When you change your energy, you make more money

Have you ever presented in a group meeting on a video conference? Then you’ve likely noticed that one or two people are really into it but your vibes from everyone else are hard to read or flat. You gravitate even unintentionally to the energised people, don’t you?

You have definitely had the experience of talking to someone about their work and come away from it being sure that person didn’t like their job. When it’s a business mixer, this isn’t someone you want to follow up with. You might also consciously or subconsciously think to yourself: “I bet this person was required to attend this event; s/he didn’t choose to be here” or “maybe they’re just having a bad day” – however you add it up, it’s low energy and rotten for business. You would not partner with or refer this person.

The thing is: what about you? The energy that people get from you has a surprising impact on how much money you make. I’m not sure why almost nobody talks about this. It would help us to be more conscious about the message we are sending. Most people are so busy in their days/weeks/lives that they are completely oblivious to the energy they give off. It never crosses their mind. This is a big mistake.

Quite often I run workshops for new financial advisors. Whenever there is an attendee who is low on energy or enthusiasm throughout the session, I say to myself: “I’d be really surprised if this person makes it.” It sounds horribly judgemental, but that’s not it at all. I don’t intentionally think it and I feel badly for thinking it. It’s an innate response that comes from 30 years on the planet having coached many hundreds of high achievers at every age, experience, and success level, and reading their energy and thinking deep down: “If s/he can’t get excited now during the early stages, they don’t stand a chance trying to build their own business when the going gets tough at some point.” But each of us has some kind of guttural reaction regardless of our life experience.

And it’s interesting because the positive ‘energy’ we get from those generally doing very well in business doesn’t show itself the same way. They are not faking anything. They don’t have to burst into song about their vocation.

When I think about the salespeople and business owners I’ve coached who went onto get outstanding outcomes, their positive energy level is (still to this day) usually FAR HIGHER than their peers for the times when it counts. At a minimum they are almost always ANIMATED when they need to be.* ALIVE. ENGAGED. You can FEEL their energy which expresses itself in different ways with different people:

a)??? A sense of purpose – this is the rarest, but – for some financial advisors - maybe that person grew up with little money and knows the hardship this creates in families because they’ve experienced it firsthand. Having a sense of purpose is great energy.

b)??? A genuine sense of enthusiasm for their vocation. Some big money-makers find what they do really worthwhile and engaging and you can pick up on this. It’s a business (money) magnet. People lean in when they talk.

c)??? They genuinely, deeply CARE A LOT about helping people. Other accomplished business developers enjoy guiding people in a crucial area of life (e.g., finance). They’re not in it for the money but they make a lot along the way because of who they are as people.

And the people in this advisor’s network can SENSE this which is great for business. These people get a lot of unsolicited referrals because they truly do things that are above and beyond what is expected. They drive 45 minutes out of their way to help someone and don’t even get paid for it – and then the goodness starts happening: the outstanding, unexpected referral etc. You can’t fake a desire to help (not for long anyway).

d)??? Speedy follow up

Getting back to people quickly is far more than a technique. It sets some high achievers apart because they do it consistently. Clients love it when they attend to their needs fast and it makes them feel important and valued. And few service providers are quick to follow up. Most are shockingly slow. I know it sounds quite trivial but the impact it has is very positively skewed.

e)??? An innate drive to do very well in business: It’s not possible to pinpoint a consistent reason why a few people have more motivation (which people feel as great energy) than the average person.

What makes someone more determined to succeed? Somewhere along the way they acquire the competence, belief, confidence, patience, ability to handle adversity, persistence, the independent streak, adaptability, and skills to stay in the game and keep learning to grow.

It could be a rational or even irrational expectation that their ego deserves it. It could be an inexplicable understanding that this is what they are supposed to be doing with their life. They feel like it’s the right path for them. This is an aligned feeling that I believe is achievable for all of us.

For the highest achievers of all, it’s surprisingly often a childhood trauma that makes them want to achieve A LOT (coming from a place of pain such as growing up with an alcoholic parent); it could be someone who wants to prove people wrong because an important person on their journey told them they would never amount to much (as Paul Weller once sang for The Jam in The Modern World in 1978: “To all those teachers who said I’d be NOTHING!” – he’s STILL playing live now after 40+ years). This is one reason why following their success recipes is a mistake: it comes from a very negative place and can often lead to an unhappy life regardless of the ‘achievement’.

Sometimes it can also start as one (painful) thing and then morph into being driven by a huge desire to make a big difference during your one journey on earth. As we get good at something, that’s a self-sustaining positive energy loop too.

(*I want to be careful not to send the message that high achievers are a different species. They are still ordinary in many ways and have typical ups and downs like everyone else. They are as flawed as everyone else but when it comes to money-making opportunities, demonstrating better skills and leveraging their strengths better, they do a far superior job of sending off the right energy when it counts in meetings – and this also often has a positive ripple effect on the rest of their lives too.)

MOST IMPORTANT: Sourcing more authentic drive for yourself

Far more people would have far more positive energy (hence more money in business) if they knew themselves better.

Then they could ALIGN the following because they would feel congruent on the inside and, well, like themselves.?

What are your true passions and dreams?

What are your greatest strengths?

What type of person are you at your most effective? (Focused, empathic, inquisitive etc?)

What should you outsource?

How do you communicate best?

What are your best ways to prospect for business? (1:1, virtually, speaking, events, group meetings, target marketing, calling, etc)

How do you best listen to your inner wisdom?

How do you best build your self-worth and self-respect?

Which character traits would it serve you to leverage better?

Which fears do you most need to shut up?

How do you best channel your emotions into action?

What are the best ways for you to manage your energy?

Who do you collaborate best with?

Which mindsets best support you being your best?

-????????????? There are MANY FACTORS that vary from person to person.

Get most of these straight, align these for yourself and you can find far more positive energy instead of trying to follow your company’s or someone else’s recipe and wonder why it’s not working very well.?

Can you start to see what magic could happen if you turned up the heat on your energy? You know the impact it has on people when you are on a roll, when you feel good: Meetings go really well; people decide to do business with you; they invite you to events and they make positive and encouraging comments on your social media posts.

Good vibes are no joke. Exuding positive energy is very, very good for business.

How can you tune more into your best self ever more often and quiet the noise of what’s unhelpful, demoralising and beyond your control?

For most of our lives, we’ve been trying to follow some other ‘successful person’s’ recipe – no wonder it doesn't work. That person is not you! Their recipe may have some useful ingredients to experiment with, but you are not a chocolate cake – you may want similar things, but you are FAR MORE COMPLEX. And almost all of these high achievers have come from a place of significant pain – how can you possibly mimic their thinking and drive when their upbringing was probably very different than yours.?

*Tony Robbins grew up with four different stepfathers.

*Jack Canfield was frequently hit by his stepfather.

*Arnold Schwarzenegger was also often hit by his drunken father and couldn’t wait to get out of Austria.

*Oprah was raped and got pregnant by a ‘family friend’ when she was 14.

*Steven Kotler, author of numerous books on peak performance was frequently picked on as a child because he was shorter than most of his peers.

*Spiritual author Robert Holden watched his father drink himself onto the streets and then to his death.

*Brain expert and author Daniel Amen was bullied throughout his childhood by an older brother and grew up in a state of constant anxiety

*Tony Hsieh, founded Zappos and sold it to Amazon for over $1bn, authored Delivering Happiness and died at 46 as a deeply troubled man in a mysterious fire after years of excessive drug use and experiencing multiple psychotic episodes.

*Gino Wickman, founder of the Entrepreneurial Operating System and author of Traction was sexually abused as a boy.

*Ultra runner, author and former Navy SEAL David Goggins had an extremely abusive father such that he ran away from home with his mother and sister and they moved almost 1,000 miles away.?

Not meaning be to be totally facetious but the deep cynic would joke “so does this mean if we want high achieving children, we should abuse them?!” My real point here is highly traumatised people can (understandably) become highly driven to get answers. They make a helpful contribution to the world, but they shouldn’t be writing success recipes for YOU personally. My dad wasn’t perfect, but he was kind, caring and a great listener and his alcohol consumption was half a pint of Carlsberg!! When he was angry, he would go into his (home) office and work or take the dog for a walk. Does that mean I shouldn’t be guiding high achievers despite my 20-year track record?

Best practices can be helpful – but how does it make sense to base your road map for your life on someone you are not?

I recently took a brilliant online course by Sam Howard called Unlocking You, and it has radically changed my approach to life and business because for 30 years I’ve been trying to follow other people’s success recipe and would always end up feeling like a loser because I didn’t get their results. Now I know why I didn’t: Breaking news! I am not them – and neither are you! Sam’s program was so impactful for me that I want others to experience similar empowerment. As a result, now I’m facilitating groups through her course so others can follow their own clearer path based on who they are as individuals – not based on the often frenetic, million-dollar journey of yet another unrelatable celebrity/best seller traumatised in childhood.

Increasing the energy vibe others get from you

This is what I’m working on by revisiting what I’ve read and written in the past (I can’t say ‘learned’ since clearly it didn’t stick for very long!). Areas I’m refocused on include meditation, visualisation, rapidly elevating my deepest positive emotions and, yes, my energy. It’s an inside job!

What’s possible for you is this: when you improve the energy vibe you give off into something significantly higher and more magnetic, you change your energy, you make more money and you’re a lot more fun to be around. A very good use of your time ??

To powering up your magnet and turning it into more business!

Matt

Copyright Matt Anderson, 2024