• This past Sunday morning, Debi and I piled the girls in the car and drove to Wellington, 40 miles north, to have brunch with some old friends from New York.

    We took the Maserati and raced up I-95. It’s a great car (Ferrari engine) and interior straight out of Architectural Digest.

    The stereo was cranking out everyone’s favorite tunes–Miley Cyrus (for Elle), Jonas Brothers (for Ava), & Allman Brothers (for me + Debi). Everyone was taking turns singing solos, and we were having a blast.

    Until …

    We reached the restaurant, Johnny G’s, and Debi tried to parallel park in a tight spot while I was belting out my own rendition of the Allman’s “Crazy Love.”

    Her first attempt was…how should I put it…was off a bit (ok, maybe off a LOT).

    So Debi decided she needed to concentrate on the task at hand. I was told in no uncertain terms to “shut-up”, the radio was muted, and there was absolute silence.

    She came in for her second attempt…and NAILED IT! In fact, it was a better job than yours truly has ever done.

    And, that my friend, is where today’s entrepreneurial lesson is hidden.

    You see, there are four stages of learning:

    Stage (1) – Unconscious Incompetence – you don’t know what you don’t know
    Stage (2) – Conscious Incompetence – you now know what you don’t know
    Stage (3) – Conscious Competence – you now know it, but you have to
    concentrate to use what you know
    Stage (4) – Unconscious Competence – you know it, and you can do it without
    thinking about it

    Let’s take learning the alphabet as an example….

    There was a time you didn’t even know what the alphabet was or that it had twenty six letters (stage 1).

    Next, you were told about the alphabet and you realized you didn’t know it (stage 2).

    Then you learned the alphabet, but you really had to concentrate to draw each letter and not confuse a “b” with “d” (stage 3).

    And now–hopefully–you can write words, sentences, and even pages without thinking about the letters themselves (stage 4).

    So, back to Debi for a sec….

    Debi is unconsciously competent (stage 4) when it comes to driving. BUT she’s only consciously competent (stage 3) when it comes to parallel parking. And you know what? For driving and parking that’s good enough.

    “So, where’s the lesson in that?” you ask.

    Easy there, Chachi, I’m getting to it – first, let me ask you a question:

    Are you unconsciously competent (stage 4) at your money making activities?

    For example – can you write an optimized blog post without having to think about keywords and their placement? Or an email with an effective hook, and a compelling call to action?

    If you’re like most entrepreneurs and marketers, odds are you can’t – and it costs you more than you realize. And here’s why…

    When you are only consciously competent (stage 3):

    (1) You’re more prone to make a mistake
    (2) You’re forced doing it slowly – meaning you also make money slowly
    (3) You can only do it in certain places (with your reference material) at certain times (when you can concentrate), so you don’t make money as often
    as you could
    (4) You never achieve mastery so you’ll quickly fall back into conscious incompetence if you take a few days off.

    This is important. Come closer. Listen…

    The biggest leap in income happens when an entrepreneur becomes unconsciously competent (stage 4) in their money making activities.

    Because it’s easier. And they can do it faster and more often, with better success. In essence, they spend their time doing instead of fumbling.

    And, guess what? This Thursday I’m going to show you how to take every money making skill you need to master and make you unconsciously competent.

    I’m talking about taking your skills to such a high level of mastery – you could do them half-asleep!

    Vault To Stage 4

    Imagine the leap of income you’ll have when skills you need are hardwired into your brain like that. When getting JV partners is a snap, writing copy a breeze, and growing your business becomes the healthiest habit you possess.

    Vault To Stage 4

    I can’t promise to make you a better driver or a parallel parking expert. But I can promise you’ll be doing a lot more “driving” to the bank and “parking” in front of the drive thru window as you make bigger (and more frequent) deposits.

    To Higher Profits,

    Rich

    PS -Whether you run an online business or dream of building one, there is no skill more important than this: The ability to quickly absorb and apply new tactics, then turn into habits.

    This is one of the secrets to growing your business, and it’s a common trait of all the gurus I’ve coached. And now I am sharing these very same techniques with you.

    Seize the chance to make growing your business a snap.

    Vault To Stage 4

    P.P.S Do you agree with me on the 4 stages? Disagree? Have an example of your own to pass along?

    Let us know about it in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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