The School of Greatness - 247 Promote Your Passion

Episode Date: October 30, 2015

"If you don't ask someone to support you, they may never do it." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/247

This is 5-Minute Friday, episode number 247, and you've got to promote your passion. No one is going to hand me success. I must go out there and get it myself. That's why I'm here, to dominate, to conquer both the world and myself. That's an unknown quote in the chapter of Develop Hustle in my new book called The School of Greatness. You've got to promote your passion, guys. I'm telling you something.

When you've got a dream that you're so inspired by, you are the one who's going to make it happen and only you. You've got to understand this process. So many people have been coming up to me this week and saying, wow, you're everywhere. I see you on every podcast, every TV show where I turn the TV on, every newsletter, every blog. There I see you promoting yourself. And I tell you what, if I just said, okay, I'm going to write this book and I'm going to put it out there and I'm going to hope that someone buys it and I'm going to hope that people see it somehow. And I'm going to hope that my publisher does all the work to get the distribution. And I'm going to hope that someone buys it and I'm going to hope that people see it somehow. And I'm going

to hope that my publisher does all the work to get the distribution. And I'm going to hope that people just somehow stumble upon my work of art, my artistic expression, my project, my program, my product, anything that I'm putting out there. If you just think that once you create it, that people are going to want to see it, you are sadly mistaken, my friend. I learned this from my brother, very talented jazz violinist, one of the top jazz violinists in the world, arguably one of the best jazz musicians in the world. And he told me this. He said, there are so many talented musicians that you've never heard of because they think that people are just supposed

to discover them. They think that they're just supposed to play in a local bar and some talent rep is going to find them and then blow them up. You are wrong. My friends, you've got to put in the work. You've got to put in the hustle. You've got to go out there night after night and promote yourself, promote your product, promote your dream. It's not going to be discovered without you putting in the effort. I have been asking people one by one when I talk to them, when I message them online, when they tweet me, I will respond one by one and say, will you buy my book? Again, I saw this from my brother after late night sessions, playing jazz in local bars in Columbus, Ohio. When I was a kid growing up, I would see him go after his set and take a stack

full of his CDs to the 25 people in the bar or in the jazz club. He would go around one by one to a connected audience, an audience that loved his music. He would go around and put his CD in their hands and say, thank you for coming out. Will you buy my CD right now? He gives them a question. Will you buy it right now? Without asking them to buy their, his product, they wouldn't probably not buy it without you guys putting yourself out there in a vulnerable way. Sometimes it may be not what someone wants to hear. Tonight, I was in Whole Foods and I was sitting there. I was waiting to connect with a buddy of mine I was meeting up with, Ramit Sethi, in Union Square in New York City. And a guy comes up to me, a nice guy, says Ryan is his name, came up to me and said, hey, man, I love your podcast. Just wanted to say hi and tell you what I'm up to. And I was asking him questions about his life,

what he was doing. He's moving to LA. He's chasing his dream. I said, awesome, man. I said, how long have you been listening to the podcast? He said about a year. I asked him what his favorite episode was. And he told me, and I said, by the way, did you buy my book yet? He said, no, I was thinking about it, but I haven't bought it yet. And I said, will you buy it right now? And he goes, what do you mean? Like on my phone, like on Amazon or something? I go, yeah. Will you pull your phone and buy it right now for me? It would mean the world to me. And he said, uh, no, not right now. Uh, I'll think about it. And I said, okay, cool. No worries. But if I didn't ask him that, you know, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get the sale.

He was uncomfortable because of the way that I asked him out of nowhere. But I tell you what, sometimes you're going to make people uncomfortable by asking. But the only way you're going to get the sale, the only way you're going to get people excited about your passion is when you promote your passion with excitement. If you just create something and then don't put it out there and don't put yourself out there in front of people, you're not going to get what you want in life. I remember messaging another friend of mine on Facebook and I asked her a few times, will you buy my book with a link in the message? And she kept kind of hemming and hawing and skirting around the question. And until she said, yes, I said, will you buy the book?

And until she gave me an answer, yes or no, then she said, yes, I just got it. Thank you. You're a really persistent guy. And I said, yeah, this is my dream. And I'm going to promote my dream. And I'm not going to apologize for it. And then I said this. I go, will you buy three more copies to give them to friends?

And she goes, wow, you're really passionate and persistent about this. I go, will you buy three more copies to give them her friends? And she goes, wow, you're really, you're really passionate and persistent about this. I said, absolutely. Because I believe this will change people's lives when they get it in their hands. And she said, I have no question now why you've gotten to where you are by how you promote yourself. It's incredible. And it's inspiring to me, she said. And I said, thanks. So here's the thing, guys. You've got to be willing to promote your passion. You've got to be willing to put yourself out there when you have something you're creating. My good friend Derek Halperin says he only writes about one or two blog posts a month. The rest of the time, he's emailing people one by one, asking them to read and share it. You've got

to create something and then be willing to promote it to the world unapologetically because this is your dream. This is your passion and you deserve to put it out there. People are going to say no. People aren't going to buy into your thing. People may be offended. People are going to say, no, I don't like that. Don't be pushy. Don't be salesy. Don't promote it that much to me. Quit asking me. That's fine. Those people aren't going to support you and that's fine. Or maybe it's not the right time for them to buy your thing or to promote your thing

and that's okay as well. But I tell you what, if you don't ask someone to buy or to promote you or to support you, they may never do it. So lesson for today, you've got to be willing to ask. You've also got to be willing to give as well. This isn't just a one-way road where you're just asking all the time for people and you're never supporting them back. There is a flow. You've got to be willing to give and take in life, okay? So you can't just promote, promote, promote, and never support anyone else. If you expect them, everyone else will support you. There's a give and take to this. There's a value

add here. And I have been giving for years and years and years with my podcast. I've been giving to other people for free, all this great information and content. I've been spending a lot of money creating free information for people, putting it out there, producing this content, getting access to the top minds in the world to give a product out there for free to this podcast. And so that's why during this moment, during this week of my book launch, I'm asking people to buy my book, to buy multiple copies of my book. And I'm so grateful for everyone who has.

So thank you everyone for stepping up, who has bought a book, for leaving a review on Amazon, for buying multiple copies, for coming to see me in my book tour. And make sure to check out lewishouse.com slash events to see me on tour for the next six weeks. I acknowledge you for supporting my dream. I'm asking you right now, if you haven't bought a book, I'm asking you to step up and support me in my dream. I'm asking you right now, if you haven't bought a book, I'm asking you to step up and support me in my dream. It's only 15 bucks on Amazon and it would mean the world to me. If I have inspired you in any way, if my message has inspired you in any way, if the guests I've brought on have inspired you or helped you in any way and you found value from this podcast

and you have yet to buy a copy yet, I'm asking you to step up and buy one right now. Go to Amazon and type in School of Greatness and pick up a couple copies. Go to your local bookstore, your local Barnes and Noble and pick up a few copies. If they're out of stock like many of them are right now, make sure to ask them and say, make sure to restock because I want to come back and buy one in the next couple of days. I'm asking you to step up to support my dream. This is five minute Friday, episode number 247. Thank you all so very much for being here. It's been an incredible week and we've got about four or five days to go

until we learn about the end of the launch week, whether we as a collective get this book on the New York Times bestseller list or not. It's going to take an army of you to step up to support and I'm asking you to support my dream by buying a few copies right now. So many of you stepped up. So thank you all so very much. I am so pumped for what's to come. We've got Indianapolis tomorrow. Then we go to Columbus, then Cleveland, then Denver, then Montreal. Then we do a two day break and go back on the road again. So if you're in any

of these cities, make sure to sign up at lewishouse.com slash events. Some of the events are already sold out, sold out in the first week, and we're going to try to create more space for more people to come. I appreciate you guys. This is my dream, and it's my ask that you go support my dream and buy a copy right now. Thank you so much for being here. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.