Graham Cochrane (00:01.464)
Have you ever shared something genuinely valuable and feel like nobody cares? You post content that could literally help people and it gets ignored. You speak up at work or in your community and it's like your voice doesn't matter. Meanwhile, someone with half your wisdom, half your experience gets all the attention. Here's the uncomfortable truth. In this world, people don't respond to value first.
They respond to signals. And if you don't understand that, your message will never break through. Let me show you why this happens and what the Bible actually says about it.
Graham Cochrane (01:10.126)
I'm gonna share something with you today that no pastor is talking about. I'm gonna share something with you that I never heard a single sermon on. I'm gonna share something with you today that I didn't even really know was in the Bible because I've just read over it because it probably just didn't register with me as actually there. And how many of us know if you've ever read the Bible, that happens a lot. You can read any book and read over something, even something that you...
enjoyed reading like a personal development book. You go back and reread it again and you say, I never noticed this section. That happens a lot. But this is something that not only have I read over multiple times and not noticed myself, and I've read through the Bible completely cover to cover multiple times, I've never heard a pastor preach on this. And in fact, I know why they wouldn't preach on this because it feels uncomfortable and it feels like it's going to undermine a lot of the other things they're trying to preach.
And yet it's so important for us to understand, especially if you do anything online or anything visible, or you're trying to build your business or build a brand or create content that gets noticed or be a coach or influence people. Think about this. If you want to influence people, if you want to lead people somewhere, that's all leadership is, is influence and influence is leadership, John Maxwell says.
If you want people to pay attention to you because you can help them, you got to know this today because it doesn't matter your intentions or your heart if people don't pay attention to you. How do get people to pay attention to you? I was reading this and it just blew my mind. In the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by King Solomon, the wisest person to ever live, the Bible says, and one of the wealthiest people to ever live, if not the wealthiest person.
He was a king in Israel about 3000 years ago and he wrote a bunch of the Bible. So whether you're a person of faith or not, you should read his writings because they're full of practical wisdom for your life. He wrote the book of Proverbs, most of them, and he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes later in his life, kind of after he's made some mistakes and come back to his senses, he kind of writes a final, like, hey, here's what life's all about. He tells this story in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, starting in verse 13.
Graham Cochrane (03:35.032)
Here's another bit of wisdom that has impressed me, he says, as I've watched the way our world works. Key line there, the way our world works. Not the way we would like it to work, not the way we think it should work, not the way we wish it were, the way it is, AKA human behavior, the way people operate. Some of you,
are operating against human nature and against human psychology because you just don't think it should be that way. It doesn't matter what you think it should be. It doesn't matter what I think it should be. The world is the way it is. It's the system we are operating in. We have to know how to operate in the world. Okay, so he says, I've watched the way the world works. Verse 14. There was a small town with only a few people and a great king came with his army and besieged it. He took it over.
Verse 15, a poor wise man knew how to save the town and so it was rescued. Okay, so you've got a small town, not a whole lot of people in it. This big powerful king, aka a bully, wants to come in and just take it over just because he can. And he probably took it over because he knew no one could stop him. It's a small town. They're not going to have an army or security. So I'm just going to take over this town, take whatever I want. But in that town, there is a poor man
who's also very wise and he must have some solution that they haven't considered because they can't fight. Okay. He saves the town and rescues them with his wisdom. But here's the end of verse 15. But afterward, no one thought to thank him. Well, that's not nice. So this is now Solomon's take, his point. Even though wisdom is better than strength,
Those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.
Graham Cochrane (05:40.398)
Okay, two verses later, he says in verse 18, better to have wisdom than weapons of war. And all throughout the book of Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is trying to say wisdom is better than fill in the blank whatever you think is great. Wisdom is better than money, because if you have wisdom, you'll make lots of money. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, because clearly in this situation, a wise man was able to stop an entire king who besieged the city without weapons of war. Wisdom is better than this, wisdom is better than that.
Get wisdom is the best thing you could get. That's basically Solomon's life message. Wisdom is the most important thing. Get wisdom and we know that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. So really the only way to become truly wise is to love God, respect God, honor God, worship God. Now you may not like that, it's just the truth, it's what it says. But wisdom is the most valuable thing. And yet though, going back to what he says here about this young man, excuse me, this old man,
is that those who are wise will be despised if they're poor. Nobody thanked him. Nobody thanked him. Why? Because he was a poor person. He wasn't wealthy. This is crazy. Literally, this is a description. This is not good. It's not right, but it's description of how people treat non-wealthy people, how people treat non-impressive people in the real world. Sad.
Unfair, not right, but it's the way people act. People undervalue wisdom when it comes in a package they don't respect. Hold on to that. You tracking with me? People undervalue wisdom when it comes in a package they don't respect. This made me think of 1 Samuel 16. Okay? This is a famous passage where there is a king in Israel, Saul, who has screwed up and disobeyed the Lord.
And so God says, I'm going to remove Saul from the throne. I'm going to find a new king. And he tells Samuel, the prophet at the time, so the man who speaks to God on behalf of God, God's sort of messenger. He says, I want to go anoint a king from the house of Jesse. So there's a guy named Jesse and he's got a bunch of sons. I want you to go to his house, tell him that one of your sons is going to become king and I'll tell you which of the sons it's going to be. So there's this fascinating story.
Graham Cochrane (08:08.514)
where Samuel goes to Jesse's house. He tells him, hey, lucky you, bro. One of your sons is gonna become the new king. God said so. So where are your sons? And Jesse's like, my gosh, this is amazing. He lines up seven of his sons, doesn't even think to go get his eighth son, David, who's out in the field as a little teenage boy shepherd. He's around 15 years old. He just takes the seven older ones, lines them up probably by height and by age.
and says, right, which one is it? And there's this beautiful moment where Samuel looks at like the tallest, most handsome, strongest looking son and he's like, oh, he looks like a king and God's like, nope, that's not him. And then Samuel's like, okay, what about this guy? Nope, that's not him. And then God has this powerful line in verse seven of first Samuel 16. He says to Samuel, you're missing it. People judged by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
This passage is taught a lot in scripture. I've seen this taught a lot by pastors. And the way it's taught is the point of that verse, which is don't judge the outward appearance, because that's not how I judge. I judge by the heart. I judge by the heart. And I look at these guys' hearts and they're not the heart of a king. The guy I want is his other son, this young shepherd boy, David. He's a man after my own heart. mean, he has a heart like mine.
And that's one of the highest compliments God gives David throughout his life is like, you have a heart like mine. David wasn't perfect. He screwed up royally if you read the rest of his life account, but God loved his heart. God looks at the heart. God sees the truth beneath the surface, right? God honors wisdom and passion and your heart despite your status or appearance. That's the beautiful news about.
our God is that he loves people for who they truly are on the inside. That's God's perspective. But so we love the last part is that the Lord looks at the heart. But the first part is so important. How do people judge? What do people look at? They look at the outward appearance. That's what people judge. So we can know and take
Graham Cochrane (10:28.216)
comfort in knowing that God doesn't care about whether you're rich or poor, doesn't care about whether what you look like, doesn't care what family you came from or what country or if you have status, He cares about you the person. That's great news for us and our relationship with God. But how does the world operate? From a human perspective, people judge based on what they see.
Graham Cochrane (10:48.59)
There's the phrase, don't judge a book by its cover. And yet that is the most important part of a book to get people to pay attention to the book is the book cover. What it says, what it looks like. I coach authors a lot who are entrepreneurs who want to become authors. I have a couple of bestselling books, a new one's coming out here very soon. I talk about the most important thing about your book is not what's inside the book. The most important thing about the book is the title and then the subtitle and then the cover design.
Because your book could be the best book on the planet, but if the title sucks and the cover design is not attractive, no one's going to pick it up and no one's going to be helped by it. So more important than the contents inside the book is the cover. And yet people say, don't judge a book by the cover. That's how people judge books. It's a nice thought, right? Don't judge a book by its cover. But doesn't matter what people say, it's how people operate. So people evaluate credibility instantly, visually.
emotionally. Does it make sense? People assume that your appearance equals authority, credibility, capability, even though that may not be true and the things are not related.
I get it, it doesn't seem right, but this is how people operate. So, wisdom is what matters most to God, but appearance is what opens the door with people. I say that again, wisdom is what matters most to God, and it's the most valuable thing we can have, but appearance is what opens the door with people. This isn't vanity, this is reality. Okay, I wanna help you here today. So, if you feel like your message isn't breaking through, if you feel like you're not having the influence or the impact or the reach, you...
feel like you should be having and I have been there and I feel it, this is going to be helpful for you, okay? So the reality of human nature is that people make snap judgments before hearing your words. So if you're a YouTuber, they make snap judgments about you based off of your thumbnail.
Graham Cochrane (12:52.46)
based off of how you present in the video, what your camera setup looks like. Now, I think you can overemphasize this. There's a point of diminishing returns. So I tell people, look, if you have an iPhone with good lighting, set up a background that doesn't look horrendous, you can be fine. There's a point of diminishing returns, but these things matter because that's what they look at. We were talking about books, your cover.
your website. let's think about this thumbnail determines clicks. Doesn't matter how good your video, the thumbnail determines the click. We know that from heat maps, people look at the thumbnail first and then if they like the thumbnail, they read the title second. And if those things line up and they're interested, then they click. Okay, so thumbnail determines the click. Your bio, having a well-crafted expert bio or professional bio that people can read or you have on your website,
in variations, in different forms, different lengths, this determines trust. Okay, so think about this. If you're a keynote speaker and you get on a stage, you don't want to just get on the stage and speak. You want someone who's not you, the MC, the host, whomever, it could be a video that plays before you, someone to read your bio to show you that you are credible.
to show you that you are worth listening to you. It becomes the frame and the lens through which people see you and then receive your content. That way don't even talk about yourself when you get on stage. That you can just get up and serve people because they now automatically respect you. When people hear that I'm a USA Today bestselling author and that I've generated 20 millions of dollars online and have a top 0.5 % ranked podcast globally that
I have built multiple seven figure year businesses working five hours a week or less. I've been featured in Forbes, CNBC, Business Insider, Fox News. You see now, Tedx Talk, right? Like now people go, he must be something. They don't know anything about me other than the packaging, the frame, and the bio can do a lot of that heavy lifting for you. So that's powerful if you're a speaker. Visuals determine perception. The way you show up visually in your brand is really, really important.
Graham Cochrane (15:18.156)
My wife runs a company called Elevé Visuals. And Elevé Visuals is a branding agency for female entrepreneurs where you pay a subscription and you get access to thousands of high-end brand visuals, photos, stock video, that you can put on your website, your social media, in your emails, wherever you do visual branding that elevates the look of your brand.
with a high-end feminine aesthetic. So people immediately go, she's legit. They don't even know anything about you, but just by the way your brand appears. That visual branding.
The credibility markers, how you show up. We'll get to details of this. Frame the message you carry. Is it making sense? The frame, it's like a box around who you are. It's like a lens, okay? It determines whether people will receive your wisdom or not.
So the frame tells people how to value what's inside. I'm going to assume you have value to share. I'm going to assume you have a message, a story, a method, content, frameworks, things that can help people transform their lives. That's what I do. I help people scale their businesses to $100,000 a month or more, working 20 hours a week or less and loving what they do. That's what I help people do, but no one will listen to me if they don't see me through a frame of, this guy's legit.
No one will listen to you if they don't see a frame around you that is attractive.
Graham Cochrane (16:59.224)
So what I don't want you to think is that you have to fake success. So this is what I'm not talking about. I'm not talking about renting a Lamborghini and standing in front of it. I'm not talking about wearing fake Rolexes. I'm not talking about any of that stuff. But that is one application that you could do, and people do it all the time, to elevate their perception to look more credible, to look more attractive to people, and it works. I'm not saying you have to do that.
Okay? I'm not even saying, I don't do that. So don't fake success, but you do want to demonstrate credibility. You do want to demonstrate authority. You do want to demonstrate that you are worth listening to, and you have to do it in ways that actual real human beings care about. So let's walk through some of those. Ready? Number one is professional presentation. So bare minimum, if you're creating content,
Have clean thumbnails on YouTube, like attractive thumbnails on YouTube. So you're gonna wanna use contrast. Contrast you in the foreground with something in the background. Don't make very, very busy thumbnails like bold colors, clean, contrast. In your videos, use good lighting. If you don't have any lighting film in front of a window, don't have the light behind you, have it in front of you so you're well lit with natural light. You cannot beat.
God's lighting, God's lighting is the perfect lighting. That's why all these beautiful lighting setups and soft boxes you get are designed to mimic natural light, because natural light is the most beautiful light. So get good lighting, get quality audio. You don't have to have, you know, I have a few thousand dollars of audio equipment here. I'm an audio engineer by trade and I'm a professional content creator and podcaster and it makes sense for me. I send my clients my list of my equipment and it's max $2,000 to get everything for my video.
lighting and audio. So it's not expensive, but at the bare minimum, get a dedicated microphone that's close to your face. So either have a wireless one that clips onto your shirt, like a lavalier mic or a Rode clip-on that the Bluetooth or wireless beams to your camera or your phone. Like just don't have the camera microphone far away from you. That's gonna pick up the whole room. Have the microphone close to you.
Graham Cochrane (19:24.876)
or one like this right in front of my face if you're watching on YouTube. But good audio has been proven to make people think it's a more high quality piece of content than good video. Good video is important, good audio is actually better. They've tested what people prefer, a bad video with good audio or a good video with bad audio, and people prefer the bad video with good audio, which is fascinating. And then in general, you wanna have a polished look. So.
I think what's important here is, let's talk about your luck.
Graham Cochrane (20:03.798)
One of my mentors is Myron Golden and Myron is a great example of what I think is the point here, which is look the part. You want to look the part. So Myron, for example, is a business consultant, a business growth expert. He's a multimillionaire, very successful, and he helps people grow their businesses and become more successful and wealthy. He made a shift a few years ago to stop wearing t-shirts.
and to start wearing designer suits. So he didn't always used to wear suits. I don't know how long you followed my room, but now he does. He wears custom tailored suits. They even have his logo inside the lining, which is pretty cool. He wears suits. He wears fancy rings. He wears nice shoes. He flies private instead of commercial. He drives very expensive cars. He looks the part
of a wealthy man, so it brings congruence with his message of how to become wealthy, and it attracts the person that wants to become wealthy and more successful because in a split second they see him and go, he looks wealthy and successful. He doesn't even have to open his mouth, but he looks wealthy and successful. Now, he could be faking it like anybody else on the internet, but he's not. I know him personally.
but he still looks the part. Now, that's one way of looking the part. If you're a fitness expert and you're helping people get in shape, well, number one, you better be in shape yourself. But number two, you better show your body in a, I think, a respectable way. Now, this is controversial because a lot of people have grown their fitness influencer brand by, let's be honest, just showing a bunch of cleavage. And I'm not trying to judge anybody because it works. There's people that study this stuff. They'll test different things, but
cleavage works. Okay, and if you're a guy version, having your shirt off looking ripped works. I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm just saying...
Graham Cochrane (22:13.09)
There is a way, if it were my daughter and she were a fitness influencer expert, I would want her to be more modest than that because as a Christian, God values modesty and wants us to be modest and all men and women to be modest. But at the same time, if your industry is the body and looking good and being toned and being in shape, you do need to show...
your body in a way that shows the part. You need to look the part. you need to be in athletic gear. You need to show how cut your arms are, how lean you are, how strong you are. And there are ways to do it, I think, that are tasteful and tactful. And so that's up for you to decide where you land on that. But you need to look the part. If you're a fitness influencer and you're just wearing baggy clothes all the time and no one can see how in shape you are, you could still maybe help people, but you are
you are missing out, you have good stuff to share and people aren't gonna pay attention to you because you don't look the part. That's a very visual one, right? I'm trying to just give you examples. So there's ways to literally look the part, but here's the takeaway. What does look the part really mean? It means when they see you, you are a visual representation of the future they want. Does this make sense?
So they're gonna listen to your words, yes, but they're looking at you, whether it's on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube or whatever, or even just photos on your website, they're looking at you and they're gonna, know, a picture's worth a thousand words. So I think a picture communicates a thousand times faster than words is one way I think about that phrase. So in a split second, your picture tells them something about you. What do you want it to tell them?
Okay, don't judge a book by its cover is bad advice because that's what people do. So what does your cover look like? Your cover is how you show up online. What do you look like? Groom yourself, look professional, right? Smile, emote the type of person they desire to be. One of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten from people about my content is, man, you just seem...
Graham Cochrane (24:32.872)
so calm and peaceful. Like, you don't seem like, like freaked out or stressed out. That's part of me looking the part. Because when you have a business, I teach people how to build what I call an effortless business. My new book is coming out in January called The Effortless Business. When you've got a business that is printing money, it's you're making over a million dollars a year,
takes less than 20 hours a week to run. So you're running this part time. You have what I call a dream week where you get to wake up and do what you want to do, when you want to do it, how you want to do it, including your business. You're not worried about your next paycheck. You're not worried about the cost of gas, groceries, or taking care of your family. Like you can live in the neighborhood you want to live and drive the car you want to drive, take the vacations you want to take without a stressful high income life. Bro, then part of what I teach people how to do is feel like it's effortless, which gives you
I'm not always happy-go-lucky and peaceful. Just come hang out with me and live with my family for a while. Like my wife and kids know, there's days where I'm stressed out about stuff. But on the whole, I'm pretty happy-go-lucky, pretty calm because of the way I've designed my business and life. That's part of me looking the part. Make sense? Is I'm not as flashy as some, but...
I show, this is how I do it, I show my family traveling all the time. I show the luxury of having time with my family. Me with my kids, I take them to school, I pick them up from school, I'm at their games, we hang out on the weekends, we travel. I show that, to me, I show the lifestyle of living like an effortless business or living an effortless entrepreneur life. I show the lifestyle, right? I don't show cars and houses, but I'll talk about
the multiple properties I own, I'll talk about some of the vacations we go on, I'll talk about some of these things, because it's part of the lifestyle. I'll talk about taking a month off in the summer because I can. I think that's more of a flex than having lots of money. Anybody can make lots of money, it's actually not that hard. But having lots of money and lots of time and flexibility where I can take a month off and money still comes into my business, that's a flex. And I'll talk about that subtly. I will look the part.
Graham Cochrane (26:56.59)
Does this make sense? Okay, so your professional presentation, all that matters. Here's another tactical one. Have an expert bio. So your bio is your status frame. It prepares people to hear you. One of my clients came and had a VIP day with me last year in Tampa, and one of the first things I did was look at his website, and now I know this gentleman. I've been friends with him for many years.
He's been in business for over 16 years. He's one of the best at what he does. He has a lot of authority in the space. But I went to his website and I said, bro, your website makes you look like you're some kid in his mom's basement that's trying this blog thing out, trying this YouTube thing out. It does not communicate how legit you are. And so I said, where's your bio? And he said, I don't have one. And I'm like, bro, we have to write that today. And so one of the first things we did was write
his what we would call an expert bio, a bio that positions you as the expert or authority in your field. And you do this simply by not being humble. And I that's crazy because you need to be a person of humility. I believe that humility is the key that unlocks every door as how you carry yourself. But when it comes to your bio, this is not the time to be humble. This is the time to brag. And you do this by outlining every single thing that would show status.
Right? Every accomplishment, every award you've gotten, every big media outlet you've been featured in or big brand in your industry that you've been associated with, any and all stats you can find and then paint them in the best possible light. Okay? So for him, he's worked with massive brands. And I like, why don't you mention these brands you've worked with? For him, he has over 8,000 paying customers.
That's a lot of authority. Over 8,000 people have forked out money. Let's count up how many views you have on YouTube total. For me, I think the last time I counted, I have 65 million views on YouTube. That's a lot. 65 million people have watched my stuff. That's insane. So you want to just take the time to look at everything you've done and...
Graham Cochrane (29:19.808)
Even if you're newer to this, there are ways to show your credibility in your bio if you just find one of the most brag worthy things about you and frame them in the most positive light. So for example, if you have built two million dollar a year businesses like I have, don't say I've built two, say I've built multiple. Because that is also true, but sounds better than two. Do you see what I'm saying? Right?
My podcast, I don't know what the rank is, number, like 1,400, like who cares about that? I wanna go with the fact that it's overall podcast on the planet, it is ranked in the top 0.5 % of all podcasts. And you can do that if you have a podcast, go to ListenNotes and look at your podcast ranking. That's more impressive than whatever the number is, right? It's a way of showing yourself in the best light possible. So,
brag about yourself, anything you've ever done or accomplished, any media outlet you've ever been featured in, any and all ways to show yourself in the best light possible, you need a expert bio. This needs to be on your website. This needs to be on your book, back of your book or book jacket cover. This needs to be sent to every podcast you go on and every speak engagement you go on ahead of time and say, please read this bio out loud before I come on.
Right? That is your job. If you don't, they will come up with a bio or not have a bio. Your job is to supply your bio once you've crafted it for these outlets so that they can frame you before you come on. Expert bio is one of the best things you can do. Okay. You need authority markers. These include testimonials of other people that people respect from other people that your audience respects. Okay. Testimonials are so powerful. In the book world, these are called endorsements.
or blurbs. That's why you see on the back of my books or inside my books what people are saying about my book. When you have someone with a lot of authority or credibility or celebrity saying, Graham's book is amazing or Graham is amazing, now, okay, if so and so says it, if John Acuff or John Gordon or, you know, Michael Hyatt or Myron Goldin or Ben Hardy or any of these people that are New York Times bestselling authors or celebrities or
Graham Cochrane (31:38.316)
whatever are saying I'm great and my book is great, you assume it's great. And it may not be great, but because they have credibility, I get to borrow their credibility and apply it to myself. Does that make sense? This is why you see, and you wanna put these on your website as well. If you've got great endorsements from people about your work, about anything, put them on your website. Put them on your sales pages. Put them in your books. Other, and then that's if you have,
massive people with credibility. If you don't have those people, what about social proof from your clients? What do your clients say about you?
Not just the results they've gotten, but what they say about you, how amazing you are. One testimonial from a authority, celebrity, someone that everybody in your industry respects, carries a ton of weight. If you don't have one of those, you could almost replace it with 10 to 20 client testimonials. You need a lot more of those, because they don't carry as much weight individually. But when people see just screen grabs upon screen grabs of what your clients are saying about you,
Okay, maybe you're legit. The packaging is improved, it's more impressive, the frame is more impressive. she really helps people. She's gotten people a ton of results, right? So testimonials matter. Media logos. This is why it's so important to try to guest post or get some media done on you and you can hire PR agencies to help you with this. you know, there's...
It's usually pay to play, either you pay someone to get you featured in a specific outlet, or you just hire someone to contract with you to help get you on as many platforms as possible, and then you're paying their consulting fee or whatever, but PR strategists can help you get in publications. Now those publications may not drive traffic to your business, but they can help you tremendously. For example, when my first book came out, How to Get Paid for What You Know, I hired a PR firm to help me get.
Graham Cochrane (33:40.396)
the word out of the book, because I wanted to sell books. I wanted to get in as many media outlets as possible, get on as many podcasts as possible. And some of the bigger outlets we got on were CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider. We got on a bunch of other big podcasts as well, but of the media outlets, those were probably the three biggest ones. I also got on my local Fox News station. So those are powerful. Only one actually drove sales of my book, and that was CNBC.
CNBC Make It is a great segment of CNBC where they, it was a perfect fit. My book, the topic, my story was a perfect fit for their audience. It created a viral post that was crushing for two weeks straight. It sent a ton of traffic to my book and CNBC loved me and we've done like 10 other versions of that post and we've done a video interview and all this kind of stuff because it got them a lot of clicks. That was a unicorn. All the other ones, I don't think anybody even read the articles. But what did I get? Logos.
I now have CNBC's logo. I have Forbes, which is a highly respected magazine in the business and finance world. Business Insider, respected. Fox News. Okay, news outlets are covering me. That's a big deal. You know, they literally came and did a feature of me. It was Fox News, Fox 13 in Tampa, Florida, but still says Fox News. Okay, that's impressive. Media outlets. You could get in your local media, and that's a great way to do it. You get in your newspapers.
Graham Cochrane (35:09.824)
On the second play with that, and those logos were powerful for me, was when I made a play at running for the bestseller list with my second book, Rebel, I hired brand builders group, because they were the best at book launches and ran their play. And we landed on USA Today bestseller list. We moved enough units, there's no game here other than you just have to sell a lot of books. And there's a certain amount of books you have to sell and you have to sell them all across the country and a lot of different book outlets. You can't just like buy them all yourself, okay?
You have to actually have people buying them with real addresses. And so there's a way to do it legitimately, but you still have to sell a lot of books. It was the most work I had to do for the least amount of money or payoff. But the payoff was we hit the USA Today bestseller list. I was the number 37 book out of the top of the whole country for that week. In the top 50 get printed in the newspaper. On the top 100, I think, are on the list. was number 37 that week. Now what did that give me? Featured in USA Today. So that's another logo. It didn't sell books for me.
I don't know if anybody cares, but I can now forever say I'm a USA Today bestselling author. I can have the USA Today logo. That is a brand that people at have heard of and respect, because it's the only national newspaper we have, right? If I had a New York Times bestselling book, that would be even better, because for whatever reason, New York Times is the most respected, I believe, newspaper in the country, and so their bestseller book list is the most respected, even though it's not truly the bestsellers.
It's a bit of an, it's an editorial list. I mean, it's not even a secret. They say it's an editorial list, not a sales-based list. But that's not the here nor there. But that would carry even more respect. So what logos can you get, right? What podcast appearances can you be on? Can you get on a bigger podcast? And every podcast you get on helps you get on the next bigger one and the next bigger one.
Photos with respected leaders or influencers or celebrities If you have an opportunity to take a photo with someone that everybody knows and It's not weird and you're not being a weird stalker. It's a legitimate opportunity. Take the photo Use the photo not because it's bragging but because it's Everyone that I've met that I respect in my industry
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that I feel like I have a relationship with, whether I hired them as a coach, spoke on a stage with them, met them and had a chance to actually talk with them and there was an appropriate moment to take a photo. don't ask for photos with every person I meet, only if it feels appropriate. I will take the photo and I will use the photo because it's literally visual proof that we are aligned. That hey, I know this person, this person knows me. And that doesn't create bragging, that creates framing for other people to go, oh wow.
He knows Myron Goldin. He knows Rory Vaden. He knows whomever it would be. I have multiple pictures with me and John Maxwell. I haven't even used them much yet, but he's, I he was one of the greatest voices in leadership and sold more books than almost anybody else on the planet. I've met him multiple times. I've been to his house, like, and I have multiple pictures with me and him. Okay. It's not bragging. It's framing. So professional presentation.
your expert bio, authority markers, and then finally, visible results or payoffs. Okay, people need to see the outcome or the evidence of what you teach. So this is going to include your lifestyle, which we've touched on. This is gonna include your business results if you're a business coach. It's gonna include your peace, your joy, your family life. And so I've touched on this a little bit already, but show what they want. People don't...
buy you or buy your product or your content, they're buying a payoff for themselves. And if you're the means to get that payoff, if you're the person that can help them get the payoff, they'll pay attention to you for a moment, but they won't pay attention to you if you can't show them that you have the payoff already. Talking about the payoff, yet not displaying that you have it already, is a little suspect. It doesn't mean you don't experience the payoff, but it's a little suspect.
So don't hide the outcomes yourself, don't hide it. Again, if you're an in-shape person helping people get in shape, don't hide the fact that you're in shape. Show how in shape you are in a classy, tactful way. There are ways to do that. If you're a wealthy person helping people become wealthy, show that you're wealthy in a tactful, classy way. Right? If you have...
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really well behaved kids and you're a parenting expert, show that you have really well behaved kids that love you and adore you in a classy, tactful way. If you are a marriage coach and you help people's marriages improve, show yourself with your spouse loving each other, flirting, being silly together, living life together so people go, aw, they look so happy. I wanna be happy too. Is this making sense? Like show them the payoff. Show them
The evidence, right? And don't let any fear of people judging you hold you back from doing this. There are ways to do this that are classy, but do know what? Someone is always gonna judge you no matter what. No matter what. I don't think you should flaunt things, but I do think you need to display what your people want, because if you don't, they will not pay attention to you. They will ignore you. Is this making sense?
Again, going back to 1 Samuel 16, 7, people judge by the outward appearance. It's there in Scripture. These are literally God's words to Samuel. This is how people judge. This is the way the world works. It's not the way God works, but it's the way the world works. So again, your wisdom won't be heard if you don't present in a way that signals wisdom. This is biblical. This is psychologically sound. This is practical.
It is what it is, folks. So.
Let's pull this back for a second.
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This is not about you impressing people. We're not in the business to impress people. If you're impressing people, you actually won't be successful. You're missing the point. You wanna be, Myron, one of my mentors says, one of the tricks to not being nervous on stage is to don't be self-conscious, be audience-conscious. Don't think about yourself, think about other people. Philippians chapter two.
Verse three and four, I believe, says, nothing out of selfish ambition, but instead put other people's interests above your own. Okay? So the secret to success, and Jesus talks about this too, when his disciples are saying, who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God? And they say, who's going to be the greatest? He doesn't say, you shouldn't worry about being great. You shouldn't try to be great. No, he shows them the formula for greatness. He says, if you want to be great, become the servant of all. Meaning the formula for greatness is
to serve others. Philippians chapter two, put their interest above your own. Myron Goldin, be audience conscious, not self conscious. But what happens when you become audience conscious? You become really aware of what they need, what they want, what they care about. They want the outcome that you can give them. They need help getting it. What do they care about? Seeing that you're someone that can give them the outcome. And if you don't display someone that can give them the outcome, if you don't display someone worth listening to, if you don't display as someone that's
successful and wealthy in my case or whatever it might be, they're not going to pay attention. So this is not about impressing people. This is actually about serving people. Does it make sense? It's not about fake flexing. It's not about wealth or success or your how good you look or whatever how awesome your life is as identity. This is not about your identity. You are not your wealth. You are not your body. You are not your happy marriage. You are not your obedient kids. You are not your
perfectly designed home, you are not your great lighting and audio. You're none of those things. That's not who you are. You are made in the image and likeness of God. And if you are a Christian, you are now God's child, which gives you all kinds of benefits and stuff like that. So you are more than those things. That's not your identity. But it is about removing friction that keeps people from hearing your message.
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We care about our outward appearance. We care about how we show up in the world. We care about our public persona and perception because it removes friction from people hearing your message. God looks at your heart. People look at your presentation. And your job is to align the outside with the truth on the inside. Your job is to create a book cover
that is just as attractive as the message inside. There are two things you don't want. An attractive book cover with a crappy book on the inside or a life-changing book with a crappy cover and title on the outside. Both are gonna not accomplish the goal. The only way to accomplish the goal is option three, door number three, is an incredible book with an incredibly attractive cover and title.
In our context as a content creator, consultant, a coach, an expert, speaker, an author, or just a leader in your community or your business, we want to have a powerful life-changing message and content and influence inside of you, but wrapped in an attractive, respected package. Framed in attraction and respect.
and credibility. Does this make sense?
So let's land the plane here. Again, I've never heard a sermon preached on this, why you should look successful and wealthy and attractive on the outside.
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But in a way you need to. I believe, because I read the Bible, that God has placed wisdom and an aspect of His creativity and genius inside of you. Okay? So you have that already. You were born with that.
Your mission is to present that with excellence. Your message, your content, your brand deserves a frame, a package that amplifies it, not hides it.
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Stop waiting for people to discover you and begin to steward the influence that God's already given you and that begins by creating a package, an outward appearance that is attractive to your ideal avatar. This really is a conversation about stewardship, which is an old English and biblical word for managing, using wisely what God's given you. If you're saying, I've got the best content,
but nobody clicks on it. I'll get the best content, but no one's following me on Instagram. Maybe, just maybe you should stop judging other people and stop complaining and stop acting holier than thou and stop being passive and waiting for the algorithm gods quote unquote to shower you with their blessing and favor and start showing up and playing the part and creating a package and an appearance that is attractive
to your ideal person so they can notice you. And once they notice you, they can start to come a little closer and hear your message.
Do you know that this is actually Jesus's play?
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Jesus didn't just walk around and say, listen to me, I'm the son of God, I have life-changing news. No. He went and earned their respect first. How? Two ways. He healed people's sicknesses and diseases miraculously.
and then he fed people. Healed people and fed people.
Okay, so both were done miraculously by the way, but both are attractive. If you got a guy walking around who can cure cancer, can fix people with physical disabilities, remove autism, remove anything that we might perceive as holding us back physically in our bodies, we're gonna pay attention to that guy. If at the same time he's walking around and saying, free food for everybody and there's tons left over, I'm gonna pay attention to that guy, right?
Then once they had the cure, they had the healing, they had the food.
He could speak to them and they would listen even deeper. Jesus knew this play. He had to create a frame. Now, He didn't pretend to be something He wasn't. It wasn't a bait and switch, but He served people first. He met them where they were. People can't receive the life-changing message of Jesus when their eyes are so fixated on their sicknesses, their illness, their problems, their pain, their lack of resource. So, He would meet people where they are.
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meet those needs physically, and then he had the right to speak into their lives with his message. Does this make sense? So if Jesus did it, how can we get away without doing it? So for you, I want you to do two simple things. Number one, I want you to audit your online presence this week. Just start. Don't be overwhelmed. Don't try to change everything at once. Just look at your YouTube channel. Look at your
website, look at your social media profiles, look at your speaker demo reel or one sheet or whatever it is, just look at what you've got and just audit it. Would other people find this attractive? Within three seconds would they see you as the credible authority in the space worth continuing to listen to or read more on your website? And identify what you think is the weakest part of your online presence.
And then here's the second thing I want you to do is simply upgrade one of those weak signals this week. Okay, so we talk about signals. Your website is a signal. Your photos are a signal. Your Instagram bio and presentation and what you post is a signal. Your headshot is a signal. Your thumbnails on your website are your YouTube channel, a signal. The way your YouTube channel, when they go to your actual channel, the cover art and the first 10 words of your bio are a signal.
Just pick one of those signals this week to upgrade. Just one. You'll feel a momentum boost, you'll already be improving your packaging and frame, and then you're gonna get the dopamine hit of, this can be better, I can present better. And here's the crazy thing. When you dress for the job you want, not the job that you have, as they say, when you put on a good suit, you wear tailored clothing, stuff that fits, your favorite outfit that you feel looks good on you.
Something changes inside of you, doesn't it? You show up a little bit more swagger. Your chest is out, your shoulders are back. You feel like the man, you feel like the woman. Because appearance matters, not just to others, but to ourselves. And that creates confidence. And confidence is infectious. And confidence creates a buy-in from other people.
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It becomes this virtuous cycle. So here's the powerful thing. When you upgrade one of your signals, as it were, one of your parts of your online presence, your packaging, your frame, this week, just upgrading one, you start to go, hey, I'm pretty awesome. When you write a better crafted expert bio, you go, dude, I sound impressive because you are impressive. You just haven't seen yourself that way.
This is one of the game changers of starting to audit, starting to upgrade your packaging, is that it makes you want to upgrade all of it because you see yourself now through, hello, the same frame, everybody else is gonna start seeing you. Wow, when you see yourself through the lens that you're creating of success, of accomplishment, of living the payoff and the lifestyle and the professionalism that you want to convey, when you see yourself through that frame, you get the benefit.
It doesn't just attract other people, you get the benefit because now you become more confident. You show up as fully yourself like, yes, I am awesome because you are awesome. But your packaging, what you're seeing in yourself, looking in the mirror as it were every single day online isn't reflecting that awesomeness. So you can see how this can subtly but powerfully help you on the inside become even more confident of the message and the authority you carry on the inside.
I hope this was helpful. Let me know in a comment if it was, if you're watching on YouTube, comment below if this was helpful and what part of it you're gonna upgrade immediately. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can always message me on Instagram at TheGrahamCochran and let me know that you listened to this episode and that it was helpful for you as well. Again, this isn't about perfection. This isn't about perfectly optimizing things. This is all about getting people
to pay attention to you so you can change their lives and just improving your packaging or your frame one step at a time. People deserve to hear your message and you deserve to be heard. Have a great rest of your week. I'll see you on another episode real soon.
