Build Your Business: Recent Episodes
Jay Williams
Follow along as I build my business and share the struggles, setbacks, victories, and lessons. This is a document of the journey that I am sharing to help you avoid pitfalls in YOUR business.
We all need more customers, but what if I told you there was an EASY way to get them, you didn't have to change your whole sales process, and you gave yourself the ability to filter out bad customers?
Want to find out how?
How do ad agencies make all their money? Don't have enough time to invest into your facebook ads? Jay goes over how he's almost capped his business by running his own ads instead of relying on someone else to do it
💪🏻Taking action and doing it on your own
📈Unlocking unlimited growth
💵 How agencies make all their money
and more...
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/9tIhIKKNXYY
Are you sure you are getting the results you want for your clients? Is your product something anyone can get anywhere?
In this episode, Jay and Ant talk about scarcity, managing product expectations and what universities, Apple and Gyms all do, to continually grow their business.
Ant has been a business owner for over 10 years. From the early times of Instagram, he believed that being in touch with his community was the key to staying relevant even when things started to shift more and more to an online business model in the fitness world. In this episode, he shares his success story on how he made millions off of just 2,500 Instagram followers.
👉🏽From farmer's market to multiple locations
💪🏽The power of being in front of your local community
📱Why you should never discard an old iPhone
and more...
Your emotions do not matter...
Sounds harsh right? But it's true. What matters is what you do with the emotion. In this episode, Jay and Ant talk about why your emotions don't matter at the end, and how you can use that to your advantage.
💪🏽Pulling through the hard times
👉🏽Validating your feelings
📓Making choices that actually make a difference
And more.....
Meet Alex Minaboo; Started in general contracting and now owns the best efficiency and general contracting business in the Bay Area. His secret? Jay, Ant and him go over it in this special interview.
💪🏽The genius marketing strategy that built his business
🚩The personal cost of success
👉🏽Lessons from immigrant parents.
and more...
A couple of weeks ago, we created an ad for Ant's wife and they used it as an organic way to pick up new leads and eventually clients. $0 ad spend, nothing but a picture and a description with a compelling call to action.
What made it successful? The story.....
❤Writing a compelling story
👉🏽Selling client experiences
💵Our real role as marketers
and more....
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/eP_yN_n-50g
How do you make decisions? Ever struggle to know if you are doing the right thing? Measuring what you do is how real businesses decide where to spend their time, and Jay and Ant are gonna break down what it really means to measure success.
🏋🏽♀️Knowing when to double down
📅Having the time to spend what matters
❤Getting quick wins
And more....
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/8VYatPrA1pA
Do you dream of being a millionaire? Do you know what it's like? It's not all cars, parties, and fame. In this episode, Jay and Ant tell the story of someone who had it all, but was still miserable, and what it means to have financial freedom.
🔥Finding meaning in what you do
🚩Why crying in a Ferrari isn't something to aspire to
💵What it actually means to have money
and more....
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/qJ7n0hsqVns
You put up some ads, but how do you sell it? How do you get your leads from warm leads, to cold hard cash? Jay and Ant talk about their sales process and go into detail about how you can turn any lead into a sale!
💵Making an offer that's worth it
🔥Breaking beliefs
💪🏽Navigating 'No"
And more....
Ad agencies are great. But what if you just took the plunge and did it yourself? In this episode, Jay and Ant create an ad. They go through the process and show how they spoiler warning made 10 sales for 1 hour worth of work.
Check back next week to see the results yourself!
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/8MhBb2P6Dg0
Being able to decide what you spend your time and energy on, is the real benefit of owning a business. Money is just the tool we use to do it. In this episode we talk about Ant's experience getting back from vacation and what he discovered about himself and his business.
💵Paying yourself with time
💪🏽Reaping the rewards of your work
👑Do more with less
and more....
Crypto, NFTs, that one friend with an affiliate program you can sign up for and make money from advertising for them. All of these things won't teach you how to run an actual business.
Do the work, work on your patience muscle. It'll pay off in the long run.
Is your business taking up all of your time? Are you actually able to enjoy the benefits of what your business is bringing to you? In this episode, Ant's going on vacation for a month and he tells us about what he did to be able to leave his business for an extended period of time....
👑Building strong systems
⌚Run your business like clock work
🔥Enjoying your time off
and more....
full episode here - https://youtu.be/ONvICLHCVpw
Some weeks are better than others. What's actually important is to keep yourself going, and staying motivated. In this episode, Jay and Ant review what they do to keep motivated when things don't seem to go as planned.
👉🏽Finding the silver lining
🏋🏽♀️Creating systems to keep yourself going
👑Losing can be ok
and more....
Full episode here - https://youtu.be/E5ZHoCvVXIw
Willie started out like everyone else; a regular employee. Working construction, he came to a realization- it was time to become his own boss. In this episode, Jay sits down to interview Willie to find out what it takes to go from employee to business owner.
🏋🏽♀️Realizing your own potential
👑Taking the first step
💵Hiring your first employee
and more....
Are you tired of trying to get more leads but nothing is working? Just posting on social media IS NOT MARKETING. Ant and Jay go over how to actually market your business.
💵How to get more leads
👉🏽Why your mindset matters
👑Making your product the best in the market
🔥Changing the way you look at marketing
and more....
Full video here - https://youtu.be/hBgnr6gxxEs
Your customers are always right, or are they? Listening to the customer seems like pretty common sense, but really learning to look for the right things can be challenging. In this episode, we go over what we've learned recently from listening to our best (and worst) critics, our very own customers!
👉🏽The power of a light bulb
💵Understanding what people actually want
🔥Driving yourself forward through feedback
🏋🏽♀️The power of reaching out to your community
and more...
Starting an online business can be a hell of an opportunity. It has it's own risks and challenges and Coach Jay and Ant sit down to talk through how they would open a business online in 2023.
🔥 Proper investing
👉🏽 Choosing your niche
💵 Getting your first customer
👑 Why your mindset matters
and more....
Full episode here - https://youtu.be/n208UiPhNC8
How do you know if someone is a good fit for your company? How do you deal with someone dragging your team down? In this episode, we go over the how-to on hiring and firing. and everything in between,
📓 Adittion by subtraction
💪🏽 Spotting the winners in your company
🔥 Letting go of your bad apples
🚗 The parking lot rule
and more...
Full Episode - https://youtu.be/JU8NzDvnV5A
You ever tried to fake it till you made it? Being authentic and putting in the work is hard, and feeling anxious about your results is normal! In this episode, Jay and Ant go over impostor syndrome and why fake it till you make it, isn't real.
👑 The power of showing up
📓 Doing your homework
👉🏽 What actually is impostor syndrome?
💪🏽 Not caring what others think.
And more...
Why are you waiting? Making hard decisions is the key to making your business successful....
🤜🏽 Taking decisive action
💪🏽 Showing up during the hard times
📓 The reason straight-A students fail
👉🏽 What a 7 year old can teach you about consistency
and more....
Money is important, but it isn't everything. We go deep into keeping things in perspective and how to use your purpose to keep pushing forward.
👑 Changing your business model for the better
🔥 Implementing new ideas quickly
📓 How to test your ideas
💪🏽 Improve things, even when everything is good
and more....
Full video here - https://youtu.be/7etd7mkMK80
Jay and Ant on the biggest lessons they learned trying to survive the pandemic.
👉🏽The importance of having strong business fundamentals
💪🏽Treating your business like your second child
🔥 The difference between founders and CEOs
👑Trusting your feelings when making decisions
and more...
Full episode here - https://youtu.be/tMrQmfpq0YE
What motivates you? Should you set big hairy audacious goals or small ones that you can achieve?
And what motivates you when the goal is so far away?
💪🏽Find a worthy opponent
👉🏽What fuels you to keep going
🏀How Kobe Bryant thought about goals
🔥What if the odds are stacked against you?
and more....
Full video episode here - https://youtu.be/sYo5PEhX1OY
Do you want to positively affect everyone around you? We have something for you. ❤
In this episode, we talk about what Jay learned after speaking at at $2500 Mastermind, in front of 500 people, and a few other things...
👉🏽The compounding effect of positivity
👉🏽Giving your best work away, and when to charge for it
👉🏽What training my dog taught me about business
👉🏽How to give the most meaningful "thank you" you've ever given
Video of this episode here > https://youtu.be/E-ao9B6HwNQ
Be proud of yourself...
You've overcome so many things in your life, take your time, reflect, and be proud that all of the challenges you've crushed, all of the hardships you've endured, have made you who you are today; and anything you are going through right now is what will make you what you will be tomorrow.
Coach Ant and Coach Jay, sit down for the first time and talk about setting goals, the value of suffering, and learning how to live in the moment.
Don't you hate getting frustrated with setbacks?
After I figure out how something gets done, I always set a system around it so I never have to worry about it again.
Happy episode 100 team. Thanks for being here and showing us support. Couldn't have done it without you.
Do you want more clients than you know what to do with?
Give people an opportunity to say yes to you, risk-free. Lower the barrier to entry, and invite them to something that would get them hooked on you.
Remember when your mom used to ask you if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow them?
The same applies in business. The caveat is that sometimes, it can work but most of the time, that bridge sucks and the water is shallow. So do your homework, look for values that match your own before you take a dive into a new venture, because it might not be for you.
The people who win in life, forget about time and worry about focusing on the thing that will let them win.
Focus on the things that are most important to you and will grow you, and stop worrying about how long it'll take you to get there.
Speed is king when it comes to making deals, but are you really doing what you want to be doing in the long run?
If you really want to be successful in the long run, stop chasing money, and start chasing the skills you need to become successful, so you can be rich forever.
Business is like dating, in more ways than one.
If you really listen to your clients, they will tell you what they want, and it makes it easy to take action, the alternative, is sleeping on the couch. Metaphorically and literally.
Do you think that changing someone's mind is hard?
When you want to change someone's beliefs, you have to get people to hear, see and feel the thing you are trying to change, and only then will you start seeing changes in your employee's and clients' way of looking at the world.
Remember to surround yourself with people who believe what you believe.
Are you spinning your wheels?
Doing something every single day, that's gonna get you where you want to be; even if you didn't accomplish anything, is the secret to actually getting what you want.
If you start showing up every day, over time you'll see progress, and you'll change yourself for the better.
You should only focus on the next step!
Whatever you are trying to do, is there for the taking. But you have to start working toward it. Focusing on your next step and becoming impatient about taking that step, rather than getting the goal, you'll get there much faster.
The most important lesson I learned years ago, was to protect my confidence.
You don't need to listen to negativity. Look for things that inspire you, that make you want to look for the better side of things, and you'll begin to notice the way you look at the world changes, and what you do in it, will begin to reflect that.
It's hard to be a business owner...
You solve a problem, then another comes up, then another comes up. Sometimes it feels like it never ends, but that is what separates you from the rest. If you want to succeed, you have to become a problem solver!
This January has been unusually great for my gym.
It's been wild, I really can't say it enough, and all I've really done is talk to people. Find out what they need, and get them to that as fast as I possibly can.
I've always preached about small wins.
But for that to work, you have to show up for yourself every day. What may seem nonsense now can be a game-changer later down the road. Practice makes perfect, and here I am 87 videos later and video 88 will be even better than this one.
I used to work for one of the biggest companies in the world.....
When I opened my first gym, I was just focused on getting the next clients. I see people talking about 'Tesla does this' and 'Google does that' and 'We can do this like Coke.'
Real talk, if you just focus on working on what your business actually needs to grow, you'll get much further ahead than just copying a bigger company because they 'just have it figured out.'
Finding good people is hard!
Whenever I find someone that is good, someone who over-delivers, I tend to keep them forever. It's absolutely not worth paying less for someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty and really delivers on every level.
I've helped a ton of people get ahead in their businesses, and everyone is at a different place.
Everyone stresses out about what to do next or where to go next and what not. Look, life is just a video game, and there are levels to it just like in business, just make sure to be playing the right way at the right stage, and you'll get the success you are after.
Numbers can tell an amazing story if you listen to them.
I pay a lot of attention to numbers. Sometimes a bit too much. But it's the best way for me to get clarity on what's going on and it helps me make decisions. The biggest thing is the peace of mind that I get knowing what's going on.
It's not a hack, but it sure works like one.
When you practice showing up for yourself, stuff just seems to work. If I could give you any piece of advice, it would be to practice, practicing.
Hindsight is 20 - 20
Recently I've been thinking about the things that I would tell myself 15 years ago and looking at how far I've come from there. Am I the person I wanted to be all those years ago?
What would you tell yourself?
Everyone looks at goals a bit differently.
This year I wanted to set my goals a little differently and tried splitting our main goal into 3 parts. It's really helped to inform me what I have to do, and how far I have to go, to get to where I want to be by the end of the year!
What are your goals for this year? What do you want to achieve?
Small improvements are the key to long time success.
If you give constant feedback to your team and yourself, you can make small changes that over time add up to become the best in the market. You’ve heard the phrase “if you improve 1% every day, by the end of the year you’ll be 3.5 times further in the process.”
Here is the thing, it’s not just a platitude. It really works!
We’ve all had to deal with adversity throughout our lives.
Recently, we’ve been hit pretty hard by the rain here in California. But we stayed open, and our gym members appreciated the ability to come in and get through it. Despite having no power, we had classes.
As a business owner, going through hardship is in the job description. Don’t let fear rule your decisions and see how far you can get.
Quitting or giving up can be a great tool to get to your goals.
In the tech world, they call it pivoting, other people call it quitting. Being consistent with your values is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. What happens if what you are trying to do, doesn’t align with your values or is actually getting you further away from them?
We pivot! We get ourselves back on track and keep moving forward in the right direction.
Giving proper feedback is hard.
When you give one of your employees a challenging task that requires a lot of feedback, it's often giving the actual feedback that is the hard part. You have to get uncomfortable and do it so the person doesn't take it personally.
Focus on one to two things that they can improve each time you give feedback, and overtime you'll start noticing the huge leaps that your team makes and how much more effective your feedback will become!
Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed.
We've all been there. Not being able to push forward. Struggling to get yourself moving in the right direction...
Take a cold shower, hop in the shower and get yourself a quick win and keep building momentum to keep you pushing forward.
A.I. is a powerful tool to help anyone grow their business!
In order to build a business you gotta solve people's problems. A.I. is really good at that. All it takes is a bit of creativity and drive, and you can start a business today, basically out of nowhere!
Going from $0 - $1 is infinitely more exciting than making the first $1000
If you are stuck not starting your business because you lack confidence, just focus on solving a problem for somebody and making your first dollar. You'll feel great, and you'll have tapped into the starting point that will allow you to grow your business!
Do you want to start a business but can’t seem to take the first step?
I took a gamble when I opened my first gym. But I broke it all down in baby steps so that it seemed like something I could tackle and conquer.
If you really want to create something meaningful and become successful, dip your toe in, take the first step, and start moving toward your goal, one step at a time.
Whenever a client gets stuck, I use this tool. It works 99.9% of the time to get you moving.
You need to give yourself the best chance of success.
When you wake up, have your clothes nearby, and make sure your coffee pot is set the day before so that you can just brew and start your day.
Make your routine work for you and your progress. Creating systems is one of the biggest hacks I've found to make my dreams a reality.
When you look around, does what you see align with your goals and where you want to be in the future?
Just get yourself in the right room, and surround yourself with people who have done what you want to do. Good things will start to happen, and you'll find yourself closer to your goals.
Sell results, not information.
People are looking to solve problems. If you focus on delivering solutions to your clients, rather than just selling them the 'how to guide' you'll start seeing a difference in your business. Provide more value, and give your knowledge away.
Our January doesn't go like you'd normally think when it comes to our gym.
We help change people's lives and really focus on getting results; so we shy away from people obsessed with resolutions or that just aren't focused on long-term goals.
We are only focused on getting results and changing lives, so we learned to be different than the rest.
You’ve seen a ton of advice around the internet that tells you whether to give your prices away or if you should talk things through with your client.
Look, follow your process. Your best clients are the ones that will understand what you do, and believe what you believe. For our gym, we first make sure that our prospects are our type of folks, and then we talk through how to structure their plan.
So don't feel pressure when it comes to giving away pricing. At the end of the day, if they feel like it's worth it, they will buy.
Have you ever thought about what it actually meant to reach your goals?
You have probably tried to put things out into the world that may or may not have worked out. Last year, I wanted to have 1,000 subscribers by the end of December and I was very fortunate to have much more than that. This is the story of what I learned from all of this.
Now it’s up to you to take these lessons and apply them yourself.
What have you accomplished this year?
You probably feel like you have a lot to do in the upcoming year. One of the most powerful tools you can use is to do a proper yearly review. It can absolutely help set you on your path and help create a path that you can follow or course correct what you need to in order to keep growing.
Celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, and create your future.
Are you frustrated with where you are at?
You are probably feeling stuck on something right now. You have to face the things that are stopping you from keeping your momentum moving forward. Take it 1 step at time, and just focus on seeing progress.
Acknowledge the frustration, work on the problem; get unstuck.
You want to make more money, you're just too afraid to admit it.
Even if it sounds weird, everyone wants somethings. To earn more money, to lose weight, to get stronger. Forget about the judgement that comes with stating what you want. Work for it, declare that it's yours and get to it.
If you play small, you will stay small.
It's important for business owners to take the time to celebrate their achievements and recognize the progress they have made. Celebrating your achievements can help to improve your mental and emotional well-being, as it allows you to take pride in your hard work and to feel good about yourself and your business. It's okay to acknowledge and embrace your successes, rather than trying to downplay them or deflect compliments. It's important to be mindful of how you talk to yourself and to try to focus on the positive aspects of your business and your personal life.
If you're thinking about hiring a coach, it's important to first decide what your goal is. You need to have a specific goal in order to know if the coach is helping you make progress. Once you have a goal, you can do some research to find out what other people have done to achieve similar goals or overcome similar struggles. This will help you understand what strategies and approaches have been successful in the past and how a coach can help you reach your goal.
Coaching can speed up your progress exponentially, and if you put in a bit of work and set your goals properly, you will see results much faster and much more reliably than you will on your own.
it's important to recognize that there are many different marketing tactics and strategies that can be effective for small businesses, and what works for one business may not work for another. Ultimately, the key to successful marketing for small businesses is to focus on building relationships and solving problems for your customers. By consistently delivering value and meeting the needs of your customers, you can build a strong and loyal customer base that will help to drive your business growth and success.
I LOVE haters.
They might write bad reviews or say mean things about you. At first, they are scary and hard to handle. But after it happens a few times, you start to realize that haters aren't always a bad thing...
Today I talk about my haters, and how you can use them as fuel to motivate you to do more.
It's important to manage the expectations of your customers and to make sure that they feel confident and supported in their decision to work with you. Start with acknowledging the significance of their decision and offering congratulations, scheduling a kickoff call or meeting to get started.
It's about taking action and making sure they feel GREAT about the purchase they just made!