Episode 3-3: It Ain’t Easy, But It’s Worth It

Hey, guys, welcome to the podcast. Today, I’m talking about a big milestone. I was named to a top 200 for marketing podcasts that you should follow, which is a really cool, you know, it’s funny. I was looking back on this and somebody said wow, that was so fast, when I mentioned that I was recognized. That was so fast. It seems like just yesterday that you started the podcast, and isn’t that the way that it is when it comes to success? It feels like, you know, when you see someone hit it, you’re like oh my gosh, they made it, you know? And we forget all the hard times, we forget the struggles, we forget how many obstacles they had to overcome, and even for us, right? Like I’ve been in business now for 17 years, and sometimes I forget how hard it was sometimes, you know? We just get used to this new normal of business and how it is now, and it ain’t always easy, but it’s worth it.

That’s the title of my podcast episode today. It Ain’t Always Easy, But it is Worth It. I remember when, it was about four years ago, almost five years ago now, and I was running a very successful development agency, and I decided to make a shift. I wanted to make a shift into turning the Branning Group away from a development house and more into a marketing firm. I wanted to become a brand. I knew that where I was going was not going to get me the kind of life that I wanted, because running the kind of business that I had at the time was a very high stress, just there’s a lot of people, you know, clamoring on me. I lost the fun of doing what I was doing, and I needed to make a change, and I knew I had to make it, but when I first did it, I got a lot of pushback, and it was pushback from people that really cared about me, and they wanted the best for me, and they were pushing back because they thought, Alex, you’re making a huge mistake. And I knew what the end game was.

I didn’t know how long it was going to take me to get there, but I knew where I wanted to go, and their pushback definitely caused me to take a step back and go, okay, is this really something that I’m going to do? Because going from getting these huge contracts, you know, in the five figures, to going after these small marketing projects, because you know, when you first start, you have to work for a little bit less, it was a big shift, right? And then, when I said you know what? We were starting to make that change and it was going well, and I said you know what? I’m going to go one step further, this was about 2 1/2 years ago, I’m going to go one step further, and I’m no longer going to promote the Branning Group.

I’m going to be Alex Branning, and then let the leads come in to me, so then I can basically handle it, because I felt like the Branning Group had reached, at the time, a plateau, as far as name recognition and how far I could get it, but Alex Branning, me, I was not tapping into my own greatness, my relatability, and the way that I could interact with people. I wasn’t tapping into that. I wasn’t getting the full benefit of my experience, I’m going to say my likeability, because that’s definitely something that’s helped me out. I wasn’t tapping into that yet, and I needed to. I needed to, if I wanted to take the Branning Group, take my own career to a place where I was being able to have a much wider impact and a bigger influence, I knew that I needed to change my marketing method, and when I decided to do that, when I was telling people like, hey, I got this new marketing system that I’m going to be creating. I have this entire new message, and here’s what I’m going to do, I got a lot of pushback, because up until that point, and it was about 15 years of success with the Branning Group, and I said I’m going to be changing that, and I’m going to be marketing Alex Branning now, and people were like are you crazy?

You’re essentially taking the Branning Group, which is a very well known entity, and you’re going into being just Alex Branning, this unknown? What are you doing? It wasn’t easy to make the change, but it was worth it, and it took a long time to get here.

I had two things that I wanted to accomplish, two major things that I wanted to get done. When I made the change to starting my own thing, the first change that I wanted to make was I wanted to make money every single day, whether I was working or not. Warren Buffett said, “If you’re not able to make money while you sleep, you will work until the day you die.” And I knew that. I accepted that as fact, and I worked to change my reality. The second thing that I set out to do, outside of being able to make money while I sleep, whether I work or not, is I set out to have a much wider impact and influence on those around me, and that’s still something I’m having a hard time with, and the model that I followed was Russell Brunson’s Expert Secrets book. It’s really helped me kind of develop a roadmap, because I needed to position myself as a marketing expert, number one, somebody who was there as an advocate and a resource, and someone who was there to help, right? I needed to first be a support, before I ever asked, before I ever made an offer.

Now, it wasn’t like that before. When I was a web developer, when I had an agency, I mean, we did websites for Chrysler and Crocs, I mean, big time. We didn’t have to wait to make an ask. People were coming to us, saying build us websites, right? And then, I shifted that, and I changed that into I want to help your marketing, your branding, and to get those clients required me to showcase that I could actually do it, right? The Branning Group had already been there, but the Branning Group was exchanging time for money, right? People came to me for a website, and I had to figure out how much it’s going to cost, and then give them an offer where I would make a profit, and it was changing time for dollars, and you know, there were some cases where, God forbid, something went wrong and we lost a lot, so that was something that I wanted to avoid, and I just didn’t like not having a creative outlet. We became an order taker, more than somebody who had a voice in the matter, so we knew we needed to make a change, and I, personally, wasn’t happy with where it was going, so it wasn’t easy, but it was worth it, because when I made the change, I was 31 years old, and I knew, and I said do I want to keep doing this when I’m 41? No. I want to live my best life, my ideal life, starting now, and I know that it’s going to be a rocky road, and I know there’s going to be challenges, but I need to make that change right now, so that’s what I did.

I just started to change my brand, change my messaging, and attract a whole different audience, and I can tell you now, like I said, it’s been a long time coming, but it has worked. It’s worked. My podcast is doing well. There is so much more, there’s such a huge ceiling for that. I feel like I’ve just started to tap into my potential. I’m building some really cool digital courses and teaching entrepreneurs all over the world how to take the tools that are out there and use them for their own business, and I’m connecting with a lot of really, really great people, and I’m working with them on building relationships and collaborations so we can impact a lot more people. I have a passive income stream, multiple passive income streams now, and the Branning Group is a very profitable part of what I consider my portfolio of things that I offer.

So, I don’t know what it is that you are looking at in the face and going I need to make a change, but if you know that it’s worth it, then I encourage you to start now. Make the change, start putting it in motion, do it, because whether it takes two years, three years, six months, whenever, that time that it’s going to take, that’s still going to be out there, whether you start now or if you start in 10 years, it’s still going to take you that long to build, but you’re going to wish you had started sooner so you could reap the benefits for longer.

I hope this podcast inspired you. You guys, if you could do me a huge favor, please rate and review my podcast. It would mean the world to me, on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, wherever you’re listening. I would love it if you would drop me a review so I can hear what I can do better, and just, if you have encouraging words, I’d love to hear it. I need it. You guys are awesome, have a great day.

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