It's Not Rocket Science! Five Questions Over Coffee
Five Questions Over Coffee with Steve D Sims (ep. 53)
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Episode notes
Who is Steve?
Do you know anyone that’s worked with Sir Elton John or Elon Musk, sent people down to see the wreck of the Titanic on the sea bed or closed museums in Florence for a private dinner party and then had Andrea Bocelli serenade them while they eat their pasta – you do now Quoted as “The Real Life Wizard of Oz" by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine,
Steve Sims is a best selling Author with "BLUEFISHING - the art of making things happen”, sought-after coach and a speaker at a variety of networks, groups and associations as well as the Pentagon and Harvard – twice!
The Book – Bluefishing – The Art of Making Things Happen - https://www.stevedsims.com/book/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stevedsims/
Website: http://stevedsims.com
Join my inner circle – The Sims Distillery - https://simsdistillery.com
Key Takeaways
1. What is your number? How many clients can you actually take on and give the standard of service that you want to be known to be brilliant for.
2. Stop being a grown up, become a child again and attack it with childlike curiosity. If you first of all understand the simplicity of what's necessary, the rest of it is just tactics and strategy, that's the easy stuff.
3. How do you handle failure. I have never failed in my life. I've just become educated on how it didn't work. failure leads to education, education leads to experience, experience leads to credibility. Credibility leads to you being able to invoice people for lots of money..
Valuable Free Resource or Action
Join Steve on his private FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stevedsims/
or follow on
IG: https://www.instagram.com/stevedsims
A video version of this podcast is available on YouTube :
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Transcript
Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software (and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, steve, question, book, problem, clients, overcomplicate, brilliant, elon musk, andrea bocelli, stupid, goals, rocket science, elton john, aggravated, absolutely, billionaires, person, florence, work
SPEAKERS
Stuart Webb, Steve D Sims
Stuart Webb 00:21
Whoa. Hi, everyone. It's Stuart Webb. Welcome to It's not rocket science. Five questions over coffee, not coffee at the moment. I've got a I've got some very nice water because I'm well Caffeined up. I'm here with Steve decend. Steve is, well, this is gonna be fascinating. Steve's bio says he's worked with Elton John and Elon Musk said people don't see the wreck of the Titanic. And somebody else has done that as well, Steve, actually, so maybe, maybe we know some of the same people, close museums in Florence for a private dinner party and then had to add Andrea Bocelli, serenade them whilst I am that I think is a real, that's the real key to be stable, what you can do. You're the real life was over there was by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, I think you're going to be a brilliant guest. Welcome to the podcast. Really looking forward to speaking to you, Steve.
Steve D Sims 01:09
Well, that's a bit scary, because you put me up on a pedestal. Now I wish he would have aimed a bit lower. And we could have surprised him.
Stuart Webb 01:15
Let's go down to the Titanic level and see whether or not you can come up. Yeah, let's
Steve D Sims 01:18
do that.
Stuart Webb 01:20
So Steve, look, you're you're obviously you're obviously a multi talented guy, who's, who's the person, the ideal client that you have for the business ideas that you've got that you're trying to work with
Steve D Sims 01:30
at the moment? Well, for 25 plus years, I run the largest experiential concierge firm, only for billionaires. And then about five years ago, we launched the book blue fishing, and then Sims media. So we've gone from working with the richest people in the planet to taking that mindset. And now we run a media organisation. There's word with everyone as you save them from Elon Musk, and Elton John, how to brand market communicate with that target market. So my ideal client is any entrepreneur that's pissed off and aggravated of where they currently are. And they're sick of getting the clients they get, and they deserve the clients they want.
Stuart Webb 02:12
That's a really interesting target market. And I would imagine there's a broad spectrum of people in that particular market. So what are the sort of problems that you think they done? The way they've tried to solve that problem themselves? Because I can think of a million things that, that the entrepreneurs I work with have tried to do solve that problem, all of which you think, okay, I wouldn't have started there. If that was the way I was trying to do it. What what do you come across?
Steve D Sims 02:35
So okay, so a lot of people and we joked about this, before we started, a lot of people care about what they look like, okay. And they take a lot of time worrying about that, and you start a job, I'd know as a plumber, and you start competing by looking like all the other plumbers, you want to be a financial expert, you start looking like all the other financial experts. It's not about you. It's about your client. And absolutely your look at me, I don't have a car, I ride a motorcycle, I've got piercings and tattoos, you don't work with billionaires all over the world. Because I was the solution to that problem. Well, brilliant, when you're the solution of someone else's problem. They don't give a rat's ass what you look like how you sound, they just care that you're there to solve the problem. So the first thing you got to focus on is not marketing. It's branding. And a lot of people start a company go, Hey, I've got to start doing Facebook advertising, I got to start doing marketing. I got to start doing promotions. No, you want to start focusing on your story, your solution, why you and then market that if you don't do it that way around, you end up marketing, a lot of confusion. And that's where people go wrong.
Stuart Webb 03:49
Steve, you and I have got so much in common despite, you know, I don't have any time in your life. But yeah, but But you know, and you're a better looking guy than me. But you're absolutely right. I love that because I was talking to somebody only less than a week ago, who was telling me they had to start looking around and trying to get their first social media manager. And I said, Well, why are you getting a social media manager? Now you've been in business for a few years, what's what's the story? And they said, Well, I just feel as if I could just shout a bit louder, I'd get more leads. And I said, you don't need to shout any louder. You just need to identify the perfect the person that you're trying to reach and the problem they've got. And if you've got the problem solved, you reach across to them and whisper in their ear, I've got the solution to your problem. And that person will not try and buy it from you. They will beg you to take it out of your hands at the highest price you've got available. And I said so stop shouting and work out who that person is and what their problem is and how you're going to solve it and just start telling them and he looked at me and he went, Well, that sounds very easy, but it's difficult to do. And I thought actually it's not it's just not
Steve D Sims 05:00
That's where people go wrong. They think everything is scary and frightening. Whenever we consult with the client, the first question we ask him is washing number. That's the first question. We asked them every sheet and they look at us and they go, What do you mean? What? What is your number? How many clients? Can you actually take on and give the standard of service that you want to be known to be brilliant for? And no one unless they're doing an online course, says 1000s of people, they go? Well, I could take on 20. In fact, last last, two weeks ago, I was doing a speakeasy event in Scottsdale, Arizona, for chiropractors. And it was all about how do I scale my social media? How do I get 10,000 likes on my YouTube channel? How do I get this amount of subscribers over here on my, my Facebook? How do I see Well, okay, how many can you take on watch your number? And the number actually came up for most of them to be anywhere from like, eight to 12? You're that's how many clients they could take on my son. Okay. If I gave you 12 clients, tomorrow, they walked into your office tomorrow, would that be a problem? And they will like, yeah, I wouldn't want 12 at a time. So what do you want? Well, I could take on three. So the number three, so who gives a s**t if you've got 4 million followers, when you're actually only looking for three, know your number, and reverse into that?
Stuart Webb 06:22
I love it. Absolutely love it. And this is just a brilliant conversations. You've got some great stuff on your website, what's the really valuable free resource or action other than know your number that you'd sort of pass over to the audience watching now? And saying, Look, guys, this is what you really got to do now.
Steve D Sims 06:39
Yeah. And there's two ways that you can do it. And I'm shitter upsell, so I'm not upselling you to any of my hair products, or anything, both of these things, I'm giving you now a free of charge. I've got an Instagram page, Steve de Simms, which I do loads of videos on. I've also got a private Facebook group, which is free of charge, he just tell us why you want to be in there called an entrepreneurs advantage with Steve Sims. And in the I do live amas. And I literally go, Hey, what's your problem? Someone posts what their problem is. And then we do a live ama feed ama asked me anything. And we just go, Hey, I heard from Johnny is having trouble with this. What should we do about and we literally hotseat it for 30 minutes, because quite simply a my age and my position. I want people to dare to challenge the way they do things. I want them to do more. And I openly say I want you to go for stupid goals. And that's what I push.
Stuart Webb 07:36
I think that's brilliant. I love that I'm a great fan of those sort of ask me any things. Because you get people that you know, I sitting at the back of the room, daring not to ask the question. And then one person asset and everybody looks and goes, Whoa, yeah, I want to know the answer to that as well. You know, sometimes I keep saying this to people, there are no such thing as a stupid questions. There really aren't stupid questions. The only stupid thing that you can do is not ask the question and be quiet because you'll always regret it. You'll always regret it.
Steve D Sims 08:04
In working with some very, very powerful people all over the world. I've noticed that Absolutely. All of them are curious children. Every single one of them from Elon Musk, John Porter, Julia, Richard Branson, they are all curious children. How can we do this? Why does it work that way? Why does it have to work that way? And they literally catify absolutely everything. And so being in those meetings working with these people, I've adopted that. And the first thing I tell everyone is stop being a grown up, become a child again and attack it with childlike curiosity. What would you do? Example, Elon Musk worked out that the most expensive thing and it didn't take a rocket scientist to do this, the most expensive part of a rocket with the fuel cells, because not only would it throw him up in space, but then they would fall off and fall in the ocean. If he could get those back, fuel them up again, and attach them back to another rocket. He saved two thirds of his launch costs. And that was the simplicity. Now all he had to do was to work out how we could do it. Yeah. So if you first of all understand the simplicity of what's necessary, the rest of our just tactics and strategy, that's the easy stuff.
Stuart Webb 09:16
We do do that. So don't we stay with we find ourselves trying to overcomplicate it I you know, the name of this is it's not rocket science. The reason it's not rocket science is because so many people think to themselves and doing some of the stuff that I talk about. They sort of go around. Well, that doesn't sound clever enough and you go, it's not supposed to be clever. That's the point. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be done.
Steve D Sims 09:39
This isn't this isn't a this isn't a pitch, although it's probably going to sound like a bloody pitch. Five years ago, I released this book, blue fishing, the art of making things happen. And I released it, because two reasons One, I was paid very well to release it, which means I didn't care if it sold any copies. I think it that didn't worry me. I was already paid. But I was aggravated how people do overcomplicate things. And that's why I wanted to be on your show, because of the title. People overcomplicate or try to try to purchase a solution, when they really shouldn't. Your Guide is talking about how does he get a social manager? Don't just expose what it is you do. And the problem you solve. And those people with the problem will find you. Yeah,
Stuart Webb 10:27
absolutely. Right. I love it. I absolutely love it. Listen, we're getting towards the you've kind of already pitched in the fourth question. I was gonna say, is there a particular book or concept or something that you'd like to sort of expose the audience to, which would sort of give them some valuable content? So other than your book nasty? Yeah, yeah,
Steve D Sims 10:45
I've done that. I would say there's a few things I like, I love hooked by nyet owl as a book, that's a phenomenal book. I also like Trust Me, I'm Lying by vion long and Ryan Holiday. That's a fantastic book. I love those books. I also love anything by Jay Abraham, because I love his art of communication. But the the tip I would give everyone is to go for stupid goals. Never go for anything impossible. Forget that word exists, never use it, strike it from your vocabulary. But if you're trying to make a million dollars that year, then your stupid goal should be five and your file and achieve two. So go for stupid goals when I had a client that said, hey, I want to do an Italian dinner, Steve. And what's the most amazing you could do? I actually took over the academia, the Galleria, at nine o'clock at night, the gallery of the houses Michelangelo's David, and a set a table of six up at the feet of Michelangelo's David, because I thought that's the most incredible Italian meal in Florence you could ever have. And then while the guys have eaten their pastor, I promised them a local entertainer disseminate them. And as you've already said, I bought in Andrea Bocelli, because you know what happens when you go for stupid goals? You risk obtaining them. And it's amazing how many times I've gone for stupid goals, and actually achieved them and gone. Oh, and then as soon as you start achieving them, they become your new normal. That's now your new benchmark.
Stuart Webb 12:21
And then you've got a completely different problem, which is actually a really good one to
Steve D Sims 12:24
have. Isn't it? Just it's a lovely one to have, isn't it?
Stuart Webb 12:28
David, I've made you work really hard. And I'm gonna do it again. Now. There's a fifth question that I've got for you. And the question is, what's the question I should have asked you, which I've not yet asked you. And don't leave us in the dark answer it as well.
Steve D Sims 12:41
Steve, what whiskey should they send you as a gift? I think it's either Blanton's or Buffalo Trace. Actually, that's true. But the questions
Stuart Webb 12:52
you're missing out on Lagavulin, but that's another story. I guess.
Steve D Sims 12:56
I did quit. That's that's actually a good and a bad a horrible question to ask. But I like to, I suppose people, one of the questions that pops up are things like, you know, how do you how do you fail? Or have you failed? Or, you know, how do you handle failure never failed in my life. Okay. I've just become educated on how it didn't work. failure leads to education, education leads to experience, experience leads to credibility. Credibility leads to you being able to invoice people for law money. That's how it goes. And it doesn't start anywhere else than that education from failure. So how I view failure I find very important was probably the number one lesson I learned from all the billionaires I dealt with.
Stuart Webb 13:40
Steve, I love I love your I love your fifth question. I have often said to people, you know, how does a baby learn to walk they get up, fall over and go, Well, I'm not gonna do that. Again. I'll do it another way. You have eventually, eventually you'll see them sprinting down the track. That is the way you learn. You just fall over, pick yourself up and have another crack at it because Oh, yeah. Just learning to get up off your bottom. Steve, this has been an absolutely fantastic discussion. We've had people watching nodes ask the question, I don't know why they're not asked the question. But that's, that's, that's their last. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna force them to ask questions. Listen, people, I really, really appreciate Steve coming on. If you want to get onto our mailing list and then here so that you could come join in live where people like Steve, come on, get insights like this stuff. This stuff is absolute gold dust, you won't get this out of a book, you won't get this out, you will get that Steve's book. But you'll get insight like this from all sorts of things that get onto my mailing list, which is on TCA dot FYI, forward slash subscribe, that's TCA dot FYI, forward slash guide. Steve, you have been an insight I've loved having you on. It's been absolutely brilliant. Listen, if we could go on for another two hours are worth but I'm not entirely convinced that that you'd run out of anything to say so I need to stop you before you before you run out. That's brilliant. Thank you so much for being on with us. today. I look after yourself. And you
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