How to Build Your Own Six-Figure Business, No Employees Required

Hey everyone, welcome. I'm Dan Bova, writer and editor at entrepreneur.com. So great to have you here today for today's workshop, How to Build Your Own Six-Figure Business, No Employees Required. Excited to have you all here and so is our guest speaker. I am going to warn you that this man puts the Energizer bunny to shame when it comes to getting people pumped up. Uh, Ramon Ray is a five time entrepreneur and author of grow your solo.

And he's going to be here to share the success, the success secrets that he's learned that can truly change the game for solo founders. And if you're joining us live, please pop your questions into the chat and I'll get to as many as I can. All right. Let's welcome the man. Welcome Ramon. hey dan it's great to be here man thanks for having me i hope you're well it was good to get to know you just

about a year ago sitting in the front row at the entrepreneur level up and glad to be here and i've been reading entrepreneur for years and seeing the work that you and your team are doing so i'm excited and thank you for having me appreciate it so much awesome man well we are very excited to have you too and as i said there is a chat for everybody's questions And also, uh, you can connect directly with

Ramon at his site, which is Ramon ray.com slash office hours. So we'll talk a little bit more about that as we get going. But, uh, Ramon, we've got a group of people here who want to be solopreneurs or are solopreneurs, but maybe they're doubting they could create a real sustainable business. So what is your advice for getting anyone who has doubts in their mind off the fence and going? I love that Dan. I love that you

said the key word doubt because I think we have doubts about everything. I mean, I had doubts about being here today. Can I, will I do well with Dan and the great entrepreneur brand that we're on right now? Will I do okay in this experience right here? You know, so doubts are a key part, I think of any success as you know, Dan, but I think two things I'll say. I worked at the United Nations, in

fact, Dan, for a number and number of years before I went into full-time entrepreneurship and it was the fear that kept me from going into full-time entrepreneurship until I didn't have that job to lean on. So I think that's number one. Number two, Dan, I'll say is that I think the lie that many of us may have is that this is only for big companies, only for big brands to be successful. And we need big brands.

We want companies like United Airlines or Entrepreneur Media or whatever big brand you like. But the smaller businesses, Dan, and I know Entrepreneur has a huge audience for that. Those who are solo entrepreneurs like me, you know, have our backpacks, have our computers working at our desk at home, we can also build successful businesses. So that's the myth is that don't let the fear keep you from doing something great just because you're afraid will it work?

A little bit of fear is good, but yes, we can do it, Dan. All right. Well, I'm psyched. So one of the things I noticed, you know, you mentioned a couple of brands and I think anyone listening, you know, you immediately get a picture of what that company is, what they do. And I think that's because we understand their core. And can you talk about the importance of establishing your core for building your own business and

then also for attracting customers? Yeah, I think some of these things, Dan, we may think they're only for big brands. And again, I've had to learn this myself as I've been on the, what, 20 plus year path of entrepreneurship myself. But I realized one thing that still is important, even though I have to make money, I have to make sales, have to have customers, all the things that I know you know so well and you all

cover and write about an entrepreneur. But I think what I still learned is that even though I'm a small business, it's me and a few virtual assistants and I have an office manager and others that help me, but it's me as the primary person in the business. What are still my values? because when you don't have those kind of values, which sounds so big business, so hold on everybody, don't leave me. When you have those core

values, even for a smaller business, a solo business, it points the star, points the arrow to everything that happens in me. I'll just tell you, my core values are simple. It's two things, have fun and do the right thing. So pretty much Dan, everything I do, the clients I work with, the people I'm around, hopefully you and me, Dan, right? Everything associated. have some fun have a little laugh that's me and then do the right thing

everybody may say it but that's even on my website on things i do the core value i have is i always want to do right so that's an example of that core value to kind of guide you how am i running my solo business i love that uh and i spent a lot of time with you in vegas so uh entrepreneur had uh our level up event and ramon was our uh he was running the show

and this man for 77 hours straight was just keeping everyone engaged and it was fantastic and fun was definitely at the top of the list there. I love that. Let's talk a little bit about with entrepreneurship. One thing, especially as a solo, when we talk about big businesses, you think about all these support structures and there's tens, hundreds, thousands of people working towards a common goal. Solopreneurship, you're all on your own. What are some things that

you've learned about emotional toughness to get through the hard things when you're kind of like this is all on your shoulders? Yeah, Dan and Dan, the perfect example is right here. We were talking about it before we went live. I'm here, you know, in the West Coast. My daughter had a baby just a few months ago, seven months ago. So I'm a first time grandfather, right? Visiting my wife. These are practical things, personal side of me.

But Dan, the mental toughness I still have to have. I still have a business to run. I still have clients to serve. I still have partners to work with. And so I find that when the money is low, Dan, do we have the mindset to keep going? When the client says no and reject us, can we take that and say, okay, they said no, but maybe there's three or four more I can do. When maybe your

spouse or your significant other, whoever lives with you, they're like, is this dream really gonna happen? You've been doing this for a minute now. Do you still have the wherewithal to keep going at it. I forgot who it was. She has the B school. I forgot her name, but that Amy Porterfield one or probably her colleague. She has a book out called everything is figureoutable. And I think that's kind of the attitude that I talk about.

Hey, listen, maybe Dan said no, maybe Ramone said no metaphorically, but everything is figureoutable. If you put a little bit of two a little bit to it. So that's where that mindset of entrepreneurship. It's very important whether you're building in a billion dollar brand or building a smaller company, the mindset's everything. awesome and that book uh that ramon was just referencing is everything is figure outable and that's by uh marie forleo yes thank you marie forleo

exactly i had a i had a blank moment there i know somebody that's right oh again a lot of congrats in the in the chat for your grandfather ness so uh that's that's awesome so let's talk a little bit about tactics um you know being a a a one-person army You know, you're a big proponent of virtual assistants and not not an AI assistant, but a virtual assistant. Can you talk a little bit about what that

is and what that brings to a small business and also how to find the right virtual assistant for you? Absolutely. Seth Godin, as many will know, kind of the father of modern day marketing, Dan, he says it best that as solo entrepreneurs, we do have a choice. Are we trying to build a big, big, big, big brand, which takes a lot of levers, a lot of moving parts, different people and et cetera, or we're building a

solo business. But I do think for sure, Dan, and I'm pretty, I think fastidious is the right word. One thing that I like to think about is that at least having a virtual assistant or operations manager or administrative assistant. And they're all three slightly different roles, but at least Dan, as you're growing, maybe you're entering month six, month, year one, whatever it is of your entrepreneur journey, having at least one other person, Dan, to lean on,

I do think is important. You can literally be solo. So when I say solo to give contact even for my role, that means it's me pretty much. You know, I'm the solo payroll person, but I have maybe a video editor. I have a graphic designer. I have an operations manager. She can go to my calendar, look my email and help me scale. So Dan, that's why I say that as you're on this journey of being a

solo entrepreneur, if you want to crack that six figure threshold, you want to crack the half a million dollar threshold. You want to crack, God bless you, the $1 million threshold. You can still do it solo, but having one, two, three, four team members, fractional time, that's important to scale because Dan, while you and I are talking, sales order comes in. Do I want to have to deal with that two days from now. It'd be great

to have somebody to lean on who can help fulfill the customer, answer it even while I'm doing something else. So that's why that virtual assistant is important. So how do you go about doing that smart? Like I think if you ask anyone, can you use some help? Yes, I need all the help I can get. But how can you focus that and find the person that's really going to impact taking away all this you know, stuff

that's eating up your time so that you can concentrate on your business, not running your business. I love that. Now I'm hearing from this. How do you find your first virtual assistant, which is probably one of the top three questions I'm asked, Brad, how do I find my first virtual assistant? I think three or four things are very important. One, they should match who you are. I move fast. I speak fast. That's my kind of how

I'm dialed in. I need to have somebody who can match that. I like to laugh fast, have some good humor. Somebody who's okay with that. That's number one. Number two, Dan, have clearly defined goals or clearly defined responsibilities of what they're going to do. It's not just virtual assistant is I need a video editor. I need some administrative assistant. I need someone to help me plan meetings or whatever it may be. That's number two. Number three,

give them some time. Understand that you've been at this for a minute. So the person you hire, you don't have to give them three years, but maybe a 30 day onboarding plan to say, hey, listen, let's give ourselves 30 days to get to know each other. So one, they should match you. Number two, have a clear job description. Number three, give them a little bit of runway to get to know you and how your company works.

And then, of course, there's several brands I'm sure Entrepreneur works with some that you can just go online and find a good marketplace to find your first virtual assistant and test them out and see how they work. Curious if anybody listening right now or watching has experience with virtual assistants, stick it in the chat. Let us know if you had an issue, if things went great or if things didn't. And maybe Ramon can give you some

advice on Better luck next time. Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that for sure. Well, we got one immediately. This is from Financial Mentality, LLC. What are your thoughts on having an AI assistant? I love it. So A, I like it. I like an AI assistant. They're great. Here's a few things, Dan, that the person should keep in mind as you're considering an AI assistant. Yes, they can work. Number two, you do have to check and watch and

make sure they're answering what you want, answering in your voice. And number three, still I do believe that some things you want a human. It's the middle of the night. You need something done. It's nice to forward an email to a human who gets the full text, the full theme, the full attitude, the full vibe of exactly what you want done. So yes to AI assistance, but I still say having a human somewhere in there for

maybe a different task can't be beaten. Don't forget people, you can have your admin use AI too. And that's 10Xing the power. There you go. Carl says we had two VAs that have been with me for three years. Others keep falling off as a bad fit, but I think that's part of the learning process. That's fantastic. It is, Dan. And Dan, let me add one more thing on that bad fit, Dan. I'll just say oftentimes I

find, Dan, I don't know your experience in this and working with people being a leader where you are, but I find sometimes it is us, Dan. You know, you can blame the VA, but I find most of the time, nope. That's on me. I didn't see this red flag. Nope. That's on me. I didn't give enough time. I didn't give enough explanation. I expected too much. There's often something there, Dan, 80% of the time that I

could have done better. It sounds harsh, but I do put that on me when it's a wrong fit. I often like to blame Brad Gage, who's producing this segment right now. Whenever something goes wrong, no matter what it is, it's Brad's fault. we could blame brad the hashtag or something like that we'll see let us know is there a brad in your life um so let's let's uh talk a little bit about focus on your business

i think it could be we can get distracted by there's a lot of different opportunities oh i should do that i should do that i should do that and before we know it was spread too thin especially if we're a solopreneur how do you go about staying focused on what your business is and what you have to offer. Yeah, Dan, one of my mentors, Lamar Tyler said, and I think even Alex Ramosi, these are names that

most people know. We have millions of followers, you know, but he said that one of the key traits for an entrepreneur is focus, focus, focus and consistency. That's a challenge I have, Dan. But here's a few things for entrepreneurs, for solo entrepreneurs to help them be consistent and help them focus. One, do acknowledge, Dan, that there's a lot of things we have to do. for sure you can't escape it. Number two, learn to prioritize what needs

to be done today, what needs to be done this week. Number three, and I'm sure you know this Dan probably better than me, this Eisenhower principle, don't know exactly how to say it right, but I find it's pretty darn important. What's urgent, but not a priority, what's a priority, but not fast, you know, that kind of matrix that it happens. That does help because day to day, Dan, there's always gonna be something to do. Do I

invoice the client 50,000 or do I have my team meeting to address something that happened to one of my team members? both are important. And every day, you're just gonna have to wake up and focus on what I'll say one more thing I like with Marcus Lamontis who's been affiliated with entrepreneur quite a bit that he says, I want to wake up every day wondering what it is that I have to do and not waking up

wondering if I have anything to do something that he says. So every day you're gonna have tasks. And the key for us Dan is as you said, is just to prioritize every Oh, and I'll add one thing, Dan, don't Don't fear saying no. I just want to add that. Don't fear telling somebody no or not yet. That's a game changer as well, being able to say no. I love it, but I'm not going to say no

to you. I'm going to keep, we're going to keep going here. You mentioned invoicing, which makes me think about pricing because you have some thoughts on, especially for solopreneurs, how they should approach pricing. What are your thoughts on that? Dan, we are in business as solo entrepreneurs, a big business, any business. We're in business to make money for our business so we can serve our communities, serve our families, pay ourselves and all the good things, as

I know you know. I find, Dan, that pricing is one of the killers for entrepreneurs, especially solo entrepreneurs. Let's take your tip. This sweater I have on today. I'm building a sweater business, whatever it may be. Oh, I want to help people. Oh, no. I can't sell it for 250 or 249 or 149 or whatever the cost is because I wanna help people. So that's number one, it's better you build a thriving, profitable business that's making

good money and then help people when you're from a position of strength. Poor people helping poor people doesn't work. So that's one, cause I see this a lot. Number two about pricing, it's better you find premium quote unquote, premium customers who value premium pricing, who value premium service, they're much easier to work with. Find those customers who you can serve because lastly, the big brands, and I won't mention the names because these are good brands, Dan,

but you know the big brands who are selling things at the cheapest price, cheapest price, you go in the store. Brad, we can't, Dan, we can't compete against them. We're too small. You're trying to make 100,000, trying to make half a million, trying to make 3 million. You can't compete against the a trillion dollar brand. So those three things I would say about pricing, set a premium price, find a premium customer and serve people as best

you can. And with your wealth, do the good things that many entrepreneurs want to do from a position of strength. I love that. So we've got a couple of questions here going back to the virtual assistant conversation. I'm going to start with one from someone who is a virtual assistant. She said, says i'm a virtual assistant travel advisor and it's been a challenge finding clients i've marketed on social media word of mouth sending texts to friends

and family etc what am i missing i love the question so one today's your lucky day please dm me connect with me i'd love to see who you are and amplify you you know you're here on the entrepreneur webinar so thank you for taking your shot that's number one feel free to reach out to me and i'd love to amplify you and say hey here's a virtual assistant because i'm asked that a lot number two you

might not be missing so much anything so give yourself a bit of grace but number three i would say a are you clear in what you do i'm a virtual assistant i do xyz and i can help you do this number two Are you very clear? And here's the part that misses a lot, Dan. Are you very clear in who you want to work with? If you're going for people who really don't value who you are,

don't value service, or think it's just cool, that may be the wrong type of customer. Number four, be careful you don't have mixed messaging. I find that's virtual assistants. Hey, I'm selling t-shirts, I'm a dog walker, and I can do your taxes too. Mm. Dan, come on. What can I say? Dan, you know what? Am I right, Dan? Am I right? Come on now, Dan. I'm sure you've seen it. Am I right, Dan? You're right. I

mean, but if you could get me a dog that can do my taxes, then that'd be something. I'll sign up for that too. But am I right? That's the third one. I've seen so much because we want so many revenue streams. We want all of it. We're saying, hey, Dan, I can cut your hair, clean your glasses, vacuum your floor, and I can help give you financial advice. Don't know. I think that's fantastic. And so another

question about virtual assistants is from the hiring side of it from Carl Gray said, you mentioned the similarities you'd like to see in a virtual assistant, but what are the differences that you look for? I love it. For sure. And Carl Gray, thanks for being here. Carl is an amazing human, Dan. I know Carl's name and he does amazing, amazing work for entrepreneurs. So Carl, welcome to the entrepreneur discussion with me and Dan. Thanks for being

here. So differences in the VAs that you hire. Love that question, Carl Gray. Thank you. So one, a virtual assistant, oftentimes, not always, but in this day and age, not talking about back in the day, but a virtual assistant for me, someone who's often paid a bit less, oftentimes overseas, offshore, when you're talking about the US context and kind of does the digital work that you need done. That's a virtual assistant. And side note on that,

give them a title. Maybe they're doing video editing, maybe they're importing and exporting spreadsheets, maybe they're doing email marketing automation. That's kind of your virtual assistant role. And some people tell, oh, you can get one in Asia for $5 an hour, $7 an hour, $15 an hour. That's typical and that's not bad. That's good. That's one. An operations manager for me is that higher level thinker, higher level doer that in fact they can manage multiple virtual

assistants and they can be a thought partner, Dan and Carl, to help you grow your business. That for me is what an operations manager is. And Dan, this has been my journey. I've had a number of virtual assistants I've worked with who've worked well for me, but recently I hired for the second time in a number of years an operations manager. She's taking things from me to the next level. So that's the difference. And Carl, thanks

for asking that question very, very question great question carl and lots of great questions coming in we've got another one from monica ricci most of my clients are entrepreneurs and they often end up being the bottleneck in their business i do the same myself too what are the most important aspects of delegating with confidence oh i love that monica thanks for being here good to see your name here in this feed so a few things i

would say delegation is not easy. One, whether it's fear as Dan had mentioned, but right from the top, it could be the fear keeping us behind, keeping us from giving it to somebody else. That's not easy to let go. That's number one. Number two, oftentimes we think, and we may be right, no one can do it better than me. That's number two. Number three, if you've trained your VA or operations manager, right? If you work with

them for some time, giving them a few guardrails, here's how we speak to customers. Here's what to be careful of. You just gotta let it, go. Isn't there something like frozen or something? Let it go. Let it go. Something like that. Dan, I hope you're not covering your ears. I'm not saying it wasn't too bad, but you got to let it go and you just have to make it happen. Here's the thing, Dan, as you let

it go, now you can, let's say Dan's my VA. Ooh, that sounds, no, Dan, not you. Let's say Brad Gage is my VA. How about that, Brad? Brad is our VA and I've delegated to Brad. I can then course correct. If Brad didn't do it right, did it, I said, Brad, that's a great job. Keep doing it, Brad. Thank you, but here's how we can course correct. So that's how you delegate with power. You start small

and you go more and more and more, but delegation will set you free. Love it. So let's get back to making money. How do we go about expanding our offerings in a smart, sustainable way? not getting too spread out how do you stay focused but also you know bring in new revenue streams no it's so important dan again we can do a whole session on this you know on pricing here's a few guides i would have

let's say you have let's take a business coach that's a common you know example let's not talk about manufacturing or retail but let's distill it down to business coach a what is the the solution is the problem big enough And a solution you're providing big enough that will sustain your business. So for example, I'm coaching Dan Dan's an executive at a company, Dan makes a couple hundred thousand a year. And he has a $50,000 problem, $100,000

problem, you know, he needs to do better. And he's hired me to help train him how to how to speak better. That's something I could charge Dan a premium for. because the result that Dan's going to get is big enough. And if I build up enough Dan's, I now can build up a nice size company. So to say that maybe in a more clear way, what I'm trying to say is this, as you're thinking of pricing,

think of what's the problem you're solving for, the solution you're solving for that's matched to it. And what's the desperation that your ideal client has when you bring all those together. Now you have a premium priced product that people will want to pay for Dan. I've never seen somebody who's choking. Say, wait a minute, wait a minute. No, Dan, I don't like your glasses. Get somebody else to help me. I don't think I've seen that Dan.

It's like whoever's coming my way to help me, it's yes. So in a fun way, that's the kind of customer you wanna find. The problem is big enough, you have a solution enough and they trust you and all the, we can talk for ages on pricing, but that's the summary of pricing, Dan. That's fantastic. So getting back to the dilemma that our virtual assistant was in, how do you go about differentiating yourself? to the customer base.

How do you make sure that you know you're different? How do you make sure other people know you're different? I love that, Dan. Again, look at what we're doing right here. I mean, Dan and I are two personalities, two talent. He gives webinars, I do webinars. We both. So the question, oh, wait a minute. How do I show them different? There's both of us. Well, here's a few ways anybody can lean in on it, whether you're

a virtual assistant, a business coach, whoever you are to showcase how you're different. A, maybe speed is one thing. Our specialty, we move faster. Number two, maybe one way you're different is we go deeper. We may not be the fastest, but we really go deep into the problem you're having to solve it. Three, maybe it's customer service. I stay in hotels, Dan, around the world. Every hotel is different. One hotel I was in in Singapore, oh

my God, they gave me a bougie sip of some nice drink right when I came out of the car. Holiday Inn didn't do that. Both are great brands, Dan, at two different prices. Take your pick. So I think those are a few things as you're thinking to differentiate yourself as I do for me, Dan. One thing I differentiate myself, I say, listen, I'm easy to work with. And if you're looking to have a lot of humor

at your event, bring me. They may be evaluating four people. We're all four good. The client will pick, you know what, this one, we want someone a little different style. No problem. Another event, they may say, nah, we need someone to open up the event with a bang. Ramon's a great fit. But that's what you have to not be afraid. to lean in on your strengths and what you do well, that's the way to do it.

You know, we've talked a lot here about getting help, getting help with things. What do you think about this notion that I've heard a lot of entrepreneurs talk about, which is offering your help to other people and how that often comes back to you? Yeah. Listen, help. Woo. See, now you got this is the third training we have to do on help. Health is one of the game changing ways to build trust. I'll give you an

example. I was with a friend of mine, Joe Connolly. He's probably 80 years old by now. WABC radio, like the old school radio. This was back in the days, Dan, like maybe 30 years ago or more when the World Wide Web, we used to say superhighway. I'll never forget it. He was with the Priceline. Some of you may know old brand, you know, airline tickets and all this. He was finishing his event, Dan. I walked up

and I may cry a little bit as I say it because he means a lot to me. He's an older gentleman, a journalist for many years. And I said, hey, Mr. Connolly, I know you're leaving here, but can I just take one of your bags and help you walk to your car as you go out? He said, sure, Ramon. Right there, we had a friendly conversation. He got to know who I was and I built trust.

What I'm trying to say, Dan, is this. When you offer help, when you offer to be of service, you don't start with the sale, you first offer to be of service. It does two things quickly. A, there's time to do an authentic pitch where Dan may say, so Ramon, by the way, tell me about you. He gets a quick snippet of who I am. And number two, it builds even just a little bit of trust. That

is the power of offering assistance. That's the power of offering help. And I've done it, Dan, over and over and over and over again around the world with so many types of people and not in a way to get something per se. You know, we got to have business, but in a real way, hey, Dan, I see you're running back and forth. Can I help in some way carry the pizza boxes? I helped Dan with the

pizza box or something he's doing. Guess what? Dan may say, hey, Ramon, take the mic for a quick second, Ramon, and shout out your business. You know what I mean? Things like that. I've done that all the time, Dan, and it comes back in so many ways. Yes. So we got a question. And Ramon, this may stretch your capabilities, but it's a question about being an introvert, which I don't think you are. But this question comes

from Dr. Melody Schumann. Any advice for us introvert solopreneurs, maybe the person who's a little bit hesitant to run up and ask someone if they need help. How do you get the foot in the door if that doesn't come so naturally to you? Let's skip that question and go to the next one. Go ahead, Dan, that's the next one. No, I'm joking. All right, here we go. Love the question, Dr. Melody. Thanks for being here on

the Entrepreneur Webinar. Appreciate you. So what can we do about introverts they still succeed can they still get out their network so yes dan here's what introverts can do number one you have to make a commitment to yourself that even though you are an introvert you still have value number two you must make a commitment to yourself to take some action more than you made before so when they say who has a question at least commit

to yourself raise your hand and at least put yourself in position to ask the question. Number three, understand that people like me and maybe Dan, we're extroverts. We may take a lot of the air out of the room. We don't mean to give us grace. And how you do it is simply, hey, excuse me, can I ask a question? Around anybody who's a decent human, you'll be able to break through. But my point is, you're an

introvert, and I just wanna repeat this, acknowledging to yourself, you do have value. You have value, you have something to say, but you also have to be able, Dan, to take the first step and break out of it just a little bit. In the same way, the reverse of us as extroverts. Let me tell you what I have to do in reverse. Since I know I can dominate, I know I'll be the first one on the

mic, I often hold myself back and breathe a bit to give space for others in the room. So that's what I do so I can share the stage with others. So I love the question, but introverts, you're out there, we appreciate you. And oftentimes you're the people who are listening and it's like, hey, by the way, everybody, there's no gas in the car. Oops, thank you for telling us. That's fantastic. You know, so I can't remember

who it was, but someone was talking about seeking mentorship and you know, that's a big topic that that comes up a lot and their advice. So I'm curious to get your thoughts on this was think about like your dream mentor. Now go like two or three or four steps down the ladder because there's someone who knows a lot who's probably dying to share their advice with you. And you know, I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs

over the years And people, it's a very giving community. People want to share what they've learned. Yeah, no, absolutely. Here's what I'd say on that, Dan. I love that question because I'm asked quite a bit, Ramon, can you mentor me? Ramon, can you coach me, et cetera? So one, those of you who are looking for mentorship, let's just define mentorship as different to some degree than coaching and all that. Usually it's a friend. It doesn't have

to be free per se, but it's usually a little more personal, somebody guiding you. But let's say I wanted Dan to mentor me. Here's what not to do, because this happens a lot. would never approach dan especially if i didn't know him that's talking about if i didn't know him say dan can you mentor me it's too forward everybody and this is my opinion but it's too forward i'm putting dan in an awkward position he feels

he looks like a jerk by saying no so instead of saying dan can you mentor me here's what dan will say yes to i guarantee you dan don't mess my flow up here dan here's what i guarantee you'll do if i say hey dan I love seeing you on today's webinar, Dan. I'm beginning out. Could I just schedule 15 minutes with you and get some advice from you? Dan, would you mind? What would you say, Dan?

No. See y'all. No, of course. Yes. That's a great way to put it. And so that's for those, Dan, you're too much. That's for those who are seeking mentorship. That's how to do it. Don't necessarily ask the direction for a mentor, ask directly for mentorship, but say, can I get some advice from you? That's number one. But going back to mentorship and coaching, Dan, as you said, this is invaluable. And I think there's a few ways

to have mentorship. A, what are the books and podcasts and all the things. And you guys are here on today's training. So you're in a way getting some implicit mentoring. Number two, don't be afraid to invest in coaching. Dan, I've invested my own money. thousands of dollars or low cost, whatever it is, in engaging people to help me. I've paid people. Let's say Dan has a coaching program. Dan, I'll pay you the 500, pay the 100,

pay the 1,000, pay the 30,000, whatever it is, to be in your program, to get help from you. So that's number two. And then number three, when you get that coach, when you get that mentor, you should really listen to what they're saying. It doesn't mean 100% of what they're saying is right, but the point is don't go to Dan, don't go to me, don't go to someone and say, coach me and help me. And I'm

saying, hey, you're doing too many things. Just do two this week. Nah, I don't wanna listen to you. That don't work. Great. And I want to say to everyone in the chat, there's been a couple of follow-up questions. So you can reach Ramon directly at his site. It's ramonray.com slash office hours. You could follow up with anything we've talked about here today or anything new that you want to bring up. Indeed. And Dan, I wanted to

say about that site, just so people are asking, we've talked a lot about mentorship and coaching, Dan, and I'm just honored to partner with Entrepreneur that many people are saying, Ramon, can you help me? Can you coach me, et cetera? And so, yes, you've go to there and you're like, hey, I want to hear more about this Ramon. I think that you can help me get cross over the 100,000 or get to 100,000 or get to

a few 100,000, whatever you're looking to do. I've done it many times. Started five companies, sold three companies, authored five books, as you know, Dan. And yes, this program is here for you. So thank you, Dan, for that. I just want to let people know this is in partnership with Entrepreneur Offering to help you take your business to the next level. Back to you, Dan. Awesome. You know, one thing that we all know we can't buy

more of is time, but you have some, aside from the virtual assistants, you have some other techniques that you've used to sort of scale yourself a bit. Can you go through some of that stuff? Absolutely. One, to scale yourself and to kind of give you back more time in your day, one, filter your email. All the emails that say unsubscribe to sell those things, read them. get them, but you can tell your Gmail, your Outlook, whatever

it is, move them to a separate inbox so you can read them later. That's number one. Number two, I filter very, very fast. Email comes in. If I don't need to look at it right now, I put it to an email folder that I can look at later on. That's number two. Number three, use your calendar very judiciously, whether using a tool like Calendly or Gmail or Outlook or any number of great scheduling tools. Those tools

have so many features, Dan, you can program and set up that that will help you maximize your day. Number four related to that, have shorter meetings. Change the default, doesn't have to be an hour, may not even be 30 minutes, it could be 15 minutes. So that's number four. Number five, as I said earlier, it's okay to say no. I've learned Dan more and more to say, oh, you wanna meet me? Thank you, Dan, let's do

it. But could you just give me some context what the meeting's about? Oh, Ramon, I wanted to find out where you got your shirt. Oh, that's easy. I got my shirt from XYZ. Done, no meeting needed. So those are a few things I could probably go on for hours on. time and productivity. But those are a few things I've done day by day that have helped me. Oh, Dan, one more thing I'll say also, don't forget

to set up your week for success, Dan. On Sundays, it's my time. I look through my calendar, look through my week, look where I'll be, look what's happening. I see your nod, Dan. And that helps me. Being here today with you, I knew I was going to be here today with you X period of time ago. So I got myself ready. Even though I was flying, I'm on the road. I prepared for it. I wasn't rushed.

I wasn't I wasn't frazzled. Some people are, but if you get ahead of the game, you'll be in the game successfully and win every time. Awesome. So we're coming up on the end of time, but I want to encourage everyone, if they've got any more questions, fire them in. I did want to talk about that word no. Saying it is hard, but hearing it is really hard sometimes. How have you learned to sort of not be

afraid of rejection and get change your interpretation of the word no so it doesn't put you down. Yeah, and Dan, you know what? It can put you down. It can pull you down. The word no doesn't even feel good. Even hearing you say it. I know we're on a training, Dan. It feels weird to hear Dan say the word no to me. But there's a few things, Dan, we can all do with the word no. I

think one understand no often could mean we'll take care of it later or let's do it later. Now is not the right time. So part of no for any entrepreneur, especially in the sales mindset, is follow up, follow up, follow up. That's number one. Number two about the word no, no oftentimes may mean you may have targeted the wrong customer. Dan told me he doesn't like to drink milk and I'm trying to sell him milk, sell

him milk. He'll never buy it. So am I targeting? Am I speaking to the right customer? Number three, get some sales training that will increase your yes rate. Number four, remember this, oftentimes a no may keep you from a bad yes. There's always possibly something in store for you down the road. A no doesn't always mean no. Maybe there's something else for you. So that's what I'd hear. And yes, Dan, no, it can be a harmful

word or hurtful word, but I love what you say, but reframe that. Hey, they said no. Let me move on to the next one. Love it. Love it. Well, Ramon, thank you so much. You are... a fountain of wisdom with, with no end. It says always amazing talking to you. It gets you fired up. I'm sure everyone here in the chat feels the same way. I want to thank everyone who joined us here today and also

to be on the lookout because there is more to come from Ramon. Uh, we're going to be doing another one of these in about a month. So be on the lookout for that Ramon, anything you want to say to everyone, uh, before we sign off here. just encourage people to live life to the fullest live life well go hug your family hug your kids hug your those who are closest to you and business is not is

not easy it's hard dan but it's still possible to do it surround yourself with good people like dan and the entrepreneur team and we're here to help you take your business to the next level dan thank you thank you all right everyone have a great rest of your day good luck to whatever he's not a fountain he's a fire hose i love it all right we will see you next time take care everyone