Erwin Wils, mindset coach and business strategist at Millionaire Life Strategy, empowers tech experts to boost their business and themselves, making their dreams come true. Wils found his inspiration in this quote of Napoleon Hill, best-selling author of Think and Grow Rich, “Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve.” A lot of people have great dreams, but truly believing those dreams can come true and taking the right steps to achieve those dreams, is a true challenge. That’s where Wils comes in.
As a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering by education and certified professional hypnotherapist, master Soulkey therapist, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and IEMT (Integral Eye Movement Therapy) practitioner by training, Wils brings 25+ years of experience to show the tech-geeks, nerds, and other left-brained technical experts how they can use their expertise to make a positive impact in the world and make a good living doing it.
After working in the corporate world for 20+ years optimizing processes and being the interface between business and technology, Wils launched his own company in pursuit of his own dreams. He soon discovered that being an expert and starting for yourself doesn’t automatically mean you can make it as an entrepreneur; he had to learn how to be an entrepreneur, overcoming the pitfalls on his path to excellence. Now he is coaching other tech experts to excel in their business and earn a great living with it while doing.
Wils believes technology is at the heart of the future and he’s seen how entrepreneurs change the world. He says, “It is time to put the stereotype nerd on the shelf and give them the confidence and roadmap to succeed.” That’s exactly what he’s doing with his company Millionaire Life Strategy, showing the world what tech geeks are really about: bringing brilliance to market.
Where did the idea for Millionaire Life Strategy come from?
Erwin Wils: My business coach came up with the name. The first name I had was PowerMindcoach, because I am a coach and I use the power of the mind to transform my clients. He didn’t like it, because everybody calls himself a coach and he said that your company name should be clear to people what it is all about. So, we came up with Millionaire Life Strategy. The first part “Millionaire Life” is something that appeals to a lot of people and “Strategy” implies there is a strategic way to get you there, and of course there is. There is something magical about a Million when you start your business, or even when you are in business for a while and haven’t yet reached seven figures. Over the years, it got a second meaning for me, I want to impact at least one million lives with my EMPOWERR™ strategy.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
Erwin Wils: I use a weekly action planner that is divided into one-hour blocks. The planner isn’t telling me exactly what to do, it is a template of the kind of activities I’m doing. Like MEE time (Meditate Exercise Eat, each morning) QT (Quality Time: walking the dogs, spending time with the family, eating, etc), OB (working On my Business), IB (working In my Business, helping clients), RT (Response time: voicemail, email, social media), Mindfeed. A typical day would look like 2 hours of MEE Time, 1 hour of QT, 3 hours of OB/IB, 1 hour of QT, 3 hours of IB, 1 hours of RT, 3 hours of QT, 2 hours of IB/Mindfeed, 1 hour of Closing the day.
How I fill the blocks are different day by day. But by having dedicated blocks, I don’t need to worry about them the rest of the day. For instance, because I have time reserved for Social Media, e-mail, and voicemail, I don’t need to look at it the rest of the day. That will keep me focused on the task at hand.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Erwin Wils: As an entrepreneur, we are in the problem-solving business. And the bigger the problem we solve, the more people are willing to pay for it. So, when I have a business idea, I first do some market research to check whether or not it solves a problem and that the market experiences it as a problem. Then I start selling the solution. When it seems viable, I start producing the solution and delivering. Worst case scenario: the solution isn’t viable, and I need to return the money. But at least I didn’t waste a lot of money and time.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Erwin Wils: Since my graduation assignment for my Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering was a specific control of a robot arm, the development of robotics and AI always peak my interest. It is amazing how much progress has been made in the last 20 years, and in my opinion, it’s just starting.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Erwin Wils: I train my brain with mental challenges. One of my coaches said “if you want to become physically strong, you go to the gym to work out. Consider your brain to be a muscle as well. If you want to use more capacity, you should train it as well.” By challenging my brain with puzzles and other games, I keep my brain sharp and fast. Not for hours, just on a regular basis.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Erwin Wils: Keep believing in yourself, it will work out.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Erwin Wils: We limit ourselves without realizing it and I can prove it with a simple three-part experiment.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Erwin Wils: Mind feed. The best investment you can make is in yourself. So invest in yourself, either time (reading, listening to podcasts, etc), money (training, coaching, seminars, etc) or both. Learn from your clients, fellow entrepreneurs, competitors. A great quote I read one day is “The moment you stop learning, you start dying,” and that will be the last thing I do.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Erwin Wils: Narrowing down my niche in my marketing. When I finished my (first) hypnotherapy training, I had the tools to help everybody and I did want to help everybody. Except, when you want to help everybody, you’re actually helping nobody. Because, why should they come to you? By choosing a special part of the market that you specifically identify with, you become an expert in your field, and your ideal clients will find you because they identify with you. In the beginning it seems counterintuitive, because it feels like you leave clients on the street, but it will make a big difference. Consider this: would you rather fish in a small pond, with the right bait and catch all the fish, or would you rather fish in the ocean, hoping one will bite?
Oh, just a little sidenote, there is a difference between your marketing message and the actual clients you help. For example, let’s take three physiotherapists, specialized in lower back pain:
Number one advertises as follows: “Is your lower back killing you? Come to me, I’m the expert on lower back pain.”
Number 2: “Are you a paver by profession and is your lower back hurting? I am the specialist, come see me”.
Number 3: “Are you a paver by profession and is your lower back hurting? Number 3: “Are you a paver by profession, older than 55 years old and is your lower back hurting? I help you get rid of it”.
Now who is the real expert on lower back pain? The third one, because when you are a paver and 55 years old, you probably have been a paver your whole career and implicitly chances are your back is worn out. So if you can help those people getting rid of the pain, you must be great at it!
Now imagine you are a paver and 30 years old. Your lower back is killing you. Who would you call? Number 3! Because you don’t want to wait another 25 years, by that time your back will probably worn out. When you are an office worker and your back is killing you, you would also call number 3, because when he can help pavers, my issue is probably a piece of cake for him. And of course he will help them as well, even though they don’t fall into his marketing message.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Erwin Wils: Of all the things I learned the hard way was that you shouldn’t believe everything you see. Meaning, I was a newbie in the entrepreneurial world, and I saw all those successful entrepreneurs telling me they knew the shortcut to success. I followed them thinking, “Well… they started out with nothing, became successful, and if they can do it, I can do it, too!”… only to find out, they wanted me to copy them. And they already had some conditions in place that I didn’t have (like a massive following or mailing list) that they didn’t mention. That didn’t work for me.
When I started to focus on the principles behind their success, investigating how I could implement those into my business, I started to get some value. I knew I didn’t want to coach my clients with generic packages. When I coach somebody, I make sure it is all about them, their strengths, their business, their road to success; not mine.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Erwin Wils: I am actually working on a business idea myself at the moment that will replace email newsletters, because I think email is old school and it is time for something new. And I hate writing newsletters. Although all coaches and entrepreneurs state that email lists are (still) your “gold,” I think it is time for something else. So, if anyone is interested in participating, please get in touch.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Erwin Wils: It was part of my payment of my accountant. Because he takes care of all the financial paperwork so that I can focus on my business. As a business owner, you need to do everything at first and when you grow, you start delegating, automating and outsourcing tasks. The moment I started for myself, I immediately outsourced my financial tasks, because I didn’t want to make any mistakes and deal with the tax authorities. His office is managing it and all I do is send in the receipts.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
Erwin Wils: I am using calendly to have prospects and clients book appointments. I find it very user friendly, I can assign specific blocks for certain appointments (following my weekly action planner) and it synchronizes with my agenda. Just set it up once, and the appointments will appear in your agenda automatically.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Erwin Wils: A classic and a must-read is Think and Grow Rich from Napoleon Hill. It’s the blueprint for success, if you ask me. Reading it once isn’t enough, you need to study the material.
What is your favorite quote?
Erwin Wils: I already mentioned the quote from Napoleon Hill about the mindset, but even far before I started my entrepreneurial journey and my main focus was process optimization, I upgraded an famous quote with my last name:
“Wherever there is a Wils, a better way will be”.
Key Learnings:
Erwin Wils:
- Keep believing in your dreams, you will find the way to achieve them.
- Sell new ideas before you build them. It will save you lots of time, and money.
- Keep your brain fit with mind feed and challenges.
- Make mistakes, you’ll learn the most from them.
- Reconsider your niche. It is okay to exclude certain groups. The better you can identify with them, the better they will identify with you; then they’re hire you because they will know that you understand them and that you are the one to help them solve their problems.
Originally published on Ideamensch.com
