 Let me share with you a personal story of something I have been struggling with for some time now:
I have been struggling with the notion of "sales", "discounts", "promotions" and other such business terms for some time now. As a young business owner, I have been told that you must do and offer such things - especially on Black Friday. "Alex, you gotta run sales, provide discounts, and offer special, limited-time promotions." This was the advice I received by many people in business. Men and women who to this very day, I respect to a large degree. When I was younger, I took their advice and did these things. But the longer I have been in business, the more I have started to ask one simple question, "Why?" Why must I do these things? What does doing these things achieve? The obvious answer is that you must do them to make sales - to get people to give you money. Ok. So if my goal is to get money, is that the best way to go about doing it? The answer I have come to discover is, it depends on what your goal is. Simon Sinek, in his iconic book, Start with Why, talks about this very thing. When I re-read his book recently, I thought he was speaking directly to me. He discussed how all these things - sales, promotions, discounts, etc. - are, at the end of the day, manipulations to get people to give you money. Tactics to separate someone from their green stuff. He described about how these tactics do work (i.e.: they get people to give you their green stuff) but they are short term goals that cannot provide sustainable results. So if your goal is short term sales, these tactics work great. If however, your goal is to achieve long lasting loyalty, these tactics stink. I used to do things like offer sales and discounts on my services - no more. From now on, I am going to be doing business another way: believing in and sticking to setting a real price for a real and reasonably valued product or service. If I agree to do a seminar for you for $100.00 because we negotiated that price, then that is fine. I'm always open to negotiation. But I'm not going to "discount" something for you. I am no longer going to attempt to bribe you with deals, discounts, tokens, promotions etc. I am no longer going to insult your intelligence with such an obvious method of trying to separate you from your cold hard cash. Why will I no longer be offering discounts, deals, promotions, sales, etc.? Many reasons. Let me explain: 1) I feel like shit when I do it. I feel it insults your intelligence and it makes me feel like shit. I feel like I am manipulating you for money, even though I don't even have a clue or a care as to whether or not you can benefit from, want or need what I have to offer or sell. Until I re-read Simon Sinek's Start with Why, I could never figure out why offering deals and discounts made me feel so badly. I do now. I recently had this discussion with my friend, Ted, on his show, Social Selling TV. We talked about being authentic and sticking to your core values and then doing business with people who believe what you believe. Simon Sinek speaks of the same thing in Start with Why. My friend whom I greatly respect, Dr. David Phelps, has created a tremendous business and community with his Freedom Founders Group. I asked him how he created such a large and consistent support group - they are actually friends at Freedom Founders, not just business associates. How did he do it? Dr. Phelps told me that it was by building the business slowly and by sticking to his core values. He told me, "You will be very tempted to take short cuts to make quick sales and to make money fast - avoid this at all costs." I had a great time talking with him about this on his show, the Freedom Blueprint Podcast. Sinek captures why I had this feeling perfectly on page 34 of his book. I didn’t realize this consciously until reading his book: "With every price drop, promotion, fear-based or aspirational message and novelty we use to achieve our goals, we find our companies, our organizations and our systems getting and weaker." "With perfect irony, we, the manipulators, have been manipulated by our own system." Wow. I now understand why all these things always made me feel like shit - none of it communicates true love or care for you nor myself. None of it breeds trust. When I offer you these manipulations, I don't even like or trust myself so how could you? When I use these manipulations against you, I feel non-authentic because I now that are just that, manipulations. 2) I hate being manipulated in this way. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out, but if I don’t enjoy when a business manipulates me in these ways, why would I perpetuate the very things I hate? Why would I assume that you won’t mind it when I hate it? Maybe you don’t care, but I shouldn’t assume that. 3) Manipulations or freebies do not cause you or I to value the work or product. I used to complain when people would ask me for freebies. If you're a business owner, someone has asked you for free products or services. I know people have asked me. I used to get mad at people who did this - but now I realize they were only doing what I gave them permission to do. It is my fault. I would capitulate and give freebies, run promotions, etc. No more. Let me be clear, if you want to negotiate something, I am all ears. A negotiation involves both parties trying to add value to each other and come to the most satisfactory conclusion for both sides. A negotiation is not, "I can't pay so give me free shit." Sorry, move along. On the flip side, it is not a negotiation if I try to bribe you with "Black Friday Deals" to get you to buy my book or services. That is me trying to manipulate money out of your pocket. I am done doing that. I want to tell you a story that a speaker mentor and friend told to me a long time ago. When this friend was a young speaker starting out in the business, he knew he wanted to write a book. He found out about a man named Dan Poynter who taught people how to self-publish a book. My friend wanted to take his course but, being a young man, didn't have the money. He told this to Dan Poynter when he saw him at a live event. He was about to ask Dan if he could join his course for free when Dan stopped him mid-sentence and said, "Well then I guess you don't want it badly enough." And he then turned and walked away. I used to think this was cruel for Dan Poynter to have done to my friend - I no longer believe this. Dan denying him and cutting him off mid-sentence motivated my friend to save his money and invest in the course. He then had more reason to value the knowledge Dan gave him. My friend went on to self-publish many books using the knowledge he learned from Dan's course. Would my friend have valued the course as much if Dan had given it to him for free? No. You have experienced this as a teen or as a parent of a teen very profoundly: How does a teenager treat a car they had to buy (or at least partially buy) compared to someone who was given the car for free? The treatment is not even close. Similarly, if I use these fancy manipulations to get your money, I don't value my own work or product. You don't value it either. Tell me if you can relate - the customers or clients who have given you the biggest hassles are the ones who get freebies, deals, discounts, or took advantage of promotions? Is this your experience? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at info@alexlanshe.com. I know this has been my experience. Friends who I gave free or discounted items to were always the ones who gave me the hardest time. In conclusion, I will no longer be engaging in these types of manipulations to get your money. They make me feel bad, they insult your intelligence, and they cause a devastating loss of value in your perception and in my perception. I don't respect myself when I offer these manipulations and if I do not respect myself, how can you respect me? I am going to continue putting out free content and I will be doing exclusive content for paid members and patrons. Those who believe what I believe and wish to benefit from what I am doing will become paid members and contribute, even if just $1.00/month, to receive all the videos, blogs and interviews I do in the future. Those who wish to stick with the free blog posts, that’s ok too. People who don’t want to follow me at all, I wish you well. My book, Anatomy of a Warrior, is $19.99 on Amazon. The eBook is $7.99. Those are fair prices for a book that involved 2.5 years of work, and required me to interview 120 people. I believe those prices to be fair and sufficient. I am not going to “discount” the book for Black Friday, nor am I going to tease you with “THIS IS THE CHEAPEST YOU CAN EVER GET MY BOOK!” I now respect myself too much for that and I respect you too much for that. If you have the appropriate funds and believe that buying it and reading it would be a good thing for you, then by all means, get your copy. If you think a friend or group of friends would benefit from it and they can afford the price, by all means, I desire you to share it with those friends. If you lack the resources or do not believe it would be helpful, 3 choices remain: Do not buy it ever, save up the money and then buy it or, negotiate. Make ME an offer - don't ask for free stuff. Because the answer from now on, will be "You must not want it badly enough." What will I be doing instead? How do I plan on surviving and making my business thrive without doing these manipulations? That will described in detail in Part II of this blog series which will be released soon! If you've read Simon Sinek's book, Start with Why, you know the answer lies within the Golden Circle...
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The Anatomy of a Warrior Show - E007 - Interview with Home Invasion Survivor & Author, Liz Lazarus11/22/2017  Today on The Anatomy of a Warrior Show, I interview my good friend and home invasion survivor, Liz Lazarus.
Liz was interviewed for my latest book, Anatomy of a Warrior, and we have become friends since our first interview. I am delighted to have her on the show this week to tell her powerful story of survival. Liz was just a 20 year old college student when her apartment was broken into by a home invader looking for a victim to rape. On this episode, Liz and I discuss:
You can find more about Liz and her books at: If you enjoyed this episode, please: On today's episode of The Anatomy of a Warrior Show, I interview my good friend and fellow warrior, Kimberly Ostrowski.
Kimberly has an amazing story to share with you on this episode. She was a member of the same cult as I was and in fact, was even closer to the cult leader than I was - serving as a behind-the-scenes staff member. Her courage to stand for the truth in the face of pure evil is inspiring and is why I wanted to have her on the show. Kim was instrumental to me seeing the truth about the cult leader and extricating myself from it. We discuss how and why in the interview. In addition to Kim's story about being in the cult, we discuss some other great topics:
Kim's Bio: Kim is a homeschooling mom of four and the current owner and operator of Resolute Warrior Academy and the new director of the Washidokan Martial Science Dojo in Sandusky, MI. She also helps her husband run their construction business. She started training in martial sciences in the fall of 2011 and went through intense training for three years, earning her Shidoin and Jokyo license. Kim has started up a new program, Break Free, a women's personal protection course which will focus on awareness and prevention training that will also be applicable to daily life. Kim wants to help women Break Free from the mindsets and negative habits that keep them from fulfilling their purpose and from protecting themselves. You can contact Kim at: If you want to see ALL of Alex's future interviews, training tips, behind-the-scenes access, special written blogs, be the first to know about book promotions, new books, etc. You must become a Patron at Patreon. Go to www.Patreon.com/aow right now to become an exclusive member and patron and to make your pledge! Any support you can give means a great deal - the lowest tier is just $1.00/month with the highest being a VIP Angel Donor of $1,000.00/month. What ever you can do will help Alex to spread the warrior virtues across our nation in a time where we desperately need it. As it stands, the free blogs will be released once every other week starting in January of 2018. This means that in order to see each weekly blog, you must become a patron. If you cannot become a patron but still want to make sure you never miss any of the free episodes of the show, enter your name and email in the subscription box on this page! Be sure to check out Alex's new book, currently #5 in the Hot New Releases section of the Violence in Society category on Amazon, Anatomy of a Warrior: The 7 Virtues All Warriors Must Live by to Successfully Protect and Serve. www.AlexLanshe.com/  Welcome to our HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! This week's interview was with a very special guest who is committed to protecting and preserving life. Let me introduce you to Dr. Howard Gambrill Clark. Dr. Howard Gambrill Clark has served in counterterrorism and countering violent extremism over the past two decades to include service in the White House, Marines (Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines), Homeland Security, Special Operations Command, and now at the National Defense College and Stability Institute. His latest book is Information Warfare: The Lost Tradecraft. In this episode of The Anatomy of a Warrior Show, we talk about A LOT of cool things such as: - Dr. Clark's new book and how knowing about Information Warfare can help to keep you safe in your every day life - Personal Protection lessons we can learn from films such as The Dark Knight, and Inception! (Plus a Clint Eastwood movie that neither of us could remember - bonus points for you if you email me and tell me the name of the Clint Eastwood movie!) - How virtue and information warfare fit together - The value of the 7 warrior virtues in regards to counterterrorism - How studying Information Warfare can help you to become immune from fake news and media spin And more! Don't forget to check out the blooper that happened during filming! (Technology is nice when it cooperates). Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel so you never miss the free episodes of The Anatomy of a Warrior Show! Comment, like and share if you felt the interview was helpful in some way and if it contains information worth spreading! If you REALLY want to never miss out, enter your name and email in the subscription box on this page! You never know who I'm going to interview on the show, so don't miss out. |
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Alexander LansheNational Speaker, author, blogger, and life-long student of warrior arts and science. Archives
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