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Tyrone:
Hi, it's Tyrone from Tyroneshum.com and welcome to the new podcast. I've got a student from
my Mass Outsource Mastermind course who's on the call with me today and the reason why
I ask George, which is George right now, who comes to the call is because he's got very
inspirational story that I wanted to share with you. So welcome to the call George.
George:
Oh thanks Tyrone, it's my pleasure to be here. It's a lot of fun.
Tyrone:
It is, absolutely. Well actually before this, I have to share this with everyone too is
that we've been playing around with PC and also a Mac trying to get this interview video
thing to work. We've finally had success and we're actually on the call right now. Ah
- so what I wanted to do is with every call - or any podcast that I do, I'd like to actually
introduce the person who's on the call and George actually took up my Mass Outsource
Mastermind course because he wanted to start expanding his business and also outsource
his business to virtual assistants overseas or virtual staff. And, it's really interesting
because when George had a chat with me and I was chatting to him about also other things
as well, he mentioned that he's also running quite successful business.
So just to start off George, would you mind sharing with the audience what you currently
do and also how you got to that point as well?
George:
Yes - so my name is George Huang and my company is Freedompreneur Coaching and Consulting
and I'm actually a plastic surgeon by training and I actually left plastic surgery when I
turned 40. Basically the story is I've always wanted to be a doctor since I was in the third
grade. I come from a line of positions - my father was a doctor, my uncle, my grandfather
and my brother is a doctor and so I guess that's when I was going to be when I grew
up.
Tyrone:
You're going to be a doctor. __ wasn't it?
George:
And you know and I've also had you know an artistic kind of side of me as well so when
I was 17, I was visiting my brother when he was making rounds when he was in training
and I happened to sneak on his giant oversized book and it was turned to be plastic surgery
before and after. It wasn't like glamour staff, it was majorely reconstruction.
Tyrone:
Wow.
And I was teaching myself at that time and I put two in two together and I said hey,
I can take being a doctor and I can get that together with being an artist. I'll be a plastic
surgeon! So that was when I was 17.
Unfortunately, I didn't know how to do the map and I didn't know it was going to take
15 years to do it from that point and it had 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school,
5 years of general surgery training and then 2 years of plastic surgery training. That's
15 years later.
Tyrone:
Wow, wow.
George:
So I was 22 when I got out and was ready to start my dream job.
Tyrone:
That's really amazing to actually hear something like that. You've actually had a lot of patience
to go through 15 years.
George:
Oh yeah, I mean I just - it was - you know I had my sides on what I wanted to accomplish
and there were a lot of challenging times for sure especially being up at 3 in the morning
dealing with people with this shot and this part would be done and having to do that,
and all with the name of being the best plastic surgeon I can become.
So I keep in my eye, you know my sights and my vision, both mentally, emotionall, spiritually
as well helped me to get through the physical and other challenges that were involved in
going through all that.
And that is really carried over until what I do now in terms of helping entrepreneurs.
Basically, to get back to my story about being a plastic surgeon, I got out of training at
the age of 32 and I was just thrilled by having my dream job but within 2 years, I was nearly
tenuous and some of my business advicers actually recommended that I declare bankruptcy as the
viable option and I thought, you get to be kidding me!
This is my - this is what I trained for in 2 years and you're saying bankruptcy is a
reasonable option and I said that's something that doesn't conclude here. And so I said
well, here's my solution: you guys are fired because that's bad advice. Because what I
need to learn is how to run a business right, I needed to learn how to market, I needed
to learn how to sell and actually I was very, very angry that I had to learn to do these
things because I figured it was going to be just - you know like my brother. You know
because he's got other trainings, started up in practice and took off.
Tyrone:
Wow.
George:
But you know I started in different time, at different economic time, I started different
specialty at different part of the country and you know plastic surgery is very competitive.
And so - anyway so I learned, I studied a lot of business things. I'm a voracious learner,
I did a lot of workshops, I listened to books on tape, learn from people just by talking
to them and I turned the practice around and I didn't declare bankruptcy and ultimately
solved the practice and then practiced for a few more years and when our second son was
born, I realized that - you know I wanted to be around more rather than being in the
operating room or having to leave family things or leaving at the middle of dinner because
I got paged to head off to the emergency room.
Tyrone:
Wow.
George:
At one point my wife looked at me and she said, you know if you keep going like this
because you're so unhappy, you're going to die in early death and I looked at her and
I said you're right, I get to get out of here! But I didn't know how I was going to do it.
And so when our second son was born just a few months after that, I just realized that
you know when the privelage of taking care of patients turn into a burden, that's when
I knew I had to get out and it was no longer grateful for the great experiences.
And you know learning from people, and helping people and through all walks of life, and
in all stages of health, disease and dying. I'm grateful for that experience but I'm glad
to be able to sleep in my own bed at night without having to be called out for emergencies
and things like that.
Tyrone:
So is it quite frequent to actually go out to those emergencies involved in your work
and your practice?
George:
Well, in my specialty it actually wasn't. You know when I was - you know starting out,
I was on-call a lot more because that's the way I got started but you know, towards the
ninth, tenth year of my practice, I didn't do a lot of things that I used to do like
facial fractures, hand surgeries, I didn't have to take those emergency calls.
But the threat of having to be called out started and also because I really wanted my
patients to do well, whenever I go on vacation, or even I wasn't on-call I was worried, I
was concerned about how patients were doing and that's when it became a burden for me
when it was no longer a privelage and it was just a drain on me physically, mentally and
emotionally.
Tyrone:
I can totally understand.
George:
So when I left plastic - I'm sorry?
Tyrone:
I was supposed to say I can totally understand. I have family who is in the medical industry
and she's a GP and she previously before going to getting her GP and also becoming a GP,
she told me the amount of hours that she spend going to the hospital at ridiculous hours.
At 2AM in the morning, she'll get on-call and she had to go in and basically work 48
hours and then yeah - I don't know how you guys do it but I really, admire you guys with
your tenacity.
George:
But you know it was fun at first. It was exciting at first but after a long time of doing that
and you know really having a number of responsiblity, that's when it started to really get on me.
And you know when I signed up for it when I was 17, I didn't realize what was involved.
You know we really never know what's involved when we've eventually done it.
Tyrone:
No.
George:
It's kind of like being a parent right? I didn't know what it's like to be a parent
til we had kids right? __ for the first few months and it's the same way in business.
You can read the theory, you can read about the strategy, you can go to workshops and
here this is what you should do but until you actually go on a fight yourself, and understand
how to get it work to work for yourself, you give in how you think and how you take action.
You really didn't know it until you actually do it.
Tyrone:
It's all about the experiences that you learned and that's how you actually learn. And I think
I learn from experiences as well more than just reading a theory. I actually watching
things happen and then firstly immitating or learning from that and then applying into
my own life. That's how I learn the lesson.
I don't like sitting in electro rooms, watching a boring, old going on about this and that.
It's going to be exciting, it's going to be fun.
George:
Yeah. That actually was challenging for me in my first year in medical school because
it's mostly book work and then I didn't really learn that well from the book and so I thought
seriously of dropping out of school and go to a photography school after my second year
in medical school. But I didn't speak it out but I knew years later I learned that I actually
got a kinesthetics style with learning and I didn't realize that at the time.
So I wonder why can't I memorize this stuff in books? Because it's nothing to work with.
Tyrone:
That's like me too. I - I can't memorize things, I'm not very good at it but once you actually
get me active, and get the whole body into it and I start to see images and everything
that all links in, I remember things just like that. So - yeah we all have different
styles in learning so it's amazing.
So you've mentioned - you've talked about as well your story currently living up to
where you being a plastic surgeon in the last 5, 15 years or so and then there's a point
in your life when things started to change. What happened to actually get you to start
your own business and to start your blog as well, too?
George:
Yeah, well when I was in my first couple years of plastic surgery, I was struggling. One
of the things I didn't have to learn was marketing and to be truthful about it, I was truly,
truly, I don't know if I can truly express how angry I was that I had to learn how to
market myself.
After all these years of training, I thought it was beneath me that I had to go promote
myself. My expectation was I've done all this training and suffering to become a plastic
surgeon and people should just show up. And, you know that's just the fantasy world.
Tyrone:
Yeah, yeah.
George:
What is that living in a fantasty world.
Tyrone:
It's funny because when you relate that say for example to blogging, people think that
you can actually setup a blog and produce all these beautiful content and even if you're
an expert in what you know, people won't find you because there's tons and tons of blogs
out there like millions of blogs out there to compete against and to really stand out.
So it really does come back to that same principle that if you want to actually succeed in where
you've actually got put yourself out there and to actually let people see who you are.
And you don't have to do it in stellar way or anything but as long as you can be different
and to provide really, really good valuable stuff that you are promoting yourself then
you can really stand out from the crowd. And, obviously that's what you've done.
George:
Yeah, you know you bring up a very, very good point. We've all heard that before and yet,
hearing out go out in years and maybe go out the other year is different to actually how
would you actually apply that to yourself? So this - let me tell you by way of my own
experience how this played out and then I want to translate that into a learning experience
for people who are watching and listening to this.
So when I left plastic surgery, I was 40 years old and I did not have a plan for whatever
I was going to do but I left. I mean, my wife I knew it was just the time for me to do and
so for the first year, actually the first year and a half, I wandered around. I started
3 different businesses that didn't work. I was going to give workshops and seminars on
different topics like teaching people, teaching young people how to be financially aware,
that didn't work out. And then I was going to teach people how to lose weight because
I knew a lot of that for being a surgeon in the position and I figured out I didn't want
to do that. I'm just doing that because technically I knew how to do it and it just wasn't.
Tyrone:
It wasn't - yeah.
George:
It's not where my heart was and my passion so I stopped doing that and then I was like
oh, what am I going to do? So I - the time it was such that I, when I left plastic surgery
I was part of a business book called Create The Business Breakthrough You Want and there
was some celebrity authors that you've might heard about - Mark Victor Henson, Robert Allen,
Brian Tracy, and I wrote a section in this book and not knowing what the heck I was going
to do with the book.
So I was thinking what's the plastic surgeon doing in this business book? It made some
sense but I did write. I wrote about your health being the foundation of all wealth
and so what happened when the book came out is that a couple of local companies found
out about the book and they asked me if I could coach them in their business.
And so I said well yeah, I can do that. You know like giving out what I'm going to do
when I grow up. So I coach them and within two weeks of coaching them, I realized you
know what, I know a lot about business. This is something a lot of fun. I should do this
for profession. Because I realized that I knew a lot about business operations, I knew
about a lot about leadership and management, and building a team. I knew a lot about marketing,
I knew about selling and I knew a lot about how to package services and products and programs.
And I just - that was just part of what I had to do to survive as a plastic surgeon.
And so I said okay well I'm going to do this. Okay so now the problem was doing the profession
is first of all, I didn't have the book credentials. In the United States, I have a degree after
my name that has the initials MD and I was joking around with you Tyrone because that's
when you're mostly disappointed with the health care profession right?
Tyrone:
No I said to you no, that's not true.
George:
But it's - but I didn't have MBA, nobody know me as an entrepreneur. I didn't have a network,
I didn't have a contact with the people who knew me as an entrepreneur. And I didn't have
a mailing list for sure, I didn't have an ezine and I had no website so I was just kind
of what do I do now?
So I started trying to call people out and get free consultations and after 30 days of
just tirelessly calling these people, I had these many pre-sessions to do. So I looked
out the window just like I'm sitting here, I looked up the window and I said gosh I know
in my heart, I have an unshakeable belief that I have something valuable to offer people.
They just haven't found me yet!
Tyrone:
Exactly.
George:
And so I said - right? So I said okay what would be a way they could find me and I said
what's one of my strengths and one of the things that I really enjoy doing is speaking
in front of an audience so I said ah, I should do a seminar and I said okay great well, who's
going to come?
I don't know anybody. So I decided to do a seminar four weeks from that day and the reason,
and usually you should plan, have more planning time for your seminar -
Tyrone:
Four weeks is not very much to plan anything actually.
George:
But I was running out of money, running out of money. My wife said what's your backup
plan? And I said you're looking at the backup plan but I - one backup plan I didn't have
I didn't have a contract to go back to plastic surgery, go back to the dark side for me.
I just didn't want to do it. And it was in Beverly Hills which you know a lot of people
go wow, how did you turn that down? Well, I did.
So what I did is I said okay, I'm going to do this workshop and if it doesn't work out,
I have to go to plan B and what I did is I took the first two weeks to get a one-page
website together just for information, it was essentially my flyer for the workshop
and getting the shopping cart setup because I wanted it to be automated and - I didn't
realize it's going to take me two weeks to get this all together.
And, put the flyer together and then so I had two weeks to promote the thing and I breathe
out and I said oh my gosh, how am I going to invite people, I don't have time to do
this so I canceled the workshop. And then I sat there twiddling my thumbs for a day
and a half then I said ah, what am I going to do now?
And I realized if - I said if one person shows up to that workshop and they become a client,
it's a grand slam homerun. So I put the workshop back on and what I did for the next two weeks
is I went to every single networking breakfast I could find and I didn't have business cards.
In fact I didn't have business cards for the first year of my business but I had a flyer.
And I'd hold up that flyer when I had my one minute of fame at these networking events,
and I say this workshop on how to grow your business. If you're interested in attending,
it's $25, blah, blah and that was it and so the flyer was my business cards and so 18
people signed up.
Tyrone:
Wow, that's awesome!
George:
I mean not to my website, my one big website to register. And then 19 people showed up
and from that workshop, sorry so from 73 days from the date that I conceived to that workshop,
I got enough coaching clients that I had and an annualized revenue stream of over a $100,000.
In fact, my monthly revenue stream was exactly $10,500 because I had people on month contracts.
So that's how I got off to a recurring start.
And you know I didn't think much of it at the time. I decided okay good, this is working.
I can do this, I can grow this.
Tyrone:
Yep.
George:
It wasn't until 2 years later that I have done something extraordinary. Because I was
a guest at a coaches workshop and people were just excited for me to show up when I see
them and I said what were you so excited about? Don't you realize that most coaches and myself
don't make a full time income doing this. I'm like well, no I didn't know that.
You know a lot of people - I mean I never went to a coaching academy. They learn how
to coach and how to listen and ask questions from being a position and being a student
of life really, you know more than being a position. Because there are a lot of positions
you don't ever learn the art of listening and asking the right questions so I realized
oh wow, I guess I did do something extraordinary. I wish I was doing it so I had to go back
to plastic surgery and so I can do something really I'm passionate about.
Tyrone:
It's usually something like that with the motivation that really drives you through
because you know your wife saying, come one honey you don't want to waste some money,
we're running out of money. So it's that motivation of either or wanting to grow or really just
you got nothing to turn back on realy to be able to make those changes and obviously when
the push comes to show, we'll always seem to make a change in our life to do that.
George:
Yeah, that's a critical thing to learn especially when people are looking to grow their businesses
and accelerate. I always tell people you've got to focus on what is it that you ultimately
most want to accomplish in life and through your business within your life. And it has
to be something that you're super like ultimately passionate about and I knew that I wanted
to help entrepreneurs, I didn't want - I've done as much contribution that I could through
plastic surgery. I just felt like intuitively felt that this was the right direction for
me, so there is a burning fire to be successful.
And that's really what it took.
Tyrone:
Can I ask you George, when you're actually - taking a step back, you successfully run
that seminar and you had how many people exactly again?
George:
19 people.
Tyrone:
19 people that came across so before you actually got those 19 people, how many people, how
many breakfast business morning breakfasts did you actually attend to, to be able to
actually get those people come through over. Was it over a two-week period that you did
that?
George:
Two-week period yeah. So I'm - so I had 10 business days and so I probably went to let's
see - 8 or 9 networking breakfasts and I even went up to the very day before the workshop.
I remember attending a breakfast and couple of people from that very last day showed up.
And the thing I did do, they didn't come from the networking breakfast but I also called
people I had called before, the people I'd called to invite to these strategic sessions.
I called them back and I said I know you know, this is kind of short notice but I'm running
this workshop on how to accelerate your business growth, are you interested in attending? And
some people could come and some people could not and for people who couldn't come, I said
well do you know anybody who might be interested in coming?
Tyrone:
Yep.
George:
And I actually - I had some people who sent other people who eventually became private
coaching clients.
Tyrone:
That's amazing isn't it? Simple question of asking for referrals can really make a huge
difference.
George:
Exactly.
Tyrone:
And how much did you charge for people to attend this first workshop?
George:
Well on the flyer it said $25 but if they will quote early bird, which I don't even
remember early bird, it was like a day before but it was $15 if they came the day before.
Tyrone:
Okay so really the workshop - would you say that first workshop is just basically either
to come on the cross to have these people coming through and really to show them what
you can really do on that one - was that one-day workshop or?
George:
It's a 3-hour workshop. Yeah.
Tyrone:
And from that 3-hour workshop, you'll be able to offer a product or offer your services
as a consultant to help them grow their businesses.
George:
Exactly, yeah. And so you know the reason I charge, because one might say you know maybe
you shouldn't have charged for that workshop. But I did that on purpose because I wanted
to charge something dominal not something that will break the bank but I wanted to use
that as a filtering mechanism.
Tyrone:
Yes, absolutely.
George:
And they were serious. They had stayed in the game even though it was $15 right?
Tyrone:
Yep, that's the thing. It's a smart marketing strategy is just to filter through buyers
who are serious like if they wanted to spend $1 even just to put a bit of money on the
table to see what your services are then I go obviously jump out and forget about it.
But if you start charging few hundred dollars, probably people might not be able to come
along so great idea to actually implement. I think that's something that is a huge tip
for a lot of people, even for marketers who are also online as well. You can pick that
strategy up just to promote any course that you have or to offer your courses.
So what happened after that? You've offered and you've done a 3-hour session. I'm actually
curious now, what did you teach in those three hours because you could have - it's not very
much time to actually offer products there.
George:
Well I taught them through a way to accelerate their business by systemizing their business.
See, what most people do is they get busy and there are a lot of different paths that
need to be done but they don't necessarily document what those operation systems are.
And see, a system in order to be it really called a system in my book, it has to be something
that's documented. Meaning that you can retrieve it in a Word documented or it might be documented
in a video, or it can be documented through audio or Powerpoint, just it has to be retrievable
by somebody. And it has to be detailed enough so that somebody with a baseline level of
skills, experience and expertise could take that documentation, walk through it, train
themselves and mostly what to do without with minimal outside kind of help, they should
be able to produce decent results at least minimally satisfactory results. That's my
definition of a system.
And so I started teaching people how to actually go out documenting the critical factors that
help them to be successful. Whether it be marketing or operations or creating a product
for some sort. And - because - I'm sorry?
Tyrone:
It's very, very crucial. And that's something that I also teach very, very strongly as well
because without your systems, without your training material, you really can't grow and
you really would be spending a lot of time training other people independently whereas
if you got say videos and documentation, you can easily pass along to anyone else who comes
onto your team or your business continues to grow.
George:
That's your own model. That's all the videos that you've been training us right? Yeah?
Tyrone:
I'm sorry?
George:
Yeah I had a client a few years ago. I had a client who's running a print shop and they
had all these complex machinery and they said how are we going to write all this down? I
said you know what, get a video camera and shoot the video. Okay I'll do that and then
he took it one more step. So instead of sending this video off for transcription, he has these
set of employees who watch the video and they would have to document the key steps and put
them in a checklist.
Tyrone:
That really is amazing to do that because they're both learning and also they're telling
the work for him too to create the documentation.
George:
Right and you have a variation of that, you have your resistance when you do the documentation.
Right? In this case, he was having this on-site stuff documentation. So that's what the workshop
was about and it gave people enough of the flavor of my style and my personality, my
approach and so that they were interested in a strategic session that I offer afterwards.
And I offered it for free, these days I don't. Now I do what I call paid introductory sessions
which I've learned most people don't understand how to do that but it's again, another filtering
mechanism to offer a paid session instead of a free session. And we can talk about that
if there's interest but anyways, that's what I did.
I offered a free session then I got several clients who came from that workshop and that
really - accelerated by moving forward.
Tyrone:
Wow, that's really interesting. Did the seminar or setting up the webinar, oh sorry seminar
cost you months to do like to hire the venue and to get you a microphone. And did you
- did you record it as well, too?
George:
I didn't record it no. I would have needed to if ever I recorded it but I was so - I
thought of it but I was like just trying to get it together and mainly focusing on getting
people aware. So thr drill probably cost me about, I think about $400, maybe $500 to rent
a room and I had some snacks at the back of the room as well. And so including the food,
about $500 but well worth it for sure.
Tyrone:
Definitely. Yeah, I've had to setup seminars and those kind of things. I know a friend
who run one, done in Melbourne recently. He said it cost him about 4grand to set it all
up but that was also doing the video recording to have lunch, to all have that kind of stuff
in it and there goes a little bit more events and a little bit more up market because they're
paying I think $600 per - yeah per session that they're going to so different price point
together.
George:
Exactly, yeah. But it goes to show you, you could have different price points and you
can still be successful. I mean the key is providing significant value.
Tyrone:
Exactly.
George:
Right?
Tyrone:
And that's where you come into play to be able to offer that really, really unique way
of helping other businesses to grow very, very fast as well by the sound of it.
George:
Yeah. Yeah well how I define value is, is I had to be able to demonstrate that I could
help these people with their businesses - measurably improve their measures of success
and give them changeable improvements in their experiences of being in business and - they
got it as they can actually do that and then when I went to this strategic session, I got
to actually go through what I call my diagnostic approach which came from the medical diagnostic
model. Right? I just didn't realize that at the time. But I have this what I call diagnostic
selling, diagnosti-based selling approach.
And you don't have to go through medical school because I've been teaching this to people,
right? But you don't have to go to medical school to learn it and it gave me a way to
really see a business holistically from like a 40,000 view and then be able to identify
the true issues and followings and challenges and opportunities that existed in the business
and then bring them to core fronts so that I was showing these people was essentially
their blind spots and giving them ideas that they've never thought of before. And that's
where they started to see wow I think this guy can help me out.
Tyrone:
It's amazing how just by being a third-person, you can actually see what the business is
not doing right, and that's where I think a lot of businesses out there just have that
blind spots. So you're driving pass and you turn right and if you don't turn right and
now you look close enough, you'll miss that blind spot. And that's the same thing in business.
You could just driving along, keep turning emotions in your business but without a third-person
or a coach as we per se to actually come in and say look, this is what you really need
to do to make your business grow faster, you can't really succeed. And that's where having
a third-person or a different point of view with the right advice and experience can really
make huge difference for the business as well, too.
So it's amazing with what you've achieved and what you've accomplished there. I'm also
curious, I'd like to ask a little bit more so with nuts and bolts kind of thing is, now
that you've had a steady income from your clients as well and helping them in the system,
what are some of the things that you coach them in doing and also too, if I could ask,
what is an average like client paying you to be able to offer your services to them
as well?
George:
Right, right. So - just by way of contacts. So I'm not a flash in the pan, I've been doing
this in 6 years. And my income has been into the six figures consistently and never dropped.
And this is despite the fallout in the economy where - that we're experiencing globally so
I just want to get that you know, out of the way.
Tyrone:
Yep.
George:
What I do is I look in a business like I said holistically and I'm looking at key areas.
One key area is the leadership like the vision, the management and the oversight of the businesses'
objectives and how the team gets built. And I'm also looking at how their operations run
from customer service to - even ordering printer cartridges. And everything else in between
such as - government regulations, regulatory compliance, insurance issues, and bookkeeping,
financial management. And then I'm also looking at how they market and how they sell with
these two distinct different things.
Marketing is education and promotion and selling is helping people see the value in what you
have to offer, seeing whether that aligns with their issue, problems and challenges
and whether there's a match, whether there's alignment in terms of values.
So and then I'm helping people in their business to see what are their deliverables like. What
are the programs and services that do need a need in the marketplace and who is the ideal
audience for your product, programs and services. And one of the things I didn't realize was
a gift that I have is I can see all these elements that I just shared. I can see them
for the very high altitude, 40,000 per view but I also have the ability to zoom in, kind
of like the Google maps, the satellite maps, we're seeing right there.
I can get them to great detail all the way down to coaching people in what specific tasks
they are to take. Whether it's technology, copywriting, getting their message out through
speaking events, getting speaking engagements, things like that. So, I - am very - you know
I take a very broad view of the business but then I'll hone in on what are the leverage
areas, what are the leverage points that people need to focus on. And people were different
depending on their businesses and what their style and personality is.
And one of the things that I do, I actually measure how people think. I have an objective
way to measure the power of someone's thinking and where they focus that thinking and how
they translate that quality of thinking and focus into behaviors in the real world. And
that enables me to understand what the best strategies are for that particular entrepreneur.
Tyrone:
That's amazing. Do you also - like when you actually consult with these clients, do you
provide them with reports or you're physically on-site with them to actually do that for
them?
George:
It's, it's virtual. I do it through mostly phone and occasionally through Gotomeeting
or like they're seeing my screen and I'll map out certain things for them. Occasionally,
I'll do some very light editing on their copy, I'll give them some ideas or type up some
ideas on screen and then I can take that runable.
Tyrone:
Ah, excellent.
George:
So it's mostly virtual. I mean mostly I have clients from the States, I've had clients
from Canada, New Zealand and UK __ as well. So it's been really virtual. I rarely go outside
of the home office to do any work.
If it is, it's mostly for doing - for seminars that I do live.
Tyrone:
Okay. And how much say a client, say for example an average client pay you to do - to do, for
you to offer those kind of services as well?
George:
Yeah well, when I first started. So let me tell you how I first started and then I'll
get through what I do now in terms of fees. When I first started, my fees were $1500 a
month. And, at first it was like wow, you know that can be a lot of money for people
but you know, I can really help them in their business and so that's what I charge when
I first started out.
Overtime, I raised my fees and got up to $1875 a month for a typical client. Ah sorry, actually
I got up to $2250 a month. I went $1500, $1875 and $2250 a month and then I realized, you
know there are a lot of people who kind of are leaving behind because they can't even
touch those fees and basically I knew in my heart that I have become a business guy and
mentor. That I wish that I had had when I was starting out and I realized that when
I was practicing in plastic surgery and I was struggling that I probably couldn't afford
- could not have afford it to pay someone 2250 a month.
So then I said okay well, I need to figure out a way to still have higher end clients
but offer something at a lower price point. For people who are either starting out, or
they just don't have the resources. So when I started doing this taking the information
from my high end clients, I started recording it - in video, PDF, audio and I put it into
a training center called Freedompreneur Training Center.
And I still use that with my high end clients but I also have lower end, lower priced, high
value low priced training programs where people can access that very similar to it.
Tyrone:
Which is on your site?
George:
Right.
Tyrone:
That's a really - sorry keep coming?
George:
Oh it's okay. No so I - and then the other thing that happened Tyrone in the first year
of my being in business, I realized that I can coach people to my heart's content and
do my best job but a lot of people got to a certain point where they just couldn't execute
on certain strategies especially when it came to marketing.
So when I recognized that, I - within two weeks time I created a virtual marketing team.
It consisted of copywriters, web designers or graphic designers, I even had a web producer
at one point and within two weeks time I had a virtual marketing team that will support
my clients in actually producing their marketing materials, whether it's web, print or otherwise.
And so that created another revenue stream for my company and we still do that today.
But we just mainly, I didn't set out to say I'm going to start a marketing campaign in
that sense but I got frustrated because I'm all about passion and producing results right?
You know by going to the operating room, I want to produce something at the end.
Tyrone:
Of course. You're not going to be sitting in and twiddling your thumbs are you?
George:
So that's kind of how I evolved there. So -
Tyrone:
It's very -
George:
So basically I got a whole spectrum of price points all the way from either $79 a month
all the way up to actually several thousands of dollars a month to some of the clients
too.
Tyrone:
It's very interesting because there's so many different areas that you've covered in there
and it's awesome information. I mean I've learned just a lot just from hearing how your
story and how you've come along to that journey.
And, what's really interesting is that there's - there are businesses out there that are
willing to pay for those services and we all wish that we did have that helping us back
then when we first started and obviously now that there are coaches around, it's just a
matter of finding out who is the right one and who fits your modeling and who you connect
with really well too. So, that's what I found is very, very interesting and you've done
extremely well with it and I commend you for all that you've put together. I know that
your clients are very, very happy because I've seen all the testimonials on your page
as well, too. So it's really good stuff.
I just wanted to ask you as a student of Mass Outsource Mastermind as well, how have you
found or have you been implementing or outsourcing - outsourcing any of your work to people
overseas in the Philippines for example for your business? Has that helped you as well?
George:
Yeah it has. Actually you know how we became interested in your program is because as a
surgeon, in my office I had staff helping me out. When I went to the operating room,
there's a whole team of people there. Starting out in my business, it was all me. I did everything.
And I learned a lot of things like you know, how to program websites, how to run some graphic
design programs, I'm still not great at those but I can do some basic things, how to write
marketing copy, and - you know just - as entrepreneurs, as solo entrepreneurs we end up wearing multiple
hats and yet, you know at a certain point we have to actually let go of some of those
hats because just because we - maybe decent at them, maybe we've mastered them, doesn't
mean we're going to be great at those things.
And the key, in my book to really being successful and how I define success is being able to
be free, to pursue what I'm most passionate about. And, I end up I found that I was doing
things in my business that it was not passionate about. In fact, I hated doing it. And so because
I'm - I'm was the - I'm the central clog in the whole machinery, I was also the central
bug in the machinery as well.
And so I started kind of figure out how to get things off at my plate and to other people's
hands who are better at them than I. And that's what intrigued me about Mass Outsource, your
program. Because I'd heard about this, I'd read about it, I just didn't know how to do
it because in medicine, the people I work with already came highly, highly trained.
There are nurses, technicians, other doctors right? Position assistants are already trained,
I don't have to train them.
I mean like, I mean yeah I had to give them additional guidance specially position assistants
they can learn my style but you don't have to train them from the ground up. And in my
business here it was like oh, how am I going to do this? You know there's no - you know
I didn't have a good model for it then when I started hearing about outsourcing out of
the country, I had a lot of trepidation about it. Because there's just foreign country,
foreign concepts, like ah I do better when I have people in front of me and it's just
that working virtually.
Even though I work virtually work with my clients, it was kind of different for me to
virtually outsource and I think the biggest thing is my own resistance about like oh,
there's nobody going to do as well as I do or pay as much detention to detail as I do,
and blah, blah right? So that's when I said I get to learn from Tyrone for what he's doing
because I can see he's got a way of teaching this, there's a - you have systems worked
out and I figured I can take those systems and either adopt them as they are or adopt
them to my style.
And so I've been on a nearly steep learning curve. It hasn't worked like you know, textbook.
I've had some problems as I've shared with you in other conversation with finding people
can be reliable and who can actually deliver on time to its specification.
And at first I was discouraged and with your encouragement, I'm still open to working through
this but I'd have to take a little detour in outsource actually within the United States,
which is still an improvement from outsourcing from myself.
Tyrone:
Yes, that's right.
George:
So at this point I do have a virtual assistant and I do have a web programmer who - who's
helping to develop my own websites and actually helping on client websites. And I have several
graphic designers that I work with as well. And so I'm eager to dive further into the
information you've been training us on to really learn some of the nuances and finer
points in outsourcing. And, and still look in going outside the country.
Tyrone:
Absolutely. I know, I know you'll get there. I went through exactly the same frustrations
as you do and I'm always struck in the tail without getting successes as well as I've
shared with you too. And it's all about the systems and getting in contact with the right
people and as I've mentioned, I've referred to a person who I trust as well that I've
hired through and hopefully it's going to assist you with regards to that.
But I think at the end of the day, if you have already a successful business and you
can leverage that, then it's just as looking at how you're going to be able to remove yourself
from it. And the hardest challenge as you said and I know myself is taking yourself
away from this business to try to let other people take over and even if they don't do
it at a 100% as how you do it or a 110% that you put in effort, as long as it's 80-90%,
I'm happy.
George:
Right, exactly yes. Yeah and I'm working on it. It's really a mindset, right? And it's
really shifting habits and so it's - you know I realized that in shifting this habit of
doing it all myself, I've been aware that it was important to get myself out of being
the central clog since I started my business but it doesn't mean that I acted on it immediately,
no.
Because the day starts, you get busy, your coaching clients, your - even phonecalls and
mainly answering the emails and then what goes by the way side is the time, the investment
of time and energy and the systemization and then training other people to help support
you. And so the mindset of taking on is - you know what I'm out to play a bigger game
here.
This is not about George, this is about what kind of impact can I make in people's lives?
What kind of impact can I make for the planet? And I don't mean this in like this high, kind
of eery kind of way. I mean it in a tangible way that I can feel like I'm making a meaningful
contribution with my own skills, talents, experiences and then I can do something with
the challenges that I've gone through to actually use that material to help other people to
see their own gifts and talents and to bundle those gifts up and package them in a position
and present them to the people who really could learn from it.
And so I realized that to do that, they have that kind of bigger splash, I've got to have
a team behind them and that's what really motivates me. It's not the building the team
part but it's the grander vision of what could be possible in what I have to contribute.
What other - like I knew I did touch people's lives through plastic surgery because I had
patients that come in so grateful and sometimes in tears they were so happy. And I would go
talk to the family members and sometimes family members would come in for office visits and
I knew from speaking with them that I made an impact.
And through business, through entrepreneurship I believe that I can make a bigger impact
like touching other people's lives through the entrepreneurs that I coach, through their
experience of influence through the clients they work with, through the vendors that come
and contact me, through their own families and likes and so I have more of that I think
and doing what I do now as an entrepreneur and as a guide to entrepreneurs.
Sorry I got -
Tyrone:
No I can see the passion who is out of you George, that is just absolutely true. Like
what you said there, I can see the passion in there. If you don't have that kind of passion,
you don't have those kind of testimonials to talk about, you can't share your experiences
and seeing those there has made me go wow.
I'm inspired by everything that you said and it's great because that's how I think we all
inspire to be better for others. It's not about making more money, it's not about having
more. It's all about helping and inspiring others to be better as well and exactly what
you've said.
George:
Yeah and each of us has those gifts and it's just a matter of being willing to focus in
on what those gifts and talents are and staying true to oneself. And I think that's certainly
so well to my entire life both as a competitive tennis player, going through medical school,
general surgery plastic surgey training and being in practice and being an entrepreneur
as well as a parent.
The key is to stay focused on one's core values and even if we stray and we don't live according
to our values, we come back to that path and it's just a more powerful and effective and
authentic way to live. And I believe that if the busiensses built on those type of values
and you have the right business model by a right business structure then you have greater
chance to be successful.
It's not a guarantee of being successful but it flips the odds in your favor.
Tyrone:
Yeah, and it's really all about that. You really hit the nail on the head. That's excellent.
Well, George before we do finish up, I want to thank you so much for coming on today to
share your story and also talk about what you currently do and I know a lot of people
who are listening to this call have learned a lot. I mean I know from myself, I've learned
so much from you and there's so many different ways we can go about out there online to be
able to make money and also help others as well, too.
Before we go, how can people get in contact with you and if they're also interested in
your products and also your services, where can they find them as well?
George:
Great. The place to go is my website which is Freedompreneur.com. That's spelled freedom
followed by P-R-E-N-E-U-R.com and on my site, you can see, you'll be able to navigate to
products in the training section and where I want to direct your attention is to go to
the free training section. And in there you can actually sign up for my newsletter and
you'll get a whole bunch of reports and videos that can really help you to accelerate your
business growth.
There's a particular article on getting clear about your compelling line. What's that guiding
beacon in your life and your business and there's an article about abandoning your business
plan which for me I don't like business plan but I like strategic action plan. I have
- I outline how to go about that process in this what I call the Freedom Accelerator Pack
so I encourage people to download that Freedom Accelerator Pack.
And then you can check out some other things on my site as part of the Ezine. What I'm
planning to do in this coming year is to run a webinar at least once a month. I've been
doing them in kind of sporadically but I'll run them once a month and we're going to cover
a whole bunch of different topics from marketing, to selling, to how to use paid introductory
sessions instead of a - sorry I'm getting a network -
Tyrone:
An automatic printer.
George:
So we're going to talk about marketing or paid introductory sessions and when are the
appropriate times to do that. I'll be definitely talking about my upcoming book, the topic
which is diagnostic selling, how to apply those medical models in diagnosis to selling.
And the current working subtitle is, Diagnostic Selling, A Practical Guide For Change-Makers
Who Are Allergic To Sales. And I teach people how to kind of sell without selling.
You know as a doctor I didn't sell but I learned how to from being a doctor actually by making
the right diagnosis and so there's a way to directly transfer those to business. So people
on my Ezine list would hear about that and - you know and then I - I'm just interested
in so a lot of different things.
I like to teach people about technology as well. I did a webinar the other month on the
actual nuts and bolts of getting a Wordpress site, self-hosted Wordpress site working.
There's a lot of misinformation out there on the web so I just decided you know what,
I'm tired of that. I'm going to give people the best practices and so I'll be doing webinars
on certain pieces of technology as well.
Tyrone:
That's excellent. Well there's a lot of really, really good training material and I highly
recommend checking it out as well, too. And you definitely sign up to George's newsletter
too.
So, thank you so much for coming on today George. It was an absolute pleasure to do
the interview with you and I can't wait to check out and see what's happening in the
future for you and also to come up to your webinars as well, too.
George:
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Even the technical problems we had before we get onto here. That
was kind of un to get through it. But I love it to - you know learning more from you, working
together with you know developing our relationship and to think that it's been a lot of fun and
I realized that we connect on a lot of different levels.
So thanks for inviting me to do this and having this chat.
Tyrone:
Likewise, I - yeah, we have some kind of great connection so it's great to be able to meet
you and also get you on the call so thank you again.
George:
Thanks again, thank you.