How To Be A Ferrari Not A Ford – Secret Society Mastermind 3 Is HERE!

CLICK HERE TO ANSWER THE SSM QUESTIONNAIRE

Check out the latest video above then read on!…

I’m very excited to be announcing that Secret Society Mastermind will be opening up to new applicants over the next week!

Over the next several days I will be releasing videos detailing the experience and also showing you some insights into Freedom life and what we do to build our businesses.

The above video is a quick explanation of the choice that you have. The choice to be great in business and in life. Every day is a series of choices – what you eat, what you wear, what you do… You’re either making choices that lead to a life you want, or a life you don’t want.

It’s up to you!

The real important thing is if you choose to go down a path that the majority don’t choose, you will attract a TON of criticism. I love what Theodore Roosevelt had to say about this:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Being in the arena. That’s all that counts.

If you haven’t seen the video on our last freedom trip, check it out here:

Stay tuned for a MASSIVE week of awesome Freedom Business content…

I can’t wait to show you some awesome stuff!

Tim

The Very First Step To Your Own Freedom Business: Live From Thailand Freedom Trip One

How are you?

Big content-rich post for you this week that will have you living the freedom dream in no time!

The above video I shot whilst in Thailand on the Secret Society Mastermind freedom trip which I just got back from (see the end of the video for a little teaser on the upcoming movie from the trip).

It also includes a great interview with SSM member Pieter on how he is progressing from his day job of doom (DJD) to full time freedom business.

I get asked all the time: “Tim, if there is ONE thing I can do to get rolling on this freedom business thing – what is it?”

I decided to answer this question as it relates to not only the beginners in Freedom Business but also veterans who want to take their freedom career to the next level.

This is if you are itching to dive in and take control of your life situation right now.

Make sure you watch the above video before reading on.

In the video I discuss a few things…

1. You must become an authority

This is A LOT easier to do than you may think. In a lot of cases all it needs is a simple website with “Hey, I can do this” on it.

The area ideally is something that you can solve a common problem in. If you can help ONE person in an area of your specialty then chances are you can find a lot of companies or people needing that same problem solved.

One of my freedom businesses centred around video for websites as I saw that most websites didn’t have (and still don’t) a cool intro/sales video to rev up their site.

As you can see in Pieter’s case in the video, he has a specialised skillet built up working day-job-of-doom style but has yet to step out as an authority in his own right.

A simple website with a nice profile picture, bio and some sales copy around his problem solving ability would be enough to separate him from 99% of the people in his industry.

This will allow him to consult private clients through Skype from anywhere in the world, at a time and a price that suits him. That’s true Freedom Business style.

SSM Members Living The Freedom Dream

Becoming an authority means you can step out into the world and say “Hey, my name is Barry and I can help you with x-problem. I’ve helped these people too. So if you would like my product which solves that or need me to consult for you, fill out this contact form or call me here”.

Your personal brand is also something you can use as a placeholder for all the projects that you work on.

So for example if Pieter decides to do 2 different businesses in totally different markets, he can showcase both of them under his name www.pieterdeluxe.com (note that his name isn’t Pieter Deluxe, you would put your full name).

The beauty of this is if you start NOW, in five years time your personal brand site will be showcasing all sorts of amazing projects and businesses that you have been involved in, making you even MORE of an authority and trustworthy to people looking to buy your products or have you consult in the future.

A fantastic book on this is Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss. Even if you don’t see yourself as a consultant, you may just see how you DO have some highly desirable knowledge and skills that could be built into a freedom business by reading this book.

So what are the steps?

Firstly a massive warning: You will feel a LOT of resistance to putting your photo and a bio on a website.

Thoughts like “I’m not good enough”. “I’m not an authority in anything”. “People will laugh at me”. “Who would want to buy what I have to offer – there is much cooler, talented, amazing, good looking people out there than little old me”.

BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT.

Just like Pieter, you probably have NO IDEA how good you actually are!

(Here’s Pieter leaving one of our SSM party nights with two hot Swedish girls… Goes to show if you don’t put yourself out there you never know what might happen!)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Marianne Williamson

So… here are the actual steps:

1. Get a domain name.

I use NAMECHEAP because they are cheap and also they don’t try and upsell you the world like some other providers (*cough* godaddy).

2. Put a simple, cool website on that domain

This is tricky if you haven’t done it before but I recommend starting out with a basic WORDPRESS theme and having an experienced coder from freelancer modify/build it for you.

Let me explain a bit…

WordPress is fast becoming the standard Content Management System (CMS) for all websites. It’s free and allows you to update your content on your site simply and easily with a back end login.

Sitting on top of WordPress you will need a THEME.

The theme is what you see. The buttons, navigation, colours, fonts and all the other cool stuff.

I use THEMEFOREST to get wordpress themes for as little as $30.

Then if you are technical minded or don’t mind learning, you can have a go at installing WordPress and the theme yourself OR if you are like me and like to outsource your work (recommended), head over to http://www.freelancer.com or http://www.elance.com and post a project for someone to install and modify these things for you.

You will need to provide them with photos and content you want on your site and a detailed brief on where you want things… then sit back and wait for them to build it for you!

So domain name $10
Theme $30
Experienced Coder ~$100

TOTAL COST FOR WEBSITE: $140

Excuses? None.

(My Freedom Office: Thailand)

3. Get business cards

There are cheap card printing services online that design and print a simple business card for you.

A business card showcasing your personal brand domain will give you more confidence in “this is REAL” when you see it actually physically printed on a card.

Plus when you are at parties or events you can pass it to everyone you talk to. Including girls you want to date.

Awesome.

Who else is doing this well?

In the video I mentioned Chase Jarvis who started out as a photographer but built his personal brand up to be followed by thousands all over the world.

Check his site out here. Some great marketing interviews and tips too.

Just remember all those super successful people started in the exact same spot you are starting from: NOTHING. They had to fight off the internal resistance and put themselves out there just like you are going to.

After all, your freedom, fun and adventure lifestyle is waiting…

So get to it!

We are about to hit a crazy period in Freedom Business land as we unlock the doors and prepare to take on new people into the Secret Society Mastermind program in March.

The stuff in this blog post is a very small piece that we walk you through step by step through video training and also live coaching calls – not to mention the awesome community of people who are already smashing it to help you as well.

In the upcoming SSM course, i’ll walk through my own personal building of my authority site www.timothymarc.com as it happens so you can build yours right alongside me.

Make sure you have put your email address into the right hand side so you can stay updated on the next intake of SSM members. I wouldn’t want you to miss out!

Much love.

T

P.S. Comments, questions? Make sure you put them below so I can answer…

How Kable Made A $17,000.00 Sale And Quit His Day Job Of Doom For Freedom, Fun And Adventure

Kable talking Freedom Business on SSM Freedom Trip Thailand 2013

Tim’s Note: This is a post from Secret Society Mastermind Member, Kable, who went through our last program. Since then he quit his day job of doom and been absolutely smashing his freedom business, notably landing a $17,000.00 sale just before he took off to Thailand for our first Freedom Trip.

Kable and I sat down at a cafe yesterday (as people in suits and hurried faces quickly ate their lunch and went back to work) and he started recounting that sitting in Thailand, on the beach as the sun was setting with his laptop, that he could clearly see how he could run his entire business from anywhere in the world.

This is a very different life from a few months ago.

Kable is also highly active in our SSM community, posting videos, trainings and insights for our members and will be doing some videos for you in our upcoming SSM program which opens in March.

Plus, he has a majestic beard.

In this post Kable talks about one of the aspects to freedom business: finding the right people to buy your stuff. When we talk of clients in SSM, we talk of people who you ACTUALLY ENJOY helping and doing stuff for. Your One Key Fan.

Take it away Kabes!

I’m writing this from a flight to back home to Melbourne, Australia, after an LIFE CHANGING trip to Thailand with a bunch of the awesome Secret Society Mastermind guys.

A week of partying, working and adventuring in a tropical paradise with a bunch of rad dudes from across the world was really like LIVING THE DREAM – something I didn’t really believe was possible for myself before I began my freedom business journey about 9 months ago.

One of the things that allowed me to go on this amazing trip was the fact that I made one pretty big sale in the weeks leading up to Thailand… worth $17k!

In this post, I’m gonna talk about a few different points that were important in getting that sale.  This isn’t a comprehensive “how to get the sale” (we go over that in detail in the upcoming SSM3 Program), this is more of a exploration of a few important factors that made this particular sale happen.

1. Find out your client’s problems, and then handle them.

This is key.  When I had an in person meeting with the potential client, I asked them “so what’s your biggest frustration with your old website?”

For this particular client, the big frustration with their old website is that it was unreliable in sending information from the site contact form to the relevant staff member.

The client told me that another website company (who was also vying for this job) had said “well that’s not our problem”…  WRONG ANSWER!  If you want to land big (or smaller jobs), you need to find out what your client’s big frustration is, then HANDLE IT FOR THEM.

2. Have great previous work to show clients

When a client sees all the other great work that you’ve done for other clients, it does a few things….

-It proves that you are capable of producing great work

-It helps the client visualise what their new website / app / video will look like

-It shows your client how good their competitors’ websites look.  This will get your client thinking “I don’t wanna get left behind, I need this cool product…”  This is especially effective if all your other clients are in the same industry.

Tim’s Note: If you don’t have previous work yet as you are just starting out, you can do some free or discounted work FIRST – This gives you the confidence that you can actually deliver a great product (because it’s a free job you can make some mistakes) and then you can add that to your portfolio and use to beef up your price for future clients.

This is the actual beach I was working from every evening in Thailand… Crazy!

3. Stack the value

Give the client everything they need – even if they don’t realize they need it.  The $17k client originally wanted a website.  But I knew that their online presence would be much more powerful if they also had live action videos, effective social media pages, fantastic photos, and great copywriting.  After I explained that to them, they could see that I was thinking about how to HELP THEIR BUSINESS, not just sell them my product. And that I was the right guy to help them.

4. Make your proposal visually interesting

After I meet with the client, I wrote out the proposal, detailing exactly what I was going to provide for them.  Before I sent it to the client, I emailed it Tim, asked him for his thoughts… His feedback was “well, it has all the right info in there, it hits all the right points, but it just looks like BIG BORING SLABS OF TEXT”.

He was right – the proposal just looked boring, drab, and just… vanilla.

It was not the kinda thing that was going to BLOW THE CLIENT AWAY.

The answer?  I got an outsourcer to quickly mock up a simple homepage for the client, then edited that homepage so it had ipad and ipod frames.  I inserted the images in the proposal, and DONE!  The proposal was much more interesting, engaging and ATTENTION GRABBING for the client.

So, there you go!  Of course, there are heaps of other things that you need to do to land clients, including

-building a great relationships

-finding out how much they are willing to spend early in the sales process

-becoming an authority in your One Key Fans (1KF’s) area.

I’ll be writing more about this stuff in the near future, and I’ll be helping Tim cover all these topics in the SSM3 course.

To summarise, back in SSM2 Tim mentioned that we need to LOVE THE SHIT out of our clients to produce great products, big smiles, and rad results for them. Well, in order to land these big clients, I would say that you need to start loving the shit out of them WELL BEFORE even before they sign on the dotted line and officially become your client.

So if you have any questions about this big sale, about SSM3 (so excited for this), or anything else related to Freedom Business, just drop a note in the comments section and I’ll get back to you.

Otherwise, GO GET OUT THERE, GO GET WHAT YOU WANT!

Kable

2013: How To Follow A Path With Heart (Plus Goals, Books and Goodies!)

First post up for 2013! Whoohoo!

In this one I have 3 things to share with you.

1. An amazing story that may shape the course of your year (even LIFE).

2. A massive book recommendation. Seriously the best book i’ve read for the last 5 years or so.

and 3. Some things that are happening with the blog, our Secret Society Mastermind course plus details of my own adventures and goals for this year.

It’s been a great start to the year. I just finished watching the Australian Open tennis with some friends on the weekend.

Now, Roger Federer. This guy is just incredible.

The reason I like him so much is because no matter what is happening in the game he always maintains the same temperament.

If he is losing, he seems calm and collected.

If he is winning, he seems calm and collected.

He doesn’t celebrate too hard, pumping fists in the air after a point, nor does he drop his head or throw his racket if things are going bad.

The ULTIMATE professional.

In part 2 of this post (the book recommendation) I talk about a personal philosophy called Stoicism and how it can help you attack your day to day game with the same level of skill as our friend Roger.

So let’s explore the first thing I have for you…

1. Following The Path With Heart

Click to play now

Note: I’m just getting used to my new camera rig. Canon 5d mkIII. So bear with me on the new camera shots!

Have you ever been doing something, hanging out with someone or just felt like things are just RIGHT? Like you are plugged in, totally focused and energised and excited for what you are doing.

That’s the path with heart.

In the above video I share a really personal story that I was reminded of from one of my very first freedom trips.

This story and the lesson I learned from an old man at a remote beach asked me to wake up and follow the path that had the most heart in it.

As it’s the start of the year you should be very conscious of wether you are on a path with heart or not. Have this question in the back of your mind for the next week or so as you start to shape the course of your year.

I know whenever i’ve followed the path with the most heart myself, things have ALWAYS worked out.

One of our Secret Society members made the decision to quit his day job during the 2021 course and poured his heart and soul into it. It was his path with heart and now he is making great sales and connections in his freedom business leading him to an entirely new way of life.

Lesson for you: Might be time to take a leap on to the path with heart?

2. Book Recommendation: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine

I’m not quite sure how this great read came into my lap (well, on to my kindle).

The book describes, in detail, the characteristics of every great person i’ve ever met and also the skills/philosophy on how to actually live like them too.

Have you noticed that some people just GET THE JOB DONE. No complaints, no worries, just pure DO-ers?

Or have you ever known a man who is so courageous that he almost seems like nothing could ever phase him?

This book will show you how to live moment to moment unshaken by life’s ups and downs and also how to obtain an inner peace that will bring great joy to your moments.

It’s like Zen/Eastern philosophy mixed with western logic. A perfect combo for me as I find the eastern stuff to be a little too woo-woo a lot of the time and had trouble getting into authors such as Eckhart Tolle.

Without going into the origins of stoicism (note though that the most powerful man in the world, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was a stoic) It’s the PERFECT philosophy for entrepreneurs or anyone trying to do anything amazing.

One quick lesson from the book was that when you are with someone, imagine that this is the very last time you will ever see them again.

This will ensure you don’t take this moment with them for granted and start being more present to them.

I used this technique with a girl i’m seeing during the week. To be honest I wanted to get some work done rather than hang out, but since I was with her I didn’t want to think about work…

So I pretended this was the last time i’d see her.

Then I really started to enjoy being with her. I made more eye contact, listened more and enjoyed the company a whole lot more than if half my brain was focused on other stuff and just pretending to listen.

Lesson for you: Over the next couple of days, pretend this is the VERY LAST time you will do things. For example, hanging out with someone pretend this is the last time you will do it.

OR when at the gym or going for a run, pretend this is the last time your body will ever get to move or lift like this again.

Notice how much more focused and powerful that moment is.

Grab a copy of the book here and let me know what you think!

3. Freedom Business Blog and Tim’s goals for 2013

Tonight I fly off to Thailand to meet with the people who went through our Secret Society Mastermind course and will be filming the entire adventure for you.

This will be the start of many adventures this year as I put my life into a bag and hit
the road. I want to film/photograph and send you as much inspiration from the road as possible. More details on this soon!

Whilst in Thailand i’ll be filming a serious of Freedom Business introduction videos.

These videos will be free to the email subscribers and will help you get started in your own Freedom Business.

Also of great news:

WE WILL BE OPENING UP A BRAND NEW SECRET SOCIETY MASTERMIND COURSE TO NEW ATTENDEES IN MARCH 2013.

Yep. It’s happening so stay on the email to get more information.

The blog structure this year will be changing up to 1 blog post/email per week instead of the daily email.

I feel that although I like the daily snippets, 1 content-rich post and email per week is probably more valuable long term as I can’t even remember what I wrote in any of the daily emails last year!

What do you think?

Important: Leave a comment below now with your ideas/comments/suggestions/excitement about your own 2013 and also what YOU would like to see happen with the Freedom Business Blog in 2013.

I’ll reply to you when i’m in Thailand… Flight out in 8 hours. WOOHOO!

Can’t wait to continue the adventure with you!

T

PS. Here’s the article where the guy outsourced his job to China.

Quitting The Day Job Of Doom For Freedom With Kable (Plus Freedom Business Blueprint Announced!)

In the video above I invited Secret Society Mastermind member Kable over to talk about how he managed to go from his DJD (day job of doom) in the health care industry, to building a little freedom business and then quitting his job to go full time freedom.

Kable gives his top 3 tips to starting your own freedom lifestyle and eventually quitting that day job of doom to chase some adventure and connect with like-minded people all around the world.

Now I got a little side tracked in the video when talking about who this stuff is for, so let me clarify:

This whole freedom business stuff is for people who either…

A) Have a day job of doom (DJD) that they feel is sucking the soul out of them slowly whilst craving to get out there and travel/seek adventure

B) Have read all the business books out there but still can’t seem to TAKE ACTION or find a solid business idea that has the ability to support a freedom lifestyle

C) Have a business of their own, but what to make it a whole lot better, generate more sales, clients and automate it so it’s not running your whole life but frees your time to go do fun stuff

This is NOT for people who want to be a Doctor, a Lawyer or any number of jobs that require specialist training i.e college. I think it’s great for people who want to do these things and love it (for example my accountant Paul absolutely loves accounting) but if you love university or your job this is not for you.

This is NOT for people who are struggling financially. My advice if you are really struggling to make money is to pour your energy into getting a job to support yourself whilst you cross over to freedom business (like Kable). Freedom business isn’t going anywhere, you can always come back to it later on.

So as you can see in the video, Kable now gets to choose the time to wake up, the time to be productive throughout the day and now the time to finish work completely (I personally like to get started early and finish at 2pm to enjoy some sunshine each day).

Here is Kable’s words (reposted from our private forum) when he finally made his first big sale (in the thousands of dollars) and quit his job:

I’m starting to feel some kind of click, like the “FB first sale click”… I think, when I get the money transferred to my bank, that will be really fucking crazy for my mind… I can just that that will be big for me.

I was at a party tonight with some of my really good friends, telling them that I’ve started a business and quit my job (some of them didn’t know)… Now I’m doing it, and have a paying customer – so strange.

I feel like a very different person that I was 8 months ago – and plenty of weird life growth over the past 3 months with SSM totally.

Announcing The Freedom Business Blueprint Program

COMING NOVEMBER 2012

In November, i’ll be launching the official Freedom Business Blueprint program, which is the entry level program for you to get started in building your own little freedom business that funds a life of freedom, fun and adventure.

The program will cover EXACTLY how to pinpoint your first freedom business idea, build it from scratch and go all the way to the first sale and beyond.

Right now i’m crafting the program to be the very best it can be but would love to hear what YOU would like to specifically learn in it.

Click here to go have your say on what’s included in the program.

Hope you got a kickstart into your freedom journey from todays post.

Stay free

T

PS. Don’t forget to post any questions you have for Kable in the comments section below!