Q. Kev, You said that social media was not the place to run your business from and you seemed to be down on social media in general. At the same time you have a number of places on Facebook that I’ve seen as well as @kevinhogan on Twitter, etc. What’s your thinking? I guess what I’m saying is I’d like to have a coaching business and run it on Facebook, but I’m nervous because of your comments. Can you also comment on Instagram?
A. Richard, a presence on social media for business is absolutely sensible. People SHOULD be able to look you up there, see pictures of you, your family, your interests and be able to do the quick 30 second reality check. So yes, Facebook is a solid tool to help provide one stone for the foundation of your business. And, you probably WILL capture some clients each year because of your presence on Facebook. Make up a number. Let’s say your health coaching and the client will pay you $500 for whatever that means. If you have 5,000 followers/friends you’ll realistically have 20 clients in the course of the year which would generate about 10K in revenue. That is VERY reasonable and very predictable. Meanwhile if you have a page with 20,000 followers you really don’t have 20,000 followers do you? You have the number of people who INTERACT with each other and you on that page. Different number right?
People who want to earn 10 times that or 100 times that are typically living in Fantasy Land.
Yes of course it can work that way for a micro-percentage of people but the math doesn’t work
for 99.5% of the people attempting that model in real life. It’s like saying, “I want to be a pro baseball player.” Well of course!
Instagram is a different animal. The model for Instagram is “simple.” Get 100,000 followers for your laser beam specific niche market and ONLY that niche market. At this point getting a sponsorship with a corporation becomes a real possibility and you can figure it’s worth about $5,000 per month. It will be an exclusive. So if you build to 100K you are “for real” in Instagram space and you’ll have a nice tidy 60K per year going forward from some sponsor. I think I used an example of Cruise Travel as your Instagram niched theme. Then of course Carnival, for example, says “yeah 5k per month, we’re exclusive.” You say, “yes.”
And of course 5 years from now, I will retract everything I wrote here and tell you that the party is either over or dramatically changed.
Q. Kevin – When will the next Influence: Boot Camp be?
A. My plan had been to discontinue Boot Camp. The last 5 manuals combined for 2,500+ pages. But I do hear every single week…many times… the request. So yes, we will do one. It could be as early as Autumn 2019 or perhaps March 2020. I have numerous competing commitments right now that make it difficult to fit Boot Camp in. Some of these commitments aren’t fully in my control and thus it’s very difficult to isolate a week in Las Vegas right now. As soon as I can, I will.
Q. Kev, how can I get licensed to train your body language content? Can I make a living at it?
A. Drop me a note personally kevin@kevinhogan.com We do have licensees. I’m very fussy about this area of training corporations and the public. The number of people who know what they are talking about in this field is close to 10 or 12. The world is ready for people who want to learn and to do it right. Of course you can make a good living at it.
Q. Kev, what do you think about college education going forward? Is it a good choice or should people become entrepreneurs?
A. Being an entrepreneur is correlated to significant wealth. So does having a Masters level degree or higher in college. Meanwhile a Bachelors degree earns twice what a high school diploma earns. That is significant. Wasting money on the first four years IS a waste. A state university is a great choice. You can spend all the money in the world but the difference in bachelors degrees in the U.S. whether spending 50,000 or 10,000 is very minimal.
I suspect the value of a college education will decrease over the next 20 years. I suspect it’s also very smart for budding entrepreneurs to learn BUSINESS from someone in BUSINESS in addition to business school. Do both to improve the probability of success.
Very, very self disciplined people could probably skip that college education. Look at their car. If it’s newer than 2015 they probably need to go to college and skip entrepreneurial ventures…
Q. Kevin, I’ve heard you say that you can quickly tell if someone is wealthy or not. How do you do it? Is it people’s clothes? Is it their car? What’s the truth?
A. There’s all kinds of wealth status clues. First…let’s determine who we’re talking about. Let’s strip out the very wealthiest (net worth $100 million on up) and the rest is pretty easy. Let’s focus on people with a net worth of between 1 and 20 million dollars. And let’s ONLY FOCUS on the WAGE EARNER. So if I’m married to someone who generated wealth and I came into the relationship at zero, then the comments below refer to the person who actually earned the money and manages it. And finally the comments are about people who earn wealth over time, not the athlete or celebrity who brought their money in over 4 years and then retired from the sport. (Quick money in, predictably leaves the same way.)
Off the top of my head…
1) Wealthy people don’t talk about their big purchases, like cars. Strivers (people who wish they were wealthy so badly that they buy things that can’t afford to own) are not going to be wealthy. Their challenge is they are focused on accumulating expensive things that go DOWN in value. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a conversation about an automobile with a wealthy person, outside of Maserati factory in Italy.
2) Wealthy people don’t have a predictable dress code. The extraordinary suit on the guy at the front of the room means that the suit fit on his credit card. I have perhaps seen 10 wealthy men talk about their clothes over my lifespan. It’s rare. It does happen if there is a logic to it.
3) Wealthy people talk about money like this, “it’s time to rebalance the portfolio” or “we can get a better price than that.” Poor people talk about their goals to: take a trip, to pay for their kids college education, the lottery, having gotten a job/project/gig then citing a figure they will get paid before the paperwork has been done. Wealthy people all well know that there is no gig, no project until paperwork is done and the price is agreed on. Poor people talk about the scheme the speaker had at the convention. Wealthy people work too hard to even look at get rich propaganda. Yes, they got rich, but they earned it with a plan and over time. They don’t say, “I’m rich.”
4) Wealthy people tend to be very relaxed in public with a group. They have nothing to prove and they aren’t all that excited about talking about the problems at the office.
5) Wealthy people can be intimidated physically but in general, they take up more space around them than poor people, they rarely lose “control” in public. They speak well of people. They won’t listen to conversation from strivers for long.
6) Wealthy people have little interest in other people’s financial business. They have little curiosity about how much money someone else has. Wealthy people don’t think about get rich quick schemes, don’t dream about their future, don’t think or talk about what they’ll do if they have the money, They don’t talk about their goals. They don’t ask friends to get in on the next big investment.
7) Wealthy people invest in things they can control. They certainly have stock portfolios but that is because wealthy people do diversify wisely. Generally the keep what they earn.
8) Wealthy people don’t go to networking…anything meetings.
9) Wealthy people have meetings in their office or their home or in a country far from where they are today.
10) Wealthy people are largely self reliant. They talk about are increasing their company productivity, optimizing time, spending time with family while taking care of business.
11) Wealthy people are almost all married. They dont have a partner or a room mate. They don’t have a lover. They are married.
12) Wealthy people generally don’t receive a big W2 form every January 31. They earn most of their money in dividends, distributions, passive income (real estate/royalties).
13) Wealthy people tend to have broad ranges of personal experience. They can talk about a lot because they have experienced a lot and those experiences don’t come cheap. That could mean a big credit card.
14) Wealthy people are careful with their money. They like to buy things that appreciate in value.
15) Wealthy people are generally not flashy. Plenty of exceptions here when it comes to galas, special events, etc. but on average, wealthy people don’t look wealthy. On average wealthy people dress to not get robbed. (That’s not their motivation but if you think of it that way it will help.)
16) In public, wealthy people only rarely communicate with foul language or in a way that harms the reputation or name of another person. Wealthy people understand responsibility and liability. They understand taxes.
Q. Hey Kevin, …what do you recommend as far as precious metals for investments now?
This story has never changed. I’m not sure I’ve ever recommended metals as an investment. And most investments aren’t investments either. BUT, to answer the question, Buy an ounce of gold every (pick a number 1,2,3,4,5 months).
Owning gold and buying it regularly teaches responsibility in a profound way. Kids should be taught to buy silver monthly as well.
Gold is an incredibly stable long term asset. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ignorant
of history and the international demand in growing countries.
Metals don’t stop at gold which is priced “fairly” right now. Gold will probably average $1250 an ounce over the next 10 years adjusted for inflation.
Platinum is CHEAP. Silver is CHEAP. It’s hard to imagine ever getting a better price for silver (compared to the price of gold). As far
as “an investment” silver and platinum are bargains right now. Buy and keep until you need it 20 years from now.
Q. Kev, saw you on the video cast. You said you have a big percentage of your stock portfolio in gold stocks, growth stocks and emerging markets. But I’ve read in Coffee that you only have a small percentage of your worth in stocks at all. Can you explain?
Your “portfolio” is really all of your NET assets. It’s land you own, or a house you own, stocks,
bonds, commodities, your business, collectibles, metal. Etc. Stocks of all kinds make up 25% of
my “portfolio.” My portfolio is comprised of stuff I own and knowing it’s real (not imagined) liquidation value. Of those gold stocks, growth stocks and emerging markets are the biggest
chunk.. Later this month this will be rebalanced to include much more of China, less of emerging
markets in general and depending on the action of gold stocks which in part are based on gold
which is often based on fear factor… we’ll see what’s happening.
I own but don’t recommend mining stocks or anything outside of China right now. China is the likely future and land of continued opportunity.
Q. Dr. Hogan, did I hear you say you are now at 60 laws of persuasion? Where can I get the full list and discussion?
This collection is not available to anyone outside of my Inner Circle right now. We’ll put together a program
this year that will detail the first 30 Laws. You’ll also pick up new distinctions on the laws you had learned before. It appears that even laws can get upgrades.
Q. Dr. Hogan, you were asked about Trumps chances for re-election on a podcast last week. Your response was kind of scary. Are you a Trump supporter? Can you explain why?!
A. I said, that IF the democrats continue on their current course of throwing everything at Trump they will lose in 2020. It’s simple. If you attack one, two, three flaws or defects, no more, you will accomplish your goal of maximum probability of ousting the current President. If the Dem’s continue to poke and prod at everything then of course they alienate members of their own party and lose again. The same scenario played out with Clinton, Bush and Obama. As of this moment, it’s almost impossible to see Trump not getting his second term. Too many personal/political issues are on the table. It has to be reduced. I said the same about Obama, Clinton, and Bush. It really doesn’t matter who the President is from this phenomenon’s perspective. When your guy isn’t President you can’t become volatile. Think, find two undeniable points and drill them until you have met your goal. If they say 10 different bad things, well, that essentially assures that President will be yet another 8.
Your other question, I support no one in any way in Congress and none of the last four Presidents. I wish I could say other wise. I think everyone knows I am a Libertarian and that means I haven’t voted Democrat or Republican. (Do they still put them on the ballot?) The last person I “supported” was Ron Paul.
