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Sales Funnel Radio

My first 5 years in entrepreneurship was 34 painful product failures in a row (you heard me). Finally, on #35 it clicked, and for the next 4 years, 55 NEW offers made over $11m. I’ve learned enough to see a few flaws in my baby business… So, as entrepreneurs do, I built it up, just to burn it ALL down; deleting 50 products, and starting fresh. We’re a group of capitalist pig-loving entrepreneurs who are actively trying to get rich and give back. Be sure to download Season 1: From $0 to $5m for free at https://salesfunnelradio.com I’m your host, Steve J Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio Season 2: Journey $100M
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Now displaying: June, 2018
Jun 29, 2018

- Boom, what's going on everyone. This is Steve Larsen, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.

 

Today, we’re gonna talk about my content machine and how I'm pulling it off.

 

I've spent the last four years learning form the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.

 

The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels.

 

My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. What's up guys?

 

Hey, I am excited to share this with you. You know when I first started listening to gurus on the internet, when I first started consuming their content, when I first started going through and reading it - I was grateful for the content. But... I don't know if you're like me?... I didn’t ever want to do any kind of publishing ever, ever.

 

I remember when I first went to my first Funnel Hacking Live. It was 2016. I remember this very clearly... I think I might have shared this with you before....

 

I was biking around the bay at San Diego because what cash we had, I didn't want to spend on a cab. So I was biking around on a hired bike and I remember thinking to myself, “I will do whatever Russell tells me to do, except I will not publish.” That was my actual thought.

 

Fast forward a week, and I'm working next to Russell Brunson, and this is what I see him doing. He's sitting there and he's on camera going, “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson!” Then he's over on his podcast, “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson!”  And then he's over on his blog... “What's up guys, this is Russell Brunson.” And I was like, there's something to this. This is really interesting.

 

Funnily enough, on the very first day at Funnel Hacking Live, he said, “Everyone needs to start publishing.” And I was like, “there's no way I'm not gonna do it. I will build the funnels. I'll do whatever you want me to do Russell. My life's already changed. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. But I will never, ever, Mr. Russell Brunson, ever be one of those podcasters.” And that was my thought.

 

Well, “What's up, how you doing?” I'm podcasting!

 

We've crossed over 160,000 downloads between the two shows that I have - which is awesome. It's gone really, really well.

I remember after watching Russell publish…. We didn't do anything unless there was a camera around a lot of times, right. We’d go grab a camera...

 

One day it was like 4:00 a.m. and he voxed me; he goes, “Dude, I got this sick idea man - swing down to the office as soon as you can. I'm really, really pumped about this. I'm gonna make you famous.” I was like, what does that mean? And then he goes, “Dude, we're gonna start a reality TV show man!” And that's when we started Funnel Hacker TV.

 

So we had a visual show... and then a podcast so people could listen... then there were blogs so people could read. Dominating everywhere! I mean, to be completely honest with you, can you consume all of the content that ClickFunnels puts out? No, nobody can. But that's not the point. He's trying to dominate the conversation.

 

I remember about six weeks into working at CF,  I decided to get a handle on this whole content creation thing. There was no way to do this without actually publishing.

 

I know I'm gonna suck at first. Like I'm gonna be terrible. I'm gonna be awful. And I was awful. I was super bad. I really was not good. If you guys go listen to the first few episodes of Sales Funnel Radio - the content is good. What I'm talking about is great. But the delivery is terrible. I knew that. And I came to grips with the fact. I just needed to gut it out a little bit -  just start moving forward.

 

When I first started publishing, I was the only person in my content team.

I was watching a lot of  major entrepreneurs, and they were never the only one doing the content. They had a content team.

 

I was like, “Oh my gosh, I'm not gonna be able to afford something like that… and how do you even put a team like that together.”

 

The whole point of this episode is to show with you guys the journey through my content team - because even though I have a team now - it didn’t start that way.

 

When I started, I was just using Libsyn. That's Liberated Syndication dot com. Libsyn.com. It's L-I-B-S-Y-N dot com. It's amazing, okay. It was like five bucks a month for me to start.

 

And what it allowed me to do was... I wanted to be able to push out on iTunes obviously.... But I knew that a lot of people want to read, but I didn't want to write a blog.

 

I like writing about this kind of stuff. But I'm not gonna take the time to write a blog for every podcast episode.

 

So what I did was rip the audio and get it transcribed at Rev.com. Then I took that transcription, and it became the blog post. So now I have an blog for every episode. That's all I did. I just took the transcription, I put it on WordPress, and pressed go.

I believe in using tools for the intent they were created. ClickFunnels is not meant to be a blogging platform. So I don't blog on it.

 

I use WordPress because WordPress was built to be a blogging platform.

 

Some people do some weird things with WordPress and turn it into a sales platform. But it's not a sales funnel. So I don't use WordPress to sell things. I use WordPress to publish things. Does that make sense?

 

You could make a lot of things turn into a lot of other things with weird connections and stuff. I just don't.

 

It's kind of like going to a sushi place and  ordering a hamburger. I'm sure they could make it for you, but that's not their thing. You know what I mean?

 

I look at software the same way. Whatever the software was intended to do, that's what I use it for. And that's why I still use several different platforms and I'll tie them together.

 

ClickFunnels is built to sell crap. So I use it to sell my crap.

 

When I first started out, it was just me; it  took me about two hours per episode to get it out of the door. I would wake up at about 5:00 a.m -  I'd be at ClickFunnel's HQ at about 6:00 a.m - and I would take Russell's microphone 'cause I didn't have money to go get a microphone at that  time… I would unplug the microphone from his computer and I'd go over and plug it into mine. Then I'd record the episode 'cause I knew his mic was good.

 

And I was like, well crap. I gotta figure out how to use Adobe Audition, or some kind of software for editing, or something like that. I went through and I created my intros. And I make all my intros and outros by the way. I really like doing it.

 

I've been a sound junky and editor since I was like 12. And I would make a lot of music on a lot of different platforms. I spent a lot of Saturdays just making music. It was a bunch of fun. So I did my own sound editing. I would go to Fiverr and have somebody do a voiceover.

 

The way I wrote my intro, just so you guys know, is I went and I actually listened to all the top rated podcasts in the business category on iTunes.

 

I listened to all their intros, and transcribed them. I found all the similarities and grabbed some of those - and then I threw a few other things in as well.

 

Then I went to premiumbeat.com and downloaded a cool song I liked. Had a voiceover guy from Fiverr just say it. And then I just put 'em together. That's how I made the original Sales Funnel Radio intro and outro.  Guys I freakin' bootstrapped, okay. That's the whole point.

 

Before I was at ClickFunnels, I started putting together videos - I didn't have video editing software. So I thought, who does? I was like, ahh libraries. So I did all my video editing in libraries for like a year before working at ClickFunnels. I didn’t have a camera. So I went back to libraries and I would rent their cameras.

 

Entrepreneurs would hire me to get on planes film their events, and film them doing sales videos. Then I'd go back and edit them in libraries, and give the camera back that I didn't own.

 

I’d take those videos and put them up on the funnels that I was building, which I was just hacking from what Russell and other successful people were doing. The whole way is bootstrapping. All of it's been bootstrapping.  And it's been super fun.

 

My content has been no different. I bootstrapped it.  I didn't have a mic, so I just borrowed Russell’s really early in the morning. That's like how I did the first 50 episodes of Sales Funnel Radio. I got to CF HQ way before everyone else - so I was completely alone in the office - and grab Russell's mic.  My job required that I had the Adobe Suite - so I’d use Adobe Audition (because it came with it) to do all my sound editing on.

 

I didn't know which settings to use. So I went to YouTube and I googled, podcast sound editing. I didn't know what they meant. I have no idea what all those letters mean on the sound editing stuff. I just took them and pasted them in... and it's one of the reasons that my podcast sounds so good today. So many of you have complimented me on that. I don't know what the settings mean,  I just know it does really awesome stuff when I push the button and apply those settings.

 

I have literally bootstrapped the entire way. The obstacle is the way. Just follow  your questions - and the answer's on the other side usually.

 

So for a while, I was the producer, and the recorder, the attractive character, and the content creator. For  the first 40 episodes, it took me about two hours per episode to take the transcription, put it into WordPress, and make it look amazing.

 

Then I'd go in Libsyn and press the publish button - and blast out to 16 different platforms. Boosh!

 

I hate Twitter. I don't know why it's there. But I publish there 'cause people like it, right. I did it for a lot of different platforms. Pushed to YouTube, pushed to Facebook, pushed to the blog, pushed to iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify. Boosh, all over the place. Libsyn did all that. It really helped my time.

 

Around episode 40, I went and I hired my first VA. And it was my sister. A lot of you guys know who she is. She was in a position where she was interested in this kind of stuff.

 

I said look, “I'll train you how to do it all.”  I showed her exactly what I was doing, right. I would get the episode transcribed, and then I would just hand off the transcription and the episode, and she would do everything else. She put it in WordPress. She did SEO optimization on it with some cool plugins we had...

 

And that's what I did for quite a while from like episode 40 up until like episode 140. For the last few episodes, I’ve been doing something different. I'm just going through this so you guys see the content journey.



Those of you who went to Funnel Hacking Live and saw Peng Joon’s presentation on how he does his content might  think that you need to start with a gigantic content machine, right?

 

I never started with that. Number one, because of the cost, right. I'm spending $26,000 in hard costs a month right now on my content generation process. My content machine costs me that much. But I would never have started that way.  There's no way. That's dumb. But I knew content was important.

 

If I could get my voice more out there and share  what I was learning as I was watching these gurus...  If I could document my journey (which I'm still doing)... You guys are watching me do it all the time… If I could just do that...

 

I know that whoever controls content in an industry controls the industry. If no one hears you speak, then no one knows you exist in your industry, okay.

 

That's why this whole content thing is so important and so powerful. If no one knows you're talking, you don't exist, okay.

 

One of my first mentors was the CMO of Denny's and also Pizza Hut. I spent a lot of one on one time with him. He was actually a professor of mine. And he and I got a friendship. I would ask him a lot of questions and I talked a lot with him. He invented stuffed crust pizza. Whoa, right. He's the man…

 

I remember I was sitting in his office with him once and I was talking with him. At the time we were in this semester of college where we don't do anything but run a business. That's it…

 

You start a business from scratch. They give you virtually no help. You start it....

 

Well I was voted the first CEO of this company.  We ended up making two to three grand a week during that semester, which was awesome. With no help, we built it up, and it was awesome.

 

I remember though, I was talking about marketing with him. It was at a time in my life where I had not yet totally decided to go into just marketing alone. I was like man, should I go do supply chain? Should I go do finance? Should I go do this, should I go do that?

 

Anyway, he and I were chatting. And I was like, “I feel like I'm yelling at people about our company... like hey, we're here, we're here. Come buy our thing.”  And he said, “You know what's funny about marketing? The moment that you feel like you are being annoying is the moment that people are just starting to realize you even exist.”

 

You're gonna get tired of your message. You're gonna get tired of your stories way before the market will - Far before. You are not yelling as loud as you might think you are. You're not, okay.

 

Now I'm pushing content around all over the place, and that's what I want to talk about real quick.  I want to show you how I've evolved. It's interesting to see the journey that it's taken…

 

Whoever controls content controls beliefs and ideas.

 

If you're barely talking, or if you're not even talking,  people just don't know you exist for the longest time.They really don't.

 

You're gonna have the core people who follow you, who love you, who do the crazy things, who are the fanatics over what your business does. But most people don't really know you that well. They know of maybe your podcast. They know maybe of your business. They don't know what it is. It just feels like you're yelling at them because to you, it feels like you're yelling. You're not, okay.

 

So get used to speaking or at least communicating in some way. If you don't want to do a podcast, don't, okay. If you want to do video, sweet. If you want to just blog, awesome. Neil Patel blew up that way, right.

 

Whatever medium you're comfortable doing most frequently, just marry it. Okay, marry it, right.

 

We just did the episode a little bit ago about the attractive character. It is the vehicle for your attractive character to explode on. Okay, that's why it's so important for you to do this stuff.

 

I remember at Funnel Hacking Live feeling that my content machine was good - even though it was just me handing it off to one person. However, I realized that I could do a lot more.

 

I was like, you know what, I've worked my butt off. I'm gonna go try and blow up some of these platforms a little bit better.

 

I love YouTube, okay. Facebook and I still have a love hate relationship - but I use it. Instagram, loving it...

 

At  Funnel Hacking Live, Russell stood up and he said... It was like his first presentation. He stood up and he goes, “Where's Stephen?” And I was like “Woo!”... 'cause that's what I do, I yell. And he's like there he is. “Stephen's one of my favorite people on the planet. But he does not know what's on Instagram. He does not ever get on it.” Then he proceeded to pseudo make fun of me. Huh, I know you're watching man. Okay, proceeded to pseudo make fun of me for not using Instagram. I felt the stance of shame. Here's the stance of shame. That's the stance of shame.

The very next day during a lunch break in Funnel Hacking Live, Colton and I went over to an Apple store and we grabbed myself an iPhone, a new one, and I have been Instagramming my face off. I started putting these different pieces together.

 

When I saw Peng Joon talk about how he does his content machine - I was like, you know what, with a few tweaks, I'm actually close to what he's doing.

 

So that's what I've been focusing on. It’s part of the reason why some of my other business has slowed down just a little bit - because my focus has been on this content machine. Setting up systems, setting up the business, getting my processes in place.

 

We've kept the ads small on my main product - but we're still very profitable. And I’ve been building up this content machine and the business. Like we have this crazy accelerant now guys. We got this insane power. And it's been really, really cool.

 

So here is my new content machine. I'm not gonna name names because they are my people, and it took me a while to find them, and I'm spending a lot of money to get them. So I'm  just gonna let you know what the roles are, okay. These are the roles that I filled and I really wanted to go hit, okay.

 

If you read Dotcom Secrets. These books are never really that far from me. Here they are. If you read Dotcom Secrets, one of the things that Dotcom Secrets talks about very early on is it talks about this whole concept of old media versus new media.

 

Old media, if you think about old media….That's things like newspapers, right, a lot of direct mail, the radio. It's still consumed, it's just that there's all these new media that you also need to be cognizant of and speak on.

 

If you look at the new media versus the old media you can see that podcasts are the new radio. What is the new TV? Kind of YouTube, right. YouTube and Facebook Lives, things like that. What's the new newspaper? Blogs, right.

 

If you go study guys like Ryan Holiday who's obsessed with the ideas of content creation... He's very good at placing ideas in places. Right, if you go look at what he's doing, he's just using different media sources against itself, right. Anyway, really, really fascinating okay.

 

So what I did is I said: I want to be on YouTube. I want to be on blogs. I want to be on Instagram. I want to be on Facebook groups. I want to be on…  And I started thinking through all these different platforms that I wanted to be seen on, even though that's not the format I was gonna publish on, okay.

 

I was like, well that causes a really interesting scenario because you need to match the content to the platform, right. Each platform has a context. You don't go on podcasts and listen to these podcasts typically while just standing in a room. You know, usually you're doing something else.

 

So on podcasters, I know I'm usually talking to like active individuals who are running around. They're getting something else done, typically.

 

If I want to get on Facebook... what's the intent of Facebook? People go on Facebook to get distracted usually, right. So I’ve gotta make sure that it's somewhat entertaining when my same content piece hits that platform.

 

People get on YouTube to either get distracted, entertained, or it's like a how to video … generally, it’s more instructional than Facebook's intent - I'm talking stereotypes here.

 

Why do people read blogs? There's not tons of story usually in blogs. I know it depends. Like in the space that I'm in, there's usually not tons of stories. It's usually a lot of how to stuff, right.

 

So that became the challenge; how do I just do a podcast and then repurpose the content for the different platform's context?

 

I believe that questions invite revelation. So that's been the question on my mind... How do I solve that problem? And cool enough, I solved it.

 

That's what happens when you ask the right questions. Questions aren't threatening. You'll answer the question, no matter what you're asking.

If  you ask, “Oh, why am I broke?” You'll get the answer. Instead ask, “How can I make more money?’ and you'll start finding that answer. Isn't that funny. Total side note and rabbit hole.

 

So…

 

Here's my content machine:

 

The first thing I do is I have a video podcast now, right. I primarily do this on a video camera. This is the same camera type that we use for Funnel Hacker TV that Russell uses. And I like it. It's big though…. meaning the camera file is big. The camera itself is small. It's a 4K camera.

 

I film, and by the time this episode's over, it's gonna probably be like 10 gigs, no joke.

 

Then I go rip the audio from it and send it to my audio guy -he's the man. He adds whatever intro and outro I said I want to the episode (he already has those). He then adds on the settings that I like. He puts all those settings in there. And then he goes through and matches the volume loudness.

 

Have you guys ever wondered why my intro and my outro all sound the same volume as the actual episode?  It's because of some cool things he does in the background with post editing.

 

Up until this point, I’d  been adding the settings myself - but I had to remove myself from this process.

 

So he goes through and he does a whole bunch of cool sound editing, and he re-uploads it to our Google Drive folder that we use as a team.

 

Then the Trello card, yes we're using Trello to track this, gets assigned to the next person, right. And that person goes out and does crazy, amazing things on YouTube with it.

 

She takes the video that's been recorded - she's amazing - and she figures out really cool ways that I should be competing with different keywords on SEO to rank me in YouTube. Then she creates these cool, 15 second clips of neat things that I said and takes them out. And that's what gets passed into our assets folder again for future use for Instagram, right.

 

Next, she creates a thumbnail video... She does a whole bunch of other stuff. She's absolutely amazing.

 

The card then gets passed off to my incredible blog writer. She grabs the actual transcription from Rev when it comes in and writes a blog post.

 

So it's no longer just a transcription. She actually takes this, (which you guys reading right now) and turns it into a blog.

 

So now, you guys know what I'm doing with this after I stop recording... It's going through his machine that we've created with these amazing, brilliant, specialized people.

 

They're not cheap. They're incredible, okay. I wanted good people. And I found out a lot of them have their own agencies behind them too, which is another reason why they're so good.

 

It's taken me a long time to get to this stage - so don't feel like you have to do this when you start out. You don’t need to. This is something you will graduate to eventually.

 

And it'll keep blowing up from here I'm sure and we'll keep adding processes and cool things to it, but this is the core of what it is.

 

So anyway, after the writer uploads the blog post back to our individual episode asset in Google Drive, then the next person goes in and takes it.

 

She goes in and puts the blog post into WordPress, and makes it awesome....

 

We're gonna do a massive overhaul of the blog that's actually associated with this. It’s gonna be a massive overhaul of the look, the feel, the layout, everything! I want it to be cleaner, neater... everything...

 

Anyway, she goes in and she makes the blog look visually amazing inside of WordPress.

This is the sixth episode that we've launched doing this process. Really cool.

 

Then the next person goes in and  launches everything on Libsyn. He does all the cool checks so that it can blast out to tons of platforms at one time.

 

Then the next person comes in... He goes in and puts it up on Instagram, on Facebook groups. I think he does a Twitter blast . He does a Chatbot blast. It's nuts guys… that whole team, that whole process.

 

What's cool about it is the deadline for the episode at the exact same for every platform. So everyone publishes at the exact same time. So at the exact same time (give or take maybe a few seconds), all this content is hitting the internet at the same time. Boom, from different platforms.

 

The same content, repurposed to suit the intent and context of each individual platform.

 

So because of this, there's over a week lag time in the preparation. So after I record, there's usually about a week and a half, or two weeks, while everyone's doing their role.

 

Anyways, it's freakin' awesome. It's super cool. That's my content machine.

 

I call it a machine, because I wanted to find a way to hit those all platforms in a systematized way.

 

I had to find people and pay them what they want to get paid, and what they're worth. They're worth a lot of money, okay.

 

If you go out and you start putting those people together. It's pretty interesting what happens... But for the love; if you're just starting out, do not try to build that from the get-go.

 

Like, good, great… eventually!  But be gentle with yourself until you can put 26 grand out on a team just for content's sake. It certainly, certainly pays me back more than that - but you can build up gradually, like I did.

 

So that's the content machine that I've got going on. I just wanted to give you guys an update.

 

Episode 60 and 61 of this podcast go through in depth on how I put my actual content together for the podcast. It dives more deeply through some of my tech setup, and the systems that I use as well. They're great ones to listen to if you are trying to build your own content machine, whether it's blog, or podcast, or video, whatever.

 

But with this episode, I wanted show the updated of what I've been doing here.

 

So anyways, you guys are awesome. You're rock stars, appreciate it. Keep at it.

 

I’d love if you could please, please, I know I keep asking... but what I'm putting out here, a lot of people charge a lot of money for. And I do it for free a lot of times. I really, really, really would love if you wouldn't mind, please go rate this podcast, review it on iTunes. It proves to iTunes that I'm not a schmuck and that this is all really good stuff.

 

It's been fun for me document my journey along the way. I am still telling you guys what I'm doing along the way so you can avoid pitfalls.

 

So, if that is worth anything to you and you've gotten any value from this, please go to iTunes.

 

Someone reached out once and they said, “I don't know how to leave a review on iTunes.”  Just go to iTunes, open it up, type in “Sales Funnel Radio”. I will show up. When you click on the show, right at the top there, it says ratings and reviews. Click there and it'll say write a review. Click write a review. I’d appreciate that. Thank you so much. It does mean a lot to me.

 

I want to keep showing funnel builders and entrepreneurs who are starting out and crushing it, the pitfalls to avoid, and some cool tactics along the way too.

 

All right guys, thanks so much, and I'll talk to you later, bye. Boom, thanks for listening.

 

Hey, please remember to rate and and subscribe. Hey, you want me to speak at your next event or Mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.



Jun 26, 2018

What's going on everyone, this is Steve Larsen and this is Sales Funnel Radio. Today we are going to talk about what to do when your revenue outgrows your business.

 

I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine-to-five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.

 

The real question is how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch. This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels.

 

My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.

 

What's up guys, hey, I am very excited for this episode. So, when I officially left my job, just like the intro to this podcast says, January first, it's been five months. Five solid months now, five and a half-ish by the time this episode goes out, and five and half.. it's been fascinating to watch what's happened. So follow me here, this is what happened.

 

Okay, so I left, right, and I had this awesome idea, I vetted it, I knew it'd be successful and what I did is I went and I started launching, launching, launching, launching, launching and what started happening was over on this side was the sales. Sales, sales, sales, sales, revenue, revenue, revenue, revenue. Lots of money started coming in.

 

I was like "Whoa! This is crazy, "I've never had this much cash coming. "Whoa, my gosh, whoa!" And all this cash started dumping on in. And we did about 100 grand the first month and then it just continued.

 

Now it's 50 grand a month and that's where it's been for a while because I slowed it down ..

 

You guys might be like, "Hey, that's kinda funny, why would you slow it down?" I actually slowed it down because here's what happened; January, February, March was like sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, and I'm selling, and we're making cash, and it's coming in, and we're at a 100 grand. You know, 100 grand, right... Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, we're making... A lot of cash coming in...

 

What I started realizing was the actual, my actual business wasn't able to handle what was going on. I was like, "Crap, I never ever thought this would ever happen to me." And I say that because when I started building funnels for companies while I was in college and it always happened the same way…

 

The funnels that we build, they sell things very, very, very well. I don't think people understand how well the funnels work, and that actually creates a business problem NOT a funnel problem.

 

Here's what I mean:

 

I was building all these funnels for people in college and there's this guy I was building a funnel for…  I did the research, I ran ASK campaigns, and I figured out exactly what his customers needed. Then I went put those things together, and created funnels. When we launched them, boom! He made a lot of cash real fast.

 

He made 50 grand really quick. 50 grand in the first month, it something like that. I can't remember exactly, it was a long time ago now. But there was a lot of cash coming in and then it kept going, and going, and going.

 

It’s funny because Day #1 after launching the funnel, the business owner always comes and they're like, "Oh my gosh, look at all this cash coming in! "That's amazing, these funnels are so cool!"

 

Then Day #2, they reach back out and they're like, "Wow, this is really awesome. "Holy crap, that's still a lot of sales."

 

Then Day #3, they're always like, "Turn it off! Turn it off! "You're gonna bankrupt us, turn it off!"

 

I remember I was kind of laughing when they said that, I thought they were joking. I was like, "Why would I ever turn off this... " Why would I turn off this funnel? Who wants less sales? I've never heard anyone say that in my life ever and at the time, I was making fun of it... I just didn't know any better. I was like, "Aw, that's stupid, why would you ever want less sales?"

 

However, he’d run into a situation where the revenue was outpacing his business!

 

Funnels are not businesses, they're not. A funnel is a revenue arm. A funnel is a very effective way to sell stuff. A business, though, that's completely different.

 

A business is a series of systems - that's really all it is. It's a series of systems that fulfills on the funnel, that's really it. Okay, that's the way I define it anyway, okay?

 

If you don't have enough systems in place, it means that every person who purchases from you is being fulfilled on differently.

 

It means that every person who's coming in, right, and has a support question, you're treating it differently every single time.

 

It means for every single, you know, package that needs to get shipped out there's not a process in place.

 

It's literally different every time, and what's hard about that is that it makes it very challenging to scale.  Especially if you’re just starting out and you’re kind of a solo guy for a while. If you're a solo, individual person for a while and you're kind of running on your own, that's great. That's a great place to be, but eventually you're gonna get to a place where your revenue starts to outpace your ability to fulfill well, and that's what happened to me.

 

Funnily enough, right after, I graduated college and started working at ClickFunnels, we did the exact same thing to so many other people:

 

Day #1, we launch an amazing funnel. They're like, "Oh, my gosh, look at all the sales!"

 

Day #2,  they're like, "Wow, that is "still a lot of sales, oh my gosh."

 

Day #3, they're like, "Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, there's no way... "Oh, my gosh, we're gonna die, you're literally gonna bankrupt us, we're not gonna be able to fulfill on all this stuff"

 

I remember the second time it happened it was for a funnel we’d built for... I don't know if I should say the name, but anyway…

 

Russell and I built this sweet e-comm funnel. It was amazing, they had tons of revenue coming in, and they spent the next two or three months simply upgrading, building, solidifying and putting in place systems inside of their company so that it actually could handle the revenue coming in. Isn't that funny?

 

For some reason I had never, ever considered that for such a long time, and so I ran into the same thing.

Part of my first role as ClickFunnels was to build funnels for Russell's personal clients. I built a lot of funnels for ClickFunnels itself, but (especially when I first got there there) I built funnels for his personal clients - building them, putting them together…

 

I have a marketing degree. In the business marketing degree that I got they do a lot on teaching ‘the business.’ The actual systems and the structure. They do hardly anything on teaching sales, right? Which is so funny.

 

It makes sense of why everyone goes and gets VC funding... because they build the team and there's no cash to freaking support it. You're like, "That seems backwards."

 

Anyway, so I started going through this very same thing. I started recognizing it coming up... I launched all my stuff and I was like... It was like, "Money, Money, Money, Money," and I was like, "Holy crap."  I was still the sole operator of my business. I was like, "Huh, this is interesting."

 

I knew what happened next; pretty soon it becomes so high, the tower gets so tall that eventually there's not enough foundation and it starts to crumble and you start getting refunds and people start saying bad things about you.

 

And I was like, "Crap, I don't want to hit that," and so I purposefully had my amazing ads person, (I will interview her one day and put her on here because she's incredible), but I had my amazing ads individual go and turn the ads down. We kept the ads tiny because I didn’t have the power to fulfill at the rate I was able to sell at.

 

Most businesses are the exact opposite. They’ve  got the sweet structure and they don't know how to get new cash in. “Well, I'm a funnel builder, baby. The cash part's not the hard part…” It's this other way around.

 

So, I guess I've been feeling the need to... You know, it's June now, to account,  to let you guys know what's been happening, and so for the first, like, three months there's been a lot of cash that came in. I was like, "Oh, my gosh, that's nuts. "Crap, I'm like the only guy!" I was pulling my hair out - stressed 24/7.  

 

I remember I was talking to... This wasn't an Inner Circle meeting, but I was talking to a lot of the members. We were hanging out at someone's house and they were asking, “What's going on?” and I was telling them, and someone said, “You know, you're probably gonna have to put the brake on just a little bit to go build this stuff up and then you'll be able to handle more cash coming in.”

 

I didn’t want that to be the answer. I really didn’t want him to say that. I was like, "sell, "sell, sell, sell, sell," but...

 

This year, I've been doing a lot of stuff. I'm one of the coaches for Two Comma Club Coaching X, the new 2CCX program, and it's going freaking incredible. I've gotten my own processes down and in place there now. I’m helping them fulfill; helping them do amazing stuff, helping everyone make money and put their funnels together. So, I've been doing that as well as actually my webinar  So, I've been selling, selling, selling, selling.

 

It's been tons of fun. Now I’ve backed off on the selling a little bit. I’ve put together a lot of systems - a lot of them.  I always thought that it was kind of like a drag, but I know now why.

 

Because without huge cash coming in why on earth am I building the system, right? That's what my mentality is like. I'm like, "What's the ROI of me building a system when there's not buttloads of cash to match it with?”

 

So, that's all I would encourage you guys to do.  If you’re selling and you've got cash coming in and you're like, "Hey, this is going really, "really well, it's going incredible,"  but you're having a hard time blowing up, I want to tell you one thing that Russell told me...

 

Actually, I was sitting next to him, I’d only been working there for a little bit and I was keeping notes. I mean, I was sitting next to the dude, right? Would you not take notes? So I did.

 

I had a Trello board called "Brunsonisms" and "Russell Lessons" and I would write down things that I heard him say - things that were really profound. I was already fanatic about his content, but like, really profound things, and this is what he said... He was talking to one of his Inner Circle people and he goes, "Scaling from six to seven figures... " I'm gonna botch the quote, but this is the lesson. He said, "Scaling from six to seven figures is NOT a matter of MORE hours in the office.... Scaling from six to seven figures is about leverage."

 

So if you've got a product, right...  that’s done, like, 300 grand, something like that… What I've noticed is that you probably have a leverage problem.

 

You need to  put systems in place that let you expand, that lets you fulfill, that lets you, right, go grab another funnel out there, put something out there that brings more cash in, so things like that.

 

But specifically, right, it's a leverage problem. It's not typically a cash problem.

 

You guys will all notice and you'll all see, if you haven't already, which I know a lot of you guys are already rockstars and you're selling. You're making a boatload of cash already, right, but for those of you guys who are, like, just starting out, you'll see really quickly, right, it's typically...

 

When you go and you start, right, you're building, you're building, you're getting the revenue coming in. Awesome, and you should do that. Prove to the market that it's awesome. You’ll find that when you have an amazing product, right... Like, my product right now is so freaking awesome. (I keep adding some amazing... Oh, my gosh. I just added this really cool thing to it.) Another time, another episode, but oh, my gosh. And the success rate is just, like, skyrocketing because of it.

 

Anyway, when you actually figure out something really awesome, the path to a million bucks is not actually that hard.

 

I remember I was walking out, I think it was my last day at ClickFunnels, and Russell was like, "So, what's the goal, man?" And I was like, "A million bucks," and he goes, "You're gonna find out real fast that's not that hard," and I was like, "Oh, hahaha."

 

It's not that hard, let me just tell you right now. It's not that hard, oh, my gosh.  The funnel that I tossed out it was really, really quick, and revenue came in real fast. I was like, "Crap, I need systems to handle it," I don't want to become so systemized that the systems start outpacing the revenue…

 

I can feel it. I have an organization now. There's eight people on my team now. I have a full-time employee. I'm getting full-time support, full-time assistant. I'm setting up the structure so that I can go back to the funnel and be like, "Blow it up, baby, yeah, go, we're going to three." Does that make sense?

 

If you watch all these other Two Comma Club winners, they've gone through a very similar pattern. While we often study the funnel, which is great…  we study their marketing, which is great. Remember, though, to actually study their business and the structure of it.

 

When you're funnel hacking- you're not just hacking funnels, you're also funnel hacking the way they fulfilled on what the funnel was selling.

 

That's been part of what I've been doing heavily this last little bit. I mean, I've been studying my face off. I’ve got notes and papers all over the place, all over my desk right now. Because now I’ve got the revenue coming in,  I can build the actual systems and the processes to support even more revenue.

 

My structure as of two months ago couldn’t have handled much more. My structure now, though, it's getting a lot cleaner. I know that soon I'm gonna be able to just, like, scale, scale, scale, scale, scale.

 

What I've learned and what I've seen a lot of people do, is... If you look at the pattern of a lot of Two Comma Club winners, you'll notice that usually with a team of three to five people they'll run to a three million real quick.  

 

It’s different for every business, every industry, but the actual structure, the business structure allows them to get to that kind of place, usually pretty quickly with not many people on the team.

 

It doesn't take a huge team to do these things. Brandon and Kaelin Poulin, they just crossed 10 million dollars. They just had their first three million dollar month - crazy!  They've got 40 people on their team. However, it doesn't take these gigantic teams to make a significant amount of cash for your pocket.

 

So, real quick I'll tell you the roles and then my camera's gonna die…

 

Okay, so what I'm going for is, right, I am the main marketer, funnel builder, CEO, right. That's the position that I'm in.

 

I also have an affiliate manager. Right, that's my first full-time employee. Not support, right, not assistant. I want other cash generating people, right. That's all I want, right, where there's still structure. He's going out and he's my affiliate manager.

 

He's going out and he's creating relationships. We're doing another huge Dream 100 package drop. That's actually where he is right now. That's why he's not sitting there right now. He's at the post office, we're doing another big Dream 100 drop, and we got a lot of people excited to promote. He’s bringing in new blood. New blood as far as relationships goes.

 

Okay, so it's me as the funnel builder and marketer and attractive character. Right, that's the roles I'm trying to take on.

 

The next one, though, right, affiliate manager, and that actually was told to me by Russell. He said, "The next employee I would get, 100 percent man, go grab an affiliate manager and then grab an assistant, and then a support person."  Really that's it.  

If you're, like, shipping stuff out you might need a fulfillment person too. I'll probably maybe grab two support people so that they're almost around the clock.. That’s all I really need, right, as far as full-time people go.

 

've got six content people and I do have a bookkeeper, but those are like VA positions, they're not full-time on my books. They're on my books every month, but they're not W-2 employees. They’re 1099s.

 

As far as full-time W-2 employees that are actually like here with me I’ve got the affiliate manager and I’m  definitely gonna have a full-time assistant, and definitely gonna have full-time support. Because right now we're doing the support piece. He mostly is doing support and affiliate stuff, and that's kind of it. Those are the roles, it's really four roles that I'm going for for the business model that I love and am modeling. It's going great and everything's running how it should.

 

So, anyways guys, hopefully that was helpful to you? I just wanted to do a little bit of accounting so that you see where you are.

 

If you're feeling stuck, start  asking: "Is my funnel revenue outpacing my business?" - because they're not the same, right?

 

Or if you're like, "Hey, I've got this "sweet business and these cool systems "and structures and processes, but not enough revenue." Then go build a funnel.

There’s kind of this balance between one and the other. They're gonna have a hard time outpacing each other.

 

After a while the structure will get too weighty, you're not gonna have the cash to hold the system so the system will need to get leaner.

 

I don't like to build the business past the revenue. That's called debt and I personally am not a huge fan. I own my stuff. I don't want anyone else to own it. All right, hopefully this was helpful?

 

Just so you guys know what's going on with my team and how I'm actually building it out and actually putting it together....

 

My content team, they're freaking rockstars. I'm definitely gonna interview them so you guys all know who they are. Then over here on the W-2 side where I'm actually building out a full-time team, I backwards plan my structure.  I figure out how much money is that person gonna want a month? My hard costs right now are like 25 grand a month for my salary and my team’s salary. So hard costs right now, for the content team, for everything else, 25 grand a month.That's not bad at all. All right, sweet, done-zo.

 

So I've backed way off, built up the structures, got the systems in place- we're just vetting them right now. That's really all we're doing. Yesterday I talked to my amazing ads person and we're gonna go scale these ads like crazy and get them off the ground.

 

So, anyways, I just thought it would be kind of cool to show a little of the accounting so that you guys know what I've been doing, because my structure could not handle much more.

 

So, anyway, awesome stuff. The next road mark I fully expect we'll probably do the... This is me calling my shot, okay. Probably I think we're gonna hit the million by October at the latest.  I think we'll go to maybe 1.4, 1.5 by the end of the year.

 

That's me looking at where we are combined with the campaigns that we're putting in place, where I've seen them go before, where I've put them before. Anyway, we'll see what happens, but that's where I am right now.

 

It's kind of a different episode. I never realized that I would be in the role that I am as far as a systems builder, you know what I mean? I'm a funnel builder, but  now by necessity I'm also a systems builder - which has been great.

 

I'll talk to you guys later, please rate this podcast and review it, that helps me like crazy. I think that my podcast is one of the foremost podcasts on funnels, which is why I'm trying to push it hard and prove to iTunes that it matters.

 

So, please, please leave a review and share. That means the world to me, and I'll talk to you all in the next episode, bye.

Hey, thanks for listening, please remember to rate and subscribe. Want today's best opt-in funnels for free? Get your free opt-in funnel pack by going to SalesFunnelBroker.com/FreeFunnels to kick start your opt-ins today.



Jun 22, 2018

What's going on, everyone? It's Steve Larsen, and today, we’re gonna talk about how to compete with your Attractive Character.

 

I just spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million-dollar business. The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

 

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels. My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.

 

Guys, I'm pumped for today. This could be a bunch of fun.

 

A lot of guys know, I was really shy for a long time, right? And I've mentioned that many times, and some of you guys have said, that's not true, Stephen. No way that's true, right?

 

But I was. I was really shy for a long time. I would say I even had a near-clinical fear of adults. You know, I would see an adult, and I would physically move in a different direction - I did that for a time.

 

Even into my early 20s, I was pretty shy. It's not that I was like cowering, or  that I wouldn't speak to anybody else...

 

It's just that I was doing everything that I could to not engage with human beings. I don't know why I was that way. It’s not that I was really reclusive… or that I was sitting back all the time, going, “ugh, it's a person.” That's not how I was at all. But there was no way I would be getting on stage now. There was no way I would ever do something like a podcast. Just the thought of that would freak me out. To have a camera on my face right now, there's no way.

 

When I finally became cognizant that I was this way, I started noticing all these business people who were amazing leaders. I’d be, “oh my gosh, check out those guys... Look at him, he's so impressive. He speaks and things sway. I wanted to develop that skill.

 

I started doing things like door-to-door sales for the explicit reason of learning how to sell in scary environments. I started doing telemarketing, for the explicit reason of going in and learning how to sell hard in environments where you're constantly getting rejected.

 

I don't know that everyone has to go through this kind of thing, but for me, I chose to start molding who I was... and who I was trying to become. It was a really challenging thing to go through.  As I started getting more into it, I noticed that my ability to speak and to give sales messages started improving.

 

Several years before I started working for Russell, I realized that I needed to get even better at this whole stand and deliver concept. I wanted to work out how to become… I don't wanna say, ‘a leader’… How to become... a ‘follow-able person’. It's kind of like saying leader.

 

Anyway, but I was trying to figure out how to do that. Because from my background, and where I was coming from - that was an insanely hard thing to do!

 

I would take my computer and find videos of people on stage. I did this specifically with Russell Brunson's stuff. This was way before we ever knew each other personally. I would take his videos - videos of him on stage, and I would go in front of a mirror, mute the video of him, so I could see him, but not hear him. And he'd be making all these gestures and I would mirror him. I would mimic him.  

 

I’d be moving around all over the place, mirroring and mimicking everything he was doing. It was so weird. It was awkward. I know that it’s weird, but it was what I needed to start breaking out of the shell I was in.. It’s how ‘Steve Larsen’ was born.

 

Fast forward, I was working for Russell, sitting next to him; I was about 40-ish episodes into Sales Funnel Radio...  We were running this thing called the FHAT event - the Funnel Hackathon Event. People would pay 15 grand for three days, and I would teach for hours. I mean, man, it was a long freaking time!

 

Well, the very first FHAT event, we were vetting out the content, we were making sure that everything was awesome and solid. Then, right before Russell goes on stage, he turns around at me, and he goes, "Hey dude. Do you wanna introduce me?"

 

I always make it a habit to say “YES’ - especially when someone with a lot of influence asks me to do something…  My knee-jerk reaction is to say “YES!” and then figure out how to do it later. This attitude has brought me to some cool places in life.

 

At the FHAT event, the room's filled with loads of people - very successful people.There's like 60 people in there, and many millions - tens of millions - hundreds of millions of dollars, collectively inside of that room.

 

There's a lot of Russells inner circle - and they know what the heck they're talking about, right? I was like, crap, I gotta get on and introduce…

 

The whole role of somebody who introduces somebody else is merely to raise the state of the room so that when the speaker comes on, they don't have to raise the state of the room. They can just walk on and start presenting.

 

Otherwise, the speaker spends a whole bunch of time to do that. Russell told me, “that's your role.”  I was like, crap! How can I do that? It's not like Russell's low energy. How do I introduce Russell Brunson in a way that suits who he is? That suits his audience?

 

It was very challenging for me. I remember sitting there. I mean, he asked me three minutes ahead of time, to go on and do this. Immediately I was like, okay, is there a script? Is there like a format that good introducers use to bring on other prominent people? There's gotta be something. What can I do?

 

Russell walked over, and he said, "Hey, just make sure you raise the state of the room- that way, I don't have to."

 

I was like, oh crap. Okay, another huge task. Okay, sweet. Inside, I was like, oh, crap! He could tell I was stressing out. He knew that I had done all that stuff, like stand in front of a mirror with his videos muted,  just moving around and mimicking what he's doing.

 

He knew I’d done door-to-door. He knew I’d done telemarketing. He knew I’d done a lot of stuff and become good at them so that I could break out of my shell.

 

Instead of fight the fact that I was in a shell, I accepted the fact, and just did things to come out of it.

 

Knowing this, Russell turned to me, and this is what he said, and this is the reason why I wanna share this with you... Because it really, really, really matters:

 

He turned to me, and he said, he said, "Dude, "You model me. It's quite impressive how you model me. You model me to the ‘T.’ You do everything that I do. You model me so well, but you’ve got to have your own voice eventually. Just do it how you’d introduce me."

 

It's funny because I knew that answer, but for Russell to say it ‘in that way’, I really took notice.

 

At that time, I'd already been publishing. I'd already been doing a whole bunch of stuff. I would already say that I had, quote, unquote, found my voice.  However, when he said, dude, you gotta have your own ‘isms’, you gotta have your own character, you gotta have your own thing, I started thinking through, what makes ‘me’ me?

 

These were all quick thoughts that were hitting me as I'm about to walk on stage. I don't remember what I said, but it went great. The energy in the room got really high. It's half the reason I yell like crazy, guys. Those are all little things that I do on stage before bringing somebody big on, and, and it's a bunch of fun.

 

What does this have to do with anything? It has to do with everything....

 

Your business competes in the marketplace based on how much value it provides, right? You're very valuable if you answer a lot of questions, if you solve things for people, if you give things that people want, if you give things that people need (I suggest you go for the wants, not the needs - You’ll make more money). However, let’s start thinking through what value your business gives to the ecosystem - to the market? Because that's where you compete on the business side - with your strengths.

 

How can you be the best? How can you deliver more? How can you be more than the other guy? How can you do things in an entirely brand new, unique way? That's  what the business side competes on. Strengths.

 

Your Attractive Character, however, doesn’t compete on strengths. Isn’t that interesting? Let me explain…

 

In the first office that I was a part of with ClickFunnels, Russell and I would sit back to back. His computer and my computer screens were facing each other, so I could see his reflection in my screen...

 

I'd be building these funnels - In the first two months, I was totally mute. I didn't wanna say anything. I was like, this is freaking Russell Brunson, like, oh my gosh, look, Y'all, oh my gosh. He's gonna melt me with his marketing zeroes and ones, huh! I’d see his reflection in my screen 24/7 right there, I was like, don't say anything or you'll die. That was my mentality.

 

I remember my desk was a picnic table that was slightly too high, and my chair was slightly too low - so I get a lot of back pain 'cause I have kind of long arms. These details are burned into my head... I remember the way that room smelled, I remember the way it looked, I remember everything about that room. Over to my right, there was a book. I never read it, but it was called: ‘How The World Sees You.’ And on the back, it said two things. One of them was, “Don't compete on your strengths. Compete on your differences.” I thought that was really interesting.

 

The other one was, “You don't learn interesting, you unlearn boring.”

 

Now, I wanna look at those two phrases real quick. You have to understand that this is HOW your Attractive Character competes.

 

On the business side, you compete on strengths. Your business, the systems, the offer, the marketing.

 

But with your attractive character (which marketing bleeds into for sure) - You don't compete on strengths! Somebody will always be better, faster, stronger, right or  better-looking, right? Does that make sense?

 

Someone's always gonna be more talented. Someone's always gonna be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So on that measure, your attractive character will die.

 

It’s the fastest way to entrepreneurial suicide; to start competing with your attractive character on strengths because it’s never gonna be enough.

 

You start comparing yourselves to ideals. The problem with an ideal is that it’s fluffy, it's fictitious, it's out there. There's no way for you to know if you'll ever hit it... And because of that, it's not measurable - so it's not attainable.

 

As an entrepreneur you start spinning your wheels and comparing yourself to an ideal. To strengths. Don't do that. Don't do that.  I did that for a long time. I'm speaking from experience with this stuff. I did that for quite some time. It sucked. It was hard because you start saying things like, “man, I don't know if I'm ever gonna make this. Am I ever actually gonna be successful with this?” Right?

 

Every one of us has said that. Come on, I know we all have, right? Am I ever gonna, is something wrong with me? Oh my gosh, another two people made a million, you know, made the two comma club today. Crap. Gosh, dang it. Are you kidding me? Right? What's wrong with me?

 

Something must be wrong with me, because it’s not the funnel, it's not this, it's not that. It has to be me, right? And the entrepreneur starts to blame themselves because they're comparing themselves to where the other people are. They're comparing themselves to another person's business. That's a stupid comparison. Don't do it.

 

The way to move forward on the Attractive Character is to compare YOU to YOUR history. That's it. That is what keeps you from, from self-sabotaging, from literally burying yourself. It's like your brain eventually turns submarine mode, and it doesn't know how to go back up.

 

You start sinking-and going further, and further down. Oh crap, I can't get this, something must be wrong with me, because all these other people are getting it done.

 

You're comparing themselves with somebody's business. Stupid, dumb comparison. Because while a business competes on strengths, an attractive character competes on DIFFERENCES - YOU compete on your differences.  It is so much easier. My gosh, guys, you’ll save your sanity.

 

If you guys haven't been following me on Instagram, (I think you'll like it)... Monday morning, I always yell, and it's exactly what it sounds like. I yell. I get up, and I yell, whoo, yeah.

 

What I've been doing lately is having a whole bunch of you guys yelling back.  In the the highlights - Russell's in there yelling, Peng Joon's in there yelling - it's really fun.

 

Go check it out if you want to; you'll see what I'm talking about. But why do I do that? It's because it's what I would do anyway. I'm just me, but louder… That's the real trick with becoming an attractive character.

 

This internet business, does not exist for you to have to change into someone you’re not... Meaning there's this facade, right? There's this facade about what it means to be successful. I don't want any expensive fancy cars. Heh. Right? I'm not living in a mansion, urgh. Right? And there's this facade that's complete garbage when it comes to what it means to be successful on the internet. There's this persona that you have to go live. It's crap. It's complete garbage. Don't believe it. It doesn't make sense.

 

For those people who are doing it because that's who they truly are, great, I'm not poo-pooing on that. Like, that's great, okay, stay that course. That's awesome.

 

What I'm saying is those of you guys who are not naturally that way - you don’t have to pretend. If you want those things, that's awesome, but you don't have to pretend to be someone different to be successful.

 

I'm saying this because I've heard a lot of people say things to the equivalent of, I don't even own a briefcase, how can I be successful, urgh. Right? It's like, what? That's not what the game's about, right? Your business competes on strengths, but your Attractive Character competes on differences.

 

What makes me ‘me’ is how I compete; so I listen to music more openly, 'cause I'm always listening to music - my kind of music. I don't care if people don't like it because it’s one of the things that makes me different.  

 

On the business side, I can't say that though. When it comes to products, I need to have slight reactions to what the market wants me to build for them…

 

However, for the Attractive Character, that's not how it works. I can do all the quirky things I love to do. The little character traits that I have that make me a bit weird... those things that I don't necessarily want other people to see... Man, those are your freakin' superpowers. That's the stuff to go publish about.

 

Right now, I'm yelling into a camera in an office by myself. It would be weird for other people to come to see this. I don't care. Right? For a long time, I would've cared though, 'cause I had that same perception.

 

I was like, this is what it means to be successful in this business; I have to go have X, Y and Z over here. I need to have this kind of suit, and I must look this way, I must act this way. I must be slightly recluse from all of these other people and set myself apart…

 

(I still have to be a little bit reclusive sometimes, when I'm around other people,  just to recharge, but it's not for the same reason. Mentally, I have to recharge, 'cause there's a lot of questions 24/7 at events, you know. Whoo, and I'm like, whoa, I gotta separate and isolate for a second)

 

When I hear somebody say, “I don't know that I can be successful because I have a stutter” or I have this limitation or that limitation, or I'm dyslexic, or I have ADHD. Man, that’s just wrong!  

 

I had this counselor once tell me that I have a lot of tendencies of ADHD. And for a long time, I used to think that this was a hindrance. That's garbage. It's bullcrap.

 

Did you know that most billionaires are dyslexic? Seriously, go look it up. Richard Branson - the guy's dyslexic - it didn’t stop him.

 

Whatever it is about you - I'm not just talking about dyslexia, and you know, ADHD and stuff, whatever - I don't care what it is. Whatever it is about you that makes you feel incompetent- is actually a superpower. Stop acting like it’s a hindrance.

 

The beauty of the internet is that you can become who you are, even more, louder. You don't have to change you -  just be a louder you. That's what the attractive character is.

 

Instagram's kinda fun, 'cause I can do a lot of the little snapshots of what I'm doing throughout the day. I have a little dummy down there that I beat the crap out of. I'm gonna name it ‘Poverty’, so I can beat the crap out of ‘poverty’ every morning. It's really fun. But no one's telling me to do that. That's my own creativity and my own little weirdness kicking in. That's great for my Attractive Character.

 

What's funny is that if you try to go and you compete on strengths, if you try to be something that you’re not - IT WILL SINK YOU. You’ll have a tough time connecting with your audience. Your audience won't feel your authenticity if you're not being true to yourself. People can smell it. They can.

 

When you start having thoughts like, I don't know that I can do this because I have, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. Those things are the things that you should be publishing about!

 

Not that it's a pity fest. Not that you're walking around all the time, saying like, oh well, follow me, I'm terrible at this. I'm awful at that. That's not what I'm saying at all. The reason I can push so freaking hard, is because I do have some ADHD tendencies. I’ve got a lot of friends who can't do that. It is a superpower.

 

When I talk about this, all of you guys who feel the same way - you reach out to me and you say, I getcha. I feel ya. I'm with ya. I understand what you're saying. If I wasn’t willing to expose my vulnerabilities - the things that I feel I'm limited on - I wouldn’t be able to connect with you in the same way.  Does that make sense?

 

That is why I tell everyone to publish so much. Don't take on a persona that doesn’t feel like you. Just be you - louder.

 

While  businesses competes on strengths and the ability to give results, your attractive character competes on differences. You don’t need to compare yourself to somebody else. If you're comparing your business to somebody else’s, I don't see a massive problem with that, as long as you feel like you’re not your business. You know what I mean?

 

Sometimes in an agency setting you are the business. Well, that can be dangerous. You'd be like, well, I suck at this, I suck at this. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. Bad.

 

The reality is that you don't have the ‘systems’ in place to get those things done. That's not YOU!  It’s your business. Right? So get in the habit of running your critiques through a filter.

 

You need to ask’ “Is this a business-oriented adjustment, or is this just, who I am?”

 

On the business side; judge, and critique away. It’s your baby and it's always broken. Don't fall in love with it. But when you head over to the attractive character side; don't judge yourself on how you’re different.

 

Your difference is your superpower - it’s what lets you be you. It's what calls out your tribe and provides the blanket of security for the people who follow you. What makes you attractive, what makes you followable, is your ability to be open with the things that you're not amazing at, your little quirks, the things that you ‘like’ or ‘don't like’ -  the polarity that you have…

 

When I say, “I hate this” or “I love this” - It's very polarizing. When I say “I freakin' hate VC funding, I can think of 99% of businesses that probably didn't need it.” I understand that some people are not gonna like that, and that's okay because it's me. I'm totally fine with that.

 

So as you think about your attractive character, don't judge yourself. Don't come over here and be like, oh, I should change, I should be this, I should...

 

I'm always for self-improvement, but don’t tie your self-worth to the worth of your actual business. Don’t tie your self-worth to the value of your offer, or how many people you’ve helped - You are NOT the business.

 

If you’re in this scenario, you need to start separating your business from your attractive character. You can be an attractive character of the business. Every business should have one. However, you are NOT the New Opportunity. You are NOT the Offer. You are NOT the Cause. You ARE the Attractive Character.

 

Every mass movement needs an Attractive Character, a Cause, and an Opportunity. However, the attractive character is in its own category. The Cause and the Opportunity are separate too. They are not judged on the same report card as the Attractive Character.

 

Anyway, I think I've beaten this one down like crazy. I just wanna help entrepreneurs to stop beating ourselves up. If you’re not like everyone else, then good, great, awesome. Be louder about it! You'll find it’s actually an accelerant. It's a catalyst, an enzyme. *Other synonyms*. So that you can go forward faster. Boosh!

 

But only, if you're willing to be open about your differences - that's the key- and the caveat. Again, it’s not a pity fest. That's not what I'm saying at all. Those little quirks are the things that make you amazing and unique.

 

Anyway, I think I've said the same thing like 12 times now, but it's because I'm trying to hit it home! Now, I challenge you to sit down and start thinking about what makes you different. Either write it down - or just start being cognizant of it.

 

I like guns - there's a sniper rifle behind the camera right there. It's an Airsoft sniper rifle. I don't care about being politically correct - because it's me. So start writing down these things. Start being cognizant of who you are - and then be willing to share those differences.

 

It may require you to drop a wall that you’ve been building because you're afraid of people seeing the true you. “I'm not clean all the time… Sometimes I'm a slob, heh.” Whatever. I don't care, okay?

 

My garage downstairs, it's not painted. Urgh, it shouldn’t be on Instagram because it's not painted, right? I hate that kinda garbage. On stage the other day we were talking about the stack slide. We were talking about using certain scripts, and I was talking a little bit about this…

 

There's one great therapy known to help people get past the fear of doing these kinds of things. It's really interesting. So if you guys raise your arm out at a 45-degree angle in front of you. Next bend, right, at the elbow. So your arm's out 45 degrees, starting bending at the elbow, and then get your hand, kind of like right by your face. Kind of like right by your cheek right here.

 

While you have been watching this, while you have been listening to/ reading this, without you knowing, I have ‘ninja-ly’ (that's a new word)... Like a ninja, I’ve placed the most deadly spider on your face from South Africa, and it's gonna bite your face.

 

Okay, get that thing off. Just slap that face. Yeah, right, get it done. Get it out there, right?

 

I couldn't tell if it was offensive when I did it on stage, or if it was actually  really cool. But you got the point, though?

 

Just buck up a little bit, and you guys are gonna be awesome. I care about you so much, okay, so much. I think about you guys like, 24/7, and that's 'cause when I look back and see where I've gone, both from a revenue and a business standpoint - it's humbling, right? But I was not expecting all of this other stuff ‘mentally’ to have to happen.

 

Am I an attractive character? My attractive character has now come to a point and a spot, where it is... My business doesn't move past the level of my attractive character anymore. I now have to develop individually, personally, mentally because my business will not move past the level of my attractive character. It's fascinating.

 

Anyways, guys, I hope that that was helpful. It's a long episode. Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate it. Hopefully, this episode has made you cognizant of the power that you have inside of you. The power that’s already there.

 

All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye.

 

Please remember to rate and subscribe. Got a question you want answering live on the show? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now.



Jun 16, 2018

Just over two years ago, fresh out of college - having unexpectedly landed my dream job as 'Lead Funnel Builder' at ClickFunnels - I found myself sitting just feet away from my marketing hero, Russell Brunson.

 

For the first few months, I was practically mute. Looking back, I think I was in shock. Inside, my head was whirring and going crazy: 'Oh, my gosh, I'm sitting next to Russell Brunson. RUSSELL BRUNSON! Look it's Russell Brunson. I'm in the same room as RUSSELL BRUNSON...'

 

After a few cool moves to start a conversation: 'Hey, Russell, I nearly put a poster of you on my wall.'- *AWKWARD*- I decided that the best approach was to stay quiet and learn everything I could by watching the Master Marketer doing his thing.

 

It was fascinating to watch Russell's brain work; the incredible way that he’d create offers, recall marketing campaigns, get into the zone to brainstorm and solve problems. Each day I learned far more than I ever had in my whole Marketing Degree.

 

The main reason I started my Sales Funnel Radio podcast was to record all the nuggets that I was learning and pass them on.

 

Day after day, I'd sit there mesmerised, listening to Russell coach and talk with his inner circle. I'd listen to him advising all these massive gurus and influential people - as well as entrepreneurs who were just starting out. So much golden advice- I was a like a sponge soaking it all up.

 

After about three to four months, a funny thing happened - I started to notice patterns in the conversations that Russell was having. So one day, as he finished on a coaching call, I turned around to him and said: 'Hey, Dude, you're kinda  saying the same things over and over again.' And, he goes, 'Yeah!'

 

Now, if you're an expert in your field, you've probably noticed a similar pattern? You like to dive deep into your subject; you're obsessed with it.  

You have sooo much knowledge to pass on, but the problem is that a lot of the people you're serving don't need to go that deep with you.

 

They don't want to freak out and geek out the same way that you do - they just want to take the next step- or get to the next level.

 

So we had this idea to create a way to guide people from the ground up, on a step by step path, to create a million dollar company. From that point, Russell could take them EVEN HIGHER. It was a win/win solution.  

 

The entrepreneur got access to everything they needed to help them on the first part of their journey, and Russell got to spend less time on the basics, and more time in his zone of genius.

 

I spent six months going through twelve years of Russell's videos, and all of his content. I backward planned and organized the material into the exact steps needed for a million dollar business. We created a 200-hour membership area -  it was freaking huge and packed with VALUE... And that's how 'Secrets Masterclass' was born.



On its launch, Secrets Masterclass made a million in three weeks!  What was even more fun was that people who joined the program made a  million dollars too. A lot of people became hundred-thousandaires, while many others made money on the internet for the first time in their entrepreneurial life.  

 

It was such a success that we decided to take the material from the Secrets Masterclass and condense it into a three-day live event -'The Funnel Hack-A-Thon' (aka, The FHAT Event.) The FHAT event was loads of fun and got excellent results for the participants.

 

Then right before the 2018 Funnel Hacking Live in Orlando, Florida, Russell asked me if I wanted to go on stage to do a presentation (Hell, Yeah!)... The challenge was to take the material from the three-day FHAT Event and present it in ten minutes. Holy Smoke!

 

At first, I didn't think I could do it. It was soooo challenging. Luckily, my head is kinda geared towards sorting this stuff out - I love to take a complex subject and simplify it down to the essentials.

 

So I put on some music and got my brain into gear. I started at 4pm and didn't finish until 5am the following day. That's eleven solid hours spent creating a ten-minute presentation. CRAZY!

 

Hands up, guys - at the event I ran over time by seven-minutes (sorry, Russell). But you get the picture? Twelve years of teaching - turned into a two hundred hour membership site, then condensed to create a three-day live FHAT event, finally turned into a ten-minute (ok, *cough* seventeen minutes) presentation.

 

Well, all this condensing got me thinking…

 

Sometimes you have a fantastic product that you've been selling it face to face, but it's not selling online the way you want it to.

                  

Here’s the problem (and most entrepreneurs have been through this at some time):

 

You decide that you're going to sell a something - so you go out and find a product that is selling well. That's smart. That makes sense.

 

However, once you find your product, then you just kind of toss it out there and kind of hope that people start buying it. And that's the extent of your plan. I've definitely done that before… and then been shocked that no one's buying. Duh!

 

The truth is if you want to take less risk and make your product launches more successful - you need a better way.

 

A bit more work up front is the best way to ensure a launch that goes well, makes money while serving both you and your customer…

 

Often when things don’t go well, we think it’s a problem with the funnel. However, it's usually NOT a funnel problem. It's usually a marketing problem! If you can sell your product face to face, but you’re not making online sales, then you're just not doing the necessary ‘marketing’ to qualify your customers in a way that makes the sale easy.  

 

So, I started to wonder what would be the quickest way to help entrepreneurs create an effective Marketing Plan that would take away the guesswork and risk to bring in a constant stream of qualified leads.

 

I started distilling the material down again...

 

My goal was to find a way to design a marketing plan without having to go through two hundred hours of content.

 

Once again, it took me a whole night of obsessing, but by the time the sun came up, I’d created a two-page document that solved the problem. By filling in a two-page sheet, you can design your offer and the marketing that sells it.

 

It doesn't matter if you're selling face to face, or on the internet;                   this is the core stuff that anyone would want ever.

 

About three weeks ago, I taught this method at my own event. It took about six hours. I think that’s the fastest I can teach this while still being effective.

 

As I was watched people fill out the sheet I could feel the energy in the room change. Suddenly, I’d sense that someone in the front had got it - then another person and another - until the energy of the room was buzzing with people having breakthroughs.

 

It didn’t matter what kind of funnel they were building - whether it was free plus shipping book funnel, low ticket, high ticket, coaching, agency - it was the same process. It's still the act of selling and putting things together.

 

‘You need to start creating the marketing and designing the marketing before you freaking launch the product.

 

I know you might be thinking, ‘Yeah, Steve, that’s obvious!’... But let me ask you, ‘Do you actually do it?’

 

Before you even go into ClickFunnels and consider building a funnel - you need to take these steps:



Essential Steps Before You Build A Funnel

 

  1. Do not open your ClickFunnel Account ;-)

 

  1. Figure out what's selling and where? Identify the red ocean - what's the current offer that people are paying for?

 

  1. Discover the Story that’s selling those existing products, i.e., What's the sales message/ story that gets your potential customers to open their wallets?

 

  1. Design your New Opportunity. Your aim is to get the sales message to the point where somebody is so excited, that they’ll take their wallet, and whoosh, hurl it at you - then you know you’ve got a winner!

 

  1. Next, go obsess over the fulfillment of your offer.



Once you know that your sales message is good and the fulfillment of the offer is great, then you can freak out over all the bells and whistles of the funnel.

 

Obviously, you create a rough draft of the funnel to sell your product, but don't obsess over it.

 

Right now, my funnel is limping on one leg. It’s broken, I know it is. There's lots of stuff that's wrong with it, but I don't want to shift my focus away from what I’m working on yet.

 

Every time I say that people are shocked, ‘What? Why is your funnel broken, man? You were the lead funnel builder at ClickFunnels. Are you kidding? Why is your one funnel limping along?’

 

BUT that stuff doesn't matter. The funnel won’t make the sale. What makes the sale is THE SALES MESSAGE.

 

The success of your product has so much less to do with pages or what color the button is. On a page level that's great, but on a market level you need to figure out:

 

  1. What’s the current offer that people are paying for?

 

  1. What's the sales message that’s working to sell that offer?

 

That's all Funnel Hacking is. If you know those two things, you’ll have pretty much everything you need to create an opportunity. Then you go and design your New Opportunity before your actual funnel.

 

You need to be able to stand up and deliver the sales message so that people want to give you cash. It has nothing to do with being online or offline and EVERYTHING to do with your sales message.

 

The act of putting a product on the internet is just a method to market your sales message.

 

I love how Joe Polish talks about the difference between Sales and Marketing:

 

‘Marketing systematizes and automates selling. Marketing is selling in advance.’ - Joe Polish



Sales is an activity that happens face to face.

 

It's a whole bunch of logical closes as to reasons why people should act now:

 

  • It's 50% OFF

 

  • Buy one, get one free

 

  • You’ll get ‘this’ bonus

 

  • Act Now!



Marketing is how you get somebody to your face so you can sell to them

 

Marketing delivers people to your offer who are (to quote Joe Polish again):

 

  • ‘Pre- Interested’

 

  • ‘Pre- Motivated’

 

  • ‘Pre- Qualified’

 

  • ‘Pre- Disposed’




The great news is that the better you are at marketing, the less hardcore sales tactics you’ll have to use. Just think about that:

 

Marketing delivers people who are ready to do business with you. It’s the act of attracting pre-qualified people in an automated way

so that you don’t have to knock doors or cold call to find them.

 

In my opinion, selling is the most prestigious career out there, but marketing will take you to the next level.

 

When I buiIt my first ever  funnel in ClickFunnels, we didn't have  the $97 a month. So we put everything together before we even pushed ‘go’ on the two-week trial.

 

We designed the funnel. We designed the offer. We designed the videos. We wrote the copy. We had to build the funnel and get customers before ClickFunnels started to bill us. And that’s how we did it.

                   

If I think back through on every successful funnel I've ever had, I’ve taken the time to design the marketing before I ever build the freaking funnel - Every Single Time!

 

If you've got products that are not doing as well as you want, then take a step back and look at your marketing.

 

You've got to get into the psyche of the person who's leaving the red ocean. You've got to know the psyche of your prospective customers.

 

Anyways, I'm excited. I want to do an event where you’ll be able to work through this two-page document with me. You’ll design your sales message, your story and your offer in a way that attracts customers easily from the red ocean.

 

It doesn't matter what funnel you apply it to; this is the first step that you need to take before you even open ClickFunnels...

 

My wife is due to have our third kid any day now. She keeps having contractions, and I'm going to sleep with an eye open so that I can be ready. I don’t exactly know when the event will be, but I’m thinking sometime in August - so stay tuned, and I’ll let you know.

Until next time- Go Crush It!

 

Want me to speak at your next event or mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.

Jun 12, 2018

The Purple Ocean

A few days ago I was in San Diego preparing to go on stage. If you’d seen me, (and I’m kinda glad you didn’t), you might have thought I was a bit strange.

There I was with my headphones on, eyes closed, intently focused on getting into the zone. Pacing around the room to music like a crazy person.

I love speaking because there's a sort pressure cooker effect that happens before I talk on stage.

Somehow my neurons start firing extra fast, and all these ideas begin to percolate in my head.

I become obsessed with how to get my message across clearly and in the most beneficial way for my audience.

If you’d been a fly on the wall... (shhh) you might even have seen me dancing.

I do whatever it takes to get those connections firing in my brain. I’m fixated with making hard to chew concepts as SIMPLE and exciting as possible...

‘Cause ‘ain't nobody loves a yawn fest.’

So, picture me, shaking my moves and freaking out about the Red Ocean versus Blue Ocean idea that Russell talks about in Expert Secrets. It’s such a great concept!

The Red Ocean is a PROVEN Market.

The Red Ocean is safe because you already know that people want the product. However, it's risky because tough competition means that you'll have to compete on price.

So the chances of you making a whole lot of money are slim - #urrrgh!

The Blue Ocean is a NEW OPPORTUNITY for your market!

The Blue Ocean is where you'll find yourself if you create an offer that's prolific - Something different to what’s already out there.

Sure, there's a lot less competition... BUT, you’re still taking a RISK - because your offer isn't proven. How do you know if anyone actually wants it... or what they’re willing to pay you for it??? *Fatal Flaw Alert*

Then, it hit me:

Here’s the Equation:

Red Ocean = Product Security + Intense Competition = RISK

Versus

Blue Ocean = No Competition + Less Market Security = RISK

‘Holy Batman... It’s Catch 22!’

So, what do you do…

How do you combine the Security of the Red Ocean with the Opportunity of the Blue Ocean? Can you minimise risk, serve more people and MAKE MORE MONEY?

Is it even possible?

Relax!

This is where my pacing, dancing, and obsession pays off ;-)

‘Welcome to the Purple Ocean of Opportunity’

The Purple Ocean is a mixture of the Red & Blue Ocean…

Think about it...

You mix the best aspects of the Red and the Blue Ocean together, and you create the Purple Ocean!

‘The Purple Ocean provides the Security of the Red Ocean with the Opportunity of the Blue’

So, you might be thinking, ‘Yeah, this sounds great Stephen, but how does it work?

Let me explain:

Recently, when I’ve been putting together my offers, I’ve been using the Purple Ocean Concept to great effect.

My students have been feeling it’s impact too. It’s sooo incredibly powerful!

How to Create a Purple Ocean Offer

When you create an offer, make sure that you take elements from the Red Ocean and combine them with elements from the Blue Ocean that you want to guide your customers towards.

The mixture of the elements from the Red and Blue Ocean creates a Purple Ocean Offer. This provides the SECURITY and SAFETY of the Red Ocean while gently guiding your customer over to the prolific NEW OPPORTUNITY of the Blue Ocean - where you have more control and less competition.

Your customers will often guide you and let you know which elements from the Red Ocean are needed to help make them feel safe and secure.

Entrepreneur’s Dilemma

‘If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.’ - Henry Ford

It’s fascinating to look at the significant industry shifting products, like the iPhone, because they often follow the same Purple Ocean method.

Steve Jobs had a vision of what was possible. He produced an entirely revolutionary product. However, he made sure that his product fulfilled the needs of Red Ocean customers as well as the those of the more innovative early adopters.

‘You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.’ -Steve Jobs

Jobs, recognised the same issue as Ford.

As an entrepreneur, you need to do the same.

It’s your job to hold a vision of what’s possible for your customers - while adding the safety and familiarity of Red Ocean elements to your offer.

That way you help your customers to transition to your New Offer in a stress-free way.

For Example:

If your customers are convinced that the only way to make phone calls is with a mobile service provider, then you have to make sure that your offer includes the SECURITY of that service.

You can then throw wifi calls and facetime into the mix - and gradually win them over to the NEW and the prolific.

Freaked out, scared customers who are unsure of your product are the least likely to part with their cash. They’ll refuse to buy into your vision - however amazing it is.

They’ll keep their money in their wallets until they find a solution that fits their preconceived ideas.

Think about how many people resisted getting an iPhone (or even a Smart Phone) when they first came out! It was just too much for them to take on board: ‘Why would I want to facetime anyone- my phone is enough for me.’

Looking back on my MLM product, this is exactly the approach I took:

A customer would reach out and say, ‘Steve, this looks great… but does it do ‘this’?’

Very quickly I began to notice the elements I needed to add to convince my customers to buy. It was always elements from the Red Ocean, so I’d pull them in and add them to my stack …

And without knowing it, I created a Purple Ocean where they could feel both safe and excited. BOOM!

Even with a small ad budget, my product made $100,000 in its first month, and $25,000 - $50,000 each subsequent month.

It’s doing really well... Even with a ‘broken funnel’ (more about that in my next post)...

One of the main reasons for this success is the Purple Ocean that my product is swimming in!

So before you create an offer stack…

Ask yourself these questions:

Are your customers looking at your offer in a suspicious way because it is too prolific/ new/ revolutionary?

What is the ‘current’ Red Ocean norm and is your offer too far away from it?

What elements from the Red Ocean can you add to your stack to help your customers feel safe - to help them make the transition to your Blue Ocean more easily?

Honestly, try it - I think you’ll be amazed at the structure and clarity it will give your offer creation.

And, most importantly, the effect that creating a Purple Ocean of Opportunity will have on your wallet!

I know this is going to help you CRUSH IT with your offer creation. Until next time… Go Kill It!

If you want me to speak at your next event or mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to SteveJLarsen.com and book my time now.

 

Jun 5, 2018

This is quite an emotional post for me.

 

I’m sitting in a hotel room in San Diego. It’s the hotel where we've been doing an event for the ClickFunnels ‘Two Comma Club’ Coaching Program. It’s been an intense few days - loads of fun, but extremely busy.

 

On Thursday and Friday, I had my own event.  On Sunday, I took a flight to San Diego and finished some big projects. Then on Monday night, I stayed up until 2am to complete the slides for my ‘Two Comma Club’ presentation on Tuesday.  It’s been event after event after event. Kinda crazy, but I really enjoy it.

 

Today, I’m sitting in my hotel room feeling tired. Tired, but incredibly grateful. I’m looking out over San Diego Bay and thinking about how much my life has changed. If you've been to San Diego you’ll know that the bay is beautiful - it’s absolutely amazing.  When I walked into my hotel room, I saw it had these windows all over the place and a fantastic view of the whole bay. I actually started crying - because only two years ago, I'd bootstrapped my way to San Diego to attend Funnel Hacking Live. And… it was THAT event that changed my life.

 

In the grand scheme of my lifetime - two years is no time at all. Seriously, I can hardly believe that two years ago my family struggled to afford anything more than the basics of life. Financially, things couldn't be more different now. However, more than the financial changes, I can't believe how much I've changed as a person. I can't believe all the things that have happened to me- and the lessons that I've learned.

 

From my room, with the amazing windows, I can see the hotel where the 2016 Funnel Hacking Live Event was held. It's right there between two of the buildings in front of me - that's why I cried. So many memories came flooding back.

 

 




You probably know the story of how I broke I was in 2016; I had a young family to support and seventeen failed businesses to my name. All of which doesn’t make you feel great. I had people depending on me, but I just couldn't get things to work out the way I wanted them to. I think most entrepreneurs have a similar story. It's not like you get taught this stuff in school. Most of us just kinda 'try it’ until we find out what works and what doesn't work. What sells and what doesn't sell. We go through a process of elimination. Man, but sometimes, it’s tough.

 

In March 2016, I was determined to get to Funnel Hacking Live. I didn't have enough money, so I’d decided that I’d adopt the entrepreneur's attitude that Robert Kiyosaki talks about. I decided to get resourceful, and get myself to Funnel Hacking Live anyway I could.'

 

“Never say you cannot afford something. That is a poor man’s attitude. Ask HOW to afford it.” -Robert Kiyosaki



I knew that if I could just find a way to get to FHL, that my life would change. Looking back, I had no idea how much - but somehow, I knew that it was imperative for me to go. So I got resourceful and bartered funnel builds for a ticket, followed by flights and hotel rooms.

 

I was so pumped when I made it to FHL.  But even when I got there, things weren’t exactly easy. I didn't eat much - because I couldn't afford to. I cycled to the event on one of those city bikes. You know, those little street bikes. I literally took my luggage, put it over my shoulder, and while I was balancing it over my shoulder, I pedaled all the way around the bay to the event.  I didn't have much cash, and what little I did have, I wasn't gonna spend on a freakin' taxi.

 

Imagine how I feel today-

 

From my gorgeous hotel room with all the windows and the view of the bay, I can even see the hotel where I stayed in 2016.

 

The hotel that I didn’t barter enough for a bed in for my final night. The hotel where I spent a night sat in the lobby going over my FLH notes like they were gold dust because I didn’t have a room. Those notes meant everything to me- I didn’t want to forget anything I learned. I didn’t have a bed, but I felt rich and excited in so many other ways.

 

Last night, I stood at my hotel window watching the ships going out on the bay, and I got a bit introspective. I stood there for a long time thinking. Then suddenly, the thought came into my head, 'Man, how did this all happen? How did I go from a broke college student struggling to support his family to the Lead Funnel Builder at Clickfunnels, then to running a successful business with so many opportunities around me all the time?'

 

I felt a bit shell shocked- so I went for a walk around the pier, right out there, eating Haagen-Daz and talking to my wife about how it all happened. It's just fascinating for me to think through all the pieces that brought us here. And the more I started to think about it, the more I realized that:

 

'I don't think I'd actually be here if I'd had money to get to Funnel Hacking Live 2016.  I don't know that I would have treated everything that Russell said with so much conviction at that event - if I'd had the cash to get a taxi.'

 

Interesting, isn't it? That the pursuit of my dream to get to FHL is what actually opened the gateway for all these other cool things to happen.  That the pursuit of hard stuff is what got me to where I am now. It’s why it's all worked out. Let me explain...



THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY

 

In my office, I have a wall full of quotes that I use to inspire me and keep me on track. One of then is from Ryan Holiday (I totally recommend his books btw). Anyway, this particular quote has come to mean a lot to me. It kinda symbolizes my journey in so many ways. And when I talk to other successful entrepreneurs, they always have the same story.

 

'The obstacle is the way' - Ryan Holiday.

 

This is such a useful mantra to have in your life. For instance, every time I don't know what to do, I make an effort to think about where the blockage is- and it's always in the pursuit of solving the problem that I move forward. Everything else that I try to do is just an easy distraction. Each time I overcome an obstacles, not only does my business grow, but it also adds to my attractive character- which helps people to relate to me even more. In short, the path of the obstacle ALWAYS ends up being ‘the thing’ that I needed all along.

 

I don't know that I'd have been hired at ClickFunnels if I’d had the money to get to FHL. I wouldn't have ferociously built funnels for other companies in exchange for tickets, flights and hotel rooms. I learned ClickFunnels so freakin' well by not having the cash. I had no other option. Before I got my fourteen-day free Clickfunnels trial, I planned out an entire funnel to make sure that I could start building straight away. Then I kissed my wife goodbye and hid in a room for two weeks. I worked solidly because I needed paying customers before my trial was up. I learned at a ferocious, desperate pace because of this limitation.

 

When I saw an advert for Funnel Hacking Live, I knew that we didn't have the cash to get me there. I could have got all despondent, but instead, I decide to lean into the obstacle and get resourceful. I remember thinking: 'How can I make this work? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make it work.' It was this resourcefulness that gave me all the background, all the experience and all the stories that sold Russell on why I should be his guy.

 

So if you have some limitation right now,  if you have something that's standing in your way - whether it comes in the form of self-doubt or financial constraints - I want you to lean into it, get resourceful and find a way. Give yourself that gift.

 

 

PICKING YOUR OBSTACLE

Obviously, you need to be careful that you don’t just select obstacles randomly. You need to consider the following points:

 

  1. First of all figure out where you're trying to get to, and even if you don't have like a clear picture, just kind of a general idea what it is you're trying to go for is enough.

 

  1. Secondly, make sure any obstacle you pick is ‘on purpose’ and will help you to achieve your goal - don’t get distracted by things that only give you an excuse to avoid the actual thing that you don’t want to do, i.e, ‘I think I’ll design a logo’- when what you really need to do is get visible and publish.

 

  1. Thirdly, ask: Will overcoming this obstacle add to your attractive character/ story/ or hook?

 

  1. Fourth, remember that attractive characters compete on differences. You're competing on you evolving your own self.



LIVING YOUR HOOK

 

I remember biking to the first day of FHL with this distinct thought in my head:

 

'I’ve given so much to be here that’ll do whatever Russell tells me to do- except I will never publish.’

 

And funny enough, lo and behold, I go, I go to that very first day bright eyed, bushy tailed. I get to the event, and I'm like, 'Hey I'm here to learn, I'm here to execute and take action.’ Then literally, on the very first day, Russell stands up and tells everyone, ‘You’ve gotta start publishing like crazy!’ And I was like 'Crap! I don't wanna do that. Are you kidding me? That's the exact thing I said I didn't wanna do. I don't wanna do that. There's no way I'm gonna do this.'

 

I was so freakin' shy. Seriously, I got the 'nicest guy' in school award purely based on the fact that I hardly said anything. Inside I was a teenage rage machine, but nobody knew that because I didn't tell them. I just stayed quiet in my own little world. Not exactly premium podcasting material, you might be thinking?  Now with my podcasts combined, they're crossing 160 thousand downloads. It blows my mind. It's only been a year and a half.  Eighteen months of me practicing becoming the attractive character in front of you- rather than waiting to be perfect. I'd never have learned half the lessons I have if I'd waited until I was READY (ahem- maybe never) to start publishing. And that's one of the reasons I love and appreciate every one of you guys- because you've been with me on the journey. I have such a huge following, and it's because I didn't wait to be the expert or the guru to start publishing and you can relate to me with all my challenges and limitations. Even though I didn’t want to Idid it exactly as Russell said. Even though it didn't come naturally to me and it was the LAST THING I wanted to do at the time. It took me until around episode 85 to finally find my flow. Just imagine what would have happened if I'd given up before then!

 

What I'm trying to help you understand is that whatever your limitation is right now, whatever you've got to go through, just do it. Lean into it, not away from it. Don't pull back. These are the things that will create the crazy hooks that you can use as stories later on in your life and business.





'Completely broke college student goes to work at Russell Brunson’s side. He then leaves his secure nine to five in the best company ever to follow his dreams and make his own million dollar funnel.'

 

 

 

It's a good story, right? Or what about:

 

'Pathologically shy person, who hardly ever spoke, overcomes his fears of speaking in public and hits 160 thousand podcast downloads in only eighteen months.'

 

Sounds good, right?

 

I had to live both of those stories for them to actually become real hooks and mean anything.

 

When I coach, I notice that a lot of people aren't willing to live the crazy hook. It's not that they have a lack of things that could be amazing hooks, it's that they're not willing to live the path that makes the hook real. So I just want you to understand how key this concept is.

 

It's kinda like the 'Fit to Fat to Fit' guy. He was super fit, and nobody believed that his methods could help them lose weight. He just wasn’t believable. They thought: ‘Yeah, you’ve always been slim and healthy - it’s easy for you- but it won’t work for me.’  So to prove them wrong, he spent a lot of time overeating. He got really really overweight. He did it on purpose. Then he invested a whole bunch of time to get fit again-  just to prove that it was possible for anyone to lose weight using his methods. He was willing to live his hook.

 

Are you willing to live your hook? If you're selling yourself- or your expertise - and people are buying into YOU, then you've got to be willing to Live Your Hook. Those places in your life where you feel stuck, use them as a challenge. Come up with some crazy ridiculous way to get around it. That's your hook. Live that. Then be willing to document your journey along the way. Don’t worry about being perfect or getting everything right… Perfection doesn’t create an attractive character who people find it easy to love, follow, believe in… AND, eventually buy from.




Leaning into my limitations meant that when I went to FHL, I was already an expert funnel builder. Two days later I'm sitting across from Russell Brunson being interviewed. Twenty minutes after that I got the job offer. Two days after that I graduate from college. Two days after that I was sitting next to Russell as his Funnel Building Assistant. The truth is that you can't always see the opportunities that are just around the corner...  Or what opportunities may come your way because you've faced an obstacle and pushed your limits...

 

During my interview with Russell, he asked me about my history with ClickFunnels.  I know that they checked out my ClickFunnels account hardcore to make sure that I was already a good builder. If my limitations hadn’t meant that I had to get good at building funnels fast, I wouldn’t have had an impressive portfolio to show him - and I probably wouldn’t have got the job.

 

The whole point of  writing this is that I want to challenge you to look at your limitations in a different light. Start seeing them as they way forward instead of something to be avoided. Use them as fuel to move forward, instead of a weight to hold you back. Remember: ‘The Obstacle is the WAY.

 

Thanks for reading. I have to go now as my wife is literally due to give birth any day soon. The event just ended and Dave was like “Hey man, do you just wanna fly home tonight?" And I was like "Yes. Absolutely in case she goes into labor.” So I am heading home right now. I'm packing up my bags, and I'm gone in just a few minutes. I’m actually gonna miss the flight unless I leave right now! Alright guys, talk to you later. Bye. Go kill it.




Got a question you’d like me to answer live on my podcast? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now.











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