The biggest mistake I see people make when approaching others of influence is they enter the relationship without adding value to the other.
This is my campaign I used to approach Russell Brunson about Keynoting at OfferMind 2019...
HOW RUSSELL BRUNSON HELPED ME CREATE OFFERMIND
I wanted my own event real bad, so last year, when Russell Brunson came out with his 30-Days Book, I decided to piggyback off the launch to build my event.
Each affiliate received a $100 for each person who signed up through their link.
375 people bought the book through me which meant that I could use that income to create a sweet event.
Each person who bought the 30 Day Book with my link also got a free ticket to my first OfferMind.
We found a room that would hold 180 people, and about 160 RSVP’d to get tickets.
There's always a 5 - 10% no-show rate on all events, no matter what you do (crazy, I know), so on the day, we ended up with roughly 150 showing up, which is pretty good for the first time.
I know that OfferMind is an event that I will probably do each year, so I wrote down my dream list of potential speakers on my whiteboard.
You can guess who was top of that list, right? ;-)
HOW NOT TO PITCH YOUR DREAM 100
People have asked: “Stephen, you’re friends. Why didn't you just ask Russell to speak at Offermind?”
Well, first of all, I’d NEVER leverage a relationship for the sake of my business. So I'm gonna do EVERYTHING I would normally do to Russell that speaking at OfferMind was a GREAT idea.
I created a full-out stack and offer for him with closes, calls to actions, AND a fast-action bonus!
If you're gonna ask an influencer to do something, you better go the freakin' distance.
The absolute worst way to get someone to speak at your event (especially a dream 100 influencer) is to send them a message and say, “You wanna speak at my event?”
I've been asked to speak at two events recently, where I can tell my name was just being used to fill their event.
I will NEVER do any business with those individuals the rest of my life, they burned the bridge so hard.
You're gonna NOT get an influencer to show up for your business by walking up and saying, “Hey, you being coming to my event would truly be awesome for me and my business.” That's stupid!
You need to make your OFFER amazing and speak their language.
That's exactly what I did with Russell Brunson, and thankfully he agreed. I'm really pumped!
The reason I'm sharing this with you is two-fold:
#1: I want you to come to OfferMind.
#2: I want to show you how to approach a Dream 100 influencer
Next, I’m gonna go through the script and offer I created for Russell to show you how I presented it, but if you wanna download the script, all you gotta do is get a ticket for OfferMind.
I'm handing the script out to each person who grabs a ticket at OfferMind.com.
PITCHING MR RUSSELL BRUNSON
So, instead of just asking Russell straight out… I started dropping hints.
My first move was to send him a Vox saying, “I'm NOT asking you to speak at OfferMind, I'm just telling you I'm trying to think of ways to get you to speak at OfferMind.”
I was kinda messing with him, and surprisingly, he messaged back, and said, “I want sushi while getting a massage.”
I said, “As long as it's not me doing them, yeah.”
So two days later, I walked into his office with a masseuse gift certificate from his favorite masseuse and sushi for the entire ClickFunnels office.
I also wrote a sales script and created a stack slide to pitch him on keynoting at OfferMind.
I wrote out the vehicle, internal and external related false beliefs that I knew he’d go through when I asked him to keynote at my event.
I went through the whole marketing process and created an offer and wrote a full freakin' script. I probably spent five hours writing it.
This was a spawn of my brain. Sometimes that's great, and sometimes it's dangerous... right now, it's great.
Here’s how I did it…
CREATING AN OFFER FIT FOR RUSSELL BRUNSON
I took Russell’s webinar script which he knows inside out, (I use that script a lot too), and I went slide by slide from the stack slide on, to create an entire script.
What you’re gonna get when you choose to keynote at OfferMind 2019. The first thing you're gonna get when you commit to keynote at OfferMind 2019:
#1: First, you're gonna be the featured keynote speaker, with ads, paid content, hyper fans all promoting the event.
Also, Steve's personal closing team will be calling his audience after any purchase throughout the year leading up to the OfferMind event to sell 'em tickets. Whoa!
*On the right side, I added in a lot of trial closes which imitate what you'd expect a person's brain to be going through as I'm speaking...
It’s a two-sided conversation that I'm having both with Russell, but it’s also what’s going on inside of his own head.
#2: Secondly, you're gonna get more paid traffic to your One Funnel Away Challenge, Steve's ad team will drive paid traffic to each of your One Funnel Away Challenges throughout the year.
Each One Funnel Away buyer who buys through Steve's affiliate link will get credit for an OfferMind ticket where they'll further get ClickFunnels indoctrination from Stephen.
Wow, that's pretty awesome, right? Now you're probably thinking…
(Okay, now, I'm starting to hit secondary objections.)
Right now, you're probably thinking, “Is Steve Larsen or OfferMind even big enough for my level of influence?
(That's a vehicle-based objection right there, I'm hittin' it on the head.)
And... “Could the decision to speak threaten my status as the CEO of ClickFunnels?”
You're probably thinking that right? Great question! We thought of that too. So, the third thing you're gonna get…
(And so there's literally a piece of the offer combating each one of those objections exactly as I’d do in any script.)
#3: So, the third thing you're gonna get high-end stage and event designers with professional media coverage to make this the coolest experience.
Steve has already hired the same A/V companies that do a lot of the Funnel Hacking Live and Two Comma Club X stages and they'll put on the event so the caliber will match your caliber.
Steve's caliber will match your caliber.
We'll also have professional photographers and videographers taking pictures, recordings, and B-roll that we'll turn over to you afterward for your own use.
(He's always looking for cool B-roll.)
You'll have your own custom backdrop and smoke that comes out. The crowd will be chanting, “Russell, Russell, Russell,” with Seven Nation Army blaring when I invite you onstage.
Additionally, the audience will be wearing the same Funnel Hacking or funnel promoting t-shirt like a uniform... which I will provide.
If that isn't enough, Steve will personally yell in the face of anyone NOT absolutely going nuts when you walk up.
*Um, my jaw just dropped* Are you starting to imagine how epic you're gonna look on the stage of OfferMind?
If you listen carefully, you probably already can hear them chanting, right? “Russell, Russell!”
BUT if you're like me, you're probably thinking, “Ah but, what would I even talk about?”
(I know he's gonna think that)
*How do I know? Because I sat in a room with him for two years. He's gonna go, “Um, I don't even know what to talk about? That's alright I'll figure it out later.”
I know he's going to say that, but I wanna make sure I answer that concern as well. It's very much an internal-based concern:
“I can see OfferMind would be a cool thing to do, but what would I talk about? Do I have the personal capacity to jump in and do that?”
He's gonna wanna over-deliver. So the objection is gonna be content focused, and what’s he gonna talk about? So I'm gonna bring that up ahead of time.
Ah, but what are you gonna talk about... and for how long?
#4: So the fourth you're gonna get topic and length autonomy. You'll have 500 - 800 people in the room...
*We're going for 500 to 800 people (if it’s possible with the event space). I'm sure we'll figure it out... but 500 people at least is what we're goin' for.
Steve will be speaking the full first day, and we'd like you to keynote on day two. You'll be the last speaker and have total control on what you talk about and how long you wanna go.
Feel free to test new material or talk about anything you want, but at the end of your speech…
(Okay, now I'm gonna tie into something that he wants)
It's not just WHAT does Steve Larsen want... It's HOW can I make my purposes align with Russell Brunson's purpose?
*If you're trying to Dream 100 somebody, aligning with their purpose is a major key...
At the end of your speech, Steve would like some time to interview you on-stage, sitting on couches, about your new Traffic Secrets book... releasing a few months before or after OfferMind... Feel free to pitch him!
Already, as one of your top product affiliates, Steve will drive heavy traffic to your new book using that interview you do with him onstage.
At the end, the crowd will go nuts and cheer you offstage. Steve will take a few open questions as you leave through our secret backstage door to avoid swarming.
(I know he's concerned about that, so I'm gonna put that in)
Woo! I don't know about you, but this is getting pretty amazing, right? By now you're starting to see how insane this all will be, right? Luckily, Steve is a safe bet too…
As a busy CEO, you're probably saying inside…
(Here comes the external-based concern)
... “I might not have the time or mental bandwidth to add another thing in my life.” Right? So here's the fifth thing in the offer.
#5: You're gonna get your choice of the actual event date to fit your schedule.
(Oh! There's the one-two punch, right!)
Q: What's the biggest reason someone would probably NOT be able to come speak or keynote when they want to?
A: Scheduling! So what if I just let him choose the schedule?
Steve isn't here to add stress and understands firsthand what you do and the speed of your office. He doesn't expect you to stay the whole time or try to sprint from one thing to the next just to squeeze in a stressful pitch or speech.
Keep it all simple by telling him what day works for you, he'll plan the event date around you.
Oh, and don't worry about travel either, a limo will pick you up from ClickFunnels headquarters and take you to the event room where you'll be greeted by Steve and taken to your private room.
Prüvit Ketones, (which he loves, I love, I drink every day) Bullet Bars, Quest Bars, Hydrogen water will be chilled and waiting for you in a private retreat and recharge room.
Bring anyone you like with you, and the limo will take you back when you're ready.
*Now I know that he doesn't wanna even think about travel. So I'm gonna take care of that. Even though it's local, I'm gonna send a limo to pick him up ‘cause he's the man.
Dang, this sounds super awesome, right? This sounds like a no-brainer! What will everyone think when the limo arrives to pick you up? Imagine their faces.
Imagine stickin' it to that daycare next door; can't tell you where to park, right?
(There's a daycare right next to ClickFunnels that's a little bit moody about where you park. So I threw in a little humor here)
This will be one of the easiest and coolest speaking experiences you've ever had.
HE SAID, YES!
I want you to see like what lengths I went to to make this happen:
Then in the office, on-camera, in front of a bunch of people, I read this script to him:
Just to recap, here's what you're gonna get when you agree to keynote at OfferMind 2019:
Dang! That's a really good deal, but wait, there's MORE... on top of everything above... if you confirm with Stephen soon, (so he can start preparations), you'll also get:
Man my face is starting to melt. This offer is too cool, OfferMind must teach really cool offer creation methods. I just wish Steve let this offer last forever.
The total value of this offer is incalculable. It's too awesome, but unfortunately, it can't last long due to overexposure of pure awesomeness.
So, to take advantage of the positive effects this offer will have on your:
….just open up your phone right now and Vox Steve the phrase, “On like Donkey Kong.”
Again, that's, “On like Donkey Kong” to get started now.
Luckily for you, we've recently started accepting talking or typing options on Voxer.
Now, Steve had two options when he made this offer …
(I went and I grabbed a lot of the closes he likes to use in webinars)
The first was to go as weak sauce as possible, be a little pansy, be a little Sally, and approach you with the question, “Will you speak at my event?” in a stupid dumb voice with no value added back to you.
But that wouldn't really incentivize you to agree to this…
... and Steve's beard would shrink two sizes too small.
The second option was to make it as cool and memorable as he could be dumping all profits from his One Funnel Away affiliate earnings into a sick, awesome, kick sissies in the teeth event where you can nerd out to whatever level you want.
Now let me ask you a question:
Steve knows you…
He knows you're gonna spend hours behind your computer promoting your new book when it launches...
Why not spend some of that time in an awesome, local, professional location with a swarm of people who already know, love and buy from you?
Again, get started on this risk-free offer now, simply open up your phone and Vox Steve the phrase, “On like Donkey Kong.” Again, that's. “On like Donkey Kong.”
(He has a shirt that says that and he loves it. He says that phrase a lot.)
To make it even easier, Steve has already Voxed you this phrase. You don't even need to type it, just forward it back to him.
Remember, this offer won't last forever!
Just think, what's one extra Traffics Secrets book buyer worth to you? $7.95, $9.95, or even $50,000 each and every year.
What would that do for you and your family?
Imagine getting that new BioHacking test, or even a second Cryosauna, which you can shove Steve in again.
( There are a few inside jokes… I'm gonna skip some bits here)
Remember, this isn't a cost, it's an investment!
Just open up your phone right now and Vox Steve the phrase, “On like Donkey Kong,” to get started.
Agents are standing by for your Vox.
Again, to keynote at OfferMind, simply pick up your phone right now and look at it, let it recognize your face, look at it, open up the Voxer, and tell Steve, “On like Donkey Kong,” (talk or type accepted) and Steve will handle the rest.
Remember, you're just one Vox away.
THE DREAM 100
On my Dream 100 speaker list, along with Russell Brunson, I have:
These are all some of the best *living* offer creators. I don't know anyone beyond that list, that's really it…
I’ll reach out to Dean Holland and Dana Derricks because they’re on the same level of influence as me, so that's an okay thing to do. I'm sure that they'll say “Yes,” hopefully so.
If NOT they're gonna get tagged inside this episode for Sales Funnel Radio, and I'll ask them that way as well.
But Russell gets approached like crazy by tons of people. So he's got walls and barriers just to keep his own sanity. We can all understand that, right?
So to approach influencers who are above your status, you’ve gotta go all out...
I got a pretty awesome Dream 100 package in the mail.
I was handed an envelope and inside, somebody (this is actually very clever), had attached an actual hundred dollar bill.
They attached a hundred dollar bill and said, “We know your goal was to always do 10 grand a day, so a hundred dollars should buy 14 minutes of your time. Please read the letter and see if you would like to spend the time.”
That’s super cool!
STATUS DECREASE
One of the principles of the Dream 100 is that:
If what I'm offering presents a risk of a status decrease, the answer will be, NO!
This is more important than whether or not the event fits into their schedule.
So I'm crafting an offer with stories and I'm listing out his false beliefs.
If it's gonna decrease his status, or if there's any risk that it will, he's already gonna say, NO.
So I need to show ways to increase his status while protecting it from decrease at the same time.
Does that make sense?
I’m gonna answer the objection of, “Oh crap, will this decrease my status?” I'm gonna say, “No, in fact, here's how it will increase your status.”
So one of the BEST things you can do when approaching a Dream 100 influencer is to know what campaigns they’re running.
I need to know what campaigns an individual is already running that I could piggyback off to increase their status?
The internal hang-up definitely is NOT, “I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough.” Instead, for Russell, it would probably be, “What do you want me to teach?”
For him, it's not so much about money obviously... he's probably gonna have a time-based concern 'cause he's Russell Brunson. He's also gonna have a mental shelf space concern.
It's NOT, I don't have enough to teach, it's, “Oh my gosh, I have to spend time planning what I'll teach.” That's a real concern. That's a BIG issue.
I solve each one of these pain points inside of the offer.
Q: Where am I fishing out of right now? Where's my market?
A: ClickFunnels.
Q: What's the new opportunity?
A: OfferMind.
There are parts of the offer designed to scratch, soothe and satiate all the concerns that come from the vehicle, internal, external-based objections...
And then, there are a few pieces that are just awesome and straight from me.
X-A-V-I-E-R
Here's the XAVIER model for drafting offers created by yours truly, and highly featured in my book coming out soon called Your Core Offer.
Go to YourCoreOffer.com if you wanna get on the waiting list.
These are NOT ALWAYS the same thing.
When you sell something to somebody, they don't ALWAYS want what you want to sell.
For Example:
Russell wants to sell Funnel Hacks web class. When he sells Funnel Hacks web class you pre-buy ClickFunnels for six months with a whole bunch of programs.
The A: the anchor of the offer, is ClickFunnels itself. People just want ClickFunnels; so that's a prime example of what I'm talking about there.
Now, back to my offer to Russell…
So X - equals:
Russell what you're gonna get when you come speak at OfferMind 2019, the first thing you're gonna be the only keynote speaker at OfferMind. I'm gonna put ads with a lot of ad money behind it, content, fans, all promoting your appearance and your name.
*One of the things I'm gonna give him is status. That's one of the ways I'm fighting the status decrease thing, but it's not the exclusive place that I'm fighting it yet.
A - equals:
Each One Funnel Away Challenge buyer in 2019 who buys through Steve's affiliate link will get credit to OfferMind for further ClickFunnels indoctrination from you and Steve.
That's HUGE! What did I just do?
‘A’ is the anchor of the offer, it is the part of the offer that’s the sexiest. The thing that the other person wants the most.
I know Russell is spending a ton of time, money, effort, energy, and resources on this One Funnel Away Challenge.
He's re-launching it, and it's gonna be massive. He's gonna push hard to get a ton MORE people in One Funnel Away Challenge than are probably in ClickFunnels right now.
So the question is: What could I do to best support that?
What if I attached my OfferMind tickets to that again to fill the events, promote him, promote ClickFunnels and align myself with what he's trying to do.
That's a no-brainer because now the offer’s NOT about me.
DON’T PITCH AN IDEA LIKE THIS
I hate it when somebody walks up, and they're like, “Stephen, I'm so excited man, why don't you come get on my show because you’d be great and you’d bring tons of people to my show.”
...I'm like, “Wow, okay, what’s in this for me? This is a two-way relationship, you're just goin' one way though. That’s hurting our relationship by you approaching me like that.”
STUPID! STUPID! It's D-U-M-B!
You’re gonna trigger:
Tons of stuff like:
This is key; when I’m dropping something out to a Dream 100 influencer...
I'm aligning with their current mission... so part of their offer is also part of my offer.
Dana Derricks just did this to me, and it's one of the reasons why he's speaking at OfferMind.
ALIGN
I was on Voxer with Dana, and he goes, “Dude, I would love to pre-buy some OfferMind tickets next year to give away because I want my people to go through some of your stuff.”
I was like, “Sick, super cool. Yeah, that'd be awesome.”
What did he do?
He said, “Let me give your tickets away as part of my offer.”
Russell Brunson did the exact same thing with Grant Cardone for his 10X Event.
He went to Grant Cardone pre-bought a thousand of your tickets to give away as part of his current offers.
What does that do?
It spikes the value, someone else fulfills on it, aligns the two offers together.
That's part of the “A” in anchor for XAVIER. Does that make sense, you guys gettin' this?
I'm NOT trial closing... Does that really make sense? This is HUGE. This is a BIG BIG deal right here.
In my pitch, it went like this:
Each One Funnel Away Challenge buyer in 2019 who buys through Steve's affiliate link will get credit to OfferMind for further ClickFunnels indoctrination from you and Steve…
Meaning: I am going to go and push One Funnel Away Challenge really really hard.
When people buy the One Funnel Away Challenge through me, I'm gonna give them credit to get an OfferMind ticket where you can speak to more of your people and continue to get them inside ClickFunnels.
That's HUGE! It aligns both me and Russell.
VEHICLE OBJECTION?
Q: What's the vehicle-based fear here?
A: Probably status decrease: “Is this good enough?” That could be the potential major concern about speaking at OfferMind. “Is he big enough?”
Russell would never boastingly say that, but you get what I'm saying… He’s Russell Brunson, right!
I'm like, “Oh don't worry about it...
To protect your status I want you to know that we hire the exact same A/V team that designed your Funnel Hacking Live stages, and they're gonna put on the OfferMind stage. The stage caliber will match your caliber.”
One of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced ever is to show up to an event that I've been invited to speak at, and you can tell that there wasn't much thought put into the experience in the room.
That's why OfferMind costs me so much money... and it did it cost me a lot of money. I actually went in the hole just a little bit... because I wanted to create an experience.
You can find out MORE about how I created OfferMind and made it an experience here. I specifically made it so it felt like you were entering a new environment... (which is so freaking key, it is ridiculous!)
I'm letting Russell know:
We have all the old OfferMind recordings. This is what it looked like last time. It was very professional. It was amazing; very top-notch and high caliber... it’ll be the same kind of thing.
Rest assured, it's the same people you're used to working with, so there won't be any new faces when you're getting mic'd up. There won't be any new experiences.”
Does that make sense?
INTERNAL OBJECTIONS
This is how I'm combating the internal hangup, “What would you want me to teach?”
I see it’ll be cool, but…
It’s ALL the ‘I’s’...
I know one of your strategies, Russell, is to go in and test your material on smaller crowds before you go to your major one. Feel free to do that at OfferMind.
Let your noggin have the playground and the fun crazy zone that you wanna go to, and test your material on my audience.
Does that make sense? I just solved that internal objection for him.
EXTERNAL OBJECTIONS
How will I solve the objection: “I don't have time to speak at your OfferMind, but I want to...”
BUT I DON’T have time/ money/ resources #externalbasedobjection
Don't worry about it, man. You will choose the actual date of the event so that we can make sure you can get there.
We know what date it's gonna be, but if it came down to Russell NOT being able to speak, and us just choosing a different date that's a few weeks difference…
We will Change the Freakin' Date.
That's a SICK OFFER!
From his perspective, it’s like, “Oh man, he's gonna change his whole event!”
Well, yeah, we're talking seven months in the future, so, yeah, we'll definitely change the date if we need to.
That's a BIG offer right there.
I've been asked to speak in several locations in the past little bit including Australia and Greece...
It's not that I don't want to, it's a date issue…
So if Russell has control over the time and date, and it came down to it and I'm like, “Dude, what day? Say it, just, and we'll do it.” He's like, “You know what, I could come to downtown Boise, so I don't need to travel anywhere.”
I'm making it EASY.
A limo will pick you up from CF headquarters and take you to the event.
And he can talk as long as he wants to. Does that make sense? Like, this just got sexy, man.
He doesn't need to worry about travel, it's close to him, it's right there, it's downtown Boise at a SICK venue.
THE CTA
Reason to Act Now... (this is what he told me he would like to have)
I mean that's a sexy offer... it's NOT just, “Dude, come speak at my event so that I can fill it with people who are interested to see you.”
Some more things I'm gonna add inside this offer are:
I know you're always looking for new material. You can have the recordings. You can have the pictures... very very high-end stuff so that you can look like a rockstar on my stage.
That’s what would motivate a Russell Brunson-esque figure.
So what I'm trying to help you guys understand is like, when you're doing offers, and especially when it comes to Dream 100…
Offer creation for Dream 100 is NOT the same thing as offer creation for customers. It’s NOT the same thing as offer creation for affiliates. It’s NOT the same thing for offer creation for front-end product. It's all different. You gotta understand exactly WHO you're speaking to.
THIS DIDN’T HAPPEN…
The last thing I tried to do was find a local actor to play Claude Hopkins, tell a fast origin story, and hand him a piece of paper with the offer and the call to action.
Claude Hopkins was one of the original offer creators.
You probably know about Claude Hopkins if you've been following me.
Claude Hopkin was the first guy to put an ad on a car.
He actually popularized the concept of brushing teeth so that they could sell toothpaste!
Seriously, brilliant, brilliant man; late 1800s.
Anyway, I wanted some dude to gonna dress up like Claude Hopkins and walk up and say:
“What's up? My name's Claude Hopkins, I was one of the first offer creators in America: Hey that Steve Larsen, you should really go talk to him about his event.”
...and then hand off the offer, the gift certificate for the massage... the sushi already on the table.
It's Pretty Sexy… but unfortunately, the Claude Hopkins bit didn’t happen.
PLAYING FULL OUT
I wanted to go full out because I knew that if Russell said, “Yes!” Then it would be a lot easier for us to get two or three other really high-end people to speak at OfferMind.
It was definitely worth crafting a campaign for.
I want to be able to bring in some of the best to OFFERMIND, and Russell obviously is THE BEST!
Remember I talked about how important it is to follow the framework master, and Russell is that guy! Why would I bring in anybody else?!
So that why I went to soooo much effort crafting this offer for Russell to keynote.
It's was an offer NOT a request.
It's WASN’T, “Come look at me…”
I'm not gonna EVER do that. That's the fastest way for you to put a bad taste in their mouth when you're talking to a BIG influencer... even if we're friends.
In any influencer scenario, you got ONE SHOT to set up the way they're gonna look at you FOREVER. It really does matter!
So, when I talk to the other offer creation rock stars I want to bring to you, I will craft a custom campaign for each individual.
Campaigns are a dying art (It’s NOT the same thing as a Facebook ad).
I will craft a campaign, NOT just an offer, NOT just a sales message, and reach out to each individual to try and get them to come to speak at OfferMind.
BOOM!
If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies, right? That's also good.
But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right?
That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Wanna come?
These are small groups on purpose, so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.
You can hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com. Again, that's OfferMind.com.
A plane only makes money when in the air, but needs tons of systems in place on the ground to support it. Get your plane in the air more easily with a second pricing tier…
What have airplanes got to do with creating a successful funnel?
I really DON’T know that much about airplanes, but last week, on my way back from some consulting in Hollywood, my brain started running hard... and all these epiphanies started popping up.
I was walking through the airport with the most ridiculously painful pair of shoes just killing my feet. (I hate those shoes, I'll never wear them again)....
Coulton was with me, and I was like, “Hey, Coulton, hold on, I can't talk. I have to write these ideas in Trello, or I'm gonna forget them!”
Here’s what was goin’ on in my noggin…
AIRPLANES & PRICING STRATEGIES
The airport was virtually empty, and as we were walking out to the actual gate, I could see all these airplanes just sat there. I thought, “Well, that's funny. The airport's empty and all this inventory is sitting right here on the tarmac.”
When got to the terminal, I started building a members area and putting together some cool stuff for OfferLab. I was still thinking about all these empty planes when I remembered a teacher in college who had us study airline pricing strategies.
For example:
It was fascinating... and I started thinking about the similarities between how air travel and ClickFunnels are based on similar pricing models.
DO YOU OFFER FIRST CLASS?
If you look at ClickFunnels, 20% - 30% of the users are on the full $297 version, (if you're not, I strongly recommend you do. It’s very much worth it).
At the time of writing this, there are about 70,000 monthly ClickFunnels users. (Russell talked about the numbers publicly recently, so I'm cool to say this.)
That 30% revenue from the top $297 tier is about the exact same amount as the other 70 - 80% that comes from the lower tier.
Did you hear what I just said? There's a HUGE lesson here.
What does this have to do with airplanes? Follow me for a second…
I was sitting looking out at all these planes, and I started running the numbers.
I was like, “Huh, okay... these airplanes reserve 20 to 30% of their capacity for first class buyers, and then everybody else, in the back is economy with tiny upsells here and there.”
SuddenIy, it hit me, and I realized how clever it is to have a two-tier pricing model.
Thinking about the ClickFunnels space, thinking about airplanes, thinking about my own products, I realized, “Oh my gosh, the same model's true. It's about 80/ 20.”
About 20% of customers take my really expensive $35,000 to $50,000 option where they fly to me, or I fly to them to design everything out.
Everybody else takes the cheaper stuff, and that's fine…
Again, what's funny is that:
The 80% in revenue is almost the exact same amount as the 20% revenue that comes in from the top tier.
Which means that...
Just by having a MORE expensive option, you actually can DOUBLE your entire business.
SELLING STATUS
I don't remember what book it was, but it was talking about (I know there are varying beliefs on this) how having more than two, maybe three pricing options inside your company creates customer overwhelm.
So you have the:
So I was sat thinking about these airplanes, and I was like, “Huh, that's gotta be why they have first class right at the front of the plane. It's totally a status thing.”
You pay extra NOT to get to the same freaking location as everybody else. I have nothing against that. I love first class, it's awesome.
The 20% who fly first class create as much revenue as 80% of people in the rest of the plane.
I was like, “Whoa, I need to make sure that I've got two tiers of pricing in EVERYTHING that I'm selling.”
I don't care if you sell a book at $7.95, you need to add that extra tier. You could have $7.95 for a softcover and $21 for the hardcover.
This is literally the reason why order bumps and upsells work. You don't need everyone to buy... and in fact, most won’t.
If you have a 20% uptake rate on your OTO or your upsell, that's really freaking high.
You can take the average cart values from $7.95... and double, triple, quadruple,10X and beyond, with upsells.
HOW DO AIRLINES MAKE MONEY?
I was thinking about airlines, and how the 20% of first class customers create just as much revenue as the other 80% of customers... and I was like, “Can an airline make money when they’re:
….? The answer is obviously, NO!
An airline only makes money when a plane is in the air. That's it.
NOT preparing to launch, NOT double checking or triple checking…
Those are all important things, but the airline only makes money when that thing is in the sky.
However, when you compare a plane's time in the air with the amount of time a plane’s on the ground doing preparation, maintenance, onboarding, offboarding, safety checks, fueling, baggage, all that stuff.
A plane’s not actually in the air nearly as much as it is on the ground.
I'm getting to some very important principles here... Keep following me on this.
80/20
Think about the army, the military itself; only about 10 - 20% of the army is actively in combat. It takes the other 80% of the force to support the other 20% that’s in active combat.
80% is just there to support the 20%.
However, if your plane does NOT take off... if you don't understand the core of your business... if your plane sits on the tarmac…
You will NOT make money.
TIME FOR TAKE OFF?
Let’s stick with the plane analogy a moment longer…
It's NOT likely that you're ever gonna keep a plane in the air 24/7, that's just not feasible...
BUT the goal is to find whatever makes you money the fastest, the hardest, the biggest, and the strongest… and GET IT IN THE AIR.
*JUST LAUNCH*
That's the biggest message I’ve sent out in my Science of Selling Group. It was a little bit of a joke, but NOT REALLY.
Across all the hundreds of funnels I've built, and the millions of dollars they've brought in... all the stuff …
The fastest pass to cash I have EVER seen in my entire life is this...
*You Have To Launch*
That's it. There's the secret!
You're like, “Oh, gotcha, Stephen. I see what you did there.”
BUT I want you to understand: *YOU HAVE TO LAUNCH*
Get the plane in the freaking sky. Toss that thing up and let everyone know, “Look, my plane's in the air.”
And understand that:
But when you start bringing revenue in, find the two tiers that are MOST easy for you to create.
Having a second tier is one of the easiest ways to double your business.
Only 20% will buy it, (but even if they don't), you're gonna be able to double your company and double the revenue faster than anything else.
PEOPLE WANT TO PAY YOU MORE
It's the reason why Grant Cardone sold 3,000 tickets at $10,000 each to his 10X Event.
The other 29,000 tickets he sold, those were $500, or maybe $1,000.
There’s a category of people who are willing and eager to pay you MORE money.
So do yourself a favor, and just…
Your system needs cash, and if the plane is on the ground, you're NOT gonna bring any money in. You're just gonna keep doing maintenance, and checking oil levels:
#JUSTLAUNCH
Want to know the fastest path to cash?
A: Just push the button, and move forward.
The BIGGEST questions I want you to ask yourself are:
Adding a Higher Ticket Product is likely the Simplest Way to Double Your Business.
Hopefully, you guys see how you can tweak that in your sales funnels and pricing strategies.
BOOM! Until Next Time - Keep Crushing It!
Hey,
I know this game can take a few tries to get the money flowing, especially the first time, right? And that can suck.
I also know from experience how frustrating it can be to know your business is just a few tweaks away from your next big payday, but you don't know what tweaks to make.
I've felt completely paralyzed by that in the past, and it sucks.
I've been blessed to work with thousands of new and successful businesses over the last three years, and two things have really shocked me.
#1: I began noticing the pattern to success is vastly the same, but everyone's spot on the path is obviously different.
#2: I've been shocked and overwhelmed by the number of people asking for my help, my systems, and funnels in their business.
Well, until now I've never had a system or product in my own business to help you build yours. Now, I'm finally able to be public about all this.
If you'd like my help to build your offer or sales message funnel and even your content machine, go to myofferlab.com.
The path to online and offline success is 80 percent the same regardless of the product, price point or industry, and it works if you're new, or are already a killer in business.
You can get more details on how to get my personal attention and frameworks in your own business by going to myofferlab.com
In-person classes are limited to 60 people each, and frankly, I can only do about two of these a year.
Get more details, and even jump on the phone with us for free at myofferlab.com
Easily, one of the biggest hurdles that people have to overcome right from the start is knowing what their business value will be.
Business value is measured in many ways, but starts with knowing the big problem you solve…
Today, I'm gonna teach you about My Core Problem Planner.
When I was young, I did a lot of backpacking with my Dad. He grew up on a farm and loves the outdoors, my whole family loves the outdoors.
We’d go camp out by creeks and streams and play in them.
CANOEING AND GROWING BUSINESS
Well, I remember coming back from one campout, I don't remember how we got on the topic, but my dad told me that MOST people will NOT actually do a lot of the things that they wanna do life because rather than go get them, they’ll wait for things to come to them…
It was a father-son moment that had a BIG impact on my brain. My Dad said:
“Look, Stephen, most people go through life as if they're in a canoe without a paddle. They're in a very slow moving river and because it's moving they feel progress in their life... and so they won't pick up the oar and start paddling.”
He told me:
“Most people will never pick up the oar that's already in the canoe and use it to start pushing in the direction they wanna to go.
Most people just wait for the current of life to take them different places. They will change because life is change, and they'll progress because life happens to them...
But very few are actually willing to pick up the freaking oar and do something with it.”
However, some people who DON’T even have an oar will get creative and grab a branch as they're floating down the river and break it off and use it until they can find an oar or make one.”
That analogy has stuck in my head for a long time because it’s fascinating.
Very few people in this life are willing to actually pick up the oar and start moving.
ARE YOU PADDLING?
So when you think about the amount of competition that's out there, it's really it's NOT me versus EVERYONE. It's me versus the 20% of humanity who are actually trying to do stuff with their life… the people who are actually picking up the paddle!
Even then, MOST people don't understand anything about what I'm talking about...
So it's me versus maybe 10% of humanity... MOST of whom are NOT willing to experience the personal growth that's needed to actually launch stuff.
If you think about it this way, you’ll understand that the competition is really NOT very high... and that showing up is half the battle.
PLAY BIGGER?
One of the biggest questions people ask when I'm coaching is:
“Stephen, I've got an idea... do you think this is the idea I should build a business around? Do you think this is where I should focus? I'm gonna go solve this. I'm gonna go do this. I'm gonna create this kinda value.”
The challenge is that we try to solve too many things at once.
The best businesses solve one major problem... and that's it.
One of my favorite books is called Play Bigger. It teaches that it's not about going out and saying I have the best solution, 'cause everybody's saying that…
It's about going out and saying, I can describe the problem that you are experiencing the best.
You lead with the problem NOT the solution.
If you watch a lot of the things that I do, that’s what I do. I read that book, and I was like, “What's up!”
It's all about being able to evangelize the problem that you solve and being able to describe it better than everybody else.
The book teaches that if you’re gonna create a business, you need to be able to articulate and teach the problem better than anyone else who's your competitor.
I love that book and a lot of you guys will probably go read it now ;-)
THE THIRD-GRADE PROBLEM
The basic premise of Play Bigger is that whoever articulates the problem the best; it's also assumed that that person has the best solution.
So if you're like, “Man, Stephen I'm gonna go solve a problem. I'm gonna go do this... I'm gonna do that…”
I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE SOLUTION!
I need you to look me in the eye and say, “Stephen, this is the problem that I'm solving,” and you need to be able to explain it so a third grader would be able to understand. *SERIOUSLY*
In the Army, they taught everything at a third-grade level... which was mind-numbing sometimes.. because that's the average education level of most people.
So, here’s what you need to do…
You need to be able to articulate at a third-grade level, the one problem that your business solves better than the rest of your competition BEFORE you ever even get into the solution!
*HEAR ME* I didn't say two problems, or three...ONE PROBLEM.
“Here’s what I solve... and this is the actual problem.”
NOT the solution, THE issue.
You don’t need to worry about your stack,(“First you're gonna get this and this and this….” ), I'm not even talking about any of that.
That stuff will almost nearly take care of itself if you’re the best at describing the problem to a market.
WHAT’S YOUR CORE PROBLEM?
During the last OfferMind, one of the major things I wanted people to be able to work on was the core problem that they solve.
If you go to OfferMind.com you can join the waiting list for the next one. We're still figuring out a few of the dates, but I'd love to see you there. I'm trying to get some very famous people to keynote, and we're just playing with some dates.
There's a great book I love called Rework. It teaches:
BUT…
You can't have a hotdog stand without a hotdog... right?
If you're thinking, “...where's this going?”
What I love about this example is that it teaches that there’s:
A core to every single one of our businesses and we must be able to know what that core is.
You need to be able to say:
“Hey, look, I'm gonna focus 80% of my attention on the core revenue generating activity in my business.”
...But that means NOTHING if it’s NOT solving the core problem.
THAT’S WHY I CALL IT YOUR CORE OFFER.
Some people call it the purple offer, (I called it that for a little bit too), but the real name I’ve given it is “Your Core Offer.”
THE CORE OF YOUR BUSINESS
Here it is…
These two separate things are the core of your business. The rest of the things in the value ladder are expansions and contractions on the exact same idea.
I want you guys to think through your core problem.
I’m gonna walk you through my process as I did it at OfferMind. Grab a pen and paper because I’m gonna help you find:
The ONE problem to build your business around. The ONE problem to lead within your marketing message.
HOW TO FIND YOUR CORE OFFER
It's not that you can't help in other areas, but there's one core problem you need to solve. *Just one*
FOR EXAMPLE:
Uber articulated the problem that we didn't know we had.
That's one of the major keys to choosing the core problem that you solve.
What I'm trying to do is help you understand that there are a few key pillars that will give you clarity in your business... so that you can move forward and say:
So that you can actually have a successful business.
I spent the first several years running around trying stuff like a headless chicken. I couldn't tell you what I did...
I couldn't tell you what problem I was solving. There was just crazy noise!
If you don't know the problem you're solving … if you don't know what model you're following ... and if you're not finding ways to increase your speed...
That’s the formula for noise in your head.
THE INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA
There’s a book called The Innovator's Dilemma which says:
Markets that do not exist cannot be analyzed.
If I'm creating a blue ocean, how can I design every element of a blue ocean? I can't. It doesn't exist!
So when people are like, “I'm gonna make this. I'm gonna make this. My new opportunities gonna be this. My product’s this. My business is gonna be this.”
I’m like, “You're guessing. YOU don't represent your market.”
Suppliers and customers must discover them together.
So there's an element of design by listening to the market, and there's an element of this of doing it on your own.
DISCOVERING THE UNKNOWABLE
You can't know how to make a blue out of your own head. That's why I say that you’ve gotta understand this is way easier when you just take the decision making out of your own head and get past your opinions.
Not only are the market applications for disruptive technologies unknown at the time of their development, they are unknowable.
If it’s based on your own opinion, don't sell it.
You’ve gotta understand the core problem that you solve.
If you can articulate the problem well, then people assume that you know how to solve it.
SO…
You can use these two principles to help build your Blue Ocean Scaffolding.
Let me introduce you to…
THE CORE PROBLEM PLANNER
First, I need you to understand that there is a core problem that you will be solving.
There are multiple kinds of offer creation. Most people know me for my purple offer creation method, but there are actually several ways to create an offer…
But the one everyone should be focusing on first is what I call The Core Offer. It’s an offer creation method where you bring your dream customers along with you, and they help you make and birth a blue ocean.
In order to make a Core Offer, we need to solve a Core Problem.
The journey starts with YOU understanding the problem that you solve.
To do this, I use my Core Problem Planner:
Until you understand what you're solving it doesn't matter what you create.
If you’re intimately understanding the person's brain and the objections that they have. (Vehicle, Internal External), then you'll start to see the problems.
You'll know it’s a problem because it'll be a problem. However...
Not all problems are created equal.
RANKING PROBLEMS
You use the Core Problem Planner to help you rank problems. At this stage, I'm looking for a problem that fits several criteria and this is one of the easiest ways for you to actually create a Blue Ocean.
Don't try and solve every problem your customers have. You're gonna die…
I'm NOT trying to solve all problems. I'm trying to solve a core problem with a core offer.
We're gonna figure out the core problem and make an offer and a solution just for that ONE problem.
Here’s how it works:
STAGE #1: LIST PROBLEMS
Does your dream red ocean customer have a problem with (identify your own problems here):
When you’ve identified those problems, i.e,
You move on to…
STAGE #2: THE CORE SOLUTION
Start brainstorming how could you solve those problems?
Figure out creative ways that you could actually, truly solve those problems.
This is how I figure out what to make... and what’s secure and lucrative at the same time.
STAGE #3: EVANGELIZE THE PROBLEM
Third row down, I'm ranking my ability to evangelize the problem.
This is a core piece moving forward…
If you have a hard time explaining the problem that you solve, people are NOT gonna assume you have the solution.
So I wanna rank which of the red ocean problems I discovered is the easiest for me to evangelize about… that could be on my podcast or when I'm talking to people.
If I'm being interviewed by other people and they're like, “What is it you do?” And I'm like, “BAM!” That's exactly it.
I'm looking for something that's easy for me to put on a banner, or put on a T-shirt.
Because *REMEMBER*…
NOT all problems are created equal.
I'm not trying to solve all the problems; just the one core true legitimate issue that they have that matches my ability to actually go and evangelize about it.
STAGE #4: HEALTH/ WEALTH/ RELATIONSHIPS?
Moving to the final row, I'm looking to see if solving my Core Problem will deliver Health, Wealth, or Relationships in a BIG way.
Health, Wealth, or Relationships is the product. My product's NOT the product. Health, Wealth or Relationships are the things that your dream customer actually want the most.
THE MAGIC COMBINATION
In order to pick the ONE the Red Ocean Problem that I’m gonna solve, I look for the cool combination of:
I'm looking for a core problem to solve that hits these multiple criteria.
For years, I walked around thinking, “What do I sell? What do I sell? What do I sell? What do I sell?”
Then I switched to, “Who do I wanna serve? Who do I wanna serve? Who do I wanna serve? Who do I wanna serve?”
Then it was what are the problems? Like “Whoa, they have a lot of problems.”
I was like which problem do I wanna go attack? Which problem do I wanna attach myself to?
But now I know that NOT all problems are created equal, so then this is how I actually started figuring out what’d be good for me to sell.
Until Next Time… Viva Capitalist Pigs!
The biggest question I struggled with for years and easily the biggest question I'm asked by the thousands of people I've coached in this process is, “Stephen, what should I sell?”
If you've been listening to my podcast you have probably had that question, right?
After thousands of coaching students and sheer obsession in the game, I started noticing that there was a strong but untaught pattern of how I was selling successfully and over and over again.
It honestly took me about 17 business tries or failures honestly to figure this out and to get one right. Since then though, they've pretty much all been winners. So what changed?
What changed? I learned the pattern. I learned the framework.
Secretly for the last nine months, I've been working to document my process and refine it even further... and it's worked very well.
My book will teach you how to design the core offer of your business and a winning sales message that sells it.
Did you hear what I just said?
That's a huge claim and I totally get it, but this will help you actually figure out what you sell and how to sell it.
It's a process I've been using now for about three years for myself and my students.
If you wanna learn the framework, this pattern, the formula for yourself, go get my book at yourcoreoffer.com. It's free, just cover the shipping, at yourcoreoffer.com.
I KNOW this is how and why my business blew up so fast. The answer isn't what you think but I was careful to continue this practice each and every week for the last 3 years…
Today, I'm gonna teach you the most legitimate path I know to become an expert.
There’s a question that’s starting to come up more frequently when I jump on interviews with people, and that question is: “Steve, how do I become an expert?”
I believe that if you seek to become an expert, that can sometimes lead to some weird scenarios.
Someone taught me once:
If you want status, then don't seek it. If you want credit, don't seek it.
And that's kinda the formula I follow, I’ll explain more later...
However, there is a path that you can follow that’ll shortcut your journey to expert... if you have the right intention.
BECOME AN EXPERT
I really don't read as many books as I think people think that I do, but there’s something very specific that I do, pretty much every week, which keeps me sharp... and keeps me on my game.
In my mind, it’s also the most legitimate path to becoming an expert in whatever you're doing.
I'm NOT saying you have to become an expert. You don't! But if you want to, this is how you can fast-track, establish credibility and gain expert status without having to learn, read, study, and deep-dive 24/7.
...And it’s why my stuff has blown up so much in the last two years!
COACH STEVE
I coach a ton! You probably have no idea how much.
Every Friday, I wake up and do two hours of open mic Q&A with the Two Comma Club Coaching group. Specifically, I'm coaching them on their offers and their sales messages.
At 11:00 am, I immediately jump on the One Funnel Away Challenge
Where I do almost another hour of coaching.
Two Comma Club Coaching is usually for slightly more advanced people whereas the One Funnel away is targeted at newbies.
After that, at 12 pm, I go live with my MLM group (Secret MLM Hacks) where I typically coach a newer person to funnels. Which is fun.
At 1:00 pm, I have about an hours break, and at 2 pm, I go live again to my OfferLab group, and then, sometimes, I'll go back to my FB page and so another open mic
Every single Friday is at least five hours of coaching almost non-stop.
I’ve spent a lot of time coaching people!
It’s one of the ways that I got so good, so fast. Sometimes, when I say that, I think people are like, “Oh, that's cute!” But, NO!
I spend as much time as possible with my customers.
GET a coach and BE a coach is how I've advanced so fast! I know that's the reason.
YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS
So if you're like, “Hey, how do I get better at my craft?” The answer is, you need to spend MORE time teaching your thing. I don't care if you’re in info products, B2B, or retail...
Drop every book and just coach people... and you’ll be guided to what it is that you need to get done.
When I first started the Two Comma Club Coaching, I did live open mic Q&A for four hours every single Friday for a year and a half. I was the only coach, with 675 students
Do you know how good you get when you coach that often... and when you're answering questions throughout the week too?
If you want to get good real fast stop burying your head in a book and just answer people’s questions. Just add value.
I don't read that many books... but that's NOT a badge of honor.
I read books and I listen to podcasts with the intent to hunt answers. But when I want to get better and more fine-tuned on my craft, I coach!
That's the BIG Secret... There’s NO secret!
HOW TO ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY
l have people come and ask me, “What are the top books you’ve read?” I’m like, “I could tell you that... but at what cost?”
If you're reading with the intention to distract yourself from actually spending time with your customers, it's gonna be an issue.
It's gonna be a major, major issue.
When I feel that I'm starting to lose my edge, the thing I'll run to is coaching. I'll spend MORE time on ground-level with people who have questions.
....And because of that, Russell ‘the man’ has told me many times, “Stephen, you have spent more time with the customer at the ground floor than anyone else.”
Guys, that's how I've gotten the edge. That's how I've gotten where I am! I know that's exactly the reason why!
So, if you...
*ANSWER QUESTIONS* That's it!
JUST DO IT
Set a time every single week to go live in front of your group. Say, “Hey, I'm here because Steve Larsen told me I should answer more of your questions. What are your questions?”
...Just have people ask their questions.
Do you know how easy it is for me to figure out what to sell when I answer a lot of questions? The image comes clear really fast. It's actually faster, and in my mind, more effective than an Ask campaign.
I start to see that twenty people are asking something similar... “Huh! What if I made a product about that?”
You know what I'm saying?
It’s waaay easier, MORE secure, and it helps like crazy… and it makes YOU better.
If you don't know the answer, just say, “I don't know the answer.” And go figure it out! If you think you might have an idea of what the answer might be... just be honest.
CHARACTERISTIC OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
One of the sessions I did on the Two Comma Club Cruise was all about how the red ocean builds the blue, and how your red ocean helps decide what you build in your blue ocean! It’s fascinating.
As I was talking a lot of questions started popping up...
Over the last three years, I've spent literally hundreds of hours coaching … (It's probably near the thousand-hour level now).
The core of my business is content and coaching.
One of the things that I’ve got good at seeing is, “Does this person actually have a question about this... or are they asking me a question because they want me to make decisions for them?”
Identifying that split is what’s made my coaching so effective in the last six months.
I have to help that person's brain to understand the issue in the exact same way as if I'm selling a product to somebody...
When you sell a product there’s a series of beliefs and belief gates they have to walk through... and they're sequential.
As I watch the questions that people ask, I'm asking myself these questions:
ARE YOU SCARED?
Most of the time, I find that people have enough knowledge in their noggin' to be able to go answer the question on their own.
They know enough to answer the question... or at least take the next step.
So, is the question
If I can tell an individual is seeking distraction for the sake of NOT having to take action, I know that I need to work them through vehicle, internal, and external beliefs in themselves before moving forward!
If I can tell they're asking the question because they want:
I know that there's a little bit of a dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins hit with me answering their questions.
This is BIG to understand.
...Because, once you understand you’re ask questions for the sake of feeling momentum, then you can also know that the truth is:
... BUT you’re scared, and you don't want to move forward.
To avoid this fear, you distract yourself with further education that you really don't need right now… “Stephen, I have a few questions!”
You see what I'm saying?
It’s a HUGE deal.
ARE YOU SEEKING DISTRACTION?
So when someone asks me, “Stephen, how do you send an email?” I'm like, “Do you really have a question on how to send an email… or could you figure that out on your own... and you're just trying to distract yourself?”
YOU NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND SHOW UP FOR YOURSELF!
THIS PISSES ME OFF!
Part of my content strategy is to do interviews every Tuesday morning. I don't care if your a newbie and I'm your first episode... or if you’re experienced, and I'm the next up…
I set up InterviewSteve.com because I get interview requests a lot. If you want to have me on your show, you can jump on and set a time in my calendar.
But, if you set it up, show up... because I'm going to. But will you?
I’ve been stood up two times in a row recently because people said, “I'm NOT ready yet.” That drives me up the freaking wall! I can't even tell you.
I’m a Time Nazi.
It's one of the reasons why I am where I am. I'm NOT saying I don't take breaks, but I'm a freakin’ Time Nazi, man!
When someone messages me the night before... or five minutes before the appointment... (or they just don't show up)... And they're like, “Stephen, I'm not ready yet!” I wanna shout, “Get ready, why'd you sign up! What are you doing!”
Coulton's like, “Yeah, man, it’s been shown that it takes someone 20 minutes to switch tasks efficiently!”
It drives me nuts! So I did this...
So if you want me to be on your show I'm happy to do it... BUT Show Up!
I'm all jazzed up. I got everything set up. I got my little Diva light, I'm ready to rock! There's a mental prep that goes on…
So, here's how you get ready:
You take Expert Secrets, and you open up to Page 114.
It's called the Epiphany Bridge Script. There are your questions! That's all it takes! Ready! Okay, there we go! You know.
Oh, man, I can't tell you how much it pisses me off when I get stood up!
I get it because it's booked out quite a way in advance. So people signup just out of the fear and the scarcity of, “I'm never gonna be able to interview Steven.”
...And then they DON’T show up. “Man, I am so much less likely to get on an interview with you in the future if you do that to me.”
I’m a pretty chill dude. I'm aggressive, but I'm chill; it's a cool combo. “ BUT, set me off... my eyes gonna twitch. I'm gonna go nuts!
JUST GOOGLE IT!
I’m always looking for the split between legitimate questions and distraction questions:
If someone asks me EVER again, “Stephen, how do I add funnel?”
Click add funnel, baby, it's right there! Add funnel, you just click it! You know what I mean? You have got to learn how to answer questions on our own! That's the name of the game, my friends.
Welcome to Entrepreneurship! You’re gonna have questions all the time…
Yeah, duh, we all do!
How many times do I wake up and NOT know what I'm supposed to be doing that day? It happens more frequently to entrepreneurs than most people probably know.
Anyway, back to my no-shows…
Instead of totally wasting my time I hopped in my FB Group and did an open mic Q&A to answer some legitimate questions
SOME LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS
Sonia asked: How to tell the difference between a distraction-based question versus a real question?
Steve: Usually, by the follow-up questions... they're trying to find a way to logically release themselves from having to do what the answer was.
Meaning, if someone's like, “Stephen, how do I add a funnel?” I'm like, “Well, what you're gonna do is click add funnel.” If they say, “Okay, I get that, but what if it's a Tuesday, and I don't have any time?”
I'm like, “First of all, that's NOT for me to solve. Pony up, and make some time in your life.”
Number two: They’re trying to figure out how to logically release yourself from the pressure of taking action. They want release.
...And so, if somebody starts asking me questions where I can see they're trying to release themselves from the positive pressure of taking action, that's when I'm gonna call them out:
“Something's up? Why are you not taking my answer?”
Why are you backpedaling? Why are you trying to get me to say, “Oh, you know what, in your scenario, you're right, you don't click add funnel?”
They want me to give them permission to not take action, and I will NOT do that.
It's part of what's made me a very forward coach, and sometimes, people don't like that... whatever! I don't care. I'm about getting people results!
FB COMMENT: Hey, Stephen, you keep me motivated and moving forward.
STEVE: Awesome, that's great. Just make sure you turn it into discipline, motivation is nothing.
FB COMMENT: What do you do when you don't know what to do next? That is a legitimate question. Does that even happen to you? You always look like you have everything completely figured out.
STEVE: One of my little tactics is to stay booked up as much as I can. I know that a percentage of the activities I'm doing right now may NOT be what I'm wanting to do 20 years from now.
I set my goals, and then I map out as best I can, the things that I think are gonna take me there. And then, I act! I just run…
I had 17 businesses that were failures. Now, number 18 would NOT have been a success unless I had done those other 17 first.
On the flip-side, thank goodness those 17 tries did not work!
.Otherwise, I'd be doing those businesses. You see what I'm saying? All of those things prepared me for the thing that was coming with number 18. BAM!
So, there are two things going on in my head.
I just have to book myself and just run, and do stuff. Just take action! Big, Massive Action.
In the last six months have I gotten good at, “Okay, only these activities will take me to where I want to go.” However, I still know that there are things I'm doing that I shouldn't be... or that things that don't take me where I'm trying to go. So I have a few options:
So sometimes, especially when I was just starting out, (not so much anymore)….but a year ago, there were many times I woke up and was like, “I have no idea what to do next?”
...And that can be stressful.
RED DOT, GREEN DOT
So I think to myself, “What’s the next move I can make that makes money?”
Just that one question.
What is the next path to cash and how do I get there? Then I list out all those things.
And then I'll list out all of the things that I think I need to do to make money, and I put a big green dot next to the things that are massive revenue generating, but mentally taxing (like building a funnel, writing a sales script).
Then I'll put a small green dot next to the things that are revenue generating, but not as revenue generating in the moment, or are mentally taxing (like creating a relationship). It can make money, but not at the moment.
Next, I put a big red dot next to the things that are not revenue generating. Then I erase all of the red dot tasks.
I do the big green dots during the time of the day when my brain is most fresh... which for me, is usually 7:00 a.m. to about 1:00 p.m.
Even if I stay up late, I have a hard time sleeping past seven. My brain just wakes up... so I'm gonna do the big green dots during that time of the day.
I focus on the small green dots during the rest of the day...
And I will NEVER do a red dot.
A business that’s NOT revenue focused dies.
As the entrepreneur, I'm the only one who cares about my business in the way that I do. That's just the way it is. There's nothing wrong with that, that's just the way it is. It's your baby, don't expect it to be someone else's baby.
I'm the only one responsible, the buck stops with me on making a buck.
The buck stops with me on moving forward. The buck stops with me on going and getting the new client. I can go get closers. I can go get phone people. I can go get funnel builders. But, it's ultimately down to me if something does or does not happen in my business.
So I answer the questions:
Once I figure that out and I do red dot/green dot, and that helps like crazy.
Hey, just real quick:
A few months ago Russell asked me to write a chapter for a secret project he was doing. I had to write a chapter for a book, this was the letter I got from him.
He said:
"Hey Stephen, let me ask you a quick question...
You suddenly lose all your money, along with your name and your reputation, and only have your marketing know-how left.
You have bills piled high and people harassing you for money over the phone.
You have a guaranteed roof over your head, a phone line, an internet connection, and a ClickFunnels account for only one month.
You no longer have your big guru name, your following, your JV partners. Other than your vast marketing experience, you're an unknown newbie...
What would you do from day #1 to day #30 to save yourself?
Russell Brunson
Hey, if you want to see my answer and a bunch of other marketers who also answered that in this amazing book and summit, just go to 30days.com/stephen.
You can see the entire summit, you can see the book, you can see what we wrote in there and each of our detailed plans. Just go to 30days.com/stephen.
How Much Should You Charge?
Q: How many of you guys get stuck on the pricing?
I totally get it. It’s always like, “Man, what do I charge? I’ve got this sweet core offer, what do I charge? Look at all this value… what do I charge for it?”
As I'm Funnel Hacking the message and the offer, I'm also looking at price points.
I'm looking to see:
Because…
The path is already paved. You've just gotta follow it!
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
It’s like Dorothy and The Yellow Brick Road. You just follow the proven price points that people already buying and then... (I’ll tell you in a moment… keep reading).
It's great… because a lot of the decisions are NOT even up to you.
You just have to know your Red Ocean:
... And then, BAM! 80% of your decision making comes from other people.
MY FRAMEWORK
I look to see historical price points.
I might see:
I had money hang-ups for a long time too. That's why my first product was $127. I was afraid to charge more money.
You might find someone's who’s like, “Oh, I'm gonna be the $297 person.
BUT... most people will be kinda in the mid-range, between $97-$127.
I'm like, “Hmm... If I’m really cheap I won’t be able to spend much on ads and still cover my cost of goods.”
You look at all the historical price points, and then if you can't be super cheap... *Be Really Expensive*
You need to figure out: “How can to be premium?”
For example:
If there's only one guy selling at $297, then I want to go that little bit higher, “Hmm, what if I sell at $347?”
...Then I justify the premium price point by creating an offer
If I can't be really cheap, I need to figure out how can over-deliver and out-deliver everybody else inside of that market
WHY PREMIUM PRICE POINTS WORK…
Not all industries are gonna have a mid-tier $1,000 offer, but that's very common in the info product model. There’ll be multiple price areas in different industries… so you need to check yours out.
If you see a house for $1000 you probably shouldn't buy it, right? You know what I mean…
There’s probably something wrong with it, right?
So you need to see what the price categories are in your Red Ocean.
What are the:
... And then you can look to see how you can be just a little bit premium.
For my business, I want the name. I want the reputation.
I don’t want people saying, “ It's like only like $4 for the house. There’s gotta be a catch!”
Because there's an interesting thing that happens with price, let me explain...
THE $5,000 LAMBO
Do you own a Lamborghini?
I keep making fun of Lamborghini’s. I think they're super awesome. But... if it's NOT yours don't go take a picture and act like it is... that's all ;-)
If you do own a Lamborghini, I think you're cool. I'm not making fun of them.
Anyway, let's say that you want a super cool car. Say a Lamborghini. Or a Ferrari. I'm bad at cars. What's a cool car? A Batmobile, *Definitely*
I'm NOT a car or a sports person at all.
So let's say you go to a Lamborghini store and you're like, “I’ve been saving up for this Lamborghini forever. It is my dream!”
You walk in, and the salesman is awesome and you go for a test drive:
“Imagine what it'll be like taking your spouse out in this car…”
The salesman is putting you into an emotional state of anticipation:
They’re playing with your identity.
You start thinking, “Oh man, this is gonna be so cool. I can’t wait. This car is soooo me!”
Subconsciously, that’s the game that’s going on...
Just as you’re getting out your wallet to buy, the salesman comes over and says, “Dude, I got something so special for you. It's so awesome. We’ve decided that we will give this new Lamborghini to you for only $5,000.”
What’s Your Reaction?
Yeah. EXACTLY! “What's wrong with it?”
Suddenly you start to feel different about the car. You're like, “Is this crappy? Is there an engine? What's wrong with this car? Am I just buying tires and a frame… What's going on?”
BUYING AN EXPERIENCE
I'm trying to help you understand that you do the same thing to your customers when you go too cheap on price.
Stop going cheap, a lot of 'em don't want cheap.
I don't want cheap when I buy certain things now. I'm like, “Give me *REAL* expensive. I want the best experience that I can get.”
Your customer is buying an experience
So when I look at different price ranges, if it's NOT the super obvious low thing, almost always I'm gonna go as expensive as possible and just add experiences into the offer.
So as far as pricing models go, Man, beware of selling the $5,000 Lambo. l look at the price point and think, “Okay, I'm a little bit premium... great!” I don't wanna be the $5,000 Lambo.
There's no identity status increase when someone buys a $5,000 Lambo.
Everyone's gonna look at you and be like, “You're an idiot! What’s wrong with it?”
A lot of people buy brands just so they can say, “Uh yeah, I bought this really cool car. It’s a Lambo.”
It's not cool that you bought a car. It's cool that you bought a Lambo.
People wanna be able to do that when they buy your products as part of reselling themselves post-purchase and selling others; so don't rob 'em of the experience.
Price can actually be a BIG part of that status experience, but most people run to discounting price.
SEE YOUR VALUE
Because you’re an expert at what you do, you probably DON’T see the value of what you offer, and then you discount, discount, discount… *STOP*
A guy came to do some work on our house. He said, “Man, I'm sorry we gotta fix this electrical outlet. It's gonna be $100.”
I was like, “That's totally worth it to me. I have no idea how to do electrical work and will not die over $100, fix it for 100 bucks. You want $200? Sweet”
You have to understand that your perception of price is NOT their perception of the value.
That's a good one. Bam! Lemme say it again so it sinks in:
Your perception of the price is NOT their perception of the value.
That's the whole point.
...And when your natural knee-jerk reaction is to discount price because you're afraid, you're in your own head.
You're valuing it from your side. That's NOT how your customer values it.
I have no idea how to do a lot of handyman work. So I'll pay a lot of money so I don't even have to think about it. So charge MORE money.
STATUS INCREASE
Have you ever bought something that you're NOT really proud of buying?
A lot of times it's because there wasn't a status increase included with the purchase…
Maybe it was really cheap and you're like, “Yeah, I just went the cheapest option... I know…” You try and save face that way, (which is actually a way to increase your status too).
You get MORE status increase when a person’s like, “I bought my dream car! Let me post pictures all over the place.” They want that status increase.
Understand that that's how the game's actually played.
What's the value to the other person?
Value does not mean dollars. It doesn't.
It means:
...It means buying the Lamborghini *full price* ;-)
Boom! If you're just starting out, you're probably studying a lot. That's good! You're probably geeking out on all the strategies also, right? That's also good.
But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right? That's also what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly, the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Wanna come?
They’re small groups on purpose so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.
You can hold your spot by going to offermind.com. Again, that's offermind.com.
Today, I'm gonna to tell you about my very favorite book… *Spoiler Alert* … it’s NOT one of Russell’s ;-)
There's a really important lesson that goes along with this… so make sure you don’t skip any of this… or you won’t get the payoff.
I'm psyched to tell you about this book... because it literally transformed my life.
I've only ever shared the story of why this book is so powerful and important in a few select places.
At OfferMind (my own event right back in November... you guys can get tickets now at offermind.com), I finally recorded the strange story of how this impactful book came into my life.
… so, y'all ready?
THE TWO VOICES
The game's hard for a while, right? You're proving yourself to... life, existence, God, the universe, the market, EVERYBODY…
You’ve decide, "I want this cool thing? Sweet!”
Then, for a while, the path tends to be:
...Right?
If you’re at that stage don’t worry about it. Start publishing about your journey… ‘cause funnily enough, those are the things that people will follow you for.
For me, it was around business try #8... that was the time when things started to get me down. It was rough, man!
I was one of the only people in the entire world, besides Russell, that I even knew who was doing this... and he didn't know who I was.
I didn't know how to describe what I was doing to other people well. So it kinda got lonely.
Crap was kinda hitting the fan for me mentally.
I was trying to stay true my mission, but I had two voices in my head:
...You know what I mean?
There was this conflict back and forth: “Is it really there... or am I just
believing in a mirage?” And that's when a lot of the self-doubt started to creep in…
MARRY THE PROCESS
Although things were still tough, there was this moment where I started learning enough that I would kinda get in fights with my marketing professors...
And for whatever reason, at that moment, things started turning for me.
When you declare what you want and start walking towards it, things begin to conspire for you.
It doesn’t mean that there won’t be opposition... but most people aren't even willing to declare what they want publicly, in a big enough for things to conspire in the first place.
Declare your intent and stuff will begin to happen for you, and for your sake... I believe it's God.
That moment had NOT quite happened yet for me, but it was close.
89 CENT BEAN BURRITOS...
I was sucking it up on several different business attempts, and life was really challenging.
I was:
It was a lot...
My wife and I, would go to like a Taco Bell, or somewhere like that for our date nights because 89 cent bean burritos were all we could afford. It was fun…
But it was extremely humbling... and a constant reminder of what I wasn't.
Papa Larsen realness coming out here...
As I started trying my next business, I was excited. I told Princess Babe (my gorgeous wife) about it... and she wanted to believe in me.
But it was challenging…
And when she asked, "Is this the one?"
On the outside, I was, "Yeah, babe. I'm your man. I will provide."
But I wasn't providing at all. We were living off loans, and it was really tough.
Then one day, EVERYTHING changed...
THE MAN
It was a grey rainy day, and I’d just finished the most boring class on earth, #Quantitative Economics... Man, it sucked!
As I walked to my next class my head was full of doubts and questions:
All these doubts and questions were running through my head… the noise was intense.
Have you ever have felt the noise? It was like, "Shut up… I can do it… but am I psycho?"...
A lot of my passion comes from this situation because I know a lot of guys are still there... and I want to get you through it.
All these voices were competing in my head as I walked. Suddenly, I see an old gentleman (who I'd never seen before) sitting on a park bench. It had just stopped raining... and (super-cheesy straight out of a frickin movie), the clouds part...
He was sitting on the bench reading a book, and the dude was just wearing wealth. Just so filthy freakin’ rich. You could just tell.
I'm still some way off when a limo pulls up in front of him.
This dude with an unnaturally straight posture gets out of the car, walks around the front, opens the car door, and does a little half-bow…
I was starting to get a little bit closer now…
The older gentleman stands up, and they exchange looks. You could tell they knew each other. Maybe he's been his driver for a while... I don't know, but I know there’s a history.
They exchange a few words, then the older gentleman starts to get into the limo…
By this time I'm getting pretty close..,
And as the driver starts to close the limo door, something in me, out of sheer desperation, made me run…
I ran ‘cos I wanted it.
I ran full speed and slammed my hand in the door right before it closed... which hurt...I wanted him to know I was there.
I was like, "Hey, what's up? I know you don't know me". Then I asked, "How did you get this? I'm sure you get asked it a lot. How did you get all this?".
Once he realized that I wasn't going to hurt him, he stopped, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "Yes, a lot of people ask me that".
I said, "How do you do it? It's not that I'm not trying... I'm launching, I'm doing the stuff. What is wrong? Other people have success and I'm don’t. I'm the variable. What is wrong with me? What is it?"
He looked at me for a moment, then he reached down, and handed me a book. Then he said, "Read this".
It was the book that he’d been reading on the bench before the car pulled up.
He said, "If you will read this for 20 minutes every day... and then spend the next 40 applying it, you will not recognize your life in two years."
I was like, "That's super random... the clouds parted. Maybe that was a message?” It was so cool.
So I spent the next year; 20 minutes reading the book, 40 minutes applying. 20 minutes reading, 40 minutes applying... I spent the whole year like that.
And, in one year, just as he promised, stuff started happening in my life.
I stopped looking at the clock and I stopped judging my self-worth based on how fast that guy or this lady achieved success.
I stopped looking at the clock, and I just put my head down.
After that day, I didn’t see him again for quite some time…
That was four years ago!
Four years ago, he handed me the book and drove off.
MY GIFT TO YOU
Since being in Russell's world, I have a lot more connections... my Rolodex has grown a lot, and eventually, I managed to trace the guy who so generously changed my life with that one book.
I reached out, and said, "Hey man, just so you know, that was a huge deal to me".
Since then, we’ve been in communication quite a bit now, which is really fun, and when I told him my story he said that I could give each reader of my blog a copy of his book... which is really exciting. I know right? It's awesome!
I’m a very slow reader, so I asked if I was licensed to read and record the book. He said, “Yes.”
So I have:
Since then, he and I have gained quite a relationship and he wants to do a private event in about six months from now.
It's going to be in his house, so it’s ONLY OPEN to 20 people.
It’ll be an event with him and me where we'll actually apply EVERYTHING you learned from the book.
It's gonna be in 6 months from now; so that you’ll have time to read the book and follow the checklist. Sound good?
So you guys get the:
Sound good?
Who's ready to buy something?
BUT FIRST, SOME QUESTIONS…
(...and a confession)
By the way…
That's all fake. I’ve read that book in my life. It’s just a random one off my shelf.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY
Q: Why do you want the book?
A: *THE STORY*
Everything about how you sell has everything to do with the story you tell.
All of that was FAKE...
But when I told the story at OfferMind, and asked: “Who wants the book?” Even people who’d heard the story before raised their hand.
Let me ask you…
Q: Did you feel more of a connection to my wife because of that fake story?
Interesting, isn't it? The power of story is a huge deal. All of that was fake. None of that happened, but yet you probably felt a connection
Q: What about the story makes it so impactful?
A: I painted your exact situation.
Q: How did I know that?
A: Because I've been there... I know my red ocean customer. I know you. I know the stories you've been in. I know the scenarios you're in. A lot of it is because I've been there as well.
If you understand your red ocean it allows you to craft a story for your sales that connects emotionally with your ideal customer.
Did I talk about the chapters in the book? No! But people still wanted it.
Too many people are like, "Oh, I gotta build this last feature in my offer to make it sell”. No! That's NOT what makes it sell.
The sales message is what sells. It has nothing to do with the product.
It's all about the story selling. Story is the sales mechanism. The product just fulfills on its promise.
That's what’ll make you scratch the itch and go:
You begin to romanticize certain elements of the product.
So when you see the product for the first time, you're like, "I know the backstory behind this feature. I know why this was such a big deal".
It is one of the most common things that I run into when I'm coaching people... "Steve, I haven't launched yet, because my product's not done"... *WRONG*
It has nothing to do with the product.
STORY SELLING
We often use product development as a logical excuse, (although it is NOT), for why we haven't launched. It's, “How I can sell something that isn't yet made?”
Take the money. It's NOT bait and switch. Your customer knows the product isn’t made yet... and then, once the market has voted with their wallet, then you go make it.
I call this the purple sales message... the power of it is that you’re able to test a whole bunch of stories that allow you to make your product with security rather than risk…
Don’t want to spend 8 months building a product (as I did my first time) that isn’t market validated.
Russell sent me a message saying, "Dude, you've got to stop telling that story. They're not gonna believe you when you actually go sell something".
That's the point I'm trying to help you guys understand that this is how stuff is sold. It's got nothing to do with the product.
No one gives a crap about your features. It's not the reason why someone buys.
You can still obsess and over-deliver for your clients and your customers. I believe in that…
BUT do it with the understanding that this is NOT what puts money in your wallet.
What puts money in the wallet is the sales message. Products never sell themselves. The sales message and product are two separate and independent assets
Boom! If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies also, right? That's also good.
But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right? That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Wanna come?
They’re small groups on purpose so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.
Hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com. Again, that's OfferMind.com.
I try to pay myself as little as possible, but ONLY for this reason... Here's what I'm ultimately building towards.
Would it surprise you to know that, even though I came pretty close to hitting $1,000,000 this year, the amount of money that my wife and I live on is less than half of what we were getting paid when I worked at ClickFunnels?
Out of all the money that comes into the business, I take just a tiny amount to live off…
I’m not saying it’s fun, but I’ve got my eye on a bigger prize. I'm focused on building a long-term asset.
I know that if I just focus for 4 years, then it's gonna shortcut 40 years!
Some people have asked:
What's your long-term vision?
What's your long-term goal?
What do you do with the money once it comes in?”
So I decided to share my 30,000-foot-view strategy with a small group of people in my OfferLab Program to help them understand a little bit more about the game I'm playing.
OfferLab is the equivalent of my Mastermind or inner circle. It’s where I share the most of my nerdy geek out brain.
I don't think I've ever actually shown this to anybody outside of that group…
Frankly, one of the major reasons why I left ClickFunnels is that I realized I couldn't pull this plan off while I worked for somebody else.
Insert *Massive Disclaimer* Here:
I’m NOT a financial advisor. I’m NOT an investment person. I'm just telling you this is what I'm doing and this is how I look at things.
The reason I'm sharing my plan is so that you can start thinking through your long-term strategy as well.
WHY I TOOK A HUGE PAY CUT
I hardly paid myself at all in 2018. Even now, my wife and I, are just scraping by…
That might shock you, but it's actually on purpose because I'm dumping in all the cash I make back into:
Building a Funnel Team
Creating Mind-blowing Content
Increasing my Web Presence
My plan is NOT to live off the income from my funnels or any of my time that I contract out. I'm really playing long term, top-down strategy…
I have a plan, I'm working the plan... and the plan's working.
Making a million bucks is not that crazy. Everyone will most likely do that in their lifetime...
I don't wanna die and barely have made a million bucks…
What I really want in the end is philanthropy. I wanna go do cool projects. I really wanna go help domestic and international, but that takes money.
That takes a lot of crap to be able to pull that off, so that’s why I'm trying to freakin' dominate right now.
BUYING BACK YOUR TIME
Most people start by contracting out their time in a service business.
These are the things that I am doing right now, it's everything from:
FHAT events
The One Funnel Away Challenge
The 2 Comma Club X
My own funnels
My own projects
Coaching is definitely part of my major service-based business.
Everything I get paid from Russell usually ends up being about a fifth of my monthly revenue. Everything else, I generate on my own. I'm very proud of that. I’ve worked my face off for it.
But when the cash comes in I'm using it to develop something that's long-term because the downfall with a service business is that it takes a lot of time, and usually when you get paid money, the work begins.
The benefit of a product business, physical or digital, is that once you pay the money, typically, the sale's over. It's easy to get into the service business, but you eventually gotta move into the product business to buy back your time.
What is it that's going to release you and buy you back your time in the long run.
PLAYING THE FUNNEL GAME
Funnels are extremely effective, so you need to have a plan for when the cash comes rolling in.
I've been part of multiple funnel launches where we almost bankrupted em’ because we sell too fast. I know the funnels work.
That's not the problem, but sometimes businesses aren't strong enough for the funnels that I build.
....then a lot of times, once people have made all their money, they don't know to do with it.
You might be thinking, “Oh, that'd be a nice problem to have.” And yeah, you’re right! *BUT IT IS A PROBLEM ALL THE SAME*
Most people don't know what the heck to do with the cash that they get from the funnel game because it comes in a lot faster than from many other businesses, especially when you leverage the internet.
You could have an entire funnel offline, but when you decided to use the funnel online as well... a lot of amazing stuff can go down.
I've got my time contracted out in several places, it’s not just theOne Funnel Away Challenge and the 2 Comma Club X...
There are several places where I contract my time out... that's the reason I'm hustling so hard right now.
There are two value ladders I'm building out, a front-end business, a back-end business…
I need the outcome of having a team that handles more of the creative decisions for me... and I also want to create mind-blowing content.
You wanna change an industry, you change the content that they are consuming.
So this is the strategy; this is how I'm doing what I am right now…
BUILDING A TEAM
I grab my revenue, and I dump it into:
My own funnel team
Mind-blowing content
Then all I do to turn the gears...
My input is the strategy and critical creatives.
Critical creatives = No one else can write my book for me.
I have an author who's helping me with the initial draft, but I will definitely rewrite it a billion times.
So in order to turn these gears, I need to put in the strategy and creatives that that represent my part of the brain that no one else can do It's my shtick, it's my thing. Offers, funnels... that's me.
I'm trying to be the best, so it's kinda hard to find other people in that area, so I'm NOT gonna try and outsource that part of it. I think that's stupid.
Then all the revenue that gets generated supports the teams. The other income I get from Russell (about a fifth of my revenue), the rest of the income I create, I dump all of that back in.
I'm really stoked, guys. I found out that I actually miscalculated how much money I made last year by a good chunk. I forgot about another account... so it was about almost 900 grand that I did my first year on my own, starting with no product, no funnel, no nothing, and that's really awesome.
The teams are handling the 80% while I do the critical the 20%. I was doing 100% for a long time.
Then all the cash that comes from the 80%... I'm still NOT taking money from it. Here’s an overview:
2018 = the goal was to create services and assets to bring in cash to build teams
2019 = The goal is to build a web presence and have my teams take on 80% of the work
2020 = I'm I'm rolling the cash from everything I create into my next thing… (more about this later) ;-)
This is how I've NOT:
Taken on any debt
Borrowed any money
I've never put a dollar of my own in my own companies, and it's because only take a tiny amount of money to live on... and I roll everything else back into the business.
I've only been away from ClickFunnels for a year, and it's pretty amazing what's happened. It’s to toot my own horn. I'm just saying, it works...
WHAT ABOUT AFFILIATE INCOME?
I don't even treat affiliate cash like profit. I use it as investment cash to go launch expensive things that I don't wanna pay for out of my own pocket or business pocket.
The One Funnel Away Challenge is something I run for ClickFunnels on the daily. I coach and go live with people to help them to build funnels and overcome challenges, and it's a lot of fun.
A lot of lives are changed by it, and it has kind of a soft spot in my heart.
When you promote The One Funnel Away Challenge you get $100 for every person who signs up, which is pretty awesome, right?
A lot of you guys have seen me talk about it, you've probably seen my emails…
Well, I ended up selling 388 copies of the book. I was like, “What? That’s 38 grand!”
Now, I'm not the kinda guy to just be like, “This is how much money I made in that amount of time!” That's NOT what I'm saying. I just put that money back into my business...
WHAT NEXT?
So the next thing I'm doing is rolling all that cash over into other assets.
For me and my wife, the asset type that we want to marry is real estate. I'm gonna go in and grab apartment complexes... that's our plan.
But even when I have those apartment complexes and the money they’ll bring in, I'm still not gonna be livin’ it large. Instead, I’ll take that money and roll it into more real estate. I’ve started looking already.
I’m gonna roll the money those assets create back into more real estate. Then those assets will create more assets.
One of my favorite lessons that ever came from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad is that assets create assets... then assets create luxuries.
Someone reached out to me and said, ‘Stephen, you make more in a month than I do in a year.” I was like, “Correction, my business does. That's true. At this point, (Jan 2019) Me? No!”
The money that I live on is tiny… there’s maybe a little glaze on top... a little sesame seeds on the buns every once in a while, but that's basically it.
The asset goes in and creates cash and rolls the money back into more assets.
...And that's gonna happen for an undisclosed time, and then, finally, then... I will start living large.
This is a four-year plan that I'm running, and year one went really well; it's totally working.
If you don't have a specific plan like this as you move forward, that's okay. Just know this is what I'm doing:
PHASE #1:
My own money
My own funnels
All the stuff that I'm building
Other stuff for other people
High-ticket events
Low-ticket events
2 Comma Club X
... all the places where I’m contracting my time.
What's fun is when you transition from the service-based business to the product-based business.
Some people do that out of the gate because then you start to make even more margins... and get your time back, so then you can start building a team.
PHASE #2:
I take all that money, and I rolled it into:
My team
Mind-blowing content
A web presence
My input now is only like 20% of each product instead of the full 100% because these other guys are doing all the stuff.
PHASE #3:
I take all that cash, and roll it into different asset accounts… they're savings accounts, but I hate that word. It's really a storage account like Grant Cardone talks about.
It's a storage account where we're saving up a lot of money so that we can roll that into apartment buildings.
Then that apartment building will roll on top of itself until it buys the next one, and then both of those until they buy the next one...
The aim is to buy a new asset (#apartment building) once a quarter from the money created from other assets.
PHASE#4:
Assets create luxuries = I get to live large and focus on philanthropic work.
ARE GURUS DIFFERENT?
So when you think through how your strategy in the entire game is played... it's fine if you don't know beginning to end, but I would at least try and figure out your 30,000-foot view.
IMPORTANT: I did NOT know all of this before I started moving forward. Please hear me when I say that.
If you're like, “But Steve, I don't have a top-level, 30,000-foot-view strategy. Do I need one before I start moving forward?” No, you don't.
Just get the funnel out the door, and then as you move forward things will begin to form and crystallize. All these opportunities that you didn't have before will start to appear, that's just the name of the game.
The longer I've done this, the more I've realized that, honestly, one of the major things that keeps some of these gurus where they are is... the fact that they have a team. It's literally their speed. That’s the difference, nothing else.
A lot of them don't even know much more than you. It's true. The reason that they've blown up is that:
They have a web presence
They've got more content out there so they're easily more findable
They're actively creating more and more campaigns to sell the same products a lot of times
They just drop their content while living a cool lifestyle because they've rolled all that cash over into other asset types
Pretty cool, huh? Now you can play the long term game too!
Until Next Time - Viva La Capitalist Pigs!
Hey, many don't know that I actually made my first money online as an affiliate marketer.
If you wanna know how I funded my entire company without using any of my own money EVER? You can learn to do the same for FREE at AffiliateOutrage.com.
Here's some takeaway's I learned and taught on the 2CCX Cruise this year
Imagine going on an amazing cruise to the Bahamas with Russell Brunson, James Friel, John Parkes, Julie Stoian, and a bunch of amazing Two Comma Club Coaching Peeps…
You’d expect to have a ton of epiphanies... and you’d be right!
Today, I want to share a game changing insight I downloaded... and the most well-received lesson that I taught during the cruise.
Y’all ready?
MAKING A MILLION
The Two Comma Club Coaching helps people create their offers and the sales funnel that will best present the offer they’re selling in their business, and I'm one of the coaches for the program.
Two Commas = A Million.
This year, we went on a cruise from Miami to the Bahamas with 400 students to have fun, mastermind, and geek out about all things marketing.
We went to Nassau, Saint Thomas, Tortola, and some other places I can't pronounce… and I got to see dolphins and stingrays.
I even saw the world's deadliest plant … which is in the Guinness Book of World Records. Apparently, if you even touch it, you die. It's crazy, crazy, crazy.
Pretty much every single day there were masterminds with all the coaches taking turns to teach, open mic, and Q & A.
There were golden nuggets dropping all over the place. James Friel, John Parkes, Julie Stoian, myself, and Russell various things that we saw the group needed…
It was so cool each coaches perception of what the group needed. I'm NOT gonna go through everything here, you’d need to join the program. However, there was one session that I really liked...
James Friel was the first one up, and he started talking about setting goals. I really appreciated his viewpoint, so I want to share it with you now.
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T 10X YOUR GOALS
Have you’ve ever noticed that a lot of people who teach goal setting just focus on, “What's Your Big, Massive, Scary Goal?”
I understand the point of having a big goal that makes you kinda freaked out, there's a benefit to that.
A few weeks ago, I set my own SCARY goal for this year. I'm charging towards four million dollars, and I really hope I hit it.
It's NOT some shot in the dark number, I know how to get there - I have a plan, I was very careful when I picked that number.
It’s freaking me out a little bit, not in a negative way; it's positive stress.
If the number was any higher though, it would be different... I'm right on the line of positive stress versus negative stress for that goal.
Goals shouldn't just freak you out for the sake of it.
I know Grant Cardone says, “What's your goal? 10 X it!”
Sometimes that's extremely destructive, and I'm not actually a fan of that when it comes to your team. We're not necessarily wired the same way.
If you go to your team and say: “Hey, everything that you're doing, 10 X your effort!”
It's like: “Oh man, how about an arbitrary goal you can't measure... and then let's just stress the crap out of you all.”
It paralyzes everybody.
Personally, I think there's room for BIG SCARY GOALS that push you, but there's also room for goals that are just the next two-inch putt.
YOUR PROCESS GOAL
James talked about how the goal that we generally set as New Years Resolutions is typically a result-based goal: “ I want this result. I want this thing…’
A lot of times, it's a mountain that you want to get to the top of so you can have a huge life-changing outcome; a Massive Result- based Goal.
James said that the reason why most people never hit their goal is because they don’t have a Process Goal.
A process goal is THE THING that secures your results goal.
For Example:
A lot of the time, we only set the BIG GOAL, without giving enough consideration to the process and habits we’ll need to actually achieve our goals.
If you want to succeed you need:
#1: A Habit: I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna work out every single day. This is how I'm gonna eat, etc....
#2: A Process Goal: Here's the process that I know will cause success and get my result = Your habits feed that process goal
There are a few other pieces, but I'm just kinda focuing the top level view here…
However, there's one other piece that James dropped out which I thought was fascinating... He taught that what’s need to start this whole thing is an Identity Shift.
CREATING IDENTITY SHIFTS
I totally geek out about identity shifts.
Taking on a new identity is one of the major purposes of a sales message.
It's the hardest thing to cause, and one of the most important components. If I can cause an identity crisis and an identity shift, then it’s real easy to sell to that person.
...I don't mean that in a negative sense, but that's really what's happening, so it was cool to see how James tied that into goal setting.
For Example:
Each of these goals has a corresponding identity, and when we take on that identity it spurs the whole process forward. I can’t be a triathlete if I never train… so to be a triathlete I need to have the habits and identity of a triathlete...
So, now I know my results-based goal, I have to ask:
MY RBF
On the ship, I had a lot of people walk up to me, and ask: “Stephen, where do you go in the middle of the day?”
Well, I'm kinda a wandering soul. Sometimes, I’d just wander and discover different parts of the ship, it was really cool.
There were almost 6000 people were on that ship. It was a small town floating around - which was nuts.
I had a few people walk up to me, and say, “Dude, you need to chill out a little bit.”
Haha! If you see me in public, and I look pissed, or like I'm NOT totally checked in with reality, usually it's because I'm focusing on something and thinking hard.
It's not that I'm mad… sometimes I just have a bit of an RBF (Resting Bitch Face).
I'm like, “Oh, sorry, I'm not actually mad, I'm just thinking.”
A lot of the time, I was hiding out and reading a book…and hiding. I wasn’t really hiding, I was just trying to find places where I could read quietly. I was hiding in essence.
One of my favorite books at the moment is Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. It ties into everything I'm talking about to do with goals and identity,
If swearing offends you, don't read it. There's a lotta swearing, but super, super good book! It’s one of the best non-marketing books I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Goggins says that what keeps us from obtaining our dreams is our current identity. He says that our head puts a governor on what we believe we are capable of, and that governor hampers our ability to get our dreams.
In order for us to attain our dreams, we must take on a new identity.
I read that in the book, and then James was saying: “Hey, it all starts with an identity shift.”
I was like, “Whoa, identity shift, identity shift, identity shift!”
It's all about identity.
HERE’S THE QUESTION…
Ask yourself this:
What’s the identity that you have taken on, and does that identity currently allow you to attain the goals that you set for yourself?
If your identity is:
...you’ve gotta be able to shed that identity and be able to say to yourself:
Self, I'm good enough. I can get out there. I can get it done.
It’ll cause a little bit of noise in your head because you’ll have say goodbye to the old mess. Which is why I had to put up that episode about why Steve killed Steven. It wasn't a cute thing…
I’m actively trying to take on new personas and personalities at all times. I'm discovering new capacities and potentials that I didn't know were there.
WHY STEVE KILLED STEPHEN
If you’d asked me six years ago if I could achieve everthing that I have, I would've said “No, I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough, I don't know how to study…’
... which were all true things at the time!
This game is NOT just about learning models or frameworks because you won’t even be able to operate the model if your head is not where it needs to be, and if the goals you're setting are being held back by the identities that you have.
You need to take a close look at yourself and ask if everything you believe about yourself, your capabilities, and the world are serving you?
It might be that you have to look back at what you’ve learned from friends, family, or teacher (whoever)...
You can love them, and still decide to shift and drop parts of what you were taught by them that isn't true.
You need be able to scale away things in your head so that you can architect YOU.
Everything I teach inside the One Funnel Away Challenge has a lot to do with that…
It's NOT so much about me just teaching:
I know that's not where people struggle; they struggle with identity:
That’s where people get the BIG hangups.
It has almost nothing to do with does the model work? “Yeah, it works. You're not working it.” You know what I mean?
SEEING IDENTITY EVERYWHERE
I thought it was really powerful, and it seemed to be this undertow theme that I started seeing in all these places as far as marketing education goes: Identity, identity, identity.
We all have identities for any opportunity we try to seek in life, and sometimes our old identity is what's holding us back.
The model good, it's often part of ourselves we need to shift, shed, and get rid of.
If you liked that, please go say thank you to James Friel, he’s the man. He's one of the other Two Comma Club coaches. He's also in my OfferLab program teaching systems.
I'm really pumped for you guys to have more access to myself, to him and to the rest of the people in my Hero Team which you’ll hear about soon... so anyway, go say thanks to him, 'cause that was really profound…
Then just know that as you start to set those goals, look at:
Did you set a process goal? You probably set the results goal, but do you know HOW to get there?
I'm NOT saying you need to see all the pieces, no one ever does, but do you have a plan on how to structure your habits?
I don't necessarily know how I'm gonna go from exactly 11% body fat down to exactly 10%... but I have an idea that my process and my everyday habits every day could be:
I know enough to just move forward and figure out the rest of the details as I go.
...and that's the way it is with pretty much everything in life.
MOVING FORWARD|
Just to finish off and throw in some extra value to help you achieve your goals, I want to share the top three lessons from one session I taught that was very impactful for people.
It has to do with the question:
“Stephen, how do you get so much done, and NOT get overwhelmed?”
So the theme I wanted for today is:
On the cruise, I spent so much time with the new business person, NOT just funnel builder. Someone who's brand new, who's never done any of this before, and I understand what happens in that person’s brain when they start this game.
It's NOT just like, “Hey, you gotta learn this stuff….” It's like, “Hey, prepare for this mental barrage of crap you're about to hit at the same time.”
THREE STEPS TO ACCELERATE
In all the coaching programs that I'm involved with, (my own, and other people's that I help fulfill), I’ve found that there are three things that accelerate someone's progress faster than anything else.
It's NOT usually about having another course. I'm not saying don’t buy them. I'm not saying don’t get a mentor. Those things are amazing, and they'll shortcut the amount of time it takes for you to be successful…
However, most people already have so much stuff that they haven't done anything with.
So, here are the three things:
#1: Know what problem you’re solving:
If you do not know what problem you are solving, that's gonna be an issue for you and your business. You have to know what problem you're solving. The ONE problem.
I always know which problem I'm solving. I know exactly which ONE it is. It’s on my whiteboards at all times
Everyone has noise in their head ...and as we move forward most people get distracted by that noise:
...there's this huge noise, and what will dramatically compound the noise in your head is to NOT know what problem you're trying to solve.
I practice what I call just in time learning. What that allows me to do is cut out everything else from my head that I don't need to be learning.
If I don't need to learn SEO, I'm not gonna read a book on SEO. Some people will be like, “Well, yeah, duh!” But a lotta people are NOT thinking that, guys.
I know the one problem that I need to be solving, and that's it. I only learn to solve that problem.
I go to my bookshelf, and I pull out all the books that look like they could help me solve the one problem.
Sometimes, I can solve one problem a day. Sometimes, I can solve one problem every three months, but I never added in a new problem until that problem is solved.
The problem I'm solving this year is something I told you in a previous episode… building a team, and especially an internal funnel building team.
So…
* Write down the one problem you're trying to solve*
#2: Can you can clearly tell somebody else which model you’re following?
I’m following the info product model. The problem I'm solving is the team building problem.
If you don't know what model you're following, you're prone to follow any new thing that comes your way. These are ways that I keep myself anchored in what I do so that I'm not getting sidetracked by all the crap around me.
If I know what framework I’m following, 80% of all the decision making is already done. Someone else has already paved the path, so it's not about me being a creative genius.
It's about me learning the 80% framework someone's already paved in front of me.
Then maybe, if it's required, I’ll learn the last 20% creativity….
Most of the time you don't have to though.
You just learn the formula, the path, and the framework from someone who's already moved before you, and that solves all the problems.
Massive ways to reduce the noise inside your head.
You should be able to tell anyone the answers to the first two questions at any time.
#3: I ask myself frequently, How can I increase my speed?
Now funny enough, that question used to feel noise producing for me, but NOW it’s actually a noise reducing.
If I start to slow down, for some reason, I feel the drag more. If I find ways to speed up the process, I don't get lost in the detail. I don't get lost in a being a perfectionist.
I don't get lost in trying to make sure that it's so good that when I put it out there because my emotions are at stake.
These are the three tools that I've been using, and I just wanted to briefly share them with you because people found them impactful when I shared them on the cruise. It was an hour-long session, but this is a brief version…
I recommend that after reading this you find the answers to these questions:
Hope to see you on the next cruise…
Boom! If you're just starting out you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies also, right? That's also good.
But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them, right? That's what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special Mastermind called an OfferMind to get you on track with the right offer, and more importantly the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Wanna come?
They’re small groups on purpose so I can answer your direct questions in person for two straight days.
You can hold your spot by going to OfferMind.com. Again, that's OfferMind.com.