In August of 2017, I decided to join the mastermind group, Genius Network, run by the marketing legend, Joe Polish.
Of the things that drew me to Genius Network is the fact that many of the world’s best entrepreneurs, marketers, thought-leaders, authors, and innovators are members of Genius Network.
Another reason I decided to join is the concept of 10X thinking—which both Joe Polish and Strategic Coach founder, Dan Sullivan, teach.
In the video below, Dan Sullivan explains the concept of 10X thinking as it relates to Genius Network. Specifically, Genius Network costs $25,000 per year to be a part of. In line with the notion of 10X, a primary purpose of Genius Network is to create an environment where entrepreneurs can get “elegant ideas” worth at least $250,000 or more.
Pushing the idea even further is notion that if a person does not get at least $250,000 in value as a member of Genius Network, they are unlikely to be re-admitted, even if they so desire.
Why?
Because Genius Network is a highly exclusive and sought-after group. It’s for “industry transformers” who collaborate with other industry transformers to create synergistic and transformational relationships. To quote Stephen Covey, “Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It’s the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge.”
The Power Of Investing In Yourself
When I heard Joe and Dan describe 10X thinking, I already had a testimony of the principle. I’d invested in myself several times the prior decade, and each time I invested in myself I got back at least 10 times what I put in.
I had also spent my entire doctorate in Organizational Psychology studying the power of investment, and how making financial investments can transform a person’s identity and behavior.
In my research, I examined the psychological differences between entrepreneurs (those who had started up and were actively managing a company) and wannabe entrepreneurs (those who wanted to start a business but remained an employee to someone else).
Within my data I found a powerful theme. Most of the entrepreneurs had experienced what they described as a “point of no return” experience, wherein they had put themselves—psychologically and often physically—into a position where moving toward their entrepreneurial goals was easier than avoiding them. In many cases, the point of no return experience was the moment the individual actually believed they couldn’t go back.
In almost all cases, the “point of no return” was the product of a financial investment. When a person invests in their goals, their dreams, and themselves, they experience a psychological shift. Subconsciously, they shatter unhealthy and limiting beliefs about what they can do. Their very identity changes, as they go from wanting to be something to actually seeing themselves as that thing. In this case, they go from wishing to be an entrepreneur to viewing themselves—wholly and completely—as an entrepreneur.
That’s the power of investment.
When you become invested in something, you become committed to that thing. When you become committed—truly and deeply committed— you then become willing to become whatever is required to have or achieve your commitment.
True commitment requires change. Otherwise, it is not a commitment.
More than that, true commitment is what makes the 10X miracle happen. To quote William Hutchison Murray:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”
When you become truly committed to something, a whole slew of events occurs to bring about the completion of your commitment.
This level of commitment is rare—and it requires a great deal of investment to reach it.
I knew all of this about investment. I had studied it psychologically for years. I had experienced in my personal and professional life for nearly a decade.
So it was a no-brainer for me to make the $25,000 investment to join Genius Network. However, what I experienced with that investment was far more profound, surprising, and soul-expanding than I ever expected.
The Power Of Generosity
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A core component of Genius Network philosophy is “giving.” To quote Joe Polish: Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. Joe actually has an entire philosophy built around the idea of giving which he refers to as “being the first domino.” When you’re the first domino, you initiate connections, ideas, relationships, businesses, and more. You provide value on the spot. You become the type of person that others always want to answer the phone for.
To quote the famed Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
The only way to succeed in an environment like Genius Network, where everyone in the group is already very successful, is to embrace and live the idea of giving. Joe Polish is the embodiment of this idea. I believe one of Joe’s greatest desires is to help as many people as he can. He is on a mission to improve entrepreneurs and to change the global conversation around addiction. And he will achieve both of these aims because he lives what he preaches. He’s a true giver and everyone in his circle of influence knows it—and as a result, they all will gladly help him with his noble goals.
How The Genius Network Culture of “Giving” Turned My $25,000 Into Nearly $400,000 In 6 Months
In September of 2017, I attended my first “25K Meeting” at Joe Polish’s office in Tempe, Arizona. At that meeting, I shared a 10-minute talk, detailing some of my strategies for quickly growing my email list.
After my talk, I had several people ask how they could help me. One of those people was Draye Redfern, who asked how I was monetizing the more than 20,000 new subscribers I was getting each month. I shared the several ways I was monetizing my platform, but Draye pushed me. He wanted me to take full-advantage of my opportunity to serve people through my work. As Eliot Burdett has said, “Nothing happens until someone sells something.”
Within a week of meeting Draye, I had created an online course that would be presented to new subscribers of my blog, immediately after they subscribe. I had known for months that I should create a passive income stream with my new subscribers, but it wasn’t until I joined Genius Network that I got the push to do it. With the help of Draye, I created that course and immediately started making over $10,000 per month, passively.
That’s one of the brilliant outcomes of being a part of such a high level group: you will have the holes in your thinking and your business-model quickly detected. You’ll be challenged to upgrade yourself and your thinking.
That’s why it’s so important to invest in yourself. That’s what separates the dreamers from the doers. Again, once you become invested, you become committed. Once you’re committed and in the right environment, change happens. It must happen, because we adapt to our environments. Hence the beauty of putting oneself into an environment like Genius Network—you’re forced to operate at a higher level.
Put simply, the act of investing in oneself, in addition to a very high level environment, is what creates a “psychological upgrade,” wherein you shatter the limiting subconscious beliefs holding you back. As psychologist William James has said, “What is impressed on the subconscious mind is expressed.” In other words, what you believe at the subconscious level determines what you get out of life.
Joe Polish actually helped me understand this idea. In a Genius Network meeting in November of 2017, Joe said, “You get in life what you believe you deserve.” When he said that, it smacked me between the eyes like a ton of bricks. I immediately thought of the quote by Dr. David Hawkins:
“The unconscious will allow us to have only what we believe we deserve. The more we hang on to our negativity and small self-image that results, the less we think we deserve… If we have a small view of ourselves, then what we deserve is poverty. And our unconscious will see to it that we have that actuality…”
One of the “elegant ideas” I heard at the September 25K meeting was presented by Kevin Donahue. He discussed the importance of “adding a zero” to the price of your products. If you sell something for $1,000, just add a zero and find a way to sell that product for $10,000. When you do this, you upgrade the expectation of both the customer and yourself. You create a relationship where you can give a much higher level of value.
I’ve heard this idea before. But it wasn’t until I was in the right frame of mind that that idea was able to really sink-in and have an impact on my thinking. I could not have been in the right frame of mind had I not been in the right environment, which is why the “Genius Network Experience,” is so important. You have to experience it yourself.
Take for example, a chocolate cake. I could be eating the most amazing piece of chocolate cake in the world. I could even tell you how amazing that cake is. But until you take a bite of it yourself, you won’t really know what I’m talking about.
As Dan Sullivan says in the video below, “The moment you commit, the ideas will start coming to you.”
When you make the investment and immerse yourself in the environment, you change. You transform. You go from dreamer to doer.
I decided to apply Donahue’s idea and upgrade the price and value of the yearly mentoring program I offer. I also decided to recruit some help again from Draye Redfern, because I knew if I was going to dramatically increase the price and value of my product, that the launch of that product would need to match the value.
As a result, I was able to do the biggest, best, and most professional launch I could imagine. It was way better than anything I’d ever done before. The strategy of both the product and of selling the product was what Stephen Covey meant while explaining synergy. The whole became fundamentally different from the sum of its parts. One plus one became a thousand.
Because the launch of the product was so incredible, I began getting hundreds of emails per day from people who were interested. I wasn’t expecting this. Draye’s assistant had to handle all of the emails because I simply couldn’t do it myself. This forced me to face another thing I had been resisting for over a year: I needed to hire a full-time assistant, and fast.
I had been scared to hire an assistant, but given the situation, I needed one to take the load off Draye’s assistant. I started reaching out to friends and family and within a few days, I hired an amazing person, Rachel Passey, who I’d spent a great deal of time with. Knowing the value of Genius Network, I immediately invested the $10,000 to get her into Genius Network, which is the price of getting a team-member in the group.
The launch of the product got me at least an additional $250,000 dollars which I would never have been able to get on my own. That, on top of the now $10,000+ dollars I’m getting passively, and the addition of my new assistant has blown my mind.
Conclusion
I’ve experienced more growth in the past 6 months that I could have ever expected.
But more than that, I’ve changed as a person. My values are changing. I’m realizing more and more the core philosophies Joe is trying to help all Genius Networks understand, that “Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker.”
As I ponder that idea, I’m realizing that my goals have shifted in the past 6 months. Yes, I’m still very committed to my own growth and my own goals. But now, more than ever, my goals are to help other people achieve their goals.
Knowing that “life gives to the giver,” it’s obvious that the practice of this idea will only produce bigger 10X returns in the future.