Kevin A Dunlap - Unlocking Your Optimal Performance
In this enriching episode, Jill Hart talks with Kevin A Dunlap from the Optimal Performance Academy. Kevin's mission is to help 1000 entrepreneurs reach six-figure earnings! The Academy's aim is to provide entrepreneurs with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in their businesses.
- Optimal Performance Academy Website
- Grab Your: FREE 1-hour Strategy Session
- Learn more with Kevin A Dunlap! Optimal Performance Academy Coaching
- Read "The Winner's Code: Secrets of the Winner's Mindset"
- Find Kevin A Dunlap's Blog: Optimal Performance Academy Blog
- Join the Small Business Owners Meetup!
Dedicated to providing the tools & resources need for coaches & entrepreneurs to share their message in a strategic way in the world. You can find the tools & resources you need to succeed online at https://stan.store/StrategicOnlineProfit Your purchases support this podcast.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Transcript
Transcript
::Well, welcome to the You World
::Order Showcase podcast.
::Today we're speaking with Kevin A Dunlap and he is from the optimal performance Academy.
::His goal is to get 1000 entrepreneurs to six figures. So welcome, Kevin. I'm really excited to have you here to share about.
::All the great things that you're doing and.
::I am curious why you have.
::The A in your.
::Name cause I know that there.
::Are other Kevin Dunlaps out there?
::Is that?
::Is that why?
::You're doing it.
::The reason I used my middle initial because there's many people out there who like that if you don't use the middle initial, don't know who they are like.
::Do you know Michael?
::Fox no.
::You know my Michael J.
::Oh, I know.
::Hell or Samuel Jackson?
::That's probably a bit more popular, but Samuel L Jackson, so that's to distinguish me from other people and.
::Ohh, I mean I'm an author as well, so all four of my books I use my middle initial
::And then I.
::I'm also used to do stuff with film and state remaining with film.
::So I am a Kevin Dunlap on IMDb, the International movie database.
::But there's now 3 Kevin Dunlaps.
::On there.
::So it just helps.
::To distinguish me from.
::The other people out there.
::I totally can relate to.
::That there are a lot of.
::Jill Harts.
::I've run into a lot of Jill Harts.
::I know them personally.
::It's like.
::OK. Well, I'll.
::Just be Jill E Hart.
::Makes it easier.
::The funny thing is I.
::A year or so ago, someone says.
::Hey, there's this. There's this.
::This book, written by Kevin Dunlap
::Like they basically did our whole family tree.
::I go.
::I don't remember that.
::Couldn't find like he's my cousin.
::So there is another Kevin Dunlap in my family that's a little bit younger than me.
::And he's also was an ex politician for the state of Tennessee.
::Really interesting.
::So how did you get started in the performance optimal Performance Academy?
::What what's your story?
::Tell us about you?
::Well, my story it all began a long time ago.
::Actually it did.
::When I actually used to have a corporate America job where I was working full time for corporate America.
::And I was a computer.
::Programmer at that time I was.
::Working on this project.
::Some of you may remember what this is.
::Some of you may not. It was a project that was known as Y2K. So that was a long time ago. That was back in 1999. That's 20 plus years ago.
::It's like just yesterday though, doesn't it?
::So some of this is like, why did you ever thought of it that way?
::But The thing is.
::After I got downsized, I realized back then that there was no security in a in a job.
::So I did work a couple of little part-time odd jobs and then I actually became a full time entrepreneur in early 2004 when I moved from. At that time, Wilmington, NC to Las Vegas, NV and I ran.
::Started running a real estate consultation.
::Business and I did that for quite a few years until I got my license like 8 years later, and then I was doing the consultation business and working as a realtor until early 2020.
::When I left that before COVID, I left that to work to work for a federal job for a short term.
::My federal job, and that's when COVID hit and after that was over.
::I sort of thing like I'm no longer in real estate the, the, the, the federal job.
::Is now over.
::What do I want to do now? So in 2021, remember at that time COVID was still heavy. There's a lot of things are still.
::Closed. So in early 2020 run I wrote my 4th book which is called launch the AZ, creating a successful business and that was basically to bring together 10 years of experience of seminars that I've that I've been to life experiences that I've gone through both through personal development as well as business development.
::And then and when I decided after my father passed away and later in 2021, I decided to move to Raleigh, NC, where I lived back in 99.
::And that's when I decided to form optimal performance Academy like I was going to.
::I mean, I was going to take all the 20 plus years I have experience and then also start getting into where I'm coaching other people.
::I'm training other entrepreneurs because one of the things I learned back when I was in as a realtor, there's a lot of new Realtors that have no idea what they're doing.
::Meaning they may know something about real estate and real estate contracts.
::They don't know anything about running a business.
::And I realize that there's a lot of new people out there that are, they're in the pre startup phase, they're in the startup phase.
::Maybe they're working part time.
::They're a couple of years in.
::Maybe they're in network marketing, maybe they're doing whatever, but they don't really know the you know what they need to know about running a business.
::So it's so basically because they don't know what.
::They don't know.
::And I formed the forms Academy based upon that.
::So much.
::One of the part time jobs that I did back in the early 2000s was I was a college math teacher and that and I ended up loving teaching, teaching people, giving knowledge to other people, seeing them actually not only sourcing them comprehend what I was being taught with the start, utilizing it in their own lives, even something as simple as learning what the.
::Quadratic formula is or.
::You know, learning anything.
::And that and that was the whole reason I created the Academy or the optimal performance Academy.
::It's a school and the school is that we.
::Have group coaching.
::We have solo coaching.
::We have online courses that that we do.
::We also do webinars.
::I have a training that happens on most Tuesdays.
::I also put together workshops in one day.
::Workshops and three day master classes, so all of the.
::So I'm trying to give out all the knowledge that I've developed over the 20 plus years and try to impart that into the into the minds.
::Of the people.
::Who are could be students of ours.
::That's really fascinating.
::So most of your clients would come from.
::Tell me.
::Tell me who your ideal client is.
::Maybe your client and I call it my specific.
::Audience but the.
::Avatar ideal client.
::Yeah, yeah.
::You call it whatever you want.
::And so my ideal client is actually multi phone.
::I typically work with a solo Connors or what I also call I buy penor and a biplanar is when two people are coming together to form a.
::That company, he could be husband, wife, could.
::Be two best friends or whatever.
::And essentially they are going to be people that are going to be the IP business, the intellectual property businesses.
::So they're gonna be like other coaches, like a life coach and other business coach, a health coach.
::They could be a trainer of some sort or they're also going to be something of what I call it as an industry expert.
::So those could be people like another realtor, because I was in real estate for so many years, they could be mortgage lenders, they could be younger.
::So people that may have their own service that they're also providing.
::So those are the types of people I typically work with.
::If you're on a larger business like 3.
::Or four or five people, I would usually.
::Refer that out if we know if we're not able to help, I would actually refer.
::That because that is not who I'm actually working with.
::So what kinds of things do you help them get?
::Set up because starting a business there's so much.
::Well, if they're.
::If during the pre startup phase or the startup phase or even in their first year, then it's.
::Going to be you.
::Know you know what areas are.
::Are they lacking?
::Yeah, because we know we do an audit as to you know, you know where they are right now and where they wanna be and they've gotta figure out that game plan and how to get them to that location.
::So it could be something as simple as should I be an LLC?
::Corporate, corporate, even though I'm not an attorney or a CPA?
::You know, it was you definitely need to form some kind of entity.
::You need to get away from.
::The being a sole proprietor or.
::General partnership cuz you have you have no legal protection there and you have the worst tax advantages for doing those kinds of organizations.
::So it all depends on where they are, right?
::Now, so I mean it could be also if they're more advanced, it could be not you're you've hit this one threshold of income, maybe you're making 50,000, maybe $75,000 a year.
::How can we double your income or increase it by another 50% and that could be things like how let's start training you to become a public speaker. This let's.
::Let's phone up your signature talks.
::You can actually start being in front of more people and attracting more business to you.
::So it all depends on.
::Where they are right now.
::So you do a lot of one-on-one.
::Coaching, sort of.
::Or is it more?
::One-on-one coaching.
::At the time of this recording of this call, we actually.
::Have three different.
::Levels of group coaching and then the solo coaching could it.
::It could be tailor made to one of those.
::So our introductory level, we call it the business Kickstarter basic and that is going to be for people who are essentially just getting started.
::We will go through identify.
::Who is your ideal class so you so you stop wasting that time going after the wrong people because one of the worst things.
::If I'm talking about that topic, one of the worst things that somebody can say is my ideal client is everybody, and he and himself.
::Yeah. So you have to get a lot more specific if you if your ideal client is a 40 year old male, you will not, you will most likely not gonna be advertising in women's magazine.
::And that's not where your ideal client life.
::So you have to get very specific in that regard.
::Who is that ideal client that's going by the questions you?
::Asked in the very beginning.
::Yeah, and.
::If you don't get real clear on who you're.
::Serving then you're not gonna end up serving anybody.
::They'll find you.
::So in terms of.
::Exactly because you will be using, you won't be on the right platforms.
::You won't be using the right verbiage.
::You'll be you'll be talking to like you're talking to an 18 year old when you're focusing on a 70 year old.
::You have to be very, very clear on who your ideal client or ideal clients.
::If you have more than one, which is perfectly fine, but you have different advertising marketing campaigns.
::To those different ideal clients.
::That's yeah, that.
::It seems like it's a simple no.
::Brainer, but it's really pretty fundamental.
::But you'd be amazed how many.
::How many people don't do it?
::Well, one of the funny.
::Thing is, I will.
::Go up to our a new realtor and say who's your ideal client.
::Oh, somebody wants to buy and sell a house like a OK, every realtor says that.
::What makes you special?
::Yeah, and working with Realtors, I was a.
::Realtor my other.
::I had a lot of.
::Other lives but.
::Well, I am a very background.
::So that makes me kind of unique.
::Yeah, yeah, but the real estate.
::When I was.
::Just starting out in real estate, I think it.
::Was in my early 30s.
::I didn't know anything about anything and selling man I had.
::I had no idea about self.
::And I was the.
::Number one, listing agent in my office because I was really good at helping people list their houses.
::Because that was fun to me.
::But taking people around and it was before the days of the Internet where you could just, you know, have your clients go look at the houses online and see if they thought they might want to go see it in in real life.
::Back in the day, we used to have to go on those little caravans and go look at all the open houses and remember and make lots of notes, and then when clients came along, you'd have to remember where that place was.
::And it was in San Diego.
::So, you know, everything was all twisty Turney and Thomas brothers maps.
::So I can.
::Without the date back, whenever you know in the last books, like when.
::They actually had a printed book.
::Ohh yeah, yeah, the printed book that was.
::That was when I.
::Was doing real estate.
::Look here.
::But I was in the online world, so when I was doing my real estate consultation, even though that was early days of.
::The Internet and.
::I built a very strong online presence.
::At and high.
::SEO presence.
::Just because I started shooting video.
::But this is back in.
::2009.
::And then of course, when I became a realtor in 2012.
::Then yeah, we had in our last we had Zillow, we had, yeah, Red Finn was just was just being developed.
::Yeah, yeah.
::It's amazing how the computer and the Internet has really changed the economic landscape and how things are done.
::It's really pretty.
::It's opened up so many opportunities for people and I love what you're doing it.
::It's really helpful for new people getting into entrepreneurship and they.
::There are more people realizing that, hey, I've got a purpose than I need to be living that life not locked in some cubicle 8/10/12 hours a day.
::Doing mindless work that really doesn't benefit anybody.
::Except maybe some people at the very top, they might disagree with me, but.
::Movie The company.
::So yeah, that's really, really great that you're.
::You're working along that path and helping people get started.
::What's your book about?
::I'm sorry.
::What's your book about?
::How does?
::How does your?
::Well, my 4th book.
::Budget play into all of.
::My 4th book. Well, it was a is a book and a workbook. It's a fairly thick book. I think it's 449 pages, so it's not just something that you just read in a day and but the book was developed to take people along the journey of starting a business to actually the last, the last chapter.
::Last two chapters all about how do you duplicate yourself?
::How do you sell your business or how do you create franchises and stuff like that?
::But it was.
::It's a book and a workbook and it goes through a lot of the nuances of things that you need to learn how to do.
::A big chapter 10 is.
::On how to write your business plan.
::You know, there's gonna be chapters on a whole bunch of other subjects.
::And that actually became the template of me forming Optimal Performance Academy.
::When I wrote that book.
::Ideally it was going to be a three day work, a master class.
::It's gonna be a three day weekend class.
::That was my idea when I wrote the book.
::Had no idea that it would turn into writing.
::And a large number of courses, you know, have a lot of other to be parts of different, have three different levels of group coaching and parts of the book are in all three parts of those group coaching.
::So that book was kind of like the catalyst things that inspired the entire company.
::That's exciting.
::So what are the other two levels?
::I know you said the basic kick start was the first level.
::But what were the other?
::OK.
::The 600 basic the nine week class is mainly going to be for newer businesses. The second level is what I call business Kickstarter Prime.
::They all mentioned more business Kickstarter as the 1st 2 words, so business Kickstarter Prime is for those businesses been around for a couple of years and maybe now they wanna start doing webinars and creating their online presence.
::That's what that one.
::Is going to be working a lot around and then the higher level 1.
::Or that one is a 12.
::Week class the highest level one is called Business Kickstarter Elite.
::It's a 16 elite class and that's going to go beginning into creating your online courses.
::Also, to create your signature talk and structuring your signature.
::Talk how to.
::Start being on stages, so that's gonna be for more of the little more advanced people.
::Those are the ones that we talked about.
::Before the call.
::You mentioned like one of my goals is to have is to one of my first business goals is to take 1000 people and then make them into six figure earners.
::So the business or elite is more based upon for those people because so unless.
::You hit a.
::Flute, unless you're a fluke, your first.
::Year in business.
::It's usually as a solopreneur or biplanar.
::It's probably not going to be 6 figures, so that's something that you're going to be growing into.
::The business elite is actually designed for those people to take them to that six figure level.
::Sounds like you've got them.
::All kind of mapped out in a.
::In a logical.
::Format in terms of moving somebody along from the, I'm just thinking about.
::It to the.
::OK, this is this is the first step and then we can move into the second step and people can see kind of does everybody start at the very basic level, do they come in, in the middle, can they come in?
::At the end.
::It depends on it.
::That's it.
::Depends on where they are now.
::The, the, the, the three group coaching is designed to have somebody go through all three.
::You're not.
::I don't expect everybody to do that.
::And also you know if I find if I run across somebody you know after we do.
::Our strategy sessions with.
::Each other and we see where you are in your business, you may actually start off with the.
::Prime or the elite?
::You don't have to go to the basic.
::I do have some material that does overlap.
::That's actually deliberate.
::It's because if you didn't take the earlier class, this is stuff that you need to know.
::Plus, for the people that have already taken the class and then not seeing something familiar like ohh, they see how these things are interconnected.
::So like if you ever read any book like say, Rich Dad, poor dad by Robert Kizaki, I would, I would guarantee you that out of his 15 or 20 books that there's overlap in those.
::There's gonna be talking about the same thing, so.
::So that's why so the overlap is actually deliberate.
::And it yeah, it helps to have a foundation like everybody knows about rich Dad, poor dad.
::And then his other books they.
::They do all go back to his quadrant.
::Theory or formula or and?
::And then he just builds on it.
::And I think any good business does have some sort of a foundation.
::And if you don't have that foundation then.
::Your clients get confused and.
::And you're and you're not really doing what?
::You need to do so.
::And the foundation does have to build on itself.
::So, like, let's say, if you're talking about a high rise, yeah, the, the business keeps our base against the, it's the first level maybe the first two level the prime is going to be maybe taking it to the 4th or fifth level.
::And then the elites is taking it to A10 story building and going.
::From there, yeah, right.
::That makes perfect sense.
::So is there?
::One thing that you'd like our audience to take away from.
::Our conversation today.
::Well, one of the things I would always say is to always be open to be to be adaptable, because if you don't adapt and try to do things in a different way, you can keep getting the same results that you have been getting.
::So you have.
::To be a dad lawyer, you can also say you have to be teachable.
::So when you when you when you see something that is not working, you have to be willing to.
::Get rid of that and do something different.
::And sometimes adjusting to change and being open to having coaching is.
::It's the thing you need.
::That most people might resist it.
::It's like you know, it's.
::It's just part of the education process and we're all learning.
::So how do people get in?
::Never mind.
::Ohh, when my first coach was actually a rich dad coach and he's the one that inspired me to move from North Carolina to Las Vegas back in when the coaching was in 2003.
::I moved there in January 04 so that that that was a life changing event for me and I'm and I hold that.
::That's more the.
::The best thing that's ever happened to me.
::I've had lots of coaches in my life too, and they all have moved me in some way or another to becoming the person I am today and being where I am so.
::I really.
::Value coaches a lot.
::I think they're the education medium of the future, where colleges were really well regarded.
::Years ago.
::It's not the case anymore.
::You need to just find the education around what it is that you want to be doing and invest your.
::Money that way.
::Rather than just getting a general education, that's.
::Out of date and a lot of.
::A lot of places, it's.
::Just like technology is changing the education landscape so fast that it's really hard for colleges to keep up with their curriculum.
::To the changing environment.
::And that's The thing is, if you're going to be going to coaching, it's like taking that course in college.
::You're getting somebody there that instructor or professor or teacher is there to impart their knowledge to you.
::They coach.
::Is there the same way?
::They just they just called them a different name.
::Yeah, it it's shortening the shortening, the learning.
::Curve you're paying to shorten the gap between where you are and where you want to go because you're paying somebody for their expertise and they've paid other people for their information.
::It's just a way to transfer information around.
::Then most things in life are transactional, otherwise we're all going to be.
::Living on the street.
::Speaking of that, how can people get a
::Hold of you, Kevin.
::Well the best.
::Way is to actually just visit our website and that website is www dot obviously optimalperformanceacademy
::Dot ORG
::So again, that's optimal performance Academy dot ORG
::and on the website on the front page because our website is very dynamic and we're constantly improving upon it.
::But on the first page.
::On the home page you will see.
::A lot of different things.
::That we can do.
::We have on there essentially how to how to create a 30 or 60 minute strategy session with us as complementary.
::Friday session with us on the.
::Right.
::Also some of our courses are on there.
::So basically everything we do, it can be actually looked at from the front page and then you can dive more deeply into the page by going through the menu at the top and looking with areas that you're interested like are you looking for online training, are you looking for coaching?
::We have a whole.
::Bunch of different workshops with this stuff coming up.
::That's gonna be on our calendar of events.
::So all of our stuff is on there.
::That's probably the best that you.
::Can get out of me.
::Perfect.
::And I would encourage people that are just getting started out there to go and visit your website.
::Thanks for being with us.
::Thank you very much.
