Last week I had the good fortune to attend an event called MegaSuccess. Operated by the JT Foxx Organization, MegaSuccess is often billed as the Super Bowl of Business Conferences.

This is the second year that I have attended the conference which featured approximately 2500 people from over 80 countries around the world. JT Foxx bills himself as the “World’s #1 Wealth and Business Coach.” While many people might quibble with that moniker, it is apparent that JT has an extremely loyal following and that he works very hard on behalf of his clients.

If you are able to look past some of his shtick, you will see that JT spends countless hours and many dollars traveling the world and help business owners get to the next level. He encourages them, pushes them and breaks them down, getting them to recognize their own self-imposed limitations. Though many people want to compare him to Tony Robbins, I believe that you will find them quite different in approach and in focus. While Tony focuses on getting you to look into yourself and get yourself to a better place, JT tends to put more emphasis on making you successful at your business and teaching you how to monetize your strengths and opportunities.

One common complaint that I have seen and heard online, is that people question the value of his courses or his coaching. I will tell you that if you spend the time participating in his events and following his coaching sessions, you will certainly gain value. If you look at anyone who is successful, they likely have multiple coaches for different parts of their life. I can imagine someone hiring a hitting coach for baseball or a golf instructor and proclaiming them a fraud if you can’t hit HRs or break 80 on the course…without the dedicated time and effort you need to succeed.

As an overall experience, MegaSuccess is a true bargain. If you don’t want some of the add-ons which are offered, you can attend for only $99.00 for over 5 days of the conference. There are speakers from around the world telling their stories, some more effectively than others. The key element is the people you have a chance to meet and the celebrities you get to learn from. A partial list of the celebrities who participated in this year’s event included (in no particular order):

• Dr. Phil
• Gabriel Macht (Harvey Spector from Suits)
• Vanilla Ice
• Vince Vaughn
• Gary Kasparov (Chess Champion)
• Hugh Hilton
• George Ross (President Trump’s former right hand man)
• Moira Forbes
• Jillian Michaels
• Omarosa
• Kimora
• Jay Abraham
• Fred Dunn
• Andrea Navedo
• Frank McKinney (Real Estate investor)
• Dolph Lungren (Russian from Rocky movie series)
• Steadman Graham
• Russell Peters (Comedian)
• Gilbert Godfried (Comedian)
• Steve Mandell (JT’s agent and media personality)
• Andre Phillip Gagnon

When you get an opportunity to hear from all of these people, what you realize is that there is an abundance of information delivered in a short amount of time. Last year I failed to take any notes at all and just absorbed the comments. This year I made a more concerted effort to get down some of the highlights. Next year, I feel that I will make a better effort to really get proper notes from more of the sessions.

Another element that makes this conference unique, is that JT Foxx does not attempt to sell programs from the stage or the back of the room. Sure, there is a whole Foxx Shop with his signature ties, bobbleheads and apparel, but you can truly capture the benefit without spending additional money unless YOU feel that there is enough value for you.

I would highly encourage you to attend in 2020. If you want more info, please feel free to reach me to discuss.

• Packers-Lions Controversy—This really is not a Packers/Lions issue.  It is an issue that is occurring on a weekly basis in the NFL.  There is a lot of difficulty officiating games properly when every single play is examined with a microscope and the benefit of slow motion replay, high definition television and thousands of “experts” weighing in on Twitter.  The NFL probably made things worse instead of better in the wake of the blatant miss in last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Saints and the Rams.  Trying to re-adjudicate judgment calls to the microsecond are going to bring us to the same point that we have been at with the catch rule, where for a few years even a minute movement of the ball would cause a pass to be ruled incomplete.  If you focused the cameras on any play and zoomed in on the offense and defense lines, you would likely see holding or a hand in a facemask on every play.  It is hard to see where the NFL is going to be able to clean this up. But at minimum, there were some very funny memes to come out of the game.

• Chicago Ideas Week.      One of my favorite weeks of the year is Chicago Ideas Week.   A week-long program focused on larger societal issues and a series of presentations that are like mini Ted Talks, CIW annually turns out some provocative sessions.  The ones that I was able to attend this week included:
  • What Will The World Look Like in 2050
  • Does Activism Make a Difference
  • It’s time to kick Your Addiction to Algorithms
  • Do We Have All the Answers
  • Who Draws the Line Between Right and Wrong?
  • Entrepreneurs can Change the World
  • Who Do Your Kids Trust More:  You or YouTube?
  • Leaders Aren’t Born, They’re Made

• JT Foxx                 His MegaSpeaker series was held in Chicago this week.  JT Foxx bills himself as the World’s #1 Wealth Coach.  I first went to one of his events about 15 months ago.  At the outset he can come across as arrogant and condescending.  After you have a chance to listen to him for several hours and hear the way he engages with participants and hear from those that have attended multiple events, you realize how much depth there is to his systems.  He has built a terrific team led by Francie Baldwin and by Brent Turley.  Brent always opens for him, much in the way that Joseph McClendon frequently opens for Tony Robbins.  He bills his presentations as a way to help people get speaking opportunities, but the reality is that the events are so much more.  He helps them focus on getting a mentor, branding and being decisive in their decision making as a way to get better results in their business.  If you have a chance to attend one of his events, you can feel the energy and passion he has.  Despite his critics, he is an extremely hard worker and travels around the world speaking and putting on events.  Typically over 320 days per year!! His upcoming MegaSpeaker event has 2000-3000 people in Anaheim and attracts high level entrepreneurs from across the globe.  If you can handle a bit of the schtick, you might get a lot of benefit out of it.

• Airwick VIP Pre-Poop Toilet Spray.   So I usually don’t question the powers that be and their marketing strategies, but after having to endure this ad for the last month on the sports talk radio morning shows, I can no longer remain silent.  Let’s put aside for a moment that it plays about 4-6 times per hour (and sometimes more) during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. timeslot.  Let’s also put aside the fact that it seems to be targeted at women (or maybe I am misunderstanding that.  But what troubles me the most with this commercial, it that it seems to be giving women, young ladies, and girls the feeling that they need to “hide” their bodily functions from their boyfriend or spouse.  The mom on the commercial literally tells her daughter that her father did not think she pooped for three years.  Really?  I doubt he is that dumb.  But the commercial might be.  The only redeeming performance in the commercial is the (presumably) teenage daughter giving her mom the typical teenage attitude when spoken to about her “body changing”, “needing protection” and the mom’s other inane comments.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

JT Foxx held his MegaBranding event in Chicago on April 3, 2019.  Until about a year ago, I had never heard of JT Foxx.  I attended one of his free events in Chicago last summer and got thrown into a whole new world. JT bills himself as The World’s #1 Wealth Coach.”  Though he comes across as cocky and harsh, he has proven very successful and continues to create new businesses with his tireless energy. 

I attended a 2^nd event in Chicago last fall and then attended the week long MegaSuccess program in Anaheim in November 2018.  That event really opened my eyes as to JT’s power.  Some of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, but he sets his vision and does everything that is needed to make that a reality.

Though he can be harsh on some of the attendees that he coaches in front of the group, there can be no doubt about his desire to help people improve.   His work schedule is daunting, and you only have to look at his travel schedule to be impressed by how he is able to maintain that energy throughout.  

JT presents all around the world and hosts many of his events and training without charge.  Obviously, he sells some of his coaching services and online programs, but the value that he delivers is significant. 

Today’s session focused on branding.  JT is a huge proponent of celebrity branding and the power that you get by having photographs taken with celebrities.  This type of branding by association is something that many large corporations use to help brand their own products.

Another of JT’s ongoing mantras is the importance of coaching.  JT personally has 8 coaches and draws different value from each of them.  He talks about the importance of overcoming fear and that it typically takes each person five times of doing one task before they overcome that fear.

JT walked us through many of the elements which are important in the branding process.  Some of these learning nuggets included the types of branding

• Personal Branding
• Company Branding
• Results Branding
• Mission Branding
• Legacy Branding
• Exclusivity Branding
• Bonus based Branding

The other set of items that was particularly interesting was the way that JT spoke about the steps that are needed to establish stronger credibility:

• Speaking
• Media
• Testimonials
• Branding by Association

JT typically has Brent Turley open up his presentations and Brent does a terrific job setting the tone and telling the stories of his tennis playing children and their athletic scholarships.  Brent tells the stories of capitalizing on chances for his kids to hit with Jose Higeras, Roger Federer’s coach, and with Chris Evert.  But embedded in these tales are the concepts of perseverance, taking risks, moving quickly and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

JT put together a 30-day program to help people accelerate their branding strategies.  The point of the program is to go through one element each day, for 30 days. And then repeat it two more times for a total of 90 days.  Reinforcing the strategies in this way will allow you to truly embed the strategies in your daily consciousness.

At the end of the day, JT gave some very helpful insight about how you can gain additional credibility by writing a book.   JT’s process guides you through the steps in creating an E-book that can reach high levels on Amazon.  Certainly, having a bestseller” would add to your credibility and enhance your personal branding.

Having now attended my 4^th event of JT Foxx, there can also be no doubt that he has some tremendous ideas and helps many people improve their lives.  He does it in a very different way to Tony Robbins, but the impact is very real.