jaime Tardy:	So tell me about [inaudible] because when you were talking about the Freedom Journal and the way that that sort of works, then you do this and it's very - it sounds very tactical and goal-oriented.  And I wrote down the word - what about like how you wanna feel every day?  I know Danielle Laport has her core desire feelings and a lot of people are like, I wanna get in the flow and sometimes that's with inspiration.  And if we've got a rigid schedule on exactly what I have to do when, I don't feel free.  And I know the whole point of the Freedom journal.  So tell me how we mitigate that or how that helps.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, so you're talking about specifically how you're feeling intraday like with affirmations and things along those lines?

Jaime Tardy:	Well, okay.  So I will write a plan and sometimes I'm like, I don't feel like doing that right now.  So - 

John Lee Dumas:	Okay, yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	 -- I get a lot more done when I'm in flow but sometimes they don't seem to align.  Do you know what I mean?

John Lee Dumas:	Totally.  And that was the same way with me.  So that's why the Freedom Journal is very strategic is, number one, is to get you into flow but to give you the reason why you should be there.  Because a lot of times we're like, I know I should do this but then we don't keep thinking into the why we should do this.  And then it becomes ? but if we just gave ourselves a little more push into that why, then we would cement it.

	So I'm big with all these things you're talking about like with Danielle Laport.  And so when we started the Freedom Journal, like I'm opening it up right now day one, I start with number one, what are you grateful for.  So it starts out with I am grateful for and then you fill it in.  Give an affirmation.  Let's start the day off with an affirmation.  And then you repeat your goal.  So I opened up to day 60 so in 40 days I will and you repeat your goal.  Every day you repeat your goal.

Jaime Tardy:	I make my hustlers repeat their goal every single week.

John Lee Dumas:	And they do it.

Jaime Tardy:	People forget that stuff so easily or it's like - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	You got it.

Jaime Tardy:	 -- [inaudible] [00:29:36] on a random wherever and everyone's like, what was my goal again [inaudible] - oops.

John Lee Dumas:	And then it moves into my number one focus today is, because this is your daily task.  So what's your number one focus today?  And you gotta write it down.  And sometimes you don't even know what it is.  We never have a number one focus but this forces you to write it down.  And then after that it's - excuse me - to get closer to my goal I will.  You have to write down two things you're gonna get - you're gonna do today that's gonna get you closer to your goal.  And then I have by the end of the day I will have accomplished, and then you write down three things you're gonna accomplish by days-end period.  Then I have a place for your action plan, your thoughts, ideas and usings and that's your daily task you have to complete every day.

	And then on the right side I have a nightly recap where you start off with what are two wonderful things that happened today.  Because we gotta look back and say what actually was great that happened today because otherwise we get down on ourselves as entrepreneurs.  And then let's talk about two things that you struggled with.  List those things.  We all have struggles but now let's - following that is what are the two solutions for those struggles so we can actually talk through that.  And then tomorrow will be a great day because, and you just answer that question.  So you're already thinking about tomorrow in a positive mindset way.

	Now beyond the day and the task, I have the ten-day sprints where you have to actually start your ten-day micro goals where it's my top three goals to accomplish during this ten-day sprint, this micro goal are, and then I have one habit you're gonna implement over these next ten days.  You're continuously adding good habits to your regimen.

	Maybe it's gonna be I'm gonna get out and do a 10,000-step walk every single day, whatever that looks like.

Jaime Tardy:	Yep, I got my - yep.

John Lee Dumas:	[inaudible] [00:31:14] so that is what the Freedom Journal does every single day.  It gets you on that path through the daily and nightly tasks through the ten-day sprints, through the quarterly reviews going back, and that's the focus.

Jaime Tardy:	Okay.  So it's not like I have to have 100 days planned out and then on day 60 I'm like, I don't feel like doing that, it's going like, okay, what do I do today that's gonna make the biggest difference.

John Lee Dumas:	In fact, you don't plan out your 100 days because things are gonna change.  Every time you hit a new ten-day goal you're gonna be like, oh, this is kind of shifting and adjusting a little bit.  I need to move in this direction now.

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, it's very much course correction over and over and over again.  I mean, you and I know we've interviewed enough people where it's like so much course correction it's ridiculous.  And people forget about that when they're actually in the journey.  Because when you're in it, you're sort of like, this sucks.  Everything sucks.  And then you're like, [inaudible] oh good and then, oh this sucks, right.  And we forget that that's what everybody else goes through too.

	So tell me, John - the fun times - tell me when you have those really, really sucky days, right, like super, super oh my gosh, everything's going wrong, I'm super stressed out, which I know you must have at some point.

John Lee Dumas:	Totally.

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, so tell me about what one of those days looks like so that everyone can feel better about themselves.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah, so I have those days, absolutely and I'll tell you, one thing that has really enabled me to get out of those funks, and they are funks that we all go through because that's just the ups and the downs of the entrepreneur, is I just get out.  I will turn my - shut my computer down.  For me there's just something about shutting my computer off so I can't even get distracted even by like, oh, there's something in my inbox.  It's like, it's off.  I'm disconnected from the world

	I'll put my phone in airplane mode and then I just download what I consider a great audio book.  Right now for me that's Benjamin Franklin's biography by Walter Isaacson's 26 Hours.  I love it.  And I go out for a long walk and I just - I do have a little notepad.  It's a little tiny notepad that goes in my pocket so if I come up with any ideas on the way I can write those down.  And I think that's important because if you can write an idea down when you're out on a little walk - I'm not trying to come up with ideas but if they come up and I'm like, oh, I wanna remember that, now I'm trying to remember it.  But I can just write it down quick and boom it's gone, it's out of my mind because I know it's on my pad.  I can just go back to enjoying the walk.

	So I just get outside, breathe the fresh air.  That's why it's so important that I live in San Diego and I know you live in Austin.  We have great weather and we can do this most days.  So that for me is that huge reset button and I just get out there.  And I don't come back until I feel better.  I'll sit down on the grass, I'll go out and put my feet in the ocean and just kinda like hang out until I feel better.  And sometimes that's 30 minutes, sometimes that's two hours and I just let it go.

Jaime Tardy:	So I don't come back until I feel better.

John Lee Dumas:	I don't.

Jaime Tardy:	It's like, where did John go?

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	That's awesome but you can do that where you are because if you did that in the middle of Maine in winter, you would not be out for two hours [inaudible] [00:34:18] - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	[Inaudible] - 

Jaime Tardy:	 -- you come back more pissed off than when you left.  Okay.  So everybody's got that.  So tell me a little bit more about - because you said you sort of go on feelings and gut.  Tell me more about this as much as we can.  How do you enact that daily or weekly - you know what I mean?  Do you really pay attention?  I wanna feel like this, I wanna feel like that or is it just sort of something that you're paying attention to mindlessly?

John Lee Dumas:	I think it's much easier than people allow it to be because what I do is I don't have five things that I'm trying to accomplish at one time.  I don't have all these different distractions and all these different focuses and goals.  I work on one thing at a time.  And I get the question a lot on different podcast interviews like, John, where's EO Fire going?  Where do you see yourself in a year?  And I say, this might be disappointing to you but I have no idea because I don't look that far ahead because I don't try to predict the future.  I don't know what my audience is gonna want.  I don't know what's going to exist.

	I'm on Snapchat and Instagram right now.  I wasn't even on that three months ago.  This is new to me and this is shifting my direction in how I spend my time.  So I wanna keep myself flexible and open to that and to rip off a periscope because it's new and it's cool and I can do that.  So I focus on one goal at a time.

	Another reason why I created the Freedom Journal is because I know that for me I shine my spotlight on one thing until it comes to its natural completion.  And then when it's best done I move on to the next thing and I hopefully have set up a great system so it's still running and doing great things.

	Like podcasters [inaudible] [00:35:52] is a great example.  I shined the spotlight on that to make it amazing and now that that has great system and running I come back every two weeks.  I do a live webinar and we get more sales and we do awesome and we do that.  But besides that I'm now focusing on other things as I go forward.

	So that is really what I really attribute that to for me is just say, hey, what's that one singular focus that I have right now.  Let me commit myself to it.  I think another person that does this really well is Derrick Severs.  He's just a person that really is committed to one thing.  And his big quote, if it's not a hell yes it's a no.  And that's where I'm at in life right now.  For me if it's not a hell yes it's a no.  And that gives me a lot of opportunities to say no because most things in life are not a hell yes.

Jaime Tardy:	Okay.  So I was gonna go down a different road but now I'm going down the hell yes road because how do you say no?  So - and I say no a lot and still not enough.  Like I have some nos I have to say this week and they kinda hurt for nos because - you know what I mean, they're yeses but they're not hell yeses.

John Lee Dumas:	Because you're a people pleaser and you are like 99.9 percent of human beings who are people pleasers - 

Jaime Tardy:	I'm like, please, I don't wanna make anyone disappointed.

John Lee Dumas:	Well, it's not even making people disappointed.  It's even deeper than that.  You don't want to have the opportunity where people might not have you be part of their tribe.  It's all about the disinclusion.  And I'm actually reading a great book called Sapiens short for homosapiens which is a fascinating read, right.  It's really incredible.  And it gets into so much of the tribe mentality that we as human beings have.

	Like if you 10,000 years ago were ostracized from your tribe, you die.  You have to walk off into the wilderness and you die.  There was just - you're part of your tribe or you die.  So we have this innate, innate desire to be accepted, to be loved, to be included and to people please because we wanna please others.  And we have to get out of that as successful entrepreneurs.  When you've reached a certain point, like you have Jaime, like I have, you have to say no to almost everything.

	When I started EO Fire I said yes to everything because I wasn't successful yet and I hadn't achieved financial independence yet.  I had to say yes to things to get that momentum going.  But now I have that momentum going, you have your momentum going, millionaire hustlers and all these other things and your book, you don't have to say yes to everything.  And so you have to say - instead you have to say no to almost everything if you wanna continue to grow as an entrepreneur.

	And so for me it's just a simple no.  It still hurts.  I get that emotion that you just shared and that you feel because everybody, even me, instinctually, innately I want to please.  But by trying to say yes to certain things, it takes me away from really serving in a more - in a larger way.

Jaime Tardy:	Um-hum.  I really appreciate that too.  My goal for 2016 is space.  Like, yes, I'm not going into space but space.  Eventually it'll be going into space.  So I have a 6' whiteboard calendar.  And I had to go through the events that I really, really wanted to go through and cross them off because I just don't - that doesn't feel very spacious to me.  And while it really hurts to go like, I'm gonna see so many amazing people, and that's something I get so much out of too, looking at my calendar made me wanna cry, which is not good.  And it was all my choice, right.

John Lee Dumas:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	So saying no to those things and looking at the stuff that maybe you don't necessarily wanna be looking at, I think that's probably what the Freedom Journal helps you with.  If my number one goal is space, along with revenue, don't get me wrong, I care about revenue a lot too - 

John Lee Dumas:	Of course.

Jaime Tardy:	 -- but we want both, right, more time more money, that's what we're looking for, there's gotta be some hacksaw stuff coming in.  So give me one example really quick before we have to start finishing up, give me one example of how you did that, right.  Like something that was a great opportunity and you said no to it.  Because you used to be the guy - I mean, I remember you doing stuff with Antonio, with all - like you did partnerships with everyone I knew.  I was like, how come I'm not doing a partnership with Johnny [inaudible] [00:39:51] all my friends, right-  But you did everything.  So give me one example of no, I had to cancel something and how you walked through it and made it all okay in the end.

John Lee Dumas:	Speaking engagements.  I was asked to speak at now over 15 individual conferences this year of 2015.  Most of them with no speaking thing just like what you and I have done a ton of times.  Just go there for exposure and for the free pass and just for the speaker's badge and be engaged with other speakers, all of which is very valuable 100 percent.  And I would not change any of my past conferences that I've been to because I've built incredible relationships from them.

	But now I just say no.  I say, sorry, I'm booked.  My speaking calendar is full.  I'm speaking here and here and nowhere else.  That's it.  And I say no to every other opportunity that comes by.  And no matter what it is, for me, if it's leaving my headquarters right here, which is where - this is where I serve Fire Nation, right here, this microphone, this camera, this computer, this whole - this is where I service Fire Nation.

Jaime Tardy:	[Inaudible] [00:40:57] little puppy - fake dog in the background, all that.

John Lee Dumas:	Actually you'll appreciate this.  His name is Viego because he's my fake Sir Diego which is my dog that I had before I gave him to my grandpa - my grandmother.

Jaime Tardy:	Oh.  I just joked with John earlier that I'm gonna buy him a puppy and he's gonna hate me.  It'll be great.  I'll video the whole thing and it'll be [inaudible] you guys will love that.  All right.  So we have to start wrapping up.  You know I always go over with you in general, but what is one action besides buying Freedom Journal - I had to say that so that way I plug you in.  You seem humble still.  So what's one action listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million?

John Lee Dumas:	Reach out to somebody that you respect in this space and just say, how can I add value to your life?  Do that.  Actually reach out to them and just see what response you get.  And when you get that response the answer might be, oh, thank you but nothing right now, or it might be actually something.  See how that makes you feel.

	For me, Jaime, I spent three-and-a-half years almost just solely giving, having people on my show when their book came out or just having them on my show to promote them or talking about them being in my newsletter, doing joint venture webinars with them for their product, their course, whatever it might be.  It's giving, giving, giving.

	And so now they're always coming back and saying, John, what can I do for you?  I'm like, nothing, nothing.  Honestly, this is just me serving you.  And now three-and-a-half years later with the Freedom Journal launched, I've not literally emailed all 1200 of my past guests individually.  My book launch manager has gone through.  Jaime, you've gotten that email.

Jaime Tardy:	I saw a video.  Yeah, I know, you guys are awesome.

John Lee Dumas:	 -- and the video, okay.  We're awesome, we were on it and it just said hey, if I have supported and served you anyway in the past and you have offered to support me, this is how you can do it.  I know I'm kind of calling in my favor right in, support me with the Freedom Journal.  This is a Kickstarter campaign that is close to my heart because I know that anybody that pledges to the Freedom Journal is gonna get the gift of their number one goal accomplished.  And is also gonna give the gift of education to those less fortunate through Pencils of Promise, an organization that I love early.

	And it's been something that I've had an outpouring of support here.  So that's why my one action for your listeners is, get out there and ask to give value to somebody with nothing in return.  And just see how that makes you feel and see what that chain reaction can start for you.

	And of course, thank you for the plug, Jaime, but I don't care if I sound humble or not, get your butt over to TheFreedomJournal.com, pledge to the Freedom Journal campaign.  Get an amazing faux leather, gold embossed Freedom Journal that is going to ignite your 2016 and beyond.  And you've earned it.  Give yourself that gift of accomplishing that one goal and the gift of education to POP.

Jaime Tardy:	Pencils of Promise.  So, yes, and I will definitely - actually send me some swipe copies so I can post on - I'll have my people post on Facebook and Twitter and all that fund stuff too for you.  Because, man, we gotta hit - you gotta bit Eric Reese [inaudible] [00:44:01] - 

[Crosstalk]

John Lee Dumas:	Gotta beat Eric Reese.

Jaime Tardy:	 -- help because you've helped me.

John Lee Dumas:	I'm gonna Skype you right now on that.

Jaime Tardy:	Heck yeah, I'll go do it right now.  So I hope you guys go to TheFreedomJournal.com even though I haven't gotten mine yet.  John definitely has tried to send me one.  Thank you very much.

John Lee Dumas:	Return to sender.

Jaime Tardy:	We should totally put that song afterwards.  Thank you so much for coming on today, John.  It is always a pleasure and hopefully we'll hang out again soon.

John Lee Dumas:	Jaime, love you like a sister.  Thank you, girl.

Video Transcription provided by GMR Transcription Services

Tags: Book Launch, Book Publication, book writing, Goal, Goal Setting, John Lee Dumas, Kickstarter, Mentoring, Mentorship, millionaire interview

Categories: All, Business, Business Model, Entrepreneurship, Millionaire Interviews

Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.

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