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Brad Lea On Why Authenticity Is Key - Dropping Bombs
Brad Lea is an entrepreneur, speaker and a leading authority on web-based training. He is also the host of the podcast "Dropping Bombs with Brad Lea". He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his path to success, why you need to be true to yourself, the difference between being a salesperson and being a closer, the best investment he's ever made, what he's learned developing training courses for Grant Cardone, Damon John, Tony Robbins and others.
For more information about Brad Lea visit http://droppingbombs.com
“I don’t know when it happened, but I appreciate it. It’s not that I am trying to do it, I have someone follow me with a camera all day. I believe that authenticity is key, so I don’t try to think about what to say, I just say to film me being me. Whether that’s me talking to employees or talking to customers, just answering their questions and film it all, then put a few up on social media.”
“That happened around 3 to 4 years ago. Well 4 years ago I started to build an account, and I started to think to myself what could I say and what should I say. I would try to think of something clever and try to think what people would want to see. But it got to a point where it was so stupid, because I’ve got to put so much time and effort into thinking about what to say and what do people want to hear. So I just got tired of it, and told my guy at the time ‘Listen, I’m not going to think anymore. From now on, just get here at 8am, turn on the camera and roll it the whole day. If I am in a meeting, then film the meeting.’ We just started filming me being me and we started chopping it up, and that was when people started to come. If someone is trying to build a brand, just be you, film you and put that up.”
“Today I am a little more convinced and a little more confident and valuable than I was before. So before that I was naïve, lost and searching for the way. I didn’t like myself too much, I was a little too insecure. But I was still the same person, I wanted to make an impact but I didn't know how. I am still that way now, but I’m a little more sure of myself.”
“I would say I could in 3 or 6 months. Now I know the formula, which is relationships. The new currency and the new formula is relationships. People say ‘It's not what you know but who you know.’ But in reality it’s ‘Who knows you?’ Why am I in this beautiful studio getting interviewed? It’s because you know me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
“I literally learned from everybody. To me a mentor is someone who puts their arm around you and says ‘Come here buddy, let me show you the way.’ Nobody did that for me, they still don’t. I try to do it for people, that’s my social media, I am virtually mentoring people. But to me, mentoring is free, to spend my time to help someone build something, I normally want to be paid for that.”
“That’s because they don’t know how to get it. I can teach anybody how to get $300,000 to $500,000 in a year easy. It’s in life, but sales will be a part of it. Sales related jobs are the highest paid jobs. I can teach you how to sell clothes and persuade people, personal branding, marketing, and you can work for another company, start your own, or work for one of my companies and you will make 7 figures a year. So why don’t people do that? They don’t have the right information. Even if I show 50 people before them who have become a success, they are like ‘This is a scam.’ This podcasting thing is bullsh*t, it’s a waste of time, why would you do that? How easy is it to start a podcast? It’s easy, but why don’t people? People make excuses, but it boils down to what other people will think and say.”
“The worst job I ever had was the best job that I ever had, which was fighting fires in Oregon. I was told to get a “real job.” So I applied, got the job and thought that I was going to fight forest fires. In reality, I got these backpacks filled with water and squirt stumps that were smouldering. The firefighters were there at the front, and I was the dipsh*t at the back with a p*ss bag. I pictured myself with a flannel shirt, wolf and an axe. But it was hard labour, going up and down mountains and getting hit by trees. I got some poison oak on me and I said to another guy ‘I can’t make it up.’ He took off his shirt and he was covered in it and said ‘It’s part of the job, let's go. Everybody gets it.’ So I said screw that and I quit. That was the worst job I had, but it taught me that hard work was not the answer. The pens who work the hardest are generally the poorest. The people they are working for are the ones making all the money. I went home, saw an ad in the paper for sales and I made 4 times what I made fighting forest fires. If I didn’t get that job fighting fires, I wouldn’t have appreciated the job in sales so much.”
“I was pretty good automatically, because I was curious, empathetic and outgoing. I asked a lot of questions because I was interested. Also I was excited and enthusiastic, and enthusiasm sells. When I was 6 years old I was selling candy bars. I remember saying to the houses ‘Do you know a good roofer?'' They would ask why and I would say ‘because once you taste these you will go through the roof.’ I was selling them out and when other kids couldn’t sell theirs then they would give them to me. When I got the sales job, the first thing I learned was to actively listen. Most people don’t actively listen.”
“When I taught sales, I would bring out a quarter, a dime and a nickel. I would say to my students Bob’s mom has 3 kids. The first one is Nicholas, I hold up the nickel. The second one is Dimitrius, I would hold up the dime. Then I hold up the quarter and ask what’s the third kid’s name, and they would never get it. Quarterless? They didn’t get it. After the third or fourth time, they would get it. But I would get it the first time, because I am actively listening.”
“Usually the breaking point is that they don’t value themselves and they worry about other people’s judgement. If you want to leave your job to chase your dreams but you’re afraid, think about this, why would you be worried about leaving something you don’t want? Are you afraid to reach for what you want? Is that OK? If you have a soccer ball in your hand, but you want the football, you have to let go of the soccer ball. You have to let go of what you have to get what you want. If you don’t sacrifice to get what you want, then you won’t get what you want.”
“Well what’s the worst that could happen? Are you going to die quitting your job or asking for that sale? You don’t die, that’s when you become cautious. I have been broke before, it’s not that bad. There are loads of opportunities, it’s just about getting it again. I’m afraid of physical things. One time there were 3 dudes trying to beat me up, I’m afraid of that. Michael Chandler ain’t around me all the time. Things like going to prison, I’m afraid of that. I was asked to sponsor a skydive, then they offered me to jump, why would I do that? Why would I jump out of a perfectly good airplane? If the plane was going down and we are throwing out parachutes, then I’m jumping.”
“Health, family, love, capability and that I get to open my eyes each day.”
