5 Steps to Higher Order Business

In this world of internet income, marketing funnels, and an overflow of “coaches”, you have to be able to take the following 5 steps to reach higher order business. To get out of the pool of Mediocre that most entrepreneurs swim in.

I warn you, below is a reflection of my thoughts and experiences and I suck at candy coating. So, if you’re prone to butt-hurt? Exit, stage left. Actually, read on and then move on.

Higher order business is an art. Sometimes it’s real art. Look at the musicians killing it out there (not the goddamn bubble pop bullshit, but REAL artists who write and perform their own music). Look at Richard Branson, over 400 companies and growing. Look at all the successful higher order businesses that function on a different plane than most of us, the ones that experience success after success and do unimaginable things.

They do that because they know and live by the following 5 steps.

1. Know thyself.
   
   MJ Keenan says, “Know thyself.” Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Be self-aware.” I say, “Give yourself fucking permission to dig beneath your flesh to discover who you are on all levels.”
   
   But just because you WANT to be a successful entrepreneur, doesn’t mean you WILL be one. Just because you WANT to be the best copywriter doesn’t mean you WILL be (that’s my job thankyouverymuch). What you want and what you are capable of and are WILLING to do are, sometimes, two very different creatures.
   
   I’d love to be leaner, more toned, and more flexible, but it doesn’t mean that I have the wherewithal to put the energy into it. Right now.
   
   Same for you.
   
   What do you say to yourself over and over that you want, but you don’t see yourself working for?
   
   What do you say you want and are working every fucking day for?
   
   What scares you? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you love? What do you feel is changing in you?
   
   Disclaimer: Your emotions serve only to fuck you up. Pull them out of these equations.
   
   Use cold, hard facts to answer them. And if you can’t? Find 5 people you’re closest to and ask them to give you objective feedback on their thoughts of who you are at your core. Take notes. Use that to inform the path you need to take to become the person you see in your dreams.

2. Become a (Beast) Master.
   
   All of you out there whining about the word “hustle”, what the fuck are you doing all day to become masters of your craft? Writing a blog post here or there and calling it a day? Sending out an email and waiting to see how it’s received. Dropping some posts on Facebook to see if any clients bite?
   
   Fuck that. I want what I want and I am willing to work my ass off for it. Anybody who’s not working their asses off to hone their art is a hobbyist at best, not the apprentice working to become the master.
   
   If you want to master your craft, whether it’s marketing, writing, painting, jewelry making, or a lightbody worker, you have to practice. Sometimes it’ll be for free. Sometimes it’ll only be for you. Sometimes you’ll actually earn a killer living at it because you’re better than most.
   
   And it would be a disservice to any art to say that we might actually become masters, but we can become the best stewards of our arts as we can and HOPE we’re labeled as such when we’ve exhaled our last breaths and are laid down in the cold dirt or gone up in that funeral pyre.
   
   So. What are you doing to practice your art? When are you practicing? Are you consciously practicing or just throwing shit to the wind and hoping you’re getting it right?
   
   Your Challenge: Find ways to truly devote time to FOCUSED practice each day. Even if it’s free coaching. Because the better you are at your craft, the more the world needs it.
    

3. Do that shit the way YOU want to and FUCK WHAT THE WORLD THINKS.
   
   Whatever your goal is FUCK the way they say it “should” be done. Artists are out there doing shit their way and making a KILLING at it. If you’re reading blog after blog and looking for a magic formula, all you’re going to get from it is time lost to nothing gained.
   
   Do what you love. Do it the way you want to. And be consistent. Don’t sweat the latest funnel techniques or the newest fad in video marketing. Do it and share your story, however that looks for you.
   
   That’s the only catch to ALL of this. You have to be willing to share your story because if you’re forcing marketing, you’re not creating art. You’re simply chasing dineros, not passion. But HOW you share is your choice. Your preference.
    

4. Develop Tunnel Vision.
   
   This is FUCKING KEY. THIS is how you reach the highest order of your business. Because if you’re busy spinning in Facebook circles because, hey, that’s what you “have” to do, you’re not going to get where you want to go.
   
   Now, there are a ton of internet marketers out there disguised as coaches and powerhouses who are killing it by spending hours and hours pinging people and peddling their wares. That’s because that IS their art. If that’s not your art, stay out of there.
   
   Tunnel Vision is your unfuckingrelenting determination to achieve your goals. It’s how you stay in your lane, avoid comparisonitis, and start owning the minutes you’re granted everyfuckingday.
   
   Fix: The next time you catch yourself scrolling, stop and ask yourself what you should be creating instead. What’s going to push you toward your goal? What’s going to get you closer to mastery? Do that.
   
   Keep a dedicated list of all the parts you need to build into place. Keep an idea book specifically for your craft. Keep yourself accountable or join us in Fire of the Diamond because I’m happy to kick your ass into gear everyday.
   
   Just focus. Fucking. FOCUS. ON. YOUR. ART.
    

5. Listen. Deep.
   
   There are going to come times where you’re not sure what your next step should be. Do you say yes to that podcast? (Yes!) Do you move across country? Do you put on your big girl panties and take the high road to your dreams?
   
   All of that is inside you.
   
   All you have to do is listen. And listen deep. Your intuition, your gut, your higher self, whatever you want to call it, it’s there. But you have to cut through the noise to hear it. You have to shut people down and listen to NO OTHER OPINION BUT YOUR OWN.
   
   You have to be able to read your body’s physical reactions to the questions you ask yourself. And use those answers to determine what is right for you.

Being successful and working a higher order business comes at a huge price. Usually one that costs you to lose who you were to become who you were born to be. But only if you’re willing to take the above can you make that happen.