 If you're watching this video, you are probably interested in learning business and marketing. And I want you to be very careful that the next time you consume any business or marketing trainings, when you are being sold any kind of programs for training, for learning courses, coaching, are they selling you based on your baser instincts? Are they selling you that you're going to make six figures, you're going to make a lot of money or that you will get famous? Is that the core message of the program that they're selling you? If so, I hope you will run the other direction. And here's why. One, those programs do not work, okay, almost certainly because I've sold such programs myself. I've made a lot of money selling other people's programs like that. I've created similar programs. This is years ago. Thankfully, I have reformed myself, but many of my peers haven't reformed, I think. And they're still selling you a boatload of dreams that don't work. Those programs don't work. So stop spending the $1,000, stop spending the $2,000. Ask me first, honestly. Ask me first and I'll tell you why they don't work, okay? Number one, they don't work. Number two is that they use the testimonials of the 1% of buyers that had extraordinary results and they don't tell you that those extraordinary results came because they handpicked a few people to take part in the program that they would handhold and who already were on the verge of making six figures or whatever and they take credit for it. That's the testimonials that you're seeing that have extraordinary results. Okay, but the real reasons why that I want you to run away from those programs is that they're selling you, make six figures, make seven figures, get rich, get famous, which are most of the business marketing training programs out there, it seems like a lot of them anyway, is that it's going to make you anxious and depressed. When they are connecting with you based on your baser instincts of desperation or greed, okay, what's happening is that you are going to be increasing the likelihood of those emotions as a result of not achieving the successes that they are promising you in the sales process, in the, you know, video series, in the phone call, in the webinar, on the sales webpage. So if you look at the research out there about happiness, about human happiness, it is almost certainly the case that you will discover that happiness comes as a result of self-actualization, right? And self-actualization comes as a result of expressing your creative self and being focused on that process of the flow of creation and self-expression. That's number one. Number two is that happiness comes as a result of recognizing yourself as being useful to other people, in other words, a sense of service and fulfilling that sense of service. So this is sort of been my mission of teaching you how to build an authentic business because an authentic business is essentially the merging of those two things, your creative self and your full and deepest and highest self-expression, which is unlimited, okay, in variety and in the potential of what you could become, your creative self, merged with your ability to really impact others from a sense of service, not from, oh, I'm going to make money from you, but my god, I am actually making a real difference in the lives of others. That is an authentic business. I'm going to read to you a quote from Viktor Frankl from the book Man's Search for Meaning, one of the most famous books about deep and true happiness. Viktor Frankl was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps and he was able to survive because he was able to tap into the deep capacity of human beings to survive and even thrive in challenging situations when they're focused on meaning and service. Okay, so here's the quote. Don't aim at success. Don't aim at success, which is what all those programs are selling you on. Join our program to reach success, six figures, seven figures, okay, to reach, to have a follower base of a million followers or whatever number, but just to have this greed and this fame and this desperation is what they're selling you on and you are ticking them up on it, not you personally, but so many people are. Maybe you have as well, some of you have probably spent money on those programs because they look so good. Let me continue with the quote here. Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue and it only does so as an unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the byproduct of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen and the same holds for success. You have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on carrying it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run, in the long run, I say, success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it. This is true success and this is the deepest happiness, right? That wonderful quote from Victor Frankel has guided my journey for years now. Ever since I realized the emptiness of the prior success I had achieved, which, yes, I had made some money, yes, I had built a fan base, but it felt so empty and my conscience would not allow me to go on and that's why I had to close down my business. I had to shut it down and I had to restart everything from scratch, building an authentic business. So what about you? Are you listening to the teachers and the experts and the marketers that are selling you on six and seven figures and on being famous because you are leading yourself down a path of anxiety and depression? I can almost certainly guarantee you that. I have been around the six and seven and even eight figure marketers in private conferences and most of them are very anxious and some of them are even depressed because they know they have to present this image of success and a lot of their systems, by the way, are very stressful to kind of uphold because they have to keep on making those seven, eight figures for the sake of the appearance of things, even though they're paying a lot of money for their systems and their staff and etc. Rather than being really grounded in authentic self-expression and the spirit of service without attachment to results, there's another quote that I'll share with you in this video and it's from the Bhagavad Gita and it's a very famous quote. I'll see if I can remember it, I've had it memorized for some time but it's been a little while. To the fruits of action, okay actually let me let me let me look it up. Okay, so thanks for being patient with me here. It's a famous quote and maybe some of you already know it. Okay and why isn't it coming up very quickly via a Google? Okay I will put it in the notes of the video. I apologize for taking your time here. Basically the Bhagavad quote says, none of us have a right to the fruits of our action but what we do have a right to is the action itself. The action itself we have a right to in other words we can focus our energy on the action itself and being as present and joyful and bringing as much of our virtue, whatever virtue we have to the action itself but we don't have a right to what happens based on our action. We don't have a right to, oh George I launched this marketing campaign. How come nobody bought? George I made this video. How come nobody watched it? George I wrote this blog post. How come nobody commented on it? You are attached to the fruits of the action. Instead you should be focused on as much excellence in the action itself as possible and letting the fruits be as they are. That's what the Bhagavad Gita has told us for thousands of years and it says if you focus your spirit on the action itself and let the fruits take care of itself because God is taking care of the fruits then you will reach the supreme. It's the same thing as what Victor Frankl said thousands of years later. Don't aim at success. Don't aim at how many viewers. Don't aim at how many comments and shares. Don't aim at how much money you're going to make from this product or from the service or from this launch or from this program announcement. Don't aim at that. You're going to get anxious. You're going to get depressed. You've experienced too but if you aim at the excellence of what you are doing over time you will inevitably reach success. Inevitably so if you don't give up. Bring your excellence and your spirit and your joy to the action, to the launching of your program. Yes, of course, creating the best program you can, creating the best service you can, writing the best book you can, creating the best video that you can and allowing others to say whatever they will. But here's the thing. You don't realize whether your program is actually that good until you put it out there. You don't even know if your video is good. You don't know if your blog post is good. You don't know if your sales page is good until you allow others to look at it and say oh it's a good fit for me or not. But you cannot quit. You cannot quit just because nobody bought it. Just because nobody signed up. You cannot, you must not quit. You must say I gave myself to this project and I will give myself to the next project and to the next project. Who told you? Who told you that this program is going to be successful, that you launched? Well guess who told you? It's the programs you bought who promised you six figures and seven figures, promised you wealth and fame. They told you if you follow our formula you are going to be successful and that's where you went wrong because you listen, you listen to them. You didn't listen to the Bhagavad Gita. You didn't listen to Victor Franco. You didn't listen to your own conscience and say bring your grace to this project and let God do what God will do. Let life do what life will flow and do. You just keep bringing your own excellence whatever you know now to this project and if you keep doing that over time a couple things happen. You will get stronger. You will get smarter. You will get more attuned to your audience based on the reaction or lack thereof. You will better understand what the intersection is of your self-expression and your sense of service because your sense of service tied to how people actually react and respond to whether they find it useful or not what you've created but you don't know that until you put enough things out there. So please do not be under the illusion that you're going to launch something and it's going to be successful. Please don't be under the illusion that it will be a failure either. You don't know. I don't know. Every single book I launch I don't know if it's going to be successful but I wrote it with heart and I wrote it in a sense of service and I'll let the world tell me. I'll let you tell me whether it is of service to you and I don't know. This video every single video I make I don't know if it's going to be a failure. It could be nobody watches it or not. By this point now that I've been practicing this for years I know some of you are going to watch it. It's inevitable because I have a big enough audience but in the beginning nobody watched it and I just kept going. Are you basing your actions on the results or are you basing it on your self-expression and on your spirit of service? That's it. That's the question for you and if you buy into those programs and so this is sort of the message that I started with. I kind of veered in a different direction but the message I started with is please stop spending money on any business coaching or any business programs or any online course or any offline workshops that are promising you results that are saying buy this program to earn six figures or seven figures or to be famous or to build followers or whatever it may be. You must look at your business as a practice not as a oh if I do this I'm going to get this result. Over time that is true but not for any particular launch not for any particular video blog post campaign announcement email newsletter you send not for any one of them otherwise you will become anxious and looking for those results and you will become depressed when they do not meet your expectations but in the big picture if you continue and build your skills and build your understanding of your audience and try enough different things you will certainly be successful that is unquestioned but many of you I mean I have spoken to by this point probably tens of thousands of of you over the last 10 years in my videos and in conversations one to one so many people say George for example George I try to Facebook ad and it didn't work so I stopped doing it George I blogged for you know three months and it didn't work so I stopped doing it George I launched my coaching program George I launched my you know XYZ service or I launched XYZ product and it didn't nobody bought it so therefore I stopped that's where you went wrong you were attached to the result you thought that the result was indicative of whether you should keep going or not the results are not indicative okay whether you should keep going or not is based on your vision is based on your creative self-expression whether you what you believe in that and whether you want to do you want to do you want to make money oh yes of course I want to make money George okay do you want to make an impact yes of course I want to make the impact okay fine let those things be the long-term picture and this is also partly where some of you are going wrong George I got to make it work this month otherwise can't pay my bills I cannot promise you and if you spend your money on anybody who promises you yes I will make you money in three months you have just lost I'm sorry to say please ask for a refund okay because an authentic business does not make money in one month or three months or even maybe a year now it could we're not I let's not be attached whether it makes money or not in one month or three months or a year it could make a lot of money in one month but that's my point is you cannot attach yourself to that result and be anxious and depressed if it doesn't happen some of you earn money faster than you expected but again it was out of an unattachment this is what all the spiritual masters have been teaching us and this is what the authentic business coaches have been teaching us okay you must bring your spirit and your vision and your creative self-expression to the work and be joyful in the work and find your joy in the work do your spiritual practice what is your spiritual practice is it meditation is a prayer is it journaling is it a daily grounding of breathing and breathing your intentions into your work that's what I do I breathe my intentions into my work what is your spiritual practice and are you doing it today and are you doing it every single time you do your work because if you merge your spiritual practice with your work then you will be successful in an undetermined amount of time it could be one week it could be this very launch that you're successful or it could be one year or it could be five years so pragmatically speaking please don't let your finances be determined by your business so you please go get a job okay those of you who need money I know this is a very unpopular message but let me be the one to tell it to you this is you're not going to want to hear this but you need to hear this go get a job if you need money within three to six months okay unless unless unless you have found your business to have some predictability yes if I launch george I noticed if I launch the service it tends to get this much money it tends to get this much now yes of course for example I notice if I sell certain things I tend to make certain amount of money I had a baseline it tends to be that sometimes it's better sometimes it's worse but there is about an average and if you have noticed that in your business too then yes keep going because essentially you have created some stability in your business but if you have no idea if you genuinely have no idea whether you're going to make money or not in the next three to six months go and get a job please go wait tables go and clean houses whatever you there is no lack of dignity in that you can bring your sense of service to cleaning houses and waiting tables now I know most of you probably can get other jobs as well but if you are going to clean houses and wait tables please do that that's how some of the greatest success entrepreneurs started you know there is no there is no such thing as a job that is that is unworthy every job digging the ditch has worthiness has a profound worthiness to it if you bring your spirit to it it can be the greatest act of service to humanity that has ever been done so I am not one of those business coaches that is going to sell you on prestige and on six seven figures and on fame as the pursuing factor as the thing that you should be dreaming of I will sell you on the spirit of service I will sell you on your creative self-expression and I will sell you on bringing that to whatever you are doing for money digging a ditch changing diapers cleaning a toilet serving tables or building your business same thing it's bringing your joyful productivity to the moment and if you do that you will be successful you will be successful so with that thank you for being part of this video and one of the things those of you who who have have joined me here and are watching thanks to Peter and Paige Kulaya Captain Laurie and Captain thanks Kulaya for your comments here Captain says indeed we can only control what we do not how others react yes now we can of course learn over time you will learn how your audience reacts to what you do you will see a pattern if I do this they react this way if I do this they don't react but it requires a long enough it requires enough experimentation and long enough period for you to observe what the patterns are and the problem that most of you are doing is you're not giving enough time and you're not doing enough experimentation to find those patterns whenever I coach my clients on Facebook ads if they've been doing it from one week that's it that's not enough data let's look at three months of day let's look at even two weeks of data depending on how much money they spend on the ads and what kind of ads they're doing but you see everything needs enough time enough data to notice the patterns and that the realities Captain you do influence how other people's react you are able to control that to some respect over time but it needs to have enough time enough experimentation for some pattern for us to be able to rely on that for our business right so your questions how do you keep yourself motivated in the long term when you're not getting any results great great question I love that so I hope well you posted this question quite a sometime it goes hopefully I've responded to that with with this video but on a daily basis you've got to dive in to your vision for your authentic business and for the love you have for your creative self-expression and for the spirit of service I'll give you one more resource to look into the work of Professor Tim Kasser K-A-S-S-E-R he's done work on you know psychologist it's on work on social psychology psychology and happiness and meaning and what he's noticed is this when people pursue work based on external metrics based on an extrinsic motivation oh am I is our other people our other people are other people buying based on what I'm doing here are other people responding to what I'm doing here if people doing it based on extrinsic motivation and external metrics what follows is anxiety and depression and oftentimes quitting okay but if people find a way to do work based on intrinsic motivations vision creative self-expression a love of service a spiritual practice if they do that based on intrinsic motivation and intrinsic reasons they are much more likely to find a state of flow flow right which is getting lost in the work itself getting lost in the moment of writing that thing creating that thing serving others getting lost in the service or in the creation of it okay people get lost in one way you can get lost in your creative self-expression which is wonderful sense of flow or you can get lost in the spirit of service which is also another sense of flow if people get lost in that they tend to develop their skills much more quickly they tend to continue to come back to that activity because they're doing it for the sake of the activity itself whether you are writing making a video announcing something to your audience doing some admin work I try to bring bring a sense of work a sense of flow to my most boring administrative work that I do because I don't have an assistant right now I choose not to have an assistant right now because I this year I wanted to figure out how to streamline my business more and so I'm doing all the admin work I'm doing the bookkeeping I do my website stuff I write my all my web pages I figure out how to create my own websites I do all of it myself I do my own Facebook ads I'm in I'm a practitioner I'm not just a visionary I'm a practitioner I'm in the trenches doing all the work and I try to breathe joy breathe gratitude breathe mindfulness breathe excellence into my work every single hour and that's where I find my flow and that's where I keep going and that's how I keep going with joy putting anxiety and depression at bay putting attachment at bay and that's how we keep motivated when there are no results because we just are on to the next thing we're on to the next thing breathing joy breathing your whatever virtues you want into the work and of course it's also helpful to have friends and a coach if you can afford a coach or a community of some kind that's doing the work together that's very motivating too so try to find the community those of you who are looking for a coach right now I actually can take on another client even though it's you know some of my clients wish I didn't say that because my I'm booked out about three to four weeks but technically if you're open to seeing me in four weeks I can take on another client but I also have a group program that creates a sense of community that's where a lot of my clients go to find you know encouragement and support on every single week basis daily basis so inquire about me for my group coaching program if you're interested in that or just find a friend find a friend watch my videos you know with a friend or you know just work get together one of the tools that I use on a daily basis to stay accountable to my work is focus mate so I'm a big fan of focus mate focus mate.com please please use that try it out right now it's free it's going to be a paid service next year but right now it's free so you might as well use it 2018 but even when it's a paid service 20 bucks a month it's so worthwhile so anyway try that out so find ways to be in community if you can find accountability and most importantly the most important thing and as a spiritual growth practice find that intrinsic motivation to do anything that you do so I wish you well thanks for being here and may you rediscover your intrinsic motivations to do anything every single day and many moments of each day be well