The Founder Success Formula by Ross Franklin - HTML preview

Chapter 2: 13 Strategies to Master the Art

of Influence

 

I’ve thought about why I wasn’t ready to go out on my own when my marketing professor offered to invest in my idea. The reason was because at that point in my career, I hadn’t yet discovered my passion for superfoods and nutrition. I’ve realized that the reason passion is so important in entrepreneurship is because running your own business can be tough. The grim reality for entrepreneurs building their businesses is that most entrepreneurs face difficult and dark times. The way to persevere through these dark times is by focusing on your passion.

Starting your business is the easy part, but building your business and proving out the concept requires grit, determination, and persistence. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, your chances of success are slim. Building a successful business is a journey, and if you lose interest, it is unlikely that your business will survive.

The journey to success has many ups and downs. There will be times when the voice in your head tries to convince you to take the easy route and take shortcuts. Your brain will question if you would be better off not being an entrepreneur and would benefit from the security of working for a large, “stable” company.

The path of the entrepreneur is certainly riskier but presents much greater upside potential. Entrepreneurs are not people who are wired differently but rather people who have conditioned themselves to endure the journey. Ultimately, what will keep you going is your “why,” your reason for starting your own company and your reason for driving forward.

It is important to have a compelling “why,” an inspiration that drives you to take the required actions. This reason will differ for most people but what is most important is that your reason is meaningful to you.

Some entrepreneurs don’t like to report to anyone and want to be their own boss. This is not a compelling enough reason. Many entrepreneurs find as they grow their businesses as Founders and CEOs, they still must answer to a Board of Directors and shareholders. Typically, the faster the company takes on investors, the more the Founder and CEO’s power is diminished.

Ultimately, your success as an entrepreneur will depend on your passion and your reason for starting your company in the first place. What is your passion and what is driving you to want to start a company? How can you convert your passion into a business, and will your business help people beyond yourself?

These self-reflective questions are needed to ensure that your passion is present and that your reason for starting your company will inspire and motivate others. I realize that not everyone is wired to start their own company or has the desire to go through the difficult times that are required. That’s why I turned my business, Pure Green, into a franchise where entrepreneurs can open and operate a business model that is a proven success.

While owning a franchise drastically increases an entrepreneur’s chances of being successful, the best franchise operators are the ones that have mastered the lessons in this book.

In the business world, your ability to influence people is a critical component of your success. If you are starting a business, you will need to influence others to bring your business to life. You will likely need to have people align with your vision, and you will need to convince investors of the viability of your business. Whether you are starting a business, or you already own a business, you need to use your skills to hire, train and develop staff or hire others to do that for you.

When I talk to angel investors, private equity groups and venture capital firms and ask them why they invest in a start-up, always within the top three reasons is their belief in the founder or leadership team. Where does this belief come from? Certainly, the previous experience, education and background play a role, however, more important is the founder’s ability to articulate their vision in an authentic way and influence everyone in the room.

Where does this ability to influence come from, and how do you improve your ability to influence others? Let me break down the process I’ve found most effective.

 

2.1.1. Be authentic to your mission

 

There needs to be complete congruence between you and your

company’s mission. A great founder or executive is the

embodiment of what their company stands for. This helps to

shape the company culture and makes a bold statement toward

a brand’s authenticity.

Imagine a company that claims to be a weight loss company

selling what is marketed to be a revolutionary weight loss pill,

but the company’s founder is morbidly obese and has been

without any change since before starting the company. The

question of efficacy and the effectiveness of the product being

sold is then raised. How effective can the product be if the

company’s own founder is not showing any results?

Now imagine the same weight loss company, where the founder

used to be obese, weighing 500 pounds, but after starting the

company is down to 250 pounds, has amazing energy and has

managed to keep the weight off since starting the company. Or

better yet, imagine going from 500 pounds to the cover of GQ

magazine. This scenario makes for a much more compelling and

authentic story and can even help market the product being sold.

The company’s founder and leadership team should be

evangelists for the brand. Everything about a company reflects

who is in charge, and how the company’s core leadership team

embodies the brand has a direct impact on the public’s perceived

authenticity of the brand. I believe in a top-down leadership

approach where everything about a company reflects who is in

charge. If you are the founder or are a core leadership team

member, you should live and breathe your company’s mission.

As a founder, embracing your company’s mission both personally

and professionally can help to inspire confidence in your brand.

When COVID-19 hit, I had just started an equity crowdfunding

raise for my company, Pure Green Franchise. Our goal at the

time was to raise $1,070,000 dollars, which was the most you

could raise in a Reg-CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) equity

crowdfunding campaign at the time. We had raised about

$30,000 before the shutdowns from the pandemic began. As

soon as the shutdowns started, investor confidence began to

tank and not only was it difficult to raise new funds, but investors

were also panicking because of the uncertainty with COVID-19.

As a result, we lost about $5,000 from investors who retracted

their investments, and we were down to $25,000.

There is no established protocol for raising money during a

pandemic. Team members of our own company questioned

whether we should pull out of the campaign until the pandemic

subsided. Our ego and confidence in our campaign was certainly

hurt, and we did not have an optimistic outlook on being able to

max out our campaign and raise the $1,070,000 dollars.

During difficult times, it is the company leader’s responsibility to

shift the focus from the problem at hand to the solution. My

source of passion and drive is my strong belief in our mission,

which is to build healthier communities around the globe. In

times of crisis (in this case COVID-19) our mission is more

important than ever. So, I gathered our team together and

reminded them of our mission. With COVID-19, people are more

concerned about their health and their family’s health than ever

before in our nation’s history. I told our team that now is the

time for us to help our local community and support the front-

line hospital workers who are at the forefront of fighting the

pandemic.

Our team donated thousands of bottles of cold pressed juice to

front-line hospital workers. We drove around to local hospitals,

and we handed our cold pressed juice and shots to doctors,

nurses, hospital administration, police, and firemen. We

documented our charity work and posted videos on our YouTube

channel, and we highlighted our commitment to our mission on

our equity crowdfunding campaign.

Investors rallied behind us and saw our active engagement in our

mission. As a result, we built an incredible and loyal investor

community, and we ended up maxing out our campaign by

raising the full $1,070,000 dollars.

 

2.1.2. Focus on the 93% factor

 

When trying to influence others, too often people focus solely on

their words rather than the more important factors, which are

physiology and tonality. How we say things and our body

language play a much stronger role in influencing people than

our words alone.

A professor of psychology at UCLA, Dr. Albert Mehrabian,

conducted a study on “the relative importance of verbal and

nonverbal messages,” and his research later became widely

known as the 7%-38%-55% Rule. The research suggests that:

7%- word choice accounts for only 7% of conveying a message

38%- 38% of communication is vocal, focused on tonality (think

shouting vs. whispering)

55%- 55% of communication is physical, focused on physiology

(aka body language)

The 55% physiology and 38% tonality combined are the 93%

factor.

Everyone gets into a slump and can feel depressed at times.

When someone is depressed, they typically have a particular

physiology (body language): their head is down, shoulders

hunched forward, shallow breathing and their voice is low. By

simply making an adjustment to your physiology, you can trigger

a change in your biochemistry.

Studies have shown that simply changing your body language

and striking a power pose, for example putting your hands on

your hips like Wonder Woman for two minutes, can increase

testosterone in both men and women by 20%. There is a great

Ted Talk with Amy Cuddy that goes into greater detail on this

subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

By focusing on your physiology, especially before and during

important meetings, you can actively change your biochemistry

to put yourself in a better mood and become more likely to close

the deal or get a better outcome.

Tonality is another important component of your ability to

influence someone. For example, if someone is from the

southern United States and speaks slowly and loudly and they

are interacting with someone from New York City who may

speak quickly and more quietly, there can be a break in rapport.

If one of the individuals adjusts their tone both in speed and

volume to match the other, they will have much better rapport.

Some may look at adjusting their tone to match another person

as phony, as that is not their normal state. However, I consider it

to be an act of chivalry and respect. It would be the same thing

as going to a foreign country and making social adjustments to

be respectful of the local culture.

During a business interaction, you want to take advantage of

every social etiquette that you can to make the other person feel

more comfortable with you.

By focusing on the 93% factor, you can change the game in any

communication. Mastering your tone of voice and your body

language are critical factors in leaving a lasting impact on people.

When I’m giving a presentation, I use hand gestures to

emphasize what I say, and if I’m on a stage, I’ll walk around the

stage as I’m presenting so I can connect with people on a deeper

level.

 

2.1.3. Know your audience

 

Based on who you are meeting with or talking to, you should

cater your dialog to their level. For example, if you are dealing

with someone with a strong background in finance, you can get

into more intricate finance terminology and details. However, if

you are dealing with someone perhaps more junior who does

not have a strong financial background, you should cater to their

level of understanding. Although this may seem like common

sense, you would be surprised how many people in business do

not tailor their approach by knowing their audience. The result:

they lose rapport and even blow the deal. You should cater your

approach to your audience.

When I’m speaking to large groups of people, I refrain from using

any fancy vocabulary and instead use more straightforward

words. When dealing with C-level executives and high-level

entrepreneurs, I use more technical terminology. It’s really that

simple. I will typically cater my approach depending on who I am

talking to. In one-on-one interactions, I will adjust my vocabulary

to the level of the person I am interacting with, and I will explain

any complex processes or terminology if I feel they may not fully

understand them. Be respectful of people by catering to your

audience.

 

2.1.4. Show up prepared

 

It is important to show up prepared for any meeting. Before a

meeting with someone that you haven’t met, you should Google

them or look them up on LinkedIn to find out about their

background, work history, and where they went to college, and

look for common ground like people or places that you both

know. Using this knowledge strategically can help you develop

rapport more quickly. It will also help you to know your audience

as we covered above.

If you are meeting with someone for a business meeting, you

should know background information on their company in

advance of the meeting. This is a must, and you would be

surprised how many entrepreneurs go into meetings blindly.

2.1.5. Match and mirror

Matching and mirroring are techniques that were pioneered by

Dr. Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist who specialized in hypnosis

and family therapy. Erickson believed that the unconscious mind

was always listening, and he made significant breakthroughs

with patients through the art of matching and mirroring.

Erickson’s work on matching and mirroring is widely used

business settings. Mirroring or matching body posture helps to

build rapport. For example, if you are in a business meeting and

someone is sitting back in their chair with their arms crossed, by

subtly leaning back in your chair and crossing your arms, you can

indirectly build rapport by speaking to their subconscious. If this

is the first time you are hearing about matching and mirroring, it

may seem like a Jedi mind trick and you may have your doubts.

However, by actively practicing and gauging the results, you will

be surprised how well it works, and you will eventually start

doing it naturally.

If you watch a new couple who are in love, you may notice how

their body language is naturally in sync. They may pick up their

drinks at the same time, both have their legs crossed and both

lean into the conversation. Matching and mirroring tends to

happen naturally when people are in harmony. You can leverage

this technique to build rapport more rapidly with people when

you first meet them.

Over the years of matching and mirroring, this technique has

become second nature to me, and I use it without even thinking

about it. One interesting aspect of this technique is once you are

in rapport with someone, they will typically start matching and

mirroring you too. If you are standing around with a group of

people and you have your arms crossed, after you have been

talking for a while and are in rapport with the group, others in

the group will start crossing their arms. When this occurs, you

will know that you are in rapport with them.

 

2.1.6. Master your elevator pitch

Imagine you are in the elevator with a person that can change

the game for your business. You have a very limited window of

time to take advantage of this opportunity.

In just two sentences, you should be able to articulate what your

company does and why anyone should care. Also, pay close

attention to both your physiology and tonality (as discussed

above) when you’re delivering your elevator pitch. These are

critical. People can tell from your delivery if you are sincere in

your message, and they are subconsciously judging whether you

believe in your own pitch. While your pitch is just the start,

people will decide if they want to do business with you based on

your pitch.

When I meet entrepreneurs of start-ups and CEOs of companies,

their elevator pitch plays a large impact in my decision to do

business with them. When I coach entrepreneurs on their

elevator pitch, I not only coach them on being able to articulate

their pitch but also on their body language and the tone in their

delivery. The best elevator pitches convey conviction and

authenticity.

 

2.1.7. Personal development

The best leaders are constantly focused on improving and fine-

tuning their skill sets. In our modern world, information is more

accessible than ever, not only through traditional books but

through audio books, podcasts, online articles, online seminars,

and live seminars. Throughout my career, I’ve always sought to

improve as a leader by constantly learning from world class

leaders, leadership courses and all the personal development

tools mentioned above.

I always encourage our leaders at Pure Green to focus on

personal development, and in the next chapter, I list some of the

recommended reading materials for our leaders at Pure Green.

As cheesy as it sounds, leaders are readers. Some people roll

their eyes when they hear that and make excuses like, “I don’t

have the time to read.” The truth is, with that excuse, personal

development is not being prioritized. When you are commuting

to work or travelling on a plane, why not listen to an audio book

or business podcast? Even if your commute is only 10 minutes

each way and you listen to an audio book 20 minutes a day, over

time you will gain valuable insights that can help you to improve

as a leader.

2.1.8. Focus on execution and avoid analysis

paralysis

Are you a generalized thinker, or are you more of a detailed

thinker? I have always been a “big picture” guy, looking at the

broad strokes rather than obsessing over details. I am focused on

achieving results and how to achieve them strategically and

rapidly. I believe that building a successful organization requires

both kinds of thinking, but an over-focus on details can lead to

what I call “analysis paralysis.” There are many leaders that

overthink, which inhibits their ability to make decisions swiftly.

Taking too long to make decisions can significantly slow down a

company’s growth and cause the loss of opportunities.

I believe that a leader’s focus should be heavily weighted on

execution. Shoot first, aim later. Yes, mistakes can be easily

made with this approach, but if you learn from the mistakes, you

can always course correct. I seek results, and I keep what is

working and drop what is not working. People follow leaders that

are bold and make swift decisions. I urge you to embrace this

philosophy and measure the effect that it has on your company.

2.1.9. Surround yourself with people that you

respect and impress you

It is said that the average annual income of the five people that

you spend the most time with is equivalent to your annual

income. Whether this is accurate for you or not, the foundation

of spending more time with people who are driven, passionate

about what they do and have positive mindsets will certainly

impact you in a positive way.

We are all impacted by those around us, and the decision to

spend our time with driven and inspiring people will certainly

have an impact on us. Spending a great deal of time with people

who constantly complain and tend to be Debbie-downers tends

to negatively impact our mood and drain us of our energy.

I choose to surround myself, both personally and professionally,

with people that inspire me every day and light me up with

energy. I urge you to be aware of the impact that those around

you have on your mood, creativity, and energy.

At Pure Green, we don’t allow people into the organization that

bring us down. Both in hiring team members for our corporate

team or in awarding franchises to franchisees, we look for people

that radiate positive energy, have a sincere belief in our mission

and who are passionate and driven to succeed.

2.1.10. State Management

In life, there is little that we can control; we can’t control the

weather, the traffic on our daily commute nor can we control the

behavior of other people. The one thing that we can control is

our attitude. We can control how we perceive the events that

happen to us in our lives and how we choose to assign meaning

to them. By consciously managing our state, we can put

ourselves in a position to be cool, calm, and collective even

under pressure.

In addition to the psychology of managing our state, we can also

manage our state from a physiology level by taking care of our

health and nutrition to enhance how we feel and our energy. We

can get enough sleep to ensure we are well rested and fully

prepared for the day. Being in the health and wellness industry,

I’ve always placed a high value on my health to ensure my

energy level is at its peak and I’m prepared to perform at my

best.

As a leader, you owe it to yourself as well as to your team to

ensure you are performing at your highest level. Before

important calls, in person meetings and virtual meetings you

should be primed and ready to deliver at your best. Here are

some strategies that you can use to better manage your state:

1. Avoid negative self-talk

Many people have negative, self-sabotaging beliefs that limit their ability to perform at their peak. These limiting belief systems hold you back from taking the actions needed to achieve success. It is important to always be mindful of negative self-talk and whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively and criticizing yourself, be pro-active and change your internal dialogue to focus on the solution instead of the problem.

2. Focus on the solution instead of the problem

People tend to magnify their problems and get stuck focusing on the problem instead of solution. At Pure Green, I’ve trained our leadership team to always focus on the solutions before coming to me with problems. By focusing on the solution instead of the problem, not only do the problems get resolved more rapidly, but problems also usually get resolved before they even hit my desk.

3. Focus on your posture and movement

I spoke about the importance of physiology earlier. When people are sad or depressed, they tend to be slouched with the head and neck hunched over. Simply by sitting up straight in your chair or going for a walk, you can change your state instantly. The next time you find yourself stuck and focusing on a problem, fix your posture, get up and move around and focus on the solution.

 

2.1.11. Leadership Modeling

Modeling is a concept from psychology that means copying the

behavior of someone else. In the business world, successful

leaders leverage modeling by finding someone that has already

achieved their version of success or is doing what they want to

do and modeling their behavior. Successful people don’t get to

where they are or achieve success by accident. They’ve built

routines, created rituals, and taken specific actions, whether

consciously or unconsciously, that have made them successful.

Spending time with someone and learning how they reached

their level of success will allow you to deconstruct the specific

patterns or actions that they used to achieve success. The first

step is identifying who the ideal person is for you to model, and

the next step is tracking them down and getting access to them.

The last step is adopting and modeling the actions or behaviors

they used to achieve success. By applying the principle of

modeling, you can achieve success more rapidly by leveraging

specific, proven actions.

Here is the process that you can use to model success:

1. Clearly define how success looks for you

What specifically are you looking to achieve, or what do you want to be exceptional at?

2. Identify the person that you want to model

Who is the best in the world in the area where you want to achieve success?

3. Deconstruct their process

If you are not able to meet this person face-to-face, schedule a Zoom or call them. Look them up online and learn everything you can about them. Watch their Ted-X talks and YouTube videos. Take their online courses and live seminars. Read their books and learn everything you can.

4. Understand their 80/20 actions

In studying the individual you are looking to model, leverage the 80/20 Rule. Typically, 20% of one’s actions accounts for 80% of their results. For the individual you are looking to model, find out which 20% of their actions have led to 80% of their results, and start putting them into action yourself.

5. Take what works and leave the rest

Modeling is not about trying to be a clone of someone. Not everything about the person that you are looking to model accounts for their success, and some of what they do will not be relevant. Take what works, make it your own and put your own unique twist on it, and leave what doesn’t work for you.

2.1.12. Network the right way by creating

meaningful relationships

The most effective way to build your network is by creating

meaningful relationships. Have you ever been to an event where

someone approaches you, quickly asks you what you do, talks

with you for a few minutes then hands you a business card and

leaves? Days later you receive a spammy, generic email, LinkedIn

request or even worse they included you in their newsletter that

you didn’t sign up for. This is not networking. This is a spray-and-

pray tactic that is unlikely to yield any kind of meaningful

relationship.

The best way to network is when you meet people, listen

carefully and put in the time in to build a meaningful

relationship. Don’t be that surface-level networker described

above. Invest heavily in building relationships with quality

people. When you are at a networking event, party, or social

event, it is better to build deeper relationships with fewer people

than have a greater number of shallow interactions.

2.1.13. Write down your goals and track your

progress

There is great power in clearly defining your goals and tracking

your progress. At the beginning of each month, I clearly define

my goals for the month, review my performance from the

previous month then track my progress throughout the following

weeks. It is important to choose goals that you can commit to

and that are attainable. I also leverage the power of

accountability by being part of an entrepreneur mastermind

group, where we share our goals for the current month and hold

each other accountable.