In this episode of Deconstructing Success, you’ll hear from a guy who has co-founded four multi-million dollar software companies, was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations.

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• Stream by clicking here.
• Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “Save As.”

5 Big Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The big realization Neil had as a high school student when his first business was already earning $20,000/month in revenue and how it changed the course of his life.
• The “big-picture / small tasks” productivity approach that Neil follows to focus on (and accomplish) what’s important and set himself up for success the next day.
• The rules, filters, free tools and delegation system that Neil uses to process over 1,000 emails each day!
• The “divide and conquer” approach that Neil and his business partner Hiten Shah take, and how it eliminates the need for constant communication and “useless meetings.”
• How Neil decides what to work on each day using goals. Why he starts with monthly goals, the importance of “5-day weeks” and breaking everything down to today and “right now.”

5 Big Questions I Ask Neil in Our Interview:

• How do you know if you actually hit your goals?
• How do you actually manage to answer 400 emails per day (and do it relatively quickly)?
• What was the last major failure that you experienced (that you don’t actually want to talk about) and what did you learn from it?
• How do you decide what to say NO to?
• How do you define success?

5 Fast Facts About Neil Patel:

• He’s the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, QuickSprout and KISSmetrics.
• The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world.
• He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations.
• Neil has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives.
• He helps companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP, TechCrunch and Viacom grow their traffic and revenue.

Complete Show Notes:

• The realization Neil had as a high school student when his first business was already earning $20,000/month in revenue. [7:10]
• How Neil defines success and how that definition has changed over the years. [9:57]
• Growing up Neil thought that if he could make $100,000/year, he would be happy. He did that. And was happy…for a month or two. So he kept “raising” the bar and setting new goals…with the same results. Find out how his father’s simple lifestyle helped him to rethink what true happiness actually is. [11:10]
• How a chance meeting in India with an entrepreneur (who had recently sold his company to Microsoft) helped him embrace minimalism and giving up more and more things. [12:41]
• The mindset and life philosophy that Neil keeps to stay centered and prevent extreme mood shifts and swings that so often overtake entrepreneurs. [13:59]
• How a clear mind helps him get more done and why it’s important for his overall content and balance. [15:27]
• The “big-picture / small tasks” productivity approach that Neil follows to focus on [and accomplish] what’s important and set himself up for success the next day. [16:21]
• How Neil decides what to work on each day using goals. Why he starts with monthly goals, the importance of “5-day weeks” and breaking everything down to today and “right now.” [17:21]
• The “divide and conquer” approach that Neil and his business partner Hiten Shah take, and how it eliminates the need for constant communication and “useless meetings.” [18:10]
• The dead-simple litmus tests which Neil uses to measure his fitness progress and if he’s reaching his “fitness goals”. (Hint: one goal revolves around clothes and the other is based on “bleeding”). [18:46]
• The two questions that Neil asks himself when he doesn’t accomplish something that help him to learn from it and prevent it from happening again. As well as, the 3 questions that he asks himself when he accomplishes something “too quickly” and why this can actually be a negative thing for him. [20:24]
• What a day in the life of Neil Patel looks like from the time he wakes up at 6am and how he uses “blocks” to help him stay focused on what he’s supposed to do. [21:46]
• The rules, filters, free tools and delegation system that Neil uses to process over 1,000 emails each day! And why he answers 400+ of them personally each day. [23:22]
• How Neil decides what to say yes and what to say no to, given that he gets multiple offers from celebrities, billionaires, and investors. [28:29]
• How Neil learned to beat FOMO (the fear of missing out.) [29:20]
• The type of tasks Neil delegates and his simple simple delegation process. [29:51]
• Neil talks about his last major failure and what he learned from it. Plus how he evaluates his successes, failures, and mistakes. [31:29]
• Why Neil never burns out, the actions he takes and the attitude he adopts to help him avoid “burn out”. [34:52]
• Neil’s awesome travel “hack” that helps him stay healthy and stick to his routine when he’s on the road. [35:23]
• The last new skill he learned and why. [36:17]
• The one productivity tool that Neil uses every day and where he “wastes” his time…kind of. [36:58]
• Why he loves to watch the news and how this affects his mentality and attitude. [37:17]
• How Neil retains his positive attitude in the face of depressing news…and a good summary of the election (courtesy of Elon Musk.) [38:09]
• Neil’s work setup and what he’d spend money on rather than the newest, fanciest phone on the market. [39:07]
• What genres of music Neil listens to while working, and how his music choices change depending on what he does. Also, how he feels about having lyrics and why it’s important to have people around. [40:41]
• How he uses his most productive times to write, how he plans his posts to maximize his effort, and how he delegates extra work on his blog. [41:48]
• How Neil ensures he sticks to writing every single day and why he enjoys writing. [42:38]
• Neil’s attitude to his writing and what learns from writing. [43:19]
• The best piece of advice Neil ever received and how following this advice quickly landed him a $1.2 million dollar contract. [43:42]

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list
• Trello
• Gmail Tasks
• Unroll.Me
• Neil’s Forbes column
• RescueTime
• Zig Ziglar

Learn More About Neil:

• NeilPatel.com
• QuickSprout
• Neil on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

One Question for You to Answer Right Now:

How do you decide what to work on each day?  Leave a comment below with your answer.

One Last Thing…

If you enjoyed listening to this episode of my new podcast, then please support the show by leaving a quick review on iTunes. It’s easy and takes less then 1 minute to do!

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