What We Learned From Tony Robbins While Staying at His Fijian Retreat Time spent with Robbins gave these entrepreneurs a new perspective on planning and growth.
By Allen Brouwer and Cathryn Lavery Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Two years ago, we created a product that helped us build a thriving, eight-figure business.
Because of our rapid growth, we were recently named a winner of Shopify's first Build a BIGGER Business competition. As well as ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, our prize included mentoring with some of our business heroes at Tony Robbins's retreat.
Related: 9 Powerful Tony Robbins Quotes That Will Redefine Your Quest for Success
Here are the three key things we learned from Robbins during our time in Fiji.
1. Maximize every opportunity.
Robbins is like no one else we've ever met. He's intense -- that's the best word we had to describe him. We built our business on productivity, performance and positivity, and we've trained ourselves to be highly effective, but he's in another league.
For example, his event preparation and planning was insane. He had in-depth files (complete with photos) on all of the winners. This meant he could jump right in and not waste time discovering the basics.
We were also aware of his desire to maximize every opportunity. Here's a simple example of this in practice: A film crew followed us throughout the week to capture the core events, but Robbins had them create additional video assets from the footage to leverage the resource fully.
Being around Robbins raised our productivity bar significantly. It was incredible to observe him close-up and have the chance to model him. We believe learning from people who already have the results you want is the quickest route to success.
Related: Tony Robbins: This Incredible Money Machine Works While You Sleep
2. Plan much further forward.
The SELF Journal (our flagship product) is a physical productivity, performance and success planner that helps people achieve big goals by breaking them down into a series of three-month targets. To get the most from this strategy, your short-term goals must align with your big picture direction.
And that's what we explored in our one-to-one with Robbins. He pushed us to think much further ahead than we had previously. Robbins also made us dig deep for answers and challenged our thinking to help us see a fresh perspective. More experienced entrepreneurs have often overcome the very roadblocks you face. They ask different questions and draw on a different bank of references.
With Robbins, four questions shaped our entire discussion:
- What business are you in now?
- What business do you need to be in to ensure longer term success and growth?
- What is the gap?
- How do you close it?
Right now, our core product is the SELF Journal. It's our top-seller and is responsible for most of our growth to date. But, we know it has a finite capacity (as do all products). We already had ideas for diversifying before we went to Fiji. For example, we recently launched a productivity app called Win The Day, and we have other products in development.
Related: Tony Robbins Describes the Top Traits Found in Truly Coachable People
But, Robbins encouraged us to think far beyond these current plans and explore what's needed to scale BestSelf.Co to the next level. He took an interesting approach to this. Robbins stressed the importance of falling in love with your customers, not your product. If you know your customers in intense detail (so in our case, this would be knowing what goals individuals set), you can use that insight to inform future product development. It's why since leaving Fiji we've talked extensively about how we can create more tailored support, products and experiences to help our customers achieve their goals.
3. Personal growth supports business growth.
As well as business advice, Robbins challenged us to expand our personal comfort zone. On the Saturday, all winners took part in a leadership and team-building activity that involved harnesses and a ridiculously high telegraph pole. Fortunately, we're not scared of heights!
Our challenge was to climb to the top of the 55-foot pole and then jump off. The experience was crazy intense. The top of the pole was tiny (around 9 inches in diameter), and the "leap of faith" pushed against all our instincts. But, the feeling of achievement back down on the ground was incredible.
This exercise was a great example of what happens when you trust your gut, get out of your head and do what you set out to achieve. Jumping off a stupidly high pole was a great metaphor that you can do anything you set your mind to. The challenge was also a reminder of the importance of positivity and the benefit of a success mindset in business. After all, your business can only grow by the extent to which you can hold it.
Related: 12 Lessons Tony Robbins Taught Me About Entrepreneurship
Apply Robbins's advice to your business:
Even if your current product is a flyaway success, long-term growth requires forward-thinking. Here's how Robbins helped us do this:
1. Get clear on what business you're in now.
2. Decide what business you need to create for longer term, sustainable growth.
3. Identify the gap and decide how to close it.
How could you use these questions to help your business get to the next step?'
Related Video: Tony Robbins: Want Success? Rewire Your Mind.
