Questions to Ask with Guest Dan Kuschell: MakingBank S2E1

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Summary

Entrepreneurs like to ask questions because questions (and the answers they lead to) drive destiny.

Where is the opportunity?

When can we get started?

What’s the run-rate?

How much is the overhead?

Why aren’t we effectively speaking to our audience?

Who should we hire next?

These are just a few of the many questions that successful entrepreneurs ask, and ask with regularity.

But there are three questions—ironically the three most-important questions of all—that entrepreneurs always fail to ask themselves.

And entrepreneur’s fail to ask them because they’re scary—they are big, philosophical questions whose answers can lead to rapid pivots and dramatic lifestyle changes:

•What do I WANT?

•What do I STAND FOR?

•Who AM I?

Obtaining the answers to these questions with complete clarity is vital.

Their answers do more than give us insight into our inner-selves, they ultimately determine our destiny.

Sometimes, overcoming the fear to ask the big questions takes an Earth-shattering wake-up call which, for today’s Making Bank guest, came in the form of life-threatening surgery.

With more than 11 successfully launched entrepreneurial ventures, starting with a direct mail campaign in 1992, Dan Kuschell channels an unshakably positive mindset to drive the engine of his professional success.

Join host Josh Felber, as he asks Dan about the journey from food stamps to fortune, his rebellious personality, and much more, including…

•Why social proof is the world’s greatest sales mechanism

•The addiction of “workaholism”

•How destruction can be the best avenue to greatness

•The incorrectly assumed correlation between skill and success

•And why the NOT-to-do list is the most important list of all

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Transcription

Josh Felber: I am Josh Felber and you’re watching Making Bank, where we uncover the success strategies and the secrets of the top 1%. I’m excited today, I have a unbelievable entrepreneurial guest with me on the show.

His name is Dan Kuschell and he is a husband, a dad, a serial entrepreneur as myself and also an Angel Investor. Dan has started and built 11 companies, his first in 1992. He got started in the direct mail industry, working in consulting for health clubs as well. Dan has been on many radio and TV shows over the years, including some of these as NBC, Spike TV, History Channel, ESPN and more.

He’s definitely an expert in helping other people build and grow their companies. In fact, after selling two of his companies in the late 2000s, following a health scare, Dan now spends his time working with fun projects, helping Joe Polish, a good friend of ours at Genius Network, at GeniusNetworkEvents.com.

Dan is a servant and a leader that leads by coaching, driving, execution and teamwork. And what that means for you, it will convert more leads, generate more sales and improve your profits for you and your business, as well as create a greater impact and contribution in the world.

Dan, I want to welcome you to Making Bank.

Dan Kuschell: It’s awesome to be here Josh. That guy sounds pretty cool by the way.

Josh Felber: Every time we get down with bios, everyone’s like, “Hey man, that’s awesome. I love that person.” That’s exciting.

Dan, I’m excited to have you on the show today. Just interacting with you over the years and everything, and just understanding and learning who you are and what you have done, how you’ve overcome certain challenges in your life, is definitely someone I wanted to connect with and be able to share your story on today’s show.

Dan Kuschell: Yes, well, it’s an honor Josh and I feel like we’re kindred brothers. I know you ran, you work in nutrition, you’ve worked with health clubs, right?

Josh Felber: Yes, yes.

Dan Kuschell: You’ve worked with trainers, I mean you had a computer software business, so it’s like both of us have had this serial entrepreneurs fire and spirit inside of us.

Josh Felber: And then we both have the great haircuts.

Dan Kuschell: Yes, we’ve got the perfect hairline.

Josh Felber: Awesome. Well, tell me a little bit about how you got started as an entrepreneur. I mean, were you one of those guys that just started as a kid and having all these different little side projects, or did it happen later in your life?

Dan Kuschell: I would say it’s a little bit of both, Josh. The reality is, I got really pissed off because my family struggled …

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: … as a kid. My dad worked for a big auto company in Detroit, the biggest one in the world at the time …

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: … and I watched him get laid off about nine, or 10, or 11 times …

Josh Felber: Wow.

Dan Kuschell: … and there were times we were on welfare.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And for me, walking through a grocery store isle with food stamps as a kid and getting laughed at and humiliated and embarrassed, it was just something I knew I never wanted to do. Then my dad during this time, he was a fighter, so he started a couple businesses, but they just didn’t pan out.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: And I saw certain things. My dad introduced me to personal development when I was 10.

Josh Felber: Wow, that’s awesome.

Dan Kuschell: I attended my first clinic and I remember it was a baseball clinic actually for coaches and the one thing I still can remember, I can picture the page in the book from that clinic when I was 10, it talked about positive mental attitude and how it’s 90% mental attitude, whether it’s sports, baseball, or life.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And I believe that to be really true. And then my dad encouraged me. My dream as a kid was to play pro baseball. I thought that would be my way to get my family out of the … I grew up in the inner city of Detroit …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … literally.

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: And I thought sports would be a way for not only me to get out of the city, but also to help get them out of the city. As time went on, my dad encouraged me saying, “If baseball doesn’t work out, if you just apply that same focus and desire that you do at baseball, you’ll be successful at anything.” And he introduced me to my second book, when I was about 15 or 16, called Mentally Tough by James Loehr, how to apply sports psychology to business. And I was fascinated by the psychology of mental toughness and about how everything’s … most of this is a mental game …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … when it really comes down to it. And then I got introduced to Tony Robbins of course in my late teens. And boy, the game was over from there. Then Tom Hopkins and a bunch of others.

But that was the starting point. My sister introduced me to a direct mail, direct marketing company, in the early, or late ’80s.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: And I worked with it part-time while I was going to college, right?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And I got so fascinated, Josh, by how someone could take print, put it in the mail and people would respond, not like years from now, but today and they’d give you money. And I was fascinated by that, how that could happen. So I started studying copy and copywriting and messaging and different delivery and mechanisms. This is back when you would actually have to put it on paper, put a post it stamp …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … on top, go down to the mail house, deliver it, make sure you had the right list segments. That was the start. And then I started my first company in ’92. Fast forward today, 11 companies later and now helping Joe with Genius Network is a real treat.

Josh Felber: That’s awesome. And the really cool thing is, as you were a kid, you started having these different seeds planted from your dad along the way.

Dan Kuschell: Yes.

Josh Felber: And being introduced to different books to help with your mindset and how you wanted to develop yourself. I know at 13, or 14 is when I first read Unlimited Power with Tony Robbins and that was just a whole game changer and just studied it and studied it and applied it into my life over the years. And-

Dan Kuschell: Yes. I think the biggest thing I got from Tony and I’ve heard you talk it on some of the interviews you do when you’re a guest, about matching and modeling and how important that strategy is …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … for us to use, find the people who have the results we want, do what they do and we can get what they’ve got. And I know you’re a master of that and I’m still working at it really hard.

Josh Felber: We always are.

Dan Kuschell: Yes, sometimes in some of my 11 companies, what that means is also there’s been some failures along the way …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … then virtually I matched and modeled maybe the wrong model.

Josh Felber: I’ve had that yes, same experience myself. I know along your way you had a pretty major health scare.

Dan Kuschell: Yes.

Josh Felber: And I guess tell me a little bit how that relates to growing and running a business and how that made a transformation in your life.

Dan Kuschell: Wow, yes. Short version of it is, I started building up a couple of companies in the early 2000s and I’m your typical type A personality that I only know one speed and that’s full on.

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: And when you’re in your 30s you think you’re invincible. So I was going at this pace, I was working 20 hours a day most days, six days a week, building my companies, because I was just passionate about it. And I had a wife at the time and I had kids in the late 2000s. And two weeks after my son Kyler was born in the late 2000s, Josh, I woke up with chest pains.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: And I ended up getting myself to a hospital, just for a precaution I thought, and then they hooked up some tests and all hell breaks loose. I end up in the hospital for four days, I have this surgery, I had to sign a disclaimer that said that I had one in X chance of dying on the table and it really freaked me out. I mean, it was huge wake up call.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And essentially, thankfully it was a false alarm overall, but what I had done is I burned myself out for about a decade. I was a workaholic, right? Joe Polish calls that, “The respectable addiction,” right?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: And I’m addicted, like a lot of entrepreneurs are addicted of achievement and accomplishment and building and creating things. And for me, Josh, what happened was, in that hospital I went through a pretty significant thought process. There’s the book Death and Dying by Kubler-Ross …

Josh Felber: Okay, sure.

Dan Kuschell: … There’s six stages, or seven stages of DABDAR, denial, anger, bargaining, anxiety, anger and then you’ve ultimately get to acceptance into response.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And I went through all of those in that night …

Josh Felber: Wow.

Dan Kuschell: … after signing this disclaimer. I wrote what I thought could be my last will and then I got on the other side of it, going, “Okay, when I come out of this, I’m gonna make some significant changes in my life,” right?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And do thing a little bit different. That set the stage and about two years later I sold my companies. It gave me a chance to work on my health. I’m about over 60 pounds less weight today than I was then and I’ve kept it off for years.

Josh Felber: That’s awesome.

Dan Kuschell: I feel really blessed that I’ve been able to be really present, not only with quality time with my kids that people talk about …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … but quantity time with my kids. And for me, that’s something that was more of a priority than working 80 hours a week and … I didn’t want to be one of those dads, Josh, that when someone said to my kids when they’re in their 20s or 30s, “Well, what are you proud of about?” “He’s really great at business.”

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: “But I never saw my dad,” right? I didn’t want that. For me, I sold the companies. It gave me some freedom, it gave me some real opportunity to investigate what did I want and ultimately, every decision I make today … and I know you gotta go to a break here in a second … every decision I make filters through three things. This is what came out of that process. What do I want? Not what do my kids want …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … wife. I had 175 employees in those companies, right? We’re doing some pretty big things, but what do I want?

Number two is, what do I stand for personally? And number three, who am I? Really at the core, not the labels of CEO, executive, dad, husband, but who am I as a person and individual. That today is what fuels my decision making. I’m working with fun projects, like working with Joe and Genius Network and other things.

Josh Felber: Awesome Dan. Yes, I definitely … can you stick around for few minutes? We’ll just …

Dan Kuschell: Absolutely.

Josh Felber: … take a quick break and I would love to come back and dive a little bit more into that.

Dan Kuschell: Awesome.

Josh Felber: I am Josh Felber. You’re watching Making Bank and we’ll be right back.

Josh Felber: I am Josh Felber. Welcome back to Making Bank.

We’ve been speaking with Dan Kuschell, who through a health scare in his life, after building and working multiple businesses, putting in 20+ hours a day, was lying in his hospital room and came up with these three questions that he asks himself on a daily basis. What do I want? What do I stand for? And who am I?

And I think these are three important questions that we can all ask ourselves in any type of situation that we’re going into, any type of business, or any type of project and see if that really aligns with who we really are.

Dan, welcome back to Making Bank.

Dan Kuschell: Awesome Josh, glad to be back.

Josh Felber: Well, tell me a little bit … I know you were talking right before the break about one of the reasons that you sold you businesses, after the health scare and one of the things that you really decided was to come back and make sure you are present with your family and your kids. And now we see you’re posting a lot of different photos and things like that and different fun things that you’re doing with them and funny dance videos and …

Dan Kuschell: I’ve gotten famous for that dance video in our little circle.

Josh Felber: I’m surprised that didn’t beat Sean Stephenson’s viral video out.

Dan Kuschell: Yes, there you go.

Josh Felber: But tell me a little bit about what do you do to make sure that you are present, because I know that there’s so many distractions that we have and as entrepreneurs we’re worried about our business, and different things are happening. Sometimes it’s just hard to shut off.

Dan Kuschell: Yes. Well, first of all, for me, Josh, it’s not always easy, right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: I’d be misleading you or anybody we’d be talking to today, your listeners and viewers, if I’d say, “I’ve got this all figured out.” Left in my own devices, I’m a mess frankly, as an entrepreneur. I chase all kinds of opportunities, I get myself distracted in a lot of ways, right? I love to build, create and grow things and sometimes they’re not the gold coins, right? One of the things I’ve learned from Joe, in fact part of the reason I decided to sell my companies, I heard Joe say something at one of the Genius Network meetings. He says, “Be willing to destroy anything which is not excellent,” right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: And in order to have a breakthrough, you’ve gotta be willing to break something.

Now, I don’t necessarily recommend people go the exact path that I went to do that, because I think there’s probably an easier way, a more elegant way to do it, but for me, that’s how it worked out overall. And as I look at my life, there’s a great book I read recently, I think it’s Marshall Goldsmith’s Triggers.

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: He said there’s four stages we go through in change. One is, we create, number two is we preserve, number three, we eliminate and four, we have acceptance, right …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … in that thing. And I look at what you do, or what I do, Josh, we chose everything that we get. For me, I decided what did I want, is I wanted, number one to be a great husband and dad, right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: First. More than even an entrepreneur. So I don’t want to give my wife and my kids leftovers, right?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: Although there are certain priorities in building and creating entrepreneurship wealth and building and growing a company, that there are trade-offs that you have. But I build rituals into my day, really to protect myself. Those rituals, like when I woke up this morning, I was up about 5, 5:15, which is typical for most days. I get up and have my, I call it Tony Robbins languaging, “Hour of power …”

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: Right? For me, it’s a time to work, I work out, I exercise and I’ll either do circuit, or a fit body bootcamp …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … type workout, or cardio, or both. There are very few days a year that I actually take off from exercise.

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Literally less than 20 days I year do I take off. It’s that part of my ritual today.

The other part is meditation. I like to meditate for a few minutes each day, each morning, as part of this. And then writing. I think, for me, one of the things that really stimulates, and I think helps us think better, is putting pen to paper and putting our thoughts down. So I do …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … whether you call that journaling, or just writing, or free thinking. For me, those three things start my day .

And then a couple days a week I like to close my day with certain rituals, which are, my kids and I we have a little exercise we do, Josh, where we ask each other … not every night, but we ask these series of types of questions that are the foundation. What am I grateful for right now, right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: What am I happy about right now? What have I done well today? Because for me, I’m someone as an entrepreneur, I don’t know if you can relate as …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … you’re watching or listening you can relate, but I’m someone who beats … has a tendency, had a tendency to beat myself up. A lot of … I truly, when I was about five years old I remember going into the photo studio and they asked me to smile and I said, “I don’t know how to smile.” So I also work with happiness. For me, it’s something I have to work at. Gratitude. I believe that you can’t have gratitude and fear at the same time, so to me gratitude is probably the number one strategy that we can look to implement …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … and install. What am I grateful for? What am I happy about? What have I done well? And then, what mistakes did I make? So instead of shying away from mistakes, leaning into them and embracing them, and then what did I learn from them?

Those are five cornerstone questions that my family, my wife, my kids, we ask each other on a regular basis, as part of our rituals. And then, usually a couple days a week we close the day with a walk, down to the coffee shop, or get …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … get an iced tea or something like that. For me, it just slows everything down and also puts me … I’ve learned that’s a different type of meditation, but for me, that’s really important to slow things down, and it helps ease my mind, put me in a more peaceful state, so that I can sleep better at night, instead of the two to four hours of sleep which I did for a decade, now I’m regularly six to seven hours a day, which I’m really, really grateful for.

So those a couple …

Josh Felber: Definitely.

Dan Kuschell: … and there’s more, but those ar a couple of the most important things that I’ve done to make these shifts, to be more present in my life, with my wife, with my kids and even in our conversation here and really being connected.

Josh Felber: No, I think that’s really awesome and important, as entrepreneurs and I know a lot of people that are watching this can relate to that. How do you really find those pieces and be able to shut that off. It is hard and I know one of the things I’ve tried to do is separate where my phone is from where the family is and things like that, to really stay focused and be able to do things. Whether it’s a dinner, or whatever it may be.

I think that’s awesome, that you’ve been able to create this routine that allows you to do that. And I think as entrepreneurs, if we have that and we have that process along the way, that really allows us then to be able to engage and then have a data flows how we want it to.

Dan Kuschell: Yes. And another thing too are questions, right? You know this as well as anybody. The questions we ask ourselves, ultimately determine our destiny. And again, going back to the book Triggers, one of the shifts in question to create active questions versus passive, his strategy, I believe it’s, again, Marshall Goldsmith, is, did I do my best at … and then fill in the blank whatever you’re working on. Did I do my best today at gratitude?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: Did I do my best today at being my best physical self?

Josh Felber: That’s great.

Dan Kuschell: Did I do my best today being husband? Our on self rating in an active way, versus the comparison … the biggest problem I think all of us getting into at least for me, maybe not you, or your listener, but for me, is comparing myself to others …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … in this comparison game. This helps us stay present by having this active first person approach. Did I do my best at. That’s another strategy that I’ve incorporated that’s been a big help.

Josh Felber: No, I think those are definitely awesome strategies and questions that we can all ask ourselves definitely if you’re not doing that. Guys, make sure you guys have a pen and paper out and you’re taking notes on this, rewind, whatever you need to do. Dan is giving you some really insightful information, some action steps for you to start improving your life, if you’re not already doing these things.

Dan, tell me a little bit about what’s the number one strategy from the 11 different companies that you’ve run and started and everything, the number one strategy for growing a business.

Dan Kuschell: Wow, that a great question. Is there just one?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Right? Jim Marone’s quote, “Your company will only grow to the extent you grow.”

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: It’s something to really take hold of now, but my belief is that you can compartmentalize a company and personal into six categories each. So as you’re watching, or listening I encourage you to write these down. I know through Josh’s resources you can go deeper with these, but in business, you’ve got the ability to sell, so your ability to sell or influence …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … You’ve got marketing, as the number two. Number three would be productivity. Number four would be emotional mastery, or mindset. Number five would be leadership. I’m missing one here … and then six would be the ability to recruit or hire.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: You know the old Henry Ford quote from Think and Grow Rich, when they had them on trial and they said, “You’re an ignorant man, you don’t know your accounting, you don’t know your sales.” And he said, “Well, I just push this red button on my desk and can get all that information …

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: … I don’t need to do that myself, I just need to know who the expert is in my team that can help me get it.” So it’s not about us having to master those six, but it’s us having the ability to have mastery in our companies, of those six.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: And having the best talent, the best capabilities around those six layers.

Now, personally I believe it’s six keys areas as well. Mental, physical, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: And the first five, when you get mental, physical, social, spiritual, emotional in order, the financial has a tendency to take care of itself, right?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: That would be a framework to think about.

The other part I think, Josh … I’m kind of rambling here but-

Josh Felber: No, you-

Dan Kuschell: … there’s a big misnomer and I heard Joe first say this about 10 years ago. There’s a big misnomer that there’s … people misunderstand it. There’s no corelation between being good and getting paid. Right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: Because how many guys do we know, doing what you’re doing with your wife, with your health business, right? Your software company you had when you were younger, right? Or your health business …

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: … in fitness, working with clubs or trainers, how many great trainers and great X’s did we meet? They couldn’t sell or market themselves out of a paper bag.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: They were terrible. And I’ve been terrible. I’ve been more terrible than I’ve been good, and I’m still working at it and getting better …

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: … but there’s no corelation between being good at something and getting paid. So we’re not in the business where we think we’re in. We’re in the marketing of the business we think we’re in.

If there was one capability or one skill, I would say it would be to develop better marketing, which is really just story telling, or building around a story, for what it is that you do. And the great lie that we think marketing and selling is the same.

Josh Felber: Right, yes.

Dan Kuschell: Marketing is what we do to get people on the phone, or face to face with us, right?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: So they’re pretty positioned, pretty motivated, pretty qualified, pretty interested and ready to do business with us.

And selling is what we do when we get those people in front of us. Right?

Josh Felber: Yes sir. That’s …

Dan Kuschell: Those are a couple key things there that I think, if I had to start all over again, I’d make sure I’d be homed in on those couple ideas.

Josh Felber: No, I think that’s great. And one of the things that you did bring up was marketing. And you’ve been around it 10+ years, in direct response, in direct mail and everything. What is marketing? How is marketing different today than it was 10 years ago?

Dan Kuschell: Well, I’m gonna shock some people when I say this, because I believe traditional marketing is dead.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: Traditional marketing, the old way, and what I mean by that is the old way were you could run one ad and catch fire and catch results …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … and have that scale up, scale out and grow it over prolonged period of time sustainably, I believe that is history. Today it takes integrated marketing.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: And what I mean by that is, it’s using all of the tools. Now, number one, there’s of course a big difference between image marketing and direct response. If you’re gonna be in this game, unless you’re a billion dollar company, will learn and master direct response marketing.

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: Joe Polish is a great place to learn direct response marketing from. He talks about building an ELF model versus a HALF model, easy, lucrative and fun, versus hard, annoying, lame sometimes lucrative and frustrating, right?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: And direct response, what is direct response marketing? Direct response marketing is the ability to run an ad and get a measurable result that you can measure today in an ongoing basis. Number one it’s incorporating direct response, number two it’s then incorporating integrated pieces, like social media right?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Like other places. The other part is, we think we can throw a match at a log, Josh, and catch a fire. Whereas I believe today, the way I look at the integrated marketing, you run your ads, but you run them in multiple places, right?

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: So it’s not just like Facebook, people falling in love with one channel …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: … so it’s multi … what some people would call multiple channels, just think of it as multiple legs on a chair. Or multiple web pieces in a spider web. How many different channels can you be marketing to …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … or presenting to, and then how many other things can you incorporate for social proof, right?

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: The greatest testimonial, the greatest sales influence mechanism is social proof. People telling our story for us. How do you incorporate that? Well, don’t shy away from social media, but use it to add, it’s like icing on top of the cake if you do it right.

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: So you have the direct marketing mechanism with social media laid on top, like Facebook, like LinkedIn, like all the other platforms and depending on when you’re listening or hearing this, many of those things could be obsolete by the time you hear it, but it will be the new thing that comes up.

But direct marketing is that there’s a difference between tactics, Josh, as you know …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … and principles. People fall in love with tactics, like that new fad today, the conversion strategy of this thing, or that thing …

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: I want to challenge people to really think about the bigger picture of using true principle based direct response marketing in there, in what they do in their business.

That’s why I think traditional marketing is dead. It’s not a one time thing, throwing a match at a log, it’s about getting a piece of paper, lighting that piece of paper, now you got a little fire going, you put some branches on it, you got kindling going. Now you put your log on it, now you can have a fire that will last for day and days, if not a week or so.

Josh Felber: No, that’s awesome and I think, like you said, a lot of people, they do get stuck in those certain channels, or they focus just in one area, or like, “Hey, this ad is working great,” and they don’t tend to develop more around that and build off of that. And then they wonder what happens several weeks or a month, when it starts to drop down in the amount of people that ad is pulling in and stuff.

We got a few more minutes. Tell me a little bit about what’s one device that you can’t live without?

Dan Kuschell: One device I can’t live without. Well, I’m gonna go old school on you here, I’m gonna say three devices …

Josh Felber: All right.

Dan Kuschell: I can’t just do one. A pen, my handy dandy notebook …

Josh Felber: Awesome.

Dan Kuschell: … where I keep all my To do’s in here. So I keep all my To-do’s in the front part of it …

Josh Felber: Cool.

Dan Kuschell: … and every conversation that I have is later in the notebook that I can keep track of.

Josh Felber: Awesome.

Dan Kuschell: Now there’s technology today you can scan this stuff, load it up …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … different things like Evernote and then it’s all key word research based, which is great. So for me that’s one and then the other’s Audible.

Josh Felber: Okay.

Dan Kuschell: I like listening more than I like reading.

Josh Felber: Right.

Dan Kuschell: And then, when I hear great wisdom, I like to go get the book and then I’ll tear out a couple pages and I have those couple pages to go on, which I actually had one of those pages sitting here, referencing the book Triggers.

Josh Felber: That’s awesome. I’ve never torn out the pages, I usually have the Audible and the book and then I’ll highlight or underline as I’m listening and reading …

Dan Kuschell: Yes.

Josh Felber: … on 2x or something speed.

Dan Kuschell: And then I’ve a couple apps that I like, like Headspace, which is great for meditation.

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Guided meditation for me works really well. I know everybody has their preference, that’s one. Another one is the Fitbit

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: I love the Fitbit app, to be able to measure my heart rate and all those different cool things and it keeps me on track for my fitness too. So those a handful personally and professionally.

Josh Felber: Awesome. And tell me a little bit about what is Genius Network and then we’ll wrap up here.

Dan Kuschell: Awesome. Well, short version, Genius Network, John, I know you’re a member, right?

Josh Felber: Yes. Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Of Genius Network. It’s a place where high achieving entrepreneurs like you. And we have about 250 current active members in the group come together to connect, to collaborate, to contribute overall. And what that does is it creates opportunities, joint ventures, strategic partnerships. There’s access to some of the best wisdom thought leaders in the world. People like Dan Sullivan and Robin Sharma, Cameron Herold, Dean Graziosi, J.J, or many of the people …

Josh Felber: Sure.

Dan Kuschell: … you’ve interviewed on your shows over time. And they come together to be able to be in a safe place. Our bigger vision with Genius Network as you know Josh, is to reduce suffering for entrepreneurs. So Joe has created a really safe place to allow people to come in and talk about not only what’s working, but also what’s not working, because the not to do list is far more important than the to do list, right?

Josh Felber: Definitely.

Dan Kuschell: And it’s about identifying those gold coins versus the silver coins versus the bronze coins overall. And one elegant idea is worth more than a thousand semi-good idea, so we’re able to help people install elegant ideas, help them get to that next level in their business.

Josh Felber: Awesome. And then, just what’s one action step you’d like to leave everybody with before we go?

Dan Kuschell: One action step. Keep listening to your show, number one.

Josh Felber: Thanks.

Dan Kuschell: If I work on a few others, as you can tell I’m an entrepreneur, I can’t stay within the line, I [crosstalk 00:31:13] no color in there. But number two, try incorporating the five questions we brought up earlier, right?

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: What am I grateful for, what am I happy about, what have I done well, what mistakes did I make and what did I learn from it. And then answer the separate three questions of what do I really want …

Josh Felber: Yes.

Dan Kuschell: Who am I and what do I stand for. I think those could be a great foundational basis overall. And then, re-listen to this show because there’s probably at least a nugget or two otherwise.

Josh Felber: Definitely, yes. This one’s the one you want to keep rewinding and listen it too for sure. Well Dan, I really appreciate you being on the show today. Where can people go to get more information about you, or if you want them to go check out Genius Network, just let us know.

Dan Kuschell: Yes, how about Genius Network. We have our annual event. We open up this community, Josh, as you know, one time a year. So GeniusNetworkEvents.com and get the information on that, depending on when you’re viewing or listening. And then if you want to check out my show, you can go to GrowthToFreedom.com as well.

Josh Felber: Cool. Awesome Dan. Well again, it was an honor to have you on Making Bank today and I appreciate your time.

Dan Kuschell: Awesome, thanks Josh.

Josh Felber: I am Josh Felber and you’re watching Making Bank. Get out and be extraordinary.