Alex Charfen is one of the very select few coaches I continually plug into...
I have wanted to get this individual on here for quite some time, and Alex Charfen has been one of the reasons why my stuff is blowing up so much.
I have learned that I need to listen to less people, and I'm very, very picky on those that I choose to dive deeply with…
...and I have other various ones that are very carefully selected... and I don't listen to ANYBODY else!
I'm extremely careful about the content that I consume - so that I can spend most of my time just moving, rather than gathering MORE information…
... which I don't think many of us need more of.
So anyway, I'm excited for you guys to understand more of why Alex Charfen, for me, has been so key…
So I asked him to come on the show and to teach a little bit more about the systems that all businesses need, regardless of whatever you're in.
A lot of these are the systems that a brand new entrepreneur needs when they finally get that revenue coming in.
...and then there are systems that he creates for those who have an existing business and are ready to scale.
Alex answers the questions…
If you guys like this interview, please reach out to him, (he did not need to do this) and say “Thank You!”
At the very end, we have a special little thing for you, and so we're excited!
Boom, what's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen, welcome back to Sales Funnel Radio - we're really excited to have you guys here.
I'm with one of my good friends, who's become an amazing friend and definitely a mentor... I would call and consider him a brother as well.
I want to introduce everybody to Alex Charfen.
Before I really bring Alex on, I just want you all to understand, Alex Charfen was one of the guys that helped me understand why I am who I am... and that, it’s okay… and helped me lean into that.
I talk to you a lot about leaning into your obstacles, leaning into those things that have been crappy in your life…
… because they end up becoming your superpower.
You all know my story of going to the first Funnel Hacking Live, Alex Charfen was one of the first speakers, and I took so many notes…
I ran back home, I showed my wife and she goes "That's why you act the way you do?" And I was like "YES, it's because of this guy!”
He had a crazy deep gravelly voice and I loved it. He was the man!" ...and I'm so excited to bring him on the show here:
Guys, please welcome Alex Charfen, “How you doing, man?”
ALEX: Steve, it is so good to be here with you, man. Thank you, and I echo your sentiments completely, and I consider you a brother as well, man.
STEVE: Oh thank you so much, thank you so much.
You know it was like two weeks ago; me and my wife were chatting about your material and going on through it, and she goes "Oh yeah, I have to remember this is how your brain kind of works."
I was like, "Really naturally, yeah! You should really know that" so we'll go back through your stuff.
You know, I've got that Capitalist Pig shirt that I wear all the time, but I really want one that just says, "Charfen will explain," or something like that, you know what I mean?
That should be the next shirt…
So much of what I do in this world just is NOT explainable without you.
ALEX: Yeah, it's unique, you know, Stephen…
I think when you characterize it that way, so much of what you do is different than what anybody in the world would ever expect... and that's what I've found from the day I met you.
I think I walked up to you and said something like:
"Hey man, I think we should talk. You're a really unique entrepreneur and I don't think you understand just how unique."
STEVE: I remember you said that.
ALEX: Or something like that.
STEVE: Yeah I remember, and I felt like, you know in the Matrix when he's talking to that lady with the spoon bend... I felt like I was talking to her, and I was like:
"What does he see in me? What are you looking at?" You know, and "Please dissect me!"
So anyway, I really am pumped for you to be here and just massive incredible love.
You have to understand, your name; it's NOT just a noun, it’s a verb in my vocabulary.
People are like "How did you do that?” "I just Charfenized it, baby!"
I say ‘Charfenation’ all the time.
Anyways, you're very much a verb in my vocabulary, and with my family... so it's really quite an honor to have you on, it really is.
ALEX: Thank you Stephen, it's an honor to be here man, this is awesome.
STEVE: This is really cool. Well hey, I wanna just start right out and just, I wanted to ask…
My audience has heard a lot about you. I've talked about you a lot because there’s so much that ‘veI learned.
Just recently, I was going through some of my old notes, from two years ago, from one of your events, and I was like "Gosh, you're so right, this is so cool!"
It really has created additional leverage for what I'm trying to do.
It works, it's real, and I want everyone to listen to this and listen to what Alex has to say here.
Understand that *this* is how I've been doing what I’m doing.
I learned marketing and a lot of sales from Russell... but how to have a life, systemize, and make my business an asset from Alex Charfen.
So, anyway, could you just tell us how you got into this? 'Cause I know you weren't always…
I mean I call it entrepreneurial optimization, I mean it's really what you do - it's not just the systems, but like:
How did you get into this?
ALEX: - You know Stephen, I think if the question is, "How did I become an entrepreneur?”
I didn't find entrepreneurship, it found me.
This was really the only thing I ever felt comfortable doing in my life.
Ever since I was a little kid, I was always the kid that was different than everybody else, crazy socially awkward, like what you see today…
I don't try to be socially awkward, it's just natural.
… and then, when I was eight years old, my family went through kind of a financial downturn; my father lost a company.
He didn't go bankrupt, but he went really close, and to make money for the family we were selling stuff in a swap meet on the weekends.
I remember going to the swap meet for the first time and standing behind a folding card table, and a woman walked up, and I sold her a pen that had an LCD clock in it…
(Like that was big time for 1981 or whatever or '78 or '79, or whatever it was).
Stephen I can remember thinking at that moment, "Holy crap, I'm good at this. This is something I'm NOT terrible at."
… because up until that point, I really hadn't found anything where it was like, "Hey, that was good."
It was always’ "Almost got it, kid. You don't suck as bad as you did yesterday."
I was the kid who consistently got *MOST IMPROVED* all the time, 'cause it's the award you give to ‘the kid who sucked the worst!’
And when that woman walked up, it was like "Hey, this is something I can do over and over again."
And the more that I worked with my Dad, and the more that I experienced business, I loved it.
The world is so random, but when you get into the world of business there are rules.
…. there's an outcome.
People are in it together, and you actually have to work together to accomplish and achieve.
… if everybody cares about the outcome, it'll happen.
And so *this* is where I feel comfortable.
You know, it's funny, when I was a kid I used to create businesses, create business plans, write out time cards and all this other stuff, and as an adult, I thought that was like ‘the weirdest thing.’
I would reflect back and think like, "Man, I was such a weird kid."
Now, that's exactly what my daughters do.
My daughter this morning was at the kitchen table for three hours writing out a schematic for a water park she wants to build one day.
STEVE: Wow!
ALEX: And you are who you are, and I think, from the very beginning, this is who I've been.
STEVE: That's amazing, and when did you decide to make a business around this and go actually help other entrepreneurs, like myself, who need these systems?
ALEX: Well, the business that I have today, we started…
So let me give you a little brief history.
So in my twenties, I was a consultant, and you know, a lot of people ask about that.
I did some consulting at a very high level at the Fortune 500 level...
I built a very large business that almost killed me.
And so I can tell the story really good...
I can give you all the highlights and make it sound great:
Or I can tell you the other side of that coin…
STEVE: Wow.
ALEX: And so when I got out of that business, I wanted to do something completely different.
So in my early thirties, I got into real estate, and we were taken out by the real estate market in 2007.
Cadey and I introduced our first information product, and that's how we got into this world.
We created a product called the Certified Distressed Property Expert Designation.
In 2007 we were bankrupt, we introduced our product at the end of the year:
We went from bankruptcy to liquid millionaires in a year.
In 2013, the US Treasury came to our office and did a broadcast with us, where they said that, according to their research…
Our company had pulled forward the foreclosure crisis five to seven years
….so it was intense.
STEVE: Oh, yeah...
ALEX: Really intense!
And what happened was, right around 2011…
A lot of our clients who were buying our product wanted help growing their business; so I took all of the stuff that I used to use as a consultant; the systems and structure Cadey and I used to run our business, and we started training it.
And so since 2011, we've been training it in classes/ courses.
In 2017, we started the products that we have today. So now we have :
STEVE: That's awesome! That's so cool.
ALEX: Yeah it is the most fun I've ever had, Stephen…
It's like every day, I wake up and here's what I get to do:
I get to play in this playground with game-changing entrepreneurs that are starting businesses that are doing things that are just unreal.
...and our systems, our structures are kind of the backbone for how they're doing things.
So on a daily basis, me and everyone on my team, wake up knowing that we are helping the game-changers change the world, and we recruit people who want to do that…
We recruit for people who are passionate about our mission…
Everyone on my team feels like their life's mission is being fulfilled through being in this business right now.
It's the greatest thing I've ever done.
STEVE: That's incredible, and I can tell everyone else who's listening and watching this now, it's exactly as he says it.
I think I've been to three of your events now, and they have just been life-changing.
I go through and it gives structure to the idea, but then, also, how I behave against the idea. So I can actually go in and breathe; I can live.
I watched my Dad create this awesome company when I was a young boy, but it took him too.
But everyone does that, it's super natural - so you to go in and…
... it's incredible.
I know it's not magical, but it feels magical, to me! I'm like "Oh my gosh!"
I've actually had a tab open with your course open for like the last month and I'll just dive into another video, and I'm like "Oh my gosh! Back to the drawing board, that was so good!"
And I go back to it again and again and again... it's just always up, everybody who's listening to me, it's always up.
That's really what's teaching me how to run a company, rather than ‘me’ being the company, and I've loved that.
*Just so powerful*
I wanted to ask you kind of a key question here, and it's a question that I get asked a lot...
People come through my programs, I'll help them make money. They go and make a lot of cash, and it's awesome... but then after that, like what do you do?
What are the first systems that you find that new entrepreneurs with a sizeable amount of cash should actually go create first?
What are those first few moves?
ALEX: You know I think I definitely want to share a couple of systems Stephen, but first, I want to just share a thought process.
..and this is a tough thought process for most entrepreneurs to take on, and it's interesting 'cause I've watched you go through this shift too, right? '
Cause at the beginning, (and I just want everyone to know)...
When I met Stephen Larsen, he was ready to take on the entire world solo!
STEVE: Yeah.
ALEX: Like all alone, right?
And here's the thought process…
After you start making money, the next thing to ask yourself is:
when you get to the point where the momentum you're creating on your own isn't enough, and believe me, we all get there...
Like I know that if you're watching me, watching Stephen, you're one of those entrepreneurs... and in the back of your mind, you have this crazy voice that has always told you:
... and if you've always felt that, then there's a shift you have to make in your thinking.
Because here's the issue for people like us; I call it the Entrepreneurs Dilemma.
For people like us…
We need far more help than the average person to reach our full destination, but any request for help or support that we have to make, leaves us feeling vulnerable and exposed.
Stephen, you with me?
STEVE: Yes, yes, yes, yes, 100%!
ALEX: And so here's the shift…
We have to realize that if we're gonna change the world, that is a group activity, and leadership's a contact sport.
So we have to wake up to the fact that when we start to:
…. we will build the company that we have always wanted.
That's the only way it's ever been done.
The myth of the solopreneur who's changed the world is a myth - it's a joke.
STEVE: So true
ALEX: It's one of the most damaging things out there in the entrepreneurial world today.
Because the fact is…
Show me anyone that looks like they changed the world on their own, and I will show you a massive team behind them.
STEVE: So true!
There's this idea that gets pushed around now, and it's like, “I'm gonna go and be this person that does all this stuff. I'm the gift to the world...”
...and it's like “Okay….” but you can't do that on your own.
In the last six months, I have begun to experience and feel burn-out.
ALEX: Yeah.
STEVE: I have never in my life experienced that, and it's been hard.
The only way I've been able to create leverage is by listening to what you say and create those teams.
ALEX: Yeah. Well then, Stephen, that's the thing…
Here's the deal I want everybody to understand this:
If you're an entrepreneur, you have a job, and that job is to…
Because if you don't work with that equation to constantly lower the noise and increase the support, lower the noise, increase the support…
Here's what ends up happening…
You are in an equation that doesn't work.
… and it's not like anyone can come and argue against me here because this is like gravity.
This is like you know the facts of life, this is like taxes. We're all gonna pay 'em. There's no way to argue against this, you're going to lose.
And so in that situation, as an entrepreneur, you have to be really cautious about doing too much yourself, and about loading yourself up, because here's our instinct…
(You know you have this, I have this, we all have it.)
If there's something to be done, the first thought we have is, “How do I just get it done without telling anyone else,” right? Oh yeah!
STEVE: Yeah
ALEX: And it's like "I'm gonna conquer!"
STEVE: Freedom baby!
ALEX: We forget that humans are tribal animals, man.
We are all terrible at most things. Let's get real…
If you're good at a lot of things then you have a liability because you're not gonna be able to choose what you shouldn't do.
I'm very fortunate, I suck at most everything, and that's like an honest reality.
Anyone on my team will tell you like "Oh man, don't let Alex fill out a form, use the calendar, "send emails. We keep him out of all of our systems."
Seriously my team actually knows when I have a password for a system and they monitor me using it, 'cause I'm so bad at that stuff.
But on that same token, I know what I'm good at.
… and by doing those things, we can grow a massive organization and have a massive impact.
So for every entrepreneur, the key is to figure out what you're good at and do that to the exception of everything else
... and it's the hardest thing you'll ever do as an entrepreneur.
Here's why…
The second you start doing that you feel like you're being egotistical. You feel like you're being self-serving.
But here's the fact:
When you drive your business to get easier for you it will grow like crazy.
But driving your business to get easier for you will feel like you're doing the wrong thing.
It happens all the time.
There's a discussion right now on our Facebook group, one of the CEOs in our group made a post, and I'm paraphrasing, but she said something like :
"As I offload and reduce discomfort and get a team around me, I'm feeling less and less significant, am I doing this right?"
And my answer was "Yes! You're absolutely doing this right. That's exactly how it's gonna feel!"
Because we need to attach significance to the total contribution, NOT to your day-to-day activities.
STEVE: Mmmm, that's powerful.
You know it's funny I was It reminds me of …
You know when I first got to ClickFunnels, it was just he and I. There wasn't like a copywriter, a videographer... it was just he and I!
So we did every single role in getting these funnels out, occasionally there was an exception where he'd go "Oh someone's really good at X, Y, and Z," but then, by the time I left...
ALEX: - Probably design or something… but everything else was you guys?
STEVE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, right! I knew enough Indesign and Photoshop, I was the one doing it most of the time... and doing first copy rounds, and it like, it was nuts!
But by the time I left, it was funny because he had started implementing these types of things.
I remember watching him during these funnel launches just laying on the floor, bored out of his mind.
I've never seen him like that in my life, and he was almost going to a state of depression. He was like "I'm not needed in my own thing now. Ah no-one needs me anymore."
It's a funny thing to realize, we're just the orchestrators. We don't play all the instruments.
ALEX: We shouldn't, we shouldn't.
And so, you know, back to your question about what systems should an entrepreneur start looking at?
Now, I'm gonna talk high level, and I wanna share...
You and I are really close friends, and I wanna share the most critical content we have for entrepreneurs with your group.
STEVE: I appreciate that.
ALEX: This is what we normally share internally once somebody joins our program…
We share the five things that keep companies from scaling.
The reality is, there are really five things that keep companies that should scale, from scaling.
And here's what I mean ‘companies that should scale…’
You know, if you go talk to most consultants, venture capitalists, investment bankers, accountants, lawyers, whatever, they'll give you this laundry list of why companies don't scale:
The reality is, if you look at most companies that should scale, there are five clear reasons why they don't…
So let me share them with you, but let me give you this caveat…
Here's what I mean by "should scale..."
…. you should be scaling.
If those things aren't there for you right now, go resolve that and then start scaling.
Far too many people try and scale before they actually have all the steps in place.
Then you just build infrastructure that does nothing.
So let me tell you what the five things are...
#1: So number one, first and foremost, absolutely most crucial, is…
So as a result, there's no go-forward strategy, and here's what happens in a business when you don't have a go-forward strategy.
If you don't know where you're going, neither does your team
... neither does anybody around you
And so you will, by virtue of math, become the biggest bottleneck in the company.
Here's why…
If there's no forward plan where all of us can point at and go get it and help you chase it down, every time we want to know what to do we have to ask you, and we have to go to you... and it's a death of a thousand paper cuts.
You're literally in a place where you're:
And if you've ever been in that situation as an entrepreneur, you know that somebody only has to ask you twice before you're ready to flip out and lose it.
Am I right Stephen?
STEVE: Yeah, yeah, usually once.
ALEX: Once, right, right, but by the second time you're like "Are you kidding me?"
And so the way we get past that is we create a clear strategic plan, we share it with our entire team…
... and if the team knows where they're going, here's what happens.
I want you to understand something about the people coming to work for you.
If you're in a small business, you're hiring entrepreneurs.
I know that there's this saying in the market, "You're either an entrepreneur or you work for one."
I call complete and total BS - don't even bring that crap around me.
STEVE: Yeah!
ALEX:
Every person on my team is an incredibly talented, hyper-motivated, world-changing entrepreneur, they just choose to be part of a team.
And so you're gonna hire entrepreneurs, and the way you keep entrepreneurs absolutely and totally focused and excited, is you show them what they're hunting, you give them the kill.
You say:
And if you hire the right people, they will walk over hot glass to get to that destination for you.
STEVE: Yeah.
ALEX: But if they don't know where it is, you're gonna demotivate them and completely de-leverage them.
So number one, you have to have a strategic plan.
In my experience, less than 1% of businesses do. Also, less than 1% of businesses ever hit $100,000,000. In fact only 3% ever hit 1,000,000.
STEVE: Jesus.
ALEX: So when you look at that, it's not 1% of businesses that hit 100,000,000, 0.01% of businesses ever hit 100,000,000, and the reason is...
Most businesses don't know where they're going.
And Stephen, by you having the tools to build a strategic plan in your business, hasn't it changed how you approach things?
STEVE: Oh gosh, you guys remember when I tell you those stories of I left my job...
I created 200 grand of revenue really quick but there were no systems
I was the…
I did every role, and I voluntarily, very painfully, had to turn down revenue to go build these structures.
And I want you all to know, it was Alex Charfen's stuff that helped me go in and actually set those systems in place... and so, please understand my affinity for this man and what he does.
About halfway through the year, I was only at like 300 - 400 grand, which is pretty good, but that last huge sprint came in because of the things that Alex Charfen and his team were teaching me.
All those planning things that I use, and all the things that I've just lightly mentioned, they've all come from Alex Charfen, and it helped scale me.
ALEX: That's awesome Stephen... Man, that makes me so proud.
This is so cool! Like there's only one Stephen Larsen in the world, and I told you that the first day I met you…
I'm like, "Dude you are completely and totally unique and I think I can help you build the company you really want."
STEVE: Yeah, you said
ALEX: And for us to be sitting here, and for you to say that, I got chills Stephen, that's so awesome. Thank you, man!
STEVE: Oh man, I'm so jazzed about what we do, but it's because of what you teach I'm like "I can do it... "
The first time I ever saw Stephen at an event, I did not leave the event until I'd cornered him and told him what I needed to tell him... because I knew you were gonna be exactly that type of person.
...and here's why it's so important to me, Stephen.
I could tell the first time I saw you, that you were gonna have a massive effect on the world.
But here's what I know about entrepreneurs; you're gonna have the biggest effect on the people closest to you - the people who are most proximal, your team.
And when I see an entrepreneur like you Stephen, I'm like:
"Man, if that guy builds a team he's gonna change hundreds of lives internally in his company. They're gonna change millions of lives externally, and I know those hundreds of people will build your legacy."
And when I see somebody like you, I'm like, “Man! That is the path, let me show you how to do this.”
The fact that it's working, is like, “Ah, it makes me so excited every day.”
This is why I get up out of bed every morning and do what I do.
STEVE: Ah, it's so fun man, feeling's mutual. You walked up, it was from that FHAT event that you were at.
ALEX: Ah ha.
STEVE: And you walked up and said, "There's a huge company in you and I don't think you know it, and I'm gonna help you pull it out of you."
I remember when you said that, I was so scared. I was like, "There's no way that this is real! I know who you are, are you kidding me?"
It freaked me out, and I had to own my own vision for a while. It actually took me a while to practice that.
Anyway, so much has gone on in mental clarity and development from what you've taught, not just these systems and things around, it's really cool.
ALEX: - So let's give the second one, Stephen
STEVE: Yeah, sorry, sorry.
ALEX: oh don't apologize, shit I love this part.
So first you have a strategic plan…
#2: Second, the thing that you need to have is
Let me tell you something about us as entrepreneurs…
We think we're good communicators, but we're lying to ourselves.
The fact is, we are haphazard and emotional, and we're pumped one second and we're not the next, and we're all over the place…
Here's what happens…
When we have a team that has to deal with a personality like ours, and there's NOT a system for communication, it's random and haphazard and overwhelming... and it comes from all angles, and they're waiting for word from on high.
Here's the fact, if you're the entrepreneur in charge, you're the MOST important person in the building all the time.
You're the most important person on the team, in the tribe, in the group, and they're all waiting to see what you say.
And if they're waiting for days and nothing's happened, they start thinking:
So you need a system.
As an example:
So they all know when they're gonna communicate with me and how.
From the first day you're on our team there's a system that controls how you hear from me.
Not just me pumping stuff out there haphazardly.
As a result, my team knows they're gonna hear from me, they trust it and here's what happens.
I set the expectations, I meet the expectations, we create trust. I create trust with my team every time I do that.
And here's the fact:
... which means when they're driving, when they're showering, when they're doing something else, they're gonna be thinking about your business.
Why?
...because it gives them momentum.
So if you have a strategic plan and a system to communicate it, you're ahead of 99% of companies out there.
And Stephen, same thing for you with the system, the structure?
Like…
We all fight structure, but once you put it in place, isn't it incredible?
STEVE: Oh, it's amazing! Stuff's getting done right now, that we set in place once. and then, I'll be like "Oh, podcast episode just launched,!Oh, what day is it? Oh, that's sweet! Everyone just put it out, all right, cool!"
ALEX: Right, I remember when I started getting messages like, "Hey, I love the new podcast!" And I'm like "Oh, we put a podcast out? Nice!"
STEVE: I didn't do that, what are you talking about?
ALEX: So you have #1: a strategic plan, then #2: a system to communicate.
#3: Here's the third one, now this is BIG, really big, and most business owners just, they don't look at this ever and it's the biggest struggle is, or one of the biggest struggles is;
And by documentation, I mean having:
For example:
If you walk into a McDonald's, and you look above the fry cooker, there is a process to cook fries above that fry cooker.
Anything that happens in that McDonald's, there's a process for literally every single thing, including:
That's why there's a consistent experience at McDonald's; I'm not saying it's a good experience, I'm saying it's consistent.
In most businesses, in most entrepreneurial businesses, there's no process.
In fact, it's even scarier than that...
The process lives either in the owner's head or in an individual's head - so you lose a person, you lose the company.
You lose a person, you lose a big chunk of what you're doing.
STEVE: Hmm.
ALEX: So you have to have a system in a business to consistently evaluate what processes are in the company, and then on a monthly and weekly basis document the right ones.
The way that I would suggest you start, is you look at your customer experience:
If you do that, you're gonna beat most people out there...
99% of entrepreneurial companies have little to nothing documented in any type of process.
STEVE: They're just shooting in random spots 24/7.
ALEX: Or they're doing stuff like, "Here's how we do our customer on-boarding…”
...and you're like "Oh, cool! Let's go and see what John's doing?"
Well, John's doing nothing close to what Suzy and Bob and everybody else was originally doing, and so you have these degrading processes in your business.
And here's what happens…
When you look at entrepreneurial businesses, they tend to…
If you're inside those companies, hundreds of times like I have been, here's what I can tell you…
Revenue goes up as the process is working, and then when it breaks, it comes back down.
*PERIOD*
That's why businesses don't continue to go forward - there are processes breaking in the business.
Whether it's marketing, sales, delivery, whatever it is there's a process breaking.
When you document your proceses, you make them bulletproof.
So in our business, we actually use:
So we have all of our processes in Process Street, and we have a distributed team around the world.
We have somebody in Ireland who can do their part of the process, as soon as they hit the last button it transfers to somebody here in the US who can do their part of the process.
STEVE: That's awesome.
ALEX:
Documenting your processes + Putting them in place = Game-changing
STEVE: Holy cow, okay I wrote that down.
I'm taking tons of notes so everyone knows, I hope they are as well…. And I'm not sharing! ;-)
Process.st is the company, and we are so happy with it because... Stephen, here's what I want everyone to know,...
Cadey and I have had five businesses get over $10,000,000 a year, and all five of them ran them with paper checklists.
This is the first time we have automated checklists in Process Street.
The last information products business that we had, we literally had three-ring binders that we would carry around the office and check stuff off.
Having a three-ring binder with a process was so much better than having somebody trying to do it from memory.
Now with Process Street, we can distribute that three-ring binder, and I can get reporting on who's doing what.
STEVE: That's amazing.
Yeah, I've actually seen the three-ring binder and I've thought, "Holy crap, that really is how he's doing it.”
You would teach it and then I watched you actually do it.. 'cause you would record your stand up meeting calls in the morning
ALEX: Yeah.
STEVE: And I was, "Oh my gosh, that's so cool! I'm NOT doing that, interesting."
Then I’d go back and take notes and start it.
ALEX: And then implement.
Well, and you know, there's this phrase in the entrepreneurial world. Ah... I kind of get a little triggered, right!
STEVE: Let it out, baby!
ALEX: You know the thing that people say from stage:
"Here's what I want all of you to know. All you have to do is stop working in your business and start working on your business."
And I'm always like:
"Oh, good, thanks. Thanks for solving it all for us dude, that was awesome. You just solved all my problems with that really cliched BS thing that everybody tells entrepreneurs."
When I was in my twenties, my instant thought was like, "How do I get on stage to punch that guy in the face?"
And my then my second thought was like, "What a load of crap! If I don't work in the business nobody's answering the phones, sucker."
Like, what's going on here? I don't know how to make that change.
And so the way you make that change is…
Working on the business means documenting processes.
By making it:
And so you have…
#4: The next step,(and this is BIG), is..
STEVE: Ah, this changed my life. *HARDCORE*
ALEX: Whoa, Stephen, you know how game-changing this is because, here's the problem in most businesses…
Projects are selected emotionally.
Period, I can't tell you that they're done any other way - they're emotional.
In our business, if I have a really great idea that I want to implement today…
If I'm like, "Man, this is a really high sense of urgency, we should get this implemented."
It'll probably be somewhere around 45 days, and I'm totally okay with that.
That's the timing it should be in my business.
Now if there's an emergency we're gonna fix it that day, but if I'm like, "Hey, I see an opportunity here with something," it's probably a 45-day event…
Why?
I have a team and a structure, and a plan, and we have a system that's moving forward. We're already hitting our numbers, why would I mess with anything?
In just in the last 60 days, we've gone from two million recurring to two point three million recurring,
STEVE: That's awesome!
ALEX: So why would I mess with what we're doing?
STEVE: Yeah.
ALEX: Yeah, so when somebody's like "Hey Alex, I got this "great idea for your business." I'm like "Awesome, get in line."
And we'll put it into our system to see if we want to actually do this…
Because the fact is…
If you're getting sold as an entrepreneur on what your next project should be, you're probably in the wrong place.
STEVE: Yeah, that's fascinating. I really agree with that.
It was your planning system for figuring out which projects, I still do it.
Top of every three months and it has guided everything we do.
And while I do follow a few rabbits and I'm practicing bringing it back in, we still largely follow the plan as to what the business needs, and that's ‘grow and scale’ rather than this impulse of like:
"Yeah, oh shiny object, shiny object, "that looks good, that looks good!"
And it's been that discipline, that's the other thing that's always up is my waterfall...
ALEX: Yeah, yeah, always! I mean mine's up right now. I mean I could share it right now.
And the reason is I always have my strategic plan pulled up in front of me, I'm looking at it every single day.
I'm asking myself:
Because when you look at our strategic plan, here's what it's made up of.
. So that waterfall of long term, to one year, to 90 days, to 30 days, I can see it all on one document and it tells me EXACTLY where I should be supporting the team and what we're getting done.
And so here's what happens…
I went to an event a couple of weeks ago, and I had an idea that was like "Oh man, we have to do this."
Then I come back to the office, I look at the waterfall and I'm like "What do I want to kill in order to do this thing over here?"
And you know what the evaluation was? *NOTHING* I'm not going to take anything off this, that would be crazy.
There's no way I'm gonna go to my team and say, "Hey guys, in addition to all the other stuff you're committed to, here's a hot potato."
I just backed down and I waited till the next time we had a planning meeting and I said, "Hey, there's this thing I think we should do."
There is very little knee-jerk reaction in our company because we are going so fast in a forward direction, that for me to challenge that in any way it has to be game-changing at a different level - so it rarely even happens.
STEVE: Yeah, black-ops right? Call them black-ops?
ALEX: Black-ops.
STEVE: No black-ops!
ALEX: No black-ops, baby!
If it's NOT on the plan, you don't do it... or it's black-ops.
And usually, the biggest creators of black-ops are guys like Stephen and I.
So my team has an open license to tell me if I'm doing black-ops.
They will actually call me out in a huddle, in a meeting, they'll be like "Ah, this sounds like black-ops," and then we'll make a note, we'll put it in a parking lot and do it later.
STEVE: Oh, that's so cool, okay.
ALEX: Yeah, that's one of the most important things you can do when you have a team Stephen…
You train your team to criticize you and then you congratulate them when they do.
STEVE: That's really cool, then they have a license to actually flex their brain instead of feeling like they're in a box.
ALEX: Absolutely. You know I heard a story once about Larry Page, who runs Google,
He was in a meeting and he really strongly stated a point. and one of the team members got emotional about it and started yelling at him.
She was like, "I think you're wrong and this is why you're wrong," and Page was smiling…
Afterward, she asked somebody "Hey why was he smiling?"
‘Cause she backed him down, and he actually said "You know what, I think this deserves more investigation. Let's do this."
She walked out and she was shaking and all adrenalized up, she had just yelled at the CEO of Google, like, “What the heck's gonna happen to me?”
She turned to somebody next to her, and was like "He was smiling, is that because he's gonna come down hard on me?"
And the person was like, "No, he was smiling because you confronted him, he loves it, he wants it.”
He knows that if people aren't confronting him, he's in a bad place.
So I look at it in my team and I'm like, "Hey, if my team's not challenging me a little bit, then we're all just marching behind a duck."
You know, I don't wanna have ducklings behind me. I want people who are saying:
So you give your team license to criticize and license to call you on stuff.
STEVE: Gosh, I love that.
#5: So here's the fifth one...
So we have:
….and then, this is *BIG*
It's NOT just finding the right people, its…
And unfortunately, just like everything else I've named, planning, projects, process, all of those... people also become emotional.
An entrepreneur wakes up one morning and says, "I'm doing too much, I'm gonna hire an assistant."
Then they have the assistant sit next to them for three weeks, and they wonder why this doesn't work out?
It's because you had the thought to get help, (which by the way I congratulate you on), but there was no process there to actually make it work.
And so here's the process you need…
People tell me, "Hey man, doesn't that "feel like overkill?"
I'm like:
You don't understand what it means to have an executive team. Your job is to build relationships with those people.
You want to know how you build relationships?
There's one commodity that builds relationships. One!
*TIME* - that's it.
And so when I'm onboarding, when I'm bringing somebody on, (whether it's on my executive team or anywhere in the business), somebody is doing that high-intensity onboarding with them…
Up close and personal every single day for the first 30 days making sure we have no drift.
And so, when you have a system to select the right people, bring them on and then onboard them the right way…
Here's what you avoid, (and Stephen this is like, Ah, this statistic drives me crazy)...
In corporate America, I know because I used to be a consultant there.
In corporate America, they would say things like, "Well we just hired so-and-so in that position so they'll probably be productive in four to six months."
The first time I heard that I was like "Did he just say four to six months? Does he mean four to six days, or does he really mean four to six months?"
Because in my business, even way back then), if I had to wait four months for somebody to be productive I would have been, “They're gone”!
STEVE: Yeah, yeah, they're gone!
ALEX: And so in our business, we actually have this experience right now.
We recently brought on somebody else, a new person to help us in marketing, and with our onboarding process, he was actually achieving products within the first five days of his first week.
STEVE: That's so cool!
ALEX: And that's how it should be.
You want somebody to come in, be effective and start contributing and creating momentum.
Because here's what will happen…
As an entrepreneur, if you're wired anything like I am, (and I know Stephen is), if you have somebody on your team that starts to feel like they're not carrying their own weight, you won't sleep.
You won't sleep, it will rip you apart, Stephen am I right?
STEVE: Yeah!
ALEX: It will destroy you…
And so here's the question though…
Are they not carrying their own weight because:
STEVE: They have no idea what they're doing. They don't have confidence...I didn't help them!
ALEX: Right, 'cause here's the thing.
Your team needs three things in order to ultimately be effective and to be the type of team you want.
And here's what I mean by that…
As an entrepreneur here's what you want, you want a team that just does stuff and asks permission later.
You want a team that achieves and lets you know how things worked out.
That's it! I just know this is how entrepreneurs work.
And if you want to have a team that actually moves things forward as an entrepreneur…
You gotta spend the time with them and let 'em know what your ethos is, and let 'em know how you make decisions…
That's how you duplicate decision making.
STEVE: Hm, gosh I love that. Okay, so…
...and I actually personally just went through your onboarding training and it's so awesome!
'Cause it goes through and it's like this, you basically create a runway for 'em, right?
And if they don't land, don't worry you've got parachutes and there are jumpy cords all over the place...
- you're doing everything you can to help 'em win fast and lots of small tiny wins that build that confidence, and I was like:
"That is brilliant. 'Cause that is not the way you're taught anywhere else.”
ALEX: So Stephen, check this out, man.
We recently fell out of the lucky tree on recruiting and we hired this guy named Greg Duby and he is, ah, amazing.
He's like, he's just one of the most exciting guys I've ever worked with because he's so solid and so centered, and just so good at what he does.
Greg is a former nuclear propulsion tech in the Navy, so you know what that is, that's the guy who rides the bomb around in the submarine, okay?
STEVE: Yeah, that's amazing!
ALEX: Yeah, you have to have advanced degrees in Physics, advanced degrees in Math.
He's literally a rocket scientist.
So he worked in the Navy, then he worked at NASA, then he worked for some of the larger consulting firms out there…
I mean, he's done incredible stuff in his career.
He's just one of the most solid people I've ever worked with, and within about two or three weeks into our company, in one of our daily huddles, we said, "Who got caught being awesome?"
It's where we call each other out, and he said:
You know, I just wanna call this company out for being awesome.
“ I've been here for three weeks, I've never had an experience like this getting on-boarded anywhere...
I'm up and running, I'm excited. I feel like I'm really part of the team. I feel like I've worked here forever and I'm three weeks in."
And this is somebody who worked at some of the best consulting firms in the world, NASA and the Navy!
And our little tiny company has impressed him so much because we did onboarding because he knew what he was supposed to do.
And as a result, Greg, I think we're about three months in with him, and dude, there are projects that I thought were gonna take a year or two that are getting done this week.
STEVE: That's so cool!
ALEX: It's crazy.
STEVE: It's just a completely different way to do it. One thing I hated in the military, I love the military, but you know, some things that are rough and that is that there are no clear guidelines on how to win ahead of time.
The way you're instructed is by hitting barriers and then you get punished for it, and you're like:
"Just tell me ahead of time and I wouldn't do it! But all right, let's do more push-ups."
Anyway...
ALEX: Something tells me you did a lot of push-ups, Steve!
STEVE: I just want to say thank you so much for being on here.
I asked for 30 minutes and you just completely over-delivered, and I just really want to say thank you to you.
My audience already knows very well of you.
Where can people go to learn more about you but specifically also get your help inside the business?
ALEX: So the best place to learn more about us is to go to our podcast.
I publish a podcast four days a week, which is essentially a one-on-one conversation with an entrepreneur growing a business.
And the way that I create each one of those episodes is when a question or issue comes up in our coaching groups, I create an episode around it, we distribute it to the group.
But then also we distribute it to anybody who's listening, so you can get the same coaching that I'm giving my high-level clients right on our podcast…
It's called Momentum for the Entrepreneurial Personality Type, and you can check it out at momentumpodcast.com.
And then, if you want to understand more about our products, about our coaching groups you can go to our website charfen.com, but better is to just reach out to me or to one of my team members through Facebook.
The easiest thing, is just reach out to me, and I'll connect you with the right person in our company, and we'll go through a process with you to help you understand if we can help you.
You know Stephen, we're pretty neat, we don't sell everybody. We actually get on the phone with a lot of people who we sell later, but we won't sell you unless it's time.
We know exactly what solutions we provide, and if you have those issues and they link up, then we'll work together... but we go through a personal inventory in order to help you do that.
So if anybody's interested in getting on a call with a member of my team, you can also shortcut the entire process by going to billionairecode.com…
Answer a few questions and you can just set up a call link and you'll be on a call with one of my team members and they'll help you qualify and understand where you are.
And just so you know, we don't do sales calls, they are all consulting calls.
When you get on a call with my team, you won't ever feel like you're being sold, you'll feel like you're being helped.
STEVE: Which is exactly what I have felt when I started doing that as well.
Just so you all know he's very serious about that - that's very real.
I always feel like I'm being helped by anyone on his team.
...and come to find out later, "Oh that was the sales guy!"
...You know what I mean?
They dare to go in and actually they want to change the world and they're very serious about it.
So thank you so much, appreciate it.
Check out Billionaire Code.
The Momentum podcast is a goldmine, it is one of those gems on the internet that is actually worth all of your time and attention.
Thanks so much for being on here, Alex, I really appreciate you and love you, and thank you for being on here.
ALEX: Stephen, dude, this has been an honor.
I hope to be able to get invited back again, and as a Sales Funnel Radio listener, this is really cool. I appreciate you, man!
STEVE: Thanks, I appreciate it!
Hey, awesome episode right?
Hey, once I figured out the simple patterns and formulas that make this game work, I had a new problem…
Back when I eventually left my job and launched my personal business, I sold about $200,000 of product in around three months-ish…
And while I thought I was King Kong, a new problem started.
I was the business, there weren't any systems...
And I knew I wouldn't survive it alone…
Better yet, I knew I'd never seen a rich solopreneur.
This game takes a team.
Contrast that to now, and my company does tons of stuff that I don't know how to do...
What changed?
His name is Alex Charfen, check him out at charfenrocks.com.
So I usually don't bring tons of people on Sales Funnel Radio, but you should know that his programs, combined with my marketing skills, are why my business is killing it in revenue today, and NOT killing me personally.
Alex Charfen's programs and training have been life-changing for me and my family... and taught me who I really am and what I'm meant to be.
So when you're ready to build an actual business, an actual asset and NOT just make this another job…
When you're ready to keep the role of entrepreneur but learn the role of CEO, go get started with Alex Charfen at charfenrocks.com. That's C-H-A-R-F-E-N rocks.com.
Today, I wanna share some of the criteria that I personally use to choose my Dream Customer.
I have an actual list that I go through to find my Dream Customer. Knowing my ‘WHO’ helps me on multiple levels so that I can:
Now, when you think about the phases of this whole game, it goes like this:
...that's a lot of steps, but I've gotten really good at making each of those steps crazy simple.
And those are the six steps I use to get things out the door.
Its kinda like if someone was asking, "Hey, can we make building cars more simple?" Yes, they're still complicated, but the building of them can be simple.
You see what I'm saying?
There's a lot to what we do in this game, but it doesn't need to be complicated, per se.
FINDING YOUR DREAM CUSTOMER
So I wanna share a few of the criteria I use to find my Dream Customer… and WHY it’s sooo important to me!
I didn’t ALWAYS have these criteria…(and it kinda made me broke and miserable)...
In fact, this is a pretty recent list... and I've gotten clearer as I’ve gone along…
Let me tell you a story…
MY MONEY BARRIERS
Back when I was doing door-to-door sales, I'd wake up excited… I'd literally run from door-to-door just get more doors in for the day.
I would knock on doors and sell ANYBODY who had the cash to pay.
If somebody said, "Here's my credit card," you’d just take it.
BUT…
there are some major drawbacks to that kind of a thing - HUGE drawbacks.
In fact, I'll tell ya, I was soooo scared… (a little bit chicken even 😉 )
I had a lot of money barriers that I hadn't overcome at that time.
Six years ago, I was doing door-to-door sales...
We’d drive around in these areas, (selling pest control), basically tryna see spots that would be the easy laydown sales... and they would spend a lot of money.
We'd drive around, and look at these different areas... I remember, there was this particular area…
I don't wanna offend anybody when I say this, (you have to understand, from my perspective as a door-to-door sales guy)...
... but I’d be like, "I don't know that these people are gonna have cash to buy pest control - Pest control may not be the biggest thing on their to-do list right now.”
… we weren’t judging, but that was the reality.
Then we'd drive through these really rich, affluent neighborhoods, and we'd be like, "Man, these guys would spend a ton of money on pest control. Holy crap! So cool"
But I had so many money fears that I would not go to the affluent areas.
Instead, I’d go to these areas where I’d sell cheaper contracts... 'cause I was cheap in my head.
I would sell cheaper contracts and I would sell cheap… and it was on purpose - I’d literally seek out kind of low-income housing areas.
Now there's a BIG lesson in this…
STAYING BROKE
So here’s what happened…
I sold A LOT of pest control… 'cause I was able to give the first treatment for free, and then say, “...it's only this much per month.”
I was literally fighting and competing on price.
The first half of the summer I did really well…
The second half I started learning what the internet was... and it kinda messed me up, and I lost all my focus.
But I still did a lot of sales...
The way a lot of these door-to-door companies work is that you get paid four months after the summer's over...
'Cause they wanna make sure that the accounts just aren't gonna fall out or whatever.
Which makes sense, right, from the business side/cash flow side of things…
Anyway, the day came, and I get a message saying, "Your check's on the way," so I run to the mailbox excited.
I’d worked the whole summer, and we were super pumped about it.
“This is gonna be the check that save us.”
This is gonna be the check that's gonna give us security for the next two semesters of college.
But when I opened up the check, I was like, "This can't be right. Are you serious?"
There was ONLY $1100.
I was like, "Are you kidding me? There's gotta be some mistake here. I worked a whole freaking summer and I only have $1100?"
I have chills right now thinking about it - it freaked me out so bad, 'cause I realized that the sprint we were living in gonna keep going.
After I settled down, I called my boss, and I called my buddy... and said, "Hey, what happened?"
And he goes…
"Dude, you only knocked at the poor neighborhoods, Stephen.
You got a lot of contracts really fast, but when it came time for that second and third rebill, EVERYONE canceled…
So you only got a little bit of money up front for getting the contract…
I had spent the majority of the summer knocking poor neighborhoods, and in the end, I had nothing to show for it…
… because almost ALL of them canceled.
And again, no judging, but think about that...
A lot of these other people who’d only knocked rich neighborhoods, (this is a big lesson, and it slapped me on the face so hard)...
...had waaay less sales, but A LOT more money.
*A LOT MORE MONEY*
There's a HUGE powerful lesson here…
And I started realizing that:
Just because somebody has the cash does NOT mean they’re your dream customer.
I’M NOT CHEAP
So now, I wanna share some of the criteria that’ll help you recognize your Dream Customer…
And usually, it means is saying ‘NO’ to other people.
In fact, I was on a cruise ship, and there were some people who were mad at me for NOT having really cheap products right now.
My stuff’s kind of expensive right now...
So when people ask, "Hey Stephen, what can I buy from you?"
I don’t have those cheaper things in my value ladder right now… there certainly will be cheaper products…
But right now…
I’m NOT focusing on my:
*I’M FOCUSING ON MY DREAM CUSTOMER*
… when I said that, people got really offended! They're like, "So am I not your dream customer?"
…. I said, "Well, probably not," and that's okay…
... but they didn’t like that!
THIS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
I want you to understand why this list I'm sharing is such a BIG deal!
It's NOT a list that I just drew out! A lot of very painful experiences led me to this…
For example, that door-to-door experience 😬
Honestly, a lot of stuff that I have launched recently, has come from me saying ‘NO!’ to a lot of people.
Again, you have to understand from my standpoint, I'm proving out the idea and making sure that we have awesome results - which we do!
Which is why you'll start to see a lot more cheaper products coming out soon.
I'm proving out the core of the value ladder - (i.e. something that's mid-price or more expensive)...
….I'm doing exactly what I tell you guys to do.
Then I'll go do the cheap stuff, right… but I don't have time for that yet.
THE WRONG WHO
At the beginning of last year, when I left ClickFunnels, I was selling the wrong who…
I was selling to the wrong customer.
It wasn't a dream customer - it was a ‘could be’ customer. It was the customer that had cash…
Within three months, I hated waking up.
I’d wake up and I'd be like, "Aw, I gotta go serve these people… they’ve paid, so I have to fulfill…”
But it was terrible - they didn't do have the stuff I was telling them to do.
Sooo…
All I did was change ‘the who,” NOT the product… and all ships rose.
When the customers came in they were not just better, success stories went up 'cause they were just doing it.
I didn't change the product.
THE SCIENCE OF SELLING ONLINE
Someone in my Facebook group asked the question:
(by the way, if you're not in the group you can totally join us @thescienceofselling.online)...
"Stephen, I have my customer, I have my product, I have my sales message, I have my offer and we've got great traffic coming on in, and tons of people are seeing my order page. Why do you think they're not buying?"
Right of the bat, I said:
“It’s waaay easier to change your customer, (the person who's hearing your sales message), than it is to go change the sales message, the offer, and the funnel."
At the beginning of last year, I made a few tweaks to the sales message, but really I just changed who was hearing it....
We just changed the ‘WHO,’ ...and suddenly, the whole business exploded.
WHO SHOULD I SELL TO?
So I've gone from selling door-to-door..
...which really helped me understand that I should sell to people who:
I know that I wanna sell to those that are willing and able, but I wager that there's one more criteria though…
And that is, people who are:
Willing + Able + A Dream = My Ideal Customer
… those are the three categories that I look for now.
I don't just look for willing and able anymore... now it's willing, able and a dream customer.
So this is how I came up with the criteria for my dream customer…
I'm setting this up, so that when you see the checklist, you to value it for what it really is and how powerful it is...
...and the journey it's taken me to EVEN get clarity on this... ('cause, it's been a lot).
I've had to go through a ton of personal failures in order to create this list.
You'll notice that A LOT of these things on the list have very little to do with demographics and very little to do with interests…
But they do have a lot to do with psychographics…
...meaning the way the customer thinks.
Psychographics are way more important than demographics in terms of creating my dream customer.
I don't really care about demographics, I want psychographics.
How does my customer they think in terms of creating the dream component of willing, able, and dream?
There's a more in-depth, far more applicable version of this that I do at my OfferLab event.
OfferMind will definitely talk about it a little bit, but anyway…
But this is My Personal ‘WHO’ Dream Customer Criteria.
MY DREAM CUSTOMER INGREDIENTS
INGREDIENT #1:
My Dream Customer is somebody who buys and uses red ocean products, (especially from the category king).
So think about that…
I want them to be a current purchaser.
Eugene Schwartz - copywriting, advertising rockstar that he was, says that there are three types of traffic…
I also wager that there's one more…
I don't just wanna sell hot traffic...
By definition, hot traffic is somebody who's ONLY problem aware and solution aware…
*THAT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR ME*
I want one more level - it's ‘The Dream Phase.’
I want someone who's problem aware, solution aware and a buyer.
You don't have to be hot traffic and be a buyer by Schwartz’s definition. I feel like I'm walking on coals, fighting the great Eugene Schwartz while I'm saying that…
But understand, it's actually NOT enough for the way I chose my who…
I only want those who are problem aware, solution aware and a dream… and so for them to be a dream, they need to be a buyer.
I want them to be an active purchaser of red ocean products.
Case in point…
Let's say I'm selling the Crossfit community, and I'm telling them about ketones.
Well, it's gonna be really weird if I'm selling the Crossfit community, and I'm selling somebody who's NEVER actually purchased or paid for ANYTHING for Crossfit…
You see what I'm saying?
I want them to be a buyer of that red ocean stuff… that also tells me that they're NOT a freeloader.
INGREDIENT #2:
There's a lot of old-school copywriting courses and marketing courses that teach that you need to spend time talking about their problem - so that it brings room in for your solution.
*I HATE THAT*
The reason I hate that is that, I have to create the problem.
(...and I'm not fighting it. I just think it's a harder customer.)
If the problem that I'm solving isn't BIG enough, so that when they see my solution, they're like, "Oh my gosh, finally, I've been waiting for this!"
… that tells me right out the bat, I don't want that kinda person.
It means I have to educate them on the problem, NOT just my solution - that sucks, okay.
I want someone who is currently conscious of their problems and their pain already.
… this also means that they're in a state to react to my sales letter.
INGREDIENT #3:
I want them currently in a state where they feel abandoned, forgotten, almost betrayed.
Meaning, they went in and they purchased, "I'm gonna do CrossFit!"
...and they're doing it, and then suddenly, they're painfully conscious of the lack of results…
They're like, “Man, I was so hopeful. I was really hoping that would be the one."
Well, that tells me that they're a really passionate individual and naturally hopeful.
I want that...
There might be parts of my product that I'm launching that may not serve them the way I really want it to, and I’ll need a little bit of time to go in and make some tweaks - so it will serve them.
Somebody who's naturally hopeful will appreciate that… versus a natural skeptic.
I don't want the skeptics in my programs - they fight me on EVERYTHING. I try actively to keep them out.
Understand, my sales funnels are NOT just to sell people, they're also to keep people out …
...which is why I'm very forward on who my stuff is for … and why I'm walking through this!
INGREDIENT #4:
They need to know value when they see it and buy on their own without me hand holding them.
This is such a BIG deal because the way that I bring somebody to my product and the way they are brought in effects their success…
The manner that a customer enters my product often dictates how well they do after the purchase.
So if I have to beg them to purchase, I will, by default, usually have to beg them to do stuff with it afterward…
... so I wanna set precedents ahead of time.
I've already answered 99.9999% of ALL the questions people are gonna ask - so if I've already answered all those questions…
I don't need them to keep playing 20 questions…I need them to be doing what I'm telling them to do.
Just do it, right!
I’m NOT gonna beg them by saying, "No no, it really is awesome..."
There's a reason why when someone Facebooks me questions about my product, I don't answer. I really don't…
Someone will reach out and say, "Hey Stephen, how do I do x, y, and z? Is this really the product fit for me?" ...and I'm like, "Probably not.
Looks like my funnel didn't pick you up, so you may not be a good fit."
…. they're like, "What?" ...and it freaks them out.
They're like, "You're firing me?" and I'm like, "Yeah."
I can do that as a seller... and so can you.
I wanna go and make sure that they're NOT gonna play 20 questions… which doesn’t mean that I won't serve them...
It just tells me about their mentality, and what I'm gonna be doing post-purchase with them.
I want natural action takers.
INGREDIENT #5:
I don't care what it is…
I don't care if they're an ice-skater who won some cool thing, whatever…
It tells me a lot about their mentality.
They're more likely to succeed at my products when they've succeeded with something else in their life.
If I am the first level of measurable successes they've felt in their life then that’s an issue…
I'm NOT just gonna be a product coach on what I've told them I will help them do and the outcomes I have promised them... I will become a life coach…
Most people don't like my life coaching methods
... which have a lot to do with me saying things like, "Sack up and just do it."
A lot of people are gonna have a hard time with that.
So, I want them to already have some level of success, 'cause there's a mental toughness that they've developed already.
INGREDIENT #6:
Q: Why would I want that?
A: 'Cause it means that they're gonna be likely to consume my content
Next on here…
Every purchase that we make in this life includes an identity shift...
That's pretty profound… (...is it weird to call your own thing profound? 😂)
Every purchase that you make also includes an identity shift.
I want them to have participated in a red ocean identity.
I want them to have walked in and put on a t-shirt that says ‘Crossfitter,’ own it, and tell people about it.
The reason why is because they're more likely…. when they realize that their method... (I'm not throwing rocks at CrossFit, I chose that as a random example)...
But let's say that they went in and they put on this identity as a ‘CrossFitter…’
I want them to own that identity.
“I am a ------- (fill in the blank)!”...is a very powerful statement to finish in your own psyche.
...and so I want them to have done that.
Once they’ve owned an identity, they're MORE likely to take on whatever identity I'm going to give them.
I can't be the first time that they've put on an identity - there's ownership that's required for that.
So, anyway, there's just three more criteria….
INGREDIENT #7:
Now, this is kinda gross... I believe it's from Seth Godin…
He talks about the concept of being a sneezer, meaning, they spread stuff, (which is totally nasty).
But he's like, "You need sneezers!"
I was like, "That makes a lot of sense."
I want my customers to be true believers, aka, Diehards.
So when they purchase, and we start getting those results for them, they're like, "This is awesome!"
*Spread, Spread, Spread, Spread, Spread*
...they tell everybody, “You should go check this out,” and they become some of my best salesmen ever.
INGREDIENT #8:
This one might surprise you that it's a criteria for me.
But when somebody doesn't have a strong sense of self, I have to help them find themselves, and that's okay, but it's just more challenging.
I can't be the source of their ‘self’…
My company is NOT the source of personal validation. I am there to give them a result.
We'll create a relationship for sure, but when they come in with the premise and the expectation that I'm the one that's gonna go give them personal validation…
…. it's really weird!
Every step, they're like,
I'm like, "Whoa, oh my gosh! You did it! Done's the new perfect, son. Just move!"
I will get feisty with them so, I can't be their sense of personal validation.
And then, the last one is…
INGREDIENT #9:
... that's my criteria.
The reason why, is if they’re…
...and they fit a lot of these criteria, (if not all of them).
Then, I wake up in love with my customers.
I wake up and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to drop this new thing on them. They're gonna get so much more success with this. It's awesome."
...and it lets me play in my mental playground zone more.
It lets me play in my zone of genius more when I love the customer.
I love my customers, and it's been a long, long, long time of me making sure that I'm serving the right customer... not just for the product, but for my personality.
So that when people come in they're like, "All right, I love this," and then they do it - they move and act.
Hopefully, it's helpful to you!
This is an awesome blog, if I do say so myself... it’s one of my favorites.
*REMEMBER*
All good marketing starts with a who.
So if you can get clarity on:
... that's okay, just add your own.
We're talking about YOUR Dream Customers, which may NOT be the same as my dream customer.
Get clear on some of those criteria and you’ll literally be able to build a business that you like.
If you liked this... then leave me review @ sjlreview.com ...that would be super helpful.
It's been really fun to see a lot more of those reviews lately. I've really appreciated that - it's been helpful for me.
It's a lot of work getting these shows up. We have a huge team behind getting these out - so it's super fun for us to see all those together... sjlreview.com
OFFERMIND
Also, last part…
OfferMind is getting soooo awesome!
We have...
Obviously, I'm gonna be speaking and then, to top it all off, we have the brilliant and incredible Russell Brunson keynoting!
...so it'll be very fun.
This is NOT an event like you've EVER been to.
I'm excited about it - we'll get a lot more into the nitty gritty of how a lot of this stuff all fits together.
A lot of times, I just wanted someone to just fit the pieces together?
… and sometimes, that means going just one layer deeper so that you can make it simple and understand how a lot of these components work together... and take on the identity of a marketer.
*I am a ----- marketer!*
Go to offermind.com and we're excited to have you.
All right guys, see you later. Get Rich!
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?
There 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.
Dave Woodward helped shape the entire affiliate program at ClickFunnels. He's a personal mentor, friend, and brother.
It's long overdue that I invite him to come on Sales Funnel Radio to share his wisdom...
I'm really pumped about this. Frankly, it's been in the planning for, like, seven months now…
I have wanted to get interview Dave Woodward for a very, very long time.
If you guys don't know anything about him, he is one of the backbones of ClickFunnels...
… so you’re in for a treat.
I think it was October-ish 2018, just after the 30-Days Book went out. I was approached by ClickFunnels to write a chapter for a NEW book...
And, NEWS FLASH…
In case you’re slow to catch on ;-) this is me, announcing the release of the NEW Affiliate Bootcamp Book!
And of course, in true Steve Larsen fashion, I'm gonna over-deliver bonuses to the hilt, so you’ll wanna buy the book through my link…
THE NEW AFFILIATE BOOTCAMP BOOK
The book asks the question:
“How would you retire as a ClickFunnels affiliate in a hundred days?”
I spent pretty much all of my Christmas break writing my chapter.
...it's NOT straight theory kinda stuff.
This is A LOT of the strategies I’ve used to crush it in affiliate contests.
So, I'm really excited about this.
For the 30-Days Book, I interviewed Russell…
For this one, I thought I would interview one of the backbones of Clickfunnels and the reason why:
...and the name of that individual is Dave Woodward. He's a beast. He's the man...
Dave has become one of my favorite people on this planet, a mentor, a friend, a brother, and I look up to him like crazy.
I care dramatically what Dave Woodward thinks about me.
Maybe I shouldn't... I'm NOT supposed to say that, but it's true.
I really appreciate him, and everything he's done for me, and my family.
I am very, very excited, and completely, (in full transparency), extremely honored, to have our guest today.
This has been an interview I have been planning, and looking forward to, for a little over a year and a half now. I'm excited and to be completely honest, a little bit nervous.
I have tremendous respect for Dave Woodward. - tremendous respect.
If you guys don't know who Dave is, you should!
INTRODUCING DAVE WOODWARD
Dave is one of the cornerstones and keystones of all of ClickFunnels, and why it works…
...please take that from a guy who sat across, and watched, and was very much a part of the intimate workings of what ClickFunnels is, and how it works.
Dave is one of the reasons why ClickFunnels is where it is.
He is one of the reasons why relationships are the way they are.
And, in my honest opinion, the reason why Russell can even get his message out there…
I have a ton of respect for Dave and for what he does.
He has gone from a friend to an incredible mentor to me. I so appreciate and love him, and I'm very honored to interview him today.
Dave, thanks for being here.
DAVE: Well, I'm extremely honored, and I'm very nervous myself, so that makes two of us.
Thank you for allowing me to come on your show. I have such huge props for you, and I just admire all your work, and everything that you've done…
No one implements like you implement.
I love seeing it, you're such a role model to my kids, it's just fun, and I love seeing the impact that you're literally having across the entire world... so, it's an honor to be here.
STEVE: Oh thank you very much, man. I'm glad to have ya.
Now a lot of people may not know….
Dave sits, literally across from his seat, he literally is looking into Russell's office - I mean he's like right there…
There's this tradition, (at least when I was there), it looked kinda like this…
So Dave and I, right, we're working, Melanie's there, we're getting our stuff done. Usually, there's some music going.
We're sitting around, and then all of a sudden Russell goes,”“UHHH!”
Which means…
“Get up and run to my desk.”
So Dave and I, would get up and run over to Russell's desk, and we'd basically watch the zeroes and ones God pour down wisdom into Russell's marketing brain…
https://media.giphy.com/media/3JSGn9bSDpzAFutb6W/giphy.gif
... and gold would just fall out.
Dave and I, would both try to keep up, while at the same time validating, “Oh my gosh, that is a cool idea, better catch on to it...”
... it's like really, really fun. One of the funnest environments. I miss it terribly.
Now, but a lot of people don’t know that you had a history with Russell and, pre-ClickFunnels. Right?
I mean, what were you doing before coming into ClickFunnels?
HOW DAVE MET RUSSELL
DAVE: I had my own marketing consulting agency for years.
In fact, I actually met Russell…
So, I come from the direct response marketing days…
Old Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, copywriting type of stuff... years and years and years ago.
And at the time I had a lot of clients who were in either the insurance, the health field, or else mortgages.
A lot of them were trying to figure out this whole online thing… (this is like 2007, 2008).
And it was that point where I thought, I gotta figure out this whole internet stuff. I've got too many clients who are wanting information about it.
I'd been on Russell's list, I'd been on other lists, and Russell was coming to do a seminar in affiliate marketing, not far from where I lived in Southern California…
So I thought, “Oh great, I'll just go, and go and listen there.”
I'm a huge believer of either working your way in, or buying your way in. And I've always preferred buying your way in, if it's at all available, it's faster.
So it was Russell and Stu McLaren, and Russell got up and said:
"Hey, you know what? If you guys would like to take us out to lunch or dinner or anything, to just kinda pick our brains, go to the back and sign up."
I literally jumped out of my chair, ran to the back, and I signed up for EVERY breakfast, lunch, and dinner that Russell had.
I'm like, “The guy's either gonna hate me, or we're gonna become friends through this thing.”
I wanted to get to know him better, and so I literally signed up for EVERYTHING!
I'm sure when he first got it he was like, “Who in the world is this Dave Woodward guy? What have I gotten myself into?”
I can guarantee you, Russell would never do that now. You could never take him to lunch or dinner, but he was just getting started.
… and so we created a deep friendship.
I ended up setting up his 10th anniversary for Collette. They flew down to Southern California and went out to dinner, then flew to Catalina...
Russell is more than a friend, he's like a brother.
He's probably, in all honesty, the closest friend I have aside from my wife.
There's nothing I wouldn't do for him.
Over the years, we've had the opportunity of doing a ton of different projects together, some in the real estate niche, some in the network marketing niche, some in the fitness niche.
Some made money, some lost money.
My very first product was with Russell - it was Legendary Marketers.
STEVE: No way.
DAVE: Yeah.
STEVE: Oh, I didn't know that was. Cool.
DAVE: And so, that was the very first product that I ever did...
Again it was one of those things where I saw, just his desire to help others grow, and, at whatever the cost. Just, just pour so much into people, and I was just drawn to him…
… and we've just literally become lifelong friends.
When we started ClickFunnels, I was still in Southern California. I was flying up here every other week, and Russell was like, “You just need to move up here..”
I'm like…
Dude, listen, we've been through a lot of things over the years, and NOT all of them have worked…
Before I uproot my family, I wanna actually make sure this whole ClickFunnels thing is actually gonna take off.
And then, as you can tell right now, it'll be three years this August.
So we moved up here after ClickFunnels was up and running for about a year and a half.
STEVE: I remember that. Only because it was like two months before, you flew in, that's when I moved my family up.
Russell was like, “You know Dave Woodward?” ...and I had just started seeing your majesty in the inner workings of ClickFunnels - all the stuff you're doing with Dream 100, the affiliate stuff…
… and Russell was like, “He's gonna move on up,” and I was like, “No way, that's awesome.”
You moved up, and I kid you not…
We were already kind of naturally high energetic people, you, and I, and Russell, but the overall energy, it was like one plus one equals twelve when you came in!
I was like, “This is awesome,”...it's not a classic business office…
We were running around barefoot in t-shirts, shorts... music going all the time…
it's such a fun place to work and try to change the world also.
So, how did you end up doing stuff for Russell's people - the affiliate manager was your first role, right?
DAVE: Actually, no. I was in charge of all our business development. So one of the pieces of it was the affiliate plan.
STEVE: That's right, my bad.
DAVE: Yeah, so, what happened was, so …
My coming into ClickFunnels, (as far as, one of the things), we were at TNC, (we’ve just come back from TNC 10, so this must have been TNC, like five, or six), and it was ClickFunnels' first booth, at TNC, and they had put us in the far back corner…
I was like, “This just sucks. We can't do this. No one's gonna see us.”
Russell was actually speaking at TNC, and he was like, “Gosh, I just wish we had some way of getting attention to us, no one's gonna come to us…”
...because it wasn't in the main ballroom…
He was like, I wish we could just get some of those like showroom girls, you know, event girls, whatever it is.”
I'm like, “Dude, you're in my city. This is San Diego. I promise you, I will get you some girls.”
And sure enough, within about two hours, we had about five girls there, basically handing out t-shirts and directing people where to go...
And that's, I guess when Dillon and Todd were like, “We definitely need him more full-time than he is currently,” and that's how it started.
STEVE: Oh, man. Yeah, yeah. There have been multiple times where you've done stuff like that. Russell flies in, you fly in, you know.
Guys, Dave, Dave is the one that protects Russell emotionally when we travel as well. Multiple times, just protecting him.
Making sure, “Hey, we need to get somewhere,” or making sure Russell is where he needs to be, and protecting him from people who may be, respectfully, somewhat of a time suck.
There are just so many stories that are just popping into my head.
Oh my gosh…
You guys flew in once, and Russell didn't have any time to sell, or didn't get order forms, and you literally, in the lobby…
What's this story again? It's awesome.
DAVE: A friend of ours, basically in the health space, flew into Denver…
I love to sell, which is weird because for years I hated selling. It was like the worst thing in the world.
I would never, ever sell. I would never associate myself with selling...
… NEVER, dirty, bad!
But, I remember, we flew in, and I was sitting there talking to the promoter, and he basically said:
“Well, you know what, I thought we were gonna have more time. we ran over, we only really have about 25, 30 minutes, and you can't sell”
I'm like, “Dude, we flew all the way to Denver. We're not here NOT to sell.”
And he says, "No you really can't sell."
So I said, "Well, how much time do we have?" He said, "Well, you've only got 30 minutes."
I'm like, “Well we need at least 45.” He said, "Okay, 45 minutes."
I said, "If I just have a little tiny offer, would that be okay?" He said, "Yeah, but I don't want a full pitch." I'm like, “No problem.”
So I literally went into the little business center, and I created an order form on the computer they had there, (I'm sure it's so completely non-compliant)...
It was, honestly, just name, email, address, phone number, credit card - that's it.
It was printed off black and white and there was nothing fancy to it. I don't even know if they knew what they were buying.
But, just like Russell does, he was able to get up and he spoke... I could tell the promoter at the back was just getting antsy.
He's like, “You gotta hurry, you gotta hurry, gotta hurry.”
I'm like, “Russell let's just go a little bit faster.”
So, all of a sudden, he gets to the pitch.
He's like, “Listen, I don't have time to go through this, but you're gonna get this, this, this, this, and this…
...and if you want, Dave's got some order forms, just take the order form and give them to us, and we'll process it.”
I literally had someone come back there and grab it out of my hand, write on it, and slap it down right in front of Russell on the stage.
Usually, we get table rushed at the back, but we had this massive podium rush. Everyone went to the front, and it was hilarious.
We out the room and we just laughed.
It's those types of moments, where I'm like, “No matter what it takes when you have an opportunity, we're gonna sell...”
And we sold, and it did very well.
STEVE: You guys knocked out the house, is what I heard. Just blew it out on a whim. I mean, come on! That's the kind of team that you guys are. It's just awesome.
Hey, so I wanted to ask a little bit about this Affiliate Book that's coming out - you have such unique eyes from where you are, and where you get to sit.
I know you get to work a lot with:
… what is this New Affiliate Book, by the way?
DAVE: Oh, it is super, super cool… so this whole idea behind affiliate marketing ...
First of all, for those of you who aren't familiar with affiliate marketing, it's probably the easiest way to get started online, because you don't have to have your own product.
You are literally promoting someone else's product.
And for us, they're promoting ClickFunnels.
We have a whole bunch of front end products because it's really hard to promote just a free trial - one of those was 30days.com. Another one is OFA…
If you're not on OFA, my gosh, the One Funnel Away Challenge, Steven is just crushing it - so you definitely need to be in that.
We had so much success with 30days.com - the idea behind that summit was, Russell went out to a lot of our Two Comma Club award-winning people, like Steven, and basically said:
“Hey, if you were to lose everything, and all you had was ClickFunnels, and your marketing know-how, what would you do in the next 30 days, to make money?”
..and they put together a 540-page book, and it became a front-end for the One Funnel Away Challenge.
Well, as we were looking at that model, it became super, super successful, and we realized...
Steven actually helped build out Affiliate Bootcamp, which has been the primary product we've used to train our affiliates over the last year and a half, and we're at a point right now where we're trying to think…
If we were to update it, how would we do it best?
And we thought, instead of us doing it…
Why not reach out to the people who've been the most successful doing affiliate marketing inside of ClickFunnels, and have them tell their stories…
... and use somewhat of the same premise as the 30 Day Book…
Not necessarily, if you lost everything and only had 30 days, but, “If you were to start over as an affiliate, what are the things that you would wanna do?”
What are the different things that would actually provide the greatest return in the shortest amount of time?
Because for a lot of affiliates, it's like, “Ah, I've got my own job, I don't have a whole bunch of time, ” and it was just fascinating.
Bailey Richert is the one who basically put it together for us, she went out, and interviewed 17 of our top affiliates…
I was literally talking to her today, and she goes, “You know, Dave, the 30days.com was really cool, but the real secret sauce was on the back end after you bought the product you got behind the scenes of their actual funnel…”
She said, "I don't know what it was with these affiliates? They literally gave every single thing on the front end."
So those people who actually get involved in our New Affiliate Launch, or Summit are going to get the very best of 17, (we may actually get to 20, but 17 right now), people who have literally been crushing it as an affiliate for ClickFunnels sharing EVERYTHING:
So, the whole idea behind this is really to have a person create their own product/ business on the front-end without having to create all the products, (and everything else), on the back end...
… and NOT have to worry about the support.
So, I'm so excited about it... because it’s literally going to be the BIGGEST game changer for us.
Currently, Steve, we have five people who have done over a million dollars in affiliate commission so far.
Five people who have hit the two comma club as an affiliate for ClickFunnels.
STEVE: Oh man.
DAVE: It's just insane.
You know, when we first started this thing, we came up with this idea of the dream car…
The idea behind it is, if you got a hundred people, we'd pay $500 for your lease or purchase of your dream car.
At 200 people, we'd pay $1,000.
I thought, “No one's ever gonna get to 200 people!”
...and now we have people who have thousands of affiliates...
Thousands of ClickFunnels accounts because of it.
So the idea behind affiliate marketing:
They're gonna break down, NOT only just affiliate marketing, but how they actually get traffic, how do they actually build an offer, how they build a bridge page.
And you’ll actually see some of their actual bridge pages, as well.
We were sitting there trying to price this thing out, and I'm like, “You understand this is like a $500 product,” and Bailey's like, “Yeah, but summits only sell for like $47 to $67.”
And I'm like, “Oh my gosh, alright, we'll do it, whatever price.”
I don't know what price point we're gonna settle at - somewhere between $47 and $97, I don't know...
But it's people like you, Stephen, who literally said, "Alright, let me show you exactly what it really takes. Let me go through and break it down step by step, how you actually can make tens of thousands of dollars a month, as an affiliate."
And I know we pay you a pretty hefty cheque, just in affiliate commission.
STEVE: Yeah, it's, uh ...
And what's funny everybody, is that it's kinda on the back-end of my business and it's just because of the strategy.
I gotta tell you, I loved writing the 30 Days chapter, but the affiliate chapter... oh my gosh, I took all of Christmas, like three or four days, to write that thing - it was beautiful.
DAVE: Well actually Bailey, (just between you and I), even though anyone who listens to this will now know it, Bailey actually said yours is the best one…
… honestly, because it was so detailed, Stephen.
The way you did it, she actually wants to lead with yours to set the stage for the other ones...
Because of the way you talked about:
I mean, you were our top affiliate for 30days.com, and it was just crazy. And, I've seen you do that multiple times, even in our One Funnel Away Challenge.
And the crazy thing about the One Funnel Away Challenge was you came in dead last and didn't start until like three days left. It was crazy.
STEVE: That 10X Secrets thing...
DAVE: That's what it was.
And you were right in the middle of OfferMind, I think. Was that it?
STEVE: Yeah, yeah.
DAVE: And I was asking you to teach some of our speaker training, and you had no time. No time at all. And yet, to see you come in, and use this strategy that you now taught in that chapter, it was just brilliant to see.
The thing that I love most about the chapter that you wrote, is your chapter actually goes in through, literally, step by step…
It's how you teach - you're so very methodical in teaching practical steps - literally, it's ‘paint by numbers.’ It's the easiest way you can do
it…
I mean, step one, step two, step three.
And because you've been through it, you lived through it, and you started with nothing…
...and NOW, you're one of our top affiliates!
It's just neat that you were so kind and so generous with spending as much time as you spent on that chapter.
It's probably going to be one of our leading chapters.
STEVE: Oh man, I appreciate that a lot.
Well, what can somebody do ... What's a favorite way ... I mean, you have such a unique area that you get to see all these different affiliates…
If somebody’s new and doesn't have much of a following, what should they be doing if they want to become an affiliate?
DAVE: I think, it goes back to, probably your secret sauce, and that's publishing.
I think, honestly, and as much as people hate it, I think it’s one of the coolest things.
People wanna find someone they can connect to, so documenting your journey as an affiliate, is probably the best thing that you can do, because later you’re gonna be able to sell that journey.
And it may take a little bit of time, but if I was a brand new affiliate, just starting off, I would start publishing on a regular basis.
You could pick:
….I don't care which product you want.
I would literally go in, I would make it your own, I would teach what you learn, on a Facebook live, on an Instagram story, whatever it might be, and refer people to it:
“This is what I've learned.”
Because people love understanding the take a way that you got and seeing how that you're actually using that.
So, I think that's probably one of the things that I would look at.
Where MOST affiliates go wrong is, they think they're just gonna take the affiliate link and just promote it directly, and that's why I love your chapter… because you were so anti that.
You're like, “You can't do that! Let me show you what you can do.”
And I think, as an affiliate just getting started, just pick one thing…
And, again, as you mentioned before, just go all in on it. Study it. Make it your own.
And that way when you're teaching it, people are going, “Oh, that's how that works. Oh, okay, now I understand,” and then people can connect with that… and they'll love the journey as well.
STEVE: Oh man, that's awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time.
You know, I have such respect for you, and what you do, and just love your family - my wife and I talk about you guys a lot.
We love your sons, they're all awesome and incredible - we just love your family and everything that you guys do.
And I really mean what I say,
I really believe that half the reason Russell can do what he does is that he’s got you in his corner, just fighting battles he didn't even know about.
You know what I mean?
Just going to bat, getting all the dirties away that are out there trying to take advantage, you know, stuff like that.
It's just this role that is like so, I don't even know, it's special. And it's fun to see it.
DAVE: Thank you.
STEVE: So I just, anyway. Any parting advice or words before we end up here?
DAVE: You know, for me, I think the one thing I would tell people is just don't give up.
I think the hardest part for affiliate marketing, or even for a lot of the online marketing is just, you have a dream out there, and you see it, and you want it so bad…
... and yet things don't go exactly the way that you want.
You can joke around about this idea, being one funnel away, but you truly are…
You just don't know which funnel that's gonna be.
And so, I would just say:
If this is what you wanna do, don't let anything get in your way.
It's possible, things happen... it doesn't go as fast as you want, I'll let everyone understand, I'm totally transparent...
It never works as fast as you want
,...but for those who stick it out, you get to this little corner and you literally hockey stick and life takes off for you.
I saw the same thing with you last year, where you got going and you’re putting forth all this effort, and all of a sudden you get to this little corner, and you literally hockey stick, and life just takes off for you.
And I think the problem is, most people aren't willing…
Again it's that, 99 yards does not a touchdown make…
You gotta be willing to go all the way
As long as you don't quit, and just realize that you're in that phase of learning…
There are two parts…
You have the:
Too often people wanna jump into the earning phase, without paying their dues in that learning phase.
If you'll spend the time in that learning phase, the money that will come later in life - it's just crazy. Astronomical.
STEVE: Oh, man. Well, thank you so much. You're a friend, a mentor, a brother, and just, I love and appreciate you. Thanks for being on.
Awesome episode, right?
Hey, bear with me for just a moment while I tell you about makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com.
Probably one of the most fragile phases of being an entrepreneur is that tender spot where you have just enough cash coming in to get excited, but expenses also increase a little while you take on new tools and new systems, new teams.
It can be heart pounding, and frankly, nerve-wracking.
Well, one of the ways I've kept ownership of my companies and NEVER picked up any debt or used any of our family finances to grow the business, was through affiliate marketing.
My first dollar online actually came from affiliate marketing, ONLY a few years ago.
So I often get asked the question:
“Steve, how can you have been bootstrapping this and scraping by so hard just a few years ago, but now have a business that makes millions in revenue?”
… that's a fair question.
So besides having kick butt products, when I've needed to get some extra cash for an expensive project, I have a very specific method of affiliate marketing that gets me paid to sell other people's products.
You wanna see how I do it? Just go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com.
ClickFunnels actually wants to know how I've been doing this as well…
So I just wrote a chapter in ClickFunnels new book called Affiliate Bootcamp... and if you wanna see my chapter, and be shown how I treat affiliate cash in my business, just go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com…
You'll get a bunch of other cool stuff from me - like, the actual Make Affiliates Great Again Funnel…
The one you're gonna see there - it’s pre-built - it’s awesome - and you can download it.
You also get my audio chapter on how I create affiliate offers.
You get the actual video of me training my team on how to build Make Affiliates Great Again - it's crazy valuable.
Plus you also get several my other stage speeches.
How I launched my affiliate offers…
And you'll even get a discount ticket to OfferMind… + the Make Affiliates Great Again Mini-Course…
Is it okay if I over deliver???
If you want ALL that for free... plus other things, literally just sign up at makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com... and then, sign up for the New Affiliate Bootcamp through my affiliate link. Go figure.
My friends, get rich, give back.
There’s is a project that’s been in the making since October, and I haven't been able to talk about it...
FOR A VERY LONG TIME…
‘Mum’ has been the word…
But now, I can reveal EVERYTHING ;-)
THE NEW AFFILIATE BOOTCAMP
During Christmas, I wrote a chapter for a cool book.
Now, you might remember the 30-Days Book…
The hook for that book is:
“Hey, if you were to lose everything, how would you get back on your feet in 30 days?”
I wrote a chapter for that book…
But there are also other books that I've secretly written chapters for…
Recently, I shouldn't say 'recently,' (what month is now? I can't remember... May? June?)
Anyway, around October - ish, Russell reached out and asked if I wanted to contribute a chapter to an affiliate book.
Russell had gone to some of the biggest ClickFunnels affiliates and asked: “How would you retire as a ClickFunnels affiliate (or an affiliate in general) within four months?” ...
*Cool Hook* Huh!
It was a very challenging chapter to write…
There's so much that goes into affiliates, and I had a ton of fun answering...
BUT NOW, IT’S TIME TO PROMOTE!
I’d literally just finished drawing the funnel for My Team, but instead of erasing it, I decided to show you how I create ANY Funnel that promotes someone else's product…
‘CAUSE… there’s a right way and a WRONG way to do it…
LINK BARFING
Affiliate Marketing is NOT 'link barfing'.
Just because someone else made the product, doesn't mean you get to skip the marketing.
You still need to create the actual marketing for the affiliate product...
A lot of you know that:
… I'm in A LOT of scenarios where I don't control the product; it's NOT my product.
… that's what I'm gonna teach you here.
AFFILIATE MARKETING 101
I knew the strategy existed, but I’d never witnessed it until I worked at ClickFunnels.
One morning, I walked in to find Russell writing ferociously on a whiteboard.
I was like, “What's up? How can I help? What are we doing?”
Russell was about to promote Stu McLaren's product, Tribe... and he was creating an affiliate offer to go with it.
Tribe was about members areas... so Russell was brainstorming all these cool things to do with members areas.
He asked himself the question:
“What is it that everyone is gonna struggle with after they buy Tribe product through my affiliate link? How can I answer those problems with my own products?”
Russell had a ton of products to help with that…
So he was like:
What if I gave those things away if they buy through my affiliate link?
...and that's what we did.
I ended up having to create, ( let me do the math...it was 89 Funnels x2) … 188 Funnels in the next two weeks - it was CRAZY.
It's the reason why I say that I built around 500 Funnels while at ClickFunnels... not all of them were revenue Funnels.
There were probably near 100 revenue funnels, but the other 400 were were based on fulfillment. Anyway, that’s beside the point…
Russell created a single page for people to see, “Oh, my gosh, this is what you get when you buy through Russell.”
He's done that strategy so many times that it’s ridiculous.
He will swoop in at the last moment and just like win these massive contests.
Does it help to have a huge list, of course, but you don't need one.
This strategy I'm about to walk you through is one of the major reasons why you don't need a huge list... and you can still make a ton of cash.
ONE FUNNEL AWAY
When I was promoting for the One Funnel Away Challenge - the 30-Days Book specifically, I was the number one affiliate, and Julie Stoian was hot on my heels…
I was like, “I gotta win this.”
She and I have some pretty friendly competition, back and forth, “Who's gonna be the top affiliate?”
I had this cool bridge page, and so I basically asked myself the same question as Russell asked when he was promoting Tribe:
“When you get this 30-Days Book through Russell, what can I give that will add MORE value and benefits to it?”
I asked myself:
“Well, what is it they’re still gonna struggle with if they go buy the product through my link?”
If you guys wanna see the live example of this, go to 30days.com/stephen or ofasignup.com - both of those will forward you to the bridge page.
It's a page that I built real fast in a hotel room in one morning before the Two Comma Club X Cruise at the beginning of last January…
It's insane how much cash came off that page.
That one single page has made 110 grand since October - which is awesome - it’s A LOT of cash.
I don't consider myself a professional affiliate, but the reason it works is because of the strategy that I'm about to show you guys.
It’s the same principle if you're in MLM or commission based sales…
Let me tell you a story ;-)
BECOMING ONE WITH THE BILLBOARD…
I learned this for the first time when I was doing door to door sales - (...and this is how I got on the internet and why I love affiliate so much).
I was knocking doors, and I’d had a bad week. Things were looking dismal on the cash front, and my wallet was flatter than a pancake…
I was selling pest control in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I was knocking doors like crazy.
For the first half of the summer, things were going really well, until *this happened*…
I went from two to three sales a day to two to three sales a week.
… it darn near bankrupted my wife and me.
We were driving out to our area, and I was pissed because the day before had been bad...I was in a bad mood.
It was a beautiful blue clear sky day, and we're going 85 miles an hour down the highway, and I remember looking up at these billboards …
Suddenly, I don't know why, but I had the thought...
As I looked at these billboards, I said to myself:
“I am going to sell things to people, (as a door to door salesman(, who are NOT planning on buying anything that day.”
I was like:
I'm selling things to people who are NOT planning on spending any money... but people calling these billboards are calling begging to be sold.
“They're picking up their phone and calling... and if they call… the chances of selling them really high!
Whereas I'm waking up every day walking around knocking on doors, trying to sell things to people who are not planning on spending money that day…”
It was a different level of intent.
So I started I asked myself…
“How can I be MORE like a billboard?”
So I went and created an ad on some free classified online sites. I didn't know what I was doing.
I just wrote: “Hey, come get this pest control if you have these kinds of bugs - it treats these kinds of things.”
I put it on Craigslist and several other places - Seriously, I had no clue what I was doing…
It was the first time I'd ever written an ad...and he first time I'd ever done ANYTHING on the internet, business wise...
No joke... within like 24 hours my phone was blowing up.
I was this door to door sales guy, and my boss was like, “Dude, how are you getting all these sales?”
I was like, “I just put this ad up.”
Suddenly, I was getting as many sales a week on the phones as I was knocking doors for the same product.
All I had changed was the delivery of the sales message, that's it.
TRUTH NUKE!
One of the easiest ways to make a lot of money is to change the delivery of the sales message.
You just changed the delivery of the sales message.
It was CRAZY! I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is nuts.”
LINK BARFING OR ADDING VALUE?
A little before that, we were hiding in this McDonald's cause there was AC, (it was the same summer - literally just a few weeks prior)...
It was like 110 degrees outside, and we were dying, like “Oh, my gosh.”
So we're standing inside this McDonald's for a while just cooling off, and this guy walks up and says, “Hey, I wanna buy your services.”
There was a group of us, all salesman, and we were so unused to people walking up to us asking to be sold that we all just kind of stared at each other for a while…
We were like, “Oh, yeah, you get it… You haven't had a sale in a while. No, you haven't had a sale in a while. No, why don’t you get one?”
Finally, our boss had to point at somebody and say, “Hey, you take it,” and he pointed to somebody and that person got a lucky sale...
...that experience never left me.
As I walked away from that McDonalds, back out on the streets to go knock…
I had this thought:
“It didn't matter who that dude chose. We were all selling the same products.” #AffiliateMarketing
We were all had the exact same:
I mean, it didn't matter who that guy chose, he’d get the exact same service!
Well, you have to understand that affiliate marketing/ MLM/ commission based sales, ANYTHING where you DON’T control the cart, is very much the exact same way.
So in order to stand out, you need to see:
Now, when someone buys through you, they don't just get the original offer, they also all these amazing bonuses…
They get a whole additional offer, often worth more than the price they're paying for the actual thing.
That's one of the secrets to affiliate sales - and that's what I've done.
That's why the ofasignup.com page works so well.
My offer is ridiculous, and I'm gonna go add even MORE to it. I'm really excited about it.
I'm not gonna tell anyone what it is, but it's REALLY awesome ;-) It's sooo good!
MY AFFILIATE FUNNEL
I just finished drawing the funnel to promote the NEW AFFILIATE BOOTCAMP out for my team, and I was about to erase it, when I thought, “You know what, I might as well share this.”
*This* is the Funnel that I’m building for my affiliate promotions.. and it's how I build my affiliate Funnels for ALL the things that I promote; yes MLM included, (you too, people).
Affiliate marketing and MLM are literally the EXACT same model on the internet, but everyone's like, “No, that's not true,” cause MLM is a freaking swear word…
Get over it, alright!
There are CRAPPY ways to market and GREAT ways to do it.
You know what I mean… MLM and affiliate are the exact same model!
*EXACT SAME MODEL*
This is the same thing that I do in MLM that blows it up in the same way as affiliate.
In fact, I have a ton of people in the affiliate marketing space who buy Secret MLM Hacks, and that's why they’re killin’ it as an affiliate - #SameModel.
Check this out…
All right, this is the Funnel….
And if it looks kind of crazy and all over the place, I promise it's actually NOT that intense of a Funnel.
I'm not gonna show you the offer, cause I want you guys to go check it out…
I want you to go check it out because I want you to see how I'm actually displaying this…
I was able to find and get the URL makeaffiliatesgreatagain - Make Affiliates Great Again - I’m kinda playing off the whole Trump thing, ‘Make America Great Again.’
So anyways, it's makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com- you guys can go check it out - it's live right now.
It's the same format; the same structure as any other bridge page that I've ever created.
If you wanna another real-life example of how to display this, (it's actually not nearly as in depth of this one), go to ofasignup.com or 30days.com/Stephen, and check that out
WHAT THE FREAK IS A BRIDGE PAGE?
When I was a brand new Funnel builder, I never understood what a bridge page was...
I was like, “What the freak is a bridge page?”
It was only when I watched Russell when I was at ClickFunnels that I was like, “I get it!”
I don't know why it was so complicated for me - it shouldn't have been.
I dive more deeply into the strategy of the positioning inside of my actual affiliate chapter in the Affiliate Bootcamp Book.
I teach NOT only how to promote stuff and make affiliate offers, (I’ve basically just answered that here already), but also how to create more of the messaging and the positioning amongst the market.
Some people try to create a blue ocean out of affiliate marketing. In my mind, that is NOT the role of affiliate marketing.
I'm not trying to create a blue ocean. I don't try to birth a brand new market from affiliate marketing because you can't, it's NOT your product.
That's NOT affiliate marketing is about… and it’s NOT where the easy cash falling from the sky strategy is - that’s what my chapter’s about in the book.
So go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com and go get the chapter.
I would appreciate it if it's through my link - that’d be really cool… and you’ll get a whole bunch of sick bonuses. You'll see what they are. They're pretty cool.
As part of the bonus, you’ll actually get *this funnel* that I’m about to show you.
So check this out….
WHO? WHAT? WHY? HOW?
So now, I'm gonna walk through the funnel real quick…
So the first thing I do is:
If you guys listen on iTunes, this might be one of those episodes that you might wanna watch on YouTube...
Go to salesFunnelradio.tv ... and it will forward directly to the YouTube channel.
I drew it all out, and you might wanna see me do that. I'm very visual, and this page structure is kind of what I go use for all this stuff.
You’ll actually notice that it's a very similar page structure as like dotcomsecrets.com.
… and a very similar page structures like expertsecrets.com - that’s actually one of the places that I learned it.
In the book Dot Com Secrets, it gives a script called the Who, What, Why, How Script…
The Who, What, Why, How Script is an awesome template to use for these kinds of pages.
It basically answers these questions:
… that's also kind of the same format I use in the copy and everything below the video.
So the way I choose a headline for the affiliate promotion is
I just chose the same headline as the main offer
...so it's the same headline.
For Example:
Whatever the headline is gonna be for the New Affiliate Bootcamp, (which is kind of what this is), I will choose the same one…
Or….
What I'm thinking would be kinda cool is to use the same headline as the title of the chapter I wrote... which has to do with creating affiliate offers and launches…
NEXT...
There's NOT a lot of selling that goes into it, but I am gonna walk people through the offer they're gonna get from me and how to get it.
You ALWAYS wanna walk people through how to purchase from you.
It might seem obvious...
BUT it's NOT obvious!
So ALWAYS walk people through how to purchase - in ANY Funnel.
Here are the steps for this funnel:
MY OFA MISTAKE...
One of the mistakes I think I made during the One Funnel Way promotions was that I ONLY sent out the bonuses once a month.
I did it to protect myself because affiliate commissions aren't paid until 30 days after - in case somebody refunds.
Now, I had hardly anyone refund ever; I think there's like four people out of 1100 that have signed up... something like that.
So I’ll probably send the bonuses twice a month or even every week - we're trying to figure how to manage that little bit better - so that when you sign up, you actually get it straight away.
Like, how cool would that be?
Now, this is Super Key...
One of the points of ANY Funnel is to create a list...
You don't send people straight to your affiliate link - you create a list... and then redirects them to your affiliate link.
So the way you set this up in ClickFunnels is with a pop-up.
When people sign up and put in their name/ email... and then click the button, (it's a submit action button, just like any other button in ClickFunnels)...
(And if you don't have ClickFunnels 😬 like, you gotta just go get it. ClickFunnels is the power of an entire dev team in a software …and YES, it works for what you're in.)
Anyway, when someone clicks Submit… in page settings there's a redirect option, so you just paste in your affiliate link…
First, it captures them as a lead, so you can add them to a list... and then, it forwards them to whatever your affiliate link is using the redirect.
So it's literally a single page…
For the OFA sign up right now, frankly, there's NOT EVEN an email series behind that sucker.
But I'm gonna make it even cooler as we launched the new One Funnel Away podcast that I'm gonna do
THE AFFILIATE MARKETING STACK
Russell always creates a stack in anything that he sells - he creates an offer… so I just screenshot it.
Go to ofasignup.com and check it out - it's literally a screenshot of Russell's offer:
I tell them:
… and this is one of the reasons why it has worked so well.
I've already talked about the stack in the video on the page:
“You're gonna get some cool stuff from Russell!”
But now, what I wanna tell you is what you're gonna get from me if you buy through my link.
Then they click, BOOM!
*This* is how to be an affiliate...
When someone gives me their email it sends them to my affiliate link, and I can see the list of those who sign up through my link, but I ONLY send my bonus out to people who complete the process….
Sometimes people will say, “...but I signed up!”
And I’m like, “No! You opted in... you didn't actually go and sign up. You have to sign up.”
I don't even consider myself a professional affiliate. I really don't.
But this has worked so well that Russell’s mentioned it by name at Funnel Hacking Live a couple of times, and said, “Go look at Stephen’s affiliate bridge page.”
*THIS IS HOW TO BE AN AFFILIATE*
IT’S TESTIMONIAL TIME, BABY!
When people say: “Stephen, I don't have testimonials,” that just doesn’t cut it…
For affiliate stuff, there’s an easy workaround…
For the last One Funnel Away stuff, I didn't know what testimony to grab at that time…
So I went and grabbed the testimonials from the actual thing that I was promoting, which I think is okay? Seemed like it was okay… ;-)
I just took those testimonials, and I put them on the bottom of the page…
BAM! Done, done, DONEZO!
I was building in a hotel room before I got on a cruise ship - it took me three hours!
My Funnel team didn't do it… and that's why I'm gonna ask them to go redo it... cause they're better at it than I am... and that’s saying something!
LEAVE A REVIEW?
I've been collecting a lot of my own testimonials... and *THANK YOU* if you’ve left one for me…
I really appreciate you. It means A LOT!
I feel like I drop waaay more value on this podcast than most people do in their courses - so it means a lot when you actually drop a review.
It's one of the things that keeps me motivated...
TRULY!
I'm not just saying that...
When I see those comments, I'm like, “Oh, SUP!” - It makes me feel good.
If you wanna drop a review, go to sjlreview.com, (Stephen Joseph Larsen, that’s my full name) - I’d appreciate that.
MY FINAL POP SHOT
Okay, so we’re right down at the bottom of the funnel now…
My final pop shot at getting people to buy is a display of what you get.
Russell always has a product bundle…
Do you remember the episode that I did a while ago called Physical Versus Digital?
Go watch that again and understand why I create a digital representation a picture display of what they're getting…
So the image is Russell's stuff plus my stuff in a single image - that's gonna be a lot of stuff that I run for ads.
I'm gonna make it the page image that people see when the page is shared and the image loads...
Then I have one final shot, right at the bottom, for them to go opt-in with the countdown clock… That's how I run it, it's a super easy page...
You'll spend more time thinking through what you're gonna give them than you do building this.
AND THERE’S MORE…
So, real quick, I want to show you what's so different about my Funnel this next time…
So when I launched one of my shows, I came up with this Funnel idea that would make my stuff more talkable so it would spread, but would also give a mini-course to them - which would upsell them into my webinar.
One of the reasons why my Secret MLM Hacks product sells so well is because of this exact strategy I’m talking about.
What I have them often to in that show is a free mini-course, (which is exactly what you're about to see me explain).
So when they opt-in, that doesn't mean that they've actually gone and signed up yet.
I've noticed about half the people who sign up actually finish purchasing through my affiliate link, (well, that's a lot of people - now especially).
So I wanna go in and remind them what they're gonna be getting…
Well, why not do that with some value?
I don't wanna just throw a scarcity, urgency play...
“You better get it, you better get it, better get it, better get it... one hour left, two hours left...”
… those strategies work, and I totally use them, but I also wanna toss them a lot more value at the same time.
So the way I'm gonna go do that is by filming a mini-course. If you guys liked the program, Affiliate Outrage, affiliateoutrage.com - it's a free thing that I did, honestly, demonstrate prowess...
That's one of the reasons I did it, and that's totally okay. I'd rather do it with a free course than me saying, “Remember how cool I am,” you know what I mean?
So I did Affiliate Outrage to demonstrate some prowess and get some more experience under my belt for a few things.
But anyway, this is a mini-course which drips out to them. One video is immediate - the time on the timer is zero, then it’s…
The videos are answering questions like:
... you know what I mean?
At the bottom of each one of these pages, there’s just another hook for them to go and buy through my affiliate link - all these videos tie back into them doing that very thing.
So they go in, and it says:
“Hey, remember, if you like this, it’s just a small section from the chapter I wrote in the book for Russell, if you want the full book, plus the summit that comes with it, (which is insane value), plus all these other bonuses...
(Which I don't wanna tell you about - go see them yourself)
... then just click the link below.”
And that's what I'm doing…
So it's literally the same freakin' page for all five videos - it's just cloned five times with a different video and different headline. It's different content with different angles and hooks to try and pitch them in.
In the end, all rivers lead to the Seinfeld Series.
The last two videos are actually day one from my Affiliate Outrage Program - and it’ll ascend them, hopefully... (even though it's a free thing) into a 30-day affiliate program where, hopefully, they choose to be affiliates for me...
See how this has turned beautiful!
AND FINALLY…
I’ve got another minute here…so what I want to show you, (and I know I'm going through a lot of stuff here), but I just wanna teach you how I fulfill on all of these things…
... and that's how it works - it's ALL automated…
It's the same emails EVERY time. I just have to write them once.
So fulfillment is as easy as me just going in and downloading that list and uploading it.
I don't do anything else….
Everything else fires. Everything else unlocks. Everything else is automated - it’s so nice.
That's how I run my affiliate stuff… (explaining as fast as I can on a podcast episode).
Anyways, go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain, and check out the offer that I've got there for you guys, and hopefully sign up for the book through my link…
You get this Funnel as part of it.
….I'm NOT gonna tell the rest of the bonuses, go check it out!
Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this episode. I appreciate your time.
I appreciate you guys doing this... and I love affiliate cash - it's the gravy in my business!
Again, go check out makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com.
Haha, awesome, right?
Hey, bear with me for just a moment while I tell you about makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com.
Probably one of the most fragile phases of being an entrepreneur is that tender spot where you have just enough cash coming in to get excited, but expenses also increase a little while you take on new tools and new systems, new teams.
It can be heart pounding, and frankly, nerve-wracking.
Well, one of the ways I've kept ownership of my companies and NEVER picked up any debt or used any of our family finances to grow the business, was through affiliate marketing.
My first dollar online actually came from affiliate marketing, ONLY a few years ago.
So I often get asked the question:
“Steve, how can you have been bootstrapping this and scraping by so hard just a few years ago, but now have a business that makes millions in revenue?”
… that's a fair question.
So besides having kick butt products, when I've needed to get some extra cash for an expensive project, I have a very specific method of affiliate marketing that gets me paid to sell other people's products.
You wanna see how I do it? Just go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com.
ClickFunnels actually wants to know how I've been doing this as well…
So I just wrote a chapter in ClickFunnels new book called Affiliate Bootcamp... and if you wanna see my chapter, and be shown how I treat affiliate cash in my business, just go to makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com , and you'll get a bunch of other cool stuff from me - like, the actual Make Affiliates Great Again Funnel…
The one you're gonna see there - it’s pre-built - it’s awesome - and you can download it.
You also get my audio chapter on how I create affiliate offers.
You get the actual video of me training my team on how to build Make Affiliates Great Again - it's crazy valuable.
Plus you also get several my other stage speeches.
How I launched my affiliate offers…
And you'll even get a discount ticket to OfferMind… + the Make Affiliates Great Again Mini-Course…
Is it okay if I over deliver???
If you want ALL that for free... plus other things, literally just sign up at makeaffiliatesgreatagain.com... and then, sign up for the New Affiliate Bootcamp through my affiliate link. Go figure.
My friends, get rich, give back.
When you go to the Inner Circle works, everybody takes a turn to teach something awesome to the group, and then they say, “Hey, I have some things I need help with.”
Then the whole group kind of analyze this person's business and give feedback…
You get advice from a lot of heavy hitters, and everyone is focused on you until the timer goes off - it's intense…
It’s mentally exhausting, but it's a lot of fun, and totally priceless!
Before the Inner Circle, I could not sleep. I woke up at five dreaming that I was on stage...I was like, “I can't sleep anymore,” so I spent three hours pacing and working this out…
One of the things I want to teach you today is three simple ways to create an offer.
We all think that creating an offer means that we go and add a whole bunch of products together…
And that’s definitely an awesome way to create an offer…
...but it’s NOT the ONLY way.
Anyways, I want to teach you three of those methods today.
On top of that, another thing I think you’ll really find interesting is seeing me answer the question of what I actually do.. *that* is NOT an easy question for a lot of entrepreneurs to answer…
“What do you do?”...is kinda the dreaded question!
When somebody asks, “What do you do,” and you have to answer - sometimes that sucks.
But now, I can answer that question; I know exactly what I do…
There are some things that, (like I said in the past), you have to design, and there are other things that you have to discover…
Sometimes explaining what you do is something you have to discover, and that's been the case for me; it's not the case for everybody, but for me, it's been that way...
...and I’m gonna share that with you in a single sentence!
https://youtu.be/mwj8UkCVSds
So you’re gonna find out:
If you want to watch the actual presentation, you can do that here.
I have chopped out a certain piece that I don't want you to know about yet… ;-)
We have a product that we've been doing for a while now, and we have a lot of people in it now - which is great, it's done quite well…
It’s made a lot of money for us, and made A LOT of money for the students, I chopped that piece out, and I’m gonna keep that hush-hush for just a little bit longer while I finish a few things of…
One of the most challenging things I have to deal with is when people ask, “Stephen, that's really cool, but how does it work for me?”
They say things like:
So, I think one of the things that’ll be helpful is for you to see three ways to create an offer… that you can tweak to apply to whatever business you’re in…
You can use them all together, (which is very powerful), but you also can use just one or two to add immediate value to whatever you sell.
So let's talk about value creation and how that actually happens…
This is my third inner circle meeting as a member, and I think those of you guys who saw me that first time will agree that I’m really very different…
One of the things that I've been focusing on is showing up as my authentic self and being unapologetic about that, and it's been very fun to start doing that…
… and I've noticed when I can do that for customers and help them arrive, they do all kinds of stuff on their own. That’s literally what the One Funnel Away Challenge was meant to do…
If I can get them to say, “ I am an entrepreneur, I am a funnel builder,” they'll suddenly go do stuff without me yelling, “Just take the next step...”
The amount of forcing I have to do drops like crazy.
I have been building my waffle, and it is awesome:
… I don't have quite the executive team yet, but it's been awesome. I mean, stuff's getting done without me all the time.
A lot of people asked me, “Stephen, how are you doing all that you are?” I'm NOT, my company is. I'm building an actual asset…
... and that's been a major big piece for me in the last six months.
Other cool things that we've done:
The Carnegie Hall people asked me, “Do you want to sell?” I was like, “Yeah, I wanna sell!” They said, “No one else has said they want to sell…”
I was like, “Why would you say ‘no’ to that, of course, I want to sell.”
Anyways, I'm in this weird phase…
I was talking to Alex Charfen a few days ago, and I was like, “Dude, I feel like I am always moving and changing.”
Alex said, “...that's what an entrepreneur is. You just redevelop over and over and over again.”
So it's been weird...
I feel like I've been shifting and changing so fast and asking, “Well, what is my foundation as a human being... as me,” and that question is what I think has allowed my true self to start coming out.
In fact, two or three weeks ago, I told my wife Alyssa, “I can feel another change coming on, and I'm kind of freaked out about it..., but it's coming...”
… and those changes are ALWAYS uncomfortable.
One of the things I’ve realized who I serve... I didn't know the answer to that before...
I serve existing and new entrepreneurs inside ClickFunnels
There are a few things about ClickFunnels, in the last six months, that have shown me that it is A MARKET ...
…and I'm very excited about because it's growing and maturing.
And now, when someone asks, “What do you do?” I can tell them...
I've never been able to answer that before.
So here it is:
I help people design and launch wildly lucrative offers
... that's exactly what I do!
So I'm excited; that's just the most ultimate ridiculous clarity.
I think I would've been my own worst nightmare client like a year ago, because I couldn't answer those questions…
...and so it's fun to be able to say that what I do in one simple sentence.
Anyways, a little give here...
I call myself the Capitalist Pig, so I’d better know about capitalism - so I've been learning about the origins of Capitalism.
I've been diving into a lot of history lessons…
I’ve been learning about Adam Smith is known as the father of modern Capitalism…
In his time, Smith was known, for disrupting a lot of things... NOT just Capitalism itself…
In the 1700s - 1800s Europe, there was this really weird belief of how value is created...
People believed that the amount of time spent creating a product equaled the amount of value that it had.
But Adam Smith was like, “No that's dumb,” and he was the first one to really start switching that idea.
Smith came in and flipped that idea, and said, “No no no…”
Value is in the eyes of the beholder. Value is in the eyes of the person who's gonna consume it.
And so, as the Offer Guy, what I'm really doing is helping people understand how value is created.
And to do that, you have to understand the difference between COST/ PRICE/ VALUE…
I used to have this major, major hang-up; it was a huge false belief of mine…
I used to think, “Oh my gosh, would I buy my own product?”
...and that would be how I decide the price.
*MAJOR PROBLEM*
I wouldn't pay myself 35 grand to hang out with me for a day - I'm not that cool ;-)
BUT…
I'm NOT the one buying the product... and lots of people do buy. The customer decides, the customer chooses the value, and I make things that are valuable in their eyes.
So... I've been on this mission to define an offer... and I can't say how many times, (even just with Russell), I've heard it said, “Can someone just define a funnel better... like how can we get a better definition? How can we explain it?”
So I'm trying to solve the same problem for offers, and I think I have…
Recently, I was able to meet Dan Kennedy's ghostwriter.
He was the guy who was in charge of all the writers at Dan Kennedy's place and ended up writing Magnetic Marketing.
He and I would email back and forth, and he has his own book. His name's Jack Turk (by the way don't steal him, I'm still convincing him to write my book)...
...and in that book he says:
Offer = Core Product + Value Add
I was like, “That's such a good way to define what an offer actually is!”
People ask me all the time, “What's the difference between a product and an offer, Stephen?”
I'm like, “Well, an offer is a collection of products,” that's a method when you get down to it...
A core product + value add = that's what an offer is!
ClickFunnels = core product + value add (a whole bunch of other stuff that helps you use it better).
For Example:
ClickFunnels + Funnel Hacks = OFFER
So I've been geeking out hard on ways to create offers under that formula.
How can I take a product and move it into an offer?
So staying with the example of #ClickFunnels as the core product...
The method we're all used to creating offers with is by adding MORE products in our stack slide - and it's a great method!
We add product, product, product, product, product and that adds a lot of natural value to what we're selling…
...and now, our dream customer is like, “Boom! Well, of course, I'll pay a grand or two for Funnel Hacks!”
Does that make sense? These are super-powerful points to understand.
There are other ways to create an offer, though…
How many of you guys have seen the fake book story?
I've made so many people mad with that story.
The funny thing is that Michael Porter is like a huge deal. He's a scholar and Ph.D.
But think about this…
What's interesting is, I take his product, (I’ve never read that book, still haven't), and I sell it…
Every time I tell that story, ( it’s about eight times now in front of live audiences)...
EVERY TIME I tell that story, (before I even get to the stack), people have the book in their shopping cart, and a lot have already bought before I’ve finished.
Q: What added the value and made people want to buy the book?
A: It was the story and the sales message.
This has been helpful for a lot of people in retail/ b2b/ multistage sales events, people who are on the fringes of ClickFunnels'...
… it helps them create a product or an offer without having to create a HUGE stack!
Some of them already have the product, and they're like, “I'm not gonna go create all these things for my stack.”
Now how many of you have ever thought that?
“What?!!! I gotta go create all that stuff inside of my offer to make an offer?”
If that’s you. Then you can use this method, you’ve just gotta have a really amazing story.
The other way to add value comes from Claude Hopkins…
Claude has this really interesting quote…
I actually learned this first from Tim Ferriss in The 4-Hour Work Week.
Tim uses the example of t-shirts, and he says, “If these aren't the most comfortable t-shirts you'd ever worn in your life, I'll give you the shirt back plus twice your money.”
It's like, “Woah,” that just increased the value!
Q: There are no additional products or sales message - so what increased the value?
A: *The Guarantee*
Now, back to Claude Hopkins, who said:
Two men came to me each offering me a horse. Both made equal claims. They were good horses, kind and gentle. A child could drive them.
One man said, ‘Try the horse for a week. If my claims are not true, come back for your money.’
The other man also said, "Try the horse for a week." But then he added, "Come and pay me then." I naturally took the second horse.
Isn’t that interesting…
Hopkins flips the guarantee on it’s back and creates an offer out of the very same product - that's all he does!
... what's the difference?
Nothing but the guarantee!
Why was there a natural value add, (‘I naturally took the second man's horse”)?
...because of the guarantee, this whole thing was switched.
There are more ways to create value, andI've been deep diving into the concept of what creates offers and some of the easiest ways to add value to everyone's business...
I've been focusing pretty hard on this especially for the last year, and I had a big question arise in me…
I was mowing the lawn, and I don't know why, so I was listening to audiobooks, and I had this realization, like: “Oh my gosh, I am where I am because of talent not positioning.”
Have you ever realized that about yourself? It's freaky.
I realized that people are making a lot of money because of positioning only and NOT talent.
I was like, “Oh my gosh,” I said it out loud as I was mowing the lawn.
I was like, “I am where I am because of talent, NOT positioning.”
Some people are waaay worse, super bad and they’re making waaaay more money than me…
And after I got over being pissed, I finally thought, “...but what's the lesson from this? Oh my gosh, look at how they position themselves in relation to the market!”
So now, what I do is I teach people in existing companies, (they're the ones that love this the most)...
And I've been traveling a lot doing this…
I help companies understand what their market is. Most people can't even define what that means much less choose one.
...so I help businesses to understand what their market is and the relationship to all the other markets out there.
There are signals - there are patterns all over the place - I feel like it's ‘a beautiful mind...’ “Oh my gosh, are you all here?”
And I've realized that “Oh my gosh, the path on this is so clear.”
I just help people understand:
... and I dedicate my whole business to the Core Offer, it's pretty simple.
Pre my ClickFunnels days, I was building funnels for a company in Florida using ClickFunnels...
This company had an amazing product - their product was beautiful - they were known at the top of their industry.
But as I started working with them, it was the most garbage jacked-up company I've ever seen in my life.
They had…
... it was jacked up!
That company was surviving strictly because it had a good product, there was NO business
That’s when I realized that there was…
….and it just kept going and going from there, until I realized that what I do is help people:
So I've been realizing, “Holy crap, there are lots of ways to create an offer.”
I just showed you very briefly, three ways to create a valuable offer:
... but there are ways all over the place to do that:
How many of you guys know someone who's waaay worse than you are, but they're making more money than you do?
Pisses me off…
….what about you?
I'm like that is not right, and it’s one of the reasons why I'm diving so heavily into what a campaign is…
A campaign is NOT ads, but ads can be part of it.
There are two different styles of campaigns, and I've been making HUGE lists of the major launch campaigns and evergreen campaigns that I've seen…
...because that's how crappy people are making more money than you, that's how they're making more money than me….
They just make more noise. I'm a marketer - I'm a professional noisemaker.
...and the people making MORE money... well, they just know how to make MORE noise.
BOOM!
Oh yeah, wasn't that awesome?
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.
I have the incredible honor of speaking at Carnegie Hall in September with MARTHA STEWART, MICHAEL E GERBER, DAN KENNEDY, HAL ELROD, and other beasts. I'm beyond humbled by this. Here's the full scoop...
Frankly, I just love being on stage speaking and teaching.
Some of the early stages I got to talk on were Russell's - I did a lot of fulfillment for the original Two Comma Club program.
Back in the day, we did something called the FHAT Event which lasted for 3 awesome, intense days.
We’d go from:
By the end of the event, everyone was just exhausted.
Russell did the first event because he was testing materials and seeing where we needed to change things…
Then after that, he largely handed it over to me, and he just came in for a few one or two-hour guest speeches.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT ENTREPRENEUR EVENTS
I remember there was this one particular FHAT event…
On the second day, I took a break to grab some food and went to Russell's office to sit down. Russell was like, "How are you doing?"
I was like, "Wheeew….” I was just bringing it down... and trying to relax for a second…
... THAT was a very aggressive fast-paced stage for me - I loved it.
Russell goes, "How's everyone doing out there?"
We’d always talk about how the audience was responding:
We’d chat back and forth exploring all the scenarios, but this time, when Russell asked, "So how are you doing?"
I kinda paused for a second…
https://media.giphy.com/media/1qXJDYI8lTG8SVhUZW/giphy.gif
Russell noticed and asked, "What is it?"
He may not remember this, but I said, "Dude, I can see those who are getting it and those who aren't. They're not telling me. I can see it."
And he goes, "You're getting that already, huh?"
I was like, "That's a thing?"
Russell said, "Yeah, yeah, I can stand up at any moment and, I've been doing it so long, I can see those who are with me and who it's clicking for and those who it’s not - so I'll stop and I'll cater to those people who aren’t getting it."
https://media.giphy.com/media/7YCVWDMbIWTBNuTD9c/giphy.gif
I was like, "Okay, that's what that is. I'm starting to see that.”
MY FAVORITE MOMENT…
My favorite moment on stage, (and this may sound a little cheesy), is the moment when I see in somebody's eyes that they suddenly realize, "Oh my gosh, my capacity is greater than I thought it was and it's actually always been there."
It's funny to watch as people…
They're like, "Oh, that dream I've been going for all along is actually possible now."
I don't know. I don't know how else to describe it besides that…
But it's a thrill for me because you can see it happen in peoples' eyes as they listen to you.
Those of you guys who educate, teach or get on stage, you know what I'm talking about.
There's that moment where you can look at them, be like, "Bam, right there... I just caused the epiphany."
About 6 months ago, during the Two Comma Club Cruise, I’d just finished a big session, when a guy walked up to me and goes, "You're a really dynamic speaker."
People have told me that before, and I still don't know what that means...
So I said, “Cool! Thank you," but what he said next made my jaw hit the ground…
He looked me straight in the eyes and asked "Do you want to come speak at Carnegie Hall?"
I was like, "Are you completely serious right now?"
He said, "100%. We're going to see if we can get all these huge names," and I was like, "All right. Cool. Just keep me in the loop."
Six months later, it's happening - it's in the bag - it's an event called Living Legends, which is extremely honoring.
So I'm going to share an interview that explains EVERYTHING to you…
BECOMING A CELEBRITY ENTREPRENEUR
I have a very special guest…
His name is Clint Arthur.
Clint and I, have frankly only known each other personally for probably six months, but I am blown away and just completely floored with what he does, his skill set, and who he helps.
What he does, when you're in a certain place, is completely magical and I'm very, very honored to have him on here.
So Clint, thank you so much - welcome to the show.
Clint: BOOM!
Steve: In the middle of Carnegie Hall. What?
Clint: Yeah.
Steve: It's a proxy BOOM! Oh man.
Clint: That's a Carnegie Hall ‘BOOM!’ for you - that's what that is.
Steve: You're warming it up for us - thank you so much.
Clint: Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Well, it's a pleasure to be with you... I met you on the cruise, I think.
Steve: Yeah.
Clint: The 2CCX Cruise - that was an amazing experience…
Really, the best part of the whole 2CCX program was the cruise.
I really believe that's because it was a special event.
When you participate in special events, it's not only great for the sales funnel… it's great for sales funnels for a reason...
It really does deepen the experience of the customer/client/ the person you're trying to transform their life... it opens up possibilities for people to have MORE community.
So as a result of that, here we are - so great to be with you.
Steve: That's so awesome. We're really honored, honestly.
Now just because some of my audience may not know who you are, which is baffling... but could you tell everybody what is it that you do?
Clint: I am a celebrity entrepreneur - which means:
I'm the MOST famous guy that nobody's ever heard of.
I’ve created systems, formulas and scientific methodology for creating celebrity positioning in the eyes of your customers and prospects.
So part of that is, I have done 107 television appearances.
You might have seen me on FOX Business Channel, CNN, Headline News, or The Today Show with Brooke Shields…
When Brooke Shields said, "Clint, you can have all of these plans and want to scale Mount Everest, but how do you keep from falling off the track?”
I said, "You've got to invest in mentors." I said it then, and I meant it… and I mean it even more now.
Investing in mentors has been part of the reason why I have gotten to where I am.
Part of what I've done to become a celebrity entrepreneur is to become Dan Kennedy's Info Marketer Of The Year - that's a great honor for me.
It’s something that really opened things up for me in my career and deepened my relationship with Dan Kennedy as my mentor.
So those are some of the things I've done.
I've also written a bunch of best-selling books...
My new book is called Celebrity Entrepreneurship.
Some of my other best sellers include:
I wrote this other book called The Last Year Of Your Life - where you live as if you're going to die at the end of the year…
I told one of my friends, I'm going to add in videos and audios, it's going to be the greatest book of all time with those attached as links in the Kindle book, and he goes, "Why don't you just call it The Greatest Book of All Time?"
So I did, and that became my first real big selling book…
I sold 26,000 copies of that book.
Steve: Wow. That's awesome. That's incredible.
Clint: And it has contributed to …( I don't even think you know this…) Starting June 8th, I will be the host of a NEW talk radio show on WABC Radio in New York City called The Greatest Show of All Time.
Steve: Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Just pushing straight on in there. That's incredible.
Now, actually, it was Peng Joon I started talking to about what it is that you do, and everything…
He was talking about just how incredible your stuff is and how amazing it is.
Why is it important to eventually become a celebrity entrepreneur for your audience?
Clint: Well, I say on the back of my book that entrepreneurs struggle because they think that people are buying their products and services, but really people are buying you.
Who you are is more important than what you actually do.
...especially if you're selling a product or service that's similar or equivalent to others that are in the marketplace...
The only difference is you.
If you're a financial advisor/ a realtor/ a doctor, or selling any kind of widget, there's a similar widget to what you sell - the main difference is who you are.
HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR…
What I do as a celebrity entrepreneur is help my clients position themselves as celebrities in the eyes of their customers and prospects.. and that's really using marketing on your personal brand.
That's what *this* is all about.
… and that makes all the difference in the world because people are NOT buying your widgets; they're buying you.
Steve: Absolutely. I just so appreciate you taking that angle on it too.
There are a few places I've spoken at... where it's only been about getting authority for authority's sake, but you're saying let's get it so it pushes the message and the product more…
… because that's what they're gonna be buying anyway.
I love that. I'm very, very thankful for that. It's awesome.
How did you get started doing this?
There are gonna be a lot of questions revolving around ...
This is not something that my audience is gonna be very familiar with.
Clint: Hey, I started out as an entrepreneur selling butter.
Steve: Really?
Clint: Yeah, really. That's really where this all began.
I was selling portion controlled butter in Las Vegas to hotels and casinos.
So if you've ever eaten bread and butter at Bellagio in Las Vegas, thank you for helping to put my daughter through the University of Southern California…
For a long time, pretty much every piece of bread at Bellagio was buttered with Five Star Butter, which is my company.
What happened was a lot of these celebrity chefs starting coming in: Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, Emeril... and I wanted to get the celebrity chefs, so I came up with this idea…
What if I could be a judge on Iron Chef America and make myself a celebrity butter expert, not just the guy selling butter?
I talked the producers of Iron Chef America into making me the judge of Battle Butter... (you can watch that episode on my website, fivestarbutter.com and see me judging Battle Butter).
That was the beginning of my celebrity positioning as an expert.
Now, I tell you what, it changes things when you become a celebrity expert in what you do, it really does.
THIS WILL BLOW YOUR MIND
I heard a statistic that:
That's why, if you're not the number one top celebrity, you are surviving on crumbs while everybody who you admire is feasting on giant pieces of pie.
For example, Tony Robbins, Date With Destiny…
Date With Destiny alone represents 10% of the entire live event seminar industry in its revenue.
Steve: Oh my gosh.
Clint: If you do the math, which I have, you will see that just that one event is 10% of all live seminar tickets.
Steve: Geeze. I had no idea.
Clint: Because he's the number one guy ... And here's the funny part…
Go into any bank in America and ask the teller, "Do you know who Tony Robbins is?"
… they're going to say ``No,” because he's NOT a real celebrity - He's a celebrity entrepreneur.
The same thing goes for Grant Cardone, who everybody worships…
I will show you videos where I'm doing seminars with financial advisors and I'd say, "Anybody recognize this guy?"
Not one hand goes up.
Nobody knows who he is because they're NOT his customers or prospects... and yet two months ago, he filled up Marlin Stadium...
And most of the people watching this video know exactly what I'm talking about.
Steve: OH, YEAH.
Clint: When you're a celebrity entrepreneur, (which is something that I pioneered, systematized and scientifically analyzed how do you do it), you're a god to your customers and prospects…
... but the rest of the world doesn't know who you are.
And that's what I help my clients to do.
Steve: It seems extremely magical sitting on this side of the screen listening to that. That's impressive. That’s so, so amazing.
Now, what should somebody do if they're trying to get started as celebrity entrepreneur?
Clint: Okay. Well, the important thing to understand is that there's no time that’s too soon.
The sooner you start building your positioning as a celebrity in the eyes of your customers and prospects, the better off you are... because the product you're selling is irrelevant.
A lot of people come to me and say, "I don't have a product yet. I don't have a book yet. I don't have this data or anything yet, " and I just say;
“But you have you. You're already you. And you're always going to be you so you might as well start building your personal brand."
Really, there are five ways to do it.
I'm not saying you have to go on Good Morning America first - that's a mistake. Don't go on Good Morning America first, go on little tiny local TV shows first.
I wanted to meet you, Steve, because you're such a great speaker…
I don't know if you've always been, but I doubt you've always been…
I’ve personally found that speaking is an acquired skill.
You have to learn how to be a great speaker - so there's no time that's too soon to start learning that, is there?
So go out there and start learning how to speak and start speaking in important places - the second part of my formula is to become a VIP speaker speaking in very important places.
That's taking photos with famous people, and anybody who goes to my website will see I'm in photos with all kinds of famous people from Brooke Shields to Caitlin Jenner - Ringo Star to Mike Tyson - Hilary and Donald Trump. I don't care.
I'm an equal opportunity celebrity selfie slut.
The more famous they are, the more I like it. That's it.
I've already dropped some of my best selling book titles on you guys.
I told you right in the beginning, I was Dan Kennedy's ‘Info Marketer of The Year,’ and you, as an entrepreneur, need to figure out how you can win awards too.
Steve: That's amazing...
Clint: Ideally you want to win an Academy Award, but if you don't have an Academy Award, then you've got to win something else.
You won a Two Comma Club X award, you won a Two Comma Club award - whatever you can get!
The better it is, the better it's going to be…
You put all those steps together and you’ve radically transformed your positioning in the eyes of your customers and prospects.
Ultimately you want to accomplish each of those things.
Steve: That is insanely valuable. I hope everyone's enjoying that. I can't put it off anymore…
Where are you standing... and why are we talking about it right now?
I can't even hold it back…
CARNEGIE HALL
Clint: Right now I'm in the lobby at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Steve: Oh!
Clint: Yeah! And the reason why I'm in the lobby of Carnegie Hall in New York City is that I just finished my meeting with the production manager, the stage manager, the person who did all the contracts for my first of its kind entrepreneurial conference at Carnegie Hall.
They've never had an event like this before…
“It's so unique, Clint. We've never had anything like this, Clint. We're so excited. We can't wait to sit in on and see some of the people that are going to be ... You're really going to have Martha Stewart at your conference?"
Yes. I'm really having Martha Stewart at this conference.
"You're really going to have Coco and Ice-T?"
Yes. Ice-T and Coco are really going to be there.
"You're really going to have Scorpion - the guy who produced five seasons of the TV show Scorpion for CBS? My dad loves Scorpion."
Steve: That's a good show.
Clint: That's what the lady said.
I'm like, “Yeah, Scorpion himself. You're going to be able to pick the brain of the smartest man on earth. Imagine what you're going to find in there.”
Albert Einstein previously spoke at Carnegie Hall. His IQ was 160. Scorpion's IQ is 197.
Steve: Holy Cow!
Clint: ...and who else is going to be speaking there?
Dan Kennedy will be speaking at this conference.
Michael Gerber, the author of The E-Myth, number one New York Times best-selling book for years and years and years
….he’s changed so many entrepreneurs' lives.
Michael will be doing multiple days of speaking at this event, including the hot seats on the stage.
Amazing. Who else?
Jerry from Ben and Jerry's ice cream, the founder.
So look at this…
You've got Martha Stewart who turned herself into a household name...
Then you've got a guy who turned cream and sugar into a household product. Right?
Steve: Yeah.
Clint: Who else is going to be here?
Oh, Hal Elrod, ‘Miracle Morning’. Are you familiar with that book?
Steve: Very. Yep. Got that and the journal right here.
Clint: Right? Self-publishing phenomenon. By the way, he's one of my students.
Steve: Oh, cool.
Clint: He couldn't afford to come to my Celebrity Launch Pad TV Publicity Transformation Event.
He registered, and then he calls me the next day and goes, "Clint, I'm really sorry. I talked it over with Ursula and we really just can't afford it."
I'm like, "Wrong. I'm going to make it possible for you to do it. We're going to come up with a payment plan and you are coming on Celebrity Launch Pad."
He booked himself on 13 shows
I have the video of him, and he's like, "Any time I'm being considered for a speaking gig, I send them my TV appearances for them to evaluate me because it separates me so much from everybody else who's trying to get those same speaking gigs."
Anyway, he's one of my students and he will be speaking there.
Who else is going to be speaking there?
Princess Marianne Parker, another one of my students.
She transformed herself from a Bulgarian peasant to the princess of etiquette.
She's going to tell you how etiquette saved her life and made her wealthy.
And who else is going to be speaking there?
This guy named Steve.
Steve:
I heard he had big eyes and he’s probably gonna yell a lot. He's gonna drop a few ‘BOOMS!’ in the Carnegie Hall.
Oh!
Clint: This event is called The Living Legends of Entrepreneurial Marketing.
This man, Steve, built 500+ funnels for Russell Brunson and ClickFunnels. How freaking legendary is that? Unbelievable.
I'm really excited to have you join us on the main stage for two sessions of dropping booms all over Carnegie Hall.
I'm really excited to share you with my audience because you're such an amazing speaker man.
Dude, you are an amazing speaker. I love you and I'm excited to share you with all of my friends who are going to be coming to this event.
HERE COMES THE SCARCITY & URGENCY
There are only 600 tickets total for this event.
Steve: Holy smokes.
Clint: Super special. Super special event. Tickets are available and people should be getting their tickets as soon as they can.
Steve: That's awesome. Hey, so what are the dates so people know?
Clint: September 26th/ 27th/ 28th in New York City at Carnegie Hall. Yeah, the one, the only Carnegie Hall. That's right.
Steve: The actual Carnegie Hall.
Clint: Yeah, the actual one!
You know who's spoken in here besides Albert Einstein? This is the coolest.
In 1906, Mark Twain gave his last lecture at Carnegie Hall.
I've asked Dan Kennedy to come and give his last lecture.
I said, "Dan, if you were going to die and you knew you were going to die and your kid came to you and said, ‘Dad, what should I do to thrive as an entrepreneur?’ that's what I want you to share with the audience."
That's what Michael Gerber is going to share.
That's what Martha Stewart's going to share, Ice-T, Coco, Scorpion, everybody. You too.
What is the magic sauce to thrive as an entrepreneur?
I'm so excited to hear what everybody has to say.
Steve: Yeah. I just, I can't even tell you how stoked I am.
When you asked ... I was trying to ... “Oh, yeah, no, I'll be there, Clint. Yeah. Let me check. Yeah, no, I can be there.”
Then I hung up and I just started yelling.
I'm so excited, man.
Thank you so much. Very excited for it.
And you guys, you can go to seestevelive.com and it will take you over to the tickets - so you guys can go get booked up.
Only 600 tickets, guys. That is NOT many. Go get one - especially for all those names.
Clint: There's not 600 left... I've already been selling tickets.
Steve: Oh, really?
Clint: A lot of the VIP and Elite Tickets are already taken.
There are different levels…
There's general admission - if you just want to come and you're scraping it together to make it.
Step up and show up for this thing - it will change your life. Going to events really does change you.
Steve: Yeah, it does.
Clint: You told the story of going to your first Russell Brunson's ClickFunnels Live and how that changed your whole freaking life.
Steve: Yeah, everything.
Clint: Well, that's what's going to happen here. Where was that ClickFunnels live? Somewhere in Orlando?
Steve: Yeah. San Diego, actually. Yeah. Yeah. It's far.
Clint: San Diego. Dude...
This event is at Carnegie Hall with Martha Stewart, Dan Kennedy, Michael Gerber, you and Scorpion, the smartest man in the world.
You see, what people don't understand is that the venue changes the event.
You can have the same performers, one of them performing, one time performing here and the next time performing at some arena someplace.
You're going to get a much more intense performance at Carnegie Hall because the venue brings out the power from the performer.
The performers rise up to the venue.
You know who else has spoken in Carnegie Hall?
Aside from Albert Einstein and Mark Twain, we had…
If you have been a living legend, you've performed at this venue.
...and that's why I selected it. That's why I'm paying the big money to get it.
That's why I'm paying the big money to have all these incredible names come and share their last lectures with my audience to change entrepreneurs' lives and their vision of what's possible in the future.
Steve: Man. I'm not going to stop press and record. This is so awesome. Holy smokes!
I'm so psyched about it.
So September 26th through 28th. Literally Carnegie Hall! Obviously, New York City. 600 people.
Go to seestevelive.com. and it’ll take you right over there.
Anyways, Clint, thank you so much for being on here. I really appreciate you being on. I can't even explain what kind of an honor this is.
Clint: I'm so excited to be doing this. I have a testimony on my website from Peng Joon, because he came and spoke at one of my events at NASDAQ, and he said:
"Clint specializes in creating experiences."
That's really what I do... and that's what I've created here:
The experience of this unique first time ever entrepreneurial conference in this venue is going to be historical, life-changing, and career changing, and you don't want to miss it
I'm looking forward to sharing it with you, all of your friends and your audience; September 26th, 27th, and 28th. Thanks, Steve.
Steve: Oh, sir, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We will see you there.
BOOM!
SEE STEVE LIVE
So several years ago, I walked by a stage in a basketball stadium.
It was my college campus and I was deeply concerned with what I wanted to do in my life.
For some reason, I looked at the stage and thought, "Huh, one day I wanna be on stage. I wanna be an entrepreneur and I wanna buy and sell companies."
Well, while the last one hasn't happened ... yet, Muahaha... stage and entrepreneurship have.
And as my business has grown and my message has spread, a frequent question I'm asked is, "Steve, what stage will you be on next?"
Now I totally get that this feels, maybe, a little conceited here...
But considering my childhood fear of speaking up, being heard, extreme lack of self-confidence, and getting in front of people, back in my growing up days, I feel satisfied.
I thought I'd tell you where I'll be in the world coming up.
And funny enough, just literally go over to seestevelive.com, and it'll forward you to the next place.
I love stage and it's one of my biggest things to look forward to in my current role in my business.
From little 10 person masterminds all the way to gigantic 5000 person events - from free seats to paid events - events have always been one of the ways I can deliver the MOST value and get the greatest “AHA’s” in the shortest amount of time.
Just come say hi, and go over to seestevelive.com.
This is honestly the easiest way to make money from what you already do...
I've coached a lot of people now, but there have been a few times when I’ve heard the objection: "Stephen, I don't know that this could work for me?"
So, it’s time to do some excuse busting because the truth is...
You can leverage information, whatever your field of expertise is.
...and the fantastic news is, you don’t have even have BEST in your field or EVEN the best marketer to make a decent amount of money.
In fact, there are plenty of people who are really bad at selling, but who have a good product and make great money.
Enough money to...
You can be quite bad at this and still make good cash.
… which is why this is such a HUGE deal.
So this is for EVERYBODY who says, “I don't know if this would work for me?”
My GOSH, *YES IT WOULD*
Whatever expertise you carry in this world, teach it and make a course about it.
If you're like, "...but I don't know how to do that."
There are a million things out there to teach you how.
The question is more about belief.
I want to help anyone who hasn't launched anything yet…
If you've been following me for six months, and you still haven't launched a product yet…
Let me give a little tough love and make you aware of that.
Can I say, “Sack up?” Is that all right?
Just go for it. Launch something. Just get it out the door. You're not gonna make it perfect. You can't. You're not the one buying.
Get it out the door and start measuring feedback...
Take the pressure down and understand that all of these choices don't actually sit on your shoulders...
It's such a good thing to realize as an entrepreneur.
My ability to be successful with this is not so much on my shoulders - as far as the decision making…
All I have to do is learn how to listen to what the market's telling me to do and then put it in these frameworks and just move.
So if you’re ready, let me show you how you can leverage info to make MORE money, listen up!
THE EXPERTS SECRET
First, I want to bring your attention to a section in Expert Secrets.
I LOVE this book…
But there’s a strange phenomenon I’ve noticed.
When people quote from this book, there's an area that doesn’t get much attention… and it's this freakin’ gem that MOST people will just skip over…
I’m not making fun of anybody, but I just want you to know that there’s a piece right at the very beginning, (actually it's not even technically chapter one, it’s in the introduction)... where a gem is dripped out that I most people don’t understand...
TWO TYPES OF EXPERTS
There are two kinds of experts…
Information products are amazing because there are such huge amounts of margin in them.
The major con is that people understand that there's NOT a lot of cost to fulfill.
If you’ve followed me, you’ll have seen me talk about the benefits of info products versus physical products before…
There are heavy pros and cons pretty between the two of them. I don't think that it's one or the other. I think that they should work together.
But the second kind of expert leverages info in a certain way that most people do NOT understand.
One of the fastest ways that I know to blow up a company is to create an info product that sits in front of the actual thing that you do.
Now I want to share some quotes direct from the Expert Secrets Book
On page XXIII, it says:
Complicated sales will come easy because the information products will indoctrinate potential customers about why they need your products.
… I've found this to be 100% true.
For example:
People who listen to my podcast consume my sales messages waaay easier later on. That's no surprise…
Because they’ve spent time with me, watching or listening to me speak.
I’ve already given value and created a relationship, so the next step to buyer is much easier to take.
Expert Secrets goes on to say…
You'll be positioned as an expert instead of a commodity. People will pay you more for the same thing they could get somewhere else. All other options will become irrelevant. Price resistance will disappear and future sales will become easier.
That’s a very powerful point!
HOW TO INCREASE SALES
The book goes on to say...
You will be able to acquire unlimited customers for free.
...which is very true!
I have more leads right now than we can actually handle.
For the last few months, (and moving forward), the major focus in my business has been how to actually handle all the leads that we get?
Where are these leads coming from?
By design, I’ve matched up my expertise with the information space.
That doesn't mean you have to create the same kinds of things everyone else, I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying you have to couple your expertise with info so that, (and back to the Expert Secrets)...
You'll be able to acquire unlimited customers for free. So every backend sale you make will result in a 100% profit. You will be able to grow much faster.
This book has taken me over a decade to earn through trial and error, making thousands of offers to millions of people. I'm only sharing strategies and tactics that are proven to work. Hope you enjoy the book.
(...I just love that as an intro.)
So now, I want to give you a working example of HOW this can work for any industry…
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS AN ARTIST
Recently, I had the pleasure of coaching an amazing lady. She was a musician…
This case study came from the OfferMind Masterclass; it's a fast, but powerful example.
This should be very encouraging if you’re trying to figure out if you should move forward on something like this.
It’s a HUGE opportunity and it changes the whole business model as we know it.
I feel weird saying it; ‘cause it makes me feel kinda biz oppy, but it's true…
So, let me ask you a question:
Q: How amazing do you have to be to make money as an artist?
A: You’ve got to be really good - really, really good.
To make money as a musician you’ve gotta be at the tippity, top, top, top - all the way to the top - in order to make actual cash.
So on a scale of 1- 5, your Artist's skill = is gonna be a five.
Q: Stereotypically, how much money do you make as an artist?
A: Typically, you make no cash at all - so I’m giving it a one
Starving artist is a term for a reason.
So I might have level five skills, but be getting paid at level two - which is crazy, but it's how it is...
Here's what's fascinating…
If you were somewhat of a good artist but you chose to teach other people certain types of strategies/ skills/ history of the music piece that you've learned how to play, or whatever…
You actually can combine information with being an artist... and cash flow very hard.
I could be level one/ two at selling information, but it could bring in level four/ five revenue - it’s sorta the exact opposite.
So…
Here’s another question for you:
Q: If I lead with info and sell how to stuff that’s truly valuable, what's the skill level I need as a marketer in order to make money in the info product space right now?
A: I'm going to say a one.
There's a lot of people who are extremely bad at selling but have a good product, so they still make great money…
You can be quite bad at this and still make good cash.
… but it gets EVEN better
LIQUIDATE THOSE AD COSTS
https://media.giphy.com/media/57WAdFQc3tba3OkCFZ/giphy.gif
So here’s one of the things I like to do to help me breakeven with my products…
If I have a $1,000 or a $500 product to sell, (which is not abnormal for the internet)...
Historical price points around the info product space are around 500-3000 bucks.
If you have any kind of aversion to that, as I say that, in a … “URGH, I've never paid thousands,” kinda way...
Let me set you straight:
You're NOT the one buying it - SO GET OVER IT!
If you're like, "I wouldn't buy your product at that price..."
We have a thousand dollar product and it costs us about $100 - $150 to generate one buyer, but one buyer is worth A THOUSAND DOLLARS*... (and we're about to raise the price).
But we can do better than that ;-)
So we started selling a $57 product in front of our $1000 one…
And that $57 product generates 4-5 purchases for every $1,000 purchase.
Now, did you notice what just happened there?
If we're spending $100 to $150 to generate a thousand dollar buyer, but now we're doing 5x $57 upfront, that means we’ve liquidated the ad spend it took to generate the buyer.
Now it's literally $1,000 pure profit - and that comes in multiple times a day.
MY NEXT BUSINESS STRATEGY
So having just liquidated my ad cost what should I go do next?
It's stupid easy when you start looking at numbers that way…
When you combine info and your expertise people will pay for the information because it's extremely valuable...
Has this not been valuable? I mean come on, this is ridiculous, right?
Maybe this is a little bit too intense for what I should be giving for free… but that's why it works so well.
If you want MORE…
My course, OfferLab is a year-long coaching program with me and a bunch of other coaches from my Rolodex.
It's a specific three-day event where you go through and you're highly prepared to get thing outta the door...
There's a lot of material I have you go through, it's very ‘fill in the blank…’
Then you come into the actual event and it's very work-shop-ish. It's NOT just me ‘sprekening’ ;-)
It's everything to help an individual launch their core offer.
… that's why OfferLab was built.
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?
There 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.
I'm going to throw rocks here a little bit. Ermmm, ‘NO,’ actually it's going to be mountains, boulders and things that are VERY heavy…
I'm vehemently against this idea that we need to take on funding in order to start a company.
The J Curve is what's taught in most of our education and mainstream entrepreneurship today.
Case in point, the J Curve is the very model that Shark Tank operates under.
And while I love the show, I’m vehemently against the concept of the J Curve...
In fact…
It’s time to kill the J Curve.
If you don’t know what the J Curve is, all will become clear… but first, let me tell you a story of about how to make a million bucks…
THROWING A J CURVE…
I was working with Russell on a project for one of his personal clients…
For every dollar we put in an Ads, they were getting $1.30 back out. For every dollar they were putting in an Ad, they were getting $1.30 back out.
However, one day they called, us a bit ticked off, and said, "We're barely breaking even on this?"
I was like, "You're NOT breaking even. You're actually making 30 cents for every customer that comes in."
They weren’t happy with that answer, and they said, "Exactly, we're not going to make a ton of money on that."
We were like, "You guys are missing the entire point here. You now have a machine where you're acquiring customers for free."
We’d created a bottom of the value ladder offer that was expanding their current customer base.
They already had their middle of the value ladder product and they had an expensive club as well…
But what they needed was MORE blood in their value ladder to bring people in and ascend them to their more high-end offers.
We were putting a $1 in and they were getting $1.30 back out… but they were mad about that.
We asked, “What are you mad about? This is a success."
They were like, "It's NOT a success."
We were like, "Yeah, that's a HUGE screaming success."
BREAK-EVEN WINS
… we said, "Let's think about this for a moment…”
“You have a machine that’s giving you customers for FREE and you’re even gaining 30 cents …”
We told them:
“Anything you sell to those customers afterward is pure profit!”
Break-even is a million dollar scenario.
… AND now, these customers are also MORE likely to purchase anything you tell them to buy.
Still, they weren’t convinced… they were like, "What are you talking about?"
Here’s a FACT:
Second money is ALWAYS easier than first money.
A percentage of your list will ALWAYS purchase simply because they like you and they’ve had a good experience previously
We're not just tweaking:
But what's so incredible about the way this works is this...
STARTING A BUSINESS THE WRONG WAY?
In college, I was taught that the first things you do when starting a business are:
Probably my least favorite class was Quantitative Marketing research.
I HATED that class…
And that’s literally where the phrase ‘J Curve’ comes from...
When you start your business, since there's no revenue yet, you are expected to go into debt in order to fund the business, the people, and the systems.
There are a series of systems in business...
For example:
There's a system for:
All that stuff costs money.
At first, when I started my business, it was just me... but that's NOT the way I was taught in college.
SAY ‘HELLO’ TO THE J CURVE
In college, I was taught to get a loan and go into debt.
#EyeRoll
I would expect to be in debt until a magic moment three to five years away when I finally become cash flow positive.
Meaning, I'm not losing money faster than I'm making it.
I’m NOT breaking even; I'm just finally going in a straight line.
I'm NOT making any money, but I'm NOT losing anymore.
Then you keep tweaking and tweaking until you reach the mark where... *hopefully*... you’ve made more money than you took on to fund the business.
And *this* is literally what I was taught in college…
When the curve moves upwards enough, then you're profitable.
The moment the curve starts to get to a certain zone (see below) you can take profit - which is great. You make a lot of cash...
But as soon as you start increasing at a decreasing rate, meaning the curve starts going level, you're taught to sell.
You go into the stock market with an IPO, and you sell off your company and you no longer own your baby.
That SUCKS!
You work your face off, but then most of your decisions will be made by a board…
You gave away your business with golden handcuffs when you got a loan.
That's why Shark Tank irks me.
But you can skip this entire model with what I’m showing you here.
KILL THE J CURVE
Let’s go back to the ClickFunnels and the people who weren’t happy with $1 in and $1.30 back out …
Here’s the CRAZY part...
$1 in and $1.30 back out means that you're skipping the J-Curve.
It means that from the get-go, you're going up.
Is it fast? “No, but you're not losing money,” and remember, we already know that second money is ALWAYS easier than first money.
A percentage of people will ALWAYS buy your upsell
That's why this is such a big deal - that's why we freak out so much about doing this stuff.
https://media.giphy.com/media/8B9hGl5neRTNK/giphy.gif
Then when you understand more about how to create the offer and the order to build in, it means you don't have to do that VC garbage. That's why it's so awesome.
You kill the J Curve and go straight to profitability.
Even if things are level for a while and you're not making any money:
Merry Christmas! ;-)
So then you start making HUGE profit... and you can sell if you want, but you don't have to - you can have cash cows like a lot of my offers are now.
Tell me any other investments on this entire planet where I can put a dollar in and get a 30% return in a week?
People boast when they get a 10% return on a mutual fund.
Seriously, think about it!
Do you know how much money you already have to have in order to actually make a living off of something like that?
In my mind, there's no other logical way to invest in your future than doing a funnel and creating an offer the right way.
I don't know another way.
LET’S TALK MONEY
… when that Facebook apocalypse thing happened a while back, it kinda jacked up our stats a bit, but before that, we had two months where we were putting $1 in and getting $8 - $10 out.
It's not as high anymore, but it's still like a $1 in and $5 out …
That’s a weekly return of 500%.
You don't take profit, if you just keep putting a dollar in, and getting a dollar back out...
Congratulations, break even is a million dollar scenario.
The asset is the list; so when you can build a list of buyers for FREE - BOOM!
Most corporate companies can't even begin to comprehend what I'm teaching you right now. They don't get it.
They're so indoctrinated in the traditional stuff that when we show them other options they're like, "I don't think that's going to work?"
And we make it happen and they're like, "Oh, snap. HUH!”
TURNING DOWN 100 MILLION!
At one time, there were a lot of companies trying to give ClickFunnels $100 million, and we kept saying, No.
They were like, "Why? We'll give you $100 million with the BEST rates you’ve ever seen."
I got to sit in the room where a lot of these conversations were going on.
I’d hear Russell and the VC guys talking, and I'd be listening…
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They’d be offering all this money, and Russell's like, "We don't need it," which blew their minds.
Russell would go to lunch just to kind of humor them, and because it would make a cool story... which it did ;-)
The VC guys would say, "Come on, $100 million. How much money does it cost you right now to acquire a ClickFunnels person?"
(And these are stats from a long time ago, so I'm sure the changed a little bit.)
But at the time, as I recall, it was costing ClickFunnels about $120 to generate one trial.
Now for the SaaS software world, $120 in ads to generate on average, one trial, that's actually very, very good.
So when Russell said that, they're like, "Oh my gosh, are you serious? $120 to generate one trial? That's awesome.
Here, let's give you $100 million, and then you can just go and get a butt load of trials and lots of customers."
Russell was like, "No, no. We turned those ads off." And they were like, "Why would you do that?"
He's like, "Well, because that’s coming out of our own pockets. $120, that's URRGH."
(What I'm teaching you now is the reason to come to OfferMind…)
HACKING THE VALUE LADDER
So if ClickFunnels is in the middle of the value ladder, ( and I'm using ClickFunnels as an example because we all know them), we’d create acquisition-styled funnels…
For example:
… things that generate a buyer very cheaply.
I know these numbers aren't accurate anymore, but the principle is still the same…
It was costing ClickFunnels $22 to generate one Expert Secrets buyer, but the average cart value, (because of upsells, the way funnels work and because we're dang good at creating offers), was $66.
And so, think about this…
Now that we've generated a buyer for free, (put in a dollar and get three out), 22 bucks to generate a buyer with a $66 cart value.
Divide them out, a dollar in, three dollars back out - that's awesome. I don't know another vehicle that makes that kind of cash…
And frankly, I don't know another vehicle where you can be really, really bad at it and still make a lot of cash.
Things like the stock market, (I'm not trying to throw rocks), but the majority of the time, you gotta have freakin’ ninja skills to make a lot of money - hopefully... (with flash in the pan kind of strategy to tactics).
You can be bad at this and make a lot of cash. I definitely was!
One of the first funnels I put out ended up making MORE money than I was making in my job.
I was like, "Dang. That's awesome. I really can be bad at this and still make a great living."
WHO ALWAYS WINS?
I'm not just approaching value ladder design from the aspect of, “Oh, this is the good order to go in…”
You're playing with the reality that those who can pay the MOST to acquire customer always win, even if they have a worse product.
Let me explain…
If I can spend $66 to acquire a book buyer and the book is only seven bucks, I'm going to dominate those who are on Amazon who have a locked average cart value that only enables you to buy one book with no upsells and OTOs...
That's why this works. That's why what we do is so killer.
So if I generate a buyer for free or breakeven, (if I'm making money, all the better)...I will never dare take profit at this level.
Instead, I create sequences that invite them to ascend to the next step, and then... it's pure profit.
The reason why we make the money we do and we don't have lots of overheads is because we're actually marketers.
So Russell was with the venture capitalists who were trying to give ClickFunnels $100 million telling them that he’d turned off adds, that in their eyes, were very profitable
The VC guys asked, "Why would you do that?"
Russell (very clichely) explain by drawing on a napkin, ...
He said, "We turned those ads off and now we actually MAKE $40 per ClickFunnels trial now."
The VC guys said, "That's impossible. How are you doing that? That makes absolutely zero sense to me."
Russell said, “No no. It totally does."
REWRITING BUSINESS
So let’s look at it the Expert Secret book funnel numbers …
(I think the cost to acquire is lower now, and the average cart value is higher - but anyways, those are some of the stats I remember.)
So they're making $40 per ClickFunnels trial - because, at the end of the book funnel, they say, “Go get a free ClickFunnels' trial,” and then people do - it works.
Do you understand how mind-bending this is?
This changes the entire business model - that's why I'm like so fierce with some of this stuff - we’ve gotta push it out there more.
Then they create all sorts of front ends - that's why he launched the Network Marketing Secrets book.
And afterward, Russell promotes ascends them on the value ladder for FREE. He already owns the list. He doesn't need to pay to acquire the customer again, and so, he just invites them to take the next step...
*Pure Profit*
By approaching business in this way, you can
That's why it's such a big deal.
I started in the middle of the value ladder so that I can have MORE money to acquire a customer than my competitors.
If I sell my book on Amazon for $20... but dang it, Russell's generating $66 per book purchaser (average cart value)...
Man, he's going to wreck me. Do you see what I'm saying?
If I can spend 60 bucks in Ads (especially on a book) before I start losing money…
*GAME OVER*
Again, you can be bad, but if you're breaking even, you still can upsell your most expensive things - that’s straight up monetization.
For example...
There are several people every month who are like, "Hey, I really just want to get an OfferLab. That's the kind of hand-holding I need."
Or ...
“I don't want to have to go read the book and go through all the stuff, Stephen. Just give me the result."
READY, FIRE, AIM
One of my favorite books is Ready, Fire, Aim - you can see I have it all tabbed out and stuff...
The methods that I’ve shared are something that I've been teaching and doing for a while, but then, this book validated the crap out them.
Now if you've never read this book, and you don't know anything about it:
I spend most of my time with new people and people who are $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 in revenue - that's where most of my expertise lies for our business; new all the way up to about 10 million.
After $10,000,000, I don't deal with people too much.
Anyway, in the book, Masterson says…
(This is on page 118)
“Although your primary focus should always be on customer service, your quantifiable goal as a beginning entrepreneur should be to acquire as fast as possible, what we call a critical mass of qualified buyers/ customers.
This is the number of loyal customers you need in order to make all or most of your subsequent selling transactions profitable."
This is key.
Masterson continues:
“Your goal as a stage one entrepreneurship should be to acquire as many customers as you can to make all of your subsequent selling transactions profitable...”
It's literally the exact same thing I've been talking about here
He says:
"And if you made your primary objective and satisfaction in selling more products to existing customers who enjoyed their prior buying experiences with you, it will be relatively easy as well as cheaper, therefore more profitable.
Once you have a good number of qualified customers… (i.e., the middle of value ladder)...
Hundreds or thousands, or hundreds of thousands depending on your industry, you'll be in a really good position where almost every new product you come up with will be successful because so many of your existing customers will buy it.”
Break-even is a million dollar scenario.
*I’m gonna keep pounding that point in*
So I go in and test out my entire idea in the middle of the value ladder price point because it makes MORE sense for:
I have flex room and I'm able to go and actually test stuff.
SECOND MONEY IS EASIER
Once you have a lot of customers, you just focus on that core offer for a while.
Then once you've got a lot of people, anything you drop afterward is highly likely to succeed.
As long as they enjoyed their first buying experience, it's highly likely that you're going to be successful.
I read this and thought, "Oh my gosh." I was on an airplane and I was like, "This is exactly what I've been talking about."
Anyway, check this out…
Masterson continues:
"Understand the dynamics of generating long term profits through the development of large circulation, low-cost products sold at a loss…”
(* NOTE ...but you don't need to do this because you can break-even)
“...by upselling high-end products to this larger base."
Basically, the whole point of this entire thing is that, once you now have an existing customer base and you sell something more expensive, that's where you're going to cash flow hard.
A lot of profits.
I start at the value ladder and then move to the top, but once that’s working, and I want things to be MORE profitable; how do I do that?
I create a mechanism, (I mean, funnel/offer), at the bottom of the value ladder to acquire more customers at a break-even level - which makes subsequent selling transactions really profitable.
If 10 people out of 100 bought my middle tier product, maybe half a person out of 100 would buy my top tier...
But then, I just fill the hopper up.
Q: What's introducing a lot of these things to the marketplace?
A: The fact that I podcast.
Dang, it! I just let that out ;-)
I create a story around my episode - at the end of each episode, pay close attention to whatever it is that I'm promoting in the outros.
The outros often introduce a new thing inside of the value ladder or reminds people that my product’s still there.
So I'm creating the relationship and leading with a butt ton of value. I give so much away on my podcast - it's ridiculous.
#GetRichDoGood
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 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
