Many of you have asked questions about the Mastermind group that spawned S.O.S. University.  Although we can't bring anyone else into the group we want to bring the power of the group to you.

So what does that mean? You get the combined brainpower of the founders of S.O.S. University working on your idea, problem, system, marketing, whatever you want to brainstorm, for a straight two hours.

You'll also get a video of the entire session to refer back to when needed AND a detailed summary of everything we covered. So what does this amazing session cost? A mere $900. Don't worry, the price will be going up soon :)

If you are a member of the Frontliners BNI chapter you will get a discount for being part of the family. Frontliners, please contact Carlos Cooper for pricing.

So to recap, for a measly $900 you get access to the idea generation team that spawned S.O.S. University and continues to deliver amazing results for small business entrepreneurs. Don't wait. Contact Carlos today and get your business rockin'!

I think it's funny that people consider me a decent public speaker. You should've seen me a few years ago!
I still get butterflies in my stomach before I get in front of strangers and even in front of people I know. It's natural.

So what are the things that helped me get past my nervousness?  Here's the secret:

Just do it!  That's right. Just like your parents used to tell you, Practice Makes Perfect. You can't become a good public speaker by talking to yourself in the mirror. It's a great way to practice and see what you look like, but there's no substitute for just getting up there and doing it.

Here are a few tips:
- Don't drink caffeine before you go onstage
- Take a few cleansing breaths
- Try to walk through what you're going to say a couple times before you stand up
- Know that it won't last forever. It's kinda like a band-aid. Just rip it off.
- Use an outline instead of trying to memorize

I know I make it sound easy but taking that first step is the hardest. Again, just start volunteering to do things like giving short classes or tutorials. It'll help you get to the bigger stuff down the road.


Carlos Cooper is Co-Founder of S.O.S. University. You can visit his website HERE

Thanks to Matthew Evans again for a great interview on "Mind Your Business"
Love, Tito & Budacheli

I believe in second chances.

Let me tell you what else I believe in. I believe in educating yourself. I don't think you have to have advanced degrees to be successful. I believe you should always remember those who helped you along the way and that you should do the same for others.

I think it's time to tell my story and why I believe what I believe...so let's go.

I'm the oldest of four boys and I grew up all over the world because my dad was in the Navy. Two years was the longest we ever stayed in one place. I never got in trouble and never missed school. I was that kid. Outgoing but not a risk taker.

I never had a typical job. I mowed lawns, babysat my brothers and families with rambunctious boys, washed cars, etc... I didn't have my first REAL job until the summer after my first year of college.

I played soccer, baseball, tennis, cross country and more.

School was always easy for me. I enjoyed it because I had great teachers that each challenged me in a different way. I graduated high school with a four point something GPA. Not bragging, just saying.

During my final year of high school I applied to a few colleges but one visit to the University of Virginia put all other schools out of my mind. The Grounds (campus for all you non-Hoos), the reputation and the girls (don't worry that's also where I would end up meeting my wife). Luckily, I got in and accepted immediately. At the same time I knew I wanted to serve in the military and was chosen to receive an ROTC scholarship. I wanted to become a Marine.

Well, college life was amazing but I soon found that the world was a bit different than I'd expected. It wasn't that the school work was incredibly hard (except for that semester of Japanese 101), it was that all of a sudden I had all this freedom. The week I arrived at college was the first time I'd ever had a beer.

The other thing I realized was that none of the classes I was taking really excited me. That's when I should've seen the problem. I've always been an entrepreneur at heart (a couple stints with networking marketing too) and college felt like the anti-entrepreneur. Do it our way...or else. Maybe it was just the classes I was taking. I thought about going into the business school but took one class and hated it. It was all theory! Where were the practical lessons???

Long story short, I had a great time in college (fraternity, ROTC, intramurals, dating, etc..) but my grades stunk and remained borderline.

It all came to a head my fourth and final year. I started off well but a couple bumps in the road (crazy girlfriend, sick mom, etc..) took me off course. I became more of an introvert and the grades started slipping. I did stupid things because I didn't know how to cope. I was in a major funk and I had no way of getting out. Skip to almost the end and my grades were so bad for that semester that I couldn't graduate on-time. On top of that I was gonna have to stand in front of a review board for my ROTC unit and they'd decide whether to keep me on scholarship or send me to boot camp.

I can only imagine how awful I looked standing in front of those officers. They peppered me with questions and I really only knew one of them. There final decision was to drop my scholarship and sent me to boot camp.

Luckily I had two men on my side that knew what I'd been through and believed in me. I won't say their names but they were the Commanding Officer of the ROTC unit and the lead Marine officer at the unit. Together they ignored the board's recommendation and gave me one more shot.

I was given the summer to finish a couple classes and help out around the unit. Needless to say, I was not going to let them down. I went on to get great grades (I actually enjoyed the classes I got to choose) and because I had no money got into the best shape of my life. You can't buy beer with no money!

I redeemed myself and was commissioned in the Marine Corps at the end of the summer. I didn't get to walk The Lawn with my peers but that was ok. I'd made it through one the most trying times of my life.

I went on to have a successful six year stint in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer. After that I moved on to owning my own businesses. All because those two men believed in me and gave me a second shot. I was just a stupid kid but they saw something in me.

So what's the moral of the story?

1) Give people a second chance. You never know what they might be going through personally. It's hard to make that separation sometimes.

2) Give yourself a second chance. If you screwed up, pick yourself up and don't do it again. You're human. I know I am!

3) Don't ever forget the people that helped you. I think as Americans we have very short memories. We're all about the RIGHT NOW. Learn to remember life's lessons and help others along the way.

I wouldn't be who I am now if I hadn't failed a few times along the way. I am not perfect and that's ok. I do, however, learn from my mistakes. That's what True Entrepreneurs do!

Anyway, thanks for listening and thanks to Andrew Warner at Mixergy for giving me the courage to tell my story.

Originally posted by Carlos Cooper HERE.

I had to get some awards made with engraving and, of course, I waited until the last minute to get them ordered. I ran down to the Things Remembered store here in town and the guy there helped me find what I want.  Next, the dreaded question: “How fast can you get these done because I need them for tomorrow night.” He told me they would be done by 5pm the next day BUT that I should call at noon the next day to see if they might’ve had time to do them.

I placed the order just happy to have something that I could pick up late the next night.  The deadline would be met. I also put in my calender to call the store at noon the next day just to see if they were done. No way in Hell, I thought.

So I called today at noon thinking they’d tell me to come by after five pm and before closing at 9pm.  NOPE!  She said they were ready!  WHAT?!

So I ran to the mall and checked out the great job they did. Oh, and then I realized I’d forgotten to order one more. Dumbass! 

I humbly asked if there was any way she could do one more. She said, “No problem, if you have another store you need to go checkout I’ll have it done in 15-minutes.”

NO WAY! 

Yes way.

So not only did they do a great job on the product, they also blew me away with their service.

So here are 2 reasons you should under-promise and over-deliver as an entrepreneur:

Don’t look like an ass: If you promise the moon then fail to deliver you’ll look like an idiot and you may lose that customer.  You effectively just lied to them. Instead do what Things Remembered did for me. Set a conservative deadline, then beat it. 

You’ll Look Like a Rockstar: If you do this over and over again you’ll gain the reputation of being a business rockstar.  Surprise your customers by delivering more than you promised. Don’t let them expect it. That takes all the fun out of it.

So get out there and start under-promising. Then work your tail off to over-deliver your kickass product or service. Your customers will love you for it!

Originally posted on Carlos Cooper's "A Swift Kick" Blog

Do you work all the time? Does you small business have you running circles morning, noon and night?  Guess what? You need to take a vacation.

As small business owners we’re often reluctant to take time off. Why? Because we think our business is going to crumble the minute we leave. Hopefully you’ve setup some systems to help with that, so let’s talk about 3 reasons you should get away periodically.

Take a Deep Breath: Dude, you need to catch your breath. Superman is only real in the movies. You’re not him. You have got to get away, take a deep breath (better if you take more than just one), and regain your focus. It’s amazing what a little breather will do for you energy when you get back in the game.

Regain Your Creativity: If you’ve been slugging it out on the ground for the past six months, ignoring everything else, there’s probably a pretty good chance your creativity has taken a hit. Why? Because you don’t increase creativity by staying in the same environment. Why do you think writers head for the beach, the deserted lake house or the mountaintop cabin to knock out their latest work? Because places away from home and office offer new things to see, smell and touch. Regain your creativity by going somewhere new.

Your Health: Look. Life is really too short. How fast do you want to end it? Me? I want to be around for a while. I learned a couple years ago that if I burn it from both ends around the clock and year-round my health took a hit. I was exhausted, my weight went up, I felt like crap even though I told myself I didn’t. Take care of yourself. There’s only one you. We want you to be around to see the fruits of what you’ve built.

So find some time to get away. Make it at least two days (uh, Saturday and Sunday?) and get out of town. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Take a vacation and come back ready to kill it.

Originally posted on Carlos Cooper "A Swift Kick" blog.

Yeah, yeah I know it’s a silly picture. But someone recently told me I needed to use more pictures to grab YOUR attention.  So here we go.

I was working on a presentation earlier today and I was trying to narrow down the common reasons why a lot of small businesses fail.  The one I kept coming back to was that the so-called entrepreneur gets in the way of his/her own success.

Literally it’s like they’re peeing on everything they’ve built.  How do that they do that?  Let’s explore:

1) Failure to Delegate: A lot of small business owners are afraid of delegating because they think if anyone else does the work they’ll get it wrong, the customer will be lost, then the business will die. You’ve either heard it or done it, “Nobody can do this thing as well as I can.” Well, maybe it would be better to break down that task, come up with a system/checklist so any monkey (no offense to all my monkey readers out there) can do it. Why do you want to do everything? Learn to delegate tasks.

2) Failure to Look Around: Being a small business owner can be hectic, crazy, insane, exciting, etc… It’s easy to get so caught up in our daily routine that we fail to look around and A) see what’s going wrong, and B) see how we can improve things. Make it a part of your weekly routine to step back and see what’s working and what’s not. Then, come up with systems that help you fix and improve.

3) Failure to Aim Higher: Success is great. Sometimes continued success can be daunting. I’ve recently talked to some entrepreneurs that are at the point where they need to take their business to the next level…but they’re scared. They’re scared of hiring employees, scared of increased inventory, scared of more time, scared of everything.  Don’t let your fears keep you from growing. Build your business incrementally and take baby steps. Nobody says you have to be the next Apple tomorrow.

So again, don’t pee on everything you worked so hard to build. Make sure you aren’t getting in the way of your business’s success.  Take a systematic approach, get outside help and push on through. And use the restroom before you leave…

Originally posted on Carlos Cooper's "A Swift Kick" Blog