How persuasion can build trust and aspects of trust that help a connection grow quickly…
The First Summons: Trust that Emerges from No Thing
When someone persuades you, you are in a sense gambling on their suggestion or view point. To some significant degree you are TRUSTING THEM.
Similarly in each persuasive communication the person who is asking for the trust is either becoming a less consistent and less valuable human or they are in training for dependability and trustworthiness.
No one teaches you this but when one person persuades another, change is occurring that doesn’t come without trust.
Just because someone says “no” to your proposal/idea doesn’t mean they don’t trust you, but it MIGHT mean that.
Always remember the power and value of giving and accepting trust…persuasion.
Trust is the most certain and predictable way to move toward agreement, compliance, appreciation and security; not to mention someone’s business or even their hand in marriage.
Several ways to gain trust will be looked at today. The first is yielding trust first.
Christmas meant another packed house this year. Yep covid and all made prepping a challenge. I was cleaning out one of the guest room closets.
I found a number of pages of daily project notes in a folder from almost 16 years ago. These notes had a lot of my words on them but not in my handwriting. These were Anne’s notes. It was interesting to see that most of the projects we were working on came to fruition and had the results we hoped.
At the bottom of one specific piece of paper it said, “Harry Potter conversation.” Brilliant in it’s simplicity… though it wasn’t necessarily the conversation we had that showed how persuasion brings up trust but the relationship, but more the context. Here’s what most days were like when I was in the U.S. giving trust that gained trust and a good business relationship. We’ll deal with the human face to face elements first and then we’ll look at the marketing online aspects.
8:40 AM
She walks in the door, takes her shoes off, hangs her coat up in the closet and heads for the coffee maker on the counter. In about 15 minutes she’ll “go to work,” but right now she is taking 15 minutes for herself as she situates herself for our daily routine. She opens her laptop messages some friends and then she’s off down the stairs.
Apparently this was her routine and it worked toward a productive day.
Like a number of people before and since, Anne worked for me full time, a couple of times. On this day in 2005, I was fast asleep each and every day and around 11 AM I’d get up, have a cup of coffee and head downstairs to the office. I typically went to bed at 4 AM. Not typical hours sometimes help cause non-typical results.
I walked by her office in the lower level of my home. I probably said “hey there” as I wasn’t much of a good morning guy. When I wake up I need to go straight to work so… I turned on my laptop, and went straight to the article I was working on for the week. Meanwhile, she waits about a half hour for me to get situated, settled and ready to work.
Apparently (according to the notes of the day) a trip to Krakow was imminent and I had to get ahead of Coffee w Kevin Hogan by one issue as I would be gone 8 days.
She’s already taken care of any publisher and customer service stuff happening if she could.
Today (the notes reveal) I was going to ask her a social question like “why do high school and university students seem to buy more books than people who go straight to work every morning, but not as many as people who are in there 30’s? After all Harry Potter is being bought up by teenagers?”
“Harry Potter is the exception to the rule, Kev. Aside from a couple of rip-offs there’s really nothing else out there like it.” But kids love it because they can identify with the lead characters. They’re all good people, Ron, Hermione, Harry with their share of problems.”
“Ya’ think that Harry Potter goes to 10 books in the series?” I was truly curious as Anne was 20 and closer to the first Harry target audience than I was.
“Probably. I don’t think anyone would stop at five and think, ‘oh that’s plenty. Probably make a movie for each of the rest of the books, I guess. Why? Planning on writing an article for teenagers this week?” She smiles. Yes we get teens at events, no they aren’t our clients.
“What if I told you that Harry Potter readers will be loyal customers of ours in 10 or 15 years?”
“OK, Kev, why?”
“Because they have 2000 pages of loyal plugged into their brains. They read about a trio of people they trust and put their lives in their hands. This is how they see a worldview. When faced with darkness 20 years from now that universe is certainly going to be in their brain and we are a lot like Harry, Ron and Hermione.”
“So you’re saying that because they read five books by JK Rowling they become loyal Harry fans and by substitution later become KH fans?”
“Sort of. I’m thinking that the adaptation of character traits is very difficult to change and it’s likely that we become a subset of that population down the road who are both loyal, smart and share similar values. People have trusted us for a long time and they’ll know that won’t change going forward. Ron never betrays Harry. Harry never betrays Hermione.”
“You laying out a new project you want to put up on the board today?”
“Nope I’m going straight to work, but doing something like Lord of the Rings or Potter could be pretty cool.”
The notes reveal that she had no idea where my idea was going but that I need to write about media inputs into people’s character and values. She’d ask me again after Poland.
In the meantime here’s how this form of trust building played out…
And she went right back to the course she was getting ready for release, for the month. It would turn out to be one of the most popular courses we ever did, The Professional Speaker Course.
5:17 PM
“Kev I’m out of here. I printed out two emails you need to respond to, tonight. They are on the coffee table. Anything you need before I call it a day?”
“Get me up at 9:40 tomorrow. I have a client at 10 and 11:15.”
She wrote it on her hand as she already had her purse and scarf on.
“No prob. I’ll come for you at 9:40.”
I looked up from my computer, exchanged real smiles and she was gone, and I was back to work.
We worked off of raw trust. Before, then, and even today I still propose, “We’ll all take care of each other.” You can predict that sometimes that notion will crash and sometimes it will produce a lifetime connection.
Trust has been and continues to be necessary in my work as is true in yours. She had a key to my house, as did my ex. That was it. I trusted her. I might only see her 30 minutes out of an 8 or 9 hour day. There were no concerns. I work a very long day and don’t have time to distrust the people around me. Energy and time for such a thing is a disaster. Trust emerged through a number of factors.
- Safe environment for someone.
- Consistent arrival time.
- Typically leaves a little late as I’m hitting my second wind for the day.
- Gets my mind just in tune enough to get moving for the day.
- I know she took care of everything she was supposed to. When I checked my email at “lunch time” about 3PM, there were only a few unopened emails. Personal stuff mostly. She left all that alone. A few complicated issues she saved for me to respond to late at night after I had finished all my work for the “day.”
Trust. When she found the man of her dreams to start a family, and she told me they were moving to the west side of the cities, I was ridiculously happy and a little freaked out. How would I find another person I knew it would be hard to find someone like her. Replacing people is easy. Replacing someone you trust and believe in, is very difficult.
The only way to test for trust is to trust the other person. If you don’t trust them, they won’t trust you. If you do trust them, statistically speaking, you probably will regret it later, but you will also be surprised often enough that you won’t lose faith in all of humanity.
If you trust but verify then move to a more sweeping trust to where verification can happen far less often the odds improve.
It begins with being on time, at least that’s what market researchers have discovered.
Every day 8:40. Predictable. I assumed she was “on time” and never saw anything to believe otherwise. I didn’t test her. I trusted her. There was no way to not. I write books, articles, Coffee, courses, programs, events, research, see clients, do teleconsults, and had two kids that were there part time every day.
It made for fascinating and very long days, none of which I regretted. I found what I wanted to do everyday and did it. The schedule would shift over the years depending on parenting related stuff. I felt and feel nothing but fortunate to have lived this specific life.
Predictability is a major predictor of trust.
What I do this month is the best predictor of what I’ll do next month.
When you go through periods of change, the predictor of trusting yourself or others is observing what a person says they will do in 30 days vs. what they actually do in 30 days.
Your clients, customers, and loves need to trust you, to be certain about you, and they need it faster than “trust and verify.”
Some of my favorite forever clients talked with me on day x and became very long term clients on day x + 1.
Trust means that you will watch out for the other person like you watch out for your Self.
That’s the gentle movie. What about strategic trust? That could be devious! It could be ill intended. Or… it could be on purpose with intention and results of intention that prove more than a little good.
Now we turn the page to Strategic Trust…
It’s a fact that the techniques that most effectively help one gain compliance and as relationships build the way you did becomes habitual.
What you have first is your ability to enter your counterparts universe and draw a bridge that brings that universe with your own. Take care of each other to the best of your ability. Don’t let your clients down, and they are much less likely to let you down.
Trust must be experienced before a person will do business with you or do pretty much anything with you. You gain and retain trust with enough people and you develop reputation and personal brand.
The experience could be in something they heard about you, saw about you, saw you do, they read something you wrote. There are a number of possibilities and the most important way for future clients to see that is through your dependability. You are there when you say you are. You do what you say you will do.
People will notice your pattern of trust related behaviors and are aware they will bind people together.
Start with being on time in every way you can imagine. The airplane has a departure and arrival time. It’s pretty easy to miss a flight for the irresponsible or the person who doesn’t double and triple check dates and times. Trains in Europe are REMARKABLY on time and RELIGIOUS in when the doors close. You make the train or you wait for the next one. Simple as that.
Fashionably late is fashionably stupid.
Dependability is the number one aspect of trust according to those marketers previously mentioned.
If it says “arriving 4:14” I’m convinced. Why? Past performance predicts my trust, at least in dependability.
Legend Point: Establishing permanent trust that you don’t have to earn over and over again is the single most powerful persuasive tool you have.
Persuasion and sales don’t just happen by magic. They’re the result of patterns and processes…one of which always includes establishing some degree of trust. In order to feel comfortable doing business with you, one has to assure themselves that they will get the value they expect. In other words, they want to be sure that you will deliver the goods…and take back the defective stuff. It’s only reasonable.
Consumers know that products and/or you…aren’t always perfect. It’s what will happen IN CASE of a problem that worries them. Your prospect needs to trust YOU as the person or business behind the product who will ensure customer loyalty.
Now comes something even more difficult. Quite often one person needs another to trust them NOW.
So how do YOU create Instantaneous Trust?
INSTANT is a tough word to live up to, though I’ve certainly got some great relationships that kindled instantly and I’m happily connected with some amazing people and have been from the moment we shook hands.
This is NOT going to be everyone by any means, but if you become consistent with who you want to be, YOU WILL have more of trust-worthy people in your life.
Building Trust Anywhere, Especially Online
Trust is the short cut to “Yes.”
“Yeah I like him. Do it.”
I’m going to use marketing online as a metaphor for building trust in relationships, business, selling, marketing in the brick and mortar world….all similar principles and themes.
In the online world, several factors play into establishing trust and credibility for platforms/websites. (It’s obvious how these factors are important in offline advertising as well. Just substitute the words “website content” with “marketing copy.”)
- Is the website content, Facebook page, pick a platform, et. al. valuable, reliable and valid?
- Is the content keeping them reading because it matters to them directly?
- Is the content voluminous, showing a history, offering truly deeper answers than a blip on your wall?
- Is your content compelling in some way. (Does it make someone want to believe, or change, or grow, or emerge in some way)
It’s true that trust is more often than not, built over time, but establishing trust online, for example, doesn’t necessarily require a tremendous investment to yield results in a relatively short period.
Here are some quick tips for growing trust online
Continue here….
- Display your company contact information prominently on your web site — including address and phone number. I shouldn’t have to say it, but it matters. You exist in real time and space.
- Give a gift that others would charge for.
- Be waaaayyy better than your competition.
- You don’t have to have more visitors or likes, you have to have better relationships.
- Display policies about shipping, returns, online transactions, and information privacy on your site. If you don’t display return policies you will not ever “win” with the credit card companies. You’ve read my work long enough to know that refunds can be counter productive but they are necessary for some products and for some services, sometimes. Get specific in your terms on your website. Good business practice protects your business as well as the consumer.
In other words, be transparent. Be authentic. Be real. Be You.
With more narcissistic people walking the streets daily, it sometimes pays to be …just you.
When you see a Facebook Live with Kevin Hogan you can know that is precisely what he is like on stage and everywhere else. Try to be something you are not and it doesn’t bode well for your psychological health in the future or your present business model.
I’m not all that bright.
People who know me personally know I have a habit of telling them just what I know nothing about. I don’t know how to fix cars, or heating ducts, or anything three dimensional. Call my brothers. I’m a moron in these departments. I am constantly aware of how many things I don’t know and don’t understand.
And I know what things I do better than damn near anyone on the planet. That’s getting 3 D MOVING in a 4D way. The fourth dimension is time. Moving things through time means causing and changing futures.
Make sure people get that you don’t know everything about everything and you go a long way toward winning over the world.
Tell them WHY you are Doing What You are Doing
Legend Point: Telling people the REASON why you’re doing something is one of the most powerful influencers of human behavior.
We could talk about relationships but let’s go back to selling/buying.
Let’s face it…if you’re making a special offer — a 50%-off tire sale, a “Buy one, get one free” shoe deal, or a year of complimentary pool cleaning — people understand you are in business and the offering of a discount, even if it’s a loss leader, is an opportunity for you to audition for this person.
In fact, if you are too generous, too often, it is likely to make people suspicious or curious. It’s outside of the norm. If this is going to be you, then be certain it’s understood why. Sad but do it.
If you don’t tell people what’s going on, they’ll make up stories in their head and chances are they won’t be flattering to you or your offer. Again, don’t take it personally, it’s just human nature — after decades of false advertising.
So never give people a chance to make something up about you. Let people know who you are so all of their resistance and defensive systems stay “below ground.”
Be Transparent
Instead of trying to cover up the truth or put a happy face on your sad story…let people pull back the curtain and take a long, hard look at you or your company.
Be authentic. People have a lot less to gossip about you, your product, your service or you – if YOU tell people what they might think are your weak points.
You don’t have anything to hide…so don’t act as though you do!
Most people appreciate transparency in others, even if it scares the hell out of being transparent themselves.
Let’s say July is traditionally your worst time to make sales and you’re desperate to increase your business during this period to help your cash flow. Make a special limited time offer.
Don’t be coy. Offer a special discount or a gift and say you’re doing so because it’s your “slow time” and you need to pay your staff anyway.
People then GET IT and THEN they will business with you because it MAKES SENSE.
What if you “sound to good to be true?”
Here’s the answer and here’s how to handle it. Continue-
Tell Them Why
People want to have the reason for what you do and they like to have a reason for what they do, too.
Remember this from, Psychology of Persuasion?
Dr. Ellen Langer, in a Harvard University psychology experiment, back in the 70’s! She had a test participant approach unsuspecting people waiting in line to use copier and made a request.
One request was: “Excuse me. I only have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Another request was phrased: “Excuse me. I only have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”
In a third situation, the participant said, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” There was no reason given for the need…just the word “because”.
Request #1 was granted 60% of the time.
Request #2, the request coupled with a reason, was successful 94% of the time.
But here’s the clincher: Believe it or not (and listen!): 93% of the people said yes simply due to the word ‘BECAUSE’!
It didn’t matter that there was no reason given for the request. Just using the magic word “because” triggered the desired response — allowing the test participant to cut in line.
“Because” will have the same effect on your desired response — As strange as it seems, it will indeed cause your customers to feel free to pay attention to you and to do business with you.
Where is the Common Ground
If you offer products that people truly want; and solve problems that truly bother them, there’s only one major factor you need to add to guarantee your success: connection.
When you connect, you say, “I understand you.” To establish this essential relationship, you need to talk to consumers in the same language they use when they talk to each other…that you’re on “common ground.”
Friends Don’t Let Friends Make Bad Decisions (or Drive Drunk)
If people don’t view you as someone they could be friends with, you lose, and they probably do, too…
People trust their friends to give them guidance and advice that’s in their best interest. They’re suspicious of people who are trying to sell them things and consider their advice “tainted” by the quest for money.
Business “friends” form a friendly relationship based on mutual trust and common interest. Business friends have “connected.” If you can position yourself as a buyer’s trusted and knowledgeable adviser rather than anyone else, you might just train your brain to BE that person.
And here’s the thing: In most cases, your “business” friends should be, or are, your friends. I have a hard time thinking in any other way than that.
The majority of my friends, my trusted and close friends, are people I’ve done business with. That makes life go a lot smoother in so many ways.
So just how do you connect? One approach is to do your best to mirror what you observe. That’s a very gentle way to start a friendship.
- Is the other person formal or friendly?
- Is his/her speaking voice loud or soft?
- Is the energy he/she gives off fast-paced or methodical?
Connection, requires sensitivity. Remember that one very short, funny story can do more for connection than 20 minutes worth of sales talk.
And what is the topic you want to bring up almost every single time?
But Enough About Me…What Do YOU Think (About My Selfie)?
In making a connection, it’s helpful if you can find something besides business to discuss. Most people share a favorite topic of conversation: It’s their selfie.
People love to talk about themselves, how they look in THAT selfie and they reveal quite a bit when they do.
You’ll immediately get some insight into their mood, personality, and conversational style. Make THAT happen.
The Art of Being Delightfully Curious
The information you learn about hobbies, pets, children and favorite vacation spots are the foundation for connecting and the beginning of a long relationship.
The Trigger of Uniqueness
Legend Point: The unique quality of you or a product or service is the major reason that people buy from you instead of the guys down the block.
So, if you do something that sets you apart from your competition in the marketplace…if you make a better thing, a cheaper thing, or can deliver a piping, hot Pizza in 20 minutes or less guaranteed…don’t keep it a secret.
Tell the world how (and WHY) special you are!
The world will want to get to know you.
Once you and/or your company has identified its uniqueness, it will be the key message communicated in everything you do. Your uniqueness will be distilled down to an essential phrase — sometimes referred to as a unique selling position or unique sales proposition. People trust brands and you are a brand whether you have considered that or not. People have come expect x, y, z from you. If they see something different that is negative over time, the brand is eroding. If they see a strengthening brand it is growing. Shifts in your uniqueness always have a “shaky period” where people are less certain about you, which is in part why people are afraid to change. Usually these periods are short, less than a year and are worth the time shift.
And, perhaps best of all…
And a little used trust verifier is…
They’re Good, But We’re Better BECAUSE
It’s OK to tell people this, as long as it is undeniably true.
Who’s better, you or the other guy…or “Brand X”? You should know your competitor so well that when you ask a prospective customer, “What other stuff have you been looking at?” you’ll be able to respond to your prospect’s answer by sharing specific details about that product or service and why selecting your stuff is a better choice.
Listening to others talk about the competition is a good time to accentuate your strength. Instead of trashing your competitor’s business, explain that your competitor (or competitor’s product) is good enough, but that yours provides SUPERIOR value. The less your comments sound like someone simply trying to rip on “Brand X,”, the more trust and confidence your customer will have in you and your advice.
Special Note: Anytime you are communicating about your competitor, whether on a personal or business field, don’t mention their name…ever.
One year a gentleman wrote me a letter and said, “I want to attend a Boot Camp next month with you or maybe go see X. Who should I spend my money with and tell me all the reasons why.”
I told him to go to X because 1) we don’t negatively talk about anyone we compete with and 2) if you don’t know the answer by my reputation and work, then you need to experience everything else first. Go experience.
In other words. No sales pitch. He went to X’s gig and had a great time. And the next year he came to Influence: Boot Camp Las Vegas and everyone loved hearing the story.
Recognize your fear of loss of “every piece of business” and instead hold to your strength and convey with certainty what you do and how it makes their world easier/better/etc.
Say It to Claim It
Even if you do many things the same way your competitors do, the benefit you point to may be unique to a prospect because your competition doesn’t mention it.
The Final Solution
to Personal Success, 10 Week E Course
Begins June 17, 2025
Kevin Hogan, Venetian Hotel and Resort, April 2024
10 Week, Comprehensive Online E Course
This is the course you’ve wanted for years. This course is very different from online Courses you’ve participated in.
You may have been hooked up with an imaginary coach that was hired by a well known name to “help you” achieve an outcome in the past.
It didn’t work.
That was the first problem with other online courses is one we addressed once and for all in the Ascendant Success Algorithm Course.
The key difference between this and every other online course from anyone else on the planet is that you have daily access to Kevin Hogan. He will take your homework and evaluate it each week making suggestions and directing you when you ask, to jump obstacles and move along for real success in life, relationships, happiness, and wealth. You’ll be able to write Kevin and have him respond within 24 hours to your inquiries.
Live in Las Vegas, Aria Resort, April 2024
Dozens of hours of video are here shot by Kevin alone, after everyone else went home from formal video shoots.
Kevin sits down (most of the time) and it’s as if you’re having a conversation with him personally right in the studio in his home. You’ll get to see and hear every aspect of success in the digital age, step by step. And you’ll learn how to apply and use every single thing Kevin mentions.
There are no mysteries to be had after this course. You immediately find out the value of having a personal mentor for 10 weeks. Someone whose not only done it all but has trained so many others to achieve success. Kevin has trained celebrities, actors, screenwriters, authors, TV personalities, government representatives, international bankers, entrepreneurs, athletes and sales people to name a few.
Performing for 500 in Krakow, Poland, February 2018
This is much more than “step by step” – you are going to win this game of life because you’ll find out all that it really takes. Kevin even shows you in Week 1, “how to get lucky” because luck plays a role in success but most people don’t know how to set the stage for luck to strike in their life. Kevin shows you how in crystal clear, easy to master increments.
“The Ascendant Success Algorithm… Gives You the Scientific Breakthrough and Your Unique Personal Artistry to Have the Life You Only Dreamed Possible”
This is the first and only success course that uses rigidly tested and proven technology to meet desired outcomes.
“When you design THE success course, you want to make sure it’s the first one that actually works based on results from those who have applied the content in the real world.” Kevin Hogan, Psy.D.
The right questions to begin with in introducing this brand new course are:
“So why doesn’t all that other success stuff work?”
“I’ve tried everything and I am not successful. Why?”
Two simple questions which took me YEARS to get the answers to before I could finally live the life I truly wanted.
On holiday in Oslo, Norway 2019
Let’s answer the first question, first.
The vast majority of people giving such advice and programs claiming to have answers about the ingredients of success are mostly useless.
(How do I know? Who is to say?)
1) Almost all success programs reference truly remarkable stories about billionaires like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett as illustrations of your own designable future.
The fact is, these are the WRONG people to be using as yardsticks for YOUR success plan. These are the ultra wealthy billionaires of which there are only 1,900 on the PLANET.
You do not EVER want to try to be part of a group that has only 1,900 out of 8,000,000,000 people…when the criteria for entry into the group is a net worth of one billion dollars.
It’s easier to win the Power Ball Lottery than to become a Billionaire. (And that is not happening either.) If buying a Power Ball ticket is one of the stupidest things a person can do, then trying to become a billionaire is much worse.
In The Success Algorithm you will not hear ANY stories about billionaires. You will not be encouraged to try and replicate the things that they did.
The truth is people THINK they have answers to what makes successful people. Even more people think they can spot key behaviors that lead to success.
I’ve been studying this a long time. I’m living the life and it’s been a Herculean task to unearth the RIGHT puzzle PIECES.
Training the Real Success Factors in Europe, 2018
2) Most programs go through a list of principles and then tell you to do those things.
For example:
“Persist until you succeed.” (That’s a good piece of advice…but it’s also frought with disaster.)
Then you are told a story to support persisting. A good thing!
(Remember how many times The Psychology of Persuasion got turned down before it was published?! It’s embarassing even today!)
BUT WAIT. What about projects that failed? What about projects that took a long time to succeed? How do you know WHICH are WHICH?!
Now the question becomes…
“WHEN do you persist until you succeed?”
On what level of persistence? What contexts?
Latino Film Awards, Madrid, Spain, February 2018
This is just ONE FACTOR. Quite often, you MUST PERSIST until you STOP and CHANGE PROJECTS because many projects just aren’t going to pan out!
This means you have to know both when and HOW to CHANGE.
(Don’t worry I’ll show you that in The Success Algorithm!)
The Breakthrough to Success
Just finding the right direction is a significant task. When you finally stand in front of the RIGHT DOOR, there is one more thing that must be done!
Beating your head against a locked door in hopes it will open is a lousy idea.
Yet, if you NEED that door open (let’s say this metaphor represents the door to a successful future) then testing different tools could be pretty helpful in getting that door open.
So you go get a bunch of tools, bring them to the door and start banging and drilling and hammering and so on.
BUT then you have to ask, “How do you know when to SWITCH tools and WHICH TOOLS should you use? What if you do NOT have the right tools?!”
In fact THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS that is ANSWERED in The Success Algorithm
NO ONE ELSE ANYWHERE has ever ANSWERED these questions for you or anyone else.
STOP: Think about. It’s too much work to answer questions like this right? It takes time and thinking. Publishers aren’t going to wait for this. They want to publish NOW.
All I want to do it GET IT RIGHT FOR YOU.
And now I want to offer you a value, a meaningful principle to begin your motion today. This is a piece of my personal philosophy, not about the science or art of success but about what matters in LIFE.
Considering a possible move to Gdansk, Poland 2018
Be a Net Positive in People’s Lives
I want you to give more than you take in life. I want you to be generous to a fault.
I want to see you making a difference in people’s lives. I want to see you do your damnedest to
…be a NET POSITIVE in other people’s lives.
A “net positive” is Hogan Language for “I leave everyone and everywhere I go at least 1% better than when I got there.”
If you’ve ever hung out with me at an event you’ll notice I like to cause people to think, to have a better day, to feel appreciated and most importantly FEEL UNDERSTOOD.
Want to start on the Success Algorithm, RIGHT NOW? Today: Begin listening to people with the SOLE PURPOSE of understanding them. When in doubt, ASK A QUESTION.
You will hear me say this 50 times in The Success Algorithm.
People don’t listen to each other. They simply wait for their turn to talk.
Me?
I take notes.
I ask questions.
I am genuinely interested.
One of the real secrets of persuasion and of course by extension, success, is that…
Raising funds for an orphanage in Bulgaria, 2017
…if you are GENUINELY interested in others you will be not just liked but ADORED.
You can’t fake this one for long. Develop this CHARACTER TRAIT now.
In my estimation this is a good example of a NET POSITIVE.
You can say it this way as well:
“Thou shalt not hurt people.”
“Thou shalt do good stuff and avoid the bad stuff.”
The Success Algorithm will repair old programming that didn’t work.
Of the principles that are often highlighted in a success program, a lot of them are either ERRANT, WRONG, subtly IMMORAL or they are of such little consequence that they are meaningless to put attention on.
Let me give you two quick examples. First…
“Just do a little bit each day.”
That might be the most useless piece of advice in attaining success that has ever been written.
You have to cut the lawn. You have a 1/2 acre yard…
You go out and cut six feet this afternoon and return the lawn mower to the garage.
Tomorrow you go out and cut another six feet. It will take years to cut the lawn!
It’s ridiculous. It’s misleading, condescending and painfully useless.
Why do “they” suggest it?
Because it SOUNDS GOOD in the seminar room. Makes for great back of room sales… and it’s garbage.
No wait, there is another that is far more damaging.
A Second Example of Required Reprogramming
“Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff.”
That’s perhaps the most evil piece of advice given to good people that I have ever heard.
The child with cancer, the parent who cares for her 16 year old paralyzed since birth, the person with devastating mental illness.
The FACT is this: Some real life “stuff” is not just BIG, it’s OVERWHELMING.
In my world we help people with such “small stuff.” We try to make changes to give them a better world. We never insult the suffering to share with them that their “stuff is small.” NEVER.
It’s NOT OK.
You will finally get rid of the absolutely devastating garbage myths in The Success Algorithm… and then show you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear compared to the garbage.
The second question I opened with today,
“Kevin, I’ve tried everything and I’m still not successful, what do I do?”
On holiday in the Amalfi Coast, Italy, 2017
This is a GREAT question and one of the foundations that this course was built on!
Can I share a story with you?
Much of what you were taught to do doesn’t work, wasn’t safe, smart or rational. It didn’t generate love, happiness, resources or ANYTHING good.
This is incredibly frustrating and I know because I dealt with this for YEARS, (not days, weeks or months but YEARS) early in my career. I spent about a decade with my wheels spinning. From 1990-1997 I sold 12,000 books, earning $1 per book.
In 1996 I got a mentor, a REAL MENTOR, not some bullsh… coach. and within one year everything began to change. Miracle?
Oh there were PEAKS and VALLEYS to be sure and I was never told there would be otherwise, but everything changed.
Trying to FIND a REAL MENTOR can be another Herculean task. Perhaps 1 of every 1000 coaches out there is a truly good mentor.
Caught in the lights, Wroclaw, Poland 2018
Maybe you will need one. Every successful person I know has a mentor that is a rock and a treasure chest of wisdom. He believes in you, sees your skills, recognizes your REAL POTENTIAL and can see your best paths into the future.
Another key truth is that you have NOT tried EVERYTHING that WORKS…yet.
Another fact is the people who told you to do something (perhaps unwittingly) misled you.
Can I share another story from my life with you?
On holiday in Sorrento, 2017
It’s possible you were given the instructions to build the swing set in the backyard and you ended up with two massive pieces of metal that simply didn’t fit together. (You didn’t have the skill set to apply the knowledge!)
This actually happened to me when my daughter was 10 years old.
The fact is that in 2024 science has uncovered enough about the brain, the body, behavior and social interaction as to what is required to succeed in life. NOW we can have a predictable program that can accomplish such an outcome.
I loved listening to Napoleon Hill, but some of his advice was simply dead wrong. When I was younger, I got enormous psychological lifts from listening to him. But three principles in Think and Grow Rich are counter productive and virtually assure failure. I will unwind those messes in The Success Algorithm. The truth is, I don’t think he KNEW he was wrong.
The other principles Hill and others after him shared were either spot on, or close enough. But they weren’t even close to enough. Worse, with three strikes working against you, it is like driving a Mercedes with only one tire…
The Success Algorithm is unique in that you don’t just learn a principle and hear an example. You are given a number of specific tasks and then you bring each to me for feedback and confirmation.
There are a few key aspects in implementation of concepts so they become HABITS in daily life.
Most programs I listened to when I was young, DID give ONE element of implementation but missed out on the other two.
And the fact is, I didn’t find the third element of implementation until 4 years ago. No one else did either…
Whether a “principle” turned out to be “right or wrong” almost didn’t matter. The implementation material left the reader or listener no better off than when they began…
But STOP here!
What happens when you have the right concept, the right idea and enough information to implement it into your relationship, your project, your business, your employees and you don’t then DO IT!?
Is it possible that the individual (that’s everyone) is responsible?
It is.
Quick Story Time
I can think of a handful of specific moments in life when someone told me something that, if I implemented it, the result would be a better life.
And then I didn’t do it!
(Sometimes it took YEARS to do something I had been clearly told to do.)
This one is easy.
I simply didn’t do it and neither did you.
My world changed in 1997. I needed a serious push and I said, “PUSH HARD.”
I had the right mentor. The problem was sometimes it took awhile for me to ALWAYS DO what he said to DO.
Don’t get me wrong, I was earning a fair amount of money in 1997. I was being a pretty darned good Dad to my kids and a very good husband to my wife. But I was working very hard doing things that were only going to pay what I exchanged my hours for.
Truth?
In spite of this occasional rebellion, I earned the right to do better and make more.
You?
You tell me.
Here’s what I will share with you.
Kevin says that the members of his Inner Circle have gone on to great achievements because of just this kind of personal attention, blended with their own drive, passion, effort and talents.
With The Success Algorithm your world is going to be brighter in autumn 2024.
Maybe you are experiencing what you want on the spiritual level or the level of health but not in money or your relationship.
That’s absolutely normal.
And I’m about to cause you to be …different.
This is not simply a “course.”
This is a course where you have a real mentor with NEW TOOLS that you have NEVER SEEN or even IMAGINED.
Your mentor is not an assistant or intern.
Your mentor…of course… is Kevin Hogan.
I MOVE FAST.
Walk with me next time you see me. I move like the wind. Walk with me in this course!
I get the information and I DECIDE NOW.
I analyze options very carefully and then DO ONE.
I don’t care one bit if I am wrong about something. You simply CHANGE the direction and make it RIGHT.
I’ve done everything that I will share with you. I’ve trained and taught dozens of people I’ve mentored to DO.
And for more than TWO MONTHS you will have the SAME ACCESS to me as my Inner Circle members do.
You don’t need to be online at any specific time. I will add material each week that you will do. You will be encouraged to send me your experience and plans. You can email me and ask me questions. Whether you do this or not is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
🙂
I PROMISE I will do SEVEN THINGS with and FOR YOU.
1) I will give you the knowledge you need to be successful.
2) I will show you HOW to use that knowledge.
3) I will give you the TOOLS you need to APPLY that knowledge.
4) I am here to CLARIFY any possible confusion so there is clarity.
5) I will tell you the likelihood of any ideas or plans working.
or not working for you.
6) If something is UNlikely to be successful whether in your personal relationships, job or business projects, I WILL TELL YOU.
7) If you ask, I will show you what to CHANGE and HOW so you SUCCEED.
You will have access to me for 70 days. That’s 10 weeks. Then I’m going to bed! Once the course is complete only Inner Circle Members have access.
You do NOT need to be online at any specific time or on any specific day. You DO need to do your projects in YOUR 10 WEEKS!
This is the rocket launch and operators manual.
The Success Algorithm is $2995.
But only for this time you save a thousand dollars and your tuition is only 1995.00.
OR
You can be in this incredible group of sharp minds that will have The Success Algorithm!
Want more details?!
This is for you, about you and your world…your current life and your future.
Finally.
It’s taken four YEARS to put this together.
Every success related program I’ve listened to totally ignores the relationships that the listener/student has. In other words, what is the wife/husband going to think? How about the neighbors? What do you DO about THAT?!?!?! You don’t have to go any further than that. If you don’t address ALL the relationships, then no program on earth will cause success for someone.
I’ve integrated the deepest level of human influence and motivation at a level no one has ever taught before. You’re going to have that feeling of self mastery and concrete confidence a short time after this course is complete.
Question-
What would life be like if you could be with the person or people you chose and have all the resources needed to take all of you into the future for as long as you lived?
Pause. Read that question again. It’s important right?
Without the influence of the right person (and people) in your life, there is no success. This course will open the door to as many resources as you need and the answers to how to make life work.
Because life should be easy…and yet it is not..
I want people gossiping about you next year…
I’d really like to see you do something next year that matters so much that people talk about you. I mean positive quality “gossip!”
“Hey did you hear what Kev did on the other side of the world at Christmas?”
After they are telling this story about YOU then I’ll be pleased.
And then there will be a story YOU will tell that inspires people to do something very similar in THEIR WORLD.
Influence = Power with Self and Others ===> Success and Happiness for MANY
Only with influence and effort does real success result.
Don’t get me wrong.
I do want (and will all but demand) you to have love, happiness, a life with meaning, personal significance, confidence, a feeling of being loved. I want you to be fulfilled.
And I want this, for you, SOONER rather than later.
But I will NOT be patient.
I heard two people talking in a pretty big group conversation last month. “Look you’re closer to dead than alive, so get your ass in gear.”
And no, I didn’t say it. I WISH I would have said it. Therefore, I WILL say it to you.
When I set out to create this online course (originally it was going to be a big DVD program….ah well) I wanted to make this so YOU could do it, WILL do it, WILL teach the people you love in your family to do it. THAT took a bit of work…and it is done.
Success is such an ambiguous word. It can mean a dozen things to any one person and they can all be different from how the next person in line perceives success.
This course is designed so your definition(s) of success can be used so you can get what you want, and not what someone else wants for you.
When I began, I knew the course needed to be something that would fit into almost anyone’s world. And that came to pass.
Here’s a simple yet truly profound concept –
Everything you have, everything you experience now, today, this week, this month, has been the result of an accumulation of experiences and knowledge you have gained over your lifetime.
Some of the results of this truth have manifest in your life and the fact is the results are often FABULOUS. Some aspects of of where you are today are INCREDIBLE.
But are you satisfied?
Will they be telling your story?
Will you be the person they talk about when asked if you changed their lives?
…gave them hope?
….fed them when there was nothing?
You’ve done a lot of good in your life. You’ve been valuable to a lot of people.
But…
Have you taken their black and white world and added color to it?
From where I stand, life is more about giving than getting. In fact, I’m not sure I like the idea of being around people that get more than they give.
Now that I think more about that…. I’m sure of it.
Have you taken YOUR life and put vivid color into it?
So often we get wrapped up (yes you and me both) into doing unto ONE other person or job or family and forget about ourselves and then forget about our ability to imprint our hearts and minds onto many, many people’s hearts and minds.
I guess in one way, this course is “selfish” in nature.
You will be far better in every way than you are today. It certainly makes you (almost instantly) more influential as a person and triggers all the internal buttons so that you are more eloquent and persuasive in the moment. But this is about success in love, your passion, work and all that matters in life.
How Change Happens…How Comfort Zone Reconstruction Needs to REALLY WORK
The SELF influential aspect will be put to the test quickly.
This is where you SLOWLY move from your “comfort zone” and SLOWLY place your Personal Flag in the next space you CHOOSE.
You will be able to have new comfort zones for the first time in a decade. This is not a one day “exercise,” rather it requires a number of weeks to slowly inch your way from point A to B.
I used to enjoy talking about moving away from your comfort zone and creating a new one.
But most people in the world misunderstood the concept of a comfort zone.
Nothing new really happens while you’re in this place. “Flow” only happens when you are challenged. Life in flow is pretty special.
Life in the comfort zone is what I need at night when I go to bed.
But, in order to experience cool things in life… in order to be with cool people… you have to get out of comfort zone A and move to zone B which you will then create to be comfortable. Then you move from B to C which will be uncomfortable at first and then yep… it becomes comfortable.
Here’s What Will Happen in Your Life and Your Comfort Zone
I do NOT want every minute of your life to be lived outside of ANY comfort zone. That would not be all fun or wise. I do want you to constantly create comfort where you were previously uncomfortable.
And of course you have a dozen comfort zones, all of which are context dependent. (Comfort zone with the wife, the kids, the new project, the boss, the neighbors, your ambitions, etc. etc.)
You’ve already discovered that if you jump too far from your comfort zone, too quickly, you just go right back.
This happens because you don’t have your LIFE STORY written…yet.
You haven’t spent time showing the world, The Book of You, that you wrote… that brought you from challenged to winning.
This course will fix that once and for all.
YOU ARE A SUCCESS STORY
Date Night before Christmas, Minnesota, December 2021.
Really…
Now THAT might sound ridiculous…but wait…
You don’t need to fully believe this…yet… and you know me well enough to be certain that this isn’t about think it and it will appear, whatever IT IS.
The truth is, your personal story is this: You get out of one comfort zone for one aspect of life, while the other zones are still stuck in back in place where you were last year.
This is going to shift real soon.
🙂
Success means you won.
You don’t need to be Michael Jordan or Bill Gates.
YOU DO NEED TO BE THE BEST YOU
You were put on this planet for some reason or another.
Yours?
We’ll figure it out.
One thing is for sure, you weren’t designed to sit and run in place like you’re on a tread mill for the rest of your life.
All comfort zones are NOT created equally. You will find out why and how to work your way through some REALLY TOUGH challenges. And I’d love to tell you this will always be fast and easy.
But that would not be right…because it’s not correct.
Your MIND is about to get a world class tune up.
90% (a made up number that is close to accurate) of your life success, fulfillment, meaning, pride, time, achievement is going to come from your MIND.
Thinking.
You MUST learn how to RETRAIN and USE that mind to BE where you wish to be.
I’m going to ask you to do something big JUST BECAUSE I’M ASKING YOU.
You’ve seen the results of everything you’ve experienced and done in life.
You KNOW where you are today far better than any other human does.
Coffee with Kevin Hogan in San Diego, 2019
You KNOW how you feel inside.
You KNOW that you have tried and become frustrated doing many things to get MORE from life.
But you didn’t quite get ALL of it… and sometimes in some aspects of life you got very little at all.
Success is simply having what you want to have, being where you want to be with who you want to be and having won the games and battles you choose to win in life.
A lot of people gave up on the hard battles and the tough games. Believe me, I understand…more than you would guess. I promise.
That’s going to change.
I’m going to give you some NEW, SIMPLE, CONCRETE things to do every day.
These dozens of tiny puzzle pieces of success power are mostly unlike anything you’ve experienced before.
Sure, some of it will be familiar, but most of this is brand new!
This course is going to fill in the GAPS so that you can begin to USE all of that knowledge you have above your shoulders.
I’m not going to repeat what you already know. I will however fill in gaps and take you to a deeper level of understanding that hasn’t been experienced in the past.
How can I be so sure?
Because you have a live Life Consultant who’s worked with thousands of successful people. And I wouldn’t farm YOU out to anyone.
You ask a question, it will be answered.
The points of uncertainty are going to vanish.
The points of reality are going to appear.
The answers to questions are going to be found and the ONLY way to do that is to have the RIGHT QUESTIONS.
And then you have to know HOW to ask them. I’ll show you…
I’ve never seen anyone train anything like this.
I’ve read everyone. I’ve given particular attention to the wisest and the proven. I REALLY like PROOF. You’ll need to give me PROOF before this course is complete.
I’m going to show you the Operators, their simplicity and their profoundness.
You might say, “oh I know that…” and then you’ll do as I ask, because I ask and no other reason and report back three days later and TELL ME precisely what is shifting in your thinking, in life, WHERE you want to be and WHAT you want to be.
I’m not going to give you tons of “actions” to do. Mostly I am going to show you how to master your thinking and life, using the Operators of a Successful Life.
I look at this and I think, it’s a lot to ask of anyone.
Trust is earned.
Maybe I’ve earned yours over the years.
If so, you’ll put your chips out there with mine and we’ll both walk away winners.
And that IS THE DEAL.
I want you to look at your life and without hesitation I want you to say, “I WON!”, with respect to ALL aspects of life.
There are people out there that NEED your wisdom, knowledge and love.
I want you to know that YOU have NOT come full circle and tasted all the life that there is to have.
Coffee with Kevin Hogan in Bergen, Norway, September 2019
There are projects to be done, love to be given and received.
There are victories to be had and a STORY that ends with YOU WINNING and being appreciated by many.
“I WON.”
That’s what I want to hear you say…
Persistence, desire, drive, belief, outcomes. These are FACTORS.
Excellent.
Everyone has heard of them. Everyone knows that persisting is important. Desire is critical to success in love, business, influencing others. Belief is huge in every aspect of life. You know it. I know it.
Everyone needs to know the factors and implement them in life.
But…
REALLY… how?
If all it took were the FACTORS to achieve and succeed then everyone would (theoretically) have already done it!
But that is not the case.
What’s missing are the OPERATORS. Operators are like the plus (+) sign or the multiply by (x) sign. Simple enough.
So what are the operators? If you have the operators, does that yield instant success?
Nope.
But you DO need to have them and work with them every single day.
Good news!
There are fewer than a handful of Life Operators.
I’ve scratched the surface of Life Operators at Influence: Boot Camp and for some of my Inner Circle members.
And, I’ve been telling my Inner Circle that as soon as I have time I’m going to put together THIS course. But I never got enough time.
So 10 months ago, after collecting and plowing through 4 years of studies, research, and the best ways to fill the gaps, I said, “STOP” …I’m making the time, NOW.
And that is what I have done.
You see, if you have the OPERATORS AND the FACTORS AND you use them AS INSTRUCTED, it would be very, very hard to screw up.
The Success Algorithm is going to require effort, but it is WELL DESIGNED and the required SECRET daily actions essentially DEMAND that you succeed.
(I haven’t thought of every Black Swan…but I’ve lived through MOST of those birds so they’re ALL dealt with here.)
In other words, almost any human with the operators to move the factors will succeed in life. Really? Sounds hyperbolic to me and I’m writing this.
I’ve spent more time ripping this entire course apart than you can imagine. At every stage, I said, “no way, that won’t work for everyone.”
And sometimes I found that this was a great idea. People not able to move about freely in a free country will still benefit from this work but it will not yield the results you will get in a free society.
But what about everyone who IS able to think and communicate in a free nation?
Yep.
You’re going to be a “better you.” You’re going to FEEL success and it FEELS GOOD.
It works… the end result is SUCCESS.
And that is cool.
You’ve noticed that for the last four years I have not put out ONE new program.
I promised myself THIS would be the next one. And it’s not even a program. It’s bigger than I anticipated. The operators alone, while incredibly simple in concept do take time to integrate and apply and I am very, very focused on APPLICATION in this course.
And…it’s a BIG course. It’s eight weeks.
If you’ve ever taken an E- Course with me you know the following:
– You don’t have to be online at a certain time.
– You have ME as the go to person who will answer YOUR LIFE SPECIFIC questions through the term of the course. (The course begins May 10!)
– You will have more content than you have ever experienced in any E Course on this planet.
– It’s ALL about you.
– You WILL be required to do the content by the end of the course unless something dramatically bad happens in life.
– My expectations of you are higher than your expectations for the course.
This course is the culmination of a lifetime of work to date. Sure maybe I’ll have something more fun someday, I really don’t care right now.
This is the MOST IMPORTANT and MEANINGFUL course I could have put together for you. It is the treasure chest that we all look for.
The River Siene, Paris, France, February 2020
USE the operators and you win.
They are the missing elements. And the cool part is that YOU can do this.
Promise.
The content of this course and knowing EXACTLY HOW to use it will not change your life.
It WILL allow YOU to BE the person YOU want and need to be. And of course you’ll always BE YOU, just a BETTER YOU. A you that makes a bigger difference. A you that is safer, more secure. A you that is willing to PUT FORTH THE EFFORT to control your own destiny.
You won’t be able to write out a script for the rest of your life. But you WILL get to where you want to be because you will know what to do, when, why and where…and most importantly HOW.
Knowing the factors will certainly be a plus but ultimately in THIS course they don’t matter.
2 months from now…
1) If you choose, you will be able to influence in mass.
2) You will find out precisely how to find the answers you need in life.
3) You’ll easily see how to implement those answers.
4) You will see that operators are different from factors. Factors are difficult.
Operators are remarkably simple.
5) You do need BOTH and you need to SEE and EXPERIENCE both to accomplish and live the life you want.
You do NOT need to be online at any specific time or on any specific day. You DO need to do your projects in YOUR 8 WEEKS!
This is the rocket launch and operators manual.
Sound Check before massive event in Poland 2018.
The Success Algorithm is $4995.
Credible group of sharp minds that will have The Success Algorithm!
You can apply today for the Success Algorithm: The Comprehensive 10 Week Course.
You’ll be notified within 3 days as to whether your application is accepted and your card will not be charged if you are for any reason denied.
There is a limit of 30 people who will be able to participate. Kevin can only keep up with so many people before it becomes more than even he can handle. Make sure you put a note to Kevin in the application for Kevin as to why you want him to work with you for the next 2 1/2 months as well as any questions you might have once the course begins.
The Success Course has received some very nice endorsements including Andy Watson, one of our more discriminating clients. The $4,995 tuition is cut for the covid period to 10 installments of $195 or $1,995.
