Training Session2018-05-02

How opportunity works and where to find it. - Mixergy

Eben Pagan shares his journey from struggling musician to multi-million dollar entrepreneur, revealing how he discovered opportunities by creatively connecting with mentors and turning chance encounters into business breakthroughs. He explains his framework for creating opportunities rather than waiting for them to appear.

From Musician to Real Estate to Marketing Discovery

Eben shares his transformation from a struggling long-haired musician making $75/week to attempting real estate, where he only sold 1.3 homes his first year. His breakthrough came when he discovered valuable marketing tapes for $1 at Goodwill, leading him to study Joe Stumpf's sales and marketing methods while working manual labor jobs.

Building Relationships with Mentors Through Gatekeepers

Rather than trying to reach Joe Stumpf directly, Eben built relationships with the company's telemarketers by calling regularly and providing value. They began slipping him advanced coaching tapes, and he reciprocated by sending valuable items he found, creating a network that eventually led to job opportunities.

Opportunity as Creative Act Rather Than Lucky Break

Eben reframes opportunity from the dictionary definition of 'favorable circumstances' to an act of creativity and will. He explains how this mindset shift applies to business situations, relationships, and personal conflicts, viewing each challenge as a chance to create something better through intentional action.

Mental Models and Collaboration Frameworks

The conversation explores mental models as simulation tools for better decision-making, using examples like the Pareto Principle for identifying high-impact activities. Eben also distinguishes between compromise and collaboration, advocating for finding third options that serve all parties better than their original positions.

relationship buildingimmersion learningcollaborationself-regulation mental modelsskill leveragingopportunity creationPareto Principlecollaboration modelattachment theorycompromise thinking

Teachings 6

Build relationships with gatekeepers by providing value first - call company telemarketers, make friends, and look for ways to help before asking for anything
Eben called Joe Stumpf's telemarketers regularly, made friends with them, and they started slipping him advanced tapes from coaching programs. He even sent them a $5 Tony Robbins tape set he found at Goodwill as a gift.
relationship building
Identify your unique skills and offer them to solve problems for people you want to learn from, even if they seem unrelated to your goals
Eben leveraged his background as a rock musician who had recorded albums to offer audio production help to Joe Stumpf's company. Their audio guy had just quit, leading to his first opportunity working their seminars.
skill leveraging
Immersion learning through repetition creates breakthrough insights - listen to valuable content over and over until it changes your thinking patterns
Eben listened to Joe Stumpf's tapes repeatedly while working his manual labor job as a coppersmith, wearing earbuds under ear protection. The constant repetition of marketing and sales ideas transformed his brain and approach to business.
immersion learning
Mental models are simulation machines for your mind that help you avoid trial and error by running scenarios before acting in the real world
Eben explains mental models using the Pareto Principle example - visualizing a circle with a 20% inner circle to identify what 20% of relationships cause 80% of friction, or what 20% of food gives 80% of nutrients.
mental models Pareto Principle
Collaboration beats compromise by finding third options that serve both parties better than either original desire
Instead of Andrew scratching Olivia's back at 10pm while watching Netflix (compromise), Eben suggests finding a third option like foot rubs at 8pm when both have more energy and it serves both people's deeper needs.
collaboration collaboration model compromise thinking
Self-regulation is the new emotional maturity - the ability to manage your own emotions especially when triggered or upset
Eben explains that children are 'tailored designed' to put parents emotionally out of whack to get what they want, making self-regulation critical for family systems and business relationships.
self-regulation emotional management attachment theory

Perspectives 1

Opportunity is an act of creativity, not a favorable circumstance that happens to you - you create opportunities by bringing creativity to situations and making them work for you
Eben redefined opportunity from the dictionary definition of 'favorable juncture of circumstances' to something you actively create. He applied this when he found $1 tapes at Goodwill and turned them into a career by calling the company repeatedly and offering audio production skills.

Quotable Moments 4

“I think of opportunity as being an act of creativity. It's something that you create that you go to situations and you figure out how to make it into an opportunity.”
— Eben Pagan
“I felt like I had won the lottery twice.”
— Eben Pagan
“Mental models are basically being able to run a simulation of some kind in our mind so that you don't have to do trial and error out in the world.”
— Eben Pagan
“You have to talk about it a lot. And you have to deal with your triggers a lot and you have to deal with them.”
— Eben Pagan

How to Create Opportunities When You Have No Connections

Eben Pagan's method for building relationships with mentors and creating business opportunities from nothing

1
Find undervalued learning resources
Search thrift stores, Goodwill, and garage sales for valuable business books and tapes that normally cost hundreds of dollars
2
Study intensively through repetition
Listen to or read the materials repeatedly during routine activities like commuting or manual work until the concepts change your thinking
3
Contact the source companies
Call the companies of authors/speakers you want to learn from, not to reach them directly but to build relationships with employees and telemarketers
4
Provide value to gatekeepers
Send useful items, information, or gifts to the employees you befriend without expecting anything in return
5
Identify problems you can solve
Listen for challenges the company faces that match your existing skills, even if those skills seem unrelated to your goals
6
Offer solutions proactively
Reach out when you hear about problems you can solve, positioning yourself as someone who can help rather than someone asking for favors

Questions Answered

How do you create opportunities when you have no connections or money

“I think of opportunity as being an act of creativity. It's something that you create that you go to situations and you figure out how to make it into an opportunity.”
— Eben Pagan

Start by finding valuable content cheaply (like $1 tapes at thrift stores), then build relationships with gatekeepers by calling companies and offering to help solve their problems using your existing skills.

What are mental models and how do they help in business

“Mental models are basically being able to run a simulation of some kind in our mind so that you don't have to do trial and error out in the world.”
— Eben Pagan

Mental models are simulation machines for your mind that help you avoid trial and error by testing scenarios mentally before acting in real life. They help you make better predictions and decisions.

How did Eben Pagan get started in business with no background

“I felt like I had won the lottery. So I grab these tapes and I go running over and then I'd go to my manual labor job where I was a, I worked as an apprenticeship for a copper smith in a metal shop and I used to use this nomadic hammer that would hammer copper.”
— Eben Pagan

He went from making $75/week as a musician to real estate, struggled selling only 1.3 homes his first year, then found $1 marketing tapes at Goodwill that taught him sales. He called the tape creator's company repeatedly and eventually got hired to do their audio production.

What's the difference between collaboration and compromise in relationships

“What I would ask you to imagine is she likes to have her back scratched at 10:00 and you like to watch Netflix. If you two will sit down and talk about this and ask, 'What is something that we could create that's better than you watching Netflix and her getting her back scratched at 10:00?'”
— Eben Pagan

Compromise means both people give up something. Collaboration means finding a third option that serves both people better than either original desire, creating win-win outcomes.

How do you build relationships with people you want to learn from

“So I made friends with his telemarketers, I went up to one of his other half-day seminars that he had in Portland, Oregon. And bottom-line I kept trying to figure out what could I do to maybe figure out a way to work with these guys.”
— Eben Pagan

Call their company regularly, make friends with employees and gatekeepers, provide value by sending gifts or useful information, and look for ways to solve their problems using your existing skills.

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Counterpoint

Claim: “Opportunity is a favorable circumstance that happens to you - you wait for the right moment or lucky break”

Reframe: Opportunity is an act of creativity and will that you bring to situations to make them work in your favor

Eben transformed finding $1 tapes at Goodwill into a career by repeatedly calling the company, befriending telemarketers, and offering his audio skills when their audio guy quit

Claim: “You need formal qualifications or connections to get opportunities with successful people”

Reframe: You can create access by providing value to gatekeepers and finding creative ways to help solve problems

Despite being a long-haired musician with no business background, Eben got hired by Joe Stumpf's company by befriending telemarketers and offering audio production skills

Claim: “Relationship conflicts should be avoided or quickly resolved to keep the peace”

Reframe: Conflicts are opportunities to build stronger relationships if you work through them completely rather than avoiding the core issues

Eben and his wife deliberately work through conflicts for years if necessary rather than compromising, viewing each conflict as an opportunity to strengthen their partnership

Key Points 7

Opportunity is an act of creativity, not a favorable circumstance that happens to you - you create opportunities by bringing creativity to situations and making them work for you