I signed myself up to Dean Holland’s Quick Start Challenge when he offered it as a WSO a couple of weeks back and I thought I’d report back on progress so far.
Dean is a guy who I feel I should know already….but I don’t. I’m pretty sure he was at Lee McIntyre’s event back in 2009 that was the first real IM event I attended and I’ve seen him at a couple of other do’s along the way, but have never really had the chance to chat.
What I have been able to do, is to watch his progress as a marketer in the UK (and globally) and his rise and rise is a trajectory that I think we’d all like to follow.
Anyway, now he is running this training, I’ll be up there with him before you can say “blimey, what was that?!!” Hmm, we’ll see.
Week 1 of the challenge was a scene setter with Dean covering aspects of mindset and setting some ground rules for what is to come. Most interesting to me was his comment about “success being so close, I’ve bought all the courses, it’s just round the corner”. Interesting, because I’m sure I’ve said those exact words in the past. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some small successes in my affiliate marketing, so I feel like it’s not an unjustified thing to say, but it was funny to hear that echo!
What is different about this course, is that Dean is setting weekly homework along the way. My feeling about almost all coaching courses out there, is that they often rely too heavily on individual commitment to blaze through a lot of vague material to find the right path. Many such programs demand nothing from their customers between sessions and many folk fall by the wayside as a result. (Here’s a commitment – if I ever run a high-ticket program, I promise to be a bully about your results LOL!)
If you hadn’t guessed, this post IS the homework. I guess I was lucky to already have the blog running, but it’s good to have targets.
More to come in the following weeks, obviously I can’t give you the material, but I will update my views of Dean’s style and content as we go along……for now, I’d say he’s one to put on your radar for the next opportunity.
Hi Martin,
I’m also in the Challenge. Glad to read your impression about the first webinar. I also love the part about the “homework”, knowing that someone will check what I do makes me take it more serious.
All the best!
Hi Martin,
I also joined the challenge! I don’t know what the next tasks will be but I’m sure I’ll take action! Good luck!
Regards,
Bibs
Hi Sorina,
Thanks for the comment. I’ve definitely come to a realization over the years that I need the odd deadline to really ramp up my output.
I think what Dean was saying about working out work schedules is a step in the right direction (for me anyway!)
Martin
Hi Martin,
I’m in Deans challenge as well, same as Sorina I like your take on the first week with Deans challenge, just reading Sorinas comment about someone checking your homework, I never thought about it like that sort of makes you feel like you’re waiting for the xmas presents to be opened lol
Nathan
Hi Bibs,
Yup, looking forward to the next stage of the course…let me know if you need any techno-help – although looking at your site, it seems like you have it sussed already!
Martin
Hi Nathan
Yeah, a kind of weird Christmas where you get bigger and bigger presents as you do more homework 🙂
Martin
Hello Martin!
Thanks for commenting on my blog, and I’m a quickstart challenge member as well.
As the others said before me the “homework” part is really god especially as he throws in a price there, even though I might not win it’s a nice motivator.
It’s like back in school when I was little and the teacher had an assignment for us to do and it was late in the day and none had any motivation for it. But then when the teacher said that anyone who finishes get’s to leave early everybody got it done quicker than ever before 🙂
Dennis
Hi Martin
I am also from the QSC challenge. Nice to hear your views about the 1st webinar. What I like about the challenge is the weekly homework he encourages us to take action and to see the result for ourselves after the 28 days. The homework is quite do-able if we make time for it.
All the best to you in this QSC challenge!
Regards
Sharon
Wow, James! Your track record of 28 years in IT is highly impressive. Such skills come handy especially in this age of internet marketing.
I agree with you hands down. Dean’s homework are indeed challenging, promote accountability, and compelling to giving my/our best. I’m glad to be in this challenge and be part of the awesome QSC community!
All the best and look forward to more interactions. Cheers!
Hey Martin,
Really cool thoughts about Dean and the training itself.
I definitely envy you for being at a physical gathering back in 2009 with AJ and DH, I wish I could do that myself (it’s on my bucket list!)
So if you have been checking out stuff from at least three years ago I’m pretty sure you may have a few aces under your sleeve.
Hope to be able to learn from you and see you reach your goals with Dean’s training.
Take care and have a great day my man!
Sergio
Hi Sergio,
Thanks for the kind comment. I have to say, that if you get the chance to go to a nearby meeting, you should always grab the chance. You never know who you may meet and you would be amazed by the number of people who you can help simply by listening to what they are doing and adding your thoughts.
I’m definitely making the most of Dean’s coaching though. There are times when I look back at those 3 years and think I know everything, but I’ve done nothing!! This time, I’m doing it all, from the most basic right up to the hardest thing.
The cool thing will be seeing how we all succeed together.
Hi Sharon,
Many thanks for the comment.
Yes, the homework is definitely keeping me busy. I’m determined to follow all the steps for this one.
How’s the traffic stuff going?
Hey Maria,
How did you know my middle name was James? 🙂
The 28 years just show how spectacularly old I am – so why is it that I still like nightclubs and drinking so much…..
I’m looking forward to seeing just what everyone achieves in the time we have with Dean, there seem to be loads of different approaches.
Hi Martin. I think it’s almost spooky how Dean seems to have read a few minds. A couple of the things he said about the mindset rang definite bells with me too. I suppose he’s been through all that stuff and knows what doesn’t work and why…. but he also knows what does, so it’s great to be getting the benefit of that.
Hello Martin,
Just wanted to say good luck to Dean’s challenge! I want to hear your success stories so keep us posted.
To our success,
Chris
Hi Janie,
I’m definitely trying to build a new set of habits as a result of all this.
My day no longer starts with email, now for the other 100 little time-wasters!!
Martin
Hi Chris,
We all share a desire to see what each other is doing. It’s the diversity of all the sites that I find interesting, I definitely thing I need to re-design yet again 🙂
No email first thing wouldn’t work for me, unfortunately, though I often hear people recommend that. I now scan through it though as I can pretty much tell at a glance what needs dealing with and/or acknowledging immediately and what can wait till my general email session later in the day. The big time suck for me was forums and Facebook. I would log on over breakfast and before I knew it the morning was gone. Don’t even get me started on Twitter! There are far too many interesting rabbit holes to run down there. I’m moving towards a much more disciplined approach, and I think it’s already paying off. Getting the actual work done first also seems to leave quite a bit of time over for the other stuff too, but it doesn’t work that way if you reverse the order.
Re. your need for a re-design. That’s one of the reasons I launched with the bog standard (blog standard? heh) 2010 theme. I knew I was going to see great ideas from the other students that I was going to want to incorporate. It’s also something I would have procrastinated over, and those days are gone.
Hi Martin,
I also feel that the “homework” that Dean asked us to do makes a difference to my progress compared to other courses that I bought.
It also gets me excited to get going especially after meeting other fellow challengers.
Wish you all the best for this challenge and also your IM journey.
Chetz
Thanks Chetz, the community building around this feels like it adds a lot to the overall thing as well!