3 Ways to Increase Your Confidence

Is  Your Brain on Overdrive? How to find Focus

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work.

Whether you’re already in the big city or just now planning your move, my Udemy course will teach you the critical steps you can start taking right now to experience success on your terms.

I moved to New York City from a small town in Michigan with just $600 in my pocket. I knew just one person. Yet, I went on to build a successful television career working with top networks including NBC, PBS, E!, Nickelodeon, BET Networks and more.

Thanks Antonio! I was instantly inspired and given great direction. This course offered excellent tips on relationship building and how to increase your influence in your network. Beyond that, it provide some clear cut ways to get noticed in the office. Overall I highly recommend this course. -Rachel Ryle

Purchase now for just $39

In the course, I’ll teach you the steps I took to:

Develop Your “Story” (Personal Brand): Learn how to answer the question you always hear in the big city, “So what do you do?” Before you know it, people will say, “Tell me more!” 

Get Focused: Learn how to determine most important and identify which “apps” you should close.

Expand Your Network & Influence: You have a massive network. You just don’t know it. Learn how to identify your network and use it to increase your influence.

Build Your Essential Network: Identify your essential network and learn how to make them part of your team

Secure The Most Important Meeting: Learn how to get and use Informational Meetings to your advantage.

Standout At The Office: Learn how to become a “go-getter” and get recognition for your awesome work.

Develop A CEO Mindset: Learn how to utilize a CEO mentality and create your own “departments” to stand out in a crowd. 

Bonus Materials: Included with the course are worksheets and access to bonus video interviews and articles.

And more.

I really enjoyed this course by Antonio. Mr. Neves brings a strong sense of passion to what he teaches. He clearly knows what it takes to grab hold of your career. His personal story of how he arrived in New York was both motivational and inspirational!! -Bill Jordan

Everything I teach you in this course I still practice to this day as an award-winning business journalist and founder of THINQACTION where I coach top entrepreneurs and startups to produce their best work. 

If you’ve ever dreamed of leaving your small town and moving to the big city to kick butt in your career, this course is for you. 

Purchase now for just $39 (30-day money back guarantee)

Antonio’s content is very concrete and applicable, while is teaching style is energetic and inspiring. Perfect combination. Highly recommend.  -Phil Drolet – Founder, The Feel Good Lifestyle

 This course is great and shifted the way I approach communication and business networking significantly. With Antonio’s tips, I’ve been able to make incredible progress in my career in a short amount of time. I strongly suggest this course to anyone who wants to build their brand and be more successful in their field. -Brigitte Kouba

I’ve been following Antonio’s work for a while and the way he’s able to break things down into tangible chunks, his ability to connect with this viewer and his willingness to share with us how he got through lean times is so helpful to any of us who are trying to make a name for ourselves and what we do. -Bassam Tarazi – Founder, Colipera

So if you missed some recent episodes, dont’ fret. Check them out a few recent ones:

5 Traits Top Entrepreneurs Have In Common

How To Stay Motivate When The Going Gets Rough

Tech Savvy & Awkward: How To Communicate With More Confidence

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work.

Who is in your essential network?

Essential networks are people that know you personally. This network cares about you and your growth. This means that if you call or e-mail this person, they will respond.

What essential definitely does not mean are people that you met once at a conference. People you tweet with, but never met in person. Famous bloggers that don’t know who you are. Or, one of your 500+ LinkedIn connections that you’ve never shaken hands with.

Your essential network are people that for some reason or another have a vested interest in your success.  People that you know. People that care. This could be:

• Friends
• Current or former classmates
• Current or former colleagues
• Current or former professors
• Members of professional organizations
• Mentors
• Advisors
• Relatives
• Etc.

I know what some of you are thinking.

“But Antonio, if I just got in touch with (enter name of person you don’t know here), everything would change.”

Maybe. Maybe not. There are no overnight successes. Do the work.

Here’s the good news: You already have an essential network. Odds are, you just haven’t identified it or know how to use it.

So let’s get to it, here’s how to identify and build your essential network.

STEP 1 – IDENTIFY YOUR KEY AREAS
The first step to building your essential network is identifying areas where you could use some guidance or support in your work or life right now.

For example, here are some areas an entrepreneur could use support:

Some of you may have just one key area where you need support, others may have five. Focus is critical.

STEP 2 – IDENTIFY THE NETWORK
How many times have you had a pressing question about one of your key areas? It could be something like marketing, legal stuff or networking?

You ask yourself, “who do I know that could help me with this?”

From here, you scroll through your contacts on your phone, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. 

Or you send a mass post out into the social media universe that goes something like:

“Anyone know anything about WordPress?”

This crowdsourcing may work, but it’s amateur. It’s lazy. It’s not targeted. It’s not focused. It’s time wasted.

So, to save you time in the future and to improve focus, get out a piece of paper, open a spreadsheet or use the free template I provide at the end of this post.

Based on your key areas, review all of your networks and identify the top three to five (no more than this) people who make you better in these key areas. Again, these are people that you know.

From here, enter in all of their contact info.

STEP 3 – MAKE THE ASK
Once you identify your essential network, it’s time to make the ask for them to actually be in your essential network.

This is easier than you think.

Schedule a call, cup of coffee or walk and talk with these folks. Let them know that you have the utmost respect for them and their work. So much so, that every now and then you’d like to seek out their guidance.

Explain to them what you’re working on, why it’s important, and ask them to be on your team – your essential network.

But don’t stop there.

Also provide them with an idea of what their support will look like. Will it be a scheduled weekly or should you reach out as needed? Do they prefer e-mails or texts? Get clear on expectations and define how it’s going to work.

Pro Tip: Don’t engage your network with queries with answers that can be found with a simple Google search.

STEP 4 – STAY IN TOUCH
This is self-explanatory. The key to all successful networking or relationship building is staying in regular communication – even if you don’t need anything.

Make sure to provide regular updates or just a “hello”.  Nothing is worse than a call from someone asking for a favor after you haven’t heard from them in months.

STEP 5 – CREATE MEANING & ADD VALUE
Remember, no one likes to be in a one-way relationship. Make sure you support your essential network and their work in some way.

Also, don’t forget to thank them for their time with nice gestures every now and then. 

LONG STORY  SHORT
Building and having an essential network has made all the difference in my career. I’m confident it can do the same for you. 

FREE ESSENTIAL NETWORK TEMPLATE
Just for you, here’s a FREE TEMPLATE you can use to maintain your essential network. Make sure to update it regularly 

WATCH: Must have Mentors from my Young Entrepreneur web series.

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work. Follow Antonio

This is one of my favorite questions to ask people. Why? Because no two answers are the same. 

Not that long ago, I was honored to be asked this exact question by Inc. Magazine. My answers:

1. Adopt a “make it happen” mentality.

2. You can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything.

3. Don’t tell the whole story, tell a story.

Read my answer HERE.

And I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. What’s the best advice you ever got?

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work. Follow Antonio

If your answer is yes, keep reading.

In October, I had the opportunity to speak at the Thinc Iowa conference in Des Moines, where I  joined top entrepreneurs including Steve Case, Brad Feld (His book Startup Communities is a must read), Gentry Underwood, Ron J. Williams and more.

The subject of my talk was, ‘How To Create Your Own Luck.’ (full  video above).

For me, creating your own luck involves these three steps:

1. Getting Uncomfortable
2. Developing A Walk-On Mentality
3. Asking Yourself – Who Makes You Better?

These three steps helped me move from small town Michigan to New York City with just $600 in my pocket…to embarking on a pretty cool career for myself in the television industry with top networks like NBC, E! News, Nickelodeon, PBS and more.

These steps have also propelled me to my career today as an entrepreneur where I partner with young entrepreneurs to get exceptional results in their work.

To this day, I practice these three steps and they haven’t let me down. I’m confident they will help you create your own luck as well.

Please share in the comments section below how you go about creating your own luck.

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their careers. Work with Antonio. Follow Antonio

Having Fun In Nicaragua

As I sat back review my 2012 goals last week, a big smile came to my face. Much of what I wrote down in December, 2011, came to fruition (in no particular order):

• I moved across the country from New York City to Los Angeles. The sunshine has treated me well though I read far less than I use to.
• THINQACTION TV became a reality with amazing people like Jenny Blake, Ron J. Williams, Priya Parker, Sian-Pierre Regis, Bassam Tarazi, Jason Womack, Marie Joelle-Parent, Elaine Welteroth, Ari Meisel, Nat Koloc, Barbara Findlay Schenck and more.
• My goals of booking more speaking gigs came true with major outings at Big Omaha, Thinc Iowa, Unreasonable Institute Day Of Play and the ADCOLOR Awards and more.  (Big thanks to Jeff Slobotski, Tiffany R. Warren and Cesar Gonzalez)
• I signed a deal for my own web series with Entrepreneur Magazine’s Young Entrepreneur that will begin in January 2013
• I successfully pulled off my first international retreat in Nicaragua, The Ignition Lab, with the amazing Bassam Tarazi
• My e-book BREAQTHROUGH has been downloaded more than 1,000 times (Now just $2.99 on the Amazon Kindle!)
• My writings appeared in multiple outlets including Inc. Magazine, Positively Positive, Fox Business, MSN Money and more.
• I had a blast moderating the Ask Dinner in Seattle with Shane Mac
• ALL of my coaching clients have achieved amazing success in their work
• Working as the Experience Director of The Bold Academy was a game changer (thank you Amber Rae).
• I facilitated workshops for amazing organizations like Mediabistro, The Small Business Administration (SBA) and The Marcus Graham Project
• Etc.

I attribute all of the above to surrounding myself with people who make me better, planning, hard work, commitment, and yes, luck.  I believe it was Cicero who said, “luck is when opportunity meets preparation.” I believe it to be true. Winging it is easy when …

So for you to get started on embarking on an amazing 2013, what is sure to be your best year ever, here is a FREE 2013 Preparation Kit (note: save the template to use or share).

These questions are designed for you to unpack the year that was and prepare for the year that will be. Give yourself some uninterrupted time to complete it. YOU deserve it. You do.

I wish you all the best. Onward and upward.

And hey, if there’s one thing I can suggest that you add to your goals for this New Year, do all you can to support someone that could use your guidance. Without the support of so many (too many to name), I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Happy New Year!

Antonio Neves is a coach to exceptional young entrepreneurs, a speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He helps people begin new projects, communicate like a pro and produce exceptional results in their work. Work with Antonio. Follow Antonio

Bassam Tarazi

In today’s world you can’t go 2 feet without some book trying to give you the secrets to a better, faster, stronger life in half, a quarter, a tenth the amount of steps. Sounds great. Where do I sign up? (Nothing against the autoharp, of course.) After all, who wouldn’t like to take less steps to get to a better result? Shake Weight anyone?

However, when you dive into these books and if the book is worth its weight in formable dirt, you realize that underneath the veneer of “5 Easy Ways To…” lies the foundation of experience, grit, tinkering and perspective. You can design the coolest bicycle with the sleekest design, carbon fiber technology, and non-testicle crushing seat but it’s not a bike if it doesn’t have wheels to ride on. No wheels, no success.

One of the catchier books is The 4-Hour Work Week. Its title is enough to draw in anyone and there is so much good stuff in there that no matter what your dreams or goals are, you can take something positive and use it to your advantage. But Tim would be the first to tell you that the very idea of a “4-Hour Work Week” or however you want to describe automating income in your life, is rooted in a ton of hours a week. That’s the part people don’t like to hear about. To get to 4, you have to put in 80 and you need a lot of feedback along the way. Tim had to put in hours of work to give us the framework and the do-s and don’t-s of tens of things. But make no mistake, even if you had a virtual assistant, a muse, or whatever…it still takes getting your feet wet and exerting a little sweat. 

There is no Splenda for the sugar that is a little dirt under the fingernails.

To get to a 4-hour workweek or the losing of excess weight or the realization of your manuscript, work is a must. It’s physics really. If that rock at the bottom of the hill has to get to the top of the hill, you can come up with all the contraptions and methods to get it up there but no matter the invention or the muscle used, someone or something is doing the work. You can’t ninja mass times distance.

Use these types of books as guardrails that keep you from demolishing yourself – laterally; so while they’ll keep you physically on the road of life, you still have to be the one that propels yourself forward.

The trick is figuring what work needs to happen and how exactly we get that done. We need to figure out how to get ready, get set and finish. In order to put in hours of work we need to know why we’re going after the thing we’re going after, we need to identify and face fears, we need to start, we need to assess, we need to test, we need feedback, we need to change directions, we need to get uncomfortable, we need to get out of our own head and we need to surround ourselves with people who make us better.

It can be done, step by step. You can close the circle of completing your goals but you have to no how to start to be able to finish. Are you ready to finish?

Bassam Tarazi is  the creator of a motivational framework called Colipera, which utilizes the notion of collective inspiration and personal accountability. He conducts goal-setting classes, corporate, and group Colipera sessions, and one on one coaching through his 5-9 Maximization program. He is the author of The Accountability Effect and he is also a co-founder of the Brooklyn-based Nomading Film Festival. He recently co-created Magnet, a New York City based networking event that creates relationships and connects ideas.

Shuffling between New York City and Los Angeles, I worked as a host, correspondent, producer and writer. Much of my experience was in live television, a very high-pressure environment. There is basically no margin for error and you get one shot to get it right.

I still remember my first live television shot on Nickelodeon’s U-Pick Live where I was a co-host. When the red light on the camera flashed on indicating that I was live, I felt like my heart was going to explode through my chest. I was so nervous!

Over the years, I got more accustomed to the “red light” whether I was in front of the camera as a host or behind it as a producer. Matter of fact, I came to prefer live television to taped because of the simultaneous rush and finality that it provided.

Working in live television taught me some amazing lessons that I’ve carried with me and apply to my life almost everyday. Here are three of them.

1. Make It Happen
One thing that’s consistent in my television career is learning to work with minimal resources. I was once part of team that launched a live daily television show for a major television network. The challenge was that we didn’t much of a budget or staff.

But, this didn’t deter our lean staff. Our producer taught us to adopt a “make it happen” attitude of real-time problem solving. Graphic designer out sick? No problem, here’s Photoshop–figure it out. A segment that airs in three minutes was just rejected by the legal department? Okay, rewrite it, right here on the set. Misplaced that music video that the record label sent over? No worries–convince the Grammy Award-winning artist that reenacting the video was her idea.

When you adopt a “make it happen” mentality, you shift from solving problems to identifying opportunities.
Read: My Inc. Magazine Article, ‘Best Advice I Ever Got.’

2. “Winging It” Is Easy When You’re Well Prepared
Lots can go wrong in live television. I mean a lot. I’ve experienced Teleprompters that broke during a live segment rendering me embarrassingly mute for a painful few seconds not knowing what to say. I know what it’s like when a celebrity cancels just five minutes before they’re scheduled to appear. And, I know what it’s like to have to write a new script with just seconds to go before the whole world sees you on live television.

In the beginning of my career when I experienced something like this, I would panic. But slowly but surely, I began to relish the unexpected. Why? Because for me, that’s where the fun began.

I learned that the more that I prepared something, like really prepared, the better I could handle unexpected situations. This included knowing my lines by heart just in case the teleprompter died, having back-up scripts ready to go in the event of a cancellation and regularly doing things to get uncomfortable.

Today when I hear someone say, “I’m just going to wing it,” it makes me cringe. Unless, they’re well prepared. Making something look easy takes a lot of work.

3. Finish Something
One of the things I loved about working on a daily live show was that we created and delivered a “product,” or show, every day. And then the next day we would do it all over again. It was an awesome rush. It’s like pressing send on an important assignment that you just finished and being released from all of the pressure.

One thing I teach my clients through coaching is how to finish something. Anything.  All of them have great ideas, but the problem for some is a lack of focus and having too many “apps” open. So, we work together to identify what’s most important, set key goals and metrics, and then get to work.

When you start finishing projects, you breathe life into your ideas and start creating positive momentum and simultaneously closure. This is where we make positive strides forward and begin developing a strong track record.
Read: Learn how to ‘Finish Something’ in my FREE e-book, BREAQTHROUGH

Of course, there’s much more that I learned working in live television but these three really standout.

In the comments section share how you are making things happen, getting prepared so you can make “winging it” look easy and what you’re going to finish.

Antonio Neves is a professional question asker and opportunity identifier. He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work. Work with Antonio. Follow Antonio

THE GOOD NEWS:  Over time, I learned from my errors. So now I’m going to share with you five ways you can avoid sabotaging your career.

1. Do More Than Just “Good Enough” Work
During my days co-hosting Nickelodeons’ U-Pick Live, a lot of great opportunities came my way. I remember at one point I was co-hosting the show, I had a development deal with the network for an original live action comedy and I was filming a pilot for another cable network. Long story short, my contract for U-Pick Live wasn’t renewed, the development deal never got past the script phase and the network didn’t pick up the pilot. Sure, much of this was out of my control. But the truth: At the time I didn’t give my all to the projects. I coasted. I got by on natural talent. I did good enough work, not great. In short, I didn’t give my all and work hard enough. Don’t let this be you.

Lesson: Do great work. Work that you’ll look back on and be proud of. When you want to give up, push harder.
Read: Talent is Overrated and Turning Pro

2. Following-Up Promptly
I believe it was Keith Ferrazi who said, 80% of networking is following-up and staying in touch. It’s the truth. I use to be horrible at following-up. That’s not the case today. But in the past there have been people who’ve wanted to support me and my work, essentially be my advocate, and I’ve given them the stiff arm. A lot of it had to do with fear. Fear of success and what that would mean. I remember early in my career a top Los Angeles management company, like big time, wanted to work with me. This was a big deal.  Did I hop on a plane from NYC to LA to meet with them and seal the deal? No. Instead I took my sweet time, sent e-mails every now and then and by the time I did reach out a few months later, when I really needed them, they had moved on.

Lesson: You only get one chance to make a good impression. Get it right the first time.
Read: Never Eat Alone

3. Spend Time With People Who Made You Better
One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is: “who makes me better?” Who are those individuals that inspire you, challenge you, push you to your limits, hold you accountable and test you to be the absolute best version of yourself? These are your Allies of Glory. Now, who are those individuals that question your motives, support mediocrity, are afraid of success and enable your excuses? These are your Thieves of Ambition. Think about the 5 people you spend the most time with. Are they Allies of Glory or Thieves of Ambition? Early in my career I sabotaged my career by spending way too much time with the latter.

Lesson: Spend time with people who push you past your limits and do all you can to work with them. Be associate with greatness. 
Read: My Positively Positive Post ‘Who Makes You Better?’

4. Do What You Say You’re Going To Do
Early in my career I made plenty of commitments that I didn’t keep. This made me feel horrible inside. Not doing what I said I was going to do was like an open app running all the time that drained me of precious “operating speed.” Most of the time I eventually realized that the commitments I made weren’t things that I really wanted to do but I committed to them anyway. Big mistake. But I learned my lesson.  Here’s the deal: keep the agreements that you make. And if the agreement no longer works for you, change it.

Lesson: Do what you say you’re going to do. This is all about integrity. Do you have any agreements outstanding? If so, fix this.

5. Be Open To Learning
If you ask someone who has known me for a long time to describe me, after they say some cool things (I hope), odds are that they’ll probably squeeze the word “stubborn” in there. It’s the truth. I can be super stubborn. But thankfully for me and those around me, this has shifted in the past few years. This is all about being willing to learn from each moment as opposed to being defensive, which I can be an expert at doing. This is a big shift to make and requires more explanation than just this short paragraph (be on the lookout for a longer post on this subject). For now, what I ask of you is that whenever you find yourself feeling defensive to feedback or questioning, take some conscious breaths and get curious about the learning opportunity before you.

Lesson: When challenged, get curious and regularly ask yourself, “I wonder what can I learn from this.”  You’ll be surprised with the answers you’ll receive.
Read: Conscious Living

I can smile now when I think about all of the “mistakes” I made and lessons learned. I truly learned a lot and went on to create a successful career in the television industry and now with my work with THINQACTION. And, it brings me much joy that in my coaching work, I help people avoid making these types of mistakes and beyond.

So, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. Share some of the ways that you have “sabotaged” your career and what you learned from it.

Antonio Neves is a coach, speaker and award-winning business journalist.  He is the founder of THINQACTION where he works with young entrepreneurs to produce exceptional results in their work. Work with Antonio. Follow Antonio