This week we have an amazing special guest… the legendary best-selling author Bob Burg! Bob stops by to share how a subtle shift in focus is not only a more uplifting and fulfilling way of conducting business but the most financially profitable way. Shifting your focus from getting to giving can make people feel safe with you, want to build relationships with you and want to work with you. This is his best selling book summed up in a 40 minute interview! Dive in and don’t miss this amazing free advice from a true expert. For 30 years Bob has helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals. The Go-Giver, a Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller, has sold over 950,000 copies. Since its release it has consistently stayed in the Top 25 on Porchlight’s Business Book Bestsellers List. It was rated #10 on Inc. Magazine’s list of the Most Motivational Books Ever Written and was on HubSpot’s 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time.
This week we have an amazing special guest… the legendary best-selling author Bob Burg!
Bob stops by to share how a subtle shift in focus is not only a more uplifting and fulfilling way of conducting business but the most financially profitable way. Shifting your focus from getting to giving can make people feel safe with you, want to build relationships with you and want to work with you. This is his best selling book summed up in a 40 minute interview! Dive in and don’t miss this amazing free advice from a true expert.
For 30 years Bob has helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals.
The Go-Giver, a Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller, has sold over 950,000 copies. Since its release it has consistently stayed in the Top 25 on Porchlight’s Business Book Bestsellers List. It was rated #10 on Inc. Magazine’s list of the Most Motivational Books Ever Written and was on HubSpot’s 20 Most Highly Rated Sales Books of All Time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. When you show up as yourself, people feel safe with you, and want to work with you.
2. Market value is defined by the combination of strengths, traits, talents and characteristics that allow you to bring value to others.
3. It can be very hard to recognize your strengths sometimes and this is when a mentor can really help us in knowing what these are and utilizing them the best we can.
4. Just because you can do something well and bring a certain value... doesn't mean everyone else can.
5. The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.
BOOKS
How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
As a Man Thinketh - James Allen
Psycho-Cybernetics - Dr. Maxwell Maltz
The Magic of Thinking Big - Dr. David J. Schwartz
The Science of Getting Rich - Wallace D. Wattles
LINKS
https://www.instagram.com/realbobburg/
https://www.facebook.com/burgbob
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobburg/
Title: E142: GoGiver: The Meaning of Value - Bob Burg
Host: Steven Pesavento
Interviewee: Bob Burg
Duration: 43:53
Narrator (00:00):
This is the Investor Mindset podcast and I'm Stephen PesaVento. For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with understanding how we can think better, how we can be better, and how we can do better. And each episode, we explore lessons on motivation and mindset for the most successful real estate investors and entrepreneurs in the nation.
Investors, welcome back! Make sure that you join us each week as we share more tips and strategies to help you reach true financial freedom through real estate and you can do that by hitting that subscribe button down below and make sure that you never miss another episode. If you've been listening to us for any amount of time, help us get this message out to more people by hitting that subscribe button but most importantly, going and dropping us a five star review and tell us how much you love what we've been up to. So, remember you can grab the full passive investing playbook, The Ultimate Guide to Passive Real Estate Investing at theinvestormindset.com/passive and you can do that by jumping right over to the show notes or heading right down below and hitting that link and grabbing the guide over 10,000 words where we've dove in deep laying the foundation so you can make smart decisions in your passive investing career to really build that financial freedom. So let's get into this episode.
Steven (01:36):
Alright guys, welcome back to the investor mindset podcast. I am very excited and full of gratitude today. I have one of my favorite authors, Bob Burg in the studio. How are you doing today, Bob?
Bob (01:47)
I'm great. Steven, how are you?
Steven (01:49)
I am doing phenomenal. And for all of you guys out there, you know, Bob is the author of The Go-Giver, a little story about a powerful business idea, which is one of my all time favorite books. It's a wall street journal bestseller, inc magazine voted number 10 most motivational book ever written. Bob has written countless other successful books and made a huge impact on millions of people's lives. He's an advocate and supporter of free enterprise, but is a big believer that we should be giving first, that we should be providing value and we're going to get into some of these core concepts of The Go Giver together.
If you guys haven't read this book, it is an absolute must. It has changed my life and I continue to reread it every single year. I just read it a couple of weeks ago, which you know, in preparation for this interview was in perfect timing. So if you're ready to get into things, Bob, let's do it.
Bob (02:43)
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for those kinds of words.
Steven (02:45)
Absolutely. So starting out by taking a look back at earlier in your life, what events or influences from your childhood shaped, who you are today?
Bob (02:55)
Well, I was very lucky to have great parents who brought me up in a way that said to honor others, to do what you can to make a difference in people's lives, to show respect to others, to have a good work ethic and to do those things. I think most of us are beneficial in living a successful and happy life.
Steven (03:18):
Well, I mean, that's, that's amazing. So you grew up, you had a great childhood, it sounds like, and they were instilling these values. Do you remember living life to some of these values that you talk about in the giver?
Bob (03:36):
Well, at first, you know, I had a great family. I can't say the childhood was necessarily happy only because I had a, and still have to this day OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, which is a very horrendous chemical imbalance in the brain, basically due to a lack of serotonin, it can play havoc with a person's life. I'm extra lucky to have had parents that I have, because, you know, even though at the time they didn't know what it was because, back in ‘62, back then, people didn't know what it was. I didn't get diagnosed till I was 26, but they were so supportive and so understanding and so forth. So that's always been a struggle, but yes, I mean as far as having that foundation and I, you know, I always watched my parents, how they dealt with others and especially with my dad who is more in the public light than my mom who enjoyed not really being in the public light. But she really ran their business, but he was the guy who was always dealing with people and always in, and I got to see a person whose people's skills were second to none. And his people skills were really a result of genuinely caring about other people. I mean, he was really someone who, I think, had a very natural level of others and I didn't really, necessarily have that but, you know, I had a lot of anger which was at myself and I think from the havoc that OCD plays in the mind. So with me, it was something I had to learn, but I was very lucky. I got a model watching how my dad dealt with people, you know, in order for me to be able to do that as well until finally, I kind of grew into that being the way I wanted to deal with
Steven (05:21):
That's such a big thing. I mean, so many people deal with different challenges growing up, right? OCD, you know, attention deficit, whatever those different diagnoses could be, they kind of can be an anchor that can hold you back. That can be really hard to do the things you want to do in life cause, you're beating yourself up for not being a certain way or not being able to act or react and wishing things were different. At what point did that end up becoming something that you use to move forward?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Well, OCD itself has never been something I've used to move forward. I've often said that one does not succeed because of OCD. They, despite having OCD, it is different from just being obsessive or compulsive when someone has an obsessive compulsive personality, while that's not necessarily the most healthy personality to have, that can be a driver towards success that actually can be used in a positive way. Obsessive compulsive disorder is different from being obsessive about something, okay? So yeah, you don't. If there was anything positive out of it, I'm still not sure there ever is anything positive out of OCD, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, but I think it did provide me with sort of an additional sense of empathy for others in that even if I don't know what they're necessarily dealing with, when I sense someone is troubled about something, it's very easy for me to kind of be able to empathize and to be able to put myself in their shoes, so to speak. And I think people relate to that, but you know, again, that's one thing.
Steven (07:04):
I think that's a huge point. I mean, nobody ever wants to wish cancer of the mind or any kind of disease or any kind of challenge like that on another person. But at the same time, I would imagine that it created some serious resilience. Like you, if learning how to deal with that, you can deal with anything, right? And so I'm glad to hear that you at least can find some empathy through that. So, you know, tell us as listeners, you know, for those folks who haven't dove in into The Go Giver, what is this little book about? Because when someone first told me about it, I thought, oh yeah, here's like a fluffy book, but it completely changed my whole life and the way I was seeing things. And one of the reasons is because I just thought that's the way things should be. That's the way I want them to be, but that's not the way I was taught that they are in business.
Bob (07:54):
Right. Well, that's a great point. And yet so many very, very successful people, that's exactly what they've done, you know, long before they ever heard of the book. I mean, you know, and in fact, there's a story about that too, but basically the, The Go Giver is a business parable. So it's a work of fiction. Although there were many incidents in there that actually happened, the story itself is totally a work of fiction. John David Mann co-authored it with me, he's a brilliant writer. I'm much more of a how to person, all my other books have been how to step one, step two, step three, where I provide a system for accomplishing, you know, I define a system as the process of predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of how to principles, the key being predictability, right? If it's been proven that by doing A, you'll get the desired result of B, you know, that all you need to do is A and continue to do A you'll eventually get the desired result of B. I'm sure that's exactly what you teach. You teach a system for investing, and if people follow what you have to do and you've done it spectacularly well, and you've put a system together, a how to process while they're going to be successful as well. So my books have always been how to, this is the first one that's a parable and it's because of the writing skills of John David Mann, that’s the kind of thing that he does, that's way outside my strength zone.
The book itself, the basic premise is that shifting your focus, and this is really the key, shifting your focus from getting to giving. When we say giving in this context, we simply mean constantly and consistently providing immense value to others, understanding that not only is this a more pleasant way of conducting business, it's actually the most financially profitable way as well. And not for some, you know, law type of fluffy reason, as you mentioned, right? But very practical reasons, you know, when your, that person, Steve and who can take your focus off yourself and instead place it on others, making their lives better, helping solve their problems, helping to bring them closer to happiness in whatever way it happens to me. You know, people feel good about you. People want to get to know you, they like you, they trust you, they want to be a part of your life, they want to be in relationship with you. When I speak at a sales conference, I'll begin by saying, nobody's going to buy from you because you have a quota to meet, right? They're not going to buy from me because you need the money and they're not even going to buy from you because you're a really nice person they're going to buy from you because they believe that they will be better off by doing so than by not doing so.
And in a free market based economy, which we live in. When I say free market, I simply mean no one is forced to do business with anyone else in a free market based economy. That's the only reason why anyone should buy from you or from me, or from anyone else, because they believe they'll benefit. The good news about that is that the entrepreneur or the sales person who understands this and is willing to focus on that other person, looking out for their best interests, focusing on their needs, That's the person who creates that context for that person to feel good about them, to know them, like them, trust them and to want to do business with them. That's where, that's what the book is about.
Steven (11:34):
Yeah. And it's so amazing because when I first read this book, it was like an aha moment where so many things came into alignment. For all the listeners out there who've read it, you know exactly what I mean. And I think for all, all of you guys who haven't, you're going to have this moment, whether listening to this or going out and getting your own copy. But I had this moment of realization of, wow, like, this is the way that I actually like acting. This is the way I want to go out and give and do, and all these things seem to work out really well when I do that. However, there's this feeling, which is, I think a feeling a lot of people have, and it's from a place of fear. And it's from this place of fear of the knowledge of what the current system is that they believe that if they're not watching out for their back, nobody is, and somebody is going to take advantage of them. So, you know, how do people avoid all of the negative things that come along with that fear of worrying about somebody else taking advantage of you when you are putting other people's thoughts, feelings and needs first?
Bob (12:35):
Yeah, that's a very insightful question and I think it's based on, kind of, a premise that people have before they read the book where, as I say, all this giving first of all, isn't just about giving yourself away, no. Is it about not making a profit cause you're a go giver? No. Go givers tend to make higher profits because we focus on the value we're providing rather than the price. We're rarely the low price provider, typically, the high value provider. But here's the thing and this is, I believe, is so important to understand. There is absolutely nothing about being a go giver that should be confused with being a doormat or a martyr or self-sacrificial in any way, shape or form. It's simply understanding that when you place your focus on others, people are much more likely to want to do business with you to want to be part of your life. That's why John and I say that money is simply an echo of value. Remember, they're not doing business with you because you want them to, or because you need them to but because they choose to. Now, do people ever try and take advantage of others? It's a big world, there are lots of people who try to take advantage of others. We call these people go takers, right? They're the people whose focus is on the tape, right? We want your focus to be on the giving, again, giving a value to others. But there's plenty of people who, if they could, take everything from you and not have anything. Well, first of all, to the degree that you don't need to do business with those people. But that's not always realistic, right? Because there are lots of people out there who don't necessarily do business the way we would choose to do business but it also doesn't mean you need to be taken advantage of. It means you're careful, it means you make sure that you respect your boundaries and that you act with them in a certain way in which you're diplomatic, you're tactful, but in no way, do you allow them to cross any boundaries that they shouldn't cross.
Steven (14:46):
That's such a big point. I feel like when people think about being a giver and they hear this idea of like, I'm going to give away all of this value, they're forgetting that that doesn't mean you have to be without boundaries. You can still have the boundaries of the expectations, of what your worth is and you know what you're going to put out into the world. And when you do that, like, you know, my investors, you know, tons of them are attracted to working with me on these deals because of the kind of person that I am because of what I'm putting out there. And of course they get that benefit, but I also push away people who don't share those same values, because maybe they feel like things have to be a give and take. And they're almost skeptical of this idea of like, Oh, well, there can be some giving out there. But I think what it really comes back to is just knowing how to set clear boundaries, because there's that fear that people have when they don't have boundaries and how that feels like to be taken advantage of. But the problem isn't giving the problem is learning how to set boundaries so that you can give and live fulfilled.
Bob (15:51):
Brilliant. You just said it absolutely brilliantly and that's why, you know, it reminds me of something. I can say that if you consider yourself a giver or someone who's getting, you know, when you find yourself being taken advantage of, and I'm not talking about once or twice, I mean, life is life, it's going to happen every so often. But I mean, if you see it as a pattern that you're being taken advantage of, it's not because you're a giver. It's not because you're a nice person, it's because you're doing things in such a way that you're allowing yourself to be taken advantage of. So don't do that and, you know, make sure you understand, and you learn how to appropriately set boundaries. You know it's like when people say, well, is it wrong to have contracts and written agreements when dealing with people? Doesn't that, isn't that coming from lack? No, not at all, it's an agreement. If you want to call it a contract or agreement, written out, it is wonderful because what it does is, it makes it so both sides understand the expectations from one another and of themselves. And if at a future time boundaries start to get blurred, and people have a tendency as human beings to forget what was stated orally, okay, well now you have an agreement and you can just very politely and tactfully say, you know, we refer back to this I believe what we determined was boom. Okay. So now it's fantastic to do that again. Being a dope giver should never be misconstrued as not, you know, not having a business sense, not protecting yourself, not because you're doing it this way. You're coming from a place of strength and creativity as opposed to competition and lack.
Steven (17:35):
I can appreciate that. I've got so many personal questions so, I'll slip a few in here, but I want to make sure that the listeners really get as much as they can from you. So let's talk a little bit about these five laws, because I think each of them build upon each other and I love it. If you can kind of walk us through each of them and then talk a little bit about where they came from, because, you know, these are some things that just seem like common sense, but they're not always common practice. So, you know, we've got the five laws here, the value of compensation, of influence, of authenticity, of receptivity. Talk to us a little bit about this law of value and what that really means.
Bob (18:14):
Yeah. The law of value, which says your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value. Then you take a payment, you know, when you first hear that, that sounds pretty counterintuitive, and gives more value than I take in payment. I mean, that sounds like a recipe for bankruptcy if you asked me, right? So we simply need to understand the difference between price and value. A price is a dollar figure, it's a dollar amount, it's finite, it is worth, it is value. On the other hand is the relative worth or desirability of a thing of something to the end user. In other words, what is it about this thing? This product, service concept idea. What have you that brings so much worth or value to the other person that they will willingly exchange their money for it and be glad they did while you make a very healthy profit? Just a very quick example would be, if you were to hire an accountant, who does your taxes, she charges you a thousand dollars. That's her fee or literally her price, but let's say she saves you $5,000. She saves you countless hours of time, she provides you and your family with the security and the peace of mind of knowing it was done correctly, right? So while price is finite value is both concrete in terms of that money, but it's also conceptual in terms of that peace of mind, which probably brings more worth or value to you than even the money that was saved. So what she did is she gave you well over $5,000 in value in exchange for a thousand dollar price. So you feel, obviously, great about it, but she made a very healthy profit because of that. It was worth it for her to lease her wisdom, her time, her knowledge or energy in exchange for that thousand dollar fee. So both part, in fact, one of my old mentors and heroes, Harry Brown used to say, in a free market based exchange, there are always two profits, the buyer profits and the seller profits, because each of them come away better off afterwards than they were beforehand. So that's basically the law of value.
Steven (20:29):
Yeah. So it really comes down to focusing on how much value you can give to somebody else. And then that is going to determine whatever you can charge. And it's not about price, it's about making sure that it's so great for that person that they'd have no choice, but to say yes, to be excited, to be happy with the exchange. So, how does that lead into the law of compensation?
Bob (20:49):
Well, the law of compensation takes a kind of that next level where it, the law of compensation says your income is determined by how many people you serve and how you will serve them. So where law number one says to get more in value than you take in payment, law number two tells us that the more people whose lives we touch with the exceptional value we provide, the more money with which we'll be rewarded. So if we can go back to your accountants, as we're not using a real estate example, I hope that's okay. So your account, in the first example, she did a wonderful job of giving you more in value than you then she took in payment. So you probably feel great about her. You would do business with her again, and you would refer her to others.
So her other clients feel the same way and so our accountant is very quickly amassing what we call an army of personal walking ambassadors. And as she continues to add more and more value to the lives of more and more people, her income continues to grow and grow. In a story, Nicole Martin, the CEO of that particular lesson, she told Joe, the protege, she explained that the law of value, law number one, you know, that's the foundational principle. It's very important, but that represents your potential income, but it's not enough to serve just one person, right? Law number two is all about the number of lives you impact with that value. That's why we're big believers in a referral based business. Easier; it's easier to set the appointments you can. It's much easier to sell on high value from the get go rather than low price, because of that borrowed influence. It's easier to complete the transaction because of that borrowed trust or vicarious experience and referred prospects are already of the mindset that that's how you do business. So to them and their world, this is how you work. So you know, we could say in summing up laws one and two, that exceptional value plus significant reach equals very high compensation.
Steven (23:01):
Yeah. And this is something that I think people, you know, they forget about that. They're doing something that's extremely valuable to the world, but if they're not impacting lots and lots of people, if they're not making an impact outside of one person or five people or ten people in a classroom, or, you know, some kind of professional setting then it's harder to justify the compensation that that value is worth. But if that person can impact millions of people like the person within the story, in that particular variable, she was able to impact millions of people and therefore, she was making millions and millions of dollars theoretically.
Bob (23:40):
Yes. Yep. That's exactly it. Yep.
Steven (23:43):
And then, so the law of that ends up coming into play. Tell us a little bit about that.
Bob (23:48):
Sure. This says your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests. First again, sounds counterintuitive, maybe counterproductive but it's not. You know, you think about it, the greatest leaders, top influencers, highest money, earning salespeople and entrepreneurs. This is simply how they run their lives and conduct their businesses. They're always looking out for the other person and their interests. Again, not to be confused with a doormat or a martyr or nothing like that, it's just as Joe, the protege, learned from several of the mentors in this story, the golden rule of business, of sales, is that all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know like and trust. And, you know, there's no faster, more powerful or more effective way to elicit those feelings toward you from others than by genuinely moving from an I focus or me focus to what we call an other focus. Looking at Sam, one of the mentors and the story he told Joe to make your win all about the other person's win. And as you do that, and you develop a reputation for doing that, you become that go to person within your community.
Steven (25:12):
Yeah and as soon as you can do that, you can start to think about, you know, for example, in the podcast world, or, you know, in the investing world, the audience or my investors. I've got to think about like, what do those people really need? How can I give those people what they really need? And through that process, more people are going to know who I am and they're going to have an opportunity to like me and therefore they're going to have an opportunity to build trust and that is core across the board, whether you're doing something in the public eye or you're having a one-to-one conversation. And so I think it's such a big idea and it just goes to that counterintuitive nature of how business is sometimes thought of if we were talking about before, but who are the people that people love to do business with? It's the people who are looking out for their best interests and you can feel it. And you can feel that maybe they're going to turn you away, or they're going to turn you down from being a client because they think their products are too expensive, or it's not the best fit. And it's not a tactic, it's not a strategy to try to push you away to pull you in. You can feel that that's genuine and you want to work with that person.
Bob (26:16):
Yeah. It's all about who you are and who you are determines what you do. I mean, it really does everything that you do that falls within the premise of the character and you know, and that's really who you are. So really these laws are coming back to you guys.
Steven (26:32):
So for all of you guys listening, just in recap, we're really talking about a way of being right. A way of showing up into the world and how you're going to present yourself out there and do amazing things for amazing people. It's not like a strategy or tactic to try to get the next guy to sell you something it's about changing who you are more of to that core of being a person who puts other people's feelings, thoughts, and needs first so that you can have all the things that you actually want coming back to you.
Bob (27:07):
Exactly. I, I love it. You're such a great teacher. My goodness, yeah.
Steven (27:10):
Oh, well, thank you. So tell, tell us a little bit about the last two we've got authenticity and receptivity.
Bob (27:15):
Yeah, well, the law of authenticity says the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. And in this store, in this part of the story, Debra Davenport shared a very important lesson. She learned, of course, she was a real estate professional and she had said that all the skills in the world, the sales skills, technical skills, people skills as important as they are. And indeed, they are all very important. They're also all for not, if you don't come at it from your true, authentic core, but when you do, when you, as we like to say, show up as yourself, day after day, week after week, month after month, people feel very good about you. They feel comfortable with you, they feel safe with you after all they know who they're getting, right. And they do know you, they like you, they love you,they trust you. They're much more likely to want to be in a relationship with you and do business with you and, and talk about you to others. So being authentic is very important. I think one of the keys to this though, is really understanding what we bring to the table in terms of our strengths. Why do some people not show up? And we might think, well, because they're dishonest or they're this, or, well, again, it's a big world. There's people who are going to do that, but I don't think that's usually the case. I think most of the time when people don't show up authentically it's because they don't have the self confidence to do so. They truly don't recognize their value, what they bring to the table.
I think there are two types of value. Really, there's intrinsic value, which just means by being a human being, we have value. Okay and that's fine, but there's also what I call market value. Steven, and I define market value as that combination of strengths traits, talents, and characteristics that allow you to bring value to others, value to the marketplace in such a way that you will be rewarded for that in this case, in the business sense we're talking financially and other areas of life. There would be other ways, but in order to do this way, we have to really know what those strengths are. We've gotta be aware of them and what makes it difficult is the fact that we're human beings as such we're so emotionally close to ourselves. It's often difficult for us to see those of greatness. If you will, those areas where we do bring such significant value. And this why it's so important, I think in many ways to have a coach or a mentor, whether it's formal or just informal or someone who you just happen to trust and someone who, because it's so hard for us to recognize our strengths, sometimes that another person who's not as involved with us as we are, can often do that and they can help us recognize those. And when that's the case, we’re a lot more likely to accept and see, we see the world from our own basic viewpoint, our own belief system, which is a combination of upbringing and environment and schooling and you know, the world around us. So we kind of see, well, Oh yeah, okay, we do this, but so does everyone, but that's not necessarily true. We see, because we can do this. We assume everyone gets, by the way, not really embracing your value is one reason why people will often underprice themselves or they'll give in too quickly to something, you know, so it's very important. We need to understand our weaknesses as well, don't get me wrong. And we need to know that there are some weaknesses we can ignore, there are some weaknesses we need to mitigate, and there are some weaknesses we actually have to turn into strengths in order to be as effective as we can be. But we lead with our strengths and it's our strengths that provide us with the confidence to show up authentically
Steven(31:16):
Huge. What a big idea. And how does this play into the final law of receptivity?
Bob (31:22):
Well, you know, if the law of value is the foundational principle, the law of receptivity is sort of the one that brings it all home. This law says the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving and this really means nothing more than that. You know, we breathe out, we also have to breathe in. It's not one or the other. We breathe out carbon dioxide, we breathe in oxygen. We breathe out which is giving, we breathe in which is receiving. Despite the negative messages that we receive from the world around us, about money, about prosperity, about wealth, I mean, they're not mixed messages, most of the messages are very negative messages. Despite those, the fact is that giving and receiving are not opposite sides. They're not opposite concepts. They're simply two sides of the very same coin and they work in tandem.
It's not you who is a giver or a receiver. No, that's the treacherous dichotomy, the false dilemma, the unnecessary use of the word, or no, you're a giver and a receiver. Now we also know that the way life works, we, the giving has to come first and giving them value comes first. Just like you don't go a fireplace and say, first, you give me some heat. And then I'll throw on some logs and some newspaper and light a mentor, or you wouldn't go to a bank and say, I want to open up an account, first, give me an interest payment then I'll make a deposit. No life doesn't work. That way you give before you receive you plant those seeds, you cultivate this, you genuinely provide value. You focus on the giving and then you allow the receiving, but all those negative messages we get from the world around us, wreak havoc with our minds, it's on an unconscious level. That's, what's so insidious about it. You know, people don't realize how trained they are to reject abundance and think, Oh you know, people who make a lot of money, they did it on the backs of others, or they did it in some of the various evil way, or they're greedy or they're this, or they're that, you know, the whole now, again, there's plenty of people in the world. So there are people like that, but not for the 99% of us who work in a situation where people are not forced to buy from us, you know, we haven't bought any government influence through law, through lobbyists that you know, make the, keep the competition out. Now for most of us, the only way we make a lot of money is by providing a lot of value to a lot of people. And when that's the case, you've earned the right, not the entitlement, the right to receive, but we need to know that. And we need to kind of retrain our brains a lot of times and understand where that lack of thinking is maybe coming from, because it is coming from all around us. And that's why I'm a big believer in making it a proactive study of prosperity, get books and read the blogs and watch the videos of people like Randy Gage or David Nagel and Bob Proctor and Ellen Rogan. And you know, some of the other people, I don't even mean to leave out there's some great speakers and teachers and practitioners on prosperity, but look them up and get their materials. And because the garbage of lack, you know, just we get all the time, right? So we need to proactively get the good stuff about prosperity into our heads.
Steven (35:08):
That is so beautiful. So it really all comes down to giving first, but you have to be willing to receive for the cycle to work. Otherwise you're taking away someone else's opportunity.
Bob (35:18):
Yeah, yeah. So you are, absolutely. Yeah and you just stopped the flow of abundance.
Steven (35:24):
This is so incredible, so much good stuff here. We've made it to my favorite part of the show, the growth, rapid fire round, where the questions are quick, but the answers don't need to be. So tell us, Bob, how would you define success and what is success to you?
Bob (35:38):
So I think success can be measured in different ways, on a very, very basic level. Success means you set a certain goal and you accomplish it. Or one, two teams played one team, one, three to one. Well, that team was successful. The one that won the other team wasn't successful in terms of the score, although maybe they were successful in terms of playing above their potential and improving in certain areas, right? So you know that, or if you want to drop 20 pounds in six months and you drop 19 of them, well, you were 95% successful. Okay, that's very basic. Now let's look at success just a tiny bit deeper, we could say that success isn't an ongoing and genuine feeling of happiness and peace of mind, the result of living up to one's potential. So to the degree that we live up to our potential in a certain area, that's the degree to which we are successful.
Steven (36:44):
That is such a great definition and with that definition in mind, Bob, do you feel successful?
Bob (36:51):
I don't feel certainly as successful as I could or should be. You know, I mean, I think there's areas in my life, if I were to look back and take an accounting of it, I'd say, no, I should have lived much more up to my potential in this area, in this one, I did pretty good in this one, I'm not happy at all with that and this one I feel really good about because I know I played my way above my right. So I don't think I could genuinely ever say yes, I feel I'm very successful in terms of that definition. I've had a bunch of successes and I've had a bunch of failures, you know, but in terms of the overall genuine success, I'm totally still on the road to trying to reach that potential. Totally not there yet.
Steven (37:33):
Growth minded, individual Bible, I can feel that from you, tell us, what are some of your Keystone habits, the things you do on a daily or weekly basis that have led to the good life you're living?
Bob (37:44):
I think reading is really one that has been very valuable to me because, you know, I was a lousy student in high school. I mean, I read, you know at my graduate graduation day and this was back in the days when graduations weren't virtual, but you actually all met on a, you know, on the football field on graduation day. I remember my guidance counselor actually saying to me, you know, Burg, I can't believe I'm actually seeing you here today. Now that doesn't sound like a particularly nice thing to say, but he was actually a really great guy and I was kinda surprised to see me there as well. Okay, I got into college on academic probation, which I think a lot of people have done, but I think I graduated on academic probation too. In other words, I was not a student. It's only when I got into sales that I became a student and from there it's been a continual journey of, and reading has been a big part and of course, listening and blockchain and so forth. Listening to others and to grow but I think reading is a habit that I developed as I began to do that and it's something that has been very beneficial to me. There's worlds that open when you are constantly reading books.
Steven (38:57):
Yeah. It makes such a big impact on so many people's lives. Being able to learn from all these smart people out there and on that same note, what books or books have impacted your life the most? We've got just a couple more left here.
Bob (39:11):
Oh, what looks like, you know, there's so many great ones. I would start out with the classics, which I'm sure you've read. The you know, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, the Think and Grow Rich, the, As a Man Thinks. One that really helped me was called Psycho-Cybernetics written in 1960 by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. The magic of thinking big was very big one for me. The Science of Getting Rich written in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles was again a great one. There are so many of them, you know, it's almost hard to say which are my favorites because there's just been so many in different areas that have made such a big difference in my life.
Steven (39:55):
Well, thanks for sharing those. That's awesome. And inspiration, what impact have mentors made on your life and how do you look at going out and finding great mentors?
BobBob (40:04):
Ah, well, you know, mentors, first of all, have made a great difference in my life from my original mentors, my folks, to people who I've met along the way, who took time to work with me and, and in different areas. And again, I'd go back to say some of my greatest mentors who've been in the books I've read from people from several hundred years ago, or, you know, and so you can, you know, people like Benjamin Franklin, who I've studied in Booker T Washington and Seneca. And you know what I mean, these are people from long ago, and yet the wisdom that they shared. So they've been mentors as well, they're also what we call drive by mentors, my friend, Donnie, a great leadership speaker. I think she coined that phrase, we say we both did because we were in the same conversation, but knowing her, she probably came up with the name and this is a person who just happens to have some magnificent life-changing advice at the very time you needed it. You may not even have known that person, well that might have been the only time you ever met that person or had any kind of conversation with them, but something they said, boom, just really turned you around. So to me, they've been invaluable,
Steven (41:18):
Such a huge idea, and finishing on this purpose, what drives you to live your best life every day?
Bob (41:25):
I think it's that combination of enjoyment in what I'm doing along with feeling that I'm making a difference. You know, I believe if you can triangulate three things that is again, joy in what you're doing so you just love going to work, making a positive difference in the world and making a great living financially. You know, I don't think it gets much better than that.
Steven (41:52):
That sounds like a good life. Well, thank you for being a digital mentor to me, I absolutely love this book. I highly recommend you guys go out and get yourself a copy, listening on audiobooks. I've done both because it's made such a big impact. So where can people find out more about you or get in touch?
Bob (42:10):
Yeah. I would say to visit Burg.com, there they can scroll down and they can see where they can go to any of the books and they can get chapter one to see if they like it first. And if they do, they can always click through to amazon.com. I've got us on the burg.com/blog, which they'll also see when they scroll down, I'm doing a video series right now, which has been very popular and they can, if they would like to, subscribe to the list, they'll be notified when we have our online course release, which is called Endless Referrals. Then go give her away.
Steven (42:46):
I love it. Well, I highly recommend you guys skip directly to go buy this book. We'll have links to everything Bob talked about in the show notes here, and I'll leave you guys as I always leave you and that's to live a life worth inspiring others, and you can do so today by applying some of these strategies and ways of living in your own life so that you can start living the life you really want. So thank you so much, Bob grateful to have you look forward to a round two at some point in the future. And I hope you guys all have a great day.
Bob (43:18):
Steve, thank you so much.
Narrator (43:25):
Thank you for listening to the investor mindset podcast. If you like, what you heard, make sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share with a friend, head over to theinvestormindset.com to join the insider club, where we share tools and strategies from the top investors and entrepreneurs and how to take it to the next level.