¶ Five Non-Negotiables for Success
Welcome back to another episode of the Art of Online Business . As you can see , here I'm with my wife , jamie , who is also another Facebook ad manager in her own business , and we're going to talk about the five non-negotiables that benefit business and life and full transparency . These are things that we're working towards .
Some we do well , some she does better , and some neither of us do well , but we'll share each of the benefits that they have on our lives and our businesses . By the way , if my voice is new to you , hi , I'm Quajo .
I'm the host of the Art of Online Business , and you can find out more about me and where I came from in the show notes below , and also if you want to see Me and Jamie , my wife , here and you can't right now then head over to YouTube . There's a link in the description below where you can go and subscribe to the channel and watch this very video .
So , the five non-negotiables , jamie .
Get started .
They are 30 minutes of movement , they are new conversations , they are meditation . Or for us because they are new conversations , they are meditation , or for us because Jesus , they're prayer and reading the Bible . They are 10 pages of nonfiction and posting on social media , and apparently they're daily .
So let's talk about Break this down let's talk about 30 minutes of movement , starting with you . Icu is ultra consistent with this .
This one is super easy for me , actually , just because I have a background in exercise , science and wellness . I used to be a personal trainer , it's just . I used to have a business called Mamas Be Movin' where I was coaching moms online and in health , and so it's just something that I have made a habit of mine for years really .
I was really active in all through my childhood with dance and sports , and it's just something . I love it . It's kind of like my , my mental health , my therapy is to is to exercise , to lift weights , and it's just .
I've just made it a part of a part , and if I don't do it , usually Sunday's my rest day , but the rest of the days of the week I'm doing some kind of movement and if I don't do it I just feel out of sorts .
So how do you feel when you do do it ?
I feel great . It's uplifting , it's I don't know . I feel like I got my sweat in . I feel stronger . I feel like I got my sweat in , I feel stronger , I feel healthy . I just you just feel good , right ? I mean , exercise releases those good , feel good endorphins , and so it's just yeah , I just feel good . How about you ?
I wish I was consistent as you .
You're getting better , though I'm getting much better .
So why am I getting better ? Ever since I participated in this 90 day new you challenge at the beginning of the year , though , I've always like tried to be active and before I hurt my ankle , I used to actually walk a lot , like over 10,000 steps a day .
But no , I started this body transformation challenge this year and it was so funny and disheartening at the same time when I started and what my coach told me after monitoring my food , because I had to like record my food intake like day in and day out for like three days .
And my coach is like you're maintaining body weight , but for a man of your size 183 pounds or whatever , he's like you should be losing weight at what you're , at the calorie amount that you're taking in . So you need to go on a reverse diet so you can gain weight and increase your metabolism . And I was like what ?
Yeah , we were both like what's a reverse diet ? I've never heard of that .
So then I went online and found out that , oh yeah , it's for people whose metabolisms have been jacked up and they're super low because of excessive dieting over a long period of time and you've got to eat more food , and so I was like great , but I had an excuse at least for not achieving a summer six-pack .
I was just about to lift my shirt up , but I guess that's too much for the podcast , remember when our daughter remember how your daughter used to do that .
Yeah , I used to lift up her shirt .
He was born in China , right ? But Jamie spoke Spanish with our daughter and she always used to lift up her shirt and say because , that's the word for stomach , so like belly . Anyway since having to track my macros and every week eat more of the right macros like protein , carbs and fat , I've noticed that I've developed new habits of being consistent .
And one of those is just moving . My coach is like you just need to move . If you just do 30 minutes of bike , you know , and 30 minutes of lifting , this will help you and you need to be consistent at it that we can measure how your body's responding to the increased calories , and on and on and on .
And I have felt better , you know , like I felt stronger and I just feel better about my day , like I went biking this morning and I feel better , like I can get more done , like I already have gotten something done .
Right , I'm impressed by you that you like , if you don't get your workout in during the day , then you do it at night , which for me I have to do it in the morning , like first thing in the morning , or else in the evening . I'm just , I'm crashing , I'm just done .
And so he'll be like hey , hang out with me , and you know , let's , let's talk , let's watch something while I'm lifting weights and I'm like I don't know how you do this , because right now I just have zero energy left by the end of the day . But you have been really consistent .
If you can't do it , then you're like , hey , I still , I got to get my workout in .
It's I do life tired . Evening workouts are just as tired as morning workouts . That's probably not good Sleep should be on one of these .
Sleep should be on one of these .
Yeah , working on that All right . So outreach and new conversations . This is one that benefits business Right and one that benefits business .
Right .
And one that we have both learned . I already gave a shout out to Brandy Mouse .
You did not yet .
Yeah , so these come from her . Maybe you heard it on her podcast , we did , but she told me during our last coaching well , many coaching sessions actually to get more consistent at the five non-negotiables , because after like 45 , 90 days , like our business will never be the same and so outreach new conversations .
What that looks like for me first , and then you . What that looks like for me is I'm actively trying to grow on Instagram so I , when somebody likes my videos , I go and DM them , getting better about that . Also , anybody that follows me that's new that has a public account .
I start up a conversation and I've started up plenty of wrong conversations , especially because my keyboard since it's in Spanish , I feel like my keyboard is undermining my ability to type . Like I can't type anyway , Like I'm frequently typos , but like I feel like the Spanish keyboard doesn't help . Why ?
don't you put it back in .
English , because it's annoying . It's a quick but To put it back and forth in English , and it's cool to have one in Spanish , I guess .
But yeah , dming people and one tip that I recently started doing is Brandy's like leave voice notes instead of just messaging people , because anybody , now with mini chat you can just get an automatic message and then it could be a marketing team member or something .
Right .
DMing . So a voice note let somebody know it's you .
Yeah , they really got to the source right . Yeah , okay , for me , my outreach has looked like basically just finding people on Instagram that I'm interested in . So for me , that looks like a lot of Question Well , I'm only interested in you . For me , that looks like a lot of well , I'm only interested in you . But you know what I mean . That's right .
That's right For 15 years .
You sure it's 15? .
Yes , I am Okay yes you are . Last year , she wasn't sure . After a while like over 10 , you kind of start getting a little mixed up . I was just happy as a husband .
We usually get blamed for not remembering anniversaries , and so maybe , maybe I've reminded you separately that I remembered our 14 year one , and you couldn't count yes , yes , yes , he's never gonna let me live that long anyway . By interested in , I mean more like topics , kind of what , what kind of people , what ?
What are people doing that that I'm interested in . So for me that's a lot of parenting stuff , because , lord knows , we all need some help with parenting .
Right , but they don't know that we have a five-year-old and an eight-year-old .
Yeah , we have a five-year-old , eight-year-old the elder child struggles with ADHD and so a lot of things that .
HD HD .
It's an inside joke .
Inside joke there's this guy named Steven , huh , yeah , and anyway , he's pretty funny . Anyway , keep going , keep going .
Anyway .
¶ Building Relationships and Personal Growth
So looking for you know parenting help , and then that led to oh , I could find other people . Our kids sleep through the night now , thankfully , but you know parenting , sleeping , you know doctors that help with sleep and child psychology . I've looked . I love music , so even like people who are giving guitar lessons and different things like that .
What else have I looked at ? I don't know , I can't even remember , but just finding different course creators and people who are doing things online and reaching out to them , finding their content , liking their stuff and then just starting conversations with them .
In the DMs , in the DMs , yeah , in .
Instagram DMs and this also looks like we're not spreading ourselves thin across a million platforms . This is also great advice from Brandy . I'm only focusing on Instagram .
Some people maybe want to focus on LinkedIn or Facebook or email or whatever , but my focus , and I believe yours as well , is just only on Instagram , because if you're spread across too many different platforms , you're like where did I message that person ? And it's just it's too confusing to keep switching back and forth and your brain will explode .
It's just , it's too confusing to keep switching back and forth and , yeah , your brain will explode . So I've learned recently to don't try to do too much because then you never feel like you're winning right .
So like , lower the number of things that you try , the number of times you try to do outreach or start a number of new conversations you try to start , and that makes you feel better every day . At least it works for me right . And it's surprising .
Actually , people follow you and they have a reason for following you , and if you ask them , then they tell you Sometimes .
Can't see that , yeah right .
And you don't have to be like super salesy , but it's just like are you here to consume more content or are you actually looking for help inside your business Because I can serve you with one-on-one coaching or ads management or I have a course ? Like I'm curious and they let you know . And yeah , I just had a conversation with one lady yesterday .
Yesterday .
No .
Yeah .
No , maybe not , I don't know , could have been yesterday , because yesterday was Sunday and she says that it started Friday actually . And she said that she was following me because she was . Her clients are always asking her about ads management .
And I was like , oh really , and I couldn't put it together because her profile was like something completely different and I'm like , so connect the dots for me , because it sounds like you have a business , but your profile doesn't talk about that at all . And she's like , oh , this is my personal profile . And I'm like , oh , who is she ? Though ?
Because her business isn't linked in her in her profile .
But , at any rate , I never would have known that this personal profile was connected to somebody who had a business or an agency with many clients asking them about ads , and she was maybe thinking of I don't know , we haven't gotten there yet but like getting help for me or partnering up with me in some way . So , ask , ask people at DMU .
Yeah right , meditation , and this is one that we hear a lot about and , as Christians , for us , like meditation equals reading the Bible and praying .
Yeah , Meditating on the Word of God . Both of us , I think , have a pretty consistent habit of reading the Bible in the morning and praying A lot of times . For me I link together my movement and my prayers . So I'm prayer walking and that's kind of , so I can kill two birds with one stone , so to speak , and save on time and stuff . But I love it .
I love being outside and walking and praying and yeah .
I think I'll do better at like laying in bed and reading the Bible and then going outside and walking and praying Though again , like exercise sometimes , the walking and praying or lifting and praying when I'm not watching my favorite show of late , the Titans on Netflix .
It's true , though , I like to work out and watch the Titans , but I just feel better when I've prayed . It's like what was that one guy saying ? You gotta know the creator . Yeah , know the creator .
Because , he created us and we're creative , so like getting God's word in my heart , in my mind , so I can actually think about it regularly and have my life be changed because of it .
Right , I like , as Myron Golden says . We listen to Myron Golden a lot too . I like to see , and he always says we're receiving orders from headquarters . Orders from headquarters , and so when we spend time in the Word and praying in the morning , it's like we're receiving . Okay , god , what do you want me to do today ?
Help me to be aware of the people you want me to love on today , or reach out to . Or love on today , or reach out to , and just asking for him to lead your day , and yeah , especially when you need help with our kids .
It's like God , give me wisdom so I can be a good parent . Yes , 10 pages of nonfiction . Yes , this is a hard one because it's one that I don't do consistently .
We used to be really good about this and we've kind of left this one so you guys can comment and tell us how you're doing that .
We're just like kind of sharing our hearts here and being open that you know we're good at some and we're not so good at others , and these are some goals for us and I feel like I've been saying for a long time that I want to get back into this habit of Sunday through Thursday nights reading and then , like Friday night and Saturday night , our weekends can
be . We can watch something you know movie or show or something we like in the evenings or if we're hanging out with friends or whatever . But we need to , we need to encourage each other a little more . We got to be better , yeah .
Netflix is taking our time , but really it makes sense . Why would we spend time in front of a TV ? Or we have a projector . Actually we don't have a TV , but this little projector , big old screen on the wall and watch other people's fantasy lives .
Ie TV shows .
Which are super entertaining . When we don't have the life we want yet , let's spend time reading . So we've got books here that we are kind of reading and want to read . This one is one that I like . It's called Exactly what to Say by Phil M Jones . And since writing , oh writing is just the bane of my existence , that's why I have this .
I do not my existence . That's why I have this . I do not like writing . That's why I have this book , and I started reading it , even though so , jamie , you tease me a lot because I like to buy books .
He has stacks of books . He will just buy I don't know books at a time on Amazon and they show up at our house and I'm like , are you serious ? Another stack of books and it's like , and then we just don't get around to reading them . So anyway . So the new rule is you must finish . I don't know at least is that the new ? Rule .
I'm making a new rule right now . You guys , I can all hold them accountable you must finish at least three books before you're allowed to buy any more books .
I think at least a one-to-one is good , you know . So the books motivate me kind of . It's nice to just buy them , but I do have lots of books . So this is one another one . Think Again that I am reading through by Adam Grant , and we'll link all of these up in the descriptions below what one do you got ?
So I have several here . This one is Extraordinary , by John Bevere . He's a pastor and author , so this is a Christian book but definitely has lots of good stuff in it . And then all of like all these other ones I have , Boss Mom I have . We Should All Be Millionaires .
These are ones that I bought , by the way , so without my book buying addiction , you wouldn't have these books . Just gonna throw that out there .
This is true . This is true . We share a lot , which is good , but six figures in school hours , which is definitely helpful . Again , for me as a woman and a mom , a lot of these are like , yeah , how to have a business and be a good parent at the same time .
It's actually us too and this one , the the Gain , also caught my eye for happiness , confidence and success . So , anyway , lots of tons of good books out there .
So is it mornings or evenings ? How are we going to get this done ? Does that mean like we're actually just going to do reading in the evening ? It's in the evening , yeah .
In the evening it should be like 20 minutes or so before bed , and that's better for us anyway , right ? All the research continues to show that we should turn off our phones and screens before bed and reading , and that helps to calm our brains and then maybe we will think about some of the things that we read while we're sleeping and wake up with .
I don't know , you always wake up with ideas in the morning .
I always have ideas For better or for worse .
Always like hey , you want to know all the ideas I had at three o'clock in the morning .
Don't exaggerate on camera , love , it's not that bad .
No .
And my ideas are super good .
So you're lucky , I'm sharing them with you . They are good ideas , that's right .
Some of them are good ideas . Some of them 64% . Posting on social media is another daily non-negotiable that we both can get better at .
Definitely . Yeah , yeah , this is not one that I like . If I'm honest , this is probably my least favorite . All of the other ones , I can do this , but posting on social media , it's just so different in today's day and age , so to speak that I've never really done .
You don't normally hang out a lot with social media .
Yeah , I mean , I , I consume some , but I just , I don't know , for me , putting myself out there is just it can be sort of intimidating , I don't know , and so I've decided to get a little bit silly with it . If you look at my Instagram , recently people seem to like videos of me dancing , and so I'm just kind of being a goof . It's Instagram .
You're a pretty lady . People like ladies dancing on Instagram .
Sometimes I feel a little bit silly or like when I'm running out of an idea . I'm like I don't know what to do . I'm just going to dance , you know . So anyway , this one is definitely more of a challenge for me .
I might actually have to lower the bar on this one and say I'm going to post three days a week Monday , wednesday , friday or something like that until I get more consistent at it and I can do daily . But I do try to batch it and do a couple at a time and save it , you know , so I can post it the next day .
Because it's like if I'm already kind of in the mood and in the zone , then it's like I might as well record two or three at a time . But I don't know .
I don't know . I feel you're great at batching . You're just . Your brain is better because you've been used to doing things in the in-between moments when kids were both at home .
So in my social media , I have enough to post daily now , but it still takes time . It's more the time , but I feel like you're generally like you're better on camera or you've got more experience I love the camera or charisma , I'm just vain , no , but I mean also , though I've been doing this a charisma .
I'm just vain , no , but I mean also , though I've been doing this a lot longer than you , though you have .
Since elementary Chinese and I guess maybe you do know or you don't know I used to teach Chinese to expats who lived in China and grew a YouTube channel to like 20,000-something subscribers and so , if you think about it , I've been on camera on that channel alone A ton 200 plus videos .
Yeah . Yeah , and then the art of online business , and so , like it's just , he used to always make videos and make me like lock myself with our baby daughter in the bedroom and be like I just need five more minutes to record another video . Keep her quiet . Yeah , keep her quiet .
You know , and I'm like trying to nurse her , like do something so that she'll be quiet . I'm like can we get out of the room yet please ?
Well , because I would record while you guys were gone and then you would come back too early and I wouldn't quite be- . No , because you'd be recording too long . I might Would have been done . But here's the thing Like , posting on social media helps your reach , Like , whatever platform we're on .
We just got to feed the algorithm , unfortunately , and for me , the more I post on Instagram , the more new people I see that follow . Yeah , and also the better I get at posting and eventually like , if I'm looking for one of these posts to go viral , like you can't find that post until you post more , and so that's the five .
We are getting better at it , but I've seen more growth in doing these five things and feeling better about myself as I do these five things , which helps me show up better in my business and on coaching calls things which helps me show up better in my business and on coaching calls , and so I hope you , the listener , also can start to decide what five
negotiables for you and they have to be
¶ Identifying Keys to Business Success
for you . Like , don't just take these five . Take five , I think they're good , but what ? What ones for you ? Make you a better business owner , get you more leads for your business and make you a better .
All right , Cool yeah more leads for your business and make you a better Mm-hmm . All right Helps with everything .
Cool , yeah , until the next time that you see me or hear from me , be blessed . See you in the next one .
Bye , bye .