Growing up it’s all people used to say. Can you still fake it in 2021? With the available ways to learn about business online what is the answer?
Matt Henderson (00:01):
Everyone. Welcome back to The Business Mind Podcast, this is Matt. Have you guys heard about the old saying, fake it until you make it? Well, I’m going to be honest, in 2021, that just can’t possibly be true anymore. Well, you know what guys, I’m going to tell you for sure, it’s definitely not true. I want to test the waters with you, but how many people out there have heard it? I mean, I grew up around it. It’s probably a sign of my age, but growing up, I can’t tell you the amount of times that I heard the words, fake it until you make it. And you know, when I was a 15 year old kid, this is a good example. When I was 15 years old, I was working at a restaurant, in summertime and stuff, and trying to make some summer money. …
Matt Henderson (00:57):
We lived in a shore town. So, it’s kind of nice. People come in for summer and there are a lot of job opportunities, and you can do okay in the summertime, especially as a 15 year old kid back in the ’90s. Now you guys all know how old I am, if you do the math. But I went into work, and I remember one night I was finishing up my shift, and I was busing tables. I was pretty exhausted and my sister, who was working in the same restaurant at the time, came over and said, “Hey, listen, I’m bartending tonight.” (The restaurant had a separate bar for nighttime stuff). And she came over and asked if I would like to continue working through the rest of the night, because there was some good money to be made.
Matt Henderson (01:51):
And the barback had called out. So, the barback’s the guy who just helps out the bartenders, and they run and go get all the booze, and the ice, and the glasses. And, yada, yada, yada, you get what I’m saying here. It’s the guy who restocks everything, not a glorious job, but you know what, when you’re busing tables, it seems like a way cooler job. So, I said to her, “You know what, of course, let’s stay, I’ll stay for the night.” But to be completely transparent, I was 15 years old, and I barely knew what certain alcohols even were. You know, if you give me a beer to go get, I’m capable of reading, I could go downstairs and go get it and bring it back. But everything else was a little more difficult. And the other big thing was, at 15, you’re not supposed to be able to handle alcohol.
Matt Henderson (02:43):
And back in the ’90s, we decided I would fake it until I made it. And we told the guys that I was working for, that I was like 17, and it was cool. Or 18 maybe, eek! We said it was alright and I knew what I was doing. My sister told me, “Hey, listen, we’re just going to fake it until you make it well you’re going to… I’ll tell you what the stuff is. I’ll tell you what it looks like. You’re going to get through the night.” Well, that year I wound up doing that all summer. I worked the earlier shift in the dining room at the restaurant. And then I would work the night shift in the bar area. And I’ll tell you, I killed it financially. I mean, whew, for a 15 year old kid, it was insane.
Matt Henderson (03:27):
I bought my first car that year and I was two years away from being able to drive. So, that’s where I first learned about the idea of fake it until you make it. And back in the 90s, pre-internet times, and Google, and everything else. I don’t know that we had many other choices other than to take that route. If you wanted to get ahead, and you didn’t necessarily have the skills to get there, you either had to find some way to attain those skills, which if you’re 15 and you want to be a barback, at the time in my state, that was not even a possibility. So, I would’ve never moved forward, if I had tried to look for the correct ways to do it. So, you had to fake it until you made it. Well, guess what everyone, it’s 2021, the idea of fake it until you make it, now is a lot more difficult because Google exists. The internet exists.
Matt Henderson (04:23):
You can find the answer to just about… Well, I’m pretty confident you can find the answer to any question you have. And very infrequently, do you not find an answer to something that’s going on in the world, or to even your specific job. I mean, heck, today you can go on YouTube and there’s probably a video about what you are trying to do and can’t figure out. So, now why did this all come up today? Well, my wife and I, we’re in the process of selling our house or, well, let me step back. We just decided we’re selling our home, and we met with a realtor yesterday. And so excited, we sat down last night, we’re going to get everything rolling, not part of this story, but this is how I got there.
Matt Henderson (05:12):
I was asking them how things were going with their marketing while I had somebody’s ear, that is there to make money from me. I had their ear for a second. So, I wanted to talk to them about their marketing and ask them how, if they’re marketing at their company, their real estate company, I assume they are. I mean, they’re a real estate company. How do they do it, do they have other avenues? Do they have somebody handling all their marketing business for them? Because you know, I do that. So, if I have the opportunity to talk to somebody who I’m in front of, then sure, I want to ask them if I could possibly help. So in speaking, I barely said much at all, just tried to let them know what I’m capable of, and to see what they were doing.
Matt Henderson (06:03):
And in our process of conversation, they told me about the fact that they had hired a website person, and then they had hired a separate marketing person in-house, and they had hired a marketing/advertising company. So I thought, wow, that’s a lot of expense. It seems pretty high. So I asked how’s it working out, and long story short, may I cut to the chase for you? The person building the website had shut down their emails for over 24 hours, by mistake, but was not admitting fault, was just saying it had nothing to do with anything they did. The marketing person they had hired didn’t know anything about Google analytics, still currently did not know anything about Google analytics, which I know not everybody here is a marketer right now, but let me tell you, if you have a business and it is online, you need to have Google analytics hooked up to it.
Matt Henderson (07:07):
So, that’s all I’m going to say about that. So therefore, when I’m hearing this, she, the realtor, was telling me that every time somebody was trying to send me an email, apparently, the system was telling them that it couldn’t go through. And immediately, as soon as she said it, I knew I had an idea of what was going on and I didn’t interject or anything. So it’s not my business. I was just listening and I said, “My gosh, in the world of real estate, that sounds detrimental. It sounds expensive.” You know, if you lose a real estate deal because, well, you didn’t get the email that came through from the lawyer, then you have a problem. So I said, “Was it resolved? How did this go?” And apparently she said, it had just been resolved and like in the last day or two, and, and I thought, well, that’s a blessing because, holy moly, if I couldn’t get ahold of my real estate agent, that causes an issue, right?
Matt Henderson (08:11):
And likewise, if other people bidding on my home can’t get in touch with my real estate agent, that’s an issue. So, we kind of ended it there for the night. I’m definitely using this real estate agent, she’s amazing. And I was just blown away by all the information she had for us, and everything she was able to contribute. So I had offered to, last night after she left, I decided, I talked, I spoke with my wife and I said, “Listen, I’m going to just build her a free lead funnel.” Like she didn’t have a lead funnel, she doesn’t necessarily understand them. But you know, she was fully confident of the fact that she needs a larger email list. And I thought, well, you know what? It’s something I can do to help and offer. And hey, why not?
Matt Henderson (08:58):
So, this morning I typed up an email and I said, “Hey, listen, I’m going to do this for you and you can have it. It’s going to be free, I’m not charging anything for it.” And when I hit send on the email, the email got returned to me. So, I immediately felt bad for her because it seemed like, oh my gosh, this poor woman is about to get a free multi thousand dollar lead funnel. And the issue is, the email system that’s set up isn’t isn’t functioning correctly. And it’s not like it’s some complicated system or anything. I think the person who’s doing the job is going under the old adage of, fake it until you make it. And well, heck, that doesn’t work. You know, she just missed an email from a very important client, a brand new client.
Matt Henderson (10:05):
Now, if I didn’t know this person on a personal level, I would think, you know what? I’m not sure this is going to work out. And I might just move on to the next realtor, I’ll be honest. But I have a personal connection with this woman, she’s great. So, I know her capabilities and I’m well aware of the fact that this has nothing to do with her abilities. So that’s why today’s situation is all about fake it. You know, the idea of fake it until you make it does not work. That is not realistic in today’s world. If you’re going out and you’re selling yourself to people in a fake it until you make it kind of a situation, you may cause them a business. You could cost them thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, all because you’re trying to fake it until you make it.
Matt Henderson (10:57):
So here’s my suggestion to everybody, educate yourself. Be honest with people when you’re trying to get your first jobs, or if you’re taking on something that you’re new to, be honest with them, say, “Hey, I don’t necessarily know a hundred percent about this. I will figure it out. Don’t worry about it. Or, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to reach out and get somebody else to help me with that.” Or just let them know this is outside of my wheelhouse, but definitely don’t leave people hanging like that. It will ruin your reputation before you even get started. So, that’s my suggestion to everyone today. I know it sounds like a little bit of a rant and a little weird, but it just happened. And I thought, oh my gosh, I can’t possibly let any of my loyal listeners go ahead and have this happen to them, or have them do something like this to somebody else.
Matt Henderson (11:47):
Because it would just make us all look bad. So listen, don’t fake it until you make it, don’t. There’s so much information out there today. And there’s so much you can learn, just take a few minutes and start educating yourself so that you can grow and know what you’re doing and be competent. All right everyone, this is Matt from The Business Mind podcast. I really appreciate you guys listening today. And if you could take a screenshot of this episode, if you like it. Share it around anywhere you are, if it’s Instagram, Facebook, Google, I don’t know Twitter, TikTok, whatever’s out there now. All right, you guys have a great day and I will talk to you all again soon.
Everyone. Welcome back to The Business Mind Podcast, this is Matt. Have you guys heard about the old saying, fake it until you make it? Well, I’m going to be honest, in 2021, that just can’t possibly be true anymore. Well, you know what guys, I’m going to tell you for sure, it’s definitely not true. I want to test the waters with you, but how many people out there have heard it? I mean, I grew up around it. It’s probably a sign of my age, but growing up, I can’t tell you the amount of times that I heard the words, fake it until you make it. And you know, when I was a 15 year old kid, this is a good example. When I was 15 years old, I was working at a restaurant, in summertime and stuff, and trying to make some summer money. …
Matt Henderson (00:57):
We lived in a shore town. So, it’s kind of nice. People come in for summer and there are a lot of job opportunities, and you can do okay in the summertime, especially as a 15 year old kid back in the ’90s. Now you guys all know how old I am, if you do the math. But I went into work, and I remember one night I was finishing up my shift, and I was busing tables. I was pretty exhausted and my sister, who was working in the same restaurant at the time, came over and said, “Hey, listen, I’m bartending tonight.” (The restaurant had a separate bar for nighttime stuff). And she came over and asked if I would like to continue working through the rest of the night, because there was some good money to be made.
Matt Henderson (01:51):
And the barback had called out. So, the barback’s the guy who just helps out the bartenders, and they run and go get all the booze, and the ice, and the glasses. And, yada, yada, yada, you get what I’m saying here. It’s the guy who restocks everything, not a glorious job, but you know what, when you’re busing tables, it seems like a way cooler job. So, I said to her, “You know what, of course, let’s stay, I’ll stay for the night.” But to be completely transparent, I was 15 years old, and I barely knew what certain alcohols even were. You know, if you give me a beer to go get, I’m capable of reading, I could go downstairs and go get it and bring it back. But everything else was a little more difficult. And the other big thing was, at 15, you’re not supposed to be able to handle alcohol.
Matt Henderson (02:43):
And back in the ’90s, we decided I would fake it until I made it. And we told the guys that I was working for, that I was like 17, and it was cool. Or 18 maybe, eek! We said it was alright and I knew what I was doing. My sister told me, “Hey, listen, we’re just going to fake it until you make it well you’re going to… I’ll tell you what the stuff is. I’ll tell you what it looks like. You’re going to get through the night.” Well, that year I wound up doing that all summer. I worked the earlier shift in the dining room at the restaurant. And then I would work the night shift in the bar area. And I’ll tell you, I killed it financially. I mean, whew, for a 15 year old kid, it was insane.
Matt Henderson (03:27):
I bought my first car that year and I was two years away from being able to drive. So, that’s where I first learned about the idea of fake it until you make it. And back in the 90s, pre-internet times, and Google, and everything else. I don’t know that we had many other choices other than to take that route. If you wanted to get ahead, and you didn’t necessarily have the skills to get there, you either had to find some way to attain those skills, which if you’re 15 and you want to be a barback, at the time in my state, that was not even a possibility. So, I would’ve never moved forward, if I had tried to look for the correct ways to do it. So, you had to fake it until you made it. Well, guess what everyone, it’s 2021, the idea of fake it until you make it, now is a lot more difficult because Google exists. The internet exists.
Matt Henderson (04:23):
You can find the answer to just about… Well, I’m pretty confident you can find the answer to any question you have. And very infrequently, do you not find an answer to something that’s going on in the world, or to even your specific job. I mean, heck, today you can go on YouTube and there’s probably a video about what you are trying to do and can’t figure out. So, now why did this all come up today? Well, my wife and I, we’re in the process of selling our house or, well, let me step back. We just decided we’re selling our home, and we met with a realtor yesterday. And so excited, we sat down last night, we’re going to get everything rolling, not part of this story, but this is how I got there.
Matt Henderson (05:12):
I was asking them how things were going with their marketing while I had somebody’s ear, that is there to make money from me. I had their ear for a second. So, I wanted to talk to them about their marketing and ask them how, if they’re marketing at their company, their real estate company, I assume they are. I mean, they’re a real estate company. How do they do it, do they have other avenues? Do they have somebody handling all their marketing business for them? Because you know, I do that. So, if I have the opportunity to talk to somebody who I’m in front of, then sure, I want to ask them if I could possibly help. So in speaking, I barely said much at all, just tried to let them know what I’m capable of, and to see what they were doing.
Matt Henderson (06:03):
And in our process of conversation, they told me about the fact that they had hired a website person, and then they had hired a separate marketing person in-house, and they had hired a marketing/advertising company. So I thought, wow, that’s a lot of expense. It seems pretty high. So I asked how’s it working out, and long story short, may I cut to the chase for you? The person building the website had shut down their emails for over 24 hours, by mistake, but was not admitting fault, was just saying it had nothing to do with anything they did. The marketing person they had hired didn’t know anything about Google analytics, still currently did not know anything about Google analytics, which I know not everybody here is a marketer right now, but let me tell you, if you have a business and it is online, you need to have Google analytics hooked up to it.
Matt Henderson (07:07):
So, that’s all I’m going to say about that. So therefore, when I’m hearing this, she, the realtor, was telling me that every time somebody was trying to send me an email, apparently, the system was telling them that it couldn’t go through. And immediately, as soon as she said it, I knew I had an idea of what was going on and I didn’t interject or anything. So it’s not my business. I was just listening and I said, “My gosh, in the world of real estate, that sounds detrimental. It sounds expensive.” You know, if you lose a real estate deal because, well, you didn’t get the email that came through from the lawyer, then you have a problem. So I said, “Was it resolved? How did this go?” And apparently she said, it had just been resolved and like in the last day or two, and, and I thought, well, that’s a blessing because, holy moly, if I couldn’t get ahold of my real estate agent, that causes an issue, right?
Matt Henderson (08:11):
And likewise, if other people bidding on my home can’t get in touch with my real estate agent, that’s an issue. So, we kind of ended it there for the night. I’m definitely using this real estate agent, she’s amazing. And I was just blown away by all the information she had for us, and everything she was able to contribute. So I had offered to, last night after she left, I decided, I talked, I spoke with my wife and I said, “Listen, I’m going to just build her a free lead funnel.” Like she didn’t have a lead funnel, she doesn’t necessarily understand them. But you know, she was fully confident of the fact that she needs a larger email list. And I thought, well, you know what? It’s something I can do to help and offer. And hey, why not?
Matt Henderson (08:58):
So, this morning I typed up an email and I said, “Hey, listen, I’m going to do this for you and you can have it. It’s going to be free, I’m not charging anything for it.” And when I hit send on the email, the email got returned to me. So, I immediately felt bad for her because it seemed like, oh my gosh, this poor woman is about to get a free multi thousand dollar lead funnel. And the issue is, the email system that’s set up isn’t isn’t functioning correctly. And it’s not like it’s some complicated system or anything. I think the person who’s doing the job is going under the old adage of, fake it until you make it. And well, heck, that doesn’t work. You know, she just missed an email from a very important client, a brand new client.
Matt Henderson (10:05):
Now, if I didn’t know this person on a personal level, I would think, you know what? I’m not sure this is going to work out. And I might just move on to the next realtor, I’ll be honest. But I have a personal connection with this woman, she’s great. So, I know her capabilities and I’m well aware of the fact that this has nothing to do with her abilities. So that’s why today’s situation is all about fake it. You know, the idea of fake it until you make it does not work. That is not realistic in today’s world. If you’re going out and you’re selling yourself to people in a fake it until you make it kind of a situation, you may cause them a business. You could cost them thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, all because you’re trying to fake it until you make it.
Matt Henderson (10:57):
So here’s my suggestion to everybody, educate yourself. Be honest with people when you’re trying to get your first jobs, or if you’re taking on something that you’re new to, be honest with them, say, “Hey, I don’t necessarily know a hundred percent about this. I will figure it out. Don’t worry about it. Or, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to reach out and get somebody else to help me with that.” Or just let them know this is outside of my wheelhouse, but definitely don’t leave people hanging like that. It will ruin your reputation before you even get started. So, that’s my suggestion to everyone today. I know it sounds like a little bit of a rant and a little weird, but it just happened. And I thought, oh my gosh, I can’t possibly let any of my loyal listeners go ahead and have this happen to them, or have them do something like this to somebody else.
Matt Henderson (11:47):
Because it would just make us all look bad. So listen, don’t fake it until you make it, don’t. There’s so much information out there today. And there’s so much you can learn, just take a few minutes and start educating yourself so that you can grow and know what you’re doing and be competent. All right everyone, this is Matt from The Business Mind podcast. I really appreciate you guys listening today. And if you could take a screenshot of this episode, if you like it. Share it around anywhere you are, if it’s Instagram, Facebook, Google, I don’t know Twitter, TikTok, whatever’s out there now. All right, you guys have a great day and I will talk to you all again soon.