BBF164: From half dead & homeless to a top 1% earner

What a tremendous character we have on the show this week. It really is difficult to know where to start with Akbar Sheikh. From being homeless and taking refuge in a San Francisco utility cupboard, he’s gone on to conquer the world of business, and even better, he’s now giving something back.

His epiphany came on a day when his network marketing business brought in $25,000, but he realised he felt so much more enjoyment from the free consultancy he’d given a not-for-profit business on that same day. He now works with a charity in Africa that cures children from blindness, as well as a charity in San Francisco that provides mattresses for the homeless.

See below for some Akbar’s amazing tips on life and marketing:

**  Most people fail at the fundamentals. They’re always looking for the next big thing, but if you have a foundation you can scale to seven figures.

**  Stop what you’re doing if you hate it. Remember Einstein’s famous quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

**  You won’t have a successful business unless you stop your bad life habits.

**  Think about scaling and growth every day. Don’t stand still or you will become bitter.

**  Do organic marketing before paid marketing - it helps prove the concept.

**  Make your content regular - keep feeding the machine.

**  It isn’t difficult to create content - it’s just documenting your everyday reality.

**  You are who you spend your time with. Hang with the right people and you will take the right path.

**  Find a ‘why’ in life that makes you cry. Motivation becomes completely automatic once you do.

 

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  The definition of a funnel

**  The ethical 7 principles of sales

**  The tools you need for a successful online business

**  The value of organic marketing

**  How to make producing content easy

**  How Akbar got 8 million in traffic without paying for any online advertising

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  Free business advice and tools from Ben: http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au

**  Get Akbar’s international bestselling book (normally $47) for FREE here

**  Akbar’s Facebook group: The 2 comma club

**  The Business Brain Food Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

Call to action:

This is an unarguably insightful quote from a man who’s lived one heck of a life: “As business people we are artists. We need a clean and clear canvas in our mind.”

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
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