Trevor:
And there's something about a book that feels like you're leaving something behind. What is that going to be for you? Now, there's kids books and there's other fun books. There's recipe books. There's all kinds of stuff. But finding that for you. Look in the mirror, man, and get one. Just decide you're going to do a book. That's step number one.
Trevor:
Step number two is get some help. Like, if you haven't been down that road before, it's not like we're phenomenal communicators, and we live in a world where everybody listening right now. You've been communicating for a long time, for at least a few years, right? And you can talk. That can turn into text, and that can be your book. And I was always like, man, I feel so stupid that it's hard for me to get a book done. How could I fail at doing this? I'm a pretty good communicator. I actually can write. I don't even mind.
Trevor:
But why can't I? A book is words on paper.
Greg :
This is Secrets for Success. Welcome to the Secrets For Success Podcast. I'm your host, Greg Tod. Thank you, as always, for joining me. I have a special guest today, a really, really special guest. This man actually changed my life. You did. You changed my life.
Greg :
Because he got me to do something that even though I wanted to do, I just felt like it was too daunting. And the guy that's sitting across from me is Trevor Crane, and he is the founder, CEO, big dog of Epic Author. And let me tell you something, this is the only reason why this book, the Healthcare Innovators Path, is out. It's because of you. And so, first of all, thank you, brother. And welcome to the podcast.
Trevor:
Thank you, brother.
Greg :
All right, so why don't you tell people a little bit about who is the man behind the mask?
Trevor:
Man behind the mask?
Greg :
Who is this guy?
Trevor:
That's a good question in the context of what you're just talking about in your book. And thank you for the compliments, by the way. I'm going to take off my mask and unveil.
Greg :
Who is this guy?
Trevor:
This masked man? And he calls this masked man every.
Greg :
Single time we text each other. He can't even call himself Trevor like a normal human being. He has to call himself the Sexy Beast.
Trevor:
Is it always sexy? Beast I wasn't sure that that's my nomiker for myself.
Greg :
That's really it. I mean, if I see Sexy Beast on the table, I'm like, oh, it must be from Trevor.
Trevor:
So in the context of what helping you with a book for over ten years, I've been helping badasses create books that make a difference to their audience, that helps them get their message to the world. So when you and I talked about this book in Cabo in a swimming pool, on the idea of getting this done, and I work with a lot of people that either have never done a book, and they're like you, and they know that they should have. They probably could have done one years ago, or they want their next book, and I just have the keys to the kingdom to help you do it quickly and easily instead of it being this daunting task. And the only reason that happened, Greg, is that I failed at this so hard. Like, for over ten years, for over 20 years, I wanted to write a book and didn't. And I was that guy that put up a New Year's resolution and didn't make it happen. So when I was 20, in my twenty s, I wanted to write a book about whatever I thought was important at the time. And it went on my dread.
Trevor:
This year I'm going to do it. Didn't do it, didn't do it, didn't do it. When I was 30, wanted to do it. It took me 20 years. And it wasn't until I actually just got help because I had to look in the mirror. A friend of mine, Mike Koenigs, actually was talking, and he changed my life with just making it easy for me. And he said, Trevor, here's what we need to do. And I was in a little different position than you, Greg.
Trevor:
I thought I could write 20 books, and you probably can, too, but I wasn't sure what my message would be. So when I started going through the process of getting my book done with my first coach or helper, my first idea wasn't a good one. My second idea wasn't a good one, my third idea wasn't a good one. And it's not that it wasn't a good idea. It didn't make sense to my audience that I'd be writing the book for right. So in that first three months, it was painful because my first book ideas were getting shot down, not by my mentor being a jerk, but by me just answering the questions he was asking. I was confused. I didn't understand.
Trevor:
And that's one of the reasons why people don't get their books done is they're confused. They don't even understand what this book is for, who they're trying to help, what they're going to do for it, because we all have these lofty dreams. And it wasn't until I simplified the whole system and I found a book that resonated with my audience, with an audience that I wanted to attract and dude, over the next year and this sounds like such a brag, and I know we're doing a podcast thing here, but it ten X my business. It ten X my income in that next year. It was a few months of pain of me finding my voice, but brother, more people wanted to work with me because I put all of my best ideas in a book with one simple focus. And it was just much easier for me to grow my business, my brand, my reach, and help people it was magic.
Greg :
I want to talk about how you're able to do that, but let's go back to what was going on with you for the ten years prior, and even for me, of wanting to do a book, but every single year, it's like it didn't happen. So you've worked with so many people, and you've helped so many people get their book out, but I'm sure you've also presented the opportunity to a lot of people to do a book, and they don't do it. So since you're in this industry, what are like, the three main reasons why people never get it done?
Trevor:
Good question.
Greg :
I mean, I know for me, this is what my justification?
Trevor:
Yeah. Give me your three what were your.
Greg :
I'll tell you my main one. I've always felt like I was really good at communicating through speech, and it was just so easy for me to hop on an Instagram live, hop on Facebook live, do a Periscope, whatever, and just people are and Bro says, do my thing. You know what, you know, then when I was told, hey, you should go to do webinars and challenges and stuff like that, I could do that all day because I am very comfortable with speaking, by the way. When I was in physical therapy school, before I got into PT school, my minor was in English, and I can write right. But I just felt like it's just going to take too long, man. It's going to take so long. So I continued to push it off. So that was my main thing.
Greg :
What are you hearing from a lot of people on why they believe they can't do it? Because I didn't realize it was going to be I'm not saying it was easy. I don't want to say it was easy, but it wasn't as daunting as what I thought it was going to be.
Trevor:
So you asked a question. You asked you a couple more questions, because there's more there that let's unpack, because this is for anybody listening right now about why they're not getting their book done or that other big thing that they know they should be doing, because you knew that this was something that you wanted to do. Like, most of us know there's things that we want to do. Why aren't you doing it? And in the case of this being a big task and taking a lot of time, that was one of them or some of the other reasons. And you knew you're good at communicating with your mouth. It was so easy, and this looked like it was going to be hard. What else was it for you? Because there was a distance between us first talking about this, and you actually take an action. Right.
Trevor:
So what were those things for?
Greg :
You relevant. Here's another thing. Right before we went to Cabo, I had already started writing, and I was just putting down my thoughts. I was just every day I said, okay. And honestly, I didn't have a system. I was just like, all right, every day I'm going to write 1000 words a day.
Trevor:
I remember.
Greg :
And I was putting good stuff there, or at least I thought it was good. And just writing, just writing, just writing. And then I remember sharing with you in a pool, oh, I started a book. And then you told, okay, so how's it going? And then we went through all of our stuff, and I realized that I don't feel like I had a really good blueprint of what was going to be the strategy for making the book create an ROI for us.
Trevor:
Check that out. Check that out. I thought you were going to say that you weren't sure you had a strategy of how to make this book good, is what I actually inserted, but you said, no, I want to make sure this has an ROI. So you just are mentioning time and money. A lot of times. We're so freaking busy with life, and you're very busy guy with personal and professional things. What makes this worth the list? Because it's going to take some time.
Greg :
That is it right there. That's it. Is this really going to be worth my time? Is it better for me to do the things that I'm already doing? Or should I now go divert my time?
Trevor:
Right. You go making one more instagram post that reaches a thousand people right now. Why should you do these? So I would say that there's a lot of reasons why people aren't getting it done and their time, money, the things we've been talking about. Not sureing if I'm a good enough writer. Not everybody majored in English and thinks they can actually write. So there's a lot of people that aren't sure that they have the right message. They want some validation from the world. Here's what I would say, is that I think everybody should write a book, Greg.
Trevor:
And I brought some books from my daughter, who she wrote her first book when she was seven.
Greg :
Wow.
Trevor:
So I believe everybody on the planet should write a book, and there's a lot of reasons why. And I also think there's a mission, or should be a mission and a business behind that book, because if you don't think about that ROI, then the book dies in oblivion. And that actually is the saddest thing, Greg, because I now get to work with so many authors. And I would say almost every week I talk to an author who might have one or multiple books, and they'll be in tears with me because I'm pretty good at some Q a. And I care about people, and they'll tell me what's going on, and they're like, man, I don't know. This was worth the lift. I put all this time, money, energy, and resources into it. They don't say it in those words, but they're like, this is a great book, but nobody knows about it.
Trevor:
And most books die in oblivion. Dude, the stats are like, staggering. In a book's lifetime, most people will sell less than 2000 books ever.
Greg :
Wow.
Trevor:
Like over 90%, like less than 200 a year. They just don't know how to use the tool. And so it could be the Bible, man. It's this amazing book, but it's wrapped in something they don't know how to share with anybody. And so I think there's this fear of failure and not knowing what that's one of them, but not knowing what to do this damn book. Because anybody listening right now. If you want to get a book done and you've never done one before, pretend like holding your hand, you're going to have a book, you're going to get it done. If you make the commitment, I'll give you a few strategies so that everybody can do it easily.
Trevor:
But you're going to have a new problem. Greg, hold your book in your hand real quick. I got one of the iterations of it. Now, what the hell are you going to do with that now? That's the question, because this is your new problem. Like every time you solve a problem, you got a new problem. What are you going to do now? One of the things I'm excited to talk to you about, because I want to talk about this book, is what are you going to do now? That's an advanced copy. What? 25 of those exist on the planet. How's the world going to get that? So we need to now plan how we're going to get it into their hands.
Greg :
Right?
Trevor:
And we were talking about Alex RamosI before we started. There are different strategies you can do to promote that sucker, but I think people are just clueless about what they're going to do next. So it ends up if you'd have a tool you don't use, dude, that's a useless tool. And especially successful people, we're like, why should we put our time and energy into something that I don't know if it's going to have the ROI talk to me? Is that resonating with your challenge?
Greg :
That's everything. That's literally everything. Is it going to make enough sense? Is it going to be worth my energy to be able to do it?
Trevor:
And, you know, you're a cool, successful, intelligent guy, and you know, you could write this book. That book good. Greg, we had five book ideas. We started all. It's not that you didn't believe in your content. It's in the impact that it's going.
Greg :
To have, the impact it's going to create. And I can say that now having done it and still going through the process of it, it is so worth it.
Trevor:
What is worth it for you? Well, because this is interesting, because we just said that there's only 25 of these books out there. What is valuable about it for you.
Greg :
Now, so far in everything that I preach, which is not trading your time for money and basically doing work on the front end so that you can reap the benefits of it on the back end. It is totally in line with what I believe in. For instance, so 25 copies we've created so far. I went to Canada, and they wanted to leave the people with something because a lot of people didn't know who I was prior to going to Canada. Right. And I went there and I did my thing and, know, brought the energy and gave them all types of value. But I was able to leave the people with this. I was able to leave them with this.
Greg :
By the way, it was cool because they paid good money for the books. I just feel like they won't forget me now that they have.
Trevor:
Dude, they don't throw that away. Exactly.
Greg :
Ultimate business card.
Trevor:
Nobody like we are we live in a culture where people don't throw books away.
Greg :
Dude.
Trevor:
Right. Like, you could throw all kinds of stuff away. You'll throw away an iPad, but you won't throw away a book.
Greg :
No, you are 100% right. There's only two things I'm not throwing away. I'm not throwing away a book, and I'm not throwing away my MacBook Pro box.
Trevor:
Right.
Greg :
Is it crazy?
Trevor:
Why do I do it? I don't know. I use them as drawer organizers.
Greg :
Now what are we going to do? But that's what it's done for me so far.
Trevor:
Well, how about clarifying your message?
Greg :
Oh, it's helped so much with that, and I feel like I was able to do it fairly quickly because I knew what my messaging was, but it's made it even clearer, and it's given people an entry start. For me, most of my programs prior to this year were all very high ticket programs, so I was willing to say, hey, look, man, I'll give all my stuff out for free on Instagram this that, DA DA DA DA. But if you want to work with me, you got to pay me the big bucks. Right? Well, now what it's done is it's created a much easier entry path for people to be able to come into my world and start to consume content to get the result that they're looking for. So it's created a much better bridge to be able to get people to the next level of working with me. So, so far, it's been phenomenal.
Trevor:
Well, we get to use different types of marketing strategies, right? So let's break down. You asked me a question like, what's it take to have somebody get their book done? Or what are the three steps? Or something like that? So I'd say, Greg, the big thing here is I would say the first step that everybody I would challenge everyone to take right now is look in the mirror, decision number one and say and decide, I'm doing a book.
Greg :
Right.
Trevor:
Like, that's the first thing.
Greg :
So the commitment.
Trevor:
Yeah, it's cut. Like, look in the mirror at yourself. And literally, I think this is the strategy, and just decide, I'm doing a book. I didn't say the book. I didn't say which book. Just a book. Because it can be used for leads. It can be used to establish your leadership, your authority and credibility.
Trevor:
It can be a legacy. Dude. When I got my first book done, there was this sense of, at least I did it because what happens if I get hit by a bus? What am I going to leave behind? And this was my first book. Mentor didn't get his book done until he was going through cancer treatments. So he was laying in bed, watching his hair fall out, vomiting into a bucket every day. And he was like, what am I going to leave for my son? And there's something about a book that feels like you're leaving something behind. What is that going to be for you? Now, there's kids books and there's other fun books. There's recipe books.
Trevor:
There's all kinds of stuff. But finding that for you, look in the mirror, man, and get one. Just decide you're going to do a book. That's step number one. Step number two is get some help. Like, if you haven't been down that road before, it's not like we're phenomenal communicators, and we live in a world where everybody listening right now. You've been communicating for a long time, for at least a few years, right? And you can talk. That can turn into text, and that can be your book.
Trevor:
And I was always like, man, I feel so stupid that it's hard for me to get a book done. How could I fail at doing this? I'm a pretty good communicator. I actually can write. I don't even mind it. But why can't I? A book is words on paper, and we can now transcribe that and get it done. But if you've not written a successful book before, if you've not got six pack ABS, if you haven't done a million dollars, the fastest path through the jungle is not being Tarzan, because I don't know. I think that's a fictitious story. I don't think a little baby was dropped in the woods and then figured out how to put a loincloth on and become king of the Beat.
Trevor:
And if he was, it's like one know grace, though.
Greg :
Don't ruin it for me. No, I mean ruin it.
Trevor:
Okay. It happened to Mowgli. Okay? It happened twice. It happened to Mowgli, and it happened to, you know, Dorothy landed in Oz and she was, ah, where am I? Oh, gosh, I want to go home. And so vulnerable little girl. She's like, hey, can anybody help me? Help. And they're like and the little people showed up, and they're like, follow, follow, follow. Yellow McGrone.
Trevor:
You go through the big old forest, and it's easy as shit. Along the way, you might find a couple of people to help you. And so she skips along with a little dog in a blue dress when they made a technicolor and a blue dress to go ahead and get home, man. And then she got off the path, and it was like flying monkeys. And I'm like, oh, stay on the path, which is what you said. You started taking action. Most people get inspired. Like, I'm going to write a book.
Trevor:
I get it, I get it. But get some freaking help. Because if you can be given the blueprint, which is what you said, do you have a framework? And I thought you're going to say for organizing your ideas, that wasn't it for you. It was a framework for sharing it with the world in such a way that was going to make it valuable enough for you to put your time, money, energy and resources taking away time from your family and the things that are important to you and the things you want to do for entertainment. The first two are those dude. And then step number three is be coachable. Now do the thing, because all too often, I'll give a recipe, and let's say peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They're delicious, by the way.
Greg :
You do not have to convince me on that.
Trevor:
But I'll give someone the recipe for peanut butter and jelly, and it doesn't have many components. Everybody knows it. It's bread and peanut butter and jelly. And they'll take that recipe. And I've done this a million times because I'm not always the most coachable guy, right? We're dumb, big dumb guy. And I'm like, I know better. I like lobster. I'm going to throw some lobster in there.
Trevor:
And I like ice cream. So I'm going to put ice cream, lobster and peanut butter and jelly. And he's like, I don't know what you got, man. I know, but I like tortillas. I'm going to do it in a tortilla. I'm going to do nutella. Elvis made a new sandwich. So maybe if you're Elvis friggin figure it out and you can throw in bananas and you've got the new sandwich.
Trevor:
But like, most of us followed the like, that's why you ask for a guide. And that's my core premise on how I try to do everything if there is a result, I have not yet gotten man who can help me.
Greg :
Okay, let's break a lot of this down because this really is for everything, you guys. Everything. Commit first. You have to just make the decision. And when you truly make that decision, you're cutting off all other options, right? I'm deciding. I'm committing on this, and there should be a deadline as well. Okay, I'm committing on this, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this and have this done by this time.
Trevor:
Well, you know what? So I completely agree. And if we're talking about the very first step, just decide, and everybody can do that. This second and we don't need the deadline to start it's just I'm going to do it personally. That's my personal one.
Greg :
I got to say this because I made a decision last year to do it, and I did start it, but it wasn't until this year when you actually reach out to me and you text me on Friday night, you text me like, so what about that book?
Trevor:
I'm going, man.
Greg :
And I was like, Dang, yeah, the book, yeah, okay, I'm going to finish it up. I'm going to get to it. But then we had a deadline and we had my event.
Trevor:
Well, hold on. You know what it took, though. So just think about what happened there. So I still think it's decide first and then we find our who because a lot of people will pick up that that's it. I'm going to start writing every day. I'm going to do 1000 words. And I'm like, Dude, put the pencil down. Find who's going to help you.
Greg :
Right, okay.
Trevor:
Find who's going to help you.
Greg :
And I think that I know for me, just having someone that I trusted and I knew exactly what to do.
Trevor:
Because check this, I didn't waste any more time. So what's the criteria for picking your who? So why did you trust me? When you pick a mentor, and you've got a lot of mentors, what are your parameters for choosing someone to help you?
Greg :
I mean, I could just tell you what it was when I chose you. Number one, you've done it. Number two, you had a system behind it, and that's what happened in a pool.
Trevor:
And how'd you know I have a system for it?
Greg :
Because you shared it with me.
Trevor:
Got it. I gave you the one to the recipe.
Greg :
Yeah, you gave me the recipe without asking for anything. You said, this is the recipe. This is what you need to start doing, blah, blah, blah. And at that point, I already knew that you were going to be my.
Trevor:
So you and I both put ourselves in an environment where we're going to hang out with cool people that were playing at a certain level of success. So that when we accidentally bumped into because Greg and I didn't lather ourselves up in oil and look for each other in a romantic moment in the pool in Cabo. I mean, that's what happened, but we.
Greg :
Didn'T plan on that.
Trevor:
But we went out of our way to put ourselves around a group of people so that we would have the encounters, so we could find people that are playing at our level or higher. Because you and I love everybody, so we can be in a pool at the Holiday Inn and still find people to love, man. That's not the thing. But we found a few conversations to have that inspired one another, and then we found something that was a common goal or interest. So we had a cool conversation about things we care about, and that built trust, right? And then when you and I had a chance to talk about something that I think I'm good at, you're like, well, damn, he did it. He's got a process or a system, and what you measure in this case, I'm just taking out what you're like, you know what? This guy's actually talking truth, because I think we can smell it, right? Like, when I went to the singles bar when I was trying to get laid, it just never worked out for me. Never worked out for you? And that's not exactly accurate. There are a couple of times I got attention at a singles bar.
Trevor:
It's when I had a girlfriend. Now, how on God's green earth did all these chicks know that? Now I'm off the table. When you and I were chatting, I had no other agenda other than just helping you. I had no other agenda when I was 19 and striking out, but when I didn't need it, I showed up in a different frame. And then what you heard was, I think, a congruent message. We hear truth when we hear it, and we smell bullshit.
Greg :
Right?
Trevor:
And so I was full of shit, apparently, as a young man.
Greg :
Gosh, okay, there's a lot of layers to this. Wait, and I don't want to get off track here, but I do want to go back to this whole thing of when you couldn't pick up anybody at the bars because.
Trevor:
No, let's go back to that.
Greg :
It was awesome. It's so interesting how when you actually have proof of you being someone that's desirable, meaning that you have a girlfriend, because the same thing happened to me. Once you have proof that you're someone desirable and somebody wants you, other people want you.
Trevor:
It'sick and I thought that it would be, like, more eye candy, like the hot girls hanging out with the ugly bald dude. I had a solid mullet back in the day, by the way. I mean solid.
Greg :
I did have a little fade. I did have hair and a little yeah, but no mullet.
Trevor:
But people, the client, the prospect, the ladies could smell it. There's a level of confidence and conviction that comes through when you've achieved some kind of success.
Greg :
Right? And the trust happened so fast. Like that. Just like that. Just like that. All right.
Trevor:
Because I thought you might say some other things about picking mentors and needing to see that they've done it for others and yada, yada yada. But in the case of this, it can be as simple as I trust this person.
Greg :
Yeah, I think there's another thing, too, that happened that was a big part. We were in a room that was already vetted, and I did connect. For me, I've got to connect with the person.
Trevor:
And so this room, by the way, is a mastermind. So we put ourselves in a mastermind of successful. Business owners trying to go to another.
Greg :
Level of it was a war room mastermind, and we were in a pool talking for about 2 hours.
Trevor:
Was it 2 hours? No way.
Greg :
It was more than two.
Trevor:
Really?
Greg :
It was more than 2 hours because remember, they had the thing upstairs? They had that party upstairs after, and the party was going on, and we were still in a pool. We're like, Damn, we need to get out the pool now because that's right. Party's going.
Trevor:
Because we're twins.
Greg :
Yeah, it was like salt and pepper. Yeah, exactly. Push it.
Trevor:
Good.
Greg :
So there's something else, and I just want to bring value to you guys because okay, we had a great conversation. Yeah. He gave me some awesome gems on how to do the right things in the process of starting a book. But now how is it that Trevor and I are now working together? We've collaborated together. We have shared clients together. Trevor spoke on my stage, and how does that actually happen?
Trevor:
So can I insert this? Because I don't think this is what you would say, but I think it is. This sounds very hokey, but I think the answer is love, which sounds very hokey. And my first millionaire mentor told me that the secret to his success was love. And I wanted to throw up in my mouth because I was like, come on, man, tell me what I got to do. And he said, I only pick projects that I love. I only work with people that I love. I only hire people who love what they do. And then every day, I get to live in love.
Greg :
Oh, wow.
Trevor:
Now I get chills thinking about it, because now that has come full circle, and I now see how that shows up successfully in my life. But let's talk about this. We chatted in the pool, and a short conversation turned into a long conversation, so much so that we were enjoying ourselves enough. We didn't join the party because we were having a great conversation about things that we love. And in this case, I was probably asking you questions about you. And we humans have a tendency to be pretty into what we're into. So I was asking questions and giving advice and asking probing questions because I love people. I love you, and I'm actually listening.
Trevor:
So we had a quality conversation, and I have not experienced you where you're not doing the same thing. We sat down to start the conversation today. You're like, how are you? So that's how we just normally as humans function. So time passed between Cabo and I gave you some tools and some resources, and we had some things happening, but time passed, and what triggered us to now be working with each other and whatnot? And I would say it's love. Now, here's the thing. What does that mean? So I think sales is love. So you're a potential partner. Potential.
Trevor:
We had a great friendship, right? And I was thinking on a Friday night, apparently, who do I love? Who do I want to work with? Who do I want to connect with? Who do I know? And I thought of you. Now, sales is love, so I had to reach out to you. And sales is hard, man. And sometimes love can be hard. My wife wants us to talk to a counselor. And I'm like, hey, but maybe we're just great. She's like, But I want us to be greater. I'm like, okay.
Trevor:
So she's like, we got to put the work in. We got to do this extra work. And so it's work, man. And it can be this pain in the butt. I got to do dishes, and when I got to go to the gym and when I got to go do whatever, or I got to pick up the phone and call this guy or text him, it's hard, right? But I put love first, man, right? So when I'm aware, I'm going to take the time to be aware, right? I put love first.
Greg :
Love is hard. But love literally is how this whole thing happened. Because I remember when we go back to we'll come off the pool thing here in a second. But I do think this is really important for you all listening. When we were in the pool, we were talking about the things that I love. And I was sharing with Trevor how he can bring those things into his business. He was talking about the things remember, that was about and then he was talking about the things that he loves. And then he was showing me how you can bring this into your business.
Greg :
I love my business. I love the things that I do. And because he did that, I was actually starting to fall in love with the guy, and the same thing was happening. And then here's the thing that happened after. What happened after is that's wonderful. And that was a great we had, you know, 2 hours plus together. But then this is the part that's really important, you guys. It's following up.
Greg :
So the next day, we both left, and we were at the Cabo airport and I saw him, and guess what? We continued to talk about the things that we love and how we can help each other with the things that we have. So we talked about it, and then it kept the conversation going. A lot of times you'll go to an event or a seminar or this or that or whatever, but then people say, oh yeah, I really love this person. But they don't show the acts of love. They don't follow up the person. It was a week and a half after we actually got on the phone again, and some time passed in between. Actually, not that much time. You actually came over to here to see my facility, to come see the office and hung out.
Greg :
And you guys, I just want everybody to understand, like, this is what it takes. This is what it takes. It takes following up. It takes persistence. It takes checking in on the person, which is what he did for me. Bringing value to each other and showing them that you appreciate them and love them. That's what we've done for each other.
Trevor:
Well, it started off random, right? So let's look at it. So people believe in the law of attraction, and we put ourselves in an environment. We ended up being casually connecting. What you just mentioned about the airport, it was another casual connection. It's not like we had planned that. But you gave the discipline here with this is all implementable of the follow up. It's the follow up and follow through. So it happened by happenstance that we bumped into one another or that everybody bumps into the people that they love and care about, or that the world is bringing you heroes and mentors and partners and things.
Trevor:
And we need to pay attention to that and ask questions and engage and find those that we're looking for. And that's paying attention. And then the discipline that we get to implement to go to the gym to improve your relationship, to improve our relationship, is the follow up and follow through. Right now, that's something that we can schedule and make part of the discipline. That's the thing that it's simple, but it's not necessarily easy because I have to get up early, I have to go show up. I have to do everything I got to do. And now nurture this new relationship and whatever. But that follow up and follow through is something that's so controllable as long as you have a blueprint for it.
Trevor:
And this was like, I'm like, I'm going to follow up and follow through with this guy regardless of whether you give me money, we partner with each other, whatever. I'm just going to nurture that relationship. And so then that meant this is the second or third time I've been out your office here. You invited me to the podcast. So you're running a risk when you ask for so we have to embrace the things that are sometimes uncomfortable, difficult, whatever, instead of going on a Netflix binge. And so you had to decide, I'm going to do a podcast. I'm going to go ahead and decide who the guests are going to be. I'm going to make this risk.
Trevor:
I'm going to make this new commitment. I'm going to put up cameras. I'm going to do this. I'm going to invest in this, which is what you said you like about that's. One of the things you like building is building something that can have legs for forever. But the follow up and the follow through is the magic of what made this happen. And as your mentor, in the case of getting your book done, it was my responsibility to lead, right?
Greg :
And you did it.
Trevor:
Well, when we schedule an appointment, we tend to keep it, right? So my whole life, my whole business comes down to scheduling appointments and keeping appointments. That's it. Then you set it, set the next one, that's it. And if we fail to do that, dude, my dad said he would come see my son when he was born. He lives in California. We're in Tampa, Florida. And he's like, oh, man, I want to come see your son. I'm, like, fly out anytime, dad.
Trevor:
So for the first year, my dad never came. And I was like, hey, dad, when are you going to come? When are you going to come? When are you going to come? Now, my dad's not a bad dad, not a bad grandpa. He just was busy. Never got it on the calendar. Never got it on the calendar. I went and took my son to see my dad. Got to see. But then 18 months had gone by.
Trevor:
It was two years. And I'm like, dad, let's get it on the calendar. Can I buy the ticket? If we don't schedule the appointment? The intention and the love was there. This isn't a criticism. It is an observation of we didn't schedule the next appointment. Buy the plane flight.
Greg :
I hope you all are listening to this, man. This is what it takes. You guys want to build relationships with people. You have to be so intentional about making this happen. By the way, even with everything that Trevor's telling you, it still might not turn into the fruit that it's turned into with the relationship like what we have. But you must discipline yourself to get into the habit of doing these types of things. Schedule it. Do it.
Greg :
You do the meeting. Schedule the next one before you leave from that one, and keep on doing that over and over and over again, and you give yourself just a much higher probability of good things happening.
Trevor:
Well, Greg, as a I don't know how often I'm going to have the opportunity to say that I'm mentoring you, but I can in this capacity. Like, you were a really good student. Like, I asked you to do things and check it out. Guys, this is really crazy. He did them. Greg, I asked you to do something. You said you would do it by a certain time, and you did it.
Greg :
How much energy does that give you as the mentor? Because I know for me, it's the greatest thing ever.
Trevor:
So I had two conversations yesterday with people. Multiple, but let's just say there's two. One was Coachable and oh, my God, this is a new business owner. He's super excited and enthusiastic. He's showing up on time. He's trying to do everything that I'm sharing with him. He's asking questions that are very real as far as the challenges are going on for him, and he's trying to implement the thing and it was rejuvenating. I felt on fire.
Trevor:
I felt like I was channeling the universe into this guy to go ahead and help him become successful. And I know he's going to succeed or fall on his face, which then he's going to learn massive amounts, and then he will learn some, maybe fall on his face again, but he's going to succeed or fail on his own, and he's in this zone, and I was like, I'm on fire. I love what I'm doing. Almost in the same frame. Almost had two guys on the same call I did, in fact. And the conversation I'm having with the other dude, the opposite. And it wasn't that he's a bad dude, but we're not seeing eye to eye, right? We're not talking about the same thing. It was like oil and water, and it was just and I care about this guy, but we're not going to end up working together.
Trevor:
I can feel it. And my temptation is to help him and serve him, and I'm like, Dude, hold on, hold on, hold on. Your hair is on fire. Let me just throw a towel on it. And he's no, no, I got it. I got it. I got it. I'm like, Good, but you're on fire.
Trevor:
But, Greg, I don't think it's my job to save everyone, and I want to, and I have a tendency to put the time in. And so, dude, I was on the call. I was on the call. A zoom call went longer than I should have. Then a little bit longer, because I'm just trying to help this guy. It does not matter about money. I don't give a shit about that. I'm not even trying to get more money out of him.
Trevor:
I even want to give him some money back because I just want to get but I want to help him. And by last night was doing dinner for my kids. I was in the kitchen, and I was, like, exhausted because I was like, I hate trying to push that boulder up the hill when someone doesn't want it. And here's the thing. He wanted a different outcome, and he wanted to get there a different way. Why should I make him wrong dude and suffer in the process?
Greg :
It's energy management, and it's something that I have to be really mindful of. I'm not expecting for clients to give me energy, but I know how much energy I can give to someone that once we go above this, I have to start asking myself, is this making sense? When clients do the work that you are asking for them to do, they're actually giving you energy when you are.
Trevor:
Open to receiving it.
Greg :
They're open to receiving it.
Trevor:
No, if you are open to receiving.
Greg :
Yeah, exactly.
Trevor:
So I used to volunteer at Tony Robbins events. I went to my first Tony Robbins event. Thought it was cool enough that I'd go back for more, and for a decade, I went to every north event he had in America, everything. And I volunteered on his leadership to all kinds of stuff. And I found myself it was such an environment for learning and then coaching and giving. And I remember I would for a week, for five to seven days at a time on my dime. I'd fly across the country, spend all and I'd work 20 hours a day as a volunteer, get paid nothing, just to go ahead and be in the environment and help people. And I would end up at the end of that week, like being sick because I can go, man, I cannot eat, not drink, not sleep, and I can just go for about a week and then I fall down.
Trevor:
And it was tough because that was a week away from my business and work and life, and then I'd be sick for days afterwards because I was running myself down. And I had to ask myself the question, what's going why? Why is this the like, I don't want to stop giving, but what's going on? And what it was, Greg, when I was in that mode and I was giving, giving, I wasn't receiving. I wasn't allowing myself the energy. The energy. Like, I was such a giver, I didn't receive. And this came from my energy, it came from my health, it came from everything. And I just remember because I was trying to figure out what's going on, why am I running down? Because I don't have to get sick on this. I don't want to get sick.
Trevor:
What do I want? Well, I want to have energy and give on all this stuff. And I was like, hold on. Greg. When I was coaching people or working in that environment and helping them, I made it my responsibility to go ahead and help them achieve success. Like, I tried to put them on my shoulders and carry them across the finish line because it made me feel good. I was like, I'm going to coach you. I'm going to make it happen for you. When the people, the clients, the people that I interacted with that I got to help, I was taking the personal pride that if they won and felt better and achieved success, that I had done it.
Trevor:
I was wrong, brother. It was them. It's always them. The example I just gave you is my friend's going to go succeed or fail on his own. I wasn't open to receiving. And I tried to take the responsibility of their success on my shoulders as opposed to giving them the gift of figuring it out themselves. And it was one conversation with myself or maybe a week of me figuring this out of hold on, what if when I'm here sharing and giving, that as much love as I pour in, I get it back. And instead of trying to take personal responsibility for their successes, truly they are know what egocentric frickin freak thinks that he does everything for that? It's his thing.
Trevor:
So that pivoted for me, dude. And I started getting more energy. I never got sick at a Tony event again, and I stopped taking somebody's successes or fails away from them. I don't now measure myself and my self worth based on that.
Greg :
How do you feel like you're receiving now? How are you getting it back? So you're giving to someone. You're helping them, you're serving them. Before, you said you weren't allowing you to receive any.
Trevor:
I wouldn't even receive compliments now.
Greg :
Oh, you wouldn't take their compliments?
Trevor:
That's not exactly accurate. But I was not a good receiver, right? And energetically, I'm very visual, so I talk with my hands, and they use props and all kinds of stuff. And energetically, I was giving energy, and I literally had this push off. Like, I was not there to receive. I wanted to give. But, dude, there's two parts of an equation, and I had to see it for myself. And some of my mentors, I saw not receiving well, and I saw some receiving well and some taking time to deflect the compliments very specifically, like, no, a whole bunch of people trying to help my friend Steve like, you're great, and he's, no, it's not me, it's you. And I was like, dude, you're making everybody feel bad.
Trevor:
They're trying to give you a compliment. They wrapped up the beautiful gift and tried to give it to you, and you're not receiving it. And then let's talk about Tony. I saw Tony Robbins receive appreciation and gratitude in a fraction of a second, in a look like, thank you. Like someone was saying, it wasn't the receiver is giving the gift to the giver. And so it was a combination of things that I was learning, but I believe that there's this golden light that goes in and out of my mouth and my soul and my being, and it's circular, and I focus on making sure that I allow myself to be filled up. And part of that is not taking away your successes or failures. So if your book is a great success, it'll be you.
Trevor:
I was the guide. You are the hero. If it is a failure, it will be you. And you made those choices, not me. I'm not here to freaking carry up the hill. I can barely make it up myself.
Greg :
Gosh, guys. This is so huge, everything that you said there. But when someone does give you a compliment, you will take it. I'm taking it. When someone does the work and I see their success, that's filling me up 100%. But what I'm not doing, and this is what I'm hearing from you is that I'm not going to take full responsibility for every single thing that you I'm going to give you what I believe can bless you and help you. But if you decide to do that or not, that's on you.
Trevor:
I take full responsibility for everything in my life.
Greg :
In my life.
Trevor:
Exactly. But I'm not taking full responsibility for everything in your life. Now. I can have all the best intentions. I can do everything I can to help you, but I'm not going to come to your house and do your dishes, right? I'm not going to take out your trash. Now, if that was my role, I'll do it and I have no qualms. There's no task that's beneath me. Toilets got to be clean, man.
Trevor:
Could you imagine who works at Disneyland, right? And they're at night picking up all the trash. Dude, if they are not doing that, we're not having a happy what they call the greatest place on earth. That's not the greatest place on earth. Down to have trash. You're not wading through trash. Every role is important from nannying the kids to taking out the trash to like neurosurgery on your brain. Is there such a thing? I think it just comes down to getting clear about what you want, finding who to help you get there, going down to the three things, like I created them for today's episode and then being coachable to do that extra work. And let's talk about the follow up and follow through that you mentioned because if you don't do that, when I ask you to do something, you're like, trevor, I'll have this done by the end of the day.
Trevor:
Because we had a deadline. Because I'm not taking away the power of deadline. Holy shit, dude. That just wasn't first for me. Decide find a who now. We can get the map. Now be coachable now let's set a deadline, dude, because if we hadn't done that, we're like, okay, when are we going to release this thing? When is it going to get done? When we had six weeks out or maybe seven. This went from a random idea to a first draft of this product in five weeks because then we tried to print them and get them on time and a variety of things.
Trevor:
So we went from almost doing nothing for probably eight months before that because all your ideas and momentum because we didn't follow up and follow through and schedule a deadline, it stopped because then other things personally and professionally took over. And when I followed up with like, hey, man, how's it going? You're like, dude, I didn't do it. Then we picked a date and then it got done. When you pick a date, it gets done.
Greg :
You guys, this was a master class on how to do epic ish and how to do that. Whether you're trying to write a book, you are trying to start a business. You're trying to grow your business. You're trying to take yourself to the next level. You have to make the decision first, find who is going to help you get there because this is all about energy management and you don't want to waste time. And then once you have decided who that is, understand that you have to be mindful of not only your energy but theirs.
Trevor:
Well, that's to be a good student.
Greg :
Yes, and be a great student. And if you're a great student, that's you showing that you're respecting not only your energy by doing the thing that somebody else that's already carved the path is telling you to do, and you are giving the person that is helping you energy back.
Trevor:
Well, and the gift. Why are people trying to be influencers and thought leaders and want a social media following and teach courses and write books and have mentorships and all that thing? They're trying to help people, man. And like, one secret to get one secret strategy that will help people create success is if you decide that you want something and you find someone to help you do it, go do your best job, and then they can't wait to help you become successful. Whether it is the course, the book, the coaching program, or whatever. They are looking, they are desperate, they are hungry for some silly bitch to do what they said to do so they can go ahead and lift them up and endorse their ass and say, look what Sally just did. She is a jewel. They can't wait to become your best freaking friend and interview them on their podcast and elevate them to the world. This is like one of the instant strategies that create instant authority, credibility in the marketplace.
Trevor:
Because, dude, if you'd have met me on Tom Billyou's podcast, Impact Theory, and he was having a conversation with me and we had this heart to heart here, you probably would have. Not necessarily. Some people are going to like me and trust me and whatnot, and some people are going to go, that's not my cup of tea. I don't like Tom Billy. I don't like bald guys who wouldn't like bald guys? See? But it's that connection piece that I think needs to happen and then the follow up as well is so important.
Greg :
Yeah, guys, that's really what you have to do with everything. All right, so before we finish, I just want to honor you, bro. Thank you. You really did change my life. You changed my life. Not just by helping me with the book, but there were so many other things that you did throughout that process. Do you know that last night, you know who put me in a group chat? JJ. Virgin.
Trevor:
I was going to say put me.
Greg :
In a group chat with another set of doctors that they're like, oh, my gosh, you've got to meet Greg Top.
Trevor:
Yeah.
Greg :
And all that happened from you, which.
Trevor:
Was one of the strategies here. So just be clear in the getting the book done and marketing your book and having it be successful. Y'all hear what Just Greg just said? We figured out who could help Greg, who is a good promotional partner. And I thought, who do I know that I can introduce Greg to that has a similar vision and mission and whatnot? And then I connected you with a handful of people because we got clear about who we're trying to help, who we love, who we're writing a book for. Then it became so natural to make those connections and introductions. And it's an introduction, but it's truly an endorsement.
Greg :
Right?
Trevor:
It's a combination of the two.
Greg :
You created that. So I thank you.
Trevor:
You're welcome, brother.
Greg :
Thanks for being on the podcast, my friend. How do people find out about you?
Trevor:
You can Google me, Amazon me. My name Trevor Crane. Go to Trevorcrane.com. That's on all my socials, so you can get that. Actually, I think I'm Trevor Sexy Crane on Facebook because I got my Facebook account jammed. Somebody hacked me. So I have, like, five friends on Facebook, so, like, me on Facebook now, but, yeah, I'm Trevor Sexy Crane on yeah. And then my company's, Epic Author, and we're focused on helping people share their mission with the world.
Trevor:
Your message is my mission, and that's what we focus on. Awesome.
Greg :
Thank you, brother. I appreciate you. Thank you for being up.
Trevor:
Appreciate you, man. Thank you so much, dude.
