Agency, Analyzing & the Art of Business with Ray Blakney

Ray has bootstrapped multiple 6 and 7-figure businesses. For the last 5 years, he has been able to run 3-5 businesses at the same time all while having free time to spend. The "secret" to how he had been efficient enough to do all of this is simply discipline.

Ray owns a website called livelingua.com, which is the third-largest online language school in the world.

In today’s episode, Ray and Monique are talking about how he flipped his definition of failure: “Failing is not when a business doesn't work or doesn't make money, failure is when you stopped trying. And if you never stopped trying, you will never fail.” which enabled him to make building businesses his art. 

HOT TOPICS OF THE EPISODE 

[02:04] - Monique introduces her guest, Mr.Ray Blakney.

[02:21] - Explain everyone out there what the sword fighting is.

• I've been practicing the Japanese martial art called kendo for going on dating myself back for about 20 years now. So kendo is the way of the sword and I have been practicing it since I was 22.

[04:00] - Tell me when you're not sword fighting, what else are you doing in your business?

• I own a website called livelingua.com. It's the third-largest online language school in the world and I run it with my wife.
• I own a website called toeducate.com
• I also owned a chocolate factory in the Philippines before 
• I am the host of the Anomalous Educator Podcast which helps teachers make money online.

[05:26] - Starting businesses and making them successful is a kind of art for you, explain a little bit about that.

• The creative process is what I like because you get to try things, you get to see what works what doesn't and you get to go back and fix it.

[10:16] - So when you bootstrap a company, how do you approach everything from the get-go? 

• I'm not creating something that nobody's ever thought of before, like Steve Jobs, or Elon Musk, or all those people out there.
• For launching businesses, see a need, check that there's a need, confirm there's a need and then just do it.
• 
  

[14:10] - How did you get to the point of having this mindset of “failure is not a total failure, I always get something out of it.”

• I flipped my definition of failure. Failing is not when a business doesn't work or doesn't make money, failures when I stopped trying. And if I never stopped trying, I never failed.

[15:32] - How did you approach your new content marketing strategy?

• I put Comic Sans and made the whole presentation like a comic book.
• And to my surprise, half the room came up to me with this marketing methodology that we use in my companies and said. “Can you do that for us?”
• So that planted the seed for the agency

[29:40] - So how important do you think is research in the beginning before you even start putting out content, writing content for clients?

• It's like any other construction, right? You can put a beautiful house on it. But if the base is bad, it's going to crumble in a year or two. And we need to do that for your business as well.

[31:31] - Do you think that a lot of entrepreneurs that they're going wrong with the research or not even doing it or don't know how to do research for their business?

• I think most advanced entrepreneurs might do that because they've learned the value in it. 

[33:03] - If you're starting a new business, do you ask audiences some questions? Do you, like to use the Ask method? Do you use like only the keyword research? What do you use?

• I generally stick with keyword research because I assume I use a little bit of the Ask method now because I do have a network and audiences I can do it for.

[35:59] - After the research how do you think should entrepreneurs use the results?

•  The research should help you find who your audience is.

[38:52] - What actually makes you efficient in a discipline?

• I developed discipline kind of later in life.
• Discipline is what gives me freedom.

[42:44] - You said you use the discipline to be very self-driven. But you don't believe in working, what your passion is.

• I think people confuse passion with their why.
• If you did a good job and figure out what your why is. That's enough for you to at least take one step towards it that day.

[46:03] - So how important is efficiency to you now that you have multiple businesses?

• Discipline is key to me be able to do what I'm doing.
• I use an app called wunderlist.

[51:14] - What does efficiency mean to you?

• Efficiency is just getting as close to that goal as I can today.

[52:01] - What are the top three tips for starting a business?

• The first one is research.
• Make sure you plan that you have the time to do this business.
• A final tip would be “just do it.” 

AWESOME RESOURCES THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE

[04:55] - Anomalous educator podcast which helps teachers make money online. - http://anomalouseducator.com/category/podcast/

[33:13] - The Ask Method - https://book.askmethod.com/

[50:23] - Wunderlist - https://www.wunderlist.com/

IMPACTFUL QUOTES OF THIS EPISODE

[14:05] - “For launching businesses, see a need, check that there's a need confirm there's a need and then just do it.” - Ray Blakney

[15:05] - “Failing is not when a business doesn't work, or doesn't make money, failures when I stopped trying. And if I never stopped trying, I never failed.” - Ray Blakney

[39:32] - “Discipline is what gives me freedom.” - Ray Blakney

[51:34] - “Efficiency is just getting as close to that goal as I can today.” - Ray Blakney

FIND MORE ABOUT RAY BLAKNEY HERE

Websites: https://www.livelingua.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThemeFusion-101565403356430/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Theme_Fusion

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