And why “skill stacking” is the most powerful investment
you’ll ever make.
Meet Kye, an 18-year old hospitality worker who walked away from his job at Guzman y Gomez to begin his own online business.
After months of hard work, his business now generates over $5k a week in profit.
But it didn’t just happen for Kye.
It took a lot of time and dedication.
In order to fully appreciate Kye’s story, you first need to understand the process of skill stacking – and how it created the opportunity and environment for his success…
Where it all began: my intro to stacking skills.
Several years ago at a software convention in Nashville Tennessee, I met Alex Hormozi – a 31-year-old entrepreneur who blew my mind.
We were both there being recognised for our achievements in reaching milestone sales.
Joe and I were feeling pretty chuffed, having hit the eight-figure sales mark.
Then we met Alex.
Within three years of launching his business within the gym, fitness, and education space, Alex had generated $75 million in sales.
That’s 3X what we had done, at that time.
What a feat, right?
Here was a guy seemingly at the top of his game – but he wasn’t resting on his laurels.
He wanted more.
He wanted to continue improving.
As a like-minded entrepreneur, I could relate.
After all, remaining in a constant state of curiosity and always being open to improvement is the key to driving yourself, and your business forward.
Speaking candidly with Alex, he shared that the secret to growing his business (which has now exceeded $115m in sales) started with him – and the set of skills he brings to the table.
Alex believed that, when it comes to investing, the focus shouldn’t be on cryptocurrency, real estate, or the stock market.
He recognised there’s no better investment than knowledge, and his MO became buying skills until there were none left to buy.
Alex needed to know how to get to the next level of his business and knew that paying to work with people more experienced and skilled than he was, would be the way to achieve this.
This saw him spend $100,000 on a one-hour coaching session with bestselling author and entrepreneur Grant Cardone.
By paying to work with the best and learning all he could in the process – he built a stack of skills, ultimately fast-tracking his business’s success, and saving him precious time.
“Skill stacking” – just more business jargon?
Absolutely not.
Skill stacking applies to every aspect of your life.
Whether you’re learning to drive, play sport or start a business, there’s a set number of skills required for each that, once learned, you’re good to go and, once mastered – you’re away laughing.
And it’s not even a huge amount of skills we are talking about.
Remember the first time you sat behind the steering wheel?
The steps you were trying to keep straight, while your parent waited nervously in the passenger seat?
It was pretty daunting, right?
But, after those first few lessons, you started to realise becoming a competent driver and getting your licence really comes down to mastering a few key skills;
- Being aware of your surroundings (blindspots/looking for hazards)
- Changing gears
- Following the road rules
- Reversing
- And (the oft-dreaded) parallel parking
And once you’ve nailed these skills you don’t think twice about slipping into your front seat.
It all becomes second nature.
You’ve mastered a stack of skills.
Just because you’ve mastered skills in one area, doesn’t mean you stop there.
There’s always room for improvement.
There’s always someone doing better than you in your chosen field. Someone you can look to and learn from.
But beware: ego is the enemy.
As much as our egos hate to admit it – everyone has the same amount of time in the day.
So, while as a double-degree holding 40-year-old, it might be hard to read about an 18-year-old kid pulling in $1,000/day via his own business – this is purely your ego getting the better of you.
And letting your ego run riot makes for an expensive exercise.
Instead, reframe your mindset and ask:
What’s this kid doing differently to me?
How is it one person might be on $100k a year while another rakes in over $1 million?
Your ego wants to believe there’s a fundamental explanation for someone being more successful than you.
That they’ve had opportunities and assistance you haven’t.
But this isn’t the reality.
The difference is simply the skill sets they’ve acquired and how these are valued in the marketplace. It’s the only explanation.
It’s the value we bring to the market that we get rewarded for.
And this value is irrespective of age, race, gender, or religion.
It’s purely skills-based.
Collaborate with the greats.
Alex’s focus on skill stacking and investing in knowledge – in ourselves – resonated so strongly that Joe and I immediately went into the business of acquiring skills.
We invested in the industry’s best Facebook and YouTube advertising agencies and we collaborated with as many industry specialists as we could, including Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki, taking as many learnings as we could from each.
Like Alex, we were determined to have face-time with Grant Cardone – bestselling author, sales trainer, entrepreneur, and mogul at the top of his game.
It cost us $40k and a five-day roundtrip to nab a one-hour meet with him – but it was worth it.
Grant shared key knowledge, solidified our direction, and relit the fire in our bellies.
Our session with Grant reinforced that acquiring skills isn’t only incredibly powerful, it can also save you a lot of time and even more money.
So, why aren’t we all more committed to upskilling?
As kids, we spend all our time learning and developing new skills – and we do it without a second thought.
With at least six hours a day at school, then homework, participating in sports teams, and extracurricular activities – we’re constantly learning, levelling up, and adding to our skill stacks.
But this drops off as adults.
We might continue developing skills through uni or apprenticeships, but ultimately we end up in long-term jobs where our goals change.
We stop being hungry for knowledge and instead clock in, clock out, hope for an eventual promotion, and look forward to evenings of Netflix.
We stagnate.
Unlike many 9-5 jobs, in business, things are a little different. Instead of hoping your boss will hand over a promotion, with the right skills, you can take your business from a $0 fledgling to a $1 billion behemoth.
And that’s what we teach in our Amazon course.
For about $3000USD (or the equivalent of putting a fourth grader through ONE term of private school), you’ll learn the 10 specific skills that, when stacked, create a skillset responsible for our students generating over $1.5 billion in sales on Amazon, at the time of writing.
That’s a pretty appealing opportunity huh? The chance to gain an epic skillset, increase your abilities, generate impressive revenue, and broaden your horizons – for just $3,000USD.
You’d be surprised.
Unlike their willingness to buy that weekly Lotto ticket or splash out on material goods, many adults are hesitant to invest in their education.
Their valuation of skills – and what it means to build knowledge – is off.
Putting it plainly – no matter how much the levelling up may cost, it’s always going to be more expensive to be unskilled and broke.
As Derek Bok’s saying goes “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance”.
The importance of skill stacking in our daily lives is undeniable.
And it’s with this understanding that we can loop back to the success story that is Kye Stopka.
How an 18-year-old Guzman y Gomez worker invested in himself and generated $5,000 profit – in ONE week!
Recently I’ve been mentoring Kye, an 18-year-old from the Sunshine Coast, who embodies the importance of identifying your skills (and where you need improvement!) and investing in mastering these.
A talented and disciplined footballer, Kye played at the highest level in Europe, before suffering a severe back injury that prevented him from playing.
Instead, he found himself working for minimum wage at Guzman y Gomez, ultimately getting nowhere.
It was at this point, dejected and frustrated, that he approached me.
Kye wanted to know how to get skills and make money online.
As the old adage goes; if you help others get what they want, you’ll get what you want.
This is a saying I live by and have built the Reliable business around.
And it was with this in mind that I asked Kye what his skills were.
Amazingly he didn’t think he had any. This kid, this incredibly talented kid who had just come from playing in the elite Bundesliga of Europe didn’t think he had skills!?
Pointing out his football prowess I asked him how he got to the elite level he’d been playing at.
He told me about the nine drills he’d practised daily since he was seven, that he’d learnt from the best coaches in the world.
These drills and Kye’s dedication to practising meant he became the best player in this team, in the league and ultimately took him overseas.
Having identified these drills as a key factor in his success, I suggested he package them into an online course and sell it worldwide.
It was an ah-ha moment for Kye.
A revelation.
And he began his research.
A mammoth opportunity lay before him.
After all, as a parent wouldn’t you pay for training that would help your child develop the confidence and ability to excel in their chosen sport (and life)?
And as a player wouldn’t you want to know how to be the best in your team?
With his business idea clear, Kye got to work.
He poured his heart and soul into learning the skills he needed to get his program up and running. From how to:
- Create a course
- Share his knowledge in a learnable, replicable way
- Advertise
- Connect with others
- Develop email strategies
- Design offers, and opt-in pages
He built a following across his nexlevelsoccer social media accounts and created engaging content that demonstrates his expertise.
Here’s one of the ads Kye created himself – a direct result of skill stacking!
And another, demonstrating his elite soccer skill set:
In launching his online business, Kye developed a valuable skill stack.
He built a beautiful program.
Ripe and ready for launch.
So, there we were – both excited, confident, and full of beans. The program launched and….. NOTHING.
For three months there were no sales. Webinars no one turned up to. Crickets.
For an 18-year-old who’s spent months and months working, training, learning and pouring his all into his vision, and nothing to happen? It could have broken him.
But not Kye.
He knew it was a great product, and through local kids giving it a try – he knew it worked.
So we went back to the drawing board. We tweaked. We tried new tactics.
And last month he cracked the code.
In just seven days, Kye’s program generated over $5,000 IN PROFIT!
He was ECSTATIC.
Speechless.
Relieved.
All his hard work, effort, and commitment finally started paying off.
As well as generating amazing profit, Kye’s received epic feedback from his students and has even been recognised by MarketWatch and FOX28 for his efforts.
And now, with an open mind and a tried and tested skill stack, he has a plan that will see him make more money online within the next month than he would have in a year at Guzman y Gomez.
Kye’s incredible journey and his ultimate success is just one example of how using your existing knowledge, identifying areas for improvement, and proactively learning new skills that continue to compound – can change your life.
And it made me wonder: how might you look to add to your current skill set?
The first place to start is investing in skills that improve your cash flow.
Don’t jump straight to the likes of property, cryptocurrencies, or stocks.
Investing in yourself and your skills will produce a much faster result.
Still unconvinced?
Take property for example:
On the Gold Coast, the average house price is $750k, with a 20% deposit required to seal the deal.
That’s $150k upfront.
And then you have a mortgage.
It will take months, if not years, to see any return on your investment.
On the other hand, if you have an online business, paying for an expert to teach you ad optimisation could trigger a run of sales.
That’s immediate profit.
Immediate cash flow.
Investing in your personal skills creates a foundation on which you can then more readily rev up your business skills and external investments.
You’re the undervalued asset.
You’re the one worth investing in first.
Within the Amazon seller community alone there are countless avenues for ongoing improvement – and each can have a HUGE impact on your ability to make sales.
Whether enhancing the quality of your product, identifying areas for differentiation, producing eye-catching photographs, or optimising your advertising – by working with experts in the area, you gain invaluable insights and knowledge that will do nothing but improve your likelihood of building a successful business.
So, if you’re interested in investing smart and improving your cash flow, but haven’t started an Amazon business yet, now’s the time.
Check out our free five-part video series on how to build a reliable Amazon income stream, and start skill stacking today!
What are you waiting for?!
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