I recently read The Tribe of Millionaires and found it valuable so I thought I would share a quick summary with you. This book is anything but subtle. It talks about making choices, and how the effects of these choices could change the course of your life. What follows is a quick rundown of each of the Six Effects. Let’s dive right into it, shall we?
#1 - The Influencer Effect - Your destiny is shaped by those around you.
It is widely known that one of the best ways to improve on a skill is to practice it with someone who’s better than you (think: tennis, skiing, poker, yoga, Boggle…) Yes, you will have to work harder, think faster and learn more fundamentals. You’ll sweat and have sore muscles, but after a while, your skills will improve and, eventually, you might even be good enough to teach someone else a thing or two. This idea of playing with someone better than you translates nicely to your personal and career successes as well, and that’s why it’s important to surround yourself with people who are winners. Who are your influential five?
I know this is something that all of us have heard before. Jim Rohn, said “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with”. The people that we are surrounded by, influence us in ways that are probably more profound than we realize. As such, we need to be very intentional about who we are spending our time with. Now, I don’t want this to come off like I’ve ditched my old friends or consider my old colleagues any less. They’re still my friends and always will be... Heck, I’m still best friends with the kids I went to kindergarten with! But I've also found supplemental peer groups and people that have become very dear friends of mine, who are playing this game of life at a different level in all runs, whether it's business or family. They're just very intentional with their actions and living life in a way that is exciting to me. As I spend more and more time with them, I find that my life starts to mirror theirs rather than that of my old drinking buddies.
#2 - The Multiplier Effect - The right group of people compounds your efforts
The Multiplier Effect is something I’m big on! For me, another word I tend to use for this multiplier is ‘synergy’. The wrong tribe confounds, the right tribe compounds.
If you have the right group of people, it compounds your efforts and by that I mean, 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal to 2. Sometimes 1 plus 1 equals 3.
When you create an environment of collaboration with like-minded folks, the multiplier effect kicks in. As the old saying goes, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’, and if you’re a nerd like me and want to dive deeper into this theory I’d recommend you pickup “Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill”. He was the first one to really define a ‘mastermind’. And his ‘mastermind’ is based on this multiplier/synergy effect.
#3 - The accountability effect - Accountability is the world’s most powerful force.
The next Effect on the list is accountability. Now, we’re all familiar with this and I’m hoping I don't need to say too much about this. We all know that one sure fire way to increase our performance is to increase the accountability surrounding that performance. Intrinsic accountability vs. extrinsic accountability, which one’s more powerful?
I'm all for accountability. I use tools and apps to track my habits and help hold me accountable and they're great. I'm not discounting them. But I do want to emphasize the simple truth that external or extrinsic accountability, like the things that come through you know, a peer group or the tools and apps that I mention above, as valuable as they are, ARE NOT nearly as powerful as intrinsic accountability.
You want to use those things to practice and exercise your accountability muscles. But the goal is to get to the point where you are intrinsically (internally) accountable to yourself. So when you say, I'm going to go to the gym every day this month, you don't need other people to keep tabs on you. You said it. So now you just do it. Right? It's an integrity thing. Now I'm nowhere near perfect in that realm, but it is something that I'm very conscious of and focus a lot on. I think we can all benefit by underscoring that point. So take it for what it's worth.
#4 - The authenticity effect - You find your true self among those you trust.
The quickest way to success. Here's the deal. Pretending is never better but it often feels easier, right? Being authenticity can feel harder, but I promise you, it's the quickest route to success. Here’s an example from the Storage World. One of the biggest requests I get is, ‘Hey Mike, can I have the letter you send out to sellers, I’d like to use it as a template?’
I get where folks are coming from when they ask that question and I’ve asked other people in the past too. So I’m not going to pretend I haven’t. But now, I don’t give it out anymore. because really, it doesn't do anybody any good. Most of the people that you send a letter to have probably seen this letter. And more importantly, if it's not your voice, if it isn’t you, it's just not going to ring true for the person. You may be able to fool them while they're reading your letter, but then when you get on the phone, you either have to act like the guy who wrote the letter or you know, play the role. Trust me, you don't want to do that. Just be yourself!
We succeed in forging real relationships with real people through authenticity.
#5 - The Purpose Effect: The right people reveal your richest source of power.
The next Effect they talk about in The Tribe Of Millionaires is Purpose. And I've talked about this a lot, so I'm not going to go too deep into it, but the wealth that we create in sell storage is not the end goal. It's a means to an end. It's a vehicle to get us the kind of life we want. It's a tool for us to use. But it's not the end. So for now, if your goal is to get rich and storage, there's nothing wrong with that except that it's not enough.
You need to figure out why you want to get rich and storage. You need a BIG WHY. So that three (or six) months from now, when you've been looking for deals and you haven't found one yet, you have the incentive and the motivation to push forward. You need that “big why” to lean on, which will help you persevere and persist through the tough times.
#6 - The Connection Effect: Your life will be measured by the quality of your relationships.
Generally speaking, you know, you've gotten to either your real purpose , your real “Why” when that ‘why’ involves one of the big three: relationship, contribution or personal growth. Those are the three core areas that we as humans have inherent to us.
THat said, lets transition into Connection which picks up on one of those three core areas: the relationship. When I talk about connection, I look at it in two ways. Firstly, your relationship with other people. Secondly, your relationship with yourself.
And the reason is because there’s a quote I love. I’m not sure who originally said it, but I listened to one of Jim Carrey’s videos every month, and he said “the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is”. And to me that just resonated so well. I think it is incredibly powerful and I’ve tried to embody that. The thing I’ve been learning while exploring exploring that idea, is that you can't affect other people to the greatest extent possible, unless you're true to yourself. So as cliche as that sounds, you've got to know yourself. And that's what I love about the storage business. I, at the risk of sounding immodest, make so much money in so few hours each week, that I have the time to work on this deeper, more important stuff.
Like learning how to have a cooler life, working on myself, trying to become better. And the more I figure out and tap into who I really am and what I want to get out of my time on this planet, the more I'm able to forge real solid relationships with other people.
Takeaway?
In order to break through the barriers between your current self and future dreams, you need to tap into the 6 Effects as outlined in The Tribe of Millionaires and that starts by finding a supporting cast of friends and "witnesses" to help you along the way. Click here to join our Tribe Of Storage Rebels inside The Storage Rebellion University.