Laurens Tijssen

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back, everyone, to the Tron Podcast. This is your host, Rashad Woods. Today I have a very special guest, worldwide influencer, Internet guru, pretty much youth prodigy, who's doing great things worldwide. Mr. Lawrence Dyson. Thank you very much, sir. [00:00:13] Speaker B: Super glad to be here, man. I'm excited to have the conversation with you. I think we had some great synergy when we connected earlier, so this conversation has to be, you know, better. [00:00:23] Speaker A: Yeah, correct. And, you know, more importantly, you know, I thought that, you know, when you reached out to me and then I looked up your background, I'm like, this guy accomplished stuff in a really small amount of time, but it's only a small chapter of what you've done, what you will do. But you learn out early age that you want to be an entrepreneur. Got your first digital payment at 14, and really the sky was the limit after that. So just give us a quick background about yourself, please. [00:00:44] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's super great to start because I'm glad you mentioned the timeline, because it's actually a very specific and special timeline for me because we're recording this on a Friday and within two days from now, on the next Sunday. It's been exactly four years since I officially started my company. [00:00:59] Speaker A: Beautiful. [00:01:00] Speaker B: And it's. It's quite wild because it seems like such a long time, and as I've, you know, come close to this date, I've been reflecting so much on a journey, so. To give more of an introduction. Well, actually, yes, you're right. I made my first payment when I was 14 years old, but I also had a lot of years in between where I didn't really do anything productive, so to speak. [00:01:19] Speaker C: Right. [00:01:20] Speaker B: But, yeah, I've been drawn very quickly into this Internet world and doing things online. And I started out at 14 making YouTube videos, and eventually that was something that got me a payment. But that has been, to me, the journey. It's making money online and making that realistic. Because there's a whole difference, in my opinion, towards actually running a business and doing that online, you know, versus having some Instagram followers. So I'm doing my best. Still early on the journey, but it's, you know, it's. It's a wild ride, and it's. It's crazy to reflect that. It's been four years, and there's so many parallels going on. Like, okay, I've done all of this, but, like, damn, I'm still not there. [00:01:57] Speaker C: Right, Right. [00:01:58] Speaker B: So we're here, man. We're. We're doing the journey. And that's, I guess, the Main mission. [00:02:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:03] Speaker A: And. Well, first of all, sell yourself short. Like, you know, when you've only done small amounts of things. What was fascinating to me was, you know, nowadays, because we have Everybody turns on YouTube and they see really quick clips of get money fast, get paid, and all you have to do is do these small things. [00:02:18] Speaker C: But. [00:02:18] Speaker A: But you gave details on what it really takes when it comes to personal branding and not having, like you said, just briefly, just some Instagram followers, but transitioning that to a viable business model. So how do you tell people, like, don't believe the flash in the pan or don't believe the latest person just trying to get clicks versus your proven methods that you've utilized since the age of 14, even with those gaps in between. [00:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's so good that you asked that. And there's. There's a lot of nuance to it. Every time I do some sort of interview or I have to explain something, whether that's a sales call or something that involves a communication with more of more than five minutes. Nuance is a word I almost always use because I think everything is nuanced. [00:02:58] Speaker C: Right, right, right. [00:02:59] Speaker B: That being said, you know, as we are used to being in this digital world, I think a lot of us have this mindset of, okay, I'm seeing all these videos, I'm seeing all this, this post, this material, these people, and you're. As a byproduct of seeing that, you're kind of having this survival instinct where it's like, okay, what is really real or what's tang? But at the same time, it's very easy, especially if you start out to get into this blindness mode almost where you're just distracted and you're thinking, oh, wow, amazing. I follow this and I see this guy is doing that, and boom. So it's just without even any type of clarity behind it, people just chase and chase and chase. What I think is extremely important in the business context is to be able to make your own conclusions. And that's actually for general in life, but being able to build something and keep on building that, and we can translate this into the context of a personal brand. But what I'm trying to say is if you're working on a business or if you're looking to start a business, there's a lot of noise around you and you have to learn, you have to do something. Like, I don't think there's anybody in the world who did truly everything themselves, because you're either working with somebody before you might have a partner. That gives you access to a new type of industry. You, in this world, you buy a course or you join a program, there's always these external factors that allow you to make the growth happen. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:23] Speaker B: It's natural. But if you, you know, if you tend to always just go for the next thing and the next thing, you're neglecting the whole building process. And I think that's extremely, extremely important. [00:04:34] Speaker C: Right. [00:04:35] Speaker B: What I always like to refer to is the fact that in business, and for me it's all about online business, I work with quite some businesses or entrepreneurs, have physical business, but the whole sweet spot of what I'm doing is in the online realms of it right now. That being said, the reason why I think this is also important is because you want to outline what is the business like, what do you really need to do? And if you look at it from a very simplistic way, it's basically, you have to have four departments and there's more to it, but four is the essence. You have sales, you have marketing, you have the fulfillment and the operations. [00:05:05] Speaker A: Got it. [00:05:06] Speaker B: So if I work with companies where we help them with kind of starting out online or we're doing website services, or it's more like a digital marketing strategy type of thing, that's where I always start. It's like, what does your organization look like? Do you have some sort of thing in place where you keep notes? Because if you don't have that, you're just doing things. You need to organize it. And something I always like to use is notion. Notion is just a free thing, just like a free platform. But I organize so much into that for my personal life, my business life, and it allows me to organize these different departments, whether it's the sales, the fulfillment, the marketing, so that I can actually know, okay, these are all the things I do, all the projects I'm working on. And then you're building that control. Which leads me back to what we just talked about. Because you need to learn from other people and there will be certain gurus, certain whatever strategies, and all of that works like it's, it all works. You can double down on making videos, you can do outreach at cold scale, you can build AI like everything works, but it's, it's a matter of taking that information, applying it in your own context, testing it out, learning it. [00:06:15] Speaker C: Right? [00:06:16] Speaker B: Because it's not even going to happen. It's not even going to work. If you just do it one time, creating that system and then, okay, this is my context, this is my business vehicle, right? All right, so this. This guy tells me that if I run my advertising in this way, that this is going to blow up my business. Well, yes, that could work, but that's one system. That's one part. [00:06:34] Speaker A: Correct. [00:06:35] Speaker B: So that's, you know, pretty much my. My whole vision on business in a very short manner. And we could talk about the personal branding aspect of that, but I think that's where everything starts. [00:06:44] Speaker A: Well, I think it was very interesting when I was watching some of your videos for your previous podcast, is obviously one of the things to build business in addition to your personal brand is to have two separate websites. You said, make sure, and I saw yours, and it was very detailed. You know, you have your software as a service, you have detailed. And for people who think you didn't have online payments, you screenshotted it on your website specifically to say, listen, you know, this is how you can kind of filter the noise of proven methods and systems that actually work. And so, you know, in a small context, when it came to this podcast, you know, even though I may not have the expertise in every. Every single field of the person that I'm talking to, the same principle applies when it comes to, okay, what is this person's background? What have they accomplished? Where do they go about compliments? So you keep yourself in a structured format, and then it flows organically to what the data that they gave you. And, I mean, I've talked to people who have created, you know, special foods and bars. I had a, you know, chef. I've had people who have created Internet companies, people who are public speakers, holistic healers. But everything stays in a structure. And like, you have everything organized. I'm not anywhere near your level of organization, but once I stayed in that format, it gave me a good outline of how I can consistently get guests such as yourself. So it seems to. But when you try to be everything to everybody or not have any sort of structured format, you fall flat on your face. You really, truly do. You know, that's. [00:08:05] Speaker B: That's so great, man. And I think it's. What you're basically referring to is some sort of framework you use for yourself to digest information. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely right. [00:08:15] Speaker B: And that's. That's key, man. I think, you know, it's. It's more of a personal preference as well. Like, you have to find what you are very good at as a person. [00:08:23] Speaker C: Right. [00:08:23] Speaker B: And that's difficult to do. That's pretty much been the biggest challenge in my life, which is figure out what is it that I really want to do. [00:08:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:29] Speaker B: What is it that I can do? [00:08:30] Speaker C: Right? [00:08:30] Speaker B: Because I was always in school and I was just going to school, like, nobody told me, like, hey, you can make money on the Internet and you can do this. And this right? Was okay, you're 15 years old. You can do either one or two. [00:08:41] Speaker C: Right? Right. [00:08:43] Speaker B: So, you know, you have to really go to the process of. Of finding things out, make your own conclusions. And that's pretty much the core essence of. Of who I am, I like to say, because being able to digest information, put it into your own pathway, your own vision, and creating your reality around that. [00:09:01] Speaker C: Right? [00:09:01] Speaker A: So let's talk about onboarding a customer. First time comes to Lawrence's team and says, hey, you know, I have this particular, you know, widget or brand or product that I want to sell, and I've kind of either A, capped out, B, don't have the expertise, or C, quote, unquote, the time because, you know, I want to be respectful, that some people generally would, like, are burning the candle on both ends with family and life, et cetera, and they're like, hey, I have something good. I've gotten good response, but I need to take this to the next level. What's your onboarding process like? [00:09:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's amazing, man. That's so good. I love to talk about this because it's something that gets neglect so much. You know, I believe it's one of the most overlooked parts of a business is. I'd like to think it falls under that organizational structure, but it includes the onboarding process. It includes how do you actually start a project, not just what is all the things you do to try to get money in, but after somebody paid you, what happens then? [00:09:58] Speaker C: Right? [00:09:58] Speaker B: Because that's essentially the determination of. Is that, you know, project that fulfillment on its own, is that successful? Because if that's the case, then it's, you know, successful. [00:10:09] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:10:10] Speaker B: And repeated. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Exactly. Correct. [00:10:12] Speaker B: And if that doesn't happen, you know, it. It's. It allows you to crash out your business answering your question. More specifically, there's something which I refer to as step zero, which is essentially what is everything that people see and notice and touch in your own little ecosystem before things actually get started, before they book a call with you or before they fill in a form, and I'll explain shortly the exact onboarding process. But that step zero is also something so overlooked, which is very important because if you're looking to work with people, and this is even for actually existing clients as well, the better you show up like the Better information there is about you, the more present you are, the more valuable pieces of content you have that specifically for that Right. Type of people. All of those little things are the step zero foundation, so to speak. Which means whenever somebody sees that if they're going to be a potential client or even an existing client, they're going to be warmed up in their mind, like they're going to be essentially programmed to think, all right, like this guy is winning. Like he's, he's doing great things. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:11:20] Speaker B: It's, you know, and it's the reality we live in. You have to promote yourself, and that's something a lot of people fail to do. And I like to think that I'm not good at it enough. Like, I think I need to promote myself way more, especially if I look at content. But that is an overlooked part. You need to really promote yourself in a good way, which could also be looked at from a formal type of position. If you are a company or like to have things very formal and professional, you also need that. You also need to make sure that people can actually find some information about you, that if they look at your website or your social media profile, that all those things are neat and in order and just looks good. [00:11:54] Speaker A: And you mentioned professional photographs too. So it's very important to have. [00:11:58] Speaker B: Yes, yeah, yes, that's a good thing as well. When I did that, I don't know, two years ago when I had like a decent professional photo shoot, like, I'm still using these photos today, you know, Right. It's, it's a good thing and it just shows you up in a very good manner. You can use it for all your social posts, you can put it on your website. It's such a good thing to do. But the reason this, this presentation format, so to speak, is so important is because it also, you know, that also extracts in the onboarding. So when I specifically onboard clients, there's always different type of steps in that onboarding process in itself, which depends on the service. Right. If, if you have a different type of services, there could be different type of onboarding process or if you have multiple companies, that could also be a thing. But what's very important is that that process starts essentially for the first time they speak with you because it's the step zero, which is all they see about you. And then the first step is this inter. Action and that's when they do a call with you and things like that. So usually most businesses have two call setup. It's like a discovery call. Hey, what's up? How are you? This is nice. You like it? Boom. Second call. This is how much it costs. You like it, Boom. Money. So that's essentially business sales, super simply set. [00:13:08] Speaker A: Right? [00:13:08] Speaker C: Right. [00:13:08] Speaker B: But after that, the actual onboarding will start. And that isn't. Here's how we start the project. But that also includes, hey, this is the payment that we need from you. This is the contract that we set up. This is the welcome email. So in an onboarding process, there's different step we look at. And I learned this as well by working with other companies and all that stuff. So, you know, you're learning, you adapt. [00:13:30] Speaker C: Right. [00:13:30] Speaker B: But what's important there is if you have that onboarding process, you want to make sure that even the contract people sign look good. Even the welcome email you send to clients just are great. [00:13:44] Speaker C: Right. [00:13:44] Speaker B: All of that stuff is also important because when people did pay you, that's just getting your foot in the door, then you still need to make it actually happen. [00:13:53] Speaker C: Right. [00:13:54] Speaker B: So putting that in mind, I think is important. So for me, onboarding processes a good contracting, nice design around it, you know, all that stuff. [00:14:01] Speaker A: Sure. [00:14:02] Speaker B: Good. Welcome email. [00:14:03] Speaker A: Sure. [00:14:03] Speaker B: And then you have to just have like some sort of internal project management, depending on what you use. I think onboarding forms are important. So you always want to have some sort of form that you use to do onboard clients because you can ask their information. [00:14:16] Speaker C: Right. [00:14:16] Speaker B: Can do the same with calls. You can always have AI tools to record the calls. [00:14:21] Speaker A: Beautiful. [00:14:21] Speaker B: That's also something very important. [00:14:22] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:14:24] Speaker B: There's quite some steps actually with that. But yeah, onboarding in a nutshell again. [00:14:28] Speaker A: So one of the questions that I had is that obviously with everything gone digital and people playing catch up, it's easy to play trends or it's easy to chase things. As you said in some of your previous shows, people will see something that was successful, but they want to emulate it. And I know that obviously you're in Europe and the fast food chains and restaurants may be different, but you'll see like a food, like a fast food company or a restaurant put out a great new dish or sandwich, and then everybody suddenly wants to make that same one to try to get the customer base. So how do you try to stop the quote unquote duplicator or chasing trends to a customer that says, well, they did that, I need to do that as well too, and that'll get me a quick buck. But in reality, they may not be customized for them specifically and their business needs. [00:15:15] Speaker B: Right. Well, that's. That's such a great point. And the perspective of referring to the big companies, I think that's, that's, you know, such a big level. Because I think it's natural to see, for example, if it's maybe my McDonald's or like a giant company and they bring something out new and you like it and then it's like, why didn't they do this before? Like it's such a big company. [00:15:34] Speaker C: Right, right, right. [00:15:35] Speaker B: That happens all the time. You need to think hard of some, some good examples. [00:15:38] Speaker A: A chicken sandwich, like a regular chicken sandwich. You'd be like, dude, like, what are you talking about? [00:15:42] Speaker B: Like, exactly. It's like, bro, this should have been here all the years. [00:15:46] Speaker A: So right, it's chicken. [00:15:49] Speaker B: But, but I think a big reason of that is because those big companies have so many more policies and they have to be so much more careful and they have so many layers, risk migration, managers and all that stuff. So if you're on a smaller scale, which is, you know, relevant for the people here and myself and you, it's, you don't have that thing, which means you can very easily adapt and test. I think the issue with that is you need to manage your resources because if you're going to try and chase and spend money on creating a campaign or something, you're just, you know, throwing it. [00:16:19] Speaker A: Yeah. You're just basically just hoping something sticks. Right. Like, and then it just becomes, well, somebody did this on the Internet and I need to do that as well too. And what you'll find out is that you will always gravitate towards what you're good at and what you're bad at, you know, will go by the wayside. So if you weren't passionate about implementing new policies, new market, new products, you're not going to work at it. If you really didn't want to actually be like a viable product, a viable sales process and funnel, eventually you're going to go, it's like playing sports, right? If you don't dribble a basketball, you don't work on your left hand. You'll work on your left hand for a day or two, but eventually you're going to go back to dribbling the ball with your right hand, so to speak. [00:16:59] Speaker B: So, yeah, that, yeah, such such a good way to put it. And to add more to this as well, what I think is extremely important is market research. Market research is something you have to be able to implement continuously. And I found this always very hard to do when I went through courses of like the big gurus and I was watching and reading Russell Brunson's things, you know, and all that stuff. And they always tell you, oh, you need to make your dream 100 list and you need to outline all their pain points and all their things. When I was starting out, I found it so difficult, like, I really found it extremely difficult to do that and to think and write it out. And it just wasn't the thing I like to do, I'm good at to do. So I almost always neglected that part. [00:17:42] Speaker C: Right. [00:17:42] Speaker B: But now, after a few years, I started to implement the market research in a very good way. And I think the best way to do it is to use it as a system. Because a lot of people say, oh, you need to start a business, you first need to do market research. Yes. But you need to be able to continuously do that. [00:17:57] Speaker C: Right? [00:17:58] Speaker B: Because all of that information that's going to give you a position where you could kind of have a good judgment of like, this is not going to work, this is going to work. You can be too arrogant and you cannot always know, but that's, that's important. And one way to do that is also linking back to this onboarding system. So if you onboard clients, and this could also be, for example, 30 days after working with them or after each year, you do some sort of survey, you send out to everyone who has your software. Depending on the business you have, you can always find a way to do this. And what you do is you just ask your clients, like, you just literally ask them a list of questions like, what did you like about this? What didn't you like about this? All of that stuff, because that's going to give you the real market research. So, and you know, of course there's, there's so many AI tools, things like that, which can amplify all of this, but that position to be able to, to study your clients, to ask them, that's super valuable. So I will always recommend people to find a way to build a system so that you can always do that for every new client. [00:18:57] Speaker A: Well, I think it's interesting too, because, you know, in every business model, every, especially in the digital era, you don't get the luxury of being able to hide in your little corner and sit back and say, well, I have my clientele base and I'm doing really well. I'm collecting my sales and I don't have to update my service, I don't have to update my software, I don't have to implement new processes. You know, obviously it's competitive and cutthroat and you know, I'm sure you know you're, you're part of the business very well and very successful. You're probably getting your customers continually post people price and emails. This person sent this to me, you know, Lawrence, you know, what do you want me to do? I don't want to leave or I don't want to switch services. But they're saying they're going to offer this at this price. They can say they can do exactly what you can do. So how do you combat that in such a fast paced era where people duplicate technology, processes and even can come in at a lower price, whether that's a good or bad or a fraudulent thing that person could be getting done. [00:19:52] Speaker B: Right. Well, I can only reflect from my personal position and the way I see it is that I'm more into a B2B business. I haven't really been in a B2C market ever. I worked with a lot of people in E commerce and we did a lot of things there. [00:20:06] Speaker C: Right. [00:20:07] Speaker B: You know, I don't, that's not my sweet spot. Like I know for myself that the service type of business approach is something I like to do and I'm better at. So it depends on that environment first of all because if you are into more of a B2C market, if you take a look at some sort of E commerce or like a product to buy, then that replication factor is real thing because people, you know, there's some China company that builds the same thing as you for 20x less the price, right. So why would you buy the premium? So that, that's a real concern. But if you're more in this service approach there's more nuance to it and I think that could play in your benefit. And that's the best thing to do there is just to build genuine good relationships. Which is also why the onboarding is important, which is why the whole process is important, which is why you want to do market research. But I think that's the strongest factor there. If you build proper relationships and actually get results for them, people want to kind of stick with it and it's something you could use in your advantage. But the truth is people are a bit lazy. Like people wouldn't really be able to quick and say oh, I'm paying for this and now we're going to try this. Most people don't do that. [00:21:15] Speaker C: Right. [00:21:15] Speaker B: So it also plays a role. But you have to kind of resharp your pitch, so to speak. Every time you have to improve, you have to keep offering. So I think, you know, it's important to look for this ways, like what can you do to improve? But I think the strongest factor, as I said, is just that human touch you have with them, the actual relationship you built with them. And I think that's the most important thing alongside also. Sorry. Also being able to continuously provide value because you don't want to put your clients in a state of stagnation. [00:21:48] Speaker A: Correct. [00:21:49] Speaker B: And the way to do that as the very first thing is to manage the expectations in an extremely good way. Also part of the onboarding. So with that, if you have a service based business and you provide a specific service, you need to outline it very clear, what is that going to look like? What is the timeline, what are the deliverables? Because if you're not setting that up from the beginning, people are saying, oh, amazing, I'm going to work with this company and they're going to do this and then they expect it's going to continue. But you as a business owner can't even realize that because after the two months you actually did your thing and yes, it's great to work with them. You can't do your work for free and then it creates this friction. So you have to set it up from the beginning. Right. And if you have a software, then it's, you know, monthly or annual payment. So there's, there's an important structure there. But the expectations management is also very important because that way you know what to deal with. If you say from the beginning, hey, we're going to work together for two months or this is exactly what you're going to get, then yes, you'll stop declining more after timeline, but then it's finished. You can manage a good project, ask for the input. You can kind of have a 100 on 100 score project. [00:22:58] Speaker A: Correct. [00:22:59] Speaker B: Which works, you know, so that's, that's very important as well. [00:23:02] Speaker A: I thought that that was very interesting. Right, because you know, it's also about managing company expectations when it comes to size and scope of company. Right. So you have like ufc, which is a huge, dominant, obviously the big player in mma. But over where you're at, there's ksw, right. Which is a regional local player, which never, you know, I've watched a couple KSW MMA events. I'm not sure how big of a fan you are, but they've done a very good job of staying, quote unquote in their lane. Right. And so as a result of that, they've been successful and a lot of their champions have come over to either UFC or done other things in other arenas. So sometimes it's the scale and approach that you've taken with regards to the respective lane of what you're trying to accomplish. Hey, I'm a business, I'm a restaurant, I'm a small fast food chain. I can't compete with the McDonald's of the world, but that doesn't mean I can't be successful in my respective lane. Lawrence, I need you to help me market this particular avenue to, for this customer base. [00:23:52] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's so good. And something I think you have to put in mind is that people generally are not too stupid. Maybe there's a lot of people who are stupid, generally speaking, not everyone is really that ignorant. And that implies basically that you have to show up in a congruent way. Because if you're lying, it's not directly lying, but if you're portraying your version, which isn't really in alignment, it's not congruent. People see that. Of course people aren't really that ignorant. So what I mean with that, and that's, that's a perfect example. You have to play, you know, your position, right. If you're a freelancer, you shouldn't act like some agency, like. [00:24:30] Speaker A: Correct. [00:24:30] Speaker B: If you're just a one man job, you should be transparent because people are actually looking for that. There's people who don't want to deal with an agency, they just want to have that guy who does it. So yes, you know, you have to reinforce that. Like you have to play the position that's the strongest for you. And I think it's natural that you kind of put yourself in a, in a, you know, bigger jacket, so to speak. Because something I learned quite recently, something somebody said to me in a call, is that when it comes to social media, you essentially have to live the life 12 months away from now. And I thought that was very interesting because it's pretty much what everybody is doing. Like you're portraying the best version because why would you tell about your bad day or about your loss? [00:25:13] Speaker A: 100, 150. Yeah, that's funny. You know, what was interesting was even when I first started this podcast, right? So I, I, I kind of coined it the Randomness of Nothing. Because, you know, I don't have the expertise in your field to do what you do and what you've accomplished at very early age, you know, you're a prodigy and a child of the digital era. So you, that's all you've known. I, there were, I, I'm 42. So I know what Walkman's are like. I know what you know, a VCR is like, right? But I still embrace technology as it came along. But to pivot what I named the show as by allowing people who are subject matter experts and in their fields, even though you guys have different fields of work, all your guys process is exactly the same. The clarity, the onboarding, the listening. And it took a long time for me to learn to listen right. And to actually adapt and be able to absorb information and then read between the lines. Body language. Because you can tell when somebody's not feeling you, you know what I mean? And it's a. You got to be honest with yourself because you haven't sold. You got it. I mean, I pitch myself to people and they're like, no, I'm not. You're not my cup of tea. And you have to say the same, you know, when it comes to your services. Right. So everything can't be. But your preparation and steps are the same regardless of the, of the result. But you still adapt from your failures too. [00:26:30] Speaker B: That's so strong, man. That's completely true. Because there's a certain recipe, right? Like there's a certain process that everybody has to go through, I guess. And I'm very much aware of my position as well, because you're totally right, man. Like, I grew up in this age from getting around to digital world and I look at people who are a few years younger than me and I think like crazy. Like they, you know, like they're even. They don't know ahead of that. [00:26:54] Speaker A: They don't know anything else. They don't know anything else, man. [00:26:57] Speaker B: You know, exactly. And that's pretty crazy. So I'd like to think I'm. I'm not really in the middle, but you know, I'm like almost. I have like a small background of before the digital age. [00:27:08] Speaker A: So I was in college when YouTube dropped. Okay. So you know, exactly. [00:27:12] Speaker C: You know what I mean? [00:27:13] Speaker B: I mean, and it's important to realize that and I have to put myself as well as a young man. Like, I have to be very realistic about that, you know, because I try. What's something which is very important to me is to, to be a person who gets respect from other people, especially in the business context and I think in general in life, it's something I respect a lot. [00:27:30] Speaker C: Right. [00:27:31] Speaker B: So I'm working with. Most people who I work with are older than me. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:27:35] Speaker B: You know, I, I want to always respect my respect on that. And it's, it's a Two sided thing because there could be generally things where somebody is 30 years older and they have the fancy degrees and all that stuff, but they're just rude or ignorant or. I've, I've had this. Literally two weeks ago I was on a call with somebody and they didn't let me finish. I was, I was very formal, professional, you know, I was doing my best. I was like, hey, sorry. No, but I didn't said this, I actually said this and this is what I showed you. And they're just like ignorant, angry and it's like, come on man, like you're 30 years older than me, like you should know what to do, you know. [00:28:08] Speaker C: Right, right, right. [00:28:10] Speaker B: And that's, that might come a bit, you know, a bit of an arrogant position of myself, but that's only because of those situations. Generally speaking, this is something which I think a lot of my peers neglect. I think a lot of guys who are the same age as me, they kind of forget about that because I think it's very important to be able to showcase the respect to the right people. And you know, I know for a fact like I've never really worked in like an office and got degrees and I didn't went to university and yeah, you know, I'm very realistic about that. So I pay my respects to the people who do because it's like, well, you know, you are ahead of me in those things. Like I know that, you know, and you have to be super realistic. And I think some people cannot do that. [00:28:47] Speaker C: Right. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Which I do think is important sometimes. [00:28:50] Speaker A: That that degree on that wall by default gives people a certain level of. You better resp. There's a reason why they hang it up. [00:28:56] Speaker C: Right? [00:28:56] Speaker A: They didn't hang it up because you know what I'm saying, like, you know, whether it's, you know, so we all know like. And that's a very good lane to navigate. Particularly some people in the digital era who do not have to navigate that. I always ask this question of my guests and trust me, you don't need me to find you because you're very successful without me. But for the people who'll be listening, where can they find Lawrence Dyson, his services and what you have to offer? [00:29:19] Speaker B: Yes. So the best way is to always check out my website. My website is everything. It has my full name dot com, so you can see everything there, which is a very good example of why that positioning is so important. But I'm pretty much around on most social media, so I have my full name everywhere because I want to show myself as a brand, which is an important factor. So for sure, yeah, I'm, I'm there. You can always connect with me. I'd like to be very proactive to connect with people. [00:29:41] Speaker C: Right. [00:29:42] Speaker B: So you can always check me out on socials and my website. [00:29:44] Speaker C: Right. [00:29:44] Speaker A: And that's. And you know, like I said, I've had a chance to navigate your website and I'm very, very honored that you carved out some time and you reached out to me, you know, halfway across the world for you, even like, know who, what this show is. You know, I'd like to think on a small scale I'm doing something right. But I know that in order to, to continue to grow, 80% of what I have to do is listening. [00:30:04] Speaker C: Right. [00:30:04] Speaker A: And, and the other part that I learned was when people email, you make a 24 hour response back to email. Right. So it's. Yes, like, right. Because like, it is so easy to, like, you don't know who you're going to get on that other end and who's going to be a guest on the show. And if they reached out to you, you know, you have to stop what you're doing and make a cognitive and make a conscious effort to send that email back and reply back because, you know, it's a busy world and they got a lot of things pulling at their attention. [00:30:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And I agree, I think just, just do note on that as well. I think that's such a good thing, which is why I always refer to being proactive, man. Like, and the fact that you mentioned answering back within 24 hours, that's such a big. Oh my gosh, just imagine how much more you can do if you reply to every message. Yeah, yeah, your clients love you for that. So you'll, you'll get a good name just by being the person who always replies fast. [00:30:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's made a difference, man, because, you know, like, people are carving out time to contact you and you know, everything may not work itself out sometimes. I've talked to people who I didn't book, but at least I had that communication back. So, so I gotta tell you, man, this has been a blast. I really appreciate your time. Like I said, I'm just a small guy doing a podcast trying to talk to people like yourself and pick their brains. And I'm honored that you carved out some time to do so. [00:31:16] Speaker B: Absolutely, man. Glad to be here. Thank you much. [00:31:18] Speaker A: Appreciate it. That was fun, man.