My Experience with Dani Johnson's First Steps to Success
I just had an incredible experience in Washington D.C. over the weekend, and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about it. It was a 3-day business / life coaching session with about 1,000 people attending and it gave me a big mind shift.
Since it was 3 days long, I took a gazillion notes, but I'll only be able to cover some of the basics here. Plus, notes just don't do the experience justice. I highly recommend experiencing it for yourself. But, hopefully some of what I learned can help you in some way.
Who is Dani Johnson?
Dani is a woman who grew up in an abusive home. Her parents were drug addicts. He father physically and mentally abused her, here sisters and her mom. She was sexually molested by family members. Just a terrible situation.
Sometime after getting out of her abusive home, she met someone who told her about a training seminar, similar to what First Steps to Success is now. It was a way for her to gain skills in building a business. Because of that seminar, she was able to go from completely broke to making 6 figures in a short amount of time.
Unfortunately, she married a man she knew for just a few days, and he ran off with her money, leaving her broke (again) and homeless. She was depressed, suicidal and starting doing drugs. Something told her to get up, and keep going. Using the skills she learned at the seminar, she started a business out of the trunk of her car.
She's now a multi-millionare and teaches people skills on how to create their own wealth. She's got a slew of training products, and First Steps to Success is an event she created to really teach those skills.
By the way, 100% of the profits from her trainings and her products go directly to charity, as she's completely financially free and doesn't need to work, but she's motivated by giving to others.
The 4 Steps to Success
The person who sent Dani on that first training seminar gave her 4 steps to success. If you're following a trainer, a training system (like Wealthy Affiliate) or have a business partner or coach, then follow these 4 things and you WILL be successful.
1. No excuses!
2. Don't give your opinions or suggestions. Learn from the experts, shut up and listen.
3. Follow directions! Don't change anything.
4. Invest in yourself. Invest in training and self-development. Forever!
The 8 Pieces to the Game of Life
Work is not your purpose. Work is for provision. Your purpose is a combination of 8 different things.
1. Health, including spiritual, mental, physical and financial
2. Marriage
3. Parenting / your kids (if you have kids)
4. Your extended family
5. Work
6. Fun & adventure
7. Charity
8. Your legacy. What you're going to leave behind
ALL of these 8 things are important and need to be taken care of. These 8 things make up the game of life.
Past, Present & Future
Past:
- Fear does not exist. It's not tangible. It's something YOU make up. 98% of the population lives their lives based on their feelings. Their feelings of fear, especially. Fear comes from the past! And the past is a PRISON.
Present:
- The present is your comfort zone. Living in the present, living in your comfort zone is your casket. Living in your comfort zone is easy, but does not provide contentment. You think you're playing to win, but you aren't even in the game. This is where laziness and procrastination lives.
Future:
- The future is adventure! Leave a legacy! You can write your OWN future!
Money
- Money is seed. It will reproduce itself. 98%'ers eat their seed. 2%'ers are frugal.
- Plant your seeds and create an orchard.
- The fool spends all he makes. The wise refuses to spend all he makes.
Money plan
- Live on 70% of your income
- The rest of the 30%:
- 10% goes to debt
- 10% goes to charity
- 10% goes to savings / investments
- Getting rich doesn't have anything to do with how much money you make! It's about what you do with the money that you make.
- Invest in yourself! Learning is expensive! Paying to learn from other's mistakes is less expensive than learning from your own mistakes. So, pay to learn from people who've already done it! (Like we do here at WA!)
- Cut the FAT from your household expenses. Things like expensive shampoos are luxury items. Enjoy those when you're financilly free. For now, cut out luxury items until all your debt is paid off and your orchard starts to grow!
Increasing Value
- If you're not increaing your value, you're decreasing in value. This starts in the home! Increase your value in the home. Make your bed! Look nice! Be kind to your family. It all starts HERE!
- SMILE! Do you think you're smiling a lot? You're not! Smile more! A frown says "You're not good enough" to people who see you.
- Life and death is in the power of your tongue. Speak LIFE. (Be positive)
- Learn more about people than you do about a product or service and you'll be unusually successful.
- You reap what you sow. Sow good seeds.
- Give people honor by: Smiling, giving them eye contact, listening to them, having a good attitude, remembering their names!
- Get into the GIVING economy. He who is in giving will always get a return.
- People want to feel special and important.
- Personal referrals is the most important way to get your business / name out there. Master the art of personal referrals.
- Sell the results that others want. People are only interested in themselves. They don't care about features and ingredients. They want results!
- Repetition is the mother of skill.
- Facts tell, stories sell.
My Biggest Takeaways
Whew! There was so much more than this. Pages and pages. But I hope this helps you and gives you an insight into some of the wisdom I heard over the weekend.
My biggest takeaways are:
- Treat your FAMILY with honor and respect. Don't treat your coworkers nicer than your family.
- Say to yourself "Who can I help to succeed?"
- Don't let your personality be an excuse.
And, of course...
- Treat others the way you want to be treated. Always the Golden Rule. Always.
Thanks for your time!
- Christina
Recent Comments
31
Christina,
Thank you for the post. I listen to Dani on the radio when I can and enjoy her insight. I wish more people could hear her.
Thanks,
Jerry
So, you get it! You should see her live. Her audios just aren't even in the same ballpark.
- Christina
Yeah! :-)
I have not seen her live but I plan to in the near future. I can only imagine what she is like live. :-) I'm sure it is a rush that sends goosebumps of positive emotions through your body.
Kind of! She knocks you down a lot too! But it's things you need to hear about yourself. She's very to-the-point, direct, let's get this done so you can create a better life for yourself.
- Christina
Most definitely. That is a clear message that she sends out on her radio show to those who call in. I also appreciate that she focuses around the christian and bible aspect of it as well.
Yea, it's weird because I'm not religious at all (although, she says she's not either), but I feel I'm pretty spiritual, and she says she teaches everything directly from the Bible. So I'm thinking to myself... "Am I about to get a Bible?!" lol I've never been into it at all. But now I understand how incredibly wise it is. She's taught me that side of spirituality.
- Christina
Wow! That's awesome! There is no harm in reading the Bible. It can be extremely insightful without getting religious. ;-)
I'm glad she was able to help you in that way... as well as many other ways. :-)
Not to get all weird or spiritual here... but maybe that's one of the main reasons why your path in life crossed with hers. :-)
- Jerry
WOW! What an awesome article!
A lot of things to think about now!
Thanks for sharing.
kenny
Wow loads of Gold thanks a lot for sharing and caring. Please do share and update us with these types of learning really helpful. Thanks again!
Please explain this...."Don't treat your coworkers nicer than your family."
I should have given more context around that line. What she's saying is that a lot of time people will dress up, look nice at work, treat their coworkers kindly. Then come home and complain to the kids, complain to their husband or wife, look like a hot mess...
So she's saying why would you treat your coworkers with more respect than your own family. Treat your family better than you treat your coworkers.
We shouldn't get on our spouses case as soon as they walk through the door. Also, edify your spouse in front of your kids. "Your Dad is so hard working. He provides for this family and you're extremely lucky to have him." Things like that.
- Christina
So much of what you said in your post most people (let's just say a whole lot of people) have heard before, and maybe more than once. It is also dead on right. The key to to her success and the people she is talking to, is following through on what she is saying...just like with the WA training. If just a different way of a successful person saying the same things that almost every successful person says over and over. The message is the same, just a different delivery from a different person. For those here at WA that have yet to reach your goals or to get where you want to be...Christian's post is simple saying the same things that were are being told over and over by successful people here at WA. Stay focused, listen to successful people, follow their instructions (to the letter), and follow through on every step you are taking...each step forward is another step toward your goal
Yes! So true! I think what was different for me was hearing all of these things in person. But it wasn't just the good stuff. She also made you look deep inside yourself to figure out the things that are holding you back. My stomach was in complete knots the whole first day. I had so many ah-ha moments about myself and how I can be a better person. Good stuff!
- Christina
There was so, so, so much more. I just can't do it justice! But I'm glad to share what I can!
- Christina
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I wasn't familiar with her. That is some really good advice! I particularly liked the 8 pieces to life....good priorities. Thanks for sharing this.
Debbie
You're welcome!
- Christina