Somebody once told me the definition of hell...

“On your last day on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.” —Anonymous

Are you shining your light as brightly as it is meant to shine?

Here are the 42 best lessons I’ve learned to live a life with purpose, truth, and meaning.

Some of these lessons have made me a better entrepreneur and produced more money. Some of them have connected me to some of the most influential people on Earth; celebrities, visionaries, philanthropists, you name it. Some of them have made the simple things even more enjoyable. All of them are worth reading and applying right now.

1. The number one FASTEST way to cash is to say thank you to your existing customers and give value.

When is that last time you went to a restaurant and they said “here’s a free appetizer for next time, just as a thank you for being such an awesome customer”? Never happens. But it should. The world needs more gratitude.

Recently I ran into one of my clients in Atlanta at a bootcamp we run. I was shitting myself because after 45 days his lead gen campaigns were still a work in progress. I was worried he was going to give me a hard time. But I forgot about the gratitude campaign we sent. He gave me a big thank you hug and told me he made $100k because of saying thanks and giving value. He put it away for his daughter’s college fund. I’m super proud.

Frank Kern 4 Day Cash machine. Google it. It works. Say thanks. Give value. (Even if you don’t have your own business, you can do this for other businesses. If you need money, do this first.) Who is not being fully appreciated and how can we say thank you and give value?

2. Listen to our buyer’s truth.

Most entrepreneurs do things backwards. We come up with a product or services that we think is great and then try to figure out how to get people to buy it. If we listen to customers, they'll tell us exactly what they want and how to sell them. People are already having conversations about those exact problems on reddit, quora, FB, and forums. Anyone with an internet browser can listen in.

In the lawyer niche, I went from nobody to industry expert in 18 months using $0 just by listening and understanding where they were coming from. It was right there on the internet in plain sight for anyone who wanted to hear it.

Are we selling what people already want to buy or what we want them to buy?

3. Believe in life. Believe in yourself. Believe more is possible. It starts with you.

4. Having said that, it’s not *just* about you.

My first coach made me $50k in a month by applying this one big shift to our webinar. Our numbers:

1 in 6 who watched it schedule a meeting with us and 1 in 3 buying a $5000+ service. My coach changed our message to be about other people’s challenges and struggles. People want to buy their way out of their own problems. They weren’t buying our service.

Are we offering a way out of their problem or are we trying to make it about only ourselves?

5. What question are we asking ourselves all day long?

The internal dialogue matters. My self-made billionaire friends have the same 24 hours in a day that we all do.

Before my ayahuasca healings, my internal question used to be a lot of “why are you such a loser” or “why can’t you make this work”. Sad but true.

Now it’s “how can I do this gracefully, elegantly simply, in loving balance and harmony?”

Either way, we all live the answer to the internal question.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” - Einstein

6. Healthy. Wealthy. Wise.

Our body is our temple. Eat to fuel, not just to satiate taste. What are we doing to raise our bodies to better health?

7. Guard our time ruthlessly.

Most people say yes to everyone out of politeness. As a result, they have no time to decide their own life. Either we are driving our life bus or other passengers are driving us to their destination (which is usually nowhere).

I haven’t had a cell phone for 8 years. I spend the first 4 hours each morning uninterrupted with a yellow legal pad and some big ideas.

How much time do we commit to working on what matters most to us?

8. Money + Freedom > More money without freedom.

Passive income. It’s great. Really, I’m a big fan. You should be too. In my opinion, $5k that comes without work is equal to about $100k you do have to work for. The former is scalable. The latter is not.

How can we highly leverage what we do so that it creates residual and passive income from a single effort? (All while delivering extreme value and serving others at the highest level.)

9. Productivity > Busy

Most people falsely think that being successful means being busy. My first SEO business eventually failed because I got burnt out taking phone calls everyday from 6 am to 11 pm. I learned that it’s okay to say no. Success is success. Busy is another thing.

Are we moving the needle an inch in 1000 directions or 1000 inches in the direction of our intention?

10. Act… but take calculated, inspired, creative, bold action.

Warren Buffett planned one of his investments for an entire year and then executed for a day. Some people fail because they take no actions. Others fail because they take the wrong action.

Are we taking clear decisive strategic action towards our most important pursuit?

11. Create better problems… Enjoy the process.

My first car was a rusty POS Blue 1987 Oldsmobile 88. The floors were rusted through like a Flintstone car. Recently one of my clients had a limo pick me up at LAX and I got stuck because the driver only spoke Russian. I still have travel problems… but they are better problems.

How can we create better problems for ourselves and others?

12. “It’s about the message stupid.” - Dan Kennedy.

There is no one thing that will turn a business around faster than a substantially better message. Every time our income has 3x, our message and mindset shifted with it. I see countless entrepreneurs on FB who get hung up on pixels and tech. The most important thing is understanding and having empathy for the people on the other side of the ads.

How can we present what we do differently and better?

13. Audiobooks.

Fuck yeah. I’ve “read” 3 books by great business masters in the last week, all while I walked my dog

Mischief. And we played at the park. Squirrels beware.

As Tai Lopez says, “knawllledge”.

Feed the knowledge dragon.

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14. Chaos is not only okay, but necessary.

When we “double down on your strengths” (Gary V) and go full tilt with our purpose, it will cause other parts of life to feel chaotic. It’s necessary for greatness.

“What is the one thing I could do now such that everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” - Gary Keller, Best selling author of The One Thing and Co-Founder of Keller-Williams Realty

15. Schedule your me time first.

Stephen King writes 4 hours every morning before he does anything else.

Does he get to do that because he’s Stephen King or is he Stephen King because he does that?

16. Help the next one in line.

For no other reason than we’ll both feel better. There is always somebody worse off than you.

What can we do to help the next in line?

17. Masterminds. Can’t say this enough.

My first mastermind meeting had 12 lawyers who were state leaders. An hour later I knew how to create, produce, and buy ad spots for a winning TV commercial. Insanely valuable skill to pick up in 10 minutes.

I used to think $50k for 3 one hour meetings was outrageous. Now I realize that a good mastermind is an extreme bargain. Masterminds are a regular part of my life now. You can never know too many great entrepreneurs who’ve been where you want to go and done what you want to do.

Where are the best people now and how can we place ourselves in the sphere of influence of others who have already done what we want to do?

18. Daily spiritual practice.

In Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans, over 80% of the high achievers had a daily meditation or spiritual practice. I am a bad ass shaman who takes mind altering hallucinogens and guides spiritual entrepreneurs through the experience of profound mystical healings. That’s my schtick.

Find the unity in whatever way makes most sense for you. Some meditate. Some spend time in nature. Some paint. Doesn’t matter.

What keeps us centered, clear, and balanced?

19. Imagination > Ability.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” -Albert Einstein. (I hear he was a pretty smart guy.)

What bigger possibilities can we imagine?

20. Relax. Dumber people than you have done this. You can too.

21. Calm down. Remember resources.

Got problems? We all do. It took me hundreds of shamanism ceremonies to finally beat a crippling anxiety I had about success. Here’s a simple truth. Every problem gets better with calmness and focusing on what resources you have to deal with it.

Are we focusing on calming the breath? Are we focusing on the resources we have for dealing with the challenge at hand?

22. Doubt is your friend, not your foe.

People of small endeavors don’t doubt. Doubt just means that what you’re doing matters. You’re on the right track. Doubt is a welcome ally that says “you’re about to do something that’s worth doing”. The good news is that something great is always on the other side of doubt.

Why not give the doubtmonster a big high 5 and say thank you for showing us that we’re doing something amazing?

Here is an actual depiction of the doubtmonster. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

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23. Elegantly simplicity.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” E. F. Schumacher.

One of my mentors Brad does a million per month with FB ads. What’s interesting about Brad is that he only runs less than a half dozen very basic powerful ads. He focuses all his effort on creating a rockin’ message and he ignores the bells, whistles, and tech. He puts people first.

What is the one single thing we can do right now that would produce the single biggest result?

24. Law of one thing.

The solution to our biggest life problem is always just one big idea, one relationships, one radical shift. Whatever we want isn’t far away.

For us, it was one really well executed webinar. We made several hundred thousand dollars with one 40 minute presentation that brought us leads, clients, and sales while I slept in until noon like a lazy internet marketer. We have several now… but it was that first big one that changed the game. Big mindset shift.

What one big idea would radically change our results?

25. Choose who we work with carefully and strategically.

It’s your life. Don’t you deserve the best for you and your loved ones?

26. Practice abundance.

People can smell commission breath a smile away. “Serve not sell.” - Marc Von Musser

The hardest thing to do is to say no to someone with a check in hand who is not a good fit.

If money was no object, what would we do or advise this person to do? How can we serve them at the highest level?

27. Even the best of us struggle sometimes.

Every person has their own life challenges. Being a bad ass shaman has allowed me to know 4 master shamans personally. These are guys who manipulate reality like they’re Neo in the Matrix. I was surprised to learn they still had brief moments of experiencing the same human struggles that we all do. Doubt. Uncertainty. Fear.

“The only question in life is what are you going to do about it?” - Master shaman Hamilton Souther, founder of Blue Morpho retreats, the #1 ayahuasca retreat in Peru, subject of the #1 most read article in National Geographic history (HS was first person who guided me through a genuine mystical experience and then taught me boatloads more. Thank you for being such an awesome teacher and healer.) (PS. I have some crazy ayahuasca stories for you all. Another time though…)

28. Shorten your timelines.

One of my coaches Oliver Talamayan is always pushing me to make things happen in days; things that I think would take months to implement. “How can you achieve your 10 year plan in the next 6 months?” — Peter Thiel.

How can we achieve our year goal in a week? A few days? An hour?

29. Opportunity is everywhere. Seize it.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What opportunities are available to usu right now?

30. Set our own rules of engagement.

Live our game. Play it by our rules. (In my game, alarm clocks can fuck off. I wake up when I want to for the last 8 years.)

How can we change the rules of the game?

31. Act as if your intention is already done. “Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda

Being > Working towards.

Are we trying or being?

32. Gratitude.

Be thankful for what you have. Be thankful for infinite intelligence. Be thankful for what you will become. I practice those 3 steps every morning.

Besides the fact that it works, if nothing else you’ll feel better. Gratitude to you for reading this far.

*Gratitude bomb goes off and splooges rainbows all up in this mofo.* 

What are we thankful for right now?

33 The You-Niverse is always helping us.

Life is conspiring to be on our side. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't --you're right.” ― Henry Ford

34. Give value and our plate always will be full.

Most people ask bad self-serving questions. “How can I make more money?” “How can i get someone to buy my thing?”

Better question.

“How can we give so much value to others that money effortlessly flows to us wherever we go?”

35. Money Exchange = Value Exchange.

In 2016, one of my clients paid me $100k. Why? Because I created a million dollars worth of value for him. Simple math.

How can we create 10x the value for others?

36. Irresistible offers so strong that people would be stupid to refuse

Life and business is not always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes it’s blood, sweat, and a lot of tears. At one point our lawyer business was scaling rapidly and I did a horrible job of training our new salespeople (long story). During that time sales came to a stand still for 2 months, when expenses went up 3x. It was the worst possible time. How did we fix it? We made our offer irresistible. The offer worked well enough that now we have so many clients that I don’t even know who half of them are.

A great offer trumps the ability to sell it. 10x value is an easy sell. What is our core offer and how can we make it truly irresistible?

37 Mastery.

What are you extremely good at? What do you love doing?

Spend 95% of your time doing only what fits both of those categories. If you are good at something but don’t enjoy it, stop doing it. Give it to someone else who loves what you hate.

For me, I’ve been fortunate to speak at many of the biggest conferences in my industry. I’m great at public speaking and I love it. I still think it’s great to get paid a lot to spend an hour talking about shit you love.

What do we love doing that we’re a natural at?

38. Who are you and what do you really want? The past leaves clues.

What is the worst task you’ve ever had to do? Avoid that.

What is one thing you thought to yourself “I can’t believe they’re paying me for this”? That’s where you’re meant to be. You’ll enjoy it more and success will come easier to you.

39. True abundance.

Abundance is not in having. If you are an entrepreneur long enough, you will see millionaires go broke. Some people who have it lose it. Others have it and still act like broke asses that are terrified of losing it. Many crash and burn for different reasons. People can be rich with a poverty mindset.

True abundance is knowing you could lose it all and create it all over again. It’s the knowledge and skills that remain with you.

What knowledge can we attain that would make ourselves and our families abundant for our entire life?

40. Less but better.

When Steve Jobs became CEO of Apple, he reduced them from 350 products to 10. That’s 340 things he said ‘no’ to.

What are your 340 “products” you need to say no to?

41. The quality of our life is proportional to the quality of our relationships.

That one came from a wise dating coach named James Marshall. It’s more than just romantic relationships.

Good friends. Good times. Good experiences. A life worth lived.

How can we intentionally create better relationships with better people for better purposes?

42. Do you know how damn lucky you were that you weren’t born in some war torn shithole?

Count our blessings every day. We have so many of them

I’d love to hear about your business. What’s new?

How has your journey been? 

Hope you're picking up what I’m throwing down today. To your success. :)