2 Words from a 3-Minute FB Video That Changed My Life
By: Sean Smith
Tags: Money, Life, Inspiration, Family, Digital Marketing

2 Words from a 3-Minute FB Video That Changed My Life

The Unbelievably Simple Secret to Making Money Online

Facebook Interview with James Wedmore and Christina Jandali. Photo by author.

I’m not going to lie; part and parcel of my terminal uniqueness is my seemingly innate ability to complicate things that others do with relative ease.

Case in point, making money online.

Up until six months ago, I had a 27-year track record for making money. This record extended from my first job as a paralegal making $23,500 to my last job as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for a tech startup, where I earned a healthy six-figure salary plus equity.

It was simple, I worked hard and every two weeks I got paid.

But when I lost my CMO job this past May and decided to go out on my own, things got tricky. Since then, building a steady income stream has been somewhat elusive, and this morning I realized why.

In typical Sean fashion, I have been so focused on cracking the code to becoming an overnight Medium celebrity or coming up with some brilliant, disruptive business idea that I’ve had trouble completing anything this week.

So this morning, I did something unlike me. Not only did I listen to somebody else, but I also listened to a 3-minute Facebook video interview on a private Facebook group with an excellent online business coach, James Wedmore.

Wedmore said something so unbelievably simple (and I’m a little embarrassed to say this) that it was a real game-changer for me.

The deep irony in this is that I’m usually more than a little skeptical when I hear expressions like mindset shift and misuses verbs like overwhelm as nouns.

Nonetheless, unusual times make for strange bedfellows, and the topic he was discussing was indeed, Overwhelm.

Overwhelm, he said, is an epidemic for entrepreneurs these days, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

But, as Wedmore put it, “Overwhelm is the easy way out.”

He said the problem is that feeling overwhelmed often makes us ineffective and useless when, instead, it is a powerful indicator that we are growing and learning.

He suggested that in the moments when your natural response is to shut down or stop, that’s when you need to keep moving ahead. Despite the discomfort. Because that’s when you know you’re moving towards new information, new ideas, and new goals.

Thus, contrary to popular belief, feeling overwhelmed, Wedmore said, “is a good thing.”

Up to this point, he hadn’t said anything earth-shattering. All he was saying was don’t let fear and uncertainty stop you, but then he shifted gears.

He said a lot of people “are under the grossly limiting belief that you gotta do all things to be successful.”

He suggested that many entrepreneurs get hung up trying to do too much, master all the platforms, and be everything to everyone.

“Heck, I don’t do all the things! I don’t do nearly all the things. Or even a fraction of the things.”

At this point, it was as if he was speaking directly to me, giving me permission to stop turning myself inside out trying to be perfect.

Then came the money shot.

Perhaps this is something he’s said a thousand times before. Maybe it’s even something I’ve heard a thousand times before. Wedmore said he always likes to remind his students and anyone listening today that business is simple.

He said, “Business is two things: build your audience and sell them what they want.” (That’s 13 words) Then he added two more words: Want to make it even more simple? “Help people.”

When I heard those two words, help people, I realized that I’ve been trying way too hard to convince everyone how remarkable I am, rather than being truly helpful to them.

Sadly, I realized I have been so focused on concocting some brilliant strategy to make money that I forgot that people all around me, including members of my own family, friends, former colleagues, and neighbors, are struggling in one way or another. Right now.

Indeed for many people, this year has seemed like nothing but a struggle.

His words echoed in my head “Help people.”

Do you need to be on all the platforms?

Do you need to be doing all the things?

No, he said, “you need to be building your audience (and an audience can be 50 people) and sell them what they want.”

This, he said, “is how million-dollar businesses get built.”

“Not by making it complicated, not by making it confusing, not trying to do everything,” he said, “but by keeping it elegant, simple, as few pieces as possible.” To get there, he underscored, stay focused on that goal.

Finally, the last thing Wedmore said was so brilliantly simple, I wrote it on a Post-it note and stuck it to the wall above my desk.

He said, “What can I do today to build my audience? What can I do today to sell them what they want?”

If, like me, you’ve been struggling this year to reinvent your career in this weird new, all-digital landscape, or you’re just the kind of person who can screw up a two-car funeral, drop me a note here.

I’d love to hear from you.

Sean Smith is a proud dad and digital marketer who tends to write about content creation, coffee, Italy, family, LGBT stuff, and the ROI of Being Nice.

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