I recently had a coaching client tell me that they wanted only “the brutal truth” (whatever that means).

There is no reason to tell me that. Like most successful people, I value telling the truth very highly.

In addition, a vast majority of successful people I have known don’t find the truth to be “brutal” at all. We love the truth.

This person signed up for coaching though because they are struggling, not because they wanted to optimize their current success.

My first email to new coaching clients has a long list of questions… all of which have very concise answers. When I receive a response that simply answers the questions, I know that I am working with someone who is already successful. They are hiring me to help them get to the next level, but they already know the basics to success.

These basics include:

Live in reality.

Tell the truth.

Be accurate and concise.

Know what you want in detail.

Have a plan (preferrably a proven plan).

Follow it (take action).

Focus only on your goal and brush away all distractions.

Keep your word.

Give 110%.

Focus on how you are going to help others rather than the money… the money follows.

If it feels wrong, it usually is.

If you don’t like an activity, it isn’t the right activity to be doing anyway. Stop it.

Don’t justify anything.

There are a lot of other basics. You can read the motivation and personal improvement books for years to learn what they are if you really want. Most people who do that though are missing the entire point. It is action that forms the character and success of a person, not reading about it.

So I can tell a lot by the answers in the first email. If they are detailed, precise answers that actually answer the question I asked, then I’m dealing with success. If the answers are vague and evasive, then I’m dealing with someone who is struggling.

I know what comes next. I answer their email and tell them that their answers were vague and evasive and if they continue to refuse to give me the information I need to help them, then I won’t be able to help them. I let them know that they are on the path to failure.

Most get angry at that email or one of the four or five emails where I continue to drill in on vague information to get the details. Most quit in their first month. Many of them write all kinds of vile things about me in comments, forums, scam sites and other places.

One person even created a web-site devoted to telling about their horrible experience with my coaching. That resulted in six new people finding their web-site and deciding that they wanted to be coached by me.

I remember having fresh squeezed tropical juices at the pool side with Marcus Hochstadt at a five star resort in a sub-tropical country. That was when he told me that he found me via the above warning site and decided he wanted to try the coaching service that I offered at the time.

Why would he want to join my coaching service after reading a “warning” or “scam alert” site about me? Because he had already tasted some success and was ready to go to the next level. In other words, he already loved the truth and didn’t consider the truth to be “brutal” at all.

The “warning” site became a testimonial for me.

Successful people who love the truth love this form of “negative publicity.” It isn’t negative at all. It is a great way to get whiners, failures and other losers to go away. Winners and successful people read those kinds of posts and are able to read between the lines and see both honesty and dishonesty where it actually exists.

But are these two groups (successful person and failure) mutually exclusive? Is it impossible to turn a failure into a successful person?

Yes and no.

I can’t force you to do anything. That’s just reality. If you refuse to follow directions, you will continue to fail.

But if you are willing and able to follow directions, it is absolutely possible, probable and even 100% certain that you WILL achieve success.

How do I know?

Many failures quit in their first month of coaching. But many others have stayed. I have watched them follow directions and make their first profit. I have see them grow more and quit their job. I have see marriages repaired, houses saved from foreclosure.

In addition, you can ask 100 successful people if they had a time in their life that they considered themselves to be failures. Almost every single one will answer “yes.” In fact, they are usually spectacular failures.

You can hear about homeless people (including in my own past), drug addicts (including in my own past), bankruptcies, broken homes, criminal records, suicide attempts, mental hospital stays and other spectacular failures by extremely successful people today.

Failures can become successful people. They simply find a successful person and follow a proven path while brushing aside all distractions and putting in 110% effort until they achieve their goals.

Author Bio: Are you ready? My own coaching program is here: http://JamesBrausch.com/magicalemailaddress

Category: Business Management
Keywords: business,coaching,success,internet,marketing,failure,focus