Boom! What's goin' on everyone? It's Steve Larsen from Sales Funnel Radio.
Today I'm gonna teach you guys how I was able to pull off OfferMind so grandly as my very first event.
I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.
The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt? Completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.
Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.
My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. What's up?
Hey, I'm excited for this episode. I'm excited for today, I'll be honest. So, just know that what I wanted to do, is I had OfferMind happen just very recently. OfferMind was my event that signified me moving into the offer creation category.
No one has become the category king of offer creation. I am trying to make my stand there as being the best and the first in that area as the solution provider for that area. You know what I'm talking about?
So anyways, I'm really really excited about it and all of it. OfferMind has signified a lot.
What this episode right here is not about is the content about OfferMind. What I wanted to do is take a kind of an objective look at how I pulled off OfferMind so grandly as my very first event. Anyways, it'll be fun. It'll be really really cool.
I love events. Events are very special. If you guys think about it, there are seven phases of a funnel - we learned that from the book, Dot Com Secrets. The seventh phase of a funnel is to change somebody's environment. That's why events are so powerful.
If somebody is agreeing to come to an event - they've gone through the first six phases of a funnel. I'm not gonna go through all those right now, but you can look them up in Dot Com Secrets. The seventh phase of a funnel, the last phase of the funnel, is to change somebody's actual physical environment, and that's why it's so awesome when they show up... but it's also why it's so hard to get them to the event.
So if you're about to throw an event, and you're like, "It is super hard to get people to an event." Yeah, I totally get it. I completely understand.
I was at this Inner Circle meeting a little while ago. It was probably like six month ago, I think... I dunno, my timetable is totally messed up now...
It was a while ago, and I was at this inner circle meeting, and I learned from some people, that what they've been doing is in some of their products, is giving away a free ticket to their event.
So when you buy the book or the program or whatever, included in that is a ticket to the event. That's clever. Now let me ask you a question though...
Do you think the person who shows up with a free ticket has the same mentality as the person who shows up with a paid ticket? No! Totally different.
In fact, if you give away a thousand free tickets, I would guess maybe 200 would actually show up. That much of a drop-off, okay? Huge drop-off. And a very different mentality; you will attract a broke room, a poor room if you're going to be selling something. Not to offend anybody, just being honest okay.
If you pay to get to an event, what do you think the attendance rate is gonna be? A lot higher.
It's pretty standard inside of events that have a 10% drop-off rate. A 10% no-show rate. They just don't show up. Baffles me. Blows my mind. I have no idea why it's that way, but it is. Even with the high ticket events, paid ticket events, whatever.
When I was running a lot of FHAT events, or Funnel-Hack-Athon Events... Guys, that was a 15000 to 25000 dollar event for people to show up. That is how much they paid, and still, we'd have people who would not show up after paying that much money. Yes, I'm serious. It's like, "Holy crap are you serious?" Yeah, I am. And that's what's interesting about this.
There's always a no-show rate.
There is gonna be a different mentality of person that shows up when you gave away free tickets versus the mentality of a person who showed up with paid tickets.
So I was like, "Well, I need validation to even move forward on this idea. How can I validate throwing my own event?"
I mean I've always wanted to throw my own event. And so what happened was, about four months ago when I knew that Russell was gonna be doing the, (wait, it's November isn't it? November/December by the time you see this episode it will be December? Okay, but right now, recording this, 'cause I match my content, practice what I preach here, right.)
...It was back in February when Russell first started talking about doing this book. The 30 Day book. When he first started talking about that, and he started reaching out to all the people for it, I was like, "Sweet, this is gonna be so cool." And I went in, and I got to write my chapter - it was really exciting and awesome.
What was cool, is when he wrote this book, when the idea came out for this book, I thought to myself, "That's it. That is how I can fill a room. That's the vehicle that I can give a free ticket away with when I sell it." So that was super exciting.
I knew that OfferMind was gonna be comin' up some time in the future. I didn't know when, but I knew it was there. Most people will stop because they don't see all the details yet. Don't stop... if you've got a sweet idea, just know that clarity will happen as you move, not before you move. Little nugget there, just threw it out.
...So when I saw Russell go out and say, "You know what, we're gonna give away, for everyone who promotes the book, we're gonna give 100% commissions." He's like, "I'm not gonna take any commissions on that book." I was like, "You're kidding. Oh my gosh, this is actually really really big. Okay, okay, dude, can I interview you on my podcast?"(Russell was on the podcast a little while ago.) "Dude, can I get this, can I do that." Alright?
And I started structuring a campaign around this book. Knowing that when I drop out a free ticket with the book, I'm gonna get more sales because the perceived value of my offer is gonna go through the roof.
I also knew that people were gonna be like, "Oh my gosh," and it was gonna be more talkable.
I sold 375 books, and I was like, "I bet a third of those people will actually show up." And that's about what happened. About 120 RSVP'd, but I think about 100 showed up - which is pretty standard for a free ticket. You know what I mean? There's not as much fear of loss if you don't show up for a free event that you didn't pay for, right?
So what I did, was I piggy-backed the event on Russell's event for the 30 Day book launch. That's how I filled it up so much. I purposefully did it that way.
Now, I also knew that a lot of people were not gonna be able to, or didn't hear about, or just were like, "Hey, I already bought the book through somebody else," I didn't wanna leave out all those other people. So what I did was I built an event funnel.
It was a very fast funnel to go in and sell people who wanted to actually dive on in and join the event. So that's what I did. And it worked really really well. I started selling different areas around it.
I sold a VIP upgrade.
A one-on-one session with me afterwards on the third day.
But the biggest mistake that people make with throwing events is, they try to make money on the event tickets. I don't take any profit on people just getting to the event.
There's not as much story in this episode, I just want to hit several things right here. I ran a little ask campaign inside the group, The Science of Selling Online, and I asked: "Hey, what question to do you guys have about how I ran OfferMind?" And so I'm answering a lot of your questions here so you guys can see how I did it:
>The event room in the hotel was $7500 I believe. And I was like, "I don't wanna pay for that." I was like, "Holy crap, are you serious?" I was like, "Well, what if I just did a really long one-on-one session with somebody on the third day."
So the event was two days, but there was actually a third day where I left it open for people if they wanted to do one-on-one sessions with me. That's exactly what happened. Somebody came in, and they paid, and I charged almost the exact amount as the room was. "Sweet, alright, somebody else paid for the room."
Please, no one get offended by this. I'm just telling you guys what's going through my head.
I knew it was going to be around $20000 for the AV team to come in. It was significantly more though. It was $35000 for the AV team to come on in. It's why it looked so pro and so amazing.
I was like, "Man, I don't wanna pay for that." And so I was like, "Okay, what if I just push a little bit harder on this book?” And I did, and we sold 375 books, that's the equivalent of $37500. "Well, sweet, okay, that paid for the AV."
We have some sessions that paid for the room.
Now, how I pay for swag and to make it awesome, get a photographer there and get someone just filming B roll? All of those things together was probably another 10,000. Alright? So what I did. Uh, it was more than that...
. Anyway, what I did, was I sold a VIP upgrade. Through that VIP upgrade, I think there was like 14,000 dollars that came in through the VIP upgrade. I was like, "Sweet."
You guys get how I did this?
...I mean, out of pocket, there was a few other expenses, things around that I'm just not remembering off the top of my head, but you have to understand and get resourceful. It doesn't matter what level you're at.
I've watched Russell do this when he's been planning Funnel Hacking live; there will be these big people like Tony Robbins... or "Let's get in this person or that person." He's like, "Crap, seriously, that's how much money they want?" Or, "It costs that much money to do that?" Or, "The event room is this amount of money?" Or, "The swag, holy crap!"
Rather than go, "Well maybe we won't," he says, "How can do that?"
Multiple times I've watched him go through and structure a way to liquidate his cost on that. That's exactly 100% how I pulled off OfferMind. Structurally I'm talking about, how I actually pulled it all together and pulled all those pieces together.
So in total, I think it was around $65000 to pull it off? Is that about how much it was? $65000 for OfferMind?
- Yeah.
- I was just checking with Colton, my alter ego now.
$65000 to pull off OfferMind. I think, out of my pocket, to actually pull off the event, (about 37000 dollars for selling the book, another $7000 for plus the 15 ish plus the 20), I think I shelled out maybe personally about, maybe like six or seven grand, which guys, in hindsight, really awesome. I wanted sweet swag. I wanted an amazing visually impressive experience.
If step seven of a funnel is a new environment, I cannot just have you walk into a normal room, I must put you in an environment. Does that make sense? You have got to enter a different sphere, a different place. I'm willing to go into the hole over that. You understand? And so I did. Sort of like, structurally, that's how I pulled off the event.
Three days before OfferMind happened, I asked one of the AV guys, which they're freaking amazing by the way...
Valiant was the name of the AV team. They're the same ones that do Funnel Hacking Live. They're the same AV team that does all the Two Comma Club X events - they do everything for Russell. They set up the stage, it's a brilliant, brilliant room, all that stuff. That's why it looked so great.
... they came to me, and they had this cool pitch. They were like, "We love your light bulb logo. We're thinking, what if we dangle light bulbs upside down from the ceiling in this cool way with your logo floating in the back?" I was like, "That's amazing, yes! Sounds good."
So as far as structurally pulling off the event logistically, that's how it happened. I'm looking for ways to liquidate costs on the cool things rather than sacrifice experience, I ask "How I can afford, how can I create an experience?" So the event was pretty much completely liquidated. Almost. Almost, I did go into the hole a little bit with it. But that was, you know, whatever.
I mean, you guys that came. I mean, if you didn't come, there's no way you did not see someone posting about OfferMind, right? Social proof was all over the place.
I know the psychology of sharing a post on social media. The reason we share is because we think it's funny, or it evokes a lot of emotion, it makes somebody laugh, or it makes somebody feel important.
When I share something funny, I'm doing it because I'm saying I'm funny. When I share something that makes me angry, I'm sharing it because I'm saying it makes me angry. Does that make sense?
We share stuff to say who we are. It actually is a reflection of the essence of the individual sharing. It has less to do with what you're sharing and more about how the share-er feels.
And so knowing that those are the motivations; knowing and understanding that piece of it... What I was trying to do is give people content to share. That's why the room needed to be amazing. That's why all the stuff in there needed to be visually so impressive. You understand?
It was not just about me teaching. It was not just about me practicing stuff about my book that is coming out about it, right? Your Core Offer is gonna be the book and the content itself from the event, was on a higher level, the stuff that is coming out of the book and I needed to test it in one final phase. I've been testing it for months and months, eight, nine months. And I needed to go in and do that.
But you have to understand, that was what the event was for content-wise. But I needed it to be so visually impressive. It needed to be an experience. When you walked in, I needed those doors to close. You're not allowed inside the event. No one is allowed in there. No one is leaking pictures. (I know a few people did, and I wish they hadn't.) Because what I'm doing is I'm creating anticipation.
Event throwing is what a marketer does, whether online or offline. Part of the event is anticipation for the event. Can you imagine, wow? And I needed to invoke that emotion:
Imagine what it would be like, imagine what the feeling is gonna be, what is gonna be like when I sit there, and I have this major epiphany on why I've not made it work yet. What's it gonna be like. And that game in the person's head is what I'm trying to cause. So that when they're behind closed doors, and the registration table is on the outside of the event, and the doors are closed, but they hear the music...
They hear the music and the feel the ground rumble, and they're seeing some streaming lights coming through, but they can't quite see what's going on. And for the first time, those doors open. There's literally new doors in their life opening. You understand? It's a symbol, okay? It is a symbol.
Event throwing is an art. There is a science behind it, but there is an art piece to it as well.
I am not just having people show up in a room and have me speak at them. In my mind, no matter the content, what I would say, huge, huge, huge opportunity, failure if that was the case. That is not why I threw the event. I threw the event, yes, for the content pieces, I'm gonna be using that in other places in as well; book, other cool stuff that's comin'. But I needed, it's more about the experience of the individual showing up. Is it a symbol of new opportunity in the individual's life.
I am breaking and rebuilding so many beliefs inside the person's head that they are literally doing things that they never thought they could do? They have new capacities for own life that they never thought were possible. That's what I'm trying to do. That's why the event is such a big deal.
All the stuff laid out in perfect matching order on the tables, the swag, the way they walk up, why the doors are closed, the way they open up, the music that's playing; music you guys hear me play on my live funnel builds. There is so much freaking psychology behind it.
It's important that I'm not in the room when you actually open the door. I should not be in the room. I should have somebody else introduce me. And their whole role is to raise the energy level of the room: "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" And then, "Welcome, Mister Stephen Larsen." I need that. It elevates. As I walk up to the stage and the person who is MCing, (which is James Freel, who I'm very thankful for), he got them riled up.
There were some cool videos played. Marley, my amazing video person, made this incredible walk-up video. Lots of credibility stuff. Stuff that I'm a little bit uncomfortable with. You know what I mean? I don't want ever to be like, “Me, Me, Me,” but that's important for the psychology of the event.
When I walk up, I need to make contact with the MC physically - that's the transfer of authority and power on stage; it's visual in front of the people.
This is important, and I'm not making this up you guys. Go watched 10X Secrets training, he's gonna talk about this. That psychology is massive.
So when I walk up, my role is not to raise the energy of the room. My role is to come in with an already high-level energy room and then I can do my thing - otherwise, I gotta raise the energy of the room. I don't wanna do that role.
There's a lot to throwing the event. There's a lot of psychology behind it. You think I'm joking? Go watch people who actually do this professionally all the time. I've been exposed to a lot of that. That's why I know a lot of this, and I've been doing it - that's why we pulled it off well.
There's orchestration behind your actual event; how it runs, the way it happens.
I know that as the event goes up, I need to build pressure and excitement, and then release it. And then build pressure and excitement higher than last time and then release it. And then build pressure and excitement higher than the other two times and then release it. And then build pressure, and then sail. That's exactly what I did.
So I'm like "Boom, cool nugget drop," release it, let's take a break.
I can tell when people were exhausted mentally or physically. I put caffeine on the tables - Pruvit, that's the emblem I'm in, and you guys all know that -, and a lot of you guys ask me about it. I drink Pruvit every single day, and a lot of you guys know that. You know that about the orange bottle, right? This is the orange bottle. There's always orange juice in there. A lot of you guys comment about that.
What did I do? I need you mentally checked in, I'm gonna drop some stuff that no one ever taught before. So because of that, we made sure to get literally $2000 worth of Pruvit it on the tables, and keep it on the tables. It wasn't so much about me. I'm not trying to sell it; I need their brains checked: “Boosh, are they with me?”
Because I'm gonna go long and I'm gonna go hard and I'm gonna go late into the evening. I'm gonna over-deliver day one. Over-deliver to the hilt. Blow people's brains. Boosh, brains on the wall, right!
The reason is that I'm doing everything that I can, everything that I can, to orchestrate an experience, not just drop cool content:
>They got caffeine.
>I'm givin' them notebooks so they can take notes.
I'm not gonna expect them to come with a pen and a notepad, but I need them to take notes. Mentally, they're checking in when they do that. When they open up that notebook and they start taking notes, they are with me.
When they take a little bit of caffeine, (still one of the best nootropics that's out there), they are with me. They can go further and longer than they normally can physically on their own. More discipline, more focus, more attention than they would ever do on at their own homes. Very fascinating by the way.
Then they go to sleep, or they're spending time with each other in the evening, they're like, "Holy crap, that was freakin' nuts, jeez."
Then the next day, what did you learn, what did you learn, what did you learn? And part of what I'm doing is, as I'm taking breaks, there were those catch box mics, and I'm like, "If you have questions throughout, ask me. I need us to be interactive." It's not just for questions, it's to keep you engaged.
Me throwing around the catch box all over the place, (the microphone that you can throw), it's so that I know what the coolest piece was, and I'm hearing where people's "Wow!" is. I'm like, "Oh, for me the 'Wow’ was over here. You thought the 'Wow' was over there... okay, cool." And you guys were guiding me more than you realize when I was on stage.
I was extremely prepared, but I'm making sure that I'm spot checking based on your feedback. And when breaks are over, keep that energy high by throwing around the catch box: "What did you learn?"
If I'm just standing on stage in the one spot? Bad. Dumb. Failure. You guys know the photographer that was there, she's like, "You move more than anybody that I've ever seen on stage," and I'm like, "Yeah, it's because I am trying to keep you with me." You should be freakin' exhausted after one 90 minute presentation.
Russell taught me once, he said, one 90 minute presentation is the equivalent of an eight hour work day in energy expenditure. 90 minutes - I don't even know how long I went? I went from 9AM to 9PM. I think I went 12 hours.
There was a one and a half hour lunch break. We took a hour at dinner, I think? Did we take an hour at dinner? Something like that? So I went for eight hours? I was freakin' exhausted you guys. Don't plan on sleeping when you do this kind of stuff. And you should be exhausted. I'm running around the room. I am responsible for the energy tone that is set in the room. I am responsible, not the audience.
When people stand up, and they beg for comments, it's the presenter that's losing, not the audience. I know that. And when I was doing these super high-level FHAT events, stuff like that, they're deep, complex concepts sometimes right? It's not up to them. It's up to me. So I run around like an animal. My feet were freakin' on fire after day one.
A lot of people say, “Stephen how do you do what do?” It hurts! That's the answer man. It hurts.
I was laying down in the hotel room even though I live here - way easier to just stay in the mind-prep zone and stay in state while I'm staying in a room at the hotel that it's happening at - so I can just go right to the room, right back up.
Lunches, go detox, drop the pressure and noise, as Alex Charfen talks about:
Relax for a second, listen to some meditation music, chill the freak out and then go back into state. Whew, bam, right. The break is for me is just as much as it is for the people. Boom. Boom.
There were multiple times when someone would walk up and be like "Can I ask you a question?" and I'd be like, "Sorry, no, because I need to make sure I protect my break. I need to make sure I protect my time.”
So, guys, I wanna walk through how I actually structured my first six-figure day, 'cause that's what happened there, but not on this episode though. I wanna do that on the next one. I just want you know how I threw the event and what was all involved with it.
And we're gettin' swag, and we're getting net 30 terms so I can make sure I can get the actual affiliate cash coming in so it pays for that: "Let's get it over here, so it pays for that. Let's get it over here, so it pays for that."
And guys, that's how you throw a sweet amazing event.
You don't have all those things in places. Not usually, most of us, not usually. You don't have all of that stuff in place. Instead it's all about building the pressure just like you would a product. Build the pressure. "Tickets, go, go, go, go, go. We're gonna close, we're gonna close, we're gonna close. Who can pay for what? Who is gonna do what? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam..." It has a lot to do with anticipation, energy output, expectations, and experience, and environment. That's how you throw a good event.
I could of stood up and said things that were not actually that prolific, and it would still have been a great event because of the experience that we provided. Does that make sense? It's that big of a deal.
Now, I understand that the content was epic and it'd never been taught anywhere - I've never had a platform to teach all that. It was really really cool.
I've talked about the content that came from the event, and how I write the book slowly, and why the event was thrown and stuff like that... But I'm not talking about the content, I'm talking about the event itself and throwing it.
What I'd like to do in a few episodes from now as well is walk through how I was able to structure a six-figure day. My first one ever. It was almost multi-six, which is really cool. I want to teach you guys how I was able to go do that, and pull that apart as well.
These episodes are a little more in depth, a little more intense than I normally would make them, but a lot of you guys ask, so I thought it would be a cool place to do that.
Somebody asked, "What was the biggest takeaway you had from your first live event?"Thank you, Pat Phelps, appreciate it. What's the first biggest take-away? They are challenging, but Colton and I were even talking, and they're not as challenging as people said that it would be - and I know it's because we had great help. there was a full out team.
There's no way you can do that on your own, by the way. You need people. People were all over the place helping. I so appreciate that. I clearly understand and realize that it's not me, me, me land.
Biggest take-away? Yeah, definitely it was in liquidating costs through other things.
How much did all the AV stuff cost using all the other crew? $35000 for the crew. They are completely worth it. Hire them, they're amazing.
For the total event, 65 grand.
And as far as roles and positions, it was actually Dave Woodward who taught me that one person on your team should be dedicated to you solely for the entire event.
There's a lot of pressure going into your head, so you need to have somebody with you all the time: "I need this. I need water, do you have a protein bar or something like that?" Back and forth.
And understand guys, it was just Colton and me pulling this stuff off - it was so crazy.
A lot of people helped, swooped on in, and I'm just so appreciative. It really really means a lot. As far as setting it up, getting stuff on the table, really, I mean, it was just so so helpful. Colton's wife came in for a bit, Tara, she came in and did a lot. Ryan Jones, Scott, Taylor, you came in. Anyways, I'm trying to give kudos and thanks to where it's deserved. A lot of people involved in the pieces to set-up, stuff like that.
As far as roles though? Anyway.
The biggest thing I learned? You know what, I'm not gonna answer that one now. The biggest thing I learned, I want to talk about it on the way I structured the six-figure day, which will be really really cool.
Anyways, appreciate it guys. Thank you so much. Very excited about this. Hopefully you guys learned more about throwing events. I'm not saying it's gotta be that massive scale all the time.
You're like, "Crap Stephen, I don't have 65 grand to go throw an event." Okay, whatever, fine, but just know, it's more about providing an experience and changing the environment. It is the final phase in the funnel. And because of that, you're gonna lose a lot of people, the six steps on the way to the seventh.
Think about it. Russell's got a freakin' giant list. A lot of people that show up to Funnel Hacking Live are not using ClickFunnels yet. They want to, but still, his event is only 4000 people when there's 70000 active monthly users.
There's 4000 people coming to this next event, 4500, alright. Think about the numbers of that. He has such a huge list. Some people are like, "Stephen, I'm gonna go throw a massive event it'll be real easy." Events are like the hardest things to fill ever. Way harder than a webinar. Way harder than anything else because they gotta go set-up:
>Who's the babysitter?
>What are my flights?
>What are my hotels?
>Can I get off time for work?
>Can I get off time for this?
...blah blah blah... there is so much stuff.
Events like that appeal to hot audiences - when you have a very hot audience who are in the seventh phase of the funnel, so it's a small group. A very small group.
I'm excited for the next OfferMind - there certainly will be one. Probably, it's gonna be a yearly event.
Next year I'm actually already bringing in some really cool speakers as well. I can't tell you who, but... So anyways, If you guys want a ticket though, we do have discounted tickets for a little while. The price is definitely going up because it's a sick event. I got some cool people coming to you guys as well.
For this first event, I needed the content to be more about the content. The next event though, I'm actually gonna bring in some more people about, "Here's how you create offers around that industry, that industry, that industry, that industry, and here's the expert on the person that did it, that did it, that did it, that did it." So really cool people comin' on in about specifically offer creation - it'll be really really cool.
So you guys can go to OfferMind.com and go get your ticket. It's exciting. I'm really really pumped for you - really excited for all this stuff, it'll be really cool. So go to OfferMind.com to grab tickets.
If it's off, just put your name on the waiting list. If it's up, then the tickets are there and you can actually dive on in and grab a ticket at the price that it was at now. We're gonna have to raise it a little bit, but anyway, excited. Screaming success, a lot of people involved, and definitely, a Hail Mary. Just tons of fun... but it took Colton and me, I think, a solid three days just to recover physically. Probably a solid week to recover mentally. I was wrecked. You were wrecked, Couton? We were wrecked, man!
I've thrown a lot of events, but there was only one other time in my life I've been that tired, and it was during basic training. Seriously. That was insane man.
But anyways, cool stuff guys. Appreciate it. You're all awesome. I appreciate you guys comin'. I know a lot of you guys wanted to come and there will definitely be others. We'd love to have you at the future ones. See you guys later. Bye.
If you're just starting out, you're probably studying a lot. That's good. You're probably geeking out on all the strategies also. That's also good. But the hardest part is figuring out what the market wants to buy and how you should sell it to them. Right?
That's also what I struggled with for a while until I learned the formula.
So I created a special mastermind called an OfferMind to keep you on track with the right offer and more importantly, the right sales script to get it off the ground and sell it.
Want to come? There's 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.