Episode 9: Calvin Wayman | The 4 Cs of Social Media Success

[00:06:36]

Chris: What’s up, Freedom Fasttrackers? It’s your host, Christopher Duncan, and today we’re going to be talking about how to stand up and step out. Calvin Wayman from CobbesMedia, and dude? I’m excited to talk to you—and I’ll tell you why: I saw you speaking with my friend Nick Unsworth about two weeks ago on stage. You’ve got #1 Best-Selling Book—actually, [you’re] in the Top 100 which is even better. Dude, I’m excited. I’m excited for what you stand for, I’m excited because you made such a big shift, so … let’s bring the heat, man. Welcome to the show!

Calvin: Hey! Thank you so much for having me, brother. Let’s jump in, let’s have some fun.

[00:07:18]

Chris: Dude, let’s start where we shouldn’t start? I want ask you this: why are you so excited about social media? Because this is what I get from you when I look through your social: you’re excited about it. Why the heck are you so dang excited about social media?

Calvin: Because it works.

Calvin: One of my mentors—I call Uncle G—Grant Cardone—

Chris: [laughs]

Calvin: –something that Uncle G says is; when a business fails, it has nothing to do with their product. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. It’s because of one thing: obscurity. This meaning, nobody knows who the f you are, right? To me, social media is like the lowest barrier of entry that anybody can get on. As long as you can create awesome content in the right context, you do it consistently and you build connections with people—

Chris: Right.

Calvin: — you’ll stand out like crazy. So, yeah! I love it, and I’m learning from people like him and Gary V and stuff like that, and growing my business off of that.

Chris: Dude, it’s so smart.

Chris: Listeners, before you think; oh, maybe I won’t listen to this ‘til the end, here’s what we’re going to go through so that you’re definitely listening right to the end for this whole show. We’re going to go through how you need to stand up, how you need to step out, so you can really step in to who you’re supposed to be. We’re going to go through a lot of things about how to quit your job, how to leave that behind, and how to step into a business. How to brand yourself, how to do social media, and anything else that seems to pop up, so make sure that you’re listening to this. Put this on your Favorites list. I feel like we’re going to be going through this a few times.

[00:09:01]

Chris: Let’s go where we’re supposed to start, following the traditional rules. Tell us about you, man, and how you got started.

Calvin: I think what’s important to know—and I don’t mean this in a fake humble way, but I mean it in such a real way, and that is—I think it’s important—

Chris: What? You don’t mean it in a fake humble way? [laughs]

Calvin: No! I—it’s this! I think it’s important to know that anybody listening to this, that I’m a regular dude.

Chris: I got it, man, I got it.

Calvin: And why is that important? I think it’s important because, when I got started, I would look at people—whom I’ve already mentioned, like Lewis Howes, Grant Cardone, Garvy Vaynerchuk—and I would think: well, I’m in my day job. It’d be cool to be there, but I don’t know if I actually can. Right? What’s important to know is like, where I am now? It’s just been a year and a half since I quit my day job, and so if I can do it, anybody can. But where I come from is…yeah.

Calvin: 2015, the beginning of the year, I just got to the point where I was done. I was done doing the day-to-day, 9-to-5 entrepreneurial gig. I didn’t have the freedom that I wanted to have. And I had this, like—not only did I have the fears of; what if I go to be an entrepreneur and I can’t do it? I was like; what if I don’t freaking do anything with my life? What if ten years passes by and I haven’t done a freaking thing. And so, about twenty months ago, I just got to the point where I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I just said: “I’m going to quit.” And that’s what I did.

Chris: So…there’s likely somebody in that place right now, listening to this. What was going through your mind? I mean, you obviously think about it for quite a while. What held you back from taking the jump for so long?

Calvin: Fear! Oh my gosh, you’re right—I did think about it for awhile. You’re right on. I wanted to honestly quit for years. And I thought; I need to keep educating myself; reading books, watching more webinars, until I finally do. What kept me stuck was fear of “what if I mess up?” And what’s interesting is, a question I get asked all the time is: “That makes sense, that you have all that fear that keeps you stuck. But what made you actually jump?” Like, if you have all that fear, what made you just quit.

Calvin: Because here’s the thing, too: I had a wife—I still have a wife—and a 1-year-old son, at the time, so I have a family, this responsibility, rent to pay, food to put on the table and all that stuff—and I still quit! Without having anything lined up next. Now why did I do that?

Calvin: This is why: a bigger fear. That’s really it. A bigger fear. A lot of people talk about having a powerful why, a positive vision as to what’s going to pull you, and I kind of had that, because I wanted freedom, right? Freedom got me started, but it didn’t push through all that other fear.

[00:12:14]

Calvin: It was one day—I’ll never forget it—I sat there and I closed my eyes, and I projected myself ten years into the future. I basically ended up having a conversation with my ten year older self, and I was like; when should I quit? Should it be now, should it be later? And a couple things happened: I first asked myself: “What if I don’t do anything? What if I don’t quit? What if I wake up, ten years down the road, and nothing has changed?” The fear of that happening scared the hell out of me. In fact—and so my ten year older self essentially said; as you get older, Calvin, as we get older, you and I, we’re going to get more responsibility—not less.

Chris: Yeah.

Calvin: So if you’re ever going to do it, the sooner, the better. And here’s the big fear that really made it happen. Not only did I fear what if I wake up and I’m at the same place, only I’m more stuck because I have more responsibility—bigger family, more responsibilities that are keeping me there—what I thought was this: as an entrepreneur—and other people listening to this, maybe people that are contemplating quitting their day job or wanting to go create something—this is what I know about you: there’s this fire inside of you. This fire to do something bigger. To go after freedom. To do more for your family, or to make an impact on the world. And what I thought that day, when I projected myself ten years into the future, is I thought; what if I wake up, ten years in the future, and that fire inside of me died? What if it died?

Calvin: What if I woke up, and because I didn’t freaking do anything about it, it just was gone. And now I am complacent, and I’m like; well, I’m this 35, 45, 55-year-old dude now, that’s just like—this cynical guy, dream-stealing all these other 20-year-old people that are wanting to make an impact. Like; “Wait ‘til you grow up and life kicks your ass!” You know, nothing’s going to happen. The fear of me turning into that, and having that desire—that fire—to make a difference? That going away is what made me just say…”F*** it.”

Chris: [laughs]

Calvin: “I’m gonna jump.” And that’s what I did.

[00:15:01]

Chris: Dude, I love it! When the fear of staying still is bigger than the fear of acting and failing, we’re able to create such momentum. And I say, use it!

Calvin: Yeah! That’s what it was!

Chris: Really, man! And here’s where I want to congratulate—and I just want to appreciate you. I want to appreciate your energy, I want to appreciate your honesty, and I want to appreciate your ability to tell a great story.

Calvin: Thank you.

Chris: That was a—that’s such a great thing, and I think that the people listening are going to have an experience right now that I want them to pause with. If you’re listening to this, and you haven’t had that conversation, here’s my gift from Calvin, through me, to you: press pause right now, and have a frickin’ conversation with your ten year future self. Let’s do that! That is such a big benefit, so thank you—and I think people should go and do that right now, right?

Calvin: Yeah! I’ve slipped into that couple more times in my journey through the last year and a half. I don’t know where it’s come from, but it’s guided me, and yeah! It’s what made that big fear swallow the smaller ones of like, I can’t do it. It got to the point where I’d rather try and fail. I’d feel better to try and mess up than to stay stuck, wondering if I ever could have made it.

Chris: Thank you, man, thank you. I think that’s super important.

[00:16:18]

Chris: I hear people say all the time, there’s no such thing as failure. Well, there is. And the only true failure that I see—the only way you can really fail is not going after what you want. The only way you can really fail is just playing small. That’s true failure, right?

Calvin: Totally! There’s this other video … of Jim Carrey, giving a commencement speech. Have you seen that? It’s such a cool video! Like, he tells the story of his dad who could have been a stand-up comedian, could have been great, but he took the safe, secure route. And then in the middle of his career, in the later part of safe, secure job, he got fired! And he had to start over. And Jim Carrey says; my dad taught me a ton of lessons in life, not the least of which is: you can actually fail at doing what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

Chris: [laughs] Legendary, man!

[00:17:24]

Chris: Tell us; what is it that you’re really loving? Obviously you’re doing social media, so who are you excited about helping at the moment, and how do you help people in your business? What do you do?

Calvin: In the social media sense, I’m excited about helping anybody that wants to stand out. That tends to be small business owners or entrepreneurs that are building a brand and a platform, but they want to focus more on their thing, whatever that business is, then we can just totally offload it, create content for them in their voice, and post it for them. Like, in a social media sense, that’s who I want to help.

Calvin: But in a bigger sense, that’s even bigger than my business, bigger than my social media, the reason I just did my first live event, who I really want to help is the person who wants to make a different but isn’t sure if they can. The person that wants to make an impact but maybe hasn’t been exposed to how badass they really are. And I kind of distil that into something that I call the Roger Bannister Effect. I want to create—the thing that excites me is creating Roger Bannister Effects in other people. I’ll try to explain what I mean.

[00:18:38]

Calvin: Roger Bannister is well known for being the first guy that ran a four-minute mile, right?

Chris: Yup!

Calvin: And, for decades, people tried to run the four-minute mile, and all failed—to the point that it became conventional wisdom and knowledge that no human being could ever do that. Scientists thought it was impossible, doctors, and certainly the general populace. And then, Roger Bannister did it.

Calvin: The question though that’s more exciting than; that a guy did it? is this other part, and that is how long his record lasted. Because logic would say, since it took humanity decades to produce someone to run a four-minute mile, that it should take at least many more decades for the second person to do it. Right? But get this: Roger Bannister’s record lasted a whopping 46 days. Not 46 years, not 5 years, not 2 years. 46 days—a month and a half. Why is that?

Calvin: Because once people see it, and see that it’s possible for them, then everything changes. And that’s what I like to do.

Chris: Let me ask you a question right there: do you know the name of the person that broke his record?

Calvin: No!

Chris: [laughs] That’s what’s so fascinating!

Calvin: Right!

Chris: He’s 46 days late, Calvin, and he doesn’t even get—it’s called the Roger Bannister Effect, right?

Calvin: Right! Right! But—yeah, it’s crazy! We give all the credit to him. And thousands of people have done it since, by the way. But the main point that is just so exciting to me is how, once people see that it’s possible, how it changes the game. And that’s what I want to do. Something that I did to currently challenge myself in this area, just to see if I could—not even as a physical challenge, but a mental challenge—about eight weeks ago, I signed up for a fifty-mile ultra-marathon. In the mountains, in rain and snow. Had no effing idea if I could do it.

Calvin: But I saw somebody named Hal Elrod, who wrote The Miracle Morning do that! And I was like, if this regular guy—if Hal can do it, then Cal can do it, right? So I just frickin’…based off of just that, I was like; “I’ve got to try this.” And the most I’d ever run up to this—my New Years’ Resolution for 2015 was to sign up for an eight-mile race. That was crazy. And then I got up to a half marathon. But I signed up for a fifties, and I went from half-marathon, skipped marathon, and frickin’ hit fifty. In rain and snow and in the mountains, just to see if my mind could take it. And that’s what excites me; doing something myself that I didn’t think I could do, but also showing other people and them that they can do way more than they think they can.

Chris: Wow, man, that’s impressive.

Chris: So, what’s the next impossible Roger Bannister Effect or experience? Have you picked anything yet?

Calvin: Something that I’m thinking jumping—so, I’ll just get transparent here. I’m a 29 year old grown adult dude, and I don’t know how to swim. I never was taught that as a kid, and I’m really good at sinking. So many people have tried to teach me how swim, and I just sink. But I’m probably going to sign up for an Iron Man for 2017. At least a half-Iron Man. Something that forces me into the water to have to figure it out. So that’s kind of the next mental challenge that I’m playing with right now.

Chris: Nice.

[00:22:38]

Chris: And, what about in business? What is the impossible that you’re chasing there? It seems like you’re really going to close big things.

Calvin: Making a million dollars in revenue in 2017.

Chris: Wow. I’ll tell you, as somebody who’s done it a few times, the first million is the best journey that you’ll ever be on in your entrepreneur journey.

Calvin: I’m capturing it too, because I’ve heard that, and there’s something that I—I mean we talked about Jim Carrey already and something kind of stuck with me with him is, I remember watching him give an Oprah interview that is now on YouTube, of him talking about how he would drive to the top of the mountains before he was big and visualize him being big and making the millions, and then wrote himself a check for $10 million and dated into the future and he freaking did it?

Calvin: I remember watching that, and [thinking] “Man, it would have been so cool if somebody documented it!” So that you could see him go through it. And there’s nothing out there that has it, so for the last year—almost a year—I started a YouTube show called Millionaire Case Study. It’s not even very popular and I don’t want it to be yet. It’s just me documenting what I’m doing right now to go after that first million, because I’m going after it! And I want to be able to capture the journey in it, so that it’s not just a story told after the fact where so much is lost. I want to be able to go back and see what’s actually happening in the journey, in the moment, while it’s actually happening.

Chris: I’m going to go check that out, man. That sounds amazing.

[00:24:24]

Chris: Hey, we’re going to pause for a quick break, but I’ve loved the Roger Bannister Effect. I love this: you get older, you have more responsibilities than less, and I think I’ve felt some heavy motivation. So if you’re out there listening, we’re going to pause for a quick break, and we’ll be right back after that.

[BREAK]

[00:25:44]

Chris: Welcome back! I’m here with Calvin. We’re having a great time, and we were just talking a little bit off the air as you guys were on the ad break about the Roger Bannister Effect and really going for big things, and I just wanted to remind everybody. The one thing that really stood out for me was that, as you get older, you have more responsibility, not less. And I hope that everybody had that conversation with their ten year future self.

Chris: Now, I’m going to assume everybody listening right now wants to hear how to stand out on social media. We have him here, so I’m going to ask to learn your signature Four C System on how we actually stand out on social media. So, Cal, if you would be so kind just to dive into that? We would love it.

Calvin: Absolutely! This is how you stand out past everyone else. They’re called the Four C’s of Social Media Success, and if anybody’s taking notes, those four C’s are Content, Context, Consistency, and Connection.

Calvin: Content, Context, Consistency, and Connection. It’s when you have these four C’s that it’s just game over. I could go and spend an hour into each one of these, but I’ll just briefly touch on each one to give people an idea.

[00:27:01]

Calvin: Content is where it all begins. I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast that the number one reason people fail in business is not that they’re a bad person or that their product sucks. It’s obscurity. There are not enough people who know who you are. And content, and creating content on social media, is the first step to get into that game. So, create content on telling us the story of who you are, what you stand for, and what you believe in. One little tip here is, most people that are small business owners, what they want to tend to do is talk about what they’re all about. What they do.

Calvin: And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this cool video—it’s by a guy named Simon Sinek. A TED Talk called “Start With Why” or “The Golden Circle.” See that? If anybody’s listening to [this], they should watch it, because that’s what works on social media. Not talking about what you do, but why you do it. What are your core values? What do you believe in?

Calvin: Simon Sinek uses Apple as an example in the TED Talk. He says, if Apple were like everybody else, then a content message or a marketing message would sound like this: “We built the best computers! Want to buy one?” And you’re like, “Meh.” I mean, it doesn’t sound very inspiring, right? But he says, this is how Apple actually communicates. They create content that sounds like this: “In everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. And because we believe in challenging the status quo, because we believe in thinking differently, we create products that are simple to use, beautifully designed, and user-friendly.” Right? “We just so happen to create great computers. Want to buy one?”

Calvin: And it’s totally more powerful that way! If you look at the people that stand out the most—somebody that comes to mind is Gary Vaynerchuk. If you look at his content, that’s what he’s pitching! He’s not talking anything about his business. He’s not even talking about VaynerMedia. He’s saying, “If you’re going to win, you have to hustle.” If I was to go to my Instagram right now, which I’m just going to do, I’m going to look at a recent post of Gary V and I’m going to guess that it’s going to be something that is a value or a belief of his.

Calvin: “Doing the right thing is always the right thing.” – Something that he just recently posted. That’s a belief. That’s a core value. And what you have to realize is, when you’re trying to attract the right people to you, the thing that attracts people to you is not what you do. It’s what you stand for and believe in. If you think about congregation—like, when I used to say the word “congregation,” I usually ask people; “Where does your mind go?” when you think where people congregate. And an answer that a lot of people say is, well, church. Right? If I’m seeing a congregation of people, I think church. That’s a perfect example. If you ask yourself, what makes people congregate into one church versus another church? It’s this: their common set of core values and beliefs! That’s what makes that congregation congregate in that church versus another church. It’s not how pretty the church is. It’s not how cool the windows look on the other side. It’s what they stand for and believe in.

Calvin: So that’s the very most important thing anyone can do on social media, is to get clear. Like, really just forget what the hell your product is and services [are] a little bit, sounds a little counterintuitive, find out what you believe in, what you stand for, and post about that. And a cool thing will happen: you’ll start to attract people to you. And when they come to you, they end up being the perfect tribe member. The perfect client. Because they believe in the same things you believe in. So, that’s the big one.

Calvin: I spent more time on content than I’m going to do on the other three, but that’s just the beginning piece. That is so critical. Talk about what you stand for, not just what you do.

[00:31:09]

Calvin: And then, Context. Context is fun for me, because it’s one of the most misunderstood pieces of social media. And what that’s all about is creating content that is specific for that platform. Because every platform is like a different room, or a different situation. If you have the right piece of content but don’t have the right context, it doesn’t stick. I’ll give you a quick real-world example. You’re in business, right? You’ve probably made business cards for yourself, right, before, Christopher? You probably have business cords or some type of—

Chris: Yeah.

Calvin: Okay! So, I’m going to guess that even though you’ve probably talked to people about your business before as well, right? Like, it’s probably not too much of a long shot. You might have handed out your business card, but this is where I’m going to make an assumption about you, if I may.

Calvin: I’m going to assume that a method that you’ve used to talk to people about your business has not ever been to go to a random funeral home in the middle of a funeral service of somebody you don’t know, and walk up and down the pews, and hand out your business cards and say, “Sorry that you’re crying about Joe. I honestly don’t know who Joe is, but we should really connect about my business. It’s awesome. Here’s my business card, let’s talk about my business.”

Chris: I haven’t tried it yet. I’ll put it under the Ideas To Test Next Quarter—

Calvin: Got it.

Chris: –and I’ll let you know.

Calvin: Okay! [laughs] So I’m pretty safe in assuming that’s something you have not tried it yet.

Chris: I have not tried it yet, but I’m open to testing! If you think it’s a good idea—I mean, you’re the expert.

Calvin: Okay! [laughs] Well, this is what I want you to notice: even though you’re in business, you handed people your business card before—

Chris: Yeah.

Calvin: –there’s nothing wrong with handing people your business card. There’s nothing wrong with talking to people about your business. But what would you say is so wrong, though, about doing it in that type of situation?

Chris: It’s wrong because it doesn’t feel right. It’s wrong because they’re not read—

Calvin: Yes! Bad timing! Bad place, right? It’s not the right context to do it in. This is such a huge idea, because that room of people could even be your ideal clients. Like, it could be the people that you want to talk to, but if it’s not in the right context, then it’s not received well. The big idea here is, what you do on Instagram, for example. If it worked on Instagram, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be the same thing you do on Twitter. What you do on Twitter is not going to be the same thing you do on Facebook, right? So you need to speak to the context of the room, of the platform that you’re on, of what’s happening and what’s going on. Because without the right context, you’re not respected.

Calvin: So, again; content was—without content, you don’t exist. Context—without context, you’re not respected.

[00:34:06]

Calvin: Now, with consistency—the third C is consistency, and if I were to ask anybody on this podcast, listening to this, to think about of a big yellow M, in fast food, who would they automatically think of?

Chris: McDonalds.

Calvin: McDonalds, right? Yeah! And if I said, “think of red soda softdrink ,” they’d probably know Coca-Cola, right? Or if I said, just do it, they would know that brand is Nike. Question is: how the heck is that? I’ve asked the same question to dozens and dozens of people from different countries, and they all get it right. Which is crazy, because nothing crosses cultures like this.

Calvin: How did those brands get in our brain? They got there through consistency. So the big idea here—and again, we could go deep in this, but I’m not going to—is, you need to be super consistent in who you are, but also consistent in how often you’re posting. Because if you’re not being consistent, you’re not going to be recognized or remembered. So to be recognized, remembered, recalled, you have to be consistent. The average business posts only about two or three times a week on social media. You need to be doing that at least two or three times a day, on whatever platforms you’re on, if you want to stand out.

[00:35:42]

Calvin: So that’s consistency. And the last C—and, to me, the most important C of all—is the reason we do anything on social media: to build connections. If you’re not building connections, then you shouldn’t be doing anything. And if you built connections, that’s what’s really going to help you stand out. You have no idea how deep one connection will go. I was recently scrolling through my social media and I came across this random video that somebody tagged me in. It was a podcast interview—kind of like this—but it was in studio with three Australian dudes. Besides you, Christopher, I personally don’t have any friends that have these sexy accents. That aren’t American, right?

Chris: [laughs]

Calvin: So, I did not recognize these guys or their accent! They were from Australia, and I was like, why am I tagged in this video? I started watching, and these guys start talking about somebody. And get this; the person they’re talking about is me. And I’m like, what? What’s going on here? How is this happening? Because—again—it was in Australia! In a country I’ve never even been to. It was the weirdest thing because it was the first time in my life where I ever saw anyone talking about me where I literally had zero frame of reference of who they were. It wasn’t like, did I meet them at some party and I forgot? Because I know I don’t know anybody with an Australian accent.

Calvin: And I’m like, how did this happen? This is how: one of those guys followed me on Instagram six months prior. And when he followed me, instead of just ignoring that notification like we normally do, I was like; you know what? If this guy’s going to take the time to follow me and if I had it my way, I would like him to follow me forever. I want like his attention for life, what can I do to kind of stand out? So I just pulled out my phone, shot a quick video, and all it said was this: “Hey, brother. I noticed you followed me. Thanks!” The video lasted four seconds. But that four seconds was enough of a connection with him that he had been stalking me on social media for the past six months without me even knowing it. In fact, when I came out with my book—when I came out with Fish Out of Water—he ended up buying a bulk order of my books without me even knowing it, and he was giving ten copies of my book away for free on this podcast interview to an audience I would have never thought I ever could have connected with. All this was happening without me knowing it in a country I’ve never even stepped foot in! Because of one simple four-second connection with another human being over social media.

Calvin: So, that’s the most important piece that I believe everybody should be focused on when it comes to social media. What can you do to keep social media social, right? It’s called social media. Like, to connect with another human and spend your time doing that. You can create a ton of content in the world and spin it out, but if you’re not making connection to people, like, replying back to everybody that comments or going and sending a message to somebody that follows you on Facebook, or doing a voice memo or a video, then you have no idea what you’re wasting. The very best of the best still do this. You can still message Gary V and he will comment back or get back to you at some level.

[00:39:02]

Calvin: These are it. These are the four C’s: Content, Context, Consistency, and Connection. And the most important or the most beautiful thing about these four things, to me—for anybody listening to this right now—is nobody is doing this. So if you do this—especially that last piece—you will stand out like crazy past everybody else. That’s what you do: use those four C’s and you will stand out past 97% of everybody else that’s on social media today.

Chris: What great advice, man! Obviously I can tell you’ve got so much passion for this and you’re doing the right thing, you know, starting with why and really getting that content out there was huge for me. Understanding, and you’ve got to have the right context. Getting consistent and then creating connection.

Chris: Now we are going to need to wrap up in just a second, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Let me ask you this: you’re going to give a social media makeover—

Calvin: Yes!

Chris: — to our listeners. How do they go about getting that, and what is it?

[00:40:00]

Calvin: Awesome! So, a social media makeover is based on the context of what we just talked about with those four C’s. We see how well you’re doing that, we see what your goals are, and to follow them. [We] walk you through what the next step is to stand out on social media.

Calvin: So you can get your social media makeover by going to socialmediamakeover.org—and again, this is going to be an actual phone call, because we’re huge on connection—surprise! It’s not just a PDF or anything like that. It’s going to be personally myself or somebody on my team that will get on the phone with you and see what we can do to help you stand out, to makeover your social media. Again, you can grab that by going to socialmediamakeover.org, set up a time that works best for you, and we’ll connect and help you stand out.

Chris: Dude, what a great gift! I massively appreciate that. If you’re listening to this, the link will be available in the shownotes or you can just punch that in if you remember it, but head on over to the shownotes—christophermduncan.com/podcast and get those shownotes.

[00:41:09]

Chris: Dude, we’re going to have to wrap up in a second, and the reason is we want to keep this really short and to the point, but I gotta ask a few more things before we do that—

Calvin: Hit me.

Chris: –and here’s what I want to ask: somebody starting on social media today, and they’re right back where you were a year and a half, two years ago—what do you suggest? How do they start?

Calvin: The thing that was intimidating with me—something I don’t share too much: when I first got into this, you would be shocked, probably, to think how shy I actually was. My first sales job I ever had, I still hold the record for the worst performance a sales agent ever had, because I was so shy. Same thing with my social media: I was afraid to even put my own profile picture up. It was a picture of Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes—it was just a comic strip. What made me get into the game is, I was worried about putting myself out there and if somebody’s getting started and they’re worried about that? Then understand what I said about content, and how you just start with why.

Calvin: If you’re afraid to put yourself out there, then start posting quotes of what you believe in. If you believe in never giving up and things that Gary Vaynerhuk says or Tony Robbins says, or Grant Cardone says, or other entrepreneurs? Start posting about that. What it’s going to is you’re going to start to show other people what you stand for, what you believe in, by posting those things. And then you might stand out enough to come up with a new belief that you want to say, this is what I’m taking a stand on that’s your very own.

Calvin: That’s one of the easiest ways I can think of; just start posting what you believe, even if it’s just simple quotes from other entrepreneurs.

Chris: Love it, man. Getting started and making it simple is such a great piece of advice, so thank you for leaving that with everybody.

[00:42:58]

Chris: We’ve got time for one last thing, and I would love you to just give whatever feels right, whatever message you want to leave with the audience. Thank you so much for being on, man, and I’ll leave it with you. What last message would you like to leave with everyone?

Calvin: What’s on my heart right now, especially [since] it’s a New Year, and people are going to—they’re aiming higher, they’re going to go after something else, and the one thing that I would say is; become a member of the CIA. What does that mean?

Calvin: Yes, it’s part of what you just said: take Consistent, Imperfect Action. Just get in the game. When you’re getting started, we’re our own worst critic a lot of the time, and we think it has to be just right or it has to be totally perfectly pretty, or we can’t do it and we’re going to look stupid. Listen: just doing it is the win. Just going after it is the win. That is the success. Whether you get the result right away or not, that’s not it. Just doing it is the win. Just give yourself the gift of taking Consistent Imperfect Action. Know done is better than perfect and just get in the game.

Chris: I love it. Doing the CIA.

Chris: Calvin, thank you for taking some time out of your day. I know time is the most valuable currency we have, so we appreciate you. Listeners, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m just going to assume because I know you did. Just remember this: as you get older, you’re going to have more responsibility, not less. Take some advice from Roger Bannister, and know that you need to be first one to do it, because no one knows about the second—[laughs]

Calvin: Yeah!

Chris: I know that wasn’t the point Calvin was making, but I think it’s funny. Step up, stand out, start with why, get the content, be consistent, create connection. I’ve got a huge smile on my face. Thanks for being on the show, brother, and we really appreciate you. Everybody out there, please subscribe, like, and share this podcast. Reach out to Calvin. Have an amazing day. We’ll see you on the next show. Live with Total Freedom—free your mind, free your time, free your life; smash it.