Keith Abraham is the best-selling author of three books including his latest FOCUS. In this episode of the Marketers Club Podcast, Keith shares a host of powerful and proven strategies to help you reclaim your FOCUS and place it on the achievement of your goals. 

Keith has assisted over a million people to set and achieve their goals, by teaching them how to become a confident action taker who no longer falls victim to the habit of procrastination. 

00:00:00:02 - 00:01:07:08

Paul: So how often do you find yourself losing focus and beginning to procrastinate on doing the things you know you need to do to grow your business. Well if you're like most entrepreneurs it certainly happens from time to time perhaps, it's happening more often than you would like. So this episode is dedicated to helping you to reclaim the focus that you'll need to be able to generate the sort of results that you're looking for in your business. But staying focused in business is not an easy task. There are so many pings and bings and things vying for our attention as entrepreneurs every single day. There's lots of shiny objects to pull us off course and to distract us away from doing the work we know we need to do in order to reach our goals. You know this is not a new phenomenon in fact Socrates wrote about this more than twenty five hundred years ago when he described the state of mind known as akrasia, where people will do things against their own better interest the fact is we've all been guilty of stepping away from the work we know we need to be doing.

00:01:07:21 - 00:01:55:04

Paul: We've been distracted by things or allowed things to distract us that stop us from meaningfully moving our business forward. So I've asked a good friend and best selling author of the book focus Keith Abraham to join me and share some insights on how do we stay focused on the things that matter really most. How do we push away from distractions and as Keith shares in is really fun an entertaining conversation that we have to learn how to starve our distractions and feed our focus. And he shares some great insights on exactly how we can do that. He also shares the strategies that he's using inside his own business to achieve tremendous success. So it's a great conversation and one I can't wait to share with you. So let's dive into it. But first here is the intro

00:02:06:06 - 00:02:21:16

Warwick: Welcome to the marketers club podcast. The show all about helping you work smarter. Earn more and accelerate your success. And now he's your host. Paul McCarthy

00:02:25:15 - 00:03:05:00

Paul: So hello and welcome to episode 10 of the marketers club podcast. I'm your host Paul McCarthy and I am here to help you market your talent so you can begin to earn what you're worth and ultimately make more of a difference in the world. Thrilled to have you back for another episode. Welcome back on board and if you're new to the show Welcome. Great to have you and thank you to everybody who has been subscribing to the show sharing their thoughts their comments and of course sharing the program with other people. We're absolutely thrilled with the growth of the program how many people are getting on board and and telling us how much they're enjoying what we're presenting which is absolutely fantastic.

00:03:05:01 - 00:04:06:17

Paul: That's what we're here to do to serve you and help you to grow a better business. I really appreciate you and I thank you so much for doing that. And of course this episode is all about getting that focus that you need. So I mean focus is such a critical part of our success in business and it's where I started in fact with episode one of the marketers club podcast just sharing some of my battles with focusing on getting these podcasts pulled together. It's been on my back burner and I've been procrastinating for a long time about pulling that together. So in fact I was sharing it with our guest Keith before we jumped onto this call and having a bit of a laugh about that as well. So it's great to be sharing this with you. Keith is an incredible entrepreneur multiple bestselling author great speaker and an award winning speaker and a man who's built a brilliant business over the past couple of decades. So he's always fun to chat. So let's not waste any more time. Let's dive into our conversation with Keith. Keith welcome to the marketers club podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today.

00:04:07:15 - 00:04:26:03

Keith: Paul just an absolute delight to be with you in mate, it's always great chatting to you,  you've got such great wisdom and knowledge and just on the cutting edge all the time mate which is just wonderful and I love that you know you ticked off the list that the podcast and made that happen that's sensational.

00:04:26:23 - 00:05:33:26

Paul: Well I mean I thought it would be great to get you on. I mean you're one of my favorite people and you've been absolutely crushing it in the speaking world and you've built a brilliant business so I'm keen to chat to you about those things but I really want to focus on your book called Focus and read lot of strategies for overcoming procrastination. And before we started donated I was mentioning to you that the launch point of the podcast was really my having a conversation and quite a cathartic sort of experience of you know sort of explaining that my podcast had been on my to do list and never made it to the top and I'd been at one of those procrastination things for a long time so I came to talk to you because you help so many people with setting goals and getting things moving so I keen to chat to you about that, but before we dive in I want to give people a sense of who you are and how you've got to where you are because you know you didn't start off with a background in speaking and building that business you started in a very unusual place I guess and I've created this great business so maybe you give us a little snapshot of the Keith Abraham story.

00:05:34:06 - 00:06:37:13

Keith: Yeah well well I grew up on the farm and dropped out of school. You know I never finished Year 12. And but you know my mom got me my first job thank goodness because you know I often say this you know my mom worked in the local government in the local council on the Gold Coast and I say it's graft and corruption at the highest level Paul because I never I never applied for a job I never went for a job interview. My mom said to me one day you're coming to work with me today which I thought was Bring Your Kid to Work Day. And and it was you know and when I said graft and corruption I mean I really think it was graft and corruption because my mom was a tea lady and Paul the young listeners on this podcast. You're probably thinking what the hell is that. And in essence she was the ancient day version of Facebook a true social networker and she was I well you know she just knew everybody you know. And I say graft and corruption. I think if you gave her son a job you've got a couple extra ice voyvoy's and Tim Tam on a Friday.

00:06:37:25 - 00:08:37:08

Keith: So that's how I started off and that's that started me on a journey actually because it was there I got introduced to a week long leadership program run by Rotary called Rila and my boss said to me we want you to go on this leadership program. So he's got rocks in his head. I'm not a leader you know I'm a council work I sleep a couple hours every day. You know the weeds are running rampant in my area you know. So then he said the magic word you get a week of work with full pay and I thought jeez maybe I am a leader you know maybe I'm a leader I don't know it. So that started me on a personal growth journey which has led me to you know in essence where I am today. You know I got out of the Council I work for a guy helped him grow his business from from three employees to 20. And we did that in about 14 months and then you know I decided to move from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. And you know managed you know a couple of franchisees and then our franchise stores I should say and then you know you looked after nine stores for Radio Rentals you know a team of sixty five people 25000 customers and everybody was apart from two Apprentice technicians were older than me. And that was you know when I really started loving the opportunity of standing up and presenting to people from the Rila days all the way through to there and got into a training role and then decided you know 23 years ago that I'll do my own thing. And here we are 23 years later. Spoken to one point six million people in 30 different countries so 31 now did one a new country on the weekend. You know five bestselling books you know one of them being focused. And so it's been a wonderful journey and just feel truly blessed that I was able to turn my passion into a into a business and that's been wonderful.

00:08:37:08 - 00:09:36:20

Paul: And I think what you're doing so well now is is helping people to do that exact same thing so I was keen to chat to you about some of the strategies that you're covering in focus and I know that they are strategies that you practice not just preach. It's helped you to build a business and it's that authenticity that makes them so effective. Because you are the real deal and you just share from the heart. Exactly. These strategies that have worked so well for so many people including yourself so I mean this podcast is dedicated to supporting people who are building businesses or aspiring to build a business and we know that it's a very challenging thing to run a business and how easy it is to lose your focus and to lose a sense of what should be my priorities. And so that becomes a real challenge. Let's kick off there. When we're trying to build a business where do we start with getting our focus sort of laser fixed what should we be focusing on first.

00:09:37:06 - 00:10:38:26

Keith: So let me let me give a couple of things to put some context around all this first Paul. Firstly each of us you know one of the mantra's I'll talk about in the book is you've got to starve your distractions and feed your focus. And so often what happens is there are so many different distractions now from social media to people just getting bogged down and doing stuff that's low value activities versus high value activities. So you know the question I keep on asking myself is is am I doing a 25 dollar an hour job or am I doing a two and half thousand dollar an hour job And I just want to be spending more time on the areas that most highest payoff. The second thing that people have got to understand is that what's the opposite of focus. It's procrastination. And so when people feel like they are not achieving they're not doing the things they know in their heart of hearts they need to do it eats away at them. In actual fact procrastination is the greatest robber of self-confidence. If you know you should do something and you don't do it then it eats away at you.

00:10:40:15 - 00:12:20:11

Keith: And so the best way to enhance your confidence is to make progress but to do that you need to make sure that you are very very clear on what the goal is that you're trying to achieve both long term and short and right down to making sure that you are implementing your daily deliberate habits because that's in essence where you create momentum. And the real the arch enemy of procrastination is progress and momentum. And so if we leave that as a framework. What we have to start to do is that you're only going to be focused if you have something to focus on. And so that's got to be a goal. It's got to be a goal or a project or an outcome or an objective. What a milestone whatever you want language you want to put around it. It's about making sure that you have an intensive focus on that. And so some of the work that I do with people is really around saying if you could only achieve one goal in the next 12 months You know in your in your career or in your business you know what would that number one goal be. And then to flush out that and I have a what's called a nine part goal drive a Formula that I work with people about and it's it helps people to become very Firstly it helps them create an emotional connection a mental connection and a physical connection and then which then provides people with an opportunity to be committed, compelled and connected to that goal.

00:12:22:08 - 00:12:37:29

Paul: So do you think that one of the issues for people starts with that they're operating a business and operating from this idea. I've just got so many things to do here. Never stop long enough to get clear about the main thing to do.

00:12:38:05 - 00:13:48:00

Keith: Yeah 100 percent. I just think everybody on a monthly basis Paul needs to stop and reset. They need to stop reset, recharge, refocus and you need to especially in business where you are inundated with so many opportunities or inundated with so many things to do. You have to just do this on a weekend. I was in Vanuatu on the weekend at a conference and I got there a little early just because of flights and I had a bit of time to myself. It was great because I stopped and reset some goals and a few had a few little ups and downs the last couple of weeks and and and I just so I need to just reset and recalibrate myself to work out what's important right now for me moving forward. And it's this ability to not be distracted by so much but to have laser like focus on what do I need to do to move me closer to what I want and then move me quicker away from what I've don't want.

00:13:48:06 - 00:14:27:10

Paul: I think one of the challenges for people particularly when they're in the early phases of their business and we've all been there where you know resources are tight and you're trying to manage and you know that perhaps you're not the best person to be doing a task but you find it a concern or you're struggling to figure out how I can let go of of a task and let somebody else do it who might be doing it a lot better than me but how do I afford that. I always suspect that one of the reasons people hold on to tasks that aren't serving them that are the low value ones that you mentioned is often just out of habit rather than even the money side of letting it go.

00:14:27:20 - 00:15:51:00

Keith: Yeah. Hundred percent look I think people wear this badge of courage of on busy you know. You know I mean seriously when was the last time you spoke to someone doing so has things going in they say I'm busy I'm just so busy I can't tell you how busy I am. I'm just so busy I'm just frantic and you know I mean when was the last time you spoke to someone you said has this guy and two fifths of bugger all at the moment you know looking for stuff to do you know that doesn't happen. So we we wear this you know this badge of courage or honor of being fratic and a good mate of mine has a has a lovely saying that I use all a lot with people see opportunities Flea from people who are frantic. So I just think that we got to just put things back into perspective without trying to do everything come back and say what's the highest value? Could I answer that email, yes you could but you know what should I ring a prospect instead. Could I could I clean out these 10 emails which are dinging as I come into my inbox or should I make three prospect calls or three past client calls. And so for me it comes back to firstly getting some good people around you. And I just keep on I'll come back to the comment I made before, is it a twenty five dollar job or is it a you know two and a half thousand dollar an hour job and you know let's let's. Well let's say what different perspective on it.

00:15:51:11 - 00:17:23:08

Keith: Is it A. Is that a 50 dollars an hour job Or is it a five hundred dollar hour job. They get bogged down in the minor and they stop. They don't mix in the majors and the majors is that longer term vision. If I'm going to achieve everything I want to achieve my business I could not be doing some of that crap work I could not be doing some of that low value work and let me outsource that will I do it as good as me maybe maybe not. Thing I say to people is tell me the three things that you are the very very best at doing and there are the three things that you should be doing continuously and constantly. I've got I've got a good mentor of mine and he says I said I'll do three things in my business Keith and he says I speak I travel and I have fun everything outside of that. That those three things somewhat I'm in my business does for me. And he said this is why I can do. Hundred and twenty jobs a year. And this guy he's my mentor. I mean he's twelve years older than me. You know fitter healthier blah blah blah blah all that sort of stuff. And it's just you know burning it up but. But he's got great support around him, so I learnt that a long time ago to. Have some great some great people around that you know have somebody to check my emails have somebody put my slide decks together have somebody you know because I know for me Paul, my best role is to convert big opportunities is to create content and is to stand up present, they're the three things I do the very very best of.

00:17:23:14 - 00:18:19:18

Paul: We talk about that a lot with with the members of the market club about figuring out your three primary moneymakers and zeroing in on those are we're in lockstep on that. I think you know that as an old musician I must say to people you know I don't think the Rolling Stones would still be plying if they had to lug all their own gear. You know we can't stay roadies to our business forever and you might start there but you if you stay there for too long you're just going to end up on this burn outline and kill yourself and as you say you might be wearing a badge of honor and so there was no other way. You know I was I worked around the clock but you never really got to focus on those key things. If we imagine that I've come to you keith, I'm starting a business and working at it. What's the first couple of things you going to tell me that I need to do. If you were you know mentoring me he said I can't this is where I want you to start Paul, do this and then come back to me what what would your advice be.

00:18:19:29 - 00:19:28:09

Keith: Vision a vision for the future. You've got to sit down and do an activity are called creating the business of your dreams. You know one thing I do with people business leaders is a guy. OK. There are 12 questions I need to ask you to help me create a vision for the future of vision. You know this business of me dreams and the premises is that if I could wave a magic wand and give you the perfect business you know how much money do you make. How much money do you keep. How many days off do you have a year. How many hours do you work a week. Well who would be the perfect customer for you. Perfect client for you. How many team members do you have. How many offices do you have. You know how many referrals do you get every week or every month in the business of your dreams. How do you feel you know when you think you your business any you know what are one of those eight amplified emotions you know that you know how would you feel. And we get people really clear on what this vision looks like and then second piece of the puzzle is we break it back down into what's the number one goal you want to achieve next twelve months to move you towards that.

00:19:28:24 - 00:20:47:21

Keith: And I just feel that. And then you know the third piece of the puzzle is it breaks right down into what are the The Daily deliberate decisions daily habits that you need to have to move you you know in the right direction. You've heard me say this you know on countless times when speakers come to me and they say look I'm not earning as much money as I want to and my calendar is not full and all that sort of stuff it it's just you know I always think you know the saying I created was activity cures inactivity. So you know if you're not saying the client you want to say it's because you haven't contacted enough people and and my daily and I'm just doing it again you know now is that my daily habit is like context seven people every day. And yes sometimes and how things how things call sometimes handwritten notes sometimes it's a book in the mail sometimes is linked in message or text or a video message not so much an email because I think that's just too easy to ignore and it's just such a common communication tool these days.But that type of activity See the thing I work on pause I can't context that I can't contact thirty five people a week and have somebody not be confused enough to say yes.

00:20:52:06 - 00:21:53:06

Paul: This is the thing you talk about the fact that sometimes you know I was an old soccer coach of mine he said you know soccer is an easy game made hard and I've always contended that businesses a lot the same it's you know we overcomplicate and that there's a simple formula and I think that your strategy around you know if you take an action continuously then results are more likely to come than not and you start to get a little luckier and the momentum builds and you start to get on that train. Had pleasure of going through that process if your goal setting which is it's an awesome process to go through. And I think that anybody who gets the opportunity should dive into that and you know have had you on our stages and speaking to people so I've seen the impact that it has. I mean we talk a lot to entrepreneurs about the idea of you know getting some clarity around their numbers identify what activity we're going to need to do to hit that target rather than the other way around. So what's your philosophy your suggestion for people in terms of the way they tackle the numbers in their business.

00:21:53:16 - 00:22:31:24

Keith: Well just you know I think start with the end in mind Covey said that you know start with the end in mind because you go okay well I want to work I want to. Well let's pull some numbers I want to make 500000 dollars a year okay great that's a wonderful goal, excellent and I think you can do it. You know you're smart enough talented enough so let's just break it down. So what's your average sale, well my average sales is is a thousand dollars. Okay great. So we're going to make 500 sales. I great. 52 weeks a year. But we're not going to work 52 weeks in a year because in essence is when you think of it there's four months annual leave there's another 10 days 12 days.

00:22:32:06 - 00:23:21:00

Keith: And you know like national or state holidays you know. Then you sort take out the weekends and then all of a sudden you come down to this number. So how many how many. You know how many actual selling days do I have to generate that. I can't. Whatever the number is I'm making it up now and then you sort of go okay. What your conversion rate and oh my conversion rate is you know is 50 percent it's 20 percent. Okay. So what's that number there. So how many how many contacts do you need to make to to get to a conversion but that that's not actually the right ratio it's like it's it's how many people you have to contact to qualify you know it's better than anybody. Paul, but how people would you have to contact a qualified them and then what's your conversion rate to a proposal and then what's your conversion rate to a yes.

00:23:21:17 - 00:24:28:22

Keith: And so that's you know you just you'd have to just break every single thing down. Always having in the top your mind the five reasons why you want to make 500000 a year oh like kids and go to a decent school I can drive a nice car you know payoff my house quicker. You know gone a great holiday and well respected in the industry I'd be in the top 5 percent blah blah blah blah blah. And so all of a sudden now you've got a number to aim for and you just break it down. OK. So what many people do have to contact every day or how many LinkedIn connections do I need to create or how many emails do I need to send out or how many people you know how many appointments do I need to have. I mean it just you're right. Business is simple. And there's lots of people to get over complex about it. You know they've got a they've got this strategy and they've got a social media plan and we're gonna to spend time on our website end of the day people do business with people you know whether it's online or offline it's still about building trust rapport and credibility. That's never going to change. Can can't get a robot to do that.

00:24:29:00 - 00:24:50:15

Paul: No you cannot. And that's. And so we keep it simple. We can really start to accelerate the journey of our of our business. So in terms of rituals creating rituals you mentioned already one that you have which is you know sort of the reaching out to the seven people a day. What are some of the other rituals that would help an entrepreneur to to drive the business forward.

00:24:50:21 - 00:25:45:06

Keith: Well I reckon even before we get to there Paul is what we can do. You've got to get people to identify how they want to feel. There are eight core drivers. So these are these drivers will push us through to do the uncomfortable and the inconvenient. So of these eight drivers people want to feel successful people want to feel purposeful they want to feel inspired. We want to feel happy. They want to feel organized. We want to feel respected. They want to feel confident and they want to feel relaxed. So for the people listening you say in the next 12 months about my business how do I want to feel for me I want to feel respected. I want to feel successful and I want to feel organized. And so you go okay. So what do I have to do every day that will give me that sense of emotion that that feeling and then what you do is you go okay. So what now. What activities do I need to do.

00:25:45:12 - 00:26:42:25

Keith: So to me I feel successful when I'm doing my seven calls. I feel in actual fact, that helps me become organized more than anything else. I know if I do that I'll get the results.  The second thing is for me it's meditation for me it's eating well for me it's it's going for a walk. They're the things that that I that I know. Reading a book or listening to a book. All of those things are habits. The other habit is I just don't start the day without a plan. And I do that the night before I just know what I need to do doesn't always go to plan. No but you know I can guarantee if you don't have a plan it won't go to a plan. So there are other things that I do on a daily basis that give me consistency of mindset consistency of action and consistency of being in flow

00:26:44:14 - 00:27:03:16

Paul: And I think this is the case that if people stop and examine the rituals that they have they will see the ones that are serving them and the ones that are potentially holding them back and causing them to continue to instead of move forward kind of dig the hole down and and dig their own their own rut that they put their selves in.

00:27:03:24 - 00:28:11:17

Keith: And you know just even a ritual might be. So you know we've talked a lot about doing doing, some maybe there's some rituals more around not doing. So is a ritual for not doing. Don't answer don't reply to e-mails all the time. You know check your e-mails and 8. 12, 3 5. None of us. Well I'm not sure. Some of your clients but most of us are not waiting for a heart transplant. We're not checking the e-mail every five minutes to check if the hearts ready. So if you're always fiddling you're never doing it. You're never making progress. And this is where people now more than ever. I think over the last 10 years since e-mails played more of a part in our life is that we get so bogged down in oh there's another ding. You know there's another ring. You know like what we have to do is we have to you know compartmentalize so we can actually focus on making progress on the projects that are most important to us. And that's a ritual that's a ritual of not doing.

00:28:11:20 - 00:28:57:27

Paul: It's not always about the activity. Often it can be just as powerful just to stop doing things that don't serve you. A lot of your focus and an impact that you've had on the world is about you know how many people you've helped to set meaningful goals goals that they can get to work on and achieving. And I think you know we've been in alignment around the idea of goal alignment. And I think that I meet a lot of entrepreneurs who are talking about something but their activity does not align with the achievement of that goal. So when you chat to people when you're helping people with getting their goals aligned what are some of the things we need to focus on to make sure that we are in alignment.

00:28:58:19 - 00:30:08:18

Keith: Yeah it's a whole process. So firstly you know like I might put some people's noses out of joint saying this will look smart girls don't work for companies they work for individuals but not for companies. You have to have a you know you have to have an emotional connection. It's three keys you've got to have an emotional mental or physical connection to your goal because unless you've got those three aligned then which really is when I say emotional mental physical I'm talking why, what, how, feel, think, do, heart, head, hands and so this is about making sure you got all of those three the boxes are ticked. So when I work with people I get them really really clear on what they drive a how do they want to feel out of those eight that we spoke with how they want to feel and then we say let's get really specific on the actual goal. So build as much detail as possible. The next piece of the puzzle is we get people to get really know what's the picture in their head because all of us in the background might have a reticular activating system which is which in essence is focusing you know software in our in our brain.

00:30:08:29 - 00:31:35:23

Keith: And that part of the reticular activating system is that is the thing that brings us brings the unconscious and the consciousness together. And so once we got that vision then we get really clear and I can when do I want to achieve this by. And funny enough the data's not quite as important then but you do need to have a bit of a start date and a finish date and if you if you miss out on a finish date that's okay you're a lot for a lot more closer to it. The other piece of the puzzle there an alignment is is often say to people tell me five reasons why you want this goal because unless you can tell me five reasons why any excuse will do, to hot, to cold, too many, too few, too little, too much, too hard oh Keith it'd be too easy to do that.And then once you've done that then it really comes back to one of the three milestones. And I say if it's a 12 month go the milestone Paul needs to be no more. The first milestone no more than 30 days from today. The second milestones probably about 90 days from today and the third milestones at least about six months from today. But you make the first milestone really easy because what you're looking for there is to set yourself up to succeed not set yourself up to fail. And you're looking more of a stepping stone rather than a wall to climb over in that first milestone which helps you create momentum which endeavors to then create progress

00:31:36:14 - 00:32:35:21

Keith: And then and then are just then get people and just focus on what you need to do next 30 days and then we break that down into really what you need to do is make sure that you know exactly what your daily habits are. Now in between all of that Paul we have a very own honest conversation with people because my belief is the reason why you haven't achieved that goal yet is because you haven't changed enough which means you have to either stop doing some things or you need to start doing some things. So we get people really clear on what they the two or three things they need to stop doing in their life or in their business and what are the two or three things they need to start doing in their life or their business to help them move quicker and closer to actually what they want to achieve. And that really is one of those pivot points because that's that's a real hand on heart no BS and giving them very very clear on what it exactly is that they need to be honest enough with themselves to say I need to let go of this and I need to focus on this.

00:32:35:27 - 00:33:41:04

Paul: Really what's I guess required of all of us. We've got to have these no B.S. conversation particularly with ourselves you know. Stop. Stop pretending and feigning and doing this. Get down to what really needs to do. Now you mentioned the word pivot which I would like to do before we kind of wrap up today because I want to pivot a little bit to you know some of the things that you do in your business and how where you do them. You know being I mean you're a multi award winning speaker you're really you know 31 countries you know. So one of the things I love you do is to share with us is because a lot of people when they think of the world speaking would think of you know doing a presentation and then you kind of move on. But you have tremendous stick ability with your clients and you get the opportunity to work with them and get invited back over and over again at a level that most others in that space don't get to do and I think there's there's learnings in that for all of us regardless of whether people speak or not but just as a business you know from an operational point of view how and what it is you do to make that happen.

00:33:41:11 - 00:34:26:09

Keith: Good question. Look early on in the piece I just decided that I want to go deep with clients rather than you know you can be a mile wide and an inch deep. Well I just decided that I want to be a mile wide a mile deep. And so you know one of the things that that we do is we just stay in touch with them when they're not doing business with this Paul that that's what it comes down to we're tenacious we will use both direct mail still. I mean people all that you know it sounds very old fashioned. Yeah I said that's you know that's why we do it because nobody else is doing it. You know that's the thing that gets the cut through and we tie that in with both electronic as well as you know Lumpy mile and and that. Yeah. That seems to work for us.

00:34:26:10 - 00:35:28:24

Keith: But the thing that I do is as soon as I am booked to do a job not that I have completed the job I'm looking for the next opportunity in the and you know to give you an idea. So I was in London did a couple of jobs over there you know and I'll take the time to understand the client and their people and all that sort of stuff because that's where the next opportunity is. And out of that thing popped out a. OK. So you know there's a couple of challenges. You know and and I just presented a white paper telling to say I think whether you use me or you don't. His observations and this is what the next step is moving forward. And if you want to discuss that a little bit further then then let's you know let's sit down and have that conversation. So the thing that I do think which is you know to make it relevant for the people listening is that on looking for not the job but on looking for the 10 opportunities from the job.

00:35:29:17 - 00:36:08:24

Keith: And as soon as a job is booked on then you know before you've even stepped on stage I'm thinking about where where else can we go with this. So it's very strategic about what we do and it doesn't take a right. You know when often you say the words stages people think oh you're sitting there for hours now. It's like sitting in and go Well if I'm going to do this what do you reckon is going to pop out of the back end of it. I reckon there's going to be this need there's going to be this issue that might be this concern. There might be this opportunity and then I go ok what could I do here. What would the the next step be after that and then start playing the seed about that.

00:36:08:29 - 00:36:20:05

Paul: That's a powerful way to start looking at things and I think that's the thing people are so blinded by they just the one opportunity in front of them that they're just focused on that they don't think about next.

00:36:20:23 - 00:37:12:24

Keith: Well the opportunity firm just got that is the bright shiny object and so they get all mystified by the bright shiny object is i'm so good I've just converted this. And well this is gonna be such a great for our cash flow and and yada yada yada and muda, muda muda. But at the end of the day you sort of go Well I think one you know like you know why not at all. You know why not. You know. You know actually camp in that organization or or get the first or you know. Now I understand it's whatever I'm going to deliver it's gonna be after me absolutely absolutely fantastic because that's the catalyst I always say my best sales interview is standing up in front of people. I get to sit across the table from you Paul and tell you that I'm the best speaker. You know I the best speaker around goals in the world. I can tell you that. And I believe that. And but that's irrelevant.

00:37:13:29 - 00:38:07:01

Keith: The client has to see that. And my best my best sales interview is standing up and delivering a fantastic presentation that meets the goal for the audience the goal for the client both at the same time and the client is then receiving unsolicited phenomenal feedback to the point I just said was This is the best. This is the best session we've ever had. Now that takes a lot of time energy and I work on presentation skills and all that sort of stuff but that becomes that then the client is then open with what people loved him if we loved him then why wouldn't we. Why would we have why wouldn't we do this again. Why wouldn't we not have this person come back and work with us time and time again. It was so easy. He was timely. He was he was quality. You know it was a great experience.

00:38:07:10 - 00:38:56:14

Paul: That's the way it comes back to the people the relationships the experience the way that people feel and and you know I haven't met anyone who does it better than you mate in terms of the total experience that you give your clients from the moment you connect and all of the follow ups and all those touch points and that's really you know like a formula that you've really mastered and as a result you know generated lots of success and and so and deservedly so for everything that you've put in to the to the clients and the energy you put into them. So let me wrap up by saying I was somebody who teaches people about goals and and really taking it to that to the next level. What's the next thing on the horizon for Keith Abraham where it. What's your focus and plan for your future.

00:38:57:00 - 00:40:01:18

Keith: Yeah look that's that's a great question for me mate I've got a I've got a new book so I got a few few projects on the go. I've got a new book that starting to sketch out now. I've created a in the process this week of doing some more work on the Goal drive diagnostic tool which is the ability for people to go online and work out which which is their driver. And more importantly the strategies that best apply to that driver so they can you know accelerate accelerate towards their goal so to achieve that goal quicker easier inflow. So there's. These two projects that I'm working on mate and look I'm just you know I'm revamping a bit of some of my topics at the moment and just you know just getting them more and more honed in and on the edge of what or what's really happening in the marketplace at the moment always changing always evolving you have to.

00:40:02:08 - 00:40:24:29

Paul: You know it's it's an evolve or die well isn't it. So. So we're going to keep we've got to keep moving so Keith if people and I'm sure many will want to reach out and be able to connect with you learn more and certainly to be able to dive into some of the goal achievement strategies that you teach, what's the best way for people to reach out and learn more from you.

00:40:25:12 - 00:41:19:03

Keith: Yeah. Look the best way. Couple of ways. I do a blog every week which is either a video or a or a a quick little quote or a story or analogy or something for people to ponder so they can always just go to my website which is KeithAbraham.com and log on to the blog. And you know they'll get that bit of inspiration in their inbox every week. All the other ways too. They can always connect with me on LinkedIn which is Keith Abraham CSP. You just search for that on LinkedIn just you're most welcome to Connect with me on LinkedIn as well. They're probably the two best ways. And you know and just check out anything that I've got on my Web site. It's all a free resources there there's some tools and videos and and things to help people you know move closer to what they want to achieve in their life and move away from what they don't want.

00:41:19:17 - 00:41:28:20

Paul: Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks so much for making the time to share your wisdom with that with all our listeners and continue success to you my friend.

00:41:29:06 - 00:41:52:11

Keith: Thanks buddy. Always delight chatting with you mate. I think you know what you've done with your business has just been phenomenal and I just know that the difference you make in people's business life has such a big impact on their personal life. And I know that's part of the drive on why you continue to seek excellence in everything you do. 

00:41:52:11 - 00:41:55:03

Paul: Thanks mate very kind. Good on you mate. We'll talk again soon.

00:41:55:16 - 00:41:56:02

Keith: Thanks buddy. Cheers

00:41:56:24 - 00:42:27:17

Paul: So I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Keith Abraham I know I got so much value out of it I was taking lots of notes you know it's worth remembering that the word distraction and traction come from the same root word action which in Latin is to Trahere. Which in Latin means to pull. So we're either being pulled in the direction that we want to go or we're being pulled away from what it is that we want. But of course you can't be pulled away from what it is you want unless you know what it is you want.

00:42:27:29 - 00:43:27:22

Paul: So we will become certainly less distractable if we start to have clear focus about what it is that we want and that we're able to stay the course and keep our focus on the things that matter most to us. You put a lot of energy and time into building a business and you deserve to be successful. So make sure that you keep your focus on the things that matter most. So I've enjoyed sharing this episode with you and I thank you again for joining me for the marketers club podcast for being one of the many subscribers for sharing the show and of course please if you haven't subscribed please subscribe into the program so you can be the first to know when each new episode is released and we're committed to providing you with the best content we can from the best experts in the world to help you drive a better small business. So until we speak again next time I wish you nothing but the best of luck with your business. But much more importantly with your lives. Until then take care. Bye for now.