Ep. 092 – John Hopper’s best advice “Wake up every single day and worry about what else you can do for your employees”… and his system works!
John Hopper Show Notes
John Hopper created the system The Greatest on the Planet to change the lives of millions of people. Two years ago he turned his proven system into an effective workbook that changes the dynamic between employees and their employers.
For over 200 years the basic dynamic between employer and employee has not changed. Way back in the 1700’s when someone was hired to come work on the farm is was “do as I tell you and I’ll pay you for it”. That is the same basis we’re working on still today and it no longer works.
John is a motivating speaker, and a highly sought after for his expertise on “the 6 key points to having irreplaceable employees”, limiting beliefs, money, and human behavior.
Most passionate about
- Way back in 1992, almost 20 years ago, I was working for a large construction company. I was very high in the company, even thought I was very young; I grew up through that company very quickly. I became the first person outside of the owners in order of rank. There were four owners of the company, and then me, and everybody else was behind us. So, I was fighting to become an owner of that company. Right out from underneath me – and I was working on a really big project at the time – they sold the company! Well, I didn’t own it, so I didn’t get any ownership in the sale. So, I was very upset. They basically sold to an investment banker from New York City.
- I didn’t want anything to do with it. I wanted to own my own business one day; I didn’t want to be the top guy in a New York investment firms construction company. So, I quit. When I quit, my employer tried to convince me to go out and start my own business. I said, “Well, I’m not really ready for that. I’m too young.” You tell yourself all these excuses as to why you can’t do it. So, I go to work for another construction company and then I realized that it’s awful, just horrible. I was used to being spoiled where I’m at, I was the number 5 guy in the company! So, then I was forced to go start my own business.
- At 27 years old, I decided to take the plunge. I started in September of 1999. From September until the end of December, I sat at my kitchen table, got on the phone, called every single person I could possibly think of and I sold $6 million worth of work in four months. I was selling my construction services to help you build a building.
John’s best advice about approaching customers
- If it’s just a one person show, without any employees; they need to be customer focused. If they have employees though, they need to worry about the employees. Let the employees focus on your customers. If you are focused on the customer and the employee is focused on the customer, then who is focused on he employee? Nobody! And they are the most important part of the company. So, the only thing I want you to worry about are your employees. Wake up every single day and worry about what else you can do for your employees, the same way you would if you were worried about a customer.
Biggest failure with a customer
- I was focused on the customer, not on the employee. And because of that, I lost hundreds of employees. I wasn’t paying attention to them; I was paying attention to the customers.
Biggest success due to the right customer approach
- In my own company, my life changed. As an example: getting materials to a job site. Oftentimes, that would become my responsibility because nobody else was available to do it. So I’d have to call and say, “We need a800 studs, 300 sheets of drywall, whatever it may be.” A foreman would call me on the job site and say, “We’re gonna run out of materials, so I need more.” After implementing this (focusing on my employees), I never have to make that call ever again. That call gets made for me, because they’re following things up, because they’re team players.
- But the biggest win out of it isn’t what I did for my own company; it’s what I can do for other companies. I’m going to change the way employees and employers interact. If I have it my way, I’m going to do it on a global scale.
John’s most recommended tool
- In your niche, get famous. That should be your focus. Wake up every single day and say, “I need to be famous. What else can I do to be famous?” And if you get famous in your niche, the reason that helps you is because people are lazy! They don’t want to do homework. They want to go with what they already know. And if they know of you, they’ll go to you. That’s why when you see someone, as an example, a relator. They run TV adds in their market and they become a household name. Everybody knows who that person is. The reason they know that is because nobody had to go do any research on them, it got brought to them.
- In answer to the question of, well, how do I get famous? Whatever it takes. Those are the only two things you need. It’s a grand total of 5 words is everything you need in marketing. Number one: get famous. That’s two words. Then, whatever it takes. That’s three more words. Five words: Get famous, whatever it takes. He who does that, wins.
John’s key success factor
- It’s the hardest one that nobody wants to hear because nobody wants to do it. Very few people want to do this, but this is it: I accept accountability and responsibility for everything. For everything. If this podcast does not go well, that’s my I do not deflect blame on anybody. It always comes back to me and I try to be the best at everything I do because I don’t want to be responsible for a failure; I want to be responsible for a win. So, I accept accountability and responsibility for everything. It’s hard for human beings to do that; they don’t like doing it. But when you do that, when you say, “Okay, I’m accountable and responsible for everything,” then you put out your best work. And when you put out your best work, you get trophies. And when your trophies come in, those trophies are money. And that’s how you win.
The best way to connect with John:
John’s free Business SchoolFacebook Group
More resources for Entrepreneurs
- Don’t Miss – Customer Focus Strategy & Execution: Market Analysis for Fundraising
- Hayut Yogev’s Latest post: The three free, most practical steps to researching and locating your market
- Former interview: Brian Mawdsley best advice to entrepre-neurs: any time you’re about to reach out to a potential customer, think to yourself: how is this person hurting?
