Flee 9-5

2: VISION

The agents of influence

The few, the remarkable, the vision...and the millions

The empires of the future are empires of the mind.

- Winston Churchill

Creating a vision is essential if you want to flee 9 to 5, get paid a six- to seven-figure income and do what you love. That creation is born here.

Melbourne, Australia, 6 pm - waiting with bated breath. I had my finger hovering over the 'record' button. I was just minutes away from speaking with a former Oprah producer who was preparing me for my time in New York, and I was ready to absorb every word.

What would she say? How would I need to position myself? What did I need clarity on to really make this work? Most importantly, how would I stand out from all of the other experts who were attending the conference . beyond my Aussie accent that Americans thought was hot! Thanks, Hugh Jackman!

These were just a few of the thoughts racing around my head on a dirt bike, muddying up my clarity. But, before I could take the call, I had to make a few critical decisions . because the real work had just begun.

I knew there were only two ways I could make the most out of this brief encounter:

• I could look past the impossible. I was completely out of my comfort zone. The trip to New York was just one of many steps I'd laid out for myself to help monetise my message. The mere fact that I was being coached by a former Oprah (and Grammy award-winning) producer persuaded me that anything was possible. I had to open myself to a grander vision. A vision that took my breath away, even if it did still seem out of reach at that stage.
• I could create the remarkable. To overcome any hurdles I might encounter on the journey, I had to know precisely what I wanted for myself and for others, and to know intuitively who I was going to 'become' in taking this giant leap forward. All while allowing myself enough flexibility to grow into it. In essence, I had to create a remarkable vision for myself - to be different, to become an agent of influence, someone with a limitless vision of what life could offer.

Million-dollar personal brands - how their vision makes them wealthy

Flick on the TV, open a newspaper or walk into a bookstore, and you will soon encounter these agents of influence. There's Tony Robbins, Suzie Ormond, Tim Ferriss, Dr Phil, Marie Forleo, Abraham Hicks, Bethenny Frankel, Robert Kiyosaki and thousands of other high-profile personal brands who have made fortunes from the particular vision they hold of themselves. They achieved this level of success by monetising their messages into on- and offline products, consulting services, speaking engagements, webinars, TV appearances, endorsement deals and more.

So why is it, then, that we need your voice?

It's simple. Like their competitors before them, none of these agents has the one thing that you have: your unique perspective, education, experience and vision. Nor do they have your unique personality.

The only thing that businesses and companies can't copy is the essence of who you are. When you bring this essence to the fore, competitors may attempt to copy you, but they never quite can. It's simply not sustainable or authentic.

In my first book, Sleeping Your Way to The Top in Business, I wrote, 'Personal branding is self-expression amplified to influence and command attention'. The experts you see out there have packaged themselves into marketable products that people flock to, invest in and buy from because they've amplified who they are, rather than hiding it from the world. They themselves are their most marketable asset.

This doesn't mean they are necessarily the best in the world, but their marketing has established how they are perceived. In this book I will teach you how to do the same in the most leveraged and effective way possible, so that within a few short months you can become a first-class expert while finally doing what you love.

Most critically, there is a simple principle that must guide all agents of influence:

Phew! Breathe that in for a minute and really digest it. Your input could transform an entire industry simply by looking at an old problem from a new perspective, taking a fresh approach. You don't have to know all the answers. You just need to know answers to the specific problems you aim to solve - problems that you are most likely already an expert on and solving right now in your day-to-day life. One well-known example of an agent of influence who completely turned her life around is Bethenny Frankel.

Giants levelling the playing field: why now's a perfect time to get started

The great news is that the playing field has been levelled and paved for you, as it was for Bethenny, to begin right now, no matter what your starting point.

You don't need to hire staff, you don't need a physical shop front and you don't need tens of thousands of dollars in your bank account to get started - nor do you need prior knowledge of creating products, marketing or business, for that matter. And you don't need to be an extrovert, as many believe, or to catch a break on a reality TV show.

I've had no formal training in any of these areas, and for a guy who grew up on a cattle and cropping farm in country South Australia, who started with zero budget but went on to build an online following of more than 35 000, I know what's possible. More importantly, through painstaking testing and measuring over ten years I know how to help you reach your goals, and to figure out what works and what doesn't, and where you should invest your time and energy in getting started in the lucrative expert industry.

The six fundamental principles of lifestyle design

Everything you can imagine is real.

- Pablo Picasso

As an agent of influence in training, or even as a pro who is seeking to hit the next rung of success, you're creating a vision. Every day. With every thought.

This vision must create dramatic tension between where you are and where you want to be in order for it to be propelled into existence. To do this we begin by answering several key questions in the categories of see,do,create,experience,inspire and share, which are the six fundamental principles of lifestyle design. Agents of influence begin their journey by designing their ultimate life; the business is then designed to fit around this. So let's begin.

1. See

What do you see yourself doing and/or having in six to 12 months? If you could do or have anything you wanted within this time period, and you knew that anything was possible, what would it be? Using the templates on the following pages, get clear on what your future lifestyle looks like. This is the vision that will compel you to make profound changes in your life that you never thought were possible.

Neale Donald Walsch writes, 'Life begins at the end of your comfort zone'. Get uncomfortable in this exercise and move beyond your existing comfort level. Each expansion of your comfort zone brings about an expansion of you - your lifestyle, your wealth and, most importantly, your potential.

You'll look back and realise that it was the accumulation of small steps over time that was really what you needed all along. For example, I used to watch many reality TV shows on Arena and picture myself in one. I didn't know how. I just knew what I wanted. Six short...