This is a transcript from the Business Secrets Podcast With Robert Kanaat. Click here to view and subscribe on iTunes.
What’s up you guys, and welcome to another episode of Business Secrets. My name is Robert Kanaat, founder of wanderlustworker.com. Thank you so much for being with me here today again. If you like this podcast, please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, share, comment – and all of the above, and I greatly appreciate it.
Today what I wanted to talk to you guys about, was the importance of adding value. One of the biggest secrets in business is that you have to add an extraordinary amount of value. I’m not just talking about a little bit of value. I’m talking about a massive amount of value. Because you know what? People will not take notice unless you add huge value.
Just imagine it for a moment. Think about any of the biggest businesses, or the most successful entrepreneurs in the world out there right now. Just imagine how much value they added to the world. Obviously Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, and Facebook is a platform that has connected billions of people across the planet. That’s a massive value add. In fact, he didn’t start monetizing until very later on in the business. In the very early outset, he was concerned about adding a lot of value.
Similar thing goes for WhatsApp. WhatsApp went out there and built a massive platform. In fact the founder got rejected from a job at Facebook. He went out there and built a platform that was super easy to use and made it super-efficient to essentially text and call using your phone, using a mobile app. The company exploded, and it was bought for 19 billion by Facebook. The same founder who got turned down for a job at Facebook got his company bought for 19 billion dollars.
This is not about billions or millions or anything like that. But my point I’m trying to get to you, is that – make sure you add a lot of value. Because you know what? Most people go out there, and they do like the least amount of work, expecting the greatest return. When in fact, you have to do the most amount of work. In the very beginning, at the outset – you have to expect the least return. Because it just doesn’t work the other way around.
People are so impatient. They try to build a business super ultra-fast, and they expect to have adoption like overnight. They want to be super wealthy, or super successful, and have it happen instantly. Without a lot of toiling or a lot of hard work. But it doesn’t actually work that way. You have to go out there, and you have to add a whole lot of value.
Let me give you an example of adding value. For example, in my life. What I told you guys in a prior episode was – I went out there looking to add value to some of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet. I did that by highlighting their story in platforms like, magazines like Entrepreneur and Forbes and stuff like that. You can do that as well. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in that aspect. I’m talking about when you build a product or a service, go out of your way for the customer. Really go out of your way for the customer.
Have you ever searched for a property like on Airbnb that has these incredible reviews. They say, “The host was so gracious, so generous, did all these things. Not only was the house good, but like the host – they literally went out of their way to make sure that the guests were super satisfied with their stay.” You know what? That’s a reflection on them, that’s a reflection on the property. That instills a lot of confidence in people to book that home. It’s because you know that not only does the house add value, but the actual host is adding a lot of value. The host cares.
If you just focus on the bottom line, if you just focus on money above all else, you’re not going to get very far unfortunately. You have to focus on adding a lot of value. You do that by trying to help people as much as possible. Not try to take from them. Try to give to them. This kind of comes back to the whole – are you a giver or a taker, that we saw in a past episode as well. But that’s so true.
The people who go out there and they add value, are the people who will get noticed. You know what I mean? You will get noticed if you add value. If you try to extract value from people, you’re not going to get noticed. People are going to look at you as just somebody who wants to take from them. That doesn’t feel good at all.
In business, really go out of your way. If you’re building a business, build it from your heart, right? Build it from your– When you build it from your heart, you’re adding a lot of value. You have to go out of your way for people. For example, when somebody wants my help with something. They want my help with SEO or consulting or something like– I literally bend over backwards trying to help that person. I don’t try to extract from them, I try to add to them. Add to their business. Add to the value of their personal lives.
Because that’s a reflection on me. What I do, what I do to go out there and help somebody. That’s a reflection on me. You have to think about your business as a reflection on you. How much value are you adding? That’s the question. Have you ever seen these posts on Facebook where you have your friend saying – or you have people, entrepreneurs saying like – they want to get on a free consultation call, because they want to help you with your business.
Well that’s pretty cool, right? So like you get on the call, and if the call is good and it adds a lot of value, what do you do, right? You’re probably going to hire that person. Whatever business that you’re in – if you’re selling products or services or information, you’ve got to go out of your way. In all of my courses – SEO courses, courses on anything like programming and stuff like that. I literally went out of my way. I probably invested thousands of hours in a single course, just to deliver information that regular people will probably invest just like 100 hours, or a couple of hundred hours.
That’s because I understand the importance of adding value. But it also shows that I care. Do you care about your customers, or do you only care about money? Because I assure you that one of the underlying fundamentals of successful entrepreneurs in business is that they go out there, and they add an insane amount of value. Not just a little bit of value, I’m talking about an insane amount of value.
Think about Tesla, the company. An electric car is just insane, and an electric car that’s become widely adopted now. It adds incredible amounts of value. I mean that car is just like – if you’ve ever driven a Tesla, you know, right? You know how much value that car adds. It just blows your mind. You’ve got to think about – this is not about doing the least amount of work for the greatest return.
That is not the secret to success in business. This is about going out there and doing a ton of value add, before you even collect a dime. I’m talking about really going out there and helping people. I know that this might sound counter-intuitive to some people. But to the people who really understand business, so the entrepreneurs at the highest level. They know that they have to go out there. They know that they have to add a ton of value if they want to get noticed.
One of my good friends now, Howard Panes, he’s the – he’s basically the pioneer of the disposable electronic cigarette. When he went out there, it was six or seven years ago from today. He went out there, and he was $600,000 in debt. He’d just lost his house to a short sale, and he went through a divorce. Then he had the idea for Logic. Which ultimately became a company that was purchased by Japan Tobacco, and it was huge, right?
He went out there and added a ton of value. Because before that, electronic cigarettes had to be plugged in. They were cumbersome, they were bulky, they were expensive. He really brought the disposable electronic cigarette into wide adoption. Even when he knew he had a product that was widely adopted, he didn’t try to skimp. He didn’t try to pick and prod and take value from the customers. He figured out, “How can I make the battery last longer? How can I air ship the liquid nicotine so that it’s fresher than the people who land ship it? How can I make this better, slimmer, better tasting, longer lasting?”
All those questions. It was like constantly, “How can I add value?” That’s how you get super rich. That is the biggest secret to success in business. Because at the end of the day, so many people are not focusing on that. So many people are really trying to extract value. But I assure you that if you take a look at your business right now, today – and if you figure out, “How can I add more value to my existing customers? How can I make my products or my services or my information better?”
I assure you it’s going to do massive amounts of things for your business. It’s going to exponentiate your income. If you – as long as you focus on the long term gain, and not that short term fame. That’s what’s going to take you to that next level. If you’ve plateaued or you’ve kind of reached this point where you’re like, “Oh I can’t break through.” You have to come back to the drawing board, and figure out a way to add more value.
I don’t care how it is. Whether it’s – you’re refining your products or your services or your information. You’re going out there, and you’re trying to help other people by creating content that’s really useful. Video, audio, whatever it is. Books, everything. Like really go out there and spend the time and show that you care, and you will become an authority.
And so all of this boils down to the value that you’re adding. If you’re not adding the value, then really you’re wasting your time. In business it doesn’t matter how much marketing you do. If you have an inferior product or service or anything like that, people are going to know. They’re going to know that you’re just out there to make a quick buck, and that is it. That’s not the point of business. That’s not the secret to long term success in business.
I challenge you today to take a look at your current business and what you’re doing, and figure out how you can add more value. Your products, your services, your information – everything. Figure out how you can add more value to your existing offers, or figure out ways you can build upon the business that you have by adding more value.
Hopefully that information helps you guys, and I hope that you’re getting a lot of value out of this podcast. If you are, please go on iTunes and subscribe and share and comment. I really, really sincerely appreciate it. I read every single one of those, and that really inspires me to continue making these podcasts. Until next time, I’ll talk to you guys later.