Laura Waage Interviews Keith Keller about online marketing and how to: 

"OVERCOME ONLINE OVERWHELM"

www.OvercomeOnlineOverwhelm.com  

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(MP3s & Transcripts)

www.youtube.com/channel/UCfzIteyN0wEGT0wpx-P6uOg

(You Tube Video)

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OVERCOME ONLINE OVERWHELM

In this episode Laura Waage asks Keith Keller what book he recommends that every online entrepreneur should have in their library. 

Laura: So Keith, if you were going to recommend one book that you feel every online entrepreneur should read, what would it be?

Keith: I read a book called Do What Your Love, The Money Will Follow ages ago now and it completely changed my life. I will tell you why. 

It sounds like one of those kooky New Age titles but it’s not. The book itself is filled with practical – that’s the keyword – practical advice about how you can move from working a day job that you hate to a job and lifestyle that you love. There’s a middle bit and the middle bit is research and planning and progress, yeah.

So the phrase, it sounds like the law of attraction. It’s just well, think it and it will happen. Build it and it will come. It’s one of those little kooky things people think that go well on T-shirts and quotes and on Facebook. 

But it’s a book that’s full of practical advice. OK. If you want to have a job you love, well here’s a book about how to do it.

It’s not crystals and fairies. It’s hard work but the end result is that you will be able to spend your days at the beach having a latte and doing work on the laptop rather than having to spend an hour in a tin can each way. I’m painting a picture, right?

You spend an hour each way on the train, in a tin can, suited up, with the tie and nice shiny shoes and you’ve got to shave every day and you’ve got to go into this cubicle and everyone is miserable! 

Not everyone but we both come from there. We’ve come from that environment, haven’t we?

Laura: Uh-huh. Yeah, it’s so true and there’s a fear factor, right? Because when you are an employee and when you work for a company, for the most part, there is a guaranteed paycheck. That’s not to say companies don’t go under but for the most part, you know that twice a month you’re going to get a check and you can take it to the bank and you can buy your groceries and pay your bills. 

There is a huge fear factor for a lot of people that don’t feel that doing things on their own and doing what they love, they don’t feel the money will come.

So I think that it’s such a great book to recommend to people. I actually made my daughter read it when she was graduating high school before she started college. So I think it’s a phenomenal book and I think it’s a really great seed not only to plant in people before they make that jump. 

But it’s also a great reminder when you were maybe a year into that jump, when things are really hard, when you’re feeling the frustrations of the grind, to read that book again.

Keith: Yeah.

Laura: To reenergize yourself, to remember what is possible when you do the right things in the right order.

Keith: Well, it’s practical inspiration. I mean I love quotes. I share them every day but you’ve got to have some systems, some ideas, some people that have done it before that can give you this sort of a roadmap, yeah, and this is like a roadmap for inspiration.

Lots of my friends hate their job but they’re too scared to leave it! I was there. This is the whole thing about what you’ve challenged me to think about in the course of these 15 interviews. 

I mean I was scared shitless to leave my job for 20 years and I’ve tortured myself that OK, I’ve got a paycheck at the end of two weeks and I don’t mind. I will get drunk on a Friday night and I will go out for tea on Saturday night and that will sort of make up for it. But it never does, does it? It never does. 

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One Book Every Entrepreneur Should Read!!

In this episode Keith shares with Laura why entrepreneurs and small business owners need to stop doing everything themselves.

Laura: So Keith, here’s an interesting question for you..... 

Do you remember the very first time that you leveraged delegation in your business and if so, what feelings came up for you as you went through it?

Keith: I was thinking about this yesterday. This is so brilliant. I mean I know a lot of my friends feel this too. I came up with four ideas. One is, “Can I really afford this?” Of course the opposite is, “Can I just do it myself?” I will just do it myself.

Because I can’t afford it, I will just do it myself. The other one was, how long will it take if I – we’re going to find someone. Are they any good? Are they going to be reliable? Will they do a good job? Then I’ve got to chase them up. I will just do it myself, which is the biggest trap of all.

Then the whole idea of, “Is it worth the effort?” Am I going to get a superior result or am I going to leverage my time in such a way that is going to be worth all of this time and effort? Of course that’s the first time you do it.

Once you’ve done it once, you’re hooked. You go, “Geez! I just freed up half a day.” It would have taken me half a day to do that. That guy has gotten it back to me in an hour. It looks brilliant. It costs virtually nothing compared to what it would have if I did it myself, wasting half a day of my time and what is that worth.

So yeah, four major chunks. Can I afford it? How long will it take? Is it worth the effort? Can I just do it myself?

Laura: It’s such a common response and so many – especially so many online entrepreneurs that are in a newer phase of their journey. They’re just getting started online or maybe they’ve just made that jump from employee to entrepreneur and left the corporate world. 

So a lot of times, we do take ownership of everything, right? I can’t afford it. I will just do it myself. I can do it faster than I can tell somebody else what I want done.

But the problem is that there are only so many hours in a day and if you are always stuck on this treadmill of doing everything yourself, you can never actually get ahead. You just can’t.

Keith: It’s so true. It’s so true. I mean I’m so proud to be part of this thing we’re creating because it’s creating a checklist, a system, and it’s going to be so beneficial to so many people. I’m so proud to be a part of it. So, thank you so much for asking all these great questions because you really challenged me to think deeply about this whole process.

Laura: Well, and I think it’s sort of an important thing that people understand everybody is at a different part in their journey. You’ve got Heather and Andrew and myself that are all OMS mentors as well that are a little bit further along. So our systems are more in place. 

We’ve had a few more years than you to get those systems in place, to make the mistakes. Everybody is at a different point in their journey. So being able to understand that and grow and learn from each other – Maya Angelou has a quote that I live by, that says, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”

I love this quote because it’s just a constant reminder to me that you will always be learning and always be teaching because there will always be people that know more than you and there will always be people that know less than you.

If you can learn the lessons from people who know more and share it with people who are trying to get to your level, it’s part of what helps make us all grow and it’s part of what …

Keith: It’s brilliant.

Laura: … really changes lives.

Keith: It’s just brilliant, yeah. Yeah, I absolutely totally agree with that.

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Stop Doing  Everything Yourself!!

In this episode Keith Keller shares with Laura Waage his definition of success. 

Success Is........ 

Laura: All right Keith. I want you to finish this sentence for me. Are you ready?

Keith: Yeah.

Laura: Success is …

Interviewee: Living the lifestyle you love.

Laura: Very nice. I like that answer. Expand on that a little bit.

Keith: Well, Heather Porter, our mutual friend from the group, she said – she posted a quote. I’ve been saying this every day for about a week and a half. Entrepreneurs are prepared to work 80 hours a week to stop working 40 hours a week. 

The reason we’re working 80 hours is because we’re at the starting phase and we don’t want to work 9:00 to 5:00. So living the lifestyle you love is not working in the city, not suiting up, if that’s what you don’t want to do. I tell you, I don’t want to do it.

I live an hour from the city. I never go to the city. I live 10 minutes from the beach. I walk there every day and I have a latte and I watch people surfing and walking their dog and I’m hanging out with my laptop and checking my app on my mobile phone while I’m having my latte, my toasted cheese sandwich and I’m thinking, “This is it! This is what I do.”

This is why I do what I do, so that I can have a latte at the beach, get out my laptop, create a blog, do a little podcast, get interviewed in the UAE or Trinidad. I was interviewed in Trinidad yesterday and this is what I do. So live the lifestyle that you love. Choose the life you want. That’s why we’re entrepreneurs. That’s why we do what we do. 

The unfortunate thing, as Heather was alluding to, is that we work 80 hours a day on it and we’re actually no better off. So this whole program is about – look, let’s get really clear. The reason why you want to be an entrepreneur is because you want to hang out at the beach and have a latte and live the lifestyle. 

Money comes with that, but you don’t have to work 80 hours a day to do it. So living the lifestyle you love is really my mantra. 

Laura: Such a great mantra to have and such a powerful message to share. It really is true. As you know, my husband is a pilot and there’s a lot of times where he will just, on the drop of a hat, say, “Hey, come with me! I’m going to London tomorrow.”

In my previous Corporate America life, that was something I never could have done. But when you get to this point and you have a team and you delegate the right way, in a way that you can build your business and still have work-life balance, it is. It’s building the life that you want and it’s such a great mantra to live by.

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What Does Success Mean To You?

In this episode Keith Keller tells Laura Waage the words he would tell himself to get over fear if he could start all over again.

Laura: So Keith, it’s 1985. Marty McFly shows up at your door to take you back in time. Knowing what you now know, what piece of advice would you give to your newbie self?

Keith: Oh wow, this is the best question of all the 15. I spent a bit of time on this one. 1985 was when I moved to Melbourne. I moved to Melbourne in 1984. I had one of those jackets he had in Back to the Future, the original one where he went back and looked like a coast guard dude.

I had those shoes. I had his clothing. In fact I probably bought it as a result of the movie. I don’t have the DeLorean though. So I think the big question if Marty McFly came to my door is I would say to myself, “Mate, just jump in. Don’t put up with all that shit that you did because you’re scared.”

Now I’m going to leverage this out because this really made me angry when I thought about this. I was 18. I moved to Melbourne. I had goals. I didn’t do them. I was scared. I didn’t jump in when the opportunities came. I played safe. I did the sensible thing. Maybe that’s OK for some people. But what happened was it just dragged out. People said nasty things to me. I sucked it up. I should have knocked them down. I sucked it up. I’m too polite.

So I think what I would say to my self is, “Mate, jump in. Trust yourself. You’re bloody awesome. You will be OK,” because that’s the way I would talk to myself now and how I sometimes talk to my friends. Look, jump in! You’ve got stuff. You’ve got skills. Share your brilliance with the world and don’t be scared and don’t accept what people think their limitations are and force them to you. I mean we’ve all had this story. We hang out with people that don’t want to do it and they force you down. Yeah.

Laura: Absolutely.

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What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?

In this episode Keith Keller shares his absolute favorite online resources..... 

(5 of them at least - lol ) 

Laura: So Keith, if I snuck into your office and I reprogrammed your computer so that you could only ever access five websites, which five would they be?

Keith: That’s such a fantastic question, isn’t it? I mean everyone in the world should ask themselves this question. It’s such a fantastic question. Only five.

You know what? I’ve got to say and it probably sounds a bit cheesy but I’m very, very proud of what we’ve done in the Online MasterPlan Series. That would have to be one of them, OnlineMasterplanSeries.com, because I’ve created it.

As part of a team, we’ve created something magical. I want to be able to access that and see it evolve because you and Heather and Andrew are doing most of the work behind the scenes, high level coding and all that stuff. I have no idea how you’re doing that.

But every day I check in and I see a change. I’m part of that. So Online MasterPlan Series would have to be one of them. As an online entrepreneur, I’m pretty sure everyone would agree with me here that your own website, whatever that is, would have to be one of the five because it’s your baby. It’s your business. You’re the one doing the stuff.

That for me is GlobalSocialMediaCoaching.com. That’s my site where I put my stuff on my interviews, these interviews, all my groovy things.

But I’m sure that’s not what you mean. I’m sure what you mean, you want me to share all my favorite sites. Now I’ve only got three left. But I’m stuck on a desert island and I’ve got three wishes.

The key is I cannot, cannot, will not live without Twitter, cannot, cannot. I cannot live without Twitter. So I might be lucky because I can get it on my phone. So I might be able to sneak in another one now. But …

Laura: Nice try buddy …

Keith: No, but I can’t live without Twitter. I just love it. I will tell you why I love it and why I’m so addicted to it and why it suits my personality. I love sharing. I love helping the world. I love sharing content and Twitter is great for sharing.

It’s also great for connecting and I’m a connector. I’m an ENFP. I love people. I just love sharing stuff and I love connecting with people and Twitter is great for that. So I can’t live without Twitter.

The other site I love, I will have to do this every day, Buffer. The actual website is BufferApp.com because it allows me to share stuff and still live. I don’t have to be on Twitter 24/7 to share your great podcasts or those great articles or the videos that come across from Elaine.

I can schedule them out throughout the day and still go for a walk to the beach and have a latte or cook dinner for my wife or watch a bit of TV or go on a holiday for 32 days in a cruise in the Caribbean. So Buffer is one of those tools, one of those hacks that allows you to do this stuff and still do what you do naturally.

Laura: Yeah, absolutely.

Keith: So now I’m down to one. I’m down to one …

Laura: So you got one left. What’s your last wish?

Keith: How do I do this? I’ve got a decoder on the other ones I could have used. I think SocialMediaExaminer.com is probably one of the best sites in the history of the world.

I have no affiliation with that site. I’ve never been part of it. I’ve never been asked to write for them, unlikely to speak at their events or guest. I’ve never been to America. Maybe one day I will go. But that site is such a great resource for entrepreneurs.

Laura: Yeah, Stelzner, he created magic when he created that site. The evolution of it has been amazing. But you’re right. Like it’s such a great resource and it’s so on top of everything. When there’s a change with Facebook, they’re talking about it on Social Media Examiner.

When there’s a better way or somebody that’s doing something that is really just kicking ass and taking names, they’re talking about it on Social Media Examiner. It’s fabulous.

Keith: Yeah, it’s fabulous. If you haven’t done it, you have to sign up for Social Media Examiner right now. I know they’ve already got 245,000 people on their email list. It’s easy to see why.

They have a podcast every Saturday. It comes out Saturday in Australia, Friday in the US. Michael interviews all these really cool people. One day, Michael, hello, one day Michael might interview me! Maybe. If he ever does an Aussie down under version, well, I’m right there.

Laura: Perfect.

Keith: I want to decode. I almost put in Facebook because I communicate with my friends there. I really quite actively dislike Facebook as a platform. It’s starting to really give me the shits. But I’m addicted to it because I chat there all the time with my friends. It’s a lifestyle choice.

Laura: Yeah.

Keith: The other one was Google but then I figured – then this is actually sort of a little bit of an advanced thinking. If I can only access five websites, there’s no point in having Google because you type in a question such and such. You can’t access it. You can only access five – even if they gave you the answer, you couldn’t read it!

Laura: This is true. So that’s it. Facebook and Google are gone and you’re done.

Keith: Gone! But what a great question. You’re only allowed five websites in your whole life, what would they be?

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(You Tube Video)

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My Top 5 Online Resources

In this episode Keith Keller talks about his favorite resource to stay focused 

www.FocusatWill.com

Laura: Hey Keith, do you have a productivity hack that you can share with us that helps keep you on track every day?

Keith: I tell you, this is an amazing site. This is an amazing site. It works on the freemium model. The freemium model gives you a little bit of a taste for free each time either separately or for 30 days. Then you can buy if you want.

This site is called www.FocusAtWill.com. This is one of the coolest sites on the internet. What it does is it simply has a series of really, really cool music styles that help you focus. Just there’s a whole channel of chill music. There’s a whole channel of classical music. There’s a whole channel of jazz, whatever you prefer.

It’s unbelievable, www.FocusAtWill.com. Now the way it works is you can get an hour every day for free forever, just so you can test it. That’s the freemium part. Then if you really dig it, it’s only $4.95 a month and you can listen to it all day every day.

Laura: That is awesome. It’s interesting that you bring that up because I just read a study that had been conducted about the effects of focused music on productivity and that one of the best things that you can do is create playlists that are, as an example, like 25 minutes long, which goes in line with the Pomodoro Technique, so that that way you have concentrated music.

You’ve got 25-minute blocks that coincide with your playlist and you can keep yourself on target and on task without being distracted.

When the music stops, you know that you can make phone calls or do whatever the case may be. But it helps you stay focused and on target during that time.

Keith: Well, the thing I love about – it’s so true. I hadn’t heard the idea of the 25 minutes, but what this does – and you’ve got to try it. It’s really the coolest site on the internet. What it does is it starts with a little bell to let you know that the music has started and that you’re on.

Then after an hour, it gives you a little bell. Hello, you’ve been on an hour. Time for a break. Go and have a glass of water or walk around the house or again, get your latte at the beach. You’ve done an hour. Good on you. Time for a rest.

So it almost – it’s like it’s teasing you to say, “I’m your buddy. I’m here to help you focus. You need to rest. Get up and massage your neck or walk around the house or just check the litter box, something. Get out of that seat.”

It’s a great site and it is quite literally a productivity hack because what it does is it helps my mind which is furious. That’s the right word. It actually centers it and goes, “OK. For one hour, I’m just going to do this.”

There’s a little music in the background and the bell goes and I get up and I make a cup of tea. Then I’m off again. Bloody brilliant. Don’t you think that’s brilliant?

Laura: Yeah, it’s perfect. So that was www.FocusAtWill.com, correct?

Keith: Yeah.

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My Favourite Resource To Stay Focused (Focus @ Will)

In this episode Keith Keller tells Laura Waage his advice for the fastest way to success.

The "F.O.C.U.S" Model

Laura: All right, Keith. Do not disturb. Do not enter. Do not touch. Wet paint. Everywhere we look, we see warnings. I want to know what warning you would give to an online business owner.

Keith: Oh, you will love this. You will love this. This is probably the best one so far. I actually got this one from Mari Smith. I love this. I use this every day. 

"FOCUS" 

What does it stand for? 

Follow
One 
Course
Until 
Successful 

That’s a mantra. That’s a mantra to live by. I’m not saying I do it every day, but I try to do it every day, FOCUS.

Laura: Yeah. Focus is huge. If you think about a magnifying glass under the sun, if you hold it on one thing, you can catch that one thing on fire. If it’s moving all over the place, it doesn’t do anything.

Keith: Wow! That’s a good analogy.

Laura: Yeah, it’s all about focus and that concentrated effort that when you just focus it tightly, you can make anything happen.

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F.O.C.U.S - The Fastest Way To Success

In this episode Keith Keller shares how wanting to be in the top 10% changed his focus and his life.
 
Laura Waage: So Keith, during your online journey, what is the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received and how do you incorporate it today?

Keith Keller: This quote, we just spent a couple of minutes talking about quotes. This quote has completely changed my life and that’s a true story. Brian Tracy, possibly one of the coolest dudes in the world, maybe separate to Andrew, the coolest dudes in the world.

He said – I was watching one of his DVDs and he said, “You know what? If you don’t want to be in the top 10 percent of your field, you’re in the wrong field.”

Let me read that out again. If you don’t want to be in the top 10 percent of your field, you’re in the wrong field. You don’t want to get good, you’re in the wrong job. If you wake up in the morning and you just can’t be bothered, it completely changes your energy level.

So that quote, just hit me in the head. July 2010, I remember it. It was a public holiday here, what we call the Queen’s Birthday weekend. I just remember going away for the weekend and getting my journal and saying, “OK. That’s a challenge. What do I want to get good at? What do I want to be in the top 10 percent in the world at? What do I want to stamp myself down for?”

At that time, like everyone else, I was trying to do everything, Google Plus and Pinterest and LinkedIn and YouTube videos. So I just decided July 2010 I’m going to be the best in the world at Twitter. That’s it.

I don’t care about Facebook changes and all this crap they keep coming up with. I’m just going to become the best in the world at Twitter. Completely changed my life, focused me like nothing else. I’m proud to say I am in the top one percent in the world. I’m so proud of that.

Laura Waage: Yeah, it’s phenomenal and Brian, he’s so brilliant and I’ve been fortunate enough to work with him a few different times. His wisdom comes from a place of really recognizing that your energy is the barometer for your creativity and when you are doing something where there’s so much positive energy and so much creativity flowing and you are so excited that you actually want to be in the top 10 percent, you want to be involved in it every single day, it really changes the way that you live your life, enjoy your life and the fact that – back to something you and I previously talked about, the fact that you truly can do what you love and the money will follow.

Keith Keller: Yeah, and it changes your energy. It changes the way you view yourself. It changes the way you hold yourself. It changes the way you talk about yourself and I’m proud. I found my thing. I found my flow. I’ve got my mojo, yeah.

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(You Tube Video)

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How To Be In The Top 10%

In this episode Keith Keller tells Laura Waage about one of his biggest business mistakes and how he overcame it.... 

Laura: All right Keith. I’m going to ask you a question that’s going to get a little up close and personal but I think it really helps people to kind of know where we’ve been and what mistakes we’ve made. So what is the biggest mistake that you’ve ever made in your online business? How did you overcome it?

Keith: Well, I think the biggest mistake is that I waited too long. That is a bit of a lame answer really. But I didn’t start until I was 40. Can you believe it? Forty years old. I’m just getting my mojo now. But for 20 years, I hid out. I didn’t take the jump. I didn’t trust myself.

Look, I absolutely want to leverage this idea. If you’ve got an idea, if you think you’ve got something that’s worth doing, do it. Jump in, because I waited for 20 years and I had so many crappy jobs. Torturous, mind-numbing jobs.

I could have given up. I just could have gone off the rails. Luckily, I did jump but it took me until I was 40. So I think my biggest mistake in general is the idea that I just took too long.

Luckily, I’m making up for that. I’m 48 years old now and I’ve been working my guts out for eight years and I sort of caught up to where I could have been had I have jumped in when I was 20, 22.

We got this really cool Marty McFly question coming up in a minute and I can’t wait to answer that one because that was my time period. 1985 I moved to Melbourne. I had a crappy job. I hated it! I hated it! But I was too scared to leave and that’s the biggest mistakes. I was just riddled with fear.

If I was going to go back, I would have to change that. But that’s it. Taking too long to start, not trusting myself and eventually the only way I could solve the problem was I just – I jumped in. On my 40th birthday, I just took the plunge.

Laura: Yeah, and a lot of times, that’s what it comes down to. There’s another book and we’ve talked about some different books. But there’s a great book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

Keith: Yeah, that’s my second favorite book.

Laura: Yeah, and it is. It’s so true that fear stops a lot of people dead in their tracks and they live a life and then get to the end of it and they’ve had some fun along the way but they have more regrets than anything else. I think that that’s a big part of it.

Fear really fills life with regret because we let it stop us from doing the things that we want to do. So it’s so great to hear that that was your biggest mistake, the fact that you did overcome it and it is phenomenal that in the last eight years, you have more than made up for it. It’s just awesome.

Keith: I’m a late starter but I’m getting my mojo. I’m getting moving!

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(MP3s & Transcripts)

www.youtube.com/channel/UCfzIteyN0wEGT0wpx-P6uOg

(You Tube Video)

itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/overc…helm/id912041078

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My Biggest Business Mistake ( and how I fixed it )

Keith shares with Laura why Buffer is:

"THE COOLEST TOOL IN THE TWITTERVERSE" 

www.BufferApp.com

Laura: So Keith, I know we’ve talked about different tools that you can leverage and you know that I am a huge HootSuite user because of how it simplifies social media posting, lets me keep track of different things, how I interact with people. So I’m curious.

What is one of your favorite resources for simplifying your business?

Keith: Well, let me spell it out, Buffer, B-U-F-F-E-R. The best site in the Twitter-verse, for sure, undoubtedly, no discussion necessary. BufferApp.com and the reason I love it – I don’t know if you’re using it but the reason I love it is it’s like HootSuite on steroids, almost like the reverse.

It’s like the Zen version of HootSuite. HootSuite is fantastic. There’s Gremlin. There’s TweetDeck. They’re all very similar. They’re dashboards. So they give you a very, very – sort of an overview of what’s happening.

What Buffer does is it’s very, very focused on one thing, scheduling. So I come across a great article, a podcast for instance from Heather and Andrew. I tweet it now. I schedule it to go out tomorrow on my four other accounts. It took me 10 seconds. I tweet it now and then I schedule it to go out tomorrow. That took 10, 15 seconds max, 

www.BufferApp.com.

So I get traction. I’m tweeting. I’m sharing information. I’m saving time. It’s triple whammy.

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BUFFER - The Coolest Site In The Twitterverse

Laura Waage asked Keith Keller:

“What’s the one thing you should delegate?” 

Laura: So Keith, you and I have talked about this before but everyone has strengths and weaknesses. But sometimes people assume since we’re in this phase and we’ve been doing it so long, that everything is easy for us. It’s really just not true.

So can you share one task that is a thorn in your personal side and how it is that you overcome it?

Keith: OK. So I can admit freely and openly that I’m hopeless at graphics, creating them. I love them. I love looking at them but I just don’t know how to do them. So rather than me trying for hours and hours and hours to get things to look good which is not my skill,

I have found probably arguably the best graphic designer in the world and he lives in Melbourne. He’s my best friend because he creates stuff that makes me look good and it’s his skill, not mine.

So I found out that I’ve got a friend who does graphic design. He can do stuff that I can’t do. He makes me look wonderful and it’s easy for him. So I just give it straight to him. It’s so simple.

Again, what I was talking about in the last podcast, how energizing it is when you find someone who can do something that you’re not good at. I just send it straight to him. He does miracles!

Laura: Well, the other thing for people to consider is that even though you might like toying around with graphics, as you know I do too, and the fact that we’re not good at it, that it’s not our natural skill set and that it takes us 10 times less longer than it does to just outsource it to somebody who’s good at it.

So when you do that, when you take the ownership and responsibility of trying to be good at something that you’re not, it’s really no different than taking a few hundred dollars out of your pocket and flushing it down the toilet, because that’s what you’re doing when you’re spending your time on something that’s not going to generate a positive return.

Keith: I know you talk about this a lot, this idea that time and money – I mean how much are you worth? My mate is bloody brilliant and I’m happy and happy to give him my work for graphic design because he does great work and I can’t do it.

But there’s also a different skill there and that is that even if he can do it, you will probably find there are other things you’re much better at. I love podcasting. I actually love doing my own audio editing and we can have this chat down the track. I might have to give that up one day, but I love doing it. I’m pretty good at it.

So that’s the secondary delegation school because I actually – I’m still hanging on to that one because I love it. But there’s a whole heap of things that I hate doing. I hate doing my tax. I hate doing my web design. I hate doing any graphic design.

So please, please, please, if you’re listening to this podcast, begin. Pick something you love and maybe keep doing that. But pick something that you don’t like doing and delegate it. You will get so much freedom. It will set your creativity on fire, won’t it?

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Graphic Design - The First Thing You Should Delegate

Simplify your online business with these simple delegation tips from Keith Keller & Laura Waage.

Laura: So Keith, we have talked about the fact that there are definitely different tips and tricks for successful delegation. Can you share a personal trick that you leverage for making delegation work for you?

Keith: We talked about this in a previous episode and that is that I look for staff ahead of time and I have a bit of a list of staff. So I know that I’ve got probably the world’s greatest, the world’s best graphic designer in Melbourne up the road. He’s my best mate.

So I know that in advance. So whenever I know I need graphics, I found my graphic designer. I have a web designer that I know in advance can do great work and is very reasonably-priced and can do a quick turnaround.

So I think the real trick to this is to have a list, a list of people. We even went further than that in previous episodes to say have a couple of people on the list. So have a primary person who you know does great work but if they’re busy or sick or on holidays, you’ve got a secondary person you can go to if the project is urgent.

Then maybe even a third person just so that you absolutely know you’re going to get the work done because when you get to our level of having ideas all the time, it’s almost a curse.

You’ve got to get the stuff done. You’ve got to get it out and you need a team. You need your team, don’t you?

Laura: Well, not only do you need your team, but your team is what affords you balance. So as an example, I’m about to take what is probably the vacation of a lifetime and I am going to be pretty much unplugged and out of the country for 32 days, which I never would have thought that I could have achieved.

The only reason that I can do it is because I have a team and because I have multiple levels and layers to that team.

So it’s very, very true. You need to have the multiple levels and layers. You need to have your go-to person or people, as well as others that you can rely on in a pinch. Then you need to hold yourself accountable to leveraging the strengths of the team that you create. There’s so much power in that.

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Successful Delegation Tips

In this episode, Keith shares one tip to get you started with outsourcing some tasks so that you can avoid online overwhelm. 

Laura: So Keith, overwhelm has truly become an epidemic among online entrepreneurs and it’s really causing people sadly to give up on their dreams before they even get started. What is one tip that you would give to someone to help them overcome online overwhelm?

Keith: I think the thing that I would find from personal experience as an entrepreneur who has left the corporate world and doesn’t want to do the 9:00 to 5:00 is just try doing one thing and build momentum.

Outsource your taxes. Outsource your accounts. Outsource your graphic design or outsource your website design, something that you’re not naturally good at anyway and has taken buckets of your time.

I know it’s hard to begin but I actually think the best piece of advice especially when you’re just starting is to just begin and ease into it and you will find actually it’s a pretty glorious process. Would you agree?

Laura: Yeah, absolutely. In fact I love the old Nike commercial that says, “Just Do It!” because a lot of people put off delegation for so many different reasons that – you know, either they’re afraid it won’t be done to their standards or they don’t have the money yet or whatever the case may be.

There’s always an excuse not to delegate. But if you just do it, if you just get started, just delegate one task, you’re right. It’s very easy and it’s absolutely life-changing as well.

Keith: It’s very energizing and that’s the thing that I really want to emphasize. Rather than thinking, “Oh no, I’ve got to create a graphic design. Oh no, I’ve got to work on my website today.

Oh no, I’ve got to do my tax again,” if you ship that out and then suddenly get it back, you tick it off and go, “Wow! I can focus on my podcast now. I can actually do some tweets or I can write a blog, because I love doing that.”

Whatever you love doing, it’s energizing. It’s the reason you’re an entrepreneur. It’s the reason why you started this in the first place. Yeah?

Laura: Yeah. Do what you love and outsource what you don’t like or what’s so difficult for you that it just takes way too much time.

Keith: Yeah, yeah. It’s perfect.

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Outsourcing 101 - One Thing You Can Do Today

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DOWN TIME - The Best Productivity Hack "EVER"


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Delegation - Creating A System

Keith talks about the 5 tools that every business owner could benefit from using every day.
 

Laura: OK, Keith. I want to know five tools that you think every online business owner should have and use on a daily basis.

 

Keith: OK. Five, wow. You can only have five. There’s so many. But you want to bring it back to the things that are working. I think one of the coolest sites for productivity and for overall well-being, big statement, is a site called Focus@Will. I really, really love this site.

 

It’s not very dear. I think it’s $4.95 a month and they do have a free trial version. What it does is if you’ve got an important task like writing a blog or you’ve got to do your tax or something, if you just can’t get it, you just can’t be bothered, you just can’t – you just don’t want to do it, this site Focus@Will actually creates a series of playlists. It’s a really lovely music that helps you get in the zone.

 

I can tell you, I use this almost every day. It actually works miracles. The power of music to get you in that productive zone is well and above – well over and above the cost of $4.95 a month. The value that I get from that site is extraordinary and I think we chatted before and I’ve certainly done some studies on the idea that music has a very, very tangible benefit in terms of the productivity or mindset, yeah.

 

Laura: For sure. Yeah, I’m a huge proponent of it. So like I love – we have talked about this before and I love when you bring it up. For me, I have different playlists where each playlist has a certain number of songs based on how long I want the playlist to be, and the mood that I want for the energy that I’m trying to create.

 

So same sort of thing, but yeah, it’s a brilliant tool, Focus@Will.com. So that’s your number one.

 

Keith: Number one.

 

Laura: What’s number two?

 

Keith: So number two and number three are what we call dashboards in the social media space. I know you prefer HootSuite so I’m going to recommend that because it’s very popular. I personally don’t like it. But a lot of people I know love it. I find it to be clunky. I actually prefer a site called Gremln. It’s unbelievable. It’s almost identical to HootSuite. But it’s like the Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola analogy.

 

Some people prefer Pepsi. Some people are addicted to Coke. Some people hate both. But Gremln and HootSuite are tools, dashboards we call them, that allow you to be super productive over a number of social media sites. So put those two together. I’ve mentioned HootSuite because it is so popular. So I have to give them kudos for that.

 

But I personally prefer Gremln. I know you love HootSuite, don’t you?

 

Laura: I do. But when you take it back to the Coke versus Pepsi analogy, I love Coke too. I grew up drinking Coke though. So I don’t like Pepsi. Pepsi just doesn’t taste right. It’s kind of like how mom’s spaghetti is always best.

 

Part of why I love HootSuite is because I’ve used it for so long that I don’t have to think. The tools – because I don’t actually use HootSuite anymore. My team does now. So my team does all that for me and then HootSuite provides amazing reports. So I can make sure that my team is on track and on target with the initiatives that I’ve given them.

 

So there are so many great solutions and I know – I actually have a lot of friends that use Gremln, a lot of business partners that do. Both are great. The point is just to make sure that you have one of them, because they are such powerful tools.

 

Keith: They are an all-in-one shop. They allow you to do lots of stuff. So I want to give kudos to HootSuite because it is popular. I personally don’t like it, but I know that a lot of people do.

 

Four and five, I want to talk about social media as a business tool. So we talked about the “social six”. But I want you to pick two. I personally would recommend Twitter and Pinterest. They are my two favorite sites at the moment.

 

Pinterest is almost, for me, almost neck and neck with Twitter for me. I love it. I love it. I might be the most excited guy in the world about Pinterest. There are not many guys on Pinterest. Well, you might dispute that. But certainly in Australia, it’s not very popular here. But Twitter and Pinterest are social media tools. They’re tools.

There’s a lot of stuff about social media being a waste of time. But if you can leverage social media to build the buzz, build your community, generate leads, this is the new paradigm we live in now, the online world.

 

What I want to recommend here is they’re just the two that I would suggest. There are six in total that we as a group suggest. Pick the ones that suit you. Again, Pepsi-Cola and Coke. I love Twitter and Pinterest and that’s what I recommend.

 

So there it is. Focus@Will, HootSuite, Gremln, Twitter, Pinterest.

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Fantastic Online Tools 4 Productivity

Keith shares his top 3 productivity Mobile apps, and Laura shares here favourites as well.

Laura: Keith, share three apps that you actually have on your phone that you use every day and how it is that those apps help you to either be or stay productive.

 

Keith: So very, very important. I mean a lot of us are now very mobile, pardon the pun. We’re very on-the-go and my personal story, in case you don’t know that, is that I work from home in Melbourne, in a suburb of Melbourne that’s an hour from the city.

 

I go to the beach every day and hang out. I do a lot of my really cool best work there and that’s my lifestyle. So I spend a lot of my time on my PC and a lot of my time on my laptop. But when I’m out and about, when I’m mobile, I use apps on my phone.

 

My favorite apps – you know what? This is really quite cutesy. My favorite app on my phone is actually the HootSuite app. I never us the PC version and I never use the laptop version but I quite often – I should decode here. I don’t pay for it. I’m a bit naughty there.

 

But I actually use just a quick check-up because a lot of these sites have what we call the freemium model. You get a bit of a teaser on the – and HootSuite has an extraordinary app. So that’s my favorite app.

 

The second one I use is LinkedIn, the LinkedIn app. I hardly ever – I know Andrew is going to be angry at me for this. But I hardly ever use LinkedIn. I just find it too boring. I just can’t stand it.

 

But when I’m out and about, I find that quickly checking my messages on LinkedIn is something that means that – at least in that platform some of the time. So I’m catching up on all the overflow that I wouldn’t have gotten if I was in the office. Yeah?

 

The third one, the Pinterest app is just extraordinary because I’m a very visual person. It’s an extraordinary app. The Pinterest app is just so cool. It’s so quick to be able to share things and I’m getting enormous amounts of traction on Pinterest from sharing cool articles.

 

So they’re my three favorite apps. So do you use these or do you have a completely different list?

 

Laura: Well, obviously I use the Pinterest app. I do use the HootSuite app but they would not be my top three apps for me staying productive. My top three apps actually would be – let’s see. Let me think about this.

 

Wunderlist would have to be number one because that’s how I manage my team. It’s how I manage my daily tasks, my top three goals every day, my 90-day plan. Everything for me is in Wunderlist.

 

So that would be my number one app. In fact I don’t even have my phone in here right now. Let’s see what else I use.

 

Number two would probably be Dropbox because I have set myself up in a way that I can access everything from any device. So whether I’ve got my computer with me, my iPhone, my iPad, Dropbox allows me to just access everything.

 

Then number three would probably be Evernote. All of my research, a lot of what I do when I need to save information to access later, I use Evernote for that. So if I did not have Evernote, Wunderlist and Dropbox on my phone, I actually would be lost. I don’t know what I could do without those three.

 

Keith: Yeah. I know that’s the sort of question you were sort of – well, the answer you were hoping for. But to be honest – and I know this is a bit of a secret, but I hardly ever use my phone. I don’t use my phone. I’m not a phone-y. I just don’t like it.

 

So I mean I really dislike Instagram because I just don’t want to be on my phone all day. I’ve got an Android that might – I quite like it but it’s an older one. And I live in Australia and the internet is bloody slow here. But overall, I don’t use my phone that often. I know that’s not the answer you were hoping for. But your list is way more powerful than mine. I think we should redo this question again and I will need to be you.

 

Laura: Well, you know, but it also goes into lifestyle, right? Your lifestyle is – Melbourne is a little bit different and you go to the beach every day and you like to work from the beach. So your lifestyle is a little bit different than mine. My lifestyle – as you know, I just got back from a five-week trip. In two weeks, I’m going to Hong Kong for five days.

 

So my life is a lot more on the go and because of that, being able to have apps that truly allow me to run my business from my phone, if that’s what I need to do, it has to happen. I mean there are times where pulling out the computer is not convenient, where I have to be able to do real business things with a credible app and that’s – I can’t say enough good things about Wunderlist.

 

That is probably the one that if all of a sudden my phone blew up and I didn’t have Wunderlist, you would see me on the side of the road crying.

 

Keith: And look, can I just decode there and ask a question? Does it have to relate to your phone? Because I find them too small and annoying. Do you have a tablet that also runs these devices – these apps as well? Do a lot of people have tablets that they use on the go?

 

I’m sounding a bit ignorant here but I just don’t – that’s not my lifestyle. That’s not my role in the world. I don’t want to be on mobile devices.

 

Laura: Yeah, it’s interesting. I have an iPad. I have an iPhone and I have a Mac. What I find is best for me is actually the iPhone and the Mac. In fact when I was on that five-week trip, I didn’t even take my iPad with me.

 

Mainly it’s because if I have the time to really get into something, I want to break out my computer. I like to have the keyboard. I like – there are a lot of applications that I use on my computer. My computer has a ton of things on it.

 

So if I’m doing that type of work, I want my computer. If I need to do something quick and on the go, then I use my iPhone and that’s more than sufficient.

 

Keith: Wow, wow. So the tablet isn’t really the stopgap. It’s not really that middle zone. It’s almost annoying.

 

Laura: Well, it depends on who you are. I know a lot of people that live on their tablets. My husband, his whole life revolves around his iPad. I think it depends on what your system is and works for you. I think that’s part of what’s so important with what we’re teaching, is that there’s not necessarily a right way or a wrong way. But what we teach you is how to identify your way, because when you can uncover your way and you can find your productivity zone, then you can soar. You can make amazing things happen and you can change your life.

 

Keith: So it isn’t a one-stop shop. It’s not one size fits all.

 

Laura: Not at all.

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My Top 3 Mobile Apps ....and a few surprises

Keith shares some ideas for how you can to eliminate "Social Media Overwhelm" in your daily life.


Laura: Keith, so often, people share with us that they are overwhelmed trying to stay caught up with all the various social media accounts, and yet, people are equally overwhelmed at the thought of delegating their social media. So if you were going to give somebody just one tip or one hack that would help them eliminate some of that social media overwhelm, what would it be?

 

Keith: I… I actually think the biggest challenge about social media is the feeling that you have to do everything, but we, as the OMS Group, the Online MasterPlan Series, we take the social six. Right there, people think we’ll have to do six now; YouTube, GooglePlus, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

 

My hack for social media is to pick two, maximum three, and give the others up or delegate them out. You know, you can’t do GooglePlus and YouTube and LinkedIn, and Facebook, and Twitter and Pinterest yourself. You just cannot. So pick one or two, and dig it, get it, and ship the rest app or just forget about it because we’re all human beings. We want to have dinner with our daughter. We want to have a good night’s sleep. We want to go for a run on the beach. We want to live life and enjoy life, and I could tell you that I don’t want to spend my whole life on my PC catching up with my Facebook feed.

 

Laura: Well, the other thing with that is that you can’t be an expert in all things. You need to choose what you’re going to be a specialist in. If you go to meet with somebody, and let’s say you need a doctor, and then you’re also dealing with some things, and you’ll also need a lawyer, and then maybe you’re also looking for a dentist, if you went to an office where this guy says to you, “Oh Keith, don’t worry about it. I could be your doctor. I’m also your dentist. I’m also your lawyer. Hey, guess what? I’ll also mow your lawn,” you would think this guy was crazy, yet that is…

 

Keith: Then I’m also dabbling in real estate.

 

Laura: Exactly. That is what people do…

 

Keith: Yeah.

 

Laura: …when they try to be an expert on all the social media platforms. Now, I do think that it can be good to have a presence on multiple platforms, but sometimes, that can be what I call a cheater presence.

 

So as an example, maybe you like Pinterest. We’ll set your Pinterest account up so that every pen that you pen automatically goes on your Facebook feed. Now you didn’t have to even log in to Facebook. You didn’t have to even understand Facebook, but your efforts in one area were duplicated in another and it can make that equation very, very powerful.

 

Keith: Yeah, when you start to work out, there’s lots and lots going on and you’re multiplying yourself. It actually can be quite extraordinary, can it?

 

Laura: Yeah, it really can. I don’t know if you’re familiar with this tool called If, www.ifttt.com. It stands for If That Then This, where you can say if I post a… As an example, if I post something on Facebook that has the hashtag Twitter, then send it out to Twitter and Pinterest as well. You can set up what they call Recipes where you have an action that makes it take place somewhere else.

 

So there’s a lot of creative ways that you can leverage different social media platforms, but back to your point, only be the expert on one or two because if you try to do more than that, you dilute the value you bring to the table.

 

Keith: Well, I’ve been working my way through your delegation modules, which are unbelievable, and you talked about two topics of outsourcing, one is outsourcing to an actual person, which you know, with annual, you know, with an annual fee, but also, you’re leveraging technology. So if, but of course, If That Then This, you know, that is a technology hack that allows you to say that if this occurs, do that, because I don’t have time to do that, but I’d still get it done in a form, in a relative form.

 

So really, the essence – And all the smart entrepreneurs are doing this. They’re finding all the cool hacks so they can focus on the things that they enjoy doing the things they’re good at, and they can add value in those fields, and then just keep the other things bubbling along with the use of technology here.

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Eliminate Social Media Overwhelm

Keith discusses "Email Overwhelm" and how to give yourself a few more hours in your work day.

Laura: Keith, it seems like lately, we hear a lot of complaints from people that they are totally feeling the effects of email overwhelm, so what is a tipper hack that you have to help somebody learn to control the inbox instead of letting the inbox control them?

 

Keith: Actually, I’ve got… This has got two answers. The first one is limit the time, you know. OK, the biggest question I want to ask people is how many emails do you get every day that are vitally important? I would say probably less than one a day, maybe even one a week. A lot of these emails are sort of important to someone, maybe not you, and they’re annoyance at best.

 

So what I challenge you to do is look at your email list, list of emails once a day, maybe once a day for a maximum 1 hour in a block, maybe in the morning or maybe at night, and limit it. Turn off the notifications that there’s a new email coming so you don’t get the little ‘bing,’ I’ve got a new email. Bing… OK, I know you’re there. I’ll come back to you. That’s an annoyance.

 

Turn off all those little signals, and say, you know, between 8 and 9 before breakfast, I’m going to check my emails and everyone will get my goodies then. Then maybe once at night, I’ll do it as well, but then that’s it. Don’t be constantly on-call. I think the on-callness, yeah, is the thing that’s getting us, the fact that we feel like we have to respond within a microsecond.

 

Laura: It’s interesting you say that because I actually am in the middle of writing a blog post about that because our digital world has put us in a situation where you almost feel guilty. You carry this burden if you’re not responding to things right away, and as you know, I just got back from a five-week trip to Europe where I did a pretty good job of unplugging. I worked probably between 5 and 8 hours a week total to keep my business running with my delegators and my team that were doing the, you know, the work work, but what I realized is that there’s so many things that are unimportant, so many emails we get that don’t matter, so many things that you do not need to handle right away. You do not have to be always available. You don’t have to sleep with your iPhone under your pillow, which is something that I’ve done for years. It’s OK to have a system that allows you to be productive and responding.

 

I only respond to emails twice a day now. I check my emails at 10 o’clock in the morning and
3 o’clock in the afternoon, and that is it. That’s it.

 

Keith: And I want to just unpack what you just said there, like I mean, you just mentioned you’re an iPhone insomniac. I just made that word up, but I know exactly what that means. You sleep with your phone under your pillow. Bing, you’ve got a Facebook update at 3 in the morning. Does that really matter?

 

But so, first of all, unpack, decode only once a day or twice a day at certain times, but I’ve mentioned there’s two parts to this question, and the second part is I want you to consider that this could be the very first task that you delegate, you know. If we’ve already organized that email was actually not that important, why don’t you ship it out to a VA, ship it out to… Like companies have receptionist. Yes, the CEO was not answering the phone, and then actually, I just made it up, but that’s a very good analogy.

 

The CEO of a company does not answer the phone at front line calls. You’ve got a receptionist for that. So what about employing a VA to check your emails and then feeding you through the half a dozen – they’re probably less – of the emails that are really important that you can decode like a gatekeeper.

OVERCOME ONLINE OVERWHELM

MORE RESOURCES BELOW

1. MP3s & Transcripts

onlinemasterplanseries.com/category/podcast/

2. You Tube Videos

www.youtube.com/channel/UCfzIteyN0wEGT0wpx-P6uOg

3. iTunes Podcasts

itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/overc…helm/id912041078

"HOW TO" Deal With Email Overwhelm

Keith shares some of his favourite ideas for for growing your list and expanding your online presence by using offline strategies.

Laura: So Keith, I’m going to post a little bit of a difficult question for you because I want you for a moment to take Twitter and take social media completely out of the equation.

 

Now share with me what is another avenue that you use and you recommend for people who want to grow their list and expand their online presence.

 

Keith: This is a brilliant question. Imagine social media didn’t exist and you want to try and grow your list on other platforms. Or I’ve got some ideas. One is speaking gigs. They’re bloody brilliant. You speak in front of real people and people get to see your brilliance live, and that is a fantastic way to build your following. Nothing to do with social media.

 

The other thing I want to recommend is go on other people’s radio shows because lots and lots and lots of people have radio shows, and you can get an MP3 from that. You can create a SoundCloud account or you can do a podcast. Again, nothing to do with social media.

 

So here you are. You’re sharing your knowledge in an environment that doesn’t relate to Twitter or Facebook or Google Plus. It’s not another technology you have to learn. You just go up and speak your thing. And most of the people that we know have got their thing worked out. They just need to get the word out. So speaking gigs are pretty good and radio shows. Do you do this sort of stuff?

 

Laura: Yeah, I do, and it’s interesting because with radio shows especially, you’ll find that there’s a snowball effect. Once you do one, then they recommend you to another, and then that turns into another, and then before you know it, you’ve got several.

 

The other thing that’s interesting is, you know, I’ve spoke on stages around the world, and for me, I grew my social media. I know I just said we’re taking social media out of the equation, but I grew my social media by appearing on stages around the world.

 

Now here’s the interesting thing. The very, very first time that I was ever asked to do a speaking engagement was somebody that I met on Twitter. I then connected with… She lived in my town. I connected with her real time. It turned out she ran a really powerful ladies networking group in that town, and then I spoke at her event, and then because of that, I was recommended to speak at other events, and it just continued to grow and grow and grow.

 

So you know, it is. You’ve got this offline world, this online world. They collide more than people realize, and there’s so many different ways that you can offline or online expand your presence and grow your list.

 

In podcasting… You bring up podcasting. Obviously, we believe in it because we have a new podcast that goes out every single day, and it is one of the ways that we’ve been able to really reach a large audience and make a difference.

 

Keith: I think it’s extraordinary and I think the idea of coming back to offline is very important. We’ve chatted many, many times over the last few weeks and months about the idea that people can hide behind their laptop and their PC and their Mac, and it’s not a great strategy. I mean I think the case, you’ve got to find a combination of getting out there and doing speaking gigs, going on the radio, doing your own podcast, writing blogs, and in addition to that, doing social media. It’s a good… It’s a well-rounded approach, isn’t it?

 

Laura: Yeah, it really is. And know your audience. If your audience is, you know, the type of audience that wants to connect live, then start a meet-up group in your local town where you have that good mix, where you’re meeting with people locally, and you have a presence that interacts with people globally. When you have both, it’s amazing how you can move mountains.

OVERCOME ONLINE OVERWHELM

MORE RESOURCES BELOW

1. MP3s & Transcripts

onlinemasterplanseries.com/category/podcast/

2. You Tube Videos

www.youtube.com/channel/UCfzIteyN0wEGT0wpx-P6uOg

3. iTunes Podcasts

itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/overc…helm/id912041078

"OFFLINE MARKETING 101"

Keith has been researching the latest trends in Social Media Marketing for well over a decade and currently has a number of weekly Social Audio shows about this now.

"Social Audio" is just like a live radio broadcast but also allows members of the audience to participate directly with the host and other listeners during the show. 

Keith is thoroughly researching this new trend and now does regular shows on Linkedin, Discord & Go Brunch.

You can find out about the upcoming shows here.

http://WhereIsKeithToday.com

OVERCOME ONLINE OVERWHELM

KeithKeller