Boost Your Credibility: Expert Tips from Multi-Published Author and Business Leader Mitchell Levy

ABOUT THE GUEST

Today I delve into the art of enhancing credibility with our esteemed guest Mitchell Levy, a multi-published author and successful business owner.

Discover the pivotal moments that skyrocket credibility and the strategies used to attract more customers and peers.

Learn innovative content marketing and SEO techniques to build your personal brand, and hear how strategic networking partnerships propel business growth.

Gain insights on preparing for speaking engagements and leveraging authentic customer feedback.

To learn more about Mitchell and his work please visit these links:

Website 1:                                https://MitchellLevy.com 

Website 2:                                https://SocialComplement.com 

Website 3:                                https://aha.pub/superheroes 

Webinar:                                   https://aha.pub/enhancing-referrals 

LinkedIn:                                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchelllevy/ 

Facebook:                                https://www.facebook.com/happyabout 

TikTok:                                     https://www.tiktok.com/@themitchelllevy 

X:                                               https://x.com/happyabout 

Pinterest:                                  https://Pinterest.com/THiNKaha 

YouTube:                                 https://www.youtube.com/c/CredibilityNation 

ABOUT THE HOST

My name is Dave Barr and I am the Founder and Owner of RLB Purchasing Consultancy Limited.

I have been working in Procurement for over 25 years and have had the joy of working in a number of global manufacturing and service industries throughout this time.

I am passionate about self development, business improvement, saving money, buying quality goods and services, developing positive and effective working relationships with suppliers and colleagues, and driving improvement through out the supply chain.

CONTACT DETAILS

@The Real Life Buyer
Email: david@thereallifebuyer.co.uk
Website: https://linktr.ee/thereallifebuyer

For Purchasing Consultancy services:
https://rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk/
Email: contact@rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk

Find and Follow me @reallifebuyer on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads and TikTok.

Transcript

Intro  00:00

Welcome to The Real Life Buyer podcast. In this podcast, you will hear interviews with business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors and technical specialists in their field. These professionals will hasten your development, accelerate your career, and broaden your business. Know how now, introducing your host, Dave Barr, interviewing with a purchasing twist.

Dave Barr  00:21

Hello and welcome to The Real Life Buyer. In this episode, my guest, Mitchell Levy and I are going to discuss the importance and path to increasing credibility in your business and personal life. Mitchell has lived an incredible career. His experience in C suite, management, networking, marketing, public speaking, interviewing, entrepreneurship and thought leadership is vast. He is a prolific author with an incredible 65 books to his name, and is a, if not the leading authority on credibility. So if you're looking to take your personal and professional growth to the next level and learn from a man whose purpose is to empower individuals and businesses to establish and enhance their credibility in a way that aligns with their values and vision for the future. Stay tuned. So without further ado, I welcome Mitchell onto the podcast. Hi Mitchell.

Mitchell Levy  01:17

Dave, thank you so much for having me and and I, I'm so glad we were recording that intro. I'm gonna have to play it again. It made me smile. So thank you so much.

Dave Barr  01:27

No, credit where credit's due. It's It is an incredible CV, as we would refer to it or resume. So I wish I had half of that to my name. So congratulations on an incredible lifetime so far.

Mitchell Levy  01:40

No, thank you. Yeah, it's a fun journey.

Dave Barr  01:44

I certainly hope so. 

Mitchell Levy  01:45

It continues. 

Dave Barr  01:46

Yeah, well, let's find some more about this journey. Yes, I personally can't recall having seen anyone with a career history as substantial as yourself. Perhaps you could strip back some of the layers and and tell us in a kind of a whistle stop tour way about your career and explain the driving force behind your passion for credibility. 

Mitchell Levy  02:07

Yeah, so thank you for that. I I've been in Silicon Valley for 37 years, happily married for 35 have a 26 year old son. I've created 20 odd businesses here, and I want to give you, I'll give you a quick snapshot. Now, these are things that that sort of added to your to your comment on CV, but I'm just going to say these are things, and then I'll they'll talk about what, what really is credibility, and how that came about. So I've sat on the board of a public firm for nine years. I've, I've as a book publisher, one of the four, one of the sets of companies we have. We have published over 750 books. I've run four CEO networking groups. I've run conferences for major conference companies. I have created four different executive business programs for local universities. And then I've been asked to join on 2021 the Marshall Goldsmiths executive coaching organization. So that's, that's the 100 coaches, and that, that is, sort of gives me the opportunity to talk to some of the best, the best humans on the planet, who, who I can now call peers, and learn and grow with. And that's all fun, and that's all stuff, right? So, so what I think, if I, if I'm going to summarize, life is never about being static. Life is about learning and growing and pivoting, and I've pivoted that at least four or five different times in in my career. I mean, I'm in one right now, right? Because if you're not, then maybe you're you're stale, and you need something's different, right? So, so the the pivot that I was thinking about is running a book publishing company. What happens with as technology continues to jump in everything we do, what happens in a particular vertical would be, it becomes democratized. So by the way, I'm going to throw stuff out. We could come back or not come thought leadership is now democratized. Book publishing is now democratized, right? And so what happens when something becomes democratized is, the downside is, is a new business model enters the fray, and it's really hard to compete against a new business model. I'm going to tell you what it is. It's six letters, two syllables. The new business model is called stupid, and it's so some professional who's doing it as a hobby, who's created a stupid business model that will never, never actually succeed. And a good example of of a stupid set of business models was the.com days, where the.com days was the business model was, we're losing money on every transaction, we'll make it up in volume, which very few companies Amazon would would be one of them was able to pull that off, right? So the thing that's interesting is, at that time frame, I realized that I needed to figure out what's next. I. And in 2019 I sat down, and I go, what is it that my having published 750 books, what is it that my authors are looking for? The answer just popped in my head, is credibility. So then I looked at the definition of credibility in the dictionary, which was, it's called. It was the quality in which one is trusted. And I thought, that that doesn't feel right. And then the next morning, I woke up, and what popped in my head was the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And I thought Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 millionaires and came up with, Think and Grow Rich. If Mitchell levy interviewed 500 thought leaders on credibility, I'd know what credibility means. And so between 2019, and 2020, I went on that journey, and that is what provided the fossil fuel, if I put it that way, for for the journey I'm on at the moment.

Dave Barr  05:50

Wow, it's quite incredible. 750 published books. That's a quite immense I've I know a few people who have written books, and I certainly have seen that once they published a book, they authored themselves, then they naturally gained credibility with those around them. To have written, authored so many books and been involved in the publishing of so many books is quite a tremendous feat, and I've got to ask, how on earth did you manage to do all of that in such a short period of time, when everything else you've done, it says to people this, these are like 10 lifetimes worth of work in one big chunk. How did you manage to or how do you manage to manage your time so effectively, to be able to do that?

Mitchell Levy  06:39

You know, it's it's really interesting. There are so many people I meet who are single threaded, right, that they they do one thing and they only want do one thing, and they're, they're 100 and and I have had times in my life where I ended up working, like, 18 hour days for a six month period, and I did that one thing right now, the type of existence I have at the moment is theoretically, imagine it's almost like that with with a caveat, and that is, I'll work on that one thing until I get to The point where it's in production, right? And so I, I've put in workflow documents. I've I've made it very simple, typically using Google Docs, I create workflow documents on how to do I'll do the process at least one, maybe up to five different times. But then I'll create a process, and for me, I want to move on to what's next. So then I'll bring somebody in, typically, VAs from the Philippines. I'll bring somebody in, put them on the team, and work with them while they actually put the process in place and actually deliver on that process, so I could move forward. So when, when there's so many things I'm doing on a ongoing basis? So for instance, right now I still run the book publishing companies, but because book publishing has been democratized, I'm only involved at the beginning, sometimes little touch points in the middle and at the end, all the stuff that happens in the middle, as we have workflow documents. And I have a team member who I've been working with for 14 years. She carries that process along. And so the for me, it's, it's still that one thing I'm focused on, but it's that one thing I'm focused on that I'm building. Everything else is in maintenance mode. And once it's in maintenance mode, I'm around for questions, but somebody else is driving. And so that's where how you do a lot. You do something, you do it to the point that you like it. It works. You productionize it, and then you move on to the next while you've put in a place and a resource that will keep what you've done in the past moving forward.

Dave Barr  08:53

Right. So as you say, a single focused certainly not the multitasking life a lot of us lead today because it's very ineffective, you've got some key people in place. You focus on systems, procedures, processes to streamline things. Would that be a very quick, fair summary? 

Mitchell Levy  09:13

It is and but the thing let's for an outside person, let's, if you now look at my calendar, I will end up somewhere between 10 to 15 meetings a day. Now for some people, that's draining. For me, that adds value. Now, Mondays are days where it's a little bit more consultative meetings. So it's the type of clients I'm working with who are. I'm actually putting processes in place with them, for them to change their lives. Fridays are executive coaching meetings, so those different style, corporate level individuals different processes in place. And then Tuesday through Thursdays is kind of mixed, right? It's, I do a lot of business development type meetings, a lot of partnership meetings. And so what's, what's fascinating is you might say, well, that's multitasking. Technically, yes, it's just, I might take off my hat and put on a different one every day.

Dave Barr  10:15

Indeed, that's really interesting. I quite like the idea that you got a going kind of mindset going on for a day and a particular theme. And so you may be having conversations with different people, but they're similar in some respects. You know, your your train of thought, perhaps, is in a particular flow. That's a very good way of putting it, but that's, that's what jumps into my head.

Mitchell Levy  10:37

You need something. You need something. You need pattern interrupts, even if it's two different things in the same day. You what you need to be able to do is be able to hit the reset button. And we just, we just don't, if you consciously think about it, I'll put you, everyone in who's listening right now and watching. You can do that, but you have to consciously when you're moving from one thing to the next, you need to figure out what, it takes for you to stop. What is that thing? That it could even be as little as a five second meditation, if that's going to work for you, I actually have a great model for that. And and the the thing that's interesting, if you can do that and then reset and restart, it's helpful. And so that this matter of fact, you got to experience that today, where I I actually had to do something else and then get reset back into who I am, you know, right now, you and I interacting?

Dave Barr  11:29

Yeah, yeah, brilliant. We're talking about pivotal moments, and I suspect you've got certain moments in your career where you've had an opportunity that's arisen, you've grasped it, and you've suddenly been able to leverage that moment to give you an increase in credibility, perhaps a dramatic increase, I'd love to hear. If there's a particular moment you would say that you could recall now that what was that pivotal moment, and how did it upscale your credibility? And equally, conversely, have you ever experienced a moment that actually, for you felt like it downgraded your credibility, and if so, what did you do about it to bring it back?

Mitchell Levy  12:10

Yeah, okay, I got three moments. We'll do the first one when it's been a while since. So this moment is going back a really long time, but it's because of how you ask the question, just the one that popped into my head. I left the corporate space in 1997 so this goes even before then, and it was when I was working at a company. It was the the Amazon today is back then was the Sun Microsystems, right? So I was working for Sun Microsystems, and they had the marketing people had spent $25,000 to be part of a non profit group that was basically focused on the proliferation of of the Internet into business, which is exactly what Sun was talking about. But from a marketing perspective, the marketers were not active in the group itself. I was because I wanted to extend my network. And so what I ended up doing is I had a mentor talk to me about, what do I do, how do I move forward, and where do I want to go in life? And and he painted a path for me that Mitchell, you need to extend your network. That network needs to be with people outside of Sun Microsystems. When the right opportunity pops along, you should say yes. And so as busy as I was working at corporate, this nonprofit was an opportunity for me to to be in a legitimate, legitimate role, to meet other people. And so nobody paid me for that. I know I didn't have to pay the 25,000 a year fee to join, because Sun had already done that, but nobody paid me. And in the nonprofit, when I was asked to do more, so they had asked me, Hey, do I want to be the spokesperson for sun? Because nobody else was around, I'm okay. They said, Hey, would you like to run a conference and be part of our Comdex conference. So I'm like, okay, so I ended up running a marketing, the marketing side of the Comdex conference and and at the time, this was 1996 I had asked this up and coming company that just got Series B. I asked the CEO if he wanted to speak, he said yes. And I got some one on one time with Jeff Bezos. And that was really interesting, right? And then probably the most relevant in terms of how that turned into opportunity. So here it was corporate job, not getting paid to be part of nonprofit, like, of course. I mean, it didn't even think twice about that. It just felt like the right thing to do. Comdex and the some of the best marketing companies in the world, they did a survey. AC Nielsen did a survey with Comdex, and I'm sorry, with with, sorry, not Comdex. AC Nielsen did a survey with. This, this company, and they, they came up with the fact that there were 50 million users using the internet, and that was when the internet was officially real, and they published the survey results. And lots of the media wanted to they, they heard about it, and then they wanted to talk to companies. And Sun was the company at the time, and I was the official spokesperson. Next thing I know, my face, my name, I was on interviews and papers around the world, and it was just, it just happened. It happened because they were doing the right thing, and I just happened to be there. And you could say what it I set it up by by doing things outside. Quick, fast, fast story. Within a year, things were getting too heavy that that's when I 1997 is when I left Sun and started my E commerce consulting company. Because it the.com days were in full steam, and I couldn't say no.

Dave Barr  15:59

Wow, wow, that's quite an incredible little story there, and it'd be interesting to see if Jeff Bezos today is the same Jeff Bezos you spoke to those years ago. Do you think he would have changed much, or do you think you know he's the same person as he always was, just with a few more bucks?

Mitchell Levy  16:15

It's interesting, hard to say. I mean, I because this the who we get to see as a personality out there is not necessarily who they really are. So a lot of Jeff Bezos today is we got to see his, his relationship, his extra marital relationship, and and that, that obviously doesn't, doesn't bode well for, you know, many people who look at him, I would say, fundamentally, he's probably very similar to who he was. I don't know who he is today, but at the time, Amazon had just focused on books and and so I, I actually asked the question, you know, I was sitting outside before the speaking thing. I said, Hey, you. Are you ready to go? Can I can I chat? And he's like, Oh yeah, I love the company. And so we sat down, and I go, why books? And the the best insight I could say about who he was, he goes, Mitchell, books don't matter. He goes, I needed a vertical that needed that had so much problems that I needed to fix it. Now here's what I'm going to do different than everyone else. As we fix the problems in the book industry, we're going to create solutions. I'm going to take those solutions, I'm going to sell to the marketplace. So he was talking about all the things that they've done before, they extended beyond books to other things. They were talking about other things that were going to come out of, come out of the solution set that they built. And so I think he's a problem solver. And so problem solvers are almost always problem solvers. 

Dave Barr  17:51

Brilliant, brilliant. Now the second part of my question is that sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes you feel you've lost some credibility because of an area either you or a company you work for has made what's the best way have you found to correct that mistake, you know, to regain that credibility that you feel may have been lost? Is there any techniques you can suggest?

Mitchell Levy  18:14

So it's a slightly different question. So I'll tell you the the answer to the previous question that you the follow on question is, have there are times you've lost credibility, and I, let me say, twice in my career, where I was actually in a vertical and the business went away, right? So the the good news about 97 and starting my own consulting business is it was focused on E commerce, and that was the.com days. Bad news is the.com days came to the to an end, and my business almost went to zero overnight. Same thing happened when COVID happened. My book publishing business, most of the the ongoing revenues came from book sales when speakers were going and talking at events, and all of a sudden, when travel went to zero and the speakers were not going to the companies, all of a sudden, my revenue went to almost zero. So when it is very easy, in this particular case, we'll go back to the E commerce or even the book business, it's very easy to to say, Hey, this is my life and and my life has gone to zero, or my business went to zero, so my life is now zero. It's that's a mindset change that, or mindset thing that most people unfortunately take the wrong approach. The answer is, well, it's not me right. What I realized earlier on in my career that there was nothing I could have done that could have stopped the.com days, even if I maybe I could, could have done something that prolonged it for a day or week, right? Even if that was possible, it doesn't matter. I could, you could. Can't stop, you know, questions, what do you do next? You know, what's the opportunity? What comes next? What's, what's the focus? That's when go. Back to your original question. That's when the pivot comes in, right now to answer your specific question about, has there been a time where I've personally lost credibility and how to rebuild it? And I, I don't, I don't know if there's one for me, but I've coached 1000s of clients and and so what I'm going to say is sometimes people do things where the proverbial foot goes in their mouth, or the proverbial action goes in their mouth, you know, in their activity or or their great examples are to the these are very simple examples where they don't show up online. They don't show up as well as how they show up in person, and their online presence actually hurts them, right? So the answer is, and this is not what we've been taught. The answer is to be is to be credible. Part of being credible is to recognize the importance of being trusted, known and liked. And part of being trusted is there are two. There are four elements in being trusted, vulnerability, external integrity, authenticity and coachability. And so one of the most important things that if you're called on something and you really have done it wrong, and you recognize you've done it wrong. Those around you are telling you you've done it wrong. The most important thing in terms of being trusted is accept it and to recognize right away. Yeah, you know what? I have made a mistake. So showing vulnerability then authentically going, I want to fix this. Would you mind working with New York? Can I do I need to go outside? Or can I work with you to try to fix this? Because this is not in alignment with my integrity, who I say I am, right? And, and so I'm ready to be coached. I whether it's from your manager or peers or those around you, right? And, and then the most important thing is, and this is what, where leaders make big mistakes, and these are harder to come, come back, come back from, and that is those leaders who have been taught command and control, and they're the next you know, there are four elements associated with being trusted. There are four elements associated associate would be known. And the only element when I when I looked at the 10 values of credibility, the only element that was the value that was there twice, was integrity under being trusted. It's your external integrity under being known into your internal integrity. So a big mistake for those people who have been taught command and control is those people who still believe that the concept of do as I say, not as I do, whether you're a parent or whether you are a leader, you need to actual echo the values and be the person you want other people to be. And so it's very easy to lose credibility if your internal integrity has misalignment with your external integrity, you're saying stuff, but you don't believe that yourself those that particular loss is really hard to fix within the same environment. It's not impossible, but it'll take a long period of time for most people. It's to is to build it up a little bit where the environment you're at and then go somewhere else. Because the biggest problem we have as humans is when we create this environment around us, people will force us into doing what they think we are, and it's very hard for most people not to jump into and fall into the marketing cookie cutter stuff that, yeah, has been applied generically or specifically applied to us. And so starting with those around you, and getting yourself on the path and then moving somewhere else is the best way. When I start looking at the consolidated set of solutions that I've worked with people on.

Dave Barr  24:09

Brilliant that's great. Thanks for that. And you mentioned something I perhaps referred to as personal brand. It's not something I'd heard of 2030, years ago. You know, I'm well into my 50s now, and what's all this personal brand stuff. But now there are so many people, with the advent of social media, who are focused on their personal brand. So you've obviously put out an incredible amount of content into the market. What would you suggest for somebody who perhaps are starting out in life or want to not only take their personal brand somewhere, but perhaps their first business somewhere. What would you suggest to them would be great ways to enhance their visibility? You mentioned, establish trust, and therefore gain credibility with the target audience. They're seeking.

Mitchell Levy  24:52

The most important thing that anyone can do. And I'm going to say, I'm going to say these words, and I'm going to say, and unfortunately, based on interviewing 500 thought leaders, 98% don't do is to get clarity, because with clarity, and I'll tell you exactly what that means, it becomes very easy to what to focus on. Without clarity, you're going to follow everyone else's marketing cookie cutter approach, right? So, so for me, when I'm speaking about the life you want to live, if you are a credible human, you are of service to others, right. So I think that that, whether you call it servant leadership, or whatever you want to call it, if you are a credible human, you are of service to others. And by the way, you have to be of service to yourself before you could be a service to others. So I'm not going to say, you know, you're you're selfish, right. And the question of clarity, and this is what, and I'm going to give you the secret formula here. The question of clarity is a concept. I've created an acronym called C POP, your Customer, Point of Possibilities. And so what I'd like everyone who's listening to be able to do is, in less than 10 words, answer two questions. First question is, Who do you serve? So in one, two or three words, how narrow can you, can you actually specify the audience you serve? And then the second part of that, or the second question is, from their perspective, not your perspective. From their perspective, what is the pain point, or what is the pleasure point they want to address? Because if you can now walk through life with a C POP, something that's less than 10 words, that level of clarity will allow you to to articulate and understand who is the audience, who is the audience I need to reach directly. Who is the audience that there are influencers that can help me reach that audience, who's the audience that there are referral partners that will help me reach that audience, for instance, as for me as an as a executive coach that specifically focuses on executive gravitas, I went to over the holidays, I went, I went to a basketball game with with somebody who has a son who is a high level Exec at one of the fastest growing companies on the planet, and and as I'm talking to him, he goes, oh my goodness, Mitchell, I need to introduce you to my son, and you know, I can't guarantee anything, but he needs to know about you, because as as he's growing, he's going to want the people on his team to also maintain executive gravitas. That's an example of, I didn't ask by the way, that's an example of just living your life and being you and and being narrow enough in terms of your focus. I don't need from executive gravitas. I'll let me tell you something my my C POP is Inc, 5000 CEOs leading the future with executive gravitas now, nine words i for the CEOs I'm working with leading the future would be the thing that could potentially take out, but I can't, because they, they really do need to lead the future. So it's, it's, Inc, 5000 so the fastest growing CEOs on the planet. Inc, 5000 CEOs leading the future with executive gravitas in the first five times, as I was trying to figure out if this is really me, in the first five times, I shared it, one of the people said to me, I think this was number three. He goes, Mitchell, why are you limiting your audience to 5000 people? And Dave, I'm like, all I could say is, thank you. You've submitted the fact that this is absolutely the right thing for me. I mean, first of all, if 5000 CEOs said yes, immediately, I couldn't service that, at least not today, not with the company I have at the moment. And that's what we're we're afraid of. We've been taught that bigger is better. We've been taught that we need to create an audience that is so big, that that that even a teeny piece of it would work. And let's say the the broader you are, the harder is for people to want to recommend you. The harder it is for people to refer you, the more narrow you could focus, the more clear you can have on who you serve and what they are addressing, what they're dealing with, either the pleasure point they want to reach or the pain point they're addressing. The easier it is for you to be credible. So how do you go about creating a personal brand? Will you focus on an area that's important to those people you serve, and if you can actually articulate the audience you serve, now you know what to write on and what to focus on. Earlier in the podcast, I talked about the fact that thought leadership is now ubiquitous with ChatGPT, anyone who wants to write any article they want and any topic, you just have to ask the right question. So the more narrow you could be on the topics you serve, the easier it is for people to remember you. And what you need to do is absolutely use AI to help you with the initial writing, and then go in and add your own spin to it.

Dave Barr  30:00

Yeah, it's interesting talking about network, because for me, a lot of people will judge others on the company they keep, the network that they have around them. Do you think it's important that oneself should actively review your network and your associations on a on a regular basis, and even disconnect with those you feel that perhaps negatively now impact on how others would view you.

Mitchell Levy  30:30

Give me an example, Dave, if you don't mind, just so I could get real clarity on this. What do you mean by somebody on your network that that is negatively viewed? Can you give me an example of that?

Dave Barr  30:41

Well, I'm thinking of is that once you start out in life, you build a network of friends and and associations, and as you grow in yourself, sometimes those people that at that time were appropriate for your network. You know, there's, I'd listen to quite a few podcasts by Darren Hardy, for example, where it said that if there are people that in your network that actually perhaps could drag you down in some way, that aren't supportive, aren't proactive, don't perhaps support you in your own growth, that perhaps sometimes you've got to be tough and say, well, this person actually is not contributing to where I want to get to, and therefore sometimes you may have to disassociate yourself with those kind of people. They might have been fine 10 years ago, but but now actually, the way they're behaving, what they're doing, what they're speaking about, actually doesn't follow your own values, beliefs and integrity. So sometimes, do you think it's important that you review the people that are around you? And you know, it's tough as it may be, if they're they're not the right people to take you to the next level, then perhaps you shouldn't mingle with them, perhaps so much, or even disconnect from those people.

Mitchell Levy  31:59

It's hard to, by the way, it's a very generic it's a I understand the concept of the question and the way you're wording it. It's generic enough that I don't want to universally say yes and at the same time I want to say Yes, right? So the there are a number of things that people say that really are true. Your network is your net worth, right. So that's one thing, we've often heard that you personally are composite of the top of the five most common people you you you hang out with, yeah. So if you hang out with people who, when you have an idea, they they shoot you down the naysayers of the world. Yep. You know if, if you want to do a lot in life, and you have people around you telling you that you can't that's going to stop you. By definition, it's, it's not a it's not a good thing. It's for those people, for instance, who good examples of of those people who are alcoholics or end up getting addicted to drugs, if, if, after you get the program and you understand how you should live life differently. If you go back into the environment that you that caused potentially the problem in the first place, and those people around you who want you to to drink or or take drugs, it's going to be hard for you to not so. So that's a very classic example of where, yes, it makes sense to get rid of the network family members you can't get rid of you. Just for instance, if you disagree on politics, you just make a conscious decision not to talk about politics. The ability for you as a human to to take a look at those around you, and to have, women are much better at keeping long term friends than guys are. I know that's a generic statement and that's hard to hear, but, and, and, but for those that are around you that you just enjoy being with, and also are good humans, right? See, because you personally have a C pop like to the playground you personally play in, do you have people that are in the playground that are supportive to you and for me, by the way, having pivoted and done so many jobs, there are times where my wife, when somebody says, What does your husband do? Oh, publisher, well, okay, that's one of many things, but it's easy, right? And and the thing is, if you have people around you who, on the other hand, if I go to her with almost any statement, I go, Hey, can I do this? Or do you think it makes sense to do this? There'll be a one to two caveats, but the answer is always yes, right? And so you want to have around you the types of people who who encourage you to be the best person you can be. And so I'm going to say, Dave, if you have people in your network who are not stopping you or who are actually stopping you, who are not encouraging you to be the first person you could be. Those are people you want to actually to move out of your influence zone, right and but I wouldn't. I wouldn't put people in your network just because they could open up doors and put people in your network because they're the right, right people for you as a human, and you both can grow and and both enjoy each other's company and and grow together. But when it comes to the point where it's either toxic or there is no more growth, or there's no more growth, is probably okay. But if there's negative growth, if it doesn't feel good anymore, those are the harder relationships, long term relationships, where there's no more future growth together, and it's even stopping people are trying to pull back. This is where a lot of marriages fail. Is because we as humans continually evolve, but if one person stays the same and the other evolves and the person stays the same wants the other person to stay the same, right? Then it, then it. That's where things fail. It's okay for one person to stay the same, as long as they're not pulling the trying to pull the other person back to where they were before.

Dave Barr  35:53

Yeah, indeed. Yeah. That's brilliant. Now one thing I recognize for yourself with so many attributes, you're a very seasoned speaker and interviewer. Now I'd love to understand how you prepare for those other speaking engagements or interviewing engagements, to ensure you deliver the kind of maximum value and enhance in the process, your credibility with both new and existing audiences. How do you go about that? How do you make sure you give the best value for those, those people you're going to meet,

Mitchell Levy  36:24

Well, I'm going to say I do what you do, right? So, so just for those listening or watching, we had a call ahead of time where we talked about, Hey, am I a good fit? And the first question I asked is, is so, so Dave, if, if I happen to be a guest that you enjoyed interacting with that was a good value to your audience, what would be the end result? What would you feel comfortable with? And then you told me, you know, here's your format, here's the structure, here's what you want to make sure gets accomplished. Your short answer is, Mitchell, just be you, but, but it's, it's be you, where you actually give some what are some real pivot points in your life? What are some transition points? What do you learn? So for me, the short answer, actually, I don't think, for some odd reason, I don't have any short answers for this interview. So thank you for letting me talk a little bit longer. Is every situation I go into, I want to know what the end result is, before I start, right? And that's it's one of the things, Dave, we'll put make sure we put this in a chat. There's a website where are a a place where I have a bunch of five to 20 minute courses, many of them are complimentary. It's for those who are listening, and we put this in chat, aha, A, H, A, dot, P, U, B, slash superheroes. So, aha, dot, pub slash superheroes. And the one of the courses I'm going to recommend you take, I think it's 16 minutes. It's called the input output course. It is something I learned when I was in college, and it's something I've applied my entire life.life. And so the first thing I do, it's my fact. If you don't mind, we'll, we'll actually do I have two or three minutes to go through this story. Yeah, please do. So listen, if you're, if you're if you're listening and driving, don't do this. Just do it visually. But if you're at a if you're at your desk, take out a piece of paper. Old School. Take out a piece of paper and actually put and draw a box in the middle of the piece of paper, and then have a line that goes into the left hand side of the box, and then have a line that goes into outside of the right hand side of the box. What I want you to do is label the box, black box, and then the line that's going into the black box, label it as input, and the line that's going in the outside of the black box, label it output. So now I could, now that I've put that in place, I could give we could talk an accelerated language. And that is so you asked me, How do I how do I prepare? Why I want to make sure I know the inputs and outputs, the actual speaking itself is the black box, and until I know the inputs and outputs. So if it's an event and I'm speaking, well, who are the other speakers? What are they? What's going to happen before me or after me? If I'm first, what stage you want me to send if I'm last, what are the other people going to talk about? So I could, I could potentially tie it together. Now, on the output, what is it that you want to achieve? I was a keynote speaker for a networking group that would physically get together to 250 people, and I was the speaker that was burning every December. I was brought in every December. And the guy never told me this, but it was pretty obvious to me, because with me as a speaker, it was a pretty good idea that the group would renew at the end of the year when they go into January, right? So I that was always my idea is, let's do something unique enough that people would want to renew and and see the next level, you know, from January on. And so you. If you understand what your outputs are, and then you understand the input, that's when you can navigate the black box. What most humans do is they immediately jump into navigating the black box before understanding the inputs and outputs. So the only thing I do differently in every scenario. So you said to me, Hey, Mitchell, I You got 30 seconds. I want you to accomplish this. Whatever that is, I will in the when I navigate the black box, I will set the output 30 seconds with this goal and then be able to do it for us, to be able to do this together. I've researched you, or researched the type of podcast you like, what you like to cover, what topics you like to cover. So I understood the inputs you and I, I understood the outputs. And then we get to talk. And one of the questions I always ask when I'm doing a pre interview is is, would you want me to answer TV style questions, you know, 30/42 responses, or do you want radio responses? And you were like, oh, Mitchell, just tell me a story. Every time, tell me a story. Give me radio responses. So that's why this is a little bit on the longer side, and because I understood the world that you want me to play in, and so then I could play in the world in a way that you would be happy. 

Dave Barr  41:13

Brilliant, that's a great, great response there. Now I've got two more questions. The first one is about testimonials. We have personal testimonials, and there are testimonials to a business service or product or something like that, and that obviously can influence people and influence businesses as well, about who they interact with and what they do, and what their perceptions of you are, how credible you are. So what would you say are some effective methods that you use to gather and perhaps showcase authentically, the customer feedback that can help to elevate you or your business in a way that is really most productive? There's any any insights, any tips in that area. 

Mitchell Levy  41:59

So, if I'm going to put it into a category, we'll just call that social proof, okay, right? And social proof is, think things that are as simple as, you know, a lot of like buttons, or, if you're doing so funny, when you go into a bathroom and and you use you have three buttons, how was your experience? Good, bad, neutral, right? The thing that's interesting is, every time you have an opportunity, and it depends on the business, so it's very generic, this response, but every time you have an opportunity to ask somebody, Hey, how'd I do? Well, if you have the recording turned on, they could respond. So when I was doing the 500 interviews after the interview was done, I'd say, Hey, would you mind if you would give me a video testimonial? And, and, like, of course, not, right? And, and so that would be, and then what do you do with those video testimonials, right? And how do you move them forward, right? And that's the thing that's important is, is when you've provided value for somebody at that point in time, turn on the camera, whether it's just a recording device or just a camera, and just say, Okay, how did this affect you? And if you know your C pop, right? So what you want to do is, is, if there's a pain point of pleasure point, if it's a pleasure How did this help you reach the pleasure point, or how did this address your pain point and and so then you then put onto your website, your social media. I'm a I'm a big LinkedIn fan, and so that's the primary place on, I say so on the job categories, there will be lots of video testimonials on the featured video could be a compilation of social proof and and I learn when I want to evaluate a product or service, I'm going to learn as much from the what other people say as from the, you know, the websites itself, because I want to get a feeling of what was the experience of those people who were clients to you previously, and so whatever it takes for you to be able to keep track of of that in your mind and at the right time. And once again, it's the the most so, by the way, if you want, at the end of the interview, you know, and you turn off, and we say goodbye, Mitchell, how was it being a guest on my show? I'm happy. And, by the way, what I'm going to do is, Dave, I'm going to say, what's the output? Do you want? Long? Do you want short? Are there a couple key points you want me to emphasize, you know? And in the answer would be, if I'm, by the way, if I'm going to do it right now live, being on Dave Barr show is so powerful, because he's going to talk to you ahead of time, do a pre interview, research on you, and bring up the types of points that are relevant so that you can be you, so that you're adding value to his audience. I have so enjoyed this experience, right? So by the way, feel free to clip that and use. That. And we've been taught, if you are part of the National Speakers Association, you've been taught to to make it about you. Here's my name, here's my title, here's here's how cool I am. And let me tell you about my friend, Dave Barr. And that seems silly to me, to me, this is, this is for Dave Barr. This is for Dave's future customers, whether the customer is on the podcast or something else, the most important thing I see is a person who cares, who does the research, shows me the respect ahead of time, credible value gives me the time. You even gave me the opportunity, because there was some personal stuff going on, to reschedule, and I said, No, no, we could. I could fit this in. You were just you. Were just you, right? You were the type of person that I want to hang around with. I may want to do business with, and you just show me you and and that's what, to me, adds a lot of value. And so if, if somebody wanted to do business with you, I'm hoping that that testimonial something you're interested in, if you want something else, tell me a different output, and I'll give you a different testimony.

Dave Barr  46:03

That's very kind. Mitchell, I really do appreciate what you've said. It's very unexpected and very, very, very, very welcome. Thank you very much. 

Mitchell Levy  46:13

Oh, my pleasure. 

Dave Barr  46:13

Let's jump on to a particular area that I'm sure people now are really keen to hear about, and that's more about you, what you do, what you've published. Could you share, very briefly, the best places where people would go? I think LinkedIn could well be one of them. But the sound of things, the best places people go to find out more about you and your content and what you do. And then, could you share a minute or two about Credibility Nation, I see that you've got a publication behind you there. Can you tell people about that? I think that's important for people to hear.

Mitchell Levy  46:45

Oh, thank you. You know the best place nowadays, and this is always, we're all always evolving, is my personal website. So it's Mitchell Levy.com so it's M, I, T, C, H, E, L, L, E, V, Y.com, and there you get the opportunity to whatever is hot in my mind, whatever, whatever I'm working on now is what I'll what I'll feature. It'll be links to LinkedIn, if you want to connect to me on LinkedIn, and what have you. If you decide this was relevant enough and you want to book time on my calendar, you can get directly to my calendar from Mitchell Levy.com and and actually, what I'm I've got two different groups that I'm working with. It's the Inc 5000 CEOs. That's more of an executive coaching, executive gravitas experience. And the other group is our business owners, because I'm one myself, and since I found solutions and and I am doing throughout the year, I'm doing webinars on getting referrals right, because most of the time, we're not getting the referrals that we really need. Even those around us are not getting the referrals we need. So I'm doing a how do you effectively the seventh, the seven habits of using LinkedIn effectively to to to guarantee that you'll continually get a good stream of referrals. And so that's a webinar that I'm that I'm doing throughout the the year of 2025 that that is powerful and interesting and and, you know, we'll see what happens in 2026.

Dave Barr  48:16

Brilliant. Some, some interesting stuff coming up. There Credibility. Nation. Is there anything you particularly want to say about that?

Mitchell Levy  48:23

You know, it's the I could say at this stage. So it's the credibility nations, both a community that I have and a book called Credibility Nation. It is the byproduct of interviewing 500 thought leaders on on credibility. And it's you could probably, I don't want to stop sales, but if you went to GPT, it probably knows most of because a lot of the stuff in the book I've published online. So if you really wanted to sit down and read it's it's got all the things that are relevant to how do you be credible? I need the next evolution of that book. So the next phase, and the thing that's holding it back is I'm in the midst of getting a PhD, and so the the coursework is done, and the dissertation of what's next, and so the next book will be part of that part of my dissertation. And so that's the piece where I've actually been applying the concepts of clarity and credibility for the last four, four and a half years, and it's I've learned so many incredible lessons that I am I'm looking forward to, and continue to enjoy structuring it and putting it into book format. But it's when that it's it's it for me, that's what I'm looking forward to next. Is saying, Hey, here's all the research, here's all the practice, and now here's a here's a roadmap.

Dave Barr  49:47

Brilliant. That sounds really exciting. Look forward to hearing more about that as it comes up so seeing at the time. Now, one final question, I have the privilege of spending time with many small and medium sized business owners, I mean little bit not as vast as yourself, but I'm in various networking clubs, and I talk to a lot of business owners that are experiencing some tough times. Should we say it there? And I'd love to be able to give them insights from my guests as to what nuggets of gold would they say to them to help them and this particular case, obviously, it's about credibility for those small to medium sized business owners, those people who are having a tough time, what would they be the key things you would say that would help them and their business become more credible to their customers? I know it's a tough ask, if you've got three or four things you could share that be really useful.

Mitchell Levy  50:43

So one, come up with your CPOP your "Customer Point of Possibilities" in less than 10 words. Have clarity about who you serve and the pain point of pleasure point that that they that they represent. And I'm going to say that that's 1A, 1B is make sure that when you talk in person, and also when people go to your website and your social media, you're consistent, right? And most people aren't, just to be clear, most people aren't. They're like all over the place, right? And second is, as you mentioned, social proof, so to be able to have video testimonials on your website, in your social that reinforce that. And I'll make that, I'll make that, I'll make that. I'll put in three. If you don't have any video testimonials today and you don't have clients or past clients, you could ask for video testimonials. I'll make three is do something I love doing. I call it the three for three program. This is more appropriate for coaches and consultants, and that particular program is offer to work with somebody for $1 a month, for three months. Okay, the cost is what you talk to the person is listen at at somewhere between month two or three, I want to get a video testimonial, and if you like the experience, I'd like you to recommend me to three others, right? And so now, if you're sitting there and you're a coach and you're doing something new, or consultant and you're doing something new, we need social proof. Oh, go ahead and get social proof. And you do need to charge at least $1 a month. It has to be some financial transaction happens. But what you're really doing at the end of somewhere between three to six months, or three to nine months, is you've had the opportunity to potentially work with up to 12 people. You know, the three recommendations that you get from all three people you don't you could charge half price, you could charge full price. You could still go at the dollar if you want to. But what you've now been able to do is really practice and fine tune your craft and have social proof, showing that you're good at what you do. And by the way, at the end of the three month period, you then have a conversation with a person. Was this worthwhile? It's my normal rates. Is there a rate that you'd rather have? Right? It's an opportunity for you to grow into, into that business, and it's and one in which they they get to see you, feel you, experience you, and you have fun. They have fun. And it's a really good way for for for coaches and consultants to move along.

Dave Barr  53:22

Fabulous. Well, thanks very much for your time today. Those nuggests of gold I'm sure will be extremely useful to my audience. I do appreciate that. Appreciate that. And yeah, it's, it's been a pleasure to interview you today. I really do appreciate your time.

Mitchell Levy  53:37

Dave, thank you. It's, it's been honor. I really, love somebody who prepares, who knows their audience, and keeps the keeps me on track, because it's kind of easy to go all over the place. So thank you. I really appreciate you.

Dave Barr  53:50

Take care. Speak to you soon. 

Mitchell Levy  53:52

Take care everyone. 

Dave Barr  53:53

So there's another Real Life Buyer podcast. I do hope you enjoyed it, and it has given you some ideas and inspiration for greater action and achievement. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes, and a five star review would be most appreciated if you would like to discover more about me and what I do. Take a look at www.thereallifebuyer.co.uk. Bye.